Tag Archives: Elkhart CG (Elkhart IN)

2015/09/19 (S) Rally Wrap Up

Today was the last full day of the FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches (GLCC) annual Surplus and Salvage Rally. It started with strong storms overnight but they had dissipated by breakfast time. The skies eventually cleared on brisk winds with a chilly northerly component and the high was forecasted to be 67 with some clouds. The clouds turned out to be white, scattered, and fast moving and it turned out to be a lovely late summer day with a hint of fall in the air.

The breakfast provided as part of the rally was pancakes and sausage but Linda and I had our granola and finished up the berries. We decided to stay around the campground and have an easy day. Initially, however, we had some post-breakfast excitement.

Juniper caught another mouse. It was another very small dark gray house mouse, obviously very young but old enough to wander away from a nest in search of food and water. I got it away from her and into the paper cup that we kept for this purpose and put the paper bowl on top. Linda took it back to the woods and set it free.

Even after catching two mice in the last 16 hours the cats continued to show great interest in the base of the bathroom sink cabinet. The front of the toe kick space has one of the many brass colored expanded metal screens for the OTR HVAC ducts and several things were becoming clear to me at this point. 1) We had a nest somewhere in the bus; 2) the nest was likely in the base of this cabinet, or accessible from there, and 3) the baby mice were apparently small enough to get through the expanded metal grate. I also suspected that something had happened to the mother mouse which is why the babies were leaving the nest.

Some of this was confirmed when I got down on the bathroom floor with a flashlight and was looking through the grate when a small mouse came out of the 4″ flexible duct. I tapped on the grate and got it to turn around and go back. I measured the rectangular opening. Linda cut a piece of cardboard about 1″ larger in width and length and I taped it over the opening.

We were away from the coach visiting with Scott Crosby of http://BusGreaseMonkey.com and others before Scott left for home. Scott and Tami Bruner came over too, followed by their friends/neighbors Misty and Gary who brought their GM3751 Silversides to the rally. When we returned to our motorcoach it was immediately obvious that Juniper had caught, or at least cornered, something, probably another mouse. Her posture and vocalizations are distinctive in the presence of prey. What was odd was she was by the front of the new built-in sofa rather than in the bathroom.

I shushed her away and she left the area without much protest. I did not see a mouse and walked to the bathroom to make sure our cardboard cover was still in place. It was, so if there was another mouse it must have gotten into the living area of the bus through some other opening, perhaps the OTR HVAC air return under the sofa. When I returned to the living room the mouse was climbing up onto the top edge of my slippers. I did not see exactly where it came from but it could have been inside one of them to escape the cats. I got the paper cup and bowl and caught it fairly easily.

I put on my Crocs, which we use as easy on/off camp shoes, walked back to the woods at the southern boundary of the campground, and set the mouse free. It scampered under some leaves but its odds of survival were probably as small as it was. The temperature was forecast to drop into the upper 40’s tonight and I heard a Great Horned Owl off in the distance. Still, its survival odds in the bus were probably worse. We had live trapped an adult house mouse under the kitchen sink when the bus was still at home, but that was a couple of weeks ago so there is no way it could have been the mother of these current juvenile mice unless it found its way back into the bus. My assumption was that the mother was not around and the young mice were desperately trying to find food and water. These circumstances made me a bit sad, but we simply cannot have mice getting into the living area and becoming play toys for our cats. Ultimately we need to find a way to keep them out of the bus altogether but so far a solution to that problem has proven to be elusive.

The official rally lunch was leftovers after which folks divided up whatever was left. Linda split the remaining salad lettuce with Vickie and took some bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and bottled water. I grabbed a mostly full 2 L bottle of diet Coke.

Marty Caverly stopped by to see the bus remodeling and stayed to chat a while. Marty had spent the better part of a day at the Back-to-the-Bricks Rally last month getting Pat and Vickie’s cruise control to finally work reliably. He spent most of this morning getting their air leveling system to work reliably. Marty is an electrician who did a lot of work with electronics in his 40 years with General Motors and is the “go to” guy in our club for most electrical issues.

There was a lull in our social activities and Linda settled in to read while I worked at my computer transferring drafts of blog posts from e-mail to Word. I edited a week’s worth from the third week of July and got them ready to upload but did not post them. I will do that when we get home. I used the MCD day shade while sitting at the desk to cut down the light while still affording me a view. Linda forgot her iPad and was using mine to read one of the latest novels in Nick Russell’s Big Lake series. She went for a walk which gave me an opportunity to work on this post as I write them using the Note app on my iPad.

We saw Pat and Vickie walking towards the office and figured they were making arrangements for next year’s Surplus and Salvage Rally. They stopped at our coach on the way back with the signed contract. The dates are September 21 to 25, 2016 and the nightly camping rate is $35 plus tax for 50A full hookup sites. It’s pricey, but the campground is conveniently located in the heart of the Elkhart area with convenient access to many RV surplus businesses. We also get the exclusive use of a meeting room with a full kitchen, and they always reserve sites for us that are close to the meeting room. It should be a lovely time of year to have the rally, being the first five days of fall. Unfortunately we will probably not be attending as we do not plan to be back from New England by then.

Meals for this rally usually include dinner on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, with Friday also being a business meeting, and breakfast on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The only lunch is the “must goes” on Saturday. Saturday dinner is traditionally out at a restaurant and the choice this year was McCarthy’s on the Riverwalk. The Elkhart River splits as it comes into the city, joins back up with itself and eventually flows into the much larger St. Joseph River at two points. McCarthy’s features some very interesting Irish fare but the ambiance is slightly upscale restaurant rather than an Irish pub feel. Our food choices were very limited, of course, but we knew that before signed up to go.

We rode over with Pat and Vickie and sat with them at one end of the table. I think we had 13 of the 23 attendees at dinner. Linda had a Guinness and I had a lighter beer that had “cider” in the name. We each had a house salad with a very nice balsamic vinegar dressing but no cheese and an order of French fries. The service was OK but not outstanding. I asked for Tabasco sauce and Vickie had to remind the waitress to get it. I was over half done with my fries by the time it arrived. The serving was small but the fries were good and we did not leave hungry.

Most of us went for a walk along the river after dinner. The sun was already below the downtown skyline, however, and it was chilly. None of us brought jackets so it was a shorter walk than it might otherwise have been.

Back at the campground Scott and Tami started a campfire in the fire pit by their rig. Linda and I brought over our chairs, blankets, a bowl of grapes, and our glasses of wine. Vickie brought her chair, popcorn, and a popcorn skillet designed for popping corn over an open fire. Dan brought his chair and joined us. It was a clear, crisp evening but the fire (and blankets) made it comfortable, the popcorn and grapes made it yummy, and company made it worthwhile.

Although relaxing in some ways, rallies are intense in other ways. We have only been here 3-1/2 days but we arrived tired, ran around taking care of things, and when we finally relaxed the tiredness washed over us. We gathered up our things and went back to the coach at 10 PM where we watched an episode of Grantchester on the local PBS affiliate, went to bed, and fell asleep.

2015/09/16 (W) CSD to GLCC

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I spent the night in the coach at Coach Supply Direct, in the fenced in parking lot, next to the train tracks that run parallel to M-62 through Edwardsburg, Michigan. I was up late and went to bed tired. The trains did not bother me (they run at every hour of the day and night) but aching knees and joints in my hands, especially the base of my thumbs, made for a less than sound sleep. I had also not leveled the coach when I arrived yesterday but it was slightly low to the front passenger side so it did not bother me as me head was higher than my feet, the head of the bed being on the driver’s side of the bedroom.

I had granola for breakfast, checked my e-mail, and was just settling in to start today’s post using my iPad when Josh showed up at 7:30 AM. He opened the building and retrieved a small desk/cabinet and loaded it into his car to take back to the cabinet maker. A portion of the back needed to be finished as it will be exposed when installed. Having just been through the process of designing built-in RV furniture and interacting with a cabinet maker I understood how a detail like this could easily be missed. We were fortunate in our choice of Jarel Beatty, as recommended by our friend Butch Williams, to build our pieces. Jarel’s meticulous attention to the details of how something would be constructed, installed, viewed, and used, resulted in our not having any post-construction issues.

After Josh left I checked the status of the house batteries. They were at 81% SOC (State Of Charge). Not bad after 11 hours of use. Extrapolating, it appears that given some reasonable energy management we could go 24 hours without recharging before hitting the 50% SOC level. I did not, for instance, use the microwave oven. That is much better than before we replaced the refrigerator so it appears that the new one is clearly more energy efficient than the old one.

I also checked the coolant levels in the Aqua-Hot and generator expansion tanks. The Aqua-Hot tank was still above max cold but the unit was also still a bit warm to the touch. The level in the generator tank yesterday was very low with the engine fully warmed up and operating under load so I added antifreeze up to the “hot” mark. If was slightly above that level this morning although I expected it to be lower as the system cooled off and drew the coolant back in.

Tyler showed up at 8:15 AM and knocked on the door. He had stopped at McDonald’s and bought me a large coffee, half regular half decaf. He had asked about this before leaving yesterday and remembered it this morning. I was impressed with both his memory and thoughtfulness. He got right to work on the cockpit seats, starting with the driver’s seat. Before installing it, however, I had him repair the swivel plate.

That plate has always wobbled which was an uncomfortable and annoying sensation while driving. Now that I had a clear view of the top of the plate it was “obvious” that there was once a washer under the retaining nut but it was no longer there. Tyler removed the retaining nut, found a large washer with the correct hole size, put it on the threaded shaft, replaced the retaining nut, and tightened it. No more wobble.

I am always trying to deconstruct the details of how this coach was built or serviced. My best guess is that old seat was removed when CMI installed the tile floor in the cockpit area right after we bought the bus. The installer probably removed the seat from the swivel plate in order to have better access to the pedestal and the area around it to lay the tile and either did not replace the washer or failed to recognize that it was missing and needed to be replaced. I will never know for sure, but that’s my best guess.

Tyler bolts the new Flexsteel driver’s seat to the existing pedestal swivel base. There is not a lot of room to work around the base of this seat.

I connected the chassis batteries so Tyler could connect the 12V DC power to the seat and reposition it. The outside rear mounting bolt was particularly difficult to reach but with the power on he was able to slide the seat forward and swivel the front to the left creating better access to the left rear. Once it was bolted down he had me sit in it and make sure all of the adjustments worked. They did! The seat is comfortable, fits better in the available space, and has a range of adjustment that should allow either of us to position it comfortably. It is still a little tight on the left side, but not like the old chair, and the only control there is a manual level for adjusting the back tilt that I can reach it without difficulty and generally do not change once I have it adjusted.

When Josh returned at 10 AM with the parts for the living room slider bases he and Tyler got busy prepping them. Linda texted me around 10:20 for a status update and I suggested that she not leave before 1 PM. There was more custom work required to get the chairs assembled and mounted than I thought there would be, but as I was able to watch every step of the process, and talk to Josh and Tyler as they worked, I could clearly see what the problems were and what they were doing to solve them. They were on task and focused on getting it done correctly.

One of the new Flexsteel 529 captain’ chairs with the new swivel/slide pedestal base attached. Note the handle for the swivel release.

The problem this morning was getting the swivel release cables on the cockpit seats to stay in place when the swivel tang was released from the detent in the base. The reason for the problem is that we are reusing the old swivel bases because they have base plates that match the mounting bolt locations in the floor. The way the swivel release cable is retained on these bases, however, is different from the attachments on the ends of the new cables. Tyler was able to figure out a solution but it took a little time. I don’t mind paying for that kind of experience and problem-solving.

I texted Jarel to give him a status update and indicated that we could come down Thursday, Friday, or Saturday to pick stuff up. He texted back that any of those days would work. I checked the Magnum remote and the SOC status had gone back to “Think’n”. Nuts. This has happened before with the Battery Monitor Kit and I think it has to do with the 4-pin connector that plugs into the bottom of it. Whatever the case I need to investigate and fix it if I can.

The two class C captain’s chairs installed on the passenger side of the living room.

With the driver’s seat installed I sat and tested its various adjustments and found a position that I liked. Next came the two class C captain’s chairs for the passenger side of the living room. Tyler and I worked for quite a while using a base with no chair on it to determine the correct location for the bases. The seats needed to be far enough from the passenger side wall, the desk, and the co-pilot seat to swivel without interference but no farther as we did not want them to encroach into the center isle one inch more than necessary. We also ran them through their full range of slide and swivel motions to make sure we could pull them up to the table.

We ended up with the edge of the front seat 16″ from the front edge of the main floor and 16″ from the HVAC duct. We checked it for square and marked the holes. Tyler drilled pilot holes using nuts to limit the depth. We set the chair in position and secured it with four lag screws. We measured 36.5″ to the front edge of the second base and positioned the base 16″ from the HVAC duct. We made sure it looked right and then Tyler marked the hole locations and we removed the temporary base. He drilled the pilot holes, we set the chair in place, and lag screwed them into floor.

The new navigator (L) and pilot (R) seats installed in the cockpit. The navigator seat has a powered footrest. We reused the old 6-way power bases for both seats.

With the captain’s chairs installed in the living room Tyler installed the co-pilot seat. Once that was done the job was finished except for the cleanup and paperwork. Josh and I chatted some more about the Corian desk top. He had inquiries out to three suppliers but was having trouble getting replies from them. We needed a temporary desk surface, so Tyler cleaned off the 4’x8′ piece of 1/2″ plywood that had served as the workbench for integrating the seating components. He marked and cut a 72″ long x 24.5″ deep piece. I notched the center of the back edge 18″ wide by 3″ deep. Tyler and I installed it while Josh totaled up the bill. I wrote him a check for the balance due, prepared the coach for departure, and left a little after 2 PM.

I could have titled this post “Edwardsburg to Elkhart” but I like to keep my titles short. The trip from Coach Supply Direct in Edwardsburg, Michigan to Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana was a short trip of approximately 15 miles that took about 25 minutes. Upon arrival I parked the coach to the side of the entrance road and went in to the office to register.

We have been to this campground many times before but I managed to miss the turn for the row with our assigned site so I had to go all the way around a second time. Once I had the bus in the site I leveled it and then shut it down. I texted Linda our site number and then chatted with other GLCC chapter members who were already there and parked.

While I helped set up tables in the meeting room Linda arrived and got the cats, litter tray, etc. on board our coach. After settling in for a few minutes I called Terry at A-1 Upholstery. She was there so we drove over to pick up the sofa cushions, wrote her a check for the balance, and drove back to camp. We were unloading the cushions when Dan stopped by. He had retired at the end of July and bought a converted GM4104 a couple of weeks later. His wife Kathy and son James had made the trip up from Huntsville, Alabama just for this rally. They planned to join FMCA and GLCC but wanted to check us out first.

Linda had cleared the sofa earlier and put stuff away under the bed. By the time I came in she had the new sofa cushions in place. They were a tight fit but they looked nice. We might make a small adjustment to the depth of the plywood seat but I think they are going to work out OK.

Linda went to the meeting room to help prep dinner and heat our vegan chili. I took a short nap and joined her at 6 PM to eat. We went back to the coach and gave Ed Roelle the tour and chatted for a while. We then went back to the club house, met up with Vickie, and went for a walk. When we got back to our coach I opened the box of Franzia Moscato and poured two glasses of wine. We took two lawn chairs over to Scott and Tami’s bus to sit and chat. Scott Crosby of www.busgreasemonkey.com was also there. He arrived after I did in his 1948 GM 3751 “Silverside” bus. It eventually got chilly so we went inside and went to bed where I worked on blog posts for a while on my iPad.

2015/09/10 (R) Illuminating

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Linda had to go to the bakery today so she was up at 5:45 AM and out the door by 6:15. I was vaguely aware of the activity but fell back asleep and finally woke up a little before 8 AM. I skipped breakfast save for a glass of juice to wash down my vitamin and allergy pill. I spent time finishing yesterday’s blog post and thinking about what I absolutely had to get done in next four days.

I was working at the dining room table instead of in the living room so I got to watch a Red squirrel dart back and forth across the deck all morning. It was gathering walnuts from the tree northeast of our house and taking them somewhere west of our upper deck. It would run (hop) across the deck with a giant walnut in its mouth and then return by way of the deck railing. While it was gathering another walnut I moved to our library where I had a good view of our lower deck. It came down the stairs from the upper deck and disappeared behind the grill. It may be storing them under the deck or under the cover on the grill, in which case we will have to move them.

The main pieces of the desk set in place but not yet assembled or secured, and without the temporary plywood top or permanent Corian countertop.

Once I was in the bus I continued pondering how to get the desk installed so that everything would line up. Built-in furniture is just that, and I had not spent a lot of time in advance figuring out how I was going to fasten pieces together and secure them to the coach. I retrieved the piece of 1/4″ Baltic birch plywood from the garage to use as a spacer at the right end and just slid it in place temporarily. I decided I would use mending plates attached to the back and underside of the left and right bases and pedestals to align the center cover. I also decided to use a length of angle against the wall to support and align the pedestals and cover. Along the same lines I decided to use smaller angle brackets to attach the vertical front panel of the built-in sofa to the two plenum/support boxes and the air return shelf, and to attach the plenum boxes and shelf to the HVAC/wiring chase.

One of the original living room AC light fixtures. These were no doubt high-end fixtures but no longer worked in our remodeled interior.

Feeling like I should get something tangible accomplished I decided to re-install the AC light fixture and the three DC reading lights under the overhead cabinets above the desk. Linda and I agreed last night that we needed to replace the three 120V AC light fixtures in the front of the coach so I turned my attention to that issue. I removed the fixture on the driver’s side by the kitchen end of the sofa alcove and removed the mounting ring. I also measured the size of the base and the overall size of the fixture and wrote them down. Ideally I will find a fixture that has a similar size base but with most of the light fixture above the center point. One of the problems with the current fixtures is that they hang down far enough that a person sitting on the sofa would bump them with their head and probably break them as they are made of glass rods.

I headed towards The Home Depot in Howell and stopped at McDonald’s first for French fries and a soda beverage. I looked at all of their wall sconce light fixtures. They had two different ones that I thought might work but deferred a purchase until I had checked at Lowe’s. THD had 72″ piano (continuous) hinges, however, so I bought one. I also looked at PEX plumbing parts as Butch mentioned last night that I could use them to plumb the fan-coil heat exchangers.

Lowe’s had a wall sconce that was a little more to my liking. I needed three but they only had one in stock, which I bought. The Associate checked inventory at other stores and indicated that there were two more in stock in New Hudson. He wrote down the Model number and the phone number for the store and said I could call and they would hold the items for me. I picked up a couple of 75W GE Reveal light bulbs, the mending plates, angle brackets, and two different pieces of aluminum angle while I was there. I looked for pieces of felt but all they had were very thick furniture pads which was not what I needed.

The new living room light fixture. The color, style, and fit are a better match to the remodeled interior.

I was going to stop at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to check on heater hose, fittings, and band clamps but decided to skip that stop in favor of getting home and installing the new wall sconce light fixture. It installed without too much difficulty and I liked the look. The fixture, however, was rated for a maximum 60W bulb.

I closed up the house and bus and drove to the Lowe’s in New Hudson. They did indeed have two more of the wall sconce light fixtures that I needed so I bought them. I also picked up three 60W (equivalent, 8.5W actual) 800 lumens dimmable LED warm white light bulbs. Linda texted me while I was at the store to let me know she was leaving the bakery and heading home.

I stopped at Michael’s Arts and Crafts in Brighton and bought a 36″ x 36″ piece of walnut brown felt. I plan to use the felt underneath all of the pieces of the desk and sofa that contact the floor, and possibly in some other areas as well, to keep the wood from marring the tile.

When I got home I called Elkhart Campground to make a reservation for the GLCC rally next week. I also called A-1 Upholstery in Elkhart, Indiana to check on our sofa cushions. Terry said they were almost done and we could pick them up on Monday. I then sent several text messages to Jarel with photos attached of the desk and sofa in place on the bus and indicated I had some questions and would call him later.

I was getting ready to install the other two light fixtures when Linda got home. The timing was good as she got to see the first one and approve it before I installed the other two. We discussed the covering up of the mirror strips in the corner and decided we would leave them for now. We can cover them up later if desired. Linda went in the house to fix dinner. I got the second sconce installed and went inside.

I had a few minutes until dinner was ready and used it to send an e-mail to Jarel. Dinner was couscous on power greens and small slices of bread from a baguette Linda bought the other day. I also had the leftover corn on the cob.

After dinner I called Jarel. We had a long chat and it was 8 PM by the time we finished. Linda headed to bed and I went back to the bus to install the third/final light fixture. I also installed four small frosted bulbs in the light fixture under the overhead cabinets above the desk, replacing the clear bulbs that were there. This light fixture is part of the same collection as the ones I removed from the living room walls but its design and location do interfere with anything. We might replace it someday, if we find something we like better for use over the desk that is the right size and shape, but for now it will remain in place. I locked up the bus, closed up the garage, and headed to my office.

I dealt with some BCM-related e-mail and then off-loaded today’s photos from the Sony a-100 DSLR. I went through all of the photos from September, selected about a dozen, and processed them into 300×200 pixel size images so I could share them with friends and family via e-mail. I have written extensive blog posts everyday but last posted to the website in mid-July. I don’t like being that far behind but getting the posts uploaded is just not as important as other things I have to do at this time.

I was heading to bed when I decided to replace the two light bulbs in our home kitchen that were burned out. I had the two 75W GE Reveal bulbs that I could not use in the bus, so I installed them in the kitchen downlights, and that really brightened things up.

I got to bed just before midnight. It had been a beautiful day, weather wise, and a cool night was in store portending good sleep. But first I had to capture the details of today’s work for this post.

2015/06/02 (T) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 0)

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We were up at 7 AM and had cinnamon toast for breakfast but did not have coffee. We checked various routes to the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds (EC4HFG) and searched online for information about any possible road construction problem areas but did not find anything that looked problematic. By 8 AM we had started preparing the bus and car for travel. Linda walked over to Curtis’s coach to say “so long for now” but all the shades were down so she sent him a text message that we were on our way. We pulled out of our site at 8:15 AM. I pulled up clear of other RVs and stopped to wipe off the passenger side mirror which was obscured with dew. I am always surprised that I don’t notice things like that before we start to move.

We took CR-4 west to SR-19 and went south, crossing over the Indiana Toll Road, to CR-6. There are times of the day that this intersection would be very busy but traffic was light this morning and I had no trouble getting into the correct turn lane and completing the turn. CR-6 is a 4-lane road and moved along nicely all the way to CR-17 except for a short lane closure for local maintenance. We turned south on CR-17, took it down to US-20, and headed east. As I expected, this stretch of US-20 was still very much under construction with only one lane open in each direction and no wide loads over 11 feet permitted. Traffic was more congested and slower but it moved along. When we got to SR-15 we turned south and ran along nicely until we got to a construction zone that had the road down to one lane with flaggers. We waited patiently and eventually got through the bottleneck. We were routed through a short detour and then finally entered Goshen. We followed the SR-15/US-33 Truck Route and found ourselves in another one lane construction zone with flaggers, and a train thrown in for good measure, but we eventually made it to our turn onto eastbound CR-34 (Monroe Street) and drove the final mile to Gate 5 of the EC4HFG.

We were directed to the staging area where we unhooked our car. We were then led to the area reserved for our Great Lakes Converted Coaches Chapter and backed into our site. The Laughing Raven Touring Co. bus was already parked in our area. We saw this bus at Elkhart Campground while walking but did not realize it was headed to the rally. The owner, Mark Lovegreen, is not a member of our chapter but wanted to park with other buses and we were glad to have him. I reserved 12 parking spaces, the parking crew gave us 13, and I had a least one coach that was not going to show up so we had the space. Also, Pat and Vicki Lintner got parked on hard surface nearby as the ground in our area was very soft when they arrived on Sunday. In addition to being our chapters National Director Pat is the Senior VP of GLAMA would normally be parked elsewhere except that he likes to park with the chapter.

While Linda set up the interior and made coffee I hooked up the electrical power. Our main 50 A circuit breaker did not want to set. I finally pushed the lever hard enough to move it but did not like the way it sounded and did not get power to the coach. I have indicator lights that told me there was power at the coach end of the shorepower cord but I verified that using my VOM. I removed the cover from the disconnect box in our coach and verified that there was voltage present on both the L1and L2 bus but no voltage present on the output lugs of the circuit breaker. Bummer.

Linda turned off the 30A supply circuit breaker and unplugged the cord. I checked with the VOM that there was not voltage present and then unclamped the L1 and L2 load wires, removed them from the circuit breaker, and then removed the breaker from the box. I tested it for continuity and with the lever in the “ON” position and one leg showed a short but the other leg showed an open. That meant I should have had voltage coming through to our Progressive Industries EMS on one leg but I never did. Regardless, we needed a new breaker as at least the one side had clearly failed.

The circuit breaker was a Square D QO style 2-pole 50A model. I knew that Lowe’s carried QO breakers so Linda searched for the nearest store using her phone. There was one on US-33 back towards Elkhart so Linda fixed a “to go” cup of coffee for me and I headed there. They had a good selection of QO breakers including the 50A one that needed. I looked briefly at refrigerators and noted that they had the Frigidaire model we are considering in white, black, and stainless steel. Maybe we will drive up later to look at them.

I took a different route through Goshen to avoid the one lane construction zone. Back at the coach I refilled my coffee and got to work. As bus repairs go this one was pretty straightforward. Getting the two load wires into the circuit breaker clamps was a bit tricky but I got them in. The QO breakers snap onto a mounting rail at the bottom and then the contact fingers snap over two blades at the top. All of that took a bit of pushing but I got it in. I put the cover plate back on, reconnected the shorepower cord, turned on the supply breaker, and turned on the coach breaker. We had power to the coach but it shut off. I reset the breakers (turned them full off and then back on) and everything appeared to be fine and the power did not trip out after that.

With our power problem averted Linda walked over and got us registered and signed up for one of the few remaining time slots to work in the rally office. She had volunteered to work registration but most of the time slots were already filled and the only thing left was Saturday morning. Shortly after she returned to our parking area three more buses showed up: Bill and Karen Gerrie, Mike and Kathy Dickson, and Joe and Mia Temples. Next in were John and Paulette Lingafelter followed by Don and Sandra Moyer. Late in the afternoon Scott and Tami Bruner arrived. That only left a couple of coaches arriving tomorrow.

I borrowed a sledge hammer from Joe Temples and pounded three pieces of rebar into the ground to serve as supports for the clubs three flag holders. A number of RVs around the rally site had the same design and I suspect that there was an article in the magazine, or something online, about how to build these. They are very simple and inexpensive, can be taken apart for transporting, and rotate with changes in wind direction. Our club as a USA flag, a Canadian flag, and a Chapter flag.

We all stood around in small, shifting groups talking about this and that. I laid down around 2 PM and napped for about 90 minutes. We are conveniently located to one of the bathroom/shower facilities so Linda took a shower there so as to not use up the good water in our tank. By 6 PM most of our group had left to go out to dinner. We ate around 6:30 PM, having a nice, light supper of cold chickpea salad on a bed of power greens.

A little before 7 PM we drove back to Lowe’s to look at refrigerators. It turned out that the ones I saw were the 18 cu. ft. models not the 16 cu. ft. one we need/want. The 18 cu. ft. model would fit in our alcove but take up the entire width leaving no space for a pull out pantry. We looked at solar powered spotlights for illuminating the flags at night but at $18 each decided not to buy any as we needed at least three and would ultimately need the approval of the club to buy them. We stopped at the Martin’s market on US-33 and picked up a deli tray brochure and a few grocery items.

Back at the rig there were lots of folks gathered in conversation. Linda and Vicki went for a walk while I chatted with Mark (from Alaska) and Scott. Scott and Tami recently had a new Whirlpool residential refrigerator installed in their bus so I went to see it. It’s a very nice French door fridge with lower freezer drawer but is too tall for our alcove. This is the style refrigerator Linda wanted but we could not find one sized to fit our space. Bill Gerrie helped me get the U.S. and Canadian flags off of the holders. Linda and Vicki returned just in time to help fold them properly. With darkness came much cooler temperatures and everyone retreated to the warmth and comfort of their coaches.

Someone reminded us that Paul’s Seating in Elkhart was a good place to shop for furniture so Linda Googled it and found the website. There were pictures of lots of chairs, including a barrel chair, but no information about dimensions, fabric options, or prices. We will likely go to Martin’s in the morning and place a food order and then drive in to Elkhart and find Paul’s. The critical path for our interior remodeling project goes directly through the selection of furniture and then through the refrigerator replacement so we are starting to feel some pressure about getting decisions made and orders placed.

2015/06/01 (M) Bradd and Hall et al

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The temperature dropped into the upper 40’s last night. Although the temperature in the bus only dropped to about 64 degrees F I was cold and did not sleep soundly. The electric heater pad is still on the mattress but was not plugged in so I could not use it. Linda developed a bad sore throat during the night (there are no good ones) and also did not sleep well. We got up around 7 AM and I made coffee while she got dressed and drove to the nearby Martin’s supermarket for Ibuprofen and Chloraseptic throat lozenges. Sore throats are no fun. We both hope this passes without requiring medical intervention.

We are in the newest section of Elkhart Campground which consists of narrow pull-through 50 Amp full hookup sites that are long enough to leave a towed car connected to a 45 foot motorhome. The section is not full but the motorhome on our passenger side had their GLAMARAMA 2015 parking and volunteer placards in the window this morning. We finally opened our registration packet and found that we also have a volunteer placard since Linda is volunteering at the registration table. We also discovered that we could have arrived at the Fairgrounds this morning and stayed for no charge. Oh well, Elkhart Campground is more convenient to Bradd and Hall and other Elkhart area vendors and if we checked into the rally we would immediately be working and socializing instead of shopping. One must be clear about their priorities.

Bradd and Hall is open from 9 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday. We got there around 9:45 AM and had just gone inside when I got a call from Curtis Coleman. We was headed east on I-80 from Iowa with his sights set on Cleveland and Columbus Ohio and did not realize we were in Elkhart. He brought me up-to-date on some things having to do with RVillage and we discussed him coming to our house to hang out once he had taken care of some business later this week and we got back home from the rally.

At Bradd and Hall we were assisted by Stephanie. Bradd and Hall had a good selection of Flexsteel Captain’s chairs and Lambright Comfort Chairs but did not have any Flexsteel barrel chairs. That was more than disappointing as we thought the Flexsteel bolt down barrel chair might be just what we need to provide seating, with seat belts, on the passenger side of the coach that can swivel to face anywhere from forward to aft. They had two Flexsteel Captain’s chairs that we found comfortable enough and were not too large. Either one might do nicely to replace the front passenger seat, and possibly to replace the driver’s seat, although I am holding out for an ISRI air-suspension driver’s seat. We took cell phone photos of each of us sitting in various seats, photographed product tags, and got several fabric samples but were no closer to a decision about seating when we left than we were when we arrived.

On the drive back to the campground we stopped at Factory RV Surplus to look for some electrical components but ended up looking at furniture. They had a barrel chair that we liked but no identifying information on it. We did, however, get some free popcorn. We were headed up SR-19 and decided to go on up into Michigan and pay Michelle Henry a visit at Phoenix Paint. There did not appear to be anyone around so we left and went back to our coach and had a bite of lunch. We had planned to also visit Lambright Comfort Chairs in Shipshewana, but we had been there before and figured they would not have anything different from what Bradd and Hall had on display. With both of us being tired and Linda still not feeling well we decided to stick around the bus and continue to do online research.

Sometime during the afternoon I got a call from Jim Marin wanting to know where we were parked. From our windshield I could see their motorcoach parked up by the office waiting to come into the campground. The space to our passenger side was vacant so they registered for that one and pulled on around and in. Jim and Lydia have a 1997 MCI 102DLS-3 Vantare conversion that they bought last September. It’s a nice coach and they got a good deal on the purchase. They got plugged in and set up while we connected our car for towing and then we stood around visiting in the cool temperatures and warm sun.

We were showing them what we have done to the inside of our coach and explaining what we plan to do when there was a knock on the door. It was Curtis Coleman. He had decided that Elkhart was far enough for one day and knew we were here as a result of our conversation this morning so he pulled in for the night and was parked one spot up from Jim and Lydia. We made introductions, finished looking at our coach and then toured Jim and Lydia’s bus. I brought my tape measure and tried to quantify the size of their furniture which appeared to fit very nicely in the available space. All of us then went to Curtis’s coach, which is also a 1997 Vantare conversion of a Prevost XL, and got a sense for his seating. Both coaches have ISRI driver’s seats and both Jim and Curtis really like them.

We had eaten dinner earlier so Marin’s returned to their coach for their evening meal and we left Curtis to tend to Augie Doggie and take care of RVillage business. Curtis came over later to visit and we sat in our coach in three lawn chairs and had a great chat. He returned to his coach at 10:45 PM and we went to bed a short time later. It was forecast to drop into the mid 40’s overnight so I closed the roof vents and turned on the electric heater pad on my side of the bed.

2015/05/31 (N) Age of Disco Camping

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We were up around 8 AM. Linda took a shower after which I started the last load of laundry while she made coffee. We had our usual granola breakfast. When the washer finished I trimmed up my beard and shaved and then took my shower while Linda moved the wash to the clothes dryer. Once we were both dressed we got very busy loading the bus and preparing it for travel.

I put on my work clothes and selected my clothes for the week. Linda took care of loading the bus while I attended to preparing it for travel. The preparations went something like this. First I loaded our GLCC banner, flags, T-shirts, door prizes, tools, and our new 6 gallon pancake style Porter-Cable air compressor into our Honda Element. I turned on our TireTraker TPMS monitor and plugged in the power cord for the TPMS repeater which is installed in the passenger-side rear corner cabinet in the bedroom. I then got out our long fresh-water hose, connected it to the faucet on the front of the house, ran it under the bus, and connected it to the fresh water inlet. I got a mat to put under the fresh water tank drain and emptied about 40 gallons of water that had been in the tank since we got home on Friday, April 24. I closed the drain valve and then opened the fresh water tank fill valve.

At 3.4 gallons per minute the 120 gallon fresh water tank takes about a half hour to fill. While that was happening I got our DeWalt 15 gallon upright tank air compressor out of the garage and rolled it over to the front of the bus (it has wheels). I got our long extension cord out of the front bay and ran it from the front porch outlet to the air compressor. I then got the air hose out of the bay where it was stored along with the air chuck, and digital tire pressure gauge, and retrieved a knee pad and slip pliers from two other bays. I removed the TT TPMS sensor from each wheel in turn, checking and adjusting the pressure as I went. I always do both dual drive tires on each side at the same time to make sure they are the same.

The inside duals have valve stem extensions so I use the pliers to keep them from loosening while I unscrew the sensor. The two front tires were at 111.5 and 112.0 PSI, both above the minimum required 110.0 PSI, but I brought them up to 115.0 PSI. I like to run the tires 5 PSI over the correct pressure to allow for changes in overnight low temperatures and to provide some margin against slow leaks. The two tag axle tires were around 82.5 PSI so I reset them to 85.0 PSI. The four drive tires were around 92.5 PSI so I brought them up to 95.0 PSI.

By the time I was done with the tires the fresh water tank was full so I shut off the water and stored everything back where it came from. I then pulled the Element around behind the bus. Everything was on board by this point except the cats, the cat tree, and us. We hooked up the car for towing and checked all of the lights. I switched on (connected) the chassis batteries, opened all of the air valves, switched off the Aqua-Hot engine preheat pump and diesel burner, started the main engine, and switched the suspension to drive mode. While coach was airing up I pulled the 50 A shorepower cord and stowed it away. Back in the house we put the cats in their carriers and left them in the front hallway while we took their “tree” out to the bus. We then brought them out, locking the house behind us, and put them on board. Both cats immediately went under the front passenger seat which is their “go to” spot while the coach is moving.

All of what I have just described took place with intermittent light rain. We could not recall the last time we had to load the motorcoach, or our previous motorhome, in the rain, but we agreed that having it parked with the entrance door opposite the sidewalk to the front door of the house made it much more convenient. Still, it was reminiscent of the “age of camping,” a time in our lives when we camped frequently in a tent with our pre-teen children. While not a constant companion, rain was a frequent visitor on these outings and yet it never deterred us from going and never lessened our enjoyment. Indeed, we tried to show our children the special beauty of a hike in a Michigan woodland in the rain or the power of standing near the shore of a Great Lake during a storm. Cooking was more of challenge, to be sure, but we had a screen room in addition to our tent and made preparing and eating meals part of the adventure. Our friend Chuck said to me once that we were different from most of the other Prevost owners he and Barbara know because we were “campers.” True enough, although what we do now hardly seems like camping to us. Still, we are quite comfortable with having the furniture and flooring removed from our motorcoach, sitting on lawn chairs instead, and dining at our fold up plastic side table.

We pulled out of our driveway at 12:30 PM and made our way slowly down our muddy, pot marked dirt road to N. Hacker Road. It was nice not having to worry about scratching the side of our rig as a result of our tree trimming raid late last night. Instead of taking our usual route north to M-59 we went south on Hacker which got us on pavement a short distance later. Most of the trees on the west side of S. Hacker Road were trimmed up high enough but just before getting to Grand River Avenue we got clunked. Our front OTR TV antenna is the highest thing on the bus. It is centered side-to-side near the front and probably took the branch. I should check it for damage the next time I am on the roof.

We went south on Grand River Avenue towards Brighton and less than a mile later took the entrance ramp to I-96 west. Twenty-three miles later we took exit 122 and stopped at the Mobil Truck Stop for fuel. We were at 3/8ths of a tank and rather than fill it we only put 80 gallons on board. That was enough added fuel for approximately 480 miles and our round trip to/from the RV rally would be less than that.

We will not be using the coach for a while after this week and it is not clear what the best thing is to do relative to long term storage. Filling the tank with fuel minimizes the air in the tank and thus the opportunity for moisture to condense out. Moisture is a bad thing in diesel fuel as it enables the growth of algae. I use a biocide additive to inhibit that growth, especially at a fill up just before it is going to sit for a while, and we have a fuel polishing pump to slowly circulate the fuel and remove water and other gunk while the coach is sitting. That would seem to solve the problem, except for the fact that it is not ideal to store diesel fuel any longer than necessary before using it. I suspect that we will fill the tank at the Mobil Truck Stop just before returning home, using an extra dose of biocide, and then run the fuel polishing pump all summer.

We continued west on I-96 to the southwest corner of Lansing and then exited onto southbound I-69. It continued to be overcast with a noticeable wind out of the east. We thought we were done with the rain but continued to get an occasional sprinkle. We exited I-69 at US-12 and headed west through Coldwater and the southern tier of Michigan counties. US-12 is a good 2-lane highway with some left and right and some up and down, sometimes at the same time. It is a fun drive with nice scenery and passes through three other small towns: Bronson, Sturgis, and White Pigeon. We eventually left US-12 onto Old 205 (M-205) and a couple of miles later entered Indiana where the road became SR-19 (IN-19). A few more miles and then left (east) on CR-4 and a mile later we pulled into Elkhart campground at 4:10 PM.

Linda checked us in and then we drove to site 738, leveled the coach, and shut down the engine. We went through as much of normal arrival routine as we could, setting up the cat tree, two folding lawn chairs, and our plastic folding side table. Linda got our WiFi Ranger connected to the RV Park WiFi and got online with her iPad while I used mine to write.

We snacked on pretzels while we were traveling and by 5:30 PM we were ready for dinner. Linda made a simple salad and then cooked a couple of vegan “burgers” and served them with the remainder of the potato salad she made the other day. We went for a walk around the campground after dinner and thought we spotted Nick and Terry Russell’s Winnebago Ultimate Advantage motorhome but did not see any sign of them. The rig had Florida plates but there was a new Honda SUV parked in front. The last time we saw them they had a Ford Explorer but I have not been keeping up with Nick’s blog so they could have gotten a new car without us knowing about it.

When we finished our walk we unhooked the car. I forgot to pack my toothbrush so we drove back to the intersection of CR-4 and SR-19 where there is a CVS, a Walgreen’s, and a Martin’s supermarket. The CVS was the most convenient, and we have a discount card there, so we bought my toothbrush and picked up some pistachios and almonds on sale. Back at the coach we had small glasses of Moscato and some red grapes. It’s been a very physical week for us and by 8:30 PM Linda was ready to lie down and watch a little TV.

The TV stations here serve the area surrounding South Bend and Elkhart including the area of Michigan along the Indiana border. It took me a while to figure out where to point the antennas but I eventually remembered that there a quite a few very tall towers on the south side of US-20 about half way between Elkhart and South Bend. That was roughly southwest of our location and we were parked facing southwest so it was a simple matter to point the antennas straight forward. Bingo! (I should have remembered that the AntennaPoint.com website will give you the bearing and distance to all of the broadcast TV towers with a certain radius of a specified location, but I didn’t at the time.)

The local PBS station was in the middle of a fund raiser (they probably all were nationwide). That usually means vintage (nostalgic) musical performances and tonight was no exception with a reunion concert by the BeeGees (Brothers Gibb). Although best known (to my generation) as the “sound of disco,” personified in the movie Saturday Night Fever, the BeeGees performed actively for many years and have a very deep catalog of surprisingly familiar songs. This concert was filmed in Las Vegas in 1997 and several of the brothers have since passed away.

Good music is good music but popular music tends to take on significance for individuals based on where they were and what they were doing at the time it became popular. The BeeGees, like Ernest Hemingway, we’re so popular that it became popular to put down the music of the disco era. Thankfully that time has passed (in both cases) and we can remember fondly “the age of disco” and enjoy the art and artists for what they are, enjoyable and talented.

The BeeGees concert was followed by Motown 25. I was 12 in 1964 and although I studied and played classical music I was definitely listening to popular music on the radio and that included the new Motown sound. I was enjoying this concert as well but it was late and even I get tired and sleepy so I turned it off and went to bed.

2014/10/08-15 GLCC and Bus Work

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2014/10/08 (W) Rally Ho!

Today was a travel day so I had a light breakfast and went to the Small Town Brew for a cup of coffee rather than create a mess making my own. I donated $2 for this cup and did not have a refill so the three cups I consumed over the last two days averaged out to $1 each. I spent most of the morning helping Butch investigate possible routes for the engine preheat plumbing for their new International Thermal Research (ITR) Oasis Combi diesel-fired hydronic heating system. I also adjusted the front bus tire pressures and all four of the car tire pressures.

As noon approached I switched to departure mode. I changed out of my work clothes into something cleaner and more comfortable for driving, finished packing all the stuff I had in the guest bedroom, and loaded it into the bus or the car. I targeted a 1 PM departure. Butch had to go to town so we said farewell until Friday and he took off. By the time I started the bus, pulled it across the street, moved the car over, hooked it up for towing, and checked the lights (with Fonda’s help) it was closer to 1:30 PM than 1:00 PM.

The drive to Elkhart was pleasant and uneventful. The speedometer sat on zero for the first quarter of the trip, bounced around for the second quarter, indicated 85 MPH (max speed) for the third quarter, and settled in to something like the correct speed for the final quarter. This is the way it had behaved for quite some time before it got unplugged so this confirmed that it did not work correctly and needed to be replaced.

I took SR-16 east to US-31 north to US-20 east to CR-17 north. CR-17 becomes MI-217, the Michiana Parkway, which ends at US-12. I took that west to Old M-204 west and followed it past Phoenix Paint back into Indiana where it becomes SR-19 south. I turned east on CR-4 and a mile later turned into the entrance to Elkhart Campground on the south side of the road. This route is at least 15 miles longer than necessary. There is an exit for SR-19 north off of US-20, which is a much more direct route, but requires driving through the heart of Elkhart. There was major road construction on this stretch of SR-19 the last couple of years, including a bridge, with narrow lanes and weight restrictions. That work is all completed, and the road is much better now, but it is still a more urban route with stop lights, turns, and traffic.

Our coach (front, right) at the FMCA GLCC Surplus & Salvage Rally, Elkhart CG (Elkhart, IN).

I checked in to the campground and then got parked in my assigned site. I was one of the last coaches to arrive. I went through my arrival routine and got the coach setup to use before visiting with fellow GLCC chapter members, some of whom I had never met. I chatted briefly with Michele Henry from Phoenix Paint to confirm her availability to work on a BCM article later in the evening and then went to Martins supermarket to get a salad for dinner. The Martin’s supermarket on SR-19 at CR-4 has a really nice salad bar and I made a big salad with lots of ingredients, all vegan of course.

I took my salad over to the meeting room at 6 PM and had dinner with the group. I was expecting Michele at 6:30 PM so I excused myself and went back to my coach. She showed up a little after 7 PM. We worked until almost 10 PM and managed to go through the entire article. I did not have the photos on my new computer so the selection, processing, and captioning of images will occur later.

2014/10/09 (R) GLCC Surplus and Salvage

I went over for coffee around 8 AM without eating breakfast first. By 9 AM plans had been made for car pools to visit the various RV surplus and salvage businesses in the area. I went back to the coach and had a grapefruit for breakfast and then spent the morning taking care of e-mail and uploading blog posts starting with September 19th.

By noon I was tired of staring at my computer so I turned my attention to the speedometer. After removing the dashboard cover I figured out a socket and ratchet combination that allowed me to remove the two Nylok nuts from the back of the instrument. With the retaining bracket removed the old instrument slipped out the front of the dashboard.

Rear view of new VDO speedometer with custom adaptor cables.

I needed to redo the wiring so I got out my electrical tools. I also tested to voltage to verify that the lighting circuit was 24VDC. It was, and the actual instrument runs on either 12 or 24, so it didn’t care. The existing connectors for the old instrument appeared to be the same 4-pin flat connectors used in personal computers for providing power to hard disk drives, CD drives, and other peripheral components. I checked online and found that Michiana PC was located behind Menard’s a short distance away on the other side of the toll road. I got an adapter cable with the proper connectors on it and then stopped at Menard’s for two different spade connectors. As long as I was out driving around I stopped at Phoenix Paint to pick up coupons for Marco’s Pizza. Since I had to drive past Martin’s on the way back to the campground I stopped and bought groceries.

The new VDO speedmeter temporarily connected.

Back at the coach I put the groceries away and got back to work on the speedometer project. I cut leads from the old instrument light wiring as I needed the plug. I then cut the unneeded end off the computer power cable. I wired the lighting connector, spade connectors, and jumpers. I then wired the instrument connector spade lugs to the computer power cable. When all the wiring preparation was done I attached all of the wires except the two for the signal (#16 & #20) and connected the cables to mating chassis connectors. I temporarily set the speedometer in dashboard hole, turn the chassis batteries on, and then turned the light switch on for the dashboard lights. The speedometer lights worked, so I turned the ignition to ‘ON’ without starting the engine. The gauge needle swept up to max and back to zero and the odo displayed 0.0.

I turned the ignition off and disconnected the chassis batteries. I then pulled the instrument out of the dashboard and disconnected the two cables. I got the H3-40 Service Manual out and figured out which wire was the + signal (#16) and which one was the ground (#20). With the cables protruding through the mounting hole from the rear I pushed the spade terminals fully on and reconnected the cables. It was getting to be late afternoon by this point and I decided to leave the finally assembly for tomorrow.

The new VDO speedometer (above & right of center).

I took a shower and shaved and had plenty of hot water as the Aqua-Hot continued to cycle automatically. I prepared an Annie’s Kung Pao noodle bowl for dinner and took it over to the meeting room at 6 PM. I stayed there until 8 PM enjoying bus chat with a small group of chapter members that I know well.

The new VDO speedometer installed in the old hole.

Several members developed problems with their BCM subscriptions over the summer. Pat Lintner gave me a flash drive so I could provide him with the issues he did not receive. I took care of that back at the coach and then continued to upload blog posts and respond to e-mails. I was two days behind on writing blog posts and stayed up until I was caught up which made for a very late night.

2014/10/10 (F) Bus Business

I was up way too late last night catching up on writing drafts of blog posts for the last few days. Linda sent a text message this morning at 6 AM that I read at 7:30 AM letting me know that she was starting the drive to Elkhart. I went over to the meeting room at 8 AM to have coffee and Linda showed up at 9 AM. We visited with the other rally attendees until 10 AM and then went back to our coach to have granola for breakfast.

L-to-R: GLCC secretary Tami Bruner, Newsletter editor Scott Bruner, and Treasurer Linda Fay.

At 10:30 AM we drove to Phoenix Paint to deliver some additional copies of Bus Conversion Magazine to Michele and visited with her and Roxanne for a while. Josh was supposed to come look at our coach in the afternoon but had to make an unexpected trip to Chicago. Michele called him and got him rescheduled for tomorrow morning between 9 AM and noon.

Before returning to the campground we stopped at Martin’s supermarket for salad toppings and Radio Shack for a miniature “grain of wheat” light bulb. Radio Shack did not appear to have the bulb I was looking for, but I learned later in the day from Butch that the bulb I need comes with two bare wire leads that fold over to form the contacts.

GLCC members gathered for the Friday evening dinner and business meeting.

When we got back to the coach we were going to have lunch but I got busy giving a tour of our bus tour and then touring the late 1990’s MCI 102D Vantare conversion parked next to us. Butch and Fonda arrived (in their car) while all of that was going on. We visited for a while and then they took off for Bontrager’s RV Surplus store.

Many of the GLCC members were away shopping for surplus bargains so we hung around our coach where I worked at my computer and Linda read until she got tired and laid down briefly. I was thinking about lying down too when Pat Lintner stopped by and then Butch/Fonda returned. Before we knew what had happened to the afternoon it was getting to be dinner time. Linda made our dinner salads and we went over to the meeting room a little before 6 PM where we enjoyed our salads in the company of our friends. President Larry Baker conducted a brief business meeting at the conclusion of which Linda was elected to another 2-year term as chapter Treasurer and I was elected to a 2-year term as chapter President. Dean Chipman was elected chapter Vice-President and Tami Bruner was elected chapter Secretary. Pat Lintner stayed on as National Director and Frank Griswold as Alternate National Director.

L-to-R: GLCC National Director Pat Lintner talks to newly elected President Bruce Fay and members Charles Martin and Ed Roelle.

Butch and Fonda had to get back to their home to tend to their dogs and left shortly after the voting was concluded. We visited for quite a while with the chapter members before returning to our coach for the evening where we had a glass of wine and went to bed.

2014/10/11 (S) Transfers

The day dawned clear and cold with the morning low temperature in Elkhart at 32 degrees F and frost on the ground and vehicles. We went over for coffee at 8 AM and chatted with fellow chapter members while they had breakfast. Josh was supposed to come look at our coach between 9AM and noon but called to see if late afternoon would be OK. It was fine with me and he agreed to call before he came over.

We returned to our coach and had granola for breakfast. We spent the morning chatting with folks, including the Thornton’s, who stopped by to pay their dues. We had transferred some things to Linda’s car yesterday and transferred some more things this morning. By noon Linda was packed and ready to leave for home. She texted me later to let me know she had stopped in Ann Arbor to visit family and shop at Whole Foods Market before getting back to our house.

Ed Roelle and Marty Caverly came to our coach to listen to our Aqua-Hot. Ed agreed that it should not be producing any visible exhaust after initial startup and thought a likely cause was worn bearings in the blower shaft causing reduced rpm which resulted in reduced air flow which resulted in a rich fuel/air mixture. Ed and Marty both thought the unit sounded normal for a unit with worn bearings.

After looking at the Aqua-Hot I found former chapter President Larry Baker at his coach and we transferred quite a lot of “presidential stuff” to my car. He had been collecting and transporting this “stuff” for the last six years and was all too eager to be rid of it.

Josh called at 3:45 PM to let me know he would be at my coach around 4:45 PM. I made a quick run to Radio Shack to check again for the “grain of wheat” 12 VDC bulb, but they did not have it in stock. Josh arrived a little before 5 PM and we discussed our desired interior renovation for over an hour during which time he also took measurements. By the time we wrapped up our discussion most of the rally attendees had left for dinner at a local restaurant. I called Linda and then had dinner in the coach; a simple green salad, a roll with garlic vegan butter spread, and grapes.

I decided to top off our fresh water tank while there was still some daylight rather than doing it in the morning when it was forecast to be cold. After the tank was full I shut off the water, disconnected and drained the hoses, and stowed them in our fresh water tub. I removed and stowed the pressure regulator and water softener. I then turned each of the three Aqua-Hot loops on, one at a time, to see if I could figure out which circuit included the heat exchangers in the water bay and front storage bay. As best I could determine, the bays are plumbed into the bedroom circuit. I would have preferred to have them plumbed in with the bathroom as we like the bedroom cool for sleeping but want to be able to keep the bays warm enough to avoid freezing.

Scott Bruner and his dad, Richard, were out so I chatted with them about the Aqua-Hot. The Marin’s had a propane camp fire going at their rig next to ours so we went over there to talk for a while. I finally got cold and went in for the night around 9:45 PM. I uploaded the blog posts for the last three days of September and then went to bed and worked on this one.

2014/10/12 (N) Arduino SBC

I got up around 7 AM, got dressed, and spent an hour packing clothes, computers, and other things that would eventually be transferred to the car for the trip home. I went to the meeting room at 8 AM to have one cup of coffee and socialize with the GLCC chapter members who had come over for breakfast. There are special names for breakfast on the last morning of a rally. The one I like best is “hitch up breakfast.” Whether you have a motorhome towing a car or a car/truck pulling a trailer, most RVers have something that has to be hitched up for towing before they can depart. It is also a distant but quaint reference to hitching up a team of horses to a wagon; the original RV having one to six horsepower.

I do not normally have coffee or breakfast on days when I have to drive the bus, but the bus driving portion of my day was only going to be two hours and I would not be pulling out until sometime between 10 and 11 AM. Those who wanted to eat breakfast were done by 9 AM and a crew of women busied themselves cleaning the kitchen and re-packing the supplies. Some of those supplies were destined for my car which was already connected to the back of our bus, so everything got loaded into Pat and Vicky Lintner’s car and they brought it over to my site and I transferred it to my vehicle.

I dumped the waste water holding tanks and stowed the drain hose. By 9:45 AM I was packed and had the bus and car ready to travel except for a few last minute details. I joined a small group of guys for some final conversation as several coaches pulled out. I was in a site directly behind Scott and Tami Bruner and although I could have left before them it was going to be a lot easier to wait until they pulled out, which they did shortly after 10 AM.

I went through the final steps of preparing the car to be towed, turned the coach chassis batteries on, turned the shore power off, disconnected the shore power line, and stowed it. I had opened all the air valves earlier, so I secured all of the bay’s, locked the entrance door (from the inside), and started the engine. While it was building air pressure for the suspension and brakes I called Linda at 10:29 AM to let her know I would be underway shortly and then called Butch. I did not get an answer at Butch and Fonda’s house so I called Butch on his cell phone. He had misunderstood my travel timing and indicated that they might not be home yet when I arrived at their place.

I pulled out of my site at 10:30 AM and reversed the route I had taken on Wednesday, going east on CR-4 (IN) to SR-16 (IN) north, to Old M-204 (MI) eastbound to US-12 (MI) east to M-217 (MI) south (the Michiana Parkway), which became CR-17 (IN) southbound. I left CR-17 and got on westbound US-20 over to US-31 south which I stayed on all the way to SR-16 west towards Twelve Mile. I had a call from Pat Lintner while I was driving regarding the dates for the 2015 Surplus and Salvage rally which will be in mid-September.

I arrived in Twelve Mile at 12:15 PM. I got the car detached and moved it out of the way. While I was doing that Fonda got home from church. After tending to their two dogs (Rascal and Daffy) she helped me back the bus across the street into its parking spot next to their bus. I plugged in the shore power cord to get AC power to the house systems but left the bus systems on temporarily so I could reprogram the new VDO speedometer.

On the drive from Elkhart the speedometer, which had not been calibrated, was indicating just under 8 MPH when I was traveling 60 MPH according to my GPS. That meant the signal from the Allison ATEC transmission computer was putting out fewer pulses per mile than the default speedometer program. For some reason I thought the default might be 200,000 PPM so I computed the ratio between actual and indicated speed and divided 200,000 by that number which gave me 26,316. I programmed that in using the PULSE mode but would not be able to test it until later in the week. If the indicated speed is in the ballpark I will use the ADJUST mode to manually move the pointer to indicate the same speed as the GPS. There is also a CALIBRATE mode that counts the pulses over a one mile distance and then programs that into the instrument. That is the most accurate way to calibrate the speedometer/odometer if you have someplace safe to do it with accurate mile markers.

With that done, I turned off the chassis batteries and the unneeded air circuits in the front bay but left the valve for the engine air accessories turned on. I typically do this when I leave it with someone in case they have to start it. I turned the Aqua-Hot electric heating element on and turned on the bedroom thermostat but set the temperature to a cooler setting. The heat exchangers in the water bay and front storage bay appear to be tied-in with the bedroom heat exchanger.

I transferred stuff from the coach to car the car and by 1:25 PM I was ready to roll, but Butch called and said he was almost back to the house so I waited for him. He had made progress on the Wiremold in the bus kitchen and wanted me to see it. He had also bought a 125 A main lug electrical panel so we discussed the mounting and installation, part of which I will probably work on later this week. He had also received the ITR Oasis Combi unit, so I had to see that too. Fonda built a 3-D cardboard mockup and Butch had it sitting in the water bay where he plans to install the Combi. We will probably do more work on their bus than on ours over the next two weeks, but that’s OK; their bus has more/critical projects at this point than ours and he has helped me a lot with our projects.

I pulled out at 2:05 PM and decided to take a slightly different route home: SR-16 east, US-31 north, US-6 east, I-69 north, M-60 east, I-94 east, M-14 east, US-23 north, M-36 (Nine Mile Road) east, Pontiac Trail north, to Dorothy Street and the SLAARC monthly meeting at the South Lyon Witch’s Hat Depot. I do not usually take US-6 across Indiana although it is a fine road known as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. It is flatter than US-20 with more towns and associated lower speed limits and stop lights, but it was a nice drive with different scenery.

I arrived at the SLAARC meeting at 7 PM. The business meeting was already concluded and Mike (W8XH) was setting up for his program on the Arduino SBC (single board computer). He bought the experimenters kit and had been playing with it enough to discuss it with the group. Larry (K8UT) discussed the four projects he has built using the Raspberry Pi platform and passed around some of the hardware.

It was 9 PM by the time I finally got to our house. Linda helped me completely unload the car as I had an 8:30 AM service appointment at Brighton Honda and she was leaving before 6 AM for the bakery. She had fixed some strawberries for me and they made a nice treat after a long day of snacking on vegan junk food while driving. I worked for a while on this post before turning in for the night.

2014/10/13 (M) Grain Of Wheat

Linda was up early and out the door at 5:45 AM. I got up a little after 7 AM, started a load of laundry, had a couple of homemade muffins, and got ready to take my car to Brighton Honda for its 90,000 mile service. I got coffee at the Dunkin Donuts across the street from the dealership first and waited in the lounge working on yesterday’s blog post while they worked on my car.

I forgot to specify synthetic oil so the put in regular oil. When the car was done I headed to Novi and immediately noticed a front-end shimmy that was not there when I dropped it off. They had rotated the tires and may not have re-torqued the lug nuts correctly. It also pulled to left, which might be a tire inflation issue. I did not have time to take it back so I will see if it settles out on the drive to Indiana tomorrow. If not, I will need to get at least the front tires/wheels loosened and retightened, and perhaps balanced. Worst case I will have to get the front end aligned.

I found the FedEx/Kinko’s on Grand River Avenue just east of Novi Road and made 10 copies each of two 24″x36″ electrical diagrams; one for the DDEC I ECM (Engine Control Module) and one for the Allison 700 Series ATEC (Automatic Transmission Electronic Control). I folded up an ATEC diagram for me and one for Chuck and rolled up the other eight and put them in a tube for safe keeping. Chuck and I have DDEC II’s controlling our main engines so I rolled the 10 DDEC I diagrams up and put them in a second tube to protect them. By the time I was done it was 10:45 AM and Chuck was at his shop just up the street so I drove there.

He had installed a dual battery maintainer and wanted me to see it. He mounted it on the back wall of the small bay above the passenger side drive tire of their bus which got it close enough to the chassis batteries (in a tray above the tag tire) for the built-in charging cables to reach the correct battery terminals. He was still pondering where to tie in the AC power source so we discussed some alternatives. He had also put the red covers on the bulbs in his new VDO speedometer so I got to see that. Ours are white for now but most of the dash lighting is green. The red makes the speedo stand out, but if I change ours from white it will likely be to green. Chuck had a supply of spare 12VDC, 1.2W “grain of wheat” light bulbs that are used in our illuminated switches and let me have four. Our Aqua-Hot switch does not currently light up when it is turned on.

After checking out his projects we went to the Panera at Grand River Avenue and Novi Road for lunch. We had a good chat and solved all of the world’s problems so he went back to the shop to find some new ones and I went home to take care of chores. I continued doing laundry and worked on the SLAARC WordPress website setting up user accounts for several new club members.

Linda got home around 5:30 PM and got busy making dinner. She started with a nice salad featuring a ginger dressing. Dinner was 45 minutes later; a baked potato with Brussels sprouts on the side, a glass of Leelanau Cellars Winter White with Peach wine, and grapes for dessert. She worked on something for Butch while the potatoes baked and I worked on e-mail.

We were both tired after dinner but took some time to sort and fold the laundry from which I selected and packed the clothes I will need for the next 10 days. We were tired and turned in after that. I had received an e-mail from Butch with seven photos attached of the place we are considering staying in Quartzite, AZ. It took us a while, but we eventually matched them up with the correct lot on the Google Maps satellite view. It is not the corner lot as Butch and I previously thought, but the 3rd lot north of Kenoyer on the east side of N Lollipop Lane. With that issue resolved we turned out the lights and went to sleep.

2014/10/14 (T) A Crowning Achievement

Linda was up at 5:15 AM again and out the door on the way to the bakery at 5:45 AM. At this hour of the morning she has clear sailing all the way to Hamtramck which is much less stressful than the parking lot that develops on I-96 inbound just a short time later. I was up at 7:15 AM, showered, and started gathering and organizing all of the stuff that I had to load into the car for the trip back to Indiana.

Keith showed up at 9 AM to cut the grass as I was loading my car. He was rained out yesterday and today was not looking too good either but he figured he would have a go at it. I wrote out his check and paid him in advance as I would be gone long before he finished. I had time for a cup of green tea and pulled out of my driveway at 9:30 AM.

My first destination was Gusfa Dental in Dearborn, Michigan where I had an 11 AM appointment. Dr. Steve and his assistant, Margaret, installed my new permanent ceramic crown on the upper right tooth that had a root canal procedure in mid-September. The crown fit almost perfectly and only required a little modification on the surfaces that abut the two teeth immediately adjacent. The bite was just right. Gusfa Dental is definitely not the cheapest clinic around, but the work is top notch and they have been our dentists for almost 40 years.

I was done and out the door at 11:20 AM and headed directly for Twelve Mile, Indiana. The drive was wet but uneventful. Given my starting point in Dearborn I changed my route yet again, this time taking I-94 west to M-60 southwest to I-69 south to the I-80/90 Indiana Toll Road west to exit 92 at SR-19 (IN) in Elkhart. From there I headed south on SR-19 and wound my way slowly through Elkhart until I picked up US-20 westbound on the south side of Elkhart. From US-20 I picked up US-31 south and exited at IN-25 south of Rochester, Indiana where I bought some groceries at the Kroger store. I texted Linda and then called Butch. As I was getting ready to head south on IN-25 I got a call from Michele Henry of Phoenix Paint with some questions about the Zip Dee awnings we had installed on our coach after she finished painting it. I took IN-25 as far south as Fulton and turned east onto a small farm road that took me to Meridian then south to SR-16 and east to Twelve Mile.

While driving down Meridian I saw one of the most intense and perfect rainbows I have ever experienced. It was deeply colored, very clear, and an entire semicircle was visible. A second rainbow, fainter and partial, formed above the first one on the right (south) end. The sky was very dark to the east with bright, low sun from the west. The trees were blazing with color, intensified by the rains, and white farm houses glistened as if they had just been freshly painted. It was spectacular but I was not able to get a photo of it. I arrived in Twelve Mile at 5 PM and immediately unloaded and stored my groceries. I then brought my clothes and technology items into the house and put them in the guest bedroom where I stay when I am here.

Butch needed some parts for various bus projects so I drove us to Home Depot in Logansport. One the drive in he got a call from his brother Tom. He had a problem with his air compressor and wanted Butch to look at it so we went there after our stop at Home Depot, with a stop at the local Mobil station so I could fill the fuel tank in my car. Butch quickly made a tentative diagnosis of the compressor problem as the starting capacitor and/or switch. Tom and Butch did some pondering about details of Tom’s project in which he is converting the front half of a Crosley sedan into a trailer.

We visited for a while back at the house and looked up the grain of wheat bulb I needed for the illuminated switches in the H3-40. Napa Auto Parts shows it in their automotive lighting catalog as a #37, 12 VDC, 1.26 W, wedge based. Butch looked online and found a place (Bulbtown) that sells them for $0.42 each. Orders over $50 get free shipping and handling so we discussed doing a bulb inventory of each bus and then pooling our orders.

I spent a few minutes showing Butch how the photos that Joe sent of the lot in Quartzite matched up with the Google Maps/Earth satellite and Streetview images. By the time we were done with that it was late and we all turned in for the night.

2014/10/15 (W) MC-9 AC Wiring

Cockpit house systems switch panel.

Butch bought a brass nipple (NPT) last night to thread into the fitting on his fresh water tank but the fit was still too loose. He needed the nipple in order to put the fresh water tank back in the bus. Between that and the really soupy 54 degree F weather it was obvious that today was not going to be an outside work day. I suggested that we work on the AC wiring on their bus instead—a nice inside project—after breakfast.

House electrical closet in Butch & Fonda’s MC-9 before rewiring.

I had homemade granola with fresh blueberries and soy milk, a glass of orange juice, and two cups of Seattle Blend 1/2 decaf coffee. While the coffee was brewing I unscrewed the switch panel with the Aqua-Hot switch and replaced the “grain of wheat” bulbs in the Aqua-Hot switch and the Engine Preheat switch. We then got to work on the AC (house) wiring for their bus conversion.

New 20-slot AC panel for inverter circuits.

The bus had three small main lug load centers, with six circuit breakers each, mounted in a future closet in the bedroom. We ran an extension cord through the passenger side rear slider window to power a work light, disconnected the shoreline, and switched off the inverter. I then removed the three panels one at a time, labeling each cable as I pulled it out. With all of the old panels out we mounted the new 20-position panel box for use with the inverter circuit. I spent the rest of the work day, except for a lunch break, pulling old and new electrical cable into the new box and making the connections to the ground bar, neutral bus, and the GFCI circuit breakers for all of the circuits that will be fed by the inverter. We tied in the main AC power to the inverter AC input and checked that all of the circuits worked as planned, which they did. I will mount two of the smaller boxes tomorrow and pull the cables for the shorepower/generator only circuits into those boxes.

We quit working for the day at 7:30 PM and I washed up before making my dinner. I had a nice salad with “power greens” and various toppings and leftover Koshary. Yum. I drew a glass of Moscato, did the dishes, and went back to the house. I had a text and an e-mail from Linda so I replied to those. We were all tired and turned in a little after 9 PM.

2014/06/10 (T) Early Entry

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Today was early entry day for the FMCA Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (GLAMA) area rally, known as the GLAMARAMA. Following our usual departure routine I dumped our holding tanks and prepared the outside of the bus for travel while Linda secured the inside. We pulled out of Elkhart Campground around 9:30 AM and headed west on CR-4 to IN-19 where we turned north back towards Michigan. IN-19 becomes M-205 at the border and we followed it around to US-12 east. A few miles down the road we turned onto M-217, the Michiana Parkway, and followed that south back into Indiana where it became CR-17. We exited CR-17 at US-20 and headed east towards Middlebury, Indiana. The reason for going this way was to avoid driving through Elkhart and Goshen. Monroe Street in Goshen is closed at the railroad tracks forcing detours to get to the fairgrounds when approaching from the west. We knew from our recent visit to the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds for the Escapees RV Club Escapade rally that the easy way in and out of the venue was from/to the northeast.

GLAMARAMA14 is the second rally organized by GLAMA. The first one was in September 2013 at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds. I wrote an extensive article about that rally that appeared in the January 2014 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine. A version of that article also appeared in the November 2013 newsletter of the FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches (GLCC) Chapter.

We encountered unexpected road construction on eastbound US-20, but we had no particular time constraints and patiently worked our way through. At IN-13, south of Middlebury, we turned south, drove down to IN-4, and headed east. Before getting to Goshen we turned south on CR-29 and followed that to its terminus at CR-34 (Monroe Street) where we headed east a short distance to the northeast entrance to the Fairgrounds (Gate 5). The trip took us a little over an hour whereas the direct route, without road closings, would have taken 30 minutes. But it was an easy, stress-free drive and we arrived relaxed and ready to enjoy the rest of the day. Northern Indiana is a particularly easy place to drive a large RV; the roads are relatively flat with very few overhead clearance or weight restriction issues. The one thing you have to watch out for are the Amish buggies; they are everywhere in this region.

We indicated on entry that we were with the Great Lakes Converted Coaches Chapter. After unhooking the car in the staging area the parking crew escorted us to the sites reserved for our chapter in the fenced area directly behind the vendor and entertainment buildings known as “the compound.” We were the second bus to arrive; the Lintner’s having already been here for a few days. A short while later Bill and Karen Gerrie (1965 GM Transit) arrived with Mike and Kathy Dickson and Joe and Mia Temples (GM 4905 “Buffalo”). Later in the day Don and Sandra Moyer arrived in their 1948 Spartan with John and Paula Lingafelter in their 1958 Flxible Starliner.

In the early afternoon Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard (Technomadia) walked over from the FMA area to the GLCC area with Jason and Nikki Wynn (Gone with the Wynn’s). I introduced them to Bill Gerrie and Linda joined us for a brief chat. It’s always good to cross paths with Chris and Cherie and it was nice to meet Jason and Nikki.

We volunteered to drive golf carts during the rally and our first shift was today from 2:30 to 5:00 PM. Although the rally does not start until tomorrow the registration office was open and attendees from all over the fairgrounds needed to go there, without knowing where “there” was, so we had our share of customers.

2014/06/09 (M) Mobile Service

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One of the interesting things about RVing is the availability of mobile service providers. The mechanic who maintains our bus chassis, Joe Cannarozzi, travels all over the U. S. from his base in Chicago, Illinois. Other vendors, many full time RVers themselves, travel the RV rally circuit providing on-site service. We stopped by Phoenix Paint late in the morning to visit with Michele Henry, who painted our motorcoach in 2011/12, and met Darin Hathaway there. Darin is an independent Elkhart-based factory trained/authorized Aqua-Hot service technician. Our Aqua-Hot has not been running well the last few of times we have tried to use it, even failing to ignite once and producing copious amounts of white smoke for as long as five minutes if/when it did. I described the symptoms we’ve experienced and what we have done to try and diagnose the situation. Darin had time in his afternoon schedule to service our unit so we arranged to have him come over to Elkhart Campground to do the work there.

Darin arrived around 2:15 PM and performed the standard annual maintenance / tune up. He let me watch and ask questions and I learned a bit more about the unit and how it functions. He removed the burner and then removed the swirl chamber which had a buildup of carbon soot. He removed the nozzle, flame sensor (photo eye), igniter electrodes, and the photo (mounting) disk. He also noticed a small inline final fuel filter that needed to be replaced. He clamped off the lines, removed it, and installed a new one. I wanted a spare, but he only had the one with him so he said he would order one for me.

He disconnected the two main electrical harnesses, plugged in his service control box, and then installed a pressure gauge into the nozzle port. He activated the fuel pump and the fuel pressure was just over 160 PSI. It was supposed to be 145 PSI so he showed me the adjustment screw and backed it down to the proper level.

The photo disk was slightly wrapped which is not unusual, but could prevent it from sealing the combustion chamber, so he installed a new one showing me how to make sure it was loose enough that it could position itself correctly when the main blower/pump housing was re-installed. I got a second disk to keep as a spare. He installed a new nozzle and then reinstalled the two igniter electrodes and showed me how to set the spark gap. He also pointed out that the cable clamp on top of the main blower/pump housing is the spark gap tool. Nice touch. He said the old nozzle was a bit loose which might have allowed a little fuel to get into the combustion chamber without going through the nozzle. His tips for nozzle installation were to always use two wrenches and to tighten the nozzle, back it off, and tighten it a second time. Apparently this helps the threads seat and seal.

He checked the four rubber grommets around the housing and said they were still in good shape and probably relatively new. I got four for spares, two lefts and two rights. I might as well get parts while I can. He cleaned up the swirl chamber and re-installed it, seam side up. Very important. He checked the spark igniter and it worked and then failed. He spent some extra time that was not part of the routine service diagnosing and fixing this issue. He thought it might be a marginal or failed coil, but after tightening the wire connections and flexing the wires a bit, it seemed to work fine with repeated testing. The coils are relatively expensive and decided not order one as a spare at this time. Hopefully I don’t regret that decision somewhere done the road.

With critical components replaced, and everything cleaned and adjusted, Darin inspected the main combustion chamber for signs of fuel or coolant leakage but did not see anything out of the ordinary. He secured the main blower/pump housing to the combustion chamber / “boiler” assembly using a short quarter-inch socket ratchet with a 12″ extension and suggested that I do the same. Apparently it is very easy to over-torque these bolts and break the mounting tabs, which is a very bad thing to do. A final test resulted in the unit starting up immediately with clean exhaust; no smoke, black or white.

We spent a few more minutes trying to determine which thermostats in the house (there are three) controlled which of the three circulating pumps, but did not figure it out. The is important because the radiator for the water bay (where the Aqua-Hot is installed) is clearly part of one of the coolant circulation loops controlled by one of the thermostats in the house (the leftmost of the three at the top). The radiator for the front bay is also part of one of the house loops but I do not know if it is tied in with the water bay radiator or with a different zone. Darin said there was usually a separate thermostatically controlled zone for the bays, but I assured him that our coach was not configured that way. Our unit does have a forth circulation pump that is tied in with the main engine coolant. It can be used to pre-heat the engine or to provide heat from the engine to the coach. Darin indicated that anytime the burner is lit one of the circulation pumps will be running, usually the middle one. In our unit it seemed to be the engine pre-heat pump, but I later discovered that I had the pump turned on.

It was after 3:30 PM by the time Darin was finished and I had a 4:00 PM conference call meeting of the FMCA national education committee. We turned the diesel burner on from its normal control switch and let it run for one complete cycle while he finished up the paperwork. As the cycle finished I saw a little white smoke in the bay, which was still open. I opened the door to the small compartment underneath the Aqua-Hot and it was full of white smoke. I have the battery for the fuel polishing module installed in there but the compartment us otherwise empty save for a large diameter tube (5″?) that runs from the bottom of the Aqua-Hot through the compartment, and out the floor. This tube provides fresh air to the combustion chamber and also provides a conduit for the exhaust pipe. There was obviously a double problem: 1) exhaust gas was leaking from the exhaust pipe somewhere, and 2) the large outer tube was not sealed. Add that to the project list.

I called in to the FMCA national education committee meeting at 4:00 PM and by 4:10 PM (EDT) we had enough members for a quorum. Committee chair Gaye Young worked us through the agenda and we were done with our first meeting an hour after we started. The committee is charged with looking at four topics, one of which is RVillage.

We had a quiet evening and had pan-grilled tofu with caramelized onions and bar-b-que sauce for dinner, followed by a final stroll around the campground. We got online with the campground WiFi via our WiFi Ranger and took care of e-mail, RVillage, and WordPress tasks before turning in for the evening.

2014/06/08 (N) Positioning

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We were up around 7:00 AM, showered, dressed, and gathered up toiletries and other last minute items for our outing. I did a last minute check of e-mail and RVillage and then shut down the computers, printers, and NAS units and packed up my laptop. We started our final loading process at 9:00 AM and had everything on board by 9:20 AM. While Linda configured the car for towing, I turned the chassis batteries on, disconnected the shorepower line, stowed the cord, checked that the inverter was operating, and opened the air valves for the engine accessories and the air line to the car auxiliary braking system. While Linda closed up the utility bay I fired up the main engine and drained the moisture out of the auxiliary air tank. We checked the lights and finally checked that all of the bays were closed and locked. GPS and TPMS on with all tires reporting in, all gauges reading normal, and side mirrors adjusted. Tag axle up for the tight 180 degree turn exiting the driveway and all ahead slow while Linda verified the car wheels were turning. She was on board and buckled in at 9:30 AM and we were on our way. We have gotten reasonably efficient at this departure routine, but when driving a bus with a car in tow you do not simply turn the key and drive away.

We had light rain overnight and it was still drizzling as we pulled out. No problem; cloudy skies often make for easier travel. We drove up to M-59 and headed west, picking up I-96 westbound on the west edge of Howell. By the time we turned onto I-69 southbound at the southwest corner of Lansing, Michigan we had run out from under the rain and the overcast gave way to partly cloudy skies with patches of blue making for very pleasant driving conditions. At Coldwater, Michigan we headed west on US-12, a route we have driven many times and always enjoy. Just north of Elkhart, Indiana we exited US-12 onto M-205 which swings south and becomes SR-19 as it crosses into Indiana. About two miles into Indiana we turned east on County Road 4 and 0.7 miles later turned into the entrance to Elkhart Campground. It was a little before 1:00 PM and we had made the 160 mile trip without rest or fuel stops. I set the cruise control at 60 MPH on the Interstates and 55 MPH on M-59 and US-12, but had to slow down for interchanges and lower posted speed limits going through small towns. We usually base our expected travel time on an average speed of 50 MPH which seems to account surprisingly well for all of these variations.

We got checked in to the Elkhart Campground using our Escapees membership to save 15% off of their overpriced 50A FHU grass sites. They put us in a new part of the campground we have not used before. The spot was level so I but the tranny in neutral, set the parking brake, and shut the engine off. I shut off the air and chassis batteries and hookup up the shorepower line while Linda got the inside ready to use, our standard arrival routine. In all fairness, Elkhart Campground is not a fancy RV resort but is nice enough, and one of only two RV parks in Elkhart, Indiana, so part of what you pay for here is location. We have been here at least 9 times, usually for Great Lakes Converted Coaches rallies. It is centrally located for much of our membership and has a building with meeting rooms and kitchen facilities that they let us use for no additional charge. Our reason for being here now is to add a couple of days of RV use to the GLAMARAMA rally and position ourselves for an easy, early morning entry into the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds on Tuesday.

For lunch Linda served some of the cold three bean salad she made yesterday along with tofu hotdogs (with mustard, relish, and onions, of course). After lunch we got our WiFi Ranger connected to the campground WiFi network and checked in to the campground on RVillage. The website indicated that there were 11 other people checked in here, but we knew that some of them had been here after the recent SKP Escapade and subsequently left. We went for a walk around the campground and found the FMCA Frustrated Maestros (Great Lakes Chapter) camped by the activities building. It was obvious that they were having a pre-rally and using it to rehearse before heading to the GLAMARAMA rally in Goshen on Tuesday. We recognized Ron and Meredith Walker’s Prevost XL bus conversion but did not see them outside.

As we were finishing our walk we ran into Nick Russell of The Gypsy Journal and he invited us in to their motorhome for a brief chat. Terry was busy removing their old combo washer/dryer to make room for the new one they are supposed to get tomorrow, but she put her work aside to visit. We finally got to see her loom which we have read about on Nick’s blog. Considering what a sophisticated device it is, it fits surprisingly well in their Winnebago Ultimate Advantage (which has slides). Terry was obviously very excited to have it and enjoyed describing its operation to us. She is mostly self-taught and already producing some very intricate designs.

For dinner Linda made a nice green salad to go along side a bowl of the vegetable chili she made yesterday, served with crackers and a glass of Franzia Sweet Red wine. We went for a walk after dinner and ended up having a conversation with several of the Frustrated Maestros, including Ted (K0DDB) who took up the banjo at age 56. As we walked past Nick and Terry’s motorhome Terry was outside talking to Greg and Jan White. Greg was “parting out” the combo washer/dryer that Terry had just removed from their rig to salvage as many usable spare parts as possible since they have the same model in their American Eagle coach.

We got back to our motorcoach just before 8:00 PM and tried to connect to the Technomadia live UStream videocast they were doing for the Mobile Internet Aficionados private membership Facebook group, but the WiFi at Elkhart Campground was not up to the task and I did not feel like turning on our Verizon MiFi device. Linda turned the TV on instead and checked out the stations available to us. We had all of the major networks and decided to watch the final episode of Cosmos and then turned in for the night.

2014/06/07 (S) D-Day Plus 70

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Today was the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy; D-Day. The youngest soldiers in that invasion, if they are still alive like my father, are now in their late 80’s. The event is quickly slipping into history; in another decade, more or less, there will not be anyone left with a firsthand knowledge of the events of that day, or indeed of the whole of WW II.

As we do most Saturdays when we are home we went to our ham radio club breakfast in South Lyon. We meet at a local Coney Island restaurant and we go for the company and conversation, not the food. The service is excellent, however, as we have the same server every week and she knows everyone’s usual order and keeps the coffee flowing. Linda’s standard breakfast is coffee and toasted rye bread with orange marmalade, although occasionally she has oatmeal. My standard breakfast is coffee and a toasted English muffin with strawberry jam, but today I had a toasted bagel. Sometimes you just have break with tradition. On rare occasion I have the oatmeal, but it’s not really cooked the way I like. When I want to splurge I have hash browned potatoes, cooked until a bit crispy, which I smother in ketchup laced with Tabasco sauce. That dish is as much about the spicy ketchup as it is about the potatoes.

When we got back to the house Linda headed off to the grocery store while I put a load of laundry in the washing machine and got busy prepping the bus for travel. The temperature had risen into the 70’s but all of the bus tires were in the shade, a good situation for checking and adjusting the tire pressures. I removed the Pressure Pro sensors from all of the bus and car tires, checked and adjusted the cold pressures, and put the sensors back on, re-establishing the baseline settings for alarm purposes.

We had quite a bit of rain on our last outing and the bays were a bit musty so I opened all of them to let them air out. I also opened all of my tool boxes for the same reason. The inverter bay door has screened openings with shields on the inside that are open on the bottom. The large shield by the GenSet radiator is secured with three screws across the top, none of which were holding. I looked around in the garage for some suitable drywall anchors to put in the holes but I did not have (or could not find) any the right size. A quick trip to Lowe’s, with stops at Walmart and Meijer’s for grocery items, and I had some viable options. I had to fuss with it for a while, but I got it secured. It was a small project to be sure but one that had been bugging me for quite some time and it felt good to put it in the done column.

Linda spent the early afternoon working on the accounting records for our GLCC chapter and then turned her attention to cooking meals for the upcoming week. For rally situations, where we are away from our coach much more than we are there, it is easier for her to prepare dishes in advance that can be quickly and easily re-heated rather than cook from scratch. I called Elkhart Campground and made a reservation for Sunday and Monday evenings. Over the course of the afternoon and evening we selected clothes for the week, gathered up various items that travel with us, and loaded everything on board. I positioned the Honda Element behind the motorcoach and connected them together for towing. We will have a few last minute things to put on board in the morning but the final loading should be quick and easy. It was a relaxed loading process and as we sat on the rear deck enjoying a glass of wine we reflected on how glad we were to have found this house and decided to move. We had some of the vegetable chili for dinner and then watched Season 2, Episode 2 of Doc Martin before turning in for the evening.

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Tag Archives: Elkhart CG (Elkhart IN)

2015/09/19 (S) Rally Wrap Up

2015/09/16 (W) CSD to GLCC

2015/09/10 (R) Illuminating

2015/06/02 (T) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 0)

2015/06/01 (M) Bradd and Hall et al

2015/05/31 (N) Age of Disco Camping

2014/10/08-15 GLCC and Bus Work

2014/06/10 (T) Early Entry

2014/06/09 (M) Mobile Service

2014/06/08 (N) Positioning

2014/06/07 (S) D-Day Plus 70