​This was the first time in many years that all of us had been together, and we enjoyed the time together. From touring the cow barns, to video games and a reprise of the bow game, there were lots of laughs and good times catching up. By mid-afternoon, we regretfully had to say our goodbyes. The uncertainty of Dave’s mother’s health pushed us to get settled back in Jacksonville so we would have more options depending on what might come next. 

The first install would be a hitch extension that would allow our bike rack to swing away from the rear doors, whether or not the bikes were installed. This would be critical if we wanted to make effective use of the storage in the rear of the van. The Yakima extension sits between the hitch receiver and the bike rack. Once installed, opening up the rear doors simply requires flipping up a lever and releasing a spring-loaded knob to swing the bike rack out to the passenger side. Then the driver’s side rear door will open fully and lock into place. However, while the passenger-side rear door opens wide, the swing hitch prevents it from locking into place. But we like the access we now have. ​

​While the van has a backup camera, it only operates when in reverse. When just traveling down the road, there was very limited visibility out of the back of the van. So, we decided to install a wireless rear view camera to fill this void. The camera has a magnetic mount, which allows it to be easily installed on the rear roof. The monitor sits on the dash and receives the signal from the camera for the driver to see. We were very pleased with how crisp the images were, even in low light. And the install was very easy.

​As time passed, Dave started to be puzzled by the state of the batteries. The percent charged seemed off. After spending time studying the display, he finally noticed something. The bar graph showing the number of amps going in was backwards. It showed a green bar when the batteries were discharging and a yellow bar when the batteries were charging. His educated guess was that the shunt that fed information to the display was installed backwards. Correcting that could mean crawling into the recesses of the van to find the shunt to correct it. As we looked through the display settings, he discovered a simple fix. He could simply change the setting to reverse the display and voila! the monitor started making sense. Much easier than tearing the van apart to change a wire. 

Saying Goodbye​

We had just stepped into our hotel room after traveling for several hours south toward Jacksonville when the call came. Dave’s mom had just passed. It was only hours after she had been placed in hospice care and less than a week after we had waved goodbye on our way to the bus.

​She was 94 years young and had lived a generous, loving life over those many decades. She leaves behind the imprint she left on her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, not to mention the many scouts she helped over the years. Not a bad legacy to live up to.

​While the van we discovered there was being sold by a dealer and made by an RV manufacturer, it was not a brand or model that many had heard of. Waldoch makes custom van and truck conversions being their primary customers were large companies. Making Camper Vans was a very small part of their business. We were surprised that the layout was so close and the price was so low for something we had been looking for. It just had a couple of issues keeping us from getting to a yes.  

​While the interior construction was solid and good quality, it was also heavy. We wanted to know how much payload was left for the van to be legally driven. So, for our test drive, we drove a few hundred feet down the road to a CAT scale. We were all a little dismayed to learn that we had a little more than 1100 lbs to cover people, gas, water, and stuff. After some calculations, we decided we could make it work. The other significant issue was getting it insured. This turned out to be easier than we first thought. Although it was the first of many times we would have to explain what a Waldoch Coya was.  

​So, we made our way back to Bradenton by train. It wasn’t the smoothest trip, since the train ended up being over 2 hours late into Tampa, largely due to a bad wheel on an engine. Then the bus ride to Bradenton took place during rush hour, making us over 3 hours late getting to our hotel. Luckily that was across the street from the RV dealer.

We had a great walkthrough of the van by the tech at dealership, before closing the deal and heading out for Jacksonville the next morning. We had made a big first step, but there would be a lot of small ones ahead.  

Getting Ready to Travel
We had decided to take the van north for our holiday travels. But that gave us only 48 hours to get it ready to travel. The dealership tech had filled the water tank (all 43 gallons of it) to show the systems working, but we needed to dump that water from the fresh water and holding tanks and winterize them before heading into sub-freezing temperatures. Only it took a while to understand that the fresh water tank required the pump to run for it to empty

Then the holding tanks wouldn’t empty. We used our “magic formula” to help dissolve any blockages and then they started to flow again. We managed to get the antifreeze in the inside sink and toilet, but we hadn’t calculated how hard it would be to access the rear of the van (where one more sink was located) once our bikes were in place. We would have to remove the bikes before we could access anything in the rear. ​

There would be more to learn about the RV systems, each monitor was working differently than we expected, but we were able to get the antifreeze in, load up for our travels and head out to Hilton Head to meet Pat and Fred.

Hilton Head​

Our plans made early in the year had been to do some biking around the island at Hilton Head with Pat and Fred. The weather was the coldest we had experienced during this second week of December, so we had to pick our biking days carefully. We enjoyed time together and some long rides around the island, when the weather cooperated. By week’s end, we were saying goodbyes and heading further north.  

Next Stop NC
​We would have a brief stop near Raleigh NC on our travels north, to return a week later for a longer visit. With the forecast showing frigid temperatures, we were grateful to have the ability to plug the van into shore power. This would allow us to use some small space heaters to keep the interior warm enough to protect the batteries. But this also didn’t go smoothly.  

Arriving within an hour of sunset, we scrambled to get the van readied for the cold night. That meant the bikes and bike rack had to come off the rear. The shore power cord would now be plugged into a 15-amp outlet, instead of a 30-amp outlet.  Dave had already researched the change to the inverter / charger which would enable this connection. But when we made the change and plugged in the RV, there was no power.  As the temperatures kept falling, we tried to understand the problem. One obvious error was that the battery type on the charger was “flooded”, but we have Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. After switching to the right battery type, there was still no power.

Anxious to get out of the cold, we called it a night, bypassing the RV’s outlets and just used an extension cord to the house outlet to run the heaters.  The next morning, Dave found the problem. There was one more change (from  50 to 60 Hz) that was the missing piece of the puzzle. After making this change, the power flowed as it should. Dave programmed a timer that he could control from his phone to turn the heaters on and off based on the forecast. Our nephew Harry was very helpful in making the set up work, even setting up a special Wifi access point for the van. ​

So, when not working on the van, we enjoyed time with our nieces and nephews and Cathy's sisters. We joined them for their Christmas Joy Sunday service, where we heard beautiful music from choirs and bell ringers. When the howling winds took out the power later that day, we got to enjoy a hilarious game of Exploding Kittens with our great-nephew Andrew who was flushed out of his room when his electronics no longer worked.  ​

On to Pennsylvania​

On the coldest morning we would have during our travels, we made our way to Raleigh’s Union Station downtown to catch the Carolinian train north to Philadelphia. This train originates in Charlotte NC and is more of a local than many of Amtrak’s long haul trains. It stops at several cities within NC before heading further north. While we would detrain in Philadelphia to catch a bus to Allentown, the train continues on to NYC. The cold weather may have contributed to some problems on board, since not all restrooms on board were in working order until they could top off the water in Richmond mid-day. And the salad we chose for our lunch mid-day was actually frozen.  

Arriving in Philadelphia about 90 minutes late, we made our way to the hotel in downtown Philly, where we would spend the night. The next morning, we walked to the Amtrak station to wait for our bus to Allentown. We would spend the next week visiting with Dave’s mom, Diane and Pam. A visit that would be bittersweet, since it was the last time we would be with Dave’s mom before she passed a week later.  ​

​Waking up north of Tampa on Thanksgiving Day, we had few plans until evening, but a text message from our friend Cheri changed all that. She and Butch were volunteering in Tampa and had no dinner plans until late afternoon. And they were only 45 minutes away in the direction of our travel. We had missed seeing them last year as he was getting treatments for cancer, so it was fun to see them both and especially to see him in good health.  

​We knew that there would not be many restaurants open on Thanksgiving Day, so we checked Google to get a list of which ones might be open. Along route 70 near I75, there are dozens of restaurants within a few miles on either side of the interstate. Of all of those restaurants, despite what Google told us, only 1 was open. That was Bob Evans. Their usual menu was greatly simplified on this day. Other than breakfast, the choices were a turkey dinner, a ham dinner, or a combination turkey and ham dinner. We chose the latter and split it between us. That was Thanksgiving dinner number 3.

​On Sunday, we joined Wendy and Dave at church but spent the morning with Wendy and Jack at Sunday school. The kids were making Advent wreaths, and we were responsible for cutting out over 70 advent candles for them to glue onto their wreaths. By the time we were done, the class was almost over. But Wendy was given 5 minutes to do a run through of the Christmas pageant with the kids. And she was able to do just that. So, we had a little time to share a meal of – what else? --turkey and stuffing leftovers before heading out for Faith. All kidding aside, we had a great time together.  

In addition to the usual computer updates and internet problems, we were around to help with the Christmas decorations in the sanctuary as well. Dave took Adriana on a tour of the campground to help her understand the layout as requests are made for stays throughout the year. And we were asked to do some research into selling some of the work vehicles that were no longer needed. ​

Our presence in Jacksonville allowed us some in-person time to work with Pastor Jacop on securing the funding for his roof.  And we could spend an afternoon with Beverly to address some of her computer issues while catching up.  We also were in position to help Leslie with some of the preparations for the Nomads projects as the demands on her time were making this task difficult for her.

Parting Shot
​These Sandhill Cranes were making their distinctive call as we took a walk around the lakes in Lakewood Ranch. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away​

When we saw the forecast for the first week of the project, all we could do was sigh. Rain was in the forecast 3 out of 5 days. This could be a problem. So, we held our breath and gathered on Monday to get to work.  At least the 2nd week was going to be sunny and warm. 

​The painters managed to get all of the remaining decks in 3rd Branch stained on the first Monday, which was a good thing, because the weather moved them inside for the rest of the week. Three of the 3rd Branch cabins would benefit from the rain, since their interiors were all painted over the 2 weeks of the project. And those decks in the final cabin site, 2nd Branch, were finally able to be done in the 2nd week when the rain went away.

​The screening team lead had some prep work to do in week 1, marking screens to be repaired or replaced and painting over 100 pieces of screen trim that would be needed.   When the rest of the team arrived in week 2, all was ready to go.

The screening team had fewer screens to tackle than in a typical year, but the team was smaller as well, so the work and the team size seemed to line up well.

​The special projects team would be improving the 2 bathhouses in 2nd and 3rd Branch. This was a complicated logistical project, since we were discovering new supplies that were needed on an almost daily basis.

The biggest hurdle came in 2nd Branch, where a leaking pipe had damaged walls and required a new hot water heater. By the end of the 2nd week, both bathhouses had walls repaired, new fixtures, plumbing that had been updated and, in 2nd Branch, a new hot water heater. The spiders and crickets were upset, because they no longer had a cozy home inside. But you can’t please everybody.  

As the weather warmed and dried out for the 2nd project week, work intensified with the addition of more team members. The damage in the Weyanock Lodge consumed the efforts of several carpenters for much of the week, along with the efforts of a few painters. There were also repairs to parking lot timbers chewed up by carpenter bees, and many small repairs throughout the remaining cabins.
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​Our main goal for the project was to transition the cabin maintenance to a team of local volunteers, the Timbersmiths. So, during the 2nd week, members of this group joined us one afternoon for training sessions at the work site, that seemed to be well-received by the trainees as well as the instructors.  
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​You can check out this year’s project video below. ​​

To our surprise, we were also honored at this event with a beautiful plaque crafted one of the skilled Timbersmith volunteers, presented by the Director of Virginia State Parks, Melissa Baker. It recognized our leadership in the 8 project years of Cabin Work Week.
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And, on the Friday after the last day of the project, we celebrated with a project dinner that brought together the team members, park staff and some of those who had been there at the beginning to get the whole thing started 8 years ago. Cathy’s sisters all came as well. We enjoyed Don’s famous Brunswick stew and a video that reflected on not just this year’s project, but the 8 project years that led up to it. 
​

Traveling South
​
After a short (but very cold) post-week cleanup, we were packed up and ready to head south. Our first night was a quick stop at South of the Border.  Then we drove another 150 miles south to spend the weekend at the Lake Jasper RV Village in Hardeeville SC near the Georgia border. With a Passport America discount, this was a great bargain. We had a convenient pull-through site in a lovely campground. But the big win was its proximity to the Sargent Jasper county park that had over 4 miles of wide, shaded trails that we enjoyed walking each day.

While they also had a disc golf course, we chose not to try our luck, since many of the holes were right next to ponds where alligators live. With our limited skills, we would surely lose most of our disks. And it did warm up enough that we saw at least one big gator on the move. No thanks. 

On Monday, we covered the remaining miles to Jacksonville. where the RV would sit for a while.

Riding the Trail 
​
We enjoyed a day with Troy and Taylor, doing double-duty as chauffeur. We picked Troy up from the high school after his SAT, before heading west to South Hill and the western end of the Tobacco Heritage Trail. After a quick lunch, we put the bikes on the trail and headed east toward the Meherrin River. The first few miles of the trail are paved.  ​

But shortly after leaving the small town of Brodnax, the pavement disappeared and not too much further, we decided it was time to take a break and then turn around. What the kids hadn’t realized was that we had been going downhill for quite a while. So, the trip back was a bit harder than they had thought it would be. While we didn’t make it all the way to the Meherrin River bridge, Troy only had a few miles left to have covered the whole trail from South Hill to Lawrenceville.

We made it back home just after their mom and dad, and enjoyed some time around the campfire before heading back to Pocahontas. ​

Planting for Restoration
We reconnected with Andi, the former volunteer coordinator at Pocahontas when the first Cabin Work Week was initiated. She was quick to invite us to volunteer with others at her new work site, a tract of land managed by The Nature Conservancy near Sussex VA. We drove to almost literally the middle of nowhere and luckily managed to find the right place, along with 4 other volunteers whose ages ranged from early 20’s to 80. Our job for the day was to plant native grasses to recover some farmland, part of 10 acres that Andi is actively managing to help restore the Virginia’s native longleaf pine population -- a naturally fire-resistant tree.  ​

​Again, this seemed to have little effect. It was time to up the game with a high tech approach. Dave bought a set of Blink wireless cameras that he could position at 2 different spots on the roof. They were set up to give him an alert when motion (aka a squirrel) was detected in their view. He could then view the live feed of the squirrel, and – here’s the best part – yell at the squirrel through the phone. You know he’s committed when you hear him yelling into the phone while shopping at Walmart, “Squirrel, get off my roof!”

​Again, the squirrels quickly learned they were in no real danger from the voice. So, what to do? A trip to Home Depot yielded another tech toy. This was a wireless timer that Dave could control with the phone. He plugged our pumpkin man into the timer. Now, when the Blink camera alert sounded, he could inflate the pumpkin man and yell at the squirrel. They would surely run for cover. Well, sometimes they did, but often they didn't.

​Our activities sped up a little as we neared the end of our September hosting assignment at Twin Lakes State Park, making preparations for National Public Lands Day on the last Saturday. We did find time to visit some nearby state parks as well.  And as we start to think about “what’s next”, we started watching many videos about van conversions and got to talk to some owners in the campground that had either done their own conversions or bought already configured class B’s. 

Don’t Fence Me In
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Despite the increasing threat of rain on National Public Lands Day, we kept making plans for the volunteers to install a split rail fence. As the day approached, we did what we could to ensure the volunteers would be able to hit the ground running.

​By watching videos, we created a set of instructions. We worked with the park manager to plan where the sections of fence should go and helped develop the count of rails and posts to be ordered. Once the supplies arrived, we used their actual measurements to lay out the locations of posts and guided the park staff in trying to dig the post holes. When the problems with the augers kept this process from being successful, we re-prioritized the work to have the mostly college-age volunteers dig the holes in what should be softer ground.  Working with maintenance, we pulled together the tools needed for the fence, and helped prep a bench kit for a couple of benches in case the forecast rain made it impossible to work on the fence.  

​When more volunteers appeared, work began on the parking lot fence. However, this soil was much harder to penetrate by hand. As work ended for the day, there were holes dug for only 4 sections of fence, and only 1 post had been set. But we had assurances that a few volunteers would be coming the next day, so maybe we could get a bit more done before handing the remaining work over to Maintenance. 

​Sure enough, we had 2 volunteers on Sunday, and they were hard workers as well. Building on the work by Saturday’s crew, we completed the remaining 6 sections of the beach fence and installed 4 more sections by the parking lot. While there are still many more rails to install, we felt good about the 18 sections we were able to get installed, despite the equipment problems that set us back on the holes being dug in advance.  

Side jobs
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​We made use of our time when not working on the National Public Lands Day for other projects around the park. In preparation for a significant event at the park’s Conference Center, we weeded and mulched a planting just outside the windows. Since a lot of these weeds had taken up permanent residence, we had to work pretty hard to evict them. But we managed to get the job done before the conference was scheduled to begin. 

We also walked the rest of the park’s trails, documenting downed trees that would need some heavier equipment to remove.  One loop had been closed, which we discovered was due to not 1 but 4 sets of trees downed across the trail at different spots. ​

​James River State Park sits high above the James River in a remote area of Virginia’s central region. It is an hour drive northwest of Twin Lakes. Its remote location made it a candidate to earn the designation as an official Dark Sky Park. During the summer, it is a popular launching point for rafting and tubing on the James River. We toured the exhibits in the Visitor Center before taking a walk around the nearby Green Pond Trail. After a trip through the campground to check out the campsites, we headed out for our 2nd stop, Holliday Lake State Park.  

​Although this park is only about 30 minutes west of Farmville, we had even less cell signal than we did at James River. Like Twin Lakes, it has a popular beach area, which was quiet on this fall Sunday afternoon. We drove through the 2 campgrounds, but found few sites that appealed to us outside of the Equestrian campground. We took a hike along the lake to a lookout and back along the upper ridge before it was time to head toward home. However, with no cell service and being unfamiliar with the local roads, we weren’t sure how to make our way back. For the first time in a long time, Cathy pulled out her paper map of Virginia and gave Dave directions until Google Maps started working again, which was several miles outside of the park. 

Parting Shots

These are some of the park's more colorful natives.

​The first part of September found us moving around quite a bit, from our daughter’s house to Williamsburg to Poquoson in coastal VA and ending up back at Twin Lakes State Park near Farmville in south central VA, as we arrived a bit late for our month of hosting there.

Some More Family Time​

The pleasant weather that arrived in late August persisted into the first days of September, and we enjoyed the cool evenings with a few campfires at our daughter’s house. As the high school sports’ teams prepped for their first events, we had a chance to watch our grandson’s cross-country meet and our granddaughter’s volleyball games.  

On one of our last trips into town to drop off the kids to school, we took our son-in-law’s advice and took a walk by the Meherrin River in downtown Emporia. It was a nice paved trail along the river that we had never explored before. Much better than getting our steps inside Walmart. ​

With our daughter’s recovery going well, we made ready to leave and head to Twin Lakes by the 2nd Tuesday, having enjoyed the few weeks spending time together as she healed from surgery. 

Off to the Coast​

We took some time on our last weekend before heading to Twin Lakes to visit our friends Steve and Linda in Poquoson. As new owners of a Defever trawler, Stella Maris, they were eager to show us their new home afloat.  
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We spent the day on Steve and Linda's Stella Maris.  Its engine room was bigger than their sailboat Bay Dreamer.  While an engine problem kept us on the dock, we enjoyed seeing it and spending time together.  The next day, we lent a hand in assembling Steve's new ebike before heading back to Jarratt for our final night there. 

Hosting again
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​We had barely set up at Twin Lakes before we had to take a trip back to Pocahontas State Park. We had agreed to present the Cabin project to the National Association of State Park Foundations. With representatives from a couple of dozen states, we gave an overview of the project and a brief tour of a nearby cabin.  

Back at Twin Lakes, our efforts went in several directions. We were officially retail hosts, so we learned the ropes of being a cashier and spent a day placing prices on merchandise. Since it is a slow season for retail at the park, we made our way to other projects.  ​

​Retracing our steps on the trails that we had blazed last year, we found some severe damage to one of the 5 bridges on the Goodwin Lake trail. There were several openings caused by damage to older boards. While we could make use of a gator to transport the replacement boards and tools, we couldn’t take the gator all the way up the trail to the bridge. That meant a few trips across the ¼ mile between where we parked it and the bridge. Luckily, removing the screws and old boards was not as bad as a deck we worked on back in May. We managed to replace enough of the boards to fill the gaps and open the bridge to regular foot traffic. 

Parting Shot​

Arriving at Twin Lakes, we caught up with our plaque that named us hosts of the year for 2024. It was a pretty special award.  

What’s that Hissing Sound?
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​Heading out from our Kutztown campground on the morning of the 18th, we had only a general idea of our destination for the night. We did know that we wanted to avoid travel through the DC corridor, so we made our way west to I81, then south to Virginia.

Winchester seemed to be the logical place to stop, so we pulled into Candy Hill Campground on the west side of town. After getting a little too much “help” from the staff to maneuver into our site, we had just  disconnected when we heard a loud hiss from the driver’s side of the RV.  

​The rear driver’s side tire was leaking at the valve stem. So, it looked like we had some work to do. Using the leveling jacks, we raised the RV enough to remove the damaged tire and mount the spare. Concerned that this could be the first of several tire failures of the now 4-year old trailer tires, we took the tire to a nearby garage, Omps, recommended by the campground. It took only a few seconds for the service man to assess the tire to say it was a broken belt not just a faulty valve stem that was the problem. He didn’t carry our trailer tires, so we needed to look further for a replacement. Since there was a Discount Tire 30 minutes north in Hagerstown MD, and we have had good experience with them (having purchased our trailer tires from them), we made the drive to get our replacement tire.

​The shop was incredibly busy. And arriving late in the day, we were told our tire would be done after regular business hours. So, we decided to come back early the next morning to pick it up. And arriving just as they opened, the tire was ready and waiting for us. We headed back to the RV and had it mounted and ready to go by 9am. And the good news was that the tire did not fail from wear alone, but had impacted something to weaken it. So, maybe we had time before we needed to replace more of the trailer tires. 

Waystations On Our Way South
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​While we only had one night to say in Winchester, we connected with Joe who was spending his summer with family there. We met up for dinner after dropping off our tire. The campground’s rules were very particular about guests, unless they were just “picking us up”. So, we had him drive us to the restaurant, which involved some shifting his stuff in the car, including some golf clubs.

As Bonnie’s recovery made progress, we took a couple of different trips. The first was to Chippokes State Park on the James River. The State Park was established on land donated in the late 60’s by the Stewart family, who were the last owners of the historic plantation. With many acres still farmed and supporting cattle, it is the oldest continually farmed site in the country. It has a mansion and several outbuildings that can be toured, along with many miles of trails and a beach on the James River. ​

Stopping for dinner at Q Daddy’s in Wakefield on the way home, we enjoyed some good BBQ and then made our way back to Jarratt.

Or at least most of the way there. ​

As we were exiting I95 at the Jarratt exit, we got a phone call. “Hi. This is Chris. I’m calling for David Dieter. I have your wallet here at Q Daddy’s.” Whoops. We were less than 10 minutes from home and 45 minutes from Q Daddy’s. Letting them know we were on our way back, we returned to the interstate heading back north and drove to the restaurant. The wallet had been found in the parking lot, and all of its contents were intact. Dave expressed his gratitude and offered a reward to the person who found it. Breathing a sigh of relief, we then retraced our steps, arriving home 90 minutes after we had planned. 

Parting Shot​

Dave loves his recliner chair in the RV. So much so that it is showing the wear. So, Cathy pulled out the sewing machine and some of the material salvaged from the old cushion covers to make slip covers for the head rest. They almost look like they came that way.
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​We had been planning the trips for weeks – 2 bike trains, a week apart.

What’s a bike train?

​It’s where the excursion train carries our bikes one way and we bike the reverse direction. The big one was a 26-mile run from White Haven to Jim Thorpe PA on the 3rd Saturday in August. But we stumbled across another 16-mile run from New Freedom to Brillhart Station in south central PA the week before. We decided to make the first one a trial run to make sure we wanted to do the long one. The advantage of these travels to PA, in addition to the cooler weather of being further north, was the opportunity to see family, since Dave’s mom and sister lived nearby.  

​Another use of our time at Codorus was making an attempt to play disc golf. Codorus has 3 different courses at different levels of difficulty. The park has even hosted some major tournaments. In anticipation of this opportunity, we had purchased a set of 6 “official” discs to try our luck at the course. We quickly discovered that we were very bad at this sport. Licking our wounds, we retreated to the RV to watch some training videos. Armed with more training, our 2nd round on the golf course was only a little better. Not sure that this is the sport for us.

Lehigh Valley and Family Time
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​After our Bike Aboard train ride (more about that later), we were ready to move on to our next stop in Kutztown near Dave’s mom in Allentown. We camped at Pine Hill RV Park, which had very nice facilities for showering and laundry, but not much else. 

The next weekend, we had an even earlier start. We were an hour away from Jim Thorpe, and we weren’t sure how bad the parking would be, so we wanted to arrive well in advance of the train’s scheduled departure. This time we we would start with the train ride up the Lehigh Gorge 25 miles to White Haven. This would give us a downhill ride 26 miles back to Jim Thorpe. And we were definitely not the only bikers on this train. There were a lot of us.  ​

After retrieving our bikes in White Haven, we held back to let most of the riders move on down the trail. And then we took our time covering the 26 miles. An overcast sky kept the temperatures down, and we managed to navigate the many inexperienced bikers on the trail without mishaps. The trail followed the Lehigh River most of the way to Jim Thorpe, but unlike the week before, the trail was on the other side of the river from the train most of the time. We rode through Lehigh Gorge State Park for much of the route which was beautiful scenery. The only downside was a muddy trail for the 2nd half that left us and our bikes pretty messy. It took an hour back at the RV to get them cleaned up. ​

Overall, we enjoyed the rides and were glad we were able to combine our train and bike riding into a couple of fun events. 

​We have a few electronic devices that don’t do well with sudden power outages. To buffer these from a sudden disconnect, we have a UPS (i.e., an uninterruptible power supply, not a shipping company). However, whenever the battery is low on charge it will start to beep. And ours was beeping constantly. Dave tested the battery and sure enough, it was no longer holding a charge. He ordered a replacement, installed it and we have a working UPS again. No more beeping (for now).

​Shuttle Service – Family Style
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We arrived at our daughter’s house on a Sunday and prepared to “get to work” as shuttle drivers as our daughter attended a conference for the week. Our first morning was a “three-fer” as we dropped our granddaughter off at volleyball camp, our daughter at the county lot to pick up her car for the week, and our grandson at the 4H building for camp counselor training. After running some errands around town, we took our groceries home, only to do something similar in reverse in the afternoon.  

Over the next few days, we did a little more than driving around. From getting Youtube tips from our grandson, to taking the kids back-to-school and birthday shopping, we stayed busy, but in a fun way. 

We helped tune Troy's bike so he could join us for a ride, and later did the same for Taylor.​

From Pocahontas to Lake Fairfax
​Making our way north from Jarratt, we made a short stop at Pocahontas. This gave us a chance to say Hello to some folks in the office and check on the cabins and our project supplies.  

Biking New Trails
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Back in Virginia, we took our grandson to a nearby rail trail, called the Tobacco Heritage Trail. The section we rode started in Lawrenceville and ran for 26.7 miles west to South Hill. We decided to ride 7 miles to the bridge over the Meherrin River. While we had ebikes, our grandson didn’t. And, of all the rail trails we had tried, this was in the worst condition and had the most significant grade. We rode steadily uphill for miles on grass, rough gravel and over ruts dug by erosion.   

​We kept checking with Troy to see whether to continue, and he was game to go on to the bridge. We celebrated when we reached our goal, watching the river swollen by recent rains flow swiftly underneath us. Our celebration was short-lived as our ride back was even harder. We were all tiring out. But we all made it safely back. Talking afterward, we realized that this was the furthest Troy had ever ridden – by about 13 miles. But we hadn’t dissuaded him from taking more bike rides. A couple of days later he was asking to go again.  

​After a few days at Lake Fairfax, we moved further north to Pinch Pond Campground near Manheim PA. We took relief from the heat in the pool each afternoon, before the cool weather finally arrived. Then we took the bikes out to explore more. After learning that our class 2 e-bikes were prohibited on the nearby Lebanon Valley Rail Trail, we shifted to trails in nearby Lancaster County. The Lancaster County Parks department welcomed our inquiries, had no problems with our class 2 ebikes. They also some recommendations that turned out to be excellent choices.  

​Our first ride was along the Susquehanna River on the Northwest Lancaster County Rail Trail. Starting at its northern end near Falmouth (at the southern tip of 3-Mile Island. Yes that 3-Mile Island), we rode south for over 8 miles along the river. The trail was a mix of pavement and fine gravel and offered a lot of shade on this sultry morning.  

​A couple of days later, the weather had cooled and was overcast for most of the day. So, we chose to ride the Enola Low Grade Trail, so named because it has only a 1% grade along its length.  This trail starts just south of Columbia PA and runs for 29 miles east. We chose to ride 10 miles before turning around. This allowed us to cross the dramatic Safe Harbor Trestle Bridge and its smaller neighbor the Martic Forge Trestle.  

Cleaning Out

“Honey, the kitchen sink isn’t draining.” This comment came only 2 days after we had supposedly emptied the galley holding tank, so this was very worrisome. Was the valve stuck shut? We had been seeing less and less effluent when we emptied the tanks, but we were never sure why. But was it not draining at all or just draining slowly?

First, a little background. We have 3 waste holding tanks on our RV. One black tank for the toilet, one grey tank for the bathroom sink and shower, and one grey tank for the kitchen sink. All are emptied from a single outlet, but each have their own valve. Several years ago, we installed a 4th valve at the common outlet to ensure we had control if leaks occurred in one of the valves.

While we weren’t at a site with a sewer connection, we were relatively close to the dump station at Lake Fairfax Park, since it was located in the campground behind the bathhouse. So, Dave took our 2 5-gallon buckets and a sewer hose and opened the common valve to fill a bucket. Then he opened the kitchen valve. Luckily, the sink slowly drained as the bucket filled. So, the valve was probably working enough to let the tank drain. We emptied about 12 gallons of the 30 gallon tank, before calling it a night. But we were concerned that we might have a big problem.

More research suggested the problem might be a clog. And the solution to clearing the clog could be 3 simple ingredients: Borax, Zep, and Dawn. And a lot of water. So, we emptied another 10 gallons or more from the holding tank. And, since we had no water spigot at the site, we hauled 10 gallons of fresh water from the tap, which was also located behind the bathhouse. Needless to say this was a lot of hauling of heavy pails.

With all of the ingredients ready, we poured a ½ cup of Borax, 2 cups of Zep and ½ cup of Dawn down the sink along with 10 gallons of water. After letting it sit overnight, we dumped the holding tank again. This time, lots of chunks started coming out, and the tank seemed to be draining faster. Encouraged by our results, we repeated the procedure in the kitchen sink, and put Borax down the other 2 tanks as well. ​

We drove several hours with our treated tanks partially full to our next campground in PA, and then dumped the kitchen tank again. Now the fluid was clear with fewer solids in it. And the smell was no longer so strong. We felt comfortable that we had solved the kitchen clog, and planned to use the Borax as a maintenance dose from now on.  

Parting Shot
​After strapping our bikes into the bed of the truck, which required removing everything in it, we decided to try a new approach for securing them. We purchased a pad that covers and protects the tailgate, with straps to secure the bikes. It works well, and we can leave most everything in place in the bed of the truck.