We Moved . . .

Remember –

Our RV Adventures Has Moved!

 

Our new address is:

www.ourrvadventures.com

 

 

fgsfdgs

The Big Move Is On . . .

I’ve started the process of moving everything over to the new blog site.

If the URL you’re using to access the blog is www.ourrvadventures.com, you will be taken to the new site automagically.

If you use the https://ourrvadventures.wordpress.com/ URL it will take you to the old site, but I will have a link there to take you to the new one.  Be sure you save that one for use from now on.

Unfortunately there is no way to transfer the Email subscription database from the old blog to the new one, so you will have to re-subscribe at the new site. Sorry ‘bout that.

_____________________________________

About 1:15 Jan and I headed out for a Wal-Mart run, but getting out to the truck we found this waiting for us. Or rather me, since I had to change it.

I had the jack out, the tire off, and the spare dropped down in about 15 minutes. Then I spent the next 15 minutes trying to get the spare mounted on the front hub. On this truck the hub doesn’t stick out any further than the lug bolts, so you’ve got nothing to hang the wheel on so you can rotate it into position. And when I tried to use a crowbar to lift it into position, the crowbar kept sinking into the ground instead of lifting the wheel.

But finally I had the wheel in place and tighten down, and we were really to go in about 30 minutes. I didn’t rehang the flat tire because I’ve got a plug kit and I’m going to see if I can fix it myself. I didn’t see any obvious punctures, but I’ll air it up and see where the problem it.

After we got back from Wal-Mart, I completed the install of my LED fluorescent upgrade by finishing up the wiring.

The 3 additional sets I ordered should be in on Tuesday, so I’ll do the other lights then.

Around 8:30 Nick and Terry came over to check out how the new bulbs looked at night. Nick’s thinking about changing over some of his fluorescents too.

________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

Ignorance can be cured by education, but stupid is forever.

adsfadf

We Didn’t Cheat Off Each Others Blog . . .

Readers of both this blog and Nick Russell’s Gypsy Journal Blog may have noticed that we both had the same blog title yesterday.

Nick and I just chalked it up to ‘Great Minds Think Alike.” Or at least that’s our story and we’re sticking with it.

___________________________________

Thanks to my friend Ed Hurlburt of the RV Tips section of Facebook, I found out about these really neat LED lights. Ed has had good luck using them to replace the small T8 fluorescents in his RV, so I thought I’d give them a try.

They are actually 12v LED Running Lights for autos and trucks. Ed originally found them on eBay starting here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RV-Fluorescent-LED-replacement-Light-motorhome-T8-T5-12-18-rv-travel-trailer-/321437564020?vxp=mtr#shpCntId

So if you want to buy a set for your RV, you can get them for a little over $21.00.

But I you want to buy them to use as running lights for your vehicle, you can get them here for a little under $10.00. Wink, wink.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291161780706?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

But I decided to check out Amazon and found them here.

Super Bright COB White Auto 12v LED Running Light

When I ordered a set on Tuesday, they had 6 left. When I went to order more today, they had 3 left. So I ordered all 3 since that’s how many more sets I needed.

When I ordered the set on Tuesday, they were $7.99 with Prime Free Shipping. But when I went to order today, they had jumped to $8.99. But now the Amazon ad says they’re out of stock from this supplier.

But I found a bunch of other Amazon sources, some slightly more expensive, and some with Prime Shipping.

More Amazon Sources for LED Running lights

Using the set I got in yesterday, I thought I’d just do a trial installation to see how they worked. I started by removing the diffuser cover and the two F15T8 bulbs.

adfadf

Next, to get to the 12v wiring, I squeezed the center metal cover together until it was released from the clips.

adfadf

The circuit board is the ballast that takes the 12v and steps it up to the voltage needed for the F15T8 bulb. The black and white wires are the 12 volts coming in to the fixture. Be careful though fooling around with these lights. Although there is only 12v coming to the fixture, the ballast puts out several hundred volts when you first turn it on, and then settles down to about 100 volts while the light is on.

adfadf

I clipped the 12v wires so I could feed it into the new LED strips

adfadf

The LED lights have a peel-off adhesive strip on the back so I stuck them to the top of the fixture.

adfadf

I next put the center ballast cover back in place to protect the ballast, and also to help reflect the light out.

adfadf

Here’s what the bathroom looks like without the light.

adfadf

And here’s what it looks like turned on.

Compared to the F15T8 bulbs I’m replacing, the LED light put pit anywhere from 50% more light to more than double, at about 1/2 the wattage.

For example, a Cool White F15T8 bulb puts about 825 lumens, consuming about 15 watts And a Daylight F15T8 bulb puts out about 700 lumens for the same 15 watts.

Although the specs on the LED lights call them Cool White, they’re not. Cool White bulbs have a color temperature of about 4000K. The LED’s have a color temperature of 6000K, making it a Daylight light source.

Also the LED lights put out anywhere from 1000 lumens to 1500 lumens, depending on the voltage range. ( i.e. 12.6 volts to 13.6) using about 6 – 10 watts.

And they’re waterproof, for that additional light in the shower.

I’ll probably go in tomorrow and finish up the wiring. I’ll let you know how they work out.

___________________________________

A little before 5pm we all headed out for one more try to have dinner at the Sherman House Restaurant. And this time we were successful.

But a little disappointed.

One of things we’ve enjoyed so much in the past was their excellent German dishes. But now, no Sauerbraten, no Jaeger Schnitzel, and no Red Cabbage. Bummer.

But we all ended up enjoying our meals anyway. So it was all good.

Jan had the Fried Chicken, I had the Apple Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Nick had the Shrimp Alfredo, and Terry had the Chicken Robere, a sautéed chicken breast on a bed of spinach, and covered with a mushroom burgundy sauce and melted provolone cheese.

Everyone really enjoyed what they had, and the service was very good too. We’ll go back.

____________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

Political Correctness is Tyranny .. with manners! – Charlton Heston

adfadf

Signs of the Times . . .

Today was a “Play Tourist Day”, so we all left the park about 11, heading for Cincinnati, about 40 miles away. Our first stop was supposed to be the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center , but before we could get there we got stuck in Cincinnati Reds game day traffic, and traveled about 100 feet in 45 minutes.

So we changed our plans and headed across town to the American Sign Museum. Sounds kind of boring, right? But it was anything but.

Starting outside with the classic Holiday Inn sign welcoming you.

I’m not sure what the Big Pink Pig represents. Maybe a BBQ place?

Much of the museum is in a city street layout with individual storefronts showing off store signs.

adfadsfa

And of course you have other classics like Howard Johnson’s,

adfadsfds

And, of course, McDonald’s. You can tell how old this sign is by the 15 cent hamburger price. And based on the ‘Over One Billion Sold’, it’s from 1963-64. Note that these are full size signs, about 30 feet tall.

gsfgsfdg

This small sign in a window was one of Jan’s favorites. The letters are actually ‘Bubble Light’s’ like the Christmas Tree ornaments.

asdfads

And this is a really interesting display of 3 dimension letters.

After our very enjoyable visit to the Sign Museum, we headed off for a stop at Jungle Jim’s Market, a really neat grocery store we had visited twice before. But not knowing there were actually two of them in Cincinnati, we ended up at the smaller one.

So since it was on the way back to the park anyway, we went on around the 275 loop to the big one. If you’ve never been here, it’s hard to imagine. They even have maps to help you find your way around.

gsfgsfdgfs

Pretty much any kind of vegetable, fruit, cheese, meat, etc. that you’ve ever heard of, they have it. They even have about 40 different types of olives.

afadsfads

And they have a firetruck atop their display of what must be every kind on hot sauce ever made.

Finally leaving Jungle Jim’s, we stopped off and had dinner at a nearby Uno’s Chicago Grill & Pizzeria, a place we ate at two years ago when we were last in the area. Just as good this time.

Tomorrow looks to be a goof-off day. Yes!

______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

"Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom!  I hope you will make a good use of it.

If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."

~John Adams

addfadsfds

Mister Wants A Hammock . . .

Saw this video online and now Mister wants one of his own.

asdfadsf

A few days ago I posted this amazing video of a quadcopter drone flying around and through a fireworks show. Here it is again if you missed it.

It was done in West Palm Beach, FL, but as I thought it wasn’t this past 4th of July, but back in May during West Palm Beach’s Sunfest..

And now the pilot is being investigating by the FAA because in flying through the fireworks, he may have flown too close to the airport. Of course the question is, how many planes would be flying through the fireworks, anyway, since the airspace had already been cleared for the show.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/faa-investigating-drone-shot-video-of-fireworks-ov/ngbh4/

And it sounds like the guy lives in South Africa, anyway.

__________________________________

A little before 5 we headed out with Nick and Terry to have dinner at the Sherman House Restaurant in Batesville. We had hoped to eat here on Monday when we got to the park, but they’re closed on Mondays, so we went Mexican.

The Sherman House has been around since 1852 and has a great menu, including a lot of German specialties, as well as a really good salad bar. So we were really looking forward to it tonight.

But when we got to the restaurant, we found a large chalkboard out front that said, “Sorry for the Inconvenience. We closed at 4pm today.”

Bummer!

So we decided to try the nearby Chinese Buffet that had pretty good reviews.

THEY WERE WRONG!   And I’m not going to say anymore about it.

We even tried to save the evening with a stop at Dairy Queen on the way home, and they got a coup;le of our orders wrong.

Maybe we should have just stayed home.

____________________________________

Got this picture today of Landon and his daddy, Lowell. Really looking forward to seeing them in August.

Tomorrow we’re going into Cincinnati to see some sights.
________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

"America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." – Clair Wolf’

asdfasdf

Missed It By That Much!

We got a call this afternoon from Diane with Gate Guard Services. She wanted to know where we were because she has our home address in Friendswood, TX. Before I told her we were in Indiana, she said she had a gate for us. It’s a 12 hour gate over in Sugarland, only about 30 miles from Chris, Linda, and Piper, and about 15 miles from Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.

And did I mention it’s a 12 hour gate!

Really hated to tell her we were up in Indiana, but I did tell her we expected to be ready for a gate the end of August, if she wanted to hold this one for us.

But no luck.

Hopefully there’ll still be a gate like this when we’re ready.

For lunch Jan fixed pimento cheese sandwiches using some of the beautiful tomatoes we got last week at E & S Sales, the Amish bulk food place, over in Shipshewana.

Not only are they beautiful, but biting into one the flavor just explodes in your mouth. Much better than store-bought. Just wish we’d bought more.

I spent most of the afternoon playing around with my Samsung Galaxy S5. One problem I found was that some programs that I liked and a few that I liked AND had paid for, on my old phone, were no  longer available, I guess because the companies were no longer in business.

This meant that I couldn’t download them to my new S5, but a little Googling led me to an app called ‘apk extractor’, ‘apk’ being the Android program format. This program would bundle up the selected app and save it to the old phone’s SD card. It could then be transferred to the new phone and installed.

So I needed to first install the ‘apk extractor’ on my old Samsung Droid Charge.  Of course my old phone was no longer able to download apps over the 4G phone system. But as I had hoped, I could still download apps through the Wi-Fi on the phone.

After downloading and running the ‘apk extractor’, I selected a number of programs to extract and transfer. Getting the programs to my S5, I installed them one by one. The only problem I found was that a couple of the apps would not run under the new version of Android software that the S5 runs, but all in all, it was a good solution to the problem.

For dinner, Jan heated up the leftover King Wha from the other night. Still very good, especially when spiced up with Sriracha and then sprinkled with Chow Mein noodles.

Then a little later, Nick came over with a plate of Miss Terri’s delicious Meat Pasties. Sounds like lunch tomorrow.
_____________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

People who do not study history are destined to believe really ignorant statements.

gfsadfgafdg

I Can See Clearly Now!

Not the song. No, that’s what Jan said as she was looking out her new windshield with no cracks, no Gorilla Tape holding things together, and no wind whistling around the edges. Just clean, clear glass.

On yesterday’s blog I mentioned getting some Diesel Kleen to use with our diesel fill-up today on our way to the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails down in Batesville, IN.

Here’s what I had to say about it when we were gate guarding in July, 2012.

A few days ago I was talking with one of the drivers for Macro Trucking, one of the big haulers in this area for the rigs. They have over 600 semi’s, and we get 3 or 4 a day in here.

The driver told me about Power Service Diesel Kleen with Cetane Boost.

He said the company had started using it in all their trucks about 9 months ago, after doing a six month trial run on about 50 of them. He said they were getting a solid 5-6% increase in mileage, along with cleaner injectors.

So I’ve used it every 3rd fill-up or so ever since. Can I tell you that my mileage has increased, or my injectors are cleaner?

No, it’s pretty much impossible to really see an MPG change with the varied routes and conditions we drive under. And I haven’t had my injectors looked at since I started using Diesel Kleen, or before, for that matter.

But we just hit 127,000 miles on our coach today, about 65,000 miles of it from our travels, and except for a bad fuel line sensor a couple of years ago, we’ve had no engine problems in our 7 years of travels.

One reader asked if Diesel Kleen was approved by Cummins Diesel. I don’t know, but I kind of doubt it. The manufacturers can’t test every additive, and every combination of additives that you might use. But I’m pretty sure all these trucking companies wouldn’t be using Diesel Kleen if they didn’t think it worked, or that it would harm their engines.

————————————————————

Along with Nick and Terry Russell, we pulled out of the Elkhart Campground about 10am this morning heading for Indian Lakes about 245 miles away.  But our first stop was the Pilot in Plymouth, IN about 50 miles away.

When I went to use my Pilot RV Plus card at the pump, it wouldn’t take it and said to ‘See Cashier Inside’. When I went inside and the cashier ran my card, it said it was ‘Inactive’.

It’s been a couple of months since I used it, but I’ve gone longer than two months before, with no problems, so I called the number on the card, and the guy said the computer does that sometimes. He reset it and I was good to go in just a couple of minutes.

After a little rain, and a bunch of construction, (but no real slowdowns) we got into the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails about 3pm, and then got signed in, got parked, and got set up.

Then after everyone goofed off for a while, we headed out a little before 5 to have dinner at The Toros Mexican Restaurant (shouldn’t it be Los Toros? Or how about Los Bulls?)

Their salsa was really good, fresh made and chunky, and Jan and I both enjoyed our meals, but unfortunately,Terry wasn’t real happy with hers. Nick had Fried Shrimp, and he cleaned his plate so I guess he was happy too.

Sorry, Terry.

Tomorrow is a goof-off day. Yah!

_________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. – Noel Coward

asdfdsf

No Drones were Harmed in the Making of this Video . . .

First up, I thought you might want to check out this video of a drone quadcopter flying around and through a fireworks display. Supposedly it was done off West Palm Beach, FL, but I’m not sure if it was done this 4th of July , or a previous year. But it is amazing.

And if you want to try this yourself, and have about $1300 to spare, this is what was used.

         

New DJI Phantom 2 with GoPro Hero 3+

And amazingly enough, the drone survived this experience to fly another day.

_________________________________

On our last day here in Elkhart, the weather was still nice enough to once again sit outside with our coffee and muffins. Nick and Terry were sleeping in this morning so Mister decided to use Nick’s chair to catch some rays.

We also had a number of these guys running around, poking up out of their holes and looking around.

They seem to be some sort of prairie dogs. Both chipmunks and ground squirrels have pointy ears, and chipmunks also have stripes. But these have no stripes and no ears, but they’re smaller than other prairie dogs we’ve seen around the country.

For his part, Mister finally just laid down in the grass and went to sleep, oblivious to all the wildlife around him.

dfadfads

Since we were supposed to have rain later this afternoon, I went ahead and started putting away the chairs and other outside stuff so it would stay dry. I also packed away some stuff inside that I could go ahead and put up.

Later, after a nice nap, we headed out about 5pm with Nick and Terry to have dinner at Culver’s. We really like this place and I’m glad to see they’re coming to Texas.

After dinner, we made a quick stop at the nearby Wal-Mart. I wanted to get a new water filter to start using as soon as we get away from the bad, iron-rich water here in Elkhart. And I also grabbed a bottle of Diesel Kleen to dump in the fuel tank when we fill up tomorrow on our way to the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails down in Batesville, IN

When we got back to the rig, I had planned to go ahead and hitch up the truck, but I quickly realized that when we came back from having our windshield replaced I didn’t pull far enough forward to leave room to hook up without hanging over into the access road behind us.

So tomorrow it is.

________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

Laws should be written only in simple sentences, no compound sentences allowed, and should be limited in length to one page, legal sized paper. This would solve a lot of problems.

gsdfgsfdg

Counting Down . . .

First off, Jan insists on a correction to yesterday’s blog about how we met. She wants to be sure that everyone understands that the ‘saloon’ where she was working as a dance hall girl, was a ‘soft drink’ saloon. No liquor involved.

___________________________________

We again sat outside this morning with our coffee, muffins, Mister, and Nick and Terry for an hour or so. Really, really nice.

While we were outside, Dick Schell came by with his dog Murphy and invited us over to look at the remodeling he and Phyllis are doing on their rig.

So, leaving for our drive over to Shipshewana about 2pm we stopped off at Dick and Phyllis Schell’s beautiful Super C.

It’s a Haulmark, built on a Freightliner chassis, and is really nice.

Getting into Shipshewana, our first stop was E & S Sales, an Amish bulk food market, that we like to visit every time we’re here in Shipshewana.

I thought about  buying Mister one of these big bags of rawhide dog bones. Figured he could use them as bait to attract dogs. Kind of like hunters set out out feeders to attract deer.

After a stop at the Red Barn Shops, a collection of small individual shops, selling arts and crafts, we headed over to Goshen to have dinner at South Side Soda Shop. But they were closed. I had called Thursday to check, and was told that they would be closed on Friday, but open on Saturday and Sunday.

They lied.

So we stopped and had dinner at the Chili’s between Goshen and Elkhart, and everyone really liked their meal. Applebee’s needs to take a lesson from them.

_____________________________________

Brandi, Lowell, and Landon are visiting Lowell’s parents up in Paul’s Valley, OK this week and it looks Landon’s having a ball. Between sparklers and the waterpark, they’re keeping him busy.

Tomorrow, Sunday, is our last full day in Elkhart for this year. We leave here Monday morning for the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails near Batesville IN for a couple of weeks, then moving on to the Wilmington OH TT for a couple of more weeks before started our trip back to Houston for Landon’s birthday on the 23rd of August, and then Gate Guarding after that.

________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

Women always worry about the things that men forget; men always worry about the things women remember. – Author Unknown

fasdfasdfasdf

Happy Anniversary . . .

To My Beautiful Bride!

No, not our wedding anniversary. That’s September 28th.

Today, July 5th is the anniversary of the day we met 47 years ago in Titusville, FL.

Jan was working at the Western Town area of the Florida Wonderland Amusement Park as a saloon girl at Miss Kitty’s Dance Hall.

I was bumming around Florida for the summer and had just started working across the street at their Marine Sea Life Show. We had two porpoises, two manatees, a 15 foot alligator, an elephant seal, and a number of other animals. I took care of the animals and did the shows for the customers.

I’m always happy to remember this anniversary, because Jan usually forgets it.

_________________________________

About 11am, Nick and Terry, and Jan and I (and Mister) sat outside for a while with our coffee and just enjoyed the nice cool weather, 67 degrees at 11am.

_________________________________

I’ve almost got the new blog ready to go. I finally got the blog subscription widget to work, so you will be able receive the blog post via email just like on the old blog. But you will have to re-subscribe. There is no way to transfer subscribers to the new blog.

The only thing I’m still trying to do is to add vertical separator bars between the sidebars and the content. I tried several different things so far, including writing some new CCS code. But it either doesn’t work at all or completely screws up the page. But I’ll keep working at it.

_________________________________

A little after 2, Terry, Jan, and I headed out for some shopping. Our first stop was a craft store right up the road that’s having a Going Out of Business Sale. Jan found a couple of pair of earrings she liked and I found this T-Rex wooden puzzle for Landon.

Big Tyrannosaurus

It’s really neat. He loves dragons and dinosaurs, so I hope he likes it too.

_________________________________

Our next stop was Martin’s for a few things, especially their made-in-the-store pimento cheese, really, really good.

Coming back to the park, we dropped off Terry and our pimento cheese and other stuff, before Jan and I headed down to Wal-Mart for some things that Martin’s doesn’t carry. Wal-Mart was busy, but not as busy as you might think on July 4th.

Getting back about 4:30, we settled in for a while before Jan heated up some of the pizza from our Mancino’s Pizza visit the other night. Just about as good as then.

Tomorrow we may do a drive down to the Shipshewana area one last time. We’ll see.

_______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

adsfadsf