Day 38, Tuesday, November 26, 2024, Cheaha State Park, Delta, AL, Day 2 - 0 Miles,1,964.6 Miles for the Trip
Well, it didn't freeze overnight; down to 54°F. It is very foggy, thick enough that I can't see the bathroom building only 50' away. I thought about skipping my morning walk, but my rules are to only skip it if it is raining. So, off I went. By the time I hit a quarter of a mile my glasses were fogged up & my photo vest was soaking wet. While it wasn't raining, it sure was wet. I didn't see any other fools out walking, although one of the folks in a Glamping tent was outside cooking breakfast. I did see a Bowlus, a lightweight aluminum trailer that looks like it is attached backwards to the tow vehicle. The door is in the tow vehicle end rather than on the side, and while it looks a bit like an Airstream, it cost 4 times as much (starts at $173,000.00). Sure hope it isn't like this when I leave on Sunday. Driving in fog this dense would be slow going.
When I got back to the trailer I broke another one of my rules - cooking bacon in the trailer. I decided not to set up the outdoor stove in the fog, and for some reason, wanted bacon & eggs for breakfast, so I fired up the stove hood & cooked inside. At least I didn't set off the smoke alarm even though I burned the toast.
Three days without an internet connection was OK, but I'm not looking forward to 5 more. When I connected yesterday at Camping World, I saw an announcement from Walter (the one who runs the Hungry Mother Rally) that reservations were open for the 2025 rally, and were going fast. Since I made them last time for both the Guidos & myself, I got on the Virginia reservation system and discovered that there was only one pair of sites left that were next to each other. The sites we had this October were already gone. So, I made reservations for us. Then, scrolling through my 185 emails, near the bottom I found one forwarded from Anne that was a reservation for next year for the same site I had this year. I called, and sure enough, they made reservations. I tried to cancel mine, but was told I have to wait 48 hours because the reservation is "in process".
So, another trip into internet land will be necessary. I forgot stuffing for my turkey dinner on Thursday, so I will probably go in on Wednesday to cancel the reservations & to a grocery store for stuffing.
Another observation - last summer I replaced my 4 trailer drawers with tongue & groove frames and designed what in my mind was an innovative drawer lock. In the past I have had drawers come out on rough or curvy roads. In one case I found the drawer in pieces on the floor & the silverware scattered around the trailer. With the new drawers I used soft closure slides to replace the cheap ones Escape was using in 2017 (I believe that are using a better drawer system now, although there have been lots of complaints on the forum about the screws holding the slide to the frame backing out & jamming the drawer). In any case, if you want to see the drawer lock & new slides, check out my 21 Trailer Modifications page.
What I have discovered is that with the new soft close drawer slides I don't need the locks. I have left them in the unlocked position for this entire trip & never found an open drawer. I've certainly hit some curvy roads. Still useful if you have the older slides, but I don't need them. I took a photo of the handle package for those interested. For those that want to replace the slides, they are 16" soft close slides from Lowes. You need to scroll down on the trailer modification page to see these changes. Right now it is at the bottom of the page, but depending on how many new modifications I make, you may need to search for it.
Since I didn't take a site photo yesterday, I took one around 11:00 today. The fog has cleared quite a bit, but hasn't gone away:
 |
| A Foggy Site 17 Photo |
It is getting cooler as the day goes on. It was 54°F this morning; now at 11:12 it is down to 49°F. I don't think waiting for it to warm up before heading to the showers is going to work.
There are 4 showers, individual rooms at the end of the building. One is handicapped. They are barely heated by a mini split AC (although it might be barely working because of the 49°F outside temperature). Still, much warmer than the outside temperature. A single unit temperature control / low volume/fine spray showerhead. There is a small wall between the shower and the drying area which has a fold down seat/bench & 2 hooks. Because the showerhead aims at the wall between the shower & drying area, and because the wall is narrow, the entire drying area floor gets wet. The water only gets to lukewarm turned all the way up. Overall, a C-. By the way, the campground included a note that the area is currently under drought conditions, dry enough that the springs that usually supply the campground water have dried up enough that they are trucking in water.
Around 1:30 the sun came out, burned off the rest of the fog, and jumped the temperature to 50°F. There are folks wandering around in shorts, but I'm glad to be wearing my flannel lined cargo pants. The camping area is about 3/4 full.
Because of a larger than usual breakfast & lunch, all I had for dinner was a bowl of cereal & a banana.
Until The Next Internet Connection -
