With a heavy Heart

I went ahead and winterized the pod today, Weather people saying Southern Indiana will hit hi 20's tonight, we only got to use our 172 twice since our recent purchase and were hoping to get in a couple more short trips, but wife made plans for next couple of weeks, then its Thanksgiving, Bleah----- I guess I will have to be happy just going inside and making small modifications, I used the cheat sheet posted earlier and it was fairly simple task to winterize the water system. Now Come On SPRING !!!

We're winterized and covered too, snow flurries today. So sad ...

Hopefully we will have a short and mild winter!

Yes, it sleeted hard and furious yesterday afternoon for a few minutes--enough for the sleet pellets to coat the ground.  It did melt quickly, but it sent the not so good reminder that winter really is around the corner.  Oh well...it does give me some time to think about where we'll go for next year.  

We were out in the Halloween storm in the Free Spirit and plan to go to French Creek SP near Reading, PA for part of the Thanksgiving weekend. Fortunately we haven't had any hard freezes yet here in central NJ so the pod is still in ready-to-go mode (as is the outdoor water piping to the barn and the little pond -that's how warm it has been!).
Anyway the storm was interesting, it alternated snow, sleet and rain, but the temperature never got below freezing. We were at a county park in the New Jersey Pine Barrens - all oak and pines and shrubs: before the snow started we sat out and watched deer scoot through the gorgeous yellows and browns of the fall leaves. Later, there were several bouts of snow that accumulated 1-2 inches on the dome and then we pushed it off. The dome is amazing, except where there was a valley with snow accummulating in it, there was absolutely no leakage inside. We got a poly patio rug at the W-mart and had that on the ground. A good thing too, because the packed sand in our Pine Barrens campsite allowed 1/2" or so of water to buildup on the sand and leaves as the snow and sleet melted and before it was absorbed. The rug was just thick enough to provide a somewhat dry surface and prevent sand from being tracked into the pod. We cooked on the Coleman stove in the dome with the flaps over the end doorway open for ventilation (the bottom of the Pod was open for flow thru ventilation). With the stove during cooking (only) and a little electric heater the dome stayed fairly cozy. The furnace kept the inside of the pod at 60-62 overnite without draining the tank. In spite of the nasty weather we had a great time! Sunday we cleaned off the car, drove home about 15 miles for church and then went back and got the truck and trailer, by then the snow had all but disappeared and the roads were dry.
With the trip coming up in two weeks, I hope to avoid a full winterizing until we return. Here are a few of photos.

It doesn't pay to use flash when it is snowing!


Lovely autumn in the Pine Barrens.


What a way to wake up...


That is a layer of water all over the site!


My pride and joy -I made the box on the left about 30 years ago, the second one three years ago or so, and the top about 10 years ago, for our tent camping days.