Minnie Updates

My Minnie took an adventure without me in June!

A few months ago, Heather announced their family was planning to rent an RV and take a summer vacation to a couple national parks. I immediately asked if they would be interested in taking my Minnie and Fit, if the calendar worked out. It just sits in my side yard for many months each year, and there was no reason they couldn’t take it. In the next few weeks, we worked out the timing for a short overnight trial run, for both training purposes and also for them to make sure it would suit their needs (size-wise mainly since they would be camping with 4 people.) We drove up to Usery Pass campground just north of Mesa, and I took them through setup, hookup, and dumping processes, and then I drove the Fit back home, leaving them for the overnight experience. They agreed it was a valuable trial and training run, and they eagerly began planning their trip. 

They left home on June 10, and visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, then Bryce National Park and Zion National Park, all locations I have been to and love. They returned home on the 16th and declared they think they want to get an RV in their empty nest or retirement years. So I think that means they enjoyed it!

While they were gone, they had to deal with the inconvenience of a couple broken items that I hadn’t gotten around to fixing this year. When they got home, I figured it was time to get them done. The Balches had given me some money to put toward a new awning, so I got that ordered first thing. It was installed on July 5, the day before I was planning to leave for the White Mountains, so perfect timing! 

My pantry latch had broken last fall on my last trip to the Mogollon Rim, and it would fly open and slide out when driving if it was not tied closed.  I came up with the idea of a cupboard latch, and Daryl installed it for me.  It works great to keep the door closed and hold the pantry sliding shelf in place. The last thing was the water hookup valve, which sprang a leak while H&M were on their trip. I ordered a new valve that happened to come while Dale was in town for an appt, and he installed it for me. 

June/July is always when my licenses and insurance come due, and now those are also taken care of for another year. So that’s the current maintenance and repairs that were on my list. As Richard loves to frequently remind me, it’s always something, and owning an RV is not free.

Now it is time to head off on my next adventure. I really wanted to take an RV trip across the country to see Barb Heimel this year, but medical appointments and the high price of gas complicated those plans. So I decided to stick closer to home, and camp in the high country of Arizona this year and hope a longer trip will be more affordable next year. 

See you down the road. 

Nashville - Northern Terminus of the NTP

After leaving the mechanic shop on Wednesday morning, I drove the final fifty miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway. There were a few historical spots in those last miles that were interesting and worthwhile.

I found a site at Montgomery Ball State Park campground west of Nashville.

I drove into the city on Thursday to see some sights in the Country Music capital of the world. First stop, Country Music Hall of Fame. The senior price for admission to the museum was $23.95. You are allowed to take no-flash pictures of anything inside the museum, but unfortunately, almost everything is displayed behind glass with low lighting, which makes it very difficult to get any good shots without glare. Some of the best pieces are positioned in such a way that you cannot frame them nicely in a photo. Johnny Cash’s Black suit that he wore when performing at Folsom Prison was in a corner, and glare from other exhibits covered part of the shot.

From there, I walked over to the Ryman Auditorium. They also wanted $25 for admission. Since I only had 30 minutes left on my parking pass, I decided not to go inside, but instead walked back to my car. There was too much construction going on downtown and I figured it would be another $25 admission to the Grand Ole Opry, so instead of driving to it, I just headed back to camp. I’ll visit Nashville another time, maybe with Alice and Glenda, and we will take in more sights then.

Friday morning, I packed up camp and moved up to Kentucky Dam State Park where I got a space for two nights. On Saturday, I drove to Paducah to visit with my childhood friend. Denice has a progressive disease and is quite ill, but she invited me to come by. I visited with her by her bedside for about two hours. Her sister Sharion, who helps her husband care for her at home, was also there, and we all got caught up on family news.

Back at camp that evening, I made my plans to turn west and head home.

Battery Woes

Before getting on the road Tuesday morning, I decided to check my generator. The weather had turned cool enough that I planned to dry camp in Meriwether Lewis Campground, so I wanted to make sure everything was good. Imagine my chagrin when the gennie would not start! After texting with my brothers we determined I likely had battery problems. As I was checking the connectors and water levels, one of the cables actually came loose, revealing a very corroded break. That definitely seemed to be the culprit.

I decided not to deal with it today, but to keep moving north.

I stopped at a small rustic RV Park just off the Trace near Hohenwald. The surrounding woods provided a nice place for Hanna and me to walk.

The next morning I drove straight to a mechanic shop where they fixed the broken battery cable. That seemed to resolve the issues with providing battery power to Minnie, but my generator still would not start. I didn’t want to waste more time and spend any more money on it while out of town, so just decided to camp with hookups the rest of the way home. Then I can take the RV in to a specialized shop in Mesa and have them deal with it and a few other issues at once over the winter.

I will complete the Parkway today and start making my way home.