Monthly Archives: October 2009
Better than yesterday…
Bob Evans was so good last night we decided to have breakfast there this morning. Of course sleeping in meant it was lunchtime by the time we got there, but we had breakfast anyway.
After breakfast, we stopped off at Menard’s to pick up some stuff and then headed back to the park.
And then it was back to work on Nick’s rig some more. And after yesterday’s debacle I was hoping things would better. And luckily for me, they did. Otherwise I’m not sure Nick would let me near his coach again.
He had received the cable to hook up his VMSpc engine/computer interface and wanted to get it installed.
The problem was that the diagnostic socket under the dash wasn’t very accessible. On my coach it’s just right under the dash. But on Nick’s coach it’s under a foot rest and behind a large bundle of wires about 9 inches in diameter. I had to cut all the tywraps off until I could spread the bundle apart to get the plug pushed through and plugged into the socket. And doing all this while lying on my back under the steering wheel. But I finally got it plugged in and everything back in place under the dash.
We then hooked it up to his desktop computer to try it out. And, after loading the USB drivers, it worked perfectly.
A much better day than yesterday!
Later we went out for pizza at a great place Nick and Terry knew about called Mancino’s. Really good pizza and bread!
Then after dinner we drove over to a nearby Staples so Nick could pick up an Acer Netbook that he plans to use for his VMSpc display on his dashboard.
Getting back to our rigs, we turned in for the night.
More tomorrow…
Tilting at windmills…
Today started with Jan and I taking our coach down to M & M Fabricators to have our new shocks installed.
We got unhooked and headed out about 8:45 to drop the rig off. Jan followed in the toad. Leaving the rig there, we drove back to the park, stopping off at McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich.
Back at the park, Jan headed out with Terri in their van to drop off the latest copies of the Gypsy Journal Newsletter at the Post Office, and then run some other errands.
I followed Nick in our toad as he drove his rig over to Phoenix Commercial Painting. The owner, Michelle, was kind enough to let Nick and I use her large garage to work on his coach.
We were trying to swap out the inverter in his new coach with the one in his old coach which is a better one. But it was not to be.
I had thoroughly measured the opening in the new coach and all the measurements said the new inverter would fit, but because the inverter was an odd tapered shape, and the fresh water tank next to where it needed to be mounted was also oddly shaped, the darned thing just wouldn’t quite fit. If we could have got it in though the access door, we could have mounted it. But no luck.
About 2 pm, M & M called and said our coach was ready so Jan and I drove over to pick it up. Driving it back to the park it was easy to tell the new shocks made a difference.
Getting to the garage we ended up spending over eight hours taking the inverters out of both coaches, finding out things wouldn’t fit, and then getting the inverters back into their respective coaches.
All for nothing. But I had fun doing it.
We got it finished up and then all went to Bob Evans Restaurant for a really great meal about 8:30 pm. Arriving back at the coach a early bedtime was in order.
It was a long day…
