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Bruce
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Potatoes, blue on the left, red on the right. Seems like the reds have about caught up.
Whites
Whites
Bruce's Journal
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farmerjan
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NICE.
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Bruce
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Quick(ish) review of the wedding trip.
Picked up the rented motorhome Monday July 31, loaded it up Monday eve and Tues am. Managed to get 5 tires on the cargo tray and 2 in a side locker so only 1 inside (for DD1's car). Also the 4' upper kitchen cabinet. Left about 9:30. Map app said 9-10 hours to Gettysburg. Took 12, parking a never used before machine in the dark, trying to get it levelish (refrigerator requirement) was "fun". Lots of moving forward, backe maybe a bit to the side, etc. Had to do that EVERY time we parked it, no leveling blocks, got as close as I could. If any part of the bubble was in the center circle, good enough! I don't know how important that is. DW had to find the "manual" for the motorhome on the web because we couldn't get the slide out to slide. Big problem, she and I would have no bed. Seems you have to have the parking brake on. They maybe could have told us that when we picked it up, huh??
Had only 2 hours to "tour" Gettysburg in the morning so saw the museum and cyclorama
Arrived at DD1's late afternoon Wednesday, again longer travel time than the map app said. Deposited tires and cabinet. Went to Lake Anna State Park campground. Nice place, lots of trails for DW's sister to walk every morning. Went back to DD1's at 11 Thursday AM, thinking we were setting up tables. The tent people and the portable toilet (nicest I've ever seen! Trailer with 4 rooms, all with wood cabinets) people had just arrived. Turns out were were building a 20x20 dance floor. Since the toilets weren't in use yet I "borrowed" the electric cord to plug in the RV (for the refrigerator). Oops, not only did the plug that goes into the RV have a green light on, it also had a red light. Not the case at the campgrounds. Long story short I rewired the reverse polarity outlet in the basement. It is still not code, there were two hots on one screw. No "parts" to make it legal with pigtails and caps. There are other lights in the basement which do not work and a ceramic light socket with outlet at the other end of the basement. The outlet works but the light socket does not. The sump pump and dehumidifier are plugged into this non GFCI, non grounded "outlet" on a circuit running who knows how many other things!! Didn't mess with it, needed to work on the dance floor. Got the frame done, got back to the campground at 8:30. Have I mentioned that the RV has no lights on the "service" side? So, again, flashlight needed to hook up power and water.
Back to DD1's Friday morning, start moving tables and chairs. Then find out FSIL (now SIL) had a "sort of" plan for 12 Amazon Echo speakers. Hadn't yet decided how to mount them. But he is a clever guy and devised a method involving cutting round holes in the boxes and taping the tops closed trapping a piece of rope used to hang them from the tent frame. Of course there were numerous 100' cords to connect them to the "panels" at the DJ table which had to be run along the frame plus numerous extension cords to power them. Rehearsal starts at 5 PM; well how about 6:00?? FSIL's parents didn't make it in time, therefore neither did his 11 Y/O brother who was in the wedding. Since the toilet trailer was now powered, I figured I should start the generator in the RV for the refrigerator when the status bar showed one light. No go, the battery didn't have enough juice. Apparently the RV design people don't take to the boat design people, there was no switch to combine the house batteries with the truck (F350 base) batteries. So we head out at 8 PM, again arriving at the campsite after dark.
Sat AM, wedding day. Not trusting the generator, we had arranged for someone to come at 11 to get DW, Sister-in-law and DD2. He had to pay $10 to get into the park to get them! After they left I tried the generator, worked fine. My sister and nieces (from So Cal) came for me at 3. She called and said they wouldn't let her in the park as it was full (day use area), no one gets in unless they have a parking tag. I heard her telling the guy she was there to get the father of the bride for a wedding in a couple of hours. No go. Finally he contacted the ranger and she came with the Gator and ferried me, all dressed in my suit and tie, to the park entrance. On the way I said "well at least it saves the $10 fee". She said there is no fee to pick up camp guests. Hard to believe this guy thought 3 women dressed in wedding attendance attire were trying to sneak into the park.
Pictures then wedding at 5:30 at the neighbor's. He's starting up a "venue" and they got to use it free. Large expanse of grass leading down to a large deck at the edge of a decent size pond, about an acre I would guess. Went well but not allowed to take pictures and I haven't found where the pro pictures are on the web, will have to check with DD1. On to the reception, friend drove us back to the campground about 11 pm.
Sunday morning drove the RV back to DD1's for brunch and taking down of tables, speakers, moving all the caterers stuff back under the tent. I started the generator after about 3 hours. Early afternoon DD1 and a non driving friend took two others to the airport in Richmond. DD2, now SIL and others went to SIL's grandparents lake house (which the grandfather later told me was a bunkhouse, 24 beds!) to go tubing. Sister-in-Law and I drove the RV over and hung out with the people in the house including SIL's parents and grandparents. The grandparents call SIL I.V., pronounced as the individual letters. He, his father, grandfather and now deceased great grandfather all have the same name so he is the fourth. After awhile DW showed up in DD1's car to get her purse from the RV and find out where there would be a gas station open late evening on a Sunday. Seems the flight the latter of those DD1 took to the airport was cancelled and DD1 was in no shape to drive back to the airport to get her having been given the wrong, non gluten free cake the night before. Sister-in-law, DD2 and I got back to the campsite around 9. DW showed up after midnight, having been brought in DD1's car by one of her friends who happened to be staying at a hotel nearby.
Left for the Triplebrook campground in extreme NW New Jersey at 9 AM. Map app says 6.5 hours, it took over 8. At least it was still light when we got to the campground. This family owned campground has a LOT of "permanent" guests, trailers with permanent decks, canopies, plantings etc. Played a round of mini golf, ate dinner, went to bed.
Left at 8:30 AM Tuesday, again taking a couple of hours later than the map app said it would take. At this point DW has decided that the app assumes people speed. Certainly something we weren't doing in a heavy, wide, RV! Those back roads in Virginia have lanes barely wider than the machine, maybe 2" from the yellow line on the left and 2" on the side of the road. And of course the mirrors stick out farther. Cleaned out the RV.
Wed AM. I fixed a couple of things on the RV and took it the 70 miles back to the rental place. "Vacation" done. Round trip ~1,200 miles not including back and forth from campground to DD1's house.
Picked up the rented motorhome Monday July 31, loaded it up Monday eve and Tues am. Managed to get 5 tires on the cargo tray and 2 in a side locker so only 1 inside (for DD1's car). Also the 4' upper kitchen cabinet. Left about 9:30. Map app said 9-10 hours to Gettysburg. Took 12, parking a never used before machine in the dark, trying to get it levelish (refrigerator requirement) was "fun". Lots of moving forward, backe maybe a bit to the side, etc. Had to do that EVERY time we parked it, no leveling blocks, got as close as I could. If any part of the bubble was in the center circle, good enough! I don't know how important that is. DW had to find the "manual" for the motorhome on the web because we couldn't get the slide out to slide. Big problem, she and I would have no bed. Seems you have to have the parking brake on. They maybe could have told us that when we picked it up, huh??
Had only 2 hours to "tour" Gettysburg in the morning so saw the museum and cyclorama
Arrived at DD1's late afternoon Wednesday, again longer travel time than the map app said. Deposited tires and cabinet. Went to Lake Anna State Park campground. Nice place, lots of trails for DW's sister to walk every morning. Went back to DD1's at 11 Thursday AM, thinking we were setting up tables. The tent people and the portable toilet (nicest I've ever seen! Trailer with 4 rooms, all with wood cabinets) people had just arrived. Turns out were were building a 20x20 dance floor. Since the toilets weren't in use yet I "borrowed" the electric cord to plug in the RV (for the refrigerator). Oops, not only did the plug that goes into the RV have a green light on, it also had a red light. Not the case at the campgrounds. Long story short I rewired the reverse polarity outlet in the basement. It is still not code, there were two hots on one screw. No "parts" to make it legal with pigtails and caps. There are other lights in the basement which do not work and a ceramic light socket with outlet at the other end of the basement. The outlet works but the light socket does not. The sump pump and dehumidifier are plugged into this non GFCI, non grounded "outlet" on a circuit running who knows how many other things!! Didn't mess with it, needed to work on the dance floor. Got the frame done, got back to the campground at 8:30. Have I mentioned that the RV has no lights on the "service" side? So, again, flashlight needed to hook up power and water.
Back to DD1's Friday morning, start moving tables and chairs. Then find out FSIL (now SIL) had a "sort of" plan for 12 Amazon Echo speakers. Hadn't yet decided how to mount them. But he is a clever guy and devised a method involving cutting round holes in the boxes and taping the tops closed trapping a piece of rope used to hang them from the tent frame. Of course there were numerous 100' cords to connect them to the "panels" at the DJ table which had to be run along the frame plus numerous extension cords to power them. Rehearsal starts at 5 PM; well how about 6:00?? FSIL's parents didn't make it in time, therefore neither did his 11 Y/O brother who was in the wedding. Since the toilet trailer was now powered, I figured I should start the generator in the RV for the refrigerator when the status bar showed one light. No go, the battery didn't have enough juice. Apparently the RV design people don't take to the boat design people, there was no switch to combine the house batteries with the truck (F350 base) batteries. So we head out at 8 PM, again arriving at the campsite after dark.
Sat AM, wedding day. Not trusting the generator, we had arranged for someone to come at 11 to get DW, Sister-in-law and DD2. He had to pay $10 to get into the park to get them! After they left I tried the generator, worked fine. My sister and nieces (from So Cal) came for me at 3. She called and said they wouldn't let her in the park as it was full (day use area), no one gets in unless they have a parking tag. I heard her telling the guy she was there to get the father of the bride for a wedding in a couple of hours. No go. Finally he contacted the ranger and she came with the Gator and ferried me, all dressed in my suit and tie, to the park entrance. On the way I said "well at least it saves the $10 fee". She said there is no fee to pick up camp guests. Hard to believe this guy thought 3 women dressed in wedding attendance attire were trying to sneak into the park.
Pictures then wedding at 5:30 at the neighbor's. He's starting up a "venue" and they got to use it free. Large expanse of grass leading down to a large deck at the edge of a decent size pond, about an acre I would guess. Went well but not allowed to take pictures and I haven't found where the pro pictures are on the web, will have to check with DD1. On to the reception, friend drove us back to the campground about 11 pm.
Sunday morning drove the RV back to DD1's for brunch and taking down of tables, speakers, moving all the caterers stuff back under the tent. I started the generator after about 3 hours. Early afternoon DD1 and a non driving friend took two others to the airport in Richmond. DD2, now SIL and others went to SIL's grandparents lake house (which the grandfather later told me was a bunkhouse, 24 beds!) to go tubing. Sister-in-Law and I drove the RV over and hung out with the people in the house including SIL's parents and grandparents. The grandparents call SIL I.V., pronounced as the individual letters. He, his father, grandfather and now deceased great grandfather all have the same name so he is the fourth. After awhile DW showed up in DD1's car to get her purse from the RV and find out where there would be a gas station open late evening on a Sunday. Seems the flight the latter of those DD1 took to the airport was cancelled and DD1 was in no shape to drive back to the airport to get her having been given the wrong, non gluten free cake the night before. Sister-in-law, DD2 and I got back to the campsite around 9. DW showed up after midnight, having been brought in DD1's car by one of her friends who happened to be staying at a hotel nearby.
Left for the Triplebrook campground in extreme NW New Jersey at 9 AM. Map app says 6.5 hours, it took over 8. At least it was still light when we got to the campground. This family owned campground has a LOT of "permanent" guests, trailers with permanent decks, canopies, plantings etc. Played a round of mini golf, ate dinner, went to bed.
Left at 8:30 AM Tuesday, again taking a couple of hours later than the map app said it would take. At this point DW has decided that the app assumes people speed. Certainly something we weren't doing in a heavy, wide, RV! Those back roads in Virginia have lanes barely wider than the machine, maybe 2" from the yellow line on the left and 2" on the side of the road. And of course the mirrors stick out farther. Cleaned out the RV.
Wed AM. I fixed a couple of things on the RV and took it the 70 miles back to the rental place. "Vacation" done. Round trip ~1,200 miles not including back and forth from campground to DD1's house.
Baymule
Herd Master
Sounds like a wonderful trip, even with the mishaps. Your DD1 is married! How awesome!
Ridgetop
Herd Master
The apps telling how long the journey will take are not correct for anyone driving a truck/trailer or an RV. They would be correct for a young person with no fear of death in a Lamborghini.
Congrats on getting DDI safely married off! Glad you made it there and back safely. Hope you made a complaint about the problems with the RV.
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Bruce
Herd Master
I did, they didn't seem overly interested. They don't modify the machines after they purchase them so future renters won't have a battery combiner nor lights on the service side. Nor will there be a drawer for utensils. I find it bizarre that it was built with nowhere to store such things. We kept the flatware in a plastic takeout container DD2 had brought home a few days earlier. Hopefully they will be careful to mention the parking brake requirement. Olivia, the rental girl (older sister of the one who "checked" us out (*) and I guess in her late 20's isn't really a "girl") didn't even go out to the machine to make sure everything was fine on return. I took her brother, the maintenance guy, out to show him the mattress cover that was coming apart since it is hidden when the slide is in and show him the repaired seatbelt.
Oh, I see I didn't mention that before. One of the belts on the dinette was routed under the cross piece that the drawer slides connect to and the screws holding that part down were on either side of the belt. So instead of the belt coming out at the left side it came in the middle making it basically unusable. I had to remove the cross piece as well as the screws holding the left side slide to it after removing the plywood seat. Wasn't a difficult repair and I guess no one had ever tried to use it or if they did, didn't report it. The RV hit 5K miles when we were bringing it home the first day, the brother said it was a 2017 or 2018. So either not rented out very often or only for relatively short trips.
Olivia said she would check the generator hours and deduct that from the deposit. I have no idea how many miles we drove compared to the guesstimate the rental price was based on. DW had washed and folded all the sheets and towels, we used no onboard water or propane, didn't use the bathroom except for storage, same with the oven and cooktop. I mentioned that in an email after I got home, maybe we will get some credit for them not having to clean or refill anything, especially since we returned it in better shape than we got it. Haven't heard anything yet 1.5 weeks later.
* For some reason Olivia had left for the day even though she said she would see me at 2 pm)
farmerjan
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Sadly, don't hold your breath waiting for any extra consideration... or compensation....
Glad the trip was not too bad and that the wedding went well...
Glad the trip was not too bad and that the wedding went well...
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Bruce
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It is somewhat possible the people who watched the animals while we were gone had an "oops" Easter Egger cockerel. It is also somewhat possible it got in a Havahart trap.
And it is somewhat possible he came to my house
DD1 has named all the female Easter Eggers after Greek gods. So it would seem appropriate that he should be as well. One appropriate possibility is Eros, god of love. On the other hand Zeus had children with many women, also very appropriate.
And it is somewhat possible he came to my house
DD1 has named all the female Easter Eggers after Greek gods. So it would seem appropriate that he should be as well. One appropriate possibility is Eros, god of love. On the other hand Zeus had children with many women, also very appropriate.
farmerjan
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Bruce
Herd Master
Got cold enough for the fossil fuel furnaces to take over for the heat pumps. For the FIRST TIME since it was installed 10 years ago the propane hot air furnace that heats the north half of the house works properly!!!!! 
Don't tell anyone but some years back (like 9.5) I bypassed the limit switch so the furnace would run until the thermostat was satisfied. Prior to that it would repeatedly cycle, run for 1 minute or 2, shut down and cycle. Rinse, repeat. The furnace stopped working at all December 2021. The company that installed it sent someone out in January who could not figure out what was wrong after a few hours, said he would be back the next day. Never saw him again. And no, I never paid the company for the "service" though they tried several times.
Last December I contracted with Chuck's HVAC for heat pumps connected to the oil and propane hot air furnaces. They were booked until this past summer. In January they sent a couple of guys to see why the propane furnace wouldn't run at all. Not being able to find anyone to fix it the prior winter I had given up and turned off the thermostat. It unexplainably ran for them even though I had tried it a couple of times in the year prior. They had planned to replace the main circuit board but someone had ordered the board for the blower instead of the main board so they didn't have what they needed. They increased the fan speed to help with the overfiring, put the limit switch back in the loop and had me get a less dense filter. I ordered and installed the proper board. The furnace still cycled but with the blower running faster, not nearly as much so it worked kinda OK last winter. Still annoying to hear it cycling knowing it was inefficient and wasting fuel and electricity.
The guys from Chuck's who installed the heat pumps figured out the original installers had the 2 stage furnace set to single stage but with high propane flow so it kept overfiring and shutting down then cycling repeatedly until the area got up to temp. They had also necked down the air return ductwork to the furnace (which restricted air flow) for who knows what reason. They fixed that too and now it stays at "furnace duct" size all the way into the furnace blower section with a filter probably 25% larger than the original. I am a happy camper.
Don't tell anyone but some years back (like 9.5) I bypassed the limit switch so the furnace would run until the thermostat was satisfied. Prior to that it would repeatedly cycle, run for 1 minute or 2, shut down and cycle. Rinse, repeat. The furnace stopped working at all December 2021. The company that installed it sent someone out in January who could not figure out what was wrong after a few hours, said he would be back the next day. Never saw him again. And no, I never paid the company for the "service" though they tried several times.
Last December I contracted with Chuck's HVAC for heat pumps connected to the oil and propane hot air furnaces. They were booked until this past summer. In January they sent a couple of guys to see why the propane furnace wouldn't run at all. Not being able to find anyone to fix it the prior winter I had given up and turned off the thermostat. It unexplainably ran for them even though I had tried it a couple of times in the year prior. They had planned to replace the main circuit board but someone had ordered the board for the blower instead of the main board so they didn't have what they needed. They increased the fan speed to help with the overfiring, put the limit switch back in the loop and had me get a less dense filter. I ordered and installed the proper board. The furnace still cycled but with the blower running faster, not nearly as much so it worked kinda OK last winter. Still annoying to hear it cycling knowing it was inefficient and wasting fuel and electricity.
The guys from Chuck's who installed the heat pumps figured out the original installers had the 2 stage furnace set to single stage but with high propane flow so it kept overfiring and shutting down then cycling repeatedly until the area got up to temp. They had also necked down the air return ductwork to the furnace (which restricted air flow) for who knows what reason. They fixed that too and now it stays at "furnace duct" size all the way into the furnace blower section with a filter probably 25% larger than the original. I am a happy camper.
