EscaPOD Adventures

Rather than limit this to a year, I think this time I will have one topic to which I can add future trips as well.

Similar to last year's summer trips, we set out from home headed north. Originally, we were going to go up the Fredricksburg and cut over to I81 to bypass Washington DC. I got the idea to do something different. Instead, we headed over though Charlottesville to Rockfish Gap which was the start of Skyline Drive. I had the idea of staying at either Loft Mountain or Big Meadow but when we got to the entrance, the sign boards indicated that all campgrounds along Skyline Drive were full. It was not surprising since it was the Saturday before Independence Day. One good thing was that I had gotten the America the Beautiful access pass when I had the opportunity. That got us entrance onto Skyline Drive without having to pay.

We drove the southern portion of Skyline Drive to Swift Run Gap entrance station. We had called and made a reservation at Heavenly Acres campground. It was pretty full, but there was a space open. We were guided to a pull-though site. Since we were traveling with a full water tank, I only connected the electric and we were set. It was quite warm, so I needed to run the AC. As it was getting dark, people were gathering near the pool. It turns out that the campground was going to have a fireworks show. There were also root beer floats available. I bought two, one for me and one for my wife and carried them back. While I was gone, the show started. I got back to see the end of the show. On the other side of some trees, there were even bigger fireworks at a distance. Turns out the local Lions Club was also having a fireworks show. I watched some of those before heading back. The site we had and the campground roads were not the most smooth and level ones I have been on, but the stay was pleasant. I did not check out the bath house. The owners were pleasant. I would stay there again if we are in that area. I do not have pictures, but it is in some beautiful, wooded hills.

The next morning, we got back on the road. We crossed Skyline Drive and headed over to I81 to continue our northbound trip, ending at my sister's house where we are currently parked.

Our refrigerator, which was not cooling very well when we were in areas where the temperatures were in the 90's is doing well now that we are in an area where the nighttime temperatures are in the 60's and daytime temperatures are in the high 70's to low 80's. The Thule awning is as easy to use as I had hoped. I am very happy that we were able to get it installed at the same time our R-Pod was being repaired from last winter's accident.

That is all for now.

Thank you. It is good. We will be leaving tomorrow on the next leg of this trip. We have been enjoying time with my family.

I have been delayed posting the second leg of our trip. We packed up and pulled out of my sister's driveway on a shorter trip across New York State. Our destination for this leg was Susquehanna Trail Campground. We had stayed there last year and found it was a convenient distance to the nursing home where my father-in-law is residing. We got there and were directed to a spot near where we stayed last year. The site backs up to Otego creek. The site is back-in with a gravel entrance and pad. These are larger gravel stones. While I was unhitching, the gravel allowed my Andersen leveler and BAL chock to shift. I hitched the trailer again in order to level again. Having done that, I went to plug in the AC power. I have a circuit analyzer inline with my power cord. When I plugged it in and flipped the breaker, I saw that the power pole had an open ground. I reported it to the management and then moved to a different site which meant hitching up again in order to move. At least I had not yet gotten fully set up.

Once moved, leveled, chocked, and stabilized, I was able to get the power connected. I got the slide-out cover and awning deployed just in time as the rain arrived shortly afterward. I really like the new awning that I bought and that was installed when our R-Pod went to the factory for repair. It is so easy to insert the crank and wind it out.

The weather was not conducive to taking advantage of the pool. The water was a little too cold for my liking. had the day been warmer, it would have felt nice though. We had some good visits with my father-in-law and went over the mountains to my wife's home town to pick up some things from her brother.

Until next time . . . .

Welcome to Vermont!!

We did the shopping we needed to in preparation for the rest of the team's arrival. We also prepared dinner for them. We prepared a total of three dinners and one dessert for Wednesday's potluck at Washington Baptist Church. I made two maple cheesecakes in the 6 quart pressure cooker. Since each was small, I needed to make two to ensure there would be sufficient for everyone present to have some.

My replacement converter arrived with the team. I got it installed and turned the power on. It was wonderful to hear the fan start and see the batteries were charging again. Even though I had a charger connected, it was only a 15A charger with 3A float, which was insufficient to keep the dual 6V batteries charged, as it detected the power draws and determined (wrongly) that the batteries were "bad." With the new converter in place, the batteries were charged fully.

The week at the Calef house and Waterbury Mission went quickly. The new awning performs well. I did do one stupid thing as I was packing up the Coleman grill-stove and propane tank. It looked as if there were some water in the propane hose, so I decided to swing it around to use centrifugal force to help expel the water. I was standing too close to the awning, and the Acme nut hit the top part of the awning's outer edge and dented it! Well, at least I put the first ding in it. I got it straightened out and there is only a very slight reminder to not do something like that again!

We got hitched up after the last trip to Waterbury and set out for home. We got as far  as Cobleskill, NY where we spent the night at a Walmart. I had hoped to get into Pennsylvania at least, but when the daylight was running out, that was my cue to stop.

The next morning we set out and in spite of the GPS wanting to route us around the DC beltway, we stayed on I81. This time, we got as far as Winchester, VA where we stopped at a Walmart again. It had been quite warm during the day, but the evening cooled off enough so that we did not need the AC, just the vent fan plus the O2 Cool fan. By the way, we found a good buy on the O2 Cool fan at our local Staples. It runs on 9V (six D-Cell batteries) and has a 110V transformer. It had the same plug as the other fan we were using, so I plugged it in to one of our 12V outlets. It ran just fine but was a little louder. It still moved more air than the previous fan as the O2 Cool has 5 blades instead of the 3 blades of the previous fan.

We left Winchester and finally arrived home Sunday afternoon about 5:00 p.m. We are in the process of unpacking and getting set for our next adventure. The next one will not involve the R-Pod, but will instead involve flying to Seattle for an Alaska cruise with my brother and sisters and their families. In many respects, I would rather drive to Seattle with the R-Pod for the cruise, but there are too many conflicting appointments for that to happen.

That is it until our next adventure.