July 2020

Another month with abbreviated goings-on.  It was nice and busy as every weekend was full of things to do.  

July 3rd weekend – 

Friday – up early to go to the track, on the road by 6:45, stopped for fuel and ice, arrived just before 8:00, brought Pebbles, SCCA weekend so lots of cool race cars there, checked-in and unloaded, we each got a couple of stints in before issues struck, exhaust falling off again, missing bolts and nuts, we had some extras so before and during lunch we let the engine cool and attached a couple of bolts, these only lasted a stint and a half before we loaded up and went home early, after unpacking what we needed to we hopped in the NC to drive up to Alvin and Kari’s to visit them and John and Karen (it was Karen’s birthday), had a nice time chatting and eventually eating pizza for dinner, we stayed until dark before driving back home with the top down

Saturday – slept in a bit, after coffee went out to do some shopping, looked for various car parts, RV things, and food stuffs, hit and miss on what we got, dropped off our loot at home and went out again, this time to Home Depot and then another car parts store where we found what we were looking for, back home we split up to be productive, I toiled reattaching Scrappy’s exhaust while Susan worked on RV stuffs, BBQ’d for dinner, watched YouTube and the occasional firework from the couch

Sunday – slept in again, after coffee decided to be moderately productive, I finally filed our 2019 taxes and then Susan went out to buy RV stuff while I sprayed liquid death on the plants inhabiting our driveway, it was hot so I then showered and plopped on the couch, Susan was out a good long while but eventually made her return with all manner of RV stuffs which she showed me, ordered Chinese takeout for dinner which Susan picked up, watched e-racing on YouTube to finish out the weekend

July 11th weekend – 

Saturday – slept in a little before having our coffee, loaded up the RV with the pugs and hit the road, the plan was to visit a KOA campground up in Central City for our first overnight foray in the RV, the drive went fine until I70 when the water temperature gauge reminded me that the RV has to go slowly up hills, ran into bad traffic at Floyd Hill which I appreciated as it allowed the RV to cool off in the stop and go, the down-side of the Hill was slow enough that we could trundle along in 1st and 2nd gear to save the brakes, arrived at KOA a little later than we’d planned but Susan had made a reservation so we had our spot waiting for us, we checked-in through the window of the RV and the campground host led us to our parking spot, once situated we hooked up the power cable and settled in, the afternoon and evening wasn’t terribly eventful – we walked the dogs around, hung out, tested this and that, BBQ’d on the stove (our plan for using charcoal was dashed with a fire ban), watched Netflix, drank, and went to sleep late

Sunday – our plan was to sleep in some but Mel bugged us until we were out of bed at 7:30, good thing in the end as we were able to take our time pulling up stakes and whatnot, we left before the required checkout time which was nice, traffic home was light, I was careful to drive slow, once home I managed (with help) to back the RV into the driveway, we unpacked, decided to flush the black water tank, flushed the black water tank, semi-relaxed on the couch

Notes from the trip: the refrigerator did not work (or rather, we couldn’t get it to turn on) so we brought the trailer fridge, the hot water pump sporadically provided hot water (Susan discovered this in the shower), most everything else worked, the RV is very spacious and had plenty of room for us and the dogs, we felt it was a great experience and look forward to using the RV again

Monday – I took the day off while Susan worked from home, I went out once to pick up stuffs at Home Depot and Walmart and then largely hung out, it has been brutally hot out which curtailed my productivity in the garage

July 17th weekend – 

Friday – left the office early, I drove the RV to get emissions while Susan followed in Tia, our rig barely fit in the facility, passed the smog test with no issues, went home and re-parked the RV, left to pick up foster pug from Pet’s Mart (cute five-year old male named “Buster”), supposed to be blind but we found him to not be 100% without sight, he roamed around for a while before finally relaxing with us on the couch

Saturday – we were up early and out of the house a hair after 6:00 to transport Buster to his new parents in Grand Junction, we drove the NC, trip out went fine, made only one stop on the way, arrived by 10:15, new parents were perfect, had a blind pug before and were very excited for Buster, we ate at a Chipotle-style restaurant before getting gas, went to winery for a tasting and to buy a few bottles, was fun as they had us sitting outside, the drive home was pretty quick, Susan slept much of the way, once home I fell asleep on the couch, relaxed on couch for rest of evening

Sunday – I was up at 7:00 to feed the pups and then went back to bed, we slept in until 11:00, up for coffee, went out to work on RV, replaced the black and grey water tank valves, had to redo the black tank valve three times and tested it four times to get it to stop leaking, Susan spent a lot of time cleaning the bay under the valves with bleach water, did this and that to the RV, eventually decided to test towing the car trailer, attached it in the lower 40, had to flip the hitch to gain more height, hooked up smoothly on the first try, triumphantly drove out onto Lincoln and around the neighborhood with the empty trailer in tow, returned safely and felt very satisfied, relaxed on the couch to end the weekend

July 24th weekend – 

Friday – RV guy came by to fix the refrigerator and look over the RV, Susan was working from home which made this possible, after I got home we finished packing up and filling the fresh water tank and headed to HPR for a weekend of camping, had to chase someone from our reserved spot, set up the RV and hung out, watched most of a movie before bed

Saturday – wanted to sleep in but Mel wasn’t having it, took care of the dogs and went back to bed for a bit, eventually made coffee and watched the cool cars drive around the track from the front seats of the RV, ate chicken salad and sandwich for lunch, installed new light bulbs and walked Pebbles and Mel around, watched movies, the weather looked like it was turning rainy so we fed the dogs early, relaxed and watched the rain fall, BBQ’d over charcoal grill once it stopped, this took a long time as I rushed getting the coals going and it was windy, food was delicious when finally cooked through, hung out for the rest of the evening

Sunday – took care of dogs and went back to bed, slept in quite a bit, had coffee and ate the last of the chicken salad, packed up, backed out of our spot and left, soon there was a horrendous noise coming from back of RV when not accelerating, stopped on side of road but didn’t know what to look for though we could tell the rear of the RV was way too low, stopped again at the general store parking lot and researched on our phones, I saw a video about how a common issue on air bag suspensions was the auto leveler getting stuck, I checked ours and found it dangling as the rubber had ripped where it attaches, luckily there was enough rubber remaining that I reattached the rod and the air system lifted the rear to its normal height, got fuel at little station before getting on I70, stopped at KOA a few exits up to dump our grey and black water tanks before heading home, backed RV into spot, unloaded, Susan let Oliver out, BBQ’d for dinner, Susan took care of Oliver, hung out and planned further camping trips at the track

Extras – the girls are doing fine.  Lots of cuddling and then generally being cute and whatnot.  They all seem to do well in the RV which is great.  We love that we can take these trips with the dogs.  We have several more RV trips planned through October which we’re looking forward to.  To think it was just less than a year ago that Susan floated the idea of buying an RV.  Things change so quickly.