Busy, Busy, Busy

Thompson, MI.

51 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 70F. Winds from the SSW at 5 to 15 mph.

I don't know what got into Jim yesterday, but he was busy, busy, busy, all day!!!

Well, most of it. ;-)

It started out in the morning with him cleaning out a small outside compartment that always seems to get water in it whenever it rains real hard.  The other day, we had over an inch of rain in just a short time, and there was actually some water standing in the compartment. He only keeps a few boards in there for leveling, and the lug wrench that came with Bobbie T, so nothing has been damaged.

He has adjusted the latches, and sealed around the door frame with silicone, but nothing seems to help. So, he started looking farther up, and he thinks that the water may be coming in around a window above the compartment and running down in the wall. In fact, after close inspection of the window, it looked like there may be a place where the water could be entering.

By this time, Linda was ready to head to a grocery store to pick up a few items, so they headed back to Jack's again.

The grocery shopping didn't take long, and on the way back, they stopped at an ACE Hardware Store where Jim picked up a tube of silicone sealer.

When they returned, Jim went to work, sealing all around the window.

After he finished with that, he decided that since the weather was so nice, he'd go up on Bobbie T's roof and install that vent cover that he purchased when we were in Shipshewana. Then, since he was already up there, he checked the TV antenna.

Our TV has been "spotty" at best. sometimes we have almost no TV and other times, it seems to come in fairly well. This RV antenna has a booster on it that is operated by a switch inside. For the booster to work, there has to be 12 volts on the center conductor of the coax cable going to it when the switch is turned on. Well, when Jim checked the voltage up there yesterday, he only had 3.4 volts!!! :-(  Not Good!!!!

He checked the coax connector where it attached to the antenna and it looked ok, but was only on there finger tight. Then, he pulled back the boot  on the coax where it goes down into the roof, and found another connector there. This was a splice connector and none of the connections were tight!!! In fact, when he moved the connection around, the voltage would fluctuate at the antenna connection.

After taking the connection apart,  cleaning it up and putting it back together again, (tightened this time), he had 12 volts at the antenna!!!!!

After getting all his tools and sealants put away, he came inside and tried the TV. Now, TV isn't good at all up here, but we haven't been able to get any stations at all since we've been here. But, after repairing the Coax connection, we now have 2 channels!!!! Fox and CBS!!!!

Hooray!!!!!!

By this time, it was getting close to dinner time, so after getting cleaned up, he and Linda headed into town and to a Bob's Big Boy Restaurant, where they had breakfast for dinner. ;-)

After returning, Jim took a little nap, and then they watched TV for the first time since we've been here.

Today is our last day here at Driftwood Shores. Linda wants to do a few more loads of laundry, and I'm sure that Jim will be checking everything outside so that we'll be ready to leave tomorrow morning.

From here, we'll continue heading West into Wisconsin. We'll be taking our time and by Friday, we'll be at Linda's brother's house in River Falls, WI, where we'll stay for a few days before turning South and heading back down into Illinois.

We had another pretty sunrise this morning. Jim went out a took a few photos so I thought I'd share them with you. As usual, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Did you know that the Great Lakes — Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Erie — make up the largest body of fresh water on Earth, accounting for one-fifth of the freshwater surface on the planet at 6 quadrillion gallons? The area of all the Great Lakes is 95,160 square miles.

Woof!!!