Alea had a tough day's ride yesterday. It was 58 miles of cool temperatures, heavy traffic, headwinds and rolling hills. Fortunately, the end of the day was on lightly traveled rural roads, but it was still a very tough day's ride (the traffic was the worst part).
We were fortunate yesterday. A helpful person in Pace, FL told us to take the southern route to Blackwater Park, claiming it was the shortest and fastest route. But we were both tired of all the traffic, and decided to stick with the northern route into the park, as shown on our Adventure Cycling maps. We were lucky we made that decision, as the southern access to the park was blocked by flood waters (this area has received 9" of rain in the past week, so it's not surprising that the flood waters have persisted for a while). The access from the north had no flooding problems.
So we are camping at Blackwater State Park ($22.30, power, water and showers) for two nights. The sites are all level (with no sand) and the showers are hot, so it's a great place to camp.
Our van is getting close to having been driven 10,000 miles. It has an indicator light that should tell us when to change the oil (rather than just changing it every X miles). So far, it hasn't said it was time for an oil change, though the manual states not to exceed 10,000 miles between oil changes. We tried making an appointment in Pensacola to have it changed at the local Ford dealer, but we would have had to wait around too long. So we made an appointment for today at the Ford dealer in Crestview, FL.
The lack of the oil change warning light coming on (thus far) had us puzzled. Is there a problem with the oil sensor? Or is our driving style simply less likely to cause the oil to break down (after all, we usually never drive more than 50 miles per day, and only about 10 miles at a time before stopping the engine)? The service person didn't seem to think it was odd that the light had not gone off, so it would seem that even the near constant towing hasn't been that hard on the engine.
Sunny skies are finally here again. About 9:30 the skies became partly cloudy and within a couple of hours the skies were clear, and the temperatures climbed into the mid-70s.
I rode into Crestview this morning (21 miles), where Alea met me with the van. So when we leave tomorrow we'll begin our cycling in Crestview, helping us to put the next state park within a day's ride for us. While having the oil changed, we were also told we needed to replace a stripped lug nut. I asked why it wasn't covered under warranty, since only Ford employees had ever touched the wheels? I was told that I'd have to get Corwin Ford to pay for the damage, since they caused it. Thanks once again, Corwin Ford! It seems the Corwin Curse hasn't completely left us...
Last night we were once again accosted by four legged thieves. We've been in the habit of leaving the galley hatch open until we settle in inside the cabin for the night, a habit we apparently need to change. This time Alea figured out what was going on nearly instantly, though not before the thief made off with a full package of tortillas (we figure a raccoon was the most likely culprit).
We heard back from Camp Inn about how to fix the leak in our camper. Unfortunately, it requires a drill and drill bits to make the repair. We have neither, so we'll need to figure out where to get those. Luckily for us, the weather should stay dry for several days (but then we've heard that before).
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