A small bump in the road.......

8:38 am - Tuesday - January 8th - St. Marys, GA - 56º F, 99% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the south by southeast......mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 74º F.

Monday was moving day....time to leave our site for four days at the corner of Rose and Martinis.  Our goal was to be moving the Newell out of the driveway and over to where the trailer was parked between 9 and 10 am, and we were right on schedule when I lit the fires of our Detroit Diesel 6v92 around 9:15 am, then the unexpected happened.....a 'small bump in the road'.......

.....the left side of the coach would not come up to 'ride height', however, the right side did, so we were listing severely to the left.  I also noted that the air pressure on both my gauges would not get above 100 psi.....usually within minutes the coach is up to 'ride height', and air pressure is registering at 120 psi.  Okay, I'm thinking, something must be leaking somewhere.  I turned off the DD, exited the coach and walked back to the engine bay to check the rear '6 pack' and even before I open the passenger side engine bay door I can hear a very loud hissing.  That's good, because at least the leak is obvious.  I open up the bay door and zero in on one MAC air valve almost immediately.....coincidentally it is the valve that has the 'ride height' solenoid attached to it.....

......on the lower right side of the valve is an 'exhaust port', and was it ever exhausting.  I carry 4, or 5 of these valves as backups, and so it became immediately apparent something was wrong with the valve, so I got out one of the spares, then set about removing and replacing the defective valve.  In all it took about 90 minutes to complete the task, and when I started everything up again the left side was still not rising, but I could manually raise it using the 'leveling mode', and I could not before.  Now here is where it gets interesting.....after completely raising the left side using the 'leveling mode' I flipped the switch back to 'ride height', and the left side,which was now higher than normal settled down to ride height and stayed there.  To test the system I manually lowered the the rear, then put it back in 'ride height' again, and the rear raised back up again......cool, it's fixed!

By this point we were over 90 minutes behind our schedule.....la de da.  I moved the coach over to the trailer and quickly dropped the trailer back on the hitch, inserted the VW and we were on our way north to St. Mary's, GA.  Why St. Mary's, GA?  Well, that is where our good friends Roscoe and Geni, are spending the winter volunteering at Crooked River State Park.  We first met Roscoe and Geni at the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store in Yellowstone two summers ago (2017) and became fast friends by the end of the summer.  When we were working at the Grand Canyon last winter they came to visit us and we had dinner. Neither TLE, nor I could imagine being this close to them and not taking a couple of days to visit them at their winter job.

After a completely uneventful 197 mile drive (including a couple of rest stops) we arrived at Crooked River around 3:45 pm, and after registering at the office headed to Site # 4, which Geni had so kindly reserved for us.  As we approached the site we could see Roscoe and Geni standing there waving us into the site.  We parked and exited to hugs, and a couple of cold brews.....what a great welcome!

After talking for about 30 minutes we agreed to reconvene at our site at 5:15 pm and drive into old town St. Mary's for dinner.  We were able to catch the sunset at the perfect time......

 Left to right: Moi, TLE, Rosco and Geni

Beautiful sunset

.....after spending time watching the sunset we headed to the restaurant....'St. Mary's Seafood and More', reputed to be the #1 restaurant in town, which is verified by Yelp who gives them 4.5 stars on 193 reviews.  I had their special, which was Blackened Tilapia, and Blackened Shrimp.....OMG....I'll leave it at that.  TLE, Roscoe and I chased our entrees with Ying Lings, and Geni had a Fat Tire.  We talked endlessly as if no time had passed since we last saw them a year ago at the Grand Canyon.

We had planned to sit by the fire after dinner, but the NCAA National Championship pitting Clemson against favored Alabama (5.5 point favorite) was on at 8 pm so we deferred the fire to Tuesday night.  The game was close for the first 1/2 with Alabama up 16-14, but in the second half Clemson scored 30 unanswered points to win the game by 4 touchdowns......a complete upset for the ages.   I know our friends Richard & Rhonda (Richard graduated from Clemson in 1979) had big smiles on their faces around 11:30 pm Monday night.

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I dream of Genie......

6:53 am - Monday - January 7th - Inverness, FL - 44º F (It's cold!), 97% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear today with a forecast high of 77º F.....that's a 33º swing!  We roll our wheels in 3 hours!

It has been almost 9 months since our big rear facing radiator was cleaned.  You will recall that we stopped off in Albuquerque back in mid April to have it cleaned on our way to Maine.  I began to notice the coolant temperature was running about 5º hotter than normal on our way south from Campbellsville, KY so I determined that when we got to our friend's home in Inverness that I would take a few hours to clean it once again before we begin our westward haul back to the western U.S. and Sunday was that day.

I waited until about 10 am to let the temperature warm up a tad, and get the sun on the back of the Newell to warm up the radiator somewhat.  It is easier to clean off the sometimes gooey road grime when the radiator is at least warm, but preferably hot.  I learned that lesson in Albuquerque when we arrived at the RV service center after driving for about 40 minutes.  The radiator was good and hot by then, and we got the radiator the cleanest it had been in a long time.

I usually spray Simple Green on the radiator interior and exterior using a garden pressurized sprayer to apply it, then a pressure washer I carry with me to remove the Simple Green and grime, but this time I tried something new.  A friend had recommended something called the 'Radiator Genie'.......

....I ordered it on Amazon while we were still in Maine knowing I would need to clean my radiator at some point before we returned home,  It consists of two different 'wands'....one that can be attached to an air compressor and the second to be attached to a water hose.  I was a little skeptical that this system would work, but was I ever surprised!  The other thing I changed up was to use 'Dawn' dish soap instead of Simple Green, and again I was surprised....

......in all it took me about 3 hours beginning to end (taking everything out of the two engine bays, cleaning them, drying them out, cleaning the radiator, and then putting everything away). I used the compressed air wand to blow out any debris missed by the water wand, then dry the radiator, and engine bays, and anything else that got wet.  I like the Radiator Genie as these wands take up way less room than the pressure washer, and they are way easier to deploy and use.  The Dawn dish soap is less caustic than almost anything.  After all, they use it to clean oil off birds, right?  Of course, the ''proof is in the pudding".....we'll see how cool it runs on Monday when we roll our wheels once again.

Once I was back inside I promptly took a 90 minute nap....where did that come from?  That was followed up by a long, hot shower.  Eventually TLE began to prepare a special dinner.....one of my favorites.....Chicken Marsala.  I wish I had taken a picture of the dish when she served it as her plating expertise was only exceeded by the restaurant quality dish I was privileged to eat.  I cherished every single bite.

We were in bed before 10 pm looking forward to another travel day Monday....where will we end up Monday afternoon?

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It must be a sign.......

7:45 am - Sunday - January 6th - Inverness, FL - 42º F, 97% humidity, wind - CALM - clear today with a forecast high of 70º F.....it got down to a glorious 58º F inside our bedroom last night.....wonderful!  Had to turn the heaters on this morning.....now that is more like it....that is the weather for which I was hoping when we came to Florida......60's-70's during the day, and in the 40's at night.

We awoke to a partly cloudy day, which eventually morphed into clear blue skies in the afternoon.  When I opened the front curtains I saw what I believe are some sort of cranes, but not being a 'birder' I am just guessing.  There are a lot of birds here including dozens of large turkey buzzards......

......my first task of Saturday after completing my blog was to put away the rest of the tools I had been using to install TLE's new seat, then hookup our sewer line to the sewer connection as it had been 8 days since we last dumped.  I had planned to dump our tanks before we left Cedar Key, but decided I could go a few more days.  Once that task was complete I retrieved the sign I made weeks ago to add to Richard and Rhonda's friends post in their front yard, and install it.  The prior record for longest distance from home was Tom and Darlene's sign showing 2,150 back to Wittmann, AZ.  We have now topped that with a total distance of 2,417 from our home mailing address in Rancho Cucamonga, CA....

 Our sign

 The rest of the signs

.....once the sign was affixed to the post I proceeded to apply (over several hours) three coats of polyurethane via an aerosol can.   There is currently a small controversy in process about whether we can claim Rancho Cucamonga as our home as it is just a mailing address.  Some (the McCloud Clan) believe our new sign is only 75' from our home (the Newell), but I countered that the sign is only for people who have driven their Newells to Inverness, not a car.  I'm sure this good-natured debate will continue for some time.......😉

Next up was to finish hiding the power and ground wires we ran to power the new passenger seat.  TLE's old seat did not have power.  That took about an hour, but finally I was done, and then rotated the seat, as is our custom, so it can be used as an extra seat for visitors.....

......after that I took a short, but well deserved nap, then took a shower so I could go out and get a haircut, and do some shopping with TLE.  She found a Fantastic Sam's about 9 miles away for my haircut......there were no Supercuts within 20 miles.  That's my third successive haircut at a Fantastic Sam's (two in Campbellsville), and this one was by far my best haircut of the three.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that our hosts left around 8 am on a trip up to Baltimore, MD  in a rented box van to deliver some furniture to their son who lives there, so we were are on our own for our last two days here in Inverness.  On Monday, the 7th, we'll roll our wheels once again, only northward this time.

We were home by 4 pm, and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening.  TLE made some Cajun Andouille Mac & Cheese for dinner......

....I am not really a mac & cheese guy, but this was exceptionally delicious.  I'm glad we did not eat it all Saturday.......😉

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Mission accomplished.....

7:16 am - Saturday - January 5th - Inverness, FL - 60º F, 87% humidity, wind - CALM......cloudy today with a forecast high of 65º F.

I was up relatively early getting ready to do something I have not done since Burlington, VT.....ride my bicycle. Our Inverness hots, Richard and Rhonda, are avid bicyclists, and specifically avid tandem riders.  TLE was not up to a vigorous ride.....I hoped I was.  We left their home around 8:30 am to ride 2.9 miles over to the Withlacoochee State Trail where we would ride another 6+ miles south to our turnaround point.  To be fair, I was not aware of the distance we were going to ride Friday, and when Richard announced we were almost to the turnaround point I blithely asked "How far have we come?" to which he replied "9 miles" to which I retorted "Wow, I had no idea we had come that far!", and I did not.  Why? I hadn't plugged in my Garmin GPS cyclocomputer for a few months, and its battery had run down, so I was riding without any data input....rare for me.  I like to know how fast I am going, what my average speed is, and how far I have ridden.  I was just taking it on faith they would not ride me into the ground, and my faith was not misplaced....

 On the Withlacoochee State Bicycle Trail with Richard and Rhonda 

resting before the return ride

.....in all I fared pretty well on the 18 mile ride, but the last 2 miles back to their home we were riding into a stiff headwind, and I gradually fell behind them, arriving home a few minutes after them.  I was reminded of how much I love to ride my bike, and how little I have done of that the past 6 months.  I have got to remedy that situation!

About 45 minutes after returning from our ride Richard and I got busy installing TLE's new passenger seat.  In all it took about 5 hours beginning to end, but we finished bolting it to the floor just as it began to rain.  Naturally, I was outside tightening the nuts on the bolts, two of which come out in our house battery bay, and two in the right front wheel well, so just as I was tightening the last nut with my socket wrench I began to feel sprinkles on my back.....perfect timing.....

 The new passenger seat installed with power

....I've got a little cleanup to do Saturday, but that will be a breeze.  The chair works, and it can be turned around easily to provide extra seating when we are stationary.  So our mission in Inverness has been accomplished......now to work on replacing my seat!

Around 6 pm we went inside the house to eat dinner with our hosts and were treated to smoked pork tenderloin, and roasted vegetables.  We sat talking, and sipping wine until well after 9 pm.  Again, as I have written many times, some people you meet along the way you just connect with on a deeper level, and feel as if you have known them all your life.  Richard and Rhonda are just such people, and we have cherished our short time with them here in Inverness.  Life is good, and satisfying.....thanks for stopping by!

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Moving inland.....

6:32 am - Friday - January 4th - Inverness, FL - 68º F (wait, what?), 99% humidity (yeah, it feels like it), wind 7 mph out of the south.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 77º F, and a 100% chance of rain by the afternoon.

Leaving Cedar Key is never easy....I'll just leave it at that.  It seemed that our six days there just flew by way too quickly.  It takes a while to settle into anyplace, even one which you have frequented in the past, and we were just getting comfortable when it was time to change our view once again.  I was up by 7 am, and TLE a short interval later.  By 8:55 am we were rolling our wheels out of site #60 and north on HWY 24.....within minutes we had crossed the bridge and the island was receding into the distance.

Our destination on Thursday was Inverness, FL, about 76 land miles south and a little east.  Within 20 minutes we had transitioned to HWY 98 southbound.  I set the cruise control at 60, and just held onto the steering wheel as we floated on a cushion of air along the straight, flat asphalt ribbon stretching to the horizon.  As we neared the small coastal town of Crystal River I spied a Shell fuel station selling diesel #2 for $2.79/gallon.  We were down to about 40 gallons in our tank, and planned to fill up soon.  By the time I had decided we should take advantage of the opportunity we had passed by the station, but never fear, there was U-turn opportunity less than 200 yards down the road, so we did just that and headed back to the station.  I was figuring we would take on anywhere from 140-150 gallons of diesel.  Since we last filled our tank in Lebanon, KY on October 19th we had traveled about 900 miles.  We paid about $3.10/gallon back in October so the price of diesel is finally catching up with the decline in the cost of a barrel of oil over the last 4 months.  In all we took on 133 gallons of diesel.....always nice when it costs less than you expect.  We averaged about 6.7 miles per gallon.....not bad considering the hours of idling south on I-75 around Atlanta and Macon, GA.

By 11:30 am we had arrived at the home of Richard and Rhonda.  Richard parks his 1999 Newell behind their home on a driveway made of 'pavers' he built himself.  We were to park our trailer in front of his Newell, then move our Newell to his driveway where he has a 50 amp outlet, water and a sewer connection for out of town visitors.  Within 30 minutes we had dropped the trailer, were parked in the driveway, connected to the 50 amp outlet, and running our A/C to dry out the interior air of the coach....it was quite humid on Thursday (that high humidity continues Friday morning as I write).

Richard prepared a lovely lunch for us and we sat talking for a good hour before retiring back to our coach.  I needed to get busy removing TLE's old passenger seat so we could install the 'new' one on Friday.......

 Ready to remove the four large bolts fastening her to the floor

The old seat is now history, and the new mounting base plate is in position

......it took me less than an hour to remove the old seat, and begin planning how to install the new one.  We will need to drill some new holes to accommodate the new base plate, but that should not take too long.

Around 6 pm we headed out to have dinner at the MC Wine Bar (they have craft beer on tap, also) in Old Town Inverness.  We arrived to find we had the place to ourselves on this Thursday evening, and quickly ordered some adult beverages.  Richard and I had their 'Black Lager', which was perfect.  They do not prepare food on the premises, but you can order food prepared at other eateries in Old Town.  We ordered pizza from a local establishment, and it was delivered within 20 minutes.  Time passed quickly, and soon the small hand on the clock was edging toward 8 pm.  Thank you Richard and Rhonda for a wonderful evening filled with great food, brews and conversation!

Left to right: Richard (Rhonda is taking the picture), moi and TLE

We were home just after 8 pm, bid our adieus to Richard and Rhonda and headed retired to our coach for the balance of the evening.  Friday will begin with a bike ride on a local bike path, then Richard and I will get down to the business of installing TLE's new passenger seat!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.