ELY!!!!!

Ely MN is one of my favorite places. I think it is the heaven that paddlers go to when they die. It claims to be the coolest small town in the US and I believe it. Where else are there more than 30 canoe outfitter shops on the main drag. When you come into town, if your car doesn't have a canoe on it, they give you a loaner. Kinda like loaning you a jacket at a fancy restaurant. If you try to bring a kayak into town, they make you leave it at the town line and give you a canoe. Ely is making a tongue-in-cheek bid for the 2016 Winter Olympic Games. My kind of town.

We arrived in Ely on Sunday afternoon and checked into Fall Lake Campground in Superior National Forest about 10 miles west of town, where we would stay the next three nights. On Monday we went into town to visit the Post Office and buy some groceries. We visited some shops; Dorcas bought some purple lures, and we bought some used camp chairs at an outfitter to replace the ones we forgot and left at home. Before returning to camp we ate a hearty lunch at an old favorite, The Chocolate Moose. Back at camp our friends Wayne and Lynda had arrived, and we spent some time catching up with tales of their travels. Today we picked up our BWCAW permit and our fishing licenses. Tomorrow we will drive about 100 miles to Brule Lake (probably less than 30 miles as the crow flies) and put into the BWCAW for 14 days. During that time we will be severed from phone or internet communications (egads!). I will post about our wilderness adventures in a little over 2 weeks.

Bon voyage.

Zoomin' Across the UP

We pretty much zoomed across the rest of the UP. Friday we drove westward almost 300 miles along the shore of Lake Superior. It is a very scenic drive. Michigan has frequent road-side rest areas, usually at lakes and rivers, and we stopped at several. We crossed into central time zone before leaving Michigan. We arrived at the Bad River Casino just west of Ashland WI about supper time. There they offer free RV parking with 50A electric and water. Sweet. We ate the fish dinner in the casino and crashed.

Saturday we continued westward about 90 miles to Duluth. Just east of Ashland we saw a bald eagle circling above us. A short while later a black bear ran across the highway in front of us. We got a pretty good look at him; might even have hit him if I had not slowed down. Unfortunately we froze and did not get a photograph. He smiled and waved at us just before running back into the woods.

We spent Saturday night in Duluth at the Lakehead Boat Basin. The Basin is a marina, but allows RV parking in the summer. In the winter they haul boats out of the water before it freezes and set them in the RV spaces. It is only three blocks from the Aerial Lift Bridge and Duluth's Canal Park. An excellent location. We walked the Waterfront and beyond to Fitger's Brewhouse, where we ate and enjoyed a beer sampler. Even after the sampler I wasn't sure which beer I wanted to fill my growler, so our waitress brought me more samples. I settled on the Northern Waters Smoked Helles. After dinner we returned to camp and watched the ships pass through the canal. Life is still good.

Up to Yooper Land

On Wednesday we crossed the Mighty Mac and landed in the land of the Yoopers (i.e UPers, those of Michigan's upper peninsula). The Mackinac Bridge is a very impressive structure. We have crossed it three times now in the motor home and every time it was windy. I think it is always windy there. One of the two lanes was blocked, as it was the first two times we crossed, and we ambled over at a modest 25 mph. After a relatively short drive we landed at our camp Clementz's Northcountry Campground north of Newberry "the Moose Capital of Michigan". We had originally planned to stay at Tahquamenon Falls State Park. However, Michigan has a ridiculous policy regarding vehicle entry fees. To stay two nights at the state park would cost us: $23/night x2 (campsite fee) + $8 (reservation fee) + $8x2 (entry fee for car) + $8x2 (entry fee for coach) = $86. Now, we have heard that Tahquamenon Falls State Park is a very nice park, but come on! Instead we elected to stay at Clementz's Northcountry GC ($10 per night with our Passport America discount) and visit the park on a day pass ($8). After we visited the state park CG we agreed that the private CG was nicer and less crowded than the state park CG. The temperature plunged to below 48 degrees Wednesday night. After the scorching summer we have experienced, this felt downright cold!

On Thursday we toured the area, heading first to Whitefish Point and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Whitefish Point is known as the Graveyard of Ships because more ships have been lost here than anywhere else on Lake Superior. The museum memorializes many of the wrecks, including the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank off Whitefish Point in 1975. The Edmund Fitzgerald is the last of the wrecks on Superior. Presumably safer hull designs and improved navigational aids have resulted in safer passage through these treacherous waters. The very first vessel known to have sailed on Lake Superior, was also the first to perish and was named, ironically, "Invincible". I was particularly surprised at the number of wrecks that were the result of collisions with other vessels. Many occurred in good weather with excellent visibility. My favorite wreck was the "Myron". It went down in November 1919 in icy waters. As the ship was going down the captain ordered the crew to the lifeboats, but he elected to stay with the ship. Ironically, all crew members were lost, but the captain was saved the next day, 20 miles away, clinging to a section of the pilot house.

There is also a light house with an attached keeper's house at the point. The house is very unique as it is a duplex for the keeper and the assistant keeper. It is a two-story house, but split vertically down the middle. There is a single front door and single rear door, but there are separate interior doors which separate the two apartments. They share a common passage way to the light tower, which could be accessed without going outside.

In the afternoon we visited Tahquamenon Falls State Park. The Lower Falls is a series of falls, best viewed by taking a rowboat or a canoe several hundred yards to an island. Then you can walk the trails on the island and get a good look at the 1/2 dozen or so small waterfalls. The Upper Falls is four miles upstream and is much more impressive. It is 200' wide and plunges 50' and is claimed to be the largest falls east of the Mississippi River. I don't know exactly how they figure that. There are many falls in NC that are much taller. Maybe it's a volume flow thing. I assume Niagara Falls is #1. At the Upper Falls there is a reconstructed logging camp that is now a restaurant and the Taquamenon Falls Brewery. After a day of hard site-seeing it sounded pretty good, so we went in. Dorcas ordered Blueberry Ale, which was served with fresh blueberries floating on the surface. They didn't serve pitchers of beer, but would draw you a growler. Amazingly, you could drink your growler at the table and then take home the leftover. I ordered a growler of Blond Beaver Ale. Not bad. It is ironic that at NC State parks the rangers will come onto your campsite and pour out your beer, while a Michigan state park has a resident brew-pub. Go figure. I guess this partially negates their silly-ass entry fee policy.

Photo of the Week

Garlic onion pies are very popular at the Cherry Bowl diner in Honor Michigan. DANG! We had to settle for blueberry.

Crackin' Up in NW Lower Michigan

Before leaving Shipshewana Friday morning I went back into town to buy some kite parts. I had tried to fly my Prism stunt kite a few days ago and found a critical part was missing. Bummer. No flight that day. A web search revealed that the only authorized dealer in Indiana for Prism kites is Head Over Heels in, of all places, Shipshewana. As expected, they had the kites but no spare parts. The owner was super, however, and took the part I needed off of one of her stock kites. We are now ready for flight again.

We departed Shipshewana about 11:00 headed north. Within 10 minutes we had crossed into Michigan. I would like to say that the drive into Michigan was uneventful, but nay, it was not so. When we arrived at our campground Dorcas went back to the bedroom and exclaimed "OH NO!!!!". When this happens it is usually something minor, like a cabinet door came open or something like that, but this time it was more significant. The rear window over the bed had been shattered. There was a clear, sharp point of impact and lines radiating out from there. No unbroken piece larger than 1/2". It looked to me like we got hit by a rock or a BB gun. Upon reflection, Dorcas remembered hearing a sound like something hitting the floor, but we never saw anything. Luckily, only the outer pane is affected; the inner pane is undamaged. The outer pane is still intact, at least for now, but even if it all collapsed and fell out, the inner pane would keep out the weather. That's a good thing, because this will be no quick and easy repair. This is a pretty specialized window. It is an emergency exit window with a special mechanism to allow it to be pushed out in a emergency. It also has a bronze mirror tinting that is not found on most RVs. It is definitely a special order job and will likely take a month or more to get the part. I called my insurance agent to let him know. Since I will not be fixing it soon and since it would be difficult for an adjuster to catch up with us, he suggested waiting until we got home to file a formal claim. I'll worry about it later.

We stayed at the Platte River Campground in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for two nights. Unfortunately we had to stay on a different site each night. This is a very popular campground and is the same one we were unable to get into last year after standing in line for several hours at dawn. This year we were able to score two single reservations for different sites on Friday and Saturday nights. We just had to move before noon on Friday, which meant we had to stay close to home that morning. On Monday we moved about 12 miles to Indigo Bluffs, a new Class A ownership resort. Likewise we tried to stay there last year, but it was not yet completed. Since we didn't get to visit the resort last year they gave us another complimentary 3-night stay this year. It is a very nice place, but it should be since lot prices top out at $250k. There was no pressure to buy. In fact, we asked the sales manager to bring us a sales package, but we never saw him again.

We toured some sites in the area during our stays at these two parks. One day we drove north to Leland, Northpoint and Leelanau State Park, located at the tip of the little finger on the Michigan "mitten". Leeland had a quaint little harbor alley called Fishtown filled with fishing shacks and tourist traps. Leelanau State Park was very vice and features a campground right on Lake Michigan and the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum. We returned along the west shore of Traverse Bay and stopped at the harbor in Suttons Bay. Suttons Bay was a very attractive and scenic town, and obviously there is a lot of money here. We spent an hour talking to the city harbor master and looking at the boats.

We spent an afternoon on the dune at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. There was a fair breeze and I flew the kite for a while, practicing stalls, take-offs and landings. We spent an evening at the Cherry Bowl Drive-In theatre and had a traditional Lumberjack Special pizza and a pitcher of brew at the Lumberjacks Bar and Grill in Honor.

Quilting in Indiana

While we were tooling around the Amish Country we discovered the Quilt Gardens Tour. It was tough but I was able to convince Myron to actually stop at a few so I could get pictures.

The Tour is along Elkhart County's 90-mile Heritage Trail.

Most of the towns and communities along the route display a quilt-designed garden and a quilt mural.

With a map, it was like a scavenger hunt to locate the sites. Fun!
Many of the gardens were difficult to photograph because of my elevation and also some were being tended by Amish during my visit. Check out the website for a better look.

Myron's mother was a fabulous quilter so I believe she was with me in spirit enjoying the tour. I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some pictures of Myron's mother's quilts too. Sarah had a wonderful gift for color design which is beautifully reflected in her quilts.

Chillin' In Shipshewana

We arrived in Shipshewana early in the afternoon. Our first stop was at a self-service bulk ice house, where we filled the cooler and unloaded the fridge in anticipation of changing out the cooling unit ... again. We found Pines RV Refrigeration, after dodging Amish buggies and carriages on narrow county roads, but it was nothing like I had expected. I think I expected a typical small factory building with a parking lot or loading area for trucks, but the factory was located about 200 yards down a private driveway behind an Amish family farmhouse. I think it used to be a chicken house. I met Larry Miller, the owner of the company and the farm, and we planned for the changing of the cooling unit. He had me park just off a gravel loop in front of his factory building, so that the UPS truck could get through. A little corporate background here: all my previous correspondence had been with a man named David Force, who has been an RV technician for many, many years and operates a business known as the RV Cooling Unit Warehouse. He acts as an agent for Pines RV Refrigeration and sells the units, mainly on-line. He actually lives in Memphis and has been a font of great information about troubleshooting RV refrigerator cooling units and other fridge issues. Larry Miller is an Amish gentleman who is the owner of Pines RV Refrigeration, a small family business that re-manufactures RV refrigerator cooling units. They also sell a brand new cooling unit that is reported to be of a superior design and slightly more efficient than the OEM design. This is the unit I had originally purchased in Feb 2009. This unit is built by Mr. Miller's brother-in-law about 1/2 mile down the road. Mr. Miller ships about 15-20 units every day, which I thought was pretty impressive, given the small scale of his operation. Mr. Miller and I worked together and had the unit replaced in about 3 hours. Most RV repair facilities charge over 5 hours for this project; maybe they assume two technicians working 2 1/2 to 3 hours. While we were working on the cooling unit, Dorcas drove over to the Shipshewana Flea Market, said to be the largest flea market in the US. After she returned, one of Mr. Miller's family member's (a daughter?) offered her a buggy ride around the farm. I would have jumped at it, but Dorcas declined. I didn't want to leave town until I was certain the unit was working properly. Mr. Miller said we could park at his house for the night, but I sensed he was not really very comfortable with that, so we moved to Shipshewana CG North, a private CG north of town, apparently also owned by the Amish. We signed up there for two nights.

The fridge seemed to be cooling OK, but we wanted to hang out for a couple of days to be sure. We planned to see some sights and tour the area on Thursday. Dorcas and I had never really been in an Amish community before. LaGrange (Shipshewana) and Elkhart Counties are thriving Amish communities in northern Indiana. 37% of the population of LaGrange County is Amish, and it is the 3rd largest Amish community in the US. I found the Amish folks to be very interesting, but who also live a life of contradiction. They don't drive cars, use phones, or use electricity from outside sources or have other such new world conveniences in their homes. However, they may have a phone in an out-building, where it is not convenient, for emergency use. Those practices don't extend to their businesses, where they use telephones frequently, and use tractors and trucks and other power equipment. Mr. Miller has a generator and an inverter for his factory; his cordless phone was constantly ringing as we worked, and he uses a computer for his business. He attended public schools, but has chosen to send his children to an Amish school. He wore home-made clothes of traditional Amish design and had a traditional Amish beard, without a mustache. Married men or those over 40 years grow a beard. They don't have mustaches because they believe them to be militaristic and contrary to their pacifist beliefs. This link contains good information about Amish history, culture and beliefs. Amish practices are set by elected local community leaders and are usually unwritten. Consequently, practices may vary from one Amish community to another.

The next day we toured the area. The Elkhart area consisting of Elkart and LaGrange Counties is considered to be the RV capitol of the world. Approximately 80% of all RVs made in the US are made in this region, primarily by Amish labor. We did a factory tour at Newmar Corporation, which makes a wide range of medium to upper end motor homes and towables. All the units they build are sold before they go on the line. There is a single manufacturing line for their whole range of products. Air cushion dollies are placed under each wheel, and the unit is pushed down the line by the workers, up to four workers for a 60,000 lb. motor home. I was surprised by the organization and apparent order of the process. It takes about 3 weeks for a unit to be built. Currently 3 units per day are coming off the line. The workers work basically on a piece basis. When they have completed the work on the three units passing though their station they are finished for the day. The Amish are morally opposed to have their pictures taken, so photographing the work was challenging. Newmar is recovering from the economic downturn, as is the industry as a whole. Business has rebounded from last year, but is not as high as it was two years ago.

Next, we visited the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart. The hall of fame portion was a little dull, celebrating folks that most people, including me, had never heard of, but who pioneered the industry. The museum was much more interesting. It was a large hall with many classic examples of RVs from the beginning of the industry. It turns out that RVs have existed essentially since folks have had cars. Early RVs are surprisingly similar in function to RVs today.

We left the museum just in time to catch another tour. We headed about a mile down the road to the Damon Motor Coach factory to catch their tour, but there was a mix-up on their web site and there actually was no tour this day. So we went down the block to catch the tour at Four Winds International. At this factory Four Winds builds lower and entry level motor homes. It was obvious from the two tours that these units were of lower quality than the Newmars and that less care was taken during their construction. Also the tour guide was less knowledgeable and less organized than the one at Newmar. If you ever intend to buy an RV it might be wise to visit the factory where it was made. You may be surprised. Many manufacturers don't offer tours at all, or only offer them by appointment. I suspect they don't want people to actually see how their units are really made.

Back in Shipshewana I visited one store that was particularly interesting. Wellspring Components is an Amish company specializing in batteries, inverters, solar power, wind power, and grilling and cooking appliance for Amish homes. One section of the store was dedicated to tricking out their buggies: lights, turn signals, rear-view mirrors, etc. They had a buggy wheel mounted on a display with an alternator installed, so that it would charge the battery as the horse pulled the buggy. Does it get any cooler than that?

Back at the hacienda the fridge was chugging along just fine. I think we are set to pull out in the morning.

Thousand Trails Indian Lakes

My brother departed for his home at Angier, NC Saturday afternoon. Dorcas and I departed Linville Falls headed north Sunday morning. We weren't sure exactly how far we would go or where we would spend the next night when we left Linville Falls, but after driving a few hours we decided we would make for Thousand Trails Indian Lakes in Batesville Indiana, almost 450 miles away. The drive was uneventful except for crossing the NC mountains from Linville Falls to Johnson City TN. Of course the road was hilly and twisty, but shortly before entering TN we saw a sign on US 19E near Plumtree NC advising that the road was closed ahead. DANG. We didn't see a detour sign and turning back was not an option, so we ignorantly charged onward. A few miles later we came upon another "Road Closed Ahead" sign, this one blocking the road and directing us off on a mountain side road. Again, we had little choice, so off we went. The best thing I can say about this road is that it was paved. It was steep, narrow and winding. The road was so narrow that when we met an oncoming vehicle, one or both of us would have to stop and pull off the road. We met a couple dozen oncoming vehicles, and more than once a car screeched his brakes and skidded over to the side. All the traffic coming down US19E would be on this road, but this was Sunday morning and, thankfully, most of the locals were parked at church this morning, praying for the survival of those lost souls in that huge motor home. The detour lasted perhaps about four miles and returned us to US19E without physical damage. US19E, which is itself a fairly small mountain road, looked like a major interstate to us now.

The rest of our drive was very pleasant and uneventful. We drove north from Knoxville through TN and KY across the Cumberland Plateau, crossed the Ohio River as we circled Cincinnati, and arrived at TT Indian Lakes shortly before dark.

Thousand Trails is a membership park system to which we belong. We can stay at a Thousand Trails park for up to two weeks at no cost, except for our annual dues. We stay at TT parks in Florida more than enough to cover the cost of our annual dues, so any other TT parks we manage to visit is like free camping. Thousand Trails Indian Lakes is a very pleasant park. It is huge, covering 544 acres with 722 camp sites and 52 cabins. The campsites are clustered in four areas with vast open grassy and wooded spaces between them. I wonder if this facility wasn't a county or regional park in a previous life. There is lots of room to run Matilda without her getting into trouble with other campers and other dogs. Most of the motor homes stay in Phase IV which has 50A service and full hookups. When we arrived on Sunday we had a choice of a number of sites in that area.

We stayed here three nights and didn't really do anything. We mainly decompressed from our long hard summer. I fretted a bit over the refrigerator, which, by the way, was behaving pretty well at this point. It was cooling well enough that I had put our food back into it and stowed the cooler in the car. Sometimes an obstruction can block the flow of coolant through the unit, and the motion of driving and the bumps of the road can clear the obstruction. At least temporarily. The thing that caused the obstruction may still exist, and it could come back around and block up the works again. The fridge may be working, but it may not be fixed.

Which brings us back to the Saga of the Jinxed Fridge. Pines RV Refrigeration still owed us a new cooling unit to replace the temporary re-manufactured unit they had sent us two weeks ago. The most direct route to Minnesota, our final destination is through Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. That is the route we had originally intended to take, with planned stops in Wisconsin at the Lienenkugel Brewery, a Canoe Rendezvous, a Harley-Davidson factory tour and maybe a Brewers game. We then planned to return home through the U.P. of Michigan. It turns out that these aftermarket cooling units are made by an Amish family at a factory on their farm in Shipshewana in northern Indiana, only a few miles from the Michigan state line. Shipshewana is not so far out of the way if we go to Minnesota up the Michigan side. So, it had occurred to me before leaving home, that we might could go by the factory, pick up our new cooling unit there, and not leave until we knew it was working correctly. When I mentioned that to the sales guy, he said that was a great idea, and that the owner of the company would actually install it for me. That clinched the deal; it was off to Shipshewana for a new cooling unit and a counter-clockwise Lake Michigan circle tour. We departed Batesville IN and TT Indian Lakes early Wednesday morning for a 230 mile dash to Shipshewana in northern Indiana.

Franklin Reunion Linville Falls NC

Since we were already delayed for our fall trip because of jury duty, The Great Driveway Project and our yard sale, we had decided to stay home long enough to attend the annual Franklin Reunion in Linville Falls. The reunion is always held the 2nd Saturday in August and is a gathering of the descendants of Samuel and Dorcas Franklin. Samuel Franklin is my great, great, great, great grandfather. Samuel Franklin's father was James Franklin, Ben Franklin's older brother. It is ironic that granddaddy Sam and I both hooked up with gals named Dorcas. As far as I know there are no direct descendants named Dorcas. I have always been thanked by the clan for bringing another Dorcas back into the family.

We took the motor home up on Friday and parked at the Linville Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Ironically the Franklin family used to own the land where the campground and the Falls are. Many of my kin still live and own much of the land around the community of Linville Falls.

My brother Ran had been waffling all week about coming to the reunion. It is about 4 hours for him to drive one way, no one else in his family wanted to come, and he had to be back for church service Sunday morning. I told him that if he came he could sleep in the coach (a rare honor; we have never before let anyone else sleep in the coach!), we would grill him a rib eye and he could have all the beer, wine, whiskey and rum he wanted. He doesn't often have a chance to drink and carry on with none of his family present, so maybe that's what hooked him. He came on up arriving Friday evening just in time for dinner. We built a fire and enjoyed some refreshing cool mountain air. It was a stark contrast from the weather we have seen in Winston-Salem the last 2 months.

The next morning we gathered at the Linville Falls Community Church for programs, singing, entertainment and finally ... great food. We talked with cousins and uncles and others that were related in other unknown ways. Many said how they missed my mother, who had attended the reunion last year. I told them she was here in spirit this year. Mom had willed a very nice hand carved wooden Franklin coat of arms to the family, and it was on display along with many family artifacts. The coat of arms contained the Franklin family motto: "Our humility is surpassed only by our beauty and our intelligence". Or at least that's the way I translate it. I did earn a "C" in high school Latin, you know. After the reunion ended we visited with some immediate family at my Aunt Ruth's house at Land Harbor. This photo is of some first cousins. Note the family resemblance.

This reunion actually represents the beginning of our annual summer/fall trip to the upper Midwest and to Minnesota and the BWCAW. We will not be returning home until about the 2nd week in October. Bon voyage.

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

Once again I have found myself hopelessly behind in updating this journal. Here is an attempt to get caught up in one fell swoop. This is the tale of how we spent our summer vacation.

Missouri River Camping

Faithful readers last found us in mid April preparing to put-in on several rivers in southeast Missouri for extended camping trips. We did paddle four days and three nights on the Eleven Point River in the Mark Twain National Forest. After taking off the Eleven Point we drove to Van Buren MO and camped a night at the developed camp ground at Big Spring. Then we bought ice and groceries and put in for seven days on the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The water was relatively high, so we were able to put-in on the Prongs section of the Jack’s Fork River and paddled until the Jack’s Fork converged with the Current River. We spent 7 days and 6 nights on the river, taking out at Big Spring. It was a very nice float. The flow was less than it was when we were there three years ago, but it was a very nice level. The weather was very nice for both trips. The temperatures were mild, and we only had some light rain at one camp. We enjoyed the company of our fellow trippers: Wayne and Lynda and Harry. For those who would like to read more here is Wayne's account of the trip.

Hanging Rock State Park

From May 12 -17 we were camped at Hanging Rock State Park, attending the annual spring gathering there of the Lumber River Canoe Club. Hanging Rock State Park is one of the finest state parks in NC and is only 30 miles from our house. For the next four days we paddled successive sections of the Dan River. The Dan River is a jewel among Piedmont rivers, and we always enjoy paddling there. It has enough riffles and obstacles to be interesting and requires some maneuvering. It has outstanding views with high bluffs and thick rhododendron banks. We enjoyed good food and outstanding companionship with our friends in the Lumber River Canoe Club. Don Meece wrote a detailed report on the trip.


Down East NC and Lighthouse Tour

On May 27 we departed for a few weeks in down east North Carolina and the outer banks. Our primary objective was to attend a rally of the Southeast Country Coachers on Hatteras Island. Prior to the rally, SECC club members John and Lillian invited all rally attendees to visit and stay at their farm in Aurora prior to the rally. We ended up staying 7 nights at Old Hole RV Park, their private 15-site park, which is only available to friends. We very much enjoyed their hospitality. During our stay they hosted a spaghetti dinner, a pig pickin', a fish fry and a brisket dinner. The nights when there weren't fancy cookouts there were plenty of leftovers. Our stay there coincided with the Aurora Fossil Festival. Aurora is home to PCS, a huge phosphate mining and processing operation. The mine produces ore which is rich in fossils, particularly sharks teeth. Fossil hunting is not currently allowed in the mine, but PCS trucks over loads of ore to the festival site so people can dig through them looking for fossils. They also offer bus tours through their mining and manufacturing facility. I particularly enjoyed the plant tour, because I had heard a lot about PCS during my Air Quality career. They have a number of acid production plants and at one time were one of the largest polluters in the state. They also had the dubious distinction of being the most highly fined facilities in the state. Perhaps things may have improved since then. Most of the people in Aurora are dependent on the mine either directly or indirectly. I learned quickly not to tell folks that I used to work as an air quality regulator for the state. While staying at the "Old Hole" we made several side trips. One day we took the ferry across the Pamlico River and explored historic Bath, North Carolina's oldest town. On another day we drove to little Washington and visited with our friends Dave and Audrey. But mostly we just hung around the "Old Hole" and took it easy, listening to the juke box and enjoying the company sitting in the rockers on the front porch.

Finally we left the Old Hole and drove to Hatteras Island where we stayed 3 nights at Camp Hatteras in Rodanthe. We were camped on the sound side, and it was very hot and windy during our entire stay. There were about 20 other Country Coaches at the rally, and we enjoyed meals and happy hour with our motor home friends each evening. One night the club hosted a fish fry in the rally hall. On the next night we had an old fashioned weenie roast over a wood fire on the beach. It was very quaint and nostalgic. During the days we explored the OBX, mostly the parts south of our camp. We visited Cape Hatteras and climbed the lighthouse tower. There we saw a very interesting video showing the moving of the lighthouse almost 1/2 mile to it's current location. We also took the ferry to Ocracoke, where we walked around the island and visited the Ocracoke lighthouse, which is now open to visitors. We enjoyed a crab cake sandwich and a brew on the waterfront deck at the Jolly Roger Pub.

After the rally we moved about 15 miles north and stayed 4 nights at the National Park Service CG at Oregon Inlet. That CG has no hookups, and we were able to benefit from our solar array. From there we spent the days primarily exploring the OBX north of that point. We visited the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island and the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk. One day we drove as far north as NC 12 goes up the OBX to Corolla. There we climbed the Currituck Beach lighthouse. Finally, in order to celebrate the high winds that we had been enjoying, I bought a new stunt kite, a Prism Quantum, at Kitty Hawk Kites. I had bought a Trilby triple-ganged stunt many years ago and had been flying it some on this trip, but the Prism is a whole different animal. This video shows some stunts that Prism kites can do, and it is extremely impressive. I can do some pretty basic stuff, like loops, stalls and landings that are not quite crash-and-burns, but nothing like the stunts in this video. Check it out!

Finally, we visited the Bodie Island lighthouse, but learned it was closed for renovations, and we could not climb it. This put only a small damper on our quest to climb all the lighthouses on the OBX. Actually it was interesting to see it shrouded in scaffolding and canvas and to listen to the wind whistle and scream through the scaffolding. We'll catch it next time.

Lumber River Camp Out

The Lumber River Canoe Club is a very active club with trips scheduled practically every weekend. A traditional annual trip is the overnight trip from Fair Bluff NC to Nichols SC each July. Some years we make this trip and some we don't. This year we were able to make it. The only bad thing about this trip is that we need to meet for the shuttle at 9:00 am on Saturday, which means we have to get up about 4:30 am. That's right 4:30, in the morning. That usually means we can't party very hard on Saturday night. We had a very pleasant paddle punctuated with frequent swim breaks. The highlight of the trip was Don's new antique wood and canvas canoe. Don bought this canoe a few months ago and had paddled it on some day trips, but not on an over-nighter. At some point early on Saturday he hit a submerged cypress knee and poked a hole in the bottom of the boat, whereupon it started leaking like a sieve. Don is a trooper. He borrowed a bilge pump from one of the kayakers and started bailing. I think he will be looking for someone qualified to replace the canvas skin on the outside of the hull.

We camped at a large shaded sand bar on river left fondly known as "The Oasis" about half way between the state line and Nichols. There was an intense but brief shower shortly after we arrived, which helped cool things down a bit. There was more swimming, an extended happy hour and a shared meal consisting of heavy hors d'ouevres. Dorcas and I, as well as many other of the old folks, crashed early and slept soundly. Sunday morning we cooked a hearty round of breakfast burritos, a riverside standard. The paddle to Rice Field Cove Landing near Nichols was slow and easy, with more frequent swim breaks. On the drive home we enjoyed another tradition: dinner at Skipper's Seafood near Thomasville with our friends Wayne and Lynda. Here is Don's account of the trip.

Home Stuff

In between these trips we did a number of projects around the house and I discharged one civic responsibility. In years past by mid-July we would have already departed for our annual trek to the upper Midwest and Minnesota. This year however, I was summoned for jury duty on July 26. Bummer. I had been summoned earlier last year for a date when we were to be in the Florida Keys. I wrote a very nice letter to the clerk explaining our travel plans and our reservations and suggested a specific 3-week period which would be perfect and not interfere with any travel arrangements. They did postpone my jury service, but ignored my specific window and assigned me a totally random date. Luckily that date did not conflict with any plans. It turns out that my number was not called that time,and I didn't have to report to the court house. This time I figured if I tried to change the date I could end up with a worse conflict and decided to just roll with it. This time I did have to report. There were three jury trials scheduled that day. After sitting all morning and then going to lunch, about half of the pool (not me!) was called away for one of the trials. They never came back, so I don't know what happened with them. About 4:00 PM they said the other two cases had been resolved and we were dismissed. About a week later I got my check for $12.00. Such is our system of juris prudence.

Another project that has occupied much of our summer is our yard sale. To put it bluntly: our house is a mess. Dorcas and I are both hopeless pack rats. It runs in both our families and we have never been able to overcome it. We have stuff in boxes from when we combined our households more than 10 years ago. We have stuff in boxes from our offices when we each retired. We have stuff in boxes from each of our parents houses and my grandmother's house after they passed. Etc., etc., etc. So, we decided we had to do something. I am reluctant to just throw something away if it has some value. We donated some clothes and other items to charitable organizations, but we decided we would also have a yard sale. All summer we have been going through boxes, closets and drawers; pulling stuff out of the rafters and off the shelves in the basement and staging stuff in the basement for a sale. We scheduled the sale for Friday and Saturday Aug 6 & 7. We advertised in the paper and on Craigs list and put signs and balloons out on the road. We had the sale on our new concrete driveway (more about that later), which was perfect. Our road is a narrow dead-end road with little parking, but somehow most of Forsyth County came down our road and looked at our junk. It was a lot of work, but we pulled it off, unloading at least all the major/big items. We had a lot of traffic and cleared a little over $900. We certainly haven't solved the junk problem in our house, but we made some serious headway. Whew! I'm glad that's over! After we cleaned up on Saturday our friends Wayne and Lynda came over. We then dined at Foothills Brewing, had a few brews and attended a Winston-Salem Dash baseball game. The home team won. Life is good.

Motor Home Maintenance and Repairs

The tires on the coach were manufactured in Oct 2003. Motor home tires usually "age out" before the tread wears out. Conventional wisdom suggests tires should be replaced every 5-7 years, although there is a great deal of controversy and disagreement on this point. Some say you are courting certain death if you go over 5 years. Others say they have run their tires 10 years or more and to change them simply because they have a birthday is wasteful. The manufacturers waffle on the point but do suggest internal inspections of the side wall after about 7 years. In any case my tires are almost 7 years old. All my friends with 2004 coaches have just had their tires replaced, so I figured it was my time. Besides, my right steer tire had recently shown some abnormal and very serious wear on the outside corner. I called Bill Plemmons, the big RV dealer in town, and asked for their recommendation for a tire dealer and an alignment shop. They suggested Stokes Tire in King and Auto Spring Company in Winston-Salem. After long consideration I had already decided I wanted the same model tires that were on the coach now. This was unfortunate, because that is not a common tire and Stokes Tire had difficulty locating a set, at least from a distributor who could get it here within a week. I was in a bit of a time crunch with our upcoming trip. Stokes Tire finally located 6 tires, but they were not as fresh as I would have liked; in fact were not as fresh as he had promised when I ordered them. Two were manufactured in March 2009 and four were manufactured in October 2009. I really didn't want to buy stale tires, because they would have to be replaced again that much sooner (remember the 7 year rule?) But I had no choice if I wanted that model and wanted them before I left on my trip. So I took the coach to King to have them installed. I have never watched them install large truck tires. I don't know if they do it this way everywhere, but here it was a manual process. The coach was jacked at one wheel position and that wheel was removed. The tire was then removed and re-installed manually, meaning laying the wheel on the pavement and using tire bars and no iron tire machine. They could not spin balance tires of that size so they put a granular beads in each tire which will distribute as the tire rolls and provide balance. This process was repeated for each of the 6 wheels and took about 4 hours. I also had the brakes inspected while the wheels were off. They looked like brand new. The coach is equipped with an engine compression brake, or Jake brake, so the service brakes get very little wear. I won't say here how much the set of new tires cost, but it hurt. It hurt a lot.

A few days after installing the tires I went to Auto Spring Co. for an alignment. At Auto Spring Co they align wheels manually, the old fashioned way, rather than using a computerized machine. My coach has independent front suspension (IFS) and the camber, castor and toe-in are all adjustable. The guy put a device on each wheel with level bubbles and checked the camber and castor. He used a rod to set the toe-in, measuring the distance between each tire. It turned out that the castor on the right front was off by 7/8", which explained the sever tire wear I had recently seen.

I changed the oil and filter on the engine, an annual project. This task is not too difficult but it is rather messy. The crankcase and the filter hold about 27 quarts. I have made the job easier by replacing the oil pan drain plug with a valve so that I can easily stop the draining oil and empty my pan. Perhaps the hardest part is filling the engine with the fresh oil. There is very little clearance between the oil fill and the top of the engine compartment, such that you can't simple pour the oil in from the bottle. I devised a funnel with a long hose, and stand on a ladder. That seems to work pretty well.

I have had problems with my refrigerator seemingly since we got the coach almost four years ago. In February 2009 the cooling unit blew out, releasing its pressurized contents and rendering the fridge useless. This failure was caused by the manufacturer using steel tubing that was too thin and which would fail after a number of heat cycles. It was the subject of a recall, but the recall did not fix the underlying problem. It simply installed a plate to separate the explosive gas that would ultimately be released from the LP burner, so that when it did fail, it would (hopefully) not burn down the coach. Mine failed and I replaced the cooling unit myself with an aftermarket unit. It seemed to work fine for a while, but during the last 8-10 months it has cooled erratically, cooling normally for about a week, then soaring into the mid 50 degree range for a while, then cooling again. After much research and discussion with technicians, including the one who sold me the cooling unit, it was determined that this cooling unit had now failed. The cooling unit was still under warranty and the company agreed to ship me a replacement. The problem was that they were out of stock, and they could not deliver before my Midwest trip. CRAP! They offered to send me a similar rebuilt unit to install and use until I returned, after which they would send me a new unit like the one I had bought originally. This would give me a working fridge for my trip, but would mean I would have to change out the cooling unit twice. An all-day job for me and not fun. But I didn't have much choice, so they sent me the rebuilt unit and I installed. it. It worked for about a day then began to not cool so good. After monitoring its performance for a few days and trying a few tricks suggested by the dealer, he determined that that unit was defective too. So now I am days away from leaving on a 10 week trip, I've spent dozens of hours messing with it and I still don't have a working fridge. We have no choice but to leave home with a large cooler packed with ice food, and try to have a new unit shipped to us somewhere on the road. Oh the joys of RV ownership! This story will be continued ....

The Taj Mahal Driveway Project 2010

We bought a 25' travel trailer in 2000 and started practicing for retirement. I realized after backing the trailer down my steep driveway and around a sharp 90 degree bend and the lower corner of the house the first time, that I never wanted to do again. It was too stressful for Dorcas, who was the recipient of my irate rants as she tried to keep me from hitting a tree or the house. Soon I hired a guy with a Bobcat to cut a loop around the west side of the house back to the street, making for a complete circular driveway around the house. I put down several loads of gravel. but never really finished it. It wasn't perfect, but it was functional. One problem was that it was narrow, uneven and held water. It wasn't really a suitable place to park the coach. Consequently I usually parked the coach behind the house on the old driveway. That meant it was difficult to get the cars into the garage (notwithstanding all the crap in the garage where the cars would normally be parked; see topic above). And I still couldn't drive all the way around the circle because there would be the coach or another vehicle blocking the way. It was kinda like one of those little tile puzzles where you have move the tiles around in a frame to get them all in a certain position. It was also just unfinished. It looked bad, and I had plans in my head that would make it so much nicer.

So, after procrastinating many years, Dorcas and I decided to bite the bullet and finish The Driveway. We would smooth out the vertical transition as it rises to the street, pour a wide level pad at the bottom and build a decorative retaining wall on the bank next to the house. Folks who know me also know that when I undertake a project such as this, I tend to go all out and don't take any shortcuts. So it was with The Driveway. We ended up pouring 54 cubic yards of 3500 psi concrete, 6" thick with 1/2" re-bar on 12" center. As they say in the trade you only get one chance when you pour concrete. We put 48' of 15" reinforced concrete pipe under the driveway below the path where the gravel always washed out, with a formed concrete catch basin and cast iron grate. The lower pad is level, 24' wide and 35' long (short edge) to 45' long (long edge). It is wide enough to park the coach on one side and drive another large vehicle around it. In fact, I made the pad wide enough to park 2 motor homes side by side. We are also good if we upgrade to 45' motor home (heaven forbid!). I have also installed PVC conduits under the concrete for an electrical service panel and a gutter pipe. We included 5' stamped concrete aprons at the edge of the road at both the new and old sections of the driveway. There is a decorative stacked block retaining wall on the bank between the pad and the house, with block steps up to the front yard. Most of the grading and forming was done by a contractor, but I put in a fair bit of sweat equity. The wall, however, that was all me. It was very hot and humid and the blocks weighed more than 60 pounds each. Seldom could a block be set without moving it several more times before it was right. This was certainly the most difficult home improvement project I have ever undertaken; much more difficult than our painting project last year. Perhaps I'm just getting old.

All in all it came out extremely well. The steps are only half completed, I haven't completed all the final grading and I haven't wired my electrical pedestal. In October we will plant some new grass, ground cover and some shrubbery. I expect the last 10% of the project will probably take another year to complete. But it's looking nice!