Super Wolf Blood Moon

We woke up Sunday morning and Sharon went online to see if there was any camp sites available at Huguenot Memorial Park. There was, so she made a reservation for that evening, so we would have a great place to watch the Lunar Eclipse that evening. It would also allow us to test how well we do on a cold evening with only our battery power.

The Mayport Ferry wants $20 to carry Ernie across the St. Johns River, so we made the drive over the Dames Point Bridge and up Heckscher Drive to Huguenot. The weather was sunny, cold and blustery, and the crosswinds on the bridge made us have second thoughts about the worth of the Ferry, but the Mercedes stabilization software kept the drive manageable, and Heckscher is a lovely drive. We got there early Sunday afternoon, bundled ourselves up and went for a walk in the park.

The tide was out, and the beaches were huge. The chill winds kept everyone sane far away, though watching a couple of kite surfers in the lagoon was fun. Huguenot took a hard hit from Hurricane Michael and had to close for many months, and even now it isn't back to its former self. None of the campsites have power or water, and the number of sites is far fewer than a couple of years earlier.  The good news is construction is underway to build new roads in the park, and perhaps provide a challenge for this year's hurricanes. The park's dunes are protected for nesting birds, and they fared much better than the pavement.  We walked for over five miles along the Atlantic Ocean beach, the lagoon side of the dunes, and the north shore of the St. Johns River where our campsite overlooked the Mayport Naval Station.

Returning to Ernie, we started to get ready for a long night waiting for first sunset and then the eclipse. We were ready for temps near freezing overnight, and were hoping the winds would ease up when the Sun went down. We had an additional run on the floor to provide a bit more protection from underneath, and we had Reflectix for the windows that didn't already have a barrier. We couldn't use our ceramic electric heater because it draws more current than our inverter wants to provide.

Dinner was our first big test for our latest gear. The batteries got an A+. I was concerned about our inverter being able to deliver power at its rated 1500 watts, and they came through. We bought an electric skillet for Ernie, and it put a strong load on our Relion batteries, but they delivered all the power it wanted, and we had a delicious piece of salmon cooked to perfection. Plugging in a skillet is easier than screwing in a propane cannister, and its easier to cook in than our fry pan over the Coleman burner.

Later in the evening, the electric blanket got an F. It worked for a few minutes, but when it came time to start warming our bed, it played dead. And stayed dead. It proved to be totally worthless, so we resorted to our back-up plan of blankets and sleeping bags. We have new, wonderful sheets that have a high threadcount that we were looking to enjoy, and we were able to.

We downloaded some stuff from Netflix to the Slate, and we were able to watch comfortably under the warm covers. The keyboard gave the screen sufficient stability so I didn't have to hold it between us, and the speakers provided good stereo. After an episode of Tidelands, we ventured outside to sit in our lawn chairs to watch the eclipse. The winds let up a bit, and Ernie provided an adequate barrier, but the cold kept it from being comfortable. And we're not used to staying up past midnight! But it was impressive to watch the full moon get progressively darker and redder. But the cold and late hour finally got the better of us, and we skipped the latter half of the eclipse.

In the morning, it was cold, just a couple of degrees above freezing, and we weren't interested in having breakfast in the cold. We survived the evening, got lots of nice pictures, and could find a warm house less than an hour's drive away!

Pictures from our one night stand are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/iTGHbtqAE6cWXMv26

NewYearsTrip: Jonathan Dickinson SP

Monday, January 7, 2019

We arrived at Jonathan Dickinson State Park around after a leisurely drive up the Turnpike from the Everglades with no reservations. The woman who met us at the gate wasn’t pleased with us. We asked if they were full, and her response was there already were three other groups waiting for a site to open up, the implication being that Slim just left town. She also said that we checkin wasn’t until 3pm, but we could park in the adjacent lot until then. So we parked and I wandered over to the office to confirm her dour pronouncements. We could easily head to another park, or even just drive home, if need be.

The ranger in the office had a different take on the world, and gave us a site immediately, down by the river. We took it for a day, but he said we just had to come back the next morning to extend our stay if we wanted. (Which we did, as it turned out.) He gave me some maps of the paved and unpaved trails, and mentioned in passing that he used to live on Lassie Black just outside of White Springs when he worked at Oleno SP!

The campsites in the river campground are fairly close together, but each has power and water, and the bathrooms have hot showers and are quite clean. We set up our screen tent, but it proved to be inadequate keeping the noseeums at bay as the Sun set.

Camp Murphy is the name of the mountain bike trail system in the park. It is a few mile ride back to the trails, and some of the trails are delightful: e limed gravel with well bermed sweeping turns, a narrow trail through the scrub dunes with nice use of the scant elevation differences. The first trail, Tortoise, is perfect for starting a ride, a warm up with nothing too difficult, flowy enough to get your speed and comfort level up without any scares. It flows into Ranger, which is also well maintained and offers a slightly more challenging trail of hard packed surface. As the trails continue, though, they lapse into soft sand that is challenging to power through. The obstacles start off as whoop-de-dos and wooden breaks across the trail for erosion protection, and pavers and wood paths to scoot past sand, but later trails have more limestone rock gardens, palmetto roots that seem groomed to provide challenge, and deep sand that makes you long for 5” tires to get through. They have their own version of Ocala’s Vortex, Bunker Hill, which discretion kept us far from. It looked from a distance to be well over my head for riding.

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

We woke up chilly! The inside of Ernie was cooler than outside, but still, it was nice to need the blankets for cuddly comfort. Once roused, we rode to the front gate to extend our stay, and then rode more of Camp Murphy. We tried to avoid the sand traps, and somewhat succeeded. We started on trails that were new to us, and they had some pretty sandy slogs, along with nicely bermed and prepared trail, including a 6 hill whoop-de-do. We re-rode our favorites before hopping on a service road to avoid the less fun parts.

We rode to the Lookout, a glorious 86’ view, tallest point in that part of Florida!, with views of the Atlantic, the ICW, and the sand pine scrub prairie and forest that is Jonathan Dickinson. I was impressed by how much land is undeveloped, the park really is quite large. After lunch we wandered over to the Visitor’s Center and its displays of the history of this part of Florida. I was also tempted by the Free WiFi, but it turned out to be worth every penny, it didn’t offer internet. C’est la vie.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Our plan was to leave Jonathan Dickinson early and try for one more night on the road at Blue Springs SP. I was surprised that at 8am on a Wednesday morning there were a lot of cars on US-1, like there are people who still drive to work or something. Bummer for them! Bummer for us when we arrived at Blue Spring, and the ranger at the gate laughed at our idea of getting a site without a reservation. He said they have one walk-up site, and it was already taken. So we went into the park anyway and walked the boardwalk to look at the manatees that hang out at the spring during the winter. 

Ever the optimist, Sharon had us drive next to Tomoka SP, on the Tomoka River. No luck there, either, and we only drove through the campground there, checking it out for future plans. Sharon suggested we stop at Faver Dykes SP next, but it was getting later in the afternoon, and time to wend our way the rest of the way north and back home.

Pictures of Jonathan Dickinson, and a few of Blue Spring, are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/vZqVthe1SKLEThJ5A

NewYearsTrip: Everglades NP

Flamingo Campground, Everglades NP, January 4 - 7, 2019

Friday, January 7, 2019

We left Collier Seminole early, about 7, and drove an hour along the Tamiami to Shark Valley. There we turned into the entrance drive, and parked behind 6 cars that arrived earlier, and waited for the gate to be opened. Volunteers arrived on the left lane, opening and re-locking the gate, but before too long one came out to open it for the great unwashed.

After being directed to the very limited space for vehicles with trailers (maybe one more of my length could fit in front of me), we broke out the bikes and went for the 15 mile ride. Shark Valley is an Everglades National Park Visitor Center that has a 15 mile tram tour to view the natural beauty of the River of Grass. The tram winds South through the grasses and hammocks and marshes to the Overlook, a structure that elegantly rises above the fray. From the Overlook, the paved path returns in a fairly straight line back to the Visitor Center along a canal, home to a plethora of birds and . It comes at the second half of the trip, and makes for a great finale. I'm confident that the tour guides do an excellent job providing information and excitement about this beautiful natural resource. There is also a bike rental, but bikes and walkers are suggested to walk counterclockwise towards the clockwise-running trams. This allows walkers to see the best without venturing too far.

And it was divine. A beautiful day, a head wind for the first 7 miles, and a tail wind for the 8 mile return - Perfect! The birds were out preening in the morning sun, and the alligators were just awaking, with most not yet settled into their afternoon rest spots. So we got to watch many gators slowly swimming along the canal to their chosen sunning spots. One particularly large gator had caught something, but exactly what it was in life was unclear. It looked like he had bitten into big bag of laundry, with most of it beside his jaw. But the parts that looked like feathers suggested a big heron or the like. In any case he shook it and slammed it on the water a couple of times while I was watching, which was a pretty intimidating display of force, though completely lost on the target of his energy.

The viewpoint 7+ miles in is pretty impressive. You walk up a 50 yard circular walkway for a 30’ high view, and everywhere is Everglades, in all its resplendent glory and starkness. The ride back from there was a delight as the (now) tailwind strengthened, and we flew back, only stopping for roseate spoonbill sightings (and bigger gators, and wood storks, and …).

Pictures from Shark Valley are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/fdLqWMiZwooRpVDo7.

Leaving the park, the parking lot was full, and the lane in was completely backed up with cars wanting to park. Likely four cars got in with our leaving. We then headed East, stopping at a gas station with diesel, a Publix, and Roberts Is Here fruitstand, finally stopping at Flamingo Campground. We were surprised that someone was working the campground booth; no one was at the Park entrance, because of the president’s government shutdown. 95 volunteers are doing their best to keep this Park and a few others in South Florida open. They have access to the reservation system, and they are keeping the bathrooms open. Kudos to them!





Flamingo is a huge campground. There is Loop A and the Loop T. (Actually there is also Loop B, but it is un-mowed, and doesn’t look like anyone has used it for a few years.) Loop A is where we’ve stayed in years past; the sites have no electricity or water, but nice bathrooms with flush toilets and cold showers. The Loop T (trailer) sites have electricity (20, 30, and 50 amp) but no water at the sites, and the same nice bathrooms with flush toilets with cold showers. Both campgrounds are pretty much open fields with a few mahogany trees. But they are the southernmost point of mainland Florida, right on Florida Bay, just a paddle from the Keys to the South (and countless islands of the 10,000 Islands).

Flamingo also is at least 10 miles from the nearest chance of any cell service. And no Wi-Fi anywhere. You are off the net: no cell phone, no email, no text, no data. Rumor has it AT&T phones have a signal here, but we didn't see anyone staring at their phone screen.

Flamingo may not have electronic communication but it does have flying tactile communicators in the form of noseeums and mosquitoes. They aren’t as bad as they could be. A volunteer suggested that the reason there were so few mosquitoes was that last Fall's Hurricane Irma covered their eggs with marl (seagrass blown in by the storm, which then turns to a muddy surface). Uh, maybe.

Saturday, January 5, 2019

We slept til dawn, then I assembled by Canon 5D3 with its 100-400 lens, and lit off on our bikes to Eco Pond, less than a mile ride. The plan was to photograph wood storks and roseate spoonbills and all manner of herons and egrets. Eco Pond has been my favorite photographic destination for roseates for over a decade. Alas, most everyone was a noshow except for the mosquitoes, so my photoshoot became a slow pedal around the pond. The times I stopped the flying teeth descended so quickly I found being picky about my photo ops to be the savvy way to go. It just wasn't worth it.

After a relaxed breakfast, we decided to ride our bikes to the Marina Store to see if they sold Everglades stickers for Ernie’s wall. They had several, and Sharon limited herself. We checked out the canal’s boat ramp for a possible excursion tomorrow; Then we headed up the road for a bit of exercise.

Fifteen miles later we now know that there’s a bike friendly trail that looked great initially but devolved into mud and marl soon enough and long enough to dissuade these geezers; that our put-in point from years ago in a canoe is still there, with a resident green heron or two; that there’s a rookery just off the road in the mangroves that has an impressive number of roseates and black tipped egrets; and that Bear Lake is a fun 2.5 mile trail from the road that is bike friendly, but the final 1.6 aren’t.

After lunch we set out again, this time on the kayaks, and paddled westward against a strong wind. We were near high tide so we weren’t worried about how shallow Florida Bay is. The shore mangroves offered a welcome windbreak, because across Flamingo’s open beachfront and farther away from the coast the paddle was much more onerous. We planned to circle a particular island, but the northwest side’s waves and wind proved a bit more than would be fun, so we headed back on the lee side of it and the next four islands before heading back to port at record speed.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Epiphany! Twelve days after Christmas, and celebrated as the day the Magi arrived and gave presents to the baby Jesus of gold, frankensense, and myrhh. And the final verse of the song, 12 Days of Christmas.

Sharon’s plan was to get up before dawn for sunrise pictures. An advantage of Flamingo’s location at the tip of the Florida peninsula is that the Sun rises and sets over water, the Atlantic and the Gulf. But the weather was chilly, and our bed proved to be too comfortable. Sanity prevailed for once.

When we did get up, we agreed on a hike that we chose not to do on our bikes the previous day. It is a 2.5 mile hike to the coast, and while they claimed it was mountain bike accessible, there was a lot more reasons not to ride it than the initial mud and marl that turned us off yesterday. Today we left the bikes at the beginning of the single track, and started hiking with our hiking boots and long sleeved pants and shirts.

And we needed them all. We had to climb through several trees that blocked the path, and navigate through the vines and downed trees hidden by the underbrush. We hiked less than a mile before realizing we didn’t want to do this for 5 miles. A slog without a worthy payoff. So we cut the hike short, and rode back to the campground. It was still a 10 mile bike ride and a couple mile hike, so lunch tasted good. Afterwards, when the tide was in, we took another paddle in Florida Bay, with less wind and a different direction. (Florida Bay, the water between the southern tip of Florida's mainland and the Keys, is really shallow, and during low tides even kayaks need to keep to the narrow channels to avoid bottoming out. Even at high tide a paddle blade can stir up the bottom.)

Monday, January 7, 2019

This morning Sharon did wake up early enough to catch Sunrise. After coffee and cereal, we left the campground, but stopped at Royal Palm for a quick tour with my Canon. The birds are so beautiful there, as are the gators, and often the juxtapositions are lovely. Beside the boardwallk there is another walk through the forest, and while it is a lovely stroll, we didn’t think there would be any photo ops that would be worthwhile.

Pictures of Flamingo fun are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/QACUmLuGe5bxKLAN8.

NewYearsTrip: Collier Seminole SP

Collier Seminole State Park, December 31, 2018 - January 4, 2019

Collier Seminole is about a hundred miles South of Oscar Shearer. There are two main roads in that direction: I-75 and the Tamiami Trail. (The Tamiami Trail is the old road connecting TAMpa with MIAMI. Its construction across the Everglades was an impressive effort, and the route from Naples north is the traffic clogged main drag for every town.) Both parks are on Tamiami, but in between are countless traffic lights trying to rein in the madness of the psychotic drivers inhabiting SW Florida. I-75 is mostly snowbirds and semis and speeders, so we chose the faster route. Between strong winds and trailer of kayaks and 70 mph speeds, Ernie spent the drive never getting more than 16 miles per gallon.

Collier Seminole is outside Marco Island and Naples at the Western end of the single lane portion of the Tamiami Trail across the Everglades. As a State Park, it's unaffected by the current shutdown of National Parks. (Our reservations starting Friday are in Everglades National Park, and that may prove to be a problem.)

Sharon got our reservations here because several of our friends chose to come here for New Years. Dale and Mary, George and Michelle, Mari and Jerry, Sterling and Susan, and Gary and Kathy all arrived just after Christmas.

Being the last to the party, we were heartened that we were welcomed to their New Year's Eve party. A great potluck and games and gift swap, it was a fun time to complete 2018.

We started the new year with a hearty breakfast. George brings his grill and used his grillmaster abilities to cook up potatoes, bacon, sausage and eggs as everyone wants. Yum.

Most of us then gathered and caravanned to Turner River with our kayaks. Turner River is one of my favorite paddles, wending through mangrove tunnels narrow enough that a kayak paddle is too wide to use. And when you break out of the tunnels into a more open area, you usually find alligators sunning. Pictures from the paddle are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/XRFUmto3zBpspxs68

 Wednesday morning saw an exodus of many of our friends, with only Dale and Mary staying an extra day. We rode with Dale on the mountain bike trail in the park. No climbing, and we were lucky it hadn't rained recently, so the trail was completely rideable. But short. So we rode it twice. The roots were slippery, so we had to stay alert.

Sharon and I decided to go for a short paddle in the afternoon, but we ended up doing the full loop instead of the out and back I thought we agreed to. It ended up being a 14 mile, four hour paddle, with only one place we could have gotten out for a stretch. The water was high enough in Mud Bay that I only hit bottom once. Sharon scraped a few times on lurking oysters. The tide was going out, so our return paddle was against the current. We tended aching muscles (my hips and legs and back, Sharon's arms and shoulders), but felt better by the next morning.

Pictures from Collier Seminole are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/6q279xbaXcoz7AWa9

NewYearsTrip: Oscar Shearer SP

Interstate 75 is too busy for my taste. I like serenity, and I-75 is more frenetic. It's not as crazy as I-95 around Miami, but US-41 and US-98 let you appreciate the towns and properties that you're driving through. They seem more real and less corporate efficiency.

Our meandering from White Springs went South through Lake City and Chiefland and Crystal River and many other towns before we found ourselves in Tampa, driving past a USF campus where Sharon took some classses, and Busch Gardens, where traffic was clearly more concerned about parking lot access. We finally got on I-75 to avoid city traffic, which just isn't fun in a van 24' long with a 20+' trailer.

We arrived at Oscar Shearer just as we finished a book on tape, perfect timing! Their records still had our Volvo from years ago, a nice little memory jog. We were last here in 2011. We drove to our site, but the numbering was confusing, it was later determined Sharon guessed wrong, to the consternation of a later arriving family from Ontario, but not enough consternating for them to want to move to their assigned site from our assigned site. C'est la vie.

We weren't around when they arrived, since we took off on our bikes for a nice ride. We started off on the park's mountain bike trails, but they proved to be an overwhelming slog through endless sugar sand, so when we found the adjacent bike trail, we chose to put in our miles on it. It was a Rails to Trails, as straight and level as the train tracks it replaced.  It was a pleasant ride, free of traffic except for a few road crossings,and mostly undeveloped scrublands.

It was too dark to eat outside for dinner, so we ate in Ernie for the first time since the Summer. A after dinner walk around the campground reminded me how crowded this campground really is. Boondocking is much more serene, but perhaps not this trip, as South Florida seems to be the most popular place to be, and there aren't national forests to take advantage of.

Before leaving the next morning, we put our kayaks in at the boat launch area and got in a nice 6 mile paddle. The waterways in the park have a tree canopy and quiet water. When we ventured out to the ICW, the Sunday morning boat traffic was non-existent, and the water mostly calm.

Pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/aGGJ9cXxTkNzNDkZA

NewYearsTrip: White Springs

It's just a short trip, maybe 9 days, and we're not even leaving the lovely state of Florida. The original plan was a couple days in Collier Seminole SP with some friends, and then a few more at Flamingo in Everglades NP. Then Sharon got antsy, and found a site available at Oscar Shearer SP the day before, and then we decided to head out another day earlier than that to see White Springs and the Suwannee River.

The Suwannee is out of its banks. The Okefenokee Swamp is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys rivers, and it has gotten a lot of rain the past few months, and so the rivers are high. Normally the height in White Springs is around 55', and now it's just under 80'. We drove over on Saturday, taking US-90 for a change (instead of I-10), making the drive over a little more interesting. We got on I-10 for the drive through Osceola NF, a more scenic drive than through Lake City.

Our first stop was Falling Creek SP, for a look at the falls. The tannic water was running strong, where normally at this time of year its often just a trickle. But the height of the water wasn't dramatic or anything.

As we drove into White Springs, though, the Suwannee was another story. Our Gar Pond trail runs beside the road into town, and those woods were completely submerged under several feet of water. The river itself was close to the underside of the railroad bridge. We stopped at Suwannee Bicycle Association headquarters and caught up with Tony, SBA's president. Then we parked Ernie at the house of some other friends who are doing some beautiful work on their new (for them) house. Howard and Joy have done an amazing job, turning a run down cottage into a warm and comfortable home. Sweat equity never looked so good.

While they worked, we took out bikes out for a tour of the town and river. Our pictures from our tour are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/bYrJvvkRk9bB3i3h6. There is a good chance that the river won't recede in January (or even February), putting SBA's 50 mile off-road bike event (IDIDARIDE) in doubt. Its not called IDIDASWIM, and  bottom brackets and axle bearings don't like being underwater for long.

After our ride we drove Ernie back to headquarters, where we parked out front for the evening. We had dinner with Howard and Joy and enjoyed the comfort of HQ before they headed back to their house, and we retired to our comfy bed.

We woke and used HQ to heat up some breakfast and coffee, but not long enough to let the fog burn off. I wanted to take the slow road to our next stop, and it was going to be over 5 hours to our next stop along back roads, so we left White Springs with the lights on.

Ablation for pain relief

So I am 6' 8" tall, or was until I started shrinking with age. Being pretty much of a klutz has not been kind to my back. Over the years I've developed some crazy random pain in my legs and hips and lower back.

In February of 2016, after too much tests and insurance headaches, Dr. Justin Spooner performed a Radio Frequency Ablation on my lower back, relieving my daily pains completely. It was dramatic, and it was wonderful.

(Side note: I went through the procedure's approval process twice. One of the questions you always get at pain clinics is, How much is your pain, on a scale of 1 to 10? With no defining terms, and having experienced some intense pain over my life, I rated my pain at 4 to 5 the first time around, and my insurance company (Aetna, FWIW) rejected paying for any relief. I tried to find out what they considered the numbers meant, but they simply replied that 5 wasn't high enough. So I started all over again, asserting my pain was 6 and 7, and the procedure was finally approved.)

In Spring of this year, 2018, I started to feel pain coming back to my legs and hips. As we traveled my pain returned, and we returned from our travels a bit early so I could start the process again.

This time my insurance and my Primary Care Physician sent me to Coastal Spine and Pain. They have a Beaches office that is close enough to bike to. Dr. Lee Irwin understood quickly where I was coming from, and got permission for a test epidural, just like I'd had twice before. but this time it didn't provide the short term (days) relief we expected. I went for a bike ride the day after the procedure, and had to cut it short, after 10 miles, due to intense pain in my right thigh. Sigh. But Dr. Irwin wasn't deterred, and did another epidural which was more successful.

The subsequent ablation has greatly enhanced my life. I still have some issues with my hips, and a bit of pain along my sciatica on my right thigh. But 90% of the pain that was always there is gone! I can sleep, I don't wake up in the middle of the night from pain, I can go for long walks or bike rides and only suffer from sore muscles, not random pains. It's silly that I've learned the difference between pain, but tired muscles are distinctly different from nerve pain. And I'm happy to suffer from tired muscles.

Coastal Pain also has a Physical Therapy component, and they were helpful reminding me of the exercises I was taught two years ago, along with a few more. And the exercise helps to keep the pain at bay.

One of the nice things I learned at Coastal Spine was a set of definitions of pain! There is a Makowitz Pain Scale! The definitions are

0. Pain Free
1. Very Minor Annoyance
2. Minor Annoyance
3. Annoying / Distracting
4. Can ignore if really involved in another activity
5. Can not be ignored for more than 30 minutes
6. Can not be ignored for any length of time; Can still work and participate in social activities.
7. Difficult to concentrate; Interferes with sleep; Still functions with effort.
8. Physical activity severely limited; Con read/converse with effort; Nausea and dizziness set in as factors of pain.
9. Unable to speak; Crying / moaning in pain; Uncontrollable near delirium.
10. Unconscious; Passed out due to pain.

Alternator power

With our new pair of LiFePO4 batteries we expect to use our newfound glut of electrons more while we travel. We'll be able to use the Instant Pot for meals, and the coffeemaker. We even bought an electric blanket for those cooler nights.

But will all our new uses, we thought it would be prudent to make sure we will be able to keep the batteries topped off. Our 160w solar panel does a great job, but not so much in bad weather. So we now have a charge coming from the Sprinter alternator.

Mercedes has a lovely little junction box under the driver's seat. It has three posts, each with a different usage. They each serve a different access to the vehicle's main power source. One gives power all the time, even when the vehicle is off. An example usage for that line is to power a step that comes out when the door opens to make getting in and out easier. The second terminal is for power during ignition, and the third terminal is after ignition is complete and the engine is running.

So the connection is simple in theory: run a line from the house battery under the van to the front seat, then connect it to the third terminal post. And make sure that the power only goes from the terminal back to the house battery, so add a fancy switch to keep the systems separate.

I am a pretty cautious guy, and really don't want to break anything that Mercedes Benz created. So I asked Todd Blackwood, the brilliant owner of Beaches Electric. Todd has been our go-to guy for electrical work on our house, and he has always done impressively quality work. I figured it was worth having Todd look at my plan and make sure that I didn't miss anything. My back also wasn't really wanting me to climb under the van for the wiring.

So Todd came over and did the work with me watching and helping with the odd tool or wire. He made sure that the proper wire sizes were used, and reviewed the documentation I found online. He attached the Battery Doctor securely under the seat and made all the connections in the proper order.

The proof in the pudding was a drive out to White Springs for SBA's Secret Santa weekend. The house batteries stayed full on the drive, and the ARB stayed cold. Yippee!

Second Panel Screw-up

So our solar panel was a great way to charge our house battery as we traveled the sunny Western US. But when it became overcast later in the Midwest and we spent more time in forest shade, surprise!, our panel had trouble keeping our battery fully charged. One solution? A second solar panel!

The plan was simple, to put the second panel across the roof in front of our exhaust fan. The panel is 48" long, and since our Sprinter is 72" wide, no problem! Uh,..., yes, there is a problem. While there is copious room for our Queen size bed, the Sprinter gets narrower the farther up, and only after buying a panel did I realize that the flat portion of the roof is only 44" across. Oops! The panel was flexible, but I wasn't convinced it could handle that much curvature, and it would also make it annoyingly visible from below.

Lesson learned? Measure at least once! Even if it means getting a ladder and climbing up to the roof.

One panel will be sufficient for now.

the panel doesn't look too wide, but the roof really is too narrow.

Upgraded Electricity

On our West 2018 trip we spent 96 nights on the road. We visited friends and family for a bit over a week. Of all the other nights on the road, we had shore power the first week crossing the South, and never plugged in the rest of the trip.

On our first tour in our van (and the previous tour in our Subaru) we had a Yeti cooler to keep stuff chilled. We bought ice as needed. If you pack a Yeti well, and don't open it too often, stuff will stay cold for days, up to a week. If you are using it to keep the food that you're eating every day cold, taking food out, putting food back in, grabbing a beer out of it, its efficiency is compromised, and we found ourselves buying a bag of ice pretty much every day. Which turns out to be anywhere from $2 to $7.

So we convinced ourselves that it made sense to buy an ARB cooler. It is rugged and efficient, and runs on either DC or AC current. We had a solar panel and a house battery installed to power it, and charge our phones and Kindles. We had low needs, still evolving from our tent camping heritage.

The original solar panel failed first, and it was replaced by a Renogy panel and controller, which worked far more efficiently (and with the Bluetooth module, could be tracked from my phone). and provided enough power for the ARB and more. Soon Sharon was plugging her NutriBullet in each morning to make smoothies. We were also tapping the house battery for inflating our Stand Up Paddleboards. We usually wanted to paddle in the morning, and the house battery was often down to 50% after a night of keeping food cool, so we missed a couple of opportunities.

(We don't have a generator. We spent too many nights tent camping, listening to someone else's generator humming away all night, making a mockery of our outdoor experience. We aren't ready to disturb nearby tent folk if we can find a viable alternative.)

(We could have also started the Sprinter, and with the engine running, power the air pump from the started battery. For a while I didn't want to do this for fear of harming the starter battery, but I've come to realize I was just being over cautious, and it wouldn't worked just fine. Just don't tell Sharon.)

As the Summer trip went on, and cloudy days interspersed intruded occasionally, it took longer to recharge the house battery from the solar panel. The ARB is sensitive to the DC coming from the battery, and takes less power as the battery is depleted. The good news is that it's kinder on the battery, the bad news is that the fridge temp creeps up. So we found ourselves buying ice a few times to keep the food chilled. And the AGM battery kept seeming more and more lame.

So we decided to upgrade! More battery, more solar, more charging.

First off, we figured our AGM battery was pretty much dead. Deep cycle lead acid batteries really don't like discharging more than 50% of their rated power. Pushing them decreases the number of cycles in their lifespan. If you're kind and don't abuse a lead acid, you can hope for maybe 500 power cycles before replacement time comes. We abused ours, and it was dropping to 50% and below from a nominally full charge far faster than it used to.

Rather than simply buy a replacement lead acid AGM, we decided to upgrade to Lithium. The Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are quite stable (no fires or toxic gas discharge), and they can be discharged to 20% without long term harm, and they have an Order of Magnitude more cycles in them. The minor drawback is that they're about 4-5x more expensive. The problem my research found was finding quality lithium batteries. It seemed most come from China, and quality assurance is an issue. And who wants to pay big dollars for something, only to have it fail with some internal fault a few months down the line?

My research led me to call Batteries Distributors SE, a . Simon proved to be a wealth of information. The phone conversation led to a visit and the eventual purchase of two Relion LiFePO4 batteries to replace the single AGM. And instead of a box under the van, the two batteries sit inside the van in a space that used to hold tools I never used.

Batteries Distributors SE also provided us with a Victron Energy Battery Monitor with a Bluetooth module so I can view details about the batteries from their phone app. The information from the monitor gives me real-time information about the current Voltage, the net Current and Power (positive or negative Amperes and Watts, depending on how much Sun and how much load), the number of Consumed Amp hours, and the Time Remaining based on the current load. Between this and the Renogy app, I have more metrics on our electricity than I know what to do with. It is a joy to monitor how much power is coming off our roof, and how much power is being consumed inside Ernie.

With the two 100Ah Relion batteries, we now have more than 3x the usable power we had last summer (50% of 100Ah is 50Ah, vs. 80% of 200Ah is 160Ah). The next steps are to upgrade the power generation. We have room on the roof for another solar panel, and we could tap into the Sprinter alternator for some power.

Pictures of the new batteries are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/KrfqRtuG2BKnC3Sp8

Lessons

Three months on the road, almost 15,000 miles, we came up with several lessons that we need to remember before our next big trip.

1. Find a good campsite, stick around longer. We stopped at a lot of campgrounds, usually a state park or provincial park or a national park, with only a few private campgrounds. Too often, we only spent one night and then moved on. The plan was to spend two days (or more) almost everywhere, and we still think that is the better way to travel. Heading West we kept moving because the wind was keeping us off the SUPs; we should have stuck around and kayaked on the SUPs.
2. Avoid lakes on weekends. We had no reservations, and finding a campsite on Friday or Saturday was always more of a challenge than other days of the week. And everyone wants to be on the nearby lake on the weekend. We need to pay more attention, and not try to find a campsite on those days.
3. Plan our clothes better. We brought clothes for hot weather and cold weather and wet weather. But we didn't plan it out well enough. More t-shirts, more socks, more layers.
4. Plan our kitchen better. We brought stemware and napkin holders which we never used, and a fry pan that was a bit small, and a spatula that was too soft. We brought the Sodastream, but not the tonic flavoring.
5. Plan our storage better. Having the three bins in the back on a sliding shelf was wonderful, but we need to be more clever about what we put in each. We didn't need to bring the milk crate in one, and we had more water bottles than we needed. Likewise, with a shelf above the three bins, we could cram the SUPs, and then the bikes could fit inside on the other slide. The bikes got way too dirty on the outside rack. 
6. Version 2, Screens. The back door and sliding door screens were wonderful in areas with mosquitoes, but they weren't perfect. In particular, the back screen suffered from too many gaps by the magnets around the top, and it kept getting in the way if we didn't take it down. With a better seal and a way to roll it up out of the way, it could become a permanent addition. The side screen was closer to perfect, the seams lined up better for a good seal from the flying teeth, but we couldn't leave it up and close the door. Perhaps we can improve on it, too.
7. Better power management. We were plugged into shore power for only a few nights at the beginning of the trip; we lived on the house battery the rest of the trip, charged only by our one 150w solar panel. We would have liked to use the InstaPot more. We would have liked to use the ceiling fan some nights or the box fan. We would have liked to pump up the SUPs more often. We need to get a second house battery, and perhaps replace the existing one if it's dying from overuse. There's room on the roof for a second, 100w solar panel to better charge the two batteries. The Sprinter has room in the engine compartment for a second battery, and also a second alternator. It may be that having a second alternator for charging the house batteries might be a good way to ensure we always have the energy when we need it. Ideally we will learn how to sleep comfortably without air conditioning. 
8. Build a better awning. We used our awning in White Springs, and we gave up on it after one of the magnetic hooks broke, but it wasn't working even before that. Our new plan is to sew-in bar magnets to one end of the fabric to tether one end to Ernie, along with a more robust way to hold up the far end. 
9. Look into a Cellular Extender. In the US it seems that every State and National Park has minimal cell service, but putting an extender on Ernie's roof and then repeat its signal to our phones is a great way to be connected on the road. They're pricey, but being off the grid so much is unpleasant. What was surprising was how good a signal we got in the Canadian parks.
10. Three months is enough. We cut it short a bit because of my back pain, but we were ready to be home anyway. Another week or two would've been doable, but we were ready to call it a good tour, and start preparing for the next one. We needed time and bandwidth to find better boondocking resources, better lighting, better cell, better batteries, better storage, better living.

Stop 59: Neptune Beach FL

We packed Ernie, bid a fond farewell to Greg and Sarah, and Ernie wouldn't start. Uh, oh! I suspect the heavy rains we had the past couple of days left something a bit wet, but after several tries we got a rough idle that smoothed out reasonably quickly. We stopped five miles later for a tankful of diesel, and Ernie started immediately afterwards. And then we drove.

At 541 miles, it was the longest drive of the trip, and the most time on Interstate, and almost all of it on my least favorite, I-95. But the aggravating and inexplicable slowdowns I-95 is known for were non-existent, and the drive was as carefree as we could possibly hope for. I drove faster longer than I did the entire trip, maintaining 70 mph to stay in the flow of traffic for the majority of the interstate drive.

We also had the scariest moment of our trip. Cruising along at 70 in the right lane of I-95 in South Carolina, a white pickup in front of me wandered slowly over to the left lane, and started slowing a bit, while I noticed a semi coming up fast in the left lane behind me. Then, suddenly, the pickup slammed on his brakes to make an illegal U-turn! I swerved over to the breakdown lane to give the semi an escape route, while he locked up his brakes in an impressive cloud of 16 wheel rubber dust. I expect he will have flat spots on all his tires now, but the pickup made it into the median without becoming a hood ornament.

Once we passed Jacksonville International Airport, the looney tune drivers showed their colors swerving in and out of the traffic, or wandering between lanes unaware it was a multi-lane highway, but none required me to lock up my brakes to avoid them. And with it being 4:30 in the afternoon, the lights on Atlantic were timed to move traffic to the Beaches, so we made every light from St John's Bluff.

Ninety six nights, 59 places, 14,944 miles, with an average of 21.2 mpg. A great trip, with many highlights, very few lowlights, many lessons learned, and a long To Do list before we head to Newfoundland next Summer!

Pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/tdNMerszL3Y8C1yHA

Stop 58: Oriental NC

Day 1, August 3.

Driving from a Maryland beach to the Southern tip of the Outer Banks. We got up before dawn to watch the sunrise and walk the beach on a special island before a day's drive. While we eat breakfast, fog covers the beach and campground.

We head back to the mainland, and turn South. Beautiful country, and before long we're paying the $20 toll for crossing Chesapeake Bay on bridges and tunnels. It really is an impressive engineering tour de force. We stop for lunch at a convenient town (I loved my soup and Panini, and Sharon's soup and her shrimp and grits, but she didn't like hers as much). We stopped at a Walmart whose parking lot was so full finding a space for Ernie was challenging for their bathrooms and wine (in NC liquor stores don't have beer or wine).

We finished the fourth Armand Gamache, the Brutal Telling, and listened to podcasts (Stay Tuned with Preet) until we arrived at Greg and Sarah's in Oriental. Let the party start.

With Greg I am the back up tall guy. Sharon's kayak used to be Sarah's. Oh, and Sarah was Sharon's Maid of Honor at our wedding. We started our catching up in their driveway, then on their dock, and then over a delicious dinner and then dessert. Greg and I watched the Red Sox do a number on the Yankees before turning in, the first TV of our trip. The Sox pitcher was pretty awesome.

Day 2, Saturday August 4.

A delightful twenty miles of riding sinuous two lane preceeded breakfast. It felt good pedaling on smooth pavement in my big ring without shifting, letting my mind drift while maintaining an even cadence.

The rest of the day was more restful for me and Greg, while Sharon and Sarah got out more, first on a shopping trip / tour of Metro Oriental, and later offering their bodies to the horde of hungry mosquitoes who hadn't enjoyed as tasty a dinner as we all did. Greg treated us to a lovely boat tour of the nearby waterways, he and Sarah live in a magical place with so much right off their dock.

Day 3, Sunday August 5.

Sunday, the day of rest. Works for me, and with Sharon's boundless energy matched by Sarah's, they enjoyed hikes and paddles and shopping while I was okay with letting my back unwind and relaxing. Another delicious dinner and conversation, and an early night in preparation for the long drive come morning.

Pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/eVpvqiWFJgswzV4x8

Stop 57: Assateague SP MD

Thursday, August 2.

A quick breakfast and we hit the road. The Shenandoah NP weather forecast is rain, so we're heading for the Delaware coast. As we turned to go South a sign appeared, warning of only 11' clearance in a mile. We weren't ready to get rid of the a/c unit yet, so a quick U-turn prompted our first re-route of the day. While I chose the more Westerly route on Gmaps, the re-route tripped taking the fastest route through Harrisburg and Philadelphia. While the road surface was showing its age in patchwork, the traffic was surprisingly well behaved and slowdowns minimal.

Our initial destination (Delaware Seashore SP), across the street from the beach, proved to be a parking spot in a huge lot of RVs, and $50 for the privilege. Uh, No, even if it was the only site available for our one night stand. We drove on, initially to an inland state park, but then Sharon changed our course to Assateague.

Assateague Island is a wild horse refuge. Speed limit is 30 or less, with large signs reminding drivers that the animals have right of way, and you are liable for a citation for any sort of feeding. It is also a barrier island. Assateague State Park is the Northern end of the island. South of the state park is the Assateague Island National Seashore.

The roar of the surf, at your campsite: sweet! We went for a short walk on the beach before getting the bikes out and riding the bike trail from our campground to the national park. It seems the horses roam around the campground. At check-in the ranger gave us the bear warning spiel we've heard so many times, except this was about the horses. As they walk through, eating the grass, every camper takes notice and stays relatively clear. Definitely worth the price of admission. We slept with doors open and screens up.

Pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/xU7hPKEzpbNYtWe47

Stop 56: Watkins Glen SP

Day 1: Saturday July 28.

Josh and Jeanette made the reservations for our four night stay at site 235 in the Seneca Village loop. Since Keuka Lake is less than an hour away, Sharon got a nice bike ride in before we broke camp (roll up the welcome mat and stow it and the footstool, and close the windows). We stopped at Tops again for ice and ale and a couple other things, though on a Saturday morning parking Ernie in their lot was a little trickier but doable. I'm getting more comfortable dealing with a 24' behemoth.

We then drove the 5 miles over to the next lake, Seneca, working our way South to Watkins Glen. Our first stop was a Meadery, where we sampled a couple of their meads and hard ciders. They are rightfully proud of some of their products, while others cater to sweeter tastes or were commissioned to support diabetes. The good stuff was really good, so we ignored the rest. Both Mead and hard cider are excellent beverages when done well, and their main products were so palatable.

From there we hit another winery that reminded us of what we don't like about the Finger Lakes. Its wine tasting was horrid little sips for more money, and worse, the wine didn't taste good, being just too sweet for our taste. So we kept driving to another winery several miles down the lake. The wine was better, but still not worth buying, though their port was surprisingly tasty. We stopped at another winery, but rejected it without leaving Ernie (we can be snobby), but walked into our last winery choice because it offered grappa. They made a very nice grappa, and a very very nice brandy, and two white ports (!). Their wines were at least as good as anything we tasted.

Enough with the little sips, we drove into Watkins Glen and its abundance of tourists and daytrippers to the park. I confirmed an appointment for two new front tires for Ernie Monday morning before meeting Josh and Jeanette and their Samoyed Marshy at the Marina restaurant for a late lunch. Then it was up to the campground and settling in for our four night stay.

Watkins Glen SP Campground is high above the town. It has over 300 campsites in 4 loops. The drive up from town is silly steep, and Ernie doesn't like working so hard, and having to use so much brake to keep him in control dropping down. The first road of the climb is part of the original Watkins Glen road race course. (The current track is a closed track a couple miles from town.) The campground bathrooms have flush toilets (Yeah!) and hot showers (Double Yeah!). There's a lot of tent camping, and I suspect that part of the reason there are fewer RVs than other campgrounds is the steepness of the road to get here.

Day 2, Sunday July 29.

We all drove in Ernie to Finger Lakes Region SP and Taughannock Falls State Park. We hiked the rim trails in Taughannock Falls, which offered wonderful views of the river gorge below. The rock looks like massive slabs of slate, and I keep imagining making billiards tables from it. I need to see if that was ever an industry here.

After the hike we drove down to the lake to Finger Lakes and paddled the SUPs for a few hours, taking turns on the water and playing with Marshy. Marshy did get her turn on a SUP but it was short-lived.

After drying off and rolling the SUPs back up, we hiked up the gorge we walked around earlier. The river is wide and shallow after the 215' waterfall, giving the option to walk on the trail or in and along the water.

Day 3, Monday July 30.

After a quick breakfast, I drove Ernie to Parmenter Tire for new front tires. After a bit, they asked I come back Tuesday afternoon, so we went for hikes in our park. The campground was packed Saturday/Sunday, but mostly empty on Monday. The trails were much less crowded on a Monday than the weekend.

The Gorge Trail is one of the most beautiful walks we've ever done. The rock carved by the river is on display from a path that straddles the sinuous cascading water, bridges over the water, and tunnels under the river, providing a gamut of extraordinary angles to appreciate. Dogs aren't allowed on the narrow and crowded path, so we hiked up and met Josh and Jeanette at one end and then walked back on the far less interesting rim trail. Then we all hiked the longer South Rim trail, made more interesting because it continues under a railroad trestle to the pond behind the dam above the gorge.

We all were exercised out, retired to the campsite, and then to Ernie when the rain finally dribbled in. Radar threatened Red, but it split in two leaving us in the soft Green. It was still enough to create mud and puddles, but it stopped soon enough for an evening campfire.

Day 4, Tuesday July 31.

First off, we dropped Ernie off at Parmenter Tire. Then the five of us headed to Cayuga Lake to visit the wineries. The Finger Lakes are marketed as a great wine area, particularly for whites. Cornell University worked with the winemakers to come up with new grape varieties that thrive in this environment. The Cayuga grape is one that is quite tasty. We stopped at several wineries (Swedish Hill, Varick, Knapp, Lucas, and Americana), and then had lunch at the Thirsty Owl. The best two were Lucas and Varick, though Swedish Hill and Americana we're also quite good. Our lunch wines at Thirsty Owl were all quite acceptable.

Waiting for our meal I got a call from Parmenter Tire, that my tires didn't arrive. Sigh. So we're staying around for one more day, not in the same site but close. We planned to drive to Shenandoah NP for a 2 night stay before continuing on to Oriental NC, but now it'll be just an overnight stop.

Josh and Jeanette have done an extraordinary job with our dinners. Tonight we had tuna steaks with a sauce to die for, and tomato and fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. It should have a warning label about drooling.

Day 5, Wednesday August 1.

After breakfast we all packed up and said goodbye, Josh and Jeanette and Marshy to Brooklyn, Sharon and I to Walmart. We have a light in Ernie that we really like, and we want another. Every Walmart we go to has an empty hook for them, including this one. Sigh. We had better luck at the hardware store, getting a bolt that hopefully will replace the broken one on our screenroom.

We then stopped at Parmenter Tire to check on our new tires. They arrived! And the new camber bolts, and the mobile alignment rack. So we took the bikes off Ernie and went for a ride.

The Catherine Valley Trail is a Rails to Trails gravel/dirt path South out of Watkins Glen for 12 miles or so. It follows a lake inlet for a while before slowly climbing through the woods up the valley. It goes through one town with sidewalks and stores for a couple blocks, and another with a few homes and no sidewalks, and a short bit where you can hear the two lane highway but thick dense foliage hides any visual clues. Easy on a mountain bike, and a cross bike wouldn't have a problem, but a road bike might not like some of the mud.

On the way back Terry called that Ernie had new sneakers and properly aligned, so we picked up the pace. Since it was all downhill, it was easy and fun. And Ernie feels so much better to drive, confident I don't have to worry about a front tire blowout. If I knew how good Terry and Parmenter Tire were, I would have loved to get a second battery and alternator.

Which would be a nice solution to a problem we're having. The ARB is not cooling enough because the battery isn't getting/staying fully charged. Granted, it's been overcast, but the battery seems to losing its charge way too fast. We're having to buy ice every day to keep it under 45. We'll have to have the battery tested when we get home, and perhaps replaced.

Back issues are making me jonesing to be home. Our plan was Shenandoah NP, Oriental NC, Barb & Tom, Shea Family, maybe Columbia SC for more Shea, but now it's an overnight in Shenandoah on the way to Oriental, and then Neptune Beach. And doctor appointments and medicine refills.

Dinner was leftovers from Josh and Jeanette, and so good. The campground is mostly full of NASCAR fans, it would be cool to see the weekend's races, maybe another year.

New York pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/LwFYLi2DjvGCygS29

Stop 55: Keuka SP

Thursday, July 26. We had a full day of driving ahead of us, so we woke at 6, and were on the road by 6:15. Our first stop was a couple hours in, to refuel Ernie, and our first MacD breakfast in Parry Sound, home to the Bobby Orr Museum.

Alas, we didn't spend the day reviewing the greatest Bruin's memorabilia, but continued on highways through Toronto and Hamilton and finally Niagara Falls Canada, where we drove into a pure tourism city, paid $15 for a parking spot at an amusement park, and then walked down to see the falls. The Canadian side is definitely the best side to see the falls. The crowds were substantial, but we were on a mission, we waited to see the falls from several points, and satisfied with being fully awestruck, we returned to Ernie to continue our trek without venturing on to the ferris wheel or other attractions.

At US customs the wait was less than a minute, but he wanted to look at Ernie's innards, and wanted to know about our prescription and non-prescription drugs, as well as firearms. He finally let us back into the country, and then we were on New York interstates, where the road surfaces are well worn and failing. Based on road quality, New York is a backwater third world country compared to Ontario Canada. To be fair, I expect there is far more corruption and kickbacks in NY than in Ontario, which makes everything costlier.

Once on the secondary highways Google directed us to an Aldi, a local grocery that charges a quarter for the use of a cart! We didn't have a quarter, so we filled the REI and W-D bags we brought with us, then emptied them at checkout and refilled them after the scan. Good prices, but a lame selection (just one size and brand of chunky peanut butter? Really?). Never more, Aldi!

Finally we got to Keuka Lake SP and our reserved site. They spray paint the site numbers on the dirt, and the sites are grass that may or may not be level. Our site had lots of tread marks of previous tenants, but we were able to find a level spot diagonally across the site. But the bathroom has flush toilets, and showers! We are easily appeased.

We rode our bikes down to the lake, and then back up. Our site being at the top of the hill, we got a good climb in. Sharon was actually disappointed the climb wasn't steeper, she has become such a strong climber on this trip. If she'd known, we'd have ridden longer, bless the heart of my climbing honey!

Five nights in remote provincial parks in Ontario, we had great cell service with internet. Back in the states, we are back to minimal or no internet cell service. The US carriers really need to be held accountable for such subpar coverage, though clearly not by the current administration, because it might impact corporate profits.

Day 2, Friday, July 27.

We started the day with the important stuff. We drove to Penn Yan to find a tourism place so Sharon could use their wifi to update her bank access. Then fuel for Ernie and fuel for us. Yesterday's Aldi experience was unsatisfactory, so we avoided the one in Penn Yan for their Tops, which was exceptional by comparison.

We decided to try out the trail system at the park. It's short, just 3 miles total, through the woods (we didn't need to slather so much sunscreen on), but the bugs were bearable, the trail not too muddy, with a couple ravines alongside to appreciate. We were surprised at one point by the neat alignment of pines that means a tree farm in FL. Perhaps the area was replanted after a fire or something, but it definitely wasn't natural. Sharon was happy to find some ripe blackberries and ate a bunch.

After lunch Sharon went for a bike ride and planned to swim, but the wind picked up, a lifeguard came out to limit people to a small enclosed space. So she came back and did streches instead.

The campground wasn't half full Thursday, but the campers streamed in Friday as the afternoon progressed. What seemed like generously sized campsites were crammed with boats and cars and tents. Others brought campers that need two doors on the side, at each end of the quarter acre awning.

New York pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/LwFYLi2DjvGCygS29

Aside: Ontario

The first time I left the United States was in 1969 for a rock festival, fashioned after 1968's Woodstock. The festival was in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park, and I fell in love with Canada. The festival was pretty much a bust, but I had the best time camping and listening to the music with my friend Ron and his girlfriend and everyone else who attended.

In 1976 I took a job teaching Math and Computer Science at the St. Johnsbury Academy. There I usually hung out with Trottier and Burley. We looked for music we enjoyed, which meant more rock-'n'-roll than country. More often than not it led us across the border into Quebec. The rumor at the time was that the fine for staying open past closing time was $30, less than the cost of the extra set by the band. The hard part was walking into Customs afterwards, and waking up the official to request entry back to the US. We spent a fair amount of time across the border.

Earlier than both, while I didn't actually get to Canada, happened in 4th grade, when my Grandmother lived with us for her last year and babysat me after I rode home from school. I started to tell a joke I heard at school, "What did the Newfie...", and Grandmother proceeded with a Diatribe. It seems that she and her husband my Grandfather (who died long before I was born) were born and raised in Newfoundland, and that is where We Are From. Not Ireland, Newfoundland. And so on. Now, I actually wish I paid more attention to the details, and asked questions. As it is, I've never told a Newfie joke since.

(Last year on our Canadian Maritimes trip, Sharon became so enamored that we're heading back next year! More Quebec, more Newfoundland.)

We just spent 5 days in Ontario, and it was wonderful. We entered at Grand Portage MN and got a campsite in Rainbow Falls PP. Then we walked up and got two nights at Pancake Bay PP, and then another two at Killarney PP. Each provincial park was awesome. Nice relatively private sites, clean bathrooms with flush toilets and showers and laundry, and spectacular locations, they were all five star. And they each dealt with volume surprisingly effectively. They're huge but you don't really notice unless you bike around.

Killarney is supposed to be a paddling mecca, and I can understand that. We were likely snubbed for being daytrippers, but I'm not ready to do a multi-night kayak trip anymore. Regardless, paddling Georgian Bay is cool. The rock is cool, the plants etching a life in the cracks are cool, the birds living in these little havens are cool. And the water is clear and clean and blue and ever changing. And cool.

Ontario is pretty awesome, it has excellent provincial parks, and even the construction areas are efficient. The people are so nice and helpful, I'm embarrassed by where I'm from. But the bottom line is, I don't want to need snow tires anymore. Even though I'd love to see how Ernie would behave with a full set of Blizaks (the best snow tires I've ever driven).

Stop 54: Killarney Provincial Park

Tuesday, July 24. The good news was that the predicted overnight rain was minimal. The bad news was that we drove through the heaviest downpour of the trip, I could barely see the taillights of the vehicle I was following. Again, inside Ernie we stayed dry, and he was due for a good wash, but shortly after the worst cell, the Trans Canada Highway went to dirt long enough to let new dirt adhere to the bottom quarter of his flanks. Sigh.

After checking into Killarney, we continued on to the only town nearby for groceries and ice (solar isn't efficient in heavy rain). A restaurant claimed the best fish and chips, so we splurged. It wasn't the best but awfully good. They only served fish and chips, so they had the oil temperature perfect, the batter was light, and everything was hot out of the fryer. (A couple places in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia had incredibly flaky fish I remember as even better.)

On the way back to the campground we stop at Killarney Outfitters to reserve kayaks for tomorrow. We even got to confirm I could fit in their kayak. I think I'm going to love this high volume 16' Necky.

Finally pulling into our site for two days, after testing several placements, the driver's side is always lower, so out with the chocks, and voila!, a level sleeping field is attained. Of course, tomorrow morning we'll have to come off the chocks and stow them, and repeat the process when we return from kayaking. Fortunately it's a quick process, maybe 30 seconds. (Last year we left our chocks at the site while on a day trip in West Virginia, only to return to find them stolen along with our firewood.)

Settled in, we went for a bike ride around the campground. We rode to one end, and then followed a trail to where we expect we'll put our rental yaks in tomorrow, and looked at some x-ski trails, but we didn't have helmets and things quickly got grown over and buggier than a easy ride. Heading in the other direction, we explored the rest of the campground. It has an impressive number of lovely, private sites. We thought our site would suck, but it really doesn't! People bike past, but the motored traffic is pretty minimal.

Have I mentioned this week that Sharon is a great cook? Tonight was Mexican, and a near sunset walk after. When sunset isn't until 9:30, it's kinda weird. We talked about how we can improve our rolling home in the screen room til almost 10. There's a fire ban in effect, so no campfires, so things are quiet as dusk looks, which is also nice. Ontario has great parks, with nice sized sites spaced well. They also have spacious group sites that are pretty awesome.

Day 2. Wednesday, July 25.

We left shortly after 8 to pick up two PFDs, pumps, tow ropes and sponges, then back towards the park for the put in point.  We found our boats by process of elimination.

Killarney Outfitters dropped off a lot of kayaks, but they were organized, I presumed by reservation. Three here, four here, two tandems here, one tandem alone, ... All the groups of two included a one tandem except one, and one of its boats was a High Volume boat similar to the boat I tried out yesterday to confirm it would fit. The guy showed up while we were getting ready with another batch of boats, and confirmed that these were our boats for the day.

The paddle out Chikanishing Creek was pleasant, and then there was Lake Huron's Georgian Bay. The deep blue waters are broken up by rocky outcroppings. We crossed some open water, turned left and paddled the coastline, checking out the topography and wildlife. We immediately saw a couple of sandhill cranes strutting around, and I regretted not bringing my big camera. But they walked into the brush pretty quickly, so maybe I wouldn't have gotten a better picture with it. In any case, it primed us both to enjoy the spectacle before us.

As we wandered in and out, the wind gradually increased. We'd only notice as we came out onto the lake to feel the full brunt of wind. I finally suggested to Sharon that we head back to explore the lee side of the island. As we headed back the wind was strong enough to create whitecaps on an increasing number of the waves. We were paddling maybe 20° off the headwind, with our boats cresting waves and then slapping the trough. When we finally got to the end of the island we turned for the protected waters on the other shore. We minimized our time crossways to the current, and they we were paddling furiously to keep ahead of the waves. Once again I remembered Lys Burden's advice from years ago, that to control your boat you have to be going at a different speed than the water.

Once in calm water, we realized that the wind was blowing pretty much up this channel between the island and the mainland, so we cut across to the mainland side, and got into a quieter cove. We found a landing spot, had lunch on the rocks, checked our maps, and then headed back into the maelstrom to the next cove, Chikanishing Creek. It was a surprisingly difficult paddle, as the wind was even stronger (Sharon checked the weather after that said 20+ mph winds). I was afraid of getting crossways to waves and paddled across the cove mouth until I was in the lee side of an island. Sharon did the same. The paddle up the river was far calmer.

After leaving the kayaks by the put in, we returned the other gear and returned to our campsite. Time for a hike! Sharon was set on the Lake Cloche Silhouette Trail, until I pointed out it is a 79 km trail, maybe 5 days of hiking. So we started it anyway, but turned around after a mile or so. I was hurting before the hike, and wasn't interested in any more activity, so Sharon went off for a swim while I didn't move.

After a delicious Asian dish Sharon cooked up, we chatted for a bit before our nightly tasks, the dishes for her and the chairs and screenroom and bikes for me. But the sun had set, and the mosquitoes arrived to feast on an overtall piece of prime flesh. I would work for 10-30 seconds, then swipe the electric tennis racket around my head and legs for an equal amount of time. Not surprisiny, it took more than twice as long to complete my tasks.

Since we have an 8+ hour drive tomorrow (factoring in Customo), we hope to be on the road by 6:30 am. We shall see.

Ontario pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/zv6SmV1TrSMNJKAT7

Aside: Pain

Pain is all in the brain. A nerve cell (axion?) somewhere triggers an impulse that wends it's way to the brain, which then interprets the data and passes the information to the conscious.

Generally, the information is correct and you can act based on it. If you feel pain in your ankle, you adjust your stride to minimize the pain signal from there. You can believe your brain, you don't wrap your wrist if you have a toothache.

Alas, as I understand it, nerve impulses from the hips and legs and lower back all travel to the brain via the spinal cord, which runs inside the spine. The spine is a remarkably flexible set of bones called vertebrae. Sometimes problems can occur with one or more vertebrae. Doctors count them, the ones up from the legs L1, L2, ..., and the ones down from the cranium C1, C2, .... They also have mapped which nerves get into the spinal cord at which vertebra.

Let's say a vertebra is damaged in some way (the lack of the membrane keeping bone from rubbing on bone, for example). The nerves passing through that damage can be affected. Moving a vertebra or two may pinch a nerve that reports you've been kicked in the hip, or that hip doesn't work and other muscles need to deal with it. The effect is a trivial movement in the spine causes a nerve to trigger an impulse that is only supposed to be triggered at the far end of that nerve. So the spine moves, and the left hip suddenly feels a monster was pretty bite for a second or two. Or a hip suddenly loses all feeling, which causes you to fall to that side, which sucks if you happen to be on a SUP, and fall in the water.

Working out regularly, there is a lot of pain that actually feels good, muscles that have been exercised fully and reporting such. But these random pains don't feel like that. It's weird how we live for some pains, and do whatever it takes to not feel other pains. And a lot of pain can be ignored for a while, but as the day goes on it's harder to ignore.

All in all, most pain is best avoided.

Stop 53: Pancake Bay PP

Sunday, July 22. Wind. Lots of Wind. We backed Ernie amongst a little grove of white birch and fir trees, but we were still rocking when we awoke. The lake had a few whitecaps, and it was cool enough that long pants and sweatshirts were needed.

We left our Rossport CG for the larger and reserved Whitesands Lake CG a few clicks down the road to hike the Rainbow Falls Trail. Last night's camping paper got us b nb v   d,c
in for free. It's a big lake, and the f,d .alls
start directly from the lake,  the water tu bmbling down over a sequence of 10 - 30' falls separated by fairly steep chutes in between. The trail was a wooden walkway with a ton of steps separated by short straight sections.  There were a few openings on the walkway to walk right up to the river, before we crossed it on a nice bridge. Another hiker told us about an overlook a bit farther, so we climbed up lol mm to it. A nice view, but not overwhelming. We are so jaded.
.
On the road, we drove 220 miles down the road, listening to an early Ken Follett audiobook and enjoying lake views and forest views, and very little traffic, which was also nice for all the touring cyclists. We followed a semi for a while and it was heartening how he signaled and moved over for each one. I love Ontario!

Sharon found us a wonderful site for two nights, right across from Lake Superior. Plenty of room for Ernie and our screenroom, hiking trails, and across the road from the beach. And we're here for two nights! And we made reservations at Killarney SP for the following two nights. And then two more nights at Keuka Lake SP in New York, where we learned several years ago is surrounded by wineries. With the 4 nights with Josh & Jeanette in Watkins Glen, we are booked through the month!

Sharon needed Loonies for the laundry, Ernie needed diesel,  ARB needed solar, so after a quick run for the first two ending at the campground parking lot by the "facilities", Sharon started the laundry, we put on bathing suits and jumped into Lake Superior (it's cold, but not as cold as you'd expect for a deep lake in Canada), then showered and waited in Ernie while the laundry finished and (hopefully) the Sun replenished the house battery. It helped, but not enough.

ARB has been hungry for electron juice for several days now. It's been raining or overcast the whole time, and we haven't had a 100% charge on the house battery the whole time. Last night we dropped to 40% charge (11.2v), which isn't good for the lifespan of the battery. I would like to upgrade from one gel battery to two or even three lithium batteries, but they're pricey. Seeing how we're limping along with just one gel is good data, but it also means we can't use the SUPs tomorrow, we need the battery for ARB.

We went for a nice bike ride after dinner. This is a big campground. Pancake Bay is several miles across, and the campground is a good portion. The water is calm, the sunset a deepening red from the forest fire, it's feels like a Caribbean evening.

As we got ready for bed, the mosquitoes started their attack. And Sharon transformed into the Flying Teeth Terrorist, wielding her electric swatter deftly, killing every mosquito who ventured into Ernie's sanctum. We thought we would leave the back doors open, the netting keeping us bug free. But they were finding ways in, in little gaps around the edges. I finally went out and closed the doors, but that just trapped all the mosquitoes sitting on the netting inside. Sharon spent two hours swatting and waving and searching for the last mo, and there was always one more. She persevered, even after I turned over for sleep. It was after 11pm that she was finally free of the high pitched whining that sent her into paroxysms.

Day 2. Monday, July 23.

A short drive within the park to a trailhead, where Ernie could collect some solar power, and we headed out to the Edmund Fitzgerald Lookout Trail. Two miles later we had a fabulous view of Pancake Bay and the point where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank back in 1975. Two miles back, and our house battery was still undercharged, so we bought a bag of ice and parked Ernie in a parking lot close to our campsite with full sun. Of course, the Sun hid behind clouds, generating only a fraction of the power we hoped for.

My afternoon was calmer than Sharon's. She took off for a beach hike, and later a swim, while I chilled. We did do a half bike ride, half hike to the western tip of the bay, but the next bay wasn't worth continuing the hike so we found a different route back to the bikes.

Over a bit of wine with our chairs on the sand watching the lake, we listened to Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Realizing it all happened offshore in far worse weather than the calm flat seas we were enjoying the story was still so much more relevant than any of the 400,000 times I've heard that song.

The mosquitoes weren't as numerous our second night, perhaps because their numbers were depleted by Sharon's previous killing spree.  Tomorrow we have a 5+ hour drive, though the Parry Sound 33 forest fire may be a monkey wrench in our drive, hopefully not.

Ontario pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/zv6SmV1TrSMNJKAT7