Solar … Storage … Bugging Out Tomorrow

Wednesday, 12 June
Americamps KOA — Ashland, Virginia
TEMPS: LO 69F / HI 91F [feels like 96F] (20.5C / 33C [35.5c])

We’ve accomplished what we came to do here in Ashland, Virginia.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is that there is a big storm heading in our direction.  We were going to stay two more nights at the Americamps KOA, but have decided to leave tomorrow morning instead.  (The campground refunded the fee for the fourth night; that’s a bonus we were not expecting.)

We considered heading south, but we’d have to drive 400-450 miles (640-720 km) just to get out of the red zone (bottom half of the collage).  Not only would we be risking getting caught in the storm while still on the road, but the storm is projected to cover much of South Carolina by Thursday night, so we’d be in the same boat.

No worries about tonight (top photo); we’re outside the red zone … can’t say the same about tomorrow night.

So, even though Virginia Beach (near Norfolk) falls in the highest risk area, we are going to head there.  I can hear the gasps and everyone thinking we must be nuts.  Not so … at least at Naval Air Station Oceana, where we have campground reservations, there will be a real shelter should the worst happen.  Oceana is only 120 miles (192 km) from where we are now, so we should get there well in advance of the storm.

But enough about the storm.  We have a plan in place; borrowing trouble in the meantime isn’t going to do us any good.  After all, there’s still a good chance the storm will weaken as it crosses the mountains.

Tuesday, 11 June …

We came to Ashland primarily to have solar panels installed on the roof.  We expect to take periodic vacations from our life on the road and wanted to have the means to trickle-charge the house batteries in our absence.  Solar panels seemed like a good option, with the added bonus that they would allow us to boondock in mild-climates without being entirely reliant on the generator.

From top left: specs; a solar panel awaiting installation; the regulator;
back of the solar panel showing the branch connector and positive/negative cables.

After doing considerable research, Mui consulted with RV Service of VA, the company that worked on our satellite dish last December.  They helped him figure out what we needed, and at our request, ordered three solar panels and a digital solar regulator from GoPower.  The install went smoothly, and by the end of the day we were “solarized.”  Provided we have a tree-free site at Oceana, we’ll put the panels through their paces and make sure they are operating as expected.

Solar install completed.

The digital solar regulator showing the batteries are fully charged.

I’m not going to include a whole bunch of technical specs in this post.  If you have an interest in that information, drop us a note and Mui will be happy to provide details and answer questions.

Back to Today …

The second reason for returning to Virginia was to stop by our storage unit in Winchester.  Having been on the road for 6½ months now, it was time to purge some stuff from the coach and return them to storage.  More importantly, we needed to pick up some Arctic gear for our off-road vacation this fall.  We debated driving to Winchester with the Phaeton and staying at a campground in that area for a couple of days.  In the end, however, we decided we would make a day trip in the toad instead.

120-miles (192 km) each way is faster to drive in the toad than it would have been in the Phaeton.

We were both up early, so we had breakfast at home and headed north shortly after 6:00a.  Traffic was minimal — a pleasant surprise.  Listening to radio reports of traffic jams further north on I-95 and delays due to accidents in the area where we used to live in Northern Virginia were all too familiar.  Luckily, none of those problems had any impact on our drive and we arrived at the storage unit around 9:00a.  An hour to take care of things, and we were back on the road by 10:00a … and back at the campground by 1:00p.  A long drive to be sure, but a productive one … and one we don’t anticipate repeating any time soon.

Following four busy days since leaving Lake Greenwood — three of them driving in either the Phaeton or the toad — we had hoped to chill tomorrow.  But thanks to the forecasted storm, we’ll be driving to our next campground a day early.  I guess we’ll just have to chill after we get there.

Last Storage Run … and an Emu Along the Way

Monday, 3 December
BULL RUN REGIONAL PARK — CENTREVILLE, VIRGINIA
TEMPS: LO 41F / HI 71F (5C / 22C)

Up early this morning (haven’t mastered sleeping in yet, but give us time), we finished off our bread pudding French toast breakfast treat (post here) and went to work.  Not the 9 to 5 kind of work, but household chores that one must take care of whether in a stix & brix or in a house on wheels.  The two biggies were shampooing what little carpet we have in the coach, and getting the trikes loaded back into the toad in preparation for tomorrow’s departure from BRRP.

(The photo to the right shows Mui’s creative solution for making sure neither of us accidentally went into the bedroom while the carpet was drying!)

In between the two chores, we made our last run up to Winchester to take the TV and a few other things to storage.  Despite the overcast that crept in soon after we left the Centreville area, it was a nice day for a drive, and with the morning rush over, there was no traffic to hamper us.  Instead of doing the usual I-66W to I-81N route, we detoured onto US-17N/US-50W for a shorter drive (by about 12 miles [19 km]) through the countryside.

I could not pass up the reflection photo op at the Paris Farm store & Sanctuary in the
Crooked Run Valley Rural Historic District.  In addition to ponies and llamas grazing
in the fields, there was an …

… emu of all things patrolling the fence line!

We arrived in Winchester shortly after 11:00a, giving us plenty of time to drop off the boxes at the storage unit before meeting up with friends, Jack and Jean, at the nearby Ruby Tuesday.  Jack was my boss at DCS until his retirement from the company four years ago.  You know how it is when you meet fellow RVers and bloggers — the camaraderie is instantaneous and there’s never a lull in the conversation.  Even though it’s been four years since we last saw them, it was the same when we got together with Jack and Jean today.

Thanks for the conversation, laughter, and treating us to lunch!

A quick stop at Lowe’s after lunch wrapped up our visit to Winchester.  We arrived back at BRRP around 3:30p and immediately went to work getting the toad ready for tomorrow.  With the unseasonably warm temps this afternoon, doing chores outside was actually fun.

Though this would have been a good night weather-wise to get out and photograph the holiday cheer of Bull Run’s Festival of Lights, after careful consideration, we decided to stay in.  There are way too many guide wires, electric cables, and whatnot lying in wait to trip the unwary visitor wandering around on foot in unlit areas.  But fear not ...

Bull Run Regional Park Festival of Lights 2012
[photos for the collage courtesy of the BRRP website]

We have a short run down to the Richmond area on the agenda for tomorrow.  Mui wants the Winegard people in Ashland to take a look at the satellite dish.  What we do afterwards will depend on what the tech needs to do to make sure the satellite locks on to signals without any manual adjustments by Mui.

Let the jello-plan days of our new lifestyle begin ;-)

Kicking Things Into High Gear: Storage Rented

Saturday, 4 August

We were going to go camping this weekend.  We even had reservations.  However, when the forecast remained in the high 90F (32C+) range, and the weatherman threw into the mix high humidity and thunderstorms, we decided to cancel those plans.  After all, who wants to be out there in a 30A-site with no shade; especially if it’s going to be too uncomfortable to have fun outside.  Besides, plenty to do to keep ourselves busy at home.

We kicked full-timing prep into high gear this week.  Actually, Mui did; and I agreed it was time.  As I write this entry, our countdown clock shows us just hours from being at 117 days from retirement.

Sounds like plenty of time to get things organized.  But wait.  We have plans to visit family in October, and that’s going to shorten the prep time frame by another 21 days.  That puts us at 96 days and counting.  Definitely time to kick things into high gear.

So, the ball is rolling, and I’ll write about everything as each is completed.  For this post, I’m going to focus on what we did today — rent a storage unit for the things we want to keep for when we get off the road.  And also for things we’ll need for our non-Phaeton travels, which we’ll be continuing in parallel with our full-timing lifestyle.

This is where we’ll be storing our belongings until we’re ready to reclaim them.

After a bunch of research on Mui’s part, we decided to rent a unit in Winchester, Virginia.  We like the area and who knows, we might settle there someday.  Also, the prices are much better than they are in our immediate area — by enough to make the one-hour drive worthwhile.

Some might say that we’re jumping the gun by renting so early.  We thought of doing it later, but it turns out that climate-controlled units in the size we need are not easy to come by.  Why climate-controlled?  Well, I have all of my framed embroidery work that I simply can’t chance ruining in regular storage.  So, when this one became available, we jumped on it.  That this particular unit is on the ground floor, and has easy access for unloading stuff is a bonus that Mui’s very happy with.  The unit does not abut an exterior wall either; something that’s been on my mind since I read about the storage travails of Sue and Mo back in March 2011.

We can back in as far as the yellow pole; our unit is to the immediate right of that pole.

This should fit the bill nicely.

We did debate getting rid of everything, except my embroidery.  When we did the math, however, it became quite apparent that we’d not be able to replace the stuff we’re keeping for what it’s going to cost us to rent this space for the foreseeable future.  That we got a surprise 10% military discount off the monthly rate made the price of this unit over a smaller one more palatable.  Bonus — by paying for the first year in full, we got a month free, and the property manager waived the $18 set up fee and gave us a stainless steel, maximum security lock to secure our stuff.  Good deal, Mui!

We have plenty to bring over, but …

… this is all we stuffed into the Highlander today.

Guess who ends up doing the heavy lifting while the other one just locks up :-)

The packing has commenced, but we’ll probably just keep the boxes in the apartment unless we have occasion to come to Winchester for some reason; or we decide to do two runs in a smaller moving truck instead of one run in a bigger truck.  Either way, we will likely do the move ourselves since the ground floor unit is going to make it so much easier to unload and carry stuff.

Weekend at Bull Run Regional Park

Sunday, 2 October

I hope a rainy start to the month doesn’t mean that we’re going to have soggy weather for the next 29 days. We had plenty of rain in September and would like a bit of sunshine now, please. Fall-like temperatures would also be appreciated. With 48-52F (8-11C) daytime temps this weekend, it felt more like we had skipped right over October and gone into November. At least we were cozy inside our condo on wheels.

Thursday …

We checked into site 23 (50 amp; electric only) at Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP) Thursday afternoon. Located on the outer loop that we favor, this site requires a tad more effort to level. Next time, we’ll ask for site 21 instead. It was very humid and very buggy, so we didn’t do much more than go for a walk around the campground before we retreated to the coach. An early dinner, followed by a Netflix movie — The Crossing (featuring George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River; by all accounts, the turning point in the fight for independence) — and we were set for a quiet night at home.

Google Maps aerial image of Bull Run Regional Park; the red arrow points to the
approximate location of our site on the outer loop.

Site 23 is our home for the weekend.

Friday …

Friday was a work-from-home day. We were both kept busy with project work for our respective employers, although we managed to sneak in a few walks around the campground to give ourselves a breather, and also entertained fellow-blogger Paul (R Sanity RV Adventures) when he stopped by to introduce himself.

When the workday drew to a close, I went for a long walk that was frequently interrupted by photo-ops. In the end, I didn’t get much exercise, but the photo rewards were great. (More about that in another post.) While I was out and about, Mui took the opportunity to test his new rotary polisher. Turns out that this one more or less vibrates in place, so he’ll be replacing it with a different model. It was another quiet evening at home for us; this time with The Count of Monte Cristo (based on the Dumas père novel by the same name) to keep us entertained.

The polisher at work; does a good job, but Mui will be replacing this one with another model.

Saturday …

We woke up to drizzly weather and cold temps at BRRP Saturday morning. The forecast for Winchester, an hour away, called for the rain to end around 9:00a, with dry weather to follow until late evening. Plenty of time to get a few things from Camping World; go to Rinker Orchards to pick some more apples; and maybe visit the Civil War Museum in Old Town.

We should have known better than to believe the forecast. It was still raining when we pulled into Camping World around 10:30a. An hour later, when we made an impromptu stop to pick up some corn at a roadside market, it was still drizzling. By the time we arrived at the orchard, liquid sunshine was replaced with a peek-a-boo sun that was mostly hidden behind thick clouds. A stiff breeze cut through our layers, but we braved the chill to pick what is now our favorite apple variety — the Nittany. Oddly enough, we’d not heard of this variety until last year. Developed at Penn State, it is described as a cross between a Golden Delicious and a York. It is crisp and juicy, and slightly tart. Incredibly tasty; and long lasting, too. We came away with two bags full of apples.

Back in the car, we rehashed our plans to go to the museum and decided we wouldn’t be doing it justice. So, we programmed the GPS to take us home via the Shenandoah River State Park. Even though it was raining again, we wanted to take a quick peek at the campground there to see if it was a viable short-weekend alternative to BRRP. The short answer: yes, it will do very nicely. The only problem is that since there’s no internet (except at the Visitor Center), we can’t do this one as a work-from-the-coach Thursday-Sunday trip. Since our vacation days are already spoken for, we may not make it there this year, but it’s definitely on the list for a trip or two in 2012.

View of the Shenandoah River from the Fish Trap.

Mui’s laughing because we brought the cheese and the dip, but left the crackers
at the coach. This will be one odd picnic!

Off-and-on rain accompanied us back to BRRP, where a cup of hot tea and cookies warmed us up and tided us over until Marti and Paul (R Sanity RV Adventures) stopped by to pick us up for dinner. It turns out that everything I’ve read about meeting fellow-bloggers is true. It’s like meeting old friends that you haven’t seen in a while. We had a great evening at Carrabba’s Italian Grill, with conversation about selling homes, full-timing, and travel in general flowing smoothly. And yes, there was plenty of laughter to punctuate the conversation.

[click the image to link to the Carrabba’s website]

We returned to the coach comfortably sated, with the taste of the miniature chocolate coconut mousse dessert lingering on our palates. With the rain coming down hard, the pitter-patter on the roof was nature’s symphony, accompanying a quiet night of reading.

Sunday …

If the rain stopped at all overnight, I didn’t notice. It was raining when I went to bed; it was raining anytime I woke up through the night; it was raining when I rose from bed Sunday morning. It rained off and on all day, but at least the sun graced us briefly for a few minutes at a time. During one of the longer sunny interludes, I took a walk on the White Trail that runs along the perimeter of the campground. I followed the trail in the direction of the camp store. Mother Nature tried to throw a barrier or two in my way, but I managed to get around them. The walk took me past the maintenance yard, the Atlantis Waterpark, and the disc golf course to connect to the main road for the return leg back to the Phaeton. Next time, I’ll check out the trail in the opposite direction.

The white trail follows the perimeter of the campground.

this and that from my walk.

A bit of color adds cheer to a gray day.

While I was out exploring, Mui finished inspecting the slide-out seals, and lubing and spraying, and doing a couple of chores before making a trip back to Winchester to return a few things we had picked up from Camping World that didn’t work out. Yeah, it was a distance to drive, but cheaper than mailing it all back. I stayed behind to process photos for the blog, and had the pleasure of entertaining Marti and Paul, who stopped by to say hi. I hope we get to meet up with them again, but as I noted on their blog, that presumes they are still in the area. I know they are anxious to get on the road, so I’ll just wish for future meetings on the road instead.

The red cans are for the seals; the blue can is for the mechanical parts of the slide.

We had late check-out, but soon after Mui returned, we decided to pack up and get going. An electric-only site meant that we didn’t have much to take care of outside. Still, it was well past 3:30p when we pulled out. By the time we dumped our tanks, drove to storage and put the Phaeton to bed, stopped at a super market to pick up some groceries, and finally got on the road home it was already 5:00p. Oh yeah … a quiet evening at the stix & bricks rounded out our camping weekend.

Want Apple?

Sunday, 18 September

Our weekend getaway to Winchester is over and we're back at the stix & bricks. Today was pretty typical of our Phaeton departure days. We spent the morning relaxing before running our departure checklist to make sure we were all set to leave by the noon check-out deadline. Mui squeezed in a quick trip to Costco before we left Candy Hill Campground, thus saving himself some shopping time when we returned home. The drive back was uneventful, and after a detour to fill up at Fannon Petroleum ($3.84/gallon for diesel), we had the coach back in storage by 3:00p.

Seeing as that short paragraph would be the start and end of a very boring post, I’ll share with you some of the fun stuff we did over the weekend.

Friday …

We made the most of the short time the sun was out Friday afternoon to wander around Old Town Winchester. Once Shawnee Indian camping grounds, the area was settled in 1732 by Pennsylvania Quakers. Surrounded by orchards, the town is appropriately nicknamed the Apple Capital. In fact, it was apples that had brought us here, but that’s a story for a bit later.

It was a quiet Friday afternoon in Old Town. The restaurants, pubs, and sidewalk cafés lining the pedestrian mall were all but deserted; the shops had just a few patrons. We figured the area would be humming once the workday came to an end. In the meantime, we enjoyed the opportunity to have a quiet stroll.

We are in the Apple Capital after all.

It’s not just the cat that curiosity kills. It also kills my time. A click of the shutter button often leads to extensive Googling time when I get home. The apple sitting near the pedestrian mall was no different. I just had to find out why these five men were chosen to decorate the apple. Here’s why “I” think they were chosen:

• Confederate General Jubal Early (far left) – his troops were instrumental in defeating Union defenders in Winchester and opening the Shenandoah Valley to General Robert E. Lee’s forces.
• Judge John Handley (far left) – an Irish immigrant from Pennsylvania, in 1895, he bequeathed $1.6 million to the city for the “education of the poor.”
• George Washington (middle) – came here in the mid-1700s to survey the lands of the Sixth Lord Fairfax; built Fort Loudoun during the French and Indian War; and was elected in Winchester to his first public office as Frederick County’s representative to the House of Burgesses.
• Admiral Richard E. Byrd (top right) – Medal of Honor recipient and polar explorer (claimed that his expeditions were the first to reach the North Pole [not] and the South Pole [true] by air), was born in Winchester.
• Confederate General Stonewall Jackson (bottom right) – following the Battle of First Bull Run, he commanded the Valley District, headquartered in Winchester.

See, this is why my blog posts grow like weeds. Curiosity. It’s a good thing; it’s a bad thing!

The court house (1840), now a civil war museum, was used as a hospital, barracks, and prison by both sides during the War. The statue in front of the building is dedicated “in lasting honor of every confederate soldier from Winchester and Frederick County who faithfully served the south.”

“I went to the court house; the porch was strewed with dead men. Some had papers pinned
to their coats telling who they were. All had the capes of their coats turned over to
hide their still faces; but their poor hands, so pitiful they looked and so helpless.
Soon men carried them away to make room for others who were dying inside.”
Cornelia McDonald, after the First Battle of Kernstown, 23 March 1862.
[from signage near the museum]

A few notes about the collage, which includes two photographs of images from nearby signage. The image on the left depicts James Taylor’s sketch of Confederate prisoners held outside the court house after the Third Battle of Winchester, 19 September 1864. The top right image depicts graffiti inscribed by a Union prisoner on an interior court house wall.

Clocks in tandem.
(Left: Old Court House; right: Rouss city hall)

First Presbyterian Church

Hill’s Keep is an early 19th century building that was relocated here in 2004.

A short outing; lots of fun nonetheless. We liked what little we saw of Winchester; we’ll be making a return visit to further explore the town.

Saturday …

It all started with an apple that a colleague gave me last year. A Golden Delicious to be precise. It was so goooooooood; crisp, and sweet, and juicy. One bite … and I had to have more … a lot more. My colleague told me the apple was from Rinker Orchards in Stephens City, so on a beautiful, blue-sky Saturday, we drove up to pick our own apples. We returned home with 90+ lbs (40+ kg) of the most delicious Goldens, Nittanys, and Yorks. When that same friend brought me another Golden Delicious this year, we decided to combine apple picking with weekend camping.

Oh, Golden Delicious!

We woke up to overcast skies on our apple picking day. We weren’t concerned. After all, there was no rain forecasted. Yeah, right!!!! Just as we were getting ready to leave for the 10-mile (16 km) drive to Stephens City, the skies opened up in a deluge. So we sat back down to wait it out. An hour later, the rain was over and we were on our way.

Finding Idared, and Golden and Red Delicious apples ready for picking, we decided to concentrate on the goldens. Just two bags this time. I’m guessing that’s about 45 lbs (20+ kg); should last us a while.

From trees to bags … plenty of golden deliciousness.

We’re going to try and drive up for the day in a few weeks to pick some Nittanys; they’re our favorite of the Virginia apples. And if we can’t get back to Rinker this year, at least we will have had our fill of the Goldens.

Last year, we concluded our apple picking with a picnic lunch at the orchard. The wet grass and cool temps did not invite us to do so this time. Instead, we returned to the coach for our noon meal. Afterwards, we headed out to the Apple Harvest Festival at the Jim Barnett Park in Winchester. En route, we made a quick stop at the local Loft, one of my favorite clothing stores, so I could take advantage of their 30% off sale. Three pairs of slacks, a blouse, and a sweater later we were on our way to the festival. By the time we arrived, it was after 3:00p and the admission was waived. I’m actually glad that we didn’t pay to get in as we were quite disappointed in what we found. There was no sign of all the antique cars the flyer said would be there … surely the two we saw weren’t the ones the organizers meant! Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

“Apladay” is one of two Whitehouse antique vehicles at the festival.

Despite the ups and downs of the day, we had a good time. We have apples galore to enjoy at home; the apple pie ice cream at the festival was good; I have clothes to see me through the fall-winter season; and the sweet corn we bought from the roadside market on our way back to the coach was a great addition to our barbecue shrimp dinner.

Bang Goes the Water Filter

Friday, 16 September

Today’s a work-from-home day for us. But we’re not at the stix & bricks in Vienna; we’re at Candy Hill Campground, in Winchester, Virginia, about 80 miles (128 km) away. Ain’t it great to be able to telecommute :-)

An easy drive puts us in Winchester, near the Virginia / West Virginia / Maryland state lines.

We left the house around 1:15p yesterday. An hour later, the toad hitched up, we were on the road in the Phaeton. Google Maps’ driving time estimate was spot-on. With the traffic flowing smoothly, we made good time, arriving at Candy Hill Campground shortly after 4:00p. Even the weather cooperated — sort of — and the rain that accompanied us part of the way fizzled into a light drizzle, allowing us to set up in relative comfort.

This is our first time here. It’s a nice enough campground, with plenty of trees and lots of grass, but the sites are packed close together and share water/electric pedestals. Cozy is the word that comes to mind. This is not the place to come if you’re looking for privacy. Since we don’t plan to “stay home” Saturday — our one day to play during this trip — we’re not bothered by the close proximity of neighbors. Not that anyone seems to be out and about anyway. Besides, with sites in our section of the campground alternating back-to-front, we have some semblance of privacy where we are.

We’re in F9 (circled in blue on the left); the office-lounge-arcade building is
actually across from us and not offset as shown on the map.
[map courtesy of the campground website]

We were initially assigned site B9 (the one in red in the lower right portion of the map), but asked to be switched after seeing its proximity to Route 37. Instead, we were given F9, another 50-amp, full hook-up, premium site. At $50/night (plus 10% Good Sam discount), this campground is not inexpensive, but we’re used to that in this part of the US. Cable is included (26 channels); Tengo-provided wi-fi is available for a price. Our Millenicom aircard works just fine, so we won’t be availing ourselves of that service.

Settled into site f9.

We’re butt-to-butt with the sites to our left and right, so there’s a bit more privacy here.

By 5:00p, we were parked, jacks down, slides out, hook-ups complete. While Mui dumped the black and grey tanks from our Bull Run stay, I vacuumed and Swiffered the floors before unrolling the rug to make our home nice and cozy. Then it was time to explore the campground.

We’d just returned from our walk and were talking about getting dinner on the table when a really loud BANG startled us. What on earth???

At first we thought our neighbor must have accidentally dropped open the door to their toy hauler. To be safe, we stepped out to investigate. Oh, oh! There was water flowing out from under the coach. My first thought was that our fresh water tank had somehow ruptured and I envisioned a disaster on our hands. It turns out that it was just the water filter. The bottom had split off from the rest of the canister and water was gushing out all over the place. Shutting the spigot at the source immediately stemmed the flow. BUT we now had no water coming into the Phaeton.

OK; no big deal. We have every RVers best friend — duct tape. Mui dries the canister and tapes it up real well. It doesn’t look pretty, but as long as it holds, who cares! He screws the unit back in place and turns on the water. Problem solved, right? Nope; water gushes out like a geyser, though a smaller one now.

OK; no big deal. Camping World is just down the road a bit. But wait; it’s closed for the day. No problemo. Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot are all a short drive away. They’re bound to have what we need. Right? WRONG! None of them have a canister to match ours. There are other brands, but it’s already dark, and it’s cold, and Mui’s not in the mood to install a new system.

OK; no big deal. Waterproof epoxy should work to temporarily secure the bottom of the canister. “Sure, that will do the trick; I used it for my truck’s fuel pump,” says the helpful young man in the orange apron. $5 nets us a tube of PC-Plumbing. Back home, Mui starts kneading the Play-Doh like stuff until it’s a uniform color. Soon, the bottom of the cartridge is attached with a ring of epoxy around it. It doesn’t look pretty, but as long as it works, who cares! While the epoxy sets (60 minutes the instructions say), we have dinner and watch a show on TV. Then Mui goes out to install the filter. “BANG,” I hear, but assume it’s the basement door being closed. Nope; the filter has blown it’s bottom again. Nothing to do until morning; a couple of buckets of water from the spigot outside and we’re good to go for the night.

Plan A and Plan B don’t work.

And thus we brought yesterday to a close. Mui headed out to Camping World first thing this morning and picked up a replacement. Our plumbing is operational again. We have no idea why the filter canister blew like it did. Perhaps there was a hairline crack that finally gave under pressure. At least it happened while we were at home.

Plan C successfully restores water to the Phaeton.

After such an eventful evening, a quiet day at Candy Hill was in order today. We spent most of the day indoors since we both had work projects requiring our attention. The cool temp — 58F (14C) at noon — didn’t encourage spending time outside anyway; nor did the overcast skies that quickly replaced the beautiful sunshine we woke up to.

Shortly after 3:00p, our work-day having drawn to a close, we drove into Winchester for a look-see around Old Town. At least the sun came out briefly and there were patches of blue sky while we were out having some fun. But that’s a story for another post. Dinner is over, the dishes are loaded into the dishwasher, and Mui’s got the second disk of John Adams (HBO mini series) cued up and ready to go — time to enjoy a quiet evening at home.