Good Friends, Good Food, Good Weather!

South Haven, MI     High:  77   Low: 53

A quiet day today....the weekend warriors have gone home, the park cleared out quite a bit...

Eldy worked on the jacks today. We have a balky front jack on the driver's side. Eldy has sprayed it several times with silicone spray, but it's really difficult to get under there and get the fluid all the way around and on the springs easily. The last time we drew up the jacks, the jack remained down quite a bit and refused to come up. He's had to push it up the last couple of inches by crawling under the jack and pushing it up by hand the last two times. He called a certified HWH dealer in Elkhart to talk to them about the cost of replacing the springs. He's thinking that since the springs are the only mechanism for getting the jacks up, that we might need a new spring. A pair of front springs costs around 35.00 or less, which is a bargain. The gentleman suggested spraying with WD-40. Eldy was a little surprised at that, as several forums have suggested that silicone spray is better to use as it doesn't attract dust and dirt as much. The gentleman suggested spraying the jacks thoroughly, then retracting them, then putting them back down again. Since we are stationary, we are going to wait till we are ready to roll or park again and see what happens.

While Eldy was working on that, Sparky went for a bike ride of about ten miles, this time towards South Haven and back. There's a nice little covered bridge memorial to someone who loved nature on the way to town that crosses the very low water level of the Black River....

The town of South Haven has expanded the Kal-Haven Trail, added some boardwalks along the river...and expanded the bike paths in town AND upgraded the streets around the harbor since the last time we were here, about three years ago.

Later in the afternoon, Ritchie and Sparky headed to South Haven to window shop. There's just a slight problem--Sparky has trouble just windowshopping. Ritchie--no problem. She can see a pair of pants, something she absolutely needs, the price can be right, but she'll put them back on the rack and think about it. Now THAT'S the kind of friend you want to go shopping with! Sparky managed to purchase a couple of things anyway, despite Ritchie's good influence. She bought a little I.D. Vera Bradley purse which she really needed, and after walking into the Olive Cart store, purveyors of fine olive oils and flavored balsamic vinegars and sampling a hot pepper flavored cream cheese with peach balsamic glaze....

She bought some strawberry zinfandel wine flavored balsamic glaze....YUM! This store is amazing! Twenty-seven aged balsamic vinegars, six white balsamics, twenty-six extra virgin olive oils, and seven specialty oils. There are tanks and tanks of all the flavors in the store, with little cups underneath so you can sample them.

The flavors of the balsamics ranged from rather ordinary to the unusual--maritime mango, raspberry peach melba, mocha almond fudge balsamic! The olive oils had such flavors as citrus habanero, rosemary lavender (ugh?) and California Arbequina (hunh?)

There were olives in there somewhere, but the oils and balsamics stole Sparky's attention.....We had fun checking out the local bead store, too! Sparky got out of there as quickly as she could, as she has plenty of beads already. (You DO?? asks E. I didn't know that.)  Oh, yeah, the day we have to empty the cupboards over the couch and dinette when we go to Red Bay to get our slide floor fixed (more about that another time) THAT is going to be a day of reckoning. :-)  Sparky will probably make Eldy go someplace else while she loads up a few tubs of craft supplies....(A few TUBS!??? Geesh, it's a wonder we aren't overweight!)

Back home again...we shared supper at the picnic table...The men pondered the weather for awhile, checking their phones and guessing when the changing bad weather--storms and heavy wind was going to hit. Nick looks like it might be serious....

Ritchie's not too worried about it....

Neither is Eldo.......

Then we just HAD to have ice cream at Sherman's just down the road from the RV park. Sherman's is an old dairy brand of ice cream. This cone is a BABY cone!!!!!! Is it any wonder there are so many people overweight in this country with portions like this?  Sparky couldn't even eat it all.....

Tomorrow is our last day here at Sunnybrook with the Boersma's.....sniff, sniff.....It's supposed to be COOL and rainy with 20 mph winds...Good day to sit in and read, or head out to the knit shop in downtown South Haven.. (Uh-oh! I might have to send Ritchie with Sparky to reign in the purchasing).....We'll see what the day brings......