Getting Ready To Travel

Rantoul, IL.

52 deg. mostly cloudy, N. wind @ 10 mph.

Forecast = Overcast in the morning, then mostly cloudy. High of 68F. Breezy. Winds from the NNW at 15 to 20 mph with higher gusts.


Yesterday morning, Jim decided that it was time to start getting me ready to travel. The first thing on the agenda was to service my batteries. Over the last year, Jim has determined that they need to be serviced about every 2 to 3 months, because at that time, he still doesn't have to add excessive amounts of distilled water to the batteries, and so far, there hasn't been a big corrosion problem.

Now in my case, being that I have a residential refrigerator and most everything else inside of me is electric and operates off of a pretty big inverter, I have six 6 volt batteries to power my coach and two 12 volt batteries to start my engine and run the chassis part of me.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  servicing all those batteries in not a chore that is done very quickly.

The first thing that Jim does is to add distilled water to any of the battery cells that are low. Then he cleans any terminals that have corrosion on them, taking them apart if necessary. After that, he sprays some yellow stuff on the batteries that turns pink if it contacts any trace of acid. After leaving that stuff sit on the batteries for awhile to neutralize the acid, he hoses them off with water, checks all the connections for remaining corrosion, re-applies the yellow stuff to make sure there is no more acid on the outside of the batteries, and then hoses them off again.

After letting the batteries dry, he sprays some red stuff on the terminals to help stop new corrosion.

Oh, and while he was servicing my batteries, he was also servicing CLT's (Cute Little Truck's), battery.

By the time he was finished and had everything put away, about 2 1/2 hours had passed, so he came inside of me and relaxed for awhile.

After lunch, he went back outside, checked all my fluid levels, topped off any that were low and then came back inside and took a little nap. : )

While he was working on my batteries and all that other stuff, Linda was inside of me, doing laundry and looking up more information about ancestors for her family tree program.

We had a line of thunder storms come through the area last night. Nothing serious, but there was a cold front behind it and now on TV they're forecasting the low temperatures tonight to get down into the 30's!!! 

I'm thinking it's probably a good idea to be leaving here soon. I think that because of the very high temperatures around here all summer, there may be an early winter on the way. : (

Did you know that on this date in 1941 a little boy was born in a little house on Wood Street in the little town of Peotone, IL?

His mother and father named him James.

Lots Of Ambition

DeBary, FL.

47 deg. scattered clouds, no wind.

Forecast = Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.


I don't know what got into Jim yesterday, but he sure had a lot of ambition.

In the morning, he went out and checked all my batteries. I have two 12 volt starting batteries and six 6 volt deep cycle coach batteries, and he checked the electrolyte level and filled all of them with distilled water. Then he got out the garden hose and some spray stuff and cleaned them.

Since he had all of the battery stuff out, he then did the same to CLT's battery.

After lunch, he opened my generator compartment, slid the generator out with its electric slide and checked the oil and water levels. Then before sliding it back in, he started it up and let it run for awhile.

Since the hose was still out, he got out the squeegee with the very long handle and cleaned off the front of me, (especially concentrating on my windshield).

Now, I suppose you're wondering why Jim was doing all of this. Well, believe it or not, we've already been here for almost 2 months, and in 6 more days, we'll be leaving. I've enjoyed being here, but to be honest, my tires are starting to itch and I'm ready to do some traveling!!

After taking a little nap, Jim went out and cooked some pork chops on the grill for dinner while Linda cooked some noodles and some corn inside on my stove. After dinner they both watched TV and read some before going to bed.

Today, I think Jim may check the air in my and CLT's tires. Yesterday, I heard him say something about doing it and it definitely needs to be done before we leave.

Did you know that lead-acid batteries were invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Plante' and are the oldest type of rechargeable battery?

Warming Up, An Errand and A Little Shopping

DeBary, FL.

42 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast:

Widespread dense fog early in the morning then becoming mostly sunny. Highs around 70. West winds around 5 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon.

Still not a whole lot happening around here. Laura and Ashley stopped by for a little while Wednesday afternoon. Then, after another chilly start to the day yesterday, it warmed up nicely to close to 70 degrees. Since it was nice out, Jim and Linda decided to run some errands and do a little shopping.

The first thing they did was to have CLT (Cute Little Truck), take them over to Sanford, FL. where there is a big mall. Linda had a couple pairs of moccasins that needed repairs, so they took them to a shoe repair place in the mall.

After dropping them off, they headed to a book store where they bought a book that both of them have been wanting to read. Next was a Batteries + store where Jim tried to find a little battery for a remote control for my electric cord reel and basement door locks, but alas, it looks like that battery has been discontinued and is no longer available. : ( 

From Batteries +, they stopped at a Steak & Shake for a sandwich before having CLT bring them back here to the park.

After they returned, Jim went out and hooked me back up to the city water supply, since they're not forecasting freezing temperatures for this area for at least the next 7 days. : )

I don't know what the plans are for today. I was looking at the calendar yesterday and realized that we only have 17 more days before we leave DeBary, so if Jim and Linda have stuff to do before we leave, they had better get going and get it done!!

A Point to Ponder : How did the headless horseman know where he was going? 

Photos Finally Loaded, Shopping and Dinner At Gram's Kitchen

DeBary, FL

62 deg. overcast, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly sunny in the morning then becoming partly sunny. Highs in the lower 80s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph


I finally got some of those photos that Jim took Sunday to load. This first one is of Laura putting the angel on the top of the tree. The tree was actually a little too high, so some slight modifications had to be made. ; )

This next one is of Ashley taking a break and checking if there were some places on the tree that still needed decorations.

Ta-Daa!!!! The decorations inside are completed and Laura and Ashley have already headed for home.

While Laura, Ashley and Linda were decorating the inside of me, Jim was busy on the outside.

Don't I look festive?  ; )

After Laura and Ashley left, Jim put all the empty boxes and bags back under my bed and then took a little nap.

Yesterday, Jim took CLT and headed to Office Depot to buy a few things. Two of the main things he and needed were printer paper and a battery for his camera. He found both of them and in about an hour was back here again.

For dinner, CLT took Jim and Linda to Gram's Kitchen in Orange City. Jim and Linda found this restaurant last year when they were here and they said that it's just as good this year as it was last year. Linda had an open faced beef sandwich and Jim had a chicken pot pie.

They said both were excellent! : )

The rest of the evening was spent watching TV, while Linda finished up some embroidery projects that she's using for presents.

A Point to Ponder : Why isn't sour cream really sour?

3/3 of the "Illinois Bunch" Are Here

Rantoul, IL.

63 deg. light rain, N. wind @ 8 mph.

Forecast = Cloudy with scattered showers. Highs in the lower 70s. Light east winds. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.


This is probably going to be real short this morning. I've already had all kinds of Internet problems. The CG wi-fi is down and I keep getting knocked off line with the air card.

Denny and Bev pulled in late last night after having battery problems with their Winnebago Brave MH. There was light rain / mist coming down when they got here so Jim went over and helped them get into their site and get the electric hooked up.

Denny had put some water in their fresh water tank, so he didn't have to hook up the hose or anything else last night.

Jim, Linda and the rest of the Illinois bunch spent quite a bit of time outside yesterday. At times they had to move under someones awning when it sprinkled, but it sounded like they were having a good time visiting. ; )

I don't know what's going on today. It's going to be hard to get together outside if it continues to rain. They're saying on TV that there should be times when it isn't raining, but it sure doesn't look good now. : (

OK, just got knocked off of the Internet again. I'll write more later if I can.

Did you know the comedy showcase "Second City" was founded on North Wells Street in Chicago in a former Chinese laundry in 1959 ?

An Empty Campground, Batteries and A Little Shopping

Rantoul, IL.

59 deg. clear, N wind @ 4 mph.

Forecast = Increasing clouds. Highs in the lower 80s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.


The Campground is empty!!!  : o

Well, not really, but it sure seems like it is after all those RV left the last couple days. There's probably about a dozen or so RVs here and it's just about like it was before the Farm Show, but it sure seems empty.

It's not going to stay that way for long though, the CG is completely booked for the Labor Day weekend, (only 1 RV to a site), so by the end of the week it'll be pretty busy around here again. ; )

Jim checked the electrolyte level  in my batteries yesterday morning and added some distilled water to the cells that were low. Then he sprayed some yellow stuff on the batteries that turned pink wherever there was acid and finally hosed off the batteries to wash away all the yucky stuff. Now except for a visual inspection once in awhile, they should be good to go for a couple months.

After that, he tackled a little problem I was having inside. One of the fluorescent lights in my bathroom quit working so he took it apart and decided that it was one of the bulbs that had burned out.

Now, he knew he had a couple new bulbs someplace, but he couldn't remember where he put them when he moved them from Myrddin into me. He looked in quite a few of my cabinets and went through a few tote boxes in my basement, but couldn't find them. : (  So, he decided that it would be easier to take CLT and go over to Rural King and buy some, rather than to keep digging through boxes.

I'm sure he'll come across them one of these days.

So, off to Rural King he and CLT went. He found the bulbs he needed and then because it was time to pick up the mail at the post office, they swung past there. Then as long as he was out, he went to the County Market grocery store and bought a few groceries he and Linda were out of.

All of this only took a little over an hour and soon he was back here and installing the new bulbs in my bathroom fixture. : )

While he was gone, Linda was cleaning up, putting away pots, pans and dishes that had been used when Mike and Jodi were here and eating breakfast.

Not much happened during the afternoon and then about 5:00 Jim and Linda took CLT and headed over to the Pizza Hut for dinner.

Oh, I made a mistake yesterday when I told you that Linda and Jim were going to go to the eye doctor this morning. The appointment is actually this afternoon.

Hmmm! I could have sworn that it was this morning. : (

Did you know that in 1748 Benjamin Franklin first coined the word "battery" to describe an array of charged glass plates?