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