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The Cruise--Details

I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons. 1)  I didn't think anyone would be interested; and 2)  This trip didn't include much of the normal topics:  good beer, good coffee or John-style travel. But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together. On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days.   We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port.  My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music.   Rememberi...
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Caddo Lake State Park


Caddo Lake State Park is about a four-hour drive northwest of Houston. The entry fee $4, and the camping fee was $15 (with electric).  Showers, dump station, and bathrooms are available.

When I left Northlake RV park north of Houston, I already was having a bad morning.  Somehow, I was showing very low readings on my voltage battery indicator, which did not predict a long future for an expensive gel battery that wasn’t that old.  Normally, I rely on solar to top off the battery, and I’ve never let the battery get below 50% until now.

I headed off to Harbor Freight and then Wal-Mart to find a battery charger that worked for gel batteries.  Then I rushed back to the rv park and charged the batteries up to 80% before leaving. Unfortunately, the batteries wouldn’t take any more charge than that.  I always used to get the charge levels to 13.0, but now I can only go to 12.8.  I think perhaps the polar vortex may have damaged my somewhat fragile gel batteries even though the charge levels stayed high throughout the cold.

Then I had another Brew Hut equipment failure.  I know I remembered to flip up my rear stabilizers, and I found them in the flipped up position when I arrived at the campsite.  However, the stabilizer jack pad on the right side was simply missing.  I flipped the stabilizer down, and there was no rod/pad to let down.  So I had to rig up a temporary solution to have support under the right rear of the Brew Hut.  It should get me home until I can order the part.

Last, to add insult to injury the band on my watch broke.  It was just one of those days.

Once we set up camp, Calle and I went for long walks to burn off energy and anxiety.



She’s sleeping, as I eat my leftovers meal of pan-fried steak burritos with rice, ny strip, jalapenos, tomato, onion, and cheese, washed down with St. Arnolds Art Car IPA (maybe more than one).

If I can avoid further equipment mishaps, I’m headed for Arkansas.


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