Heading for Massachusetts

Thursday May 31, 2012

We spent today getting the motorhome ready to go. I moved it to the other driveway and connected the Jeep. The connections were checked and double checked and all was fine. Later on we added a few more things to the camper. I installed the Brake Buddy and ensured that it was also working well, then, I unplugged the brake so it wouldn’t drain the battery. Time is getting closer.

Friday, June 1, 2012

OK, time to get going. I double checked the Jeep connections one more time and made sure that the key was in the correct position to allow the steering to turn, as necessary. The Brake Buddy cord was plugged in and………it just wouldn’t work right. I disconnected the power and drained the air. When I repowered, it still wouldn’t work. Enough!!! The brakes on the motorhome are more than enough to stop the motorhome and Jeep, so we continued. I got well out of town before I told Helen.

Later on, heading up RT. 75, we could hear a beep coming from the rear, specifically the refrigerator. Helen thought that a door was ajar; as that happened in the past. Nope, that would be too easy. There was no LP flow to the refer. The next rest area was our stop and I ran a few tests. The burners on the stove worked, so the problem was in the refrigerator. Running the generator showed that the refrigerator was working on 120 AC. More testing showed that there was no power to the gas solenoid to the refer.  I called Norcold and got the number for a service facility in Valdosta, GA. I called and the woman I talked told me that she would check to see if they had the proper parts. After assuring me that they did. We agreed to meet just off  75.

The technician told me that it was the PC board. I explained to the woman I talked to that I thought it was the PC board. The technician did NOT have a working board with him, so all he could do was suggest I stop at some Camping World up the road somewhere. He still charged me $95.00 for the service call.

We continued up 75 and someplace just beyond Perry, GA we headed northeast toward Athens. This is a completely new route for us and we found it to be very rural and quiet. In fact, we were able to travel a long time today because the drive along this route was so stress free compared to Rt. 95, Jacksonville, etc. We finally decided to try to find a campground and within two minutes we saw a sign for Pine Lake Campground. It wasn’t long before we were camped for the night.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

When I got up this morning Helen greeted me with the news that she had a terrible cup of coffee. There was no milk in the refrigerator. That was the last thing I was supposed to do yesterday morning. I thought I got the milk. The question is where did I leave it? Did I leave it in the refer? If so, that's not so bad, but it probably wont be good in a month. Or, did I leave it on the hood or trunk of Helen's car? Nothing worth worrying about. We stopped at the first Quick Mart and bought milk. So all is well. I waited until we had milk before I had my coffee.


 After a good night’s sleep we took off from Pine Lake and headed toward the northeast once again. At one point, someone beeped at us but I didn’t cut anyone off and didn’t see any debris in the rear view mirrors. We stopped in Fair Play, SC for fuel. I checked the internet and found they had the lowest diesel price at $3.63 a gallon. When I pulled in, I was surprised to see the price was down to $3.54. Since diesel was $4.11 when we were planning the trip I budgeted $4.50 per gallon for the trip. $3.54 was a welcome change.

We got on Rt. 77 to Rt.81 and put on some miles. Before the trip, I bought a new GPS, A Rand McNally 7710 and I LOVE IT!! You put in your destination as you usually do, and this GPS computes the directions, taking into consideration that you’re driving a 37 foot motorhome towing a car and are 12 feet 6 inches high. It won’t let you drive on a road that will cause you trouble. It warns you of upcoming traffic, construction, or speed limit changes. In addition, you plug in that you’re looking for a rest area along the route and it will list them for you from nearest to farthest. When one of the rest areas is a Wal-Mart, it says “overnight parking OK, Notify store manager” We stopped at a rest area and Helen was comfortable enough that she wanted to stay.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

We were on the road again early and were enjoying the scenery, more or less. The scenery was nice, but the number of dead animals on the highway was depressing. All told we saw probably 3 dozen dead dear, half a dozen groundhogs, and 1 cat. What really surprised me was one black bear in SC. It was not a cub, but one that would weight about 150 pounds, by my guess.

Soon it was time to fill the beast once again. I pulled into a truck stop and took my credit card to the cashier. Walking back to my motorhome, I was shocked, shocked I tell you. My tail pipe was gone and the area around the pipe was black with soot. Is that why someone was beeping at me earlier? The truck stop had no replacement pipe and didn’t know where I’d get one on Sunday. Too bad! In Wildwood, Florida, about 17 miles from my home is the Rt. 75 Chrome Shop that carries all kinds of tail pipes. I settled for the next best thing and stopped at the first Lowe’s that we came to, about 14 miles away. I bought a section of 6 inch stove pipe and several huge hose clamps. Ten minutes later, we were on our way again. Travel on Rt. 81 was smooth and the transfer to Rt. 84 east was easy. We elected to find a campground near Waterbury, CT. Wolf’s Den campground was ours for the night.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Wolf’s Den was a nice place. Two ponds, a pool, Wifi, friendly, and only 2 hours and 15 minutes from the campground in Hingham, Ma, our final destination. Wolf’s Den is also a Passport America campground so it’s half price. I also figured that if we stayed, I could package up the Brake Buddy and have it shipped from UPS or FedEx. It is now evening. Helen is watching cable TV and I actually got the brake unit shipped off. Tomorrow should be an easy day, having all day to go 123 miles.

Later.