Monday, December 8, 2014

Dec 8th - Safe & Sound in Alabama

We arrived at the campground around 6:30 this evening. No problems on the trip down, about 500 miles. We stopped several times to stretch our legs and get the kinks out.

We stopped twice for fuel. The first time, near Rising Fawn, GA, we paid $3.389 per gallon. The 2nd time, near Atmore, AL, we paid $3.099/gallon. I'm not sure why the price was so low in Atmore. The 2nd place was the Creek Travel Plaza. The run a shuttle bus to a casino that is 3 miles from them. Maybe that has something to do with the cheap fuel prices. It was the cheapest fuel we saw during our trip. After leaving there fuel prices were back up to $3.38-3.47/gallon.

While fueling Kathy tried to start the car and the battery was dead. Not a shock, Honda must put in the cheapest batteries in the universe. I had started the car during an earlier stop and ran it for 5 minutes at 2,000 rpm, just to charge the battery. This has been a normal occurrence when towing the CR-V. It is my fault for not rigging a charging line from the motor home. Normally I have a battery charger with me but I forgot to pack mine when leaving Missouri. About 7 miles from the campground we saw a new Walmart. We stopped and I bought a $70 battery charger. When we got to the campground, in the DARK, I dug out an extension cord and hooked up the battery charger. I could not get it to charge the battery, haven't figured out why. I have a long set of jumper cables and was able to jump start the car, from the motor home batteries. That allowed us to get it unhooked and get the motor home backed into our space. I will try the charger in the morning but will probably have to ask one of the neighbors to help me with a jump start again. (I should have parked the CR-V next to the back of the motor home so that I could reach the batteries with the jumper cables. Guess I was tired and just didn't think of it before shutting the car off. Don't know why I was tired, Kathy drove 350 of the 500 miles.)

We got in our space in the dark and have the electricity hooked up. We will need to do a little repositioning in the morning before hooking up the water and sewer. We have plenty of "on-board" water and sewer capacity so it isn't a problem.

After finally getting situated we went out and a 20 minute walk around part of the campground. Kathy had on a hoody but it was warm enough that with a heavy shirt I didn't need one. Overnight low is forecast to be 43 but the next 3 nights lows are forecast to be in the high 30's. Most days the highs are forecast to be in the 60's with lots of sunshine.

Kathy called Kelsey and we "Facetimed" with her and Lydia tonight. It worked quite well, although it would be better with a larger screen. I've tethered my laptop to my phone to send this message. It is a little slow but is OK. I doubt that the speeds are high enough for us to use Skype but won't know until we try. The campground has pay Tengonet, but my experiences with Tengonet have all been bad. I will have to ask around tomorrow and check out the experiences of others who are here. The place appears to be more full than when we were here in Feb.

Time for bed for me, Kathy is watching Castle on TV. With just the antenna on our motor home we get all 4 networks and a couple of PBS stations.

Thank you Lord for your many blessing. May He bless you and yours.

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