Winter Repairs & Upgrades

It’s been a few months – 7 to be exact since the last post.

Here’s what has been going on . . . but first, here’s the April snow we had today:

More of the same expected tomorrow. Beautiful, but in April?

PROPANE FURNACE REPAIRED

During our final campground stays last year, our propane heater began making loud whining noises. So much so that we could no longer use it to heat our RV. Not good.

After some research discovered that our furnace fan was kaput. Luckily, the fix seemed straightforward – just replace the fan motor.

Furnace location

After removing the cover to the furnace

Just remove the Fan Cover, the Heater and Exhaust Fans, then pull out the fan motor

Removing the Fan Cover and the Heater Fan was a piece of cake.

However, in order to remove the fan it was necessary to also remove the Exhaust Fan which was fastened to the other side of the fan motor.

It took a great deal of effort to remove that Exhaust Fan (on the right) . . .

. . . in fact, the Exhaust Fan had to sawed off to remove it from the fan motor spindle

Luckily, it was MUCH easier to install the new fan motor and then to put everything back together again.

After a few seconds of running the fan, the furnace ignites, and all is quiet. Success.

GENERATOR FIXED

On our long cross-country trip to the Midwest we had to rely on our dash air conditioner to keep us cool during the hot summer days. We were unable to use the RV’s rooftop AC units because they need to be powered from either an external power or our generator.

Unfortunately we had removed our generator before we left because it wasn’t working.

This made for some VERY uncomfortable driving during parts of our trip, especially in the southwest.

Determined to fix our generator, we had it reinstalled in our RV. It still didn’t work, but at least the “heavy lifting” was done.

After some lengthy investigating, we found out that the generator fuel line was clogged. We couldn’t clear the blockage and it would have been very, very expense to replace the fuel line.

What to do?

Install a new fuel tank. Seems obvious but it was the last thing we wanted to do. However, it worked:

The 5 gal external tank is close to the generator.

NEW WINDOW BLINDS INSTALLED

One of our three window shades became unstrung but we did not want to fix it by restringing.

So we removed the old shades, purchased new custom blinds from blinds.com, and the rest is history:

Easy peasy

STARLINK MOUNT INSTALLED

We decided to get rid of our Verizon Internet hot spot and replace it with a Starlink dish using the Roam plan. Unlike the Verizon hot spot which we have to pay for every month whether we use it or not, the Roam plan allows month-to-month use. That made it a no brainer as Starlink is much faster than our former hot spot.

We tried the typical ladder mount system, but it was difficult to use when we had our waste tank caddy attached to the ladder

We opted for a side mount which is easier to use

2023 Trip FINAL – 97 days, 7417 miles, 42 campgrounds, 941 gallons of gas

Whew! It’s been a while since we last updated our trip blog . . . last entry was from Houghton, MI which was about 4550 miles through our trip. And it felt like it.

Although we took our time through Wisconsin, we were getting burned out after all those miles.

Before we forget, here’s a link to our trip’s log which details each park we stopped at, money spent on gas (+ local gas prices), cellular (AT&T and Verizon) data speeds along with campground WiFi info.

2023 RV TRIP LOG (FINAL)Download

NOTEWORTHY CAMPGROUNDS IN 2ND HALF OF TRIP

Copper Falls State Park, WI

Though Copper Falls is of course noted for its several beautiful waterfalls, this time at the park we noticed the incredible slate walkways. We found out that the slate came from a local quarry.

Some of the slate pieces were 2 to 3 inches thick.

Just as after we left Wisconsin, we stopped at Prairie Island Campground in the middle of the Mississippi River.

Prairie Island Campground, Winona, MN

THREE LAKES, WI – Lost Kind Fishing Trip

During my high school days, I was in a garage band called The Lost Kind. Most of the band members went to the same high school so we tended to hang out together.

One summer three of us – Wally, Mel, and me (“Bird”) – decided to take a fishing trip to Three Lakes, WI, where my family used to spend many summers.

The first night we arrived in Three Lakes we had no place to stay so we decided to park off the road near a lake and just sleep in the car. Right.

I’m not sure of the details, but sometime during the night the car was shifted into neutral and started rolling backwards . . . towards a canal.

We scrambled to stop the car and avoided taking a midnight swim.

Here’s the spot where we parked . . .

The Marshy Canal

BEST RESTAURANTS

Anne’s Italian Restaurant, Hales Corners, WI

Blue’s Egg, Wauwatosa, WI (Best Breakfast place)

WORST RESTAURANT

Hands down on this one – Victoria’s Kitchen in Houghton, MI.

BEST GROCERY . . . EVER!

We’ve been to HEBs (Here Everything’s Better), Walmarts, Vons, HyVees, Safeways, Trigs, Raley’s, Pick ‘n Saves, Sendiks, Krogers, Albertsons, Bashas groceries in many states, but this HyVee near Timberline Campground in Waukee, IA was the best.

Judging by the high tech industries and the Maserati driving around in the area, this HyVee is located in a very upscale neighborhood, and the food selection and quality showed it.

Hy-Vee Grocery Store, 1725 Jordan Creek Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA 50266

OUR RV FRIDGE JUST MADE IT

During the last week of our trip, the RV’s fridge temp kept edging up each day . . . 39 degrees, 40, 41, . . . unit it hit 45. Bad mojo.

We thought our 23-year-old Dometic was finally calling it quits.

Nope. Turned out we just needed to defrost . . .

Until next time!

2023 Trip #6 – In the UP (Houghton, MI)

From Wisconsin’s High Cliff State Park we drove north to the City of Houghton RV Park on Lake Superior (actually the Portage Canal that separates Houghton from Hancock).

We booked campsite #21 in April, but could only get 8 days there. We wanted 2 weeks. It’s a popular place.

Our site was spectacular . . . right on the waterfront.

The view from site #21

The lift bridge that connects Houghton and Hancock. The traffic across it is nuts.

Great place for breakfast

OUR WISCONSIN FLIGHT PLAN . . .

2023 Trip #5 – High Cliff State Park & Stockbridge

From the Wisconsin State Fair RV Park we traveled north to High Cliff State Park on Lake Winnebago.

High Cliff is one of our favorite destinations. We’ve been camping at this park since the early 2000’s and made it a point to return.

High Cliff with our former dogs Jack (left) and Ellie (right) in October 2008. Jack was freaked out by the moving Halloween decorations.

Ellie and Jack on our first RV’s bed

Our current fur ball Flirt at High Cliff

Walking a High Cliff trail with Flirt

OUR FAVORITE CAMPSITE

We reserved one of our favorite campsites at High Cliff . . .

A site with electricity is as good as you’ll get at High Cliff

High Cliff’s limestone ledge is part of the Niagara Escarpment that rings the Great Lakes

A view of Lake Winnebago from the top of the limestone ledge

Walking the High Cliff Indian mounds trail with Jim and Marianne, friends from our Lake Havasu days

STOCKBRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

Stockbridge, Wisconsin is just a few miles from High Cliff State Park. Tom taught high school English here during 1977 and 78. The school building housed grades 1 though 12 as it was a small community.

The school in 1978 (sorry, had to use a high school yearbook photo)

Yearbook photo of the 1977 Senior Class play Mr Hughes supervised. Take me back.

The current school.

Stockbridge put a banner of each graduating senior on street poles. There were 14 banners.

Finally, we visited Martin Rudy, a science teacher Tom taught with at Stockbridge. Martin is one of a kind. A true mensch.

2023 Trip #4 – Wisconsin State Fair Park

Full 50A hookups with a laundry & mail delivery

We arrived on June 23rd and after 2 weeks here we’ll be leaving tomorrow.

In 2017 we stayed here for a month.

We used our time here to see family in Wisconsin and Illinois and to visit our old haunts when we lived in the area. Long story short – a lot has changed.

Walking Flirt on the Hank Aaron trail

However, one of the highlights had to be dining at the restaurants we used to frequent.

KOPPS (76th Street & Grange)

Home of the Jumbo burger . . . and they are. Jan and I split one.

The Best Part – the waterfalls in the outside dining area

ANN’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT (Hales Corners)

When we lived in nearby Greendale, we often ate more meals here in a week than at home.

Joking with Tom, one of the owners

The story of Ann’s

WEGNER’S ST MARTIN’S INN (Franklin)

Wegner’s is cozy

German food? This is the place.

My go to dish is Beef Rouladen – Round steak stuffed with pickle, bacon, onion, and a hint of mustard. Braised in a burgundy brown sauce with spaetzles and braised red cabbage. Sehr gut.

BLUE’S EGG (Milwaukee)

Great breakfast . . . if you can get in. Very busy. We sat at the counter and got in fast.

Jan’s stuffed French toast with apple-Bourbon compote

STONE BOWL (Milwaukee)

Korean food. Interesting and spicy. Jan and I had the Lunchbox special . . . Jan had the Lunchbox with spicy chicken (dak) and I has it with beef (bulgogi).

The Lunchbox came with kimchi which was like spicy sauerkraut.

GILLES (Milwaukee)

Just stopped for the custard . . .

EMPIRE FISH (Wauwatosa)

We actually made two meals from the sea scallops and shrimp we bought here.

Sea Scallops in Lemon Dill Sauce . . . we cleaned these plates

Cooking in a small RV . . . problematic

Besides restaurants, we also spent a day at Grant Park in South Milwaukee . . . Tom’s old haunt as a kid . . .

Flirt off leash in Warnimont Dog Park in Cudahy

The start of the Seven Bridges Trail in Grant Park

One of the bridges

The Seven Bridges Trail ends at Lake Michigan which Flirt enjoyed immediately