Effingham. It’s in Illinois. That’s where we are tonight, the first night of our 40-day journey. Billboards 100 miles away told of the culinary delights of 65 restaurants in Effingham, sort of like the Village of the Midwest. We passed only a Cracker Barrel off the highway to our campground. Disappointing, although it certainly had that home-cooking look.
Our drive was rather uneventful, which is always nice. Not much in the way of contour to the land (from Avon to Toledo, then southwest through Indy and Terre Haute). Certainly the highlight of the trip (well, my highlight) was billboards to the most incredible confectionary delight known to mankind – the Uranus Fudge Factory. I had to do a double-take to believe the byline I saw – “The best fudge comes from Uranus.” Clearly they market to the teenage boy and, apparently, 54 year-old men.
Daisy (the Needy Bichon, for those of you new to our blog), and Peeta (a cat), both did very well indeed. They are definitely becoming travelers. Peeta whined only briefly at the start but quickly calmed down – even without a hemp treat. Daisy travels well in the car and, similarly, slept most of the drive. But don’t let that fool you, she makes up for it when we leave her in the RV alone!
We are spending tonight at Cape Lakewood Campground (in the gastro-metropolis of Effingham). Once we got settled we enjoyed an appetizer and a well-deserved drink. Rather than going out for fine dining, we opted for our go-to first night traveling dinner of beans and wieners. There is literally nothing better!!
While sitting back after dinner to enjoy the warmer weather, Karen asked, “What’s that noise? It sounds like water running.” Now, for those of you who have never traveled in an RV, that is a phrase that strikes fear IMMEDIATELY. We climbed back inside to find quite a pool of water on the floor, snaking out from the bathroom. Ugh! A quick inspection showed that water was spraying from the top of our water filter, located under the bathroom sink. We cut the water and began sopping up the mess. F-ing water.
This is where I must embarrass myself. Prior to our trip, I replaced the filter in the within the water filter assembly. When I went to replace the canister, I found two o-rings. One was in-place below the threads, and one was lying by itself on the floor. I couldn’t figure out why there were two, so hastily made the assumption that they both fit side-by-side at the bottom of the threads. This of course was not correct, and I should have known better. But I rushed…
Needless to say the canister was not seated in the housing correctly, causing the leak. Once I figured out the proper position of the second o-ring, everything worked as it should. Lesson learned, with every towel we brought already needing washed. A minor, but painful, reminder to take my time!
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