Gone With The Wind – Hot Air

Well, it took Lazydays 4 hours to wash our new Baby and put two clamps on the air filter.  Bottom line…we got out of there about noon.  Flying J was right next door so I wanted to top off our fuel tank.  I made the right turn into the Flying J and the Baby wet it’s pants.  You know that big frig this Baby has.  It has big doors and you can keep a lot of big things in it like a half gallon of ice tea.  Yes it did…every ounce of it.  We had ice tea even on the outside of the rig dripping down the side below the slide out.  Hey, it’s broke in.  We got the 9 gallons of fuel and spent a little time cleaning up.  I hooked up the Jeep while Carol was thankful that we don’t put sugar in our tea.

Down the road several things went on and came off.  We bought some transport plastic for the front end and installed it before we left.  New front end paint and the open road don’t mix well.  It got some wind under it due to our quick application and it was howling like a coon dog getting their first smell of a coon on opening day.  It was loud. We pulled off the side of the interstate and removed it.  That was resolved. 

Next I learned something about the transmission and its shifting points.  I was cruising at 60 MPH and noticed I was still in 5th gear vice 6th.  Then I remembered driving the other new Winnebago and the salesman telling me they shift differently because of all the smog stuff.  Since he was a salesman I didn’t pay much mind to what he was saying.  I did notice it did shift different and others have mentioned to me.   This shifts into 6th gear above 62 MH under normal accelerating.  All the motorhomes (diesel) that we’ve had in the past shifted about 57 MPH.  So, I pushed the MODE button to on, on the Allison shift pad.  It then shifted at a little slower speed.  Then I kept the button on or it would shift down cruising at 60 MPH.  It’s a new learning thing just like the exhaust brake and the Jake brake difference.  I have to brake earlier and harder with this than the Beast due to the difference in the braking systems.  The two stage Jake brake on the Beast wins hands down.  The exhaust brakes prior to 2008 worked a lot better than these new ones that work off the turbo.  I won’t get into the details now.

The 360 Cummins seemed a little peppy and stepping on the accelerator pedal was very necessary if that makes sense.

We arrived at the SKP park near Bushnell called Sumter Oaks.  It’s a prior mobile home park that has been converted to a RV park.  Nice looking with the Spanish moss hanging down and large sites with FHU 50 AMPS.  No local TV and very little sat unless you have a portable dish set up.  About $22 a night with tax.

We parked across from Marilyn and Larry Forbes who greeted us right away.  They’re great people!  They read this so I had to say something nice about them in here….smile…

Oh back to the Baby…It leaked hydraulic fluid on the back of the Baby and on the Jeep.  I was told that that a mechanic had over filled the reservoir.   I removed some fluid out before we left but evidently not enough.  I will wipe down the Baby and Jeep and remove some more fluid.  I rather have too much than not enough at this point.  Plus when I was detaching the Jeep I noticed that I hadn’t hooked up the electrical cord to the Jeep/Baby.  It was still inside the Jeep.  Oh well.  I already tested that all out a few days ago so I know it works.  Now I just have to get the cord out.  Remember that I hooked up the Jeep during the mess with the ice tea.  That’s how easy a mistake can be made for sure.  I also don’t have to use the 12 inch hitch extension with this RV.  The receiver is more out from the body than under the body.  I like that because it’s less stress with this stock set up than the hitch extension.

Thursday morning it got down to 55 degrees here…yea… I can test the Baby’s heating system and did.  I only tested the heat pumps (2).  No problem plus the heat not only comes out the roof vents but the floor vents too at the same time.  That’s a nice added touch.  We like that.  Tomorrow we will test the LP heat probably. 

Get this…we probably won’t see 90 degree temperatures again until summer of 2015.  Not next year but the year after.  The 80’s will be gone by the wayside pretty soon too.  Again won’t have them probably until the summer of 2015.  Why????  We head back to Texas where it will be in the 80s for a while.  Then heading West in late November early December we won’t see any high temps and being in AZ/CA over the winter we won’t see any high temps.  Then in late April we head North towards Alaska.  We won’t be coming back until September.  The high temps will be gone where we will be going.  Brake out the long sleeve shirts/pants and even some long john’s….that’s kinda of a yea….

Anyhow….see ya…

Poke Me, I’m Done

Well, I think another Pre Delivery Manager, Jimmy, felt sorry for the kinda slow service we’ve been getting and stepped in again.  He got things rocking and rolling.  We were basically done by close of business Tuesday.  Jimmy even came up with a hub cap that we needed.  He’s a “Get Ur Done” type guy.  He’s even gonna have our Baby washed again tomorrow morning before we leave.  We got to pick up our temp tags and a couple of other little things when the offices open up.

It poured down rain last night but we were all moved in our Baby (again).  We just need to fine tune the storing of our “stuff”.  Tomorrow when we leave I will go to the Fly J and top of our fuel.  I want to get some fuel mileage figures right from the get go.  I haven’t driven anything this small in years besides the Jeep.  This Baby isn’t that much bigger than our two door Jeep.  Maybe it just seems like it.  I will get an adventure driving but it will be only be 50 miles up to Bushnell.  We will meet our Loosey Goosey friends Larry & Marilyn Forbes and get our SKP fix.

Our 14 nights here seemed long because they were!  At least we still had the Beast to move in and out of.  The food was literally outstanding everyday except one meal.  That was when they had pork chops and I asked for a steak knife to cut it as others did.  They took it off the menu.  It was really outstanding.  The RV service was just OK for me.  I don’t think I would come here out of warranty and at $120 an hour.  It seems a lot of people in the Crown Club don’t mind paying plus they get free meals and booze.  What a novel idea.  Yes, that’s sarcasm.

See ya……..

Lack Of Coordination

We would have been out of here today but due to Lazydays personnel  lack of coordination we will not be.  The coordination works with some of the what they call Delivery Personnel and not too great for others.  We got an “other coordinator”.  This is a job I could step right into and be a up to snuff in a few days.  Multi tasking with other departments to get a RV finished and out the door.  It’s not rocket science at all for sure.

We were told the Baby needs to be in the last shop for 2 1/2 hours to do the floors.  Basically that means not today.  The Baby is setting in the paint bay.  I told them that we didn’t want it back until it was done.  They just said OK.  I don’t think it really mattered.

We moved the Beast again on our own accord.  We moved a few days ago because of ants and acorns.  Now we moved again because of major ants.  The ants came in last night and we heard they’re charge.  It was war.  They won that battle.  We move about 6 sites up this AM and surrounded our bunker (RV) with Ajax.  Of course it’s suppose to rain tonight so I will have to reset the lines tomorrow first thing.

They did change the menu around and that will be exciting for a meal or two.  Where’s those free mixed drinks….

See ya……..

Crown Club

If you buy a certain brand of RV at a certain cost you get 3 years or is it 2 years of being in the Crown Club.  You get special resort sites when your RV is being worked on.  That’s $120 an hour if not under warranty.  You get free meals three times a day except Sunday (closed for meals).  When they fix a meal they fix a meal.  I would say most would cost about the $10-15 range for each person.  At lunch and dinner you can have 3 mixed drinks of any kind from their bar served at your table.  They got 3 TV areas of which one is a 52”+ monster TV in a private room.  Talk about being treated special this is it.  It’s nice to be treated like kings for awhile rather than crap like at some RV repair shops.

and yes they have a very private swimming pool that I forgot to take pictures of. 

So this is what class is I guess.  We could get use to this very quick.  Oh, we have! We’ve heard, “Mr Hill we will need an extra day or two to fix this and that.”  Oh darn I say.  I guess we will have to stay a little longer at the “Club”….. hotty totty…….

See ya……..

Oh Baby Your Looking Better Everyday

Here’s our new little “Baby”.  They’re repainting the front end.  Yepper.  It had too many little things wrong with it.   It will set over the weekend and then start on it again on Monday.  They’re aiming for it to be done Wednesday.  One guy does it all and he isn’t suppose to be pulled off until he’s done.  He has some touch up areas on the rear also.  I talked with the painter and we are on the same page – my page with what I expect. 

 

This red headed woodpecker above us was fast. 

 

This puts new meaning behind Road Rage.

 

This is something to see.  The passenger didn’t like stopping.

He use to be a stray cat here at Lazydays years ago.  I guess he’s having flashbacks about now. 

We don’t think we will be out of Lazydays until Thursday probably.  It will cut our shake down trip down.  The Baby will still get the mileage going back to Texas just not the longer stays in parks.  Putting down these jacks down and leveling is different than the HWH on the Beast.  Not good not bad just different procedures.  We’ve been here 10 nights and last night was the first night we stayed back in the Beast due to the painting.  We don’t think we will get the Baby back until Wednesday probably.

Oh, it’s official (again).  We done signed over the Beast and got all the paperwork done on the Baby.  We still have keys for both.  We were told they would not get the Beast until after we leave.  The salesmen are circling around the Beast literally but are not knocking – good.  We changed sites because the ants found us and the acorns dropping at night were annoying us.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the Crown Club.

See ya……

Dumpster Diving……

Well folks, the new unit went to the chassis shop today.  The chassis height was correct and so was the ride height. 

Tomorrow we sign the papers and it legally becomes ours.  Seems like there was some butt chewing when it was realized that we were living in the coach and NO papers what so ever had been signed by us yet.  We were tactfully asked twice last week but we weren’t signing until we checked out the unit so we wouldn’t go thru all the BS like last time.

The unit goes to the paint shop for repainting/touch up in the front and rear caps.  That will be an overnighter and we will stay in the Beast.

New Name….I think we have settled in naming the new coach a very appropriate one.  The Beast fit very well on the 43 footer.  Now we will call the new small one the “Baby” since it’s so small and new to us.  We will have growing pains together for sure and it will be always be our baby good or bad.   Ahhhhhh, ain’t that sweet?

In the mean time I have found a job.  I don’t do dumpster diving BUT will go thru garbage.  It’s set out next to the road  when these new buyers move out from their old rig to their new rig.  Seems like they go buy a sewer hose and use it once and leave it.  The old hoses I take off the connections and keep them.  I got quite a collection.  It’s all mingled in with my tow bar stuff.  I also got a carrying bag and computer bag that was brand new from a casino.  Still had the plastic on it and didn’t really smell that bad……not really…

 

The cat thinks she’s getting a new bed made for her.

The cat escaped out of the old rig yesterday.  When we saw her and started to go for her she made a bee line for the new coach and went in it.  I thinks she’s ready for the newer coach.  The pic was her later on in the new coach.  I think she’s home….again.

Nick, Nick's blog, if I had a leaky water pump I would tighten down the screws ever so hard.  Maybe even take it apart and silicone the end of it.  OR some JB Weld would seal it.  I got at least one in the barn that I did that too.  It lasted until I found one on sale about 6 months or so later.  That’s my two cents.

See ya….

Work Slow Down Until……

About 2:30 PM and nothing was happening.  Our salesman came by and we moaned & groaned to him – assertively.  I reminded him that we have not paid a dime on the new coach nor signed any papers.  A hour later things started to happen.  We had a service advisor come to us and advised as to what was happening with everything.  Winnebago disapproved fixing the paint on the front/rear end of the rig which entailed 33 hours he said.  He said Lazydays was still working on it.  The furniture guy came out and explained our passenger chair is “what it is” and can’t be made any better due to a design flaw by Winnebago.  The tile floor guy came out about 4:30.  He said it looks like dried liquid grout on some tiles that weren’t cleaned up very well.   He said he would ask Winnebago for approval to clean up ($).  The service tech set up an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM to get our rig’s chassis checked out and adjusted if need be.  I noticed it to be tilted to the left while it was in a service bay the other day.  Last, nobody came out with the air filter clamps to install.  Thus a no show I would guess due to no parts.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we have been here one week.  Getting fatter on their free food three times a day and and at the starting gate of being aggravated.  No papers signed or money given not even a deposit.

See ya…..

Cute Little Thing

Ain’t “it” a cute little thing!

It’s a little shorter than the Beast.

Speaking of the Beast.  This is the only stuff we have in it now.  We’re holding on as long as we can.

 

I took this picture at an angle so “it” would look bigger with the Jeep.

Today “it” went to the shop about 2:30 PM to have the new air filter boot installed.  It was a part that was ordered the day before.  It was over there several hours and come about 5:30 PM I was wondering what was going on.  It was setting there in the shop crying because nobody was around her.  I think it’s a cry baby RV.  Anyhow, the mechanic  had to get approval from somebody so the boot clamps could be ordered.  I know it’s a slow way of doing things but it’s there way and we’re stuck with it.  Anyhow, they returned “it” to our site about 6 PM with out the hose clamps.  If they can get the clamps tomorrow the mechanic will come to our site.

“It” needs touch up painting in the front which is waiting for approval.  The have to polish the upper part of the windshield to get the rest of the over spray off that they didn’t do the first time.  Also,  polish the rough spots on the rear of the rig which was overlooked the first time also.  They have to clean/polish the shiny tile floors.  I‘ve fixed two water leaks in the bathroom.  Just a matter of tightening some fittings.  

When “it” was in the bay Monday I noticed it was leaning towards the passenger side.  I will have them check out the ride height also and make the adjustments if need be of course.

The finance office called and asked about coming in and doing the paperwork.  I told them we were shy of signing the paperwork until the coach was closer being ready.  They remembered us from before and said they fully understand.

We like naming our coaches.  The Phaeton was the Farton.  No need to go into the details.  The 43 foot Dutch Star was the Beast.  Now this one we have really given it much thought.  Maybe peewee?  It’s not a guy rig like the Beast was.  I guess it will be girl’s name.  Hopefully not the Bitch.  Any ideas?

Color Blind

The new Winnie went into the shop about 9 AM.  I watched the mechanic grunt and grunt getting the old air filter out.  He said that someone had jammed it in causing the stress that broke the air outlet to the turbo.  He got a new air filter and installed it.  He needs another new boot to get it back to normal.  It can be ran now it’s just missing the upper part of the air intake.  In the mean time a guy was polishing the paint overspray off the front.  He only added two buffing scrapes down to the body.  Now it will have to go to paint to fix the fix.  He also got the paint off the windshield but only did the lower half.  He was short and evidently did have a ladder.  They still have the polishing of the tile floor inside the unit for the stain (minor).  Then just a couple of little things to do/look at.  I think about 2 months should do it.  smile…

Oh, this paint job on this Winnie is weird.    Carol and I walked around the rig and we couldn’t figure what color it really is. I think it’s called cool graphite. It’s a light blue kinda.  Anyhow…..as the day goes on it turns gray and sometimes even looks like a light tan.  This could be interesting down the road. 

See ya……

Moving, Moving, Moving

Get them doggies (kitties) moving….rawhide…

We’re now in the mode of moving a few personal items from the new Winnie back into the Beast.  It goes into the “shop” Monday which is the bowels of this large establishment.  You know what you get from the bowels………..hot air and poo so far.

We did finish up moving everything out of the Beast except my guy stuff like do dads, thing a majigs, about 3 boxes.  I guess it’s my last hold out of owning a “guy” RV.  I still have the title and keys!!!!!!

The cat has laid down and snored in several different places so I guess she has put her approval on the Winnie.  Of course the cat is a female……..

I played around with the coach’s Rand McNally GPS system that is permanently installed in the dash.  I’m not impressed with it a whole bunch.  It has a fuel trip log which is pretty cool.  I will use it but will rely on my computer and Microsoft Street’s and Trips with GPS.  I will use my trucker Garmin along with the Rand McNally while actually moving when ever that happens.  Then at night I will play with the computer for the next day or so.  I enjoy the mapping part of RVing.  It’s my thing what ever that is.

See ya…..