The adventure continues!
The remainder of the bluegrass festival was about the same as I wrote of on the last blog. Very good music and extremely hot weather as well.
The highlights of the festival for me was when IIIrd time out sang "Erase the Miles" with most of the audience singing along (myself included). On Saturday our friend Cricket (DJ from WMNF) came to the festival with Carl Jackson and his father. A side note of interest - Carl wrote "Erase the Miles". We got to hang with them for a bit and watched as they rehearsed with Bradley Walker and Darrin and Brooke Aldridge for the evening performance. These folks make it look so easy. I got to visit a little more after the show and picked up a CD of Louvin Brothers songs performed by Carl and others - great road music.
A funny thing happened when Connie and I took our evening showers at the festival temp facilities. Connie's shower did not have a spray head on it and every time she turned the water on, mine dropped off to a weak drizzle. She got done and knocked on the door to see what was taking me so long.
We left OH on Sunday about 11, stopping at the Model T Ford club of America museum in Centerville IN. Had a nice visit with the RV parked at the side under trees. Didn't know it at the time but Connie left one of her canes there somewhere - a hint of things to come it turned out.
We hit torrential rains most of the way to Indy after that stop. If you read my early blog, the RV repairs held up well and there were no leaks.
My brother Steve had called around and found campsites at the Johnson County fairgrounds in Franklin IN for a very reasonalble price (107/week full hookup) so we were headed there. The GPS didn't have the fairgrounds as a point of interest so I got to the town and stopped at Tractor Supply to ask direction (cue the impending doom music). I hopped out of the truck putting my wallet in my pocket (I thought) and headed into the store. I saw a couple getting out of their car and asked them. They gave me a "Duh" look and pointed to the double ferris a block south of the store. Hopped back in and away we went.
Got to the fairgrounds and found the midway being dissasembled and also noticed no wallet in my pants or in the truck! Scooted back to Tractor Supply and looked around with no success. Asked inside and no one had turned it in. Noticed a white van parked where I got out the first time but the man and boy getting inside didn't say anything and left before I could ask about the wallet.
Resigning myself to dealing with a lost walllet, I called and cancelled all of my credit cards and turned in a police report incase it turned up. I was sick over this.
AAA to the rescue! About the time I finished all of this, my phone rang with a call from AAA auto club South in Fl. They were on a conference call with AAA hosier club and a man who found my wallet in the Tractor Supply where I lost it. He was only about a block away and brought it to me intact including the cash. Amazingly he was driving a white van and had his young son with him. About the same time a policewomen came by to complete the report. A happy ending all around but we won't have credit cards for a while. He refused a reward but at the urging of the policewoman, took it for his son's education.
Steve came down from Greenwood and had steaks with us as we celebrated.
The campground was about 50% filled when we arrived with the majority of the folks associated with the fair midway. They must not have another fair to go to as they took about four days to take stuff down and are removing it with just four semis making trips each day. Not much drama but they seemed to be tolerant of banjo music. Most are gone now and the campground is down to six RVs and of them, three have FL plates.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday saw more work on Steve's with the exterior finally completed and water-tight. We celebrated by going to Johnny Carinos italian restaurant in Greenwook. There used to be one of these in
Brooksville FL that we really liked but it closed. I had Chicken Marsala - most excellent!
This morning (Thursday) we loaded up and went back to Lafayette to get in some quality visiting with family. With all of the work I really haven't had much opportunity. Once again we hit the Dog N Suds for rootbeer and coney dogs on the way in. We plan to hang here for about a week then go to the state fair before heading to Arkansas and then eventualy home.
Thanks for reading.
Ron
Roadrunner, Homer and the banjo
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Baking at the MACC
Hi all!
We are camping near Columbus OH at the "Musicians Against Childhood Cancer" bluegrass festival (www.bluegrassclassic.com). The heat has been and continues to be incredible for the Midwest area. More about that later.
Since I last updated the blog, we spent last Saturday (7/16) at my cousin Karen's house on lake Freeman near Monticello IN. It was really nice to visit and catch up with the cousins as Nancy, Roxanne and Aunt Peg were there. They have a new tri-hull pontoon boat that we toured the lake on. The last time I was out on that lake was about 1968 or so. Quite a bit more development since then.
At the end of the day we packed Connie back up and headed back to Indy.
Sunday, July 17 we travelled to the bluegrass festival site. Our good friends from FL Dorothy and John met us there. We are very near the spot we camped at last year and had electricity (very limited - not enough to run AC). We visited with them and explored the grounds and called it a night after having some grilled beef tenderloin and greek salad.
Monday, July 18 - Connie's Birthday!!!
The four of us took a road trip to Amish country NE of Columbus. We started out at Charm OH eating lunch at "Grannie's Cupboard". Great meal prepared simple county style. Afterwards we went up the hill across the street to Kiem Lumber - kind of a home super-store with really nice hardwoods, fixtures and tools.
Leaving Charm we stopped at a farm advertising baked goods (Miller's Bakery). The house was off the road up a one lane hill and like many in the area, had no electricity. Connie picked a large dutch apple pie for desert - best we've had in many years.
We then went to the town of Berlin where they have a concentration of shops for tourists. I parked myself on a shady porch and let the others go shopping. Connie hit two quilt stores finding region themed fabric. Dorothy and John hit a natural food market.
We then went to Lehman's hardware in Kidron OH. It is a very large store that caters to a non-electric world. They have many tools and things for sale that you might remember your grandparents having. Last year I was able to find chimneys and wicks for some table lamps I have from the 1890s.
After a long visit we headed back to Columbus with severe weather following us the whole way. We made it to the campground about 10 minutes before it hit with torrential rain and 60+ mph winds. My awning would have not survived. Lesson learned - put the darned thing down to storm configuration before leaving the campground.
Tuesday we hung around the campground area - got groceries, had some prescriptions refilled and had laundry done. When we sat down to jam, it was just too hot so we called it a day. Connie talked me into buying some A shirts (we call them wife beaters) and staying a little cooler. I also bought an Ohio State shirt thus completing my OH camouflage outfit.
Festival - On Wednesday the festival started. This one has the best "A list" line up of any we have ever been to. Great music and shady seating area but still so hot we had to actively hydrate every day. Heat indexes have ranged from 105 to 110F at peak of the day with little breeze to help. We had a storm interrupt the show on Wed around 6 PM and it dropped the temperature about 15F for the rest of the evening. I got thoroughly soaked running to the camper to lower the awning and turn on the generator and AC.
Thursday we got no rain and they opened one of the air conditioned buildings at the park for heat relief.
Friday (today) I lugged gas to fill the RV tank to keep the generator running. It took about 15 gallons to fill it. The first two cans were 348.9/gal and the price went up to 375.9 for the third (just my luck to have only one can). Connie is going to spend the day in the AC today and come to the shows after supper. I don't blame her but I am going to watch all of the shows staying as cool as I can.
That's the news for now - thanks for reading.
Ron and Connie
We are camping near Columbus OH at the "Musicians Against Childhood Cancer" bluegrass festival (www.bluegrassclassic.com). The heat has been and continues to be incredible for the Midwest area. More about that later.
Since I last updated the blog, we spent last Saturday (7/16) at my cousin Karen's house on lake Freeman near Monticello IN. It was really nice to visit and catch up with the cousins as Nancy, Roxanne and Aunt Peg were there. They have a new tri-hull pontoon boat that we toured the lake on. The last time I was out on that lake was about 1968 or so. Quite a bit more development since then.
At the end of the day we packed Connie back up and headed back to Indy.
Sunday, July 17 we travelled to the bluegrass festival site. Our good friends from FL Dorothy and John met us there. We are very near the spot we camped at last year and had electricity (very limited - not enough to run AC). We visited with them and explored the grounds and called it a night after having some grilled beef tenderloin and greek salad.
Monday, July 18 - Connie's Birthday!!!
The four of us took a road trip to Amish country NE of Columbus. We started out at Charm OH eating lunch at "Grannie's Cupboard". Great meal prepared simple county style. Afterwards we went up the hill across the street to Kiem Lumber - kind of a home super-store with really nice hardwoods, fixtures and tools.
Leaving Charm we stopped at a farm advertising baked goods (Miller's Bakery). The house was off the road up a one lane hill and like many in the area, had no electricity. Connie picked a large dutch apple pie for desert - best we've had in many years.
We then went to the town of Berlin where they have a concentration of shops for tourists. I parked myself on a shady porch and let the others go shopping. Connie hit two quilt stores finding region themed fabric. Dorothy and John hit a natural food market.
We then went to Lehman's hardware in Kidron OH. It is a very large store that caters to a non-electric world. They have many tools and things for sale that you might remember your grandparents having. Last year I was able to find chimneys and wicks for some table lamps I have from the 1890s.
After a long visit we headed back to Columbus with severe weather following us the whole way. We made it to the campground about 10 minutes before it hit with torrential rain and 60+ mph winds. My awning would have not survived. Lesson learned - put the darned thing down to storm configuration before leaving the campground.
Tuesday we hung around the campground area - got groceries, had some prescriptions refilled and had laundry done. When we sat down to jam, it was just too hot so we called it a day. Connie talked me into buying some A shirts (we call them wife beaters) and staying a little cooler. I also bought an Ohio State shirt thus completing my OH camouflage outfit.
Festival - On Wednesday the festival started. This one has the best "A list" line up of any we have ever been to. Great music and shady seating area but still so hot we had to actively hydrate every day. Heat indexes have ranged from 105 to 110F at peak of the day with little breeze to help. We had a storm interrupt the show on Wed around 6 PM and it dropped the temperature about 15F for the rest of the evening. I got thoroughly soaked running to the camper to lower the awning and turn on the generator and AC.
Thursday we got no rain and they opened one of the air conditioned buildings at the park for heat relief.
Friday (today) I lugged gas to fill the RV tank to keep the generator running. It took about 15 gallons to fill it. The first two cans were 348.9/gal and the price went up to 375.9 for the third (just my luck to have only one can). Connie is going to spend the day in the AC today and come to the shows after supper. I don't blame her but I am going to watch all of the shows staying as cool as I can.
That's the news for now - thanks for reading.
Ron and Connie
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
On the road update (very tardy eh!)
Hi All,
We have been very busy the past week and I am delinquent in updating the log now that I have a good internet connection to use.
Recap of the trip so far...
Thursday, July 7th we travelled from home to the Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE) campsite (Gunter Hills) west of Montgomery AL. We found this and the other sites in a book I bought on Amazon devoted to these campsites. Most are near water features and are $20 or less per night with electric and water. With a senior or all access pass (disability) the sites (and all federal sites) are half price and the pass includes free admission for the car load at any national park (more about that later). We didn't have a pass so we payed the modest fee. It was a clean and well maintained campground.
Friday and Saturday, July 8 and 9th we spent in Nashville TN. We found lake front capsites at on of the several ACOE campsites on the J. Percy Priest reservoir E of Nashville off of Interstate 40.
We stayed at the Seven Points campground and enjoyed a gorgeous view of the Lake. Again, the campground was very clean and well maintained,
I took Connie on a tour of local quilt stores where she found some real deals on local themed fabrics (she swears they were dirt cheap and cannot be obtained anywhere else in the universe). At one of the quilt stores in Watertown we learned about music at Fiddler's Grove.
We had intention of going to the Station Inn but found out about a music event at the Wilson County fairgrounds near Lebanon TN. The monthly event is known as the Opry at Fiddler's Grove. It is held in a pioneer village in the county fairgrounds and was very enjoyable. A local band (Sugar Ridge) was the entertainment and played for three hours straight. They had a nice supper and fed us for $5 each including beverage. The music and admission were free but we gladly dropped money in the band tip jar. Naturally I had to text my sister in CA (bluegrass wastelan) to let her know I was at a bluegrass show.
Sunday, July 10 was travel to Indianapolis. On the way I asked Connie to find a National Park or Forest Service office while I was working on Steve's RV and get the All Access pass. She wasn't too keen on the assignment but what should pop into view..... Mamoth Caves National Park, Next Exit. Needless to say we went to Mamoth Caves park and got the pass. It is quite a way off of the intersate and was absolutly packed. We had no intention of staying at that time but confirmed that with the pass, camping with electric and water was $10 per night and admission to the park was free - sweeeeet!
Rolling into Indy, we hooked up with Steve and followed him to the most reasonable campground near his town. We got a weekly rate at Indy Lakes RV park and Pay to Fish Lake. This campground features a (very green) stocked lake for fishing and for you purists, a separate carp pool! I know what you are thinking, how was I able to get into this exclusive park? I attribute it to clean living and just plain good luck. Did I mention that it is also across the street from a waste water treatment plant? It's really not a bad little park but I can't imagine eating anything out of either lake. It reminds me of the lagoon at Columbian Park for those that are familiar.
Monday, July 11 - Miss Connie and I travelled to Lafayette to drop her off to visit with family. After a pleasant visit I had lunch with them at Dog N Suds. Frosted mug root-beer, breaded tenderloin sandwich and coney dog, I headed back to Steve's to work on the RV.
At Steve's, I picked up a package sent to me by my sister.
What a fabulous retirement gift! My sis had created a scrap book of my life starting from when I was a nerdy little brat all the way through the job I just retired from. I was just floored by the creativity and love evident on the pages. For book markers she had a minature crescent wrench for my mechanical career and banjo picks. I tried to call her but had to settle for texting. She replied later in the evening. I have looked through it each night since and keep seeing more details. I think she has more creativity in her thumbnail than I have in my whole body. Thanks sis and I love you.
Did I mention that it was really hot here and the entire area was on a heat stress alert - didn't feel too bad to me so we dug in.
In the initial assessment we located at least five areas leaking and when the lower sheeting panels were removed, about 60% of the floor foundation wood around the perimeter of the RV were rotted with water damage. Remarkably, most (but not all) of the wall lower plate was OK having been protected from the water by the vinyl flooring. We made the decision to replace the entire floor outer foundation and wall sections as required to restore the RV back to level and plumb. We are replacing the 2x2 wood with 2x4 with the extra sticking under the existing floor (or where it should be) to provide a surface to fasten the new floor to the wall with good structural strength and realative ease of construction.
We continued working on the foundation Tue and Wed and belive we will have the exterior complete and sealed by Friday evening. The long days have not left much time for blogging but we knocked off at 6 tonight.
As always, thanks for reading.
Ron
We have been very busy the past week and I am delinquent in updating the log now that I have a good internet connection to use.
Recap of the trip so far...
Thursday, July 7th we travelled from home to the Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE) campsite (Gunter Hills) west of Montgomery AL. We found this and the other sites in a book I bought on Amazon devoted to these campsites. Most are near water features and are $20 or less per night with electric and water. With a senior or all access pass (disability) the sites (and all federal sites) are half price and the pass includes free admission for the car load at any national park (more about that later). We didn't have a pass so we payed the modest fee. It was a clean and well maintained campground.
Friday and Saturday, July 8 and 9th we spent in Nashville TN. We found lake front capsites at on of the several ACOE campsites on the J. Percy Priest reservoir E of Nashville off of Interstate 40.
We stayed at the Seven Points campground and enjoyed a gorgeous view of the Lake. Again, the campground was very clean and well maintained,
I took Connie on a tour of local quilt stores where she found some real deals on local themed fabrics (she swears they were dirt cheap and cannot be obtained anywhere else in the universe). At one of the quilt stores in Watertown we learned about music at Fiddler's Grove.
We had intention of going to the Station Inn but found out about a music event at the Wilson County fairgrounds near Lebanon TN. The monthly event is known as the Opry at Fiddler's Grove. It is held in a pioneer village in the county fairgrounds and was very enjoyable. A local band (Sugar Ridge) was the entertainment and played for three hours straight. They had a nice supper and fed us for $5 each including beverage. The music and admission were free but we gladly dropped money in the band tip jar. Naturally I had to text my sister in CA (bluegrass wastelan) to let her know I was at a bluegrass show.
Sunday, July 10 was travel to Indianapolis. On the way I asked Connie to find a National Park or Forest Service office while I was working on Steve's RV and get the All Access pass. She wasn't too keen on the assignment but what should pop into view..... Mamoth Caves National Park, Next Exit. Needless to say we went to Mamoth Caves park and got the pass. It is quite a way off of the intersate and was absolutly packed. We had no intention of staying at that time but confirmed that with the pass, camping with electric and water was $10 per night and admission to the park was free - sweeeeet!
Rolling into Indy, we hooked up with Steve and followed him to the most reasonable campground near his town. We got a weekly rate at Indy Lakes RV park and Pay to Fish Lake. This campground features a (very green) stocked lake for fishing and for you purists, a separate carp pool! I know what you are thinking, how was I able to get into this exclusive park? I attribute it to clean living and just plain good luck. Did I mention that it is also across the street from a waste water treatment plant? It's really not a bad little park but I can't imagine eating anything out of either lake. It reminds me of the lagoon at Columbian Park for those that are familiar.
Monday, July 11 - Miss Connie and I travelled to Lafayette to drop her off to visit with family. After a pleasant visit I had lunch with them at Dog N Suds. Frosted mug root-beer, breaded tenderloin sandwich and coney dog, I headed back to Steve's to work on the RV.
At Steve's, I picked up a package sent to me by my sister.
What a fabulous retirement gift! My sis had created a scrap book of my life starting from when I was a nerdy little brat all the way through the job I just retired from. I was just floored by the creativity and love evident on the pages. For book markers she had a minature crescent wrench for my mechanical career and banjo picks. I tried to call her but had to settle for texting. She replied later in the evening. I have looked through it each night since and keep seeing more details. I think she has more creativity in her thumbnail than I have in my whole body. Thanks sis and I love you.
Did I mention that it was really hot here and the entire area was on a heat stress alert - didn't feel too bad to me so we dug in.
In the initial assessment we located at least five areas leaking and when the lower sheeting panels were removed, about 60% of the floor foundation wood around the perimeter of the RV were rotted with water damage. Remarkably, most (but not all) of the wall lower plate was OK having been protected from the water by the vinyl flooring. We made the decision to replace the entire floor outer foundation and wall sections as required to restore the RV back to level and plumb. We are replacing the 2x2 wood with 2x4 with the extra sticking under the existing floor (or where it should be) to provide a surface to fasten the new floor to the wall with good structural strength and realative ease of construction.
We continued working on the foundation Tue and Wed and belive we will have the exterior complete and sealed by Friday evening. The long days have not left much time for blogging but we knocked off at 6 tonight.
As always, thanks for reading.
Ron
Saturday, July 9, 2011
The adventure begins - Finally!
Well, we finally have hit the road. We left on Thursday morning bright and early heading up US-19 towards our goal for the day.
As we passed the plant access road I thought of all the years turning left every morning and for once was not inclined to go that way. A big hello and thanks to all the folks working so hard out there.
We intended to follow a conventional route but decided to go where the GPS took us. We entered in Montgomery AL in the device and followed the screen. We ended up going north on US-27 and then going west through SW Georgia and into Alabama.
It was really hot outside - while travelling it was between 95 and 98 the whole afternoon.
We targeted the Army Corp of Eng campground west of Montgomery, Gunter Hill campground.
They do a pretty good job of hiding them (as we found out also the next day) but with the directions in the guide book and my good navigator Connie, we found it and checked in. We called ahead to ensure they had open sites and they were less than 5% occupied. This is a very pretty campground on the banks of a nearby river (about 20' higher). The one camper near us was very friendly and was kind of disappointed we were only spending one night.
Did I mention it was hot outside? We tried to sit outside and play some banjo but the sweat just poured off of me and I threw in the towel..... literally and called it a night,
We slept in and got a late start on Friday heading towards Nashville. Due to the late start, we opted to take I-65 most of the way. The only real headaches were at Birmingham and Huntsville with construction.
We called ahead to the Corp campgrounds east of Nashville, finding a site at the Seven Points campground on Percy Priest reservoir. Again well hidden but in this case, we ended up with a water view that is breath-taking. This campground is nearly full and we were able to get a campsite that had just been canceled. We decided to spend two nights here.
A quick trip to town for groceries and we settled in for the night with the intention of doing stuff around Nashville and going to either the Opry or to the Station Inn on Saturday evening.
We will update the log with pictures when I have a wifi connection without having to challenge my data plan usage.
Thanks for reading and Connie says Hi to all.
Ron
As we passed the plant access road I thought of all the years turning left every morning and for once was not inclined to go that way. A big hello and thanks to all the folks working so hard out there.
We intended to follow a conventional route but decided to go where the GPS took us. We entered in Montgomery AL in the device and followed the screen. We ended up going north on US-27 and then going west through SW Georgia and into Alabama.
It was really hot outside - while travelling it was between 95 and 98 the whole afternoon.
We targeted the Army Corp of Eng campground west of Montgomery, Gunter Hill campground.
They do a pretty good job of hiding them (as we found out also the next day) but with the directions in the guide book and my good navigator Connie, we found it and checked in. We called ahead to ensure they had open sites and they were less than 5% occupied. This is a very pretty campground on the banks of a nearby river (about 20' higher). The one camper near us was very friendly and was kind of disappointed we were only spending one night.
Did I mention it was hot outside? We tried to sit outside and play some banjo but the sweat just poured off of me and I threw in the towel..... literally and called it a night,
We slept in and got a late start on Friday heading towards Nashville. Due to the late start, we opted to take I-65 most of the way. The only real headaches were at Birmingham and Huntsville with construction.
We called ahead to the Corp campgrounds east of Nashville, finding a site at the Seven Points campground on Percy Priest reservoir. Again well hidden but in this case, we ended up with a water view that is breath-taking. This campground is nearly full and we were able to get a campsite that had just been canceled. We decided to spend two nights here.
A quick trip to town for groceries and we settled in for the night with the intention of doing stuff around Nashville and going to either the Opry or to the Station Inn on Saturday evening.
We will update the log with pictures when I have a wifi connection without having to challenge my data plan usage.
Thanks for reading and Connie says Hi to all.
Ron
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Progress Update - Hitting the road soon!
Hi all,
It's been a while since I last posted but much progress has been made. The interior work has been completed including upgrades (photos to follow). The exterior is nearing completion with only the roof seal job and wheel bearing clean and pack left to go. Connie and I have been working on our packing list and will be completely emptying the cabinets and closets to remove winter and kid stuff.
The first picture is the battery rack modification and newly re-painted tongue.
As mentioned in an earlier post, the slightly narrower rack was fabricated from 1" mild steel angle with tig welded joints (the mig was harder to get to with more "junk" in the way). This rack will hold the batteries in marine cases level and secure. I'm not sure if it makes any difference but I feel better and that's what its all about in this case.
One of the modifications done is to install an electric 3500lb capacity tongue jack. This caused the LP bottles to be moved back 1" to clear the cover but no issues with that since the bottle rack was off already. I was going to hook it up today but have managed to lose the in-line fuse for the power feed. Not an issue as they are readily available at the local parts store but I will probably use a circuit breaker instead.
We had a couple of rainy days forcing the work indoors.
Here is the replacement cabinet - much less likely to hit my head on this but I'm sure sooner or later I will.
The replacement cabinet finished out really close to the original stuff in the RV. I stole the handles from the restroom and put the new plain ones there. We almost forgot to put a ledge inside the door to keep sliding items from opening the door while under way but it was an easy add-on after installation.
The original layout of the wiring and antenna connections was made to support the TV cabinet that we removed. Couple this with a really cheesy radio and CD player and we had a chance to bring the comforts of home into the RV.
We moved the antenna wiring to this side of the RV and routed it to the TV location. While I was doing that I also put a 12V outlet and ran audio and component video cables. The new TV will operate happily on one of the small plug in inverters when we are dry camping. The hard wires to the new DVD player eliminate having to hook up the player when entertaining the granddaughter (or Connie for that matter). I am a little concerned about the cable length but will cross that bridge when we get to it. For the record, the cables will pull out 15 inches from the plate.
Well, thats about all of the updates for now. We plan to leave on our adventure on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how quickly we get the remaining task complete.
Thanks for reading - Connie says Hi.
Ron
It's been a while since I last posted but much progress has been made. The interior work has been completed including upgrades (photos to follow). The exterior is nearing completion with only the roof seal job and wheel bearing clean and pack left to go. Connie and I have been working on our packing list and will be completely emptying the cabinets and closets to remove winter and kid stuff.
The first picture is the battery rack modification and newly re-painted tongue.
Correctly resized battery rack
As mentioned in an earlier post, the slightly narrower rack was fabricated from 1" mild steel angle with tig welded joints (the mig was harder to get to with more "junk" in the way). This rack will hold the batteries in marine cases level and secure. I'm not sure if it makes any difference but I feel better and that's what its all about in this case.
Tongue put back together
One of the modifications done is to install an electric 3500lb capacity tongue jack. This caused the LP bottles to be moved back 1" to clear the cover but no issues with that since the bottle rack was off already. I was going to hook it up today but have managed to lose the in-line fuse for the power feed. Not an issue as they are readily available at the local parts store but I will probably use a circuit breaker instead.
We had a couple of rainy days forcing the work indoors.
Head-banger cabinet replacement
Here is the replacement cabinet - much less likely to hit my head on this but I'm sure sooner or later I will.
Finished cabinet with side panels and hardware installed
The replacement cabinet finished out really close to the original stuff in the RV. I stole the handles from the restroom and put the new plain ones there. We almost forgot to put a ledge inside the door to keep sliding items from opening the door while under way but it was an easy add-on after installation.
The original layout of the wiring and antenna connections was made to support the TV cabinet that we removed. Couple this with a really cheesy radio and CD player and we had a chance to bring the comforts of home into the RV.
New DVD/CD player/Radio
I bought this in-dash DVD/TV tuner/CD player/ AM-FM a few years ago (2008) and never got around to putting it in until now. It is rated at 60 watts per channel (4) and will likely be less than optimal until I install some good speakers. It has audio and video output to go to the flat panel LED TV we just got. The TV is incredibly thin (about 1/2 inch screen), weighs less than 10 lbs and draws less than 20 watts of power at full volume (about the same as three Christmas lights worth of power).
TV mount and new connections
We moved the antenna wiring to this side of the RV and routed it to the TV location. While I was doing that I also put a 12V outlet and ran audio and component video cables. The new TV will operate happily on one of the small plug in inverters when we are dry camping. The hard wires to the new DVD player eliminate having to hook up the player when entertaining the granddaughter (or Connie for that matter). I am a little concerned about the cable length but will cross that bridge when we get to it. For the record, the cables will pull out 15 inches from the plate.
Well, thats about all of the updates for now. We plan to leave on our adventure on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how quickly we get the remaining task complete.
Thanks for reading - Connie says Hi.
Ron
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