Disappointing, New Plans, and Good News

As I said we had one more big project ahead of us, and that was installing the baseplate on our new truck.  The baseplate is what the tow bar connects to so you are able to tow it.  Jan and I reflected and found that we have installed at least 10 of these before, so no big deal.  We got the truck raised up as much as the suspension allowed and ran it up on blocks to have access.  We mapped out our plan and arranged the tools needed for the install.

First step was removing the wheel well liner, no problem.

Next step was to remove the bumper, and that's where it all came to a halt.  Without the truck up on a lift we had no way that we could get a tool on the 3 big nuts on each side to remove the bumper.  A very disappointing situation, and totally unexpected, so we buttoned it all up and threw in the towel.  But before we put the tools away we replaced the air cleaner on the coach, so at least one thing was accomplished.

So now what?  When we bought the truck we went up to M&G Braking in Athens, TX to have them install the braking system and the wiring harness, and had planned to have them do the baseplate as well, but the baseplate hadn't been developed yet for our new model truck.  So we are now heading back to Athens, TX to have them install it. It will mean we will have to leave earlier than we had planned, no big deal.  And since we will be close to our daughter Kelly's new house, we will have an opportunity to visit she and Brian after the baseplate.  New plans make the world go round:-)

We had a nice get together lunch with Ray and Linda, and Karen and Tom joined us.

Karen, Tom, Linda, Ray, and Jan

Jan and I drove up to St Pete for a very good lunch at Crabby Bill's, Jason and Joanne had given us a gift certificate for Christmas we wanted to use, thank you!  It was a little cool and windy so we ate inside but still had a nice view of the gulf.

We had a veritable feast to include what we think might be the best onion rings outside of New England.

Grouper bites

And the amazing onion rings!

The good news.  As I mentioned we have been talking to people and getting some rough estimates on repairing the clear coat in several places on our coach, 17 years sitting in the sun and weather has taken its toll.  We thought we would maybe have to make a sortie to the west coast to a paint shop we had used previously.  And after a very high estimate from a shop in Utah, we almost committed to Oregon, but decided to try one more highly recommended place outside of Elkhart, IN, and they hit the mark.  We are planning to see them after we leave Maine and New England in mid August to have them take care of us.  There will be much more on this subject to follow.  Now we just have to figure out what to do for the 10 days or so while we have to stay out of the coach.

So now we are down to just a bit more than a week, a few more visits, a few more lunches, docs are all done and good, almost time to go.

About 2 Weeks To Go

The heat returned to Florida, 80's most days, but it's been really nice in the evenings.  Jan and I got another doctor done with good reports and another year, leaves me 1 more next week.  

We did get a few projects done in between eating lunch out:-)  First on the list was replacing our water accumulator tank, it takes the bumps and cycling out of the system particularly when we are using our on board pump.  And looking back in our records the tanks seem to only last about 4 years, maybe it's because we hook up to so many different sources for water across the country.  The bladder inside fails and the tank just fills with water.

The new tank ready to go in

And the heavy, filled with water, tank coming out

Then the biggy, our coolant leak.  It is one of the few times we have ever called in an outside mechanic but we just couldn't get to with enough strength to turn the fitting.  Turned out it was a good thing as it turned out one fitting actually had cracked.  After a bit of a communication challenge, Ty came over right at dark to get in there and see what was what and drain off 2 five gallon buckets of coolant, 40 quarts or so, of course because of where the fitting was way over his head, he also had to wear about a gallon or so himself.

The broken fitting on top

The new part

He brought the new part back the next night, got it installed, quite a job, then he needed to pump the drained coolant back into the coach which worked really well until the battery for pump died with no spare.  We took it from there, and the next day Jan and I using our pump put the rest of the coolant in along with another gallon, remember the coolant he was wearing?  We did get enough in to start it up and check for leaks, none so far.

Checking the level

His cool pump

We made a stop at one of our favorite Thai places for lunch, Thai Seed, and had something new.

Jan had Tom Yum noodle soup

I had duck noodle soup,
both were delicious!

We came down to Venice for lunch with Ray and Linda again and on the way back stopped at a great Italian market and restaurant, Angelo's, and picked up a new to us, Braciole.  After researching many recipes for this rolled and stuffed beef, we chose one and gave it a go.  Wonderful!

Braising in tomato sauce

Sliced

Served

One more project was completed.  I had years ago made a plywood box to hold our folding chairs, it looks a little funny, but it needed to have a removable top for things to ride on, and it needed to breathe so if the chairs were put away wet they would dry.  We had been using it for a long time, well, we had one of 4 chairs break, it happens from time to time, and when we reordered it, we found that the manufacturer made the chair wider.  Well that meant I had to modify the box which I did.

We had several highlights to our time recently, firstly we had great lunch and visit with dear friends from RCR where we stayed for so long, Debbie and Harold.  While we like where we are staying now, it is pretty far away from where we were.

Then another highlight was to see our old friend Harvey, we had a great time catching up with him.

So now we have just over two weeks to go, we have renewed our reservation for next winter at only 2 months, and have one big project to go.  We have to install the baseplate on the new truck so we can tow it.  Much more on that later.  So lots more lunches, lots more visits, several errands, and we'll be off.