Shades of Death and Turkey Run

Friday, since it was hot, our refrigerator decided to act up. The temperature started to rise from 36 in the morning to about 47 in the evening. We already have an appointment made in Batesville on the 21st to have it serviced for not working on propane. Something else now to add to the list.

I opened up the back upper vent cover and determined that the two cooling fans quit working. The refrigerator needs these fans to cool the fins to keep the fridge within operating range.

For a temporary measure I hung a fan up in the opening and blew air on it all day. The temps stayed at the 36 degree range. I did some research and it seems that these RV refrigerators are notorious for the fans failing. Just another reason we need more competition in the RV supplier industry. ( Hello, Honda or Toyota)

It was going to rain that night so we went to Best Buy and I picked up a couple of computer case fans. The replacement fans from Dometic are $60.00 a piece . These were only $14.00.

Now since the refrigerator is still under warranty I did not want to do anything to invalidate the warranty. So I just used Velcro and wired the fans direct into my 12 volt system and let them run all the time. So far, the past two or three days the temp has held at 36 to 37 degrees. 

Hopefully, I can nurse this thing until we get to Batesville. I do not want to have to make another trip to a dealer if I do not have to.

Sunday the weather cooled off and we decided to go to a couple of state parks and do a little hiking, and have a picnic.

We started out at Shades State Park. We have not been to this park before. There are a number of hiking trails that would give us a good work out.

Some of them even have ladders to get you up or down the bluffs.

This is the first hike we have done since Max broke her leg and tore her ACL. It was slippery in spots and a little tricky for her in others but she did pretty well.

Following the creek beds we meandered up and down the bluffs. Eventually we had a nice view of the river below.

Originally, the area was known as the "Shades of Death". There is debate as to why it got that name. Some say it was due to the way the trees cast their shadow on the ground below, making it look like a black forest. Others say it was because of a settler's death, although sources disagree if the settler in question died due to Indian attacks, or was killed by an angry, axe-wielding wife.

After hiking a few trails we decided to head west about 15 miles to Turkey Run State Park. Turkey Run is bigger, better trails, but more people. The park has a nice lodge and restaurant on site.

We have hiked here many times and it is always different. The Sugar Creek river runs through both Shades and Turkey Run and is a popular canoe, kayaking and tubing hotspot.

We decided to hike to the “Narrows Covered Bridge”. The trailhead to most of the trails branch out from the suspension bridge that crosses over Sugar Creek.

That’s Max on the bridge.

The trail to the bridge followed the river. along the way we saw several canoe’s and tubes floating down the river.

Eventually we were able to get a glimpse of the bridge.

And another

And then we came out to the entrance.

View up stream from the bridge windows.

Now the down stream side.

We stopped and had a rest and a snack. We took along some cheese snack crackers and this is how they came out of the backpack.

I am glad we do a better job packing the rig. I guess my extra camera lens was bouncing against them in the backpack….. I wonder if that will cause me to take cheesy pictures? (sorry no groaner alert)

We finally made it back to the bike, exhausted and ready for dinner. We rode over to the picnic area and found a table in the shade.

Max taking it easy watching some kids play at a playground, While I was tending to the brats.

After dinner we had a nice bike ride back to the RV. When we got back we watched a little TV then it was off to bed.

Monday morning I went fishing with our neighbor Stan. We loaded up his pond prowler boat and took it to a bigger lake. We caught about 10 real nice size bluegill in about 2 hours.

We will be going out again this evening hoping to add to those we have caught in the last few days. We are planning on having a fish fry on Tuesday night. We are looking forward to that.

Enjoy Your Day!