Catch Up

Looking over some of the last blog posts I realized there were several issues that have been "resolved" but not communicated about so here goes:

Damage Control
 The refrigerator vent cover on the roof of the Tank took a severe hit from a tree in Terre Haute, IN (scene of the infamous 3 hour I-70 detour) and had to be replaced.  No big deal until you recall that my camper's manufacturer went belly up in 2009 making replacement parts a tad hard to come by.  So I went into a small RV store in Midland, MI prepared to be disappointed when the saleslady asked me what make of camper the vent was for?  When I replied Sun-Lite she smiled and said "That's the first camper line we ever sold!" Then she promptly showed me an exact duplicate of my wrecked vent and sold it to me for $20.  SCORE!

Surprising My Dad
My travel to Michigan was originally timed to allow me to arrive in time to surprise my 86 year old Dad on Father's Day.  Having arrived a few days in advance I "stealth camped" on my brother Jim's driveway.  My brother was scheduled to visit our Dad on Father's Day so we drove there together but I hung back around the corner out of sight of the doorway.  After being greeted at the door Jim told my Dad that he had run into "a homeless guy" and would it be OK if the homeless guy joined the Father's Day meetup?  You can probably imagine the look on my Dad's face as he contemplated some guy pushing a shopping cart full of cans up to his front door, so he was pretty relieved (and surprised) when the homeless guy was me.

My Dad and Stepmother Dorothy

Transporting the new Kayak
The last blog entry discussed my perceived need of a water transport option and the subsequent purchase of a kayak.  At that point I aimed at transporting the kayak on the roof of the Tank but had no notion of how it's bulky and unwieldy 40 pounds could be lifted there by one person (me).  My brother Jim and I came up with a solution after some comical misfires.

Step 1:  Cover the hood of the truck with a towel to avoid abrasion from the kayak.  Tie a length of rope to the rear of the kayak and lean it in a standing position against the hood of the truck.  Throw the rope up to the roof of the Tank then scramble up the ladder up to the roof.

Step 1

 

 

 

Step 2:  Pull the kayak up over the towel-covered hood of the truck and then up over the rounded "airfoil" of the Tank, being careful not to fall off the 9 ft roof!

Step 2

Step 3:  Position the kayak between the airconditioner vent and the side rail.  Install eye-bolts to allow 3 bungee cords to secure the kayak to the roof (then tie a "just in case" 4th rope to the front of the kayak) and secure it.

Step 3

Following highway speed trials the kayak didn't move an inch!  Challenge solved.

Thanks for reading!

Naval Capability

Leaving my brother's I went for 3 days of what turned out to be dry camping (no hookups) at Houghton Lake State Park which unsurprisingly is on the north shore of Houghton Lake.  I got a campsite right on the water for $17 a night which seemed a little steep for dry camping but I guess it's "the height of the season" for camping in Michigan.

The view from the back steps of the Tank.

Once again there was unfortunately no boat or kayak rental within reasonable distance of the park so I was unable to try out my fishing rod.  Readers of this blog remember that the lack of boat rentals has been a problem encountered in "on-the-water" parks in Texas and elsewhere in the past.  Sooooo......I went shopping and found a kayak back in Midland at a store for roughly 30% off and a paddle and life jacket that were also heavily discounted,  I took the brand new vessel to Sanford Lake (about 15 miles north of Midland) and tried it out....very fun AND I didn't tip over, probably thanks to the very modern kayak launch built into the boat dock that you see here.

Got everything for just under $300.

The kayak is 9 ft 6 inches from stem to stern and weighs in at just over 40 lbs.  It fits in the camper (which is a less than desirable way to transport it) but I'm trying to figure a way to transport it on the roof of the camper.  I have some ideas but I need to do a little research to see if a fellow RV'er has already invented this wheel and I can just shamefully steal their method.  I'll update with pictures if I can figure anything out.

Thanks for reading!

Damage Control

I finally worked my way to my brother's house in Midland, MI.  It's been a fairly eventful last three days.  Tuesday night I stayed at the Missouri Welcome Center on US 57 just across the Arkansas border and endured a huge thunder storm with winds so powerful the Tank was "rolling" back and forth through about a 20 degree arc.  I couldn't help but think about Oklahoma and wonder if these winds were the lead-in to something catastrophic but they eventually died out, resulting in about a 20 degree dip in the temperature.

Wednesday I drove up through Southern Illinois till I hit I-70 and headed east.  Right before Terra Haute, IN, with one of two lanes of I-70 down for road work there was a huge fatality accident with a chemical spill.  They completely shut down I-70 for over 6 hours, diverting traffic through the city streets of Terra Haute in a mind numbing gridlock.

Miles and miles of 18 wheelers.

It took 3 hours to get through Terra Haute....usually it takes less than 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, many of the trees on the tree-lined streets of Terra Haute hadn't had their limbs trimmed back for some time and one of them whacked the Tank's refrigerator vent pretty hard which necessitates damage control and (hopefully) finding a local source for a drop-in replacement.

At least the tree didn't take out a solar panel!

After fixing the refrigerator vent I'm targeting Houghton Lake State Park for some Sunday through Wednesday camping where I can try out my never-been-used collapsible fishing rod.  With daytime temperatures here in the low-seventies it's hard to believe I'm in the same country having come from sweltering Texas to a Michigan with 46 degree nights!  I can get used to this!

Thanks for reading!