Lake Dorr and a new battery

 

After having a great week at Myakka River SP we wondered where do we want to be for the last part of our winter get away?

Don’t quite understand the pull but here we are back in the Ocala National Forest, dry camping at Lake Dorr.  I felt like I had entered another paradise when we drove in on Sunday afternoon.  The camping loop was so quiet, a welcome change from the weekend chaos at the  state parks.  There’s not much here….a campground with about 30 sites, less than third full, and a boat launch with a few picnic tables.  And the big beautiful Lake Dorr.

 

And the price was right!

We looked for a site to accommodate our solar panels….the sites all had sun filtering through the tall pines.

The pines were interspersed with palmettos….the sites were spacious and private and the bathhouse looked new.

This was the first time in a long while that we could leave the blinds up at night….no neighbors!  Above is our back yard.

 

Our solar system had been living in the back of the truck for weeks.  I had wanted to use it but we had electric hookups everywhere that we had been.

We jumped right in and got it set up, but, wait, something was not right!  Last year I always saw a 13.1 V or more coming up on the monitor.  It was reading 11.6! I unhooked everything and checked my wiring…tried again and got the same results. Gave up as the sun went down. 

It was cloudy the next morning and I was through fooling with that cursed battery.  It had been overheating for the past three weeks…once got so hot that my pillow was warm on the bottom!  (Yes, the battery was in a ventilated enclosed area accessed from the outside like most Casitas.)  So off to Umatilla where we found a NAPA store….so far I am pleased.

 

Wish I had bought a new battery weeks ago! 

Update on the refrigerator problem….

It seems that the propane regulator was not applying enough pressure.  We have had great cooling since Gist RV adjusted it.

Currently doing laundry in Umatilla just so I can finish this post!  It really had been a long time since we had washed but a depleted laptop prompted this laundry visit.

Enjoying being close to a few stores after being way out in the boonies for weeks.   Treated ourselves last night and drove five miles into town for a McDonald’s ice cream!  Simple pleasures that we always take for granted, like ice cream and long hot showers, are so much more appreciated after their absence!