Mar-Apr'06

  WOW!! Do I feel better! It definitely was the Zocor causing the aches. I feel like doing things now.

  Bob, Donna & I went to Wauchula to represent the park at Pioneer Days. They have a display with info on the Fl Park System and the park we are at. Just have to make sure the info is available on the table. Then we went thru the displays. Lots of displays with lots of neat items. I was most impressed with the small model engines. Also had a flea market and I picked up a few things I needed. Overall I enjoyed it and will go back next year.

  Got a call that one of Kay's cousins (Van) had a heart attack and had a quintuple bypass operation. This happened in Champaign, Il. His mother (Aunt Winona) flew up there from Jacksonville. He is doing well now and is back home in Mass.

  With all this new energy I tackled compounding and waxing the MH again. I had planned to have it done by now but the Zocor problem put those plans to rest. I am amazed at how well it is turning out. Looking good!!! Lot of work tho. I finished the MH—completely! WOW! Well worth the effort. Now I just have to stay on top of it before it gets oxidized again.

  Donna got a call from Utah that her friend Angela’s boyfriend had to have back surgery and she couldn’t take time off work to be with him during the day. So Donna flew out there for 2 weeks to help out. Now Donna and Kay are both gone. Bob & Barb headed north at the end of Feb, Tracy & Emy moved to a house around the same time. This left Bryan, Bill, Bob & me to take care of things around the park. A couple of weeks later Don & Theresa moved in so we had six of us then. Good thing too—I manned the visitors center one Saturday and luckily it was a slow day. BUT—one couple came in with a couple of brats. They had no regard for others property and I had to inform them to straighten up or leave. I kept my cool. They didn’t stay much longer. I don’t understand how people just let their kids run wild like that. If any more had shown up I don’t know how long I could have kept calm and represented the park in a nice way. That was also the ONLY day I manned the center. I’d rather be out digging a ditch.

  One day my satellite internet quit. I checked my wires, connections, etc. and couldn’t find a thing. I posted on WWW.DATASTORMUSERS.COM for some help. One of the suggestions was that sometimes a connection that is permanent will get corroded. I use a barrel connector out by the dish. One side stays connected all the time and I use the other side for connect/disconnect whenever we move the sat. I went out and replaced the connector and I was back online again. This simple operation covered 5 days by the time I found the answer.

  As we were getting ready for our trip north I was putting up the main awning and the spring broke. Had to roll it up by hand and will fix it later.

  Our plan was to head out at the end of Mar and stop at Fanning Springs, Fl to visit Ron & Judy Benton. Then on up to Ft. Benning, Ga for the dedication ceremony of a statue in honor of Rick Rescorla at the Infantry museum. As I’ve mentioned earlier in my travelogue—Rick was a hero in Nam and on 9/11. We got a call from Savannah that Mike was in intensive care and it didn’t look good. So we went to Savannah with the plan that if everything was leveled out we could still head over to Ft. Benning for the ceremony and then come back. It wasn’t to be---Mike passed away that Thursday. He fought a long, hard battle. The Drs were amazed he lasted as long as he did. He was determined to fight it (cancer) and gave it his all. Mike was not just my brother-in-law & my puter guru---he was my friend and I will miss him. He was cremated that afternoon and they held a memorial service for him on sat. Then we went over to the house and celebrated his life. It is the way he would have wanted it.

  The hitch for the truck broke a catch and I thought I had it fixed. When we next hooked up and were on the road I could see the truck moving to the driver’s side whenever I applied the brakes. Stopped, check it out and it was not fixed. I had to hold the catch up while Kay pulled the MH forward until it caught. I’ll have to order parts and fix it when they come in.

The next week we went to Mayport Naval Air Station near Jacksonville, Fl for the retirement of Dean Dunlap who is married to Kay’s cousin, Kathy. The RV park on the NAS was beautiful. Right by the mouth of the St. John’s River where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. All week long we watched ships and submarines traveling in and out.

The second day there it poured rain, it was blowing sideways and we had a lead around our slideout. Soaked the carpet. Next day we borrowed a wet vac and got out all we could which was about 3 inches deep in the vac. Called the HR factory and got an appt in June to replace the slide seals.

  Dean’s ship was the Hue City and they were having a picnic for the vets (Marines) of the Hue City Battle, the next day a memorial service and the following day was Dean’s retirement ceremony. We were invited to all 3 events. After Dean’s ceremony we got a tour of the ship. Quite impressive. Then they fed us. All in all it was a good week in that area. We hope to go back sometime.

  Then back to Savannah to see how they were doing and help out wherever we could. Kay did a lot of the paperwork for Clara. I helped Jarad hang some kitchen cabinets on a job he had. Anyway, when we parked and started to put out the slide it quit after about 3 inches. Could hear it popping. Jarad and I released the clutches on the drive gear and got the slide out so it was useable. Took the slide motor/gearbox off, opened it up and the gears were stripped. Went to the local RV place and ordered a new one ($800 + SH) and it would be here in a week. Checked the next week and it wasn’t here. Dealer called and they said it was backordered and wouldn’t be available for at least 2 weeks. Now you would think they would have let us/dealer know right away, but I guess that would have been good business which seems to be a rarity any more. We cancelled the order and Kay called an RV salvage yard. Told him what we needed and he said he was holding one in his hand at that moment and proceeded to read off the part numbers and it was the right one. Amazing. And it was $350 + SH. He said it was a new one that was in an inventory of an RV dealer that they bought out. When it arrived I checked it out on the truck battery to make sure it moved in both directions properly. Installed it, pushed the operating button, it moved an inch and stopped. Took it back off again, opened it up and there was a small bushing missing that allowed the gear to slip over when under load. Compared it to the original one and it was built into the case—no bushing. We did some switching between units and finally ended up with a good one. Slide works fine now.

Then the truck passenger side window motor quit. Finally something under warranty! I’ll get that fixed when we get back to Illinois.

  Jarad brought his race car over to the house so we could see it. We went to 2 races while we were in Sav. He hasn’t had the car very long and is still learning. Considering that, he is doing OK on the track.

  The thermostat started acting erratic and I ended up changing it. Another $150.

  After a couple of weeks it was time for us to head north as we had an appointment at the Freightliner factory in Gaffney, SC. We went to the campground in Rock Hill and figured we’d drive over in the morning for our service. It is a popular campground and we wanted to get there in the middle of the week to assure we had a site. It is a ‘first come, first served’ campground. This was the year for the expensive ($900) service. Next year it will be about half that. They do a very thorough job, replace all filters, fluids, grease, check everything, etc. Well worth the money for what they do. The tech broke something on my airdryer assembly so they replaced the whole assembly with a new/updated one at no extra charge. The tech also showed me an uneven wear pattern on my passenger front tire. Not too bad yet so will wait til we get to Harrisburg, Il to check it out. 

  We stayed at Rock Hill for a week and spent time visiting with my daughter and her hubby, Rob. Rob also helped me get my website back up and running again. I was really chomping at the bit about my site and it is a relief to have it back up and running again.

  The frig started warming up and after checking it out I figured it was the cooling unit. A call to a tech confirmed it. Took a day trip up to a place outside Charlotte, SC and had it replaced. $800. Are any of you starting to see a pattern for this month?

  Time to leave for the Midwest. Got about 5 miles from the campground and was losing power. I figured something happened to the turbo. Since we were near the freightliner factory Kay called and they sent us to a place that they sent their engine work. Took us an hour to get there and it wasn’t very far. I would crawl up even the smallest hill at about 10/15 MPH. We pulled in, I opened the engine compartment cover under the bed and immediately saw the problem—the clamp holding the turbo elbow to the turbo was cracked and allowed the elbow to slip to the side and cracked the elbow. I shoed the service mgr, he went into the shop and they didn’t have one available BUT they were working on a truck that had the same one and if we would use that one they would put the new one on the truck when it arrived. This way we could be on our way within ½ hr instead of waiting a day or 2. Thought that was a good idea and $200 later we were on our way.

  No more problems came up while on our way to Illinois.

  Later                                                                      PICTURES