another project

Our work week passed pretty quickly and before we knew it we were back in the cafe doing our weekend breakfast shifts. Saturday morning the campers arrived early and never let up. We are only open for 1 1/2 hours and during that time Rudee and I served 48 meals. That's one meal every 1 1/2 minutes! The owner said the record for breakfast was 55 meals making this the second busiest day they ever had. We were both hot and tired by the time the dining room emptied out but also a little proud that we had accomplished a very busy morning with very few problems. :-)

Sunday was a lot more laid back shift and we were able to visit with some of the customers after they finished their breakfast. The tips were certainly not as good as Saturday but we needed the rest!
Right after work Rudee headed to Indy to attend a former co-workers baby shower leaving me to fend for myself so I decided to take advantage of the time and tackle a project.
When Mike and Les were here last week we went to Sam's club since they had a membership there. I bought two 6 volt batteries to replace the single 12 volt one on our 5th wheel as well as a 2 ga battery cable and new battery box.
Our existing battery was over 5 years old and I noticed the other day when the power went out the 12v lights got dim really fast so I figured it was time to change.
I went with the 6v batteries because they are designed to be discharged and recharged multiple times with less damage then their 12v deep cycle counterparts. There is also the belief that the 6v batteries will not deplete as quickly and my hope is to be able to get through the night boondocking while using the furnace if needed. Last time we boondocked the temps were in the 30's and the battery pooped out about 4am and Rudee woke up cold. Not good! You know the old saying, "when Mama aint happy, nobody is happy" :-)
I turned the battery off to the coach using the battery disconnect switch installed by the manufacturer and removed the existing battery. I then lifted both batteries into the front compartment. Since the coach is a 12 volt system you have to wire the two 6v batteries in series to achieve the needed 12 volts (6v +6v = 12 volts). I hooked the ground wire from the coach to the negative terminal of battery #1. Then, using the purchased battery cable I wired the positive post from battery #1 to the negative post of battery #2. The last thing to hook up was the power wire to the coach which hooks to the positive terminal of battery #2.

Before buttoning everything back up I changed the 50 amp relay for the slide motor. The relay is the small metal box with the 3 wires attached to it mounted on the back wall of the front compartment in the photo above. There is one for the slides and one for the landing legs. The slide relay had been tripping when closing the slides. Once it trips it resets in about 20-30 seconds and then works fine. I did some research and found this to be a common problem in our model of 5th wheel and the relay tends to "weaken" with a lot of use and needs replaced occasionally.
Once I got everything done I remembered to turn the battery switch back on and decided to flush the black tank. I emptied the tank and hooked a hose to the flush inlet. Our 5er has a built in "flusher" inside the black tank and I usually do a good flush about every 3rd dump or so. In our prior toy hauler I installed a flush system that I purchased at Camping World and it worked much the same way as the factory installed system. I leave the black tank valve open and let the flusher run for quite awhile to make sure the tank is cleaned. One helpful item I have is a clear elbow on the 3" sewer "slinky" that allows me to see when the water is running clear through the discharge pipe so I know when the tank is clean :-).

With those projects done I am already planning for the next one and will be checking out what supplies I need to accomplish it so stay tuned. I'll keep you posted.

Friends come to visit

Mike and Les Kennedy were due to arrive late Monday afternoon but we couldn't be here to greet them, we had a wedding to attend about 2 hours away and didn't get back to the KOA until after 9pm. We left a note for them at the desk letting them know if they still wanted company at that hour to leave their porch light on. Sure enough when we got back we spied their Montana 5th wheel and the porch light was on so we hurried to our 5er and changed into "comfy" clothes and walked over. I knocked on the door and there was no answer. Their truck was there but there were no other lights on except the porch light. We were just starting to walk away when Rudee spotted Mike walking across the campground loaded down with laundry :-). Les was just leaving the laundry room when we caught up with Mike to help him with his "load". :-)
We sat in their 5th wheel until late in the night catching up on each others travels and finally called it a night long after the rest of the campers were sound asleep.

Tuesday morning we all met for breakfast at the cafe and got a chance to show them some of "our" campground. Once breakfast was over we all piled into the Dakota and headed south. We took a nice drive through the Indiana countryside and passed through several small farming communities. We arrived in the town of French Lick and spent a little time (and some $$) in the casino here. Back in the "roaring 20's" this area was a well known tourist destination with it's claim to fame being the mineral springs located here. Two large Hotels catered to the tourists who arrived mostly by train. Both of those Hotels have been refurbished to their grandeur from that time period and we enjoyed doing our own walking tour of the properties.
Here is the inside of the huge domed atrium of the West Baden Hotel.

the top of the dome

Rudee and Les "taking a break"

None of us needed any extra help carrying any bucket loads of money out of the casino, in fact were all losers to one degree or another :-).
We made the trip back to Terre Haute where Rudee prepared a Mexican Casserole for the four of us. We carried it over to Mike and Les' where after dinner we introduced them to the game of Spinners.

Wednesday morning we were off and running again. This time the four of us headed to a couple of museums here in Terre Haute but found they were both closed due to the holiday. Hmmm what to do now?
We decided to head to Rockville and visit some of the sights around the "Covered Bridge Capitol". Mike and Les had been here before and visited a lot of the bridges so we headed for an Amish flea market where we each purchased some fresh vegetables. We also stopped at an Amish bakery but nothing tempted us there (hard to believe, I know!!). Benjamin's was our stop for lunch where we introduced Mike and Les to a genuine Hoosier favorite, breaded tenderloin sandwiches. They seemed to enjoy this first time experience but we warned them not to get hooked on them since you have trouble finding them outside of Indiana.
Rudee and I had to be at work at 4pm so we had to cut our day short and get to our J.O.B. :-(
Our shift was a busy one too, we checked in one camper after another and our 5 hours flew by. The worst part for me was the temperatures were still in triple digits and there were few times I could duck into the a/c to cool down .... it was pretty brutal for this old dog!
Les came into the office to visit with Rudee and while she was there an older class A motorhome pulled up and a man came into the office. Rudee greeted the man and asked if he needed a site for tonight. The man started to answer her and then passed out falling to floor! :-o Rudee called me right away on the radio but by the time I made it to the office (I was on the other side of the campground) they had him into a chair and were giving him some water. He said his a/c was out and he had left Oklahoma this morning and had been driving all day in the heat. I guess it was just more than he could handle. Luckily he was safely here before the heat caught up to him! He didn't want to go to the hospital and kept saying he was fine so she got him checked in and I helped him get his rig set up and checked on him several times while doing my rounds. Wow, a little too much excitement for us :-).
Mike and Les took pity on us and invited us to a late supper at their place. Mike grilled brats while Les made red beans & rice and a Cesar salad! What great people these two are! We sure appreciated a great meal after our long hot day, thanks guys!

This morning we met with Les and Mike again and were able to visit some before they pulled out. They are traveling to Elkhart Indiana for a few days and then on to Michigan to meet some more friends. Have safe travels guys, and thanks for stopping by and brightening our days!

I have a little project for the 5er in the works and have gathered some of the necessary "stuff" to get it accomplished. I should start working on it soon and ..... I'll keep you posted!

trying to keep our cool!

So far we are surviving the long 4th of July Holiday. The campground was about 3/4 full this past week end and we were busy both mornings in the cafe.

Last year before heading out on the road we installed a second roof air conditioner. We have not had a real need to use it until this week when the temperatures climbed into triple digits.

This was taken from my I-phone and it has even gotten hotter!
We have had both a/c's running during the day to try and keep the 5er cooled down. They have sure been getting a work out but have kept up pretty well. We can keep the inside fairly comfortable in the lower 70's while the outside is smokin hot in the low 100's. That's not too bad considering the insulation value that most RV's have.
One thing new I tried was a suggestion from the Montana Owners Group forum. Our 5th wheel has a hole that goes from the living area into the "basement" at the stairs into the bedroom. The hole is covered with a decorative board with slots cut into it and works as a cold air return to the furnace. Others have covered this vent and report a dramatic change in keeping the living area cool. Rudee and I removed the board and cut a piece of cardboard to fit the hole. We covered the cardboard with a plastic garbage bag and then re-mounted the board. This made a big difference and the air conditioner does not have to work as hard as before. I do have to remember to remove the cardboard before we run the furnance though and Rudee's job is to remember to remind me not to forget! :-)

We have some guests arriving this week. Mike and Les Kennedy are fellow fulltimers that we met a couple of years ago in South Dakota and have stayed in touch with. We visited them in Kerrville Texas last February and since they are heading through the midwest decided to swing by the KOA for a few days. They are terrific folks and we are looking forward to seeing them again.
Saturday motorcycle (and RVing) friends Rob and Jany Runion are arriving to stay a few days as well and we always have a great time when the four of us get together.

Yesterday (Sunday) we attending a little get together for some of Rudee's pals from high school. Patti, Susan, Keith, Laura and Rudee were all best friends while growing up and we all got together at Patti's house about  30 miles from here. We ate a great meal and swapped stories for most of the afternoon. Thanks Patti and Carson for the meal and letting us all invade your home!

We still have our "day jobs" and will be working in between spending time with friends so it looks like we will have a busy week ahead. I'll keep you posted.