Elkhart, IN

Cartoon borrowed from a RV News Letter who got it from someone else, so it's not mine.  However, it does reflect the weekly events.  Reminds me of a TV advertisement from several years ago where they showed you a video of a Mars Rover.  The advertisement panned from the rover over to the product.  When the advertisement panned back to the rover, the rover was up on cinder blocks and all the wheels were missing.  My kind of humor!

We moved over to Elkhart Campground Friday.  Round one of trailer maintenance is complete, and Donna's completed two of three dental appointments.  A broken tooth last Sunday added to our ever changing schedule.  As we scheduled one of her dental appointments for this upcoming week, we found the dentist appointment conflicted with Tuesday's trailer service appointment (for suspension & wheel bearings) with MORryde.   Called MORryde to see if we could leave the trailer with them while Donna went to the dentist.  Turns out MORryde didn't have us on the schedule.  They had all the documentation including our confirmation, but we weren't scheduled.  MORryde rescheduled us for this Monday.  Guess there are silver linings to those unplanned events.

Trailer's got a new awning (acrylic material and is solid gray to match the gray on the trailer) and a new fridge.  Several wear items were repaired or replaced and a list of things to do/look at in late September created.  We'll see what breaks and add those to the list between now and then. An item or two was also deferred to September.  So we've already got a good list for September work.  Old fridge is to be repaired and sold.  Maybe we'll get some credit for it.  New fridge is installed so we can pull it out of the cabinet and roll it onto a dolly for future repairs.

With a trailer appointment on Monday and Donna's dental appointment on Tuesday, looks like we'll be able to head west on Wednesday.  Given Wednesday's weather is now predicted to be a solid rain day, I guess leaving Wednesday is pretty firm or at least as firm as it can be for us.  Still planning on an I-90 route west.  We'll see.

That gets you up to date with us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next time, David

ONE.NORMAL.DAY

 

...life with a RV...

I use the cartoon above to make fun of the RV lifestyle, but I think it's probably true for all of us no matter what we do.  I recall sitting in Auto Park Ford's customer lounge one day.  I started venting about our hydraulics on the trailer.  I didn't know the gentleman I was making small talk with was a farmer.  When I was done, he said "Sounds just like my farm equipment."  I'm sure it did.

Anyway, our problem was so small and easy to fix that it's embarrassing.  Problem turned out to be a loose wiring harness. Yep, the trip over I-70 had worked one connection loose.  Didn't look loose, but it was.  A full test of the hydraulic system was done.  We were in & out in about 20 minutes.  Added this to another constantly growing list of things we do on a weekly basis just to ensure things are working.

So now we sit at Howe, IN while we get a new awning and refrigerator plus general maintenance on the trailer.  Today's high is about 60 F.  Later this week the high is 38 with freezing rain and snow.  Lows well below freezing.  Good week for the trailer to sit inside a heated building and be worked on.  Today is laundry day for us as few people use the hotel's laundry on Sundays.  Probably take advantage of the warmer weather and wash the trailer, too, before it goes in the shop in the morning.

We've been out a little bit.  Can't speak much for Michigan, but Indiana - at least Shipshewana - is open.  And I mean open.  Wear masks only if you want to, but they do ask that you use the provided plastic gloves at the buffets.  Since they didn't ask people to wash their hands first, the gloves seem a little "useless" to us.  At one bakery, most people didn't have a mask on and the six-foot between families rule was out the window, too.  Doubt people were washing their hands.   

Plans after we leave here?  Well, given how this past week went, who knows?  We'd like to leave the Elkhart area on April 28th.  We'd like to arrive at Jackson WY on May 17th.  We'd like to spend a few days at Sioux Falls and a week in the Black Hills.  Lets just leave it with "we'll try to do that".   See James 4:13-14

So that gets you caught up with us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us (and tolerating my rants).  We'll post again when we have more news.  David

&%)*(*$##@@!@@#% Hydraulics

Well...we were on for a highly anticipated visit with Jerry, Ellen & Jan near Dayton, OH this weekend only to be foiled by the ever reliable & durable Lippert Hydraulics System (not).  Trip was actually going really well - probably too well - and it caught up with us today near Cambridge, OH were we'd stop for what we'd hope would be a nice, lazy afternoon without any rain.  Instead, we added another six hours to our trip to drive though lake-effect rain showers to Howe, IN where we can at least park the truck-trailer combo until Lippert can look at it tomorrow.  (Yes, once again we're stuck with the trailer on the truck.) And this is where we lucked out - Lippert could fit us in tomorrow morning.  Secretly, I think they're feeling sorry for us as we're always here every six months getting some unexpected failure with our hydraulics repaired.  This our second catastrophic hydraulic failure in six months.  Apparently, Lippert Hydraulic Systems aren't meant to be repairable?  Anyway, we're anxious to find out the cause.  The pump, motor, all but one solenoid, keypad and wiring harness were all replace with new parts in April 2019.  The one solenoid not replaced was replaced in 2017.  Today you could push all the buttons you wanted, the pump motor would run but nothing moved. Wonder what "new" part failed this time?

We were coming here hoping to have a dry-rotted awning replaced as well as a new fridge installed. (New replacements are at Indiana Interstate Enterprises in Lagrange, IN awaiting our arrival.)  We're hoping we can at least still get the frig done while we're here before we need to leave for Jackson, WY for the summer season.  We'll see.

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Just remember, RV really stands for Ruined Vacation.  #GORVing