There's a Flying J Travel Center just west of Dade City, so we headed there first to get some fuel, and use the dump station. For those of you who aren't RV'ers, the Flying J chain are typically very RV friendly and you can get decently priced fuel and propane, use their dump station, put air in your tires, and even stay overnight. We don't like the overnight part, because they're very noisy with deisel trucks moving around all night, and they're almost always right beside an Interstate highway.
But this Flying J had a goofy setup for the dump station, and I almost had a "Robin Williams" moment! I still think I did things correctly, and that their sewer line has a blockage somewhere. But it almost got messy. Enough said!
We headed straight for the coast and ended up taking Highway 19 north to the turnoff to Cedar Key. Stopped in the town of Crystal River, and found a coin laundry. Figured I'd do some internet while Ruth was doing the laundry. The laundry had wi-fi. The guy running it didn't know the pass code! So I was picking up another signal from the chamer of commerce across the road. They had all kind of signs saying "welcome center" and "visitor information". But their internet was secured, so I wandered over, explained my situation, and asked for the code. Nope. It must be secured for a reason, she says. I said it was odd, because every welcome center I've ever been to has wi-fi available. Nope, she said, she couldn't give me the code. Thanks, Crystal River, for being so visitor friendly! Remind me to send them an email...
We had been told by several readers that we should stop in and see Pat and Cindy in Cedar Key. They are a young couple who spent several years full timing and now operate this little motel with a few RV sites in Cedar Key. Their blog is at http://www.everymilesamemory.com/ and their campground website is at http://www.lowkeyhideaway.com/ . Found their place just entering Cedar Key, about a mile from the actual town. Pat got us set up, and we took Whiskey for a walk.
It was cold and windy and rainy though! Terrible weather last night. So we didn't get a chance to see much, although today is supposed to be much nicer, and so far it's sunny and the wind has died down.
After supper last night, we went into Pat and Cindy's place and chatted for a few hours. Turns out that we have a lot in common, and we told them about house sitting and couchsurfing .
We're going to take Whiskey for a walk, and then take the bikes out and do some exploring!
1:45pm
We rode our bikes into town and did some exploring. Cedar Key is a different sort of place that's hard to describe if you haven't been here. It seems kind of stuck in the past, with no big name businesses and no fast food restaurants. I think it's the sort of place that you either really like, or you really don't. It reminds us a bit of Folly Beach, South Carolina, where people still leave their doors unlocked and everybody says good morning to each other. I could see spending a week here, but then it would be time to move on.
The waterfront at the town of Cedar Key
Not sure if this would withstand a hurricane.
Ruth on the boardwalk nature trail at Cedar Key
On the way back, we stopped for a little lunch at Tony's for a bowl of their world famous clam chowder. It was really good, but if I had to make it to my tastes it would have had a little less cayenne and a little less salt. Otherwise, it was very good. Cost for two small cups including tip was $11.50 US.
I stopped at a little auto parts store and they gave me a couple of terminal wingnuts for the new batteries. I think they were suppsoed to be included but they forgot about them. Anyhow, they gave them to me so now I'm all set to install the new batteries. I think I'll do that now!
9:00pm
Took me about 4 hours to install the batteries. Had to mess with making up a bunch of different cables, and wires not long enough, and stud terminals not long enough, and drilling holes for cables.Not sure how a one hour job turns into a four hour job, but it does! I wasn't even drinking any beer. Well, not until the four hours was up, anyhow.
Two here
And two here.
Not sure how much of a charge the Trojans had in them, but two of them together without hooking them up to solar had read just over 12.6v, which in my mind is only about 80% charged. I would have thought this was not bad, but now, after having some lights on and the laptop on for about 3 hours, they already read 12.3. I`m sure they weren`t totally charged, so doing a long drive and having full sun on them tomorrow will give a much more accurate indication of how we`ll do with them.
Might watch some of the Hogans Heroes DVDs and then hit the sack. We`re going to do a long days drive tomorrow, and hopefully make it back into South Carolina and stay at Pete and Pam`s again.
Wednesday's probable route
When we first spotted Pat and Cindy's place there was a guy in the yard digging a huge hole; we thought "yep, that's gotta be our site."
ReplyDeleteWe went downtown and rode around a little, then went back. Turned out the previous camper had ripped out the plumbing.
They're very nice folks; we wish them well.
jbh