21 April 2015

Bid adieu to Springfield at 4:49 am (gack!), with the Tacoma fully loaded per usual.  Made great time to Philly (2 hours 40 minutes), but thereafter encountered mile after mile of stop and go traffic to the New Jersey border, completely inexplicable except for massively poor birth control in that area.  Consequently, the trip took 9½ hours, used xx gallons of gasoline, and required 1,600 mg of Ibuprofen.  Found Delores much as I’d left her, except for piles of acorns on top of the starting/coach batteries and in most of the underneath storage compartments, but also including one half-chewed acorn on the dining settee inside the RV (NOT a good sign!).  The dryer sheets strewn about the cabin (or maybe the resident squirrel(s)?) seem to have kept the mice reasonably at bay, just some droppings and no nests.  However, something (marauding bear, irate squirrel, or snow/ice) bent the passenger side windshield wiper down at a severe angle.  Kate’s lake-source water system being out of commission at present due to a winter freeze up episode, Marty & Merry graciously allowed me to fill Delores’ tanks with their purified (and oh, so delicious) water.  While the water was flowing, tried to start Delores to extend the slide-out.  No joy whatsoever using either the truck or coach batteries!  Rats!!!!  Hopefully the shore power inverter will charge the coach batteries overnight…  The inside of the house shell was clean, dry, and smells wonderful!  Found that a beach tree had a broken and fallen across the wooden walkway, doing no damage due to the latter’s (obviously) superior construction.  The lake water level is 15″ below the top of the dock in spite of a very snowy winter.  The water temperature is a heart-stopping 47°F.