A week at home

Well, we successfully delivered the RV to Duncan RV Repair on Friday last week. We got set up with one of the Master Technicians, Ron, and spent a couple of hours with him. We gave him our list of concerns, and he reviewed each one with us. Because we had a couple of paint issues, he introduced us to the "paint man", Vinny, who looked over the entire coach with us also. They are both really great guys, and thorough in their work . . . we're confident that they are going to do a great job, and get our coach into the "new" shape it should have been in. As a matter of fact, Ron called me today to find out where I had put the broken handle to the central vac floor port -- he knew I showed it to him, but didn't know where I put it after that! I told him it was in the bottom kitchen drawer . . . and then he went on to give me a status update. He's already taken care of many of the items on our list, and a few are awaiting authorization from Newmar, and he's found a few little things that he's fixed and added to our list. Great service!!

After dropping off the RV, we picked up a pie to take to my parents, and had pretzels and shakes in Shipshewana. Then we headed to "Grandma's Lake". It's really Manapogo Park, in Orland, IN, but in our family it's always been known as "Grandma's Lake". I remembered to take a few pictures. My parents have been seasonal there since the mid-70s, so they have a prime site in the "front row" overlooking the lake. Unfortunately, in the last few years, they've allowed people to park in the area between this row of campers and the beach, but the campers are on a slight hill, so the view is still pretty decent.

Looking towards the beach.

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Looking towards the boat docks.

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Looking back at the campsite,

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and the firepit.

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We had a really nice weekend there. After a downpour early Saturday morning, the sun came out and it was beautiful. Tom and the boys went with my brother-in-law out in his boat to ride around and swim in the middle of the lake. My mom, my sisters and I sat in the sun, reading our books and talking about my niece's upcoming wedding (Aug. 8th). Saturday night we had a nice fire, and I made hobo pies -- blueberry, cherry, apple . . . and cheese for my mom! They all love them, but nobody likes to cook them, so they all wait for me to be there so I can make them for everybody!! I don't mind . . . On Sunday, we sat in the sun some more, and then everybody was heading home kindof early. We were on the road by 4pm, and home by 6pm.

At home today, I had to put in a few hours of work, and then the kids and I ran over to the local florist to arrange to have some flowers delivered to Tom's mom on Friday -- it's her 80th birthday! This afternoon I baked cookies and made spaghetti sauce for dinner -- both were yummy! We're not getting any action on our house lately, and it's a good thing because I haven't had time to clean or do any weeding -- and it's really beginning to show!! So, today after an early dinner, Tom was working on his car and the boys were watching a movie, I decided to give the kitchen a thorough cleaning . . . cleaned the stove, cleaned the counters, mopped the floor . . . it really needed it, and now it looks great! I'll leave the weeding for Saturday morning -- it's supposed to cool down some again this weekend.

OK, I guess that's enough for tonight. I'm going to go downstairs and watch some tv with Tom and the kids, and work on my list of what to pack for our tenting vacation next week.

Our first trip to the RV Repair Shop

"Already??" you ask. Yes, remember I mentioned the bad seal around the slide? We're going to get that replaced, and have a few other minor things taken care of that we failed to notice during delivery of the RV -- too much to absorb at once!!



So, we are taking it to Duncan RV Repair in Elkhart, IN. This is a shop that RV Dude told us about that does Newmar warranty work. We're dropping it off tomorrow, and then spending the weekend with my parents, who are in the area. We'll return for another weekend visit with my parents in a few weeks, and stay to pick up the RV on Monday morning. We'll be without our rig for three weeks, but not to worry -- our next camping trip requires us to be in tents anyway -- that'll be an adventure!



We didn't do too much this week -- just work, catching up with laundry, and emptying the RV of all the "camping stuff" we'll need. This weekend should be nice -- we haven't been to "Grandma's Lake" since Memorial Day . . . I'll try to remember to get some pics this time!



That's it for tonight . . . going to bed now, so we can get a fairly early start tomorrow.

Geneva State Park - Lake Erie

Well, the mailman brought us the title to the truck Wednesday just before noon, and we made a quick (OK - not so quick, but as good as could be expected) trip to the Secretary of State Office. We paid our sales tax, transferred our plate from my minivan, and we on our way home to complete packing. Tom and the boys filled the truck with diesel ($2.59/gallon), while I finished packing the trailer. We finally hit the road at 3:45 pm.

Trip statistics:

240 miles each way
Paid $2.59, $2.63 and $2.69 for diesel, for a total of $202.30
Averaged 8 mpg -- only drove a few miles without the trailer, mostly used our bikes
Paid $13.75 in tolls on the Ohio Turnpike

Geneva State Park is on the shore of Lake Erie, in the resort town of Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio. There are approximately 70 paved sites with electric, 3 full hookup sites (for hosts), and about a dozen primitive sites in the campground. The state park also emcompasses some rental cabins, a large beach, a marina and boat launch, and a lodge. The roads are all paved, and each site has a 10' x 45' paved pad on which your rig and tow vehicle (or toad) both need to fit. They are very strict about no parking on the grass, which makes for very nice grassy sites. The loop we were in (sites 1- 37) was very open and sunny, and the other loop was more shady.

We arrived at 8pm, and the check-in station was already closed, so we followed the procedure for self check-in (we had reservations and were already paid in full). We we able to back in far enough to have our back wheels at the very end of the pad, so that the truck could fit in front of it. It was tight, but we got them both on the pad!

From 200907_Geneva_OH

Wednesday - Friday were cloudy and chilly, with a little bit of rain, but we managed to keep busy anyway. We checked out Geneva-on-the-Lake, the Ashtabula working harbor and some of the area wineries, and did some bike riding. The park had just completed a paved bike path from the campground into town -- not sure of the mileage, but it was about a 25 minute ride, one way. It was a really nice path -- wide, smooth, and very scenic!

From 200907_Geneva_OH

On Saturday, the weather improved greatly. The boys had been bugging us to take them to "Adventure Zone", which is your typical mini golf/go-cart/bumper boat/arcade money pit. We bought an Adventure Pass for $13 each which gave the boys each 1 go-cart ride, 1 bumper boat ride, and 1 round a miniature golf.

From 200907_Geneva_OH

From 200907_Geneva_OH

They had fun there, and then we went to Eddie's Grill for lunch. This is a 50s style outdoor burger/hot dog/ice cream shop -- fun atmosphere and good food!

From 200907_Geneva_OH

On Saturday night, there was a fireworks display at the Municipal Golf Course, which we went to, again on our bikes. We were told that would be a better option, since there is only one road through town and it would be bumper-to-bumper on Saturday -- they were right! After the fireworks, we went to Eddie's Grill again, this time for one of their overflowing Blizzards (Eddie's is also a DQ) -- YUM!! We were amazed at the number of people in town - it was packed!

On Sunday, we went to mass in the morning in nearby Geneva, OH, and then returned to the campground for a quick lunch before heading to the beach. We spent the afternoon swimming and soaking up the sun, and I finished my 2nd book of the weekend. Ahhhh . . . vacation!!

From 200907_Geneva_OH

We had a good campfire that night, and burned almost all of our remaining wood. Campfire tip that we got from our neighbor -- take cardboard egg cartons, packed them with dryer lint, and soak the lint with melted candle wax -- they make really good fire starters.

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On Monday, we packed up, cleaned up the RV, and were on the road by 11:45am, arriving home just before 4pm. It was an uneventful drive (always good!), and overall a very nice first trip in our new home!