Still truckin'

Clear Lake State Park in Clear Lake, IA

Sunday, July 18 - Saturday, July 24

What a couple months it's been, where to begin? I'll start with the best part, we got to spend a lot of time with family. We were parked in Indianola for a couple weeks and I got to see Grams and Gramps almost every day, so thankful for that time we got together. 💗🥰 Mom flew into Omaha so she and Bryan came to IA for Grams' birthday, and as always, that weekend went by too fast.

We got a visit from Stinkin' Lincoln while we were at Pine Grove and had some fun at the pool and playground. Always love seeing the little guy, and Mommy of course. 😉

I've been doing some renovations. I took down all the blinds and put up some curtains, I recovered the bench cushions from the dinette, I put up a knife rack and a peel and stick backsplash. In the bedroom, I painted the walls and ceiling white, and the cabinets gray. And I pulled the carpet off the nightstands and covered them with a peel and stick wallpaper. Eventually, I'll paint all the walls white and all the cabinetry gray, but the bedroom was a big job so I've been putting it off. Next, I'm going to cover the dinette table and countertops with contact paper. I'll get some before and after pics up soon!

Now the worst part... This summer started HOT, stayed in the high 90s/low 100s for like 2 weeks! So of course, that's when our AC decides to break!! We replaced it quickly, we went without for only about 24 hours, but that was a BRUTAL 24 hours. No exaggeration, I think it almost killed Lily. It definitely got to a point where it was dangerous for all of us, so the kitties and I spent a couple hours sitting in the car with the AC blasting.

That same day we woke up to a tree on our car. Thankfully, there wasn't much damage, only a few scratches, could've been much worse! (Sorry for the shaky vid)

We had a rainy night and found ANOTHER leak, but David took care of it. He shimmied up a tree (because all we have is a place where a ladder was, but is no longer 🤔 🤷), climbed on the roof, and threw some FlexSeal on anything that looked like it might leak. So far, so good!

Outside of renovations, most of our energy has gone towards the toilet. There have been multiple issues with the toilet and I'm actually really glad they happened, it's been a great learning experience. Just kidding, that $#*! was disgusting! David has definitely dealt with the worst of it, it's kind of become his white whale. It started with a clog, so he started with a drain snake, its effect was minimal. Then there was an overnight soak, that involved completely emptying the tank (as much as possible anyway), adding a pod that's supposed to break everything down, and filling it with fresh water. It sits overnight while we pee in a bucket. Didn't do the trick, the sensor still says the tank is full. David got this thing that attaches to the hose, it sounds like it's doing some high-pressure cleaning and we've got a steady, pretty clear flow going through the hose, but the black tank still says 3/4 full... Now we're thinking it's gotta be the sensor that's the problem because no one in the history of campers has had a cleaner black tank than we do right now!

Possible TMI here, but while we're on the subject of toilets, I found the best gas station bathroom I have ever seen at the Sapp Bros outside of Nebraska City. There were like ten fully enclosed stalls all with their own sink, and here comes the best part... THE TOILETS HAD BIDETS... WITH SEAT WARMERS. They were awesome, I'd go miles outta my way to go back, it was great.

Also while in NE City we were parked at a VERY unlevel site. While attempting to get level we had to put on/take off our tire locking chocks a few times and at a time when we should've had them on we'd forgotten to put them on, and the camper rolled forward off leveling blocks and completely bent one of our stabilizing jacks. 🤦🤦🤦 They're supposed to be straight up and down, as you can see from the pic, ours wasn't. Major 'Oh shit!' moment. We got it straightened out and it feels sturdy and secure, but I'm guessing new jacks are probably still in our near future.

David had a really nice view from his work site the other day.

We're really enjoying being up north, the weather's cooler (just a little bit, but I'll take it) and we're never far from a lake or river, it's great!