May 15th to 26th June 2010

15th May to 26th June 2010

This picture is of my camp site on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, right on the seawall and the overseas cargo ships passed just 150 metres in fron of Rocinante. But back to the story from the middle of May!!

Jetty park at Port Canaveral is quite comfy, It only has power and waste hookup, no cable TV or internet, but a short drive down to MacDonald’s allows a check of emails and to do shopping for food etc. But it does have a wonderful beach and a closeup view of the large cruise ships as they exit and enter the harbour.,

The nice location also allows me to chase a few little problems in wiring and plumbing in comfortable circumstances!

Monday 17^th and off to Kennedy Space Centre again as weekday and fewer people. The queues last Thursday were quite long. It was straight onto the buses this morning and rained!! But all the things to see were inside. Included 3 3D movies!! Great day. The initial entry charge covers 2 days.

It was an overnight at Wal-Mart at Port St John. Good location. Not too close to railway track!!

Next day along the coastal highway to gamble Rogers State Park and camped on a nice location that is in fact on top of the coastal dune. Great beach walks in the front yard!! We rolled in, we connected the water supply to Rocinante as well as the 110Volt power and went for a walk! Came back to a lake underneath Rocinante. The electrical water dump valve on the 120 gallon fresh water tank had not closed properly after a clearing purge before connecting the local water!! Had my togs on, so it was throw a mat underneath in the twilight and try to remove the offending valve and I managed to fabricate an alternative connection without the purge valve from scrap parts I had n

bought from the RV wreckers at Hot Springs!! Managed to get it all “watertight” before it got totally dark!!! A Gin and tonic has never tasted so good!!!

Spend 2 lovely days and nights here on the beach. Along the coastal highway A1A to St Augustine. I had been here before in winter and it was good to see it in the high season. Stopped at the classic and very well restored Lighthouse on the way up the peninsular before heading across the estuary to St Augustine. Used my old boondocking camp site at the Riberia Street Electric Company switchyard entrance which was within easy walking distance of everything. The Fort, The Lightner Museum and the old part of town. The Americana gallery; http://www.absoluteamericana.com/

Michael Roux the owner and creator of this marvellous place was my host to take me around the exhibits and to tell of his amazing life.

After 2 nights in the switch yard spot it was on to the St Augustine Flea markets. Many secondhand professional stalls, but a few small kitchen items for Rocinante.

Down I95 to Daytona beach markets for an hour or so and then out to New Smyrna Speedway for the big night there. Overnighted in the carpark and the quarter midgets with 160cc 4 stroke engines and under 16 year old drivers were hard at it in the 150 metre oval track. Lap times of 16 seconds!!

Big days easy travel to Sat Johns River at Jacksonville. I was on the barge for the river crossing and another driver was looking over the side of the Ferry for the 10 minute crossing and I asked whether there was any RV parks nearby. Without me following him right into it, I would never have found it, not on the net, it is a fishing camp and is right on the river, see the photo taken from the seawall at the start of this blog.

Spent 6 very relaxing and glorious days here watching the big cargo ships passing just 150 metres in front of Rocinante! Did some day trips in a borrowed set of wheels to Fernandino Beach which is literally infected with secondhand and antique stores; yes, I did fall victim to a few small pieces, and on to St Marys on the Georgia side of the Georgia Florida border. We call it the state Line here!!

There is no cable TV hookup at this site, so I pull up stakes and head down to Daytona Beach to a good campsite there at KOA Speedway. Walking distance to the enormous Daytona fleamarket and then on the Sunday afternoon spend the rest of the day in front of the TV with a beer in hand and watch the Indianapolis 500!!

31^st of May and it is a midday departure for Ocala where I have an appointment for an RV place to investigate the inverter switching system for 110 VAC on 6 power points. Back to my Wal-Mart campspot!! Am invited to a pool party at a large gated community for a swim at the pool, great company and meet lots of great people, thanks!! It is Memorial Day Public holiday.

Next morning it is on up to Bob’s RV Salvage at High Springs, I know what I want to stock up on now!! I spend several 100’s on new and used parts to improve and repair any problems if they should arise! Even manage to get a set of main door lock locator pins!!

Made contact with the Williams family up near Jacksonville and may be able to find underbody truckwash facility near there. Also looking for an RV or Bus repair facility to fit new aircon compressor and alter system to current R134A gas, and then remove it prior to shipping!!

Found both places near Jacksonville and with a clean underbody and a quote for air conditioner work to be done the first week of August.

Back to RV salvage to have yet another sift through the yard and come out with a big bag of stuff for $20! Then into High Springs and a marvellous group Antique Mall!! Down Highway 441 towards Ocala and big dirt Speedway! Overnight at RingPower; Catapillar Dealer, carpark. Complete with WiFi. Friday is Speedway day and park in carpark area early!! Lazy day and read.

Great night and the last race is a 75 lapper around the 3/8 mile track. The smell of exhaust and burnt rubber still lingers!!

Saturday and the Bull Riding Rodeo is in town. Friends from Ocala have included me in their party. Overall, the Bulls won!! And it was back to my camp spot at Wal-Mart Silver Springs.

I had an appointment with Kenworth in Jacksonville to do an underbody steam and pressure clean, looks good and then on to Rivers RV to quote on the Airconditioning rebuild.

Stayed at Wal-Mart Middleburg for 2 nights and went to movie Prince of Persia, very good. The Williams family showed me the sights Thanks Chuck and Cat, while I waited for an 8.30 am Wednesday appointment with “RV electrical Specialist” at De Land. I arrive there on time, but the spec was not there yet!! It took me 10 minutes to assess the “specialist” as I placed all the circuits for this section on the table. It was patently clear that reading a schematic was not his thing! I watched for half an hour and then he asked me to help!! An extra pair of semi skilled hands was all I had needed in the first place. I spent 3 hours there using their nuts and bolts tray and pvc tape and power connected to Rocinante. When finished, they only charged me half an hour labour!! I now have power to all my points and they as well as I know a bit more about Rocinante!!

Pulled into Marina 44; naturally enough on Highway 44, for lunch after my morning of ‘assisting” and when I went to start up, all I got was RR, RR, R nothing!! Pull out the massive chassis battery tray and every connection was either warm or very hot!! I did not have a file, but a begging trip to the marina workshop equipped me with 3 feet of emery tape!! The steam clean had obviously removed the gunk on the lugs and terminals that had been giving some sort of connection!! Found yet another connection on the chassis battery lead join where the positive lead had been getting VERY hot, so back to the workshop and a small stainless bolt and washers and it is now like new. I know a little bit more about Rocinante now!!

Overnight at the horse stud and go to a Movie, Letter to Juliet was only non violent!!

Next morning it was of north to Ohio on Highway 121 and joining 301 in Georgia. 301 and 25 takes me all the way to Greenville South Carolina and Wal-Mart is my overnight stop at about 9pm as it just gets dark. I am hearing a lot of fan and compressor belt slip, so I am concerned; but this was overcome with my concern for the mountains!! Jones Pass was the first one just 12 km north of my overnight. The alternator is overcharging as well!! The Appalachian Mountains range from about 1500 feet to a top of 3772 feet. The interstate 25 goes up and down and up and down etc for about 300 km!! Rocinante and I arrive in Kingsport Tennessee just after lunch and Stowers CAT Service Centre immediately put a real specialist on the job, tensions were down, But RingPower had put oversized belts on and no more adjustment available. But much better and access to the alternator showed a little cleaning and regulator tag terminal clean and it is perfect again. Plenty of more hills and Parkersburg West Virginia is my overnight. Another good day with 750 Km done.

Saturday the 12^th June

Parkersburg is on the southern bank of the Ohio River, and the highway 7 follows the river closely all the way through Ohio. I get to Clarington about midday and a big Fair is in progress. Great atmosphere in this small town. Church has roast beef lunch on and the banjo player turns out to be the Pastor!!

After lunch it was on to Bridgeport and my first Investment House location. My friend was “guided” back in 2006 by a “shrewd” strategist; also can be referred to as a spiv!!, to buy cheaply, renovate; and the spiv was going to do this, and then get reasonable rental returns. Problem was that the towns are all old Iron and coal towns and the industry no longer operates in this whole Ohio River valley any more. Coal for power generation is very much mechanised and iron and steel is processed in Korea!!

The little cottage in Howard Street looked very forlorn, but a couple of days of yard work and internal cleaning and it shamed the neighbours into doing their yards as well!! Door locks fitted and basement siphoned out and some siding sheets replaced on the side wall. Looked good. The home is 14 squares over the 2 floors. A good size for the street. It was then listed with the local Realtor and it was time for me to move on to the next at Johnstown Pennsylvania.

I moved on from my campsite of the last 4 nights; I may add that Howard Street has a 4 tonne load limit. I am 14 tonne!! And it is a no through road, so a U turn was necessary when I returned from any shopping trip that necessitated going more than a mile on foot!!

The way to Johnstown was due east from Bridgeport, straight across the Ohio River to Wheeling West Virginia; which has been made famous in a song of that name!!, and straight into a long tunnel that emerged on the range out of the Ohio River valley. Toatally different country. It was east on Interstate 70 without many bad hills till my turn off north at Somerset. I took state road 601 for a scenic run, nice and narrow, but lovely severely undulating farmland! Back to 219 and then into Johnstown. The astern side of town is at 2600 feet and as I descended into the valley and town centre, it was 1200 feet asl. Wood Street is a one way street and getting a 38 foot vehicle in took care, but a parking spot was available on the street directly in front of 427 / 429.

It had all the outward indications of abandonment! So A circuitous inspection revealed the 2^nd duplex to be actually locked. The first was open and it was evident that some renovation had happened a fair while ago because all the rubbish had been thrown down the basement stairway!! I put my work overalls on and hauled for 2 hours, The stack of rubbish was enormous. About 20 garbage bags and 3 carpets were eventually folded and left on the side of the rear lane for garbage pickup next morning. Numerous cardboard cartons were added and then an inspection of the interior indicated the 2^nd to be habitable and the first not so because people had been having stone throwing practice at the windows and had also stolen all the copper pipe visible and the gas hot water service!! The new straw broom got a serious workout and a coup[le of cartons of glass were added to the heap at the rear. New locks were purchased and fitted and I collapsed!!! Next morning and the Garbos went straight past my heap. I caught up with them a street down the hill; I had my wallet in my hand, and a negotiated stop was arranged in 20 minutes! By the time they got back I had a bed base or 2 out for collection and to be crushed into the back of the truck!!

I rented a whipper snipper and was ¾ done when the little 4 stroke motor stopped dead, broken crank I imagine, took it back; no fee, and the wonderful neighbour across the road, Sandie, offered their little 2 stroke giant killer with which I finished the yard and it even looked good!! Took them out toi dinner as recompense!!

Next day was down to City Hall and see how much back taxes were due, could only get the current year and that did not look good!!

The tourist information was promoting the Flood Museum as the prime tourist spot. Which in fact it was, with good reason, marvellous displays and artifacts oif the 1889, 1936 and 1977 floods. The last of which put paid to the last of the Steel Mills in town! http://www.jaha.org/FloodMuseum/facts.html

This was a steel town and nothing else, without the mills, it was a town without purpose. The real estate market reflects that.

The single most outstanding feature of the town is the Inclined Plane!! http://www.inclinedplane.com/

It does not have wings, it is a cable car that runs on rails straight up the side of a mountain !! Not only does it carry passengers and motor cycles, It can carry one car and saves several miles of road travel.

That evening was the first night of the annual Film Festival of the town. So I walked the 2 km. downtown to The Flood Museum again; they have the best small film theatre!, and enjoyed 6 short feature films that were vying for the medal. Home by 9:30pm in dwindling light, the last few streets were travelled with a little fear!!

The Real Estate people agreed to list it and after I put a couple of For Sale by Owner signs up, it was on the road again.

I had seen an advert on TV for a Truck , Tractor and Big Rig Pull at the Fairgrounds at Brookville about 150 km to the north! Arrived there about 4.30 and the parking people put me in a nice level place, as I told them I wanted to stay the night. The fun started at 7pm. Look at this link, easier than trying to explain!!

http://www.ntpapull.com/

http://www.ntpapull.com/NTPA-Videos/

The big rigs were spectacular, The Noise was unbelievable!!

It took the crowds over 2 hours to get out of the carpark, while I had a wee dramn before bed!!

Next day it was north to Edinboro to hook up with some folks met at the Pull. The opportunity to park on a small farm for a few days was a possibility and I was putting off going to Youngstown where I had heard some terrible stories about the crack and gang problems there!!

As it turned out I had 5 very comfortable days at the farm and did a multitude of small maintenance jobs for the Ellis’s and attended to my compressed air leaking problem that had happened near Brookville. I was kindly chauffeured to the local car parts places where I was able to find a replacement pressure switch to fix the air leak. Critical in a vehicle that relies on air for gear change, brakes and throttle!!

On Friday 25^th June, it was onto state road 98 south and I ran into a heap of garage sales!! Needless to say , but I was late in the day arriving at 407 E Dewey in Youngstown. A nice looking duplex on a nice street. Made myself known to all the neighbours and it was in no time at all that help and advice was offered. My $20 whipper snipper from a garage sale earlier in the day was a great success when I attacked the yard next morning. Investigating the sewer leak as reported by the managing agent several months ago revealed a much less serious situation. Looking better all the time. Rocinante is parked on a level spot in the driveway, comfortable for a few days of work here.