Thousand Trails St. Clair MI

On Sunday we left Bowling Green and drove about 130 miles north, through the center of Detroit, to Thousand Trails, St. Clair MI. The park was less than 1/2 full, and we found a nice site in the shade. Actually, it turns out we didn't need to be in the shade. It has been unseasonably cool up here. Daytime temps have rarely exceeded the upper 70s. In the evenings it is in the low 60s with a few 50s thrown in. Our TV reception here is poor. Actually the only stations we can get consistently are three Canadian stations broadcasting an analog signal. The Canadians are talking about their lost summer; it's August and time for the the temps to start dropping and it never really got hot here this summer. Hey, I'll take it. Cellular reception here also sucks. We are down the hill and typically get less than 1 bar on our phones and air card, even though we are less that 1/2 mile from the interstate, where reception is usually acceptable. However, with our new Wilson Electronics amplifier/repeater we are seeing full strength. That purchase seems to be paying off. The real test for the amp may be when we get to Fall Lake outside Ely MN.

On Tuesday we visited Port Huron. Port Huron is at the southern end of Lake Huron on the St. Clair River. Every freighter coming from the upper Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan and Huron) passes Port Huron. The Great Lakes Maritime Center is located on the St Clair and boatnerd.com tracks all the freighters in the area. You can view their location on a big-screen monitor, and they make an announcement over the PA when it passes, giving its name and vitals. This is a great place to just hang out and watch the world go by. Later we boarded the Blue Water Trolley for a 60 minute tour of Port Huron. The trolley was nearly empty, so the driver let Matilda ride. The trolley is a great bargain: 10 cents each for a one-hour tour. Matilda rode for free. Finally we did some shopping. We bought some groceries at Wal-Mart, some cabinet hardware at The Home Depot, more hardware at Harbor Freight tools and just did some window shopping at Gander Mountain.

We plan to stay at Thousand Trails St. Clair until Tuesday and then travel diagonally north and west across Michigan to the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore area.

Cleveland Rocks!!!

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside
There behind a glass stands a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along, move along

from Karn Evil 9
Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield

We had to be off the grounds at Bowling Green State University by Friday noon, but wanted to stay in the area for a few more days. Our best option was to move about 4 miles to the Woods County Fairgrounds. They offered 30A electric and water for $10/night, a very good deal. We had to be out of the fairgrounds by Sunday, because they were going to start mowing and prepping for their county fair, but that was fine with us. We signed on for two nights. There were a number of other folks there from the FMCA convention. Matilda became friends with Max, a border collie parked across the way. Max was an incessant ball-chaser, much like Matilda's friend from home, Sunshine.

The two things we really wanted to do were to drive to Cleveland and 1) catch an Indians game and 2) see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, the Indians were on a long road trip, so that was out. I was only a little disappointed. I am a die-hard rock and roller, and that meant we could spend the whole day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. We arrived shortly before noon and had until closing time at 9:00 pm to see it all. That just wasn't enough time! The Hall is crammed full of artifacts and memorabilia from Rock and Roll's all time greatest stars. In addition to R&R performers, it also honored early influences, who didn't play R&R, but played blues, jazz, gospel and country music, that contributed to the birth of R&R. It also honored many behind-the-scenes non-performing forces that shaped R&R. The artifacts included guitars, costumes, set lists, hand-written original compositions and personal articles from hundreds of performers. Want to see the jacket Michael Jackson wore in the Thriller video? How about a guitar smashed on-stage by Pete Townsend (actually these are pretty common)? How about a white fur drum set from ZZ Top? Or the jacket John Lennon wore on the cover photo for the St. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band album?. All that and more! A Cadillac owned by Elvis Presley. A Corvette owned by Bruce Springsteen. A piece of the fuselage from the plane Otis Redding died in. In addition to exhibits on specific artists, there were a series of exhibits on places around the world where R&R grew up. Haight-Ashbury/San Francisco, Motown, Woodstock, Liverpool, Seattle grunge, California beach and folk rock, etc. It's all here.

Dorcas gave me a Sirius satellite receiver for Christmas a few years ago, and I am hooked on Sirius radio. We have a mount in all of our vehicles, as well as a portable boom box receiver in the coach so all our RV neighbors can enjoy it too. Sirius transmits about 20 rock channels as well as another 20 or so pop and blues channels. Not to mention the country and rockabilly. Heaven! Sirius has a broadcast booth at the Hall and broadcasts several shows a week live from the Hall. When we were there Norn N. Nite was broadcasting his 50's show on Sirius channel 5. If you had been listening to Sirius 50s on 5 at 4:14 pm EDT on Saturday July 25, you would have heard Norm N. Nite send a coast-to-coast dedication to "Dorcas from Winston-Salem North Carolina". Does it get any cooler than this?

I highly recommend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you're ever in Cleveland, check it out. Plan to spend the whole day. If you're a R&R nut like me, plan to spend two days.

Quote of the Week

"Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill, but since we're on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride".

The Secret Of Life
James Taylor, North Carolina native and 2000 Inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Convening In Bowling Green OH

We have been attending the FMCA's 82nd international Convention at Bowling Green in northwest OH. Faithful readers will remember that Dorcas and I really enjoy attending FMCA's big rallies. There are hundreds of interesting and informative seminars as well as hundreds of vendors selling all kinds of neat stuff. We also meet many old friends. This year I am representing our local FMCA chapter, the Country Cousins, as a National Director. This means I had to attend the annual business meeting and election of our national officers. They told me this would be a piece of cake. They lied. On Sunday, the day before the annual meeting we were in meetings all day learning how to behave as National Directors, how the voting would be conducted and attending a candidate's forum. The annual meeting began Monday morning at 9:00 am. Due to some contentious budget issues and a hotly contested election, the meeting did not end until 8:30 pm. A piece of cake indeed.

The rally is being held on the campus of Bowling Green State University, which is a very nice venue. The seminar halls had excellent audio/visual facilities and were very comfortable. This is in stark contrast to previous conventions which are usually held at fairgrounds and other agricultural venues, where seminars are held in cattle barns or open tents. It rained a few days, but generally the weather has been very nice and unseasonably cool. Bowling Green is a fairly typical college town featuring a number of interesting bars and food joints. One interesting note is that Bowling Green built a small wind turbine farm, with enough capacity to power about 3000 homes, one of few such municipal ventures in the country.

As usual, we spent some money at the rally:

• I replaced our broken LP detector there. Before leaving home I learned we had no propane pressure in the coach. Upon investigation I found my LP detector had failed. The LP detector controls the LP tank valve such that when the sensor sniff propane in the house, or when the the detector is turned off, or (apparently) when the unit fails, it closes the valve and turns off the LP at the tank. I was able to bypass the detector and hot-wire the valve before we left home, allowing me to run the fridge, but I didn't want to delay replacing the detector. I soon learned that the detector manufacturer had gone out of business, and that unit was no longer available anywhere. Luckily, and mostly by accident, I found perhaps the only unit in the world that was still available. A guy that installs custom fire suppression systems in motor homes, and uses the device in his installations, had one unit and agreed to sell it to me, in spite of the fact that he had no other source to replace it. By the end of the show, at least one other customer was trying to buy it, but it was promised to me and I grabbed it up. I installed it and it works like a charm. The vendor took my old unit. He plans to pirate the design and perhaps manufacture his own units.
• We use a cellular air card for internet service when we are not near free WiFi. Sometimes we find ourselves way out in the boonies where cell service is poor or nonexistent. Several vendors were selling cellular amplifier/repeater systems by Wilson Electronics to boost cell signals. So, we bit the bullet and bought one. The system consists of an outside antenna, a powered amplifier and an inside antenna, which re-broadcasts the amplified signal wirelessly to the cell phone and/or air card. Pretty nifty since you are not tethered to the amplifier. The inside antenna is affectionately called a "candy bar" because it is about the size, shape and color of a 2.5 oz. Hershey dark chocolate bar. The system was a little pricey and we fretted a bit before buying it, but we think it will be worthwhile and will nicely supplement our Verizon air card and CradlePoint broadband wireless router. Ah ... all the conveniences of home.
• We also bought a 22' telescoping fiberglass pole. Dorcas thinks we bought it to fly her wind socks, but really it will be used primarily as a mast for our new cellular antenna.
• Finally we had our hydronic heat system serviced. Our coach is equipped with a fairly sophisticated "boiler" which provides comfort heat, domestic hot water and engine pre-heating. The unit is powered by a diesel burner, a 120v electric element and/or hot coolant from the engine. We had a technician replace the diesel burner nozzle and fuel filter and clean the burner chamber. He also replaced a poorly designed plastic drain valve with a brass valve. The plastic valve is prone to cracking, causing all your coolant to run out. Not good.

The final tally showed there were 2725 coaches at the convention. This figure is down from the 4000-5000 coaches that usually came before the recent economic downturn. The next two international conventions are in Albuquerque NM in March and Redmond OR in August. We may not make those .... or maybe we can catch Redmond on our way back from Alaska?

Rallies are such hard work. Between the annual business meetings, business pre-meetings, seminars, service calls and shopping, it seems we had little time for fun and relaxation. Well, now the convention is over, and we can begin our summer adventure in earnest.

Daddy's Got a New Pair of Eyes

I have been resisting getting eyeglasses for some time. I have used readers more and more often over the last few years, but my far vision was still pretty good. At least the NC DMV thought so when they issued my license to drive the big rig in December. However, I have seen further deterioration in both my near and far vision, to the extent I was really starting to have problems seeing well, particularly if the object was closer than 3' or further than 4' away. When I went in for my annual retinopathic exam in May, I also had a full vision exam. The doctor. was amazed that I hadn't gotten glasses before.

So, I took the prescription and got my glasses. They do help my vision, but I really don't like wearing them. I guess it just takes getting used to. I feel sorta like those little Geico eyeballs that keep following everybody around on TV. I got the lined bi-focals and am starting to think I should have gotten a progressive bi-focal. Oh well. We'll see.

Wow, I can actually read that road sign!

On the Road Again .... Again

We really wanted to leave home for our summer trip today, but with our painting and repair projects we weren't sure we would make it. We could wait and leave on Saturday, but we needed to be in NW Ohio early on Sunday morning and didn't want to push it. Finally, we decided we would quit painting Thursday night, finished or not, and pack and leave on Friday. While we didn't finish completely, it was close enough; the rest can wait until October.

This morning we began packing for our three month summer trip. I mean, we hadn't packed anything! We finally hit the road at 7:00 PM, well after the Friday rush hour. We drove until about 11:00 PM and are spending the night at the Tamarack Center in Beckley WV, where they allow RVs to park overnight in a dedicated section of their parking lot. Tomorrow we will continue north to Bowling Green OH and attend the FMCA convention. After that we will move further north to Thousand Trails in St. Clair MI. After that we are not sure where we are going. We will ultimately land in Ely MN near the end of August for our annual Boundary Waters canoe trip, however our route there is uncertain. We will probably spend time in northwest Michigan and Michigan's Upper Penisula. We may loop through Ontario and travel the north shore of Lake Superior through Canada. We will regroup and make a plan after the FMCA convention. We will take out from our Boundary Waters trip in mid-September. After that we will make a decision where to go and when to come home. Where we go in September and October will likely depend on where all we get to in July and August. We will likely arrive home in the first or second week of October. Ours is an unstructured life on the road.

Home Improvements

Our house was built in 1983. I have lived in it since 1986. The house was built by Bill Pope, a builder whose company builds primarily commercial buildings. Bill built the house for himself, but while building the house added on many extras and features and drove the cost higher than he had intended. So, after living in the house for three years, Bill decided to sell the house to cut his losses. "Overkill Bill", as he is known around town, typically builds structures which are over-engineered and over-built, as in the case of my house. For example, the footings are extra deep and wide and have steel reinforcing; the basement has eight feet of clearance throughout its 2000 square feet; the roofing was a 40 year shingle by Byrd, the best in the industry (now out of business); the windows, hardware and fixtures were top quality; etc. Because of the quality of the construction and materials, I have had to do very little maintenance or repairs to the house. The roof, exterior paint and one of the heat pumps are all original.

But alas, all good things must end. The roof was showing some serious damage on the south side. On the north side there was a serious crop of moss flourishing. It wasn't leaking yet, but no doubt it would be soon. Also, the paint was blistering, cracking and peeling in a number of places, particularly on the south side. I was beginning to see some water damage on the windows, the wood sash on the bay window was completely rotted, and sections of the garage doors were rotted. One section of gutter was leaking and hanging limp and water was running down the fascia behind the gutter. It was time to take action. With a little over two weeks before our next long trip and fair weather in the forecast, Dorcas and I tore into it. To make a very long story short, over the past two weeks Dorcas and I prepped, caulked and painted the exterior of the house, had a new roof installed, had 34' of new gutter installed and re-built the sill on the bay window. There was one section of eave on the west side of the house that I could not reach with my 24' extension ladder (thankfully!!!!). It turns out there was a professional painter working up the street on my neighbor's house. He gave me about five hours of time, at a very reasonable rate, and painted that high eave and a few other tough spots.

It was a very productive two weeks. The neighbors watched us working so long and so hard, they figured we were selling the house. Maybe we should sell it, but we aren't ready just quite yet. At least now we can travel and not worry about continuing water damage. I think when I have to do it again, I may hire that professional painter to do the whole job. Life is too short to scrape paint.

Baby's Got a New Set of Wheels

Wow, two posts in less than nine hours! I don't know what's gotten into me...

Actually, I forgot to mention that Dorcas has a new bike. Well, technically, it's not a bike it's a trike. We observed while traveling in Florida that recumbent bikes and recumbent trikes are very popular. That's probably due to the flat terrain, abundant paved trails, and all the geezers riding them. Dorcas' friend Audrey recently bought a Catrike. Catrikes are manufactured in Winter Garden, FL where we spend a great deal of time. We both demoed several of the trikes while we were there this past winter. The trikes are very comfortable and Audrey assured Dorcas she did not have a sore bottom, back, hands or neck from long rides. Dorcas has never really been comfortable on an upright bike and decided she really, really, NEEDED a trike. So, she ordered a Catrike Villager before we left for Arkansas and picked it up Saturday. It wasn't cheap, but now I don't have to worry about her falling over on her head. In preparation for the C & O trip, we spent this week getting it set up with luggage rack, panniers, flag, computer, flashers, bells and whistles. The real trick is hauling it. It will fit inside the Element but there's room for nothing else. For this trip we are hauling it on the roof rack and that seems to be working well (as we currently rip through Roanoke, VA on I81 at 65 mph). The real challenge will be on future adventures when we want to haul my conventional bike, a canoe and the trike on top of the Element. I expect we will look like the Clampetts moving out of Arkansas to Beverly Hills. If anybody has ideas for hauling, I'm open to suggestions.

In the meantime, I have made changes to the way I haul camping gear on my own bike. Previously, I used front and rear panniers. For this trip I purchased a B.O.B trailer. The B.O.B is advantageous because it takes weight off the bike and lowers the center of gravity. Also, it is easier to pack gear into one big vessel than into four little vessels. The luggage rack I use with panniers is a specialized rack purchased to accommodate the rear disc brake. The problem is, the hitch for the B.O.B. would not fit with the special luggage rack. My options were to remove either the luggage rack, the B.O.B. or the rear brake. After serious consideration, I decided to remove the rear brake. However, Dorcas convinced me that would be unwise. After further consideration, Dorcas agreed to carry my larger pannier set so, I jettisoned the rear rack and am carrying all my eggs in the B.O.B. basket. We'll see how that all works out.. Pictures at 11.

This is our first long trip without Matilda, so Dorcas is a little mopey. We left Matilda with friends, and she will probably have more fun than we will. She is staying with her two best puppy friends and her veterinarian on a nine acre fenced playground. Puppy heaven.

OK, this really is my last post for a while. Talk to you in June.

They're Baaaaaack!!!

Faithful readers (if I have any left) will realize I have been grossly delinquent updating this journal. For this I apologize and promise to try to do better in the future. When I started this journal almost two years ago, it was very easy to write since everything we did and everyplace we went was new and exciting. Now, after traveling about 8 months per year for the last two years, it is not as new and exciting as it once was. Don't misunderstand, it's still wonderful to go to fabulous places and do fun things, but it has become more of a way of life and less something new and different. Consequently, it is harder to write about our adventures with the same fresh outlook. However, I have received feedback from at least one reader (who is still of the working class and very envious of our travels) that even a mundane report is appreciated, and it is missed when I don't write. So, I will strive to write more often, and to make these reports as interesting and entertaining as I can. Please post comments; it is motivating to know that you are out there.

For the Reader's Digest condensed version of our Spring Loop: We arrived home on Monday May 11 at 1:00. We had a doctor's appointment at 1:30. As you can see we are always reluctant to come home and usually wait until the last minute. After leaving northern Arkansas and the Buffalo River area we spent two nights at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. After that we spent two nights on the Natchez Trace Parkway and explored Vicksburg National Military Park. From there we continued south to Gulf Shores AL to attend a Country Coach rally. Finally, we spent a week at Grayton Beach State Park on the Florida panhandle with friends from home. While there we enjoyed the beach and paddled several very nice creeks. We were away from home about a month and had a very nice trip.

Tomorrow we leave for another adventure. We are bike-camping on the C&O Canal National Historical Park. We will put in at Cumberland MD and pedal 185 miles along the Potomac River to Washington DC. Then we will u-turn and return to Cumberland. We will be carrying all our camping gear and much of our food and will be staying in campsites along the trail. We expect to be out 12 days. I will not carry a PC, so it will be a while before I can write (what else is new???). I do promise to write when we return.

Bon voyage.

Buffalo River Trip Wrap-up

We completed our canoe camping trip on the Buffalo River this afternoon. We actually took off the river one day ahead of schedule. Unlike last year, when we took off two days ahead of schedule and 33 miles before our intended take-out due to dangerously high and rising river levels, this year we completed our 126 mile trip. Good flow and ideal water levels allowed us to complete our trip from Ponca to Buffalo City in 9 days rather than the 10 days we had originally allowed. We typically paddled 15+ miles a day breaking camp about 10:00 and stopping about 3:00 on a beautiful gravel bar across from a towering bluff. The trip was largely uneventful; just a great float trip! The first third of the trip showed falling water levels and cooler than normal weather. During the middle part of the trip we got some rain and the river rose a bit. Near the end of the trip it turned warmer and the river levels dropped back to more normal levels.

We saw a wide assortment of wildlife. We saw the usual river-side birds as well as bald eagles and ospreys. We saw snakes and otters. The fishing was a little slow, but we managed to take a few smallmouth bass each day. In the small-world department, we ran into a fellow on the river from Mississippi near where my mother lived and we had many common acquaintances. He knew my mother's husband and his family very well.

After taking off at Riley's Landing in Buffalo City on the White River, Wayne, Lynda and Harry departed for NC. Dorcas and I retrieved the motor home, which was parked at Wild Bill's house, and moved a few miles down the hill to the federal campground at Buffalo Point. There we dried out all our gear and packed away the camping gear we would not use on the remainder of our trip. Tomorrow we will move south about 140 miles to Hot Springs National Park.

Buffalo National River

We left The Dell in Sevierville early this morning and drove 720 miles to Clinton Arkansas, where we are spending the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. In the morning we will drive north another 45 miles to Wild Bill's Outfitters on the Buffalo National River and meet our friends from NC. From there, Wild Bill will take us to Ponca, where we will put in for a 10-day, 135 mile float down the Buffalo River. We talked to Wild Bill's today about the river levels. The center part of the river is near flood stage and rising. Tomorrow this section of the river may be closed to boating. Luckily the level at Ponca is just right and dropping slightly, so we should be well behind the flow surge. Hopefully the river won't get much more rain in the next 10 days.

We'll be offline during our canoe trip so check back after the 23rd.

Easter in the Smokys

There is one nice thing about going to motor home shows. There are tons of resort representatives giving away coupons for free camping, usually to try to entice you to buy one of their overpriced deeded RV lots. What else would bring us to the Gatlinburg area on a holiday weekend? While at the shows in Florida, we met folks from Hidden Mountain Resort in Sevierville TN. They had just opened a new deeded RV community, The Dell, and offered us two free nights camping if we came by. It was basically on our way to the Buffalo River in Arkansas, so we thought we would check it out. It turns out to be pretty nice, although very pricey: the 18 lots run from $165K-$195K. Maybe next year.

We arrived on Saturday and did practically nothing all day, except that we did drive over to the Coleman Factory Outlet and the Great Smoky Mountain Knife Works, the "Worlds Largest Knife Store". On Easter Sunday morning we drove into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We drove through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (although we could have taken the by-pass around Gatlinburg) and traffic was amazingly light. I guess all the tourists were attending Easter church services. This area is very fascinating in a bizarre way. It is so gaudy and tacky that it is kinda neat. A nice place to pass through, but I wouldn't want to stop here. As soon as you enter the national park, it is like suddenly passing through a portal into a wholly different world: green, quiet and serene. It is ironic that this chaotic tourist mecca was created for people who come to visit the GSMNP, a totally opposite experience.

Shortly after entering the park on the Newfound Gap Road, traffic came to a halt and cars were parked in the road and on the shoulders. There we saw two black bears, a mother and cub off in the woods. After clearing the "bear jam" we drove up to Newfound Gap and to Clingman's Dome. On Clingman's Dome there were remnants of the snow that fell earlier in the week, and Matilda had her first experience playing in the snow. The views from Clingman's dome were clearer than I can recall ever seeing them before. Visibility was probably close to 100 miles. After leaving Clingman's Dome we retraced our path back down the mountain and turned towards Cade's Cove. But the day was getting late and rather than going out to Cade's Cove, we left the park at Townsend and returned to Pigeon Forge via US 321. It was a pretty nice windshield tour of America's most visited national park.

On The Road Again

We left home this morning for another excellent adventure. We are spending tonight at Mom's house and then will be working our way west across Tennessee and Arkansas. On Tuesday we will put in on the Buffalo National River in the Arkansas Ozarks for a ten-day float trip. After that we will work our way south towards Gulf Shores Alabama for a Country Coach rally, with stops at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas and Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi. Finally we will meet friends at Gryaton Beach State Park near Destin FL for a week of paddling. We will return home in about a month, just in time for a 10-day bike trip on the C&O Canal in Maryland. Life is good.

Florida Wrap-up

Another winter in Florida finished. We left home on Christmas day and returned today, just in time for four doctor's appointments scheduled the remainder of the week. It was a great trip, as usual. It was colder than during past winter trips to Florida, but it was cold everywhere else too. Better to be cool in Florida than frigid at home. We met many old friends and made several new friends.

The numbers:

Duration: 91 days
Distance: 2011 miles
Temperatures: Low 28 degrees, high 88 degrees
Number of days at Busch Gardens: four (and we have a rain check for another visit next year!)
Number of free beers at Busch Gardens: Who knows?
Number of motor home rallies and shows attended: Four
Number of days paddling: Seventeen
Cheapest Price paid for diesel: $1.769, Wal-Mart, Tifton GA, 3/15/09

Now time for a ton of home chores!

Almost Home!!!

We arrived at Mom's house yesterday afternoon. Today she has had me busy doing chores such as changing furnace filters and smoke alarm batteries. One of her filters is an unusual size: 10"x10". No one in Morganton has them in stock. Lowe's can order them, but you have to buy a case lot of 12, and it will take two weeks to get them. Being a practical kinda guy, I bought a 10"x20" and cut it in half. Two for the price of one! That seemed to work OK for now. I suggested she talk to some of her neighbors. Maybe they have some, or could go in with her on a case load.

We had hoped to visit with our friends Bob and Donna while we were here, but we learned yesterday that Bob had a heart attack on Saturday. They took him to the heart center in Charlotte on Sunday for tests and treatment, and now they have determined he will need to have bypass surgery. Our prayers go out to Bob and his family.

We will be home tomorrow. We have doctor's appointments in the afternoon and volleyball in the evening (I miss my volleyball!). I think we are ready to be home!

Spending $$$ at the Rally

We had a good time in Perry at the FMCA rally. It stopped raining sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and the sun was out for the remainder of the event. By the time we pulled out this morning the lots were dry and hard. With the sun out I could monitor the function of our new solar array. During this late winter season the sun just won't get directly overhead, but I was still seeing up to 24 amps DC, very close to the maximum output for the panels. I'm pleased.

We each attended 4-5 seminars each day on a variety of technical and educational topics. I also spent a great deal of time talking to component vendors, such as our refrigerator manufacturer, asking detailed technical questions. I scored a few free replacement parts and service. FanTastic Vent gave me a replacement switch for one of our roof-top fans. Roadmaster cleaned and lubed our tow bar and replaced a major component that was showing abnormal wear. We also spent a lot of time in the vendors booths. We bought a high quality12v portable fan, FanTastic Vent's Endless Breeze. It will be very useful for when we aren't on shore power and don't want to run the inverter. It is also very compact and easy to store. We also purchased a DeLorme PN-40 hand-held GPS. I had been wanting a good hand-held GPS for some time, but couldn't decide what to buy. I was leaning towards the DeLorme product because they have great technical support, lots of cheap or free downloadable maps, and our PC software and GPS are by DeLorme. DeLorme had a booth at the show and was offering the PN-40 for $100 off list. There was a lead technical guy at the booth, and I spent several hours talking with him. He spent time with me outdoors with my new handheld unit showing me some tricks.

We also made one major coach improvement purchase. As you know, our coach is relatively short and lacks some indoor storage features often found on larger coaches. For example, many larger coaches have a credenza on the wall behind the dinette and some sort of computer desk. We have neither. We spend a lot of time on the computer and must work with the PCs in our laps. When we need to print a document, we take the printer out of the wardrobe and set it up on the dinette table. We also have portable file boxes for our papers that we keep on the floor of the wardrobe. Not very convenient. At a rally in January we talked to Davis Cabinets a company in Oregon, specializing in cabinets for the RV industry. With the sour economy, many owners have decided to keep their coaches instead of trading up and are putting their $$$ into modifications and improvements. Just like us. For example, many coach owners are upgrading their TV cabinetry to fit new digital HD TVs. Davis Cabinets was taking orders for new cabinet projects at the Supershow in Tampa in January. They would take measurements in FL, fabricate the cabinets at their shop in Oregon, and deliver and install the cabinets at the rally in Perry GA. We decided to buy a combination dinette credenza/computer work station. On one side it would have a cabinet door and pullouts for a laptop, supplies and a printer. On the other side it would have office drawers and a lateral file drawer. In the center under the table, it would have two cabinet doors and adjustable shelves. 14" deep and almost 7' long. Davis said they could match our knobs, pulls, wood finish and Corian top. Perfect! Almost ..... After placing the order and talking with Shaun Davis a number of times over the last two months, we found he was having trouble identifying the pattern for our solid surface top. He checked sample chips from Corian, Avonite, Wilsonart, and several other manufacturers, but nothing matched. He shipped us chips, and we went to home improvement centers ourselves, but could find no exact match. He installed the cabinet on Monday, but we are currently without a top. Shaun took a sink cover representing our pattern back to Oregon with him. He is confident he can identify the pattern and ship the top to us in NC shortly. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

We moved about 200 miles north this afternoon to Fair Play, SC. We are parked at Thousand Trails Carolina Landing, on the shore of Lake Hartwell, just over the GA line. This is not the nicest of the TT parks, but is is OK for a short stop-over. Many of the sites are on hills, so level site are at premium and some are eroded. We did find a nice level site with good grass. The water level on Lake Hartwell is way down, so the dock is high and dry. We will stay here two or three nights, then drive to Morganton and spend a day or two with my mother. It's a good thing we are almost home in NC. The quart bottle of Texas Pete I packed is almost empty!

FMCA in Perry

This morning we moved about 190 miles north to the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter at Perry GA. For the next 5 days we will attend FMCA's 81st International Convention. We are dry camping here until Friday, meaning we are camping without the benefit of external electricity, water and sewer. This was to be the first real test of our new 400 watt solar array. Unfortunately, it is overcast and raining hard now and the forecast for tonight and tomorrow is for more rain. So much for any solar gain. The forecast for Wednesday through Friday is much better, so we'll see how it works then. In the meantime we will have to continue to run our generator. Dang. While, here we will attend a ton of seminars, buy a few parts and accessories from the thousands of vendors, and maybe window-shop for few new motor homes. We have one significant purchase in the wings that we are pretty excited about. I'll talk more about that and post some photos when it's completed.

The Land of the Trembling Earth

We previously belonged to a great canoe club in Florida, the Central Florida Paddlemasters. I won't go into the gory details, but, unfortunately, that club folded about two years ago. That was a bad thing, because we really liked many of the club members and paddled with them many times, including two "Week of Rivers" events where we paddled a different river or creek every day for a week. In order to fill that void, we joined the Florida Sport Paddling Club about a year and a half ago. Several former CFP members belong to the FSPC and had recommended it. Until now, we had never hooked up on a trip with the FSPC.

However, on March 11-15 we attended the FSPC Okefenokee Swamp Spring Fling at Stephen C. Foster State Park near Fargo, GA. We have camped at Stephen C. Foster State Park before, but I had forgotten how nice it was. We checked into the park on Wednesday afternoon and picked a nice grassy pull-through site. All sites have 50A electric, water and cable. If we held our mouth right we could receive the park's free wi-fi. It's a good thing too, because our Verizon air card was nearly useless that far out in the boonies. On Wednesday evening we shared a pot luck dinner with the club attendees and tried in vain to learn their names. There were about 25 folks attending the event, but by the end of the weekend we did learn most of their names.

On Thursday we paddled from the park marina northeast up Billy's Lake and then up Millie's Lake. We lunched at the Millie's Lake day-use shelter then paddled another hour towards Big Water Lake. It has been many years since we visited the Okefenokee, and I had forgotten how pretty it is. Billy's Lake is relatively wide and open. When we turned off towards Millie's Lake the channel was narrow and winding, with a distinct current. Pets are not allowed in the refuge, so this was the first time we have paddled and left Matilda behind. Just as well, since we saw many alligators.

On Friday we set out to the west and paddled to the Suwanee River "sill". The sill is an earthen dike with flood gates built in the mid 1950s to maintain a constant water level in the swamp, primarily to prevent fires. As with many of man's attempts to control nature, this was a failed experiment. The floodgates were opened and abandoned several years ago and the water in the swamp was allowed to seek its own level. We paddled through the rusted flood gates and down the Suwanee River another 2-3 miles to Lem Griffis' Landing, where we had left our cars. Dorcas and I counted alligators today, the first time we have ever attempted to make an exact count. 21 alligators today. Or 20 3/4 if you discount for "Stumpy".

On Saturday we paddled on the Suwanee River about 14 miles from Lem Griffis' Landing to Fargo. The river was low but the current was surprisingly fast. There were numerous sandbars and amazing bald cypress and tupelos. While we could have taken Matilda on this section, we chose to leave her at home. Surprisingly, we spotted not a single alligator on this run. On Saturday evening we had a Robert Service poetry reading contest. I was not previously familiar with Robert Service, although I soon realized I had heard some of his work. Robert Service is perhaps most famous for poems of men in the Yukon gold rush. We were entertained with poems and skits, with costumes and props. Great fun!

Power On !!!

I have always been intrigued by the idea of solar panels on the motor home. Our Safari TREK had a 75 watt photovoltaic panel, however, 75 watts is pretty minimal. It will maintain the battery during periods of bright sun and moderate electrical usage, but could not effectively bring the batteries up from a discharged state. Our coach has a number of "phantom" loads, that essentially cannot be turned off without cutting off power to the whole coach. Such loads include LED lights on all light switches, the CO detector, the LP detector, the security alarm system, etc. Additionally, there are other invisible, but somewhat discretionary loads that drag the batteries down, such as the always-on circuits in the TV, VCR, DVD and microwave, the inverter and the 12V electronics in the refrigerator. If left unattended with everything possible turned off, the batteries would be discharged in a matter of a few days. Not good if we need to be away from the coach for any period of time when it can't be plugged in.

So, I have been drooling over solar power for some time, but have been dragging my feet because I wasn't sure how much to add, didn't know how to do it or who to have do it and was afraid of the cost. While at a rally a month or so ago I learned of a guy near Lake City FL who has done solar installations on many of the TREKS. He was said to be very knowledgeable and competent, but a bit of an oddball. He lives on a 500 acre property that is totally off the grid: no electricity, no water, no sewer. There are 9 miles of marked trails, the gator pond and the turtle field. He installs and services a number of electrical devices in RVs and operates a campground where other like-minded sorts come and hang out. I gave him a call and made an appointment, and that is how we came to meet John Palmer and Palmer Energy Systems.

Sizing a solar system is an interesting exercise. You can add up all your power loads for a particular style of camping, and size your array to meet that demand. But in the end you just throw all that information out the window. Basically you install as much solar as you can afford and that you can fit on the roof of the coach. A good rule of thumb is to install as many watts of solar capacity as you have amp-hour capacity in your battery bank. We have room for four 100-watt panels and still be able to walk and access all the vents and appliances on the roof. 400 watts also worked out pretty well with our two 8D AGM batteries, rated at about 500 amp-hours. So it was decided to install four 100-watt panels and a 500 watt charge controller. John Palmer is a man who speaks his mind and works at his own pace. He said to allow three days to do the job. We started on Monday morning, took frequent breaks and stopped before 4:00 each day. We had no serious difficulties and finished on Tuesday afternoon. Palmer wanted us to stay at least until noon on Wednesday so we could observe the output during high sun. That was fine since we had allowed for three days anyway. Ideally, with bright sun directly overhead, we should be seeing about 24 amps from the array. At noon, the sun was still far from directly overhead due to the position of the sun in the winter, but we were still getting almost 21 amps. Good enough. The system seemed to be working. This system will not eliminate our need to use the generator, but it should cut down on generator hours. More importantly, it will allow us to park the coach for extended periods and leave the refrigerator and other systems operating without worrying about draining the batteries.

Paddle: Econlockhatchee River

Several weeks ago we ran into another couple here at TTO, and we spent time talking with them about the places we had each paddled and the places we wanted to paddle. They strongly suggested we paddle the Econlockhatchee River northeast of Orlando. We took a look at the guide book and decided it might be a pretty good paddle. It was not too far away, and we could do it with a bike shuttle. As soon as we arrived at the put-in, I realized we had paddled the "Econ" before, probably during our first Benner trip to Florida during Christmas 2004. We dropped our gear at the put-in on CR 419 near Oviedo FL. I drove the car to the take-out at the bridge on Snow Hill Road and rode the bike about 6 miles back to the put-in. This run is about 10 miles long and passes through the Little Big Econ State Forest. It was a very pleasant day, and a very nice paddle through a remote section of state forest. The river is mainly twisty and shallow, with stained water and white sand bottom. This would be an excellent camping river; there are a number of excellent campsites on state lands. We saw three very large alligators, 12 feet long or better. We also snuck up on an armadillo rooting near the bank.