Our Wander Years

TS7 Hop 11 – Carlock IL to DeForest WI

Posted on September 5, 2021 by Sparky

212 miles via I-74 and I-39. Cumulative tow miles: 2079. Truck miles: 260. Cumulative truck miles: 2823. The extra truck miles were due to refueling and dinner out.

This was another easy hop, with no problems with the rig. In fact, the mileage was suprisingly high: almost 9 mpg. There was a little rain, but just sprinkles. The odd thing is that the RV GPS, despite being set to “avoid tollways,” routed me on the toll road through Rockford IL. I can’t get too upset about that as it was a small segment. I have no idea what the toll was, but I will probably find out eventually. In any case, that GPS failure made for a fast trip: almost exactly 3 hours.

I was surprised that I did not recognize I-39/I-90 as it approached Madison from the south. I have traveled this road dozens of times, but it seems to have been completely rebuilt since my last visit. It is a beautiful road, both in terms of the countryside and the roadway itself. Wisconsin has put a lot of effort into beautifying this road (and, as I was to discover later, all major roads around Madison). The signage is on pillars of faux stone rather than metal trusses and the bridges all have the same stone motif. As do the sound barriers. I think this is the most beautifully engineered road that I have seen in America. Kudos, Wisconsin!

My one night in Carlock was at Kamp Komfort, a very nice park with lots of pull-through sites. A good overnight stop. It is next to a railroad track, but no trains went through at night, so that wasn’t a real problem. I mentioned the horrible cowpath that I took to get there, so if you use this RV park, approach from the south!

I had to travel 10 miles to fill up at a reasonable price but it was worth it – $3.09 per gallon in Bloomington rather than $3.35 in Carlock. I also dined out at the Busy Corner in Goodfield IL. This was on the recommendation of my dear Florida neighbors (thanks, Mark and Pat!) and it turned out to be every bit as good as they said. I had the fried chicken plate (two pieces of very fresh and perfectly cooked chicken), hash browns (maybe the best I have ever tasted) and a salad, plus a piece of rhubarb strawberry pie (the strawberry was more a mousse than pieces of strawberries but very tasty). Even with a nice tip this very satisfying comfort food meal was under $20.

Categories: Food, IL, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7, WI | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 10 – Cloverdale IN to Carlock IL

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Sparky

177 miles via US 231, I-74, US 150 and a very scary mile on a narrow, rutted farm lane. Cumulative tow miles: 1867, Truck miles: 180. Cumulative truck miles: 2563.

I don’t know why the RV GPS took me down that God-awful cowpath. After I got to my destination I looked back at the Google path and it was much more reasonable, approaching the RV park from the south rather than the north. A quarter of a mile down that path I encountered a sign warning that no vehicle over 500 pounds (!) should travel the road if wet (presumably because it would get stuck in the mud). It was dry, but I wasn’t going to chance it. I was in the process of backing up a quarter of a mile when a farmer stopped me and assured me that the road was passable. I thanked him, took a deep breath and took the RV on what appeared to be a perilous journey. The road was, indeed, passable, but only because it was dry and no vehicle came the other way. Without question, the scariest mile of my 45,000 tow miles.

My overnight stay in Cloverdale was at the Cloverdale RV Park. Usually an overnight stay doesn’t merit much comment as it is just a place to rest. This one, however, was notable for several reasons:

It included a chapel. And not just any chapel but a Bride of Christ Chapel. I expected it to have a staff of Catholic nuns. The entrance sign had a huge “J.C.”. The owner clearly loves Jesus. Was it right to think of a devout man as being a bit creepy?
The flagpole at the office had two flags: an American flag and an Israeli flag. I was tempted to ask why a Christian campground would be flying the flag of the only Jewish state in the world, but I didn’t.
The mother of the owner was a very chatty 80-year-old who pretty much gave me a full rundown of the husband and all 12 of her children. She also told me about the cancer ravaging her body (while having a smoke) and how she was refusing to get the COVID vaccine because she didn’t trust the government. Middle America personified.

The campground itself was decent. No pool, but it did have a laundromat and a rec hall. And the chapel. It also had a fairly scenic pond

A strange place, but ok for an overnight.

Categories: IL, IN, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 9 – Brookville OH to Cloverdale IN

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Sparky

143 miles via I-70 and I-465 (southeast of Indianapolis). Cumulative tow miles: 1690. Truck miles: 153. Cumulative truck miles: 2383. The extra truck miles were from shopping and refueling.

This was an easy hop. Sunny skies, flat roads. But a lot of traffic, including a 15-minute delay at the start due to an accident on I-70. The refrigerator stayed on and the truck ran fine. A good day.

My stay in Brookville (near Dayton) was at the Dayton KOA Holiday. I like KOAs. They aren’t cheap and the sites are sometimes cramped, but they are always better than adequate and the staff is relentlessly cheerful. This KOA had some wonderful facilities and a lot of money was invested in making the place beautiful. But I didn’t use the wonderful bathhouse or pool. Or even enjoy the stream, pond or any of the many covered swings scattered around the property. No, what I used extensively was… the cable TV.

98 channels!

After a summer of no TV and a bunch of TS7 stops where the TV was OTA or non-existent, I got a smorgasbord of crystal-clear cable TV in Brookville. A good thing I had it, too, because it rained most of the time I was there. I hunkered down with Rusty (who is slowly recovering from his diarrhea) and vegged out on Boob Toob. I got to watch the final Patriots pre-season game live!

Pretty darn exciting.

Categories: IN, OH, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 8 – Mogadore OH to Brookville OH

Posted on August 29, 2021 by Sparky

212 miles via OH 43, US 224, I-76, I-71, I-270 (west of Columbus), I-70 and some local roads when I got lost just short of the destination. Cumulative tow miles: 1547. Truck miles: 300. Cumulative truck miles: 2230. The extra truck miles were due to the trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a trip to refuel and do laundry and a trip to get a new RV battery.

The truck ran well over mostly smooth roads devoid of huge hills. The mileage was as expected (the fuel light came on just as I arrived in Brookville). More importantly, the refrigerator stayed on! The new RV battery did the trick.

Rusty has had a combination of diarrhea and vomiting for 4 straight days. He doesn’t seem to feel too bad, but anything he eats runs right through him. Or comes back up. I stopped just once on this 3-hour trip and it was at a rest area, so no emergency stopping on the interstate.

My three days in Mogadore were at the Countryside Campground. This is a nice campground with large open spaces and a very nice dog park. The swimming pool (which I didn’t use) also looked very nice and was very popular. There are a lot of families at this campground and they were having fun. A lot of campers are obviously there for weeks if not months or the entire season.

My site was a full hookup pull-through. The site itself was very large, but the roads in the campground have very tight turns. I believe I was the largest RV there. I scraped the side of the RV on a bush as I made one of the turns and had to run out on the grass to make other turns. Not very friendly to large rigs.

They also had no cable. I was able to get some OTA channels (4 on one TV and about 10 on the other), but the signal was weak on almost all channels. The T-Mobile signal was also very weak (one bar). I was able to use the campground WiFi, but that was slow. So I would have to give it poor marks for connectivity.

Categories: OH, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Posted on August 29, 2021 by Sparky

My campground in Mogadore OH was only about 30 minutes from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton OH, a place I have had some interest in visiting for years. Not as much interest as the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY, but interest. So I went yesterday.

And was underwhelmed.

First disappointment: the parking lot is very small. As is the building itself. It is dwarfed by the Hall of Fame stadium behind it – the site of the annual NFL Hall of Fame game. The parking lot was full so I had to seek out the overflow “Lot A” – about a quarter of a mile from the Hall of Fame. There were no directions on how to get to the facility from Lot A so I wandered through a lot of construction and, eventually, the stadium itself before a helpful stadium employee gave me directions. Not exactly a visitor-friendly location.

The “HOF class of 2021”, near the entrance

When I finally reached the Hall of Fame the doors were locked. It turns out the the “obvious” entrance from the Lot A side is actually a secondary entrance. I had to walk a bit further to find my way into the building.

It was a Saturday and the building was full of football fanatics wearing team jerseys, plus a large group of (probably) college football players. The building is designed as a one-way walking tour. It is interesting, but only marginally so. I was planning on spending 4 hours visiting and left after 2.

The two attractions that I found the most interesting were the room containing the busts of all 300+ inductees into the Hall of Fame and the holographic theater with a very lifelike Joe Namath MCing an upbeat talk about the value of football in building character and the tribulations overcome by some notable inductees.

The rest of the place… mediocre.

Categories: Adventures, OH, Places, Sports, TS7 | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 7 – Lowman NY to Mogadore OH

Posted on August 26, 2021 by Sparky

345 miles via I-86, I-90, OH 11, I-80, I-76 and OH 43 with a refueling stop midway, in Jamestown NY. Cumulative tow miles: 1335. Truck miles: 362. Cumulative truck miles: 1930. The extra truck miles were entirely due to the return from the GMC dealer where the starting problem was fixed.

Yes, I made it 345 miles without a truck problem. If you were betting that I was done traveling… well, it was a good bet, but you lose. The truck ran flawlessly for nearly 6 hours. There were 2 stop signs in the first 10 miles, 2 traffic signals in the last 5 miles, a stop to refuel and 3 stops along the interstate because Rusty had a bad bout of diarrhea (poor boy). Other than that, 330 miles without a stop or even a slowdown. The weather, after some brief showers early, was pleasant and the roads were flat and smooth. Just the way I like ’em.

The long trip was due to me dropping a stop in Pennsylvania, to compensate for the day I lost in Lowman (the TS7 is now reduced to 23 hops). I expected the trip to be grueling, but it was actually quite pleasant. I was tired when I arrived, but not exhausted.

I should note two things about the trip:

My planned refueling stop was only 130 miles into the trip. However, by the time I arrived at that point, I estimated that I was getting only about 220 miles on the full tank of fuel. Refueling there would have made the trip to the destination too close to the tank limit – over 200 miles. I opted to refuel at the midpoint, 170 miles into the trip, at a much more expensive truck stop ($3.35 per gallon instead of $2.99). That cost me maybe $8 or so but bought some peace of mind. As it turned out, I saw my tank range increase to over 240 miles on the second half of the trip, which is what I have expected of it for years. I don’t know why my mileage was so low on the first half, but it fed the fears that I had been having since the “collapsed air filter” incident. But it appears that those fears were unfounded.
The refrigerator once again did not stay on during this trip. I really do need to replace the RV battery in Ohio. The freezer was sitting at 31 degrees – just barely below freezing – when I reached my destination.

My three very sedate days (after the trauma of the truck failing upon arrival) in Lowman were spent at the Gardner Hill Campground. My initial impression – tainted by my truck failing – was that this would be a disastrous stay. The campground doesn’t give a good first impression – a lot of very old RVs. Obviously there are some very long-term residents here. But the campground has full hookups in good repair, pull-through sites and a pretty nice view down into the valley where Elmira is located.

But the best part of this campground is the owners – Andrew and Joanne – who are some of the nicest, most helpful people that I have encountered in 9 years of travel. Andrew mowed the grass as my site then arranged to get my truck towed into it. Joanne handled the checkin. For a small campground, they did things right. A list of rules was provided and Rusty’s rabies certificate was checked – something that is not done at about 95% of all campgrounds. And because I wasn’t sure how long I would be staying, they left the final payment open. All very convenient and friendly.

They also got me hooked up to the WiFi – rather vital because the T-Mobile service was spotty at best. I couldn’t have arranged for a AAA tow without the help of the WiFi.

When the truck was fixed in less than a day, Andrew drove me to the dealer so I could retrieve it. That was just a small diversion from the main purpose of the trip – releasing doves on a training flight – but it was generous nonetheless.

Yes, releasing doves. Andrew and Joanne, as a side business, raise doves for release at events (e.g. a wedding or funeral). The training is necessary to make sure that the doves return home. On this particular trip, 17 doves were released and they all made it back to the campground before I did.

I had the honor of releasing one of the doves – a first in my travels. A really unique experience.

I have had many breakdowns in 9 years of travel, but they are some of my most pleasant travel memories. My extended stay at Gardner Hill fits the pattern: some really bad moments when the breakdown occurred, followed by some really pleasant memories at Gardner Hill.

Thank you, Andrew and Joanne!

Categories: NY, OH, PA, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment

Good news?

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Sparky

The truck is allegedly fixed. The problem, as diagnosed by the GMC dealer, was a “collapsed air filter” – possibly the result of it getting wet when I drove through the deluge of Hurricane Henri. Would that explain the overheating and the poor fuel mileage? Seems unlikely, but I am no diesel mechanic so I have to admit that it is possible. It the diagnosis is correct it will be the second cheap fix in two weeks – both filter issues that prevented the truck from starting.

BTW, I have learned how to bleed the fuel filter. A good thing to know. Might save me a tow someday.

The impact of the 1-day delay is minimal – I will skip the next planned stop and get to Modadore OH on schedule tomorrow. A refueling stop will be required and it will be another long day for the freezer (I think I will try to replace the RV battery in Ohio and see if that fixes the problem). But if I make it, life will be good.

Wish me luck.

Categories: Adventures, NY, OH, Places, TS7 | Leave a comment

“Black Notice” by Patricia Cornwell

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Sparky

There was a time, years ago, when I read a lot of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta books because Jett was a big fan. Then I ran into one – can’t remember the name now – that was a real stinker. One of the worst books I have ever read. So I haven’t touched Cornwell in years. But then I found one that looked interesting…

Well, this one is not as bad as the one that swore me off her, but it isn’t great either.

Scarpetta is, in this book, the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia. She autopsies corpses and helps solve murder mysteries. She has an emotionally distant mother, a narcissistic sister, a loving but angry lesbian niece, an angry detective friend and a young colleague (in this book) who is both committing crimes and undermining her career. She is dealing with the recent death of her lover and a new Deputy Chief of Police in Richmond who is determined to get her fired.

There is a lot of unpleasantness in Scarpetta’s life and it make for an unpleasant book.

Besides having a very lesbian niece, there are rumors surrounding the sexual interests of the Deputy Chief and Scarpetta herself. There is a strong undercurrent of lesbian love and deviant sexual practices.

The mystery in this case centers on a badly decomposed body that is discovered in a shipping container aboard a ship docked in Richmond’s deep water harbor. He obviously made the trip across the Atlantic as a corpse, so the mystery immediately takes on an international flavor. A strange tattoo on the body’s decomposing back and some strange aspects of his death – soon matched to the MO of the murder of a convenience store clerk in Richmond – attract the interest of Interpol. Scarpetta and her angry buddy Marino make a trek to Lyon to consult on the case, which Interpol believes involves the strange son of a prominent French family.

Of course they are right and Scarpetta is instrumental in bringing him down. But she does take the night in Paris to bed a young, rich ATF agent that she doesn’t really like. Or maybe she does.

In any case, she screwed him so she can’t be a lesbian, right?

The book is not bad, but not great either. Much of it is a huge downer.

4 out of 10.

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The beginning of the end?

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Sparky

This morning I spent some time looking at the prices of 2-bedroom, 2-bath condos in southwest Florida. I am finding it very difficult to deal with the constant truck failures. Diesel engines are supposed to last forever and I have tried very hard to maintain the engine properly. But the truck is 17 years old, diesel engines are complex and even if the basic engine is solid, it is surrounded by lots of expensive parts that can fail. And they are failing with distressing regularity on my truck.

I am looking at used diesel dually trucks, too, but they are hard to find. And nearly as expensive as a condo.

I need to get to Florida before I can do either – buy a condo or upgrade the truck. So that is my main problem now – getting the truck repaired to get home. I am unsure what this means for the TS7 plans. Part of me wants to just chuck it all and head south.

I have already canceled my PA stop. Others may follow.

Categories: RV Living, TS7 | Leave a comment

TS7 Hop 6 – Croton-on-Hudson NY to Lowman NY

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Sparky

250 miles via NY 9, NY 301, NY 9D, NY 9W, I-84 and NY 17. Cumulative tow miles: 991. Truck miles: 443. Cumulative truck miles: 1568.

This may have been my worst day of RV travel EVER. I got away on schedule, around 10:30am, but ran into a closed road (NY 9) a half hour into the trip. I think it was a downed electric line because there were LOTS of electric crews in the area. But I must have been the first vehicle to come onto the scene because the person directing traffic had not yet set up – I got stopped by a half-dozen flares across the road. Then I had to back up a quarter of a mile (not easy with a 42-foot trailer!) to a place where I could turn around. And because the GPS was not aware of the closure, it becaume useless – it just kept telling me to turn around and go back up the closed road.

Bottom line: I detoured about 25 miles, down to the Bear Mountain Bridge, then back north on NY 9W on the west side of the Hudson River. The extra miles necessitated a refueling stop, which was annoying beyond belief (why did the pump take my credit card then demand that I “see the cashier”?).

Did I mention that there were frequent heavy showers too? I had to turn on/turn off the wipers about 30 times in 3 hours.

This route has a LOT of up-and-down. The truck did okay, but there were some very long uphill stretches that strained the engine. And long downhill stretches that tested the brakes.

The worst problem, though, came at the end. The last mile to the campground was another long uphill pull. When I got to the campground the office was closed. I tried to call the number on the door, but had no T-Mobile service. I found the owner, found where my site was and went back to the truck. Started it and got an “engine overheated” message – the first I have seen since 2013 near the Grand Canyon. There was really no reason for the truck to overheat – one mile of uphill should not be that difficult.

Worse, when I tried to use the overheated truck to pull another 200 feet into the site, then engine died. And would not restart. I had to get the entire rig towed into the site so I could get electricity running to the RV to save my frozen foods (oh, yeah, the inverter once again did not work on this hop).

Problem after problem. Traveling used to be fun. Not so much now.

I should also mention that a full tank of gas took me just over 200 miles rather than the 240 that I expect. I wonder if I have a fuel leak. It wouldn’t be the first. And it might explain the “air bubble in the fuel filter” problem.

My site at Croton Point Park, before the rain

The 3 days at the Croton Point Park were fine, if you like rain. Hurricane Henri made landfall in Rhode Island and its tentacles stretched to the Hudson River and beyond. It wasn’t all that windy but the rain was torrential. Roads flooded. And the entire park was muck. Not pleasant.

I can’t figure out why a park this close to New York gets almost no OTA television. I got a dozen channels if I positioned the antenna just right, but mostly I was unable to find that “just right” position and had almost no television for the entire 3 days. Which I am used to – I had no television for 3 months in Orange MA. But I get tired of flipping through the DVDs.

So I once again have to deal with a disabled truck. Tomorrow. Tonight I am going to think if I want to continue traveling in an RV. And if the answer is “yes”… how can I replace the truck? Or eliminate the need for one?

Categories: Adventures, NY, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS7 | Leave a comment