Taking Entertainment Wherever you can Find It

It’s raining, it’s pouring,
Ole is snoring

Well, not exactly right now, but he has been checking his eyelids for leaks off and on this morning. It started raining last night and hasn’t stopped yet. So the Harley has taken up residence in the trailer and it’s a day of movies and reading and snoozing off and on. Senior Citizen Simon loves it as he’s got someone to curl up next to for his daylong naps.

The Internet has been flaky to say the least. Some times I can connect from the RV and sometimes I have to go to the office to connect. And of course today is the day that the wifi chooses not to reach the RV, so I’ll have to walk up to the office in order to send this. I hope you people understand how important you are to me because otherwise I sure wouldn’t walk that far through the pouring rain and puddles, uphill both ways (snicker). So even though I haven’t got a lot to say today, I hope you appreciate this!!

Yesterday dawned bright and clear and COLD – 46 degrees. Not exactly biking weather, so we waited until about one o’clock when it finally reached 50. We leathered up and headed for Sturgeon Bay, about 20 miles from here, to go to the Maritime Museum.

They had some interesting exhibits, both about current and historical events with lots of pictures, which is what I really enjoy. There are seven old lighthouses on this peninsula, some built back as early as 1835. They are all still working lighthouses, the lights having been updated of course. The museum also covered all the wrecks that have taken place offshore, along with the history of all the shipyards in the area. Sturgeon Bay had four working shipyards during WWII, built ships for the Navy, Army and Coast Guard, and at one point was launching a ship every five days. That seems phenomenal, but that’s what the records indicate. The shipyards bussed workers in from a 200-mile radius and furnished them with housing, so at that time the population of Sturgeon Bay was quite large.

There was also a traveling exhibit about pirates – not only of the Caribbean, but pirates on the Great Lakes!! Poolie – you would have loved it, but again, they wouldn’t allow any pictures inside the museum so I’m out of luck showing you what there was.

When we left the museum it had turned very cloudy, windy and cold so we raced back to Baileys Harbor and some shelter – Weisgerber’s Pub – where I imbibed in hot chocolate and eventually advanced to something a bit stronger. There we visited with a couple from Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, who were up here on vacation looking for a piece of property to eventually build a vacation home. She was wearing a “rock” on her left hand that was the size of my little fingernail, along with all kinds of large gemstones set in heavy gold hanging around her neck to the point of being tacky. Now let me say something here that I’ve said previously, I think. Those who truly have it don’t usually flaunt it. Those who don’t have it like to pretend they do. Get my point? He was a very nice, sociable person, but she left a bit to be desired with her hoity-toity attitude. I guess it takes all kinds, doesn’t it.

When you’re motor home bound you have to take your entertainment where you can get it. This morning was one of those mornings. The RV parked across the street from us – technically in front of us, decided to pack up and leave. Not a good day to be outside trying to get all your “stuff” disconnected and put away. And to top it off, it was obvious that this guy hadn’t had much experience in Rving. We have full hookups here. For you non-Rvers, that means we have water, electricity and sewer.

Okay – here’s your Rving lesson for the day. When you pull into a park to get set up you hook up your electricity and water, and of course you can connect your sewer hose if you like. But you don’t let your tanks run on a constant basis or you’re going to run into trouble. When your black water tank needs draining you go out and turn the valve, let it drain, then turn the valve for the gray water tank and let it drain through the black water tank, which helps to flush it out, along with flushing your sewer hose. AND you ALWAYS wear latex gloves when doing this just for sanitary and health issues. Now Ole always stores all of this type of gear and hoses in one or more compartments that are in the location where you hook up to the sewer. Just common sense, okay?

Well, Mr. Expert Rver gave us several hours of entertainment while he was trying to drain his tanks this morning. FIRST he drained his gray water tank, which all went fine. THEN he tried to drain his black water tank, which isn’t quite as fluid as the gray water, if you know what I mean. And of course his sewer hose must have plugged up, which is an expandable hose about six inches in diameter. There he was with his bare hands trying to unplug this yucky sewer hose. Then he realized what he was doing and went around to the other side of the RV to get his COTTON garden gloves to work on the plug. Of course all they did was absorb any dirty water that was on the hose. He worked and worked by lifting portions of this expandable hose trying to work the plug down to the drain. This took him over an hour. Then he decided it was time to disconnect his water hose, forgot to turn the water off before he unscrewed the connection and water squirted all over him. He got the water turned off and the hose disconnected when he decided that he was going to flush out his sewer hose. So he took the end of the hose that was connected to the faucet, stuck it about three feet into the sewer hose and went to turn on the water. Needless to say, the hose wasn’t connected so once again he got more water squirted all over him. Meanwhile, the couple he was traveling with, who had been ready to go down the road for over an hour, just stood there and shook their heads. Mr. Expert finally realized he wasn’t connected to the faucet, so took the water hose out of the sewer hose, connected it back up to the water faucet, (yuck) shoved the other end of his water hose down the sewer hose and proceeded to flush out his sewer hose. Now all this effort could have been avoided if he had drained his black water first and his gray water second. AND it would have been much more sanitary. I’m sure glad I’m not in his camper using water out of his tank that has come through a hose that was shoved down the sewer hose. Ick. Then he took a rag and wiped off all his hoses before he packed them away in three different compartments on the far side of the motor home. Are you laughing yet? No? Oh, well, I guess you had to be there. We thought it was a riot.

Well, Folks, the wind is blowing gale force, the rain is coming down in buckets and it’s 48 degrees out. I’ll walk up to the office later and send this along to you. Right now it’s time for a movie.