Early October, with Bugs
From the Cape it was back to Foxboro for another week of J’s training classes; we stayed at Normandy Farms again but this time I asked for a site on the edge of the campground, which we enjoyed a bit more than being right next to the bathhouse. After that we headed south a bit, ending up in a campground in southern New York state (Black Bear Campground, Florida, NY) in order to visit my relatives in northern New Jersey. The visit was very pleasant; we met up with some friends of theirs who were interested in RVing and spent a lot of time talking over the RV lifestyle.
The campground was very nice; it was one of those parks with big pull-through sites in a grassy field. I took the opportunity to troubleshoot a leak we’d noticed at Normandy Farms right before we left. It turned out to be the water inlet connection. Most rigs are plumbed with plastic water lines, and the hand-tightened connections work loose over time. As I’m sure I’ve said before, traveling in an RV and running it down the road is like having your home in a semi-permanent earthquake. We carry Teflon tape so that was fixed in jig time. Cleaning out the water inlet didn’t fix the check valve that’s been out of order, so I ordered a new inlet for later replacement and just tacked the old inlet back in place.
That’s important to fix now, in fall, because we mostly use our water pump in the winter; when we’re camping in below freezing weather, we fill the fresh water tank and disconnect the campground water hose (first thing to freeze, always.) The check valve in the water inlet closes when the water pump is active, preventing the water pump from attempting to fill the great outdoors.
The only downside to our stay at Black Bear campground was the wildlife. Not the deer, which were plentiful, but the STINK BUGS! They positively swarmed on the shady side of the rig. I didn’t worry too much about them at the time, we were keeping the windows closed, though we did have to sweep off the slides to bring them in for travel. That was a mistake, though I’m not sure what we could have done about it. Turns out stink bugs are small enough to get past the heavy duty gaskets which seal the slides. Every time I brought the slides in or out for the next two weeks we killed a few. We found them everywhere. I shook two out of the laundry bag at a Laundromat, weeks later. I found one on my pillow! Auugh! Over a month later we’re still finding them now that we’re in warmer weather.
Thankfully Lilibelle is a fine feline early warning system. We found any number of bugs because when she spots one she points like a retriever and meows until someone notices and takes care of the offending insect. She doesn’t seem to want to play with them; when we dispose of them she’s all "my work here is done." Good kitty!
The campground was very nice; it was one of those parks with big pull-through sites in a grassy field. I took the opportunity to troubleshoot a leak we’d noticed at Normandy Farms right before we left. It turned out to be the water inlet connection. Most rigs are plumbed with plastic water lines, and the hand-tightened connections work loose over time. As I’m sure I’ve said before, traveling in an RV and running it down the road is like having your home in a semi-permanent earthquake. We carry Teflon tape so that was fixed in jig time. Cleaning out the water inlet didn’t fix the check valve that’s been out of order, so I ordered a new inlet for later replacement and just tacked the old inlet back in place.
That’s important to fix now, in fall, because we mostly use our water pump in the winter; when we’re camping in below freezing weather, we fill the fresh water tank and disconnect the campground water hose (first thing to freeze, always.) The check valve in the water inlet closes when the water pump is active, preventing the water pump from attempting to fill the great outdoors.
The only downside to our stay at Black Bear campground was the wildlife. Not the deer, which were plentiful, but the STINK BUGS! They positively swarmed on the shady side of the rig. I didn’t worry too much about them at the time, we were keeping the windows closed, though we did have to sweep off the slides to bring them in for travel. That was a mistake, though I’m not sure what we could have done about it. Turns out stink bugs are small enough to get past the heavy duty gaskets which seal the slides. Every time I brought the slides in or out for the next two weeks we killed a few. We found them everywhere. I shook two out of the laundry bag at a Laundromat, weeks later. I found one on my pillow! Auugh! Over a month later we’re still finding them now that we’re in warmer weather.
Thankfully Lilibelle is a fine feline early warning system. We found any number of bugs because when she spots one she points like a retriever and meows until someone notices and takes care of the offending insect. She doesn’t seem to want to play with them; when we dispose of them she’s all "my work here is done." Good kitty!