We Gotta Go Where It's Warm!
After a fine 12 day visit with daughter Lynne and an absolute sensory overload of spectacular Blue Ridge/Appalachin Mountains foliage (different from Vermont but equally impressive) we pulled out of her driveway this morning with a dusting of snow on us and another below freezing forecast.
Heading south should help, you'd think, but here at our Escapees Club Racoon Valley park just a bit north of Knoxville TN, we have had to disconnect the water hose and store the filters inside because the temps are to be below freezing again tonight. And the water tank heaters are on, again.
Why reading the owner's manual can be a rewarding experience:
We had been concerned that the fresh, black and gray water tanks were only two-thirds the size of those in the 27 ft 5th wheel, where the two of us got along nicely for two or three weeks between dumps but the black water tank meter showed it filling at a rate that made us wonder how three of us were going to manage when Deidra was fastened to the railroad flat car for the four or five days of next month's Copper Canyon trip. We will carry ten or twelve extra gallons of fresh water in those blue bottles and can probably drain off the shower and sink water at some point, but the black tank capacity was a worry.
It got to a crisis last night when I brushed my teeth using the bathroom sink and the water didn't drain out of the bowl! Jim was reading the owner's manual looking for info on when to do the first oil change on the engine and came across the very interesting note that on some models the water from the bathroom sink goes into the black water tank! Aha! I dipped the water from the sink bowl and dumped it into the galley sink and put a paper towel in the bowl so we'd know if it was backing up (it didn't). We made a smooth run out of the North Carolina mountains and are now in a much more comfortable state of mind.
We enjoyed being able to hang out with the locals in Banner Elk; one can feel so superior to the folks who spend all that money buying those expensive condos by the ski slopes that they can only use part time. We had a dinner party at Lynne's little house in the valley that ended with a late night fireside gathering in her front yard where her friends remarked that she was burning 'tourist wood' from the supermarket. We went to hear one of Emmylou Harris's best concerts, comped because Lynne works for the area newspaper consortium. We all had a fine time, along with 20,000 other folks at the Woolly Worm Festival (we knew them as caterpillers when I was a kid). We had dinner with my sister, her husband (from Florida)and daughter which was nice but the restaurant was so noisy we had to yell to each other.
We also had dinner on top of Sugar Mountain at the home of a friend, the one who had loaned us one of his luxury mountaintop condos last spring. I loved the gas fireplace with remote control and the Jacuzzi in the bathroom that could hold eight or nine people. The problem was that filling the tub 2/3 full took all the hot water in the place. Ah, the pain.
Last Sunday Lynne and I drove to Blowing Rock to hear Evensong at the local Episcopal church. It was a lovely mountain drive over and back and the service was beautiful with a fine choir.
So, now Jim and I point Deidra south and west, trying not to drive much more than 200 miles a day but keeping in mind that we need to be in San Antonio a few days before the 11th when we meet daughter Cathy at the airport and start the much awaited two week Copper Canyon trip. We need to have everything, groceries, propane, toilet paper, wine on board because there will be little opportunity to shop or do laundry after we cross the border.
posted by Lears @ 7:09 PM
0 comments
