Weather, and the RV Lifestyle

Cassie zonks out on a lazy day

Sunday Update, May 13, 2018--

I’m typing this Sunday morning, as a sort of summary of the past few days from the “lifestyle” point of view (as opposed to the “activities” point of view, which I will do separately.) We have been set up since Thursday evening at Mendota County Park on Lake Mendota. It’s kind of like being in a suburb or residential neighborhood-- there are private homes bordering directly on the park (and I mean directly-- you can walk into private back yards only a few feet from the road leading into the park, where I walk with Cassie.) It’s very pretty, but small (which is not a problem, just an observation.) If Lake Mendota is a clock face, we are parked at 9:00, and the campus of the University of Wisconsin is down at 6:00. Our car rental place is at 3:00. so we have now driven all around the lake in one direction or another, depending on our destination.

It’s been VERY rainy this weekend, but we were extra lucky yesterday during the day-- the temperature was mild (maybe about 60 degrees) and there was not a drop of rain all morning, which meant that graduation, held in the football stadium, was quite comfortable and pleasant. There was a light sprinkle in the afternoon while we were inside having some lunch, but it stopped when we drove to the base for Natan’s commissioning ceremony. It didn’t rain until just after Joe and I got back to the RV and I’d had a chance to walk Cassie. The road in the park at that point was almost all dried up, except for one particularly deep puddle. And then it POURED again, thunder and lightening, on and off for several hours. Cassie spent a lot of time curled up between the bed and the wall in the bedroom, where she comes to feel more secure during thunderstorms. So this morning, all the puddles are back, the large puddle is larger, and the ground, which was already saturated, is now full of puddles in the lower grassy areas. Our campsite is not quite as dry as the best ones, but certainly not as bad as a few, which are one big muddy morass.

We have been quite snug and comfortable inside, thanks to the propane furnace. However, when we got home yesterday, it was cold inside, and sure enough, we’d run out of propane. The propane not only powers the furnace, but also the stove. And it’s still pretty damp and chilly outside. Luckily, we are not in such bad shape-- we have a very nice electric heater, which is keeping us comfortable (thank goodness we DO have an electric hookup!). Also, before this trip, we invested in a new item--an induction heater to cook on. It runs on electricity without heating up the room, and we’d thought it would be a good thing to have when the weather is very hot-- cooking on the stove in hot weather is uncomfortable. We made sure to bring along some pots that will work on the cooktop (they need to have a ferrous metal in them to work) and our tea kettle is all metal too. So we’re able to cook if we want to, and I have just boiled water for tea. The coffee maker is electric, so Joe had his coffee, and the refrigerator runs on electricity when we are plugged in, so that’s working fine, and even the hot water heater runs on electricity. But when we leave tomorrow, our first thing will be to find a place to fill the propane tank again before we go wherever we might go.

Flooded campsite

I see people are starting to pull out this morning-- we will probably be more or less by ourselves tonight, I suspect. Cassie would be a lot happier here if she could spend some time outside in the grass, as usual in a site like this, but since it’s so muddy, she’s been staying inside with us. She’s been enjoying her walks, though-- there are ducks and geese on the lake, and she rediscovered her golden retriever side when we inadvertently flushed a duck this morning-- it was on a grassy puddle behind some bushes. Two geese followed it-- great canine excitement!

It is very nice to have the option of making our phones into a wifi hotspot-- I remember having to drive around looking for a place with wifi to “borrow” so I could upload my blogs. But when I am finished with this one, we’ll turn on of our phones and upload that way.

Our plans for today include just hanging out, but we will do some errands also. We need a few items, such as bottled water, and we are going out to a Chinese Noodle Restaurant for lunch. Beth and Joe have been sending us food porn pictures from Japan, and I can’t stand it any more! Although there appear to be numerous Ramen places here in Madison, Joe found a Chinese place which makes home-made hand-pulled noodles, and I am salivating for them. So we’ll go out for lunch, and then a shopping trip, and then back to our little nest to rest up until tomorrow. And I *do* have to figure out where we are going after this!!

Reading in bed

[Added after lunch: Noodles were yummy, with lots of leftovers. Stopped at a grocery store, and now we are home again. The rain is stopped, the sun is out, and it's warmer. Where SHOULD we go tomorrow??]