Closing October-Back on the Road

November 1, 2020                                             October 2020-Fall Finally Arrives
Santee State Park                                                September: Finally the Heat Breaks
Santee, South Carolina

Mid October found me counting coins with my friend Mary.  I was at her house one day and saw a plate of change on the kitchen counter.  I said something about it and Mary told me I hadn’t seen the half of it.  Boy was that an understatement. 

She brought out numerous plastic bags and tins filled with change.   I’ve never seen so much change.  Must be years' worth.  I volunteered to help her roll it up.  She wasn’t so keen at first but once we got started, we spent a few hours a day for 3 or 4 days along with what she did when I wasn’t there and ended up rolling almost $900 in change.  What a windfall!  And soooo funny!!   I hope she’ll spend some of it on a plane ticket this winter to visit me in Florida.

We had such a good time, I was sorry when we had it all rolled up.  Who would have thought?  Certainly not Mary who really didn’t want to do it at first.  But look at her having fun.

And how about this mushroom in another friend’s yard.  She has several of them growing off the roots of an oak tree that was cut down years ago.  They are huge and come back every year and every year.  Diane digs them up in fear that they are poison and will hurt her dog.  Anyone know what it is?  And if it is eatable?  It sure is beautiful.

Walking the John Warner Parkway in Charlottesville took Mary and I by this house which wins the Halloween decorations in my opinion.  I meant to come back by and take pictures with my good camera since these were taken with my Motorola phone and are terrible but they are all I have so I hope you can appreciate this display at least a little.

Look closely above, there is a grave yard in the back left, ghosts, a witch climbing in a window, one on a bicycle.

The picture below shows the ghosts, a trio of pirate skeletons and a circle of witches around a cauldron.

Closer view of the skeletons.  How about the long gray hair??

These lanterns run up the driveway.  I wish I had seen it at night.  Perhaps my friend Mary will go out and take some pictures before they take all this down.

I was still doing puzzles.  Some of them are do overs.  Here are a couple I finished at the end of the month.  I’m too impatient to do anything more than 750 pieces. 

Restaurants opened back up in Charlottesville for eating outside but now are open for 50% capacity inside. 

Pam and I went back to Burton’s Grille  which has one of only two alcoholic beverages I will drink, the mudslide.   They also have great though a bit pricey food.

Good to the very last drop!

And FINALLY, it is time to get back on the road.  But, of course  not without incident.  My first day headed toward Congaree National Park, I stop for overnight in a Walmart in Roanoke Rapids N. C. as usual.  I’ve had a lot of work done on the RV including maintenance on the generator, appliances and propane system.  Things David always maintained and I have no clue about. 

When I left, I filled the fridge, turned it on and headed down the road for 3.5 hours.  At Walmart I go back to see what the fridge temperature is only to find that it has an F code which means the burner didn’t fire and there has been no cooling.  Everything is starting to melt including frozen raspberry fruit bars which are all over everything.   I’m tired from an entire morning of packing up and afternoon of driving.  I google what could be wrong.  Among other things, they say bad burner.  I’ve just had it and the board replaced.  I write to the wonderful (mostly guys) in my Winnebago Brave Group.  But it’s now nearly dark, I’m even more tired.   I just can’t deal with this now.

So I put Winnona in drive and go over to Carolina Crossroads where a night with full hookups normally costs $45.  I pull in.  Nobody is around.  I hook up in the dark and go to bed.

In the morning I go over to pay and ask about a second night so I can try to get this problem fixed.  I tell the guy taking money my story and ask about Passport America.  He says they only take it in January and February.  I think, Well my bad luck is holding when he says he’ll make an exception and charges me $33 each for two nights.  Great guy!!

The next day after some more checking I discover that my maintenance guys have left the main propane knob turned off.  I’ve never had it off I don’t think although David isn’t here to ask. I didn’t even know where it was before my investigations.   Things are good again.  That evening, I enjoy pink skies and a nearly full moon. 

Friday is a long driving day of nearly 300 miles during which I have to stop for gas.  Towing Ruby I am 57’ long so this is not a minor endeavor.  But the Pilot station is not very busy and things work out fine except that in the past 7 months they changed the rules on the Good Sam discount and you have to go inside to request it BEFORE you pump.  At least at this station it doesn’t work at the pump.  So I lose my 3 cent discount and pay $1.929/ gallon rather than $1.89. On an 75 gallon tank, it adds up.

I’m almost to my destination at Santee State Park when the yellow ‘Service Engine Soon’ light comes on.  This is the same as the check engine light in a car which had come on two days before in Ruby.  I easily took her up to my mechanic who said from reading the code that it was claiming catalytic converter problems.  He cleared the code, told me if it came back on again to let him know and if it started flashing to stop the car and call him.   Neither thing has happened in what is now the last 6 days.

David has a code reader for Ruby but I don’t know how to use it and don’t know if it will work on Winnona or if I can find where to connect it. 

For now I am parked at Santee State Park in a nice long site 19.  After arriving, I contacted my Brave group.  Thank goodness they don’t get tired of me.  They said it could just be the gas cap and not to worry unless the light starts flashing.  I did put Lucas Upper cylinder Lubricant and Injector Cleaner in the tank after I filled it.  Because David did. No idea if that’s related.   Any help or advise on how to use the code reader or this yellow Service Light would be very greatly appreciated.

After cleaning Winnona’s windshield and front of bugs, I asked one of my neighbors who is driving a similar Winnebago motorhome about the problem.  He also said gas cap and since it was dinner time on Friday night, offered to come over Saturday and “take a look”.   Since I’m going to Congaree on Saturday, I hope he’ll come on Sunday although it is scheduled to rain which probably puts an end to my hope to put the kayak in Lake Marion.  I leave on Monday.

I’m very near Marion Lake and can see it in the distance from my site.  I take some photos through the trees of the sunset and the moonrise on this day before the full moon.

Congaree National Park is the reason for my stop here.  It was a wonderful day but deserves a post of its own so I’ll be back after the election with that and some great Halloweening here at Santee State Park. 

PLEASE get out and vote.  There may not have been a more important election in our lifetimes.