Almost Ready

Thursday - The day started out cool-ish, but it was pretty warm and muggy by the afternoon. I was able to hit the Brownsville Winlink RMS station this morning to pick up my Winlink email, al6t@winlink.org. BTW, RMS = Radio Mail Server in case you were wondering. Very little FT8 activity on 40m today. I think I picked up only a handful of new contacts. All of them under 500miles. I switched to 20m and picked up an additional seven contacts almost immediately.

I laid out most of my hand tools today to try to figure out which ones I might need this summer. Unfortunately, that amounted to most of them. I picked up another zip-top toolbag since the old knapsack I was using had developed some large tears over the years. It was one of the vendor freebies from a conference.

Bridget noticed that the skylight over the shower was dripping water into the shower, so I just picked up a couple of tubes of Dicor self-leveling sealant to re-seal the skylight. 

Friday - The first thing this morning, even before coffee, I went up on the roof of the class C to add another bead of Dicor around the shower vent. There were some possible leaks, but nothing obvious. No cracks in the existing sealant. There was another dab of old Dicor in the middle of the roof, so I just cleaned the spot and added another layer of Dicor on top of it.

I tried FT8 on 40m again today but got very few contacts. I was too lazy to adjust the antenna to 20m as it was hot and muggy all afternoon.

Still Packing and Winlink-Wednesday

Wednesday - We've been getting lots of storms lately. This was last night. It was windy with rain, but not as much as the surrounding area. This morning, while walking to coffee, the streets weren't as flooded as they were after similar storms. There was some debris from trees, again, not as much as in some other storms.

It was clear, hot, sunny, and very humid by the afternoon. I continued to move stuff out of the class A and the shed into the class C that I "needed" for this summer trip. I don't plan on taking the Blackstone griddle or the large Starlink storage container this time. I moved the portable refrigerator/freezer and plugged it in. Since we picked up the small refrigerator for the shed, we don't have to bring all of the refrigerator/freezer items with us like we did last summer. The portable unit will actually get real use on this trip.

I still plan to bring the ham radio with me and this time I plan to bring the ATAS-120 antenna. I had forgotten it last year.

I checked in with Winlink-Wednesday again on 40m. This just means that I sent a specially formatted email message using the radio as the transport. I used an RMS stations in Lubbock and Brownsville. The JPC-12 vertical antenna worked well. Very low bit rate as in sub-1200baud modem speed. 

Still Getting Tasks Done

Monday - I helped out in the kitchen today for a Memorial Day lunch. The lunch was good, as usual, as was the conversation. 

This morning, before it got too warm, I changed the oil on the 4K Onan generator on the class C. After finishing, I ran it for around 10 minutes just to ensure some fresh gas made it into the carburetor. There wasn’t much of an electrical load as the batteries were fully charged and the A/C was only drawing about 300 watts. Right now, it 86°F outside, the A/C, refrigerator, and converter have been running all day and the Multiplus is set to no more than 12amps from shore power as it’s just plugged into a convenience outlet on the class A. 

Yesterday, I made one of my furthest contacts on the radio using FT8, a digital mode with computer to computer communication through the radio. Over 8000 miles to Saudi Arabia. I was just running this sort of on the side during a long test session. 

This afternoon, I spent a little time cleaning up the wiring on the class C dash for all of the accessories. GPS, dash cam, TPMS, rear camera display, and the Magmount phone charger. I just used some plastic clips stuck to the dash. Mostly because I move the dash cam back and forth to the Jeep. I wanted the cable to be easily removed. 

Class C Electrical Changes

Saturday - I made a few changes to the electrical system on the class C. I changed the absorption voltage from 14.6V to 14.4V on all three lithium chargers, the Multiplus, the Orion, and the solar. The battery manufacturers, SOK, really doesn’t provide much information to configure these devices so it’s left to the installer to come up with something based on their published battery specifications. Originally, I used the high voltage cut off by the BMS of 14.6V. This was a change that I had made on the class A a few weeks ago.

The other change was reconnecting all of the 12V loads in the RV back to the original AGM battery. This battery will be charged by the stock converter which is powered by 110VAC. Wherever that voltage happens to be coming from. Shore power, generator, or the Multiplus (from the lithium batteries). The change was accomplished by moving two cable. The one feeding the fuse panel and the two one from the converter.

My reason for the change is to eliminate the led lights flickering whenever the lithium batteries are fully charged. The BMS will disconnect the cells for a few milliseconds then reconnect. I just found the flickering kind of annoying. There is some inefficiency added due to the conversion from 12VDC to 110VAC then back to 12VDC. A benefit is that the AGM battery will be always charged. The AGM battery is used to start and run the generator. Having it charged is a good thing. 

I also filled the built-in propane tank as well as the gas tank. Over $100 for half a tank of gas!

Misc. Projects

Wednesday - I still seem to prefer playing with the digital modes on the ham radio. Mostly FT8, FT4, and now Winlink. Possibly, since I can have it running on the MS Surface while participating in tests on the Mac. 

Thursday - We ran a few errands in San Antonio today, including a stop at Costco. I picked up a new Apple Watch to replace my last one, where the face fell off. The new one is the series 11 with GPS but no cellular. The last one was a Series 3 with a 38mm face. The new one has a 46mm face, and it feels huge. There wasn’t a whole lot of choice at Costco. But I'm happy with the purchase. 

Friday - I moved the class C in front of our lot to continue some projects. It'll probably be here until we leave for the summer. The first minor project is a better location for the Garmin RV GPS. I have been using a cup holder mount with a flexible arm. It was designed for a phone, and the arm was too flexible. Plus, the location wasn't optimal.

I removed the little cubbie and coin holder, as it just snaps in place, and drilled a couple of holes to mount a plastic phone mount piece to the bottom of the cubbie. It seems pretty solid, and it's a much better location for the GPS. I also installed a mag-mount phone charger since the aux audio input now works on the in-dash radio. The console was a real mess last summer with all of the cords lying around.

Here is some data from my A/C on battery power "test" today. It seems that we should be able to run the A/C for at least 4½ hours on just battery power with some solar. I'm not going to complain, as we couldn't run the old Coleman A/C on battery power at all.

10:30am A/C on, 75° outside, A/C set at 74°, at 100%, no shore power, SoC 100%

1:04pm 84°F outside, SoC 75%, 100Ah used

3:00pm 88°F outside, SoC 36%, 249Ah used

3:02pm low battery alert, plugged in to shore power. Max current in 13.5A

A bit less time than the Victron claimed. I haven't replaced the cables from the battery to the inverter, and the draw from the battery was around 125A. I had added around 10' of 2/0 cable when I relocated the batteries to the passenger side of the RV. I was planning to upgrade the cables to 4/0, but never got around to it. I also need to extend the battery voltage monitor cable to the new battery location.

A Few Busy-ish Day

Saturday - An earlier start this morning. I helped cook breakfast here at the park. Just pancakes, sausage, and bacon. I haven’t had pancakes in quite a while. They were good.

The rear A/C stopped cooling in the middle of the night. This morning, I changed the compressor overload switch, and it seems to have fixed it. 

I had added some bleach to the fresh water tank on the class C yesterday to sanitize the tank. Each faucet was run to clear out the pink RV antifreeze and run the bleach/water into the lines. After 24 hours, the tank was emptied. Two fills, flush lines, and emptying the tank were done. That should eliminate the bleach/water from the water system. The tank was filled with fresh water. N.B. The specs for the RV say 40 gallons of fresh water, but the tank only holds 30 gallons. 

I switched the water heater bypass off and used the pump to fill the 6-gallon tank, and ran all the faucets to clear the air out of the lines. 

I pulled the dash out a little to see if I could find out why the aux input to the in-dash stereo wasn’t working. It turns out that a cable was unplugged. Easy fix! While working on this, I was running the roof A/C. It was nice and cool. Even when working on the dashboard. 

I turned on the propane at the tank and lit the stove, water heater, and refrigerator (on propane). All three are running, but the refrigerator will take a while to cool down. Once the water heater shuts off, I’ll check for hot, running water. 

Later - Hot water works. No propane leaks! I cleaned the refrigerator using hot water. I will let the refrigerator run tonight and see if it’s cold tomorrow morning. 

Tuesday - Soldered another PL259 connector onto the length of RG8X coax that I had cut 50' off of. It turns out that I want to have the antenna further from our shed than 50'. I just need to wait for the barrel connectors to arrive today. I'm also going to try the JPC-12 antenna to see if it performs any better on 40m. For both of my antennae, 40m is the limit.

I know that most people could care less about this but I finally got Winlink running over HF. Specifically, 40m. I switched to the JPC-12 antenna instead of the ATAS-120 as it performs better on 40m. But is more hassle. I used two different station one 207 miles away and one 376 miles. Just to make sure that it wasn’t a fluke. This is a method of sending/receiving email via radio. 

More Projects

Wednesday - My Apple Watch bit the dust today. A mechanical failure. The display fell off while walking between the shed and the RV. And, with the display hanging by the cables, the connectors broke. 

Friday - I got an early start this morning at 7:30. That's early for me. I picked up the class C and moved it in front of our lot. A couple of days ago, I pulled another solar panel from the class A and proceeded to reinstall it on the class C, like last summer. I should just pick up some other panels for the class C instead of moving them back and forth. The class C once again has 630 watts of solar.

I then started to sanitize the water tank. Water would back up the fill hose after a couple of seconds, indicating a blockage in the tank vent line. I removed the line from the tank and poked a 10 awg wire down the vent, and a whole bunch of debris came out. I need to find a plug for the vent.

You can clearly see where the ceiling supports are. I wanted one more screw for the passenger-side unistrut, so this was just what I needed. I checked all the unistrut on the roof, and they are all firmly attached and solid.

We had picked this up at the Tabasco factory store. It is spicy ketchup sold in Japan. It is very tasty. I usually add Tabasco to my ketchup for fries. This isn't as spicy but has a nice smoked jalapeno flavor. 

I still haven't decided if I want to replace the Apple Watch. It is really useful, but I'm not sure its $399 useful…

Just Hanging Around - SKP

Wednesday - Another hot and muggy day. 

Thursday - NOT another hot and muggy day. It's actually in the mid-60s today. Overcast and a little windy, but nice enough to try and get stuff done outside.

Friday - As you can tell by the abbreviated posts, there isn't much going on around here. I've continued doing the test sessions and dinking around with the RVs. As an update, the issue with the AC power shutting off briefly has been resolved. It hasn't happened for a couple of weeks after changing the absorption voltage setting on the Magnum inverter/charger. I regenerated the water softener again yesterday using the new setup. So much easier.

A non-RV task that was finally done was replacing the zipper slides on the Aerostich RC. When we were in Duluth, I mentioned that the main zipper needed to be replaced for the second time. They told me that the slides wear out, not the zipper. And they had replacement slides in the store. Ten months later, I finally replaced them. 

Saturday - I was planning on riding to Castroville this morning for the monthly radio club meeting, but it was pouring rain this morning. By the time I was halfway to Castroville, the rain stopped. Oh well. I guess it would’ve made a good test for the zippers. 

I picked up a new door lock set for our bathroom door in the class A. It was worn out internally. I needed a chisel to install it, and I borrowed one from Brad. One more project done.

Sunday - It was a stormy evening! Lots of lightning, wind, rain, and small hail as several bands of storms passed through the area. And the temperature dropped quickly. 

Monday - We drove into San Antonio for an appointment and stopped at Home Depot on the way back for a couple of items. After arriving back at the RV, I climbed onto the roof to check out the compressor overheat sensor. The Internet claims that this is a component that fails and causes the A/C unit to stop cooling. This morning, continuity through the sensor was fine, and the A/C unit was cooling. The next time it stops cooling, I'll test it again.

Tuesday - I claimed a corner of the shed and started to set. up my radio. It has been a convenient location for the test sessions. There is a ½" schedule 40 PVC wall penetration right below the table in the corner. I plan to run an antenna cable out, but need to cut the PL259 connectors off of one of my existing cables to fit through the pipe, so I'll need to solder on a new connector (yet another Amazon delivery).

Ride to Uvalde

Sunday - It was a nice morning, and I rode the Ural into Uvalde. This is the rest area along 90 between D’Hanis and Sabinal. When I took off the helmet, the chin bar and visor fell off. I think I may need a new helmet. This was the Ski-Doo modular helmet that I used to use in the winter. The Nolan helmet is disintegrating inside, so it is also on its last leg. The Ski-Doo helmet is 10 years old, and the Nolan is 12 years old. So both are well past the 5-year rule. I finished the ride using the SkiDoo helmet like an open-face helmet with no visor. Not optimal. 

Monday - I had my annual medical visit this morning to get my prescription medications renewed for the year. I had switched from the clinic in Fairbanks to the clinic here in Hondo for convenience. Plus, my primary care physician in Fairbanks retired a few years back so it seemed to be a good opportunity. I arrived back in time to participate in the mid-day test session, which is always something that I enjoy doing. 

I needed to go into Hondo again to pick up my prescriptions and I took the Ural. On my way back, maybe a quarter mile from the SKP park, the driver side muffler decided to jump ship. I turned around and slid the escapee back onto the bike. Since it was only a short distance away, I figured that it’ll stay in place for at least that long. 

Finishing Projects…

Wednesday - Back in the shed. I really need to straighten out the back room, as it became quite a mess as I tried to find tools. There are still some that I haven't found, such as my small hand saw. I ended up using the Sawzall to make small cuts in the flooring. Not the right tool for the job.

The task of the day is the water softener. I backflushed it for the first time for several minutes, then I'm trying out a new water softener regeneration method/device. The blue filter housing has the filter removed and is filled with salt pellets instead of table salt. The salt dissolve slower and is in contact with the resin in the softener for longer. The claim is for better regeneration. After the regeneration process is completed, the housing is cleaned, and a filter can be installed.

Friday - It has been much cooler after a cold front moved through the area yesterday. In fact, it was only 54°F this morning. Quite a change from just one day earlier. It's been raining off and on since last night. I guess we'll see how watertight this shed is. 

Saturday - This morning, with the help of Richard and Brad, I installed a new A/C unit on the roof of the class C. The Furion Chill Cube is an 18K unit with a variable speed blower and a variable speed compressor. 

I removed the internal parts and the wiring last night to simplify things but I had left the backup camera turned on which drained the chassis battery. We used the “extension ladder” method to get the old unit off the roof and the new one up. The class C has a really thin roof at only 2¼” thick so I used a foam spacer between the roof and the new unit. 

I just centered the new unit over the opening making sure that the wires weren’t pinched. From the bottom, I trimmed about half an inch from the air distribution foam and positioned the inside mounting plate and inserted the four legs no bolts to sandwich the roof. 

The last step was connecting the 115VAC wires and connect the control box to the upper part of the A/C unit. And fasten the vents and controls. Then test…

Success! The new unit starts and runs easily from our 2000W inverter from our two batteries! In the screenshot, the unit is only drawing about 600watts. At this time, the fan was on “Auto” and, according to the shunt, we could run for over 12 hours. Not that I think that’s realistic. 

Very happy with this installation. 

New Flooring

Friday - Yesterday, I turned 70. I’m not really sure if that means anything to me. Hope and Richard made me a wonderful dinner. They are wonderful friends. My blood glucose numbers are higher than they were last year. It probably means that I need to take better care of myself, health-wise, as in diet and exercise.

Saturday - I hooked up the cargo trailer and headed to Home Depot first thing in the morning. The tires needed air, but other than that, no issues. I picked up twelve boxes of vinyl laminate plank flooring for the shed. The Internet says to put the flooring in the room to acclimate for 48-hours. So I still have my weekend "free". I have the room A/C running to help dehumidify the room. I have installed similar floors a couple of times, but never on a concrete slab. I'm told that I need to lay down a poly vapor barrier. I think that is going to increase the difficulty as it'll be slippery and challenging to walk on. 

Tomorrow, I’ll start moving things around the room and start prepping the concrete floor. 

Tuesday - I've been busy working on the flooring. I started laying it on Sunday. The vapor barrier is a real pain. 200 ft² of plastic sheet is challenging to deal with. The first couple of courses needed to be redone as it was crooked due to the wall not being very straight. But on the second attempt, it was looking good. 

The next challenge was the door needed trimming as the flooring added a bit over 10mm of thickness. 

But it’s done. Far from perfect, but the baseboard is installed, and it looks better than bare concrete or the filthy carpet that was originally installed. 

Next step is to move all of the stuff back. 

D'Hanis, TX - SKP

Tuesday - Still kinda rainy today, so no A/C cleaning. At least in the morning. The cold front that brought all the rain has also meant cooler-than-normal temperatures. I'm not going to complain about that. 

The Raspberry Pi that was running the Victron Venus OS was getting really flaky. I removed the SD card, which was a really old 8GB card, and installed the current version of the OS on a newer 32GB card. It now works (so far), and the touch screen seems to be much more responsive. It’s talking to HomeAssistant again, using ModBus as well as the Victron VRM portal. It hasn’t done that in months. 

Wednesday - No rain this morning, at least for a while. I pulled off the A/C shroud on the rear unit and brushed the fins clean using the special, plastic brush on the can lid. It did a good job. After vacuuming up the pile of debris, I sprayed on the cleaner and let it sit. After about 20 minutes, I sprayed off the evaporator with hot water in a spray bottle. It now looked new. 

I removed the shroud on the front A/C unit to see if it was equally dirty, but it was clean. I then buttoned everything back up, turned on the power to both units, and waited until it warmed up. It didn't take long. By 11:20, it was over 75°F inside, and both A/C units came on.

I then joined in for the mid-day test session. There was a shortage of VEs, so we ended up testing the two candidates serially. 

I picked up 1½ gallons of gas for the Ural. It started right up, but at 81°F, it was feeling too hot to go for a short ride. Wimp…

Thursday - I finished setting up the RV this morning after taking the Ural for a test ride. The Ural really seemed to need the blast up and down the highway and was running much better when I returned. And this is with Stabil added to the remaining fuel in the tank. 

I am pleased to report that it looks like the power problem with the class A has been resolved. Turning down the absorption voltage on both the inverter/charger as well as the solar charge controller eliminated the 12V "blinks" and the inverter shutting down. 

I'm in the shed right now, getting ready for the midday test session, and have the room A/C running. It seems to work well enough. It is forecast to be very warm this weekend.

Back in D’Hanis, TX

Wednesday - We arrived back at the Escapee Co-Op yesterday afternoon after a windy travel day from Lake Conroe. Going through San Antonio was, as usual, a pain due to the traffic and construction. We got particularly set up after moving the class C back to storage. Surprisingly, it started right up, but I should have used some sort of trickle charger on the chassis battery. 

Thursday - This morning, I finished setting up the RV, including the propane connection to the bulk tank. After setting everything up, I noticed that the awning touches the rain gutter on the shed. So I lifted the jacks, started the engine, built up air pressure, and moved the RV about 2” forward. The awning is on the south-facing side of the RV, so I prefer it to be out. But we need to be careful of the wind. 

Friday - A quick trip into town this morning to get blood drawn in preparation for my upcoming doctor appointment. Then back into town to deposit some checks at the bank. Now some projects. The rear A/C unit blows cold air for a while, then not. I pulled off the shroud, and the evaporator coil needs cleaning. The local stores didn't have the A/C cleaner in stock, so I ordered it from Amazon (at half the price!). It should be here on Sunday.

I was going to start the Ural before I realized it'll run better with at least a little gas. 

Monday - It has been raining off and on for most of the weekend, so not a whole lot has been going on. I have been slowly continuing to set things up around here at the CoOp lot. I did run into a black widow at the water spigot, and there are a handful of wasp nests around the lot. I picked up some spray for both of them, but haven't gotten around to spraying the wasp nests. 

This is the evaporator on the rear A/C unit. It really needs cleaning and with the high humidity, ice builds up on the coil, eventually blocking air flow through the coil. I suspect that the front unit may be equally filthy.

Occasionally, the power glitches in the RV. I've monitored the incoming power using the Bullydog app, and it isn't the incoming power. The A/C unit continues to run, but the TV, microwave, and Starlink will "blink". Those are all circuits that are running through the Magnum Inverter. The DC power will shut off for a very short time. My current theory is that as soon as the lithium batteries are fully charged and the BMS shuts off charging, it will disconnect the batteries, and the inverter will turn off for a fraction of a second, even though there is still AC power at the input. This morning, I lowered the absorption voltage on the Magnum inverter/charger from 14.6V to 14.4V as 14.6V is the setpoint on the lithium batteries' BMS. We'll see if this resolves the problem.

Willis, TX - TT

Monday - Yesterday, we arrived back in Texas. We stopped at Lake Conroe Thousand Trails for convenience and low cost. The sites aren’t very level, but it does have a pool and hot tub, which, unfortunately, is not open on Mondays. It is hot and muggy. The front of the RV is really high, and the hitch at the rear is only a couple of inches from the ground. We are scheduled to leave on Wednesday. 

We picked up some groceries at H-E-B, and the produce is so much better at H-E-B than at Walmart in Florida. 

Tuesday - No rain this morning, but the humidity does seem very high. I'm waiting for the midday test session, and it's too hot and muggy to do it outside. In fact, I see very little activity outside. Not even people walking their dog.

I checked out the pool this afternoon. The hot tub was half working (no bubbles), and the pool was pretty cold. But between the two of them, it was fine.

Broussard, LA

Friday - A 240 mile travel day from Alabama, through Mississippi, and half way through Louisiana to south of Lafayette. The traffic was a lot heavier as we headed west. Baton Rouge was almost like Florida. We aren at a small RV park for a couple of days as we plan on visiting Avery Island, the home of Tabasco. There were a few complaints about this park on Yelp but it is very nice. Plenty of real, green grass and large, level sites.

Saturday - Up early today for the Saturday, early morning test session. It starts at around 7:30, which is early for me. I think we plan on going to the Tabasco facility on Avery Island this morning. I had heard that the tour is pretty good. Better if you don't mind the smell of Tabasco sauce.

Later - The Tabasco “factory” is in a beautiful area with old oaks and lots of bamboo. The self-guided tour was well done with numerous short videos. The process seems pretty straightforward and hasn’t changed much over the years. Peppers, salt, and vinegar. 

The mash is aged for around three years after being sealed with salt on top of the barrels. 

The aged mash is then mixed with vinegar and stirred for several weeks before being strained and bottled. 

Since we were there on a Saturday, the bottling plant wasn’t running. 

A great place to visit!

Mobile, AL - HH

Thursday - Another 350 mile travel day to a Harvest Host farm southwest of Mobile, AL. I think that this is the first time we are staying in Alabama. We picked up some steaks but we will save them for tomorrow. Not quite enough time to make them tonight. We are plugged into a 20 amp outlet so our batteries will stay charged. Plus, we are parked under a large tree. It’s only 76°F so no A/C needed. 

Live Oak, FL - BW

Wednesday - We are at a Boondockers Welcome location in Live Oak, FL. Yesterday, multiple things went wrong while getting ready to go. The right turn signal on the Jeep wasn’t working when connected to the RV. Bridget ended up driving the Jeep from Fort Myers to here. About 345 miles. And the water heater drain was leaking. When I tried to tighten it, it broke. 

This morning, I was able to fix the cable from the RV to the Jeep. It had sagged and scraped on the road wearing through the cable. I spliced in a new piece of wire. And, I picked up a new plug for the water heater at Tractor Supply so we once again have running water. This location has water and power which is really nice. We are staying a second day due to the repairs. 

Sanibal Island, FL

Monday - At 9 this morning, we headed out with Steve & Cheryl on their boat. It was very calm but wind was in the forecast for the afternoon. 

There were quite a few boats in the channel heading away from Cape Coral towards open water. A lot of slow going due to potential manatees but we did not see any all day.

This narrow canal was one of the more promising areas to spot one but we didn’t see any. 

We stopped at the beach near the lighthouse on the south eastern end of Sanibel Island for lunch. 

This is the lighthouse. It looks like an automated light. Hurricane Ian completely flooded the island destroying most homes, boats, and docks. It is still being rebuilt. 

On the way back, we stopped to watch dolphins but I didn’t get any pictures. 

Slipaway Food Truck Marina

Saturday - We are still in Fort Myers, FL, for a couple more days. On Tuesday, we will start heading back towards TX. I'm not sure how many days we will take, but we aren't in any hurry.

After the mid-day test session, Steve & Cheryl took us out on their boat. We stopped at the Slipaway Food Truck Marina with boat parking and about a dozen food trucks. 

Sunday - Happy Easter! We celebrated Easter with Steve & Cheryl and did a seafood boil. With corn, potatoes, onions, garlic, brussel sprouts, kielbasa, eggs, shrimp, lobster tails, mussels, and lemons. Served with garlic butter. It turned out delicious. Seafood was on sale at Publix. We didn’t initially have enough Old Bay seasoning nor any Cajon seasonings. Next time…

Naples, FL

Friday - This morning, we went to the Bird Gardens of Naples. It is an exotic bird rescue organization with around 200 birds who could no longer survive in the wild due to injury. Or are abandoned or abused. 

It’s a pretty nice facility, all donation and volunteers. They do breed some birds and supply other sanctuaries around the country. Some of the birds can be adopted but they are not sold.

They mentioned the need for small openings in the wire cages to keep out the snakes. Cottonmouth viper and Burmese pythons. Neither is protected and one is invasive. The fencing continues into the ground and covers the floor of the cages. 

We stopped at a beach north of Naples after lunch to just walk for a bit. It was not empty but not unreasonably crowded either for a holiday weekend. It is still Spring break after all.

Cape Coral & Hobe Sound, FL

Tuesday - Wow! Fast internet here in Cape Coral at our friends home. There was some issues so we are here watching their dog. Not much, just letting him outside every couple of hours. The RV is approximately 9 miles away. 

Tomorrow, we are planning to travel across the state to Hobe Sound to visit some other friends from Alaska. 

Tuesday - We left around 11am. There was a lot of traffic leaving Fort Myers and no real highways until we were over an hour into our trip. Too many people in FL!

We are visiting Harvey & Nancy. I hadn’t seen them in years since they were still living in Fairbanks. I’ve known Harvey almost as long as I’ve been in Alaska. 

Fort Myers, FL - TT

Saturday - The morning test session ended up being a no-show, but it was nice to sit outside. Only 71°F, though it did start to slowly warm up. By the time of the mid-day session, it was over 80°F. Too hot to sit outside.

We spent the afternoon with friends. I didn’t try the pool yet though it was tempting on this hot, muggy afternoon. 

A brief storm rolled through around dinner time which made for a decent sunset. 

Sunday - °F