[Photos related to this post and the one from Apr 9 will appear in a separate gallery post.]
Definition of “primitive camping”: not being parked on a level concrete pad with 50A full hookups. It’s all relative, of course, and that certainly is not our definition. We are parked on gravel, which some RVers like better than concrete or asphalt, and we have 50A RV electrical service and fresh water at out “site.” There is a dump station here and we are only minutes from more places to shop than we could visit in a lifetime, with more things to buy than we could possibly ever need or want. So, no, this is not primitive camping. The rigs are parked fairly close together, closer than we typically experience at RV rallies, but this is an RV repair facility after all, not a campground. There is enough space for adjacent rigs to put out their slides and still be able to walk between them, and the “canyon (Venturi) effect” causes refreshing breezes to flow between the units. To me, primitive means more (or less) than just not having hookups. When I think of primitive camping, it conjures up an image of remoteness and wilderness. In spite of having a background in mathematics, statistics, and research methodology, I guess I’m just a romantic at heart.
Joe finished cleaning and caulking our four windows this morning. Kevin uncovered the openings and helped Joe reinstall the finished assemblies with assistance from Matt (on the outside) and me (on the inside). When all of the windows were reinstalled Matt cleaned them inside and out. Linda took photographs to document the work for the article I am writing for Bus Conversion Magazine. We left the four repaired windows latched shut but were once again able to open the other four. It will be nice to finally have windows open in the bedroom again. Joe (who is a very funny guy and a delight to work with) had us sign off on the work, after which Linda went to office and paid our bill. She also bought three cans of the Ardex Labs spray glass cleaner for $5 each. We found it online; $15.99 / can plus shipping. So much for Internet bargains.
We were pleasantly surprised to see that the cost for the repairs was only 57% of what we had been quoted. We did not ask why, but we suspect it was because they were able to remove and reinstall the awning frames from the body with the thermopane glass sandwiches in them, and do so fairly quickly. This allowed them to do most of the work inside. Another factor may have been the size of the windows; the glass in our awning windows is only about 28″ wide by 17″ tall. They told us when we made the appointment to expect 3 – 5 days for the work and it took 3.5 days.
The work on our coach was wrapped up by noon and we were free to go but being mid-day Friday we decided to stay. We have made friends with Bill and Nancy from Ottawa, Ontario Canada, in the Newmar Essex motorhome next to us (Bill is the guy who helped us back in when we arrived.) They decided yesterday to have the upper window in their door repaired and were going to have to stay until early next week for the work to be finished. We decided to stick around and keep them company as we have enjoyed talking with them. Besides, not knowing when the work would be done, we had not made a reservation yet for Sunday in the panhandle and will need to do that early on Saturday.
Our driver-side steer tire was reading about 5 PSI lower than the passenger-side tire when we left Williston on Monday afternoon, but both readings were above the minimum I like to run, so I chose not to deal with it there and then. Of course, it was 87 degrees F when I checked them. It’s been noticeably cooler here, especially first thing in the morning, and the driver-side steer tire looks like it could use a little extra air. One of the nice things about filling the tires in Michigan in Mid-December and then driving to Florida for the winter was that even with a very slow leak the cold pressure goes up along with the morning low temperature. But now that we are about to start our northward journey I would like to have all of the tire pressures reset enough above my normal cold pressure that they will still be OK when we get home.
I asked Joe if Suncoast had a shop compressor. He said they did but he did not think it was set to a high enough pressure to inflate our front tires, which normally carry 110 – 115 PSI cold. I was hoping we might find a mobile tire service like Carter Tire in Elkhart, Indiana but a Google search did not reveal anything promising. I asked Joe if he could recommend someplace nearby, preferably heading north from here, and he suggested Tires Plus in Spring Hill. His friend Dave works there and Joe thought it had plenty of room for us to get in and out and high enough air pressure to fill our front tires. It is also about 10 miles north on our intended route on the northbound side of the road, and is open on Sunday at 9:00 AM. I plan to drive up there tomorrow to verify the facts, but it sounds like exactly what we need. If we are there at 9 AM and get our tire pressures taken care of we can make it to the western panhandle by late afternoon.
I had a long list of things I wanted to get done at the computer today, but it was another lovely day and we ended up sitting in shade between our rig and Bill/Nancy’s rig all afternoon enjoying the breeze, and shooting it. We skipped lunch and were finally driven inside by hunger and the arrival of small, persistent, flying black bugs.
Because we skipped lunch we had an earlier dinner than usual. Linda improvised a dish made with ingredients she had on hand: quinoa, black beans, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, onions, and olive oil. The hot peppers were really hot so she used them sparingly, but the dish still had a serious kick. She has developed a good feel for how to combine these kinds of ingredients without a recipe. It was delicious and I asked her to capture the recipe on our website/blog.
The coach had warmed up a bit during the day so we set two of our chairs out in front after dinner to enjoy the cooler evening air. Bill and Nancy brought their chairs over and we enjoyed small glasses of the Barefoot Moscato while they enjoyed a couple of beers. We talked until it got dark and chilly and decided to call it a night around 8:30 PM. Sometime later we heard a very strange and loud sound, like an ATV, drive past the front of our coach. I heard it returning from the back parking lot and managed to get a glimpse as it went by. It was a pick-up truck with a fogger in the bed. Presumably they were spraying something for insect control. I have not seen anyone do that in quite some time.