APRIL 16 - APRIL 25 : NC to MI

Thursday, April 16:: For many months, we've had a problem with low-voltage on our chassis batteries. Hank checked everything he could as we continued to travel,  but the problem kept cropping up. Lately, it's been difficult getting the motor to start up. Near the end of our stay in NC, the motor started when tested. However, when it was time to leave The Matthews Campground,  the motor would not start, again due to low-voltage.  Thanks to the campground owner, we got a battery boost and were able to go on our way.

Thursday night, we stayed in the Cracker Barrel parking lot in Beckley, WV.


 Many Cracker Barrels have RVparking spots, but they aren't long enough for us to stay hooked up, so we don't overnight in them very often.  However, with the Coronavirus limiting their service to carry-out, now their parking lots are practically empty. This location welcomed us warmly and said to park wherever we needed to. We thanked the manager and staff by ordering dinner.

Friday, April 17: The RV motor  wouldn't start.  Hank fired up the generator and was able to start the motor during a power peak.   At that point, we decided to make a slight detour in our route and head to Celina, OH and Cruising America RV Service - our favorite repair facility.  The owner, Kevin Mallory, is a former engineer with Fleetwood and American Coach and has helped us several times in the past.  Kevin told us to come whenever we could get there, and he would  have a place for us   with electric hookup until he could work us in mid-week.  The 6-hour trip went well with one fuel stop as the  weather turned colder and rainy. We arrived in Celina shortly after 5 P.M., talked briefly with Kevin and settled into a spot for at least the next 5 days.

Wednesday April 22, Kevin's helpers (two grandsons) removed two decorative window valences so Hank could restring the day-night shade, a common problem with these shades. Hank had restrung at least one small one before.  The batteries were checked, and faulty connections were found, probably dating back to work we had done in Michigan last fall.  The connection repair was scheduled for Thursday.

Thursday,April 23: The repaired window shades with the valences were reinstalled.  The battery connection repair was completed, and the engine fired right up as it should. We decided to stay one more night to get ready to travel on Friday.

Friday, April 24: We left Celina, OH at 8:50 A.M. on Friday and traveled  in dense fog for the first hour or so. Again, traffic was light and our 6 hour journey to Michigan, including a lunch stop and fuel stop, was uneventful.

Now it is time to self-quarantine for the next 2 weeks other than doing drive-up grocery pickups. .  We're looking forward to warmer weather and an enjoyable summer.

March 19 - April 15: The Matthews Campground, Raleigh, NC

Sunday, March 19, we traveled from Concord, NC to The Matthews Campground in south Raleigh, NC for a month's stay. This campground has 11 full hook-up sites on gravel pads in a wooded setting, but no other amenities.  The Matthews are also owners of Capital City Customs, Inc. which does custom RV renovations.

We come back to Raleigh each spring for medical checkups, to help with the Raleigh hamfest, and to visit with the many friends we left behind when we started fulltiming.  The Coronavirus pandemic cancelled most of those plans shortly after we arrived, so the last month we have stayed to ourselves. Hank had an eye doctor visit right after we arrived, resulting in new eyeglass lenses, We used a drug store drive thru for RX service and ordered grocery items to be picked up with out having to go in the stores.  We decided to forego our medical checkups since we're not having any health issues. Our time was well spent  with our computer activities, TV and reading.

There was severe weather during our stay with an extended period of high winds, including a 63 MPH gust, and several tornado warnings in the surrounding area.  Listening to all the tree debris hitting the roof was not a comfortable situation, but luckily it appears we came through it okay.  There were some big branches down around  the campground but none fell on campers, and a large pine tree fell across the access road during the worst storm. The owner and his son promptly took care of cleaning up the campground when the rains stopped.

A couple of weeks ago, we found out we would have to leave here as scheduled on April 16 as our campsite had been previously reserved by someone else for that date.  Most campgrounds in this part of NC were full or closed, so we had to find somewhere to go until time for our summer campgournd job in Michigan in early May.

After speaking with our summer boss about the situation, he assured us he still needed us for the summer, and after hearing of our situation, he invited us to come to Michigan whenever we needed to do so.  Tomorrow, April 16, we'll be leaving Raleigh to start our 4 day journey to Silver Lake, MI.

MARCH 10 - MARCH 18: Travel and Hamfest

Tuesday, March 10: We left Travelers Rest to start our journey north driving on I-75, Hwy. 301, and I-95 before arriving at the Walmart in Pooler, GA for the night.

Wednesday, March 11: The route we took was I-95 to I-26, then north on I-77 to the Cabela's store in Fort Mill, SC where we apent the night.

Thursday-Saturday: We finished our trek to the Cabarrus Arena in Concord, NC for a 4 night stay in the rear parking lot where there were RV hookups. Friday morning, we had a nice visit with our youngest son, Mike, in nearby Huntersville.  The Charlotte Hamfest was held on Friday and Saturday.  With the Coronavirus reports intensifying, the hamfest attendance was much smaller than normal, but those that came were in a buying mood, so vendors were happy overall. Friday night we enjoyed a nice dinner with Chuck and Alan, two good friends from Raleigh, NC.