Bat House, Rig Cleaning and Brush Fire Truck

January 25, 2010.  This mornings temps were in the low 60’s with a bright sunny sky.  It warmed to the high 60’s.

I met Ranger Dylan Shoemaker around 9:00 in the park.  He had towed a gas powered lift from Stephan Foster.  Dylan wanted to make the bat house more noticeable by fastening a BAT CROSSING sign on the bat house in the Big Shoals loop.  I believe the bat house is occupied by Brazilian Free Tail Bats and possibly Evening Bats. Dylan showed me how to operate the lift and together we got the sign installed.  I then got off the lift and took some photos of Dylan on the lift.

Dylan knew I was planning on cleaning the roof of our Carriage fifth wheel.  He offered the lift to assist with that chore.

Dylan had a guided interpretive tour to give in the park along with a hike to The Big Shoals.   So while he was working on that, Joyce helped me as I cleaned the roof of our rig.  I started by blowing off leaves with a gas blower.  I used a bucket of water and Dawn dish washing soap along with a stiff brush to scrub the roof. 

I forgot to take “before” pictures.  Joyce went up on the lift and took some “after” pictures.  I can tell you the roof was blotchy with dirt/ mildew giving it a greyish hue.  The Dawn Dishwashing Soap did a very good job on our vinyl TPO roof.  Dawn Dishwashing Soap is recommended by Carriage and the roof material manufacturer.

After cleaning the roof, I finished by cleaning the entire outside of the rig.   We both think it looked brand new after we were done.

After cleaning up and loading up the lift.  I traveled to Stephan Foster to pick up the park’s brush fire truck.  Dylan had asked me to take it to Lake City for a 2:30 appointment at a tire shop.  Dylan was expecting to be busy with the park tour.  The brush fire truck needed a spare tire exchanged.
  

The truck is used by the Park Service for use on controlled forest/ brush burns. It carries 300 gallons of water.   Dylan had used it last week at Oleno State Park when he assisted with their forest burns.  I thought it unfortunate that although the truck only has 15K miles on it, the Park Service has already replaced 4-5 of the 19.5 inch tires as they have been blowing out or suffer side wall cuts.  The tires are expensive and heavy.  It was a chore getting the spare down and then back up on the very top of the truck.

I was back to Stephan Foster by 4:00 and home by 4:30.  I caught up with Dylan when he stopped by our rig.  He will be off for the next 6 days. When he starts back to work we plan on hitching up and moving on.  We are looking forward to moving on and continuing our adventure.