Connecticut - Day 14

Mystic KOA
Wednesday, 14 November 2018

It's been seriously cold all day long.  The online weather report said it was in the 20s this morning when I was still drinking coffee.

The heater is having to work overtime (it seems) to keep the cabin temp anywhere in the 60s.  I turn it down a little overnight and wake up to just over 50°.  It's cold.

And it's even colder because of the wind chill.  Everybody I've talked to here in the park agrees - it's not just my little maladjusted Texas thermostat.

I took my laundry over to the machines this morning and found myself the only one there for a while.  Much better than yesterday's crowd.  I've learned to check my quarters before putting them in the machines because they usually get upset with Canadian quarters.  I think I'm seeing many more of the state quarters than I remember doing in Texas, but maybe I just wasn't paying as much attention there. 

Anyway, today I found 2 quarters, both saying they were West Virginia quarters, but they were different.  The one dated 2005 shows the New River Gorge Bridge on it.  The one dated 2016 shows John Brown's Fort on it. 

This is the first I've heard that states may have more than one quarter so I looked it up.  In fact, the US Mint is issuing a 2nd round of state quarters, this one called the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.  Actually, I have trouble seeing what's beautiful about either John Brown or his fort, whereas the New River Gorge Bridge looks like it's quite pretty.  But what do I know.

This afternoon I got a new next-door neighbor - one of those enormous Class A RVs - and met the husband named Eddie.  Definitely a gregarious guy who says he works at a KOA in Georgia but had come back up to his native CT for family business.  Nice guy.  Quickly diagnosed my water hose problem as a missing gasket and gave me one of his extras.  Really nice.

Actually, if he sticks around till the weather's better, I'll hit him up for advice on how to get reception from the TV cable.  When I tried to hook it up at another KOA a few months ago, all I could pick up were seriously pixilated somethings. 

But given the current temperature and the fact that snow's predicted for tomorrow, I'll wait to hook up both the water hose and the cable.

When I was getting washing machine change in the office, I mentioned a dire need for long underwear, and several employees told me there's a Tractor Supply just a couple miles down the road.  I won't go today but maybe tomorrow before the snow comes.

The other even more serious need is getting more propane.  When I'm plugged in to electricity, the propane runs only the heater and the range top.  When I'm not plugged in, it also runs the reefer and freezer.  Not much, but as I was saying, that heater is working to beat the band.

Plus, the dogs are so cold they've both taken to lying in front of it and I finally put down a little bed of towels to keep them off the cold floor.  Even Gracie is spending time there, which gives you an idea of how cold it is. 

The inside temp hasn't gotten near 70° in ages so I'm not really cranking the heat up.  I've just got this huge gap underneath the cabin where cold air flows in unchecked.  The RVs in the park that are here for the duration all have insulation put up around their bases, but obviously I can't do that.  So we'll just keep using propane.