SV Orion - Annapolis, MD - David & Cathy's Journey

Early May - Up and Back

5/15/2022

Amtrak trains on the platform in DC

We spent much of the first 2 weeks of May making a marathon trip north to Virginia and then PA and back. Our main purpose was to deliver a car, but we saw some family before catching a train back to Jacksonville.

Cabin work supplies at Pocahontas

Trip North

We took a couple of days to drive to Richmond to drop off our son’s car. While in the area we visited with the grandkids and our daughter Bonnie. We took a few hours to stop by Pocahontas State Park, to review the impressive progressive on this year’s group cabin sites and to sort out some supplies. While there we met Michelle, the new volunteer coordinator and checked in with Twila and Becky in the office.

Dave, Mom and Diane in PA

Our next stop was Whitehall PA to visit with Dave’s mom, Diane and Pam. We took a one-way rental car north and arrived for a few days visit. We helped out with a few chores around the house, like clearing a clog in the hot water heater drain that had been preventing Diane from doing a monthly clean-out. Fifteen gallons later, we finally decided the water was clear again.

T-Mobile Internet

We assisted with some technical challenges as well. In the process of working on a cell phone upgrade, we managed to upgrade their Internet as well, saving money in the process. The upgraded phone was a hit, but through working with his mom on its configuration, Dave discovered a problem she was experiencing with her hearing aids, which had a default volume level that was too low. On a trip to Costco, Dave was able to explain the problem, and after adjusting the volume up, the hearing aids work much better and Mom is much happier.

Pam and Molly

Cathy made herself useful as well, but not without making a few missteps. The first morning, she stepped on a scale in the bathroom, that unknown to her, was communicating with Pam’s doctor. Oops! A call from the nurse, and she was busted. Later she started working to clear Pam’s computer of malware and other apps that were slowing it down so much that it was becoming frustrating to use. Even printing a document was an exercise in extreme patience. Well, after the clean-up it worked a lot better, but Cathy’s purge was a little too thorough. She deleted the games program that Pam had been using for years. Oops again.

Diane Mom and Dave

With us along as backup drivers, Diane felt confident to take the long drive up to see their aunt and mom’s sister, who lived a 2 ½ hour drive north in New York – something she had not attempted since a serious accident just before Christmas. On a beautiful spring day, we headed out and got within 10 minutes of our destination when we received a call from Dave’s cousin and Aunt Phyl’s daughter. Aunt Phyl was in isolation and couldn’t receive visitors. (Really? And why didn’t the nurse tell Diane that last night when she called?) At any rate, we turned around and headed home. To console ourselves after 5 hours on the road, we drowned our sorrows in some local Penn State ice cream.

Our roomette on the Amtrak Silver Star

All Aboard

We’ve taken several train trips in the past, but our trip south from Pennsylvania this time would be our first time in a “roomette”, basically a small sleeper car on Amtrak's Silver Star route. Still trying to social distance, this seemed to be the safest way to travel by train. However, the first leg of the trip would be by bus – from Allentown to downtown Philadelphia. We were relieved with the large bus had only 12 people on board, including us and the driver. We double-masked and relaxed for a 90 minute ride.

Amtrak Lounge at Philadelphia's 30th St Station

Arriving at the 30th St station almost 3 hours before our train was scheduled to depart, we checked our bags and made our way to the Amtrak lounge. Access to the lounge was a perk we got with our roomette tickets. From the lounge’s glassed-in balcony, we could people watch and take advantage of some complimentary refreshments. However, since we would be sitting for much of the next 24 hours, we decided to explore a bit. The lounge concierge suggested we walk along the Schuylkill Trail on the river opposite the station. She even led us to the street exit that was closest to the access point. We walked along the river for about an hour, passing lots of locals out for a morning run or bike ride.

Dave on Schuylkill Banks

After we returned, the lounge began to fill with fellow travelers, but was never too full. When the Silver Star pulled in, we took elevators from the lounge directly to the tracks, escorted by a Red Cap Amtrak employee. We were directed to our car and found our room with the help of the car attendant.

Lunch is served on Amtrak

Departing just before 1, we ordered a late lunch, which would be served in our cabin. Unlike many train routes, the Silver Star doesn’t currently have a chef on board, so although the meals are served hot, they have been pre-packaged. They were still good, and our time aboard allowed us to enjoy our lunch, a dinner and breakfast the next morning. The car had 2 seats facing each other, which would turn into a lower bunk later. There was storage for our bags up above, a mirror, a sink and a toilet. We had a thermostat for the AC as well. While our car had a shower, we were told that the cars ahead and behind us were newer and had nicer showers, as well as a couple of restrooms.

On the platform at DC's Union Station

An interesting note was that our engine from Philadelphia (actually from NYC) to DC was an electric engine. However, once we left DC, we would have a more traditional diesel-powered engine. Our stop in DC was a longer one, so we were able to stretch our legs on the platform, watching the many trains come and go. When bedtime came, our car attendant made up both beds and lowered the upper bunk. This made the compartment pretty tight, so we kept our moving around to a minimum at this point. In the morning, the attendant moved the beds out of the way, something that become more important with our delayed arrival, 9am instead of 7. We received a gracious offer of a ride from Susan, a member at Faith, who dropped us off at the RV by 10, a little tired, but glad to be home.

All in all, we enjoyed our trip on the Silver Star in our “roomette”, and would consider doing it or something similar again. It would be more fun post-Covid to enjoy time in the Dining car or an observation car on the routes out west.

RV Stuff

Having some first hand experience with the T-mobile internet at Mom’s house, we decided to try it for ourselves and we’ve been very pleased. It’s very reasonably priced and the internet speed is great and reliable. We’ll see how it functions as we travel.

Just before we left Jacksonville, we noticed that the RV’s interior temperature was rising even though the AC was on. The RV’s In-Command system showed the AC to be on, but the current temperature was registering 80 degrees, even though the AC was set for 74 degrees. To fix it, all we did was turn the AC off and back on. And the AC kicked on as expected. Since we were going to have some hot days while we were away, we decided to activate a feature on the In-command to allow us to monitor and control the RV’s systems remotely. By hooking it up to WiFi, we could check an app on our phone while away and ensure all was well. And it worked as designed. Luckily the AC stayed on while we were away.

Parting Shot

This lovely flower was blooming outside our hotel near Richmond.

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Late April - Odds and Ends

4/30/2022

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Cleaning out the cupboards

For a number of reasons, our time in Jacksonville has been extended later than normal. However, we try to make good use of the extended stay. We helped out as we could and did some cleaning house to lighten the load in the RV.

Sign after its annual cleanup

RV Stuff
Before it got too hot, it was time for the RV’s annual wash and wax. We usually put this off as long as we can, or (better yet) entice someone else to do it. (Droz?) Oh well. After some scrubbing, some “wax on” and “wax off”, it looks much better. Cathy also took advantage of some inside workspace to freshen up our name sign with a few coats of Polyurethane.

We also did some long-delayed house cleaning, pulling stuff out of the RV that we aren’t using. We did some digital house-cleaning as well. When Cathy went to upgrade her computer to Windows 11, she discovered that she lacked the disk space to do it. So, this motivated us to finally finish configuring our NAS (Network-attached Storage) backup that we bought last October. Once Dave discovered that it had a handy report that would show duplicate files, we spent several days recovering lots of storage space occupied by the duplicate files, created over decades of use. That gave Cathy the room to install the upgrade, which is actually working well.

Church Stuff

Fermin’s picture of new charger
Although we had no big projects the past 2 weeks, we made ourselves useful in lots of small things. The yellow golf cart we call “Lazarus” for obvious reasons was no longer charging. The problem was initially traced to a blown fuse in the charger, or so we thought. With a new fuse in place and several days to recharge, the batteries still held no power. More diagnostics showed the problem to be the charger itself had failed. We ordered a replacement that hopefully will do the trick.

This guy has found the sewer covers are a good resting spot

Several years ago, we deployed a number of yellow #10 cans painted bright yellow throughout the campground to protect the sewer connections from mowers and weedeaters. However, several cans have rusted away over the years, so Cathy collected some new cans and painted them as replacements. Every time she thought she was done, she found one more needing replacement. But maybe she’s done for this year.

And then there is the well that supplies water to the Burmese Garden. Dave was feeling good that he had made enough adjustments to the run times for the well pump to ensure the water tanks were refilled as they were drained by usage. However, he wasn’t prepared for the fact that water didn’t flow at all. The new set-up was based on the natural flow of the Artesian well which had been running at 27gpm. With no rain for several weeks, and plenty of usage, the Artesian well stopped flowing. To solve the problem while we wait for rain, Dave switched to the submersible pump to draw water into the tanks.

Parting Shots

We joined Evalyn, her daughter and son-in-law and Barry for an evening at her house. After supper we took a walk in her neighborhood on a pleasant spring evening. The Canadian geese decided to take their family on a stroll as well.

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Early April - It's Electric

4/17/2022

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Checking out an access point after the lightning strike

When the flash/boom shook us early one morning, we knew the lightning strike was close, but didn’t realize it would order our days for the next 2+ weeks. Good thing we had some breaks to get some visits and time away from the technology

Installing new switches across the campus

Lightning Strike . . .
The church’s internet devices took a hit from a lightning strike one morning, but the extent of the damage only became clear over several days. What we eventually learned was that the surge traveled through the ethernet lines, taking out almost 20 devices, including the church’s printer/copier. Spending the first day mostly on the phone with Comcast and Netgear, we began the process of getting service restored.
When Comcast’s promised (though hysterically unlikely) arrival between 1 and 3am came and went, the apologetic customer service agent arranged for a call 8am Saturday morning, which did happen. With service restored to the campus, Dave realized that the initial damage assessment was too limited. Devices that had worked just after the strike were failing. So, we went methodically to every node on the network and found 3 routers and 14 switches that needed to be replaced. Even the office printer, which had worked on Thursday to print the bulletin, by Saturday was no longer on the network.

Using the devices that did work, Dave connected the network so it would work across campus, despite the missing components, and then we began making warranty claims and ordering replacements. Over the course of the next 2 weeks, as replacements arrived, they were installed, restoring the network to even better than its original state.

Dave cuts the Eternabond tape for the trailer roof repair

. . . And Other Stuff

A roof repair on one of the church’s trailers had failed over time, and needed to be addressed. We applied some Eternabond tape to the affected area and since then the trailer has remained dry. Hopefully it will last longer than the last repair. And in between this and our internet problems, Dave purchased and configured a new office computer.

Shane from 1Sec Mobile RV Repair pulls the furnace to replace the sail switch

RV Stuff

We have more time to spend on some RV maintenance, so we tackled a number of items that needed some attention.

It was a cold morning in February and the propane heat would have felt really good. But although the fan would turn on, the heat never kicked in. After several attempts, we were pretty sure we knew what the problem was. The sail switch. It is a known problem with our model of Dometic furnace, but not on a recall. While some RV’s have easy access from the outside of the RV to the furnace to replace this $35 part, our 2020 Cougar was not one of them.

The furnace was still under warranty, but we weren’t enthusiastic about hauling it to a service center twice – once to get it diagnosed and once to get it repaired. Working with a local mobile repairman, we made the connection to have him certified to repair it under warranty and then, since his suppliers were having trouble getting the part, we ordered it for him. Although the warranty wouldn’t cover the mobile service fee, it was worth it to be able to not have to move the 5th wheel.

When Shane from 1Sec Mobile Repair arrived, he was confident the sail switch replacement would solve the problem. An experienced repairman, he carefully removed the furnace and replaced the sail switch. Once installed the heat has turned on every time we needed it since.

Vent gasket glued back into place

There were 2 small items that we asked Shane to address while he was here.

Cathy had discovered a bucket under the kitchen sink with an inch of water in it a coulple of month earlier. After clearing out the under-sink cabinet, she isolated the problem to the hot water supply line, which had a loose fitting. Since this was a PEX fitting, we didn’t have the tool to fix it. Shane, of course, did have the tool and made short work of tightening both the cold and hot water supply lines. And it has remained dry since.

The last item had been present since we bought the RV, although we hadn’t noticed it until we got home from the dealer. A gasket on the vent above the galley sink was loose and not providing the seal that it should. Shane glued it back in place, and we had a good seal again.

The used anode had only a little useful life left

Then we had some DIY maintenance. Our hot water heater has a sacrificial anode inside that needed to be replaced. It makes sense to drain, sanitize and flush the hot water heater at the same time. With a specific 1 1/16" socket, the anode rod removed easily, and it was apparent that it was doing its job well.

Our RV has valve settings that isolate the hot water heater from the rest of the water system, so we could flush out the sediment from the tank and sanitize it without having to turn off the water to the RV. Using a special hose attachment, we rinsed the tank and collected a LOT of sediment in buckets that flushed out of the tank.

The next step was to fill the tank with vinegar and let it sit to loosen any mineral deposits. Using a tip from Youtube, we fashioned a PVC pipe to allow an easy fill, and it allowed the vinegar to drain without splashing onto the RV. This is a maintenance task that is easy to forget, but we are going to try to make sure it stays on our radar going forward.

The deadbolt on our front door had been behaving oddly for much of the past year. However, it started getting worse in the last month. Reading more about horror stories from other RVer’s of getting locked out of their RV, we decided to replace it before that happened to us. The irony was that once we took it off to put the new one on, we discovered that our lock just needed to be lubricated and the screws tightened to work properly. Guess we have a spare lock now.

Spending time with Karen and Morris in Daytona

Reconnecting

We made a trip down to Daytona to visit with Morris and Karen, our friends that we had met volunteering at Faith in years past. They hosted us for a delicious dinner one Friday, and we enjoyed catching up with them. The next week, we visited with Marcia who was secretary at Faith when we first arrived here. We helped install some replacement outdoor lights and spent time with her over lunch.

And, having received a 2nd Covid booster, we’ve been joining the church for Wednesday dinners again after several years of keeping our distance.

Buc-ee's Daytona Beach

Parting Shots
While visiting Daytona, we couldn’t resist stopping into Buc-ee’s, which has recently arrived there. This huge travel plaza had amazing fuel prices (80 cents less than Jacksonville) and equally amazing chopped brisket.

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Late March - Spring is in Bloom

3/31/2022

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Amaryllis on the church grounds

In Florida, Spring’s arrival isn’t heralded by the first blooms of the season, since flowers are in bloom all winter. However, it is the quantity of flowers in bloom along with the warming temperatures that tell us Spring is here. And the other thing that tells us Spring is here is that the campground gets pretty empty. While we were not the only ones left in Faith’s campground by March month-end, it was close to it.

Dave patches the larger hole on the C-building roof

Up On the Roof
In our last entry, we had pictures of a massive live oak limb that had broken off in the church courtyard. Once the limb was (very carefully) removed by a local company, the extent of the damage to the nearby roof became apparent. Luckily, the base was concrete, so there was no penetration beyond the rolled roofing and underlayment.

With a hand to give perspective, the hole is deep and wide

After watching several videos on rolled roofing repairs, we bought some supplies and headed up to the roof to patch the holes. Our YouTube advisors were all patching seams or small holes. However, once we had cleaned out the debris from the larger holes, it was obvious that these were over an inch deep and several inches across. So, we were going to need some filler in the hole to support the roofing for the patch.

Applying fiberglass tape to support the patch material

Using a somewhat unconventional material (rubber baseboard molding), we were able to fill the holes. Then we applied some roof patch, fiberglass mesh tape, and some more roof patch. Since the tree had lain on the roof for a couple of weeks, the roofing was not laying flat on its own. Luckily the church had a LOT of bricks (thanks to the recent masonry competition), that we used to flatten it so no water would collect in ridges from raised roofing.

Finished repairs

By the time we were done, we had patched 10 holes across the roof. It should hold for quite a while, or until the next limb falls . . .

Before we said goodbye

With a firm departure date set, Pat and Fred made ready to head out on the last Thursday of March. Before that, we made the most of their talents and company. Pat helped Cathy prune the last of the trees that hung low over the parking lot and Wesley Hall. The two also installed some more cove molding in the sanctuary building. Meanwhile Dave and Fred put the finishing touches on the well, installing a check valve, and repairing a faulty switch in the church’s faithful golf cart, nicknamed Lazarus.

We managed to check out some outdoor dining opportunities at Culver’s, Moe’s, Bono’s, and even the Assumption Catholic Church Friday fish fry. But like all good things, our time together had to come to an end. Unfortunately, their departure day was going to be a terrible travel day. (Maybe Mother Nature was trying to tell them to stay?) Sure enough, we woke up to pouring rain that eased up only a little between cells. The irony was that Fred had just made an emergency repair to his windshield wiper. Nothing like a trial by fire.

We did our best to see them off, but the rain finally forced us back to our RV to change our drenched clothes as we wished them well. By mid-day they were out of the rain, and the windshield wiper repair had held up fine. Whew!

New coat of varnish on Orion Jr

Boat Stuff

With Pat and Fred’s departure, Dave turned his attention to several internet issues, replacing and reprogramming routers, and providing a “tour” of the network to help users troubleshoot in his absence. However, Cathy turned her attention to the boat, giving the cover its annual cleaning and waterproofing. To her dismay, the wood trim was looking pretty dull. So she took time to sand and apply 3 coats of varnish – not so easy when crawling around under the cover. However, the results made it worth the effort.

We also took the opportunity to disconnect the batteries from the solar panels to check their health. They held their charge for several days, which is a good thing.

Dave works to re-program the well timer

Done with the Well? Not Quite

While there was no more hardware to install or change to ensure the well was pumping water for the Burmese gardens, there was some software that needed to work to ensure the pump would turn on and off at intervals that would ensure the tanks were filled when the water was needed. Dave and Fred had installed a programmable timer that would allow an app to control the schedule for the pump. However to ensure it could be done remotely, he needed to ensure a reliable internet connection at the well. We tried installing different wifi access points at the closest point to the well, until we found one that worked consistently. Once in place, the app worked as planned to adjust the timer.

The next challenge was figuring out when and for how long the pump should run. This depends a lot on how the gardeners use the water. Dave spent the next couple of weeks visiting the well at different times and different days and adjusting the well schedule based on what he saw. If it still needs adjustment after we leave, he can always make the change on his phone from wherever we happen to be.

What a Treat!

Being so close to I-95, Faith is an easy stopover for folks heading north or south. We extend the invitation to visit to many, and occasionally some take us up on the offer. The most recent visitors were Tom and Debbie, who we know from Cabin Work Week at Pocahontas. Not only was the visit a sweet treat, but we also got to sample Debbie’s Key Lime Pie, which was even sweeter.

We had recently created a recruiting video for Cabin Work Week volunteers, which Tom and Debbie graciously reviewed for us. While they agreed with our assessment that we will never be Youtube stars, we got a thumbs up. Publishing the video on Youtube will hopefully reach some volunteers that we might not get otherwise. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/BODD_vxGV-g

Parting Shot

This guy decided to sun himself by the laundry one day.

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Early March - Bricks, Wood, and Water

3/19/2022

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Competitor in the Masonry Competition

While modifications to the well for the Burmese garden offered continuing challenges, March brought with it some visitors to campus and some interesting events along with them.

Competitors build their wall while the tenders replenish mortar

One Block at a Time

On the first Wednesday in March, Faith hosted the Masonry Apprentice and Educational Foundation’s high school masonry competition. There were 22 individual competitors from 4 area masonry programs, including 1 from the Dept of Corrections. The participants were given a specification sheet, cinder blocks, bricks, and mortar. Using their own tools, they set to work building the required structure. The event was timed, and each result was measured by the judges, with points deducted for every 1/16th of an inch that was off in any measurement, among other criteria. Scores were given by group and individual and prizes awarded accordingly

The winning entry

In addition to the competitors, there were “tenders” who mixed and distributed mortar, also ensuring it didn’t dry out for any individual competitor. The difference between this and the real thing? Each structure had to be broken down, the blocks cleaned of mortar and then stacked neatly on pallets when the competition was over. At the end of the day, the parking lot was spotless and, unless you noticed the pallets of bricks and cinder blocks, you would never have know that they had been there. But we enjoyed the chance to see these budding masons demonstrating their craft.

Fallen limb from the live oak

Need some Firewood?

Live oaks are protected trees in Florida. You can’t prune them without consulting an arborist, which the church does on a regular basis to ensure the many trees on their property are healthy. That only works so well, since 2 major limbs fell on Peeler Hall several years ago within weeks of each other and the recent arborist visit.

So it probably shoudn’t have been a complete surprise that another limb parted from it’s trunk in the courtyard off the sanctuary. Dave happened to see it fall, and even with pictures of it from several angles, it is still hard to show how BIG it is. The limb separated from its trunk and planted itself in the courtyard, over the breezeway, on the classroom building roof and over into another courtyard. This would take some time to remove.

New water tower for the well

Well. . . Water

In an effort to provide water to the Burmese garden, there has been a considerable amount of work and re-design on the well to ensure the water continues to flow even when the volunteers are gone over the summer months. The design that evolved over the last few months incorporated 2 different pumps and 2 sets of holding tanks, including a method to fill the tanks automatically using a timer.

Dave and Fred pressurize tanks by the well

The latest updates included stabilizing the surface mounted pump, mounting and plumbing in a new water tank on a platform, installing valves to keep the water pressure more constant and programming the timer which will enable the pump to fill the tanks at regular intervals. Getting the entire system to work involved several re-designs and the help of some more volunteers.

Dave sealing screws on Fermin's roof

And more . . .

One of the higher priority tasks that we hadn’t been able to address was a leak in the roof of the house occupied by the church’s caretaker and his wife. The building is a converted school trailer, so it’s roof has some similarities to an RV roof. There seemed to be 2 possible sources of leaks – the many screws securing the roof and several seams along the roof ridge and down its slope. Since the leak was confined to the northwest corner of the roof, we focused on first cleaning, then sealing the screws and seams. We applied self-leveling sealant to almost all of the screws, but we had to wait several days for more supplies before continuing. In the interim, the rains came, but no water leaked below.

We stayed with our plan to tape the seams on the nw corner, but armed with the information that sealing the screws had stopped the water, our attention turned to the rest of the roof. The rubber seals under the screws were deteriorating, so we decided to seal all the screws on the roof to prevent future leaks. A week later, we had some help with this in the form of a college mission team. They washed all the screws and applied sealant to more than half of the remaining screws before the weather forced them off the roof. Fermin and Cathy finished the task the next day.

While we had painted almost all of Peeler, the final section of Peeler that needed to be scraped and painted was the front porch, including the upper siding, which had been neglected for years because it was difficult to reach. Joe, Sandy, Cathy and Pat tackled it, at certain points having to lay on one roof to scrape and paint the soffit above. However, since it was a section that was most visible from Wesley Hall, it made a difference once finished in the building’s appearance.

Feeding 50 college students requires a lot of food

It’s Spring Break
With Spring Break under way, we had visits from 2 different college groups on an alternative spring break. The first group was from Illinois on a “Mystery Tour”. They would travel each day to a new location known only to their leaders. After working on a project in that location, they would head out to a new city. Jacksonville was the next to the last stop before heading home. We signed up to serve them breakfast and lunch, and they were a joy to meet and serve. They even enthusiastically helped with the clean up and kept thanking us for the meals.

Clearing the upper half of the fallen limb

The next week, another college group – this time from Florida – arrived to stay at Faith for a long weekend. After their work in the community ended, on Monday they volunteered to help around Faith. We had them digging trenches for new pipes by the well, cutting up the tree limbs in the courtyard and cleaning and sealing Fermin’s roof. They also moved some pallets of cinderblocks and bricks from the parking lot to storage. They were another great group and saved us old folks a lot of heavy lifting.

Putting Tom to work by the well

Coming and Going

Joe and Sandy had commitments early in March that caused them to head off to Georgia, so we said our goodbyes, thanking them for a lot of work done this winter. Not long after, we had a surprise visit from Tom and Dau, our friends (and Cathy’s distant cousin) from our sailing days. Passing through Jacksonville on their way north, they spent the night, and the guys put Tom to work smoothing out the path to the well, using the tractor and a box scraper. Since we were unsuccessful in persuading them to stay another day, we sent them on their way north again the next day.

Dau says goodbye

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Late February - It's Always Something

2/28/2022

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Pink Flamingo at the Jacksonville Zoo

While we said goodbye to several team members at the end of our last project, the work continued with a smaller team of volunteers. We also took some more time away from work with a visit to the zoo, and some visits from friends and family.

Mission Room 2 after completion

Faith Projects

While work was finishing up on the Peeler building Mission rooms and the building’s exterior, we were now able to turn our attention to other projects that had been on hold. There were some problems in the church’s internet that were puzzling. The sound board in the sanctuary was having multiple problems, and the well for the Burmese garden needed more attention.

Some rotten siding at the back of Peeler

Peeler
The finishing touches on the Mission rooms were almost complete, when it became necessary to take a step back. While Joe was repairing some rotten siding at the rear of the building, it became apparent that the rot was more extensive than originalyl thought. Because of all of the obstacles outside, it made
more sense to remove the paneling inside the room to gain access to the studs in question. That meant taking up the carpet that had just been laid, and then replacing, sealing and painting the paneling after the repair was complete. Despite the interruptions, Pat and Fred finished the room, and the time came to thoroughly clean and then set up the common spaces that had been covered in sawdust and plaster dust for several months. Meanwhile, Sandy had been painting the rear porch (under that roof that Joe had replaced), and helped with the inside cleanup as well. The results look great. Oh, and that siding repair, it looks pretty good too.

Painted rear porch on Peeler - now the main entrance to the Mission rooms

Staying Connected
All that activity in Peeler had created some problems with the internet on campus. One afternoon, Dave was asked to look into an outage that he discovered affected half of the buildings on campus. Since he had some redundancy built into the network, he made a temporary change to fix the problem, but was scratching his head about what had caused it. Since the first stop on the line in question was Peeler, we traced the cable to look for problems and tested the connectivity. Nothing was getting through, but it wasn’t clear where the break occurred. We decided to replace the line, and in the process, discovered what had happened. In the midst of the siding repairs, the building had shifted enough that the cable severed as it entered the building. Sure enough, with the new cable in place service was restored.

Until it disappeared again.

Several years ago, Cathy had taken on the task of putting the clips on the ends of the ethernet cable. However, some of her early work was a little . . . shaky. In the process of moving the Peeler router to a shelf in the new common room, one of these connections stopped working. After Cathy put a new end on the cable, we were back in business. Her skills have improved greatly with practice.

New sound board for sanctuary

Hey, What’s That Sound?
Sunday services were becoming a game of chance for the small crew that operated the sound system and managed the internet livestream. Volume settings would not hold from week to week, static was creeping in, and wireless mikes were not reliable alternatives. Sometimes the internet broadcast was the problem. Sometimes it was the live service. The stress in the sound booth was significant. We had been asked to help, and were willing, but this was not our area of expertise.

Our first approach was to try to test the cables from the sound board to the mikes and speakers. When we determined that the tester wasn’t working, our attention turned to the soundboard. In our limited time as livestream broadcasters back in 2020, we had avoided touching this piece of equipment, since it seemed incredibly easy to make things worse. Also, there would be limited time to prototype a new solution. Whatever we did had to be working next Sunday.

So, we pulled a spare soundboard out of storage and gingerly moved the cables from the old one to the new. Pulpit mike. House speaker. FM radio transmission. Wireless mike. Livestream output. Computer input for playing CD’s and Videos. In all there were 13 inputs and 3 outputs. When we met with Mark and Nelson on Wednesday, we were not sure what their reaction would be. Fortunately, the testing went well with only a few changes to make it all work. Our only assignment was to test the floor jacks in front of the choir to find one(s) that would work for a speaker placed there. AND to print up a sign in English, Spanish and Arabic to leave the soundboard settings alone. (Luckily, Pastor Jacob reviewed our Arabic to say that it made sense.) Sunday’s service showed a huge improvement. The livestream volume was much better and the static problems in the sanctuary were gone. Whew!

Fred and Dave moving a possible tank for the well

And more
More projects were underway as well. Joe fashioned a new breezeway support pole and repaired half a dozen more. When a soft spot was found in the caretaker’s house floor, Joe opened it up, replaced the rotten boards and restored it to firm footing. The well for the Burmese garden needed to have a new roof structure put in place, which we built one morning from scrap lumber and an old shed roof.

As they say, It’s always something. We’re just grateful for the extra help to take care of it all.

Dave's favorite place in the RV

RV Stuff
Dave likes his theater seat recliner a lot. It is his favorite seat. So, on the colder nights, it was disappointing that it would no longer heat up as it once did. Contacting Lippert, we were told that it needed a new heating pad, which we were sent for free under warranty. However, we then had to remove the chair and install it. The only tricky part of this was running the replacement wire under the fabric so it could connect with the wiring harness. After a few misses, we made it through and the chair’s heat was restored. Just in time for the next chilly night.

And you may remember a problem we had with a drawer which had the bottom separate one day back in the summer. Apparently our repair wasn’t all that it should be. Being here at Faith, we had access to more clamps and a staple gun to make a better repair. We glued the edge that was separating and clamped it for 24 hours before putting into service. Cathy also removed some of the heavier items. We’ll see how long it lasts this time.

Dave says goodbye to Adam

Hellos and Goodbyes

It’s that time of year for comings and goings. After enjoying time with Adam as he stayed and worked with us for a couple of months, we said goodbye as he headed out to join the “Skoolie Swarm” in Melrose in late February. A few days later, we got to see Bonnie and her family as they passed through en route to Orlando. The next weekend, we were visited by Jim and Joanne, former Nomads who came to visit for an evening. The next day, anticipating the imminent departure of more of our volunteers, we hosted a cookout to say goodbye.

Barry, Jim and Joanne

Bongo at the Jacksonville Zoo

We’re Going to the Zoo

We took a Saturday to join Evalyn and Pat on our first visit to the Jacksonville Zoo. It was a busy Saturday, but we walked through almost every exhibit – from anacondas to zebras. A beautiful day.

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Late January / Early February - Nomads at Faith Part 2

2/11/2022

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Pastor Jacob with Dave in the new room completed by the project team

The work on our 2nd project at Faith came down to the wire, but the finished product brought smiles all around. The team was small but managed to do an amazing amount of work and had fun doing it – most of the time. Dave also celebrated another birthday at the end of the month, to the benefit of the team and some pretty good chocolate cake.

Garage Transformation

Pastor Jacob had a vision of how his garage could be turned into living space, but it took more than 3 weeks, lots of skills brought together and many hands to effect the transformation. At times, it seemed that the finishing touches would not be done by the project’s end. But you can’t count the team out until the last day. Sure enough, the last nails were going into the final section of baseboard as the paint was being applied to the last of the doors just as the final workday was done. All felt a sense of accomplishment, and Pastor Jacob was more than thrilled with the finished product. There were other smaller repairs done as well, but none more appreciated than repairing the walls torn open 2 years ago in the bathrooms to fix a plumbing leak. That was a big deal too.

Mission Room 3 bath after completion

Back at Faith, another Mission Room was finished (2 of 3) and the 3rd and final one needed only carpet and trim to be finished. The exterior of the building that houses the Mission rooms – Peeler – was slowly being renewed by siding repairs, scraping and painting. Looking back to the building that was in such bad shape with a badly leaking room 5 years ago, it has been an impressive change.

Pastor Jacob picked up a paint roller to help finish the new room. Click on the image to see the whole project video.

You can get a glimpse of the activity in the project’s video by clicking on Pastor Jacob's picture here to the left.

Off the Clock
As usual, the project activities kept us busy enough that we didn’t have a lot of time for other activities, but we found enough diversions to stay refreshed. We celebrated Dave’s birthday in the middle of the project, which came with – what else? – a chocolate on chocolate cake. With less than a minute’s notice, we managed to scramble outside to watch a SpaceX launch from the church parking lot just after sunset. We had a few shared (mostly takeout) dinners with Pat and Fred and Adam. And we took a night to drive through St. Augustine’s Festival of Lights shortly before their display was to end. And we managed to get in a few Whit’s ice cream treats during our travels around town.

New mini-fridge installed in our outdoor locker

There was one small repair that we attended to on the RV. Shortly after returning from our Christmas travels, we discovered that our outdoor mini-fridge was no longer working. We pulled it out to determine the source of the problem. It turned out to be the fridge, as opposed to the Rv outlet. While this isn’t an essential part of our RV equipment, Cathy had gotten used to it. So, we started researching replacements. The new appliance had to have fairly exacting measurements to fit into the cupboard in the outside locker. Not finding exactly what we wanted, we put the search on hold, until we were grocery shopping in Aldi. Dave happened to see a mini-fridge on sale that seemed to have exactly the measurements needed. We took a chance and surprise! it fit like a glove. We never would have thought of shopping at Aldi before we saw it there.

Parting Shot

This guy was unperturbed by Cathy’s close approach to the bridge railing on which he was resting. At his leisure, he flew away after posing for a few pictures.

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Early January - Nomads at Faith Part 1

1/20/2022

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Joe lays out new rafters for the porch behind Peeler.

The New Year's fireworks had barely quieted down before we were starting our 1st Nomads project in 2022. The team would be working on many long-deferred maintenance tasks here at Faith and making progress on the new Mission rooms. The work had barely begun when we got a call from Adam. He was in town and wanted to join us. And join he did. We’re not sure how we would have completed many of the tasks without him.

Dave discusses project work with Ken

Project Work

When we were compiling the list of tasks needing work back in December, it seemed unlikely that any more than the highest priorities would be completed during the project. A rotting roof on what would become the new entrance to the Mission rooms at the back of Peeler needed to be replaced. And the door for that entrance would barely open because there was no clearance to allow it to swing inside over the floor. The main golf cart for the church wasn’t working. The tractor used to mow the field was down. The well for the Burmese gardens had stopped working. The church’s oldest building had not been painted in years, and the mold and mildew were taking a toll. A long list.

Butch and Adam remove concrete to lay new drain pipe

Then there were improvements that were hoped for. Extending the campground sewer hookups. Adding a new washer / dryer, which required a bigger drain to be run across the sidewalk, and new propane line to the dryer. The Mission House exterior needed painting as well. Adam and Butch teamed up on a number of the dirtier projects, digging trenches through the dirt and cutting up concrete.

Adam and Aden lead the group in songs at our weekly campfire.

These were only a few of the projects that the team tackled during our Period 1 project here at Faith. And to our delight and amazement, they completed a large percentage of that list, and made significant progress on others. But the team not only worked hard, they had good times together off the clock. We gathered around several campfires with Aden and Adam playing guitar for us to sing along. We crowded around in the parking lot to catch the SpaceX rocket launch. And we gathered each day under the live oak in the church’s courtyard for devotions to give us a spiritual lift for the work we are doing. Faith’s legendary hospitality was in evidence as they provided lunches for the team most days.

Joan looks on as Aden plays the saw during devotions. (And see the cross in the background, the cross-piece had fallen off, but was repaired by the team.)

And this was the first project where Cathy stepped back to let another team member exhibit their creative skills at videography. You can get a feel for the project work in his project video here.

Parting Shot
These cats were hoping to join the humans for dinner in Wesley.

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