Wow! Things Change

Our time in Blue Ridge is turning out a little different than we thought.  We initially had 3 dentist appointments, and actually ended up with 6, on 4 different days!  Mind you it is about 80 miles each way, so we are spending quite a bit of time in the truck, and not getting some other things done:-)  No complaints though, between Jan's surgeon and our wonderful dentist they have accommodated us magnificently.  They realize that we nomads can be a bit of a challenge and they have certainly taken care of us.  But there is good news in here as well, I had a bit of a problem and found out I needed to replace a very old filling which was accomplished, Jan was able to get her new implant and with the new technology, she will be able to get scanned for the crown by computer instead of with the yucky putty, immediately, and will be able to get her crown when we come through northbound in April.

We did have some pretty weather.

As for our projects, the step is fixed, finally.  It turned out to be a bit challenging, doesn't it always?  Jan, the diesel mechanic, spent most of the time underneath, and took a bunch of pictures to be sure of how the linkage was connected, but even so, it was not intuitive, so with a few false starts and stalls, and me along with her underneath we got it sorted out and it is working.  Of course like any of these projects time will ultimately tell.

Jan cleaning things up and getting set to dismantle

The new motor and linkage assembly

One of the bushings with bolt, washers, and nut.
The second one was not done this way which is what stymied us for a bit

Removed

The old one, pretty yucky, huh?

All in, beautiful!!

Our roof is fiberglass and over the years, especially being in the sun all day everyday, the gel coat surface has eroded a bit and become chalky.  There are several ways to address it with many differing opinions.  We decided we were going to paint it with a marine topside paint, but being outside the weather is a huge factor, and the roof had to be really cleaned to get ready for paint.  Since I had to make the unexpected trip to the dentist, Jan jumped up while I was gone and cleaned and prepped the roof.

Now that is clean!

Unfortunately, the remnants of Nicole are forecast to arrive with lots of rain and wind, so we didn't get to paint, but we will get it done soon.  Also with the additional days traveling back and forth, the installation of the new black tank sensor will have to wait until Florida, no big deal, as we have been living with it for awhile now.  As to the generator, we hadn't been using it much as it has been mostly cool, but the other day, I started it up for some AC and it only produced power on one leg instead of both.  The circuit breaker on the generator is a single throw, double pole, so I went down to reset it, and promptly broke the switch right off!  It was very reluctant to move, and was full of grit and dirt, so we ordered a new one, unfortunately it is a proprietary part from Onan and the nearest store was in Gainesville, 1 1/2 hours away.  At least I tied it into my trip to the dentist and cut one leg off instead of making a separate trip for just it.

You can see where the switch used to be:-)

And just like most things, if access was better, it would only be a 5 minute job, so 40 minutes later I got it in and it now works like a champ.

Also while we were here we wanted to check out a new campground in Ellijay, the next town south, and closer to Atlanta by 21 miles.  It is Talona Ridge, a very nice resort, all paved, all concrete sites, big place with amenities and killer views.  We have already made our reservation for the spring when we come through here again.

So a couple more trips to Atlanta, a very rainy day coming, and we'll be heading south again, will stop at friends on the way, get the coach's oil change and lube along the way in Ocala, then we'll be back in Florida for the winter.  Stay tuned.