The Homecoming

The trouble of returning home after months of absence can be that "normal" functions" in the house don't function any more. 

This time we discovered that our deep drilled well did not have enough water to provide us with running water. But I think you read about that already in my previous posting.

This is not a good situation. Nobody can live without water.

First day we got by with using our 2 5gal containers we had in the motorhome. But then we had to seek help from our neighbours. 

Then of course, our house was really cold. We connected 3 oil-based radiators and got a roaring fire in the wood-burning stove.

Our property here has been "blessed" with lots of snow. This white stuff is in the way when trying to get into the garage, or the wood shed. And some of it is frozen to a heavy ice barrier. Yesterday we had sunshine and no wind, but today olde sun didn't show itself and we got subzero freezing conditions.

A fellow islander came by with his truck and plow. He pushed a lot of snow out of the way. This makes room for parking our trailer and being able to drive close to our wellhead. Our plumber had suggested to fill water into the well. With our 50gal water tank that could help.

This morning I had my medical appointment. I will have to go for a CAT-SCAN the coming week. 

I was still tired after that long haul homewards. Notice that I am not young any more.

Home Free!

Yes, we made it home - yesterday. But we got way too busy to do a posting.

Yesterday, started with -11C (12F) and that caused a whole lot of problems. Overnight there hadn't been enough battery capacity to run that little fan, so the water was frozen again. But worse things were underway.

Under a routine walk-around I discovered that passenger side tire was down quite a bit. So I unpacked our air hose and connected into the compressor outlet. After starting the engine I noticed air gushing out from that connector.

Removing the air hose didn't make a difference. The connector didn't close. I tried  multiple times but it didn't work. Then, finally after using Bea's hair dryer on it, it did close. But I didn't dare to try the air hose again.

So we left with a low pressure tire. Bea went onto the internet and found a tire service in Portsmouth, NH. We pulled into their yard and found two helpful guys inside the building.

When one of them started looking at the valve stem of the inner tire he discovered a damaged valve stem. A minute later he had gotten a new flexible stem from the shop and put himself under the motorhome to replace the old one. 

At the tire service

It takes a service minded person to do this outside in freezing temperatures. He finished his work by controlling both sides of rear tires and even our trailer.

When it was time to pay, the manager didn't want any money, instead he hinted to pay the worker directly, which I did. What a good man and a good outfit!

\We went back to the Interstate and continued for our last miles northward. We had lost about 2 hours that morning but made it to Bangor,ME before noon. 

3hrs later, we reached Canada Customs, where our bus and car was searched by two agents!  This is quite crazy, given the fact that we are locals here and would never even think of smuggling anything through the border. But I get it. There was no traffic and the agents must have been pretty bored.

We unloaded the car in the Roosevelt Parking Lot then continued home. 

Restarting the house was a problem right away. Our well pump did not produce any water, despite the power being turned on. So either our well is empty, or it is frozen. The latter being the most probable cause.

Our good neighbour Deanna had invited us for dinner so we warmed ourselves under a delicious meal. 

                                

Was This The Most Unpleasant Day?

Waking up this morning it was really cold in the rig, so I was quick turning the heater on full. I think we left Freehold NJ around 7:30am. 

Despite adding antifreeze to our rest of fresh water, the water froze. Our rig has a small electric heater in the wet compartment and we turned on the "system heat" button. Our solar panels should produce enough power to keep it running while driving.

And as we got rolling we joined the insane morning rush hour. Everybody was in a hurry to get to work. I have seen a lot of ruthless crazy driving in my days, but this morning took the cake. Not only were there a million of small cars but also an army of transit buses.

The goal was to get onto the "Garden State Parkway" for a short distance, than transfer to the I-287 with our aim being Newburgh,NY. The 287 becomes the I-87, one part of it veers to the north-east through New Jersey and which we cannot take because of dangerously low bridges. Instead we continued in heavy traffic towards Newburgh. 

Hudson River

While the I-87 continues towards Albany, we left onto the I-84 which leads down to Connecticut and towards the I-90 meeting the I-495 through Massachusetts. 

And finally we got down to the end of I-495 where entering the I-95 gave us that special feeling of almost being home. Besides of the horrible traffic volume around New York, through Hartford,CT and near the Boston area, our other big problem today was the ice-cold weather. Temps got down to -8C (17.6F) which means it gets really, really cold in the motorhome. Those Class A rigs with a rear engine have not enough dash heat to warm up the interior, something we have noticed years ago with our first Class A diesel. So we donned Polar-style clothing and yet it got cold. RVs are NOT made for winter use, regardless of what sales people will tell you.

And I need to mention the frightful state of the Interstates in Massachusetts. Despite the state cashing in on $$$$ in tolls, the roads have giant potholes and terrible bridge crossings. A true nightmare for drivers.

Below: Hartford,CT through our windshield

Once we got across into New Hampshire we turned into the parking lot of the NH Liquor Outlet. A great place to spend a peaceful night. It was also there that we discovered our water was running again. That little fan is a good thing to have.

So after many days starting from Holtville,CA this day feels like something we could have been without. Now, another cold day lies ahead for us and once being home....oh boy we have to restart the house again. But that's for tomorrow.

The NH Liquor outlet

Big Parking lot for ourselves

We Went Across The Sea!

 It's not the most common way people choose when they go north into the New England States but it has certain benefits and a big draw-back. I am talking about the outer route to avoid being swallowed up in big city traffic through Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Leaving our camp in South Carolina, we went north on the I-95 to Emporia, North Carolina. From there Highway 58 is heading east via Suffolk to Norfolk. From Norfolk we took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. But the problem is getting through Norfolk, a city-monster of the worst imaginable. Not only it is the horrible traffic, but worse still is missing signage to the Chesapeake BBT.

Once we reached it, our stress turned to relaxation. There is a low speed limit of 55mph and seemingly they enforce it as well. So exciting to drive on a road which all-of-a-sudden dives under the surface of the bay, while ships are happily sailing above crossing the tunnel. And then the road appears like a new-born Poseidon out from the depth and continues along bridges. But like Poseidon you get another chance to explore the depth of the Chesapeake Bay when the second tunnel swallows your vehicle. The tunnel then spits you out to more bridges until you reach Cape Charles, VA.

We stayed overnight in a big parking lot where the bridges are ending. There is a beautiful nature trail with overlook across the salt mashes. What a pleasure to walk there in utter peace after the stressful crossing through Norfolk.

The area once was of strategic importance under WWII when German submarines and warships were feared. A huge cannon was built, able to shoot at targets 25 miles away. The cannon I measured to be 23m (82ft) long. A true monster. However, it was never fired!

Overlook salt marsh

So this morning we got up really early, leaving our overnight location to reach Lewes, DE from where I had booked a ferry service to get us across the Delaware Bay.

The trip to Lewes took 3 hours and just like in Norfolk,VA the signage to the ferry terminal was abysmal. But we made it to the ferry terminal 2.5hrs. early. We were let into the staging lines as the first vehicle for the ferry departure at 12:15pm. 

Our arrival at Lewes,DE ferry terminal
Courtesy WEBCAM

We knew that the ticket building has a webcam from where the full staging area can be seen. So we called our family in Germany. They went online and could see us, waving at them. So much fun! Bea's brother even watched our arrival at Cape May on the New Jersey side.

The next 2.5hours we drove along the Garden State Parkway (toll road) ending our day at the Walmart in Freehold, NJ. We have used this overnight location a couple of times earlier. It is rather quiet and peaceful here.

Because of expected frost, we bought plumbing antifreeze here to fill into our fresh water tank. Yes, we can't use it for anything else than the toilet, but that way we can let it go into water lines. 

Approaching Cape May

This image shows the arrival of our ferry at Cape May, NJ
Courtesy WEBCAM

The End Of I-20

                           

                       Traffic can be heavy when approaching big cities

After 5 days at 650kms/day we reached Florence SC where we met with our friend Carmen. 3 days alone were spent on the I-20.

Carmen's rig, a brand new AIRSREAM

Yesterday, we had been in steady contact with our friend Carmen who drove up from Jekyll Island, GA to meet us at the "Midpoint I-95 RV-Park".

The RV-Park is an excellent choice for anyone traveling along the I-95 and wanting to take a break in peaceful surroundings with all the comforts of modern amenities.

Tall pine trees are lining the park roads and for someone like me who likes natural surroundings, the lack of concrete pads is a real blessing.

Planning ahead, we studied weather forecasts and found that it is better to stay yet an extra day to avoid getting into the coldest days back home.

This morning I also got a doctors appointment for March 5.

Then we will have to wait for results of tests.

Carmen walking the dogs

Some Places Have Odd Names

While moving from one state to the next we see a lot of place names. And most of them we just wonder about their meaning. Now today we were driving through Mississippi and near the city of Meridian we saw the name LOST GAP.

This triggered our curiosity and Bea looked it up on Google. (What did we ever do without GOOGLE?)

Down below is what we found. This was published in a WORDPRESS blog.

We concluded today's trip at after 406 miles at a Walmart in Pell City,AL.

      A History of “the” Lost Gap

November 12, 2022 — 1 Comment

On November 1, 2012, Steve Gillespie, Managing Editor of The Meridian Star, referencing the book Railroads of Meridian by J. Parker Lamb, wrote an article in which he detailed the history behind the name Lost Gap:

Lost Gap (just outside of Meridian, Mississippi) got its name because of a compass failure that occurred during construction of the Southern Railroad line around 1859.

For three days two surveying crews each waited on the other to join up with them to lay out the route. Finally their search parties met up.

Underground iron deposits were blamed for the mix-up, skewing the magnetic compasses, which caused the eastbound crew to veer south, and the westbound crew to veer north. Consequently the route has an unplanned section of track running north and south — a “lost gap” in the original route survey.

The Alabama and Vicksburg Railroad operated the rail line through Lost Gap from 1899-1926. A map from this era from Mississippi Rails shows the strange curve in the rail line at Lost Gap.

WHY ALL THIS SMOKE?


Besides of dealing with strange place names, we noticed that our vision forward got sort of limited. The area around Tuscaloosa (another name with a meaning) was enveloped in a grey stinkin' smoke. Again, we googled it and found that the entire Gulf Coast has wildfires from where the smoke drifted north.

Free dump station along the Interstate

Bridge over the Mississippi

Out Of Texas

Texas is a big state and crossing east/west or vice versa takes three days, unless you attempt to want to compete with an airplane.. lol.

We used 3 days and rolled into Louisiana this afternoon.

The state does not range among the financial well-off ones and accordingly, the highway leaves much to be desired. Today it got so bad that the microwave door opened ejecting the rotating glass plate sending it crashing onto the floor, leaving just about a million of tiny glass shards all over. The crashing plate made Dixie jump up and remain in anxiety mode for the rest of the drive. 

Generally, the eastern parts of Texas with the further eastern areas of Louisiana and Mississippi are much prettier than the long boring plains of West Texas. We enjoyed the fresh grass and seeing trees turning green. Even the dandelions were out some places.

So our further plans are to proceed to the Florence,SC area and spend 2 nights in a nice RV park. We will be joined there by a good friend who's coming up from Jekyll Island,GA.

After that, things can get ugly, at least after reaching New Jersey and north of there. A violent winter storm has just dumped tons of snow all the way along the coast and into Canada. How we are gonna make out with that is everybody's guess. But we need to get home.

Another Day In Texas

This morning our departure was delayed because of trying to get our rig out of that mouse trap of an RV site.

But eventually we got rolling on Hwy 17 towards the I-20.

Pretty soon we saw the first oil rigs, and with that all that ugly industrial area which comes with it. Odessa/Midland is growing at an alarming rate. Miles and miles of road construction going on, made us balance along a narrow strip of temporary detour. 

But the I-20 seems to be in good shape, especially compared to all the other broken Interstates we have driven over the years.

After lunch my headaches were acting up again, so we shut her down in a Walmart in Eastland, TX.

Went into the market and got some missing items for the kitchen.

Too tired for pictures today.

The Trek To Texas

The Interstate 20 across Texas does not count as my favorite travel route in the US. But our need to get to the East Coast makes this the best alternative. It is going east all the time and it runs through an area with warmer weather than what we would find farther north. Another benefit of it is that we don't have to climb across a major mountain range. We have gone that route earlier and are kind of familiar with it.

So this morning we left Portal,AZ at our usual "we-are-ready-time", which is 7:45am what ever local time zone we are in.

As our own tradition commands it, we stopped at the "Roadrunner Rest Area" high above Las Cruces. I have shown and described the statue of the roadrunner in an earlier posting. It is fascinating to see what garbage can used for.

Then we rolled down to the city, which is the southern-most in the State of New Mexico, before Interstate 10 runs into Texas at El Paso.  

El Paso never fails to make us gasp at its steady growth year over year. We call them "Spaghetti Highways" when their intersections are built like a crescendo of roads crossing each other at multiple levels of height.

Today's crossing of El Paso went well, even with that mind-boggling amount of Saturday morning traffic we had to deal with. After roughly 45minutes and some 55kms we reached the southern end of what looks like a never ending mass of industrial and residential areas.

Border Patrol Check Point ahead

So now we were back into the desert, endless plains with sand and typical desert vegetation. Fabens is a place containing of a few spread buildings and a truck stop. We took a lunch break there and topped our diesel.

At some point the I-10 gets us to the beginning of the I-20, but before that, it climbs high, passing Sierra Blanca, a small town surrounded by mountain tops and high desert. Reaching Van Horn, yet quite a bit higher in elevation, it plateaus, now approaching the intersection with the I-20.

We had phoned the Balmorhea State Park and were told they still had 2 sites available for a one-night-stay. Now, Balmorhea is a few miles down from the I-20 intersections and along I-10. But we had been there years ago and found their overnight rate affordable. Besides, we wanted a place where we could walk Dixie without wading in the usual garbage of a rest area. For the next morning departure we only have to follow Hwy 17 which eventually gets us up to the I-20.

Balmorhea State Park once was a quaint park with simple RV-sites in a natural setting. Over the last 2 years it has gone through "upgrades" which pretty much changed it from a natural setting into a place with paved roads, concrete pads and a city-like atmosphere. And while doing that the planners ignored that bigger rigs might want to come which would need slacker curves and room for wide turns. So not the ideal place for us and our 65ft total length. But someone with a Van or small class C would be fine here. Yet, I find sites are built too close to each other.

So today we drove 365miles (587km) and I was doing a lot better than on our first travel day.

This Was Not Easy

After this morning's breakfast I decided I wanted to give Dixie and myself one last desert walk, before our daily routine would disappear in eating miles along endless highways.

Shortly before we returned to the rig, Dixie stopped walking. I called her - she wasn't moving, she even laid down on the trail, just looking at me. Of course, she had realized that this walk had been the final walk and that she would have to get into the bus for a long boring day. You might think that I just imagine this, but I'm telling you, I know my dog. And she is incredibly smart.

It took quite a bit talking on my part to make her get up and do the last steps back into camp. To me this was really heartbreaking.

But it was nearly 8am when we rolled out of camp. 

This was the saddest farewell ever. And it is 20 years ago we visited this place the first time, so yes, it does feel like home.

We had a short stop at Gila Bend to check on our load and release more waste water, then back on the highway. Getting close to Tucson traffic became a nightmare. Will there ever be an end to increasing the size of that city. 4 lanes full of trucks and cars in both directions.

Picacho Peak

Stopped for lunch, after which I had to take a short nap on the couch. My headaches had started to bother me again.

Shortly before reaching Benson we got into a traffic jam several miles long. It turned out it was because of a construction site, where nobody was working. Yet they had blocked the left lane for at least 2 miles. Why are they hampering traffic for everybody if the construction site is empty?

At Benson we stopped for diesel.

Bea had then figured out that we could get to a rest area shortly before reaching the New Mexico border.

It was 7pm before we stopped driving at the San Simon rest area. 

We made 406 miles and have been on the road for 10hrs.

We are both super tired.

Dixie, finally fallen asleep

We Need To Leave And Go Home

The thought of going home early has been mentioned on and off over the last couple of weeks, but it took my headaches getting more intense and prevalent.

I have avoided talking about it earlier here, but since early January I have been plagued with ongoing steady headaches. Everybody gets a headache now and then but usually it is short-lived. Mine persisted and if it hadn't been for Ibuprofen we would have gone earlier yet.

Clearly, something is wrong and it needs to be evaluated - at home, where we have free healthcare.

Sooo today was the last day for us here at the Holtville Hot Springs. We hate to miss out on our last 6 weeks of winter stay, but it can't be helped.

This day had its own full agenda, as we needed to dump waste water, get fresh water and get a few things in Holtville.

Returning to camp, we hitched on the trailer and gathered all our stuff we had spread around the place, then stowing it away in the motorhome.

After lunch we loaded the car, always a job to be taken seriously, with all the tie-downs in the right places.

A light check turned out all lights working, so now we could relax.

Our neighbours, Annie and Rick came over for a last chat and say Good Bye. They had barely sat down when more people appeared. There was James from New Mexico, Jurgen, a wandering nomad from Germany, Roberta, Anne and Peter (another Peter) all from Alberta, Canada.

Talking about life in Camp and exchanging memories from past years is what camper friends do when they meet.

Besides of our friends, Dixie's friends also came: Bella, Emma and Mesa - all super active, and when they got the zoomies racing around like headless chickens, Dixie was watching all this from a secure spot between me and Anne. I wonder what she was thinking about this circus.

Needless to say we all laughed so hard watching the race.

What a great moment, this was.

I need to tell the story about Bella, Emma, and Mesa, which began 3 years ago. 

It was still early in the morning when I met James at the front dumpster. He was clearly not himself so I asked how he was doing. It turned out he hadn't been able to sleep all night. A dog which had turned up with him days earlier and which he had taken into his trailer, had thrown out a litter of 8 puppies during that night. Now James was all up in arms as the mother dog wouldn't let the puppies drink.

So James was ready to run to town to get formula for dogs. However, when he came back he found his 8 puppies happily sucking milk from their mother.

6 weeks later, James had turned into a nervous wreck, other campers, incl. us, took over watch hours for the puppies while James tried to catch some sleep. And then it was time to find people interested in adopting a puppy  or two. It wasn't difficult. The puppies were really cute  heartbreakers, so soon all puppies found their forever homes. So Bella is the mother, while Emma and Mesa are two of her kids. The others went to other homes, one named Pedro still lives in Holtville.

These Images from 2023

We enjoyed this impromptu gathering tremendously, it is good to have friends.