November 21, 2021 - Preparing for the Trip South

Last week I winterized Homer and put him in the storage unit. At the same time, we brought Marge home to prepare her for a winter in Florida. It is always a worry that everything will work as it should after an RV sits for months (we last used it in June). 

Marge has an island in the kitchen wherein all the pots and pans are stored. The island has two doors but even with them open it is totally dark inside making it difficult to find what you are looking for in there without a flashlight. Kelly has been wanting a light installed. Two years ago I stuck up a battery-powered LED light but it did not work well because it only lit up one shelf. Last year it wouldn't even work at all. If I had 12-volt electric in the cabinet I could install a nice LED light for each shelf which would come on when a door is opened. To make this upgrade I will have to empty the front storage compartment, take down the back wall, and shimmy my way in through a very tight crawl space in order to fish a wire from the island to a 12-volt power source. This is a job I do not look forward to. 

Recently I came across an advertisement for ten cheap plastic LED lights that mount on the cabinet door hinges so they light up when the door is opened. They were cheap so I bought them. I received the lights several weeks ago and Saturday was a good day to install them. They are designed to screw on to the cabinet door hinges. Unfortunately, the hinges on Marge's cabinet doors are different from how these were designed to operate. I improvised by attaching a block of wood to the cabinet frame for each light to screw into. Since there are two doors and two shelves, I needed four blocks. I cut them and screwed them to the inside cabinet frame. I then mounted each light. The lights have a plunger switch. When the door is closed, it pushes in the plunger and turns off the light. Here is a picture of the plunger for one light. Being plastic it will be interesting to see how well they hold up. 

Here is a picture of each door with a light installed for each shelf. 

The lights are cheap and not very bright only being powered by a small battery in each light.  The cabinet isn't accessed much so the batteries should last a while. If the lights prove not to be bright enough, or the batteries don't last very long, I'll get ambitious and go the permanent light route.

Yesterday I started checking the operation of the appliances. I opened the LP valve and turned on the furnace. It fired right up and heated just as it is supposed to. I then put the refrigerator on LP and it lit right up as well. I let it run for several hours to make sure it was cooling. It was operating as it should so I turned it back off until the day before we leave. I can't check out the operation of the hot water heater because there is no water in Marge. It is just too cold here to put water in the system. I've never had any problem with the hot water heater so I'm not expecting any issues when we get to Florida.

Marge has two 30-gallon LP tanks. I draw LP off one tank at a time. It is always hard to remember if the other tank is empty or full without disconnecting it and pulling it out to see how heavy it is. There is a fancy unit you can buy that attaches to the bottom of each tank. You can then look at an App on your phone to see how much gas is in each tank. I'm too tight to spend the money for this gadget so I came up with my own system. I took two magnetic business cards and cut each into the shape of an arrow. I then painted them red.  I attach one arrow to each tank with the arrow pointing up when it is full. When a tank is empty, upon switching over to the other tank, I just turn the arrow on the empty tank facing down so I know it is empty.  Here is a picture.

Upon turning the LP gas on yesterday I noticed that the one tank was empty. I went to Rozier's this morning and had the empty tank filled and changed the arrow to point up. Good to go. A simple solution that cost me nothing but a little time.

Today I also added DEF (diesel emission fluid) to the truck. Other than fuel, no other truck maintenance is needed. Later this week I will begin loading the back seat of the truck with all the stuff we take to Florida such as a small refrigerator for outdoor use, an ice maker, a folding table, golf clubs, and a Pusch-Pull golf cart. I used to put my bike inside Marge but with stopping overnight we found it is easier to just tie it down in the bed of the truck. If someone wants to steal my 35-year-old bike while we are parked, they can have it.

Over the years we have driven to St. Petersburg in two long days. You can't travel as fast towing an RV and pit stops take longer. Last year we didn't arrive at the RV park until dark. This made it very hard to back in the RV. In fact, the next day I had to hook the truck back up and reposition the trailer a little to be level enough for four months of sitting. This year we will take three days to get down there. (We are retired after all.) We will stop overnight at a campground South of Chattanooga and then at another in Valdosta, Georgia. This will allow us to get to the RV park in early afternoon. This will make it easier on everybody.

October 28, 2021 - November 9, 2021 - Trip to California to See Kids and Grandkids

We flew out to California on October 28th. The primary purpose of this trip was to help take care of grandson, Free, while daughter, Erin, recuperated from thyroid surgery. 

Before heading to Erin's we spent a couple of days in Mountain View with Annie, Adam, Violet, and Wren. On Sunday Erin, Kellen, and Free came to Mountain View for a pre-Halloween visit and pumpkin carving. Here is a picture of Kellen and Free watching the pumpkin carving in the back yard. Kellen is crazy about his little brother.

Of course, mama got Baby Free into the act. At four months old he was dressed up as Lennie Kravitz. Here are a couple of pictures.

We dressed up for Halloween and for the "Monster Bash" at the city park. I was a pickle, Kelly was a butterfly.

Here are the girls in their outfits. Wren was "Stay Puff" from "Ghost Busters". Violet was a mermaid.

We also attended a Halloween Parade at Violet's pre-school. It was crazy watching the teachers trying to organize all the kids. It was like herding cats.

Adam and Annie dressed up as well. Here is a family picture from two different days.

Kelly and I passed out candy at the house while Adam, Annie, Violet and Wren went "Trick or Treating". We hadn't passed out candy for years because no kids ever come to our house. Because of Covid what people were doing was putting the candy in a bowl out on a table near the sidewalk. We then sat back by the porch and greeted all the little ones as they came by for a treat. It was fun to see the kids enjoy the evening. There were lots of great comments about the carved pumpkins, apparently that is not a big thing in this area.

After Halloween we headed to Tracy, California, to help take care of Free while Erin had surgery and recuperated. She and Larry had a two-hour drive to San Francisco for the surgery. The surgery was delayed by over an hour, and then it took 3.5 hours rather than the 1.5 hours estimated. The operation went well but they ended up keeping her overnight. Larry had to drive back home, then back again the next day to get Erin. We learned yesterday that the biopsy of the growth showed no sign of cancer. Great news! 

Erin couldn't drive for a week and she can't lift Free for two weeks. While there we took Kellen to and from school each day and hung out at her place enjoying our visit with them while taking care of Free. Free is the cutest little guy. He is always happy and never cries unless he is wet or hungry. We so enjoyed the time with him. Here are a couple of pictures. He may start cutting teeth early because he drools non-stop and wants to chew on everything!

Our flight home was uneventful, which is nice. The worst part was the three-hour layover in Denver. We arrived at the airport in San Jose at 10:30 a.m. and got home at 12:30 a.m. A long day. 

Upon getting home I winterized Homer for storage. Next is putting Homer in the shed and bringing Marge home to pack for a winter in Florida. This year, for the first time, we are going to take three days to get down there. I hope the trip down isn't freezing cold. It is no fun sitting in a cold trailer for hours waiting to go to bed each night.