Day 43: Friends and Fixing Stuff

How can we have so much happen in one day? It seems to be the theme. Each night we are usually surprised by all that happened since we woke up.

We had an awesome morning. Both boys woke up in great moods, so Rob rewarded them with bonus fried eggs. We then headed off to meet some Seattle friends that moved to Florida after we left for our trip. As an bonus, we stopped for some Dunkin’ Donuts on the way. Nicholas got the strawberry frosted, Cooper glazed chocolate cake, Rob chocolate frosted, and Kelly sour cream.

We met the Stacks at the Bridge of Lions, this time crossing as pedestrians. As luck would have it, we were able to not only enjoy the beautiful boats, but also saw a turtle swimming, and we got to watch the drawbridge go up again.

Side note: the Stacks lived in Issaquah and did a much quicker version of our trip just a couple of days behind us to get to Florida.

After the stroll over the bridge and back, we walked over to Castillos de San Marcos. Originally, built in 1695, it is the oldest masonry fort in the U.S. They used Coquina (mix of sand and mollusk shells) from the quarry right at our campground.

Cooper showed me this cannonball heating machine, and I found it so fascinating that I had to take a picture.

It was such a fun morning for all of us, especially since it was the first time on this trip we got to chat with friends in person.

On our way back to the campground, we went through a car wash. This was the first time the tow car has been bathed since we bought it, back in August. The boys were thrilled to vacuum the car, and fortunately each stall had two vacuums.

We planned to head back to the campground for some kayaking, but when we got back to the campground, the wind was ridiculous. On the plus side, we got to watch a kite surfer take off across the water.

The fun wasn’t over yet. Back at the RV, I head a faint noise coming from the toiled. I was going to blow it off, but decided to investigate further. It turns out the water line to the toilet had cracked and water was spraying out. I then went outside to check for water and noticed the ground under the RV was soaked. That would be a bad sign, but fortunately (?) that was from a different leak (just a loose hose connection to the fresh water intake–no big deal). Also fortunate that we caught the water leak early, as the floor was wet along the edges, but nothing soaking at that point.

Rob then headed off to the hardware store to find some parts to repair the toilet. I reattached an awning piece we lost along the freeway many states ago since it felt like a “fix it” kind of afternoon. Then the boys and I took off on a bike ride to make sure Rob had a quiet place to come back to for the fix. The fix turned out to be easy: just cutting the water hose at the crack and reattaching it to the fitting with a hose clamp. With the repair successfully completed, we were back to having water and a working potty.

Being the late afternoon now, we opted for the beach and went to load up the car, but it wouldn’t start. Actually, nothing worked–not even the door locks. Some wire shaking and a few minutes later the car randomly had power, so we started it up and headed out, figuring we could walk back if it wouldn’t start again.

At the beach we were greeted by Seattle weather. Gray skies and 20 mph winds, but the boys had a blast, and Rob took one for the team going in the water with them while I sat on the beach in a sweatshirt and a hood over my head.

Leaving the beach, the car wouldn’t start again, but with some more wire wiggling it did. Seems like we have a loose wire somewhere, so the multimeter has been added to the car to see if we can do some problem solving if and when it happens again. We don’t think it’s the battery or alternator, because the voltages are good both when the car is and isn’t running. Also, the first time it died was only 30 minutes after Rob had come back from the hardware store. He thinks it’s a bad connection between the battery and the electrical bus.

A favorite meal has been hot dogs cooked over the campfire. We opted for that and some smore’s to end our Saturday night. Cooper and Nicholas loved collecting dead palm fronds, and they proved *really* successful as fire starters once again.

It is like eating in a jungle here with all of the vegetation and trees around our site.

We had so many palm leaves that after the cooking was done, Cooper got a sparkle in his eye and asked if he could burn them all. He was so excited about having such a big fire. The winds were pretty swirly so we did have to stop him before he burned them all, but he loved it while he could.

In between the excitement of hot dogs, s’mores, and big fires, Nicholas had his own excitement. He came out of the RV with a huge smile, holding his tooth. He then wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking not to take his tooth (as he always does). He had some concern over whether the tooth could be found in the RV, but we suggested he put his tooth under his pillow to see what happened. Fortunately, the tooth fairy brought a gold $1 coin, just like at home.

Just as the boys were going to bed, even more excitement! The power went out. Rob went out to the power panel with the multimeter (which you’ll remember we placed in the car earlier in the day) and determined the 30 amp circuit was dead. Fortunately (again!) the 20 amp one was fine, and we had an adapter, so we were good. Even with the A/C on, we draw only about 15 amps, but that meant no hairdryers or toasters that night.