And the bad news is . . .

We left Coleman State Park this morning and traveled down to Red Bay, a total of some 35 miles or so. The first place we went was to Bunk House RV which was said to have a supply of jacks. They did have some. . . all used. . . all takeoffs from motorhome that were replacing the jacks with something different. They want about half price or $350 a piece for the used jacks. We have no way of telling how old they are, they just guaranteed that they worked when they took them off. Well, all our jacks have been replaced at one time, so the new ones don't have a great life expectancy. We are reluctant to trust used ones. And we need two, so that would be $700 and about another $300 to put them on, so we are up to $1000. We talked with one guy about them. . . Everybody down here even in these cottage industries that have sprung up around Tiffin. . . have all worked there and seem to know a lot about the rigs and the systems. When we described for him what our coach did, he said that sounded like more of a controller issue that caused the jacks to break. It was so wild the way it happened. But I am inclined to think the controller had something to do with it because it never faltered. Normally when a jack acts up, the controller starts beeping, red lights start flashing and all He!! breaks loose. This time, there were violent "bucks" and the controller just continued to hum along as thought nothing was wrong.

So we are thinking that if we bought jacks to put on it and it was the controller that was bad. . . well. . . know that money would have been for nothing because the controllers are also obsolete and none are available anymore.

The gentlemen did tell us that he thought a lot of the problem was that Tiffin didn't put on heavy enough jacks to begin with. Perhaps that's why all of ours have broken at one time or another. So we are seriously considering an entirely new system. . . just have to decide which one.

Meanwhile, another problem surfaced yesterday when we stopped for a break, this time on MinnieMee. We noticed the generator tailpipe dragging on the ground. Had to have just happened. A clamp broke loose and it was so rusted that it is unusable. Also a hanging strap was torn and was going to follow the same path. We removed the tailpipe the rest of the way. Today we bought the tools Terry needed to fix it. It required a breaker bar because he couldn't get a rusted bolt loosed with his tools. So when we got to camp tonight, he got it fixed. He did a good job and it looks more professional than what was on it. Now we can again use the generator. We couldn't use the generator because it was exhausted straight down to the ground and we would have had fumes. But we are really just using it when we stop for lunch. He wanted it fixed for tonight because we are getting storms and if we happen to lose power, he wanted options.

We are in our camp now at Piney Grove, our home for several years while we come for the reunion. We are in the same site we always book. . . a really long site with 50 amp. So it's overkill for MinnieMee, that's for sure, but it's a nice level site for her.

Not sure what's on the docket for tomorrow. May hang around camp. We don't have a toad, so if we go anywhere, we have to break camp. That's not hard in MinnieMee, though!

Till next time. . .

Dale

On the Road Again!

Monday morning we left for points south. This is reunion time for Terry's family, specifically, the Pace family, Stephens family, and the Taylor family. Whew. It is complicated by the fact that his grandparents were each married before, had something like five kids each and then were both widowed. So they found each other, got married, and had five more children. It's this last group that organized the annual reunion, held to coincide with "Confederate Memorial Day" although some say that doesn't exist. At least this is what we were told by Terry's parents. Only one of the five children born to this union is still alive and he is no longer able to attend. We miss Uncle Bob. But the children of those last five try to gather once a year at this time and hope that more relatives will decide to join in.

We are traveling in MinnieMee, our little 22 1/2' motorhome. This is the one we bought to take to Alaska. . . and DID! Great trip, but that is another blog (see May, June, July, August 2013. Great stuff there. Phaeton Place is still in the shop and the reason she is there is because she has some broken jacks. Two, we are told. They are expensive to replace and it seems none are available. The Atwood System is no longer built, it is obsolete and while some jacks have continued to be available while supplies last, the Atwood company was bought by Lippert and we all know anything made by Lippert turns to gold. NOT. Turns to sh**, more likely. So part of of this trip is going to take us to Red Bay, Alabama, home of Tiffin Motorhomes, to see if we can find any jacks at any of the supply places there.

We drove to Shepherdsville, Kentucky, Monday night. It was a leisurely drive the last half. The first part was stop and go because we needed to stock up on some supplies and we did so by hitting some of the Amish grocery and salvage grocery stores south of Goshen.

We had a nice night in Kentucky, but we needed heat. So we turned on the furnace. SCREECH went the fan. It eventually quieted down, but we decided not to use it anymore and let Terry fix it once we get back home. Hard to get back to sleep after hearing that!

The next day we took off and made our way south to Bowling Green. We stopped off to find a heater, which we thought might be an impossibility during this time of year, but we found what we wanted and it was cheap. It works pretty good too, because we needed it that night. I turned it on and about 10 minutes later I had to turn it off because we were roasting! LOL

Onward now and at Nashville, we diverted to the Bryley Parkway down to I-40 and then picked up the Natchez Trace. This is the inaugural trip for MinnieMee on the Trace. I did take a picture, but I need to take them off the camera. We drove the Trace all the way to 72 in Alabama where we got off and drove west to Mississippi. We drove to J. P. Coleman State Park in Iuka, Mississippi. We have never been there and wasn't sure Phaeton Place would fit. There actually are some spots she would fit  in one section only, but the other section near the water, was definitely for smaller rigs and tents. Course, MinnieMee fit right in, but we took a site in the upper, much quieter section where it wasn't as crowded. It was very quiet and we slept very well.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Reunion Time!

We moved over to Piney Grove on Wednesday so we would be there for the reunion. Piney Grove is a Corps of Engineers park and a decent place to stay. We are in among the trees, however, so Terry has to fuss with his portable satellite dish in order to get TV reception. But he usually gets what he wants!

We went into town and visited with family members at the Buck Creek Flea Market. That is where Paul, Rusty, and Shirley are during the day. I always like to look around because I usually manage to find something I like. They were all there as were Gary and Jo, so we got to see them all.

We visited for awhile and then Terry, Gary, Jo and I all left on a mission to find an Amish vegetable market up north of Corinth in Tennessee. We did give it the ol' college try, but we never managed to find it, although we drove all over the area. As it was, when we got back and talked with the fellow who had told Terry about it, we found out we were very close and just turned the wrong way on one road. Geesh! I guess that will mean another road trip next time we are there. . . that will be next year. LOL

On Saturday, we met at Ramey's Restaurant in Marietta for the Pace/Stevens reunion. We had 18 there, I think. We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. The only person left in our parents' generation (the ones who started the reunion) is Uncle Bob. He, unfortunately, suffers from Alzheimer's and no longer comes to the family gatherings. That is a difficult situation for his children as it is for any family dealing with a loved one with that disease. But he is happy where he is at and that is a good thing. We always enjoy the reunion and hope every year that more of the family members will come.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at the camp and getting ready to break camp on Monday. When we left there, we returned to Red Bay to get our paint work done on two of our bay doors. They got that done on Tuesday and we spent that night in Red Bay, then headed out. It was supposed to rain the day we left and it did. We drove the Natchez Trace and it poured down on us the entire time. I love driving the Trace and it was okay in the rain. There wasn't much traffic and we easily made it to north of Nashville for the night. We stayed at Dad's Bluegrass Camp.

The next day we drove on up to Edinburg, Indiana, and stayed at the Johnson County Park. It is located in what used to be a part of Camp Atterbury. Our first campsite had power problems and we were moved to a site we had used a year or so ago. That worked fine. We shopped a bit at the factory shops down the road. And while we were in the area, we stopped and got carryout at Nick's Diner. There we had their famous tenderloin sandwich. I was not impressed. Terry may have like it better, but I didn't care for it.

We left there and drove to Warsaw and stayed at the fairgrounds for a couple nights and visited with Mom and my sister and husband. Then we headed on up to Elkhart to the campground where we plan to spend the summer.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Back home in Red Bay!

I say back home, because Red Bay is where Phaeton Place was born. She has her roots here. We came back this time because we have to get two bay doors replaced. We actually are scheduled on Monday, June 11, but we had a couple other things we hoped to get fixed while we were in the area. Terry's family reunion is June 9, so we got done in Searcy in time to get over here.

We stopped into the body shop and they have our doors. They are going to check their schedule to see when they can do it, maybe this week or early next week.

We also stopped at the camp office to sign up for a service appointment. After July 7, Tiffin will no longer work on motorhomes past ten years old, so we won't be able to get factory service. But there are so many outfits here, former Tiffin employees who have gone out on their own, that this is still the best place to come to get work done. Tiffin even supplies you with a little catalog of all the places that do work and even a map with their locations. We had two items that needed attention, the door awning and a slide roller. We were told that the scheduler would come around today to see us.

So we went to bed last night knowing we would be talking to someone today. I got up early and was having my first cup of coffee when the phone rang at 6 a.m. The lady spoke in a heavily southern accented voice and I had trouble understanding her. But she asked if we could be in Bay 10 at 7 a.m. What???????? Yes, I said. We will be there. I ran and woke Terry up and told him. He asked, "Can we make it?" I said, "We're gonna try." We left at 6:45 and were sitting waiting in front of Bay 10 a few minutes later. In fact, our paperwork had not yet reached our bay. Once we were in, we told them our two problems and we unloaded the cabinets they would have to have access through. Since we had rushed around, we hadn't had breakfast, so I ran out and got us breakfast. I got back about 8:15 and they were DONE! DONE! Unbelievable! The awning was not broken. Water had built up in the endcap and the tech removed it and then drilled a little hole to keep water draining from now on. He lubricated it a bit and it is good to go. The slide roller was a bigger job, but they know how to repair this stuff. They had to actually jack up the slide from the outside. Didn't take much time to get it in place. They thought they might have to fix our broken one if they didn't have one in stock. But they did have one and told us to keep the old one and have it repaired/welded so we would have a backup.
We were back on our site here at the camp at 8:30. Man, what a fast, busy 2 1/2 hours that was. I can't believe we just dropped in hoping to maybe at least get someone to look at in and it's fixed! I just can't say enough for Tiffin. They do it right.

We are here in the camp for another 5 nights or so, then we move to Piney Grove Corps Park in Mississippi, to be close to the reunion. Once we leave there, we will be back here in Red Bay, unless our work is finished between now and next Wednesday. So we are happy campers once again!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Red Bay Time!

Whenever we come to Mississippi for the family reunion, we normally schedule some time in at Red Bay for any repairs we need. They have changed the system at the Tiffin Service Center, but we can still get service. On our way down here from Indiana, our windshield broke and Red Bay is the best place to get it fixed. They have them in stock and we don't have to wait. We drove over to Red Bay on Sunday.

We had an appointment with Bay Diesel to have our cab air fixed. It had quit cooling us down and with temps in the 90's, we need A/C going down the road. Some people run their generators and roof air, but it doesn't help with the heat coming in the front windshield.

True to form, Tiffin called early Monday morning and asked us to come in to get the windshield changed out. We knew they would probably call us, so we set an alarm and got up early. We had Phaeton Place ready to roll and were out of there and in the proper bay in no time. We had developed a problem with fumes from the gray tank and so we went into the office to ask about getting that tracked down. The gal said no problem and as soon as the windshield was done, they took us into an express bay. There the two techs worked the rest of the day and fixed the vents which had dropped down too far and were expelling foul air into the coach. That worked and we are once again fume free.

While we were there, Terry mentioned he wanted to have the slide toppers changed out and a guy stopped by to talk to him. They came out that evening and measured for our new toppers and came back on Tuesday evening to put them on. They work at Tiffin and do this on the side. So we got our new slide toppers. They work great and look better than the ones that were beginning to fray and had holes in them. Thanks, Tiffin, once again, for the fine service and a safe place where we can come, continue to live in our coach and get things fixed. We were ready to roll on Wednesday morning.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Reunion, 2016

We are here in Mississippi for the Pace-Stevens family reunion. We have fewer people who come every year, but we still enjoy visiting with those who do make the effort. We have lost many members since we started coming. We have only missed one time in the last 20 years, I think, since Terry's Dad died. The year we missed was the year we went to Alaska.

The night before the reunion, we visited with Shirley and Paul and Gary and Jo at Shirley's house. Vikki and Johnathon and Preston were there as well. Shirley and Gary are siblings and are first cousins of Terry's. Gary and Jo fixed dinner of pork chops and baked sweet potatoes, so we ate very well. We usually see Gary and Jo a couple times a year because they live close to the path we take when we cross the southern U.S. They live near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, so it's a short drive to their place.

We met Saturday for the reunion at Ramey's Restaurant in Marietta, just down the road from where we used to hold a picnic. Later after we realized it was really too hot to have it outside, we moved over to the Marietta Community Building which was air conditioned and a welcome relief for those of us not accustomed to the humid heat of the south. Now we meet at a restaurant so no one has to cook!

This year Uncle Bob was with us. He is the last remaining child of Ma and Pa Pace, so it's mostly the younger generations that come now. He did not make it last year. He, unfortunately, has Alzheimer's. But he was having a reasonably good day and we got to visit with him. It was good to see him. He is in his mid 80's and appears to be in good health. He was very touched that we all came to celebrate with him.

We came back to the motorhome after the reunion. We were camped at Piney Grove on Bay Springs Lake, which is part of the Tenn-Tom Waterway. That is the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, a series of lakes, canals, and rivers that link the Tennessee River with the Gulf of Mexico. It's a nice park and we always reserve the same campsite every year. We know we fit well on it and it's easy on and off the site.

After we rested and fed the girls, we went back into Baldwyn and had dinner with Cathy and Bill and their son Matthew and girlfriend Sarah. Cathy and Terry are first cousins as well and she is Uncle Bob's daughter. She made us doughburgers. These are similar to hamburgers, but have a couple extra ingredients and have a little more flavor than a regular hamburger. She knew that I liked them and I really didn't do a good job duplicating them the one time I made them, so it was a special treat to eat hers! We visited with everyone and stayed till after dark before we made our way back to the lake. It's about 22 miles from her house.

We had some lightning on the way back. It almost always storms at least one night when we are there for the reunion, but this year it was all for show. The storms were mostly north of us and we didn't really even get any rain at the camp. We did have one bad/loud/scary thunderclap that sent me and the dogs scurrying for cover while we were out walking. Fortunately we were right near the motorhome, so I got them in easily.

This morning we broke camp and headed into Red Bay, Alabama. We have an appointment at Bay Diesel  at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Ugh. But we want to make it as easy on them as we can and it is super hot here. So the earlier the better. We are staying at a new campground here. It's west of Red Bay, just outside of town by about a block. Full hookup for $20 as are all the sites in Red Bay. Nice gravel and spacious enough sites. We went into town and got our mail and the laundry is running in the bedroom. Life is good. Depending on when Chris gets done with our coach, we may be staying here another night or rolling on north later tomorrow.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Gaffney was a bust.

Well, we had great hopes from Gaffney and were sorely disappointed. The people were nice enough and they didn't charge us a dime after the first day. But after four days working on the motorhome, we did not get the two repairs made. Those would be the diesel leak fumes in the coach and the "check engine" "low coolant" errors.

They could not find the source for the diesel fumes. They pressurized the fuel tank for three hours and never found any leaks. They inspected and did not find any residue from previous leaks, etc. Diesel fuel does not evaporate, so wherever it drips or leaks will remain forever and eventually gather dust and dirt and grime which is what they look for when trying to find a leak. They searched everywhere, but never found it. I am convinced they didn't look "everywhere" because we still have the fumes and after running all afternoon when we left Gaffney, we had a strong odor in the coach again. It has to be coming from somewhere. . . we are not imagining it. They just didn't look in the right place or do the right test. But they tried everything they knew to do, so they left it at that.

The other problem is the "check engine" light which goes on when we get a "low coolant" warning. We had them change the coolant. We had it last changed at a Cummins shop and they didn't put in CAT coolant. There is a difference we found out, but that did not make the error we are having. The engine eventually goes into "limp" mode and then will shut down the engine. They worked for three more days to try and get it fixed. They again changed the sensor, put in a different module, ran new wires to the sensor, etc. Nothing worked, so they eventually gave up on that as well. On Friday they went into the computer and deactivated that sensor, which is what CAT in Ft. Wayne had done. That removes that sensor from the lineup and we were able to run again without that pesky warning. Still needs to be fixed, but we have to find someone who knows what to do.

It was extremely disappointing because we were certain this service center could do it all. We have a different opinion now. Don't get me wrong. . . the people there are very, very nice and they were very accommodating. But we don't think they do much with diagnostics and solving complex problems. They are very good on the various services you might want performed and cheaper than what we have paid before, but when it comes to our problems, they really didn't know what to do.

So where are we now? Red Bay, Alabama, where Phaeton Place was born. This, also, is not the place to fix our two major items, but we developed another problem they can fix, so we came here. When our large kitchen slide is out, we see a tear on the underneath side of the slide floor. It is fiberglas and we don't want it to get worse. It could be damaged more if not repaired, plus bugs could get in there. When Terry called them, they were very much aware of the exact problem and have a fix ready to go. So we have to wait here till our service number comes up and we will be all set. We thought while we are here we are going to ask around about the other two problems and see who is recommended for us to go to. We have heard of a shop in Decatur, Alabama. They are both a Freightliner shop and a CAT dealer, so they should be able to do both.

The ride over here was uneventful and long. We left Gaffney Friday afternoon around 4 p.m. We drove a couple hours but stopped before we got to Atlanta, not wanting to drive through there during rush hour on Friday night. We got up yesterday, Saturday morning, and drove over 300 miles, which is a long, long day for me behind the wheel, especially since we went through both Atlanta and Birmingham. I told Terry lucky for him I was having a lot of back pain cause that kept me awake on the longer than normal drive. LOL On the way over we saw an Oscar Meyer "Weinermobile" heading eastbound on I-22. Pretty cool!

So now we are in Camp Red Bay and already meeting new people which happens every time we come. It's been a few years though.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Time flies . . .

Time flies when you're having fun, right? So it must be doing the slow crawl for us. Motorhome problems continue to plague us and we are about at our wits' end.

On the way to Piney Grove, we stopped at our favorite rest area on the north side of the bridge over the Tennessee River on the Natchez Trace. This was just the day after picking the coach up again from Hill's Truck Service Center in South Bend, Indiana. We noticed after stopping and walking the dogs that we had what appeared to be a leak under the driver's area. Yep, it's a NEW fuel leak. It's not the one that continues to spew fumes into the basement and coach. . . this is a NEW leak created by the "mechanics" at Hill's. We never had any VISIBLE leak until they "fixed" it. Grrrrrr. Well, that still wouldn't keep us from moving so on we went. As soon as we pulled out of the rest area and approached the incline on the bridge the "Check Engine Light" came on. It continued and flashed "Low Coolant" before going out. Hmmmmm. Thanks, Hill's for checking and topping off the coolant. We thought we had finally found a place where we could take the rig up in northern Indiana for service and now are having to rethink that. We have had this before and normally have to add a bit of coolant. Terry runs the Silverleaf Diagnostic System on his laptop and it showed the engine temperature perfect, so we didn't worry about that. We drove on without incident and got into the camp expecting Gary and Jo to be already parked and waiting for us, since we were a day late.

Sad to say, Gary and Jo had cancelled their reservations and were staying at Shirley's. That's not a bad thing. Staying at his sister's is the best place for them since they don't see each other that often. We still got our favorite site and the camp was full. The neighbors camping in "Gary's" site came over and introduced themselves and invited us to share their screen tent and play cards and games. We thanked them. . . southern hospitality at its best. But after the problems we had getting here, we stuck to our site, walked the dogs and relaxed.

We had recently received information from the tax gurus in Texas that they were upping our assessment and taxes on our Texas property and so we filed an appeal. Unfortunately, instead of just making an adjustment, they scheduled a hearing for us. If we were not going to make the hearing, which at this point was 10 days away, we would have to hire a representative (too late to do that) or submit all our data and have it notarized, etc. So I spent the morning preparing the necessary forms and supporting materials. Terry called his cousin Cathy and she has a cousin on the other side of the family who works at a bank and is a notary public. So we went to visit Cathy and her husband Bill and then she drove us to downtown Baldwyn where we met her cousin and she notarized our paperwork. After that we were able to drop it in the mail. Whew. That's done. It required eight copies of everything so that each person on the appeals board could have their own documents. It probably won't even make a difference, but I had to try. Since then, we have talked with other owners in our park and were told of a lawyer who is helping a lot of the winter Texans there; so we will touch base with that attorney this year so that in future years, we will have someone who can help us by remote.

We had a great visit with Cathy and Bill in their "new" house. Her Dad, Uncle Bob, is the last Pace member of his generation. He is Terry's Dad's brother. He is in assisted living and suffers from Alzheimer's. When he moved out, Cathy and Bill moved into his house and have redecorated it. It is lovely and is a beautiful home. They are becoming more comfortable in it I think.

We drove over to Red Bay, always a highlight of our trips to Mississippi. We bought a few things in the camp store. We should have looked around more, because they have built a new customer lounge and we didn't even know it until after we left. But we do go every year, so we will manage to see it next time. 

Saturday we attended the family reunion in Marietta, Mississippi. It was a bit of a disappointment. Uncle Bob was not feeling well, so he didn't come. We had a total of 18 I think. The restaurant venue was actually quite good. The food was good and the family was great. We had hoped by having it at a restaurant and not requiring anyone to cook, there would be a bigger attendance. I hope that more attend next year and in the years to come because we always enjoy seeing everyone. So many have moved away that it is good to touch base with them once a year at least. Terry thinks we could send out invitations and I think that would be a good idea. As the family gets older, it is important for the younger ones to take interest in seeing that we make that contact at least every year.

After the reunion, we went back to camp and spent some time with the dogs and walked them. We headed back to Wheeler later and spent the evening visiting with cousin Shirley and family and cousin Gary and wife Jo. We had a great time visiting. It is always fun to visit with these cousins. Terry has fond memories of spending time in Mississippi when he was little. They always came back for vacations and family events, so he was quite close with these cousins and they remain very special to him.

So, tomorrow will be time to head out. Our plans are to head to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as our drivers' licenses need to be renewed.

Till next time. . .

Dale