Actually got up and moving at a respectable time this morning. Respectable being anytime after 7:00 am and before 10:00. So 8:30 fit in there very well today. Still took my time doing breakfast and reading the comics before doing dishes again and getting a shower. Needed to do some outdoor trailer stuff today, but that only took an hour or so. All of it is just routine stuff, but since a few people have asked me what it is like to do what I'm doing I thought that maybe it would be nice to give a fuller description on some of this stuff so that they can all see that it isn't all just going out and having fun. The rest of you can just skip down to the pictures.

   So first on the list was emptying all of the tanks on the trailer. My particular trailer layout has 3 of these tanks. Two of them are near the mid point of the trailer. The forward most one is for the shower and vanity sink and is about 45 gal's of 'grey water'. The next one is the nearly 50 gal 'black water' tank for the toilet. They both drain out a single mainline just in front of the port side (left) wheels and have separate gate valves for each tank. Now understand that I am in a private campground that actually has sewer hook ups, and I have run my own main sewer connection line from the trailer over to the inlet pipe they have, so you may be wondering why I need to go 'empty' them when you would think I could just open the slide gates and just let them drain all the time. The one thing most people don't realize though is that when you flush the toilet the liquid part always outruns the solids. So pretty soon you would have this huge clog somewhere along the line because there wasn't enough liquid in one use to carry it all away. So what you learn to do is to hold it in your tank for a few days and then open up the black water tank valve first and let as much of it run out as will. Once it starts to slow down you can open up the grey water tank and not only help to flush it all the rest of the way down but that the venturi effect will also help pull the rest of the stuff in the black water tank out. Once empty you just close all the valves again and wait until it needs to be emptied again or because you are leaving.

    Now I also have another 45 gal grey water tank in the back of the trailer that drains the kitchen sink. Once I'm done up front I disconnect my line and run it to the back connection point and drain that one out also, further cleaning out my own connecting line along the way. Not a very romantic thing to have to do, but very necessary if you want to keep everything working well, and believe me, the last thing you want is to have problems with your plumbing.

    Once the tanks are drained and closed back up I usually end up having to re-level the trailer a little bit. With all of the tanks close to being full there is nearly 1,200 additional lbs on the frame and wheels. With a couple days worth of rain one side or the other often sinks a bit into the ground. Again, not hard to do, but something you want to check once in a while.

    Finally today, it was time to check the batteries. My trailer has two 12v deep cycle ones up front that run the electrical system when I'm not plugged into shore power. Considering that they are both close to being at least 8 yrs old I'm kind of surprised that they haven't quit on me yet. But I keep an eye on them and keep them topped up with distilled water and check the connections. I didn't do it today, but next time I'll need to pull all the connections off and clean them up again. I also need to pull one terminal off and put a new one on at some point as there is an intermittent short in it that sometimes effects my electric jack. Right now I can get by with jiggeling it though.

    So that was all the stuff I needed to do today. After that the day was free to go do other more fun things. So this afternoon was 'Boys Night Out At The Movies' day. Bullet to the Head with Sly Stallone was the movie choice of the day. Actually pretty good Guys Night Out fare considering. A bit of a plot, but not to much, and plenty of gratuitous sex and violence.

    Went and bought a new bicycle after getting done with the movie. It's only been more than a year since I backed my last one into a post while putting the trailer into a really tight spot in a park in Tennessee. So just a little bit of procrastination on my part. Not a very expensive bike really, but I think it will do what I wanted a bike for, which is basically just something to ride on roads or trails for a few miles. Will have to check it all out tomorrow after I dig my helmet and other bike related gear out of the back of the truck.

   Talked to a few friends in cold and snowy country this afternoon also. They all seem to be doing okay but I am certainly glad I'm not back there with them. Brrrr!

   Finally; made some more soup this evening, Chicken and vegetable this time. Tasted good to me for some reason, just needed some hot, home made bread to make it perfect. Didn't have any though.

    Here are a few more pictures from my day over in St Augustine with my sister and her husband.

St Augustine Florida - Feb 18, 2013   

The first Presbyterian church built in St Augustine. This is also one of my favorite structures. I love the copper roof with it's green patina and the Moorish arches and details. It fits in very well with Henry Flagler's Hotel. ( see photo's from yesterday)

One of my friends thought it looked more like a mosque than a Presbyterian church.... and it certainly does have a middle eastern flair to it.

Primarily built using cast-in-place concrete it is interesting to note that they left the form lines on instead of grinding them off and that they actually give the impression that the main material is cut and dressed stone.

One last photo as the sun is starting to go down.

The building that is now used as the church offices.

Give them enough moisture and sunlight and plants will grow just about anywhere.

   

This is the first Baptist Church in St Augustine. Henry Flagler cut a deal with this congregation giving them the land the church is on as well as the money to build the church if they would meet a couple of his conditions. First off they would have to trade him a piece of ground he needed in order to build his hotel on. Secondly they would have to build the church, complete, in no more than a year and third, they could never have a bell in their church. They apparently met all of them.

 

Once owned by a rich friend of Henry Flagler, this home was finally bought sometime in the 40's or 50's, I don't remember when, and turned into the very first 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not' Museum.

The cross in the background marks the spot where the very first mass was said on the American Continent. It also marks the location of the very first European settlement on these shores in 1513. That was when Juan Ponce de Leon landed with 5 of the 13 ships he had set out with. Of course the native people had only beaten him here by 3,000 +/- years, but hey, who's counting.

A nice oak lined road that evidently shows up in a lot of movies set in the south. It is a whole lot prettier than this photo shows.

This is the wall surrounding the site of the Fountain of Youth. Made up of pretty much just oyster shells and concrete mortar, It seems that it is more resilient than it would first appear to be.

 

A closer view of the wall and all of the oyster shells it contains.

 

One of the original gates into the town of St Augustine. This one would of been located in the outer wall, or redoubt, surrounding the fort and part of the town. It was saved from the wrecking ball by a group of women who belonged to the 'Daughters of the Revolution' who 'occupied' the site until the city fathers finally gave up their plans to destroy them and left them to the care of those women.

In an old part of the original town of St Augustine you have the oldest wooden school house in the U.S.

And finally.... just a restaurant located out in the bay. Haven't ever had a chance to eat here, but one of these days.