we have no temperature

When Rudee and I got home last evening the thermometer in the Dakota quit working.(?) On the way home it was saying it was 1* outside but by the time we pulled into our parking spot in front of the 5er all it showed was 0 !! I was hoping it was broken but one step outside confirmed it was working just fine and since it was zero degrees I figured that meant we had no temperature :-).

New Years day has some weird traditions like eating cabbage for good luck, fish for prosperity or the really weird ones like stripping down to your skivvies and jumping thru a hole cut into a frozen lake, YIKES! Motorcyclists like the challenge of taking the first ride of the year today. I have ridden on New Years Day before but we were in Florida at the time :-). Our group had a few brave (?) souls that ventured out today. We met up with them here in Crawfordsville at a local restaurant for lunch. We rode our Dodge Dakota over since it was way too cold for us :-). There were a total of 4 bikes. Here is a photo of two of them next to the bank sign proving just how cold it was.

We got a call Saturday morning from Steve and Trish Suter inviting us to an electronics sale at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. We met them in Lebanon and hopped in their van for the 20 mile drive. Indiana has a really nice fairgrounds and are hosts to several large shows in the winter that we like to attend. They even have a full hook up campground that is open year round. This show was advertised as a "general merchandise" show. There were several booths with laptop computers and other type electronics but mostly it was just flea market ware. We did pick up several pairs of cheap socks for me and Steve bought a small air compressor he was needing.

We left the show and made a stop at Red Lobster for lunch. I wanted to go to Hooters but got out voted by the women :-). Oh well, we had a nice lunch anyway.

Steve and Trish like to visit the local casinos and talked us into going. We started in Shelbyville Indiana (a suburb of Indianapolis) at Indiana Live Casino. We stayed about an hour and donated to their cause :-(. We left there and drove about 25 miles to Anderson Indiana home of Hoosier Park Casino. I had a little better luck there and made back some of what I lost, not all but some.

Rudee and I made it back home about 9pm. She had some ham and beans cooking in the crock pot so we had a late supper or should I say a "very late" supper. I was a little worried about being away from the 5er for so long on such a cold day but she was warm and toasty when we got back. Yeee Haaa!! I am proclaiming that the furnace is officially fixed !! (hope this doesn't jinx us LOL).

We stayed nice and warm all night but when I got up we had no water :-(. I knew we had frozen up somewhere and just hoped it would be easy to find and fix. I bundled up and headed outside. I checked the campground faucet, it worked there. I then checked our heated hose coming into the camper, and it worked there too so I checked the hoses that go into the filter and water softner in the basement. I found that the hose from the water softener that goes to the 5th wheel main line was frozen. I had this hose routed near the compartment door, probably too close I'm thinking, and it froze. No harm, no foul I just bypassed the filter/water softner for now and we are back in business :-).

My Mom had some problems Friday night and fell early Saturday morning. She did not get hurt but was slurring her words and acting funny so my brother had her taken to the emergency room. They found she has an infection and admitted her for treatment. Rudee and I are going to head over there today to see how things are going. I'll keep you posted.