We started our trip North bright and early on April 19th. We had most everything loaded up in the van and on the bike the night before. The only things we had left was a small suitcase and to load the cold food into the 12v/110v portable refrigerator freezer that rides in the van. We bought this several years ago to use as some extra freezer space back in our Motorhome days. The unit has two sections to allow it to work as a combo unit or you can just lower the temperature setting and use it as "all freezer" or raise the temp above 28 degrees or so and you got a nice size beer cooler! 😉
I also had a few breakers to shut off and I shut the water off as well. Once we had those few chores done we were off and running. Our plan was to avoid the interstates but still try to make as many miles as we could using the state roads. Our first leg took us along the west coast of Florida following US 19/98 which is a well maintained 4 lane divided highway that is, for Florida standards, lightly traveled. We have taken this part of the route many times with the RV and it is a very relaxing versus the heavily traveled race track they call I-75. We traveled North from Florida into Georgia before turning West into Alabama. I had researched some Motels to stop at on the way home and also considered camping in our little motorcycle camper. The cost of the motels were not that much more and we could ride a few more miles since we didn't have to stop early to get set up after we stopped for the night........plus it was HOT!.......lower 90's in Georgia and I needed some A/C for sure! The motel was clean but very, very outdated.......picture 1970's. The only other choices we had were to ride an additional 40 miles or backtrack 50 miles and I just didn't have anymore more left in me so we made the best of it......."Hey Dude, looks groovy to me" 😎
Our second day was overcast and cooler. We made it all the way to Lebanon, Tennessee and had a nice stay in a newer chain hotel. We were up early because this was our arrival in Indiana day and we were looking forward to seeing family and friends. The skies were again overcast but no rain and the temps decided to remind me why we live in Florida in the winter! I had all my heated gear on and running plus our Can Am has heated grips and heated seats so I was fairly comfortable as it barely got out of the 40's for this last leg of the trip.
When we pulled into the campground we found our 5th wheel looking just like we had left it and started the process of opening it up and making it "home" again. Ask any RV owner that winterizes their rigs for the winter what they worry about the most when "un-winterizing" and it's always the same. Yep I had to hook up the water and then....gasp.....turn it on. 😟 I guess I did OK last fall because no water came pouring out the basement and all was working accordingly.....well almost all. Last year we found that the hot water inlet on our combo washer/dryer unit had apparently frozen and cracked (plastic). We just washed our clothes in cold water all summer and it worked just fine. This year the cold water valve cracked and was leaking when we tried to use it. This after I winterized, per the manufacturers directions both times. I'll do it differently from here on out. Anyhoo I ordered both parts and when they arrived we pulled the unit out and replaced both water inlet valve assemblies. $140 for parts and took us about 20 minutes total and we are back in the laundry business. 😁
Just as I was starting to feel good and pat myself on the back for being Rudee's "handyman extraordinaire" she woke me up at 5:30 am saying the refrigerator had no power and was beeping. There was some kind of a code on the screen so we googled that and found help from several RV sites where others had the same problem with our model. Seems that there is a fail safe sensor attached that will cut all power to the unit if it detects too much heat in the vent/flue of the unit. These models had a tendency to catch on fire in earlier models and this was their solution. I went outside and removed the outer access panel and sure enough that sensor box was flashing a red light. Rudee did some more research and several said water can cause it to activate as well and we had just had a "frog drowner" rain shower earlier, guess I slept through it but Rudee said it was bad for over an hour. She also found the "fix" to reset it. Seems like these "boxes" do not have a reset button and are sealed and NOT serviceable. Over the years though the service technicians have developed a reset procedure for instances just like this. What you have to do is put a magnet onto the outer box and it will move a ball bearing inside that is what "triggers" the shut down. The magnet will return the "switch" to normal operation and you are good as new. Well where in the heck do I keep my magnets at 5:30 in the morning??!! I was pretty sure the local hardware wouldn't consider my beer getting warm as enough of an emergency to open up early but never fear,,,,Rudee is here! She comes up with a magnet from one of those chip clip dohookies that you use to close up an open bag of potato chips. So I went outside put the magnet to the box and the ball bearing (or whatever it is in there) made a "clunk" and the flashing light was off when I plugged the fridge back in. I went inside and no more beeping, no more code and the fridge was back to normal. This time I patted Rudee on the back! She's a keeper for sure!
Our month of May has been filled with graduation events for our Grand Daughter Olivia who graduates this year. We have been to her last choir performance as well as watched her last walk through the halls as a student (insert a few tears here) and of course watching her presented with her diploma. We are so proud and look forward to her future.
We are settling in nicely here at the campground. We have had several campfires and are enjoying our nightly golf cart trips around the park. We have started counting rabbits on our trips and have set a new record of 39 rabbits in one night. AHHHHH the retired life is nice! 😊
We have a couple of motorcycle adventures coming up in June and July so stayed tuned and, as always, I'll keep you posted.
