Melt Down

Boy, have we had a day.  I don’t think I want to call it exciting, but it was certainly different from what we had planned.

Yesterday ended well.  We had a relaxing evening and when we got tired we locked the door, pulled down the shades, turned off the lights and went to bed.  About 3 AM I had to go to the bathroom and when I got back in bed I noticed the electricity was off.  That was strange because I could see the lights were on in the bath house.  I looked out another window and could see Christmas lights brightly shining on a rig across the way.  Since it appeared to only be us without power, I woke Gene up to report my findings.

He was not thrilled, but got out of bed anyway.  Our breaker inside was not tripped, so he put on shoes and a coat and went outside to check the post.  All seemed well, so he unplugged and plugged our cord back into the outlet.  That set off sparks and sizzles.  The electricity came on, but only for an instant.  Gene unplugged the cord and left the problem for the light of day.

A quick check of the post this morning indicated that things had gotten a little hot in there.  Just before 8 AM Gene called the park office to report the problem.  There was someone from maintenance at our site within 10 minutes.  He had all the parts to change out the unit in the post and after about an hour he plugged us back in.  We had electricity briefly and then it went out again.  By this time, one of the work campers had showed up on the scene.  Their second project was to change the breaker box at the post.  With that done, they plugged us in again and again we had electricity briefly.

Immediately after Gene had made the call to the park office, he had called Four Winds tech support and described to him what the end of our electrical cord looked like.  It was only slightly scorched, so the tech guy felt like it would be safe to use.  However, after the maintenance guy and the work camper had replaced all the parts in the post, they started looking at our cord.  It was more damaged than Gene had realized.  They sent Gene off to get a replacement.  Luckily, a camp store just a few miles down the road had one and we dashed off to get it.  I had to do the driving because Gene’s back is still not as good as it should be.

From the time we got back with the replacement part, the work camper had it reinstalled and electricity flowing within 30 minutes.  And he did it for free.  How nice was that.  Better bake that man some brownies.

As we were leaving the campground to get the electrical part, we passed an ambulance, a couple police cars, a few park ranger cars, and a fire truck parked on the side of the road near the turn off for the Wildlife Center.  We couldn’t see where there had been a crash, but there were so many cars there it was hard to tell what was going on.  We thought maybe a motorist had hit a bicyclist.  The road is curvy and it could easily happen.  When we got back to the park with our electrical part, even more fire trucks and police cars were there.  Now they had the road blocked.  I pulled over to the shoulder to wait.

Finally, after we had sat there for about 20 minutes, one of the policemen came over and suggested we might want to go around.  When I asked what had happened all he said was “hunting accident”.   Before I could move, a news van pulled up behind me.  My window was still down from talking with the police officer, so the reporter started asking me questions.  One of her questions was if we’d seen the helicopter.  That was a pretty juicy tidbit of information, so I asked her what had happened.  She said hunting accident, too, but she didn’t rush off like the policeman had.  We learned from her that bow hunting is allowed in Oak Mountain State Park.  That was a surprise to us.  We’d never even considered there’d be hunters here.  She didn’t have much more information to share and the party started to break up anyway, so we were waved on through.

Being curious about hunting in the park, for my own safety don’t you know, I did a little internet researching this afternoon.  I learned that officials started allowing bow hunting in Oak Mountain to help thin the deer herd which is over populated here and thus not very healthy.

This evening, I learned from one of the local TV channels, that a hunter had shot himself in the chest when he fell out of a tree stand.  He apparently had a hand gun tucked away in a pocket somewhere.  Now that explains the party on the road--a real crime scene investigation.

That was our day.  Hope yours was just as exciting. Thanks for tagging along.

Green Trail to Peavine Falls

We actually got to go for a hike today.  Gene’s back is not well, but greatly improved.

Oak Mountain State Park has a number of trails of varying lengths.  The trails are named and color coded.  Individual trails are linear, but have connectors which lead to other trails.  With a little imagination, loops can be created using trails and their connectors.

For our hike today we chose the Green Trail (Peavine Trail) to Peavine Falls.  The Green Trail is 1.9 miles in length and runs between Peavine Parking lot and the Park Office.  To get to Peavine Falls, we used the Green-White connector to get to the White Trail which leads to the top of the falls for an out and back hike of 4 miles.

Green Blaze marks the Green (Peavine) Trail

We started our hike at the Park Office.  Actually, the trailhead parking lot is next door to the Park Office and across the street from Wildlife Center Trail.  The Green Trail starts just a few yards from the Wildlife Center Trail and begins with a pretty steep climb to the top of the first hill then drops down about 100 feet to the junction with the Yellow, Orange, and Red Trails.

The Red Trail is the mountain bike trail and is the longest of all the trails.  It weaves back and forth and we had to cross it several times.  This was a nice day to be in the woods and there were several bikers out on the Red Trail.  Extreme caution needed to be used when crossing the Red Trail.

Peavine Branch

After this major trail junction, we started the very steep climb to the North ridge of Oak Mountain.  Near the top of the ridge, the Green Trail again junctions with the Red Trail and follows it for several yards before turning left and continuing to the top of North Ridge.  Once on the ridge we had a pleasant, nearly flat walk for about a half mile to our connector trail.  The connector descends steeply to Peavine Branch then follows the White trail to the top of the falls.

Peavine Falls

We were somewhat disappointed once we got to the falls.  Our trail led to the top of the falls and there didn’t seem to be a very easy way to the bottom.  I never could get a real good view of the falls.  The photo I made was from a position much closer to the edge than I like to be and then holding the camera out as far as my arm would stretch.

The rock I was hanging over to get the photo.

That little disappointment aside, we really enjoyed the hike.  The trail was very well marked except at a few trail junctions where another blaze or two would have been helpful.  The tread way was good, mostly dirt with a few rocks, and the trail was well maintained.  We liked the more vigorous workout we got on this trail.  It’s rated moderate to difficult due to the 700 foot elevation gain in just over a mile.  Proved to us we’re not ready for mountain hiking yet.

Top of the falls

I carried a heavy pack today and my knees are already scolding me for that.  I even wore knee braces.  Probably would have had some real pain, if I hadn’t.  No one can accuse me of being an ultralight hiker.  I decided to take my Canon SLR with the 300 mm lens just in case I had a photo op at the waterfall.  Not wanting to risk damaging the camera or the lens, I tucked them securely inside their carrying case and then put the whole thing in my pack.  Add car keys, a wallet, the 10 essentials, and a fleece jacket and my pack weighed a ton.  No wonder my knees are complaining.  And, as it turned out, I never took the camera out of my pack.  All the photos were made with my little Canon Power Shot.

Peavine Branch

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Light Trail and a Bake Sale

I am happy to report that Gene’s back is still improving; so much so that he was able to go for a short ride in the car and a short hike today.

This is December and all across America non-profit organizations are hoping to raise a little extra cash through craft and bake sales.  The Wildlife Center here at Oak Mountain State Park was doing that very thing this morning.  Since it was only a couple miles over there, Gene thought his back felt strong enough to give it a try.  The walking around and buying stuff was not the problem, the hurdle was getting in and out of the car.  All went well and we supported the effort by purchasing a buttermilk pie.

Let me sidestep a little and answer a question we got yesterday.  Nan wanted to know what type car we have.  We have a Honda Fit.  It’s the smallest of the Hondas and one of the two Hondas that can be towed with 4 wheels down.  The other one is the Honda CRV.  After riding for five years in a Ford F250 diesel, and struggling with parking that monster, we wanted a small car.  We love it.  It is easy to tow and wonderful to drive around in city traffic and back roads to trailheads.  It isn’t so comfortable on a long trip, though.  We drove it up the Dempster Highway in the Yukon when we went to Alaska this past summer.  It got great gas milage, but it was small with camping gear, clothes, food, and the cat for a 3-4 day trip.

It also sits very close to the ground.  That’s the real issue of getting in and out with a bad back.  It’s also an issue on unimproved roads like we often encounter driving to trailheads. We’ll drag on deeply rutted roads.  We just have to be careful. Hope that answers your question.

Okay, back to today.  After the bake sale, I brought Gene home to rest while I headed off to Wal-mart for a few things.  Once I got out of the park and back to the main highway, traffic was crazy.  Wal-mart was busy, too, but nothing like Hobby Lobby. That place was like a zoo.  ‘Tis the season, I guess.

Since the ride in the car worked out so well, after lunch Gene wanted to go for a short hike.  He wasn’t going to push his luck with too many car rides today, so we walked around the campground road to the Light Trail.  One of the local Eagle Scout troops built this trail this summer and it has just opened.  The trail looks like an old road bed, so they weren’t out there moving rock and digging side-hill cut trail, but they did an excellent job of clearing brush and installing water bars and pipes to help drain the wet areas.  They’ve also built and placed three nice benches for resting.  Good job, guys.  Thanks a million.

Light Trail is a really easy woods walk; thus a great trail for this family campground.  It would be a good one even for small children.
The trail is about three-quarters mile in length one way so that was a nice, easy, short hike for Gene.  The 1.5 miles was plenty for today especially after the morning outing to the bake sale.  He thinks tomorrow he’ll be ready for 4 miles.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Moccasin Wildlife Trail or Oh, My Aching Back

Well, this has been an unplanned and unintentional day of rest.  Gene is down with his back.

This all got started yesterday as he was connecting our utilities after we arrived at Oak Mountain State Park.  We are both prone to back issues so this was nothing out of the ordinary as far as that goes.  He bent over to get something out of one of the storage compartments, and, wham, there goes that muscle.  It doesn’t happen often.  For him once every couple of years.  For me, I may go for four or five years.  But all it takes is one wrong twist or turn and you’re done for.

Sometimes, it’s not so bad.  A few back stretches and a couple laps around the campground and you’re almost like new.  This time, however, it was bad.  He spent the rest of yesterday afternoon in the bed with heating pad and a prescription muscle relaxer (leftover from the last episode).  Walking is good, but he couldn’t even do that yesterday.

Today has seen much improvement.  He was able to be up much of the day and has made several laps around our area of the campground.  With his back brace on, he can sit at the table and surf the internet.  He’s talking about doing a little hiking tomorrow.

With him down with his back, I’ve been left to entertain myself.  No problem there.  It was so cold this morning I really didn’t want to be outside.  After morning chores, I finished a cap I’ve been knitting on for the past couple weeks.  Thin I started a festive holiday party scarf.  I’ve also been reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.  Not very far along, but so far it is a very compelling story.  After lunch, I went out for a walk.

Yesterday, as I was making photos down by the lake, I noticed a sign for the Moccasin Wildlife Trail.  This trail is not on the maps we have, however, I suspect it is what is the beach and lake trails which are listed on the maps.  I followed the well-trodden path which meanders along the lake shore.  I was more interested in photos than making miles.  Gene will stop anytime I’m busy photographing something, but he’d really rather keep moving.  I was taking advantage today of being alone to do my own thing.

I spotted a heron right away and crept along trying to get as close as possible.  I was surprised at how close he let me get--probably within 20 feet.  After that, the only real wildlife I saw on the Moccasin Wildlife Trail were a couple squirrels.  The lake was there, though, with its reflections.  I just had to wait for the wind to die down and the water surface to become calm.  Also saw a few red leaves and an interesting fungus.

I didn’t go to the end of the trail.  I was afraid Gene would be worried about me since I was taking so long.  The trail doesn’t go completely around the lake, but I’m not sure how far it does go.  I’ll check it out, perhaps tomorrow.

There are several short trails along the perimeter of the campground.  If Gene is feeling up to hiking tomorrow, we’ll select one of those.  Can’t do anything too difficult nor anything requiring a ride in the car.  Our car sits so low to the ground it is very difficult to get in and out of when your back is acting up.

That’s what we’ve been up to today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Oak Mountain State Park

Today was a moving day.  We’re now settled in at Oak Mountain State Park.  We paid for three nights, but who knows how long we’ll stay.

We had a beautiful day for traveling even if it was on the cold side.  Because overnight temperatures were forecasted to be about 27 degrees last night, Gene unhooked our water and sewer lines late yesterday afternoon.  That only left the electricity for this morning.  Getting the car hitched was a cold job. We definitely needed gloves to handle all those icy tow bar parts.

We took I-65 the 60 or so miles to the Oak Mountain exit.  There were a few rough spots, but for the most part I-65 is in good condition except in Birmingham.  Through Birmingham was the roughest ride we’ve had in a long time.  Plus there were a few miles of construction.  By the time we got to our exit we were more than ready to be off the interstate.

Oak Mountain State Park covers nearly 10,000 acres just on the outskirts of Birmingham.  It seems this park has it all--hiking trails, mountain biking, horse trails, golf course, a lake for canoes, kayaks, and pedal boats, swimming, and two fishing lakes.  They have cabins as well as a large campground for overnight visitors.

The campground has over a 100 sites, most of which are RV sites with full hook-ups and free WiFi.  The campground is wooded, but there are sites that are more open than others.  The sites are spacious like you would expect in a state park and this campground will accommodate big rigs.  The interior roads are paved and the parking pads are gravel and most are pull-thrus.  I didn’t walk around the campground too much, but of the few sites I saw many had pretty good sized ruts in the parking pads.  The site we’re in does, as well, and it’ll be a rough spot to get over when we’re ready to leave.  The sites are nearly level.

The campground is situated on one end of Beaver Lake.  I walked down there this afternoon to check it out.  With the rain this week, there seems to be plenty of water in the lake.  Some sections of the lake trail are too wet to walk on.  We’ll save that trail for a few days.

At the very end of the lake it looks like it may be out of bounds a little.

I think that’ll do for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Budgets and Vacuums

I think the rain may have moved on out of here.  It sure has been a drab and wet couple of days.  We’ve gotten a lot done inside, though.

Our little Christmas Tree

Last week I got a new vacuum.  Since moving into an RV 6 years ago the vacuum cleaner, a mundane thing that I really never gave much thought to, has been an ongoing issue.  In our first 5th wheel (Montana) I brought my house vacuum with me.  There was a real coat closet right by the door and that’s where I stored that huge upright vacuum.  I liked that vacuum and it did a good job of cleaning the carpets, but it was large for an RV.  Plus, it was heavy to lift of the steps to the bedroom and cumbersome in tight corners.  But, I had attachment galore that would clean every nook and cranny.

When we moved into our Everest 5th wheel, I didn’t even wait to be asked.  I ordered a central vacuum.  I thought I’d love it, but that affair never got off the ground.  My main objection was the lack of suction.  Then there was the hose which was about a mile and a half long.  It plugged in at the steps to the bedroom and would reach all the way to the back wall.  While I vacuumed, the hose banged into everything, cabinets and furniture alike.  I didn’t have a coat closet in the Everest, either, so I stored that massive hose in the basement.  That was a pain to get in and out two or three times a week.

Then we moved into the Class C.  Now, there’s really no space to store a vacuum.  I asked around of other Class C owners and finally purchased a small hand-held, cordless Shark vacuum.  It worked great for vacuuming the upholstery, but crawling around on hands and knees to vacuum the carpet got old quickly.  Being cordless it had to be charged all the time.  That vacuum was out in the way more often than not.  It finally got to where it wouldn’t hold a charge, so we were in the marked once again for a new vacuum.

Friends told us about a Shark hand-held with an electrical cord.  That sounded better than cordless, so we searched around until we finally found one.  It had a powerful motor and a larger beater brush and was far superior to the smaller shark.  I liked it better, but I was still crawling around on the floor.

My new Eureka Quick-up

For several months I’ve been thinking about a tiny upright, but we really don’t have a place to store even a small upright.  Nevertheless, that thought has been in my mind.  Last Friday, the motor in the second Shark burnt up.  We headed over to the vacuum department at Wal-mart.  I found a Eureka upright with a removable handle which just snaps into place.  Perfect.  The vacuum part is not much larger than the first Shark I had.  And it was only $22.  It is so easy to use I’ve vacuumed every day.  I love it.  It might not last long, but for $22 it doesn’t have to last a lifetime.

Gene’s big project for the day has been the budget for next year.  That always leads to interesting discussions.  Most categories stayed the same.  We increased groceries, but lowered gasoline.  Of course, 2011 was the year our gas budget was $800/month to get us to Alaska and back.  We have a more reasonable $450/month for gas this year.  At the beginning of 2011 we had lowered our campground fees to $22/night.  We were slightly under that budget for the year, so we’re leaving it at $22 for 2012.  Of course, we had several boondocking nights this year and will try to do that again next year.  Besides gas, groceries seems to be the thing we are consistently over budget on.  We’ve increased groceries by almost $100/month.  Lipitor has just gone generic and we’re really hoping to see a reduction in that big bill each month.  In the end, it looks like we’ll be able to continue this lifestyle for another year.

Well, I’ve rattled on plenty with nothing much to say.  We’re moving tomorrow to Oak Mountain State Park just south of Birmingham.  They’ve got trails there, too.

That’s it.  Thanks for tagging along.

The Rest of the Story

Well, the rains came.  Once started, they didn’t stop all night last night.  Today, we’ve had sprinkles off and on, but mostly just a dreary day.  Late this afternoon, it started raining again and, if we can believe the forecast, will rain all night and throughout tomorrow.  It’s cold, too.

Found this on one of our hikes this week.

The rain has given us the opportunity to stay inside and get some real work done.  Gene had computer maintenance to do and kept himself occupied while I did the laundry.  Right after lunch we got out and got our errands done before the next round of heavy rain started.  We buzzed through Wal-mart, Lowes, and Hobby Lobby and were back at home within a couple hours.

This hawk hangs our on this utility pole next door.  We see him nearly every day.

We haven’t just been hiking since we got here, although that’s pretty much how it seems.  I’ve decorated our humble abode with the few Christmas decorations I have.  Like last year, I stopped in Hobby Lobby and picked up one of the smallest trees they have.  It’s about 2 feet tall and sits perfectly on the large shelf we have over the cab.  I put on one strand of lights and about 40 miniature ornaments.  Even has a star on top.  So far, Peanut has left it alone.  There’s no storage space to keep it, of course, so after Christmas I’ll give it away.  I think Kayley may have last year’s tree in her room this year.

Peanut got in some big trouble his first Christmas.  We were living in the Montana 5th wheel then and I put up a small tree, maybe 4 feet.  We came home one afternoon from work and found the tree toppled over, ornaments everywhere, and Peanut in the middle of the tree.  After that we did things a little differently when it came to Christmas decorations.

We decorated the garland above the slides; well out of the reach of a certain CAT.

I continue to enter a few posts from the old Trip Journal into Blogger every day.  I’m about halfway through 2008 now.  That was the year we went to New York for the summer.  It’s been fun rereading those old posts and especially looking at the photos.

On our way to the trailheads, we’ve been seeing some of rural Northern Alabama.  It’s farmland planted in the summer with primarily corn, cotton, and hay.  Of course, the fields are empty now.  Most have been cut and are ready for spring planting when the time comes.  There are a fair number of dairy farmers with large herds of cattle.  It seems like poultry farms were big business at one time.  There are many of those long, low barns used by poultry raisers.  They’re dilapidated and falling down now. The communities we pass through are small with a church or two, a gas station, a small market, and a few houses.

We came across this old store one day.  Looks like they used to sell gas, too.  There was a small shed on one side and an outhouse on the other.  I loved the outhouse with the galvanized tub hanging on the side.  When I was a small child and visited my grandparents, I’d get a bath in a tub just like that on Saturday night.  This outhouse, complete with its bathtub, reminded me of Judy, Emma’s mama, and her post a few days ago (Nov 24) about her first shower.  I’m not sure I could even get in a tub like that anymore.  One thing I’m pretty sure of--if I got in, I’d have a tough time getting out!

So, that’s the rest of what we’ve been doing this week.  Thanks for tagging along.