TC1: Our first transatlantic cruise – prelude

The start of our first transatlantic cruise has arrived! For the next 27 nights we will be aboard the Holland America Oosterdam, first crossing the Atlantic Ocean, then cruising the Mediterranean Sea, followed by two nights on land in Venice. It should be an epic vacation!

Rusty in Virginia

Rusty in Virginia

To get started we had a day of very complex movements necessitated by the fact that we are leaving from Fort Lauderdale and are returning to Miami. And that day was preceded by an exhausting trip by rented car – without Jett – to Virginia and back, to leave Rusty in the care of Jett’s sons. We considered boarding him in a kennel and even left him for a 6-hour evaluation at the kennel to see how he got along with other dogs (he was fine), but decided that we would be more comfortable with him being in the care of trusted family. The cost of the trip was equivalent to the cost of the boarding.

After 2 days in the care of his surrogate family it appears that he has forgotten all about us and may refuse to come with us when we retrieve him in 6 weeks. Ungrateful mutt!

The prelude to the cruise began on Wednesday March 28 when I left for Virginia. Two grueling days on the road, followed by some wonderful family time and a day with the grandchildren, Patrick and Zachary. I took them to a movie (A Wrinkle in Time – not recommended) and jacked them up with lots of sugar snacks. Then I took them to the local laser tag establishment to work off the sugar. I haven’t played cops-and-robbers (or army) like that since I was 10, but did okay. Still, 13-year-old Patrick outscored me in both games (and killed me several times when we were on opposing teams). I did better competing with Zachary.

I guess I still have “it” – so long as my competition is in the second grade.

Patrick

Patrick

Zachary

Zachary

I got back to Naples on Sunday, spent Sunday night finishing taxes for my son, then on Monday mailed off the tax forms, returned the rental car, packed, said goodbye to friends in the RV park (most will have gone north by the time we return), buttoned up the RV and departed for the Red Carpet Inn in Fort Lauderdale, the idea being to avoid the stress of a 2-hour trip (and fear of a breakdown) on the day of embarkation.

I picked the hotel primarily because it was close to the Ft Lauderdale airport, where we would get our prepaid transfer to the ship, and because the parking lot looked big enough to accommodate my behemoth truck. As for comfort, as long as it had a bed without bedbugs I would have been happy.

Red Carpet Inn

Red Carpet Inn

It turned out to be better than expected. The room was huge and clean, the bed was very comfortable, the TV and cable service were excellent and an attached restaurant, The Reef was quite good. I had the blackened shrimp which were very spicy, but tasty, and a draft Sam Adams Cold Snap beer – a very nice combination.

I slept fitfully, not because of the spicy shrimp, but in anticipation of the very complex morning ahead of me. The details kept dancing around in my head. I probably got no more than 5 hours of true sleep, but it was enough. Jett slept better – and without the TV, which is unusual for her.

This is what the morning entailed:

  • Get take-out breakfast for both of us (the excellent $5.99 breakfast special – two scrambled eggs, bacon and two pancakes with butter and syrup, plus coffee) and consume it in the room.
  • Do the usual morning ablutions and pack.
  • Load the truck.
  • Drive to the Ft Lauderdale airport and drop Jett and the luggage at Terminal 2. When we left I was planning on going to Terminal 1, but Jett, reading the fine print on the boarding pass, discovered that it was Terminal 2. Her comment: “do you even read this stuff?” Well, no. But I am glad she does.
  • Drive the truck to Miami and leave it, as prearranged, at the Crowne Plaza hotel near the Miami airport. This will be convenient when we fly back into Miami at the end of the trip – a free shuttle to the hotel, jump into the truck and drive home.
  • Take a taxi to the Miami Tri-Rail station to catch the 10:20 train. This was close. I didn’t get the truck parked until 10:00 am, so I had only 20 minutes to get to the train. Fortunately my taxi drive drove like a maniac and I got to the station – about 2.5 miles away, but through heavy traffic – in 12 minutes.
  • Take the Tri-Rail to the Ft Lauderdale airport station.
  • Take the shuttle bus to Terminal 2. I got back to Jett at 11:25 – less than 2.5 hours after leaving her.
  • Take the luggage inside and find the Holland America booth. It was very close – just inside the terminal.
  • Take a bus to the ship. This, arguably, was the most difficult part of the morning as our seats were near a family with 4 out-of-control children. Taking children on a transatlantic voyage? Surprising.

It was a complex and stressful morning, but everything went off like clockwork. Still, I felt like I needed a vacation.

And I will be getting a good one.

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Brush fires

Haze from the Greenway fire

Haze from the Greenway fire

Brush fires in March are common in southwest Florida. The Everglades may be wetlands, but they are surrounded by vast areas of grass and woodland that burn pretty freely once a fire gets started. Last year parts of Naples had to be evacuated due to fires that threatened the eastern fringe of the city. This year is pretty much the same, fueled by debris from Hurricane Irma. But no one has been evacuated yet.

For about three weeks now our skies have been filled with billowing black clouds of smoke, primarily from the Greenway fire, named after Greenway Street which branches off of US 41 just east of us. The fire itself is just a few miles north of us and when the wind blows from the north – or, worse, when there is no wind at all – the smoke settles over us like a noxious blanket. I woke 2 days ago with a headache from the smoke and the picture to the right was taken yesterday morning, out my rear window, when the air was calm. It can’t be healthy. And it is certainly annoying.

Snow north, smoke south. What’s a guy to do?

Go on a cruise!

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TN4 preview

TN4 Plan

TN4 Plan

Our Fourth Trip North (TN4) is not going to be very interesting. It will be a quick trip – 1650 miles in 11 days and 7 hops – necessitated by our need to get to VA quickly to pick up Rusty who we are leaving in the care of Jett’s kids while we spend their inheritance on a month-long cruise. There are really only three stops of interest:

  • Charleston SC – we hope to get one day free in one of our favorite cities, hopefully with 2 nights in one of our favorite regional parks.
  • Lorton VA – 4 nights to see family and reconnect with Rusty who probably will not want to even speak to us.
  • Hershey PA – 2 nights to give us one free day at Hersheypark. Because we need chocolate.

As our trips go, this one is pretty simple, short and straightforward.

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Our plans for summer 2018

We have booked a site for the summer season: Lamb City Campground in Phillipston MA. This location is a bit further west than we would like – about an hour to North Andover and nearly an hour to Worcester – but it is close to Uncle Ray’s summer cabin in New Salem MA. It is also affordable – about half the price of any site we could get closer to Boston – and is highly rated.

Unlike last year, we expect to spend the entire summer in MA. We might make a weekend trip somewhere, but mostly we will just reside in Phillipston. Because of this relative stability, I have signed up for summer softball.

I intend to look for a part-time job, too. We have spent a LOT of money over the past 12 months, including the money we have spent on the April cruise that we have not yet taken, so putting a few bucks back in the coffers sounds like a good idea. We will be close enough to NH for me to look for a job up there, which will save me the hassle of filing MA state taxes next year.

Since we sold the Yaris in December, we might have to buy a small, inexpensive car that we will probably just keep until we leave.

We will be in MA until Labor Day, at a minimum, but might stay longer. Maybe into October. We’ll see.

We have also made plans for the trip north and where we will stay next winter in Florida. I will tell you about those plans soon.

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Lingering effects of Hurricane Irma

Yet another round of cleanup

Yet another round of cleanup

When we arrived at Paradise Pointe RV Resort in November, some 3 months after Hurricane Irma (Sept 16, 2017), we saw major damage to trees, along with some lesser damage to structures. Within a month most of the trees had been trimmed and the debris had been removed. I thought that was the end of the cleanup.

But I was wrong. In February – six months after Irma had passed through – there was a second round of cleanup. Apparently a number of trees had been damaged at the root level and a tree expert had determined that they would not survive. So a second round of tree cutting – not just trimming but complete tree removal – was undertaken. Once again the streets in the park were lined with arborial debris. Some of the streets began to resemble the plains of west Texas. We are told that new trees will be planted to replace the ones that were removed.

Hasn’t happened yet.

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Green water

Green stain

Green stain

We have been noticing, for several months, that our water had a greenish tint.  Sometimes it was barely noticeable and other times it looked like green tea.  I tried several times to identify the source of the green and tried to compare water coming out of the tap with water coming from the ground, where we connect our water hose.  I couldn’t reach a firm conclusion.  Until about a week ago.

One morning last week the water was particularly green, so I did the water test – a glass of water from the tap and a glass of water directly from the water supply, side-by-side in the sun.  This time it was pretty obvious that the water source was clear and the tap water was green.  The problem was in the internal pipes of my RV.

The plan was to, first, replace the water hose and, second, to flush the internal water lines with a sanitizer – a process similar to winterizing the lines.  So I ran off to get the necessary tools and supplies.  The first step was to replace the hose.  Easy enough to do, but I was shocked at what came out – a dark green stream of water that actually stained the concrete.  Shocking!  We were drinking this crud!  I have to assume that it was due to a benign algae as it hadn’t made us ill.  But it was disgusting!

Replacing the hose was trivial.  Flushing and sanitizing the lines was more difficult because I had to use a hand pump.  But in an hour or so the job was done and we once again had colorless drinking water.

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Another fine (and very expensive) mess

When we paid up front for our winter RV site in Florida I expected that our out-of-pocket expenses would be relatively low for several months.  Well, we killed that thought last month when we booked our very expensive April cruise, justifiable as a “bucket list” item.  Now I am facing a huge truck repair bill – probably around $2,500.

Yes, I took the truck to another dealer, asking them to take a look at my “leaning tire.”  The guy at the Goodyear shop had estimated that I needed about $800 in parts, so I was braced for a $1,200 to $1,500 estimate.  But I was told by the GMC dealer that the problem was not limited to the right front tire; the left front tire was leaning as well.  Also, the steering gear box was leaking and needed to be replaced.  In short, I needed to pretty much replace the entire steering linkage. Estimated cost: $2,100. Plus tax. Plus, I suspect, about $100 for another alignment.

I have to do it.  Just as there was no good alternative to replacing the head gasket 18 months ago, there is no good alternative to making repairs to the steering now.  We need a tow vehicle and a new one is over $60,000.  Even a used one is probably $35,000.  Trade-in for the truck in it’s current condition is probably less than $10,000.

Gotta do it.

And I need to find a summer job.

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Truck maintenance nightmares – 2 of 2

After my “adventures” at DeVoe Buick GMC on Wednesday and Thursday I decided that I had better get the bad tires replaced ASAP.  So on Friday I drove over to the Goodyear Collier Care Center just a few miles from our park. The instructions, though not trivial, were clear:

  1. Put two new Goodyear Wrangler tires on the inner rear and move the inner rear tires to the outer rear.
  2. Put the spare tire on the right front and make the right front tire (which was unevenly worn but had only about 20,000 miles of use) the spare.

Due to reasons which even now I don’t fully understand, I was informed that to move the inner rear tires to the outer rear would be an additional $80.  So I simplified the instructions: put the new tires on the outer rear.

I got the truck back 2 hours later and drove home without inspecting the work. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the two new tires were put on the right front and the right outer rear.  The spare had not been touched.  I immediately returned and had a spirited discussion with the customer service guy who told me that the spare couldn’t be the original because he had *personally* seen it taken down.  I told him that I knew my spare tire when I saw it and it hadn’t been touched.  I got pretty heated because not only had they not done as I requested, they were now calling me a liar.  After I calmed down I told them to:

  1. Take the spare and put it on the right front.
  2. Take the new tire from the right front and put it on the left outer rear.
  3. Take the left outer rear tire and make it the spare.

Another hour passed and I got the truck back, no additional charge.  But this time I inspected the work.  Once again they had screwed up: the left outer rear and right front tires had been swapped; the spare – AGAIN – was untouched.

This time I spoke to the manager.  I told him that I had now TWICE requested that the spare be mounted as the right front tire and both times my request had been ignored or misunderstood.  I resisted the urge to draw him a picture, primarily because the instructions were now as simple as could be:

  1. Swap the right front and spare.

Another 30 minutes go by and I get the truck back a third time.  The spare was now indeed on the right front.  Yay!  But the spare, rather than being the tire that had been on the right front was now the original right front tire – the unevenly worn one that had been mistakenly discarded in the first round.  I once again spoke to the manager, asking why, oh why, was the right front tire discarded and the original worn tire now being used as a spare?  I couldn’t really complain about that because that was my original plan, but I was curious.  He told me that the other tire was too old (4 years) to be used and had damage to the sidewall.  He said digging the original tire out of the discard pile was the best option for the spare.

I accepted his explanation and finally – 5 hours after starting my quest for 2 new tires – went home.

But on the way home the thought occurred to me: the tire that wasn’t good enough to be used as a spare was good enough to mount as the right front? Because they were going to send me home with that tire mounted had I not objected.

After 3 days of truck maintenance nightmares I had to wonder if these two “service” centers weren’t conspiring to drive me insane.

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Truck maintenance nightmares – 1 of 2

So I took my truck to DeVoe Buick GMC of Naples on Wednesday with a short list of things that needed attention:

  1. Oil change.
  2. Check the brakes.
  3. Diagnose and, possibly, fix the shimmy that I feel at highway speeds.

I dropped the truck off at 11 am and got no phone call that afternoon.  I called an hour before closing (6 pm) to find out what was going on and was told that there was “definitely a problem with the right front steering linkage” but would have to have another technician verify that in the morning.  So they kept the truck overnight.

Then I realized that my softball gear was in the truck and I needed it for a 10 am game on Thursday.

So Thursday, 8 am, I am at the dealership to collect my gear.  The service advisor took me back to the truck where the technician was looking at the right front tire and steering linkage.  We had a brief conversation about the steering, including a recitation of the work that had been done in 2016 to get the front end aligned.  His conclusion was that there was nothing wrong with the steering linkage, that the little bit of give in the linkage was normal and that all I needed was a new tire.  I declined to get the tire, so they promised to do the oil change and the brake inspection and call me when the truck was ready.

No call by 2 pm, so I called DeVoe.  The service advisor was “with a customer” so I left a message asking him to call me ASAP.

4 pm and still no call.  I called again, asked to speak to the service manager.  Got a voicemail.  Left a message that if I didn’t hear from him by 4:30 I would be coming to the dealership to talk to them in person.

4:30 pm I finally get a call telling me that the truck is ready.  Jett and I drive over.  The service advisor tells me that the brakes are fine and that, other than the recommendation that the tire be replaced, everything else is fine too.  That was after they did their “27 point inspection.” Total cost for its 28-hour stay at the dealership: $89.10.

As I start the vehicle, the “change fuel filter” message pops up on the dash. Question in my head: the “27 point inspection” didn’t include starting the engine?  Annoying, but not a big deal.

On the way out of the dealership parking lot, the service advisor happens to be crossing the driveway.  He looks at me coming towards him, flags me down and says – I am not making this up – “your tire is leaning.”

I didn’t know quite what he meant, so I get out, walk to where he is standing about 20 feet in front of the truck. He points at my right front tire which was, indeed, “leaning” – it had a tilt that was visible to the naked eye.

28 hours in the dealership and they couldn’t diagnose a “leaning tire” which is obviously a steering linkage problem.

Incredible.

Needless to say, I will not return there to get my “leaning tire” fixed.

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Retrospective on our 2017 travel experiences

We traveled a LOT in 2017. I have documented our day-to-day experiences under the labels of “Third Trip North” (TTN), “New England Tour” (NET), “Second Trip West” (STW) and “Second Trip East” (STE). From the time we left Florida (14 Apr 2017) to the time we returned (20 Nov 2017) – 220 days – the longest we stayed in any one place was 3 weeks in Plymouth MA. We towed the RV 11,426 miles and stayed at 64 different RV parks where we spent about $11,700 in campground fees. We visited 16 states that we had never been to previously, completing our lower-48 map. We put just over 20,000 miles on the truck.

A LOT of travel.

Now, two months after completing the journey, I want to reflect on what we did. I particularly want to identify the highlights and lowlights. Fortunately, there are many more highlights than lowlights. It was a great 7 months of travel.

In chronological order, some of the more memorable highlights were:

Swans at Savannah KOA

Swans at Savannah KOA

  • TTN:
    • The KOA Savannah South campground with its huge population of geese.  It was like living in a zoo. A fun zoo.
    • Seeing Savannah again.
    • Visiting family in VA.
  • NET:
    • Visiting family in Plymouth. In particular, getting to meet nephew Brad’s wife and children was a treat.
    • Doing some great genealogical research in Plymouth MA.  Pilgrim Hall was awesome!
    • Having Jett’s sisters visit us several times in several places during the NET.
    • 11 nights at Normandy Farms Campground in Foxboro MA. A great, great campground.
    • Wandering around the quaint shops of Newburyport MA.
    • The Escapees Chapter 3 Rally at Newfound Lake NH. The rally was smaller than we expected, but spending time with other Escapees is always fun.
    • Being treated to a 2-hour guided tour of the Wells ME region by a couple that we met at the campground.
    • The family 4th of July (with lobsterfest) at Lucas Pond in Northwood NH.
    • Participating in the Make-a-Wish festivities at Saddleback Campground.
    • Playing some EMASS Senior Softball League games and seeing David Ortiz (“Big Papi”) at one of them.
    • Visiting some fascinating cemeteries in Amherst and Springfield MA.
  • STW:
    • Visiting some of Jett’s childhood homes and actually digging into death records in Watervliet NY.
    • The beautiful campsite on the banks of the Mohawk River.
    • Boldt Castle.
    • The Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls.
    • Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI.
    The banks of the Mohawk

    The banks of the Mohawk

    • Visiting American Jewelry and Loan, home of Hardcore Pawn TV series.  Tacky and smaller than we expected, but still great to see.
    • My 50th high school reunion in Madison WI. It was great to catch up with old friends. But how did they get to be so old?
    • Visiting some of my ancestors’ gravesites in WI.
    • The Field of Dreams baseball field.
    • Badlands National Park.
    • Wall Drug and the Wounded Knee Museum in Wall SD.  Wall Drug lived up to the hype and the museum was surprisingly moving.
    • Mount Rushmore National Monument.
    • Deadwood SD.
    • Teddy Roosevelt National Park.
    • Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
    • Yellowstone National Park. Seeing Old Faithful was a treat, but the biggest highlight was being stopped by a herd of about 300 bison.
    • Mount St Helens.
    • Seeing my sister and brother-in-law in Tillamook OR.  Great people, wonderful town.

    Yellowstone bison

    Yellowstone bison

    Snake River

    Snake River

  • STE:
    • Catfish Junction RV Park and the Snake River.
    • Salt Lake City and Temple Square. I feel I have a much better understanding of the Mormon faith after the visit.
    • Truck problems in Salina UT.  Yes, I am including this as a highlight because the truck failure resulting in very few real problems for us and in fact gave us a couple of very nice, unexpected days at a tiny RV park in Salina.  I think we were extremely fortunate in where this problem appeared and I have to feel good about that.
    • Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Moab UT. This area is amazingly beautiful.
    • Completing our 48-state map in KS.
    • Sunset near Port St Joe

      Sunset near Port St Joe

    • Choctaw KOA and Casino.  One of the best RV parks that we have seen anywhere and a first-rate casino.
    • Visiting family in Austin TX.
    • Seeing, first-hand, the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in Rockport TX.
    • The Johnson Space Center in Houston.  Great tour, great museum.
    • New Orleans.  I finally got to see the Big Easy and it didn’t disappoint.
    • Silver Slip Casino and Beachfront RV Campground in Waveland MS.  This is a very nice casino and a wonderful, inexpensive campground.
    • The Gulf Shores AL area.  Beautiful beaches, good restaurants.
    • The Port St Joe area of Florida. Interesting restaurants and shops, beautiful beaches. Laid-back attitudes.

Lowlights:

  • TTN:
    • Putting a small dent into the truck’s gate by backing into the pin while at KOA Savannah South.
    • The weather in April and May. We barely missed the closing of I-95 due to flooding but had to endure soggy grounds and cold, wet weather all the way north and to the end of our stay in Plymouth MA.  It was a miserable period of weather.
    • Puncturing the front basement door while hitching up at Lakewood Camping Resort in Myrtle Beach. Lesson: either back in straighter or put the gate up before completing the hitch.
    • The Bear Creek Campground at Lake Compounce. The campground was fine, but being the only campers was downright spooky.
  • STW:
    • The winding, undulating roads in upstate NY. Jett’s stomach hated them.
    • The ridiculously overpriced site at Niagara Falls KOA.
    • Having the Google Maps miss a low bridge south of Buffalo, resulting in a 10-mile detour.
    • The rustic site (and overall creepiness) at the Woodside Lake Park, Streetsboro OH.
    • The God-awful trip from MI to WI via downtown Chicago.
    • The Corn Palace and Mitchell SD in general. A complete waste of time.
    • Putting a dent in the RV when I foolishly tried to squeeze it into a parking place at Yellowstone National Park.
    • The snowfall and freezing temperatures at West Yellowstone.
    • Breaking a valve stem while setting up in Ennis MT and almost losing a tire the next day while traveling on the interstate.
    • Missing out on Glacier National Park due to forest fires.
    • Coeur d’Alene. I feel bad listing this as a lowlight as it is a very nice little town, but my expectations were very high and I didn’t see anything to justify the anticipation.
    • Failing to meet up with my nephews and niece in Tillamook.
  • STE:
    • Truck problems in Salina UT, making it necessary to skip Bryce National Park, Zion National Park and Monument Valley.
    • The 200-mile detour to avoid the 11,000 foot pass on I-70.  I couldn’t get the courage to attempt it, with the truck still questionable and the weather very iffy (possible snowfall).  We missed out on Denver, too.
    • Brownville TX and the Rio Grande Valley region.  I really thought that I would like this area, but it fell flat. The Breeze Lake Campground in Brownsville was a trainwreck.
Categories: Commentary, NET, STE, STW, TTN | Leave a comment