Singing The Wabash Blues In Peru, Indiana

The trip enroute to the Peru, IN was very pleasant and uneventful.  As you may note for the feverish and hyper look on the face of our beloved pal, Dougal, it was really business as usual!

As usual, that is, until a backfire, an engine miss and an electrical failure rendered the Gypsy Wagon inoperative only 20 miles from our destination in Kokomo.  The next 2 1/2 hours were a slow-moving blur as we negotiated getting a tow truck with a well-meaning but hopelessly-dense call center employee working for our insurance company.  

Not wanting to jinx us, but wanting to certainly shuffle the cards of fate, we had elected to pay for roadside assistance on our policy.  I'm very glad we did!

Once we understood that our home would have to wait on the side of US31 overnight with the 4-way flashers lighting up the night sky, we went about 3 miles south to the second exit and checked into a Knights Inn for a pleasant (soon to be two night stay). We could do this because we were towing ITSARTD (our VW New Beetle Convertible) which we unloaded and drove off into the night.

I had agreed to meet the tow truck operator at 8 AM on Sunday and, as was to be expected, he showed up at 9:45 or so with a monster, Class 8 commercial tow vehicle suitable to tow our 16,000 Lb. home to a local truck repair facility.  I got back to the motel about 11 AM and we went out for a good breakfast.

Tomorrow morning, I will go over to the repair facility and ensure that they are able to fix our coach and get us back on the road (hopefully) by Monday afternoon.

Leaving Home Headed South

One of my favorite Jimmy Buffet songs advocates that one "Roll With The Punches".  That is the official theme of our first snowbird venture this winter.  We have no real deadlines and will comply readily with all of them!  

We left at about 1:20 pm on Saturday, January 4, 2020 after a series of false starts and things chucked into our path.

Like, for example, the situation with our cat, Teag.

Our daughter, Erin, agreed to have him as a house guest during our absence.  On Friday evening, we learned that her apartment complex needed more information about our cat than was ever required in vetting any recent government appointees.  After checking with the veterinary clinic where we got him 9 years ago (he is 12) we learned that they have no records that go back that far and the Erin may have to take him to a local vet to examine his non-existent testicles to ensure that he would not become the Genghis Kahn of her apartment feline community.

In spite of all these last minute demands, we managed to turn down the heat, turn off the water, program the light timers and hit the road.  Our plan was to go US131 to I94 to US31 and South to spend the night at a Cracker Barrel parking lot in Kokomo, IN.

At least, that was our plan.

Getting Close To Departure- Tidy Up & Packing

I kept picking away at my to do list and have finally decided that it is time to think about packing and letting other projects go until we are in the Mobile, AL area.

After a bit of screwing around with exchanging out my receiver and ultimately finding out that the wiring going to the speakers was bad, I now have a fully functional stereo, SiriusXM receiver and the ability to not only play MP3's off of one of my old phones, I can also bring along a portable CD player and pack a few CD's in as well.  This will also include the soundtrack from Hamilton which I recently received as a gift from my sister.

Since the old mount for the Sirius radio that was temporarily relocated from my sailboat was a flimsy plastic, I popped for a more expensive (and very solid) RAM Mount for my dash.  Along with the backup camera monitor and Sirius radio, my "control center" even includes a mount for my old Samsung tablet which I hope to use for navigation.

While I have more wiring projects I want to do later (including the addition on an inverter and solar system), I am done for now with the completion of the first stage.  I wired in a six-fuse sub-panel on the inside of the glove box for some new circuits.  I have one breaker the gives me a 12V outlet inside the glove box to use for power of any device with a cigarette lighter plug.  Currently, I'm using this to power the Sirius radio.  I have another circuit with a dual-usb outlet which will charge a phone or two and my tablet.  I will be powering this eventually directly from the house batteries and including a few circuits for fans.

Along with rebuilding my old windshield wiper arms and adding new blades, I hooked up a windshield washer system.  Trying to mount the spray heads on the cowling and then attach the hoses afterwards proved not only frustrating, but nearly impossible.

Being the master of the work-around again serves me well.  I managed to mount washer nozzles on the arms with ty-wraps used for stabilizing and then ran the small diameter tubing up through the center of the arms.

Did a bit of tweaking on the generator again to adjust idle mixture and high speed adjustment screws.  Set them to specification and then ran generator for about 45 minutes at varying loads.  Shows about 123V at no load (should be 130) so generator is not running quite as fast as it should.  Will adjust further as needed, but it sure is nice to be able to start it up and run electricity (including two heaters) as needed.

Also got a new, deluxe sewer hose (WhooHoo!) that we will use when we get to Mobile.

Projects Continuing, Cleaning and Making Ready

While we are still waiting for those expensive tag axle shocks from Bilstein, we are continuing to make ready by working on a variety of related projects.

After changing the oil, filter, adjusting the carburetor and choke, I fired up the Onan (6500W On-Board) generator and plugged it into the new 30V box installed in the cord access compartment.  Before I did this, I went into Gypsy and moved the generator switch from the Rear position to the Front position.

With the way this generator is wired, the Front position allows one of the generator circuits to go to the outlet that has the long cord plugged in,   This electrically duplicates what happens when you are plugged into a 30A service in a RV park.  When I started the unit up and then fiddled with the choke a bit, I could keep it running.  So, I went inside and turned on the TV, microwave, Front Air Conditioner and ran the shop vac off of one of the outlets.  To my great delight and, with a sense of accomplishment, found that we were off the grid and everything was running well inside!

Now my tasks moved on to getting the wheel bearing on the tag repacked, installing the hub/drum and picking up all of the tools that were scattered about.  The shocks are coming direct from Bilstein in Kansas and I was temporarily stopped in moving on to the other side until they arrive and I installed the port side unit.

One of my newest improvements is shown here in the photo of the bedroom in the rear of the coach.  We pulled out the original full size mattress that was installed and dropped in this new Seely unit that I picked up for about 10% of list at an online auction.  It is a Sealy Davlin Ltd Cushion Firm Tight Top mattress.  We are looking forward to many restful nights in the future crashed out on this beauty.

 This is the way that the dining area looked before I did some rewiring/rerouting of the electrical and TV cables.  We had a temporary hookup that plugged a six-strip into an outlet on the aft side of the dining area with a cord that rested on the dinette table and then plugged into the TV and other items.  It was a bit messy and I set about the clean it up a bit.

I found a square surge suppressor with a longer cord, routed it over to the forward side and tied it off with cable clamps so the cord ran under the table.  I then proceeded to tidy up the wiring for the TV so the antenna for off-air channels was moved to the window, an HDMI cord was run from the DVD player up inside a cabinet down to the TV and everything was clamped off so it appeared more tidy.


The DVD player is inside of the cabinet above and has feed wires running down to the power supply and TV.

The wires to the TV are tidied up and can be made even more tidy if I run the antenna wire up the wall and down with the HDMI to the TV through the upper cabinet.

The TV is mounted so it can be rotated to favor viewing from the galley as shown here or from the settee and chairs in the living room as shown below.

Updates on projects: Two months until becoming snowbirds

Here on Murphy Mountain on Halloween, I'm not thinking about Trick or Treat, I'm reviewing projects in progress, what will get done before we leave and what might wait for Mobile or even later.

The other night, I jacked up the rear and decided to put on the new Bilstein shocks I purchased recently.  A quick check showed they were the wrong style.  After a few phone calls with Bilstein and SD Truck Springs, I ordered another (Proper) set for another $250. for the pair!

It's OK for the delay since I only have one of the two 50% removed.  A shock that uses this type of mount can only be removed by turning the mounting nut (almost seized on the shaft with corrosion) while holding the end of the rod with vice grips to prevent the whole rod from turning.  I managed to get the bottom off with this method but, due to nearly no clearance at the top, will have to use my air cutoff wheel to remove the top part.  And, of course, I will likely need to do the same on the other side.

Since the tag axle wheel is removed and the large drum brake is exposed, I need to remove the bearings, repack and inspect the brakes while I'm at it.  Hopefully, I won't find that they need replacing since the only way to order new ones is to physically match them up at a NAPA or non-chain auto parts store.

I've managed to get some projects done in advance of heading south including overhauling the wiper arms and getting new blades, installing a replacement windshield washer system and troubleshooting the generator system.  Once my new 30A outlet box is installed and I have changed the oil and filter, air filter and adjusted the carburetor, I should know if the Genny is good to go.

I've done a bit of research on the 6.5KW Onan Generator and found out that, when I get it running, I can run all of the house loads and one of the roof air units.  That means that I will be able to use electrical while I'm travelling (including the microwave).

I have lots of other projects I'd like to get done before we leave, but the weather is starting to move in and I may only have two weeks or so before we get the first snowfall that will make the driveway hazardous for the Gypsy Wagon.  I've agreed to bring it down at first snow and take it to a flat land storage area until we are ready to hit the road.

The majority of those things that remain can be handled while we are "living" in one of the two campgrounds where we have reservations for January and February.

Some Work. Some Retire. Some Do Both.

It used to be that one would work until about 65, get the gold watch and retire to either a life of leisure or sadly waiting for whatever life threw at them.

Another alternative is do do both.

While I am old enough to retire, I am fortunate enough to do both.  I have the good fortune to work a part-time job from my home office that allows me a flexible schedule.

Flexible enough that, for the first time here in the upcoming winter of 2020, Vickie, Dougal and I are going to head to warmer surroundings in the January through March time frame.  The beauty of this job is that the marine business is slow in the Winter months and I can easily "announce" that I won't be available until after April 1 beginning with the first of the new year.

We hope to leave in early January and take a (hopefully) leisurely trip down to our first destination in the Mobile, AL area.   Since we don't know what the en route weather will be like, our loose plans are to take 3-5 days going down.

We will be travelling in our classic (RV-Speak for old) Class A Holiday Rambler Monitor motor home.  The GW (Gypsy Wagon) is a well-equipped rig with a powerful and thirsty Chevrolet 454 engine on the venerable GM-Built P30 chassis.  She has a nice full bedroom at the rear, full bath, well-equipped kitchen and dining are and a comfortable living area.  We travel in style (but mid-80's decor) with our miniature dachshund (Dougal) alternating between Vickie's lap and the couch in the living area.

The remaining good weather time before late November will be spent getting her loaded up and making desired repairs and improvements.