Back To North Georgia, Ellijay

We had to move sites for our last week in Cartersville and when we did after parking we noticed a leak under the steps, yeah another leak:-(  The hydraulic pump, tank and manifold that operate 3 of our 4 slides lives under the steps.  Sure enough we found the leak, tried to tighten the fitting and when we did we found out it wasn't loose, but that the fitting was failing instead.

So after much research and talking to various hydraulic repair companies, then contacting the manufacturer, HWH, we found out that virtually all hydraulic hose repairers and fabricators are happy to replace the hose, not just add a new end.  What complicates this somewhat is there are perhaps 8 hydraulic hoses, numerous air lines, and tons of electrical wires that are all tied up in a huge bundle that goes rearward, over and through the wheel well and into the coach itself, so to try to find one hose and track it to its end is more than we want to do.  So our new plan now it to visit an HWH specialty shop in Elkhart, IN in August where they say they can put a new end on it.  It means limping along with this leak until then, but it is only under pressure when actually activating the slide outs. 

We tried a new to us sushi place, Sushiology in Kennesaw that we enjoyed.

Awesome Korean pork belly Bao buns

A shrimp roll and a soft shell crab roll

Masago on top, a chopped California roll and interesting tuna poke "tacos"

Then as if we didn't have enough issues with our leaks, we woke up on a 35 degree morning and it was absolutely freezing in the front of our coach!  I switched the heat source over to our front heat pump which did okay, but at 35 degrees it really can't do too much until we could take a look when the sun came up.  I figured it had to be a stuck check valve on our AquaHot.  So after it warmed up to 45 and the sun was up, out I went to take a look.  Amazingly the circulation pump for the forward area wasn't working, so to make sure it wasn't the board I took the electrical plug out of an operating pump and stuck in it in the offending pump and still nothing.  So at least it is a pump and not a much more expensive board.  But what is really irritating us is we replaced all of our pumps in December of 2023, and already one is dead!!  You can review if you want HERE.

I have the offending pump circled

So we ordered a new pump to be delivered to Ellijay and as soon as it gets there we will install it as we are anticipating more 30 degree weather in the upcoming weeks.

On one of our many house and land searches we found a new restaurant, Downtown Eats in Dallas, GA, that was excellent, in fact we even went back a second time.

Incredible shrimp and crawfish hushpuppies,
and Korean BBQ

Fried green tomatoes with whipped goat cheese and onion jam

Pork belly tacos with blue cheese slaw

So now we have moved north to Talona Ridge, one of our favorites for a month.

We did make one decision though.  We decided to have the microwave/convection oven installed and the old one taken away.  We learned Lowes and Home Depot won't do it, seems odd, but they use third party installers and for liability reasons, I guess they will not install an over the range microwave unless there is at least 30 inches of clearance.  Our coach and I would venture to say any other coach doesn't have that much room and never has.  Seems weird, but they wouldn't budge.  So we made numerous calls to see if someone would deliver and install here in Ellijay, price isn't an issue because it is fair traded so everyone charges the same for the unit.  Finally we found a place in Blairsville, about 40 miles away that could do it and thought we had it all set up until they called back and said, whoops, we thought you were closer, we'll still do it but we'll have to add another $175 to the deal.  We compromised and we have it set up to drive the coach over to them and they will install the new one and take the old one in their parking lot.  So that's happening in a week or so.  That's all for now:-)

Unfortunately, Not Much to Report

We're all settled into our new digs here in Cartersville, and we are really enjoying the convenience of the location, although we are pretty well fed up with all the lights around.  The park itself has a rural feel to it right along the Etowah River, but in actuality it is in the midst of an industrial area with their associated, brilliant lights.  We have to move sites here tomorrow and are hoping the slightly different angle will protect us from some of the most offending lights.

We have been really beating the roads and internet along with some help from our realtor, and have looked at a lot of property with no luck.  We did have one peculiar experience though.  We actually thought we had found a likely lot to buy.  It was in a good location, a little over an acre, decent price, nice and level, and we let our hopes soar.  It was the last lot in a row of lots along the road, and next to the last house in the row.  We drove out to walk it, before we planned to move on it, parked the truck, and were walking around when a guy comes out of the house next door to ask if he could help us out.  I said, "Are you the owner of this property?".  He replied, "Yes".  Awesome we thought.  But then he asked why, and when we told him we were interested in buying it, he gave us quite the look, and told us it was definitely not for sale as it was part of his lot!  We showed him the listing, he was shocked, as it was the exact lot even with pictures.  Turned out to be a completely bogus listing, who ever heard of such a thing?  So on with our search.

Anyway, one of the first things we did was go to a favorite seafood restaurant to get a New England type meal to ease the desire before getting to Maine:-)  Maine Coastal is very good and has a varied menu with mostly northeastern fare.

We both had haddock, Jan's was grilled with a caper butter sauce.

My grilled haddock sandwich was one the best ever, to say nothing of
the awesome homemade chips

The weather has been quite cool, interspersed with a few warm days.  We got some errands done and one doctor appointment and stopped in for some Mexican at Huey Lueys, also quite good.  It was taco day so we made the most of it:-)

My steak fajita, chicken fajita, and brisket tacos

Jan's Korean BBQ and fish tacos

We also celebrated St Patty's day in our own way, after a corned beef dinner, the star of the show being our awesome homemade Reubens the next day, with a Guinness of course.

Then Murphy decided to strike again.  After we got here and settled in we noticed we had a little leak under the engine, never a good thing, it was especially troubling as if you remember we just had it serviced as we left Florida not long ago.  Since we had driven over 1500 miles we didn't think it could possibly a loose drain plug, but if it was leaking then why didn't they say something?  So we crawled under, but with the mess of the oil and road dirt everywhere we couldn't ascertain where the leak was, so decided to try to find either a mobile mechanic or a shop nearby that could take a look and let us know, and fix it if possible.  Amazingly we found a tractor trailer repair center 3 miles away from our campground!  I stopped in and they said to bring the coach over and they would take a look.  We did and they told us it was a leak on the oil pan gasket, and they could fix it.  We set up an appointment for what was expected to be an easy project, although we would lose the brand new oil we had put in for our service.  So as it turned out they didn't carry our regular brand of oil so after I backed it into their shop we took off to Walmart to purchase new oil.

The rainy morning of our repair

It ended up taking 6 hours of work as they also had to drop our whole towing framework as the pan would not quite slide by a crossmember.  Anyway, they finally called and pronounced it complete.  So hopefully we won't have any more issue with that.

And on top of all that our microwave/convection oven died, our only oven:-(  So we are making plans to take care of that, unfortunately this park will not accept deliveries, so we have to put it off at least 10 days until we move north to Ellijay.  We are going back and forth as to have someone install it or do it ourselves again.  We replaced it 9 years ago, not a bad run I guess, but I have a memory that it was quite heavy and unwieldy, and I am just not as strong anymore.  So we are going back and forth with it figuring in the added challenge of getting rid of the old one if we do it ourselves.  More on this to follow.