At each step along the way in the construction of the shed in Ft Myers I posted a blog entry with an exclamation-point title (e.g., Insulation!). I don’t own my summer site but my excitement at (finally!) getting a sewer hookup was similar to a major step along the way in the shed construction. I received many promises, starting with the day I arrived (“You will have a sewer hookup by this weekend”), all of which were broken. In total I went 26 days without emptying my waste tanks – a record which I hope to never break. It wouldn’t have been possible except that I am now a single guy living in an RV with 2 bathrooms with separate storage tanks. But by the end I was being very cautious with my waste – short flushes, not letting the water run when brushing my teeth, letting the dishes pile up before washing them and even tossing Rusty’s water outside each morning before refilling his water bowl.

So I am now operating with a permanent sewer hookup, but temporary electric (20A, from the office) and water (a splitter from the owner’s hookup). That makes the situation considerably less miserable than a week ago, but still somewhere on the “miserable” spectrum.

The campground owner still hopes to be open by July 4, but here is the situation just 4 weeks before that date: 8 sites with sewer, 6 sites with water, 0 sites with permanent electric. So what did he do this weekend? Built some picnic tables. Apparently he believes that RVers will tolerate a site with no utilities so long as it has a nice, new picnic table. Puzzling.

I have now been residing at my summer site in Orange MA for two weeks. Normally, after two weeks in a place, I would be settled – unpacked, lawn furniture deployed, gas grill set up, etc. But not this time. Because I am in a “temporary site” I have left everything as close to ready to travel as possible.

How “temporary” is the site? My water is from a splitter on the owner’s rig (with 75′ of hose needed). My electric is running off of a 20A circuit from the office (not 30A as I originally thought and I have already blown that circuit once, when the A/C came on while I was using the microwave). And no sewer connection at all. Two weeks without emptying the tanks? A new record and one that would not have been possible if Jett had been here. The owner has laid sewer and water lines to the site that will be my “permanent” one. But no electric yet and it is too far from the office to even use that 20A circuit. So I have no idea when I will be able to move. In the meantime the owner has promised to run the sewer to my temporary site. But he has promised many things many times and most of those promises go begging.

So what have I been doing? Let’s see…

• Visits with in-laws Ray and Kim. But they are in the cabin only on weekends.
• Reading. The latest novel will be reviewed shortly.
• Jigsaw puzzle. Finished a very nice 1000-piece puzzle a few days ago.
• Researching my TV options. I still have no real TV, but have managed to get the main TV hooked up to Netflix using my cell phone’s hotspot. I have also had a discussion with T-Mobile on changes to my service plan (because I don’t need both Jett’s phone and a stand-alone hotspot). I think I am going to drop the hotspot and use Jett’s phone to provide the hotspot for Netflix. I have also priced out Dish TV service, but am not yet convinced that the $500 startup cost and $50 per month fee would be worth it. So I may be looking at a summer with only Netflix for television.
• Getting the truck’s windshield replaced.
• Photographing headstones in the Silver Lake Cemetery, a large (7,000 graves) cemetery about 4 miles from the campground and conveniently on the route to my favorite disc golf course. Amazingly, nearly 45% of those graves are unphotographed so this will be like shooting fish is a barrel. I could have several thousand photographs posted on findagrave.com by the end of summer.
• Reviewing and organizing CDs. I had done the same thing with DVDs before I left Florida, but since I have no real TV, listening to all the CDs seemed like a good idea.
• Feeding the goats. Rusty actually likes the goats. At the owner’s suggestion, I bought a large bag of animal crackers and have been feeding them to the goats during our dog walks.
• Thinking about my Plan B. If this campground proves to be uninhabitable I will need to go somewhere else. There are campgrounds not too far away that offer sites for about $800 per month. That would be acceptable for up to 3 months. But I don’t know it any sites are available. Doubtful. But I always have the option of returning to Fort Myers. That would be a shame and it is not something I would be eager to do, but that option always exists. Another option is to buy a generator and use it on the site with the new water and sewer hookups until the electric service is installed. Having a generator for boondocking use would not be a bad idea and I could get one that would provide 30A service for under $400. But I would have to make sure that it would fit in the bed of the truck when traveling.

Bottom line: there is still a lot “unsettled” in my current situation. Hopefully things will resolve in the next week or so.