Sunday, November 23, 2008

RoadAbode - Tucked in for the Winter

After our outing with the RPC YA Group, was time to winterize RoadAbode. After Sunday services, had lunch, then started working with Amy on the process. Dumped most of the water out of the fresh tank into the Black and Grey, then added a little "Tide" for good measure to the black so it would get cleaned out well. Next, Amy crawled under the bed and set the valves to dump the remaining water from the fresh tank, while I emptied the hot water heater and flipped the valve under the galley sink to shut it off from the system. Hooked up the special "winterizing hose" to the waterworks panel. Switched all the valves back to their original places, then ran the pump enough so that the pink non-toxic antifreeze was run throughout the pipes.  We put the mattress and everything back in order, pulled out any foodstuffs, and then I headed up to do the last dump of the black and grey tanks. Filled the gas tank, and then got to her spot in storage. Put some pink antifreeze in all her drains, some in the toilet, and replaced the hot water drain plug. closed up all the blinds and windshield covers. Last step, put her wheel covers on. Was getting pretty dark when I finished. Looked around, made sure didn't forget anything, and bid RoadAbode adieu for the winter. We'll stop and run her, but basically, next real trip won't be til at least March. Was a fun camping year....plenty of memories.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

With the RPC YAs at Lancaster


RoadAbode @ Rockvale
To see the full story of Hosting the RPC YAs Group - go here. We left RPC at 9am, and met them at RockVale Outlets in Lancaster. Worked out well parked by the playground (picture above taken from playground)
We werre able to "entertain" our guests pretty well. From Coffee, Hot Chocolate, and tea, to DVD movies, Internet access to check on if prices at the outlet were good,  and to a simple but warm lunch of Mac-n-cheese, hotdogs, and chili. I even saw someone take a nap! It was blustery and chilly - 36F - outside, but quite cozy in RoadAbode.

Playground at Rockvale

Fun on da Playground
One of our shorter guests playing on the playground at Rockvale Outlets.

New Kitchen Faucet

Friday Night tested to make sure that all systems were "go" for the outing with the RPC YA Group. Well, they weren't.  When testing the water pump, heard a "pop!" and gurgle, and found that the cold water faucet handle support had cracked. With the recent freezing nights, sure it was a factor, but we had had some previous issues...so I guess it was it's time to go. Removal was easy - amazed that the whole thing was really plastic! - and then it was a trip to the Hardware store. Two hours later, and $67 dollars poorer, I had the real brass and chrome beauty pictured above installed - and a hour of that was selecting which one to install! The way the fixures components were created, it was all hand tighten, no tools even needed. Pretty Nifty!