End of May Update

We're fine.  Compare to the past few weeks, this week was uneventful.  How did that happen?!

We've more-or-less settled in as we complete quarantine (finish Wednesday).  Except for the last couple of days, it's been hot here.  Gets hot. again, tomorrow.  Pollen is in full force here.  Mosquitoes hit full force last weekend.  Dragonflys came out this weekend, and I'm glad to see them as they love mosquitoes.  Though we can't pick up any packages at Voyageurs HQ until the building is open, we can ship stuff there, and that's what we're doing.

When we were first planning to came to Voyageurs in 2012, I remember during the first interview the lady said we may not find what we want at the grocery store, but you can get what you need.   Donna now goes with a wish list for a few meals, sees what's available, then updates our planned meals based on what's in the store.  And while diesel may be cheaper this year, there's no low cost groceries in this area.  Fresh produce is running roughly twice the price than in other areas of the country we've traveled through this spring.

The new transfer switch was installed Wednesday.  It works.  The transfer switch (SurgeGuard Transfer Switch Model 41260) came with it's own light-duty surge/power protection that we're learning to use - or at least how it responds to things.  The park still has less-than-adequate power for normal 50 amp power usage.  When we do trip something, the transfer switch has its own two-minute delay before it sends power downstream to the Electrical Monitoring System or EMS (which has its own delay).   When something happens, we kinda know what we did.  It's just strange to now wait three to four minutes before the electrical system powers back up as the transfer switch and the EMS work through their separate delays.

Next on the RVing agenda is expiring propane tanks.  Like a lot of things you're probably going through, I was hoping to get this taking care of before we got here.  Unfortunately, the country's response to a pandemic got in the way.  We've got one tank almost empty, so we're going to get through this soon whether we like it or not.

As for volunteering, we'll "onboard" (check in) either Sunday or Monday.  We'll be told then what we'll be doing (probably roving at the boat ramp & picnic area).  For now it's read all the material to get up to speed.  Challenge is to find out what opens when (if at all) or what just closed (campsites near eagle nesting areas, for example) so we can answer any questions.  Easier when you're in a visitor center as you have a sheet of paper that's updated daily that you can reference.  At least the last two seasons as tour guides for the fish hatchery got us read for roving duties.

So that's it for us.  Thanks for dropping by.  Until next week, David

At Voyageurs Natl Park

Buckle up!  Just when you think you've arrived and can relax, you find things are just getting started!

We had a nice trip up from Madison, WI though the last day was loooonnnnngggg.  On the way up, we did stop about 30 minutes south of Eau Claire, WI for a couple of nights at Stoney Creek RV Resort near Osseo, WI.  This park deserves the "resort" rating.  Think of a Jellystone "lite" RV park.  Big park.  Large area just for

seasonal sites.  Large play areas.  Nice sites under pines for real "campers" and there are long pull-throughs for those of us with longer rigs.  We'd go back in a heart beat!

So we arrived at Voyageurs on Wednesday, and no one, other than the head of interpretation, knew we were coming.  No water, but we had power.  So Donna plugs us in and lets people know we're here with no water.  Took an hour or so for maintenance staff to get to us and turn the water on.  Keep in

mind the park is open and camping is allowed, but everything else is closed.

With water we go ahead and unhook and start setting up.  We could get satellite in 2014, so we're off trying to get that going.  But it didn't work out with the roof antenna.  Fuss forever with the portable antenna as my android satellite app said we should see at least one satellite.  We did finally lock on a satellite and get about half our normal channels.  Power seemed better than in

2014.  It was just a long, long Wednesday getting to Voyageurs.

Thursday seemed OK.  Power was doing good.  We loaded up on groceries.  No shortages or rationing up here.  Well stocked store.  $100 single tank full up in 2014.  Single tank fill up this time about $55.  Going good.  Dumped & flushed the black tank and set the sewer system warning light & siren off.  Found the alarm silence button and got that turned off.  Called maintenance and they called the city to come check.   They did

and after going over what we did, they asked if we could just slowly drain the holding tanks.  Grey tank (shower, sinks, laundry) yes.  No on the black tank.  Park maintenance will look into it Tuesday.

Friday morning we had a quick drop off of shore power, and I noticed that the voltage on one line of power wasn't what it had been.  We were back to the low- voltage shore power we had in 2014.  That momentary power loss also upset the portable satellite antenna to no end.  Fussed with it for three hours before it could see a satellite.    In the mean time, Donna does some laundry in the trailer.  All is well.

We take our first long walk around the Rainy Lake Visitor Center area and trails.  We come back to burning rubber/wire smell.  Found the washer/dryer plug was halfway out of the socket (why we never checked it after arriving we'll never know).  Figured that was it.  Moved it to another socket on the same circuit breaker and started it back up.  All seems well.

3:38 AM (per the weather radio) Saturday morning we lose shore power, again, and it doesn't come back on.  Go out to the power pedestal, and I know there's power as the bright red light on the sewer warning system is flashing brightly.  Flip the circuit breakers and we've got power.  That upset the portable satellite, again.  I go back to bed and plan deal with everything later.

Later comes about 6 :30 AM.  We've still got power, but I ain't spending no three hours fussing with that stupid portable antenna.  Gave it a couple of relocation tries with no success.  Android app says at least two of the three satellites are visible.   We decided to do the Greg & Judy tactic - relocate the trailer in the site and keep adjusting until the roof satellite locks on to satellite.  After moving the trailer forward a bit, success!  (We kinda had an idea as we'd both thought about it and thought that we'd placed the trailer too far back into the site.)  Set the trailer back up and start laundry.  First tub wash & dry OK.  Donna starts the second tub, and we've got problems when the dryer kicks in.   It appears we've probably clogged the dryer vent.  We unhook the unit from the wall vent. Donna cleans the machine and what I can't reach from the outside.  We try it, again, on a dry setting.  Within minutes - smoke!  WOW!  We've just smoked our third Splendide combo unit!

I'm beyond angry. Why now!!!!  I get over it, and we go to the local laundry.  (Remember, we're in quarantine.  Minimal contact with people, and we're going to a laundry mat.)  So we go finish laundry.  That took about an hour.  Come back to a dead trailer.  Nothing we could do would get us on shore power.  Everything runs fine on the generator. (OK, we didn't try the Splendide.)

Donna starts calling local campgrounds to see if they know of a mobile RV tech.  I dig out our receipts from 2014.  It's Memorial Day weekend.  We're probably dry camping until Tuesday.  Donna finds a 24-hr mobile tech 80 miles away and calls.  He answers!  He'd be here late that evening.  It's just gonna be an expensive service call.   He thinks it the transfer switch.  (A transfer switch for an RV lets the trailer switch from shore power to generator power automatically.)  Based on advice from the Lagrange folks we did not replace the transfer switch last fall when we had the power converter and electrical monitoring systems replaced.  They looked at the transfer switch and said it was good.  It probably was, but I'll be more insistent next time!

The tech arrives and he's good - real good!  I warned him when he arrived that he shouldn't take our descriptions at face value and he should check everything.  And he did!  He checked every circuit in the trailer and the power pedestal.  We ran the generator and he checked that all out.  He opens the transfer switch box, and we all could smell the burnt plastic, rubber, and wiring.  He wires the trailer's shore power lines to the generator side of the transfer switch and unhooks the generator from powering the trailer.  I turn off the breakers at the generator as a safety measure in case I accidentally start the thing - unlikely, but you know me!  If it can accidentally be done, I'll probably do it.

Power the trailer back up and ensure the electrical monitoring system is seeing the power.  It is and we let it settle down for a few minutes.  We then load the trailer back with both ACs on.  Seems fine.  We then turn on the dryer and the tech rechecks that circuit.  All's fine & no smoke or burnt wiring - rubber smell.  The tech checks all the power, again. For now we're now back on shore power.  It's as strong as it was on Wednesday when we arrived.  A new transfer switch is on its way.  We're thinking it'll be installed during the latter part of the week.

I kinda warned you at the beginning.  It's a long blog post this week.  This morning (Sunday) I've run the dryer just drying damp bath towels for 40 minutes with no issues.  Donna's already wore herself out riding her bicycle this morning.  All's fine - including us.  As for our volunteer positions, it seems our job this year is roaming the Rainy Lake Visitor Center area for the weekends plus one other visitor center (probably Kab) during the week.  We'll know more after quarantine.  Quarantine ends June 3rd.  I'm hoping weather's great Thursday morning (June 4th),and we can eat breakfast outside Coffee Landing Cafe.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you enjoyed this week's adventure!  David

Still at DeForest, WI

We're fine & still in Wisconsin - a very wet Wisconsin this morning.  Minnesota decided to keep it's state parks closed along the north shore of Lake Superior, so we're here a little longer than planned.  We hope to move Monday to Stoney Creek RV Resort near Osseo, WI for a couple of nights.  Move on up to Voyageurs Natl Park on Wednesday,  That's the new plan.

We've had a busy (exciting?) week.  I realized the black holding tank (for the toilet) was not draining properly when we went to dump it Monday afternoon.  Called Paul & Kay for assistance.  They could tell us now to fix what they thought the problem was - a bent cable connector to the gate vale.  We couldn't reach it.  During the conversation, Paul stated that if we were there and he had the parts, it'd be a two hour repair.  We asked if they could fit us in if we came down.  They - hesitantly - said yes.

Off we went Tuesday morning back to Indiana.  We got there mid-afternoon.  Unloaded some of the "basement" compartment.  Paul moved the trailer near a sewer clean out that was a foot & a half above ground and hooked sewer lines up to it.  (Yes, we're dumping up hill.  Not recommended!)  Paul climbed into the trailer storage and with a flashlight in his mouth a screw driver in one had and a mirror in the other, he moved the black tank gate open and out came everything.  They hadn't received the new part, so we used some of Paul & Kay's bleach and sanitized the black tank.  Worst part - draining that sucker up hill.  We moved into a hotel for two nights while Paul & Kay got the part and replaced the black tank valve (now direct link vice cable) and came back to DeForest on Thursday.

Next excitement:  While we were back in Lagrange, IN, we got to eat inside a restaurant!  Campgrounds not open, but you could eat inside a restaurant.  We went to the Fireside Craft & Burger in Lagrange.  Social distancing was in place.  Every other booth was blocked.  Every other table had the chairs stacked on top of the table.  Restaurant staff wore gloves and masks.  Paying by cash discouraged.  Enjoyed every minute of the experience.  You'd thought we'd gone to the High Tea at the Floridian in Disney World.

Next bit of excitement:  My primary laptop computer (yes, I have two) gave us the famous Blue Screen of Death (aka BSOD) Wednesday night.  Back up computer was in the trailer at Paul & Kay's.  We got about four years off that computer, so couldn't complained.  We'd learned years ago to keep nothing important on the computer.  Our data is backed up on an external hard drive, a second copy of the important stuff is on a large gigabyte USB flash drive, and a few things on a cloud somewhere.   Do most stuff on the "smart" phone, so impact fairly small.  Real impact is that I buy expensive laptops as replacements!

Last bit of excitement:  The experience of purchasing a new laptop.  I really prefer to see the product in person.  Touch it.  Count the USB and USB C connections.  Touch the keys.  See the screen.  And I wanted it now.  There's a Best Buy about 20 minutes from us, and it was open by appointment.  Made an appointment.  Really unique experience.  We were met at the truck when I pulled in.  Told the person I had a appointment.  He explained that the manager would meet me at the door.  Got to the door and the rules were explained.  Unique actions:  I was escorted everywhere.  I was to touch nothing.  Just point and my escort would show it to me and explain any options or answer any questions.  I was allowed to touch the laptops, and any I touched were sanitized as I left.  Newer laptops are thinner, so connections are few.  I needed a hub for all the connections I like to make (mostly USB drives).  And another large flash drive for a repair-bootable drive (that I realized I really would liked to have tried Wednesday night when my primary laptop failed.)

I walked away with a new HP Spectre x360 with 13 inch screen.  Small.  Looks like a tablet.  Large keyboard buttons.  Two USB C connections of which you need one for the power cord.  One USB 3.0 connection.  Best speakers we've every had on any desktop or laptop computer.   Still loading stuff on it.  Flew past that 15 GB limit on our hot spot (on an unlimited plan, of course.) 

So why do I have two laptops.  One winter, about 4 years ago, we went with Steve and Susan to Pensacola where I bought the best Toshiba I could get.  Eight months later the interior connections failed to either charge the battery or run the laptop off the battery.  Computer repair guys said to use it until it breaks - just plug it in.  They wouldn't repair.  Too much of a pain to return it to Toshiba.  But it worked great when plugged into power - essentially, it was a desktop.  I kept it.  It comes in handy from time to time.  Really reduces any stress when the other laptop fails.  We keep Windows 10 up to date.  Old versions of Microsoft Office and Quicken are kept on it.

So you're up to date on us. Sorry for such a long post, but it was such an interesting week!  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Hope to be in Voyageurs by Wednesday.  David

DeForest (Madison), Wisconsin

Let's see...current statistics:

Total Workforce: 164.6M (as of February 2020)
Jobs lost in April: 20.5M
Unemployment rate: 14.7%

Do you know what they call an economist that uses decimal points?  Comedian.


So here we sit in Deforest, WI.  We're fine.  It's  a bright, sunny day and windy - Laramie, Wyoming windy.  Sunny 57.  If you can hide from the wind behind a wall, it feels like 52 - we're told. 

We're here waiting to go farther north.  Minnesota has decided to keep all its campgrounds closed.  Consequently, we'll move a couple of hours further north on May 17th.  Hoping - unrealistically, of course - that Minnesota will open some of its campgrounds, and we can get into Burlington Bay Campground, Two Harbors, MN on the 18th.  If not, we'll spend a couple of additional days at the next campground before doing one long day into Voyageurs Natl Park on May 20th.  Start our quarantine then.  That's the plan.

Donna and I went to Woodman's Food Market, today.  Nice place to buy food.  Noticed all the signs limiting how may meat packages, can goods, soups, etc, you can buy per family.  I thought federal guidance was to only visit a grocery store every two weeks thereby requiring you to purchase two weeks worth of food when you went to a grocery store (not that we can do that with the limitations of our trailer, of course.)  So how does one buy two weeks of groceries when you can only get 2 of this, 1 of that, 4 of these cans, 2 of any specific type of soup, 1 each of this other thing you may want, etc?  I figured it out.  You buy chips, crackers, cookies, and ice cream! No limits what-so-ever on those items.  If it's on the shelf or in the freezer, you can buy all of it you want.  And Woodman's was well stocked on those items this morning.  We broke down and bought a box of cauliflower crackers.  Yep, cauliflower...cheese flavored cauliflower.  (We're weird like that.)  The box fits in the trailer, too! 


Back to Deforest.  We've been here before.  Spent several weeks here in 2017.  More single-family homes now.  Subdivisions have expanded to replace corn fields.  The town added a large athletic field and a privately owned gym since we were last here (also replacing corn fields).  Diesel fuel at a Kwik Stop across the street is $1.699/gal.  They've paved most of their prairie trail now.  No new pictures - yet.  I posted some from 2017 (below) to give you an idea of the walking/bicycling trails in DeForest.  While it's late spring here now, the trails are still just as pretty & enjoyable as they were in 2017.

Well, I think that gets you up to date.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  I'll try to get more current pictures next week.  Until then, be safe.  David

Hello May!

How it feels when trailer service is complete

We've completed all the trailer service with no unexpected surprises - other than northern Indiana is keeping it's campgrounds closed.  We continue to have a leaky passenger front tire on the truck.  Auto Park Ford in Sturgis has ordered a complete new valve system for the wheel.  It's suppose to be here Monday.   While we wait, we're setting at Indiana Interstate Enterprises in 

Lagrange, IN where we have access to water and electric while we wait for that part to come in.   Twin Mills RV Resort in Howe, IN is closed to all but seasonal RVers.  They're kindly allowing us to use their dump station as needed.  So here we sit. 

We decided to walk into town this morning.  I've attached some pictures of 

our walk.  As you can tell, we're having a nice day in the area.  It's a warm 75 degrees with some wind.  Beats the rain and thunderstorms we've had over the last few days.

Our plans are to move to Madison (DeForest), WI when we can.  From there we hope to go on up to Two Harbors, MN and wait for chance to go on into Voyageurs Natl Park and begin our quarantine.  We've asked Voyageurs to allow us in on May 20th.  They think 

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that's doable, but just want to ensure hookups at the volunteer site are ready.  So, as you can see, there are no hard plans.

That gets you up to date with us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next time, David