Saving money on repairs occasionally creeps into every rv'ers mind and a few days ago it found its way to me. It wasn't going to be a big thing ... like overhauling the transmission (doesn't need it anyway) or repainting the coach (needs it but can't afford it) but something more modest ... something that's simple that I can use my vast knowledge of repairing things.
You see my windshield wiper blades needed replacing and the wiper arms needed painting so ... how hard can that be? I asked. Take them off, scrub them up with a little sandpaper, get a can of spray paint and presto'-chango'. Good as new.
So I dug out the tool box and started the project. First order of business was to take off the wiper blades. Pretty simple stuff until I found that mine were bolted to the arm with a very small shoulder bolt. I found the right tools and, with the confidence of Donald Trump at a cocktail party, quickly and surely managed to twist the rusty bolt in half thus ruining it. Oh well ... at least I got it off. After my first little mishap, the removal went smoothly but after looking at the arms, I thought why not take them to a powder coater to make them really look good. I tried out powder coating while in Florida to refurbish my metal heating vents in the coach and they turned out better than new. In a nut shell, powder coating is applying a powdered paint (sort of like talcum powder) to the electrically charge metal part. The charge attracts the paint and it clings to the metal. The part is then baked in an oven whereas the paint is melted onto the metal thus leaving a smooth, even coat.
So the next day I found a nearby company that did powder coating and stopped by for an estimate. 'Sorry', the lady at the counter said. The estimator was out of the office but if I would leave my name and phone number he would call me later. Day turned to night and no phone call so I thought I'd pay them another visit the following morning. After a short meeting with the estimator, he said they could do the job later in the week for $25. A little high I thought, but I said okay. He said he'd be happy to do the job but the wiper arms needed to be sandblasted first and they didn't do that type of work but said to try a couple of other local companies who could. Fifteen minutes later I was at the door of the first prospect. A greying elderly woman looked over her glasses and after I said what I wanted, she said in a slightly irritated voice, "What?" "What made you think we did that kind of work?" I explained that she was recommended by the other company but she replied, "we're a lawn maintenance company and we have a sand blaster ... but that's just for cleaning our lawn mowers!"... So we parted company and I was off to what I'd hoped, was a real sandblasting outfit.
After another ten-minute drive, I arrived at the second shop and found a worker standing in the drive. I could see by the equipment around the place that they did do sandblasting so I was getting excited that I might finally get this part of the job done. I explained what I needed and he went on to tell me of the intricacies of what I was asking him to do. I've done a little sandblasting years ago and do know that this was about a ten-minute job at best. Apparently he was used to doing bulldozers and tanks, as this was apparently high precision for him. He led me into the office and shuffled some papers around then said that he wasn't authorized to give out estimates but his boss would call me later; however, he did think that it would be about $25 to do the sandblasting. Again an outrageous estimate, but just an estimate from a worker-be so I thought I'd leave him the parts and wait to hear from the boss. True to form the boss didn't call that day so I went back the following morning and finally found him. I questioned him about the wiper arms and he gave the feeling that he didn't know what I was talking about, but after wandering around a bit, he found them in a pile of other parts awaiting blasting. No paperwork but I said those belonged to me. He looked them over and said he maybe could get to them in a day or so and that would be about $15 each or about $30. OMG are these guys nuts I thought? $55 bucks total to sand and paint a pair of wiper arms!
I wasn't a math major in college but I immediately figured about $6 dollars for a can of spray paint, a little emery paper and a little elbow grease and this crazy idea of sandblasting and powder coating would soon be a distant memory. The sandblaster boss guy apparently read my mind and silently handed over my parts. I said "thanks" and told him I'd figured out something else.
So having derailed my train of great ideas, I now had to buckle down and ... do it myself. Off to the big box store to buy my supplies I went. Flat black paint, a little sandpaper and I almost forgot, that broken bolt need to be replaced. Of course the big box store didn't have the proper bolt so I went to the local hardware store that didn't have the bolt either. Since we were going back to our home across the state, I waited until we got home and found a place that had the bolt I thought I needed. Then, back across the state I went a few days later with my new treasure.
It was a beautiful bright day and a great day to finish up this project, I thought. I got all the parts and pieces together and after sanding and painting the wiper arms it was time to get started with the assembly. Murphy's Law has always been my closest partner and today was no exception. To start with, the special shoulder bolts that I ran all over hell's half acre to find were an 1/8" of an inch too short. This discovery set off a chain of events that included sawing, hammering, pounding, three more trips out for more parts and the help of one other guy. Remember this all started when I decided to changes wiper blades. The last time I had the ones on my TrailBlazer changed the guy swapped them out for free. That's right ... free labor!
Okay ... what did I learn for this DIY debacle? Don't try it if you have any doubts! If your wife can do it ... let her. If not ... hire it out. I'm retiring my tools and the notion that I can fix things. It doesn't pay. A simple change of wiper blades took better than a week to accomplish, probably enough fuel for my truck to drive to Chicago and back, a level of frustration a guy my age shouldn't experience, and finally, I surely can find better things to occupy my time.
Now that the wipers are fixed, I can hardly wait for the next rain. So if you happen to be in our park and it's raining, you should look me up. I'll be the only guy in the park sitting there with the wipers running and a grin on my face.
Still livin' the dream and spending more time on Angie's List.
Phil
Friday, May 25, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Getting comfortable ... finally
The rains have ended and we're once again enjoying the sunny skies of South Western Michigan. Cool nights turn to warming days, most of the early spring flowers have already bloomed and we're now enjoying fresh asparagus and patiently awaiting the first crop of strawberries in about three weeks. The days of cleaning up a soggy basement are past and it's time to once again get started goofing off.
As it turns out, our summer camp will be missing some of the regulars, some having been here for many years. We'll surely miss them all and hope some day to share a campfire somewhere along the trail.
Lots of neat stuff on the agenda for the coming months. If sports car road racing is in your blood, we have Gingerman Raceway (www.gingermanraceway.com) nearby. From Porches to Ferrari's to Corvettes to Vipers, all the hot rides will be racing around the 2+ mile course throughout the summer. Talk about a photo op! If you're in the mood and have your own hot ride, sign up for the driving school and learn how to really drive that go-fast car without getting a ticket or wrapping it around a telephone pole.
Fishing ... did I mention fishing? Charter a boat for salmon or perch fishing right here in town. Half or full day, or just sit on one of the piers, whatever you choose you'll get exposed to some of the finest fishing grounds in the Great Lakes. I went down to one of the local fishing tackle shops today and ended up buying the first fishing license I've had in about fours years. What a great surprise as well. I'd forgotten that once you're age 65 the price to fish drops down to about $11. What a bargain.
And finally ... we've noticed a new restaurant not far from camp. It's a steakhouse so we'll be making a stop over there before too long and let you know how it was. After checking out the town, most of our old eating haunts are still in business ... so this is a good thing. But this evening I fired up the old grill and slow cooked some well seasoned center cut pork chops. With a plate of fresh cut veggies, this little combination was scrumptious. I'll give it 4 stars.
So we're getting settled. We still have flowers to plant, and the coach to clean-up but settled in for the summer. Life is good.
Still livin' the dream.
Phil
ps ... we went shopping for a new car the other day. Disappointing outcome. Car I'd pined for was uncomfortable to drive and costs far more than it was worth. Ended up getting my old TrailBlazer detailed and buffed up and hoping it will make another 140k miles.
As it turns out, our summer camp will be missing some of the regulars, some having been here for many years. We'll surely miss them all and hope some day to share a campfire somewhere along the trail.
Lots of neat stuff on the agenda for the coming months. If sports car road racing is in your blood, we have Gingerman Raceway (www.gingermanraceway.com) nearby. From Porches to Ferrari's to Corvettes to Vipers, all the hot rides will be racing around the 2+ mile course throughout the summer. Talk about a photo op! If you're in the mood and have your own hot ride, sign up for the driving school and learn how to really drive that go-fast car without getting a ticket or wrapping it around a telephone pole.
Fishing ... did I mention fishing? Charter a boat for salmon or perch fishing right here in town. Half or full day, or just sit on one of the piers, whatever you choose you'll get exposed to some of the finest fishing grounds in the Great Lakes. I went down to one of the local fishing tackle shops today and ended up buying the first fishing license I've had in about fours years. What a great surprise as well. I'd forgotten that once you're age 65 the price to fish drops down to about $11. What a bargain.
And finally ... we've noticed a new restaurant not far from camp. It's a steakhouse so we'll be making a stop over there before too long and let you know how it was. After checking out the town, most of our old eating haunts are still in business ... so this is a good thing. But this evening I fired up the old grill and slow cooked some well seasoned center cut pork chops. With a plate of fresh cut veggies, this little combination was scrumptious. I'll give it 4 stars.
So we're getting settled. We still have flowers to plant, and the coach to clean-up but settled in for the summer. Life is good.
Still livin' the dream.
Phil
ps ... we went shopping for a new car the other day. Disappointing outcome. Car I'd pined for was uncomfortable to drive and costs far more than it was worth. Ended up getting my old TrailBlazer detailed and buffed up and hoping it will make another 140k miles.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Another day
Another day ... another restaurant.
Not that the last few days haven't been interesting enough, but yesterday we had the opportunity to try a new eatery. The occasion was to celebrate a number of family birthdays and since we'd eaten at every other restaurant in Battle Creek (many times), we decided to try a relatively new one called the Addington Hills Cafe (addingtonhillscafe.com). Since we grew up in Battle Creek (you know the home of Kellogg's, Post and Chex breakfast cereals) we remembered this building as Greensmith's Florist shop. Actually it was once owned by the parents of a set of twins I went to high school with, but now has been transformed into a trendy, upscale dining establishment worthy of some attention. The florist and gift shop continues in operation on the upper level while the dining occurs below at street level.
Located on a well traveled street near the hospitals and art center, it offers both inside and outside dining (weather permitting). Depending on your seating choice, it can be subdued and romantic or bright and cheery. Battle Creek has not supported this type of dining in years past so I am hopeful that the tide has turned and the Addington Hill Cafe will spawn others. The restaurant has a Mediterranean appearance and chef Salvador will have enough surprises on the menu to keep you coming back.
The seven of us were seated and greeted with a well set table with linen napkins, nice silverware, and stemware. Our waitress was pleasant and patient as this group had more questions about the menu than the finale on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'.
Steak is the speciality of the house, though the menu had pasta, fish, and chicken entrees as well. Since today is May 5th, the Mexican celebration of heritage and pride, the special on today's menu was a grilled Cinco De Mayo rib eye steak with a tex-mex rub of spices, fresh asparagus, and a special southwest potato consisting of a blend of mashed potatoes and a mild Spanish sausage. Between the seven of us we had the special, a fillet Mignon, and chicken Marsala. The presentation was excellent and the portions were large. Though the order took a little longer than we anticipated, we were well taken care of with drinks and breads with flavored butter while waiting. The food arrived hot and was very tasty. Evidence of enjoyment was seven clean plates at the finish.
They serve breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday and dinner only Thursday through Saturday. So if you're planning on dinner here, you'd better call ahead for a table. As the word continues to spread about the 'Addington', tables may be hard to get. The next time we're in Battle Creek I'm going to try their breakfast fare so I'll let you know how that goes.
Still livin' the dream.
Phil
ps ... if any of you readers know of interesting restuarants in Southwest Michigan let me know. We love checking them out. It's what rv'ers do best.
addingtonhillscafe.com
Not that the last few days haven't been interesting enough, but yesterday we had the opportunity to try a new eatery. The occasion was to celebrate a number of family birthdays and since we'd eaten at every other restaurant in Battle Creek (many times), we decided to try a relatively new one called the Addington Hills Cafe (addingtonhillscafe.com). Since we grew up in Battle Creek (you know the home of Kellogg's, Post and Chex breakfast cereals) we remembered this building as Greensmith's Florist shop. Actually it was once owned by the parents of a set of twins I went to high school with, but now has been transformed into a trendy, upscale dining establishment worthy of some attention. The florist and gift shop continues in operation on the upper level while the dining occurs below at street level.
Located on a well traveled street near the hospitals and art center, it offers both inside and outside dining (weather permitting). Depending on your seating choice, it can be subdued and romantic or bright and cheery. Battle Creek has not supported this type of dining in years past so I am hopeful that the tide has turned and the Addington Hill Cafe will spawn others. The restaurant has a Mediterranean appearance and chef Salvador will have enough surprises on the menu to keep you coming back.
The seven of us were seated and greeted with a well set table with linen napkins, nice silverware, and stemware. Our waitress was pleasant and patient as this group had more questions about the menu than the finale on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'.
Steak is the speciality of the house, though the menu had pasta, fish, and chicken entrees as well. Since today is May 5th, the Mexican celebration of heritage and pride, the special on today's menu was a grilled Cinco De Mayo rib eye steak with a tex-mex rub of spices, fresh asparagus, and a special southwest potato consisting of a blend of mashed potatoes and a mild Spanish sausage. Between the seven of us we had the special, a fillet Mignon, and chicken Marsala. The presentation was excellent and the portions were large. Though the order took a little longer than we anticipated, we were well taken care of with drinks and breads with flavored butter while waiting. The food arrived hot and was very tasty. Evidence of enjoyment was seven clean plates at the finish.
They serve breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday and dinner only Thursday through Saturday. So if you're planning on dinner here, you'd better call ahead for a table. As the word continues to spread about the 'Addington', tables may be hard to get. The next time we're in Battle Creek I'm going to try their breakfast fare so I'll let you know how that goes.
Still livin' the dream.
Phil
ps ... if any of you readers know of interesting restuarants in Southwest Michigan let me know. We love checking them out. It's what rv'ers do best.
addingtonhillscafe.com
Mamma said there would be days like this ...
With some anticipation I'd planned on making May 4th a special day. I wanted to make my bride's birthday a little special ... something I'd not excelled at in the past. I had a nice gift in mind and maybe a romantic dinner later in the day. But ....
The phone first rang at 4:03am. The phone never rings that early with good news I later thought. It actually rang 3 more times before I was able to figure out what that noise was. The air conditioning was running and the slightly muffled sound apparently didn't make much of an impression on my subconscious. Sharon caught on to what the noise was and finally got my attention. I ambled to the other end of the coach and grabbed my cell phone. Yup ... 4 messages had been missed. I hit the playback button and listened to the lady at the other end of the message. Cobwebs were still swinging inside my head so I played another message and it was the same lady.
At that point the light bulb went off in my head and I realized it was my automated alarm system calling me to tell me I had a problem. I listened one more time and finally realized that I probably had a problem back home. Back home meant a three hour drive to the other side of the state to see what was going on. The alarm code indicated that I had a flooding problem. Oh crap!
We are beginning to wonder if the house is trying to tell us something. Maybe like.. 'don't leave me for the winter or I'll allow bad things to happen'. We've had broken water lines and a destructive clan of raccoons in earlier years so we were hoping maybe we'd been dealt enough grief, but apparently not.
I called my son who lives nearby but, as luck would have it, he had disconnected his answering service earlier that evening because of a number of crank calls so I couldn't reach him. So I next called my daughter who lives some 15 miles away for help. She was a little groggy when she answered but quickly agreed to go over to the house to see what was up. We packed a few articles of clothing then headed east from South Haven. Three hours of wondering what lay ahead.
My daughter finally reached the house in about an hour and gave us a status report over the phone. The news was not so good. The little town we live in had about 5.5 inches of rain over the course of about 6 hours. And the little town we live in had an electrical power outage shortly after the deluge started. This was not adding up well for us. She said the entire basement was flooded a little bit. Not feet of water but enough to completely saturate all the new carpeting and pad plus soak into all the bottom edges of the paneling. She assessed the situation and determined that her immediate job was to save as much of our collection of old family photographs as she could, as any of the furniture was too heavy for her to move. The power eventually returned sometime in the middle of the night but by then the water had fully saturated the ground surrounding our house and the brand-new heavy duty sump just couldn't pump it out of the sump pit as fast as it was pouring in.
'Some of the worst flooding in our area in decades' the news reporter was saying on the radio. As we got closer to home we discovered that both major interstates were closed due to flooding so we had to take a back-road approach to get the the house. We hoped we could find a way. As it turned out, our route passed right past our insurance man's office so I gave him a preemptive call and he said stop in. It didn't take too long to get the bad news. Even though the electrical failure caused the pump not to run, thus causing the flooding, this was still considered a storm sewer back up issue and we did not have coverage. I never had purchased this rider over the past 35 years because we never had an issue like this but this was just one of those special weather events that caught us, and many others off guard. I left his office in despair and headed home to see the damage. Once inside we immediately discovered that my daughter had gathered and spread out out all the wet photographs to help them dry out. It's interesting that we seem to have a greater appreciation of those mementos of our past than what was damaged in the basement. I hope anyone reading this takes note and finds a way to protect their precious memories. Sealed plastic boxes work best. Plastic bags will all leak (as we found out) over time so get them off the floor into protective boxes.
As I went downstairs it was certainly bad but not catastrophic. The emergency cleanup squad came over later in the day and removed all the wet carpet and pad and brought in air handling fans to dry the place out. There were about 8 of the fans and giant dehumidifiers running when the workers left and they said they'd return in about four days to see how things were progressing. I can only imagine what the electrical bill will be for this month.
So another little one of life's speed bumps on this day. Certainly not as bad as some families had to endure around the area but bad enough. Nothing we can't overcome but it's just damn bad it had to happen on my bride's birthday. She was a real trooper about it all but she deserves better a better birthday. I've got my work cut out for me.
Regardless ... we're still livin' the dream. But just a little soggy at the moment.
Phil
The phone first rang at 4:03am. The phone never rings that early with good news I later thought. It actually rang 3 more times before I was able to figure out what that noise was. The air conditioning was running and the slightly muffled sound apparently didn't make much of an impression on my subconscious. Sharon caught on to what the noise was and finally got my attention. I ambled to the other end of the coach and grabbed my cell phone. Yup ... 4 messages had been missed. I hit the playback button and listened to the lady at the other end of the message. Cobwebs were still swinging inside my head so I played another message and it was the same lady.
At that point the light bulb went off in my head and I realized it was my automated alarm system calling me to tell me I had a problem. I listened one more time and finally realized that I probably had a problem back home. Back home meant a three hour drive to the other side of the state to see what was going on. The alarm code indicated that I had a flooding problem. Oh crap!
We are beginning to wonder if the house is trying to tell us something. Maybe like.. 'don't leave me for the winter or I'll allow bad things to happen'. We've had broken water lines and a destructive clan of raccoons in earlier years so we were hoping maybe we'd been dealt enough grief, but apparently not.
I called my son who lives nearby but, as luck would have it, he had disconnected his answering service earlier that evening because of a number of crank calls so I couldn't reach him. So I next called my daughter who lives some 15 miles away for help. She was a little groggy when she answered but quickly agreed to go over to the house to see what was up. We packed a few articles of clothing then headed east from South Haven. Three hours of wondering what lay ahead.
My daughter finally reached the house in about an hour and gave us a status report over the phone. The news was not so good. The little town we live in had about 5.5 inches of rain over the course of about 6 hours. And the little town we live in had an electrical power outage shortly after the deluge started. This was not adding up well for us. She said the entire basement was flooded a little bit. Not feet of water but enough to completely saturate all the new carpeting and pad plus soak into all the bottom edges of the paneling. She assessed the situation and determined that her immediate job was to save as much of our collection of old family photographs as she could, as any of the furniture was too heavy for her to move. The power eventually returned sometime in the middle of the night but by then the water had fully saturated the ground surrounding our house and the brand-new heavy duty sump just couldn't pump it out of the sump pit as fast as it was pouring in.
'Some of the worst flooding in our area in decades' the news reporter was saying on the radio. As we got closer to home we discovered that both major interstates were closed due to flooding so we had to take a back-road approach to get the the house. We hoped we could find a way. As it turned out, our route passed right past our insurance man's office so I gave him a preemptive call and he said stop in. It didn't take too long to get the bad news. Even though the electrical failure caused the pump not to run, thus causing the flooding, this was still considered a storm sewer back up issue and we did not have coverage. I never had purchased this rider over the past 35 years because we never had an issue like this but this was just one of those special weather events that caught us, and many others off guard. I left his office in despair and headed home to see the damage. Once inside we immediately discovered that my daughter had gathered and spread out out all the wet photographs to help them dry out. It's interesting that we seem to have a greater appreciation of those mementos of our past than what was damaged in the basement. I hope anyone reading this takes note and finds a way to protect their precious memories. Sealed plastic boxes work best. Plastic bags will all leak (as we found out) over time so get them off the floor into protective boxes.
As I went downstairs it was certainly bad but not catastrophic. The emergency cleanup squad came over later in the day and removed all the wet carpet and pad and brought in air handling fans to dry the place out. There were about 8 of the fans and giant dehumidifiers running when the workers left and they said they'd return in about four days to see how things were progressing. I can only imagine what the electrical bill will be for this month.
So another little one of life's speed bumps on this day. Certainly not as bad as some families had to endure around the area but bad enough. Nothing we can't overcome but it's just damn bad it had to happen on my bride's birthday. She was a real trooper about it all but she deserves better a better birthday. I've got my work cut out for me.
Regardless ... we're still livin' the dream. But just a little soggy at the moment.
Phil
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Summer nest
After a five hour drive yesterday from Anderson Indiana, we arrived at our summer hangout in South Haven Michigan. Cousins RV Park (http://www.cousinssouthhaven.com) has been our camp for some 5 years or so and we find it a comfortable place to rest up for next winter's adventures. I think we were the third couple (of the 'regulars') to arrive and we were all within just a few hours of each other. So lots to do to get set up here. Cleaning the coach is high on the list. We ran into a storm of fish flies/May Flies/Hexagenia Limbata or some might just call them ... bugs, in Tennessee. It was as if someone was roadside with a shovel full of pea gravel and threw it against the windshield. Wham! It was over in an instant. The windshield almost went black from the impact then the 'bug juice' spread across the whole front of the coach. So by now it is well dried on thanks to the 60 mph trip home, so I'll get to spend a few hours getting the mess cleaned up.
It has been a great winter for us. Great weather (for a change), interesting places to visit, and most of all seeing family and meeting old friends and gaining new friends. It's a pretty simple formula for us and with a little luck, we'll continue looking over the crest of the next hill.
Now livin' the dream on Michigan's sunset coast.
Phil
ps ... a special shout-out to Tom and Lisa. I think I now have some new readers from Maine. I may be paying that area a visit later this summer so I'll need lots of tips on great restaurants to try out.
pss ... another special shout-out to our friends Tracy and Judi. What a team!
It has been a great winter for us. Great weather (for a change), interesting places to visit, and most of all seeing family and meeting old friends and gaining new friends. It's a pretty simple formula for us and with a little luck, we'll continue looking over the crest of the next hill.
Now livin' the dream on Michigan's sunset coast.
Phil
ps ... a special shout-out to Tom and Lisa. I think I now have some new readers from Maine. I may be paying that area a visit later this summer so I'll need lots of tips on great restaurants to try out.
pss ... another special shout-out to our friends Tracy and Judi. What a team!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Travel Day II
Made it to Anderson Indiana today. Took a route I had never driven before adding to my lingering anxiousness from our mountain decent. I wonder if they have shrinks that specialize with RV'ers? Sign me up.
The last 50 miles of our today was on a two lane road. Thinking that I'd by-pass lots of traffic and construction on the Indianapolis beltway, I headed north from I74 on Indiana 9 to Anderson. BTW ... the northbound by-pass around Cincinnati to the west was a dream. No more going through the downtown guts of that city for me. I've been punished there several times in the past but no more. It may be longer but it's so much quicker. I'll continue ... The surface winds were picking up due to an approaching storm and the trucking world decided to take the same bypass on the southbound side of I 9. The results was hang on to the wheel Philip! Strong gusts from all angles slammed us around as oncoming trucks and heavy winds across our bow made for an interesting ride. The roads were Michigan-like (pot-holes and lumpy) with little or no shoulder to run off on. Thankfully, we finally arrived in camp around 4:00pm.
Timberline Valley RV Resort (www.timberlinecampground.com) is located maybe a half hour east of Indianapolis and makes it a convenient place to stay if you're visiting the city. Well kept with spacious lots and very quiet. We were escorted to our site, which in my opinion, is something I wish all parks would do. Nothing like a pair of experienced eyes I say to help you get parked correctly on the first try. Priced at around $30/night, We thought it was a fair price. Their WIFI was slow but workable but there was not cable service. Are we getting spoiled or what?
We got a call from Sharon's sister and she and her husband John wanted to drive down from Indianapolis and join us for diner and a trip to the local casino. Thankfully, the food was good as the gambling was not. But we really do appreciate the time they took to drive down and see us. It's always good seeing them and getting 'caught up'. It was a nice casino combined with a horse racing track. It reminded us of the one in Sarnia, Ontario Canada. Multiple vices served at the same place. What a deal!
So another day closer to our South Haven camp. If the weather behaves we'll be there in a day or two.
If the weather turns too cold, we'll retrace our steps until it does. Life is too short to have to put up with crummy weather. That's our story and we're sticking to it!
Still livin' the dream here in Timberline Valley, Anderson Indiana.
The last 50 miles of our today was on a two lane road. Thinking that I'd by-pass lots of traffic and construction on the Indianapolis beltway, I headed north from I74 on Indiana 9 to Anderson. BTW ... the northbound by-pass around Cincinnati to the west was a dream. No more going through the downtown guts of that city for me. I've been punished there several times in the past but no more. It may be longer but it's so much quicker. I'll continue ... The surface winds were picking up due to an approaching storm and the trucking world decided to take the same bypass on the southbound side of I 9. The results was hang on to the wheel Philip! Strong gusts from all angles slammed us around as oncoming trucks and heavy winds across our bow made for an interesting ride. The roads were Michigan-like (pot-holes and lumpy) with little or no shoulder to run off on. Thankfully, we finally arrived in camp around 4:00pm.
Timberline Valley RV Resort (www.timberlinecampground.com) is located maybe a half hour east of Indianapolis and makes it a convenient place to stay if you're visiting the city. Well kept with spacious lots and very quiet. We were escorted to our site, which in my opinion, is something I wish all parks would do. Nothing like a pair of experienced eyes I say to help you get parked correctly on the first try. Priced at around $30/night, We thought it was a fair price. Their WIFI was slow but workable but there was not cable service. Are we getting spoiled or what?
We got a call from Sharon's sister and she and her husband John wanted to drive down from Indianapolis and join us for diner and a trip to the local casino. Thankfully, the food was good as the gambling was not. But we really do appreciate the time they took to drive down and see us. It's always good seeing them and getting 'caught up'. It was a nice casino combined with a horse racing track. It reminded us of the one in Sarnia, Ontario Canada. Multiple vices served at the same place. What a deal!
So another day closer to our South Haven camp. If the weather behaves we'll be there in a day or two.
If the weather turns too cold, we'll retrace our steps until it does. Life is too short to have to put up with crummy weather. That's our story and we're sticking to it!
Still livin' the dream here in Timberline Valley, Anderson Indiana.
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