Our Travel Blog

Woke up at the usual time, it was already 65°C outside. We were in no great rush so we just took our time after breakfast getting the inside and outside of the trailer ready.

We left around 1040 and headed North to Interstate 10. Travel was slow initially (35 MPH) until I found a gas station with a decent air supply. We found one after a few miles, but still only managed to get the tyres up to 77.5 psi, but at leas all 4 trailer tyres were now at the same pressure. I hadn’t really thought of finding high pressure air a problem before, probably because I have inflated the tyres at home with my own compressor. With air in the tyres it was time to push the speed up to the dizzy heights of 55 MPH

On the interstate I played around with the speed to try and find the most economical cruise speed, when towing 12 MPG is about the best I can get at a reasonable speed. At 56 MPH we got 11.8 MPG and going to 57 MPH dropped the fuel down to 11.0 MPG and it continued falling rapidly after that, so 56 MPH it was. The truck passed 100,000 KM on the clock a couple of days ago, so it probably appreciates the rest. Actually it is not unusual for this particular engine to go past 750,000 KM with no major issues.

Somewhere between where we started out and our destination for the night in Tallahassee, capitol of Florida we changed time zones. For some reason they never put signs up to let you know you have just lost (or gained) another hour in your life.

Once at the hotel, we settled in, then walked down the road for a seafood meal, as usual filling and tasty!

Woke up to a damp start at about 52°F climbing up to 64°F.

The clouds broke up as the morning progressed which was good as we wanted things to dry out so that we could start packing them away. By Lunch time most of the outside stuff was packed, the ladder hung on its new support and the bikes secured to the rack.

Last night I stopped to get some diesel and inflate the rear tyres. When we are not towing all 4 tyres on the truck are inflated to 50psi, with the trailer in tow the rear wheels go up to 80psi. The air machine at the gas station had a problem going above 75psi. This morning I decided to see if my small portable air compressor could top up to 80, in a gallant effort (and much time) it made it to 79.5.

Next check was the trailer wheels that had dropped down to 60 while in storage, they should be 80. On again went the compressor, this time it took a lot longer just to get to 75, after 10 minutes on the second wheel a very nasty noise came from the air compressor; it was the death rattle! Now I have to drive carefully and quickly find a place that can pump high pressure air before we get too far tomorrow.

All that needs doing tomorrow is to disconnect the water, sewer and hydro and secure loose objects in the trailer and we will be on our way.

We were thinking of doing the trip in one day, it is around 485 miles, but we didn’t want to rush things in the morning and still arrive in the dark to setup; plus we lose an hour as we cross time zones. Tomorrow night will be spent in Tallahassee Florida.

Not as warm this morning, but better than being at home. The temperature got up to the mid 60’s in the afternoon.

This morning we headed up to Camping World, the local RV superstore, to get some stuff before leaving. Last time down we found a mat that fitted the outside stairs of the trailer, the mat was different to the “normal” ones as the step is curved. Today we picked up two more mats for the remaining steps. I was also looking for a ladder support so that we could hang the stepladder onto the built in ladder on the back of the trailer. This allows us to leave the step ladder out from the storage area, giving us more room. We also picked up some cleaning and wax products to keep me occupied in Georgia!

On the way back we dropped off for a coffee at McDonalds (there is a sever lack of coffee shops down here). Back at the campsite Lyn had one of those Oh *#^%!! moments as she realised that her and her purse had parted company! Back we went to McDonalds, but the bag was no longer where it was left. When Lyn checked with one of the staff, she remembered someone had handed it in. Her lucky day, nothing was missing.

This evening we went out for a meal with friends from last years campsite. A good time was had by all until it came to paying for the meal. It was cash or cheque only…. guess who had no cash! Luckily our friends had enough to cover for us, how to make a good impression!

As we left the rain started, a sure sign it’s time to move on! Tomorrow is our last full day here.

Getting warmer, 61°F at wake up making it to a high of 68°F.

After breakfast Lyn headed over to the laundry for her weekly visit, and I set about doing some work on the truck.

The hitch on the back of the truck that the trailer connects onto is held in by four connectors that rotate to lock into position. When we left Ottawa I put the hitch into the back of the truck on a -20°C day with 2ft of snow on the truck bed. I was able to rotate 3 of the 4 locks into place, but the 4th wouldn’t lock. As there was no trailer being towed it wasn’t a big deal. Once we got down here I found that the 4th lock rotated into place with no resistance! I guess the cold and the metal contraction was the problem. Now I had to adjust everything to ensure all the locks did their job. It wasn’t a hard job, just time consuming.

This afternoon’s work was an attempt to fix one of the side mirrors. The mirror on my side could not be adjusted electrically although the turn signal and the mirror heating worked fine. After a few hours of taking the door panel off, taking the mirror off, checking out the voltages from the switch to the mirror all I can say with confidence is that it doesn’t work. From the way it failed I suspect that the problem is a broken wire within the extension arm on the mirror, unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to disassemble the arm to get at the wiring. I asked for help on one of the truck forums as to how I could disassemble the mirror, so far the only response I have received is to use a hammer!

Yet again the furnace kicked in overnight, this is getting to be a nasty habit. Wake up was 47°F climbing up to 60°F.

After breakfast it was time for me to try my hand at cooking as I wanted some bread pudding. I have the recipe, but as Lyn doesn’t like it it is a case of if I want it I cook it. The last one I cooked went badly wrong so I was a little wary this time, but in the end it all worked out OK. Still not as good as Mum’s, but edible.

Just before lunch we got a call from Catriona who suggested we try Skype as she was babysitting Noah. Unfortunately the way the internet is set up here it is not very good for video or voice calls, but we gave it a shot. Eventually we managed to get a connection for a few minutes, as usual Noah was a little confused when he heard our voices and saw us on the screen. When we said goodbye to him he walked off to the front door of the house and started crying!! Guess he didn’t want us to “leave”.

After lunch and our walk I decided to throw some thought to a problem that has been bugging me for a while. I have a rear view camera for the trailer, but have not had much luck in mounting it anywhere. Ideally I’d like to mount it in the centre of the trailer at the back, BUT I don’t want to drill holes in the trailer in case it allows water to enter. The camera comes with a mounting bracket for the licence plate, but again I’d need to drill holes to get the wiring from the camera into the trailer. Looking on eBay I found a camera that mounts in half inch hole, again the ideal position would be centre back, but with this type of camera I can mount it into the end cap of the rack at the back of the trailer, and the wiring can go through the hollow rack to join in with existing wiring without drilling a hole. I am not sure if that made sense or not, but I am running out of things to say!

So far I have added a picture of each site we have been at, so here is the current one.

Trailer

Again, a cool morning with the furnace going, the overnight temperature dropped into the mid 40’s  To make matters worse the clear skies that were forecast were hidden by a layer of clouds, but they cleared by midday and by afternoon we were up to around 55°F.

We set off early (for us) at 0930 to catch the 1100 ferry from Fort Morgan, across Mobile Bay, to Dauphin Island. Fort Morgan was about about an hour away, so we left in plenty of time as the ferry only runs every 90 minutes. We in fact made the trip in better time than we expected and arrived at the ferry landing just before 1020. We were the one an only car there which was a little ominous, then Lyn looked at the time table posted in the parking area. Her first comment was that the times on the internet were different to the time on the time table. Closer inspection revealed that the ferry coming from Dauphin Island departed at 1100 and the one going to Dauphin Island departed at 1015! Next departure at 1145! Unfortunately there was really no  civilization (cafes etc) in the area, so we just hung around in the car reading.

Once on the ferry and clear of the land there was a reasonable swell rolling the boat around. Dotted throughout Mobile Bay were a number of rigs, I initially thought they were oil rigs, but we later learnt that they were natural gas rigs.

Mobile Bay Gas Rigs

Once we arrived at Dauphin Island we took a drive around the place. The Island is 17 miles long and about a mile across, I guess technically it is an island, but it appeared to be more a sand bar with roads on it. Access is by ferry, or a large bridge and causeway from Mobile. After checking the place out we dropped into one of the local cafes for a seafood lunch. Again, some tasty local shrimp.

The main purpose of the visit was to go to the estuarium. This is a display associated with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Apart from aquariums full of local gulf, bay and river life, there were some facts about Mobile Bay as well. If you look at the location and size of the bay on a map, you will see that it is at the northern end of the Gulf of Mexico, yet the average depth of the bay is only 10ft. The bay is also home to the second largest gas field in the US, and it will continue pumping natural gas for at least 30 more years. All in all it was worth the visit.

As I said earlier the island really is a pile of fine white sand, the beaches all have beach front homes on them of which at least 90% are on stilts. I guess the waters get pretty rough when hurricane season hits.

Dauphin Island – Beach Houses

Also on the island is an old fort – Fort Grimes – which was host to the last major battle of the US civil war.

We headed back to the ferry, and had another rolling ride back to the mainland. On the way back to the campsite we dropped into see friends at the place we stayed last year.

A good day out

Woke up to the sound of the furnace, not a good start to the day! Yesterdays cold front had gone through and last night had clear skies and a north wind that dropped the temperatures down to around 3°C. As the day wore on we struggled up to around 12°C.

Today being Thursday meant a trip to the stores for the weekly shopping, followed by lunch on our return.

After lunch it was time for the walk around the area, by this time the wind had dropped and it was quite pleasant out, in fact it was warm enough to sit outside and drink a cup of coffee once we got back.

One thing about this campground compared to others we have stayed at is there is very little outdoor activity. Early in the morning there a re a few regular walkers go by, and later in the day a couple of cyclists. When we walk around the place there are very few people outside their trailers, even on the hot days.

Tomorrow should be a more interesting day as we are finally heading out to Dauphin Island.

Last night was warm and humid, wake up temperature was 73°F. There was a strong gusty wind throughout the night, that continued into the morning. After breakfast I was listening to the radio when the Emergency Broadcast system activated. You may have heard it on the FM stations, the broadcast gets interrupted by a series of tones followed by a voice message. Normally the message is just a test to ensure the system works. Today’s message was to announce a Tornado warning for the surrounding area!

The wind continued to buffet the trailer for most of the morning, again the stabiliser we purchased when we arrived proved its worth. Although the stronger gusts still caused the trailer to shudder, overall it was far more comfortable than previous wind storms.

Around noon the skies got even darker, to the point we considered putting the lights on. The the rain came but much to my dismay no thunder storms as promised. As soon as the rain hit there was a noticeable drop in temperature, in about 45 minutes the temperature dropped from 76°F to 53°F (24 to 11°C).

The rain continued throughout the afternoon, with about 1/2″ falling. The winds continued to be gusty, but not as strong as in the morning.

We had planned on going to Dauphin Island today, this trip requires a 45 min ferry crossing. Needless to say, the trip was delayed.

Wake up temperature this morning was 73°F and peaked at 80°F (26°C), with the humidity building as the day progressed. After getting back from our walk (finally Google Earthed it, and it works out at about a mile and a quarter; not much, but better than nothing!) I decided it would be a good idea to bring in the awning as the wind was getting up. Although the awning  supports are supplemented by straps anchored into the ground, the forecast was for thunderstorms over the next day or so, and I didn’t want to risk any gusts of wind doing damage. Interestingly enough, as the day progressed more and more people were bringing in the awnings and taking down flags.

After lunch, Lyn headed out to our old campground for their crafts afternoon, and I decided it was time to clean up “my corner” of the trailer.

By the end of the afternoon it getting to be quite hot and humid, not quite air conditioning weather, but getting close.

Lyn here, seems Barry made a deal ,with himself, that whoever lost the game of crazy golf today would write the blog. Looks like I get the privilege.  The crazy golf was a lot of fun, Pirate’s Island, there were some interesting holes. The whole place was decorated with pirate memorabilia, it was very well done and very neatly kept.

The whole day was a very sultry day, black clouds hanging over most of the day but fairly warm temperature, it did rain for a short period but that was as my Uncle Donald would say,”just to keep the dust down”

It seems I also have to explain my lack of internet in the laundry room yesterday, I was trying to make my touch pad work by pressing all the buttons and I mistakingly switched off the Wifi button , no great mystery to that story.