Another Week, A Little Excitement and Plans Being Made

Rantoul, IL.

67 deg. Overcast, NE wind @ 9 mph.

Forecast = Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon. High 81F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.


Well, another week has gone by since my last post.  Again, not much to write about, so I didn't.

We had a little excitement this last weekend. While Jim was using this computer, all of a sudden he got an e-mail saying that all of our gigabytes for the month had been used up and that they were adding an additional gigabyte, (at a cost) so that our service would not be interrupted.

Just 30 minutes before that, Jim had noticed that we still had almost 3 gigabytes left, (plenty for normal use for the rest of the time period), so something used 3 GB in less than 30 minutes!!!

Well, to make a long story short, after calling the Florida PC Doctor who had set this computer up originally and has a way to access the computer from Florida, (with Jim's permission). scanned the hard drive and checked for viruses and malware. He decided that  evidently a large update had automatically downloaded and that's what caused the whole problem.

He cleaned up the hard drive, changed the settings so that wouldn't happen again, and now, we're good to go again! :-)

Whew!!! Didn't need a computer problem right now!!!

Jim and Linda have been making plans to head up to Wisconsin later on this month. Linda's brother, Glenn, and his family are getting together at a resort about 50 miles North of the Wisconsin Dells and we're planning on heading up there to see them.

Kind of like a little "Family Reunion".

We'll stay at a CG up there and then Jim and Linda will go to the resort during the days to visit with them. Being that we'll still be in the peak tourist season at that time, Jim has made a reservation at a park near where they'll be staying so that we're sure to have a site.

Ever since we've left Florida, there has been a tire on Nora, that has been losing air. Not much, but it's been bothering Jim because he felt that something just wasn't right. Well, one day he crawled under the trailer to look at the back side of the tire and he did not like what he found. :-(  It seems, although this is a new trailer as of 2014, and we've never had a flat tire, there is a plug in the tire on the inside of the tread area. :-(

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , Jim called a tire place which is North of here in Ashkum, IL. (that we've had dealings with before), asked if they had a replacement tire if necessary, and made an appointment to head up there on the day we'll be leaving here to head to Wisconsin.  It'll be a little out of the way, but Jim feels he can trust the people at this place, so it'll be worth the detour and time spent to get it repaired properly or get a replacement tire.

So, the plan is to leave here on Monday, August 24th, head up to Ashkum to get the tire repaired / replaced and then continue up to Wisconsin from there. The "Family Reunion" starts on Thursday, so we'll have plenty of time to get up there. In fact, we may stay someplace around the "Dells" for a day or two, depending on how the trip goes.

After the "Reunion", we'll head back down here to Rantoul, arriving sometime before the Labor Day weekend. (Don't want to be out on the road over the Holiday). After returning here, we'll probably spend most of September here, but that part is written very lightly on the calendar in pencil, and of course, Jim still has that big eraser. ;-)

Did you know that today is "National Root Beer Float Day"?

Woof!!!

NC To VA, A Detour, Construction and A Great Meal

Virginia Beach, VA.

61 deg. mostly cloudy, SW wind @ 3 mph.
Forecast = Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 81F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.

By 9:30 yesterday morning it had  warmed up nicely so Jim went out and dumped Nora's black and gray water tanks. They weren't anywhere near full, but because we were heading to Joe's house in Virginia Beach where there are no sewer hookups, they needed to be empty.

Again, because it was going to be a short travel day, we didn't leave until 10:45. We were planning on going back to US 64, take it East for just a short distance and then take US 17, North. Well, when we got to the ramp going onto 64, there was 1/2 of a new double-wide Mobile Home stranded about 1/2 way up the ramp, with traffic backed up to the road that we were on. ;-O

It didn't look like anything was going to get moving anytime soon, so Jim continued on down the road, made a u-turn at a crossover and headed back into Williamston on Business 17. Williamston is not a big city, so actually we breezed right through town and picked up 17 just North of the city.

The whole thing probably only cost us about 10 minutes more travel time. :-)

Now, if we still were traveling in a Class A Motorhome, we would have not been able to make that u-turn and it probably would have taken us much longer to get turned around. So, I guess there are advantages to having a smaller unit like a Travel Trailer.

Once on US 17 and heading in a Northerly direction, we followed it all the way up to Virginia Beach where we turned East on I-40. For about 3 miles before we came to I-40, we hit major construction on 17. They're in the process of building a new bridge and road over a waterway, (to eliminate a steel lift bridge), It looks like this construction will last a long time, so I'm guessing that it will last for a year or two.

Once through the construction and onto I-40, it took us around the SE side of the city and to I-264. Following 264 towards the beach brought us to Lynnhaven Parkway, ( about 3 miles from the beach),where we turned off of 264 and took local streets to Joe and Nancy's house.

It was 1:15 when we pulled up in front of their house. so even with the detour and the construction, it only took us 2 1/2 hours to travel the 124 miles over here.

Neither Joe or Nancy were home when we arrived, so Jim just backed Nora into the driveway and got her unhooked and set up. Joe, Nancy and Amber arrived home later and then after visiting for awhile,  everyone enjoyed a great short rib crock pot meal that Nancy had put together early in the day. Then because everyone was tired, Jim and Linda came back out here about 7:30 and watched TV until bedtime.

So, unless something unexpected happens, we'll be here for the next 9 or 10 days. We're hooked up to a 20 amp outlet, so by turning almost everything else electric off, we can run the AC if it's hot and use the little electric heater and the furnace if it's cold. (They're forecasting highs in the lower 50's and lows in the mid 30's for Saturday). :-(   There is a place where Jim can dump the gray water tank  but not the black water tank. By using the facilities inside of the house as much as possible, there shouldn't be a problem.

Did you know that in Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl's call meant that someone was about to die?

Hoo!! Hoo!! ;-)