Monday morning saw Lex back at work as usual. Fortunately, the Virgin Mobile mifi modem did its job. She was able to work AND play Warcraft, and I was still able to log in, check my mail, update Facebook, and download student papers to grade. Not bad!
Today I learned two things about this RV park. A) They only pick up trash Mondays and Thursdays, and I missed Monday’s pickup. That meant I had to go locate the dumpsters and drop it off myself. B) There are too many children on this side of the park for my comfort, and they all seem to think it’s okay to walk through others’ campsites. Most of the kids belong to the mobile home dwellers in the park, so they’re long-term residents. I think the transient RVers are somewhat of a novelty to them. School’s out, and they’ve nothing better to do than wander around and stare at our rig. Yippee.
There were errands that needed running today, so I looked up the closest RV supply company, Peco Campers, and headed up Stone Mountain Highway to check it out. They had a pretty kickass parts and accessories department, actually. What I needed was a pressure regulator, which I got, but while I was there ended up dropping $125.o0. On what? Not sure. I did find replacement parts for our TV antenna, so I’m hoping to get that fixed this week. Also got another set of Lynx levelers. Think of them as Legos for RVers. Who knew we’d need so many of those things? They come in packages of ten, so I figured that’s all anyone could possibly need. I now have four of those sets, and if we ever end up parking somewhere really lopsided, I’ll still be screwed!
On the way back, I had to stop by the bank and go grocery shopping. That was the first time I’ve been inside a Kroger in a long time! Nowadays, every retailer has one of those loyalty cards. Without those things, prices are significantly higher, so even though I’m only here a week, I had to first stop by customer service and get one. I added it to my keychain which must already contain twenty of those little barcoded keytags.
As luck would have it, between Kroger and the RV park, there’s a Krispy Kreme. We haven’t had hot, fresh Krispy Kreme in a long time because they’ve closed all the stores in the Baltimore area, so when I saw the “hot donuts” sign on, I had to stop. Grabbed a box of those, and headed back to the RV.
By this time, it was around 2 p.m., and we hadn’t yet had lunch. After I brought in the groceries, I went back outside and lit the grill so the charcoal could burn down a bit. After the groceries, I tossed some bison burgers on the barbecue. They were pretty yummy, I must say. Tasted very much like regular beef, just a little leaner.
Then it was time to clean house. This is always a great task because top to bottom, it takes no more than half an hour or forty-five minutes. I washed dishes, swept the kitchen floor, vacuumed the rugs, cleaned the toilet and bathroom sink, and made the bed in record time in anticipation of the arrival of our guests for the evening, Wes and Amanda.
Wes and I are old friends. He’s originally from Indiana but is now teaching music at a college here in the Atlanta area. Visiting with him and his wife was one of the big reasons for stopping in this area. They came by the camper, we gave them the thirty-second tour, let the animals maul them for a while, and then they took us to Manuel’s Tavern, apparently something of a landmark in Atlanta. Manuel’s is said to be a hotbed for progressive politicos around here, which explains Wes’ interest. He’s total wonk. We enjoyed our evening out with them. The food was tasty, the beer was cold, and the company was excellent. I came away from the evening with a new book to read. Wes loaned me his copy of Molly Ivins’ biography. He’s the only other person I know who treasures the now-deceased Texas journalist as much as I do.
Tomorrow I have but two goals: grade papers and take Lex to the laser light show at Stone Mountain Park. Everyone says it’s awesome. We shall see!
