Tag: life

Day 2771

Rain, Rain, Rain

After going months without rain in Arizona we have had more that enough, and from Saturday and Sunday driving in the rain is just not something I enjoy or want to do. And only because we had commitments did we drive in the heavy rain on Saturday. I woke at 6:20 this morning and lets just say it wasn’t because the sun was shinning in my eyes, cloudy, misty, overcast absolutely nothing to make one want to get out of bed. But we need to push on down the road today to make our next commitment on Tuesday. Yesterday was a short day and today will be a longer day as we position ourselves for Tuesday.

A quick check of our house batteries has then at 38% not an issue but it is not looking like a good solar day, after a few treats for Mister Sam we had some bonding time before he left for the big bed, todays destination is a Cracker Barrel in Marion Indiana on I-69, but to get there we have Indianapolis on our route. Indianapolis is constantly under construction and I have transverse the city multiple ways, and all I know for sure is that it is always a horses back side. When Miss Laurie gets up and apparently I slept through a noisy truck right beside us at two o’clock this morning, which just goes to prove if you are tired enough you can sleep just about through anything.

Breakfast this morning was fried eggs, salsa and sour dough toast, and yes there was a wee bit of Irish blessing in my fresh perked coffee this morning. I want to transverse Indianapolis around the lunch hour today to have lighter traffic and because we need fuel today we need to be on the road around 9 am. We also enter our last time zone today so we will spring ahead that final hour into Eastern Daylight Saving Time. so just one more trip through the clock reset, every time we go through this process I look at atomic clocks that automatically adjust to the time changes but I’m never sure whether they would work for travelling or just if stationary.

As we start today’s journey we drive into some light rain, and there is the hope of some clear skies ahead but there again we have all been lied to before, we rumble down I-70 east bound and it is rough but as we cross the State line into Indiana it takes a turn for the worse, why does a state with some of the highest fuel prices also have some of the worst highways? I’m not thinking this road is great and a country with a self inflicted recession looming it won’t be great for a long time. Today’s fuel stop is at a Speedway with a pump price of $3.599 and after our discount will still be $3.115, we took on 50.656 gallons (191.75 liters), we will have one more top off before crossing the border.

We reached Indianapolis around 12:30 EDST and we followed I-465 southern bypass around the city, there are a number if Interstate highways that pas through the city I-70, I-69, I-65, I-74 plus US-36, US-31, US-40, US-52, so a never ending collection of interchanges then add to never ending construction it makes for about 25 miles (40 kilometers) of aggravation. Once past the bedlam of Indianapolis we are headed north east toward Fort Wayne, and Mister Sam is voicing his unhappiness with todays travel, Miss Laurie is spending some time trying to comfort him but I’m thinking he will be unhappy until we shut down for the night.

2:11 EDST and we have made it to the Marion Cracker Barrel, I have pulled into a section behind the restaurant to avoid having to disconnect Ruby, I normally don’t do this but I know most patrons wont walk any further that necessary, and we should be clear to leave in the morning. We have caught a little sunshine today but not enough to replenish the battery bank so I have ran the generator for about 45 minuets. The running of the generator does a number of things besides charging the battery bank at 90 amps, it energizes the heater for hot water and energizes the ice maker to make another tray of cubes, not a big deal but I do like my beverage with ice.

So a couple of updates from our travels so far, Starlink now attached to Thunders roof gets two thumbs up, we have been streaming music as we drive, the only blips have been when stopping for fuel under a canopy, on another note we had some buffering while parked in Arnold MO at the Cracker Barrel upon checking we had speeds of only 20 MBPS but except for a few seconds of buffering no other issues. Our storage tanks are all in great shape and the Garnet “SEE LEVEL” tank gauges are working out well, with me now checking it regularly and getting accurate reading we have gone from lights indicating 1/4 tank graduations to reading in percentages, the difference is mind boggling and as I look back I should have done this eight years ago.

Miss Laurie made us some grilled cheese for lunch and I haven’t asked whether we are having dinner or breakfast at this Cracker Barrel, the only thing I know for sure is that it will be take-out so that we can enjoy the meal in the coach either with a beverage of a bless coffee in the morning. Mister Sam is on the dash in his bed, Miss Laurie is having a nap or watching videos and I’m laying out the last few days of our trek to Ontario, our projected border cross day looks like Thursday. Miss Laurie has decided on Breakfast so is preparing Quesada’s for dinner, I watched the Canadian News and we caught up on some recorded shows, it’s just 10 o’clock and I’m going to call it a night as tomorrow will be a short drive day but a busy day with friends.

Today’s numbers: run time of 3:45 covering a distance of 221 miles (355.6 kilometers) consuming 27.7 gallons (104.8 liters) averaging 58 mph (93.3 km per hr) and fuel mileage of 7.9 mpg (29.7 liters / 100 km),

Day 2353

Wednesday March 13th 2024

Dear Journal:

Well 6:46 has now become what I classify as sleeping in, at least for me, I was rousted out of bed by Mister Sam this morning, he wanted the bedroom window shade up so he could watch the birds, bunnies, and chipmunks. He had already had his morning treats thanks to Miss Laurie who was up and had the coffee perking when I was awoken from my sleep. Oh well it is light out and the sun will peak over the mountain any moment, so I guess it is time that I was up. The smell of the perking coffee almost makes it seem like a good time to be up and a few moments latter after that first sip of coffee, my whole world seems to make much more sense.

A little television this morning as we enjoy our coffee and see that the folks up in Ontario are getting some spring weather this morning, We just hope it is going to be an early spring and that the nice weather is still there when we arrive in a month or so. Miss Laurie prepared an omelet this morning for breakfast, we will try and connect with some friends today, but as of yet have not heard from anyone. I’m going to hike around the Arboretum this morning, it has been a while since my last walk, and it is always a good idea to know where the best spots are for the weekend crowds, and I have not been as mobile as I would like to be this year, but I’m feeling good this morning.

Spring has obviously hit the Arizona desert as well as we have roses budding, cactus and yuccas blooming along with a splattering of spring flowers, the cotton wood trees in the Queen creek canyon are in full leaf and we have had enough rain that even the Ocotillo have leaves. A walk in the Arboretum shows that this warm weather has got everything bursting to life. Ayer lake is almost full, the area looks so much better now as the barriers have been removed and the water foul appear to be making this home. The Arboretum is busy today, not weekend busy but too busy for me to enjoy my walk, there were people in all of my favorite spots, and with spring break there was too much noise to see much wildlife, although there was a vermillion flycatcher enjoying some insects around Ayer lake, too far away for my iPhone to capture but great to observe anyway.

Well after my walk I settled into my recliner and started a new book this morning, I’m still experiencing problems with the Libby App and the Hamilton Library, I have been able to log in again and have got a few books but for some reason the reciprocity with other libraries is no longer in place, making it difficult to get some of the books that I want in the order that I want them. I have been reading a number of different serries and it just is nice to read them in the correct order, but now that I only have the one library to draw from I have a few issues getting the next volumes. I’m not sure what the problem is but I’m assuming it still has something to do with the Hamilton City hall hack last month.

After reading and sneaking a short nap while enjoying some lap time from Mister Sam, I figured it was time to get back to work on todays blog. I did not write one yesterday as I just worked around the coach while Miss Laurie went on a rock hounding adventure, I resealed Thunders windshield in prep for our trek north, and I ordered a number of items off of Amazon so I can finish a number of projects before heading north. The items should all be here next week, giving me a couple of weeks to get things finished off.