Xrays, Diagnosis and Continued Pain, Oh My!

After Xrays and the Doctor I learned that I tore my gastrocnemius muscle "significantly."

If you're wondering if it hurts, well, Dur!  Hell yes it hurts. Anyway, three weeks in I still have to be careful pushing off with that foot/leg. It will eventually get better. Until then I can just dream of this:

Does My RV Miss Me? - I'm Still Limping

I wanted to go and do some things in the RV today. Not going to happen. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday.

For the last three weeks I have been battling a torn right calve muscle. Finally I have an appointment to have Xrays taken to be followed by an appointment with my PCP.

Getting old sucks, I got off my motorcycle three weeks ago today and took one step back. As I shifted my wait onto my right leg I felt what I can only describe as a board or ball bat hitting my right calve muscle. I swelled up immediately. Martha (Master Massage Therapist) checked my Achilles tendon and thankfully it was not and is not damaged. However, what we don't know is to what extent my calve muscle is torn.  Today I find out.

It's hell getting old, your body gets broken and what's not broken doesn't work well or it hurts.

But, the sun is supposed to shine today so that's good and a positive attitude always works for me.

Putting The Newmar To Bed Until March - Winterization And Maintenance Done

We stored our RV at a local storage yard. It really feels wrong to do that. I thoroughly enjoyed our five weeks on the road.

At the storage facility I originally parked head in. After getting into my spot and seeing that my mud guard was going to suffer badly because of the up hill angle as I backed out, I decided to go back and place the the big beasty into my spot by backing in. This necessitated placing boards under my mud guard so it would slide on the boards instead of the rocks when I backed out. This worked a treat. Lesson learned..

It's a tight parking area surrounded by other RV's. Now I know how a trucker feels at a truck stop when they are backing in to the parking lot for a rest. I didn't have a spotter so it was very good practice.

This morning I went back down to Allied Storage to finish up some odds n ends prior to removing the negative cable from the house batteries today.  I also put the tire shields on and set the jacks to take some of the weight off the tires. So, effectively she is put to bed for now.

On pay day, I will be ordering a new back flow preventer for the bathroom lavatory. This will be my first project to finally solve the black water flush issue. Apparently these are prone to sticking and when you apply fresh water to flush the black tank the water (still clean) is forced to come out under the lavatory sink. Nice eh?

Next up will be to find and do battle with our "jacks down" alarm in the dashboard. If you have a Class A with a Freightliner chassis then you know how blinking annoying these audible alarms are. They are loud on purpose so you pay attention and don't try to drive away with your jacks down.

However, they are ear piercingly loud. I am going to attempt to squelch the volume by wrapping about 60' of electricians tape around the sound module. I looked the location today so before I tackle this I will be making a Chiropractor and Massage appoints.

While I was at the RV I wanted to get the make and manufacturer of my tires. Even though I have aired them and checked the air pressure 5 times already I couldn't remember the name of the manufacturer.  It turns out that they are made in China by a company named "Compasal."  So, they are knock offs but I can find out little else about them. Time to apply my "Google Fu" to see if I can find anything out about reliability, mileage and customer satisfaction.

Last installment of "As The RV Turns" - Or, "The Antacid Worked!"

Today I picked up our coach from Arkansas Diesel and Equipment Repair. Surprise of all surprises, everything worked perfectly.  From there the coach was taken to it's winter quarters Allied Storage in Fayetteville.  The work that Jacab did should have added up to more but his total out the door bill was $190.  Not bad for almost 12 hours of diagnosis.  In fact I am pleased with the resultant repairs and will now go back for other repairs. However, I will make an appointment and set a deadline for completion. Lesson learned.

From there I will work on a few nagging problems such as a black tank washout line that has a non-functioning back flow preventer. This broken valve effectively creates a waterfall into the coaches basement via the underneath of the coach lavatory sink when hooked up to a water supply to clean the black tank.  A new back flow preventer is $35 and it will definetly be the first thing I tackle on a long list of wants and needs.

Another Episode - "As The RV Turns" - The Great Inverter/Charger Mystery

This morning I got a rather panicked call from Jacob the repair guy. He said "I wanted to charge the batteries for you prior to you picking up the coach.  They won't charge. Can you tell me how your Xantrex remote works perhaps I shut something off I shouldn't have." He went on to say that the batteries were at 36% and have not come up overnight.

I walked him through the settings on the Xantrex remote and what lights should be lit on the inverter/charger in the basement. He told me that the remote will not show "charge" and that the inverter/converter is not showing that it is charging the batteries either.   So, I went to the Xantrex website and downloaded the manual for my inverter/charger which is a Xantrex 458-20. I called Jacob back with the reset procedure for the 458.  He said he would do it and call back

My regular readers know that on our first trip to Texas my surge protector bit the dust and I wired around it until we could purchase a new unit.  Since our slides were dealing us fits I figured we had taken a surge to the coaches electrical system and now the results of these surges were making themselves known one at a time. While waiting for my call back from Jacob I explored the cost of refurbishing the existing inverter/charger as well as the cost of a new one. Repair costs were about $600 and a new unit was just short of $850.

Feeling frustrated and disappointed I resigned myself to yet another costly repair.  Just then I received a call from Jacob. He said he wanted to check all of the fuses before he reset things and found the breaker for the inverter/charger tripped. He reset it and all was good, it is now charging.

As an aside, as my regular readers may remember, the day before we returned home from my brother in laws we had a very severe thunderstorm roll through Rio Vista, TX.  A big lightening strike cut power throughout Rio Vista. Our coach was plugged in at the time. When we awoke the next morning we started our travel packing as usual. We didn't check breakers because our generator was running and we had power even though the city was dark.  I am guessing that the breaker popped during that lighting strike.

Anyway, we will be getting the coach either tomorrow morning or Monday morning. The ordeal has ended. Now for the bill,

Shiver!

Repair Shops Give Me Ulcers - Or, "As The RV Turns"

If you are a regular reader then you know that I have been very concerned about the competency of the full service repair shop that I chose to do my RV slide out repairs.

During my phone conversation yesterday morning, and against my own gut feelings, I agreed to give them one more day to repair the problems.

Late yesterday evening I was thinking about what my next move would be regarding this repair. It would likely bring shouting and bad feelings from me and the shop.  At 9:30 pm I got a surprise call from the shop owner. He personally worked on the RV most of yesterday evening and finally got things working.  The kitchen and living room slides both are fully functional now.

During the conversation he stated that once he got the .pdf containing the slide mechanism schematics and trouble shooting guide I emailed to him, he was able to determine that the slide locks wouldn't work because the amperage was set too low on the circuit board.

Really?  My schematics are the reason he was able to troubleshoot the problem? My question is, when you advertise yourself as a diesel mechanic and full service RV repair shop then wouldn't you call Newmar or Google the schematics if you didn't already have them?  This in itself is incompetent.

Do, I call the BBB and lodge a complaint?  I really don't think his delays were malicious but if we had already been full timing this delay would have cost us the repair + hotel time.  Not good business.

This morning he is supposed to check out the slides one last time to insure that he has the repairs completed once and for all.  He said he would call us once that is done. I guess at that point I will learn how much of my money I will need to part with for repairs. If extensive shop rates are attached to the bill I will most certainly go to the BBB with valid complaints. If he chooses to make this a learning experience (on his part) and charges minimal shop rates then we are golden and I won't go back to him again. However, if I may still consider going to the BBB.

Stay tuned for the final chapter of  the ongoing saga "As The RV Turns."

One Last Chance - Or, How Is My Patience Level?

I talked with the Diesel/RV shop this morning. He now said that he has now identified the specific problem regarding my living room slide lock. He added that my sending the electrical schematic to him helped identify the problem. BS or not that's the question?

Including today, he has now promised five times that coach would be ready on specific dates.  I was once again promised it would be repaired today.

How long should I let this go on?  He states he has minimal time trouble shooting to this point.  Well yeah! He hasn't been doing crap to get the coach out of the door.  On the other hand, it's not like he is delaying a trip either.

I'd like to hear from some of my regular readers.  When do I say enough, pay up and the coach back? I need input please.

How Long Do You Wait Until You Deem Someone Incompetent?

Our coach sits outside a shop in Springdale, Arkansas.  The guy that runs it is a highly qualified diesel mechanic that also does RV work. He advertises maintenance of all types of RV systems. But, his inability to quickly run down this problem with our slide locks has me seriously worried.

Today I talked with him and he is still working on the one slide lock that will not lock into place. Really?  It's been nearly three weeks now.  To that end I sent him a .pdf file that contains schematics for our slides. Hell, I understand them, shouldn't he?  My problem is that my decrepit neck and back won't allow me to work on them.  This is just a crock of ....well, you know what.

He gets one more day and then I call him out on this.  Trouble is, there is nobody close to use that works on Newmar coaches.

In a word....gah!

Still Waiting To Get Our Coach Back - Slide Lock Problem

What to think about our repair guy?

He originally promised to have our coach repaired last Thursday. Then it was Friday. He called Friday afternoon and told me that he had isolated the problem and that he was confident that the living room slide would be working by late afternoon or at the latest Saturday afternoon.

We didn't receive a call on Friday nor on Saturday. Very frustrating.

It is now Sunday and no coach. I am not going to name the company yet, but he is dangerously close to being on my s__t list. Thankfully we don't need the coach right now but I have things that I want to fix and or modify and the weather is going to be warmer for the next few days.

Martha says I am impatient but this guy is racking up a lot of hours working on my dime. This needs to get done.  Ugh.

Starting To Get Answers About Our Room Slide Problems - Maybe

I got a call from our repair guy this morning. He stated that he has the kitchen slide operating and locking now. He also said that the living room slide is now working but only the front locking mechanism is engaging.  He is still working on that one.

He told me that he found some wiring issues that had to be repaired (broken wires). He also said that a solenoid was bad and replaced it.  Further some of the pin connectors on my Intelitech controllers were badly corroded. He made the repairs and now they are working.

I've my doubts about the solenoid. I have looked over the schematics for these slides and their control mechanisms and I don't find one on the schematic. I think I will have to ask for the old solenoid and have him show me where it's located to insure he isn't "blowing smoke."

Stay tuned.

What's Next For Us? - Selling 26 Years Worth Of Stuff

Since our return from our first stellar extended trip I have been mulling over what needs to be done next before our full time departure of June 1st.  We have a house full of furniture and a garage full of stored stuff. What to do with it all?

My son is living with us at the moment and we've got his stuff stored here too.  What a conundrum, he is actively looking for work but with the holidays just ending people haven't filling jobs so he has been stuck in limbo.  A crucial piece of the puzzle is we need his stuff gone so we can sort through ours.

The first step - The one year test

We all have those things in the house that we use on rare occasions, they cost us money and we only use them occasionally. My approach on this is going to be if we haven't used the item, tool or a appliance in over a year, it gets sent to the sell pile.

Determine If There Are Things Friends Or Family Might Want - Give Aways

This could be almost anything you own. But to effectively be rid of stuff we will need to be ruthless.

Determining When To Sell Stuff - A Delicate Balancing Act

If we sell stuff too early then we risk spending the rest of our time here in lawn chairs listening to NPR on the radio. If we wait until a month before will there be enough time to sell stuff?

Garage Sales - Craigslist - Estate Sales - Auction Services - Oh my!

What techniques do we choose to get rid of our stuff.  We could advertise in the local newspaper about garage sales but do people even read the newspaper anymore?  We don't.

How about Craigslist? Ok, but should we endure the endless "will you take $xxx dollars instead of your asking price" and is this the tactic (in reverse) that will be employed by us eventually to get rid of stuff?

Should we have an estate sale?  How about putting the stuff we want in storage and have an entire house estate sale?  Sounds like it my be feasible right?

Or maybe an auction service?  Let them sell our "lot" of stuff for a fee?  Am I asking for trouble here?

Stay posted as all will be revealed as it unfolds.

Coach Problems - The Kitchen Slide Won't Go Out And The Living Room Slide Won't Lock

When we arrived home from our Florida trip we had to hustle to get unloaded and to quickly winterize the coach ahead of a strong cold front that ultimately has produced sub-zero wind chills. .

All went as planned until I got to the point of winterizing freezer ice maker.  The plan was to empty the ice bin and soak up the water in the ice maker and then winterize the water line.  But, when I tried to move the slide it wouldn't move out or in.  When engaging the switch, the controller gave it's canned "The lockouts are unlocking, please move all persons and items from the path of the slide out." Then nothing. It wouldn't budge.

As an aside, our last night at my brother in laws in Rio Vista, TX brought a severe thunderstorm and a power outage.  Our coffee pot definitely took a surge as it smells of burnt circuit board.  I am guessing that this slide also took a hit to the controller.

As luck would have it, three weeks earlier our surge protector (12 years old) took a dump on us and I had to wire around it. I think we've now paid the price for not repairing it quickly.

Additionally, our living room slide has quit locking into place when pulled in.  As a result I have taken the coach to a local RV repair shop for evaluation and probably repair.

So, instead of being able to clean the outside of the RV and put it in storage it sits at an RV repair shop awaiting diagnosis.  Ugh.

We're Leaving Rio Vista, TX - Our Thoughts After Five Weeks Of RV Living

Camping in Rio Vista - In my brother in laws driveway

Dan went to the trouble and expense to install a 50 amp service for our visits. He already had a sewer clean out available and a hose bib nearby.  He rocks!

Since this trip was only a test run for our full time adventure I think it might be appropriate to do an analysis of the trip to help learn what we liked and didn't like. And finally, what we think needs changing as soon as financially possible

What we liked

The freedom from the same environment everyday
Being near the Ocean (this trip)
Our kingbed (very comfortable)
The amount of room in the living area
The amount of room in the bedroom
Placement of appliances in the kitchen
Carpet in the bedroom
The refrigerator and freezer are very large so storage is not an issue
The freezer has an ice maker
Having a 39' RV makes for adequate living space
Rides well
Large shower
Gobs of storage
Easy set up and leveling
Tows our car easily
Has lots of torque
Comfortable driver and passenger seats

What we didn't like

Carpet in the living area
Lack of comfortable seating (the jackknife coach and the leather coach)
Water pressure varies with each camping venue. Sometimes very good, others inadequate
Convection Microwave, but this is due to a lack of understanding proper operation
Not enough room for two people to work in the kitchen
The three burner stove burners are sometimes too close to each other depending on the size of pots
Problems with sewage tank clean out, I think the water line leading to the sprayer is broken
Very slow fresh water tank filling
No tire pressure monitoring (this is the first mechanical modification required)
Drivers position has no cup holder (missing from the mounting hole)
Lack of bluetooth connection to the dashboard radio so we can hear gps turn by turn announcements and have the ability to play music from our phones.
No recliners
Walk through bathroom
Taking short showers when we don't have full hookups
Fuel costs
Low MPG (8.1 at the moment which is average for older motorhomes)
Fuel inefficient but we knew that going in
It's an old coach so we are constantly fixing small things

What we will likely change

Carpet to another type of surface
Purchase a footstool
Remove one couch and add two Euro-Recliners

Our overall assessment toward a live of full time living in our RV

This going to work for us. After several conversations over the course of the month we both feel that living behind sticks and bricks is not only feasible but we are anxious to get on with it.

If you are inclined to do this, I can tell you that in our opinion you should just do it and don't second guess yourself.

For us, we did this prior to our home lease termination so it stretched us as far as we can go financially.  If you have the means to retire debt prior to going full time you will be much better off.