SEPTEMBER 29: Passing Time in Max Meadows, VA

 Our stay at Indian Lake Resort near Huntsville, OH,  from Sept. 19 to Sept. 27, was good in many ways. It's a well-kept campground with friendly workers and we had good internet access via Verizon and Sprint,  as well as decent TV reception from Dayton and Columbus TV stations.  One day we toured Bellafontaine, the closest 'big' town, did a grocery pickup at Walmart, had a headlight replaced in the HHR, and treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  The campground celebrated Halloween a little early so on our last evening,  we had a parade of costumed youngsters going by as they walked  to the park center for their goodies.

Saturday, September 26, we raised the jacks and hit the highway headed south on a 5 hour trip to the Walmart in Quincy, WV.  We spent a quiet night along with a few trucks and another RV in the parking lot surrounded by mountains.

Sunday, September 17, we traveled 121 miles through more mountains on I-77 to Max Meadows in southwest Virginia. The mountain scenery  was enhanced by some early fall colors starting to appear. Our destination was the Fort Chiswell RV Park in Max Meadows where I-77 and I-81 run together for a short distance. We stayed here in 2011 in our early days of RVing before we were fulltimers.  It's not a glamorous park, but has everything we need, along with cable TV.  

Some of our neighbors across the fence.

As we've headed south, the stink bugs have once again decided we would be good traveling companions. They don't bite, but they are annoying when they suddenly fly out in front of you. We catch them when we can and return them to the outdoors. The last few days have been warm enough that we've used our Fantastic Fan Vents to pull outside air in. The stink bugs seem to like them as resting places. Yesterday, one of the fans wouldn't spin, so Hank removed the inside screen and discovered at least two stink bugs wedged in a very narrow area surrounding the fans that prevented the fans from spinning freely.  After a through cleaning of that vent fan, as well as the other two, all are now functioning as they should.  Of course, after this rainy day gets by us, the outside temps are going to fall some, so the fans may not be needed as much.

Last evening,  Hank got an email from a neighboring camper who  is also a ham radio operator. He saw our ham radio antenna and wanted to say hello.  They are staying here while they are getting their new home ready nearby. We may be able to meet them in a day or two.  Today it's been raining most of the time.

One day while we're here, we'll probably do some exploring in the area, at least to enjoy the scenery if nothing else, and we'll do a grocery pickup at Walmart.. Max Meadows is at an elevation of over 2000 feet, but there are surrounding areas around us higher than that. Our plan is to leave her on Sunday, Oct. 4 and head  southeast to central North Carolina. 

SEPTEMBER 17 - SEPTEMBER 21: Repairs and Travel

We left the Silver Lake area of Michigan on Thursday, September 17 after saying farewell to the Klepper family who own Sandy Shores Campground.  The drive to the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds was uneventful with no big delays. 

Friday morning, Darin Hathaway, an Aqua-Hot technician, came to our campsite and did the annual service and some repairs on our system. (The Aqua-Hot system is similar to a boiler system and provides both hot water and room heating from either diesel fuel or electricity.  Lately the diesel burner had refused to ignite so we were limited to using electric connections at campgrounds, and would not have heat on the road away from campgrounds.)  He found diesel fuel had jelled in the burner nozzle, and a check valve in the supply line was sticking, preventing the burner from getting fuel.  He also found a slow drip we had not noticed in the hot water line due to a deteriorated seal.  He cleaned out the nozzle, replaced the check valve, and replaced the leaking seal - so now all is well with that system. We stayed at the fairgrounds Friday night to make sure the Aqua Hot system worked as the outside temperatures dropped down into the 30's.

Over the summer Hank made some repairs to our TV antenna in an unsuccessful attempt to pick up some TV stations.  While we were in Goshen we found out that those repairs appear to have been successful.  Now we seem to have much better TV reception.

Saturday was another travel day. We drove to the Indian Lake Resort near Huntsville, Ohio for a 6 day stay.  Indian Lake is part of our Coast to Coast membership so the nightly rate is only $10 for a full-hookup site.  ( https://www.coastresorts.com/directory/_display.cfm/RCODE-2428/rbtid-2428/rez-1/ )

As described on the campground website, "This deluxe resort has many modern amenities including an indoor swimming pool, general store, kid’s playground, clubhouse and game room. It sits on a quiet and spacious 29.2 acres with a beautiful creek and catch/release pond. The campsites are very spacious and all 115 campsites are full-hookup (water, sewer and 50 amp electric."

The campground allows you to choose your campsite instead of assigning one to you. The upper area has open sites and the lower level sites are under trees.  The upper level provides the best Verizon and Sprint cellular signal strength for cellular internet.so that is where we're positioned. 

 We have no big plans for the next few days other than a little sight-seeing, a Walmart grocery pickup, and spending time with our computers and each other.  Friday, it will be time to move a little farther south.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020: Summer's End

I've been remiss in not posting over the past several months as we continued our workamping stay at Sandy Shores Campground in the Silver Lake area of western Michigan.

By the governor's directions, the campground was finally allowed to go to full occupancy in mid-June, and the volume of campers quickly escalated availability  to being full on most weekends, and very busy during the week.  Our jobs have gone well without ever being overworked.  Our relationship with the owners and their sons has continued to be a close one and we've enjoyed our stay very much. We had some days where the temperatures were in the 80's, but most days have been very pleasant with cool nights.

The Covid-19 regulations required us to wear masks in the buildings and most campers respected that order,, but few wear them walking around outside.  The office, playground, bathhouse, and laundry area are sanitized throughout the day.  While there were many cancellations due to virus concerns, those spots seemed to be filled quickly as the summer progressed.  We've stayed out of most stores but wear a mask if going inside.  Our grocery orders are picked up curbside at Walmart in Ludington (30 miles away) every 7 - 10 days and that process has worked well for us. Amazon, CVS and Walmart delivery services have been a great plus.

Saturday, August 9, is one we won't forget for awhile.  A strong storm moved in and there were two lightning strikes close to the office.  No one was injured, but a travel trailer did suffer serious electrical problems and awning damage from one strike, and a robin in a tree was killed.  The second strike hit a fence but no one reported any issues from that one. There was damage to the campground's wi-fi equipment, and phone operations.

That evening, as I cleaned up supper dishes, I dropped one of the two  heavy stove covers on my left foot. It seemed prudent to visit the nearest emergency room (15 miles away) to see what damage had been done.  There was intense swelling and bruising, but X-rays were inconclusive.  I left the hospital with a stiff 'boot' and on crutches, with a referral to a foot specialist if needed.  Surprisingly, I slept well that night and had no intense pain in the foot after that with no need for crutches or the specialist, but the swelling and bruising took several weeks to run its course.  I did miss a few hours of work during that week at the insistance of our bosses, but with ice and rest, I recuperated very quickly. 

We participated in two 'Zoom' gatherings with our 5 children and their families.  It's great to visit with all of them at once to catch up on family news.  Our  large holiday gatherings may not happen this year because of Covid-19 concerns. Many of us are involved with jobs and situations that have us interacting daily with the general public.

The campground will close for transient campers on September 20.  Seasonal residents can stay until October 15 this year because they weren't allowed in until mid-May.  Three of the other workampers left last week..  We're leaving today (Sept. 17) to start our slow journey south. We've been invited to return to work here next summer and we look forward to doing so.

Our next stop will be in Goshen, IN to get some repairs to our RV's Aqua Hot system.