Sunday, August 16, 2015

Addison Arrival

Pleasant River Campground, Addison, ME 8-16-15

I wanted to get an early start much to EJ’s consternation as she had envisioned a more leisurely morning. I was determined to vacate our campsite at Mountain View RV Park by the 11AM deadline. I attempted to extend our stay by another day, but was told that our site had already been rented and we would have to move.

An interim move was what I was trying to avoid. The RV Park we were going to had told us we would have to park in overflow for one night before we could move into our permanent spot. If we stay here we have to move for the night too. Dang it, I only want to move once. No since in doing something twice if you don’t have to!

One more phone call to Pleasant River RV Park to let them know we’re willing to tough it out in their overflow spot. But wait, there is good news. They will let us have the permanent spot and move the other RV to overflow since they haven’t arrived yet. But, they caution, once we see the overflow spot we may not want to move.

Now the Pleasant River RV Park is a little different than any other park we’ve visited. The owners have elected to keep it very small, having only 6 rentable spots, and 4 trailers already set up that you can rent. Then there is the overflow spot you can only rent if none of the other sites are available. They don’t rent by the season as so many other campgrounds in the northeast do, but you can rent monthly all season long. (If you can get a reservation) Some folks have been coming here for years, so the chance of getting one of the prime spots is non-existent.

Pleasant River RV Park

We roll in at 12:30PM and we look around. No one is around so we wander the campground. The site that looks like it might be available for us would be OK. Apparently we interrupted the owners lunch and as they come out to greet us, they are still chewing their food. OK, we feel bad now.

They show us the spot they are holding for us and we hem and haw about. Then they show us the overflow spot, up high on a hill, next to their garden, trees to provide afternoon shade and with full hookups. Uh oh, this looks pretty good and we would have an nice view of the Pleasant River. OK, we’re hooked. We rent the overflow spot for a week.

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We busily go about the business of getting hooked up and leveled. Next comes the true test, can the Dish satellite connect? There are a few shows we enjoy watching and we record them on our Dish DVR. That means we can watch them with it’s convenient for us and we don’t have to watch commercials.

I push the button and we wait while the rooftop dish whirls around and around trying to find those Dish satellites in the sky. finally after about 20 minutes I put it out of it’s misery and shut it down. Those nice shade trees are in the way!

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During this time it’s about 80 degrees or better, and there is not a cloud in the sky. And it’s not getting any cooler.

Plan “B” is to drag out the old manual dish and try to get it elevated, skewed and “azimuthed” towards those 3 Dish Network satellites up above. Having not set it up in at least two years if not more, it’s a challenge to just to find all the parts since it has to be completely broken down to fit into the various little spaces available.

Finally all the big parts are located and the assembly process can begin. First the tripod has to be located in a spot where the southwest sky is obstruction free ( ie no trees or structures in the way). Then it has to be leveled. This part involves shims and metal stakes to hold it in place. Then the dish has to be attached to the LNB arm which is then attached to the tripod without screwing up the level. Then the satellite meter is attached to the LNB leads and you start swiveling the dish to try and get the meter to indicate it’s found a signal. After several false signals, I get out the instructions.

During this time, I’m sweating up a storm because I have to be in the sunlight where there is nothing interfering with the manual dish seeing the  southwest sky. EJ is bringing me ice water by the glassful and I am not about to admit defeat to pile of metal parts.

Perusing the instructions, I realize the manual dish is setup for more southern latitudes than where we are currently located. Just where were we the last time we used this thing?  So the upper part of the assembly has to be disassembled, set up for more northern latitudes and reassembled. By this time, I’m taking breaks and drinking more of that water EJ Keeps bringing me.

Finally, after 2 hours, we emerge victorious over the pile of what by this time, is almost scrap metal. The only reason, I tell myself, that we did this is because we are going to be here 7 days.

P1020260 I’m going inside. I’ve about used it all up for the day.