Friday, Apr 19 through Thursday, Apr 25, 2013, Week three of the floor renovation, Cumming, GA

Week three of the floor renovation:

Had folks over on Friday, so no work on the coach.  

Saturday's excuse for no work on the coach was simply - we were tired of working on it - so we took the day off!  

Sunday we made sure the sub-floor was fitting exactly as we wanted and attached it with screws. Wanting to make sure it didn't shift as we travel, we used two pounds of 3/4 inch fine thread screws. I don't know how many that was, but I don't think there are many places that don't have a screw every 6 inches. It certainly felt solid. Joani worked for a few days making sure the screws were flush and any gaps were filled.  

I spent time on basement organization. I rationalized that since I had never used them I would not miss the Joey beds. Removing them easily reduced the coach load by 250 pounds and it gave me the clearance to store my telescope in the basement. With all of the additional cargo I loaded, I am sure I probably have a net increase in weight, but we have a lot more of our "stuff" with us.  

We watched a you-tube video by the RVGeeks on replacing fluorescent lamps with LEDs. It was very straightforward, so Joani ordered LEDs on a roll and we tried it.  

It worked out extremely well and was much cheaper than I had expected. Clearly, I was side-tracked from the flooring project, but it's all good stuff to get done.

Rain on Wednesday delayed us a bit so the primer was not finished until Thursday bringing to a close week three of our little project.

Friday, Apr 12 through Thursday, Apr 18, 2013, Week two of the floor renovation, Cumming, GA

Week two of the floor renovation:

Removing the hardwood flooring turned out to be more trouble than the ceramic tile - As we got towards the front of the coach the adhesive seemed to be different - either they had changed it or there was some water damage. I had not expected that to be the case. The flooring shredded or it pulled up the sub-floor with it - either way, it was a struggle to the bitter end. 

Another fun fact - sub-flooring that used to be 1/4 inch has been replaced by 5mm sub-floor. Not a lot of difference, but enough to notice. Joani had to do some shimming to even things out.

While we were reworking the floor, we decided it would be nice to open up the vents a little. Changed the 2 x 10 inch vents into 4 x 10 inch vents in three locations. Checked the air-flow and it all seemed well. Joani was happy to have more choices for the vent grilles. With the new sub-flooring cut and set in place, we took a break, set the lounge back in place and cleaned up for a party.

Friday, Apr 5 through Thursday, Apr 11, 2013, Week one of the floor renovation, Cumming, GA

Week one of the floor renovation:

Researching online it was clear there was no easy way to remove the old tile. Everything said you just have to chip away at it with a hammer and chisel. The first tile took over an hour to remove and that didn't count the time to clean up the adhesive. Two more hours and two more tiles and we were both ready to look for a way to replace the three tiles only and abandon the project.

Next day, I wondered if heat might help. The heat gun did seem to help, especially with the adhesive clean-up, but it wasn't quite enough. The propane torch worked better if you ignore the inherent danger of open flames and extremely hot ceramic tile shrapnel. Ultimately, the torch made it possible to imagine we could finish and a short 20 hours later (spread over four days) the tiles were out.

We talked about leaving the hardwood in place and tackle it later, but again, insanity took over and we started prying the flooring up. It was glued and nailed to make sure anyone trying to remove it would have a lot of fun.

Thursday, Apr 4, 2013, Home again, home again - Cumming, GA

Moving day again?  Already!  High Falls State Park, GA, deserved more time or in this case a return visit. Joani made blueberry muffins while we waited to see if the rain would stop. It did not, so it was a bit messy packing up and driving. Home (Cumming, GA) was just a short few hours away which made it very tolerable - 93.2 miles (Trip total 2050.8 miles, Coach at 59479.2). Interesting how we left in the rain and returned in the rain with almost the exact same amount of fuel in the tank. For the record, we averaged 8.8 miles/gallon over the entire trip.

Wednesday Apr 3, 2013, Tranquil Trail, High Falls State Park, Jackson, GA

Katie and Joani went for an early morning hike on Tranquil Trail (High Falls State Park, GA) but saw no wildlife other than squirrels and a tiny snake (they were hoping for some deer at least.)

Mike, very conscientiously, worked remotely through the internet all day. We found a great, locally owned, restaurant named The Hot Dog House. Hot dogs were only part of the menu. The onion rings were particularly tasty. Sadly, Katie and Mike were not able to stay the night again and left for home.

Tuesday, Apr 2, 2013, High Falls State Park, Jackson, GA

Hiked to the Towaliga River in High Falls State Park (Jackson, GA) and walked along its banks until we got to some rapids which were very nice. 

Love the sound of rushing water - very relaxing. Further upstream we found an old powerhouse. The dedication plaque said it was built in 1901 but it must have been decommissioned quite a while ago.

The roof was long gone and the walls were covered in graffiti.  

We continued the hike to the falls and found another several hundred pictures there. We were climbing all over the rocks only to find later it was posted to stay off the rocks. Beyond the falls was the dam and High Falls Lake.

We trekked back to the coach for lunch and a quick nap. Later we hiked some more.  We found "Tranquil Trail" in the park lived up to its name. It was a 2.5-mile loop through the woods that was nearly the perfect hike.

Katie and Mike joined us and we spent the evening talking, looking at pictures and drinking a few glasses of wine.

Monday, Apr 1, 2013, Move to High Falls State Park, Jackson, GA

Took our time preparing to leave - Reed Bingham State Park, GA, had a 1:00 check-out so why rush? Hit the road by 12:00. Stopped for diesel in Cordele, GA, where I think it was the easiest re-fueling we have ever encountered. Funny how you appreciate the little things. Got to High Falls State Park, GA, at 3:00 (161.7 miles, trip total now 1,957.6, coach total 59,386.2) and were set up by 4:00. Beautiful weather - set up chairs outside and enjoyed a few hours soaking up nature without any pesky mosquitoes.