We arrived safely late Monday afternoon. It's our first time here in the fairground's campground as there is usually a rally (generally the trailer brand Montana rally) this time of year that takes over the campground. Campground about 50-60% full. Lots of Montana branded trailers here. Talked with one owner who's here. Even though there was no rally this year, they came, anyway.
The fairground is located on a spur of the Pumpkinvine Bicycle Trail, so it's easy to walk to. We've got our bicycles in for service. When we get 'em back, we'll probably ride the trial some. Surprising to us, the bicycle shop was empty of new bicycles. This shop - Family Bicycle Center - normally has 4 or 5 dozen new bicycles. There has been so many in previous visits, that it was hard to walk through the shop. They hope to have more "product" by next spring.
Funny how you get to meet everyone in the campground when there's an RV tech or Lippert service truck parked in front of your rig. For those of you looking to take a mental break from the aftermath of Hurricane Sally (way worse than anything we've suffered), let me take you back a few days.
First, note that it's a rare stay in the Elkhart/Lagrange, Indiana area for us that anything goes as planned. As I said above, we got here late Monday afternoon. First service date was Wednesday morning at 7 AM. Nice 15 minute drive to the Lippert Service Center. When we get there the hydraulic Level-Up system works flawlessly. We have them do a full service to the hydraulic system. We're pronounced healthy and off we go.
Next up is tires on Friday. We replaced all of the trailer tires including the spare. As we are doing things early before the sun is up, I'd gotten what I though was condensate on my hands from one of the utility access doors, but couldn't really see what I had felt. Unusual for water to be there, but a backflow valve could be going bad and leaked water there. When we got back to the fairgrounds and I went to that utility door, it was covered in hydraulic fluid. Yep, we've broken another hydraulic line and we were just there Wednesday! Why now?! Why didn't it break Wednesday while we were there and they had the bottom of the trailer off?!
So I called Lippert to get another appointment. The lady asked where we were. When I told her we were at the fairgrounds, she said she'd have a tech out to us in about 30 minutes. You know someone is looking out for you when the same tech that worked on your trailer's hydraulics on Wednesday is the same tech that comes out. Care to guess what he found? Yep, when they reinstalled the bottom of the trailer, they pinched a hydraulic line and cut it. How could that happen? Well, once you're past the storage compartment under the bedroom, not a single hydraulic line is routed where it's suppose to be routed in our trailer. Those lines lay anywhere and as it just so happens, one line lays right where the fasteners go into the floor. As our fasteners are really sheet metal screws, it's not hard to drill a hole in a hydraulic line. Sounds like a job for a future visit to Lippert to have those lines routed properly.
Truck tire: You knew this wasn't going away, didn't you! As soon as we started east from Sioux Falls, the front passenger tire stated leaking. Took it to Auto Park Ford in Sturgis, MI. They see the truck as often as anyone else. Did a quick check on the valve stem for an air leak and the soap was bubbling just as pretty as you please. As they confirmed they'd followed the Valve Stem Leak Tech bulletin from Ford back in May, they went to work on it, again. They found the real problem. The hole for the valve stem - tire pressure monitor is chipped & damaged. New wheel on the way.
(OK, maybe the real problem: The alloy wheels that come on Ford's F350 dual-rear wheel trucks' are designed prior to the design of the various tire pressure monitoring systems that's mandated on all new vehicles. That valve stem hole may not be designed to handle the dynamics that result for the extra weight of the tire pressure monitoring system. As we travel our "smooth" US Highway system, the wheels just may not be able to handle the dynamics of that monitor's extra weight. And given we've hit potholes that's broken our trailer's suspension twice and cut two hydraulic lines, it could be doing that to the alloy wheels on the truck, too.)
So that's our excitement. Next service appointment for the trailer is Monday, September 28th. Unlike some folks that we know on the gulf coast, our trailer is upright and not flooded...well I haven't walked out and checked this morning, so that may be a little premature! Things seem to be working, though. Weather is cool. Woke up to 35 degrees outside this morning. Our high is in the mid-60s. The fairgrounds is having a drive-thru, fairground-food weekend. All the food vendors are here. You can't walk up to them. You have to drive. We'll go get something bad & delicious later this afternoon.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by and checking up on us. Until next week, David
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