Home again

We took the long way home: some camping in Virgina, a night at a service plaza, a few days at my daughter's in Massachusetts, and the weekend with friends in Maine.

Here's a helpful hint. Avoid going East on Rt. 90 at sunrise. With the sun in our eyes we missed the exit to 95 North and ended up in the heart of Boston -in a low clearance no trucks area. Fortunately we were able to just barely clear the low overpasses. A miss is as good as a mile.

Just before we got to my daughters one of the leaf springs on the trailer broke. The other two looked like they might hold a bit longer so I decided to drive home that way. Two out of three ain't bad, right? I could have bought replacement springs and swapped them out, but a friend has some heavy duty springs for free at home. The concern was actually making the trip north. By unloading the heavy stuff out of the boat and shifting more of the boat weight to the good side it rode well enough.

The lake still has ice on it, but it's starting to break up. Depending on the weather it should clear soon. At least there is no snow in my driveway.

It's actually warmer outside than in the house. I picked up 10 gallons of off road diesel to use as heating oil. After checking the chimney and bleeding the air out of the fuel line the furnace started right up. Now that I know it works I can get more fuel oil.

The water system will take a bit more work. Somehow I forgot to drain the water out of the filter housing, so that cracked. It goes on the list for when we go to town. For now I can fill my water jugs at the overflow from the well.

Overall, the house looks in pretty good shape. My lovely wife is camped out in front of a portable heater until the house warms up. Could be worse.

All in all, it's good to be home.

-Sixbears