Decisions, decisions

First of all, the blog software is having technical issues, hence the absence of the pictures, they are working on it.

In the 10 or so days that have passed since my last post, we have been sweltering here in balmy Florida.  It feels like summer already, and believe me, we have been here many times in the summer and know what we are talking about:-)  There has been little rain, in fact the Sarasota area is about 6" short on rain for this time of the year.

We have been walking, walking, walking.  Jan has been able to play Mah Jongg online with her friends, I have been tying flies, reading a lot.  I know I'm not saying anything that all of you aren't doing as well.  We are stir crazy, and thinking about what the best course of action is, and what we can even do.  Most everyone here in the park is being super careful about social distancing, but even with all that is happening around the world, we have observed several parties with lots of people, not social distancing at all!  And all it tells us is that the perceived innocent person you run into, at your suggested 6', might not be as squeaky clean and staying away from everyone like you think.

We have made the difficult decision to cancel all of our Maine plans.  Maine and Vermont are still closed down.  We are terribly disappointed as we had planned to visit good friends along the way, and help them devour tons of lobster.  Our first Maine reservation for April 29th had already been delayed to May 15th, and even that will only apply if Maine opens up.  We hemmed and hawed and also considered the fact that many areas really don't want people coming in from away no matter their story.  We are pretty well self quarantined in our coach no matter where we go, but that is not really understood by most.  So what we have done with every campground that will let us, is to move our reservation to next year on the same dates and hope things will be back to normal.

As I said we had extended here for an extra month, so we are covered until the 8th of May.  We contacted two different campgrounds around Atlanta, our regular park and another new one and both campgrounds are open, operating almost normally, but with self checkin, prepayment with a credit card, and the office only available by phone.  And the surprising fact is they are busy!  So we are now going to head north if only as far as Atlanta for another month, and reevaluate then.  Both of us had dental work scheduled initially, then cancelled, and are hopeful we will be able to reschedule while we are there in May.  We also have been in contact with many of the campgrounds we had reservations with out west.  They are hoping to be able to stay open as we progress through the spring, summer, and fall.  

We also are thinking about and in the process of getting info on getting some paintwork that had been scheduled this spring here in Florida and cancelled, done along the way, time will tell on that.

So for now, we are trying to stay fluid, open to change and being careful, and very happy we will at least be able to go north a bit to get out of the brunt of the heat, and hopefully before it gets really hot in Atlanta we will be on our way west.  Stay well!

Latest news from our bunker

What a whirlwind of information, misinformation, hyperbole, actions, reactions, lock downs, exaggerations, and yes, a few facts here and there.  We will now be able to say we lived through, hopefully, one of the biggest events in world history.  And perhaps the biggest economic downturn in American history as well.  Obviously this is a very fluid situation, with things changing constantly.  Our state of Florida resisted a stay at home order until last Friday, the 3rd, so now all but 5 states have lock down orders in place, and 9 states have classified campgrounds as non-essential and closed them, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Ohio, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.  It is at times like these that those of us that full-time realize we are just a small part of the population, even though there are more than a million of us.  Where are we supposed to go?  Thankfully there are other states such as Florida, that realize campgrounds are essential, and almost by definition we are self contained and self distancing automatically.  But as we read and interact with others online, there is definitely a rising reaction that folks are not welcome to come to other's states, counties, towns, etc.  Stay out is the prevailing opinion.  Not a good environment for traveling.

We have, as I said previously, extended here another 30 days.  Our campground is an Encore park, and the parent company has instituted a policy of no new arrivals allowed until the end of the month, but if here, you can stay as long as needed.  So that is what we are doing.  We have cancelled our first 2 weeks in Maine so far, and are hoping we will be able to pick it back up the middle of May, assuming Maine even opens back up by then.  We are trying to play it by ear, but we have reservations for essentially the whole rest of the year until we plan to return in December, yeah a lot of reservations and a lot of money out in deposits or pay ahead places.  I have to say that everyone we have talked to so far has been gracious in waiving cancellation polices and returning monies.  It must really hurt to be returning all your livelihood.

We are stir crazy like most everyone is.  At least we can walk around in the park, and walk we do, 2, 3, even sometimes 4 times a day.  But what else is there to do? 

We learned about coincidences last week.  I explained how we had to replace a multiplex module to repair a light circuit.  That entailed disconnecting all the power to the coach for a few minutes, AC and DC.  We reconnected it and all was well for a day.  Then I noticed one morning as I opened the shower door, it flew open, huh?  We aren't level!  Now the leveling system in our coach can use hydraulic jacks or the air in our suspension to level, 99% of the time we level with the air.  We have an auto setting which with one touch of a button, the coach automatically levels itself, and then wakes up every 2 hours to recheck level, and if needed adjust it.  If it needs more air, the small auxillary air pump comes on.  And all this is indicated by a slowly blinking green light on the leveling panel.  So I check and see the panel is off.  So first I figure the cat has walked across it, as he is prone to do now and then.  I turn it back on, it starts blinking, all is good......  But several hours later we aren't level again, sure enough the panel is off again.

So I pull the panel and make sure the wires are tight, and I start to think that maybe when we disconnected all power to the coach we reset something internal to the system. So I call Valid tech support.  Now I want to interject something here, and it won't sound nice, but it is true.  Every Monaco coach owner that has a Valid system and has had a problem and called tech support is told the same thing almost immediately, "Oh, with a Monaco coach and where the panel is mounted under the driver's window with the leaking problems, moisture has gotten into the panel and ruined it."  Now where they came up with this I don't know, I have a Monaco coach that has never had a leak there and correspond with hundreds of other owners that haven't had a leak there but it is what it is.  So I ask if taking the power off could affect it and they say no, but then repeat the above quote.  And make sure power is being supplied to the panel.  Okay, I say I will check and get back to them.  This is actually our third panel.  The last one worked in Auto but would not work in manual or hydraulic so we replaced the panel.  I dig the old panel out and stick it in and of course it works on Auto perfectly.  It is the panel after all, so much for my theory.  I then look the "bad" panel over carefully and sure enough there is corrosion on several areas of the panel, even though there has never been any water leaked or spilled onto the panel that I am aware of, but it is 7 years old.  So with my tail between my legs I call back and order a new expensive panel, it arrives overnight from Canada, and it fixes the problem.  I broke the KISS rule, again, thinking it had to be a complicated issue relating to the power.  All good now.

Our leveling panel, see the Auto button

Jan has been cooking up a storm including delicious sticky buns.

These were oh so good!

We have both been reading a ton, watching movies, Jan has been organizing closets and cabinets, and I got a lot more fly tying done.

My fly tying station

Some Copper Johns

A few Royal Wulfes and scuds

And a bunch of hoppers

We have ventured out to the grocery store a couple times, and picked up a delicious pizza for dinner with Tom.  Wish we could do more for the local businesses, they are so hurting.  

So we like everybody else keep our fingers crossed and hope for an end to this, although it seems hard to believe that all of a sudden some one is going to snap their fingers and we will go back to normal.  I think more and more we will not return to normal until there is a vaccine.  It is my belief that this will forever change our lives.  The government is walking a tight line between trying to protect as many as possible, but is paying an extraordinary price in economic terms, I hope we can recover.  Meanwhile we still get together, yes, at a safe distance each evening for happy hour with Tom, now that our other regular attendees, Debbie and Harold have gone home.  But we still get to say "Cheers" on the phone.  

Debbie and Harold, "Cheers!"

And us back!

And Cheers to all the rest of you as well, keep safe, keep apart, and let's see if we can bend the curve enough to get some of our lives back.