Tuesday, July 4, 2017

North East Cape Fear River June 30 - July 3, 2017

Day 1 Friday June 30, 2017 We departed about 5:45PM for the river. Lena followed me with the Jeep pulling the trailer with our golf cart on it. Our son and his family were right behind us with their camper. It had rained part of the afternoon before we departed so the 1 mile dirt road from the highway to the lot was kind of muddy but we took it very slow and didn't get the motor home very muddy.

We set up everything but soon discovered the water pump was not working properly. I had worked on it several days ago and thought I had fixed the problem. Water got in the pump house during Hurricane Matthew last October. We run water into our fresh water holding tanks in case the pump completely quit.

By bedtime I was pooped. I had been working/running all day with different tasks.

Day 2 Saturday July 1, 2017 After breakfast we set by the river and did some relaxing and reading. Later I started a campfire to run the yellow flies away. The mosquitoes were not bothering us but the yellow files were hungry.

After lunch Robby put his boat in the river and we trimmed the oak tree limbs that were hanging low over the water near the boat dock. The grandsons could not cast their fishing rods without getting hung up. Then we worked on the water pump. We found some corrosion and suspect the capacitor is bad but by this time it was too late to go to the nearest hardware store so we will have to wait until Monday to get a new one and see if this fixes the problem.

Later in the day Levi caught a nice fish off the dock. The temperature is nice in the morning but by mid afternoon the humidity is bad. So we grilled some hamburgers and came inside to eat.

Day 3 Sunday July 2, 2017 Lena and I left about 8AM to go to Wilmington to see if we could find a capacitor for the water pump but we didn't have any luck so we got some groceries and then met Robby and his family for lunch at Hollands Fish Camp near where we are camping on the river. After we returned to the river Jackson caught a nice fish off the dock so our tree trimming has really helped their fishing.

Day 4 Monday July 3, 2017 I drove to Wallace to the Ace Hardware store and got a new capacitor for the water pump and then installed it. It helped the motor starting problem but did not totally solve the problem. I will have to call a service man to come check the pump out later in the week. I checked the weather forecast and rain is expected for the afternoon so we all decided to pack up and go home. The dirt road is already muddy and more rain is going to make it worse.

Robby left first to take his fishing boat home and blew a tire on his truck a couple of miles down I-40 and his spare was low on air so I took my 12volt air pump to him to pump the tire up but it was not working properly. So we took the spare off and drove to a convenience store and pumped it up. Then I returned and finished packing up and Lena and I departed for home. We got home and got the motor home parked in the RV Barn just before the sky opened up with heavy rain, lightning and thunder.


After Robby got new tires on his truck he returned to get his camper and got caught in the rain storm but we all got home safely. An eventful camping trip.