Brightly Farm Market, Hamlin NY:
 “I don’t see how we’re going to do this.” Not an auspicious beginning to our planned first stay with a member of Harvest Hosts. This organization links RV’ers with businesses, such as wineries, breweries, farms, museums etc, that can accommodate them for an overnight. The understanding is that we will spend about $20 at the business in exchange for the hospitality. We had hoped to use this membership much earlier, but the soaring temperatures in early June had made this untenable at that time. Most Harvest Hosts sites lack any electric hookup, which for us means no AC.  

We left Brightly Farms around 9am the next morning and arrived at Hamlin Beach around 9:30. However, unlike Pocahontas, it didn’t matter that our site was empty and had been for several days, NO ONE is allowed to check in before 3 – well, maybe 1:30. Since we had nowhere else to go, we parked the RV on a large, empty day use parking lot and went for a walk – first along the lake and then into the campground to check out our site. And it was a good thing we did.  ​

​We spent the next 11 days reconnecting with friends and family, and getting our teeth and eyes checked out. More about those adventures a little later. While we initially planned a longer stay to comply with the Covid regulations we knew about in March, we were pleased to be in NY as they crossed the 70% vaccinated mark and lifted the state of emergency restrictions. You go guys!  

As effortless as the last 2 days had been, our arrival at Bixler Lake Campground in Kendallville IN was anything but. It was supposed to be an easy day. We only had 75 miles to travel, putting us into the campground around 11am. After stopping for fuel, we got within 20 miles of Kendallville, when we saw a disturbing sign, “Road Closed”. After taking a detour that added 20 miles to our journey, we finally pulled into the campground closer to noon, with the grey skies and thunder sounding. The campground manager showed us to our site quickly so we could set up ahead of the storm. And, we might have made it, except . . . ​

“LF Jack Error”. This cryptic message brought our set-up to a screeching halt. Our “landing gear”, i.e., the 2 jacks that support the fifth wheel in front when it is not attached to the truck have to go down to disconnect. This error was telling us that the left front jack wasn’t budging. We tried forcing it, by pressing and holding the retract button. A jerk and nothing. Cathy tried manually extending the front jacks. The right moved, but not the left. Dave checked the voltage on the connections. All was good. Oh, and did we mention that by now it was pouring? Cathy took a time-out, used her phone to look up a youtube video on the problem, but it offered no new advice. So, we called Lippert. Just as they were telling us what to do, the call dropped. Our conversation was centered around a voltage drop, so Dave took some pictures and we emailed them to our contact, and called back. We got someone else who confirmed that it wasn’t an electrical issue. There was nothing more they could do over the phone, we would have to take it somewhere nearby. Cathy called the closest service location and the service tech agreed to check with Lippert and call us back. When he did, he agreed to step us through some of the same checks to help us avoid the trip in. Cathy fired up the Ground Control pad and discovered that the error had changed to “RR Jack Error”. So, under guidance from the tech, she tried again to extend the jacks and this time, they all moved, even the one with the error. Once retracted again, the error cleared. We were soaked, but we could finish setting up. 

Not so fast.

With the downpour, we had discovered we were setting up at too much angle and the truck was sitting in standing water. We needed to get the RV to higher ground by backing up. That started out well, until we stopped to pick up a leveling board we had originally placed under the tires. Having lost momentum, the truck’s rear tires began to spin. We couldn’t move back or forward. Trying to increase traction, we used boards, a mat. Some fellow campers brought over kitty litter. None of it helped. We decided to disconnect to get the weight off the truck. This would prove to be a bad decision. We managed to disconnect but the truck wouldn’t quite come out of the mud. And the truck was sliding sideways such that it would soon be struck by the king pin from the trailer. 

The next morning dawned sunny and dry. By 10am, we were assigned another tow operator. Cathy called and quickly discovered they also didn’t have the right equipment to tow us. Frustration levels rising, Cathy called Good Sam again. The campground was beginning to fill for the holiday weekend. If we waited much longer, it wouldn’t be practical to move the RV. We had a few more conversations with Good Sam before a wrecker designed to tow semi’s showed up. They had a fifth wheel hitch and carefully connected to our fifth wheel and gently pulled it to the road. The driver waited while we ensured we could connect to the truck OK and we managed to move to a new spot out of the mud, thanks to the campground manager relocating us. ​

We breathed a sigh of relief and made ready to explore the area over the 4th of July weekend ahead. Welcome to Indiana!

Parting Shot
While waiting for Dave's glasses to be made, we took a walk along the canal by our old hose.  One of the neighbors had a pretty setting by his dock, and a fitting picture for this July 4th holiday. 

Lake Fairfax Park – Reston VA​

The sound was overwhelming. We stepped out of the truck at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, having travelled only 3 hours north from Richmond, but we had entered a different world. It was hard to make yourself heard over the song of thousands of cicadas that were filling the trees around us. Over the course of our stay in Reston (and southern PA), we were never without the reminders of their presence – the sound, swatting away the live ones and stepping over the dead ones. But it was a treat to be around for a 2nd time as they emerged. (Our first experience was 2004, when we lived here.) Where will we be when they return in 2038? Who knows?

​When our site came into view, it was worse than we thought. Cars were parked into the road on the site next to us, and our site was narrow with little angle to make the process easier. Our neighbors graciously moved their car, and we prepared to make the best of this, as we were approached by another neighbor. Now, before we proceed, you have to understand that campers love to “give directions” and “help out” in ways that frequently end in confusion and swear words on our part. However, this gentleman spoke of a career driving fuel tankers for Sunoco, and we were open to suggestions at this point. With Dave following his advice and Cathy spotting in the rear, we managed to jockey the trailer back into the spot with the wheels just on the pad and room for the slides to come out. Expressing our undying gratitude, we exhaled as we had this ordeal behind us. But it helps us learn and hopefully improve.  

​Since we had chosen this park mostly for its location, we knew very little about it until we began reading the literature from the park upon our arrival. Through that we discovered that its history was parallel to that of Pocahontas State Park in Virginia. Originally a National Recreational Demonstration Area, it was established by the CCC during the late 30’s to recover overused land for use by those from nearby urban areas who lack easy access to the outdoors. Part of the original design and current facilities were – you guessed it --- CCC-built group cabins. This we had to see.  

​But what we learned was good information. The cabins had similarities that actually explained some oddities at the Pocahontas group cabins. And their differences were interesting as well, eg. the shutters mounted to open inside the cabin, as opposed to Pocahontas where they were mounted on the outside. 

Gifford Pinchot State Park – Wellsville PA​

Given pent-up demand for campsites and the soaring temperatures, we have been taking care to ensure we have reservations for weekends, so that we won’t be sweltering in a parking lot somewhere. That was how we arrived at Gifford Pinchot State Park, situated between York and Harrisburg in south central PA. Arriving early afternoon on a Friday, we had little trouble backing into our spot, which was a relief after our experience at French Creek.  

Ives Run Recreation Area – Tioga PA

With the weekend behind us, we moved north to our final stop before entering New York. Just south of the NY state line were 2 recreation areas around lakes managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. We had chosen the southernmost of the 2 – Ives Run Recreation Area. As we drove the last few miles through heavy rain, we were glad it had passed by the time we needed to park. Even though we arrived midweek, the large campground at Ives Run was full. We were pleasantly surprised that our campsite had full hook-ups, so we took advantage of the opportunity to sanitize our water tanks while there. And the storm had washed away the heat of the last week, which made our stay pleasantly cool and less humid. After a couple of nights, we were ready to head to NY.
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RV Stuff
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Our trip from Richmond to Reston was short, but eventful. First our tire pressure sensors on the truck’s tires stopped reporting in. First the driver’s rear tire. Then the passenger’s front tire. After a brief stop to check on them, they started reporting again – and then stopped again. We had driven 20,000 miles with no problems, so this was concerning. We managed (to our surprise) to make an appointment the next day to have it checked out. But the tire problems were just beginning. The trailer tires started having issues. At times, all 4 would drop out. They would come back and then individual tires would stop reporting in. It seemed like a conspiracy.
At our appointment at Brown’s Ram dealer the next day, the problem with the truck tires was identified as 2 faulty sensors. The replacements were installed the next day. That went much more smoothly than we had hoped, and they washed the truck for us as well.
​The trailer tires were a bit more confusing. We assumed the batteries were weak, so we replaced all the of the sensor batteries. However, our next time out, we started having problems again, replacing the battery in the problem tire twice along the way. Dave was coming to the conclusion, confirmed by a conversation with someone from TST that our problems were related to the backup camera, compounded possibly by the age of our battery supplies. It was suggested that a repeater to bridge the distance between the truck and the tires would solve the problem, as well as some newer batteries. More to come on this one.

“How tall is that bridge?” This is not a casual question, when you are driving in downtown Harrisburg. Given the high profile of an RV, it is helpful to have navigation software that will take this into account. We had used the CoPilot app in the past and had re-installed it for this summer’s journey. It allows you to input critical information about your RV’s height and weight, along with driving preference (avoid side streets, tunnels, etc.) in order to plan a route that will prevent driving down what will become a dead-end if we can’t pass under the bridge, for example.

However in Harrisburg, we found ourselves driving our 12’ tall RV under bridges that were uncomfortably low: 12’6” and 13’. Later, Cathy learned that she had been using the default RV specifications instead of the custom parameters Dave had input when he set up the app.  Oops.  However, even with the right profile being used, CoPilot chose this treacherous route.  So Dave decided we needed to tell CoPilot that we were 13’ tall to prevent it doing this again. I hope it’s listening.