July 31 - August 9th - Fort Wayne, Indiana, Visit, Sterling, Michigan, Campout, RV Repairs

Fort Wayne, Indiana:

On the 31st we drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to visit friends, Jim and Marilyn Edds. Before leaving on Saturday the 29th I happened to check the tire pressures on Homer and found one of the rear duals totally flat. It was 11:00 a.m. I quickly got online and found that my tire place was open until 1:00 p.m. so I immediately called and asked that if I got the tire to them could they fix it. Ben told me they would work me in. I tried to get the tire off to take it in rather than driving Homer there with one dual tire flat but I was totally unable to break any of the lug nuts with my impact wrench. I drove Homer into town. They got on it right away and found a bad valve stem. If I hadn’t checked the tires on Saturday our trip north would have been delayed on Monday until after the tire was fixed. As it turned out we were able to leave early Monday as originally planned. We arrived in Fort Wayne around 5:00 p.m. Here is a picture of Homer mooch docking in Jim and Marilyn’s driveway.

I am happy to report an investment I made last year in Homer paid off in Indiana because was really hot. To run the AC in Homer you normally need 30-amp power. Most residential homes don’t have that. I installed a Softstart on Homer’s AC unit last year. It electronically cuts down the power draw when the AC compressor starts so you can run it on less amperage. We plugged it into an outlet in Jim’s garage and the AC worked fine. Yippee. Then, after ten minutes, it tripped the circuit breaker in the extension cord. Bummer. I thought about it then decided the problem was that the fridge was still on electric. When it kicked on, it, along with the AC unit, it was too much of a draw. I turned the fridge on gas, reset the breaker, and was well. Homer cooled down great.

I am always up early. Each morning at Jim and Marilyn’s I was able to sit out in the morning on their new porch and enjoy the view. Nothing but grass and corn behind their house.

Before I left home I thought the chassis battery was not fully charging. I pulled it out and load tested it. It tested just on the “weak” side, so I charged it up. It was holding 12.9 volts, so I put it back in. I checked my records and the battery was seven years old, put in just after we bought Homer. Once at Jim’s he said he thought the battery sounded a little weak so we pulled it out and headed to AutoZone for a replacement. I hope this one lasts seven years.

On Wednesday we decided to take a drive to Roanoke, Indiana, to check out the shops and maybe buy some Wagyu beef. Kelly has been wanting to try some for a long time. It is very expensive beef. The store clerk suggested we buy the burgers for our first experience. I think they were $30.00 per pound. We didn’t buy any then but walked down the street and visited a few other shops. Roanoke is about fifteen miles from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and they have done a wonderful job of developing their main street with lots of nice shops and businesses. Here are a couple of pictures.

It was time for lunch so we backtracked to the nearby TwoEE’s Winery. Here is a selfie of us as we arrived. We were looking directly into the sun so it was hard to see the picture and hard not to squint.

We had a complimentary tasting of two wines and ordered a charcuterie plate. It was quite good. We then headed back to Roanoke to pick up some Wagyu beef to take home. We bought frozen burgers to enjoy back home. Back at Jim and Marilyn’s we hung out in the comfort of air-conditioning.  We were going to go out for supper but a huge rainstorm moved in so we just feasted on leftovers.

When it was time to hit the sack that evening upon walking out to Homer we instantly realized that we had screwed up. We forgot that our canvas folding chairs were left sitting out. They were dripping wet. We unfolded them and set them up in the garage to dry overnight before traveling.

It is always great to see Jim and Marilyn and exchange stories about what we and our kids and grandkids have been doing since the last visit.

Sterling, Michigan:

Thursday morning we headed North to Sterling, Michigan. Our intent was to surprise some Michigan friends (who winter with us in Florida) at a campout they were having over the weekend. They have been going to this same campground each year to tube down the river. We learned about it from friend, Lee. After he told us there was room for us to join the group, Kelly and I decided to drive up and join them as a surprise. Only Lee was in on the surprise. On our way up Lee advised that David and Jean may not come due to David having gout in his knee. He panicked and called sister, Janet to tell her that we were coming. He asked her to convince David and Jean to come for the surprise. Soon after learning that that had transpired, I received a message from David. I misread the message to say that he knew we were coming. I asked how it leaked out but fortunately he didn't know what I was talking about, so he didn't respond.

We arrived at the campout early Thursday afternoon. After checking in I wanted to dump because the campsites did not have sewer. I pulled the valve for the black tank and all came out well. I pulled the valve for the gray tank and water came out everywhere. When I looked it was plain to see that the pipe from the gray tank valve was broken.

I looked to see what could have caused this pipe to fracture and found fresh grass and mud in the strap holding the black water drain. The arrow points to the area.

The drain is much lower than the bumper and clearly someone had backed into a grass area and hit the black tank drain. It had to be someone at the repair shop because I had not had Homer off the pavement since our campout last month when I dumped with no issue. To get us through this trip I duct taped the pipe over the weekend.

Duct tape is not water tight so when I dumped upon leaving on Sunday, it leaked a little but no big deal. Gray water making a little mess is much better than black (poop) water doing it.

We set up Homer in a spot Lee suggested. George and Janet arrived next and set up their trailer. Then Chris and Marge arrived. While driving down the hill to the campground Chris recognized Homer and told Marge "That's Bullerdieck's motorhome - Homer". It was great fun to surprise them. They set up next to us. David and Jean did not arrive until the Friday and were surprised to see us as well. It was great fun knowing that at least two of the couples had no idea we would be there.

The sites they had at River View Campground & Canoe Livery overlooked the river which is busy, busy, busy with tubers and canoers all weekend. Here are a couple of pictures.

The Michigan clan had tubed this river for many years but now are content just watching the youngsters float by with their coolers of beer and music. 

Friday was David and Jean's 50th Anniversary. Marge set up a tent, a banner, a feast, and had Champaigne to celebrate. Here are pictures of the banner, the happy couple, and Marge making a toast to 50 years of wedded bliss.

Marge, as always, did a great job. It was really sweet of her to set this all up for her little sister.

Since the tent and banner were near the water, all day Friday and Saturday as tubers came by, they all wished Jean and David a Happy Anniversary. It was great fun to raise a drink to them as they went by.

Friday evening we had a fire and listened to music from our generation. The "Anniversary Couple" had a nice dance on the grass in the dark.

Some years back Jean had purchased gag gifts for all the attendees. Rick's was a hat that lit up. He had it with him and wore it as well as his apron on Friday night. He was feeling no pain.

Saturday was our 51st Anniversary and we enjoyed sharing it with this formerly raucous crowd. It was quite hot during the day so several of us waded across the river and sat in the water in our chairs watching the youngsters enjoy their float. I was pleasantly surprised at how well-behaved all the revelers were although clearly many of them had been drinking all day. 

I took some pictures of the couples we "partied" with this weekend. We know all of them, except Rick and Rose, from Florida and treasure their friendships.

David and Jean:

Chris and Marg:

Janet and George:

Lee and Sherrie:

Julie and Terry:

New acquaintances, Rose and Rick:

 

Saturday morning Chris made "Sausage Egg McMuffins" for all. They were fabulous. Sadly, this is the group's last year at this park after coming here for over 25 years. The park has been sold and new rules about reservations, etc., have been put in place that aren't conducive to how this group likes to camp. We were honored to have been with them for their last "Hurrah".

We left early Sunday morning headed for home some 700 miles South. In Indiana we started to look for a place to stop for the night. Kelly got online and found a private campground up the road. Just then a sign came up for Lieber State Recreation Area. We love state parks but often they are too far off the highway to drive to while on a mission to get somewhere. This park ended up only being about three miles off the Interstate. Perfect. It was a Sunday night and they had lots of spaces available. The attendant put us on a nicely shaded lot. It was hot but we still scrounged around for firewood. I rooted around in Homer to find some cardboard for kindling. We ended up having a nice fire.

As we were packing up Saturday night George had given us four Michigan hot dogs, buns, onions, and mustard packs, for a meal on the way home. Once the fire was roaring Kelly made dinner.

We were hungry and enjoyed the dogs immensely. A great meal on the road home.

On Monday we had to stop in St. Louis to pick up my medicine at the Siteman Center. We took the opportunity to have lunch with our daughter. Alexa. After a nice visit with her, and an obligatory trip through Costco, we made the last leg of our journey arriving home at 3:00 p.m. As we arrived at the house a thunderstorm moved in. We were only able to empty the refrigerator before the rain hit.

It was another truly enjoyable RV trip. The Michigan bunch are like family. Hanging out with them in their native environment for several days was a blast. We look forward to seeing most of them in Florida again this winter. 

Finally, Homer issues this trip:

Homer averaged 8.1 mpg for 1450 miles at 65 mph. Can't complain although used a lot of fuel. I didn't add up the cost of fuel. LOL

The ignition on Homer was acting up before we left home. The inside cylinder wasn't always moving in sync with the lock you turn on the outside of the steering column. The key would stick in at times and a couple of times the cylinder didn't want to move forward enough to start the engine.  (A little scarry when you are on the road.) An ignition switch replacement is a pretty easy fix, so I called today and made an appointment for a new one to be installed on Monday. I could probably install it myself but I have other projects taking up my time and a visit to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow for a look at my injured knee. 

Kelly and I went to Cape Girardeau this morning to retrieve the lawn mower that had been in the shop for warranty repairs for several weeks. While in Cape we looked for 1 1/2-inch ABS sewer pipe to fix the broken holding tank drain. We went to Lowes, a plumbing supply house, an RV sales and service center, and to Menard's. Only Menard's had the pipe. All but the plumbing supply house had the fittings. I found that interesting. Fittings but no pipe. Strangely the ABS pipe at Menard's did not fit the 1 1/2 fittings snuggly as it should. It was just smaller in diameter. Too small just for glue to fill in the space I'm afraid. I bought a piece of the pipe anyway and a rubber-metal sleeve to connect the new piece of pipe to the old piece of pipe. I'm hoping the new pipe fits into the old fitting on the tank snuggly. If it doesn't, I will have a problem. We got home and I decided to order another piece of ABS pipe and fitting from Amazon, hoping they will be better quality and a proper fit. If they are I will take the other pipe back to Menard's. The Menard's pipe is very cheap Chinese plastic crap and even the salesman could not believe that the pipe did not fit into the fittings snuggly. I have 1 1/2-inch PVC pipe but I have learned that it can only be connected to ABS with a rubber clamp. I have a connection in an elbow so that won't work. According to internet sources the two types of pipes cannot be glued together. I also learned that PVC fittings can be heated up to get broken pieces out, ABS cannot. I am going to have fun getting the old broken pieces out. It will be a few days before everything gets here. Our next campout is August 22nd so wish me luck!