Pure Water

Water.  Such a basic thing but vital for life and hygiene.  RV makers usually supply potable water to the cabin with a plastic tank and a water pump that supplies water to a spigot.  It is common for RV'ers to put a filter on a campground's water faucet before it gets to their system.  This is because one simply does not know what the water quality is at any place.  If it's been tested and those tests are published, one might be able to find out with some effort, but largely, we simply trust and hope that water spigots deliver safe water.  And sometimes, they don't.

8/20 - US250

The van that was there last night was gone when I drove out. I'm not a terribly early riser anymore now that I don't have to. That came as a surprise to me after so many years of rising at 4:30 am to get to work. No one bothered me at all in my parking spot. There were 2 cars in the lot behind me. One had a person in the driver's seat who looked like he was napping. It appeared the park had only a single porta-pottie for nature's call.

8/19 - Huron and down the Mitten

Lake Huron

I did a little housekeeping this morning after cooking some eggs for my breakfast. Kids came over to play with my dog again. She sure is popular with children. A couple people were very interested in my van – saying it was what they had in mind. After all was done, I dumped my gray water and filled the tank with fresh water before heading off.

8/18 - Lakes Superior to Huron

Lake Superior looking toward Marquette

I was awakened very early this morning by loud rapping on my van and a man yelling for me to wake up. I finally answered and he asked if I had a dog and if she was red. Yes to the dog, no to the red as I think of her as sandy colored. My drivers door was wide open (yikes) and my dog was roaming around the parking lot. I must not have latched it securely last night. I got back in bed and then heard meowing. Oh no, did the cat get out too? Yup, not in the van and he wanted back in. Not one of my finer moments. Then I couldn't really get back to sleep so I got up early at 6 am.

Pudding in the Thermos Cooker

I used some of the blueberries I picked to make a clafootie type pudding and tried out the thermos cooker I bought to cook it.  I used my Shuttle Chef thermos Cooker as a bain marie (water bath) and my tiffin pots as the bake pan.  It worked as well as anything except the bottom tiffin pot leaked.  Not much harm done.  I just poured out the water on top and the pudding is fine.  I got the Shuttle Chef cooker because the interior pot is a very high quality stainless pot with a thick bottom for heat dispersion and its superior insulating qualities.  Not easy to find anymore.  I ended up ordering it from a Canadian supplier which triggered my credit card fraud alert.  Nothing wrong with the vendor tho, just automatic software.