Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Not All Who Wander Are Lost
June, 2019 - Mount Denali, Alaska

Sunday, April 21, 2013

What Kind of Spring is This?

We’ve been back in Wisconsin for almost a week, and I’ve barely been outside. I’ve definitely become spoiled. I just can’t stand cold weather anymore.

Almost every day has been cold with highs in the 30s. Southeastern Wisconsin is on track for having the wettest April on record. It’s rained most of the days we’ve been back, and just for fun some days there have been snow flurries mixed in. Don’t forget about the winds, gusting several days to over 30 miles per hour.

Okay, enough complaining about the weather. Much of the country is experiencing cold spring weather. At least we haven’t had accumulating snow or flooding where we are. I really want to get out walking again, but I’m not a gluten for punishment!

Cathryn’s aunt and uncle work camp in Minnesota in the summer. They happened to be at the same campground we were at in Omaha waiting for the snow to melt in Minnesota so they could get into their campground. They are still waiting in Omaha.

When we arrived at our spot on Tuesday, Mike the park foreman came to turn on the water for us. The pressure was very low and he discovered there was a hole in the pipe by the well. So, Kevin filled our water tank (it took an hour with the low pressure) and we’re not hooked up to the water for now. They are supposed to be fixing it this week. It’s probably a good thing we’re not hooked up anyway with all this cold weather.

Last Wednesday we went to my mom’s to pick up our car which we store in her garage while we’re gone for the winter. It started up great, but as Kevin pulled out of the garage the brake pedal went to the floor. Seems the brake line broke. He called the dealership he used to work at, and they arranged to have it towed in. They have fixed the brake lines and did an oil change as long as it was there. We’re picking it up tomorrow.

We also stopped at our son Eric’s house to pick up our mail from the winter. Almost all of it was junk mail. There was one $50 check that made me happy.

Every year on the news they have a story about how every state has uncollected money. Each year I look, and our names are never on the list. To my surprise, this year my name was on the list for $50 due from Chase Bank for a credit card we used to have. I had cancelled the card due to their ridiculous fees. Somehow, we were due $50 from them. I filled out the forms online, and the check was waiting for us. Don’t you just love found money!!

I was so grateful that we had an uneventful trip from Texas to Wisconsin. But, when we were setting up Kevin found that our rear jacks must have bottomed out in the driveway of Burlington RV as we were leaving. The electrical cord was damaged and part of the jacks need to be welded.

He removed the whole jack assembly yesterday and is taking it to his friend’s shop tomorrow to be welded. Then Kevin will fix the wiring and hopefully we’ll have working rear jacks. It sure feels like we’ve had our share of stuff breaking this year. Maybe 2013 is bad luck!

However, our problems are minor. When I watch the stories from Boston and Texas I am reminded to be grateful for the blessings we have in our life such as following our dreams, good health and wonderful family and friends!

I’ve been doing some sewing and we’ve run some errands. Tomorrow Kevin starts his job as park caretaker. There is definitely no need for grass cutting yet, but there are lots of branches and leaves that need to be cleaned up in the park.

We were certainly shocked when a young couple came in Wednesday night and asked if they could camp. They had a tent!! We told them yes, but the shower building is closed due to the lack of water. Only the vault toilets are open.

They stayed for three nights in that tent. One of those nights was extremely windy with lows in the 20s. Crazy!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!