Friday, May 2, 2014

Brain Storm in the Rain Storm

Scenic Park Campground, So Sioux City, NE – April 30 – May 2, 2014

What are we doing sitting here in the rain? We've got wheels on this thing! Duh!! (this is where the light bulb over our heads turns on) Let’s go somewhere that it's not raining! We've lost count of how many days it's been since we’ve seen the sun, but it's been way too long!

While I've been out playing in the rain looking for propane and stuff, EJ has concentrated her efforts on finding us a sunny spot. The weather radar shows no rain to the west of us and that's in the direction we need to go to reach our crossing point from the US into Canada. She finds us a campground that is just inside the Nebraska border.

But first we must return that Redbox movie we rented. We watched “Labor Day” and enjoyed it enough to recommend it to our friends. Oddly enough, it's a love story that even guys can enjoy.

After depositing the movie we went in search of breakfast. Our first choice was under construction and not open yet. So we drove downtown thinking that surely there would be a restaurant there. Main Street yielded nothing, but then we consulted the iPad app "Around Me" and it suggested The Morning Glory Coffee Shop. Good choice and the staff was very friendly.

Mornin' Glory Coffee Shop

Finally we’re on the road headed to South Sioux City and the Scenic Park Campground. Still having to deal with this rain stuff though…

P1010979

And we’re driving with only one headlight. It’s been too cold and wet to crawl underneath Big Guy and fix it. However if we do get pulled over, I can at least show them the replacement bulb. Good intentions…

Our experience with county campgrounds is that they are, as a rule, under used. So we had a big surprise when we pulled into this one.

Scenic Park Sign

This one looked like it was almost full. Hope they have a site for us. Is this going to be one of those times we should have made a reservation?

Scenic Park Campground

But we got a spot and then we had to take care of one very important item. Filling that big blank spot in the middle of Big Guys camp map.

The Hole that was NebraskaBig Guy Map

Crunch! Is the sound we heard when we tried to put out the rear slide. Sigh (big), another one of those sounds you never want to hear in an RV. Apparently one of the nightstand drawers on Frank’s side decided to commit suicide by opening up on the drive across Iowa.

broken Drawer

It’s repairable, but we see a trip to Lowe’s or Home Depot in the immediate future.

Across the river was a casino that was calling to EJ. Tantalizingly in sight, but out of reach. It was in Iowa and we were in Nebraska and that was the Missouri River between EJ and the casino. I am sure it won’t take ling to get that problem solved!

Casino across the Missouri

Folks in this house must have some really big children. Actually it’s a day care center, but it sure caught our attention.

Giant Toys

The clear sky we had been seeking finally puts in an appearance just before the days end. It’s not much, but that’s more blue than we have seen in a long time.

So Sioux City Sun

Our campground even has wild life.

Campground Rabbit

Driving around Sioux City one day the Element stuttered and the dreaded CEL light came on.

CEL

We drove to the local Honda dealer and made an appointment for Friday morning at 10AM. They actually suggested a civilized hour. Friday I drove over there and told them what the problem was. Of course I had no idea what I was talking about and they proceeded to do the error code check and suggest that a non-standard oil filter was to blame. I jumped on the internet real quick and found out that in a few cases an oil change and a Honda filter cleared up an oil pressure problem that causes the VTEC valve assembly to throw an error code. Having just had the oil changed at Jiffy Lube I asked them to just change the filter. They declared it cured and I took it for a test drive and the engine was still was cutting out.

I took it back and suggested that now would be a good time to replace the part I thought was bad. Luckily it turns out they had one in stock and a couple of hours later I was on the road again and the problem was cured.

To celebrate, EJ suggested I take her to the casino that she’s been staring out of the front window at for the last couple of days. And so I did. Here’s the view from the casino side of the river. Doesn’t Big Guy look good sitting there?

Scenic Park Cam[pground

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