Our RV Travels

Updates on our Full-Time RV'ing lifestyle. Feel free to add your comments, replies and stories of your own.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tied up in Georgia

 We left Arcadia after very nice visit with Glen and Sue.  We headed to Macon, GA under good conditions spending one night on the road.   We did have a flat on the trailer, but was able to pull into a spot in rear of restaurant where I could put spare on in the shade.  Good thing as it was very hot then.  As the tire was under warranty and my spare was good, I decided to wait till we get back in Tennessee to replace it.

In Macon, we visited Loretta's son Steve and his family.  They treated us to dinner 2 days and we took them out after church on Sunday.  Monday I took the truck to NexTran to have the parameters on the fan clutch reset so the engine would run a bit cooler.  We also fueled truck as fuel there was about as reasonable as we had seen in quite a while.  Also went to Camping World in Byron for repair kit for the water pump in the trailer.  They only had a complete pump assembly without motor available, so I purchased a new pump.  Will install that when we are at a good place to do the work.

Tuesday, we left the Shrine Club Campground early heading for Ft. Payne, AL.  We planned a stop at Denny's at the Flying J near Jackson, GA for breakfast.  BUT another tire blew out.  I would have removed it and drove on 3 wheels to a tire store.  However it was on the left side and the shoulder was quite narrow.  No way I was going to remove it on the Interstate with the heavy traffic passing.  So we limped to our planned exit but went to a tire shop nearby.  They happened to have a used tire of correct size in stock which I purchased and they installed.  However when making room in the truck bed for the damaged casing, I discovered quite a bit of oil on the floor.  It was coming from the engine.  The mechanic checked and found it was from the fitting where the oil dipstick enters the oil pan.  He tried to tighten the nut without any luck.  So he referred me to another repair shop nearby.

After delayed breakfast at Denny's, we went to the repair shop.  It wasn't long before I was able to drop the trailer and they got to work in the afternoon.   They worked on it till evening.  Had to raise engine and move engine mount to get the oil pan out to install a new fitting for the dipstick to fasten to.  It was getting towards 7PM when it was finished, I moved it to the trailer then settled up.  BUT when I went out to hookup, there was a puddle of oil under it again.  So after getting trailer leveled up and plugged into their power, we spent night.  OK, except next to a busy highway and quite noisy.

This morning they got to work on the truck again first thing.  I was told that the sealant used to seal the oil pan wasn't sufficient.   As of noon, they had the engine lifted and the oil pan  in position to reseal.  We were loaned a 2011 KIA to go for lunch.  They had to go to Atlanta to obtain a better sealant.  I think that has just arrived and hopefully we will be able to travel again in an hour or so.  


Till later
GOD Bless
Andy and Loretta
http://RVTravel.blogspot.com

Sunday, March 13, 2011

About wound up in Arcadia



We have had a busy time here near Arcadia, FL  I had my series of 3 BCG treatments done at a Urology Center in Port Charlotte with only a few problems.  Now I will see the Vanderbilt Urologist on 3 April for results.  We visited friends and family in Englewood.  Also visited friends in South Venice and at Avion Palms in Bowling Green and others.  Dined out with family in Englewood and our hosts here in Arcadia as well as checking out most of the eating establishments nearby by ourselves.

I have also (with Glens assistance often) done a lot of repair and maintenance on out RV.  There was some damage to the floor in the large slideout.  Glen and I replaced the damaged portion (we were lucky as he had material available for the repair.  But then the slideout would not operate correctly, it had been binding for some time.  He and I tried repeatedly to adjust it without any luck.  Finally it quit moving entirely but could hear motor running.  He had heard a noise in that area before.  I removed the access panel between axles and removed the motor and gear assembly.  I found a drive pin broken (Glen had a pin here saving a trip to town).  After replacing pin and reinstalling the motor assembly, the slideout works better than it ever has.  I feel that the drive pin had slipped some time ago and was dragging.  This pin should NOT slip.  
I also washed the external of the trailer and cleaned off dark spots.  Then I repaired some pits on the sidewall and repainted these areas best I could.  Looks pretty good again!!

We are both feeling quite well and Loretta is holding up very well.  She still gets tired and weak at times, but not like she was before we left Tennessee.

We expect to be heading back there shortly as we have doctor appointments back there.  We do plan on visiting friends and family as we travel.

Weather here has been mostly excellent with lots of sun and usually nice breezes.  Temperatures have been in 70's and lower 80's mostly with nights usually in 60's.  We have had a few chilly nights in the 40's and a couple of days in 60's and heavy rain last Thursday.  The rain was greatly needed but nothing more in the near forecast.

Guess that about gets up to date again.

GOD Bless
Andy and Loretta
http://RVTravel.blogspot.com