Relax RV Podcast

Season 2 Episode 79
7/22/22
Gas prices vs running up and mountains. Instead of $100 fill ups we doing $150+ fill ups . Instead of 20 gallons we putting in 40 gallons at each fill up. Gas mileage went from 9 mpg to 4.5 mpg, so we were using twice the gas.

Left Alexandria VA. Drove for 1.5 hrs. Got set up and started the AC. At 1030pm it was still 82 degrees. Love our AC. We found a winery close by so stopped by we're pleasantly surprised that they had a guy on the guitar playing. However even in the shade the 90° temps got the best of us we headed back to the RV. The next day we drove over to Harpers ferry West virginia. We were here two years ago just at the start of covid and everything was closed so we decided to revisit it. This time the exhibits were open so we walked around for a couple hours. However it was in the 90s so we did not redo the short hikes we did the last time. From here we headed to Gaithersburg MD to a Boondockers Welcome location. We got set up. And paid the $10 for 30 amp electric. We took a ride to Sugarloaf Mountain State Park and did a 2.5 mile beautiful hike. We think this BDW location will be our default place while visiting Brandon or DC. We then stopped at a winery near by and had a glass of wine. The next day we went to Patuxent River State Park and did a 5 mile hike. Then off to Maryland Beer Company in Elkton MD which is a Harvest Host location. We pulled in enjoyed a couple of drinks. Then walked around the town of Elkton Maryland. Really cute town and we would not mind revisiting. The next day we drove up to Barnegat New Jersey. We set up at a doctor's welcome location. Hooked up to our 20 amp. We walked around Barnegat by the beach and we're disappointed by the lack of shops. We then met my sister-in-law Jen for dinner. The next day we took a ride an hour south to Atlantic City. Along the way we stopped at Smithville. Trish visited his place a few times as a young girl with her parents. We walked around for about an hour looking at all the different shops. It was a nice little train for kids and merry go round. We then spent the day walking the boardwalk at AC and even winning a little bit of money at the casinos yay. Did you know that the game Monopoly is based on Atlantic city?
The next morning we hooked up and drove to Old cedar Campground. We got set up
Took a ride over and picked up a grandson kingston. We had planned on picking him up and taking him out to dinner however he surprised us with the home cooked meal which was delicious. We then headed over to the campground he wrote his bike for a little while we walked for a little while the next day you spent the day fishing and riding his bike and swimming in the pool so we had a nice relaxed day with him. The night played games outside of the RV. The next day packed up dumped dropped them off and drove home.

The next day we unpacked the rig and I tinkered with stuff on the rig. We have been planning on going to Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, so we made a reservation at a boondockers welcome location. But as the days drew near, the temps were going to be in the mid 50s and rain the whole time we were there. So we canceled that trip.
Then in early July we went up to Massachusetts and New Hampshire for a few days.
In August we have a 3 week trip through Indiana planned. We'll be visiting a bunch of state parks, visiting the Amish town of Shipshewana and doing a tour of the catacombs under Indianapolis.
Over the summer I also took time to catch up with my Stress Management clients so I booked a bunch of days to work with them.

And it's bittersweet, but I do believe this will be my last episode of this podcast. Been doing this over 4 years with just under 10, 000 downloads of the 78 episodes. I'm sure this episode will push the download total number over 10,000.

I will be taking notes of our travels and posting those notes on my blog at:

Season 2 Episode 78
5/20/22

We visited Bardstown. We hit the 1792 Distillery. They were the only distillery that offered a free tour. We parked in Bardstown and walked 20 minutes to it. They gave a great 45 minute tour and provided 4 samples and a piece of bourbon chocolate.
We bought a few bottles and some if the bourbon chocolates. We learned they are ending the tour and gift shop in June 2022.
We then walked around town and had Kentucky Fried chicken and cornbread which were delicious at Mammy's. We then checked a bunch of bars and only found 2 that were having live music but neither bands were playing bluegrass. So we went to McIntyre’s Winery. I liked their Corn Cob Wine which I had never heard of Lol. The next morning we drove for about an hour, dropped the rig and took the Jeep to the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. We figured we would spend an hour there. Well we ended up being there for 3 hours. We took a great tour and learned about the history of the Shakers. https://shakervillageky.org/Shaker
We will return. We then went to Wildside Winery which is a Harvest Host location. We sampled a couple wines and bought a couple bottles. We are 60 miles from Church Hill Downs so we watched the derby on TV. The next day we drove to Callies Campground in Red River Gorge. We checked in got set up and then headed over to natural bridge State resort Park in Kentucky. This park is a part of the Red River Gorge geological area which is in the Daniel Boone National Forest which is part of the Cumberland ranger district. We hiked the natural bridge trail which was only about a half a mile but went straight up hill for 500 ft. This is really an impressive Arch. We hiked on top of the crossed over it and hike for another mile to more viewpoints overlooking the Daniel Boone National Forest. We did a total of 4 miles which was perfect. We then drove over to Miguel's Pizza. A few people have told us you need to eat there so we did. The amazing thing is with their pizzas and they have a list of around 30 different toppings that you can add to create your own. Us being from New York and New Jersey like a thinner crispier crust and our pizza but other than that this was delicious. We then stopped in at Gorge Outfitters. We got into a conversation with the owner who gave us tips on numerous trails and parks to see. Visit them, they are wonderful. https://gorrg.com/
The next day we hiked the Auxier Ridge trail by recommendation from the server at Miguel's. The next morning we decided to stay in this park for an extra night. We drove over to Nada tunnel. We had this tunnel saved on our Google maps for about a year or so and we do know that NADA means nothing. So we assumed that not a tunnel but a tunnel to nowhere. However we found out that it's a hand carved tunnel that originated as a railroad tunnel way back when. Now it's a single Lane car tunnel that is really awesome to drive through. Here is a link to our pictures of those 2 hikes. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdWrLZHsTIG/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
And hers pics of the nada tunnel https://www.instagram.com/p/CdWwUXcMqgM/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
We also learned that this area has the second highest number of arches in the US, of course the #1 area is Arches National Park. So after hitting the tunnel we drove around to the trailhead for the Auxier Ridge trail. We knew that this was going to be a 2.2 mile hike to the edge of the Ridge and then back. But we got to a beautiful overlook had a snack and a glass of wine and sore across the valley was twin Arch. So we pulled out our maps and we realized that there's another trail at the end of The...

Season 2 Episode 77
5/6/22
We left Johnson City on 4/25/22 and arrived in Pigeon Forge Tennessee an hour and a half later. We pulled into the campground they had no record of us reserving and paying for a spot for three nights via Passport America. But they said no problem. We asked that they received our package and they said it's been laying here for 3 days and we had no idea who Paul Sebastian was lol. We are in the south. Our package was a replacement valve for leveling jacks. Hooray our leveling jacks are fixed. We hooked up relaxed for a bit in the 86 degree temps and then drove around Pigeon Forge. The downfall to this town is it seems you really need to drive from place to place. Albiet there is a trolley you can take. It's amazing how many distilleries there are in this area and how many give you free samples, too many lol. We came back to the RV I set up the grill. One of our boondockers welcome hosts suggested cooking quesadillas on the grill. We had never done that but we did it today and I'll tell you what we are hooked. Here's the link to some pictures we took as we entered Pigeon Forge and walked around. You can see the Smoky mountains in the background ttps://www.instagram.com/p/Ccyny0WsvV3/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= The next day Trish did some laundry and I drove around looking for a place to buy propane gas line connections. When we first bought our first rig I installed an extended stay connection on the rig and ran a gas line for a grill and it worked fine. This RV has a quick connect in the back hooked up to the propane tank so I assumed it was going to be working good and it doesn't get as hot. Apparently the connection for the gas grill on this rig is after the regulator on the onboard propane tank so the Weber gas grill has two regulators controlling the propane entering it so it doesn't get so hot. So I'm looking around for connections to avoid the regulator on the Weber grill. Here's a link to the Weber grill we use and have used for going on 5 years now https://amzn.to/3LnQdzu During the night the rains came in and with it a cold front. 20 degrees colder today as compared to yesterday. The rain stopped around 1pm and we took a walk on the Pigeon Forge Greenway, a walkway that follows the West Prong Little
Pigeon River. Here's a link to the walkways https://www.cityofpigeonforge.com/parks-greenways.aspx
So we found Pigeon Forge to be an expensive area. And very touristy. If you have little kids definitely visit Pigeon Forge.
The next day we visited Gatlinburg. We liked Gatlinburg a bit better than pigeon forge. Reason for this is you can actually walk from the store to store instead of having to drive. Either town if you have young kids teenagers or you like to hang out in bars these towns will work.
We parked for $15. Walked one block and then went to Gatlinburg SkyLift Park. This was a bit expensive but we figured we'll never be back to Gatlinburg so might as well experience it. Basically take a chair lift to the top of the mountain is the skywalk which is a suspension bridge great views from the top that a gas fired fire pit with lots of sheets around it I would imagine in the summer it is mobbed but here it is late April and it wasn't bad at all. We then walked around town popping in and out of shops getting some free samples of wine. We then walked down to Hillbilly Golf and played a game of mini golf. We've seen this golf course 2 years ago when we're driving through Gatlinburg with our rig and said when we come back to Gatlinburg we got to play this. You take a small tram ride to the top of a hill and you have a choice of two different golf courses as you walk halfway back down the hill and then the tram picks you up and takes you back down to the bottom. Here some pics

Season 2 Episode 76
4/24/22

So on the last episode I mentioned our leveling jacks were acting wonky. When leveling if I pushed the button to extend the right jacks, the left front would also extend. I called Lippert the their tech support guided me through some testing to ascertain where the problem was. It turns out our Cartridge Valve was bad. The transferred me over to their parts department and the leading parts said we do have it in stock and it's $165.00. Then she said it may just be the coil which is the metal around the valve. She said to check to see if that is magnetized or not. She also said to take out the cartridge valve and use an air compressor and blow it out and sometimes that gets it working. Amazing she's in the parts department and gave us advice on how to avoid buying a new part smh.
Unfortunately our coil was magnetized and I borrowed a guy's compressor blew out the valve and it didn't work so we went on to e-trailer dot com and sore that they had the same valve for $128.00 so we ordered that and had it delivered to a campground we had previously reserved.

So we hooked up and traveled south for an hour and a half to Walnut Cove North Carolina. We pulled into yet another boondocker welcome location it was going to be near freezing that night so the gentleman offered for us to pull the motorhome into his huge garage which we did. This is the first time we ever camped in our RV inside lol. We hooked up to his 50 amp service. We then found the local park and did a short walk and met Kathy a nurse that I used to work with years back. We had a really good dinner and sat for about 2 and 1/2 hours catching up.
We then headed back to our rig had a very quiet night. The next morning we took a ride over to hanging Rock State Park
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZZrcHAWDxBDFTFti7 and did almost 9 miles of hiking. Beautiful.
The next day we had a 1.5 hr drive to Galax VA. We got set up and I tinkered with the rig for awhile then we walked for 2 miles on the New River Trail. The next day we went to Creek Bottom Brewery
https://www.cbbrews.com/lil-bottom/
because we saw they had a band playing. Wow! We walked in and saw only 2 empty chairs and they were at a table for 4. We asked the couple sitting there if we could join them. The band was fantastic! And in a few minutes we were engaged in great conversation with Raymond and Danielle. We made new friends. And we learned that Galax has a fiddlers convention every year and that Mount Airy NC wasn't far away. This is where the Andy Griffith show is based on and it is home town.
This wonderful couple invited us to stay with them on their property the next time we were in town.
An excellent night ! The next day we visited Mount Airy NC and were pleasantly surprised. Here's a link to our pictures from our visit to Mayberry https://www.instagram.com/p/CctNwhsJD1b/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
And here's a link to Mount Airy NC https://www.visitmayberry.com/

We then pulled in to Thistle Meadow Winery. Again wow. This is a Harvest Hosts location and our home for the night. We went in and sampled some wines and bought a bottle of their chardonnay and a block of cheese from Holly. We meet a bunch of their employees and were welcomed by each of them and the owner. Here's a link to my discount page if you want to check out Harvest Hosts RelaxRV.org/discounts
The next day we headed out to Buffalo mountain park. We heard that there was great hiking and views up there. We learned it was about a half hour before we would arrive at our next Harvest Host location. So we drove through the mountains of North...

Season 2 Episode 74
3/23/22

I had gone to the RV show at Rockland county community college in suffern New York back in February. It seems like a lot of the new rigs out there are getting rid of valances and putting up curtains.
It also seems like there's a lot more rigs out there with outdoor kitchens. Which got me thinking our first rig did not have one our second one does. And we don't use the outdoor kitchen very often.
Also I noticed not one rig or camper had a topper on its slide. We love our toppers.

I finished putting up the curtains in the living room which meant removing the valence and moving the light switch. A beautiful decision.
Here's a link to the before and after pics https://www.facebook.com/277623782811787/posts/1115125672394923/

I went to put out my awning and nothing. I then tried the over-the-cab bed also not working. All else working. Tried it on shore power, 12v batteries and generator. Same issues.
I checked 12v fuses, all good.
Are these 2 issues related?
I'm sure they are. The first thing I did was I went to the fuse box the over the cab bed and the awning are on the same 15 and fuse. I tested the fuse and tested good but I replaced it anyway. Nothing.

I called Thor support line. And so the headaches began. There was a recording that they were very overwhelmed and I wouldn't lose my spot and what I like a return call. I figured sure why not. Later that evening somebody was asking a question about Thor service so I told them my experience that I just mentioned. About an hour later I received a private message from a representative that Thor and she is assured me that she would start a ticket for me and have somebody call the next day.
She also told me that I need to register the rig at Thor this way I can be notified of recalls etc. Here's the website she gave me to do that: [email protected]
The next day I did receive a call from a tech support at Thor. But for over an hour she had me looking for the over the cab bed controller. I couldn't locate it she said she would get back to me that afternoon.
A couple hours later she emailed me that there is no controller and I needed to replace a relay I found four of them I took a picture of the one I thought it was. I emailed it to the tech and she said yes that's the one you need to replace. I went online I ordered it it arrived at the house a few days later. I swapped out the relay the problem continued. I emailed her back and let her know this and she had me hook up an amp meter to different connections on the relay and I emailed her the results. She's then conferred with another tech for a couple of hours and got back to me and said the relay I replaced was not the right relay. She sent me the description and a picture of the correct relay.
That was inaccurate there was no other relay underneath the bed. I then sent her an email about my frustration because this has been going on for almost a week now. And I told her if she cannot resolve my issue I want to talk to the service manager. Well that never happened. So after 9 days of dealing with Thor tech I finally gave up. Our choices were to either bring it to a shop, Thor in Indiana, or call George Fry. If you listen to my previous episodes especially early on I've mentioned George's name a few times. George is a local mobile tech here in the Hudson Valley of New York. He helped us diagnose a problem with our solenoid operating our BCC battery control center on our last rig. When he found that problem he recommended we take it to four to have them fix it being a built it. And when our generator failed on our last rig he explained to me about finding the fault code and tracking down the problem while we were on the road near Canada. Here’s the...

Season 2 Episode 73
2/20/22
Welcome to all you new listeners and welcome back to all you long time listeners.
Each month the number of episode downloads just so thank you

So I had just finished recording the last episode and I went to go move the RV so we could bring firewood from our backyard to our house. And the lock on the RV broke. I climbed in the window took it apart from the inside and here's a video of this easy way I removed this broken lock.
https://youtu.be/NERHUQKgbNg
On our last rig we had the same issue except I needed to disassemble the lock to get the door open so it took many hours here's what we did the first time on lock broke.
https://youtu.be/qgLsNSM9mdg
But, when the lock broke this time I just took a deep breath let it out and said I'll deal with it as it unfolds.
So I ordered a replacement lock from etrailer, installed it in a few minutes, problem solved. However I contacted them about fitment and they didn't answer my questions. It is slightly smaller than the original and the only way to lock it from inside is with the deadbolt. Oh well.

I started ripping out the valance in the living room. We had replaced the bedroom valances with curtains and loved it. So we figured we would replace the one in our living room too. For this room we went with a heavy insulated curtain. Why? When we sit in the recliners in the cooler temps we feel a draft so we figured why not.
But, as always it's never an easy fix with a rig.
When we bought this rig we had moved the light switch so Trish could reach it. I had mounted it on the valance LOL. So now I need to rewire that light switch again. It will be a surface mount light switch so I needed an extension box to hold the switch off of the wall. And it was no easy task finding a 3 way switch to work with the extension box.
I also needed to get conduit channels to hide the wires. Now all the alterations that we needed have been delivered so in between our snowmobiling trips I've been working on the electrical switch movement. Next will be the removal of the valance, remounting the pull down shade to the wall and the installing the curtain rod.

Speaking of snowmobile trips we went up to Forestport New York for a few days and loved it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CYujA6LprXs/?utm_medium=copy_link

The reason we went upstate was there was no snow by us. We but then did a day trip to the Catskills for snowmobiling with the loved. We then went over to New Jersey to Ringwood State Park and did a day of snowmobiling there. I did a day of snowmobiling at Stuart field in Newburgh. And another day in Montgomery New York and The Promised Lands State Park in PA.
Then we saw the Adirondacks was getting dumped on 11 inches of snow so we planned a 4-day trip to Lake George New york. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZp6XW5M3cF/?utm_medium=copy_link

We realized our snowmobiling trips or much like our RVing trips. While are being if we stay in one area too long we get very bored so we've learned for us what works is two nights at any one location and then extended from there depending on how much to do in the area. So we cut Lake George short by one day so we spent three days instead of four there. And then in the middle of February we went up to Tupper Lake New York where we had four nights booked at an airbnb. But we changed it to three nights. Again a good choice.
So now it's time to await more snow so it's back to the valance replacement.

We are in the planning stages of our Spring trip in April to Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and who knows...

Season 2 Episode 72 1/16/22 RVing the peaceful way
Happy New Year everyone.
We decided to install a heat strip in our roof AC. I saw that adding the heat strip wouldn't be too much work and not a ton of money. So I confirmed that our AC could be adapted. I had emailed Airxcel at [email protected] and gave them my AC model number, they replied the next day saying it could be modified with a heat strip but I would need to swap out out my controller and thermostat to have it work. They gave me the model numbers for the parts.
So for $190 and about 2 hours of install work, we now have electric heat throughout our whole rig. Yay, that will save us a lot of money as compared to propane for our furnace heat.
I learned this while installing the solar on my 1st rig:
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs
- Henry Ford
I recently came across this gem of a book where I found that quote. 365 Quotes to Live Your Life By https://amzn.to/3t77fv8 It truly follows how I strive to live life.

I created a friendly Facebook group for RVers, share and join if you like to share, learn and teach is a calm peaceful group. But without the drama, this group will never take off.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/604984417456152/?ref=share

We heard the upstate NY was getting a lot of snow. We thought about towing our snowmobile behind our rig and doing some camping while sledding. But the temps we going to be around -15 at night so we decided not to push our luck with our rig, so we rented a air bnb towed the sled behind our Subaru. We stayed at an AirBnB. Great host. We rode our sled (snowmobile) over 100 miles and loved it ! We booked another Airbnb in Tupper Lake New York and then another one in Pennsylvania over the next one month. Riding a snowmobile has a lot of learning curves just like rving. After all snowmobile is an RV LOL. We had her mishaps while riding like getting stuck in a pond after we broke through some ice and rolling over while going up the hill. Thank goodness no injuries to us or the sled.

There are many times in life and in RVing that things don't go exactly as we hoped and planned. I believe that the key to happiness is flexible and accepting of situations that come up that we do not plan nor desire. I remember years ago passing a church and outside was a sign that said those who are flexible will not be bent out of shape. And that too reflects my philosophy on life. Now trust me I haven't been like this my whole life. There's a reason why I became a Stress Management consultant, I did not like the way stress was affecting me. And so I began the process of changing my reactions to stressors.
All of this just happened to coincide with me becoming a nurse. As a nurse I could see the effects of stress on the body. I remember back in 2019 when in the middle of a cold night our furnace died and our batteries died. I took out my phone and I videoed what was going on with the rig and here's the link to that video, https://youtu.be/PzLN9qV0bu8 and a friend of mine watched that video and said he could see the despair on my face and he also said he would not have handled it so calmly. When he said that to me I reflected on how fast are stress response happens. It happened so fast to me in that video he could see the effects. However that night after making that video, I crawled into bed pulled up the down comforter and fell asleep. We cannot stop the instantaneous response to stress. But we can change how long that initial response lasts. This is why I encourage everybody to practice relaxation techniques. Here is a link to my free recordings Relaxrv.org/help

One of the...

We headed to NJ and Pennsylvania to see a reenactment of George Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas day which he did in 1776. But before I get into that, on October 26th while recording the last episode, a package was delivered to the house. I did not want to interrupt the recording so I didn't check what the delivery was. It was our surge protector from progressive Industries so it took them less than a week to mail us a replacement with no email no notification no nothing except a new progressive Industries 30 amp EMS portable protector for our rig. Yay. This is our third surge protector albeit we only paid for 1. Here’s a link to our surge protector https://amzn.to/3EBd1Hw

John and Kathy Huggins in the later episodes of their podcast Living the RV Dream, often mentioned having a 'exit plan'. Plan ahead of time, to know when it's time to leave the road, when to part with your RV and where to live when the times arises. I'm sure I couldn't do that.
But we met wonderful folks in Vermont who are facing that bittersweet time and are contemplating their fairwell trip.
My hats off to them.
I think if I were in that position now, I would make plans for an epic trip but knowing I would never actually take that trip knowing it's my final trip. I would rather sit and plan of the 'someday' trip.

So we I have been home for a while with the rig and we have no other trips planned anytime soon. The leveling system is working great ! It was a $1,000 fix but they are working better than ever. When we first this thing a year ago, it would not level itself automatically. No matter è many times I recalibrated it. Now it works better than ever. Yay.
So now we're felling trees and splitting wood for the wood stove. Spending time with my grandson Maverik.
Tweaking things on the rig and our stone and mortar house.
We took delivery of our 2022 Skidoo Grand Touring Limited 2 up snowmobile. So hopefully we will be doing day trips and some overnight trips with the RV towing the sled. We plan on staying in the promised land State Park in Pennsylvania. And we found a private campground in New Hampshire that's open year-round and is convenient to snowmobile trails. Here's a video of our sled (snowmobile) https://youtu.be/TZY_D30GId4
I also returned to yoga classes this time in Goshen NY. It really helps me relax and loosen up my arthritic joints.
Also I am updating the website making it a little easier to navigate. Adding links to discounts for you folks at
relaxrv.org/discounts
Also adding books on my recommended RVing book page
Relaxrv.org/books

And I added a new blog to my website. It's titled "Health Problems Related to Stress". Here's a link to it:
Relaxrv.org/catagory/blog
When you visit the page click on the "follow" link to be notified when I add a blog.

Now let's talk about George Washington. We booked a Boondockers Welcome location not far from there. We stayed here when we visited Princeton NJ. They have FULL hook-ups with 50amp. During our last stay here, I was talking to our host about this reenactment. It had been on my list for a couple of years to see. So this conversation really whetted my appetite. And Trish's aunt and cousins invited us to Christmas eve and Christmas dinner at their places which isn't far away. So with all the plans made in the rig winterized we went out turned on our refrigerator and freezer. Turned on the heat tape and tank heating pads. And filled up the fresh water tank. We also started up the hot water heater. Next we flushed out the antifreeze that was in any of the lines. There wasn't much because I only put antifreeze into the outdoor kitchen and the outdoor shower. However to get the antifreeze there it didn't run through the lines. Once that was done I blew out...

I met Gina in Albany NY, who runs a non profit that brings yoga and mindfulness to first responders and front line workers . That account is @courageouswarriorcoalition
Changed the oil on a motorhome and the two cars. We got the rig loaded up for a 11-day trip through New Jersey. We have reserved a campground for two nights at 2 different wineries through Harvest Hosts. And five nights at 2 different Boondockers Welcome locations. Both have electric and the last one has a dump available, yay. On the way South we hopped on the garden State parkway and was very confusing about where motorhomes were allowed and weren't allowed. So we emailed the New Jersey turnpike authority and asked about any restrictions for a 30-foot motorhome towing a jeep and they responded back "no restrictions".
So our first stop is old cedar Campground. We are picking up our grandson and taking him there for a haunted Halloween Walk and trick or treating.
Pulled in plugged in progressive Industries EMS and our post had 136 volts. So the surge protector did what it was supposed to do. But that meant we didn't have electricity. And so they moved us to a vacant spot even though they were full. We picked up Trish's grandson went back to the rig and had T bones on the grill. Then we did a spooky walk in the campground, what fun ! This was our 1st Halloween in a campground. Then we lit a campfire and relaxed. The next day we played miniature golf, pool and such. We then walked from the campground to the local winery. Then out for dinner and back to the rig we played cards and read in the rain.
The next morning we talked to the campground to see if we can leave the rig there for a while while we drove our grandson home. They said sure no problem. I then disconnected and noticed our water pump was not working. I checked the fuse that wasn't it I took out the wall panel to get at the pump. I can hear the pump pumping but not very loudly so I figured it must be a clogged filter on the pump turned off the pump closed the water valve took out the filter and voila that was the problem. So after we get back to the rig we drove a full half hour to Bellview Winery for a Harvest Host stay. Here's a is a link to a discount for Harvest Hosts, Boondockers Welcome, solar equipment and RV mattresses
https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/
On the way we drove through Vineland and Trish noted Vineland is the largest city in New Jersey. We bought a bottle of wine and a sangria and sat and enjoyed a glass. Then we drove over to Parvin State Park for about four and a half miles. Then back to the ring set by the vineyard and enjoyed a glass of their wine and sandwiches Trish had made, but it was too cold and we went into the rig to eat and put refectix in the windows. It was 42 degrees Sunday night. Next day we hooked up and drove an hour to Natali Vineyards in Cape May Court House, NJ. for another night at a Harvest Hosts location. But on the way, we hopped off the GSP and drove along the NJ shore and visited Sea Isle City. But to get there we had to go over a drawbridge and while we fit there was only about 2 in on each side of the rig. It was a little out of my comfort zone. We got to Natalie Winery checked in bought bottle of wine and a and a dark chocolate covered biscotti. Unhooked the Jeep and drove over to the Cape May park and zoo. https://www.capemaycountynj.gov/1148/Plan-Your-Visit
They have free admission and some nice trails it was a nice way to spend a chilly windy afternoon. On the way back to the rig we stopped at
Jessie Creek winery, then to the rig for dinner.
The next day we drove north to the Pine Barrens, to a Boondockers Welcome host location. Apparently the Pine Barrens is known as the "Blueberry Capital of the...

We tweaked a few things in the rig. We had a water leak whilst hooked up to city water. I thought there was a loose connection somewhere. Actually the line coming into the rig was kinked and the back pressure caused it. I took off the line straightened it out and viola fixed. Also, we installed curtains in the bedroom. Wow what a great upgrade. Heres a video showing the curtains https://youtu.be/D5Y5zNK4CzI
We have stayed at almost 100 Boondockers Welcome locations for over 200 nights and 16 Harvest Hosts. Heres a link to discounts on those memberships https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/
So on October 1st 2021 we pulled out of our driveway and headed north west to another boondockers welcome location about a half hour outside of Syracuse New York. We pulled in our host met us helped us get set up and we engaged in nice conversations. While I was talking to her I heard a crash inside the RV I looked at our house and I said I think Trish just dropped the coffee pot. She did. So we had plans on heading to a local park to do some hiking but instead we decided to go buy a coffee pot at Walmart near Syracuse. Then we went to Green lakes State Park and did a phenomenal hike around their green lakes. And the reason we were up here was to do the Big East powersports show at the State fairgrounds in Syracuse. The show was focused on snowmobiles. Back in February we ordered a 2022 skidoo 2 up sled. And we have concerns of when it's going to be delivered because of Chip shortage. So we headed over we actually got to sit on the sled that we ordered. And this really wetted our appetite. While walking around the show we saw a guy selling Garmin GPS's with preloaded snowmobile maps of the Northeast. We talked to him about price and then we went and looked at the GPS we had selected on Amazon and also the maps of the Northeast that I've been waiting to purchase. Buying the GPS and maps through his company https://netrailgps.com/ was phenomenally priced.
We were told by a Skidoo rep that the dealers have received a list of delivery dates on some sleds. So we contacted our dealer and he said we are on the list for a November delivery. We are hoping that the sled comes in complete with all chips gadgets lights everything.
The next day we decided to walk around the city of Syracuse and in less than an hour we are ready to do something else. So we went over to Onondaga State Park in road or bike for about 10 MI on the shore of the lake. Very pretty. Everything came back to the rig I looked for my phone and I couldn't find it. Trish grabbed her phone and she saw a text from my daughter that a guy found my phone. So I reached out to the wonderful gentleman got his address and took a ride to his house. Apparently when we were loading the bike onto the car I laid the phone down and left it down and left it there. And also apparently cuz I backed out of the parking lot I ran over the phone and cracked it, thank goodness it's still functioning. Paul take a nice deep breath let It go just relax. That night we had dinner and rig the next morning we said goodbye to our host. Or driving over towards Troy New York when Trish found a winery along the way so we stopped in for a glass of wine.
Afterwards we pulled into our campsite in Troy New York. I ran the hydraulic levelers but it would not level. I looked and only one Jack was down. I reset the keypad try to retract that one Jack would not go up the others would not go down. I knew I could manually override the system but wasn't exactly sure how so I googled it and found the video I then retracted the one Jack that was down. So at least we were not stuck in place. I then started checking wires and fuses but couldn't find anything wrong. I had Trish run the...