Lamp Posts And Other Yard Art......

Happy Tuesday here from the FROG Rally in Goshen, IN.  This morning got off to a wet start.  The rain started about 4 am and was finished about 7 am.  The forecast is for the possibility of more storms and wind this evening, but we are all hoping it's just a possibility.  

We walked around this morning to take pictures of all the different decorations in the Pod Village.  It's really fun to see how people decorate the outside of their pods.

Even Maggie got in on the fun.  She wanted her picture taken as a decoration for furpod!

Finally there is one more lamp post picture we want to show you.  It's the lamp post for the super secret x-pod.  (It's disguised as an Airstream Bambi.)  So Rob will have to sneak over to where it is parked later and see if he can get a picture of it without being caught.  

Well it looks like Rob wasn't successful just yet, but he'll keep trying.   Today's post is a little early.  This evening is the Pod Village Potluck Dinner.  Be sure to check back again tomorrow.  We have two plant tours scheduled, so it should be a very busy day.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T, but no J.

RV Hall of Fame.....

Happy Monday evening everyone.  We've had a great day here at the FROG rally.  The weather has been cloudy and cool all day, just perfect for sightseeing.  So we loaded up with furpods people (Mark and Sue) and KYMooses people (Travis and Carrie) and went to visit the RV Hall of Fame in nearby Elkhart.

There were an amazing array of vintage RVs there.  Everything from early motorhomes, pop-ups, teardrops, and one or two experimental models.

We spent quite awhile looking at all the vintage trailers.  There were so many models, with so many different designs.  While Rob took lots of pictures he says he's going to save them for later posts.  

Trisha, Sue, and Carrie did have a little fun......

After touring the museum, we went to Das Essenhaus, a huge restaurant, for lunch.  Then we went back to the campground to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.  It turned out once we got there the Forest River Crew were in the pod village repairing all the various issues with the pods.  

Now you all know how Rob looks after pod, so all pod really needed was a new propane gas regulator, and the recall light bar.  

Look closely at the next picture, and you can see two very special new stickers for our collection.  The first one is from Mark and Sue (furpod).  The second one is from the awesome crew at Forest River.  Can you guess which ones they are?

We're not sure what's in store for tomorrow, but we are sure we will have a full day.  Be sure to check back by tomorrow evening to read all about it.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T, but no J.

We Be Froggin'.....

Happy Sunday evening from the 2013 Forest River Owner's Group (F.R.O.G.) International Rally here in Goshen , IN.   We are at the Elkhart County 4H Fairgrounds.  This place is huge.  They really take their county fairs seriously here in this part of the country!

We left Van Wert, OH, this morning about 8:30, and arrived here around 10 am.  It was a beautiful drive, and in just a few minutes of arriving, we were backing in our campsite and setting up camp.

Our day has been full of visiting with old friends, making new friends, giving tours, setting up camp, and just generally enjoying ourselves.  The weather is so awesome.  So far we haven't needed to run the A/C.

On the way over to registration after setting up camp, we hopped a ride on the golf cart shuttle, and had a race with TINK......

After a very quick registration process, we checked out the dining facility......

Rob took Trisha and Tink's picture with FROGGIE.......

Before we knew it, time had come to assemble for supper.  Oh my, supper was awesome!!!   After walking back from supper, Rob helped a new arrival set up.  It was only her third camping trip ever, and in short order all was good.

Just before dark, Rob took this photo of pods lined up on one side of the pod village......

We have had such a busy day, we both know we will sleep good tonight.  There is so much to see and do here in the fairgrounds, and in the area too!   We'll be sure to take lots of pictures.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for another rally update.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T, but no J.

Brown's Family Driveway Campground

Happy Saturday evening everyone.  We pulled out of the Exhibition Coal Mine Campground this morning at 8 am.  We spent our day travelling across the beautiful state of Ohio.  Most of our drive was on US 33.  

We arrived out our friends Ella and Tom's house about 3 pm.   We quickly backed into their driveway, plugged into electric, and went inside to visit.

Here's a quick picture of their exclusive little campground.....

Ella fixed us all a great supper, and we spent the evening visiting.

 Like our friend Jimmy would say, "The weather is beautiful, wish you were here."  Tomorrow we arrive at FROG in Goshen.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R&T.

We're In Beckley, West Virginia......

Happy Friday evening everyone.  Today is a special "double post" day.  We are camping at the Exhibition Coal Mine in Beckley, WV.  It is a beautiful evening, with temps in the 70's and very low humidity.  If fact, Rob is sitting outside typing this post.  

   We are in a small city owned campground located directly over a coal mine here in Beckley.  The site is paved, with 30 amp electric, water, and sewer.  The bath houses are great too.  

We arrived here about 4 pm this afternoon.  We did a quick set up, and then were off to explore the Exhibition Coal Mine.

Here is a picture of the "company store."  It is now a the gift shop, campground check-in and ticket purchasing center.  We only toured the above ground exhibits.  Rob said he wasn't ready to be six or more feet underground just yet!!

This is the mine superintendent's house.  It was fully furnished with period items and was just beautiful.  Two of it's three floors were open to tour.  Rob took lots of pictures and said he'd make a post about it later.

We also saw this two room school house.  Grades 1-4 were in one half of the building.  Grades 5-8 were in the other half.   The mine company paid the teacher's salaries.  

We saw the Bachelor's Shanty where single men or married men who traveled back home on the weekends lived.  


You can see the inside of the shanty.  With a bed, stove, table, and siting area, it sorta reminds you of a r-Pod.  

Of course there was a church.  It was very beautiful inside.  Heat was from a wood stove set along the left side of the church.  We couldn't imagine it being a very warm place to worship in the winter.  

These are just a few of the over 100 pictures Rob took on our tour.  He said he will post more pictures later.  

To round out our afternoon, we went to Gino's Pizza & Spaghetti House for dinner.  It was close by, reasonably priced, and not very busy.  The pizza was great too.

Thanks for checking by today.  Tomorrow we plan to be up and out of here early.  We have about 340 miles to Van Wert, OH.  

Friends Ella and Tom are letting us camp in the "Brown Family Driveway Campground."  Oh boy!  We look forward to visiting with them and her sister Tink.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T, but no J!

We're Out Of Here.....

Happy Friday everyone.  Yup, that's right, at about noon today we're off on our next big adventure.  We are off to the FROG Rally in Goshen, IN.  

After months of planning, mapping routes, modding, prepping, saving, posting, and anticipation, the day to leave is here.   Heck, the hour to leave is almost here.  We are spending tonight in Beckly, WV.  Then on to Van Wert, OH for Saturday evening, finally arriving in Goshen on Sunday. 

Check back this evening for our first FROG Rally update.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R & T.  (J is grandma sitting.)

A Quick Repair......

Happy Sunday evening everyone.  Can you believe it was raining earlier this evening?  It seems we can hardly go two days without a rain shower here lately.  At any rate, we hope everyone has had a great weekend.  Our weekend was busy, we spent quite a while Friday evening and Saturday morning doing some back-to-school clothes shopping for the both of us.

Our blog post this evening is about a quick repair Rob had to do to Pod this evening.   This is our fourth season camping with Pod.  We usually start our camping season in March, with the last trip as late as the end of December.  During the warm weather months, we tend to camp in the mountains where it is much cooler.  So normally we don't really use our A/C very much.  

This summer we've been to the beach twice, and the mountains twice.   We definitely needed the A/C at the beach, and also used it for a bit in the mountains.  But it seems our Dometic Analog Thermostat has been having some issues this year.

To the left is a picture of our thermostat.  It it supposed to work just like the one in your house, controlling the A/C and the furnace.   We don't use the furnace because it is very noisy and is located underneath the bed.  

It seems this summer, the thermostat lost the ability to control the A/C very well.  It would let the A/C run and run until the temperature in the Pod was unbearably cold, shut off, only to restart in only a few minutes to a few seconds (the latter being very, very bad) later.

After reading about how the thermostat operates, Rob built a cover out of a paper plate this last trip to the beach.  Believe it or not, it did help.  But we would still have to cut the A/C off and on manually at night.  So Rob did some more research, and decided to replace the thermostat.  

A new one just like the current model we have costs in the neighborhood of $50.  To upgrade to a Dometic Digital Thermostat, requires an upgrade kit.  Not only does the thermostat have to changed out, so does the A/C controller in the unit.  The price for this kit was in the $175 plus range.   

Another option Rob researched was to replace the original Dometic thermostat with a simple battery powered digital thermostat.  So off to Lowes this afternoon to get a new thermostat.  The cost was a much more reasonable $25.

Once starting the install, the first thing Rob did was too make sure the breaker to the A/C was switched off.  Then taking the cover of the old thermostat, Rob took a picture of the wire hook-up, and he also wrote down the color/names of the wires.  Then we disconnected the wires, and took the old thermostat off the wall.

The next step was to connect the wires to the new thermostat and mount it on the wall.   The holes for the old thermostat lined right up with the mounting holes needed for the new thermostat!  

Here are the wire colors and what they mean:

Red:  12 volt DC to power thermostat.  Not needed so taped.

Yellow:  Control for A/C.  Connected to terminal Y.

Brown:  Low speed fan.  Connected to terminal G

White:  Control for furnace.  Connected to terminal W.

Green:  Ground.  Connected to Terminal R (Rc) and jumpered to terminal Rh

Blue:  High Speed Fan.  Not needed so taped.  We never use the fan on high speed, so Rob didn't connect this wire.  This can be switched if needed.

 

Then it was a matter of putting the 2 AAA batteries in the thermostat, verifying the thermostat setting, and attaching the thermostat itself to the back plate.

This particular model of thermostat has a five minute "rest" cycle between run cycles for the A/C.  This allows for the head pressure to dissipate so the A/C compressor doesn't have to start under a load (BAD).  The thermostat also displays the actual temperature, and controls the furnace also.

Rob then spent about an 90 minutes just hanging out in the pod to verify proper operation.  He is glad to report all is good now.  He also made the bed and straightened up a bit.

Thanks for checking by today.  Have a great Monday.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.