Here we come again
Who on earth goes camping (RVing) in the middle of August in South Florida? Well, I guess I do. With a few days off from work, I just happened to check availability at the Army COE St. Lucie South campground, and four nights were sitting there waiting for me to book. This was probably a cancellation due to recent nearby tropical activity. Fortunately the storms didn't come close to us. In fact, a large high pressure weather system ended up dominating our weather - meaning very hot, abundant sunshine, and no rain. This was a real test for the air conditioners, insulation, radiant barrier on Kraken. There was no shade for us at site 7, just brilliant full sunshine.
Since this campground is so close to our home, it was sort of a hybrid trip. We only brought some breakfast and lunch items. Dinner the first night was Chalupas, and Gail and Shawn joined us. The next night was a bucket of chicken from Popeye's, leftovers the next, and finally a baked ziti that Candace baked and brought over from the house. This campground doesn't have sewer hookups, so we had to watch water consumption. Turns out our tanks are plenty big enough and the level readings on the galley and black tanks are starting to work (a least better). More vinegar and Bio-clean!
I mostly worked on several projects. The ceiling vent at the rear of the coach got a thorough cleaning. So did the shower and toilet. Candace and I put up a few more decorations as well as a new magnetic knife holder.
I updated the onboard Raspberry Pi 4 computer. I used expanding spray foam to fill a couple of leaks in the A/C ducts, completing all work I intended to do on them. And I am happy to report that the additional cooling fans and insulation for the back of the refrigerator are working well. I even had time to get out the solar panels and play with the electrical system modifications that I completed earlier this year.
Denied
This campground is at a working lock for the east end of the Okeechobee Waterway. There is a 14.5' lift that takes about 20 - 25 minutes to complete. Wednesday morning, Summer Star, a large tug boat was pushing dredging equipment from the Lake to Ft. Lauderdale.
She was quite long, and the lock operator doubted that the entire vessel would fit into 50 feet wide x 250 feet long lock chamber. The pilot insisted on trying and skillfully maneuvered the rig into the lock as far as he could.
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As you might be guessing, the lock operator was right. Summer Star backed the rig back out, and over the next several hours the rig was sent thru the lock in smaller parts and reassembled below the lock.
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Nice try, but ...