It’s Day 428 of 15 Days to Flatten the Curve. Deb and I are fine.
Since we had dinner plans this evening and didn’t want to rush around at the end of the day, we devoted our Wednesday to maintenance and upkeep. Deb tackled the inside of the coach while I dug into the usual check-and-lube routine outdoors. It’s a system that works for us.
Oil levels were fine. Tire pressures were right where I want them. Slide tracks, rollers and seals got shot with silicone spray, which I also applied to things like awning arms and the entry-door latch. I used WD-40 on the entry-steps mechanism and the shafts of the leveling jacks.
I haven’t mentioned our house batteries lately. After they left us powerless a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been keeping tabs on the meters and haven’t seen any obvious issues. Today it was time to put hands and eyes on them.
The electrolyte was low — very low. Before adding distilled water I shined a flashlight into each cell and examined the plates — no significant sulfation, so there was still a chance that these batteries’ days aren’t quite numbered.
I topped off all the cells, conservatively, let the inverter’s float-charging function take it from there and crossed my fingers.
Several hours later I opened the battery compartment and put the palm of my hand on the side of each battery. They were warm, which is exactly what I’d hoped to find. Either hot (internal damage) or cold (only a surface charge) would’ve been bad news.
Warm meant that they were charging normally. The readout on the master panel confirmed that. We’ll probably replace them sooner rather than later anyway, but for now we’ll just watch them.
For the second time in as many days, we took a restaurant recommendation from our campground hosts. Yesterday it was the Cliff House Inn — quirky, scenic, tasty. This time it was DeVito’s Restaurant, located off an old state route that sees little traffic since the four-lane highway went in.
DeVito’s, which sits by itself on this country road, has been owned and operated by the same family since it opened 35 years ago. As you might deduce from the name, homemade Italian food is the house specialty. But that’s not the whole menu, not by a long shot — they also serve great steaks and chops. On top of that, they do amazing things with the rainbow trout they raise right across the road from the restaurant.
Seriously.
Deb’s cousin and his girlfriend joined us there for dinner. Each of us chose something a little different from the menu, but among the four of us we covered the Italian, the steak and the trout. And every single bite was over-the-top good.
I had the DeVito’s Combo, which brings together angel-hair pasta with meat sauce, ravioli (chicken, spinach and cheese), a meatball and a link of Italian sausage. Outstanding.
Afterward we walked across the road to the trout farm, where they’ll let you fish for free, without a license. They’ll even supply bait and tackle. And if you catch a fish — no limit, by the way — they’ll clean it and pack it in ice at no charge. All you pay is $6.25 a pound for the fish you catch.
Wanna eat your fresh-caught rainbow trout right away? No problem — for another eight bucks DeVitos’s will cook it and serve it to you with hush puppies, potato, tossed salad and homemade bread.
We strolled along the edge of the small trout pond, scooped up some fish food sitting on a nearby table (25 cents a cup, paid via an honor jar) and fed the trout.
This was a unique experience, totally unimagined. Remember what I said yesterday about The Unexpected?
Yeah, well, it happened again. Imagine that.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
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