July 13, 2011

View of the day-Parked in misty and cool Hamill...with no casualties, this time.

It was a long night with all the trains that were going by the campground and it didn't help matters that they were going at high speed, and we were directly between two closely placed crossings...so the horns would blow twice. We didn't have the juice to use the A/C, but we didn't need it and it was a nice change to have the windows open and have the cool breeze blowing through...except the train horns were even louder.

There was no rush to get up early, since we only had 180 miles to cover today. It was overcast and misty, but when we listened to the weather band and checked the radar, we could see there was rain not far off. We were just getting organized inside the camper when it hit...and it hit hard. No wind, so it was falling straight down...like it was coming out of a bucket and it wasn't just a passing shower. We had to get off the grass we had parked on before it became impossible, so out into the rain we went. Fortunately we had left the camper hooked onto the pickup, so we only had to get the hoses, cords and slides put away, but at the rate the rain was falling, we got thoroughly soaked...no need for a shower.

We managed to get out of the campground and back to Ansley to get the General started up while we went in for a quick snack before heading out. The trip north was uneventful and it was great that it was overcast, the temperature was only 64º and we even had the wind helping us out.

We made Hamill and Al was able to get the combine trailer backed across the road that had given the cart trailer such fits. We just parked it for the day since we had to evaluate the camper spot...new camper, meant finding a new way to park so the cord and hoses would reach.

We had just gotten the camper backed in and leveled when the phone man showed up and got us hooked up with DSL and phone service...these guys are so good. There were some issues with wires not connected properly in the camper, but with his help, we got everything up and running so we are now connected...a good thing since there is poor cell service in this area.

Marilyn got the dish aimed and tried, unsuccessfully, to get the water pump working, using a lot of the ideas she had found online...none worked, so it is back to square one and with everything in place, we finally called it a day.

Tomorrow, we get down to some fixing...