Jim Gell

We postponed our trip to Alaska until next summer. We had several delays, the last of which was a wind damaged awning. We should be able to head up much earlier and stay longer next year. We left Ohio a week ago, after having the awning replaced in Elkhart, we spent a few days in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area of Michigan. Yesterday, we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western hemisphere, into the Upper Peninsula. We are now parked at Tiki RV Park in St. Ignace. (probably not recommendable for HDT) Tomorrow, we will take our bicycles on the ferry to Mackinac Island. Jim

Another option, to filter jugs of water that you carry to your campsite from a central water tap, would be this filter. It could also be useful if you're boon-docking and taking water from a stream or lake. Jim

We left the most excellent ECR on Wednesday...thank you Donna and Carl! Spent the first night at Cabelas in Columbus Ohio so we would not have to drive secondary roads in the dark to final destination. That worked out really well. A nice walk past glorious cherry blossoms brought us to Mimi's Cafe for a very good breakfast. On the walk back we stocked up on provisions at Costco. Might have looked a bit suspicious, or indigent, crossing the street with the full cart going back to Cabelas parking lot, but I did have permission to remove cart from Costco if I brought it back. Then a little shopping in Cabelas...I HAD to repay their kindness for allowing us to boondock in their lot. They even have a pay ($10) dump station. The front of trailer would have been quite a bit higher than the rear, and it tilted to driver side, so I am not sure how well it would work with our drains if we had used it. Now we are boondocking in FIL's driveway. It's the first time we tried extended period without shore power. Testing to see how long we can go without generator in poor solar charging conditions. Good so far after a couple days of poor solar. Going to be here at least a couple weeks working on the to do list and then heading west and maybe Alaska. Jim

We got to the ECR yesterday. It's going to be a great rally. So many old friends here that we haven't had time to talk to all of them yet.

Ron, we are sad to hear your having medical issues. Get well soon! Cathy and Jim

We are leaving Summerdale, AL in the morning and plan to arrive at ECR early Saturday afternoon.

We are at Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale,AL for at least a couple more weeks, but may extend a month.

We are in Mayo, FL at Suwannee River Rendezvous until Monday. John Palmer exchanged the inverter remote he sold me in January for a new one that is compatable with my hybrid inverter. I installed it this morning and my lithium battery seems to like the new settings I was able to program. Hope saying that doesn't jinx it! Friday I am taking truck down to Henry for a hitch repairs/upgrade. We will go to Topsail SP on Monday for 5 nights including Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!

We should arrive at Rainbow Plantation on 12/26. We look forward to seeing you and Danielle before you take off.

We will stay in Mayo a week, start in 12/14. John Palmer is swapping the ARC-ME he sold me for a newer one with firmware compatable with the hybrid inverter. I am also taking truck down to Henry to swap out the hitch. Then we will stay 5 nights in Topsail SP before arriving at Rainbow Plantation for a month.

We are in Charleston, SC until December 14 when we go to Florida for a couple weeks. We arrived here a few days before Thanksgiving, but I forgot to post it.

We are at Cherry Hill Park outside Washington DC near the Beltway in MD. My son came down from NY and is sleeping in the truck. We had a great day yesterday with him and my daughter who lives here including a nice church service and a visit to the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA.

I am on a little side trip to Master Tech in Elkhart to get our slide repaired. Jim

Cathy and I left Cave City, KY this morning and are now set up in her dad's backyard. We will be here in Ohio emptying our storage sheds and helping my parents empty their house and barn so they can sell and go into assisted living. Any luck and we will be back on the road in June. Jim

We were among the last of the HDT'rs to leave Deer Run (ECR) this morning. We had a great time and learned a lot! We are in now at Cave Country Campground in Cave City, KY where we will spend a few days including visit to Mammoth Caves Nat'l Park before heading to Ohio to clean out sheds and take care of other business. You know how people in cars sometimes drive up beside you and check out your rig? I had it happen this afternoon by a marked sheriff car. He even came up on my left in a left turn only lane and then backed off and pulled in behind me instead of making the left turn. He followed me quite a ways. I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I still felt relieved when we parted ways. Jim

We arrived at Sumter Oaks SKP Park in Bushnell, FL yesterday afternoon. We finally were able to get individual wheels weighed. I will start a thread on that later. I had the flu the whole time we were at our last stop, Wekiwa State Park. The highlight of my stay was having a beautiful adult bobcat run across the road in the campground in front of me.

We left Ft. Wilderness (Disney World) this morning and are now at Wekiwa Springs State Park, near Apopka, FL. Pretty tight manuvering but we put the 5th wheel, smart and the Volvo on the csmpsite without hitting any trees. Worst part was that I was sick with a fever, GI issues, and a splitting head ache. We would have extended stay at Disney, if they had availability so I would not need to drive today. Maybe they just wanted me out when I told them I was to sick to drive. I am feeling quite a bit better tonight. Jim

JC, we wish you a speedy and full recovery.

We arrived at Fort Wilderness (Disney World) yesterday afternoon. After we did an amazing (to me) job backing the trailer into the site and the truck next to it, several people came over to say they were sure we would not fit, etc. The road into site was barely passable in spots, but we squeezed through. Cathy applauded my skills then warned me not to let it go to my head. We will be here 6 nights. Jim

We arrived at Suwannee River Rendezvous Campground in Mayo, FL today. We will be here for two weeks. Our trip down from Charleston was uneventful, which was a very a good thing for a change.

We are at Oak Plantation RV Park in Charleston, SC for a month.

We are re-packing our trailer and taking care of stuff that needed doing in Ohio. We will be here until December 1, provided we don't get snowed in. It's a very pretty morning with light snow now, see picture, but it's about to get brutally cold. (10 F tonight, 13 below with wind chill) I think I winterized the trailer OK, ... guess we will find out. We are sleeping in the house and will de-winterize the trailer when we get to Charleston SC in December.

JC, We saw you up in Mishawaka yesterday on our way back from the Flat Top Grill in the mall there. It was the first time we ate at one of those and we liked it a lot. We ordered a custom dinette/credenza today from an Amish woodworker (Focal Wood Products) in Nappanee. He will build it this coming week and install it on Friday, so we will be hanging out in the area around Goshen, Indiana until then. Our first project for him was to make some pieces we needed to install our flat panel TV in living room. They look good and I will try to install the TV while we are hanging out here. We will also take the trailer to White Pigeon during the week and ask the Big Foot folks if they can make some changes to the installation they did. I just hope we can hang on to this gorgeous weather we are experiencing a bit longer. It will make us nervous thinking of prepping for our first freezing weather, and it looks like we won't get south enough fast enough to miss it. Our slide seals are done, but they said we could stay the weekend. We heard the campground at the fairgrounds in Goshen will still be open, so we will probably head there when we leave Precision Paint on Monday. Jim

We are at Precision Paint, Bremen, Indiana to get new slide seals.

Why is that you would not do that again soon? I was thinking I might stop when I went by some day. Not a good idea?