We made it back to Atlanta last night, with our flight landing close to 11pm. By the time we got our luggage, picked up a rental car and made our way back to Marietta, it was well past midnight. The flights were uneventful, though I was still congested enough that takeoff and landing was somewhat painful.
Today we picked up the animals from the kennel. Too bad we did not think to bring Opal's carrier with us -- she shed quite a bit in the car on the way back, earning us a $25 pet-hair surcharge in spite of my efforts at cleaning it all out with the slicker brush. Our rental this time was from Dollar -- never again. Their agents at both ends of the deal were nothing short of surly, and they nickel-and-dime you to death: they wanted a surcharge to add me as a second driver (we opted just to have Louise drive the car the whole time), and they charge all the on-airport fees even though their counter was off-airport. And then there was the $25 for the fur, even though the car was in less-than-pristine cleanliness when we got it, including some kind of pinkish-red cosmetic spill between the front seats.
With Ernesto fizzling out and there already being over a dozen technology volunteers in Florida, the Red Cross asked us to stand down for the time being, but remain on standby for a Carolina landfall. Thus we spent the rest of the day getting Odyssey back in road-worthy and livable trim, and re-establishing dinner plans with our friends in town. We dropped the car off in Smyrna, and we are at the brand-new Wal-Mart super center on US-41 in Marietta (map). We had dinner right around the corner at the Marietta Diner.
Tomorrow, while we await further instructions from Washington, I will try to get a couple projects done around the house, to include installing our brand-new Garmin 7200 GPS. This is a large (7") screen model of the Street Pilot series, meant for trucks, buses, fire apparatus, and RV's. It's our very first routing GPS (we seldom want to follow machine-suggested routes), but we really liked the large daylight-readable screen, touch-screen operation, and the fact that detailed maps for the entire country as well as 6M+ points-of-interest (POI's) are built-in (no more downloading maps!).
Mostly, we wanted to get a unit with a fresher database. The map and POI databases on our trusty old GPSMap 176c were so old that we often found ourselves at, for example, a Wal-Mart store that had packed up and moved out three years ago. Also, fiddling around with the tiny buttons and choosing items with scroll keys is a pain compared to the newer units with touch-screen input that pops up an alpha-numeric keypad when text entry is called for. Bottom line: navigation, for us, will not really be any easier with this new unit. In fact, we will miss some of the features of the trusty 176, such as tide and celestial information that informed us, as the day wore on, exactly when local sunset would occur (we prefer to be parked before dark). But finding the nearest Wal-Mart, FlyingJ, or Olive Garden will be much easier, and that will probably make it all worthwhile.
I'm going to set up the new unit for side-by-side operation for a while on a temporary base, to make sure we want to switch. That's because I will need to completely re-do the mounting system, and re-run the permanent power (the 7200 requires 12 volts; the 176c is wired directly to 24) to install the 7200 properly. And, no, you can't have my 176c -- we're keeping it for use on the motorcycles, where we need something weatherproof (the 7200 isn't even moisture-resistant, whereas the 176c can be immersed directly into water to a depth of around a meter).
When we figure out where we are heading from here, I will post an update. Stay tuned...
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Of colds and storms
We're back at the San Jose Hilton, after two disappointing nights at Chaminade in Santa Cruz (more on this later).
The wedding was lovely, and I'm sure it was a hell of a party. I don't really know, because I was miserably sick the whole time. In fact, I noticed that I was coming down with something Thursday afternoon. By Friday morning, it had mushroomed into a full-blown flu, and, by Friday evening, I was struggling through dinner at Shadowbrook with my in-laws. Something, no doubt, that I picked up on the flight over here.
In any case, I was miserable from the moment we left San Jose until the moment we returned, and, I have to say, I'm not really over it yet. I have my fingers crossed that it is fully out of my system by the time we land in Atlanta Tuesday night, because, as you may have guessed, the Red Cross has already put us on alert for Hurricane Ernesto. The storm is looking to make landfall in Florida late Tuesday, and the keys are already being evacuated. Best guess right now is that we will be deployed to Orlando, and we figure we can be there by Wednesday night, assuming no flight troubles on our way back to Atlanta.
We have some friends in Atlanta we were hoping to see while we were in town, and at least one affiliate club to sample, but we will likely not get to do either of those things on this visit.
Speaking of friends not visited, we also had some other folks here we hoped to see, and my flu kept us from adding anyone to the agenda. In fact, we had a dinner date tonight, and Louise is there without me -- no need to expose anyone else, and I'm trying to keep quiet and recuperate.
I did get a chance to see and briefly catch up with quite a number of folks at the wedding, though I refrained from shaking any hands or giving any hugs. I managed to make it all the way through the ceremony and most of dinner before crashing -- Louise stayed for most of the rest of the party.
It was extremely disappointing to have flown all the way here for this wedding, only to be flat on my back for most of the event. Adding to that was the disappointing hotel experience to which I alluded earlier.
Chaminade is billed as a destination resort -- it has a spa and a conference center, in addition to several well-designed wedding-ceremony venues. They mostly book weddings on the weekends, and high-end business meetings during the week -- you know, those management-team "off-site" meetings that involve almost as much drinking and golfing as actual strategic planning, generally unbeknownst to investors. Rooms start at $300 per night, with a two-night minimum, and go up from there -- not counting the mandatory resort fee and a number of taxes that bring the minimum tab to nearly $700 for a two-night stay.
All very well and good -- we're no strangers to four- and five-diamond properties, having rewarded ourselves from time to time with a stay at the Ahwanee, the Four Seasons, or, our perennial favorite, the Furnace Creek Inn back in our motorcycle touring days. But, at these prices, and with the lofty four-diamond rating, one expects a certain extra measure of service.
As soon as we occupied our room, we made immediate note of the fact that the Hilton, a three-diamond property with a rack rate of perhaps $200 per night (we're using points, so I can't say for sure), provided more basic amenities in the room: a mini-fridge, for example, and free bottled water (Chaminade wanted $5 a bottle for the fancy "Fiji" brand water provided in the room). The two properties use the same TV system, but the Hilton provided HBO free, while Chaminade provided no premium channels. Both properties use the same in-room high-speed internet system, at identical pricing of $10 per day, but the Hilton provides free wireless in the lobby and lounge areas.
What really torqued me, though, was how uncomfortable the beds were. I'm sure there are some to whom this is really the epitome of luxury, but, to me, featherbeds are so last century. Yet here we had a room with featherbeds and down pillows. I was in bed most of the time we were there, and I felt like I was sleeping with the ducks -- the damn feather ends kept poking me through the covers. The mattress itself was not of sufficient quality to want to try sleeping without the featherbed, so I just suffered through it. Of course, the featherbed also kept slipping around on top of the mattress.
The final straw, as it were, was housekeeping. Since I confined myself to the bed most of the day Saturday, housekeeping called around noon to ask when they could make up the room. Knowing that I was going to make the ceremony, at least, come hell or high water, I asked them to do it at 5:00, when I was sure to be out of the room. Imagine my surprise, then, when I returned to the room close to 9pm, miserable and ready to crawl back into bed, to find that the room had not even been touched. Sick as I was, at $700 for two nights I damn well wanted fresh linens and towels (not to mention for someone else to straighten up the mess that became of the featherbed), so I fumed at the front desk, who sent a pair of housekeepers, who then insisted on asking me 20 questions about why the room did not get made up and did I really need service. Harumph.
When I groused about all this at checkout this morning, they did take 25% off the room rate, which amounted to a cool buck-and-a-half. But, really, that did not make up for the dismal failure of the property to meet expectations. Suffice it to say, I am happy to be back at the Hilton, where I can get on-line, sleep in a comfortable bed, and get free breakfast and hors-d'oeuvres in the executive lounge. Chaminade is, as they say, so off my list.
The wedding was lovely, and I'm sure it was a hell of a party. I don't really know, because I was miserably sick the whole time. In fact, I noticed that I was coming down with something Thursday afternoon. By Friday morning, it had mushroomed into a full-blown flu, and, by Friday evening, I was struggling through dinner at Shadowbrook with my in-laws. Something, no doubt, that I picked up on the flight over here.
In any case, I was miserable from the moment we left San Jose until the moment we returned, and, I have to say, I'm not really over it yet. I have my fingers crossed that it is fully out of my system by the time we land in Atlanta Tuesday night, because, as you may have guessed, the Red Cross has already put us on alert for Hurricane Ernesto. The storm is looking to make landfall in Florida late Tuesday, and the keys are already being evacuated. Best guess right now is that we will be deployed to Orlando, and we figure we can be there by Wednesday night, assuming no flight troubles on our way back to Atlanta.
We have some friends in Atlanta we were hoping to see while we were in town, and at least one affiliate club to sample, but we will likely not get to do either of those things on this visit.
Speaking of friends not visited, we also had some other folks here we hoped to see, and my flu kept us from adding anyone to the agenda. In fact, we had a dinner date tonight, and Louise is there without me -- no need to expose anyone else, and I'm trying to keep quiet and recuperate.
I did get a chance to see and briefly catch up with quite a number of folks at the wedding, though I refrained from shaking any hands or giving any hugs. I managed to make it all the way through the ceremony and most of dinner before crashing -- Louise stayed for most of the rest of the party.
It was extremely disappointing to have flown all the way here for this wedding, only to be flat on my back for most of the event. Adding to that was the disappointing hotel experience to which I alluded earlier.
Chaminade is billed as a destination resort -- it has a spa and a conference center, in addition to several well-designed wedding-ceremony venues. They mostly book weddings on the weekends, and high-end business meetings during the week -- you know, those management-team "off-site" meetings that involve almost as much drinking and golfing as actual strategic planning, generally unbeknownst to investors. Rooms start at $300 per night, with a two-night minimum, and go up from there -- not counting the mandatory resort fee and a number of taxes that bring the minimum tab to nearly $700 for a two-night stay.
All very well and good -- we're no strangers to four- and five-diamond properties, having rewarded ourselves from time to time with a stay at the Ahwanee, the Four Seasons, or, our perennial favorite, the Furnace Creek Inn back in our motorcycle touring days. But, at these prices, and with the lofty four-diamond rating, one expects a certain extra measure of service.
As soon as we occupied our room, we made immediate note of the fact that the Hilton, a three-diamond property with a rack rate of perhaps $200 per night (we're using points, so I can't say for sure), provided more basic amenities in the room: a mini-fridge, for example, and free bottled water (Chaminade wanted $5 a bottle for the fancy "Fiji" brand water provided in the room). The two properties use the same TV system, but the Hilton provided HBO free, while Chaminade provided no premium channels. Both properties use the same in-room high-speed internet system, at identical pricing of $10 per day, but the Hilton provides free wireless in the lobby and lounge areas.
What really torqued me, though, was how uncomfortable the beds were. I'm sure there are some to whom this is really the epitome of luxury, but, to me, featherbeds are so last century. Yet here we had a room with featherbeds and down pillows. I was in bed most of the time we were there, and I felt like I was sleeping with the ducks -- the damn feather ends kept poking me through the covers. The mattress itself was not of sufficient quality to want to try sleeping without the featherbed, so I just suffered through it. Of course, the featherbed also kept slipping around on top of the mattress.
The final straw, as it were, was housekeeping. Since I confined myself to the bed most of the day Saturday, housekeeping called around noon to ask when they could make up the room. Knowing that I was going to make the ceremony, at least, come hell or high water, I asked them to do it at 5:00, when I was sure to be out of the room. Imagine my surprise, then, when I returned to the room close to 9pm, miserable and ready to crawl back into bed, to find that the room had not even been touched. Sick as I was, at $700 for two nights I damn well wanted fresh linens and towels (not to mention for someone else to straighten up the mess that became of the featherbed), so I fumed at the front desk, who sent a pair of housekeepers, who then insisted on asking me 20 questions about why the room did not get made up and did I really need service. Harumph.
When I groused about all this at checkout this morning, they did take 25% off the room rate, which amounted to a cool buck-and-a-half. But, really, that did not make up for the dismal failure of the property to meet expectations. Suffice it to say, I am happy to be back at the Hilton, where I can get on-line, sleep in a comfortable bed, and get free breakfast and hors-d'oeuvres in the executive lounge. Chaminade is, as they say, so off my list.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Back in San Jose for a week
Odyssey is safely ensconced in a secure location provided courtesy of a fellow bus nut, who responded to my plea for parking on the bus conversion bulletin boards. As is usual in such circumstances, I am not posting a map link or address, both for security reasons and out of respect for our host.
We spent Sunday night at the Wal-Mart on Johnson's Ferry Road in Marietta, a location that another area friend had told us disallowed overnight parking. When we arrived, though, there were no signs prohibiting it, and there were already a couple of 18-wheelers parked for the night. We picked a discreet spot at the edge of the lot and were not bothered. Somehow I forgot to update the DataStorm map location, so our map link still shows us at the laundromat in Roswell.
We chose this particular spot because it was en-route from the laundromat to our parking space for the week, by way of the kennel. As it turns out, though, we had a change of route plans anyway. We'd been calling around trying to get some kind of ride to the airport from Marietta, and the quotes were all in the $60-$80 range. Moreover, we were also trying to figure out how to get the pets to the kennel on Tuesday morning before our flight, rather than cough up another $37 to drop them off Monday instead. I ended up renting a car for $35 that we could simply drop off at the airport. There's an Enterprise car rental within a couple blocks of where we are parked, but Enterprise wanted a $50 one-way drop-off charge to take their car to the airport. Budget, however, was happy to let us drop the car at no extra charge, but we had to drive to downtown Marietta to pick it up.
So after a hearty breakfast at IHOP, adjacent to the Marietta Wal-Mart, we drove down to the Budget office and picked up a car. They gave us a Dodge Caliber, which I think is a couple grades above the econobox that we paid for, but which was perfect for transporting the animals to the kennel. We proceeded to our parking location, set up for the night, and began preparations for a week away. Yesterday morning we loaded up the beasts and drove them to the kennel (whose driveway was impassable to Odyssey, so just as well we had the car), and made it to the airport in plenty of time for the latest and greatest TSA procedures. Speaking of which, it is almost unbelievable the number of shampoos, hair sprays, deodorants, toothpastes, etc. that people are still bringing to the screening area -- they filled two huge tubs in just the five minutes or so that we were there.
We had an uneventful flight, and, after dinner with some friends and family last night, checked in to our hotel, the Hilton in downtown San Jose. These are our old stomping grounds, so it is a comfortable base of operations for us, and I had enough Hilton points for a free stay. Also, there is free ultra-high-speed internet in the lobby, from where I am posting. Unlike the last time we stayed here about a year ago, I am now in the "gold" membership class in the Hilton points program, and we have access to the la-te-da concierge-level lounge, where hot breakfast is served daily, and happy hour runs from 5-7.
We have a full calendar of visits and errands for the week. We will be here in the San Jose Hilton until Friday morning, when we will drive over to Santa Cruz in a borrowed car. We will be staying at the Chaminade resort there, for our friends' wedding, through Sunday morning, when we will return here to the Hilton for our final two nights. Our return flight on Tuesday will get us back in to Atlanta nearly 11pm, and we hope to rent another car to reverse the process that got us to the airport in the first place.
We spent Sunday night at the Wal-Mart on Johnson's Ferry Road in Marietta, a location that another area friend had told us disallowed overnight parking. When we arrived, though, there were no signs prohibiting it, and there were already a couple of 18-wheelers parked for the night. We picked a discreet spot at the edge of the lot and were not bothered. Somehow I forgot to update the DataStorm map location, so our map link still shows us at the laundromat in Roswell.
We chose this particular spot because it was en-route from the laundromat to our parking space for the week, by way of the kennel. As it turns out, though, we had a change of route plans anyway. We'd been calling around trying to get some kind of ride to the airport from Marietta, and the quotes were all in the $60-$80 range. Moreover, we were also trying to figure out how to get the pets to the kennel on Tuesday morning before our flight, rather than cough up another $37 to drop them off Monday instead. I ended up renting a car for $35 that we could simply drop off at the airport. There's an Enterprise car rental within a couple blocks of where we are parked, but Enterprise wanted a $50 one-way drop-off charge to take their car to the airport. Budget, however, was happy to let us drop the car at no extra charge, but we had to drive to downtown Marietta to pick it up.
So after a hearty breakfast at IHOP, adjacent to the Marietta Wal-Mart, we drove down to the Budget office and picked up a car. They gave us a Dodge Caliber, which I think is a couple grades above the econobox that we paid for, but which was perfect for transporting the animals to the kennel. We proceeded to our parking location, set up for the night, and began preparations for a week away. Yesterday morning we loaded up the beasts and drove them to the kennel (whose driveway was impassable to Odyssey, so just as well we had the car), and made it to the airport in plenty of time for the latest and greatest TSA procedures. Speaking of which, it is almost unbelievable the number of shampoos, hair sprays, deodorants, toothpastes, etc. that people are still bringing to the screening area -- they filled two huge tubs in just the five minutes or so that we were there.
We had an uneventful flight, and, after dinner with some friends and family last night, checked in to our hotel, the Hilton in downtown San Jose. These are our old stomping grounds, so it is a comfortable base of operations for us, and I had enough Hilton points for a free stay. Also, there is free ultra-high-speed internet in the lobby, from where I am posting. Unlike the last time we stayed here about a year ago, I am now in the "gold" membership class in the Hilton points program, and we have access to the la-te-da concierge-level lounge, where hot breakfast is served daily, and happy hour runs from 5-7.
We have a full calendar of visits and errands for the week. We will be here in the San Jose Hilton until Friday morning, when we will drive over to Santa Cruz in a borrowed car. We will be staying at the Chaminade resort there, for our friends' wedding, through Sunday morning, when we will return here to the Hilton for our final two nights. Our return flight on Tuesday will get us back in to Atlanta nearly 11pm, and we hope to rent another car to reverse the process that got us to the airport in the first place.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Another late start
When I posted yesterday about the virtues of our Camping World digs, I did not yet know that we would also get a free lunch out of the deal. I went back into the store to check out some bay door struts, and discovered they were having a hot dog cookout for customer appreciation, in celebration of 40 years in business. We had hot dogs, chips, cookies, and cold drinks -- thanks, Camping World.
The struts, it turned out, did not fit. We did manage, though, to change the hinge rubber on the LPG door -- the old hinge was on the verge of splitting in two, and I had visions of losing the door someplace along the freeway at high speed.
After lunch and the minor repairs, we packed up and headed out to the freeway. On the way to the ramp, as we finished the turn from a side street, we heard a huge clunk and felt a thud. So we drove past the ramp and into a gravel lot to have a look. My eyes immediately went to the tie rods, since that was the last thing worked on, and I soon discovered that the pinch bolts clamping the left inner tie rod end were rubbing and catching on a frame member. Apparently, the geometry of the tie rods and front end suspension had kept the rubbing to a minimum until this particular turn, for whatever reason, where the end of the bolt caught completely, and the thunk was the result of the steering pump simply overpowering it and the bolt clunking past the frame member.
This situation was immediate cause for real concern -- the end of the bolt could, conceivably, catch the frame at just enough additional angle to keep the steering from moving further in that direction. At speed, that could spell a serious loss of control. We determined that the situation would need to be rectified immediately. We drove at a reduced speed for about ten miles to a TA truckstop that our guidebook said had a 24-hour repair shop, we surmised with a pit.
After a lot of posturing about not working on coaches, they agreed to let a mechanic look at it, and, after a 40-minute or so wait, we maneuvered over the pit. This was no small challenge, since the approach to the shop involved a steep-angle swale -- I had to raise the front suspension to clear the front over the swale, then drop the front all the way to the ground and raise the rear as far as it went to avoid dragging the frame and low-centering. Once we were over the pit, of course, it was a ten minute job to loosen the bolts and rotate the clamp until they were out of harm's way. With a half hour minimum, the tab came to $40.
I'll be contacting Luke at US Coach tomorrow about this, since his shop did the tie rod work. They had the youngest and most junior mechanic on our coach, and it looks like he just overlooked the potential conflict (and did not test the assembly lock-to-lock when he was done). Still, it's a serious safety item, not to mention I'm out another $40. I am hoping Luke will offer to pick up that tab.
By the time we were done at TA, it was 3:30. Nevertheless, we pressed on all the way to the Atlanta area, since there were no decent stopping options between there and Greenville. We spent last night at the Wal-Mart in Roswell (map). While doing our obligatory shopping, we noticed a constant conga line of taxis outside the store, and even a line-up of them at an informal taxi stand. We can only guess that some number of families in the area commute to work on transit and have no cars, and so take taxis to Wal-Mart on the weekends to do their shopping. And here, we thought we were the only ones to call a cab to a Wal-Mart.
At the moment, we are doing our laundry at a small strip shopping center, also in Roswell (map). We're still unclear where we will be spending tonight, though we may head over to Marietta and check out our parking situation for the week. Alternatively, we will find something close the the kennel where we will be boarding the pets.
The struts, it turned out, did not fit. We did manage, though, to change the hinge rubber on the LPG door -- the old hinge was on the verge of splitting in two, and I had visions of losing the door someplace along the freeway at high speed.
After lunch and the minor repairs, we packed up and headed out to the freeway. On the way to the ramp, as we finished the turn from a side street, we heard a huge clunk and felt a thud. So we drove past the ramp and into a gravel lot to have a look. My eyes immediately went to the tie rods, since that was the last thing worked on, and I soon discovered that the pinch bolts clamping the left inner tie rod end were rubbing and catching on a frame member. Apparently, the geometry of the tie rods and front end suspension had kept the rubbing to a minimum until this particular turn, for whatever reason, where the end of the bolt caught completely, and the thunk was the result of the steering pump simply overpowering it and the bolt clunking past the frame member.
This situation was immediate cause for real concern -- the end of the bolt could, conceivably, catch the frame at just enough additional angle to keep the steering from moving further in that direction. At speed, that could spell a serious loss of control. We determined that the situation would need to be rectified immediately. We drove at a reduced speed for about ten miles to a TA truckstop that our guidebook said had a 24-hour repair shop, we surmised with a pit.
After a lot of posturing about not working on coaches, they agreed to let a mechanic look at it, and, after a 40-minute or so wait, we maneuvered over the pit. This was no small challenge, since the approach to the shop involved a steep-angle swale -- I had to raise the front suspension to clear the front over the swale, then drop the front all the way to the ground and raise the rear as far as it went to avoid dragging the frame and low-centering. Once we were over the pit, of course, it was a ten minute job to loosen the bolts and rotate the clamp until they were out of harm's way. With a half hour minimum, the tab came to $40.
I'll be contacting Luke at US Coach tomorrow about this, since his shop did the tie rod work. They had the youngest and most junior mechanic on our coach, and it looks like he just overlooked the potential conflict (and did not test the assembly lock-to-lock when he was done). Still, it's a serious safety item, not to mention I'm out another $40. I am hoping Luke will offer to pick up that tab.
By the time we were done at TA, it was 3:30. Nevertheless, we pressed on all the way to the Atlanta area, since there were no decent stopping options between there and Greenville. We spent last night at the Wal-Mart in Roswell (map). While doing our obligatory shopping, we noticed a constant conga line of taxis outside the store, and even a line-up of them at an informal taxi stand. We can only guess that some number of families in the area commute to work on transit and have no cars, and so take taxis to Wal-Mart on the weekends to do their shopping. And here, we thought we were the only ones to call a cab to a Wal-Mart.
At the moment, we are doing our laundry at a small strip shopping center, also in Roswell (map). We're still unclear where we will be spending tonight, though we may head over to Marietta and check out our parking situation for the week. Alternatively, we will find something close the the kennel where we will be boarding the pets.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Free hookups in Spartanburg
We are parked at the Camping World store that is co-located with the Holiday Kamper dealership here in Spartanburg, SC (map). Our guidebook said there was free parking here with a handful of electric hookups, and we managed to snag ourselves 20 amps for the night -- enough to run one air conditioner, make hot water, and top off the batteries for the first time in weeks.
Actually, the guide suggested there were four pedestals here, each with two 30-amp circuits. We only found two pedestals, and ours has two 30's and a 20. Unfortunately, both 30-amp breakers are kaput -- so we are on a 20-amp breaker connected to a 30-amp receptacle. So there's plenty of juice in the box -- we just can't access it. This has happened to us before, and I am seriously considering carrying a selection of circuit breakers with me for just such occasions. Too bad these campground pedestals are not more standardized -- I've seen at least three different types of breakers in use.
In any case, we were happy to have the juice, and I can't really complain that a business providing free hookups does not consider it a top priority to replace bad circuit breakers.
We had a low-mileage day yesterday: we're only about 80 miles from Concord. The day got off to a rough start -- while I was washing the coffee maker's thermal carafe (done by swirling the sponge around on the end of a wooden spoon handle), the glass vacuum bottle imploded. The resulting adrenaline in my system made me jittery all day. Beyond that, one of the awnings refused to deploy, and, since it had self-deployed and self-retracted the previous evening, I was guessing that we got water in the control box, a problem we've had in the past.
So, after relaxing for a while to let the chaos of departing coaches dissipate, we packed up and drove Odyssey over to the "service center," an area set up for vendor service teams to provide service during the convention. We were hoping to find the Girard people still packing up, so we could snag another awning control board. After wandering around the remains of the service area and exhibit tent, with no sign of them, we learned that they had left the grounds at 6:30 that morning, and were already in Texas.
Our next stop was the Concord Mills Mall, just a mile from the speedway, where I had discovered a Black & Decker outlet store, one of only a handful around the country, and the only one on our route to Atlanta. We were hoping to find a replacement carafe, or maybe just the vacuum liner, for our coffeemaker, but, of course, no such luck. Not really surprising, considering the thing is three years old, but we were quite fond of it. We bought a newer, smaller model, this one with a steel vacuum bottle that won't implode in my hands. (The fact that we are almost always running on batteries when we make our coffee mandates a thermal-carafe model, as opposed to one with an energy-hogging warming plate. Besides, we think the coffee tastes better that way.) We ended up having lunch at the mall.
Thus we got a very late start out of Concord. We also had a slight traffic delay from rubberneckers as we approached the South Carolina border on I-85. I say slight -- traffic on our side of the road slowed to perhaps 50 or so. The northbound side was stopped dead for four miles (and counting): A FedEx Freight double apparently fishtailed at high speed, slamming the rear trailer into a bridge abutment. The trailer was literally ripped in half -- the front part still attached to the dolly and the front trailer, and the rear part in a twisted wreck nearly a quarter mile behind it. In between the two pieces, and all over the roadway, were hundreds, if not thousands, of packages. So if you are in the northeast expecting a FedEx from the southeast, umm, check your delivery carefully (if you ever get it). The force sent the front trailer rebounding into the tractor, which had substantial damage to the top of the sleeper area. All in all, one of the most spectacular wrecks I have ever seen; I'm sorry we did not get the chance to snap a photo.
We also ended up stopping for fuel, since the cheapest diesel on our route was just south of the state line. By the time we were approaching Greenville/Spartanburg, we were both ready to call it a day, and we cracked open the guidebooks. This Camping World is a couple miles off our route, and I did not hold out much hope for an available power outlet so close to the FMCA rally, but we thought it was worth a slight detour, with a fall-back option at a Wal-Mart back the other way. We were surprised to find only one other coach here. As usual, we paid for our "free" parking privilege with a few purchases in the store (even though we eschewed buying anything at the giant Camping World booth at the show -- go figure). The recalcitrant awning was also working again by the time we parked -- presumably, the control box dried out, and I'm hoping there is no lasting damage.
We will leave here shortly, and I expect to be in Atlanta's gravitational zone tonight.
Actually, the guide suggested there were four pedestals here, each with two 30-amp circuits. We only found two pedestals, and ours has two 30's and a 20. Unfortunately, both 30-amp breakers are kaput -- so we are on a 20-amp breaker connected to a 30-amp receptacle. So there's plenty of juice in the box -- we just can't access it. This has happened to us before, and I am seriously considering carrying a selection of circuit breakers with me for just such occasions. Too bad these campground pedestals are not more standardized -- I've seen at least three different types of breakers in use.
In any case, we were happy to have the juice, and I can't really complain that a business providing free hookups does not consider it a top priority to replace bad circuit breakers.
We had a low-mileage day yesterday: we're only about 80 miles from Concord. The day got off to a rough start -- while I was washing the coffee maker's thermal carafe (done by swirling the sponge around on the end of a wooden spoon handle), the glass vacuum bottle imploded. The resulting adrenaline in my system made me jittery all day. Beyond that, one of the awnings refused to deploy, and, since it had self-deployed and self-retracted the previous evening, I was guessing that we got water in the control box, a problem we've had in the past.
So, after relaxing for a while to let the chaos of departing coaches dissipate, we packed up and drove Odyssey over to the "service center," an area set up for vendor service teams to provide service during the convention. We were hoping to find the Girard people still packing up, so we could snag another awning control board. After wandering around the remains of the service area and exhibit tent, with no sign of them, we learned that they had left the grounds at 6:30 that morning, and were already in Texas.
Our next stop was the Concord Mills Mall, just a mile from the speedway, where I had discovered a Black & Decker outlet store, one of only a handful around the country, and the only one on our route to Atlanta. We were hoping to find a replacement carafe, or maybe just the vacuum liner, for our coffeemaker, but, of course, no such luck. Not really surprising, considering the thing is three years old, but we were quite fond of it. We bought a newer, smaller model, this one with a steel vacuum bottle that won't implode in my hands. (The fact that we are almost always running on batteries when we make our coffee mandates a thermal-carafe model, as opposed to one with an energy-hogging warming plate. Besides, we think the coffee tastes better that way.) We ended up having lunch at the mall.
Thus we got a very late start out of Concord. We also had a slight traffic delay from rubberneckers as we approached the South Carolina border on I-85. I say slight -- traffic on our side of the road slowed to perhaps 50 or so. The northbound side was stopped dead for four miles (and counting): A FedEx Freight double apparently fishtailed at high speed, slamming the rear trailer into a bridge abutment. The trailer was literally ripped in half -- the front part still attached to the dolly and the front trailer, and the rear part in a twisted wreck nearly a quarter mile behind it. In between the two pieces, and all over the roadway, were hundreds, if not thousands, of packages. So if you are in the northeast expecting a FedEx from the southeast, umm, check your delivery carefully (if you ever get it). The force sent the front trailer rebounding into the tractor, which had substantial damage to the top of the sleeper area. All in all, one of the most spectacular wrecks I have ever seen; I'm sorry we did not get the chance to snap a photo.
We also ended up stopping for fuel, since the cheapest diesel on our route was just south of the state line. By the time we were approaching Greenville/Spartanburg, we were both ready to call it a day, and we cracked open the guidebooks. This Camping World is a couple miles off our route, and I did not hold out much hope for an available power outlet so close to the FMCA rally, but we thought it was worth a slight detour, with a fall-back option at a Wal-Mart back the other way. We were surprised to find only one other coach here. As usual, we paid for our "free" parking privilege with a few purchases in the store (even though we eschewed buying anything at the giant Camping World booth at the show -- go figure). The recalcitrant awning was also working again by the time we parked -- presumably, the control box dried out, and I'm hoping there is no lasting damage.
We will leave here shortly, and I expect to be in Atlanta's gravitational zone tonight.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
FMCA Convention, Lowe's Motor Speedway
We are at the 76th International Convention of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA), at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte (well, actually Concord) North Carolina (map). We arrived at the tail end of our assigned parking time of 8-noon on Sunday. As it turned out, arriving towards the end of the conga line (coach parking begins on Friday) this time put us in a spot fairly close to the activities, and we were able to get around to most things on our bicycles.
We spent the rest of Sunday and most of Monday unwinding, much needed after another long week with the Red Cross followed by a mad dash to make our slot. Monday afternoon the coach exhibits opened, and we ventured out to peek into some of them. I note that both flame paint jobs and underbay garages are coming into vogue, and what gratitude do we get for being the pioneers? None.
Yesterday and today we browsed the indoor exhibits, which have, in the past, been a source for us of a number of useful items and ideas. This show seems considerably smaller than previous ones, and this was reflected in a smaller vendor area. We did not come away empty-handed, though: today we bought a fancy convertible table for the penthouse, in a nice maple to match our cabinetry.
Last night we got between three and four inches of rain, and it felt like we were going to have that much inside Odyssey with all the persistent leaks, some of which are worsening. We fared better, though, than the bloke whose coach was washed away in a flash flood, or the several who had water up to their doorsteps. We are on top of a hill, thankfully.
We are also right next to the "dirt track" arena, which is one of the entertainment venues for the event. We seldom partake, and tonight is no exception, but tonight's headliner is Ronnie Milsap, and cars are parked around us as far as the eye can see.
We are pretty much done with the show, and tomorrow we'll pack up and get ready to head out. We have made arrangements to park Odyssey in Marietta during our sojourn to California, and we'll take a leisurely pace to arrive there on Monday.
We spent the rest of Sunday and most of Monday unwinding, much needed after another long week with the Red Cross followed by a mad dash to make our slot. Monday afternoon the coach exhibits opened, and we ventured out to peek into some of them. I note that both flame paint jobs and underbay garages are coming into vogue, and what gratitude do we get for being the pioneers? None.
Yesterday and today we browsed the indoor exhibits, which have, in the past, been a source for us of a number of useful items and ideas. This show seems considerably smaller than previous ones, and this was reflected in a smaller vendor area. We did not come away empty-handed, though: today we bought a fancy convertible table for the penthouse, in a nice maple to match our cabinetry.
Last night we got between three and four inches of rain, and it felt like we were going to have that much inside Odyssey with all the persistent leaks, some of which are worsening. We fared better, though, than the bloke whose coach was washed away in a flash flood, or the several who had water up to their doorsteps. We are on top of a hill, thankfully.
We are also right next to the "dirt track" arena, which is one of the entertainment venues for the event. We seldom partake, and tonight is no exception, but tonight's headliner is Ronnie Milsap, and cars are parked around us as far as the eye can see.
We are pretty much done with the show, and tomorrow we'll pack up and get ready to head out. We have made arrangements to park Odyssey in Marietta during our sojourn to California, and we'll take a leisurely pace to arrive there on Monday.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Back at our home park: Wal-Mart
Well, we finished up another week at the Red Cross, bringing our total since we started last October to just over 18 weeks (not counting another three weeks of training). We still have a full month before our service anniversary, so to speak, and the bulk of hurricane season is still ahead of us, so we may yet rack up some more time in the saddle.
We enjoyed our time at the Disaster Operations Center. It was an easy shift, since Chris fizzled out, and we ended up supporting the floods in El Paso and some additional preparedness work in Baton Rouge. And we are very glad to now be able to put faces to some of the names and voices we've heard while out in the field, and to get a good overview of how National Headquarters supports the relief operations.
We wrapped up yesterday evening, dropped off our rental car at Reagan airport, and took the Metro back out to Merrifield. The shuttle to JP had already quit running, so we ended up on a Fairfax County bus for the final leg back to the coach. This morning we finished packing up, and rolled out of our gravel digs (courtesy of the county school system) around 9:30.
Our route today brought us down US-29, variously known as the Seminole Trail, the James Madison highway, and the 29th Infantry Highway. This route passes near quite a few important Civil War battlefields, including Manassas/Bull Run, Antietam, and Appomatox, and we were sorry we did not have time to stop. We also passed through Danville, Virginia site of the famous 1903 train wreck immortalized in the song Wreck of the Old 97, and the furniture capital of America, High Point/Thomasville, North Carolina. Again we were sorry time did not permit any stops.
US-29 becomes co-linear with I-85 in Greensboro, and the two roads drift together and apart on and off from there south. We thought Greensboro too early to stop, so we looked at Wal-Marts in High Point, Lexington, and Salisbury. High Point does not permit overnights, according to our guide, so we set our sights on Lexington. We scoped out the store (which we had to track down, since it had moved from our mapped location), but our gut told us it was not a good place for a stop, so we continued south to where we are now, the brand new super-center in Salisbury (map). Several decent restaurants are an easy walk from here, and we ended up having dinner at O'Charleys, a new experience for us which we judged to be surprisingly good.
After dinner we loaded up on groceries for the week, and we'll be on our way first thing in the morning to Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, about 30 miles south of here, to make our check-in time for the FMCA rally.
We enjoyed our time at the Disaster Operations Center. It was an easy shift, since Chris fizzled out, and we ended up supporting the floods in El Paso and some additional preparedness work in Baton Rouge. And we are very glad to now be able to put faces to some of the names and voices we've heard while out in the field, and to get a good overview of how National Headquarters supports the relief operations.
We wrapped up yesterday evening, dropped off our rental car at Reagan airport, and took the Metro back out to Merrifield. The shuttle to JP had already quit running, so we ended up on a Fairfax County bus for the final leg back to the coach. This morning we finished packing up, and rolled out of our gravel digs (courtesy of the county school system) around 9:30.
Our route today brought us down US-29, variously known as the Seminole Trail, the James Madison highway, and the 29th Infantry Highway. This route passes near quite a few important Civil War battlefields, including Manassas/Bull Run, Antietam, and Appomatox, and we were sorry we did not have time to stop. We also passed through Danville, Virginia site of the famous 1903 train wreck immortalized in the song Wreck of the Old 97, and the furniture capital of America, High Point/Thomasville, North Carolina. Again we were sorry time did not permit any stops.
US-29 becomes co-linear with I-85 in Greensboro, and the two roads drift together and apart on and off from there south. We thought Greensboro too early to stop, so we looked at Wal-Marts in High Point, Lexington, and Salisbury. High Point does not permit overnights, according to our guide, so we set our sights on Lexington. We scoped out the store (which we had to track down, since it had moved from our mapped location), but our gut told us it was not a good place for a stop, so we continued south to where we are now, the brand new super-center in Salisbury (map). Several decent restaurants are an easy walk from here, and we ended up having dinner at O'Charleys, a new experience for us which we judged to be surprisingly good.
After dinner we loaded up on groceries for the week, and we'll be on our way first thing in the morning to Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, about 30 miles south of here, to make our check-in time for the FMCA rally.
Saturday, August 5, 2006
Knock, knock...
We are still in the gravel lot outside the Red Cross JP office building. After looking carefully at the limited campground options, we decided that our best strategy was to simply remain here, and bite the bullet on diesel fuel. That would, at any rate, be easier on the donated dollars than the campgrounds, not only with respect to the daily fees, but also the commute expense. At least here at JP, we have access to the Red Cross shuttle to the Metro to get to the downtown office, and the JP office requires no commute at all.
The Metro issue may be moot, since we ended up with our friends' rental car, after dropping them off at the airport. If we can get approved for a parking space downtown, we'll likely drive in each day, which halves the commute time. The diesel may not be much of an issue either -- We haven't had to run the A/C yet today, and we can live on four hours of generator run time every other day if we don't run the A/C (by contrast, full-time A/C requires at least 12 hours of generator use each day).
All these plans were cast into serious question first thing this morning, while we were still in bed (we ended up getting the weekend off), when a uniformed officer knocked on the door. We're always prepared for this possibility, even though, in two full years of living aboard, this is only the second such knock (the first being at a rest area overlooking El Paso, TX). As it turns out, the information we had about the ownership status of this lot was incorrect, and the lot actually belongs to Fairfax County, having been acquired as part of a project to consolidate facilities for the school board. The school board occupies a brand-new building adjacent to this lot and to the Red Cross building, and intends, at some point, to expand further onto this lot.
In any case, after seeing us parked here for three nights, the manager of the building had someone from their security force stop by to check us out and ask us to move along. Officer Davis was extremely pleasant, and took the time to ask us what we were doing here. When we explained that we were Red Cross volunteers, he suggested that he could inquire if we could stay. He left, and was back within ten minutes to tell us that we could indeed -- our Red Cross credentials came through for us. We will have to remember to send the school district a thank-you card.
After dropping our friends at Reagan, we visited Arlington National Cemetery, taking the tram tour and stopping to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknowns. We then drove around downtown DC briefly before returning home. While it was nice to have a day off to sightsee, we're always on duty when volunteering -- my phone rang twice with calls from the field. Specifically, one of the guys we worked with in Baton Rouge is back there again, setting up a relief HQ in, almost unbelievably, the very same ex-big-box-store we were in for Katrina.
That landlord, you may recall, booted us out because they had a real tenant for the building -- some unnamed big-box hardware store. Apparently, the deal fell through, because the store is still empty. Even though Chris has all but fizzled out (though regeneration is always possible when the depression moves back over the warm waters of the Gulf), the Red Cross still wants to have a relief headquarters "ready-to-go" in Baton Rouge -- we're only up to "C" and, you may remember, we ran out of alphabet last hurricane season.
So our friend Rob and a small band of other volunteers will be pulling wire and putting together a headquarters facility, even if no other staff gets deployed to Baton Rouge for this event. Similar activities are occurring in MS and FL, and we're supporting all of these teams from here in DC. That's the work we have cut out for us next week, although I'm glad that Chris is looking to be a non-event. It means we will be able to leave here on Friday, as planned, to head down to NC for the FMCA rally.
Speaking of which, our plans are to spend a few days at FMCA, which is in Charlotte, then mosey over to Atlanta. Our friends Jimmy and Carolyn, from San Jose, are getting married later this month, and we'll be flying round trip from Atlanta to San Francisco for the wedding, and to catch up with our other bay area friends. So, once again, we will need to find (1) a safe place to park Odyssey, and (2) a kennel for the pets. If you have any suggestions for either of these in the Atlanta area, please feel free to email us. Our trip dates are August 22-29. With a bit of luck, the next Atlantic hurricane will hold off until we get back.
The Metro issue may be moot, since we ended up with our friends' rental car, after dropping them off at the airport. If we can get approved for a parking space downtown, we'll likely drive in each day, which halves the commute time. The diesel may not be much of an issue either -- We haven't had to run the A/C yet today, and we can live on four hours of generator run time every other day if we don't run the A/C (by contrast, full-time A/C requires at least 12 hours of generator use each day).
All these plans were cast into serious question first thing this morning, while we were still in bed (we ended up getting the weekend off), when a uniformed officer knocked on the door. We're always prepared for this possibility, even though, in two full years of living aboard, this is only the second such knock (the first being at a rest area overlooking El Paso, TX). As it turns out, the information we had about the ownership status of this lot was incorrect, and the lot actually belongs to Fairfax County, having been acquired as part of a project to consolidate facilities for the school board. The school board occupies a brand-new building adjacent to this lot and to the Red Cross building, and intends, at some point, to expand further onto this lot.
In any case, after seeing us parked here for three nights, the manager of the building had someone from their security force stop by to check us out and ask us to move along. Officer Davis was extremely pleasant, and took the time to ask us what we were doing here. When we explained that we were Red Cross volunteers, he suggested that he could inquire if we could stay. He left, and was back within ten minutes to tell us that we could indeed -- our Red Cross credentials came through for us. We will have to remember to send the school district a thank-you card.
After dropping our friends at Reagan, we visited Arlington National Cemetery, taking the tram tour and stopping to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknowns. We then drove around downtown DC briefly before returning home. While it was nice to have a day off to sightsee, we're always on duty when volunteering -- my phone rang twice with calls from the field. Specifically, one of the guys we worked with in Baton Rouge is back there again, setting up a relief HQ in, almost unbelievably, the very same ex-big-box-store we were in for Katrina.
That landlord, you may recall, booted us out because they had a real tenant for the building -- some unnamed big-box hardware store. Apparently, the deal fell through, because the store is still empty. Even though Chris has all but fizzled out (though regeneration is always possible when the depression moves back over the warm waters of the Gulf), the Red Cross still wants to have a relief headquarters "ready-to-go" in Baton Rouge -- we're only up to "C" and, you may remember, we ran out of alphabet last hurricane season.
So our friend Rob and a small band of other volunteers will be pulling wire and putting together a headquarters facility, even if no other staff gets deployed to Baton Rouge for this event. Similar activities are occurring in MS and FL, and we're supporting all of these teams from here in DC. That's the work we have cut out for us next week, although I'm glad that Chris is looking to be a non-event. It means we will be able to leave here on Friday, as planned, to head down to NC for the FMCA rally.
Speaking of which, our plans are to spend a few days at FMCA, which is in Charlotte, then mosey over to Atlanta. Our friends Jimmy and Carolyn, from San Jose, are getting married later this month, and we'll be flying round trip from Atlanta to San Francisco for the wedding, and to catch up with our other bay area friends. So, once again, we will need to find (1) a safe place to park Odyssey, and (2) a kennel for the pets. If you have any suggestions for either of these in the Atlanta area, please feel free to email us. Our trip dates are August 22-29. With a bit of luck, the next Atlantic hurricane will hold off until we get back.
Can you recommend a kennel?
We need to leave the pets behind in Atlanta for a week at the end of August. Can anyone recommend a good kennel in the Atlanta area? Worse case scenario: we'll just leave George in the dog carrier and Angel in a cardboard box, but Opal still needs a place to stay...
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Red Cross Operations Center, Falls Church, VA
We are parked in a gravel lot in Falls Church, Virginia (map), nestled between the Red Cross operations building here known as "Jefferson Park," or just "JP" for short, and the Marriott Residence Inn, where most volunteers end up staying. The ownership status of the gravel lot is unclear -- it is not really attached to any of the surrounding properties. Nevertheless, our friends, staying at the hotel, asked the desk there, and the hotel claimed ownership and granted permission for us to park here.
US Coach finally finished up Tuesday afternoon (although the tag steering damper never showed, so we dropped that part of the plan). By the time I paid the bill, it was already past 6, and we decided to spend the night while we still had some power available. We packed up yesterday morning, and were on the road by 8:30, with the mercury already into the mid-80s. We loaded up on groceries and then headed to FlyingJ, where we found that fuel went up by another $0.04 while we were in the shop. Still the best bargain in the US, though, at $2.759 per gallon. We filled up to our nominal "high" mark of 7/8, and I'm sorry now that I didn't just top it off, since we ended up running the genny the whole day to keep all the airs running.
Our route plan involved cutting across the Delmarva peninsula, across the bay bridge to Annapolis, and taking US50 until just inside the capital district, where we had planned to cut onto I-295 to I-395 over to the west side of the beltway. It was a great plan and we did fine right up to the US50-to-I-295 turn, which we missed. That dumped us onto the city streets of Washington, so Odyssey got a little unintended city tour, right down New York Avenue and crossing The Mall on 15th, right past the White House and the Washington Monument.
We then came straight here, with our original plan being to spend a couple nights here, visit with our friends (who intended to leave Saturday morning), do the tourist thing, and then move on. While we were en route, though, the Red Cross asked if we could spend a week or so here in town, helping out at the Disaster Operations Center (DOC), downtown on E Street. We agreed, with the proviso that, in this heat, they would need to foot a campground bill so we could get some power.
We're looking into area campgrounds, but none is close by. The best option seems to be one on the other side of town, out near the beltway, which has good access to transit. Still, it would be an hour commute each way, and we would still need to figure out how to walk the dog in the middle of the day. Also, at $50 a night, it strikes us as an unnecessarily large expense, but we're blowing through $40 of diesel a day running the air conditioning in this oppressive weather, and that doesn't even count the other wear and tear on the genny. We'll be looking closely at the weather reports -- if things cool down enough for us to reduce our generator run time, we might just stay put. Here, next to the hotel, we have access to a ride to the office, a shuttle to the metro, and other volunteers at JP who can look in on Opal during the day.
We'll be heading into the DOC tomorrow, to get badged and briefed and figure out what we'll be doing next week. Rumor has it that the DOC will be fully staffed over the weekend, too, so our touristic ambitions may have to wait for a return visit. Also, we are still planning to make the FMCA rally in NC, arriving on the 13th, but we may forego that if a major disaster strikes. We have a hard stop the following week, though: we already have our plane tickets to California (from Atlanta) for our friends Carolyn's and Jimmy's wedding.
Of course, much of the hubbub here has to do with Tropical Storm Chris, which, at various times, looked like it might strike Puerto Rico, the USVI, Florida, or the Gulf Coast. The latest forecast discussion from the National Hurricane Center, though, suggests the storm is becoming disorganized and weakening, and may fizzle out altogether without a seriously harmful landfall (let's hope). Who knows -- by Monday, they may decide we're not needed at all.
US Coach finally finished up Tuesday afternoon (although the tag steering damper never showed, so we dropped that part of the plan). By the time I paid the bill, it was already past 6, and we decided to spend the night while we still had some power available. We packed up yesterday morning, and were on the road by 8:30, with the mercury already into the mid-80s. We loaded up on groceries and then headed to FlyingJ, where we found that fuel went up by another $0.04 while we were in the shop. Still the best bargain in the US, though, at $2.759 per gallon. We filled up to our nominal "high" mark of 7/8, and I'm sorry now that I didn't just top it off, since we ended up running the genny the whole day to keep all the airs running.
Our route plan involved cutting across the Delmarva peninsula, across the bay bridge to Annapolis, and taking US50 until just inside the capital district, where we had planned to cut onto I-295 to I-395 over to the west side of the beltway. It was a great plan and we did fine right up to the US50-to-I-295 turn, which we missed. That dumped us onto the city streets of Washington, so Odyssey got a little unintended city tour, right down New York Avenue and crossing The Mall on 15th, right past the White House and the Washington Monument.
We then came straight here, with our original plan being to spend a couple nights here, visit with our friends (who intended to leave Saturday morning), do the tourist thing, and then move on. While we were en route, though, the Red Cross asked if we could spend a week or so here in town, helping out at the Disaster Operations Center (DOC), downtown on E Street. We agreed, with the proviso that, in this heat, they would need to foot a campground bill so we could get some power.
We're looking into area campgrounds, but none is close by. The best option seems to be one on the other side of town, out near the beltway, which has good access to transit. Still, it would be an hour commute each way, and we would still need to figure out how to walk the dog in the middle of the day. Also, at $50 a night, it strikes us as an unnecessarily large expense, but we're blowing through $40 of diesel a day running the air conditioning in this oppressive weather, and that doesn't even count the other wear and tear on the genny. We'll be looking closely at the weather reports -- if things cool down enough for us to reduce our generator run time, we might just stay put. Here, next to the hotel, we have access to a ride to the office, a shuttle to the metro, and other volunteers at JP who can look in on Opal during the day.
We'll be heading into the DOC tomorrow, to get badged and briefed and figure out what we'll be doing next week. Rumor has it that the DOC will be fully staffed over the weekend, too, so our touristic ambitions may have to wait for a return visit. Also, we are still planning to make the FMCA rally in NC, arriving on the 13th, but we may forego that if a major disaster strikes. We have a hard stop the following week, though: we already have our plane tickets to California (from Atlanta) for our friends Carolyn's and Jimmy's wedding.
Of course, much of the hubbub here has to do with Tropical Storm Chris, which, at various times, looked like it might strike Puerto Rico, the USVI, Florida, or the Gulf Coast. The latest forecast discussion from the National Hurricane Center, though, suggests the storm is becoming disorganized and weakening, and may fizzle out altogether without a seriously harmful landfall (let's hope). Who knows -- by Monday, they may decide we're not needed at all.
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