New Jersey - Day 7

Clarksboro KOA
Friday, 7 December 2018

Pearl Harbor Day

It was before my time, of course, but I heard memories of that day from my mother and my husband and know that even when it happened they knew the bombing was not just horrific, but also significant.  And when my generation goes, there will be no living memories of it at all.  It will be as much a part of history as Paul Revere's ride (". . . hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year.")  I guess life is always like that.

»  I woke up to a temperature in the lower 30°s and not much better expected for a high.  In fact, the weather folks are saying the average temps for this period are normally in the upper 40°s, but this year they don't expect it to even get to the lower 40°s, and a wind chill expected to lower it into the 20°s and 10°s.  Can't say I've adjusted yet, either physically or mentally, but I guess I'd better get busy.

» This KOA has a catch-and-release pond in the middle of it, and a flock of Canada geese is spending a lot of time there.  At least a dozen each day and sometimes 3 dozen.  But today I'm sure there were 4 dozen and possibly more - hard to count because they wouldn't let me get too close and many were bunched up together.

Also the dogs found a flock of turkeys while we were walking.  The campground is right next to private wooded land and, through the trees, both dogs saw the turkeys before I did.  In fact, I doubt if I would have seen them at all if the dogs going crazy hadn't worried the turkeys into putting some distance between us.  Then I started seeing them one by one by one - there were at least 18 of them.  Their protective coloring works.  Pretty neat to see.

» The roads still seemed slick, at least for much of the morning, and I spent the day here.  Spent some time online and on the phone trying to find a doggy day care that might suit Dexter's needs, and we have an appointment for next Wednesday at one about 30 miles from here (according to the map).

» My RV insurance policy is coming due and my insurance agent, who was unpleasantly surprised at the information that I'm living in it, having apparently not retained that fact, seemed to have trouble finding a policy at a reasonable price.  But she's working on it.

» Once the day warmed up (nearly to 40 I think) I filled the onboard water tank.  The RV has sensors for all the tanks so I can check from an indoor control panel what their status is.  And almost none of them works. 

My blackwater tank sensor always reads full, even when I've just emptied it.  An RV repair guy told me it was probably clogged by waste and I could unclog it by flushing several buckets of ice down the toilet and letting it slosh around while I drove all day - and he demonstrated - but since that lasted about 2 days, I don't see it as a useful fix. 

And besides, my graywater tank sensor always reads empty, even after a week of filling it up.  And I now know that my freshwater tank sensor always reads full, even when it quite clearly isn't, and that's obviously not caused by clogged waste.  So not terribly useful.  Too bad. 

I ignore them now and empty my sewer tanks once a week, every week.  And I'll just plan to fill up my water tank from time to time until the weather warms up enough to plug my hose back in.

» I finally gave up on trying to find Trifexis (flea and heartworm pills) up here and called my vet in Austin - I figured if I have to order by mail, and if I need a vet's prescription, I might as well see if they wanted to do it.  They said not only did Trifexis not allow my vet to send them by mail but also nobody else was allowed to do it either.  All those online ads were completely contrary to company policy, because they're trying to hang onto quality assurance protocols.  Anyway, Ann said since this isn't exactly flea season I should switch to HeartGuard temporarily.  One box would take care of my 2 dogs for 3 months, and by then maybe I'd be somewhere where vets carried Trifexis.  So that's what I'll do.  You live and learn.

» I had to wait for office hours in different time zones, both to call Austin and then to call Olympia, Wash., where my credit union is.  I absolutely adore my credit union - Twin Star Credit Union, very small organization but extremely great at customer service.  They've been bending over backwards to help me out on this bizarre trip I'm taking and allow me to do all kinds of things by phone, talking to a real person.  In this case, helping me with that non-useful $75 limit the credit card fraud unit had slapped on me because they were uncomfortable with me having an address in Texas but spending money in New York and Maine and Massachusetts . . ..  Nice people.

» I learned the CVS had cleared the prescription for one of my medicines and the refill was waiting for me.  I know other chains would provide the same service, but I can recommend the service CVSs all over the country have been providing me.  If you consider taking a lengthy trip like mine and you take pills, this is something to keep in mind.

» That toll bridge I went over a few months ago saying they'd send a bill based on my license plate - I did get the bill, but paid it late, and now they've sent a past due notice so I called them up to be sure they'd gotten my check, which they had, but best to be sure since I believe them when they say they'll get my license suspended if I don't.  I didn't know that pay-by-plate system really worked, but it does, even for a state half-way across the country.

» Still being at least mentally paralyzed by the weather, I hadn't planned to go anywhere tomorrow because of the cold forecast, but I need to pick up that prescription so decided it was time I saw a little more of New Jersey.  Since I'm not yet familiar with this state or its roads, it took me quite a while to plan a sightseeing route for tomorrow.  I'll see what I can find.

One thing I learned that I didn't know is that the dividing line between New Jersey and Delaware isn't as ordinary as I'd thought.  As is common, for much of the way it runs down the middle of the Delaware River.  But after a while, the line turns toward land and, apparently, New Jersey acknowledges that part of its land is actually Delaware's.  I'll see what I can find tomorrow.

I've already spent most of my first week here in the campground, not seeing a lot of New Jersey.  One week out of 4 isn't fair to the state, not when there's so much to see.  I'll just have to conquer my tendency to hibernate.