I am really glad that I installed the Feedly app on our iPads and figured out how to use it.  I enjoy starting most days with our freshly ground and brewed special blend coffees from Teeko’s (Howell, MI) while I easily read any new content on the nine or so blogs that I follow.  I also subscribe to our blog, which makes it easy to check on how our posts appear on an iPad.  Sometimes I catch typos and I can log in to WordPress from the iPad and fix them.

We got an e-mail yesterday from the Escapees RV Club reminding us that April 6 was the last day to order polo shirts for the upcoming Escapade.  Apparently we missed the original announcements (we get a LOT of e-mail and do not always read the commercial messages carefully).  We followed the link to the special website and ordered one for each of us to pick up when we check in at the rally next month.  It’s always nice to have a new polo shirt, especially one that clearly identifies us as RVers.  The other reason to order is that I prefer a pocket for my eyeglasses and the pocket shirts are only available pre-order.  We also experienced at the Escapade last July that the limited stock of available shirts sold out very quickly.

As long as we were doing RV-related things online we registered for the FMCA Great Lakes Area Motor Coach Association area rally in June.  GLAMARAMA14 will be the second area rally hosted by GLAMA.  The first one was last September and two versions of an article I wrote about the event were published.  One version appeared in the newsletter of the FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches (GLCC) chapter.  The other version was the cover story in the January 2014 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine.  We will once again be parked with our GLCC chapter.

While Linda went to Gainesville for some specialized grocery items I worked on e-mail and RVillage stuff and then finished/uploaded my blog post for yesterday.  I was reading the Harvest Hosts April newsletter and decided to see if Don and Kim had joined RVillage.  They had, and had already created a Harvest Hosts Group!  We joined the group and sent them a friend request, which they accepted.

I had an e-mail from Chuck indicating that he might have a problem with the Vanner Equalizer on their Prevost H3-40 chassis batteries and wondering if I knew where it was located?  On the drive up from Pelican Lake in Naples, Florida to the Prevost Community rally at LazyDays RV in Seffner, Florida they got a telltale light indicating the upper and lower halves of the 24 VDC chassis battery bank were out-of-balance.  It just so happened that I did know where the equalizer is located, but only because I had stumbled on it while servicing our chassis batteries not long after we got the coach.  (It is mounted on the underside of the chassis battery tray or the adjacent chassis electrical disconnect tray.)  I sent him the info and he called later to chat.

We are already thinking about what we have to do to be ready to leave on Monday.  I shut of the fuel polishing module and removed the paper towel I had wrapped around the check valve last weekend to absorb fuel from the tiny leak.  Polishing is just a term for “finely filtered.”  The pump ran continuously for about six days, long enough to slowly filter most of the fuel in the tank at least once.  The fuel polishing module draws about two (2) gallons per hour from the main diesel fuel tank through the pickup tube that supplies the Aqua-Hot, pumps it through the dedicated Racor water separator/filter for the Aqua-Hot, and returns it to the tank.  Because the fuel is moved through the filter so slowly it is better able to remove any moisture, debris, and organisms that may be in the fuel.

We came in to WCRVR January 1st with a nearly full fuel tank, so the FPM needed at least four days to filter the 200 gallons we had on board.  Of course, we have used the Aqua-Hot while we were here and also run the main engine, both of which circulate fuel through Racor water separator/filters, but not so slowly as the FPM.  The pickup tube for the Aqua-Hot (and the one for the auxiliary powerplant) are (supposed to be) only 3/4 of the way into the tank (from the top) to prevent them from using all of the fuel in the tank.  (We have a practical range of 200 miles on a 1/4 tank of fuel with a comfortable reserve; 250 miles if absolutely necessary.  At 300 miles we would risk running out of fuel.  That would not be good and require the engine to be re-primed once we had fuel on board.)    The main engine pickup tube, however, is near the bottom of the tank, so running the main engine also has the effect drawing the fuel from the bottom 1/4 of the tank and returning it to the top, thus mixing all of the fuel.

I had disconnected the water softener yesterday so AALL*BRITE could use the water supply to wash our coach.  One of my last chores before pulling out will be to dump the waste tanks and top off the fresh water tank so I reconnected the water softener in preparation for this task.

We gathered at Jack and Silvia’s site at 4 PM for happy hour along with John and Ali, Doug and Paulette, and Jeff and Kathy.  We enjoyed a glass of the Barefoot Moscato that Jeff and Kathy gave us last night as a “thank you” for helping with the electrical issues in their motorhome.  We also had a chance to chat with Paulette more than we have up to this point.  By 5:30 PM we were all getting hungry and returned to our respective rigs for dinner.  Linda made Cauli-power Fettuccini Alfredo for dinner using a recipe that replaces the traditional cream-based Alfredo sauce with a sauce made from cauliflower.  She had not made this dish before and had to substitute angel hair pasta for the fettuccini.  It was very tasty.  In addition to Sloppy Joe’s she is making Itty Bitty Carrot Cake Cookies for tomorrow’s pot luck dinner.  The cookie recipe calls for rehydrated raisins that have soaked overnight in water, so she had to get that started today.

Tonight was the last campfire we will attend at Williston Crossings RV Resort as we are scheduled to leave on Monday.  The highs have been reaching into the mid-80’s, the lows only into the upper 50’s, and it has stayed light much later due to the switch to Daylight Savings Time and the steady advance of spring.  These factors work against the appropriateness of a large fire and at some point, perhaps soon, WCRVR will stop having the Friday/Saturday night campfires until next fall when the long-term seasonal residents return.  That won’t keep people from gathering at the fire pit to hear Smitty, Jeff, and others who might drop by, play their guitars and sing their songs.

Alas, we will not be among those retuning.  As is clear from my many blog posts over the last three months we have enjoyed our stay at Williston Crossings and would not hesitate to come back here.  Indeed, we recommend the resort without reservation to anyone visiting this part of Florida.  But we are at the beginning of a journey in which we hope to explore and experience many places in North America over the next 20 or so years.  There are too many unvisited places for us to return to one so soon, if ever, no matter how nice it is.