Our RV Adventures

Although none was really forecast, we were awakened about 5am this morning by thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. And although the rain was nice, I never did really get back to sleep.

We were out the door about 8:45 to head into Vandalia to meet Jan’s sister Debbie, husband Jim, and granddaughter Gwen for breakfast at the local Denny’s. Vandalia only has about 7000 people, so everyone knows everyone else at breakfast and people are constantly visiting other tables and saying Hello.

Plus the waitresses know everyone too, and usually what they always order.

After breakfast, Jan, Debbie, and Gwen headed out for some shopping while I went back the rig to work on some stuff here, and also take care of some web work.

Then about 4pm I headed back into Vandalia from here in Mulberry Grove to first get the truck washed, and then on out to Debbie’s. Although Jan, et. al, were still out shopping, I was happy to see that the fuel filter and the fuel pump for our rig’s generator had both come in. I don’t know if I will be able to work on it tomorrow as I think we’re going over to the other side of St. Louis to meet up with some more of the family, and also Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, who are flying into St. Louis tomorrow for the get-together.

So it will probably be Thursday before I can give it a shot. And if that’s not enough I should have some time Friday too. But we’ll see.

The first couple of nights of our trip up here we didn’t set the TV/Sat dish up because we were leaving early. Then on our two night stay at Tom Sawyer the power was out  that first night when we got home, and then I didn’t set it up the next day since we were out all afternoon, and then leaving early again the next morning to try and beat the heat.

And now we haven’t set it up here, either. And we both agreed we haven’t really missed it that much. Of course it’s mostly reruns right now, so I don’t know how it would be if it were the Fall premiere season. But I imagine we will set it up when we’re back in Santa Fe, however the rest of the trip is probably a ‘We’ll See’ situation.

So I don’t know if we’ve weaned ourselves off of TV or not.

Tomorrow we’ve got another breakfast meeting at the Denny’s at 9, but we’re getting an early start because I need to get a new right front tire. This one has developed at wobble, I think due to a torn belt inside. It was fine leaving Houston, but there are a lot of big potholes on I-10, so who knows.

Thought for the Day: 

I don’t go crazy. I am crazy. Just ask Jan. But I occasionally go normal just to keep to keep everyone of their toes.  

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We were up at 5:30 this morning and were pulling out of our site by 6:15, right on schedule. I had prepped everything the night before so all I had to do was put the key in the truck’s ignition to unlock the steering and disconnect shore power, and we were ready to roll.

The reason for all this early bird crap was twofold. One, we wanted to get an early start so we would be traveling in the coolest part of the day. And Two, I wanted to get diesel at the Flying J before we got on I-55 and headed north. We still had plenty enough to make it to our destination with about 250 miles to spare, but we would probably be at or below the point where the generator would shut down due to the fuel level. Which for our 150 gallon tank is about 40 gallons.

Of course since our generator isn’t working, it normally wouldn’t make any difference, but I’m hoping I can get it fixed while we we’re here. I’m going under the assumption that it’s a fuel problem, since it acts like it does when it quits due to low fuel levels.

Plus the fact that when I ran the generator out on its slide and checked, it didn’t show any error codes. So based on this and some Googling about possible problems, I’m leaning toward a bad fuel pump.

It could also be a bad fuel filter, but it was just replaced by RV Mobile Lube a couple of months ago. Now it could be a defective filter, but the generator ran fine for about 5 hours the first day, and then quit after about 30 minutes the second.

So I’m looking at a defective brand new fuel filter, or an almost 20 year defective fuel pump. And the fact that a lot of RV’ers apparently have had fuel pump problems with their generators.

So being a belt and suspenders (literally and figuratively)  kind of guy and wanting cover all the bases, I ordered both a new filter and a new fuel pump from Amazon, and they should be here tomorrow.

I’ll replace the filter first since it’s easier and then go from there. Stay tuned.

By leaving the park at 6:15, I had hoped to be dieseled up and on the road by 7, but due to a slow pump in the RV lane, and the fact that I had to run my card through 4 times since the pump shut down at $75, we finally pulled out about 7:15am. Of course I also went inside for coffee/cappuccinos to go, but hey, the necessities of life, right?

We made our first pit stop about an hour down the road (coffee, OK?) and Jan really surprised me. She said she wanted to drive.

Now Jan used to drive a couple of hours on every trip, but that came to a screeching halt after the Big Blowout of 2015. And she’s never driven since. Until today.

And she did great, driving for about an hour and a half or so, until our next stop. So I guess she’s back on the horse again.

Since like Jan said the other day, the sky was kind of ‘overcasty’, we stayed cool and comfortable with just the fans running, so all in all, a nice smooth trip.

We had called ahead to get our site # so we pulled into the Timber Trails RV Park here in Mulberry Grove, IL about 1:15, went straight to our site, and got set up.

Later, about 5:30, we met Jan’s sister Debbie and her husband Jim at Los Amigos, a local Mexican restaurant. Jan and Debbie spent most of the meal comparing calendars to coordinate all the activities that are scheduled between now and Sunday when everyone leaves.

Tomorrow morning at 9 we’re all meeting at the Denny’s for breakfast, and probably for more comparing and scheduling, too.

Now more Catching Up on the Catching Up:

On Friday as we were approaching Byram, MS and the Swinging Bridges RV Park, I noticed the rig was hitting the bumps in the road a lot harder than normal, so the next morning before we left, I got under the rig to see if what I suspected, had happened. And it did.

The rod connecting the chassis to the air bag proportioning valve had come loose, looking like this.

With this rod not connected, no air gets to the rear air bags, making for a very rough ride. This has happened 3 or 4 times over the last 11 years, usually due to the rubber grommet deteriorating and coming apart. And I keep spares on hand just because of this.

But this time the rod had just pulled out, even though it was still so tight that the rod wouldn’t go back in. So I loosened the hose clamp, inserted the rod, and tightened it all back down.

Now we were good to go.

Now on to Saturday:

I mentioned in that day’s blog that when we got back from Charlie Vergos Rendezvous about 5:15, we found the power was off to the park. Originally we were told it should be back on in about an hour, but that came and went.

Finally about 8:30 I started Googling and found out what power company served our area, and then went to their Power Outage page. It said the outage had started at 4:42pm and would be corrected by 10pm.

But when that time also came and went, I checked again at about 10:15 and it now said 11:45. And that turned out to be a lot more accurate, since the power came back on at 11:37. Cool at last.

Now Sunday:

About 2pm Jan and I drove over to the Cordova area of Memphis to have more BBQ, this time at another favorite of ours, Jim & Nick’s BBQ. We eaten at this one a couple of times on past visits, and even more times back in Alabama, including the original one in Birmingham, and several others with friends.

We always start off with the Hot Link Sausage Plate appetizer, that comes with a delicious homemade Pimento Cheese, as well as some sliced Serrano peppers for a little more spice.

A really good start.

For her entrée Jan had a salad

and the Grilled Catfish, which looked kind of different, but she said was really good.

I of course got the ribs with beans and the collard greens, something you don’t see too often on a menu, But Jim & Nick’s, being from Alabama, know how to make good collard greens. One of my favorites.

Then it was on down the road a couple of miles to the WalMart for a few things, and so Jan could get a haircut. But they were closing and not taking anymore customers.

But we did find a Supercuts right down the road that was still open, so Jan got it done there.

The filter and fuel pump should be in tomorrow, but it may be Wednesday or Thursday before I really have a chance to tear into it. We’ll see.

Thought for the Day:  “No power is exercised with more fervor than small power.” – Mark Twain

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