Angola, IN

Not quite where we expected to be today, but close.  We left Fredericksburg Monday and traveled to the Angola, IN area (Circle B Park) Wednesday to get new trailer tires (Trailer Tires & Wheels, Edon, OH).  Stops on the way up here were at Bedford, PA (Friendship Village) and Lake Milton, OH (Green Acres).  After having the new tires installed, we were to move to Shipshewana, IN until our trailer service appointment in Lagrange, IN this coming Monday (4/28).  Unfortunately, both the north & south Shipshewana campgrounds have water issues (as in no water service).  So after picking up tires this morning and finding out the water situation in Shipshewana, we returned to the Circle B Park for the weekend.  Which is fine as Donna wants to walk the historic part of Angola.  And she's already found a yarn shop. So she's good.

So here we sit.  Looks like rain for tonight and tomorrow with a nice weekend.  Then bucket loads of rain next week.  Ah, so goes life.  Anyway, we get our new washer/dryer combo next week.  That's a convenience we can't wait to get back.  After servicing, we'll travel via Wisconsin to Minnesota for our upcoming stint at Voyageurs National Park.

At least that's the plan.  Later, David

Last Week in Fredericksburg, VA

We're on our last week here in Fredericksburg.  Donna continues to get her "girl" time in and get some shopping done.  We've gotten our truck back.  It's got a different tailgate than what it came with, but it works.  Truck seems fine.  (Apparently, fault for the accident is still in dispute.  If we hadn't used our insurance, the truck would still be in the back of the dealer's lot awaiting repairs.)  We've also walked Lee's Drive (along Gen Jackson's trenches) a time or two.  We've survived two nights below freezing.  And the pollen is just now building.  Just another spring here in the Fredericksburg area.

So, if all goes well, we'll move on toward Voyageurs Natl Park on Monday. We're planning a short stop at Trailer-Tires-and-Wheels in Edon, OH for trailer tires on Thursday and drive on to Lagrange, IN by Friday.  Trailer service and getting our new washer/dryer installed are on tap the following week.  Once that's done- maybe the first of May, we'll try to move further north as weather allows and campgrounds are open.  Prefer to go north via the Michigan UP to Duluth, MN, but may have to settle for the longer route via Illinois and Wisconsin.  Goal is to be in Voyageurs by the 8th of May.  At least that's the plan.

Later, David

Purvis Ford Lincoln, Fredericksburg, Virginia

Apparently, Fredericksburg, VA's idea of customer service is vastly different than most other areas of the country.  Here, if a dealer wrecks your vehicle, your insurance has to pay for that dealer to fix your vehicle.  I'd understand that if it was a no-fault state, but Virginia isn't a no-fault state - it's a commonwealth (whatever that means).  The idea that a dealership step-up, take responsibility, and immediate start to repair your vehicle after they wreck it is so foreign to these people that they look at me as if I'm crazy when I bring it up.

The only factual accurate statement Donna and I have gotten from Purvis Ford was from their body shop manager.  I quote: "Yes, your truck is in the body shop, but I don't know what I'm suppose to do with it."  The truth will upset you, but it will also set you free.

Oh, their talk has been beautiful...sweet...soothing...friendly...calming...but no action.  The fact that a customer may have commitments is meaningless.  It's gonna be a god-awful mess if one of these dealerships here ever pull this stunt on someone with PTSD.

Other things we've learned:
1) Allstate Auto Insurance only responds when challenged on Facebook.  When challenged on Facebook,  they make "calls".  ( I call your attention to the fact that no action is taken here, either.)
2) If you have a Progressive Insurance on a medium duty truck registered as a RV pulling a trailer, you lose a day while the adjusters "discuss" which one is going to do the job.  And they're not discussing which one is going to "rush out there" and take care of their customer.

...and don't get me started on the lost of resale value of our truck as a result of all of this.

Later, David
#PurvisFordLincoln

At Least We Didn't Do It

From Donna's and my point of view, the Fredericksburg, VA area is one of the highest areas to get rear-ended. Last year when we were here we saw a rear-end collision almost every day that we were out in rush hour traffic.  Our Jetta got popped twice while we lived here during the 2000s.  This little dent occurred while Purvis Ford was test driving the truck after service and a front-end alignment.  It was hit by a full-sized Chevrolet truck that took the brunt of the accident.  That doesn't surprise me as they've built a lot of crush zones in the front of vehicles.  No one was hurt.  We'll know more after it's put on the frame rack, and they've checked for hidden damage.  Hopefully, we can meet our planned schedule.  Oh, they haven't found the source of raw diesel exhaust into the cab of the truck during the diesel exhaust cleaning process, either.  Maybe the rear-end hit fixed it?

Over the last week we've had a great time in High Point, NC with all the dinners out and the meal at Craig & Donna's.  (And I still had weight watchers points left...if you include the activity points.) We're beginning to get visits in here at the Fredericksburg area.  We've met up with Beth & Frank, and had lunch with Beth & her mother-in-law, Carol (plus seeing the movie "God's Not Dead").  And meals at the normal places:  Red Robbin & Cracker Barrel.  As of today, Donna's gotten in two days of work (volunteering) at the local hospital, too.

Since I'm spending my time hanging out at the local KOA while the truck gets repaired, I get to see all the work their doing to it.  The Fredericksburg, VA KOA is an expensive campground down a small country road that Stonewall Jackson's ambulance carried him along to the hospital after losing his arm during the Civil War's Wilderness campaign.  It's a nice campground, and the owners continue to poor money and sweat effort into it.  We're the unusual customers in that we want access to satellite TV, and we don't want to be under trees, anyway. The roof is hard enough to keep clean, so I don't need any additional help getting it dirty.  But this campground is beginning to cater to people like us.  They've added two high-end sites out in the open with patios and fire rings and two under the trees.  At least three will fit the larger class A motor homes with tows.  There's probably three or four other pull-through sites that fit our needs, and we're usually in one of those.  Our new Droid Razor Maxx smartphone seems to like the campground's WiFi, but Verizon signals are too weak for data plus we still drop a lot of phone calls.  Our 5510L MiFi can get us a one bar signal of 4G, so that's working (no drops while writing this post).  So for us, things are getting better at this KOA.

Well, that's it for this week.  Later, David

High Point, NC

High Point's market week starts next week.

We had a great time at Stone Mountain visiting Doug and Louise.  Not sure if Doug and Louise had a good time, but I think their dogs did.  Harolda and Randy made it over, and we got out a couple of times with them, too.

So after a week's stay at Stone Mountain, we've moved to High Point, NC to visit Donna and Craig.  We had a good trip up.  However, the combo washer/dryer didn't survive it.

The Stone Mountain Depot

According to Splendide, the various flashing lights are codes that they can use to determine the problem.  The lights we have flashing stumped the Splendide tech.  Yea us!  We stumped the experts!  Anyway, we're searching for someone that may can fix it, but it's looking kinda unlikely.  Guess we'll replace it as we pass through Elkhart, IN.

So we're here.  Tonight Donna goes to a women's sister something (that what she says).  I think I get to go eat with the guys while the women are at the "sister something".  Anyway, that's what we hear.

If all goes well, we'll move to Fredericksburg, VA on Monday.  At least that's the plan. David

Stone Mountain, GA

Stone Mountain Park's Campground

We're back at Stone Mountain for a week visiting Donna's brother (Doug) and his wife (Louise).  We may also get a visit from Randy & Harolda before we leave (if things work out).

We've gotten a good look at Doug & Louise's home improvements built since out last visit, and they look great.  There's a nice patio in the back and a nice rework of the front steps.  The driveway is wider.  We can even park our truck in their driveway now!  It looks like all the improvements will work well for them.

It's been a busy day and a half for us since we arrived yesterday.  We got in two dinners with Doug & Louise, two visits to groceries stores, lunch out, a visit to a local Ford dealer for diesel fuel additive, and a visit to PECO Campers.  PECO is a family run RV sales and service center.  Think of it as a cross between an old-school hardware store + RV store and you get the picture.   My main goal this time was to try some more LED light bulbs.  Now you have to try these LED bulbs carefully - they're expensive as heck.  Our trailer came with four indoor light fixtures with  LED bulbs.  We changed two more ourselves over our first year with the trailer.  And after our last stay dry-camping in Big Meadows Campground (Shenandoah Natl Park), we decided to try a few more of the LEDs as they use significantly less power to operate.   The problem, though, is that LEDs are typically too "white" for our trailer's living-area decor (my opinion).  But LED manufacturers are aware of this, and they've created a "softer white" and a "warmer" LED bulb.  And this is where PECO came in.    

PECO has a display that demonstrates the current three "colors" of indoor LED bulbs.  We saw it last time we were here, and I played with it for quite some time.  So we decided to go out on a limb and try some "warmer" (or yellow) LED bulbs this time in two light fixtures that we leave on a lot.  The picture at the bottom is of the "warmer" LED bulbs in the left light fixture while the right light fixture has the traditional "white" LED bulbs we bought a couple of years ago.  You be the judge.  It's not as "warm" as a traditional 921 bulb, but it's close.

Either way, I bought all four 921 replacement "warm" LED bulbs PECO had.  Not as many as I wanted, but at least we now know what to order for LED bulbs to replace our normal 921 bulbs when they burn out.  I still got a half dozen regular 921s on hand, so it may be awhile.

So that's been our day and a half here at Stone Mountain.  Based on what I hear, there's still a lot of dinners to be eaten together before we leave next Wednesday.  Next stop is High Point, NC...if nothing breaks.  Later, David.

"Warner" (or yellow) LEDs on the left; standard "white" LEDs on the right

  

Birmingham, AL

After stops in Orlando, FL (flight instructor refresher course); Lake City, FL; and Ozark, AL, we finally made it back to B'ham.  Only had rain on one day, so we did well.

We here visiting Dad & Anna.  They took us to the American Village near Montevallo, AL where they're to attend a wedding on Sunday.  Nice place built

to look like buildings from the late 1700s.  Reminded me of Mt Vernon.  The room to the right is designed to look like the East Room of the White House.  You could hold your event or wedding reception there, but the people giving us a quick tour noted most people do that at the on-site barn.  Nice, nice place.

Other than that, we're all fine.  Just catching up and eating too much.  Plan to move to Stone Mountain, GA Wednesday.  Later, David