A/C is so overrated!

The last night or two we were in Charlottesville, we noticed our heat pump in the front was not working. It was putting out cold air. We had some nights that it got down to 48 degrees, so we need warmth, not cool. It would warm up during the day and when we would turn on the A/C, the unit would hummmm loudly but not cool. Terry suspected a locked up compressor. But there wasn't anything we could do about it in C-ville, so when we hit the road we started to brainstorm about fixing it. We still had heat, because we have gas furnaces, one in the front and one in the back. Keeping warm was not a problem, except we were running low on propane. But the A/C would be a problem once we got further south and the temps would start to rise.

I contacted a friend, Marsha, who for years ran the Tiffin Campground in Red Bay with her husband. I knew they wintered now in central Florida and were already there. She recommended Camping Connection in Clermont, next door to Kissimee, Florida. We called on Tuesday and got an appointment on Friday. Terry told them what he suspected with the compressor. He had already changed out the hard start capacitor with a spare he had and that didn't work.

We took three days to get to Florida from Charlottesville driving through North and South Carolina. We went down our alternate route of 321 which was inland from the coast. We had hoped to go down I-95 this time as we haven't done the coast for quite some time, but Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc on the coast and parts of the interstate were closed. Bummer. So we changed our route. We saw considerable damage even 50 miles further west, most of which consisted of downed trees. A lot of trees had been across the road, but the route was clear when we passed through. Terry said a lot of the traffic was being diverted to the route we chose. There were a lot of trucks. But with the exception of one stretch, it was quite smooth.

Our third night found us in Clermont, Florida, and we parked at Lake Magic Campground. It is a Thousand Trails camp and also Passport America, so we camped for $23 a night. Camping Connection was a short 1/4 mile to the east of us on the same side of the road, so that was handy.

It was a hot night and we closed up the back bedroom and cranked up the air. At least we were comfortable for sleeping and it was cool enough when we woke up that we were comfortable in the living room as well. It just started heating up later.

We closed up and moved over to the repair place for our 2 p.m. appointment and they were ready for us. They had actually ordered in a new A/C unit based on what Terry thought. They still did their diagnostics, but they came to the same conclusion. So they swapped out the bad upper unit and 2 1/2 hours later we were done! Oh Happy Day! AND our extended warranty covered their part, so we only paid our deductible. It is a quieter unit than before and it is cooling nicely!

Friday evening we had a visitor! Doesn't happen often, but our friend Susan came by to visit. She lives in Leesburg, Florida, and just lost her husband a year or so ago. We had planned to visit her several times, but it just didn't happen, so it was great that she took time to come see us. We visited for several hours and enjoyed it very much. She sold her big Class A Dutch Star and has bought a smaller B+ for her and her three Boston Terriers. She is enjoying traveling in it.

So yesterday we left Clermont and drove to Melbourne. Traffic was an absolute mess. It was bumper to bumper on I-4 which we were taking for only a short distance to get on the toll road that would take us to I-95. I was so thankful that Camping Connection had seen to ordering in a replacement A/C unit so that we didn't have to make a return trip to get it taken care of.

We arrived in Melbourne around 12:30 p.m. and got all set up, had lunch, walked the dog and then went to Brandon's. We visit for a couple hours before Brynlee and Megan left to go to a birthday party. We went with Brandon out to eat and returned to his house in time for Megan and Brynlee to get home. It was a great evening and we were tired by the time we got home.




Till next time. . .

Dale