Saying Goodbye to Florida for the season With a commitment in Reston on May 1st, we knew we had to pull out of Jacksonville the last week of April. So, we finalized the preparations on the RV, finished what tasks we could around the church, and made some time to visit Cathy’s family before heading north. We spent the last weekend of the month at Pocahontas, visiting family and friends in the park before moving to Lake Fairfax Park in Reston for the month of May.
Amtrak in Jacksonville To Raleigh by Rail
When possible, we try to plan a detour to visit Cathy’s family in NC as we make our way north, but this year we weren’t finding the campground that we wanted. ( Last year’s state park campground had not yet completed the planned power upgrade, and we had fluctuating voltage that was concerning last year). So, we tried a different approach. Why not go by train?
When possible, we try to plan a detour to visit Cathy’s family in NC as we make our way north, but this year we weren’t finding the campground that we wanted. ( Last year’s state park campground had not yet completed the planned power upgrade, and we had fluctuating voltage that was concerning last year). So, we tried a different approach. Why not go by train?
Claire makes her move in a Monopoly game with GG and Aunt Cathy The trip from Jacksonville to Raleigh on Amtrak’s Silver Meteor is an overnight, leaving later in the evening and arriving early in the am on both north and southbound trips. This gave us 3 days to visit with Cathy’s sisters, nieces and their families. We had a great weekend, which included a few intense monopoly games, a rainy soccer game where our nephew scored 2 goals, greeting a few calves newly arrived from Hickory, and an introduction to Pop Darts. (You really have to try these.)
Amtrak Station at Southern Pines, NC We traveled by coach this time since the trip was a short one. You can follow us on board with this video.
Pastor Ricardo and Dave work on his roof Finishing Up at Faith
Probably the last thing Dave expected to be doing on the day before we left town was to spend most of it on the roof of an RV that wasn’t ours. Pastor Ricardo stays in an RV at the church, and it needed some repairs. While Dave and Ricardo had patched a number of holes before our weekend in NC, the rain over the weekend made it clear that there were more. The source for the latest ones was a plastic vent cover that had deteriorated from UV exposure. Since we had little time to replace it, Dave recruited Cathy to make a cover that would protect it over the summer months until we had resources to replace it. Just before the next round of rain, Dave fitted it on the vent cover and so far it has held and kept the rain out.
Pastor Ricardo also wanted to perform some long overdue maintenance on his hot water heater. Since we had recently done the same task on our RV, Dave shared our tools and expertise to assist him in de-scaling and flushing it out.
Probably the last thing Dave expected to be doing on the day before we left town was to spend most of it on the roof of an RV that wasn’t ours. Pastor Ricardo stays in an RV at the church, and it needed some repairs. While Dave and Ricardo had patched a number of holes before our weekend in NC, the rain over the weekend made it clear that there were more. The source for the latest ones was a plastic vent cover that had deteriorated from UV exposure. Since we had little time to replace it, Dave recruited Cathy to make a cover that would protect it over the summer months until we had resources to replace it. Just before the next round of rain, Dave fitted it on the vent cover and so far it has held and kept the rain out.
Pastor Ricardo also wanted to perform some long overdue maintenance on his hot water heater. Since we had recently done the same task on our RV, Dave shared our tools and expertise to assist him in de-scaling and flushing it out.
Lights back on at the back of the gym Cathy tackled another set of light bulbs that were out and keeping the campground in near complete darkness at night. These required an extension ladder to replace, but the result was a much brighter and safer campground at night.
Lori shows the newly carpeted Beyond 90 rooms While we had run out of time to help with the finishing touches in the rooms we had remodeled for Beyond 90, their volunteers were scrambling to lay the carpet and paint the rest of the remaining walls. We helped a little by staging supplies, helping get a piano out to its new owner, and making some new keys. The good news was that as we left they were pretty close to finishing in preparation for a move date a couple of days later. It was a success and Lori shared some pictures of the finished product.
Our computer work this month was focused largely on activities regarding Faith’s new identity as it moves to the Global Methodist Church. Dave signed out a new domain name, and by registering the church as a Google non-profit, was able to create emails using that domain name. We also created a new livestream scene collection in OBS, a new letterhead for the church and some new logos. None of the changes take effect until June 1st, but since we would be much further north, we wanted to put as much in place as we could.
Dave holds new plug for our shore power cord. RV Stuff
We each have our own tasks when we are packing up and setting up the RV. One of Cathy’s tasks is to stow the 50amp electric cord. This has required some care over the past year, since the shore side plug on the cord had been gradually separating from the insulation around the cord’s wires. So, when Dave went out to unplug the RV one afternoon, (to loan our Power Watchdog to Barry for his RV) he was taken aback at the state of the cord. After researching several alternatives for a replacement plug, he settled on one from Camco, which appeared to have the easiest method for attaching the heavy gauge wires from the cord. And, as advertised the install went smoothly.
We keep working our way through the stuff we store in the RV to reduce clutter and weight. And, this time we also needed to sort through the remaining boat stuff from Orion Jr. When we were about to make some hard decisions, just in the nick of time, we had a boater contact us that was interested in several items, including the outboard. So, our remaining stash had reduced considerably, and we didn’t have to come up with another place to store the outboard.
We each have our own tasks when we are packing up and setting up the RV. One of Cathy’s tasks is to stow the 50amp electric cord. This has required some care over the past year, since the shore side plug on the cord had been gradually separating from the insulation around the cord’s wires. So, when Dave went out to unplug the RV one afternoon, (to loan our Power Watchdog to Barry for his RV) he was taken aback at the state of the cord. After researching several alternatives for a replacement plug, he settled on one from Camco, which appeared to have the easiest method for attaching the heavy gauge wires from the cord. And, as advertised the install went smoothly.
We keep working our way through the stuff we store in the RV to reduce clutter and weight. And, this time we also needed to sort through the remaining boat stuff from Orion Jr. When we were about to make some hard decisions, just in the nick of time, we had a boater contact us that was interested in several items, including the outboard. So, our remaining stash had reduced considerably, and we didn’t have to come up with another place to store the outboard.
Cathy up on scaffolding working on Barry's awning straps. Not all of our work was done on our RV. Cathy pulled out the sewing machine to repair some of the many awnings that are on Barry’s newly-acquired RV. This was made tricky by the fact that most of the awnings couldn’t easily be removed. So, using the church’s scaffolding, she raised the sewing machine up to meet the awning. While one awning needed more significant repairs, Barry had it removed, but the bolt rope wouldn’t slide out of the metal housing. So, Cathy managed to work with a 10ft metal plate attached to the fabric. Nothing, if not challenging.
New patio mats While Cathy stitched on Barry’s canvas, Dave did more of the heavy lifting to get our RV ready. He re-genned the water softener, topped of the tires, cleaned and stowed the grill, and washed the patio mats. The last task turned out to be a futile exercise, since we decided the mats were on their last legs and it was time to let them go. A last-minute trip to Camping World allowed us to replace them, and pick up a bag to store them as well.
Goodbyes
Our last night in town we had a goodbye dinner at The Bearded Pig with good food and good company.
Our last night in town we had a goodbye dinner at The Bearded Pig with good food and good company.
Heading Out
We pulled out of Faith on Wednesday, April 26th. With cool temperatures in the forecast, we made 2 boondocking stops on our first 2 nights out – Walmart in Manning SC and Cracker Barrel in Roanoke Rapids NC. A rainy weekend forecast opened up a site at Pocahontas for a 4-night stay that allowed us to pull in on Thursday afternoon.
We pulled out of Faith on Wednesday, April 26th. With cool temperatures in the forecast, we made 2 boondocking stops on our first 2 nights out – Walmart in Manning SC and Cracker Barrel in Roanoke Rapids NC. A rainy weekend forecast opened up a site at Pocahontas for a 4-night stay that allowed us to pull in on Thursday afternoon.
Sherry working the beer tent at Ragnar This was a big weekend for the park, which was hosting a Ragnar race event with about 1500 runners participating in a round-the-clock relay race. We took a walk down to the day use area where the race activities were happening. We stopped in at the Friends’ beer tent to talk to one of our Cabin Work Week volunteers and then grabbed some BBQ from the food truck before heading back to the campground.
Dave surveys damage at the Baker Building The next day, we made a trip to the survey the Cabin Work Week supplies and visited 2 potential work sites for this year’s project that were historic buildings, but not within the group cabin sites. This gave us some perspective on the state of the buildings and what repairs might be needed.
We like to stop at Pocahontas in hopes of seeing family and we were not disappointed. On Saturday, they all joined us at the park, and we had a great time visiting and enjoying a dinner together. On Sunday, the rain that had been our constant companion since leaving Florida, returned for most of the day, but we managed to pull out dry on Monday as we made our way to Reston and our month of hosting at Lake Fairfax Park.
