Our RV Adventures

We were up about 6am and pulling out of our site a little after 7:45 with Jan following in the truck. We were heading for the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails about 350 miles away, a long day for us, but we were anxious to get back to Houston.

Although we were here at this park for the convenience and not for the water-based activities, the view out of the windshield was nice.

Our first stop was the Wal-Mart about 5 miles away for diesel at $2.15/gallon. We filled up here two years ago, and knew it was an easy in/easy out. And by 8:20 we were hitched up and out on I-35 south,

And I-35 took us about 150 miles through Dallas where we hooked up with I-30 for a couple of miles, and then onto i-45 south.

And this brings up Never, Ever Again. I normally don’t have a problem driving through big cities. Houston, El Paso, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, etc., no problem. But I will never, ever drive through Dallas again.

That is the biggest mess I’ve ever driven in, with construction from one city limit to the other. And as the lanes went from 3 to 1 to 2, etc., invariably they left you in a lane you didn’t want to be in, leaving you stuck in an exit lane where you don’t want to exit.

So then you put your turn signal on and start moving over, watching in your mirror the truck continuing to ignore your blinkers and coming on up. Then he suddenly realizes, yes, you really are coming over and he’s going to be in big trouble fast.

So I don’t know if it will be any better, but if I ever have to do this again, I’ll take the 635 Loop around. It’s only about 12 miles further. Anyway, I don’t think it could be worse.

After a stop at the Madisonville Buc-ee’s for coffee and kolaches, we pulled into site A9 at the Lake Conroe TT.

Driving up this row, I thought I was in the ‘G’ section, and I kind of was, since the left side is ‘G’ and the right side is in ‘A’. But it’s a nice level site with 50amp FHU, so it’s all good. Especially since they since at the office that when everyone comes in today, the park is full.

Yesterday’s repair to my hydraulic fan motor held with no problem. Sometime in the next few days, I’ll go under the bed and check out the access to the top bolt.

Tomorrow, hopefully nothing.

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.” – Mark Twain

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Yesterday as I was backing into our site here at Pauls Valley City Lake RV Park, Jan was spotting me at the rear of the site, and after we were parked, she said that there was a loud, banging noise coming from the engine.

Rut Roh!

I wasn’t getting any warning lights or error messages on the dash, so after I was parked, I left the engine running and went back to check it out.

Yes, there was definitely a loud, banging noise. But it didn’t really sound like it wasn’t coming FROM the engine. In fact it sounded like it was coming directly from behind the side radiator and the cooling fan.

So maybe the fan was rubbing against something? But whatever it was I decided to wait until this morning to look at it.

So I went out about 11am this morning, and after laying down my pads I crawled under the rig to first check out the fan. But as I turned it by hand, all the blades seemed to be in good shape. But there was a lot of fluid around.

Then as I was kind of wiggling the fan back and forth I noticed that not only was the fan moving, but that the entire drive motor was moving as well.

The fan on our rig is hydraulically driven, rather than electrically or engine-driven like most vehicles, and I noticed that the bolt that holds the motor in place had lost its nut so the whole motor was just banging around inside the bracket.

The motor was loose enough that I figured the bolt at the top was also loose. but hopefully just getting the bottom one locked down will get us back to Lake Conroe tomorrow.

I first tried to pull the bolt out so I could know what size nut to buy at the hardware store. But I could not get the bolt out because it hit the fan hub. So the fan would have to come off, and to get fan off I would have to pull the radiator. Nope!

So coming back in the rig, I put a call into Spartan to find out the size of the bolt. And after the tech rummaged though some very old computer, he said it was a 7/16×14 bolt, so I would need a 7/16×14 nut. The tech also said it had 2 flat washer and a serrated lock washer.

So more parts on the shopping list.

About 1 pm we headed over to Sonja and Lendel’s for the afternoon. Jan wanted Sonja’s help with some sewing, and Sonja wanted me to take a look at a computer problem she was having.

But after we got there, Lendel and headed back out to the  Ace Hardware for the hardware I needed. I not only got the parts I needed for today, but another set to fix the top bolt when we get home. Looks like that to replace the top nut I’ll have to go in from under the bed.

About 4pm we all drove over to Tio’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Lendel got a large burrito, Sonja got a Chicken Quesadilla, and Jan and I got different versions of Tio’s Trio, where you pick tres items from a list of siete.

Mine had a Chicken Enchilada, a Beef Enchilada, and a Chile Relleno. Really good. And they have really great (hot) salsa and homemade chips.

Saying our goodbyes about 5, Jan and I headed back to the rig with a quick stop at the local O’Reilly’s for a gallon of AW 32 Hydraulic Fluid to top off the tank if I needed it.

Getting home I changed clothes and crawled back under the rig. I didn’t have enough clearance to use my ratchet, so an open-end wrench and a pair of Vice-Grips had to suffice.

And after a few minutes I had it all tightened down in place. Now for the test.

Going inside I cranked up the rig  and then went outside to give a listen.

Purring like a kitten.

So we’ll head out tomorrow about 8am for the 350 mile trip down to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, with a stop here at the local Wal-Mart for $2.15 diesel.

Looking forward to being back ‘home’.

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