Linda went to the Publix grocery store in Gainesville yesterday, so we are well stocked for the next week or so. We also learned last night from Donna and Michael Bartolomeo that there are several vegan restaurants in Gainesville as well as a vegan ice cream parlor / bakery / brewery and a vegan pizzeria. While we don’t plan to eat out very often, having vegan dining options less than 20 miles away is a nice plus. The Happy Cow website confirmed their addresses and menu selections.
The overnight low hit 35 degrees F, but that is not unexpected in this part of Florida in January. We had closed up the rig before we went to bed and did not turn on any of the heaters (other than the refrigerator) so the temperature inside dropped to just under 60 degrees F; a bit nippy, but not uncomfortable. The refrigerator is a compressor driven residential unit that exhausts heat out the bottom front into the kitchen/dining area. In warmer weather (no rain) we usually have the ceiling vent open and the exhaust fan running to pull that warm air out of the coach. But in colder weather the vents are closed and the heat from the fridge helps keep the coach from getting too cold.
We lost power to the coach around 11:15 AM, but only for a few minutes. The inverter kicked in immediately and did what it is supposed to do. The microwave clock did not lose its time and the UPS that powers the NAS kept it double protected. The power was restored before I could go investigate what had happened. When I checked later there was no code set in our Progressive Industries EMS, indicating that we had simply lost power and then had it restored, which clears any previous error codes.
The View From Our Coach on Site 439 at Williston Crossings RV Resort.
After her morning walk Linda worked on her needlepoint while the light was good and I took care of e-mail, finished up the blog post for yesterday, and started working on the Arcadia Rally article for BCM. I had an e-mail from BCM publisher Gary Hall indicating that they planned to bump the rally article to the March 2014 issue, so that gave me a little breathing room in terms of getting it done. Gary also sent me the January 2014 special edition they produced for the FMCA Great Lakes Area Motor Coach Association (GLAMA). This issue has an extensive article that I wrote on the September 2013 GLAMARAMA rally. GLAMA is going to include the entire issue in their next newsletter, which will go out to somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 members.
Tonight was one of the scheduled fire pit nights at the resort. The fire pit is only 100 feet from our site so we checked it out. It‘s under cover and surrounded by large rocking chairs and a couple of benches. We often enjoyed campfires when tent camping, but have not made very many since we started RVing in 2005. We were planning on going when I got a call from Michael Bartolomeo inviting us to their motorhome for dinner.
Michael indicated that it had been a strange night and that’s when we found out that the whole north section of the park had lost power overnight. Apparently the short power outage we experienced this morning was connected with the restoration of power to the north section. We stopped by the office later and inquired as to what had happened. Sometime the night before someone ran into a utility pole (outside the park) and took out power to half the city of Williston including the north section of the RV resort. When utility crews finally repaired the damage and restored power, the transformer that feeds the southern half of the northern section failed. A replacement had to be brought in from some distance away, and residents in that part of the resort were without power for about 18 hours.
Donna and Michael had been without power overnight and when they got it back their furnace decided not to work. Michael was able to locate a loose connection and tighten it this morning which brought the furnace back to life, but they had a chilly night in their rig. They had us over for dinner nonetheless and it was wonderful. We had pistachios (in the shell) for an appetizer, butternut squash soup with fresh apple slices and croutons, and whole bean burritos with guacamole, spicy salsa, and steamed kale. They served dark chocolate covered almonds for dessert and we drank Pinot Grigio to wash it all down as we continued our conversation from the night before. No pictures yet, however, as we have not crossed paths with them during the day when I also had my camera with me.