Day 5 - Getting the Hang of It
I apologize for the cheesiness of the prior post.
So we've come a long way. All gas appliances now work thanks to some troubleshooting and re-reading. This includes the LP on the fridge, the water heater, as well as the central heat. It's beyond nice. The cat has calmed down, and seems to have found a nice, consistent spot under the bed to hide when we are in motion. Driving seems nearly second nature, although still likely being overly cautious when stopping and on steep turns, which is good.
We decided to stay a second day at Patapsco State Park (on the 5th), given that we got in after 11pm, and were supposed to be out by 1 or so. It allowed me to catch up on work a bit, and to get to check out the park a bit. We weren't fans of the wedding venues there, and given that it was now one year from our hoped wedding date, we booked the CCC Tea Room at Gambrill state park for the 4th and the 5th of October 2018, and got the requisite permits. It was difficult to connect to their website from our campsite for some reason, so my connection stalled during initial checkout, and I decided just to call them instead to book. They were helpful, but said that it had already been booked for those dates. I didn't realize until after I hung up that it was me that was likely showing as booked the dates, as they were held within my shopping cart for 15 minutes by the website. Anyway, it was booked in the event that nothing better shows up, which we thought may happen upon visiting Cunningham Falls State park, but it did not have appropriate indoors reception venues that we liked. We did take the scooter to grab lunch prior to leaving Patapsco, which worked well enough for the both of us.
After the second night, we headed towards Gettysburg, PA, which was kinda neat. We stopped at the Camping World store on the way, and joined Good Sam discount camping club. Sarah drove from there, and I got some work done in the passenger seat. The campground was called Aritillery Ridge Camp Resort and Horse Stables, and was a nice place. It was our first place to stay that had full hookups, and we got to use our Passport America membership to get half-off, which was nice. The discount for half-off doesn't extend to weekends though, so we only stayed Thursday night. We had a nice fire, and played some mini-cornhole together. Others were clearly set-up to stay all weekend, and we then realized I had monday off for Columbus Day. We booked a campsite at our next State Park, which was Cunningham Falls State Park, back in Maryland. It was the last site available, which I booked while we ate lunch at Appalacian Brewing Company, which we visited via scooter, along with a portion of the town of Gettysburg on my lunch break before we left for Cunningham falls. We wanted to get there before dark, and we succeeded, (as did we for the site in Gettysburg). Sarah got me/us a Ocarina at a games/nerd store, and we wandered around some relic/antique stores full of some neat history. The food was pretty good at the brewery too.
We then loaded the scooter back onto the RV, which we had parked in an overflow lot behind a reataurant, with the pets well ventilated. We're definitely getting faster at strapping it down, but it's still a two-person job that takes a while. We're down to using 5 straps, which seems to be perfect. We then drove back to Maryland, about an hour drive or so, to Cumberland Falls. Upon arrival, we were told at check-in that we were only lucky enough to have reserved the last spot because someone that had it booked for weeks got in an accident in their RV on the way there... Anyway, the site was nice, but standard. No direct water hookup, but we brought a half tank, plus the bath house was near by. I set up the dartboard on a post outside, and we played a few rounds of darts and enjoyed a fire. Sarah made some lentils and rice, which were new for both of us, and spicy. We played a bit of Battleship and Scrabble (simultaneously too) while watching a movie before heading to sleep by 3 or so.
It being the first Saturday we've been able to enjoy in quite some time, we slept in a bit, and headed out around 2 to check out the water fall, which was a 1.5 mile hike up some decent rocks. It was pretty, with the leaves begining to change at the top, and the water cascading down with leaves in it. I could see it being a bit more interesting after winter or a hard rain though. The weather was perfect though, a bit hot if anything, but the trees still shaded us on the hike. There was a little lake up there too, but opted not to swim. We got back home in the parking lot, and made some PB&Js to tide us over before heading out. We had planned to Wal-mart camp for free, and alas, it has been treating us well. We stopped in Hagarstown, MD, and arrived around 6. It's a large lot, with about 6 other rigs to keep us company. The shopping center had a lot of places we wanted to visit anyway, so it worked out. After grabbing some food at UNO, we wandered around Dicks (got nothing), Home Depot searching for wall paper, but apparently no one buys it anymore, so they don't even sell any in the store. I got a grease gun that has a flexible hose, unlike the walmart one, so I can grease the rear bearings/axle, as the metal tube one can't get in the small space. We then hit up walmart, and got some groceries, cat litter, and other miscellany. By then it was 10:30 or so, so we went home, and I cleaned up, and decided to write this. I got a cardboard scratch pad for the cat to try to prevent her from tearing up the RV furniture, but it remains to be seen if it will work.
This is our first night without external power. The inverter is still not set up, as I'm snagged on how to properly fuse a 2 AWG wire, when all I can find is small automotive fuses, which have the right rating, but wires of the holder are like 8 AWG at best, and it seems like a tough splice. So I've delayed, as I'd rather not have it, and do it right when I figure it out, rather than damage two great new batteries or the solar array, or start a fire or something terrible. Since the fridge is working on gas though, it's not as pressing of a need - plus I dont work for 3 days, and don't 'need' that much power. It will be wonderful once it's set up properly though. In either case, we haven't even used the generator yet, which is an option if needed.
Reflections so far is that it is getting easier. I'm still not great at everything, but we're getting there. The rig rolled over 100,000 miles today, and rather than saying such, it instead says 00000, as it doesn't have the room for the extra digit (at least on the dash). It was like a fresh start, although a sure illusion. My only concern is our brakes at this point. The parking brake appears siezed, although it wasn't when we purchased. Additionally, the drum brakes make occasional noise near the end of a stop, such as braking slightly with little speed/load. It still stops correctly, and slows down when going down a hill okay, but I think they may need attention soon. Drum brakes on a tag axle sounds fairly difficult, especially without a lift that would work well enough. Nonetheless, it is an expense I expected. The engine has been great, with all signs and gauges pointing to proper functioning. I think I will install an oil pressure gauge soon though, as the other doesn't quite seem accurate. Also our poo tank sensor seems covered or something, as it shows half full or full despite being empty, but changes from time to time. It will be interesting to see if the other gauges work right or not. It claims propane is still full despite using it for 5 days, so we'll see. The main gauge on the tank also says it is full, so good to see.
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We left the Walmart and headed about 80 miles northwest, and are now in Bedford, PA for the night, at a small campground called Shawnee Sleepy Hollow Campground. We arrived a bit after dark, but made it fine. It's a nice little community of campers, and it's staffed by a single, easygoing old man. There's a pool table, so we'll probably check that out. The last site in Gettysburg had a pool table too, but closed at 8, so it might as well have not been there. This one is open until 10 :) I'm off tomorrow too, and plan to finish the inverter rain permitting. Then onward in the rain.
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