Our Wander Years

TN4 wrapup

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Sparky

TN4 Actual

I am belatedly doing the post-mortem on the Fourth Trip North (TN4). By the numbers: 17 nights in 8 hops, 1664 tow miles, 1930 truck miles, $757.93 in campground fees ($44.58 per night). The campground total does not include the 2 nights we spent in the Quality Inn in Lexington MA and if I were to provide a total cost I would have to include the 5 days we had to rent a car in Newburgh NY and fuel, not only to get to the destination but also to make that trip by rental car to Lexington so that Jett could make her medical appointment.

In short, this was not the trip that was planned. The main feature was mechanical problems with the truck – first in NC then again in NY. The failure in NY caused a 5-day delay in reaching the destination. It also resulted in unexpected expenditures of over $1,500 for hotels, an 8th campground and a rental car. Those problems were definitely the main “lowlights”, but not the only lowlights. Once again we were plagued by rainy weather all the way from VA to MA, including a threat of flooding in PA. The highlights? Visiting family in VA and an always-pleasant stay at James Island in Charleston. God, we love that park and love that city!

We also picked up Rusty along the way in VA. Many thanks to Jett’s sons for taking such good care of him. He almost didn’t want to leave.

We left NY with a repaired truck and hopes that we would have a reliable (and maintenance-free) truck all summer. Well, those hopes were dashed a week later. I will describe those separately.

This was probably the most difficult north/south trip ever. We need a problem-free trip south in the fall to feel confident that we have a reliable truck.

Categories: NC, NY, Places, Routes, TN4, VA | Leave a comment

Update on Jett’s health

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Sparky

Her most recent blood tests show that her hemoglobin is holding steady at a low-normal level. Her doctor is putting her on B12 supplements and will monitor her condition closely. So while we still don’t know the cause for the near-catastrophic drop in hemoglobin while on the cruise, the fact that it has recovered and seems to be a manageable condition is very encouraging.

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TN4 Hop 8: Newburgh NY to Phillipston MA

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Sparky

TN4 Hop 8

190 miles via NY 32, I-87, I-90, MA 21 and US 202. Truck miles: 267. Cumulative tow miles: 1694. Cumulative truck miles: 1930.

This was a hop that, like the stay in Newburgh, was not in our plan. The original, ill-fated Hop 7 would have taken I-84 to I-91 up into MA. But from Newburgh the I-87 route was basically the same time, though 10 miles longer and about $20 more expensive due to tolls. But having traversed I-84 twice on our “road trip” and enjoying it not at all, I opted for the longer, more expensive route.

I am glad I did as it was a scenic route on a beautiful day. The traffic was, relative to I-84, light and the navigation was simple. The first 20 miles were, as usual, white-knuckle because it would have been disastrous if the engine problem reappeared. It didn’t. But I didn’t start to relax until we had gone about 50 miles. At that point Jett called the campground – the New York City North/Newburgh KOA Holiday – to let them know that we had vacated the site a day early. We kept our reservation for as long as we thought there was a chance we would have to return.

The KOA was a port in a storm. I chose it because it was closest to my truck, so I really didn’t care what it had to offer. I didn’t look around with a critical eye. But it is a nice little campground. A few too many long-term residents for my taste, but maybe they are waiting for their trucks to be fixed, too. We were next to a lovely couple who were attending his 65th class reunion at West Point. Wow.

So it appears that the truck has been fixed. I won’t fully believe that until I haul the RV back down to Florida without encountering an engine problem. But I am cautiously optimistic as the service rep showed me a service bulletin which described my symptoms perfectly.

And only $861 to fix it. A bargain.

Categories: MA, NY, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TN4 | Leave a comment

TN4 Road Trip

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Sparky

The truck was left for repair while we rented a car and drove to Boston for two nights in the Quality Inn in Lexington MA. The road trip was necessary because we had two critically important commitments: my first summer softball game on Monday and Jett’s appointment with her doctor on Tuesday. Both went reasonably well: my team won both games, though I can’t take much of the credit, and Jett got lots of blood taken for a battery of tests. We are keeping our fingers crossed on both the truck and the blood tests.

As you can see from the photo below, the weather for the softball game was sunny and warm – a perfect softball day. This was just a stroke of luck because it rained all the way to Boston and rained all the way back to Newburgh. The traffic on the return trip was terrible. A miserable 5-hour trip.

We had a couple of hours to kill on Tuesday morning – Jett’s doctor appointment was at 1:30 pm – so I went out in search of a used car. We wanted an inexpensive car that we could use while we are in MA – a “summer rat.” Buying and selling should be cheaper than renting. Unless we run into mechanical problems, of course.

I found a 2008 Ford Fusion that looked like it would meet our needs, so I took Jett to see it. She loved it. So within the course of an hour we had bought it. We will take possession on Saturday.

It wasn’t part of the original TN4 plan, but it turned out to be a pretty productive road trip.

First softball game

Summer rat

Categories: Adventures, MA, Places, TN4 | Leave a comment

TN4 Hop 7: Milford PA to Newburgh NY (barely)

Posted on May 19, 2018 by Sparky

TN4 Hop 7

38 miles via I-84. Truck miles: 52. Cumulative tow miles: 1504. Cumulative truck miles: 1673.

This was supposed to be the last hop of the TN4. Not so. 37 miles into the trip the “check engine” light once again reappeared. And was persistent. We waited, on the side of the very busy I-84, for about 25 minutes before the light went off. The good news, if there is any, is that we were able to pull over at the top of Exit 6 and that a Pilot Truck Center was located at that exit. When I got the engine restarted, We were able to take the exit ramp, wait at the bottom through a light cycle, make a left turn and travel about a tenth of a mile to the light for the turn into the truck stop. Then the engine failed again. We had to wait about 10 minutes in the left turn lane, hazard lights blinking, until the engine restarted normally and I was able to pull into the truck stop. Where the light came on once again.

Three failures in a mile. I suppose we could have made it to Massachusetts a quarter of a mile at a time, but it would have taken a week.

Time to get this annoying problem fixed for real.

The $100 diagnosis

I went into the truck stop and talked to the mechanic. He had no diagnostic equipment, but gave me the number of a guy who did. I called the number and he appeared within 20 minutes. Diagnosed the problem as a voltage issue on injector 2 – same problem we had in NC. No surprise there. Paid him $100 for that bit of information (cash – it would have been $200 on a credit card – don’t tell the IRS), got permission from the truck stop manager to park the RV overnight, got it parked, found a local GMC/Chevy dealership 3 miles away and drove there in “safe mode”. The truck actually can travel in safe mode, but sounds like hell and is useless as a tow vehicle. I talked to the service guy at the dealership. There was no real hope of fixing the problem before Monday (they had one “diesel guy” who was swamped) and very likely wouldn’t be looked at before Tuesday. So… get a rental car (the service guy called Enterprise for us), take what we needed from the truck (not much – some sewer hookup stuff and the dog), book a site at the closest RV park (a KOA 10 miles away), make arrangements to haul the RV there the next day (the RV park had no sites on Friday), get a hotel room for the night, go back to the truck stop to get what we needed overnight and drive to the hotel. Then find a pizza place for dinner.

Tough hop. We will lose everything that we have in the freezer. We were smart enough to dump the ice so that we wouldn’t come back to a pool of water on the floor tomorrow.

Oh – almost forgot the other “fun” aspect of this day: the broken glass. When we pulled out of the River Beach Campsites park, the right RV tires dropped into a pretty deep hole. I saw the RV rock behind me as I made the turn. The severe dip/tilt/rock was enough to toss the recliner about 2 feet and throw open one of the kitchen cabinet doors, allowing two glasses to tumble out onto the countertop, break and spread glass all over everything. Just a little insult on top of the injury.

Broken glass

This was arguably the worst hop in our 5+ years of traveling. To come on the heels of our disastrous cruise makes it even more painful.

We had to call Lamb City (our summer campground) and tell them that our arrival would be delayed indefinitely. They were sympathetic, but still insisted on full payment of the balance. I guess I would call that limited sympathy.

Jett says that we should be grateful for the good fortune that we had – we were able to get the rig into the truck stop and make arrangements to fix the truck and stay in Newburgh, all within a few hours. I guess. But let’s say that I have limited gratitude.

Categories: Adventures, NY, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TN4 | Leave a comment

TN4 Hop 6: Gettysburg PA to Milford PA

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Sparky

TN4 Hop 6

200 miles via PA 116, US 30, US 15, I-83, I-81, I-78, PA 33, US 22 and US 209. Truck miles: 212. Cumulative tow miles: 1436. Cumulative truck miles: 1621.

Another rainy day, but at least it became less rainy as the day went on. Gettysburg was at the northern edge of a flood zone, so we got out of there just in time.

The route was complicated (as Jett noted about a dozen times as she tried, without success, to reconcile the printed map with the GPS directions) but we managed to navigate it without getting lost. Most of the route was highway that we have traveled before. As always, the Pennsylvania roads were narrow, crowded and in poor repair. Not my favorite state for travel.

Our home for the evening was the River Beach Campsites which is, first and foremost, a base for canoe and kayak excursions down the Delaware River, and is only secondarily an RV campground. We stayed here at least once before and I had some positive memories of the place, though its primary attraction is its location: on the Delaware River, near an entrance to I-84, within one tank of Boston. Well, I rescind those positive memories. There is just nothing to recommend this place. The sites are uneven and, after a rainy week, very muddy. There is no cable TV and absolutely no over-the-air TV. There is spotty Verizon service, no sewer hookups, no garbage collection, no recycling. That it is conveniently located is not sufficient.

I need to find a better option.

Categories: PA, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TN4 | Leave a comment

TN4 Hop 5: Lorton VA to Gettysburg PA

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Sparky

TN4 Hop 5

97 miles via VA 242, I-95, I-495 (around Washington), I-270, US 15 and local roads. Truck miles: 224. Cumulative tow miles: 1236. Cumulative truck miles: 1409.

The trip itself was uneventful, but was on a dreary, rainy day. The drama came when we arrived at out destination – the Gettysburg Campground – where we were informed that they would be closing on Thursday (our departure day – just an overnight stop) due to expected flooding. They took my phone number and said they would call if the creek rose faster than expected. There was a slight chance that I would have to leave in the middle of the night. Fortunately that was not necessary.

There was also water-related drama during our 5 nights at the Pohick Bay Regional Park Campground but it involved our fresh water supply. I mentioned earlier that I accidentally booked an “electric only” site, so we had only the fresh water that we carried in with us – probably about 30 gallons. That would be 6 gallons per day. I tried to get moved to a water-and-electric site but was unsuccessful. So we conserved – I took a couple of showers at the bathhouse and the showers we took in the RV were limited to about 1 minute. We cheated a bit by using bottled water in the coffeemaker. We made it – 5 days on 30 gallons – but it wasn’t fun and I won’t do it again.

Pohick is becoming more and more popular and I will need to book a site far in advance. Hopefully Site 71 – the best site in the park. I probably shouldn’t mention that as my tens of readers will now know what to ask for when they head that way.

It was a rainy 5 days. While we did get some sun, every day ended with a thunderstorm. It was drizzling when we pulled out and I had to leave the firewood that I bought but couldn’t use. Not great weather, but at least I-95 wasn’t closed due to flooding as it was last spring.

Because of the weather most of our family activities were indoors, including a lot of restaurant dinners. I gained about 5 pounds. I will need to shed those before my softball game next Monday.

The rain is going to continue all the way to Massachusetts. The forecast for our arrival on Friday: rain, followed by more rain Saturday and Sunday. Welcome home.

We did get to see a lot of grandson Zachary, including watching him play a baseball game (a tough 4-0 loss). It is always a treat to spend time with this fine young man. And his parents and aunt and uncle. Thanks, all!

Zachary at the plate

Hibachi dinner

Rusty relaxing with Uncle Josh

Zachary at the skateboard park

Categories: DC, PA, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TN4, VA | Leave a comment

TN4 Hop 4: Wilson NC to Lorton VA

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Sparky

TN4 Hop 4

237 miles via US 301, US 64, I-95, I-295 (around Richmond) and VA 242. Truck miles: 254. Cumulative tow miles: 1139. Cumulative truck miles: 1185.

The first “adventure” of the day occurred as I was on my way to fill the tank: the “check engine” light came on as I was idling at a traffic signal. The engine immediately went into “safe mode” which meant that I basically had no acceleration. I pulled over (difficult because I was in a construction zone) and repeatedly turned the engine off, let it rest, then restarted the engine. I had to do that about 8 times before the engine resumed normal operation. I gingerly made it one more block to the Shell station, filled up and then made it back to the RV park without falling back into safe mode.

After chatting with Jett (not a happy conversation) we decided that I should go to the office and warn them that we might be there another night), then go to find a diesel mechanic to take a look. The office person was not happy to hear that we might not be able to move as someone was booked into the site for the weekend. The mechanic (at Brad’s Diesel and Auto Repair) was happy to run the diagnostics – after I agreed to an $85 diagnostic fee. He found three codes stored in the engine’s computer – all relating to injector electrical connections. No huge surprise as that is a chronic problem on the truck. He looked at one harness connector and said that it looked a little loose, so he pushed on it. Hard to say if that had any effect as the engine was running fine at that point – the engine light had even gone away. He cleared the codes and I went into the office to pay my $85 fee. After listening to the boss yammer on for about 15 minutes about trucks and truck modifications with a friend, he finally got around to asking me what I needed (no sense of urgency in Wilson NC). When the mechanic said I was there to pay the $85 diagnostic fee, he waved his hand like he was shooing flies and told me I was good to go. I guess collecting $85 was beneath him. And odd way to run a business, but I was grateful.

So we were pretty much in the same situation we were in a couple of years earlier in Stony Brook VA – the truck might be ok, but there was no way to tell without trying. As the mechanic said then: “If you get 20 miles without out the light coming on, just keep on going.” So we hitched up and drove 20 white-knuckle miles to I-95 and everything was fine, so we kept going.

Other than the usual stop-and-go traffic near DC, the rest of the trip was uneventful. Until we got to the Pohick Bay Regional Park Campground. Check-in was easy but backing into the site was a bit of a challenge because it was so sloped. But we got the RV leveled, hooked up the electricity and deployed the slides. Everything was going great – until I went out to hook up the water. No water source. I walked to the office and they confirmed that the site was “electric only” – no water. Yikes! Five days with no water? Untenable. I asked if any water/electric sites were available but they said that they were completely booked through Saturday night. I will try again on Saturday and will hopefully find an alternate site for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Either that or find a way to get the fresh water tank filled.

I really believed that I had booked a water/electric site. A terrible mistake on my part.

So we are operating on a half-tank of fresh water. I got a couple gallons of drinking water to use in the coffee maker and will have to shower/shave at the public showers. Haven’t done that in a while.

This has not been the smoothest trip north.

Categories: Adventures, NC, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TN4, VA | Leave a comment

TN4 Hop 3: Charleston SC to Wilson NC

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Sparky

TN4 Hop 3

299 miles via US 17, I-26, I-95 and US 301 with a refueling stop in Florence SC. Truck miles: 316: Cumulative tow miles: 902. Cumulative truck miles: 931.

Well, we always like an adventure. And this trip is becoming an adventure.

I thought I detected a wobble in the steering as we approached Charleston on Tuesday and continued to feel it when we went into Charleston on Wednesday. Thursday, on our way to Wilson NC, it became so pronounced that I pulled off in a rest area to check all the lug nuts and look for looseness in the steering. Lugs were fine and I could find no looseness. Next theory: the right front tire was out of round. I carefully checked the tread and, sure enough, I found a spot where the tread was bulged on the inside. This could account for the “wobble” feel.

Jett and I discussed the options. The most straightforward solution was to change it myself. However, I had never changed a tire on the truck and was not comfortable with the idea. The next option would be to drive to the refueling stop – a Pilot truck stop about 30 miles away – and try to find someone there to change the tire. The third option – and the one we eventually chose – was to drive to Pilot and call AAA to change the tire. We would eat lunch while waiting.

We got to the Pilot. I called AAA and Jett went in search of snacks. I backed the RV into a space in the truck parking area (very nicely, if I say so myself), unhitched and refueled. I returned to the RV, ate my lunch and then tried (and failed) to get the spare down from the undercarriage. Before I could figure it out the AAA guy appeared and showed me how to do it. He proceeded to change the tire, commented on how the tire was indeed out of round and was on his way. And, shortly thereafter, so were we. A 50 minute stop to refuel, have lunch and get a tire changed.

I felt like I was in pit row.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Our home for the evening was the Kamper’s Lodge Campground, a small RV park on US 301 just north of Wilson. We didn’t get much of an opportunity to check out the amenities in the park because just about the time we got set up the skies opened and we were treated to a pretty impressive thunderstorm with torrential downpours and scary lightning. But it lasted only about an hour.

Categories: NC, Places, SC, TN4 | Leave a comment

Charleston SC

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Sparky

Jambalaya

We love Charleston. We like Savannah, too, and Savannah is easier to get to because of its proximity to I-95, but Charleston is worth the extra effort. I have written before on all the things we like about Charleston, so I will just describe our day there.

Our main goal was the fried green tomatoes at Tommy Condon’s and we got those as an appetizer. They never disappoint. I followed that with a jambalaya that just about burned my lips off – very, very spicy. Probably too spicy, but I had a pint of Kilkenny Ale to soothe my palate. I finished it and, contrary to Jett’s prediction, did not have to swallow any Tums before bed.

We visited the Charleston City Market before dinner and purchased several gifts there. Jett also got a new everyday pendant – a sailor’s compass – and I got the best Arnold Palmer (tea/lemonade mix) ever. Tangy yet sweet. Perfect. I also got a chocolate bar with bits of bacon and potato chips which I had for dessert. Also delicious.

We wandered the streets for a bit before heading back to the RV. No matter how many times I walk around Charleston I always find some striking new views to snap. I include a few here.

Love this city!

Phillips spire from Circular Church

Gnarled tree on walkway

One of the many churches

Anchor decoration

Categories: Places, SC | Leave a comment