Day 20

Beautiful morning.  However, it had been a chilly night and our little electric heater got a workout.  Sure would have been cold if we hadn’t had power.

I was sitting at the table having coffee when I saw the park ranger pull up.  He got out and checked the registration tag that I had placed on the site post last night.  Then he headed toward Lil Pumpkin.  So, I grabbed the envelope and hopped out of the RV.  The guy acted more like a cop on a night-time traffic stop.  He questioned me like I was doing something wrong, all the while looking around like he expected to see some contraband, drugs or something bad.  Almost made me feel like I had done something wrong.  He took the envelope and felt it, then asked if I had provided correct change or if someone needed to bring some change back.  His question sounded more accusing than simply asking if I needed change.  I told him it was a check and he just turned and walked back to his SUV and left.  The guy may be the nicest guy in Pennsylvania, but he sure seemed to me to be a little prick, angry because he was a ranger and not a real cop.  First impressions are usually correct.

Today’s trip was interesting.  We let Gypsy guide from Worlds End to Lake Raystown.  The route was supposed to take us down Hwy 15 to Hwy 220 most of the way.  But, Gypsy or Joyce (I don’t remember who) sent us off down State Hwy 64 which turned to 26 just outside State College.  It was a nice drive, one of those with the dots all along indicating a scenic route.  That took us smack dab through the middle of State College, right alongside Penn State University.  The traffic was stop and go so we had a lot of opportunities to watch the next generation (kids were everywhere!) staring at their phones.  Those not staring at phones were riding bikes.

Shortly after leaving State College, Gypsy wanted me to take Hwy 45.  After a few miles, it took a quick, almost hidden left turn and disappeared.  I rounded the turn and right there just a few feet ahead was an old stone railroad overpass with a big sign…8’2” clearance!  We failed to take a photo of it, but Google Earth was there before us.  So, here's a shot from Google Earth.  Our vertical clearance is 9'7".

I stopped just a few feet past the intersection.  I had to back up into the intersection so I could head on straight down another road.  But, there was a lot of traffic.  It was afternoon rush hour and it seemed half of Pennsylvania was rounding the turn behind me…the other half was coming out from under the underpass heading right at me.  All I could do was wave cars on from behind me when traffic thinned coming at me.  Finally, I was able to back up enough to head on straight.  What’s that?!!  Down the road a few hundred feet was another overpass with 8’6” clearance!  I managed to get turned completely around and we back-tracked until I spied Hwy 45 truck route.  I figured, if a truck can make it, I can make it.  Finally, we reached Hwy 22 which took us to the turn-off to Lake Raystown and Seven Points Rec. Area.  So, now, after a long but interesting day, we’re camped by the lake…well, we did see it, but not from our camp site.  But, another nice Corp of Eng. Campground which means ½ price for us old farts…and we have Internet and phone access.

Day 19

After checking with many campgrounds in the northeastern states and Canada, I found that our early side trip to Tom and Julie’s at Altmar had made us too late.  Most campgrounds closed just about the time we’d get there (we had originally intended to stop at Altmar after Nova Scotia).  So, C'est la vie.  We decided to just run up to the 1000 Islands area, cross into Canada and spend one or two nights then cut down across New York through the middle of the Adirondacks.  From there we’d decide what to do because hurricane Matthew might throw a kink in our east coast plans.  But, all that turned to worms before we left Altmar.  I had prepped Lil’ Pumpkin for the trip and the last thing I did was test the generator.  Many of the campgrounds in Canada and the eastern states that were still open were “dry” camps, which mean no power.  Lil’ Pumpkin has enough battery power to get through several nights if only lights and other minor current draws are used.  But, it’s getting cold at night and the furnace would probably be needed and the furnace blower would drain the batteries much faster.  We would need the generator.  But, it wouldn’t start.  It was doing the same thing as earlier this year.  The generator is fueled with propane and the propane regulator was not feeding enough gas to run the generator.  This will be the 4th regulator since we bought Lil Pumpkin in 2013, but that another story.  In the meantime, we now were faced with no generator and cold nights.  It just wasn’t worth it.  We headed south into Pennsylvania.  We stopped to camp at Worlds End State Park just west of Hwy 220 at Forksville, Pa.

Worlds End is a beautiful, well-kept park on the Loyalsock River.  It was mostly vacant except for a few campers sprinkled throughout the park.  No one was manning the office when we arrived so I grabbed a self-pay envelope and we drove on in to find a sight.  Interestingly, they had a special section for campers with dogs.  I’d never seen that before.  The “dog” section was just as nice as the rest of the park, so we weren’t treated as 2nd class campers.  We were just across the road from the river which was beautiful noisy rapids in that area.

I was tired and hit the sack early.  The self-pay envelope stated the payment could be made the next morning if we wished…and I wished.  Joyce filled out the requested info and wrote a check which she stuck in the envelope.  It was ready to drop off as we leave tomorrow morning.

Day 14 thru Day 18

We're at Tom and Julie's in Altmar, NY now.  I'll pick back up with the blog when we leave.

Day 13

We continued northwest to I-81 and headed on toward Altmar.  It was a nice drive and we arrived at Tom and Julie’s about 5 pm.  It was a beautiful evening.  The scene from Tom's backyard was breathtaking.

Day 12

We left Turkey Swamp with little planning for our next stop.  Yesterday, we decided to change course and head on over to Tom and Julie’s at Altmar, NY.  We were relatively close and in need of a long rest stop anyway.  Our original plan had us continuing up the coast through New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  But, since we had to head west a little to avoid New York City, we decided to go to Altmar.  Now I’ll have to plan a whole new northeast leg of our trip.

Finding a campground wasn’t as easy as it had been.  We decided to stay at a Passport America campground because others in the area were quite expensive.  But, when we arrived, the office was closed and the gate was, too.  There was no easy way offered to register, so we just kept going.  I found Valley View Farm and Campground a ways off so we headed there.  The only problem was it was way off in the middle of rural whatever and I had to depend on Gypsy (GPS) to guide us there.  She did, but it was the long way around, I’m sure.

We finally reached the campground just about dark.  What we found was a nice little park, but nary a level spot in the place.  We drove around and tried several spots, but no luck.  Finally, the lady that ran the place showed up and told us we could park in the parking area for one of the occupied sites.  No one was in that camper and she didn’t expect them until the weekend.  It still wasn’t level, but at least we didn’t roll out of bed.

The campground was not much more than a cow pasture.

Day 11

We got up and around, had breakfast and headed out.  I stopped and dumped the waste tanks on the way out then stopped at the main gate to pay for our night’s stay.  No one was there, but they had self-pay envelopes, so I picked one up and got back in the RV.  We were about to write a check when I noticed, it said “no checks or credit cards for self-pay”.  All I had was $20 bills and the price was $25.  Hmmm.  Sorry, Delaware.  Guess we owe you one.

We headed on up around Delaware Bay and crossed the Delaware River on US Hwy 40 on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.  From there, we wandered the back roads up through New Jersey.  I’m not sure just how we got where we are now because I more or less let Gypsy lead the way.  Joyce tried to figure out where we were on the Atlas but gave up.  Interestingly, while wondering around, we passed the McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base.  I didn’t know we were anywhere near it.  I’d heard of Naval Air Station Lakehurst years ago while in the Navy, but never thought about it except to know it was in New Jersey.  It used to be the Navy's main derrigable base and is where the Hindenburg met its end. 

We kept truckin’ through the backwoods and stopped at a private campground, but couldn’t find anyone to check us in, so we kept going.  It was about 4 pm then.  We finally made it to Turkey Swamp Park up near West Freehold.  What?!  You don’t know where that is?  Look it up.  Google knows.

Day 10

Up and at ‘em!  Well, maybe not so ambitious as that, but we left Kiptopeke State Park and headed up the coast to Lewes Point, Delaware.  There’s a ferry from there over to Cape May and we considered taking it but opted out.  On the way up, we took a side trip to Onancock Wharf Harbor.

While there, we saw Julie's bicycle.

We headed east until we hit Delaware Hwy 1 and followed it up the barrier islands toward Lewes Point.  We took a little break at the Indian River Inlet bridge.

Instead of taking the ferry, we left the east shore madness and headed inland.  We were running pretty late by then so it was just about dark when we pulled into Killens Pond State Park.  Inside the park campground, it was very dark.  We stumbled around a bit finding a spot and hooking up, but then we had some microwave pot roast and hit the sack.  I got up with Ditto about 4:30 am and while outside, I realized I had left one of the rear doors open when I had gotten out the power cord.  I shut the door and Ditto and I got back in and went to bed.  It seemed like it was about the time my head hit the pillow that it started to rain.  Sure glad Ditto woke me up to pee.

Day 9

Messed around this morning, was in no hurry.  Watched as a couple of White Hats made their way toward the geedunk.

After leaving the park we headed to NAS Oceana to see how things had changed.  They had.  The area outside what used to be the main gate was now the biggest Navy Exchange complex we’ve ever seen.  I went in to see if they had any GPS that I might be interested in.  Amazingly, they didn’t.  But, the building reminded me a lot of the Springfield Mall with shops of all kinds, a food court, etc.  This whole thing was sitting almost smack dab where our old Navy housing apartment was back in the 70’s.

We went on the base, through the zig-zag of concrete barriers and past the gate security.  It’s funny, but back in my day, the gate security was mainly concerned about whether or not you had auto insurance and wasn’t wearing blue jeans.  Today, all I needed was my ID card, but there was no way I was going to drive a truck loaded with fertilizer through that gate.  At least, not very rapidly.

My old squadron, VF-41, has since been decommissioned, but our hanger is still there.  It felt a little strange driving around the base seeing some familiar sights but many strange ones.  They have a real nice Navy aircraft park with about a dozen different planes on display.

We left NAS Oceana and headed over to Corvette Court where we lived for a few months.  It looked much the same.  A guy that was living there came out and talked with us for a while.  Looked like he had just mowed the lawn and it looked nice.  The little tree the boys were playing under when lightning struck next door was gone as was the chain link fence that ran down to the street between the houses.

We checked out Dodge Street where Bob and Judy Gee lived, but we weren’t positive which house.  One looked familiar, though.

From there, we drove up Shore Drive to the Oceanview area where we lived immediately after I returned from Vietnam in 1968.  We lived in a little duplex on Pleasant Ave.  That whole area is now big new tightly situated beach homes and apartments.  Movin’ on up!

After Oceanview, we drove over to the Norfolk Naval Station to see what carriers were in.  Sadly, only the USS George Washington was there in dry dock and it didn’t look too pretty.  So, we left there, stopped to eat and then headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.   Crossing the bay, we decided to spend tonight in the Kiptopeke State Park just across the bridge/tunnel  on the Virginia Eastern Shore.  It’s been a full day.

Day 8

Nice slow day, only about 3 hours driving time to the Virginia Beach area.  I wanted to stay at Fort Story (Cape Hatteras) campground, but when I called, they said they were booked up.  So, here we are at Dam Neck Navy Base.  It is a nice, rather new, campground with just a smallish sand dune between us and the beach.  It was hot today, but a front has since moved in and the wind is blowing in off the ocean quite cool.  In fact, I’m going to have to close the door.  Ought to sleep cool tonight.

Joyce fixed some chicken breasts for sandwiches right after we arrived.  We were all three starving.  After dinner cleanup, we took a stroll through the park and planned on going out on the beach.  But, to get to the beach was actually quite a walk and neither Joyce nor I was up to it.  We’ll check it out tomorrow as we leave.  However, this cool front is just that, cool and the high tomorrow is predicted to be below 80 and cloudy.  So, no sunshiny beach here.

Day 7

I checked the Internet and found I had not used the recommended amount of bleach for the amount of onboard water.  I should have used ½ cup instead.  Oh well, an extra day of treatment won’t hurt.  So, I added more bleach and filled some more empty water bottles at the spigot.  Phew!  The water really smells of bleach now.  If any bugs survive that, they’ll kill us for sure.

I was hoping to make it to Virginia Beach tomorrow, but it’s just too far for us.  So, we’ve opted to stop at the next Corp park along our route.  Appropriately, it is Kerr Lake, or rather, John H. Kerr Reservoir.  It was a short 3-hour drive so we took advantage of the free time this afternoon and took sorely needed showers.

Now, we’re just sitting quietly in a crowded but also quiet campground just doing nothing.  Well, I am writing this and Joyce is poking around on the Internet…and the water is still swimming pool water.  I’ll drain and refill the water tank tomorrow.

Day 6

We left out about 11 am, our standard departure time.   We dropped down on Hwy 23 to US Hwy 58 and headed east.  I remember taking this route once heading west coming from Virginia Beach.  But, that was about 40-45 years ago.  Funny, it didn’t look the same.

It was a fairly relaxing drive today.  We didn’t get lost and the GPS remained civil.  Joyce did complain of the fresh water smelling.  I smelled it and, sure enough, it had that familiar rotten egg smell.  Time to freshen up.  So, we stopped at a grocery and I bought some chlorine bleach.  A little dab will do ya.  I drained the water tank and hot water tank while back on the road.

We stopped for the night at  Goose Point Park on Phillpot Lake.  It’s a nice Corp of Engineers park that had been recently redone.   

I added about ¼ cup of bleach and refilled the fresh water.  I’ll let it sit overnight then drain again and refill.  In the meantime, drinking, cooking and teeth brushing water will come from a bottle or directly from the faucet outside. Otherwise, it’s like drinking from a swimming pool.

Day 5

Well, that didn't work.  Oh, the GPS worked fine after the overhaul, but our route plan didn't.  My goal was Salt Fork Creek near Wytheville, Va.  However, along the way, we were looking for a place to stop for lunch and a rest when we spotted a sign for Kingdom Come State Park and since we'd always heard of Kingdom Come, but never been there, we decided to stop.  Of course, it was a lot further off our route than we planned, but it was worth it.  Now we can say we've been there.

There was one small problem.  After leaving Kingdom Come my will was not done, but maybe His was.  We got lost.  Here we were in the middle of Kentucky coal country - where many mines have closed and left a lot of folks in dire straits.  Folks who some reminded us a little of Deliverance, although we saw no banjo players.  The GPS did not break down on me.  It just plain ol' lied.  We were tooling along up a narrow valley.  It was beautiful but kept getting narrower with steeper sides.  Finally, the GPS gave up.  It didn't crap out, it just didn't know where it was.  The road finally came to an end at a played out coal mine loading conveyor.  So, we turned around and headed back out.  Gypsy finally got her bearings and led us out.  We made it out to civilization but had lost too much time to make it to Salt Fork as planned.  So, we're at a private campground in Big Stone Gap just past Appalachia, Virginia.  What a day.  I'm bushed.  Oh, yes.  For anyone keeping score, it’s Jessie Lea RV Park.  Nice park.

Day 4

Well, there goes the quiet.  A tree trimming crew pulled in around 9 am and set up shop right behind us.  They’re trimming trees now and another truck just rolled in with a big wood chipped.  Things should be getting real noisy shortly.  Get we’d better get breakfast and morning chores done and get out of here.

We were headed for a campground just over the line into Virginia, but I started having trouble with my GPS and realized the campground was too far for one day.  So, after dinking around with “Gypsy” for a while, I gave up and we settled on the Levi Jackson State Park near London, Ky.  It’s another nice, well run campground and busy, too, like the one at Ft. Knox.  So, what going on?  There are even a lot of kids camping here…on a school day.

After we got set up I found a way to reset my GPS back to factory settings.  So far, so good.  If it still has trouble, I’ll have to find me a new one.  I’ve gotten to where I really depend on it for locating campgrounds so I’d hate to have to make this trip without one.  Ain’t technology wonderful?

Tomorrow I plan to camp at Stony Fork Creek Campground near Wytheville, Virginia.  I had to load GPS coordinates for it since none of my campground data had it listed.  So, tomorrow should be a good test of old Gypsy.

Day 3

Woke up early this morning (early at least for me).  The sun is bright and everything is very wet from dew.  I took Ditto out for her walk and she got a surprise.  Right across the road were two horses munching on the grass.  At first, I thought they may have gotten loose, but then I saw the hobbles they were wearing.  As we walked along the road past the horses, I noticed Ditto had gotten on the other side of me so I was between her and the horses.

Good morning!

I’m not sure yet where we’re heading from here.  My original plan had us stopping at Fort Knox.  Pumpkin has a few cargo carrying weight to spare and I thought I might just top it off with a few gold bullion ingots.  But, that would mean we’d have to carry that excess weight a long ways.  That would be a waste of diesel.

Okay, went to Fort Knox after all.  The Army has a FamCamp (family campground) at nearby Lake Carlson, so that’s where we landed for the night.  It’s a bit crowded, but it’s quiet and well kept.

Day 2

Up and at ‘em…at about 9:30 am.  Actually, I was up at 6 am and walked Ditto, but I went back to bed after that.  Now that we’re up for real, I walked Ditto again so she could chase squirrels.  It was still dark at 6 AM so she had been cheated of that little life’s pleasure.  As we (Ditto and I) returned, I noticed a weird orange stain running down the front of the RV above the windshield.  A huge stain.  I got out some spray windshield cleaner and my squeegee and tried to clean it, but it wouldn't come off.  I hope it will come off later when I get a chance to do it right.  Sure looks awful, like someone sloshed orange Kool-ade on it.

Well, we’re off track.  Can you believe it?  We wound up heading more southerly than my plan.  It’s amazing what a 1-2 hour late start can do to shift the entire plan.  We angled southeast instead of northeast.  A rest stop in Maysville, Ky.  They had a nice city park.  We parked under a tree and watched an old black man slowly working on a smoking pipe while sitting at a nearby picnic table.  I didn’t watch for long, as I soon dozed off.   So, tonight we’re camping in Wrangler Camp on Land-Between-The-Lakes.  It’s a horse camp with several horses and a mule or two in among the camps.  Needless to say, Ditto is very interested.
  

The campground is mostly wide open to accommodate large horse trailers and large 5th wheel campers.  Big dually pickups abound here.  Luckily, it’s a cool cloudy day, so shade is not needed.  That gave me the opportunity to set up my Dish TV satellite and catch up on the news tonight.  What?!  No news?!

Oh, when we first arrived and were assigned a camp spot, we found a squatter on the site.

It was a woman traveling by bicycle.  It sure looked like a lot of stuff to pack on a bike, but she managed to pack it all up the next morning and wave as she pedaled off.  Actually, the campground keepers knew she was there but just forgot to reflect it on their map.

Day 1 - And they're off!

We got away late (surprise, surprise).  My drop-dead departure time was noon.  We left a little after 1 pm.  Joyce said that was “our” noon.  Anyway, we headed east on hwy 60.  I was hoping to get to the Mississippi before stopping for the night, but between a late start and just plain tired, we didn’t make it…by a long shot.  As we approached Van Buren, there was the sign to Big Springs park.  That looked good to me, so that’s as far as we made it our first day.  We got parked at about 4 pm and I laid down for a nap.  I got up about 7 pm.  Joyce was reading.  We kept up that horrific pace until about 10 pm then I went to bed.  I don’t know when Joyce came to bed, but I guess she did as that’s where she was this morning.

Big Springs camp

    

 

Oh, photos...We're operating off minimal data allowance while traveling and I don't want to use up all my data posting pictures.  Instead, I plan to upload photos when we have WiFi access somewhere.  I'll add them to the appropriate post and notify via FaceBook of any photo additions.

Getting excited

Last day home.  We still have to load clothes and last minute kitchen stuff, but we're both ready to see Springfield in the rear view mirror.  It's not that we don't like Springfield.  We do.  But, Lil Pumpkin is getting lazy and out of shape (like me) and needs a good exercise run.  So, our plan is a 6500 mile jog into Nova Scotia.

We're going to head almost due east to Virginia Beach area for a little sentimental tour of one of our "homes" there and then head north up the coast.  I plan to stay as close to the coast as is feasible without having to face big city traffic.  I know, I know.  That's a real trick and I may have to head a little west now and then for a traffic respite.

So, the plan is to drive clear up to Prince Edward Island and see as much of the scenery up there as our eyes can hold.  We're going up in the most colorful time of the year as the leaves turn.  That's good.  But, it also means it will be more difficult to find camping sites.  Those campgrounds that are still open this late in the season are likely to be full.  We could wind up overnighting in a convenience store parking lot.

Another problem with the time of the year is the weather.  So far, it looks good, but one never knows when a cold front might move in and freeze us out.  Oh, we have a furnace to keep us warm, but if it gets too cold, our water tanks and pipes might freeze.  If it does turn too cold, that's where Key West could come into play.

See ya on the road.

Tick tock

We're counting down to our Nova Scotia trip.  I hope I don't jinx it by mentioning it.  Seems something always jumps up in the way with our last attempts at hitting the road.  But, Joyce has her new hip and is doing well.  My back is...well, it's a Kerr back.  Need I say more.  The biggest problem we have right now is Ditto.  she has annual skin allergies and this year seems particularly bad.  We think it is probably from grass and are hoping she'll improve once we hit the road and she is subjected to grass as much less.

I never did come up with a satisfactory seat for me in the rear.  However, I can swivel Joyce's front seat around and recline up front, so I, at least, will have a comfortable seat to do my computin'.

We're both kind of excited with the new beds.  They are much more comfortable than the original fold down sofa bed that came with the RV.

Our trip plan is to head east to Virginia Beach, Va. and poke around there.  Then head up the coast all the way to New Brunswick and over to Nova Scotia.  On our way back we'll stop to see Tom, Jr. in New York.  As we work our way home, the plan is to follow the Blue Ridge Pkwy from the north end to the south end.

This trip will be the last two weeks of September and well into October.  If we don't get to see lots of beautiful falls colors, I'm going to be very disappointed.

Arkansas Bound

I still haven't finished the revised beds in Pumpkin.  Actually, the beds are done, but I'm still trying to come up with a comfortable seat back there for me.  That's where I plan to do my computin' and TV/movie watching.

But, tomorrow we're heading to Stephen's.  He has a cabin in the woods near Paris, AR. that he is remodeling and claims he needs my help.  As stove up as I've been, this ought to be good.

Chippin' Away

Our next big trip is well into the future.  We're planning on traveling up to Tom, Jr's in Upstate New York in late August for one of my granddaughter's wedding reception.  Then we're planning on heading on up into Canada.  Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is probably as far up as we'll get.  In preparation, we applied for our passport cards (don't need full blown passports) a couple of weeks ago.

Progress on Pumpkin's bed remake is ongoing...slow, but ongoing.  We've got the mattresses ready and Joyce has the center cushion that goes between the mattresses made and covered.  We're engineering a seat backrest for the cushion where I'll sit/lounge and watch TV or movies.  We're on hold right now awaiting some straps I ordered.

Joyce has made a "sock" from a canvas fabric that fits over the forward end of the center cushion.  When the straps come in, she'll sew four of them underneath the top section of the sock.  These will create a four strap back support that will attach to the ceiling, probably to the rear shade valance.  The straps will get a canvas covering which will form a kind of hammock shaped back for my chair.

In the meantime, we hope to make a few shorter trips before August and who knows, we may wind up in Idaho again in June.

Slow Progress

I've spent the last several weeks ripping out the power sofa and making new built-in beds in Lil Pumpkin.  The original bed was made from the fold-down power sofa with cushions over the wheel-wells to extend the bed length.  The tabletop was intended to go between the wheel-wells with a cushion on top of it to make the entire area a big roughly queen-size bed.  The problem with that design was it required one to crawl to the center and end of to bed to get up.  At our age, this presented a doubly problematic...well, problem.  We don't crawl well and we have to get up often throughout the night.

My initial addressing of this problem worked reasonably well, but still had its drawbacks.  I took out the tabletop, which allowed us to get up at night a little easier.  Without the tabletop, we effectively had twin beds with an open aisle between where the table top had been.  The beds were just a little narrow, however, so I added a wider piece of plywood to each wheel-well.  The cushions required widening to match the wider bed base.  I managed this by adding a length of large swimming "noodle" between the cushion and the wall.  The large noodle was almost the exact diameter as the thickness of the cushion.  We then laid a 2" thick memory foam mattress topper and there it was.  Nice comfy twin beds.  Well, mostly.

We used the new beds on our 46 day long trip out west in 2014 and again in 2015.  But, there were still issues.  The sections of cushions just didn't mate well with the folded down sofa and even with the memory foam topper, were a little uncomfortable.  Then, getting up at night, the topper would tend to crawl off the edge of the bed.  And there was the daily making of the bed at night and unmaking in the morning to raise the sofa back up.  There had to be a better way...

I got this idea back last fall of removing the sofa-bed and building separate twin beds.  It has been a slow project due to weather and lots of interruptions, but I'm getting there.

I started by removing the sofa.  A few nuts and bolts, unplug a wiring cable and a few grunts (with help) and out it came.  Then I removed the seat belts to clear the area better.  And, in this photo, you see the partition I made which will establish the separation between the interior and the storage area accessible through the rear doors.  Visible ahead of the partition are the wheel-wells mentioned previously.  The photos below show the area behind the partition for rear-accessed storage.

One consideration I had was to make a storage area for my Tailgater Dish TV antenna (yes, we have satellite TV available on our trips).  The Tailgater, although relatively small, presented a small problem in that it was a hair taller than the wheel-wells which set the level for the beds.

The photos above show the general size of the Tailgater and the box I made to store it in for our previous trips.  This proved unsatisfactory because it made an uncomfortable seat for meals and sitting at the table.  So, we put the original seat back in and I started castings about for a better way.  The new bed construction opened a new possibility.

With the partition in place, I constructed two identical (almost) bases for the beds.  They were constructed from 3/4" thick framing sandwiched by 1/8" plywood.  That made them light and relatively stiff and strong.  I still had to construct support in the rear (head of the bed) yet, but this photo shows how the beds fit in.

You'll also see a false floor section under the plastic storage box.  The studs sticking up through the floor, which were used to bolt in the sofa and seat belts, presented some obstacles.  I decided to make these false floors which would give me some storage for seldom used stuff (spare water hose, extension cord, etc.) underneath and a smooth surface above where the storage box and lawn chairs can slide in without obstruction.

I couldn't run the false floor all the way across the cargo section because it would be too low for the Tailgater to fit.  So, I made it with a space between for the Tailgater.

I found the antenna was the shortest lying on its side and the tapered corners let it fit perfectly in the space between the beds and the false floors on each side.

That's about the extent of my progress to date.  I have made a section to go between the bunks and form a cover which will convert into a seat when needed.  And I have finished exposed surfaces with a cherry stain and polyurethane.  Things are on hold while we wait on mattresses.  Actually, mattress (singular).  We gave Stephen a full-size inner spring mattress for his camp trailer and he is giving us his foam mattress that came in the trailer.  The plan is to cut the foam mattress in two and make two mattresses for Pumpkin.

While building the beds, I kept in mind the possibility of reverting back some day if and when we decide to sell Pumpkin.  Another owner might prefer the original set up.  So, with a couple of small exceptions, I have not made structural changes and have built the entire thing to easily be disassembled and the sofa bed reinstalled.  Assembly and disassembly are a lot like a Chinese puzzle, but it works.

Whew!

I finished (I hope) repairing all the bad links to photos.  Google made some changes in online data storage and I took advantage of it.  They offer unlimited storage (under certain conditions).  The downside, for me anyway, is in trying to get organized, I broke a lot of links.

2016!  Our travel plans for 2016 are rather ambitious.  Joyce has some medical matters to attend to which will limit her travel abilities for a couple of months.  Our dream is to go to Alaska.  Climate conditions obviously dictate when that travel can be done.  So, we're looking at a late June start and get back south by early September.  That doesn't mean get home, just back south so the weather doesn't do such sneaky things to us.

In the meantime, I'm still working on Lil Pumpkin getting the beds designed and built plus a few other modifications for comfort (Ditto's as well as ours).

If the Alaska trip doesn't work out then we're thinking Nova Scotia.  Like the Alaska trip, it requires an eye on the weather, but we'd prefer early fall timeframe.