We left Venice yesterday afternoon and went to a campground in Kissimmee to stage ourselves for our appointment at Josam Truck Alignment shop in Orlando at 0700. All went fine, we got in right at 0700 and by 0715 they informed us we had a serious problem. The drag link, the part of the chassis responsible for connecting the steering wheel to the front wheels, was shot. I went down into the pit to take a look and wow, did it ever wiggle around! No good! Then we found out that not only is the part unique to our chassis, it is proprietary, expensive, and since it is a special order, it would take up to 3 weeks to get it. Put quite a dent in our plans! By 0800, our ride height had been adjusted and our alignment including a road test was complete. The coach was then moved over to another bay to have all new Koni shocks installed, the front hubs converted to oil bath and the bearings checked, and the dessicant cartridge replaced. Josam is a very good place. Clean, competent, fair priced, and friendly.
The drag link has to be ordered straight from Monaco which has been done. Now we wait. In the meantime we are returning to Venice, restarted our electric, newspaper, and notified the campground we are returning.
We just can't escape...... Feeling the beam...pulling us back, pulling us back:-)
Maybe we'll do the awning conversion now??
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Counting down.......
We are on the last few hours of our countdown to leave! We've had quite a week. Had a nice farewell dinner with Ray and April before they left for Maine and Vermont. Had a nice farewell lunch with Dick and Ann as they settle in for the hot summer. Had to get a final blood test to release me and check my meds to head out. All good, by the way.
We managed to bring in torrential rain since we had the motorhome washed and waxed on Friday. Then on Saturday we helped Jason move into his new digs. A great day to move, only 90 degrees with 95% humidity coupled with the fact he is moving into a second story condo up a stair with a 180 degree turn, well, let me put it this way, we all thought we were going to pass out by the end of Saturday. We all, including the young, at least relatively, Jason, looked like zombies as we ate Chinese take out for dinner and all went to bed by 8:30pm that night. Helped him get a few more things done Sunday, returned the rental truck, and now he just has to finish unpacking and setting up shop.
We've only got a few more things to do this morning, get the mail, turn in the post office key, load the kayak and bikes, and we are out of here! All the way to Orlando :-) We are spending the night at a KOA in Kissimmee just south of Josam's, so we are in place for our 0700am appointment Tuesday morning to have our new shocks installed, our ride height checked, and alignment done, and our front hubs checked out....... Then we will be heading out of Florida. Hope we remember how to do it..... Yeehaaaa!
We managed to bring in torrential rain since we had the motorhome washed and waxed on Friday. Then on Saturday we helped Jason move into his new digs. A great day to move, only 90 degrees with 95% humidity coupled with the fact he is moving into a second story condo up a stair with a 180 degree turn, well, let me put it this way, we all thought we were going to pass out by the end of Saturday. We all, including the young, at least relatively, Jason, looked like zombies as we ate Chinese take out for dinner and all went to bed by 8:30pm that night. Helped him get a few more things done Sunday, returned the rental truck, and now he just has to finish unpacking and setting up shop.
We've only got a few more things to do this morning, get the mail, turn in the post office key, load the kayak and bikes, and we are out of here! All the way to Orlando :-) We are spending the night at a KOA in Kissimmee just south of Josam's, so we are in place for our 0700am appointment Tuesday morning to have our new shocks installed, our ride height checked, and alignment done, and our front hubs checked out....... Then we will be heading out of Florida. Hope we remember how to do it..... Yeehaaaa!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Whirlwind trip
We just a made a whirlwind trip to Atlanta to our storage unit. Filled the Jeep with stuff for Goodwill, then filled it again with stuff for the dumpster, rented a trailer, filled it with all of our worldly possessions, and boogied right back to Florida! Wow, didn't take a breath until Jason helped us unpack and move everything into a new storage unit and then turned in the trailer. I'm pretty sure we set a record!
We are trying to get a bunch of stuff done now so we can head out of Florida Monday. We did a couple things to the motorhome that we were meaning to do but didn't get the time. Our coach is equipped with an AGS system. That stands for Automatic Generator Start. We have used it a bit and want to be able to use it more and more going forward as we boondock more often. Our system was a bit long in the tooth and not too accurate with an older AGS module. This system auto starts the generator whenever one of two things happen. One, the temperature in the motorhome exceeds the temp you have set, and two, the house batteries run down to a voltage you set. This way if you lose power or are not plugged into power, and the temps go up and the interior gets too hot, the generator starts providing AC power so the air conditioners can run. Helps keep Bert, our cat happy if we aren't around! The air conditioners only run on AC power so you need to be either plugged into campground power or running the generator. The second part deals with the house battery system. It provides DC power and AC power through the inverter to the coach while boondocking or camping while not plugged into power. So with the AGS system, you can set a value approximately equal to a 50% discharge of the house batteries, and when they reach that value, the generator starts and recharges them. Pretty slick. There is an upgraded component available that is a plug in replacement for our older module that allows it to be controlled accurately and remotely from inside the coach. We found out our remote was also too old to controll it and needed a software upgrade. It was easy to do as the company, Magnum, sent us an upgraded one and we sent them our old one. It's all set up now and works perfectly!
We are doing a few more things this week in anticipation of leaving, and best of all we will be able to help Jason move out of his house and into a condo this weekend before we leave on Monday. Yippeee! Love moving, don't you?
We are trying to get a bunch of stuff done now so we can head out of Florida Monday. We did a couple things to the motorhome that we were meaning to do but didn't get the time. Our coach is equipped with an AGS system. That stands for Automatic Generator Start. We have used it a bit and want to be able to use it more and more going forward as we boondock more often. Our system was a bit long in the tooth and not too accurate with an older AGS module. This system auto starts the generator whenever one of two things happen. One, the temperature in the motorhome exceeds the temp you have set, and two, the house batteries run down to a voltage you set. This way if you lose power or are not plugged into power, and the temps go up and the interior gets too hot, the generator starts providing AC power so the air conditioners can run. Helps keep Bert, our cat happy if we aren't around! The air conditioners only run on AC power so you need to be either plugged into campground power or running the generator. The second part deals with the house battery system. It provides DC power and AC power through the inverter to the coach while boondocking or camping while not plugged into power. So with the AGS system, you can set a value approximately equal to a 50% discharge of the house batteries, and when they reach that value, the generator starts and recharges them. Pretty slick. There is an upgraded component available that is a plug in replacement for our older module that allows it to be controlled accurately and remotely from inside the coach. We found out our remote was also too old to controll it and needed a software upgrade. It was easy to do as the company, Magnum, sent us an upgraded one and we sent them our old one. It's all set up now and works perfectly!
We are doing a few more things this week in anticipation of leaving, and best of all we will be able to help Jason move out of his house and into a condo this weekend before we leave on Monday. Yippeee! Love moving, don't you?
Monday, June 10, 2013
Life goes on
We have been busy taking care of the things necessary with my mom's passing. It was made easier by her, because she made it a priority to be sure everything she could address while living was done. It's a lesson to us, especially since we've seen the results of an unexpected or not prepared situation.
We are now transitioning to get back to moving, but have a few items we want to take care of either before we move or on the way out of dodge. We have almost 75,000 miles on our motorhome and it is time for new shocks. We are noticing a bit of porpoising on large bumps, and a pretty hard jolt over expansion strips, so it is time. There is a shop in Orlando that has an incredible reputation as one of the very best alignment and chassis shops in the country, Josam It is rare that you ever find 100% positive raves and reviews on anything! So we are going to go there on our way out of Florida and have our ride height adjusted, shocks replaced, an alignment, and our front hubs checked out. There is a big debate between Bilstein and Koni shocks, and of course proponents of both. After much research we have opted to go with Koni's even though they are a bit more expensive. We have no intention of selling our coach in the near future so feel the added cost is justified, both shocks have lifetime warranties.
We also had planned on another big project, I only call it big since we were not planning on doing it ourselves :-) We were going to replace our Slide Toppers. Those are the awnings that cover the top of our slide outs. They keep water and debris off the slides.
As you can see in the photo, our Carefree's are very flat and tend to not only allow water to pool, any debris that accumulates on the awning rolls right up into the aluminum case. We had planned to replace them with another brand, Girard, which has a patent on theirs which alleviates those problems. The Girards are pitched better, and their roller is on the motorhome side and with a brush they push off the debris as they roll up.
We contacted a service facility we have used in the past, but they have not responded in a timely fashion, so instead of remaining here in Florida even longer, we will take care of this project next year when we return.
Also we are going to make a record run north to pack up our storage unit in Atlanta and move our belongings (crap for the most part) down here to another storage unit. We spend more time here in Florida, so it makes sense to have a storage unit here that we can access nearby and store items we only use here. We are planning to make that trip in the shortest time possible, as we are really squeezing that in.
We have been seeing the few friends that are still here, before we leave, which has been nice, but I think they really just want to be sure I'm still kicking :-)
We are now transitioning to get back to moving, but have a few items we want to take care of either before we move or on the way out of dodge. We have almost 75,000 miles on our motorhome and it is time for new shocks. We are noticing a bit of porpoising on large bumps, and a pretty hard jolt over expansion strips, so it is time. There is a shop in Orlando that has an incredible reputation as one of the very best alignment and chassis shops in the country, Josam It is rare that you ever find 100% positive raves and reviews on anything! So we are going to go there on our way out of Florida and have our ride height adjusted, shocks replaced, an alignment, and our front hubs checked out. There is a big debate between Bilstein and Koni shocks, and of course proponents of both. After much research we have opted to go with Koni's even though they are a bit more expensive. We have no intention of selling our coach in the near future so feel the added cost is justified, both shocks have lifetime warranties.
We also had planned on another big project, I only call it big since we were not planning on doing it ourselves :-) We were going to replace our Slide Toppers. Those are the awnings that cover the top of our slide outs. They keep water and debris off the slides.
 |
| Slide Topper |
 |
| Girard topper |
Also we are going to make a record run north to pack up our storage unit in Atlanta and move our belongings (crap for the most part) down here to another storage unit. We spend more time here in Florida, so it makes sense to have a storage unit here that we can access nearby and store items we only use here. We are planning to make that trip in the shortest time possible, as we are really squeezing that in.
We have been seeing the few friends that are still here, before we leave, which has been nice, but I think they really just want to be sure I'm still kicking :-)
Monday, June 3, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Wow, June already!
Been quite a week. A culmination of a problem I've been having since February turned into something a lot more dangerous than any of us including the doctor thought. So after spending Tuesday and part of Wednesday in the hospital, I am fixed up, and as the doctor said, "good for another 30,000 miles" :-) Hope it's at least that long. With medication and an adjustment in lifestyle, hopefully I am good to go.
Bittersweet now, my mom is on the last leg of her journey in this world. It has been a long process that I'm sure she never anticipated or hoped for. Jan and I have such respect for hospice, the caring, sweet, compassionate people that are involved are truly saints. We are obviously spending a lot of time with her right now.
I want to thank all of you who have cut me some slack with my "RV" blog that has morphed into something else, kind of a place where I can share what's happening with us and in some way derive satisfaction from doing so. Jan and I can see a chapter in our lives coming to an end, one of the many bumps in the road of life that we all encounter and deal with. We believe in a week or so we will get back to our nomadic lifestyle and rejoin the RV community just as my mom would want.
Bittersweet now, my mom is on the last leg of her journey in this world. It has been a long process that I'm sure she never anticipated or hoped for. Jan and I have such respect for hospice, the caring, sweet, compassionate people that are involved are truly saints. We are obviously spending a lot of time with her right now.
I want to thank all of you who have cut me some slack with my "RV" blog that has morphed into something else, kind of a place where I can share what's happening with us and in some way derive satisfaction from doing so. Jan and I can see a chapter in our lives coming to an end, one of the many bumps in the road of life that we all encounter and deal with. We believe in a week or so we will get back to our nomadic lifestyle and rejoin the RV community just as my mom would want.
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