Final NJ for the Season, Heading West

September 15 - 17, 2014   

Wow, this summer has gone very fast!  We did a lot of stuff though.  This is the end of our 3 one month stays during the summer.  We started in Indiana in June and then Buffalo in July/August and then finishing in New Jersey during August/September. We are now headed west to Elkhart Indiana to finally have the RV frame repaired.  We will arrive in Elkhart this Sunday and the work begins on Monday the 22nd.

This past Monday and Tuesday we spent getting the rig ready for travel again.  On Monday the 15th climbed on top of the RV to clean out the 2 A/C condensers.   I used an air gun hooked up to my air compressor to do this.  I really am not sure I accomplished much doing this except maybe now I know how dirty they get in 2 years and that isn’t much.  I would say that there was only about 5% of the surface covered with debris.  It is also hard to get the stuff off with an air gun.  I found that if I rubbed my fingers over the debris lightly and then blew air in from the other side it would come off.  However, just using the air from the outside in did very little.  I think next time I do this I will use a soft brush with a long handle to reach through the fan blade to get this debris off better.

The AC unit with the cover removed.  The condenser is the silver area on the far end.  The fan blows air through the unit so the dirt is inside the round hole.

This is the outside or clean area of the condenser.  I
 blew air through here to push the dirt out the other side.

On Tuesday the 16th I changed the oil and filter in the generator.  I only have 30 hours on the generator in 2 years but the maintenance schedule from Onan recommends at least once a year oil and filter change.  It really is the only thing I need to do for this generator until we get around 450 hours on it and at our rate this will be never!

The generator is in the middle.  Note the prop job I did with the jug to catch the oil,

Changing the oil is not hard but is messy; especially the way I did it.  The oil drain is connected to a very short rubber hose that drains under the generator.  This hose should be about 6 inches longer so it clears the RV frame.  Next year I may look into replacing it with a longer hose.  Anyway, since I used the shorter hose I propped the jug I was using up and added a funnel to the top.  After a little oil filled the bottom of the jug, you guessed it; it fell over splashing oil everywhere.   

This is what happens with a bad prop job!

To take the filter out I needed to lay right where all of this dumped oil is now.  I cleaned it up as best I could and then put cardboard down so I could lay on it.  

I also washed and waxed the truck on Tuesday.  This is only the second time I have waxed the truck since we bought it 2 years ago.  I use a wash and wax soap and it seems to work without the effort of the extra step of waxing.  I have noticed that the actual wax job seems to be better than just the wash/wax at least in the first few days.  I may continue to do this every 6 months for the extra protection.

To end my time in Keyport NJ I finished off with a 10 mile bike ride on the Hudson Trail.  Now I’m pretty well exhausted!

Then on Tuesday evening we went out to dinner with Rob and Cindy at a local place on the water.  It was a nice night with Patty and I having the $14 1lb lobster special.  The lobster was actually good too!

Out to eat at Blue Claw with Cindy and Rob.

Many, many thanks to Rob and Cindy for the use of their driveway as an RV Park for us!

Wednesday the 17th was leaving day.  We hoped to leave between 10 and 11 am but we didn’t actually leave until 11:30.  We didn’t start with our leaving routine until about 9:30 though.  The truck and the basement were already arranged and packed up from yesterday.  We needed now to dump the tanks, take down the decorative lights, fold up the ground mat, and put away the hose and electric cable.  I also needed to go fill up the truck with fuel.

We went 247 miles on Wednesday to the Bellefonte area in central Pennsylvania. 

The campground office.  Yeah, they are into Penn State Football here!

Our site her in Bellefonte PA.  Nice Place and nice view of the mountains.

We are staying 2 nights here and then moving on to Cleveland Ohio.  This area is basically known for being near Penn State.  We plan to do just a little exploring on our one day here.

Stay Tuned!