The Land of the Hoosiers

We are camped at Thousand Trails Horseshoe Lakes about 15 miles north of Terra Haute , IN, in the heart of the Wabash River valley. We had a choice of several Thousand Trails preserves as a layover spot on our way to Amana Colonies, IA. We had also seriously considered Thousand Trails Indian Lakes, just west of Cincinnati, which was actually closer to our intended route. We ruled that preserve out primarily because it was so close to Cincinnati, and we felt like it would be busy with weekend campers from the city. We were also intrigued by the description of Horseshoe Lakes, which boasts about a dozen spring-fed lakes on-site. It turns out we made a great choice. I think Horseshoe Lakes is the most pleasant TT preserve we have been in yet. It has a relatively small number of campsites, but is a large park and very spread-out. Most sites are on a lake, or just across the road from a lake. I can launch the canoe and fish from our campsite. It is a very quiet and scenic place. This morning the place was only about 25% full, but a lot of people did come in this afternoon, and it may be close to full tonight. I think most are weekenders and will be gone tomorrow afternoon.

Matilda is growing about an inch a day (we have nick-named her "Kudzu") and is acquiring great stamina. Today we took her for several long walks and let her play with a few of the neighbor dogs. She had a great time, and it is doing her good letting her wear herself out chasing and playing with canine companions. We let her get in the canoe a few times, but the boat was on the grass, not in the water. We let her get into the water once, but she didn't want to go in a second time. Perhaps we will take her out in the canoe tomorrow. We have also started teaching her some commands. She is as smart as a whip. It won't be long until she is outsmarting us.

We ran into some Safari TREK friends, Al and Cathy here. They have been here three weeks, but are leaving tomorrow. We will see them again at the Safari rally next week and again at the FMCA convention in St. Paul MN the week after that. It seems everywhere we go, we run into old friends.

We will stay here until Monday, then head north and west towards Amana Colonies for the first of our three scheduled rallies. If all goes well, we will arrive in Amana, IA on Tuesday.

Off Again

Dorcas and I are leaving this morning on our next great adventure, "Upper Midwest Summer 2008". We will spend tonight on the road then three nights at Thousand Trails near Clinton Indiana. From there we will head to Amana Colonies, Iowa, for back-to-back Safari and Country Coach Rallies. Amana is in the heart of the flooding in Iowa, only about 10 miles from Cedar Rapids and from Iowa City, but the RV park is largely unaffected and is "business as usual." Then on to St. Paul, Minnesota, for an FMCA convention. After that, our plans are less well defined. We will spend a great deal of time paddling and biking in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Near the end of August we will meet our friends in Ely, MN, for our annual Boundary Waters trip. After that we will turn towards home, probably via Michigan's UP, returning home sometime near the end of September.

Today we are doing final packing and chores. Matilda is eleven weeks old today and has an appointment with her vet for her 12 week vaccinations. I really can do the math, but our vet said it was OK to bring her in a week early, since we will be traveling. The vet will give us her 16 week vaccinations and we will administer them when it is time.

Flashback Friday: A Tandem Unicycle Ride

It's a slow news week here on the home front. Dorcas and I are trying to beat the heat and keep Matilda from eating us out of house and home; or rather keeping her from eating our house and home. I'm hard at work making repairs and modifications to the coach and preparing it for our next trip.

Flashback Friday is a new feature here at "The Adventures of Myron and Dorcas". I know it's not Friday yet, but I just couldn't wait. In this feature I will post some experiences and/or photos from the past. Faithful readers will remember a few weeks ago when we saw a person unicycling on a mountain trail in the Jefferson National Forest. That experience reminded me of one a few years ago when Dorcas was treated to a rare tandem ride on a unicycle. The occasion was the Dixie Classic Fair in WS. Steve Mills is a world class unicyclist and juggler, and Dorcas had no idea what to expect when she was called onto the stage. I'm glad, and I'm sure Mr. Mills is glad, that he didn't call on ME!

Home Again

Dorcas and I, and little Matilda arrived home last night late. After six nights at Mt. Pisgah CG on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we reluctantly left the relative cool there at EL 4980' and headed down the hill to the sweltering Piedmont. Had we not had appointments today in WS, we would still be on the mountain. We spent Sunday afternoon with my mother in Morganton, and helped her with some chores. Specifically, we hung some pictures, re-hung some pictures we had previously hung and moved some furniture. Mom is about to get all of her stuff settled and nailed down. Unfortunately, she is still missing a few things. They will show up sooner or later though, because we left nothing in Mississippi and we left nothing on the trucks.

I have posted several photos of Matilda previously, but Dorcas insisted I post this one showing Matilda with several of her favorite chew toys. Her most favorite chew toy is not shown, however. That toy's name is Dorcas. Matilda really likes how that toy smells and tastes, and especially how it squeals and moves when she bites it. I hope she outgrows that chew toy very soon.

We will be home for a few weeks and then off to the upper midwest. We will leave sometime near the end of June and will attend the first of three RV rallies beginning July 1 in Amana Colonies in Iowa. From there we will go on to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, coming back home sometime in September.

Plan B: Mt. Pisgah Campground, Blue Ridge Parkway

OK, I lied. Big time. We had intended to go to the Cataloochee Valley, but it didn't work out. We knew it would be difficult to get the coach into the valley. There are only two roads in. One is bad, the other is worse. The problem is, I didn't know which one was which. Both roads are narrow, winding, steep and unpaved. We had decided to approach from the west and the Big Creek area. The unimproved portion of that road is a little longer, but it was more direct for us, and it looked straighter on the map. Bad plan. We managed to get about 5 miles up the road. It was hairy, but we were making it. Think 8' wide RV on 10' mountain road and hairpin turns. Dorcas was holding on with both hands and all ten toes, and I was laying on the air horns at every bend. Luckily we didn't meet anyone going up. Funny how you forget to take pictures in those moments. Our luck ran out about 2 miles before Mt. Sterling gap. We entered the national park and there was a sign that said bridge ahead 5 ton limit. Uh-oh, we weigh over 15 tons. Do we go for it? Surely the bridge is designed with a significant safety factor. I was considering it, but Dorcas said "Hell no". Luckily, we found a forest service side road, and were able to turn around and head back down. We unhitched the Honda so she could warn on-coming traffic. Luckily, we only met one other vehicle; unluckily, it was a UPS delivery truck. Another hairy moment, but we made it.

When we made it safely down the mountain, we pulled over to discuss our options. Dorcas wouldn't hear of driving around and going into Cataloochee from the east. Not an option. We knew hot weather was coming, so some altitude would be nice. We decided to go to Mt. Pisgah Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This campground is near EL 5000' and is the coolest place in many miles. We finally arrived late Monday afternoon and set up in a nice pull-through in loop A, dedicated for motor homes, with a nice grassy area for the pup. We registered for three nights, but may stay longer, depending on ..... well, I don't know, just depending.

Tuesday we just hung out and recovered from our ordeal yesterday. We read and napped and played with Matilda. We also set up the Coleman GeoSport 15' screen room we bought in Pigeon Forge at the Coleman Factory Outlet. It's pretty cool and the price was right. We figured it would come in handy in Minnesota this summer. This morning, we hiked about 6 miles round trip from the campground to the top of Mt. Pisgah. This afternoon, we drove into Brevard to do some errands. As I write, it is 89 degrees in downtown Brevard. I'm looking forward to getting back on top of the hill.

While in passing through the village of Pisgah Forest, we stopped in an outfitter store. They had a scale, so we weighed Matilda. She weighed 8.5 pounds. She only weighed 6 pounds when we left home 12 days ago. I'm not sure we've even fed her 2.5 pounds of food. She will be 8 weeks old tomorrow, and is chewing on everything in sight.

Onward to the Great Smoky Mountains

They don't have the part I need at Buddy Gregg Motor Homes to perform the recall, so Dorcas and I have decided to head into the Cataloochee Valley on the eastern edge of the GSMNP. I have not camped there in about 20 years and Dorcas has never camped there. We did do a backpacking trip originating there many years ago, but weren't able to see the resident elk or see much of the historic features in the valley. The Cataloochee area has some nice hiking trails. There is good biking along the roads, and has many historic structures. It also has some nice fishing streams, but I haven't packed any tackle. (Note to self: pack fishing tackle.) The road into Cataloochee is largely unpaved and there are some steep and curvy sections, but we should have no serious problems. We will enter from the west via Big Creek area. That route is the shortest from our current location, but it involves more miles of secondary roads, although, those secondary roads are probably less rugged than the approach from the east.

We will have no phone service and no internet, and therefor will be incommunicado with the outside world while in the valley. We also will have no hook-ups, although that is no problem for us. We will stay until about Saturday or Sunday .... unless we decide to pack up and go somewhere else. If the temperature gets to hot there, we might move up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mt. Pisgah maybe?

1) Which Way To Go????? 2) Awning All in a Flap

We have had a great time at this rally. Lots of good friends; lots of Country Coach technical talk. Tomorrow we will leave Sevierville, but are not sure now where we will go. We could go east (the Smokys); we could go north (Mt. Rogers area); or we could go west (Buddy Gregg Motor Homes, Knoxville). First thing Monday morning we will call Buddy Gregg Motor Homes. If they can fit us in for an easy recall project, we will go that way. Otherwise, we will head for the hills. We don't need to be home until Monday, a week from tomorrow.

The technical project for the week has been to replace the roller spring in our rear slide topper/window awning. A week ago while camped at Stony Fork the awning roller spring broke, during the middle of the night without apparent provocation. Consequently, the awning unfurled and no amount of rude language would convince the fabric to return to its coiled state in the housing. I couldn't drive the coach with the awning in this manner, so Terry and I removed the whole awning assembly from the slide. I called Carefree of Colorado, the manufacturer of the awning, and described the problem. Carefree would not agree to repair the awning under warranty. First, the 4-year warranty ended 5 months ago; second, I am not the original owner of the unit. Dang. They did provide me with a part number and a list of Carefree dealers in the area. The first dealer I called said he had the part on his truck, but he was a mobile service guy and would charge $60 to bring me the part (his usually house call fee) plus labor to install, plus the cost of the part, plus the shipping charge to replace the part he already had in-hand. Thanks, but no thanks. The second guy I called said he had a complete assortment of Carefree awning springs, but when I described the specific application, he said he didn't have it: "Those springs never break". That's encouraging. Finally I called Buddy Gregg Motor Homes, a Country Coach dealer west of Knoxville. They had three in stock. Furthermore, they had a demo coach coming to our rally in Sevierville and could put the part in the storage bay. Sweet! It turns out that the demo coach had the campsite next to ours reserved for the rally. Free delivery to our back door. Extra sweet!

At this point it gets ugly. The spring must be installed in an aluminum tube, tensioned to a certain specification and then all the parts re-installed on the coach slide. Easier said than done. I had instructions telling how to install the awning parts to the coach, but the roller assembly, as originally supplied from the manufacturer, has the spring already installed and is pre-tensioned. I had no instructions describing how to install and tension the spring in the roller tube. Ok, I used to be an engineer, and there were 25 other Country Coach owners parked within 100' of our coach, all offering advice. This is doable. OK, the last part about the other owners probably wasn't a good thing. But I took it apart, I should be able to put it back together. That's when one of the other owners observed that my old spring was coiled in one direction, but the new spring was coiled in the opposite direction. Only one broken spring came out of the roller and it was tensioned on the left side; the Carefree guy only gave a single part number and said it was a left-hand spring. The label on the new spring had the correct part number and indicated "left". But there was no way I could correctly tension the spring if I installed it on the left side. The only thing I could figure was that a mirror-image, right-hand spring, had been mis-labeled at the factory. Either that or an assembly line guy or a parts guy likes playing cruel jokes on motor coach owners. It was now Saturday afternoon and there was no way to get a replacement part before Monday, short of calling the mobile service guy. I wasn't that desperate. Not yet, anyway. After a great deal of pondering, it became apparent that I could install the spring on the opposite side, the right side and tension it in the opposite direction than the original spring. I went through all the mental gymnastics of determining how to install the spring, which direction to tension it, which direction to roll the fabric and the straps, how to hold it in tension while I reinstalled it to the slide, etc. Thankfully, all the other CC owners had left the park to go to dinner, and I could talk to myself and draw pictures with my fingers in the air without anyone I knew thinking I was insane or talking to me or distracting me. Finally, after I thought I had it all figured out, I called Dorcas out to go over my thinking, and so she could be a scapegoat, if things went all wrong. The final assembly was actually fairly anticlimactic. I worked from the ground on the ladder, and Dorcas was on her belly leaning out over the edge of the coach. We had it all back together and installed on the coach before everyone returned from dinner. It now works much better than it did before; much better, in fact, than the corresponding front slide topper awning. When I get home, I think I will try re-tensioning and lubricating the forward awning. If it breaks while tensioning, I can repair it in the sanctity of my own driveway, with all my own tools. I would rather have it break there, while I have time to get the part and don't have to get anywhere, than I would repairing it on the road .... again.

Photo of the Week

I don't know what this tournament is about. I do know that I am going to be nowhere near the pavilion on Saturday at 10:00.