CH-CH-CH-CHANGES.
Day 192 – It’s a winter wonderland! We woke up this morning with 8 inches of wet snow on the ground and it was still coming down, though just flurries at this point. The trees were bent over from the weight of the heavy snow. Pristine and beautiful. I also woke up with the beginnings of a head cold. Goody.
His Mr. Fix It hat still on, Rob decided we needed to start with a new thermostat. He called around the Louisville area to find someplace we could get the part. No one had it on hand, one place was able to order it, and delivery was expected the next day.
We took pictures of the snow at the campground, then headed down to KY to Pam’s house. I wasn’t feeling particularly perky but I was hoping maybe it was just allergies, not a cold. We brought Ginji with us today; Simone had to stay home to babysit the Diesel-Dude. We drove around looking at how beautiful everything looked in this snow. Louisville got a couple of inches less snow than we did in Indiana, & it was warmer there, so the snow would begin melting sooner. We stopped at Fisherman’s Park, a little potty break for Ginji & a picture break for Rob. Gorgeous out.
After the snow, Fisherman’s Park, Louisville, KY
Pam is an artist, and last year when we visited, she took us around to see several of the painted horse sculptures she’d done. We didn’t get to see “the Lincoln Horse”, so she took us to see it today. Awesome, particularly in the snowy setting. This horse sits in front of a church off Main Street in the up & coming, trendy town of Jeffersontown, aka “J-Town”.
Not too far from the statue, in J-Town, was the hip brewery, Third Turn Brewing. We needed to warm up, they allow animals in their establishment, Rob had been looking for some new beers to try, so why not? 3rd Turn Brewing was located in an old church, everything was old wood, and it was very comfortable inside with couches, tall tables & chairs, and really good music playing. In the back in an open room, you can look down on the fermentation tanks where the current batches of beer were fermenting. Ginji and Rob had a great time together as he tried his beer sampler – his choice of six different beers to taste. Pam and I, not beer lovers, split a can of Thirteen 5, from Moonlight Meadery, which they claimed was a “New England Style Honey Apple Wine”.
3rd Turn Brewing Co., Jeffersontown, Louisville, KY
Rob and Ginji enjoying a beer at 3rd Turn Brewing Co., Jeffersontown, Louisville, KY
Rob found several beers he liked, Pam & I really enjoyed the Mead – a sweet apple cider-like beverage with a 13.5% alcohol content by volume, a great choice for non-beer drinkers. Rob got a growler of Blueberry Habanero Stout to go. We asked where we could buy the Thirteen 5 Mead and were directed to a nearby beer & wine store. The 3 of us, plus dog, happily went over there (I drove) & I got several cans of the Mead, one for Pam to take home, and Rob found his much-loved Brooklyn Brewing Company Black Chocolate Stout there. This beer is made seasonally in NY, and when he can get it, only a few months of the year, he stocks up. So we hit the jackpot.
We then went over to the Mexican Restaurant, El Mundo, for another wonderful dinner. This place is so good – really, if in Louisville, google “El Mundo”, and pay them a visit. Happy Hour is from 5 to 6. It gets packed, prepare to wait unless you get there early. We got there near the end of Happy Hour, but were able to get the regular Margaritas at $4 each (Monday’s you can get the Top Shelf Margarita for just $6). We were still in time for the Chips with the Black Bean Chipotle Dip for $3. Rob & Pam split the large order of Nachos again. I got the Green Chile Enchiladas with the chef’s surprise ingredient (each day the additional ingredient changes, the other time we were here it was cactus, today it was sweet potatoes). The Enchiladas were with their Mole Sauce – the combinations were excellent. I would get it again, particularly if I didn’t have a head cold; then I could really taste it.
We dropped Pam off at her house, then drove back to the RV. The girls are missing us, but the campground has been nice & quiet with very few campers – the way we all like it.
Rob & I had been batting around the idea of doing something about the suspension in the RV for a couple of days now. The roads we’ve been driving can be awful & it has been taking its toll on the RV – from loose or stripped screws, nuts, and bolts to the potential long-term wear & tear caused by the pot holes and badly maintained roads. Some States have been much worse than others. It’s not just one place, but it’s all been adding up. It hasn’t just been the trauma to the RV, the cats have trouble & are uncomfortable when the ride is rough, and it’s gotten to the point where every really bad road we hit makes us wonder what damage it may be doing. We want to be able to drive this vehicle for many more years; we need to work on this problem ASAP. Rob has been doing research & we’re narrowing down the possible solutions. Some of the larger RV’s come with Air-Ride Suspension which can create a much smoother ride over rough roads. Smaller RV’s like ours almost never have come with that type of suspension due to cost & due to the fact that they’re not typically used full-time. Since we do use the RV almost full-time, and to extend the life-time of our vehicle, we have investigated adding Air-Ride Suspension. It turns out we cannot put Air-Ride Suspension in the rear because our RV is smaller and doesn’t have enough room for it, but we can add a Kelderman Air-Ride Suspension System to the front of the RV. In the rear, we’ve decided to add a Mor/Ryde rubber shackle suspension upgrade which should improve the ride in the rear as well. We’ll hope to be getting the work done at the two different manufacturers: Mor/Ryde in Elkhart, IN and Kelderman in Oskaloosa, IA. We wanted to have the installations done by the manuracturers of the products themselves rather than independent shops, because we felt that the manufacturers would have the most experience and would be able to handle any issues that might arise during installation. The installation takes one day to a day and a half each for the front and the rear installations, so it’s a very involved process. Tomorrow morning Rob will call to assess the availability of appointment dates to get the work done, but we know that this will impact the plans we’ve made for the remainder of this trip, or possibly the ideas we’ve had for the next trip. Getting late, it was cuddle-time with the girls, then off to bed.