#29 Coveys Great Adventure – October 2016 - Nehalem

October 2016 - Nehalem, Oregon

Returning to Nehalem Bay State Park for the third year felt a little like coming home. Each year we’ve stayed in the same site and each year have added personal touches and improvements to make it ours. I had to trim the same trees again to get clearance for the big awning and the TV antenna.

Dog heaven

This is the third post that I’ve written about Nehalem Bay. We love the area, the park and our annual camp host stint. The dogs also love this country and have been unusually alert since we arrived in Tillamook. They became very excited as soon as we turned off route 101 and headed into the park. By the time we got parked they were clamoring to get out and head for the beach. I felt exactly the same way.

Last year Kayeanne’s stay with the San Juan ladies at the beach house on Nadonna Beach was at the end of September, just before we moved into the park. This year the gang decided to move their get-together to early October, so the dogs and I handled all the camp host duties (yurt cleaning!) for 10 days. It made for pretty full days but I really like to keep busy, so it worked out fine. We all missed her, especially Lucy who was on edge for the whole time waiting for her to come home. It was great to see Michelle, Katie and Midge again. I went for dinner on Midge’s night to cook. Her lime scallops were outstanding and a welcome break from my cooking.

Why we keep coming back. You can see the next storm coming in the background

Without realizing it we have been spoiled. Many people told us how exceptionally great the weather was in 2014 and 2015. Many sunny days and light rains convinced us that global warming was a great thing for the Great North Wet. Well, we paid our dues this year. Twenty-eight days of rain set an all time record for precipitation for the north coast of Oregon. We also had wind as storm after storm marched across the north Pacific and slammed directly into our stretch of coast. We had several days of wind gusts over 40 mph, and a couple of days when gusts exceeded 60 mph. Whenever the rain stopped long enough for the sun to come out we dropped everything and headed to the beach.

Stuck inside in the rain, again

The weather was so bad that the rangers closed the campground for three days and encouraged everyone who could to leave. One storm spawned a waterspout that came onshore as a tornado. It tore through the adjacent town of Manzanita, about a mile from the park, damaging many buildings and sheering off the tops of hundreds of trees. Fortunately, the scary prediction of 100 mph winds never materialized, but what we did get was bad enough.

We thought about leaving the park to move inland, but decided to tough it out. We did move to another site that offered a little more protection from the wind and had less risk of trees falling on us (we hoped). When we settled into the new site and plugged into shore power we discovered a problem: no power. The automatic transfer switch, ATS, had died. This device switches AC power from either our onboard generator or the campground power grid into the coach. Luckily the ATS still allowed generator power through, so we dry camped for four days until the storms let up enough for us to move back to our usual site. We finally got a break in the rain long enough that I could jury-rig around the ATS to restore campground power which lets us operate just like a house, running appliances, space heaters and lights without relying on the generator or the batteries. Installing a new ATS was high on the repair list.

For the first time since we have lived in Ripley we had a rain leak. Water leaks in RVs are about as serious a problem as you can have. It doesn’t take much water to cause rot and mold, so when we discovered a large wet spot on the bedroom carpet we went into stress mode. Not only was the carpet wet but the water had migrated under the cabinets and into a large storage compartment under the closet floor. Since Monaco installed the cabinets on top of the carpet, water in the carpet quickly stains the bottom of the cabinets. Water is a really major problem.

Drying the carpet and floor took days

I borrowed a shop vac from the park and sucked up about two quarts of water. I couldn’t figure out where the water was coming from, but found it after removing all the stuff stored under the closet, the drawers next to the bed and, finally, the carpeted panel that hides some of the slide mechanism. Water was coming in under the lower edge of the slide, running down the wall under the bed and onto the carpet. I tried a number of things to stop the flow, all the while trying to figure out why it was leaking. Nothing worked. Finally I had an flash of inspiration: Ripley has an air leveling system that let’s me to tilt the coach in several directions. Pitching it down several degrees to the left stopped the inflow. We had to adjust to life on an angle, sort of like living on a boat in a strong side wind.

About this time Ed and Christine Woznicki arrived. Seeing them pull in was like the cavalry sweeping over the hill to rescue the wagon train in the old westerns. We were pretty stressed from dealing with weather, the water leak and the ATS failure. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that the dash blower quit on the way from John Day and I couldn’t see any way to replace it without cutting a large hole in the dash board. We were really glad to see them!

Interspersed with my camp host duties, Ed and I started working on the leak and the dash blower. After much looking and poking and talking about possible causes, we found a couple of potential sources of water leaks and fixed them. The next rain storm proved that we hadn’t solved that problem, so we tilted the coach again and moved on to the dash blower.

I can feel it....

This device is what circulates warm and cold air in the cockpit to keep us comfortable as we drive, but its critical function is to clear condensation from the inside of the windshield. We might get away without it in Arizona, but not in Oregon. Getting that replaced was important. When Monaco built Ripley they apparently assembled the coach around the blower. There was no thought given to providing any reasonable way to replace it. By removing a small drawer in the center console I could see part of it and touch most of it with one hand. Removing a small heat register in front of Kayeanne’s seat let me touch the rest of it, but the opening was too small to let me turn my wrist over. The two openings were far enough apart that I couldn’t get both hands on the blower at once.

To make it just truly good, there wasn’t enough clearance behind the blower to remove it from its housing even if you could get the screws out. Part of the dashboard structure where three panels joined was directly behind the unit. I had spent a long time trying to come up with a strategy that didn’t require literally taking a saw to the dashboard but couldn’t. Ed initially agreed, but he just does not take “impossible” for an answer. After thinking about it overnight, the following day he spent four hours working one handed to take out five screws. Then, also one handed, he drilled holes through the backside of the junction of the dash panels to break away enough material to squeeze the blower out. I couldn’t believe he had done it. A good friend, indeed. I am truly grateful.

Thank you, Milton!

After seeing what Ed went through to remove the original Philips screws I knew there was no way to use them to replace the unit. Switching to hex head screws meant we could use wrenches and sockets instead of screwdrivers and was the key to being able to do it. It still took Kayeanne and me over seven hours to finally get it done. It really just took three hours, but we had to do it twice because the electric connection wouldn’t seat after the first attempt. We had to remove it, fix the connector and reinstall it. No, it isn’t easier the second time. Kayeanne was critical to getting it done because I couldn’t swing a wrench while reaching through the vent hole. My hands and wrists just wouldn’t work in that small space. I can’t imagine how Ed did.

With all the problems and the lousy weather we didn’t get to do as much with Christine and Ed as we planned. I hope the next time we get together we can focus on visiting, not fixing.

We found a shop in Eugene to work on the leak. We headed directly there when we pulled out of Nehalem on November 1.

More soon,

Bob

#28 Coveys Great Adventure - September 2016 – Ely, John Day, Boring, Tillamook, Nehalem

September 2016 – Ely, John Day, Boring, Tillamook, Nehalem

As Johnny Cash so accurately said, “Just can't wait to get on the road again.” We finally are traveling, again. It feels so good to see the country roll by, to watch the ever-changing scenery through the windshield.

We left Hurricane, Utah on the 19^th headed northwest our annual camp host stint in Nehalem, Oregon. It’s roughly 1,200 miles and we had plenty of time, so we planned to stop in John Day and Portland, Oregon to do some sightseeing and generally kick back. We also decided to limit the miles we drove per day to 300. On the way to St. George I drove 5-600 miles each day and that certainly wasn’t any fun.

Cave Lake State Park, Ely Nevada

Cave Lake State Park near Ely, Nevada was our first stop. We have been in a number of campgrounds that we were told we were too big to fit, so had gotten a little cocky about our docking skills. Well, we should have listened this time. We really had no business in this campground. I scratched the side of the coach on some trees and we had to unhook the car and dolly to be able to turn around. The ranger suggested that the sites in the other campground were larger, but the dirt road leading to it was way to rough for our coach. We spent the night in one of the parking areas below the dam. It was a beautiful setting and we had the whole place to ourselves.

I have wanted to visit John Day, Oregon for some time. I planned to stop there on two different motorcycle trips but weather problems and schedule issues forced route changes that bypassed it on both trips. Last year we planned to pass through John Day on our way to Nehalem, but the huge fires in central and eastern Oregon closed the roads, forcing us to take a more southerly route. This year we once again plotted a course across Oregon via US 26 through John Day, and we made it.

Ely to John Day is over 500 miles so we stopped overnight at Rock Creek County Park in Twin Falls, Idaho, roughly half way. Rock Creek Park was a little tight for our coach, but since half the sites were empty we had plenty of room to spread out. The park setting is quite attractive, too. It’s at the bottom of a small canyon on the banks of a river that passes right through town. Despite being on a main road close to the center of town it was very quiet with lots of grass to walk the dogs. Being down in the canyon, though, killed any TV reception.

First fire in months!

Twin Falls to John Day is just 250 miles, but we didn’t see any reason to dawdle in the morning and got an early start. That turned out to be fortunate because we arrived at Clyde Holliday State Park in time to get one of the last camp sites. This park doesn’t take reservations, so the sites are first come, first served. CHSP turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Although it has just 31 campsites, most of them are huge and partially shaded. Our site must have been almost a quarter of an acre. We planned to stay two nights and stayed four. The firewood was the cheapest I’ve ever seen and we took advantage of it with big fires every night. The dogs really liked the trail along the river that looped by a small pasture where a few cows grazed. Schroeder thinks cows are the most interesting creatures he’s ever seen.

John Day is a great little town with quite a history and some pretty interesting things to see. The Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Center was one of those serendipitous finds that we occasionally discover. We had no idea about the vital roll that Chinese immigrants played in

the development of central Oregon and the rest of the Northwest. We spent an hour at the interpretive center and then took the tour of the Kam Wah Chung site, the wonderfully preserved home, store and pharmacy where Ing Hay and Lung On lived and worked for over half a century. It is a fascinating place and a great story; don’t miss it if you pass through this area.

Kam Wah Chung notwithstanding, John Day is world renown for the extensive fossil beds that exist throughout the area. We spent a day driving out to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, about 50 miles from town. The visitor center itself was worth the trip, which was good because it was raining and I am still limited in how far I can walk comfortably. We didn’t get to the fossil beds themselves, but the scenery and the displays and video at the visitor center were quite interesting. Unfortunately the rain made it tough to get good pictures, too.

Striking colors near the fossil beds

Rather than just return the same way we arrived, we decided to see some of the country. Leaving the visitor center we continued north on OR 19 to Kimberly where a single small market marked the intersection of OR 402. We followed 402 east to Long Creek where it meets US 395 to return to John Day. It’s about 30 miles from Clyde Holliday to the fossil beds visitor center, but we managed to cover almost 90 miles returning. OR 402 roughly follows the North Fork of the John Day River. Ranches and farms line the valleys along the river as it meanders through gentle valleys. It is one of the most peaceful areas I can remember seeing in quite awhile. We really look forward to exploring the areas we stay in. I think we enjoyed the ride home more than the fossil beds.

We haven’t seen a real city in several months, so we decided to spend a couple of days in Portland. Barton State Park in Boring (really), Oregon turned out to be the right combination of proximity and quiet countryside. It is an easy 235 miles from John Day and just 20 miles or so from the center of Portland. We spent the first day in Clackamas, a suburb southwest of Portland restocking at Trader Joe’s, WinCo and Walmart. We hadn’t seen a Trader Joe’s since June and really missed them.

Kayeanne and I spent a week in Portland about 30 years ago and wanted to revisit one of the riverfront areas that we both remembered fondly, especially a really great bookstore. The riverfront was still there but the whole area had been “revitalized” into expensive condos and high end hotels. We still enjoyed ourselves, walking around and having lunch at a Japanese restaurant. Portland remains high on our list of places to return to. It has a unique flavor that is tough to describe but nice to experience.

From Barton Park we headed to Devil’s Lake State Park in Lincoln City on the central coast. We pulled into the park and had immediate misgivings when the camp host looked at our coach and started shaking his head. I soon learned why. The park roads were as tight as any we've seen and large trees were everywhere. I can deal with narrow roads and tight campsites, but I need swing clearance to make the sharp turns needed to "dock" the coach. The first site we tried was clearly not going to work, so we moved to another section of the park where the sites were purportedly bigger. After much backing and filling we did squeeze into a site, but it was so tight that there was no space for the dolly or the car. Just walking around the coach required pushing through brush. The hassle just wasn’t worth it, so we pulled out and headed north. Calls to Cape Lookout State Park to check space availability went unanswered, then Kayeanne suggested that we try Tillamook-Bay City RV Park where we stayed for a couple of weeks last year. They had space so we spent two nights enjoying cable TV, while the dogs were very pleased to rediscover the Kilchis Point Preserve Trail.

On Friday the 30^th we pulled into site A2 at Nehalem Bay State Park for our third year of camp hosting at this wonderful campground right on the ocean.

More soon,

Bob

#27 Coveys Great Adventure - August / September 2016 - St. George

August / September 2016 – St. George            

The Great Adventure has temporarily ground to a halt. Between helping Liesa transition to a better stage in her life and working on healing my hip problem we have been both busy and restricted to the local area around St. George. We had planned to leave on Labor Day, but decided to extend our stay through September 19^th.

We moved from Temple View RV Park in St George to WillowWind RV Park in Hurricane, about 18 miles away. Temple View is really convenient to Liesa’s place and all the services in town, but doesn’t have a single tree. Almost two months of triple digit heat and no shade was more than enough. Our site at WillowWind is virtually tree covered. Hurricane is also at a slightly higher elevation so the net effect is substantially cooler temperatures. We haven’t run the air conditioning in several days!

It always amazes me how much work there is to living in an RV. Small spaces seem to need cleaning much more frequently than the house did. Tracking the same amount of stuff into 300 square feet that we used to spread over 3,000 sq’ certainly does make it more visible! I think I finally miss the dishwasher, too.

All hasn’t been just nose-to-the-grindstone, though. Ed Woznicki suggested that we check out Kolob Canyon at the northern end of Zion National Park. That turned out to be a great suggestion. Kolob Canyon is about 40 miles north of St. George, just south of Cedar City. While not in the same jaw-dropping class as Zion or Bryce it was certainly impressive in its own right and well-worth the visit. It was also a welcome break for us to get out of the coach for a few hours. I was concerned about having to walk around, something that I can’t do much of at present, but the canyon is quite accessible by car. My phone camera can't do justice to the scale of this place.

What I originally thought was Piriformis Syndrome didn’t turn out to be right, so after a few weeks of unsuccessful treatment, I went to a spine specialist for another opinion. An MRI showed a bulging disc impinging on the sciatic nerve. The first cortisone injection gave welcome relief but only lasted a couple of days. I had a second one in a slightly different place yesterday so I hope that does the trick.

I hope that they nailed it this time, because we are heading to Oregon on Monday for our third stint of camp hosting at Nehalem Bay State Park. Ranger Geoff called a couple of days ago to be sure we are still planning to come. It will be good to see Milton and Lynette Hansen, too, camp hosts that we have worked with every year. We can’t wait to hit the road again.

More soon,

Bob

#26 Coveys Great Adventure – July 2016 - St. George

July 2016 - St. George

Welcome thunderstorms

We arrived on July 5 and were greeted by triple-digit temperatures. Last week we saw 118° and most days until recently were over 110. It was still over 100° at 10 PM. It’s too hot to use the pool! 

St. George is in a beautiful setting. It is almost surrounded by colorful red rock cliffs with blue mountains in the distance, but the heat makes it difficult to do anything outdoors when the sun is up. As I write this the temperature has finally dropped into the high 90’s after a series of spectacular thunderstorms passed through the area, but it is headed back up next week.

2,800 miles in 7 days proved to be too much for this old body. Piriformis Syndrome is a common affliction among people who sit for a living, especially long distance truckers and bus drivers. It is literally a huge PITA, where sitting isn’t too painful but walking and simply standing in one place feels like being stabbed. It is the first time my mobility has been so limited and my patience is wearing thin. It has also added to Kayeanne’s workload; she has had to take on all the dog walking, too. Physical therapy and lots of Advil seem to be the suggested treatment but progress is slow.

We’ve (mostly Kayeanne since I have been hobbled) been working with Liesa to help her transition back to singles living. We are getting her apartment ready to find a roommate and generally helping do whatever is needed. I volunteered to clean the carpets next week and Kayeanne has worked hard at catching up on several "life maintenance" items. 

The old saying that “it never rains but it pours” certainly seems to be true. On top of everything else, the transmission in Liesa's car died and then one of the wheel bearings failed. On a brighter note, she just got promoted and is taking over the consignment department at Urban Renewal, the store where she works.

Utah has some of the screwier liquor laws that we have encountered. You can't buy a drink in a bar or resturant without buying food, too. Only 3.2 beer is sold in the grocery stores. Full strength beer, liquor and all wines are only sold through state stores. Those stores are only open from 11 am to 7 pm, have a limited selection and are, of course, closed on Sunday. Needless-to-say, many people in St. George make the 40 mile drive to Mesquite, Nevada to buy their booze. 

Life here before A/C must have been brutal

Our wine cellar was seriously depleted, so a few days after we arrived we made the trek to Mesquite. On the way home we discovered the back road alternative to I15 that went through the Shivwits Indian Reservation. We had a nice drive through scenic desert country, occaisionally passing the ruins of the homes of early settlers.

Just before we left Campton, NH for Maine, a tree limb jumped right out of nowhere and swatted the van. I was backing up at night and just didn’t see it until it came through the rear window and dented the tailgate. There wasn't time to fix it there, so we towed it asis to St. George. I think we looked a little “redneck” crossing country with the back of it covered in plastic and tape. As soon as we got here I contacted the insurance company and found a body shop. I knew it was the right place when I had to wait two weeks to get onto their schedule. They did a good job and actually finished a day early. It’s nice to be able to see out the back window again. Kudos to AARP Hartford insurance, too; their customer service is outstanding.

Ed and Zach Woznicki visited us last week. They had been off-roading in Moab in their Jeeps and spent a few nights here on the way back to California. It was good to see Zach before he goes to Japan later this month for a working semester. He just landed an internship with AOI Pro, a large Japanese advertising and entertainment producer. We are looking forward to seeing Ed and Christine in October when we camp host at Nehalem State Park on the Oregon coast.

Ed is also a motorcoach systems guru and helped me understand and fix a power issue that was effecting one of our air conditioners. The coach has three A/C units that have been running almost nonstop since we arrived. The center unit began to blow its circuit breaker every few hours, cutting our cooling capability just when we needed all we could get. With Ed’s help I discovered that we had two problems: the electrical feed from the campground wasn’t delivering proper voltage levels, and the circuit breaker itself was faulty. The campground electrician installed a new power plug to fix the first issue and Ed and I replaced the breaker. Problem solved.

We just paid the campground for another month and now plan to get back on the road on September 5^th unless something comes up. We also plan to do some day trips to see more of the area around St. George and Cedar City.

More soon,

Bob

#25 Coveys Great Adventure - June 2016 – Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and … Utah

June 2016 – Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and … Utah            

After touring Falling Waters it was time to head to New Hampshire and rejoin Charlie and Mollie. The direct route from Morgantown, PA to Campton, NH leads through New York City, an area that I had no interest in driving through in the coach. Instead, we chose a more scenic route through northeastern Pennsylvania, skirting NYC, into western Massachusetts, across southern Vermont and into north central New Hampshire. While we could have made the drive in a couple of days, we spent three nights near Scranton to explore the Pocono’s region, and three more in Bennington, Vermont.

Promised Land State Park is in Greentown, PA, about 20 miles east of Scranton. It is a large park with a few different campgrounds. We made a reservation for a site on the lake but getting into it would have been a real challenge. The site was quite narrow, the road was tight and the trees were going to be hard to miss. I’ve put enough scratches on Ripley, so we went back to the park office and found a larger site in another campground.

We spent a couple of days exploring the area around Mt Pocono, PA, the heart of the Pocono Mountains, one of the major vacation destinations for people living between New York and Washington, DC. The area is certainly beautiful, covered in trees and the roads constantly move up and down, from one small valley to the next. We kept looking for the “mountains”, though, and finally concluded that people named this area before they had seen the West. I’m sorry, but 1500’ high isn’t a mountain, it’s not even worth an elevation sign! I guess “Pocono Hills” doesn’t have the same ring. 

Judy Powell had stayed at one of the large resorts in the area, the Wolf Creek Lodge, so when we saw signs for it we drove over to take a look. Clearly oriented toward families, it appeared to have every attraction and distraction covered. It wore me out just thinking about all that activity.

There is a certain vibe in Bennington

Bennington, Vermont is a very interesting town. It is in a beautiful setting, the foothills of the White  Mountains in southeastern Vermont. It is home to Bennington College and Southern Vermont College, giving the town a distinct panache that overlays some serious historical roots. A significant series of Revolutionary War military actions were fought near Bennington. It’s strategic location and rich resources made it a popular place for early American luminaries like George Washington to visit. Robert Frost lived in Bennington and is buried here.

Humble scribe

Whole neighborhoods of houses built in the 1700’s and early 1800’s have been maintained or restored. Much of the surrounding land has also been incorporated into state forests, preserving a lovely backdrop for the whole area. The Bennington College campus is worth touring.

The mountains between Bennington and the New Hampshire line might not be as high as the ones out West, but they make up for it by being very steep. We had many long, slow ascents followed by steep, slow (hopefully) descents. It might not be many miles from Bennington to Campton, New Hampshire, but we worked hard for some of them.  An early start proved to be valuable when we ran into bridge construction that required a long detour to avoid. We were too tall to fit under the temporary bridge. Kayeanne’s navigation skills once more saved the day and we weren’t delayed too much.

Casa Kendrick's camp hosts

Casa Kendrick is a couple of acres of heaven along a small river in Campton NH. Charlie and Mollie bought the land several years ago and have been adding improvements and amenities every year. It now has spacious sites for two RV’s, with full utilities including well water, power, sewer and cable TV. A large shed provides storage and workshop space, and a large firepit sees use almost every night. After the first fire Charlie and I decided that the fire pit needed some upgrades, so we built a 7x12’ patio with concrete pavers. That sounds pretty straightforward when you say it quickly, but considering that the combined age of the workforce was 150 years it took several days to get done.

Old guys can still get it done

We were immediately comfortable in Campton and in Plymouth, the “big” town next door where most of the shopping and services are. The Campton Cupboard didn’t look like much on the outside, but inside was the quintessential local market. Great produce, a butcher that makes his own sausage and a deli that makes most everything it sells made it a standout for us. There is also a quite decent Chinese restaurant called Fugaky in Plymouth.

We needed a break from patio building, so one day we headed over to the coast, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s only seaport. Despite being raised in Massachusetts and living in NH for several years, I had never been to Portsmouth. It’s a really interesting town, full of good restaurants, shops, historical buildings and, of course, the harbor. We had lunch overlooking the water, walked around the downtown area and generally had a good time. A number of older buildings have had their upper floors turned into condos and I can see why they are popular. Portsmouth is a city I’d like to return to someday for a longer visit.

The main reason that Charlie and Mollie built Casa Kendrick is that their kids and grandkids all live in the area. One day, their daughter Holly and her husband Mike invited the family and us for a boat ride. I hadn’t seen Holly since the mid-80’s and had never met Mike. They own a lovely trawler yacht that they keep in Elliot, Maine, just up the Piscataqua River across from Portsmouth. We spent a very nice day motoring up the river, anchoring out and then returning for a great barbeque at the yacht club. Holly and Mike were generous and gracious hosts. I hope it isn’t 30 years until we see them again.

Between building the patio, working on a couple of persistent coach problems and playing tourist, time quickly passed and we started preparations to visit Canada. Mollie’s roots are on Prince Edward Island and they have made many trips to PEI and Nova Scotia. We have been looking forward to joining them for quite awhile.

This trip would also add another checkmark to our RV resume: staying overnight in a Walmart parking lot. Many Walmart stores allow RV’s (and big trucks, we discovered) to park overnight in their lots. Several other store chains like Cabella’s and Cracker Barrel also permit overnighting when local regulations allow it. We had been reluctant to try it, but the Kendicks are long-time Walmart campers, so we decided to spend the first night on our way to PEI at the Walmart in Bangor, Maine.

Well, we’ve stayed in worse campgrounds and had to pay for it. There were four other RVs and three or four big trucks parked in the far corners of a very large lot. There was lots of grass for the dogs to run around on, even a small pond tucked away in one corner with a couple of picnic tables for the employees to use. The store closed about 10 PM and the area was quite peaceful. If this is what camping at Wally World is all about, sign us up!

Ah, sunset over Dysart's truck shop. Beautiful!

When Charlie started his coach Sunday morning, he knew he had a problem: he couldn’t get full air pressure. Our coaches ride on big airbags rather than springs for the suspension. Their coach was clearly not going far without attention. Charlie discovered that Dysart’s Truck Service in Herman, about 8 miles away, had a good reputation and was open. Moving slowly, he managed to nurse the coach to Dysart’s where the problem was immediately discovered: one of the 15 year old airbags that hold up the coach had ruptured. We weren’t going anywhere until that was replaced.

Breakdowns are no fun. We’ve spent a few nights in repair facilities and even the best of them aren’t very appealing. Dysart’s is a big, busy operation running 7 AM to midnight, six and a half days a week. It is noisy and quite dusty, and trucks are moving around almost all night. While they do work on RV’s, they have no utility hookups nor a dedicated area for them, so you have to hang out in the parking lot with the big rigs.

While the diagnosis was easy, the system choked trying to get parts. Dysart’s thought they had parts available from one of their suppliers but that didn’t pan out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t apparent for two days. Charlie finally took charge, located the parts and had them shipped in. We got to Dysart’s on Sunday the 26^th, but they didn’t leave until Thursday. Not any fun and expensive, a bad combination.

Meanwhile, over at our coach, we got a call from Liesa. Her relationship with Luis appeared to have hit the rocks and she needed help. The upshot of all of this was that the four of us decided  on Tuesday morning that this wasn’t the year that we would be visiting PEI. In fact, we had to leave Charlie and Mollie to wait for their parts and head back to Campton to retrieve our car and head west about 2,800 miles to St. George, Utah. At noon we pulled in the slides, walked the dogs and hit the road.

It was hard to leave Casa Kendrick

On Wednesday morning we did a quick load of laundry, hooked on the dolly, loaded the car and pulled out of Casa Kendrick, certainly the best place we have ever stayed. The camp hosts are really special. 

We made it as far as the Walmart in Herkimer, NY that night. Thursday night found us in Wauseon, Ohio at another Walmart. Then on to a very nice RV park called Griff’s Valley View in Altoona, IA, followed by another Walmart in North Platte, NE (ugh).

We decided to make the next long day into two shorter ones and on the spur of the moment called our good friends Chet and Cheryl Baffa, who live near Denver. Luckily they were home and we got together for pizza at their house in Broomfield. It was a real pleasure to see them again and a welcome break from the road.

The local Cracker Barrel let us park overnight in their lot, right next to a nice greenbelt that the dogs enjoyed. We decided to push a little the next day and made it to Green River State Park, just over the border in eastern Utah. On Tuesday afternoon we pulled into Temple View RV Resort in St. George, UT where we will be for the next several weeks.

Through the windshield on US 70 in Utah

Viewing the country through a windshield leaves lots of impressions. We passed signs for places I didn’t know I wanted to see. I hope we make it back this way at a slower pace. We were constantly impressed with the beauty of the eastern and northeastern states. The late Spring and early Summer gives a vibrancy to the eastern parts of the country that we don’t see in the southwest. 

We were surprised at how much we liked Iowa. It was nothing like what we had pictured. It was a verdant green and gently rolling terrain from one end to the other. I expected one big cornfield. There sure was a lot of corn growing, but there were also rivers and woods and small farms everywhere that were quite attractive.

I don’t know where the “West” officially begins, but I think it is in western Nebraska. The land begins to rise, the air becomes dryer and a little hotter and the trees start to become smaller and further apart. By the time you hit eastern Colorado it is clear that you have left the east far behind. Maybe this is the mid-west? Dunno.

Plans are just that, and often need to be changed. We will certainly return to Casa Kendrick and make that trip to PEI. There is that and so much more to see and we’ll get back to it soon.

#24 Coveys Great Adventure - May 2016 – Charleston, Milledgeville, Birmingham, Murphy, Blue Ridge Parkway, Fayetteville Blowing Springs, Morgantown-

May 2016 – Charleston, Milledgeville, Birmingham, Murphy, Blue Ridge Parkway, Fayetteville Blowing Springs, Morgantown

Yes, it has been a very busy month. We took advantage of the Kendrick’s generosity and stayed another week in their lovely site at the Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort. It was really tough to put aside the luxuries of resort living, but we finally pulled in the slides and hit the road on May 9^th headed to Charleston, SC.

Lake Aire's greeter

Lake Aire RV Park is in Hollywood, about 17 miles from downtown Charleston. The park left a bit to be desired, especially after spending two weeks in HHIMR! Charlie had suggested that we stay at the James Island State Park campground, but our Passport America discount made Lake Aire slightly less expensive. Well, Charlie was right. We drove through the James Island campground and it was much, much nicer than Lake Aire. Plus, the traffic in Charleston is pretty bad and any money we saved just wasn’t worth it. Next time we’ll take his advice.

We enjoyed Charleston. The downtown historic district is quite attractive. Unlike many Southern cities, it survived the Civil War intact and has many lovely Ante Bellum houses and neighborhoods. A horse-drawn carriage tour is a great way to see the historic district. Our driver/guide turned out to be a southern history buff and raconteur of considerable skill. She has been giving these tours for almost 20 years and there wasn’t a building that we passed that she didn’t know intimately. We also enjoyed Market Street which has (wait for it) a large market. We left a few dollars to prop up the local economy. 

Of course we had to take the tour boat to Fort Sumter where the opening shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861. The National Park Service has done a good job preserving the fort and presenting what sounded like a pretty balanced account of the reasons behind the secession movement, the backgrounds of several of the key players and the events leading up to the attack itself. It turned out to be a pretty somber experience, especially in the context of the bloody years that followed. After three nights at Lake Aire it was time to head east.

Why Milledgeville, GA? We were looking for a place to stay to break up the next leg of out trip. Birmingham, AL, is too far from Charleston to drive in one day unless you leave at o-dark hundred and flog it down the interstates. As you know by now that isn’t how we like to travel, so we looked for a spot roughly half way between the two cities and Kayeanne spotted Milledgeville on the map. Scenic Mountain RV Park got great reviews and had reasonable rates so we made a reservation. The park exceeded our expectations and the town turned out to be pretty interesting.

Milledgeville was the original capital of Georgia from statehood until the end of the War. The local historical society offers guided tours of the town and we signed up. Our guide, Joe, was born and raised nearby and graduated from Georgia Military College which took over the capital buildings when the seat of government moved to Atlanta. Joe knows more about the local history than anyone could possibly want to know, but we had a good time.

The reason we headed back to Alabama was that I had a senior moment on the way to Florida a couple of months ago and forgot all about the Barber Motorsport Museum in Leeds, AL, just east of Birmingham. BMM is the largest motorcycle collection in the country, housed in a world class facility next to a race track I’d love to ride someday. BMM owns over 1,000 bikes and displays roughly 700 at any time. The museum also houses one of the most complete Lotus race car collections in the world. The bike and automobile collections are constantly growing and a new exhibition building is nearing completion.

One of the highlights for me was the John Surtees exhibit. Surtees is the only man to win world championships on motorcycles and in Formula One race cars. He went on to build F1 cars and win another world championship as a constructor.

One morning Kayeanne dropped me at Barber and headed off to Birmingham for the day. To say that Barber has motorcycles is to say that dogs have fur. Walking in the front door the first thing you see are four columns of bikes stretching five stories high. And then it gets better. Old bikes, new bikes, significant bikes, common bikes, legendary successes and spectacular failures sit side by side with the most prosaic bikes designed solely for cheap transportation. What impressed me was how many were not restored at all, but were in original, albeit

Moto-crack: 1974 Ducati 750SS

very good, condition. Every bike there looked like it would start and run, some even leaked oil. Six hours later I emerged into the sunshine, still dazzled by the sheer magnitude of the collection. I’d gladly return to see the expanded exhibits that the new building will deliver. Unfortunately my camera quit shortly after I arrived, because I forgot to charge it. Urrrgh!

Kelly Ingram Park

While I was at the Barber Museum, Kayeanne visited Kelly Ingram Park in the Civil Rights District where the Freedom Marches took place in 1963.  She noted, "A collection of sculptures interpret the events that took place during this turbulent period.  Although the Civil Rights Institute was closed because it was Monday, you can use your cell phone to take an audio tour through the entire district.  As you punch in the numbers listed on the trail plaques, you are given a detailed description of each historical event.  It's very well-done and informative, and well worth your time if you're in the area."

After our detour to Birmingham it was time to head north. Rather than return to the coast, we decided to travel through Appalachia and the Pocono’s, then across NY to New England. Our first stop was Murphy, NC, about 100 miles west of Asheville at Persimmon Creek Campground. PCC is built into an organic farm that grows mushrooms, raises chickens for the eggs and breeds Nubian goats. The owners live on site and do it all themselves.

The campground is very small, only a dozen spaces for RVs and about 20 tent sites. We bought shitake mushrooms and very fresh eggs from our hosts and both were delicious, we should have bought more before we left.

Murphy turned out to be a neat town. It is a summer destination for hiking, rafting and off roading, but we were a little early in the season, so it wasn’t crowded. The Downtown Bakery serves great sandwiches on freshly baked  bread and didn’t mind us hanging out to use the internet. Ingles Supermarket was a pleasant surprise, one of the nicest we’ve shopped in a while.

We both wanted to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway so the next stop was Doughton Park campground near Sparta, NC. This is an older, tight campground with no hookups in really gorgeous country. It took some maneuvering to get into our space, but it was worth it.

The BRP is one of the best uses of tax funds I have seen, right up there with the Kennedy Space Center. It winds almost 500 miles through some of the most scenic country in the US, each vista seemingly better than the last. It is well maintained, clean, quiet and commercial vehicles are banned. It has got to be one of the great motorcycle roads in the country.

One day we went 60 miles south on the Parkway to the Parkway Craft Center located in the Moses Cone Manor House. Cone Manor is the 20-room mansion that the Cone family built on 3500 acres in 1901. Unfortunately the house tours were not scheduled that day, but the craft center was worth the trip. Every piece in the place was hand made by North Carolina crafts persons and were in aggregate some of the best work we have seen. Ceramics, jewelry, glass, wood, textiles, printing, drawing and painting were all presented in a very attractive gallery setting that made shopping a pleasure, something I don’t usually enjoy at all. Don’t miss it if you are in the area.

I don’t remember why we happened to pick Fayetteville, WV, as our next stop, but we decided to take a look. I spotted Rifrafters Campground on the web and it turned out to be a neat, pretty funky place built single-handedly by Randy, a former coal miner, in his “spare time” over an 8 year period. It has RV and camping sites, and a few rustic cabins on a pretty hilly 52 acre site just outside of town. Randy single-handedly cleared the land, graded the sites, put in the utilities, built most of the buildings and now cuts the grass. As you might expect, he is a real character and fascinating to talk to.

Fayetteville was interesting, but not worthy of being called “the Coolest Small Town of 2011”, as the signs around town proclaimed. Most of the services and shops are in Oak Hill, a few miles down the road. The Secret Sandwich Shop in Fayetteville did serve great fries and cheap beer and wine for a nice happy hour one afternoon. The New River Gorge Bridge is just up the road and well worth the time to visit. When built it was the longest single-span arch bridge in the world, it is now the third longest.

We tend to lose track of holidays, so Memorial Day caught us without reservations. That is a no-no unless you want to spend a couple of days hanging out in Walmart parking lots or at truck stops. Randy was sold out, so after a little frantic web work and some phone calls we found the Blowing Springs NFS campground. It’s actually in VA, way off in the sticks about 40 miles from White Sulfur Springs, WV. All sites there are first-come, so we got an early start to be sure we got there before all the sites were taken. Blowing Springs is a beautiful, primitive campground along a shallow river. Our site was huge, one of the largest we’ve ever seen, so we settled in for a couple of days.

We passed through WSS on the way to the campground and agreed that we wanted to return for a closer look. WSS is best know as the home of the Greenbrier mega-resort, but the little town itself caught our eye, too. The Greenbrier is so big that visitors have to park in remote lots and take trams to the facility. That was more hassle than we wanted to deal with, so just focused on the town. Memorial Day meant that there were food carts, craft vendors and good street music. We spent a couple of pleasant hours looking around, nibbling and enjoying the music.

Since leaving Birmingham we have been aiming for southwestern Pennsylvania and Frank Lloyd Wright’s signature design, Falling Waters. There are no campgrounds near Falling Waters, but Coopers Rock State Forest outside of Morgantown, WV, was close enough. Coopers Rock was a bit of a tight fit for a coach like ours, but we made it into site 15. Despite being way out in the woods, we were pleasantly surprised to get several OTA channels and useful cell service.

Morgantown is home to West Virginia University, but unlike other college towns we have been to and enjoyed, we didn’t see the kind of cultural impact that makes the city more vibrant and interesting. The campus was very nice, but we didn’t see that the areas around it had been much effected by it. It is almost like the two coexist but don’t have much to say to each other. Morgantown has good shopping, though, so we took advantage of that.

You may recall our visit to Taliesin West in February. We were so taken with it that we joined the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and decided to visit as many FLW buildings as we can this year. We have been looking forward to seeing Falling Waters for months. It didn’t disappoint in any way. 80 years later it is still easy to see why this one design catapulted Wright to worldwide celebrity and dramatically influenced architecture forever. He was 67 and semi-retired when he received the commission to design Falling Waters in 1935. Before his death in 1959, he and his associates went on to design over 400 buildings throughout the world. We are looking forward to visiting several other FLW sites during our travels.

More soon,

Bob