Summer/Fall 2025

28 April…really getting back to cycling these days…I try to walk two miles a day or cycle five…cycling is more interesting here in Fl as everything is pretty boring…up in the mountains or out west I like to hike more…my Lectric XP 3.0 bike is working great…I don’t use the pedal assist when I’m getting exercise…I’m usually in first or second gear giving the legs a work out on the gentle hills in the neighborhood…then after my five miles I hit the battery and cruise back to the camper while cooling down…really nice.

1 June….school’s out….my beautiful niece completed elementary school and is going into middle school…Heaven help us…these will be the formative years that hopefully will set her on a track for a healthy, comfortable, safe life…fingers crossed for sure…kids these days are pulled all kind of ways…she has a good head on her but you never know.

Got a text from one of my good friends out west…my buddy Anthony (several great motorcycle and camping trips over the years) said he’s ready to do some camping this fall…can’t wait to see him again…a good guy…hopefully I’m going to point the camper west in September…till then I’ll be bouncing back and forth from FL to NC.

I’ve been using the 12 volt Velit AC system in the van for many months now…the thing works great…Velit also makes a “mini” 12 volt AC…it’s about 30% smaller in size of the unit I have on the roof now…I’m really thinking of taking the rear Max Air fan out that’s mounted above my bed in the rear of the camper and replacing it with the “mini” AC unit…that way I have an AC backup should I have trouble with the main unit…would hate to not have AC here in FL during the summer…installation would be easy as the unit drops in the 14×14 inch hole in the roof just like the fan…an easy connection to the battery bank and I’m all set…we will see.

Just finished a nice 5 mile bike ride…I’m feeling well…I turn 73 in a week…time for a nap…later 🙂

7 June….Alyx is visiting her mother this weekend so it’s really quiet around here…a little cleaning in the camper…went to the Y yesterday to use the gym…went to leave and my truck (2004 F150) started sputtering and died…same thing as last time about 2 years ago…at that time I replaced the fuel filter, fuel pump, and fuel pump driver module…gonna replace the module again and check all the connections…will report back. Once I get the thing running again I’m gonna get rid of it…it’s been great over the past 21 years but I’m not confident in it any more…looking at getting a new Ford Maverick truck or a small Toyota Carolla…both are less than 30k…hopefully which ever one of them I get will last me till I stop driving.

8 June…today I turned 73…I don’t feel that old…well maybe a little after a long hike or bike ride…it’s Sunday my favorite day…the mornings around here are always quiet…nice…my niece will be back later today…she was visiting her mom for the weekend…yes her mom and dad are not living together but have a nice relationship…Alyx lives with her dad, my nephew.

Around 10am my phone let me know I had a text…it was Alyx wishing me a happy birthday and telling me she loved me…she also said she hopes I won’t die for a long time…the honesty of a child is a wonderful thing…she is everything I love for these days.

Also received a call from the guy who bought my Yamaha 250 I rode to Alaska and back in 2016…Jeff Scott…he still has the thing…very nice…he also said he was thinking about doing a bit of vanlife…we had a great conversation…we plan on meeting up again when I’m in NC…gonna be fun.

My buddy Mike in Idaho also called to say happy birthday…he’s been a friend (albeit a long way away) for many years…hopefully I’ll see him again one day.

I finally broke down and got a little tea kettle to heat water for my coffee or tea…I’ve tried many ways to heat water but this little thing is the best…only uses about 600 watts and brings water to a boil in less than 2 minutes…I’m always refining my stuff to use less power and effort.

Like any house (or camper), when you go in and out there are bugs hovering waiting to fly in and bother you…I’m constantly hunting them down with my tennis racket style zapper…a real PITA…so…because I’m lazy and would rather devote my time drinking coffee and eating cookies I got a nice automatic bug assassin from Amazon…it hangs in a corner of the camper and takes care of any intruders…I smile every time I hear a snap crackle and pop 🙂

10 June…when it rains it pours…last night the AC went out at Alyx’s house and this morning the well here at my sisters stopped pumping water…folks coming to look at everything…geez.

13 June….well…the old F150 (2004) is starting to give me a bit of trouble after 240,000 miles so I got this little thing yesterday to drive to the store for my Ensure…2025 Honda Civic Sport Hatchback….drove Alyx and her friend over to Urban Air last night so they could practice their flirting and got 47.6 mpg…not bad as it’s NOT a hybrid or turbo charged…naturally aspirated like me…and no, the thing’s not dented…it’s reflections.

18 June….it’s 4am….life is good….my one cuppa (usually) coffee is tasting wonderful…it’s quiet, calm, and cool this morning…the side door of the camper is open…the bug screen is keeping any migrant bugs out…Alyx was so excited yesterday…she was having a friend come for a sleepover….we made two trips to Walmart getting stuff to make her room perfect before her guest arrives…a new lamp for her end table…but most of all, a light bulb for her ceiling fan that changes colors using an app on her phone…was wonderful watching her dance around like she was in a 70’s disco…my favorite thing in life now is seeing her happy.

20 June…every time I use my wonderful Nature’s Head Composting toilet I check to make sure the tiny exhaust fan is working…it vents any smells to the outside of the camper…this morning it was not…not a problem as I carry spares for many things in the camper…an easy ten minute change and all is well in the world…I usually get about two years of the fan constantly running so it was about time it was changed.

This weekend is quiet around here…Alyx is with her mom…slept a bit late…up around 7 and the usual coffee…rain is on the way so today will be reading time…the new car is great…on level ground at 60 mph with the AC on I’m averaging around 48 mpg…I drive it with the ECO mode selected…around town I’m averaging around 35 mpg…so pleased.

I’ve decided that one of the reasons the Lord put me on this earth is to make sure Alyx is safe and comfortable…I enjoy every minute with her…so…I won’t be doing much traveling for the next couple of years…short bounces back and forth to NC is the plan for the summer…I am, if all works out, heading back out west in September for about a month…I long to see many areas I’ve enjoyed in the past…NM,UT,NV,CO, AZ,WY, and MT…I’ll probably not be stopping and spending a lot of time in one place as in the past…think I’ll make a big circle and on the road most every day…when Alyx is a bit older I’ll surely head out for one of my longer adventures…till then Life Is Good 🙂

25 July….it’s 95F during the days here in Florida with 127% humidity and it had to happen sooner or later…my AC unit in the camper blew up…well not the whole unit, just the motherboard of the control panel…called Velit and they have Fed Ex’ed me a new motherboard…great service from them…very pleased…hope it is the right part…you never know…so for the next few days I’m good with no AC till about midday…then I head down to the YMCA for a nice shower and hang out in the lounge till about 7pm till the temps start to come down…I run three fans in the van to keep me cool (somewhat) when I sleep…I do have an advantage as where I park at my sisters place is very shady and I’m under my canopy so no direct sunlight during the day.

But….

I have to have AC here in FL so I ordered a second 12 volt AC system to install in the rear of the van…I’ll take out the Max Air fan and drop in the second AC…I don’t want to bake again and want a back up….the new unit is a “CountryMod” AC….great reviews (like the Velit I have now), and it’s only $1000 unlike another Velit at $1900….doing my research I discovered both units are identical except for the vents in the air handler…why would I pay $900 more for another Velit?…the new unit will be here in about 10 days…in the meantime I hope to have the Velit back up and running in a few days…till then I’ll adapt and overcome….more after the break.

27 August….well it’s been a chore but finally have all the AC issues taken care of….(we will see)….fixing the Velit took a while….the Velit unit was out of warranty by two months but Velit was absolutely outstanding…after sending me parts two different times at no charge to try and get the thing running they sent me a brand new unit at no charge…told me to keep the old unit for spare parts…now I’m in cold air Heaven….have the Velit unit in the living room of the camper and the CountryMod Pro over the bed in the rear…OMG life is actually good right now….I spend so much time in hot climates it’s gonna be a nice feeling knowing I always will have an AC unit for backup if one takes a poop.

6 September…it’s 4 am and I’m enjoying a nice cuppa…temps are starting to get a bit cooler but still the humidity is the monkey on my back…hate it…but…the AC units on the camper keep the humidity inside at around 50%…perfect…I can run both of them at the same time with a total draw of about 50 to 60 amps but there is really no need…each cools and dehumidifies the camper just fine…I run one for an hour or so then switch to the other…want to get as much life out of them as possible cause I’m cheap.

Still enjoying good health these days…73 now…I check my blood pressure regularly and it’s still in the 120/70 range…so thankful as many of my friends and relatives are having a difficult time.

Alyx is in the school band…so happy she is developing an interest in music…every child I worked with in my former line of work that was involved in some form with music was a good human…Alyx is deep in her formative years now and any positive direction is welcome…she chose to play the trombone in the band…that was a shock haha…she got the instrument the other day and is already practicing with it…we will see 🙂

I’m going to try to get away for a week or so…it’s been a long hot summer…the NC mountains are calling…I think I’ll travel light…no trailer…only the camper…days parked up on the Parkway, sitting in my chair with a cuppa just looking or somewhere in the Pisgah forest sounds nice…may take the eBike on the back of the camper so I came run to the Dollar General in Maggie for cookies…looking forward to a beautiful burger out in Spring Creek at Dave’s Cafe on the flats.

My buddies Patrick and Roger are heading out west this month…would love to meet them out there but right now I’m not interested in a long trip…I would however love to spend some winter time out in the high desert of the southwest again…now that Alyx is in middle school, more mature and safety minded, I’ll feel better about getting away for a bit.

14 September….I’m back in one of my favorite places…Maggie Valley NC…left the Fl heat and humidity yesterday…a quiet night on the road at the Cracker Barrel near Columbia SC…it’s now 5 am here in Maggie…woke to lower 50’s F…hit the switch to turn on the Espar diesel heater and got the coffee going…it’s been about 5 months since I turned on the heater…it fired up perfectly and is now quietly humming along bathing me with gentle, dry, warm air…that’s why I didn’t cheap out on a heater…I need things to work every time…I did have a problem a couple of years ago with the thing but it was my fault…again, many thanks to my buddy Rob here at the Holiday Motel in Maggie…he has become a wonderful friend and confidant…when I arrived he had groomed my little patch of grass I park on and welcomed me “back home” with his usual smile and handshake…good…planning to finish reading my book about Dick Winters…he was the company Commander of Easy Company during WW2…also known as the Band of Brothers…it’s his recollections of their battles during D-Day and the Battle of The Bulge…weather is expected to be wonderful here in the Western NC mountains for the next ten days…lows in the upper 40’s/50’s with highs in the lower 70’s…and low humidity…I LOVE the fall in the mountains…so nice…I didn’t bring the bicycle or motorcycle this time…it’s just me and Petunia…plan is to relax, help out around the motel, spend afternoons parked at overlooks on the Parkway napping, reading, and eating cookies…life is good…more after the break.

Takes about ten minutes to get everything set up.

16 September…been a few really nice days here in Maggie…today I woke to rain and overcast…not a problem, all is well in my little cocoon…my oil and filters arrived for Petunia so today is service day…Rob let me use his ramps to raise the front of the camper up so it was really easy to change the oil and filter…also changed the engine air filter…130,000 miles now and no problems at all…very good.

Lots of folks here at the motel…Rob put traffic cones out to keep folks from parking too close to me…Life is good,

Went in to town for a shower and to restock a bit of grub from Publix…always nice to get cleaned up…refreshing…tomorrow I may run up on the Parkway to spend the day relaxing, reading, hiking, and eating cookies.

24 September…nice relaxing day up on the Parkway…I borrowed one of Rob’s folding rocking chairs and nearly fell out of it when I went to sleep…so nice…not many people up here…cool temps and very calm wind…a nice day.

Planning to start back to FL Friday night…gonna have dinner with my buddy Kent at the Haywood Cafe then hit the road for a couple of hours before stopping for the night at the Cracker Barrel near Hendersonville…Life is Good.

2 November…well it’s been an adventure….a few weeks ago I started on a trip back to NC…about 200 miles in the cruise control in the van stopped working….crap…I’m not going to drive 1200 miles without it cause my foot would be pretty sore holding the gas on…so I turned around and headed back to FL…got a quick appointment at the Mercedes dealer in Daytona for a diagnose and fix…the mechanic there is the only one I’ve ever trusted to work on any of my vehicles…Dale is the best…anyway, had to have both front wheel speed sensors replaced along with the cruise control module…while I was there I had Dale replace the serpentine belts and do an overall check up…I have 130,000 trouble free miles on the van and it was time I guess for some upkeep…total cost was around $2500…not bad if you amortize the cost over the 7 years I’ve had the thing…all done and dusted and I plan on heading out in a few days…got a nice bike rack for my eBike…will use the bike to run to the Dollar General in Maggie when I need to…looking forward to seeing my friend Rob and helping out around the motel in Maggie…plus my two buddies Roger a and Patrick are in town so a get together is in the plans.

Alyx, of coarse, is a gem…eleven years old now and knows EVERYTHING…she is becoming a beautiful little human unit…

Page 57, Fall 2025