Final 2 weeks with Family In Indiana for 2018

July 01 - 19, 2018: 

The last 2 (closer to 3 weeks) weeks in Crawfordsville Indiana took us through the 4th of July, granddaughter Savannah’s 15th birthday, my daughter Jennifer with husband Christian arriving, as well as other family type stuff.  Sometimes it feels like life is standing still until you look back and see you have done a bunch of stuff together!  This is one of those times. 

Livy showing us her art supplies

Girls at our campsite for a swim.  Savannah on left in pool and Livy right

We got back from Cedar Point and then the 4th was just around the corner.  We had a BBQ at my son Tony’s house to celebrate the 4th.  That seems to be enough for all of us as the temperatures were near 100 with humidity nearly as high.  None of us really wanted to sit outside and watch fireworks this year due to that heat! So after some BBQ and some board games we headed back to our trailer and the sanctuary of AC.  We got to see a few fireworks, from our window, and we certainly heard them too!

A few days later we attended a party for our granddaughter Savannah’s 15th birthday on the 8th.  She had 2 sets of grandparents and a friend or 2 there.  After having cake and ice cream we headed out to see the new movie Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom.  I really liked the first Jurassic Park movie but this one was a tad stale.  It wasn't bad but wasn’t really good either.  Anyway it was fun with family!

Tracy (with cake),  Bailey and Tony

Grandma Bogart looks on as Savannah gets her cake

Brenda Bogart Henderson, Savannah, Bailey

At the end of the week my daughter Jennifer and her husband Christian arrived from New Jersey.  It’s not too often that both of my kids and I are in the same place so that was a memorable time!  We got together and had a BBQ and we went to the Indy Zoo as some of the fun stuff we did.

Christian and Jennifer Milling, Livy, Tony, Patty

Feeding time!

In a few weeks we will be in NJ and visit with Jennifer again so we tried to make sure they had some time with the Indiana family by themselves.  It’s all good!

We also had a nice visit with my cousins on my mother’s side of the family.  Thanks to Nana Canada Rising for that.  Nana is a year and a day older than me.  She is the daughter of my mom’s brother (my uncle) Dale Canada. She has been taking the initiative for the past few years to make sure that when we are in town we all get together.  Her parents are now gone and so are mine so we just have each other left in this part of the family.  It was nice to see everyone again!  Again, thanks to Nana!

The Montgomery County 4H Fair event was open while we were in town too.  We aren't too much about 4H fairs but it was a nice time to eat crap and see farm animals.

Cow judging.  We stayed around a bit to see how this was done
but didn't learn much

This girl is walking a fake chicken!

Tony and Livy

Getting cows ready for judging

Waiting in line for judging

We also had an afternoon of family bowling. Crawfordsville has a great bowling alley and we were the only ones in it when we started at 2 in the afternoon.  I think it was the first time I have bowled in 4-5 years with exception of Wii bowling!

Savannah, Bailey, Livy

Bailey, Livy, Tony, Patty

Patty

Savannah

Bailey

Livy

Patty and I saw Chrisse Hyde and The Pretenders in Indianapolis too!  That was fun!  I had always thought that Chrisse was a real tall big woman.  Well I was wrong, she is a very small woman.  

Before The Pretenders concert we had dinner at this great German restaurant across the street from the concert venue

Inside the restaurant

The Murat Temple and Theater

We had some time to kill after dinner and before the concert.  We didn't ride this but it was going around the downtown circle area of Indianapolis

Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis

Entrance to the Murat theater

Fireball shot girls in the Murat lobby

Chrisse Hyde

OK, well that about wraps it up for our time with family in Indiana.  Our next stop is on the other side of the state near New Castle and Centerville to see friends from South Texas where we stay for the winter. Then we are off to New Jersey.

Stay Tuned!

Family Time and a trip to Cedar Point, Sandusky Ohio

June 19 - 30, 2018: 

So we spent our time here the first week in Crawfordsville Indiana hanging with my son Tony’s family.  Then we picked up our site and moved it to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky Ohio.  We took the youngest grandkid, Livy, with us.  Actually, we took the RV and she took us to the Amusement Park!

Breakfast with the family on Patty's Birthday

Patty messing around with a banjo

Patty's birthday celebration

Play time

We met a family of skunks along the road.  This was the last of the little ones to make it across the road

OK, before we leave for our week at Cedar Point I needed to fix the hot water heater.  Over the last few weeks the pressure and amount of actual hot water has been decreasing.  Actually the hot water stays warm for a very long time there just isn't any volume to speak of.

It seemed to me to a very weird problem that only the hot water had a pressure problem.  I looked up the problem on the internet and found, to my surprise, that this brand of hot water heater has a problem that causes this.  We have an Atwood water heater that does not have an anode rod.  It is a 10 gallon water heater.  The issue the internet talks about is with a check valve that sticks after a while.  The check valve is in the outlet supply line to the RV.  Its purpose is to not let winterizing chemicals get into the tank.  I was somewhat perplexed by this as we have outside of the tank valves that are supposed to handle this.  So I need to take a look at the water heater to see just what is what.

To access the water heater I have to remove most of the contents of the basement and then tale down the plywood wall that separated the RV underfloor area from the basement.  After gaining access to the heater I took some pictures of what the back of it looked like. What I noticed was that the back of the heater didn't look like what was described on the internet.   Our tank has a weird outlet valve that has three connections on it.  One to the tank, one to the RV and one back to the cold water inlet.

So now I look up on the internet the exact model of our water heater.  Out model has a 10 gallon tank but functions as an 18 gallon system.  Ok, what?!  Atwood operates with a tank temperature hotter than the normal 120 degrees.  It keeps the water at 160 degrees and then mixes the outlet with cold water with a mixing valve to achieve 120 degrees.  This mixing of cold and hot water allows for more hot water.  And guess what, this valve sticks and causes the same sort of problem as the normal check valve but at a much higher cost!

I removed the mixing valve and found a lot of white calcium in the inlet.  I also found loads of this calcium in the tank line leading to the valve.  I cleaned up the valve with CLR and used a brush on the inlet valve to remove as much calcium as possible.  I replaced the valve with minimal effect. The pressure did increase but not a lot.  So now I need a new mixing valve.

The cheapest I could find the valve was for $115 online.  Of course, Atwood wanted $160 for it!  I did see a video online on how to take the valve apart and clean it. The procedure required tools I didn't have and I didn't have the time right then to mess with it so I just ordered a new one.  The valve came in a day later!  After putting the new valve in we again had hot water pressure just like new!  The old valve lasted 6 years of full time use so it did its job for an RV.  I really can't complain about it.

The $115 mixing valve

Livy asked us back in January if she could go somewhere with us using the RV.  We spent some time trying to decide the best way for this to happen.  We didn’t want it to be too long of a trip, maybe just a week at the longest.  

We looked into flying her to us somewhere in the country and then taking her back home in Indiana.  That didn’t work because she is under 15 years old so she can’t fly alone.  Actually she can but they charge an arm and a leg to do that.  Also, the airlines will only fly her, with extra fees, on non-stops.  So from the Indianapolis airport that didn’t leave many options.

Since flying was not going to work we decided to pick her up in Crawfordsville and go somewhere round trip.   But just where should we go?  We decided on the amusement park Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio.  Cedar Point is around 275 miles away making it a great destination.  

Our plan was to travel about 175 miles the first day of about 3 hours and stay the night. Then we just have about 100 miles or about 2 hours on the second travel day to the Park. 

So from January to March we (Patty mostly) planned the trip.  Since the trip would be very close to the 4th of July holiday we decided to get reservations at a campground near the park.  We also purchased tickets for 2 days at the park and one day at a close by animal/water Park.  The trip would be a week-long running from Sunday the 24th and would return on Sunday the 1st of July.  We would take 4 travel days coming and going and then would have 4 days in the Sandusky area.

We left the Crawfordsville KOA around 10 am and headed northeast to the Jefferson Township Community Park in New Haven Indiana near Fort Wayne. 

Our site at the Jefferson Township Park

Across the street from the park was an RC airplane runway! 
The place even has a real runway!

Alivia having breakfast in the RV

On Monday we headed further northeast to Camp Sandusky in Sandusky OH.  We arrived about 2pm and quickly set up our site.  Maybe we will get a swim in before dinner! 

Our site at the Sandusky Campground

Livy in the pool

Our first night we had dinner at the Quaker Steak Lube and Oil.  By the time we set up camp and had a swim we were ready for dinner and didn’t feel like cooking.  We had gone one of these a couple years ago and liked it.  This time, not so much.

Camp Sandusky is very close to Cedar Point and is about half the cost of staying in the park itself.   We are glad we didn’t stay in the park as it is pretty isolated from anything except the Amusement Park.  Camp Sandusky has 2 swimming pools with one being heated.  Livy and I used the pool a couple of times while we were there.

It seems Livy was having second thoughts about the roller coasters the night before we went to the park.  This was going to be her first time she would be tall enough to ride the big stuff.  Livy is a real daredevil and is not usually afraid of anything.  However, she got to see pictures of the coasters at Cedar Point we had in planning the trip.  She saw that they went upside down and she wasn’t sure she could do those.  Livy was afraid to tell us she was apprehensive so she texted her mom and had her text me to let me know.  Livy and I then had a talk about it and I reassured her that she was only riding the rides she wanted to ride.  If she didn’t want to ride something then she wasn’t riding it, it was her choice.   She was afraid that she was going to hurt my feelings.  

Once at the park Livy wasn’t afraid anymore, maybe a little bit.  We started slow by walking the entire park and just looking at all of the rides.  

Cool peanuts topiary at the entrance to the park

We took the sky tram to get a better look at the park

This built up her anticipation so that when we started to ride she was ready to go.  For the first ride, she picked an easy one.  

This is the first ride we did 

It wasn’t something that I like much but not terrible. I can’t handle rides that just spin you around, makes me sick.  This ride did a little of that but wasn’t too bad so I rode it with her.  After the ride it was time for the Dramamine!   It was just enough spinning around to make me queasy.  

After that first ride we walked around a bit so Grandpa could feel better!  So now it was time for a coaster!  Livy and Patty picked a fairly large wooden one that didn’t go upside down.  Both Patty and I rode this with Livy.  It has been about 5  years since either of us had been on a real roller coaster, which was Disney.  I had a great time with the adrenalin rush but my body didn’t like the shaking we received.  Of course, Livy who is 11, loved it!  It wasn’t long before Patty lost her lunch after that ride!  I managed just OK but felt beat up.

The large wooden roller coaster

So the next ride she picked was a metal coaster that went upside down!  Again I loved the thrill part but my body just didn’t like the thrashing around.  I was surprised that I wasn’t taking the coasters better than I was. I am in pretty good shape and thought I would have taken the pounding better. Again, Livy loved it and is now not afraid of going upside down at all!

Waiting in the hour-long line for the large metal coaster called the Maverick.

Picture of the first drop

Selfie of the 2 of us after the Maverick coaster

We spent the rest of the day riding rides but no more roller coasters.  We mostly did the water rides which were pretty cool and wet.  We left the park around 6pm just before closing time at 7pm.

No way I would go on the Himalaya! 

Day 2 in Sandusky was a rainy day.  It didn’t rain all day but it rained on an off most of the day.  We planned that if it rained that we would do the animal park we had pre-purchased tickets for so off we went.  However, this place wasn't very good.  But, Livy liked it and that was all that really mattered.   We were hoping for a safari type experience and this place was not about that at all.

Livy loves the rabbits

That look!

After the animal park and lunch we found a safari type park that we were originally looking for.  We think this was the place we thought we were originally getting the tickets for.  Anyway, this safari park was really, really a wonderful experience.  We had buffalo snot on the outside of our truck for days after that!

That bison has his head in the car in front of us!

Livy feeding the bison

A lot of bison snot all over the sides of the truck!

The largest rodent, the Cavi

A python

We all got to hold birds

Day 3 we used our second Cedar Point tickets for a day at the waterpark.  The weather was great and so was the park!  However, this wasn’t a great place for Patty as she now has health issues with going into water.  So, that meant that she had to sit out mostly by herself while Livy and I took on the park.  I tried to divide my time with Livy and Patty so both had as good a time as possible.  Livy had the most fun here for sure!

Since water parks are not much fun for Patty we ruled out doing a second day of water parks.  The original plan was to do a day of coasters, a day of animals, and then, maybe, 2 days at 2 different water parks.  With the water parks now out, we decided that we should just head back to Crawfordsville a day early.  We would now get back on Saturday instead of on Sunday.  And actually, this was the better plan anyway as the trip was a bit too long for an 11 year olds first time away from parents.  Also, we really did all we planned on doing.  

At the campground Livy showed her gymnastics in the volleyball sand

We again spent a night on the way back.  Instead of doing the same place on the way back we picked a different place a little farther away.  This allowed us to drive the longest on the first day just like we did going up.  We also picked a place with a pool giving us another day in the water!  We needed it as the temperatures were around 100 degrees!  We stayed at a KOA in Bluffton IN, again near Fort Wayne but a little farther south and west from our site on the way up. 

The KOA on our way back

Our last day with Livy, Saturday the 30th of July, we arrived back in Crawfordsville about 2pm.  The first thing we noticed is that the stuff we left behind at our rented site was not at our site!  We left some stuff behind as we had rented the site for 30 days and we didn’t feel we needed to take everything with us.  We left our ground mat mostly because it was very wet and we didn’t need it for just the few days we would be away.  We also left our traveling plant, Rosalita and a few other miscellaneous items.  Were they stolen or what?!

While setting up our site Patty went to the office to see what they knew about our belongings. Shortly thereafter, a worker from the KOA brought back our stuff and set it up just like we left it.  It seems that the owner was in a bind for space and rented our site to someone else for a night or 2 while we were gone.  It really didn't bother me for them to make as much money as they can as long as it doesn’t interfere with what I paid for.   Since we came back a day early it was a big risk for the owner to have rented it out as we could have come back at any time!  

And that was the end of the first 2 weeks of our planned 4 weeks in Crawfordsville Indiana!  

Next week my daughter arrives for a week here in Indiana!

Stay tuned!