Memorial Day on the Cape

Our second trip in the new RV was to the Cape for a Memorial Day long weekend. I had been in Las Vegas all week and got in Friday morning (after missing my connection in Atlanta on Thursday night and having to stay at an airport hotel...argh!). Of course, Deb had taken care of loading the rig with food and clothes and generally getting things ready (I should probably keep her huh?) so I basically just rolled in and we headed out.

We had a pretty easy drive, hitting a bit of traffic where 495 ends and turns into 25 on the approach into Bourne.

And then there's the Sagamore bridge... Even though this rig is slightly narrower than the old one, it's still a thrill going over that bridge. It's not really the narrowness of the lanes that makes it so fun (though they are), it's the sidewalk/curb on the right side that is about a foot and a half above the roadway. These things are so high that you run the risk of scraping the side of the MH on them if you get too close. It's quite disconcerting. I end up just sticking out into the left lane a bit and making those guys just wait until I get over - screw 'em.

Before we left, I had tried to enter our destination in the newly refreshed radio/nav unit. But, as is typical with these things, the user interface is abysmal and I didn't want to spend the time sitting in the driveway programming a destination that we already knew how to get to, so I gave up. Well, about halfway down route 6 on the Cape, the nav unit pipes up and says "Prepare to turn right" (or something like that). Deb and I looked at each other with wonder. She (the Nav unit, not Deb) hadn't said a damn thing the entire trip and I had never actually told it where we were going so where did she think she was taking us? She never said a thing after that either so I have no idea what she was trying to get us to do.

We had very light traffic to Dennis and got to our usual stay at Shady Knoll Campground. We like this one because it's pretty quiet (since there's almost nothing for kids to do there) and it's almost directly on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. We used to put the tandem inside the other rig but it's a pain to wrestle in through the door and then secure during the drive so we put it on the hitch mounted rack instead. Although designed for single bikes, it worked fine for the tandem which just barely fit within the width of the rig.

We set up camp pretty easily and I hooked up the grill to the extension hose from the main tank - this time I brought the stove regulator! I almost wanted to just leave the gas on to bask in the convenience of not having to use those damn bottles any more.

I did notice that even though the jacks said we were level, there was a noticeable forward pitch to the rig. I never got around to playing with the system so I'll have to take note of it next time. I watched the Tech dude set the reference level at the dealer when we were inside on a concrete (level) floor so I'm not sure why it would be out of whack when raised. I think I can override the auto-leveled state but that kind of defeats the purpose of auto-leveling coolness.

On Saturday, Deb wanted to go into Hyannis to a quilt store she likes so we decoupled from water and power and headed over. We skirted the crowded downtown area and found a parking lot with enough room to maneuver. She shopped while Skip and I relaxed in the rig. When she got back, we walked around town and got an ice cream and then headed back.

On Sunday, we aired-up the tandem and rode the Rail Trail for a bit. This was the first time on the bike this year so we didn't do a long ride. On the way back we stopped at our favorite trail-side restaurant - El Guappos Taqueria. Fabulous soft tacos in a little basket - yum.

On Monday, I checked the holding tanks before getting a shower and saw that the grey water was full. I figured I might as well dump everything so I got on the gloves and went to hook up the Stinky Slinky. One of the things I don't like about this rig is that the Sewer, Fresh water, and power hook-ups are all in one compartment. I don't like mixing the sewer system with anything else because disasters *do* happen.

Have any idea where this is going???

So yeah, I take the cap off the end of the drain port and get a nice splash of black water all over the inside of the compartment. Wonderful! I guess I have a slow leak in the black water valve. One nice design is that there is a hand held shower head also in that compartment and I manage to get that turned on with my one clean hand and rinse the inside of the compartment as best as I can. It would be nicer if there was a low point in the compartment that all the water would drain to but nope it's pretty much flat and the only openings are the entry ports for the slinky hose, the water hose, and the power cord and they all have lips that the water won't go over. Of course, when I do manage to sweep most of the water out with my hand, it lands on the ground underneath and immediately runs to, and pools around, the wooden block that one of the jack legs is standing on.

After much cursing, dumping, and cleaning, I manage to get things empty and cleaned up using about 50 Clorox wipes in the process. I did a bit of Googling for information about how others have handled this problem and it sounds like it might just be something fouling the valve slightly and a bit of working it open and closed a few times might clear it out. Otherwise, I'll have to replace the valve. I did that on the old rig and it's not that bad of a job once you get the stuff out of the tank.

The ride home was stop and go all the way off the Cape but easy after that. All in all, a fun weekend despite the sewer problems.

Pirate Radio

So, remember how the radio didn't work because I don't have the Nav disk for it? Well, I can't go into much detail but let's just say that the radio is working now...

It's truly amazing what kind of information is available in the internet underbelly.