Great American Eclipse, good, but not great....

Totality in Blairsville, GA - 8-21-2017 at 2:34PM

Well, the eclipse was a bit of a bust for us in Blairsville, GA.  August 21 began as a beautiful day - hot and sunny. At 1:05, the eclipse began and my family and I watched it with eager anticipation as the moon slowly nibbled away at the sun's surface. Unfortunately, a big black cloud continued to move ominously toward the overhead sun. Totality in our location was 2:34 PM; sadly, the black cloud beat it to the sun at about 2:15. Totality came and went with total cloud cover over the main event. Nonetheless, we did experience the eerie darkness of totality! Crickets began to chirp and it got unworldly dark! The picture above is a panorama that Carol took of our campground during totality.

As if to rub salt in the wound, the cloud moved on past by about 3:00.We were able to view a bit of the receding eclipse but all of us eclipse viewers in Blairsville were disappointed. Gonna have to wait till April 8, 2024 for another opportunity!

We stayed Saturday to Tuesday at Crossing Creek RV Resort.  It's a winner! Without a doubt, Crossing Creek is the most beautiful RV resort we have ever experienced. Beautiful pool, club house, health club - all the amenities! We will definitely be returning.

Are you ready for the Great American Ecliplse?

So does everyone have their plans ready for Monday, August 21? It's been 99 years since the last total solar eclipse traversed the entire lower-48. For those of us in the Atlanta metro area, we are simply too close to NOT travel a short distance north to see this great celestial event.

Our home town of Jasper will experience 99.1% totality. The city of Atlanta will experience 97%. From everything I've read, however, even 99.9% will not be the same experience as 100% totality, however.  So Carol and I will be joining the masses on the roadways that weekend to get about 50 miles further north. We have reservations in a beautiful RV resort in Blairsville, GA where we will experience one minute 59 seconds of totality! Woohoo!

If you haven't already made travel plans, quite frankly it's probably too late to find a campsite or motel reservation within the path. Due to the proximity, a lot of Atlantans will be making a day trip. Be aware, however, that state and local transportation authorities are already preparing for "hurricane evacuation style" traffic on Monday, August 21. The primary road from Atlanta to the best viewing will north on I-85. If even a small percentage of metro's 5.7 million people decide to play hooky from work that day, they could find themselves viewing the eclipse from the side of the road somewhere. The following article provides important travel details and actually uses the Atlanta metro area as a prime example in the article.

https://www.space.com/37234-expect-solar-eclipse-traffic-jams.html

Bottom line, if you don't have reservations somewhere and plan to travel on the big day, leave early! Do some research and plan to arrive at a public park, shopping center parking lot, or some other unobstructed viewing area. Many communities are hosting eclipse viewing events/parties. Do a search for your intended destination to find out where the best viewing sites may be and if there are public events already planned where you could join the party.

Not only will the roadways be clogged but cell phone service may be a bit sketchy leading up to the event as well. The wireless networks will be clogged with streaming video and social media activity. Experts suggest that text messaging may be a better way to communicate due to the expected, heavy volume of wireless usage. If you have a genuine need for 911 assistance, experts say to be patient as there may be a delayed response time.

Also, don't forget a pair of eclipse viewing glasses for everyone in your party. They are available online, including Amazon. I saw them for sale at our local Kroger this week as well. For those of us in the path of totality, these are essential during the pre and post phases of the eclipse. If you will not be in the path of totality, they will be required for the entire event.

The best advice is to "get to the shadow" early, stay put, and stay safe!

Step covers for Rocky - On the cheap!

We had carpeted step covers on our previous travel trailers which were a really nice touch. Step covers provide a slip-resistant surface and help keep dirt out of the trailer. So, we naturally wanted step covers on the steps of our new Rockwood. The problem was our last trailer only had one step. Rocky has 6!  The step covers on Amazon run about $20 each which would cost $120 for all 6 steps!  Ouch...

I decided that I could accomplish the same thing for a lot less! First stop was Home Depot. Here, I found indoor/outdoor carpet runner. Also added to my cart were a General Tool Grommet Kit and two packages of additional grommets. The cost of supplies for this project:

Carpet runner, 9 feet at 2.26/linear foot = 20.34

Grommet Kit                                          =   9.97

Two packs of additional grommets        =   5.34

 TOTAL                                                   =  35.65

So far, so good!  Less than the cost of just two ready-made step covers!

Here's how I completed the project:

Step 1:  My steps are 9 inches wide, so I cut 6 lengths of carpet runner, each18" long. 18 inches provided cover for the step surface and with the wrap-around the edges, that left a gap on the underside of about 2 inches.

Step 2: The carpet runner was too wide for my steps so I trimmed each piece along the sides. The design in the carpet provided a perfect guide for cutting.  I simply cut each side, following the outside groove in the design.

Step 3: On the backside of the carpet, I measured 1-1/2 inch in from each leading edge and marked each side at the midpoint and then an additional mark 2 inches from each end.  Three "bullseyes" along each edge mark the spots for punching the grommet holes.

Step 4: Using the hole punch in the grommet kit, a hammer, and a scrap piece of wood, I punched a hole at each "bullseye." 

Step 5: I added a piece of Gorilla Tape (regular duct tape would work fine too) over each hole to reinforce it.
* The tape was an after-thought but I highly recommend it. The first step I finished had the grommet rip the hole a bit. The tape solved that problem nicely. I then re-punched the tape. You could add the tape first and just punch once.  

Step 6:  Following instructions in the grommet kit, add a grommet to each punched hole. First, place the grommet on the supplied anvil. Then place the hole punched in the carpet over the grommet. 

Step 7:  Place the "eye" of the grommet over the grommet.  

Step 8: Using the supplied grommet tamp, tap the grommet with a hammer to set it. 

Step 9: Repeat for all holes in all pieces of carpet. In my case, that meant 6 grommets on 6 carpet pieces for a total of 36 grommets. 

Step 10: Center the step cover on the step. 

Step 11: On the underside, thread a zip tie through opposing grommets and tighten snugly. 

Step 12: Trim the zip ties. 

Step 13: Repeat for all steps. 

Step 14: Admire your completed work!

                          

The matter of keys...

Our first travel trailer was a 28' Dutchman Kodiak. It had a front and rear door as well as two undercarriage storage compartments.  Each door - all four of them - had a unique key. Drove me crazy! Trying to remember which key went with which door was highly frustrating! When we sold the Kodiak, we downsized to an RPod. It had only one entrance door which meant only one door key but it had another key for the storage underneath. In addition to these, there was the key for the coupler lock and the hitch pin. Keys and more keys!

If you've been following this blog, you know that we recently bought a new Rockwood travel trailer - affectionately nicknamed Rocky. Like our original Kodiak, Rocky has a front and rear door, two storage compartment doors, and an access panel to the outdoor shower. Before we picked up Rocky, I was assuming (hoping) that the Kodiak's assortment of keys was an anomaly. Surely, I reasoned, THIS trailer will have its doors keyed alike. Sadly, no. Rocky has four unique keys for the doors and compartments. Plus the extra keys for the coupler, hitch pin, etc.

To compound the overall key frustration, we learned that in the world of RVs there are, surprisingly, a fairly limited number of different keys out there. The folks where we stored our Kodiak told us they had a set of keys that "pretty much fit any travel trailer on the lot." Yes, it's true. There's a good chance you and some of your fellow campers share the same key. So we're not only deviled with a fist-full of keys for our units but we also live with the knowledge that our homes-on-wheels are far from secure.

The ideal solution would be to replace all the factory-installed locks with new combination locks - all set to the same combination. We are seriously considering this solution for Rocky. The good ones are a bit pricey though and we need to get past the initial purchase outlay before making another big investment in our new toy.

So, until that upgrade happens, Carol & I decided to conquer the battle of the keys. Our simple (and cheap) solution was dollar key rings with coiled wrist bands and a 98¢ package of plastic key color codes. Since we come and go through the rear entrance door 90% of the time and use the undercarriage storage compartments 99% more than the outdoor shower compartment, the rear entrance door and storage compartment door each got a green plastic cap (green for go, since those are the doors I "go to" most often).  This simple solution has saved me so much time from fumbling around with the wrong key for the wrong door. The other part of our solution is collecting all the keys (for the trailer, hitch, coupler, etc) on the wrist band key ring. When we're out camping, I'm wearing the wrist band all day. No more searching for "lost keys" or wondering where I laid them down. Not a perfect solution, but a big improvement until we pop for replacement, combination locks.

Rocky's first boo-boo...

Well, it was bound to happen. You know the drill - you buy a new car and the day shortly arrives when you get that first door ding. A travel trailer is not prone to door dings, but there are a thousand other things that can happen. For us, Rocky's first incident was a damaged recliner. To bring the slide in requires that the two recliners be moved side by side in front of the rear entrance, behind the kitchen counter, and then strapped for travel. What I didn't consider was the movement of the trailer during travel would be rocking the recliner and causing it to rub against the kitchen cabinet. On the morning after our first day of travel, I was sitting in my recliner enjoying morning coffee and felt something strange under my fingers on the left arm of the chair. The vinyl upholstery had a hole abraded in it from the previous day's travel!

After getting past that initial sick feeling, I Googled remedies for vinyl repair. The first thing that came up in my search was Gorilla Tape, of which I just happened to have a roll in my tool bag! Gorilla Tape is duct tape on steroids and comes in basic black. Our recliners are a deep, dark brown - nearly black - so Gorilla Tape seemed a reasonable solution.  A small piece did the trick.

It remains to be seen how permanent this fix proves to be, but we used Gorilla Tape previously to cover the hole in our RPod's exterior when we threw a rock through the front fiberglass panel last summer (see my previous post). Not only did Gorilla Tape keep the weather out until we made permanent repairs, but it proved to be quite difficult to remove! So, I have a reasonable expectation that this will suffice for my recliner.

Needless to say, I am now much more careful when strapping down my recliners for travel. A big, bulky blanket also goes over the arms to add extra padding between them and the kitchen cabinet.