Tag Archives: Phoenix Paint (Edwardsburg MI)

2015/07/01 (W) Coach Supply Direct

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We were up at 7 AM and left at 7:45 to drive to Coach Supply Direct in Edwardsburg, Michigan.  On the out of town we stopped at Teeko’s Coffee and Tea for coffee and bagels to go.  The coffee was single origin Kenya and was very good.  We drink half-caff at home so I will check with Jeff to see if this also comes in a decaffeinated bean.

We took I-96 west towards Lansing and then took the Lansing Road cutoff to I-69 south.  We exited at M-60 and headed west towards Three Rivers.  Our plan was to drop down M-40 to US-12 for the final run into Edwardsburg but M-60 was closed in Minden and the detour took us south on M-66 towards Sturgis.  We were about half way to Sturgis when the detour turned west back towards Three Rivers so we continued on to Sturgis where we picked up US-12 and continued our westward journey.  We stopped at the McDonald’s in White Pigeon for a second cup of coffee and then finished our trip to Edwardsburg.

Coach Supply Direct is located on Elkhart Road just south of US-12.  It was easy to find and Josh greeted us as we pulled in.  We looked at his Lambright fabric samples again and were just not finding exactly what we wanted so Josh suggested we check out the selection at Pro-Forma (?) on the southeast side of Elkhart.  They are a major supplier of surplus yard goods in the area and he often gets fabric from them for projects.  He offered to go over with us but we did not want to pull him away from his work more than we already had.  He called to let them know we were coming without him.

We took US-12 back east to M-217 and dropped into Indiana where the road becomes County 17.  Just before US-20 we turned west and about 1.5 miles later we turned south onto Hall Road and pulled into Pro-Forma’s parking lot.  Bob (the owner) was out but we found Mike back in the warehouse.  He took us to the room with the sample books and we looked at a sample of every fabric they had but did find anything even close to what we were looking for.  Bob returned from his errand run and we commented that apparently plain off-white upholstery cloth was out of style.  Quite to the contrary, he said it is very much in use and as a result there is very little, if any, surplus coming out of the Elkhart-based RV manufacturers.

I took a different route back to Edwardsburg, driving through Elkhart on some streets I had not driven before.  After talking with Josh some more we had him do a final estimate (quote), sans fabric selections, as follows:

  • Two (2) Flexsteel 529 Class C captain’s chairs with skirts, adjustable arm rests, 8.5″ swivel pedestal with 20″ seatbelt bar, tan seatbelt, and slide tracks.
  • One Flexsteel 591 Class A driver’s captain’s chair with skirt, adjustable arm rests, and power lumbar option.
  • One Flexsteel 591 Class A co-pilot captain’s chair with footrest, skirt, adjustable arm rests, and power lumbar option.
  • 15 yards of additional fabric TBD.
  • Seven (7) MCD Duo Shades with dark out fabric TBD.
  • An estimate of a 2 to 6 hours labor to install everything.

Josh converted the estimate (quote) into an invoice and Linda wrote him a check for the requested 50% deposit.  He then let us select Lambright fabric samples to take with us.  We removed six from the binder rings and also took one of his sets of MCD dark out material samples.  I had planned to stop and visit with Michele Henry at Phoenix Paint but had not told her that we were coming so she was not expecting us.  By the time we left for home it was 3 PM so we waved as we drove past her shop.

Linda had packed food for the trip so she ate her vegan yogurt and got out the grapes for both of us to munch on.  Instead of retracing our route from the morning I stayed on US-12 all the way to Coldwater.  By the time we reached I-69 I was hungry so I pulled into the Walmart.  I ate my yogurt in the car and then we went in to buy Snyder’s sourdough pretzel nibblers, Blue Diamond Wasabi Soy almonds, and some mini-strudels (apple and cherry) that did not contain any animal products (according to the label).  We got on I-69 going north and I exited at M-60 for fuel.

We got home around 6:45 PM.  UPS had delivered the order I placed yesterday with Amateur Electronics Supply so I brought that in from the porch and set it aside for tomorrow.  I opened one of the boxes of Armstrong floor tiles, removed a tile, took it to the bus, and set it on the floor in the kitchen.  We took the Lambright fabric and MCD dark shade samples to the bus and had an initial look at all of them together with the walnut woodwork, floor tile, and existing wallpaper (which is going to get replaced with something).  We left them to look at again tomorrow in better/different light and went in to have dinner.

Linda reheated the potato-kale curry leftovers and served some fresh watermelon.  I checked e-mail and responded to some that related to the SLAARC website.  We relaxed by watching two episodes of “First Peoples” on PBS and then went to sleep.  It was a long, tiring day with somewhere between 350 and 400 miles of driving and 7 to 8 hours of sitting in the car.  We were glad to have the chairs and shades ordered, and to have decided (for now) to go with the custom made sofa cushions, but we were frustrated by still having the fabric and shade materials undecided.  We told Josh we would have a decision by Friday so tomorrow will be final decision day.

 

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.

 

2014/01/01 (W) Happy New Year!

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A few rigs left yesterday but most of the rally attendees stayed around for the New Year’s Eve dinner and party.  A lot of us were up later than normal, so the first day of 2014 had a slow, quiet start.  Even so, there were a couple of buses that started up and pulled out before we got out of bed.  The weather was partly cloudy with pleasant temperatures, not the way we are used to starting a new year.  We have been tracking the weather back home and the key words are snow, ice, cold.

Although the rally was officially over we knew from conversations that some of them would be staying at the Turner Agri Civic Center for a few more days.  Some were headed home to places like the Carolina’s or Tennessee, but many others were headed somewhere in Florida.  Jack and Paula live less than 14 miles from the rally site and were headed there along with some of their friends.  Mike and Maryann were headed south about an hour to the Peace River Campground.  Bill, Karen, Mike, and Kathy were headed to Orange City up towards Orlando.  Others, like us, were headed north up the west coast.

We targeted 10 AM as our departure time and finished preparing the coach for travel.  By 9:30 AM we had everything ready to go except for the electrical shoreline, which I like to leave plugged in until the last minute.  We took one last stroll to find Bill and Brenda and thank them for a wonderful rally and say “happy new year” and “until we meet again” to anyone we encountered.  We chatted briefly with Dave Rush who also took a lot of photographs and shot video with his iPad.  You can find his images at http://tikvahmarketing.com .  Look for the Arcadia Rally link on the home page.

There was finally nothing left to do except leave.  We disconnected and stowed the electrical shoreline and did a final walk around.  We checked the lights and found that the towing lights on the car were not working.  I had noticed when we arrived that the connections on the umbilical cable were a bit corroded so I cleaned those and voila, we had towing lights.  We lit up the engine, pulled across the field that separated our site from the entrance road, and were on our way.

We made the 40 miles on FL-70 W to I-75 N in dry conditions, but not long after turning north on I-75 we encountered rain, which stayed with us for the rest of the trip.  We made a brief stop at the Pilot Truck Stop at exit 341 on I-75 to top off the tank and add our diesel fuel additive and biocide.  We wanted to make sure we arrived a Williston Crossings RV Resort with a nearly full fuel tank to keep moisture condensation to a minimum and the biocide to make sure nothing grows in the fuel while we are sitting for three months.

It was raining lightly when we got to Williston Crossings RV Resort so I put on my rain coat and unhooked the car while Linda got us registered.  We had scoped out our site (#439) when we were here a week ago, so I knew it was big enough for us and that backing into it should not be a problem.  We ended up coming at that task from a slightly different direction, but with the help of two resort volunteers and one of our new neighbors I got it backed in and lined up fairly easily.

The site was so level that I did not have to adjust the level low system, which I switched out of ride height position before shutting down the engine as it seems to help hold the air in the suspension.  I hooked up the shoreline (in the rain), shut off the air to everything that didn’t need it, and went inside to help Linda set up the coach for living.  We have more privacy on this site than we normally do in an RV park/campground, and we are parked facing due north (the ideal direction) so we decided to put our front shades all the way up and remove the upper side window covers, which we have never had off until now.  The four windshields form a picture window that is 8.5 ft wide and 6 ft high.  Having those uncovered opens up the sense of interior space, lets in lots of light, and affords a panoramic view as long as we are not parked where they get direct sunlight, which tends to heat up the interior.

We will be here for three months during which time we do not plan to move the coach.  This winter trip to Florida will be the longest period of time we have spent in this or any RV, and the three months at Williston Crossings RV Resort will be the longest we have lived in it while parked at the same spot.  That means we will finally get to use some things, like our printer, that we brought along for the first time but have not yet retrieved from their storage places and set up.  Likewise, it means we can store some things that normally sit out as we won’t need them again until April 1st.

We did not eat breakfast this morning, we never do on travel days, so once we were set up Linda made a pot of coffee.  She had some berries to use up, so she fixed breakfast for dinner; Pancakes Pirello (vegan) with blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries and real maple syrup, and vegan sausage patties.

Most of Florida is having a prolonged rain event, and the rain at the resort continued all evening and overnight.  I am happy to report that as of this writing none of our water leaks have re-appeared, a combination of Michele Henry’s good work at Phoenix Paint (Edwardsburg, MI) and perhaps warmer temperatures causing things to swell slightly and seal.  Whatever the reason, it was nice to be sitting inside on a rainy day with no drips.

 

2013/12/07-12 (S-R) The Celebrations Begin

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On Saturday morning I went to our local ham radio club breakfast as I usually do.  Linda stayed home, which is not usual, as I had a website meeting immediately following breakfast.  Club president Mike (W8XH) and I previewed the new club website for a small group that included the other two officers.  We provided them with logins so they could access the site, most of which is blocked from public view, and asked them to interact with it and provide feedback.

We had ordered garage door openers so each of our children could have one.  They arrived a couple of days earlier and we finally got around to programming them on Saturday afternoon.  They arrived just in time, too, as we were headed to Katie’s (grand-daughter #2) 17th birthday dinner that evening.  Our daughter (Meghan) and her husband (Chris, Katie’s dad) were there, as were our son (Brendan), his wife (Shawna), and their daughter (Madeline, grand-daughter #1).

Katie has developed quite a taste for sushi and selected Yotsuba in Ann Arbor, Michigan for her birthday meal.  Japanese restaurants were once a rare treat for us.  As with most restaurants that are not specifically vegan, or “vegan friendly” Japanese restaurants now pose a challenge for us.  But they had things we could eat, and they were very good.  Katie is very interested in science and decided she would like to start building a library with some quality leather-bound books in it.  She specifically requested Darwin’s On The Origin Of Species… and Linda was able to find a used, mint condition copy at Franklin Books (in New Jersey).

Brendan and Shawna had a social engagement after dinner so they left to put Madeline to bed.  Linda and I followed a short while later and did baby-sitting duty for a couple of hours until they returned.  By the time we got home it had been a long but very good day.

Sunday evening was the annual South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club holiday dinner which is held in lieu of our regular second Sunday of the month business meeting and technical program.  The club decided to try a new venue this year and selected the Zukey Lake Tavern near Pinckney, Michigan from among three candidates.  Although not located in South Lyon, we had a portion of the restaurant to ourselves that was sufficient to accommodate the 40 people who showed up.  We were also allowed to order from the menu and had sufficient wait-staff to efficiently take our orders and deliver our food.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and like the food; at least they ate a lot of it!

Linda pulled her usual babysitting shift on Monday and I headed for Edwardsburg, Michigan to retrieve the bus.  I originally planned to winterize it and then drive to our friends’ place in Twelve Mile, Indiana to spend a couple of days tying up loose ends on the Zena auxiliary power generator project.  I was then going to take the bus to Martin Diesel in Defiance, Ohio to have them check, service, and adjust it before returning home.  As most of this work would be done outside, I decided to alter my plans when the weather forecast called for overnight low temperatures near zero (F) for most of the week.  Pat and Vickie Lintner from our FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter had once again offered the use of a spare bedroom at the house in Elkhart, Indiana so I took them up on that.  That allowed me to spend the later afternoon and early evening working with Michele Henry at Phoenix Paint on an article I was writing about the exterior renovation of our coach that was done by her shop from October 2011 to August 2012.  I grabbed a salad for dinner at the Martin’s grocery store on SR-19 on the north side of Elkhart, Indiana and then headed to the Lintners’ for the evening.  (BTW:  If you are in the Elkhart area and want a really nice salad, the Martin’s salad bar is fabulous.  They also have a deli counter where you can get hot items, including potatoes.  They have fountain and bottled soft drinks and a Starbucks Coffee, all conveniently located next to a two-level seating area where you can sit and eat, and they have free Wi-Fi if you want to sit and work.)

On Tuesday morning I finished prepping the bus for travel, hooked up the car, and left Phoenix Paint around mid-morning for the drive back to our house in Howell, Michigan.  I like to change up my route, so this time I took US-12 to I-69 to I-96 to M-59 to our house, with a stop at the Mobile Truck Stop on I-96 at M-52 before exiting onto M-59.  I arrived home mid-afternoon with a full tank of diesel fuel, parked and leveled the bus, and plugged it in.  Linda was in holiday shopping mode, so she wasn’t there when I arrived.

I spent the next couple of days working at my desk trying to get a few last minute things taken care of on various websites and straightening up papers.  When we are gone for a while we prefer not to come home to clutter and chaos.  Linda went to the bakery for the day on Thursday and I headed over to Micro-Center in Madison Heights, Michigan to purchase a Buffalo Technologies LinkStation 421e dual drive Network Attached Storage (NAS) enclosure and two Toshiba 3.0 TB hard disk drives.  This new NAS was an addition to our existing Buffalo Technologies LinkStation Pro Duo 1.0 TB RAID 1 NAS, which we planned to take with us in the bus.

The drives were very easy to install in the LS421e.  On power up the LS421e initially configured itself as a RAID 0 NAS, which means it combined the HDDs to appear as a single 6.0 TB drive.  The NAS Navigator 2 software that came with the unit made it fairly easy to manage the device and I reconfigured it as a 3.0 TB RAID 1 NAS, in which the two drives are mirror images of each other.  If one drive fails it can be replaced with a drive of the same or larger capacity and the new drive will become an exact mirror of the other one.  The process required some patience, however, as the RAID 1 configuration took approximately 10 hours per Terabyte, or 30 hours total, to configure itself.  The NAS Navigator 2 software tells you this in advance, so it doesn’t come as a surprise, but it is a very long time.  A bonus to the NAS Navigator 2 software is that it will manage all Buffalo Technologies LinkStation and TeraStations on the network, so I was able to use it to manage the existing LinkStation.  That was an unexpected bonus as the existing LinkStation was originally installed and managed from a workstation computer that is no longer in service.

2013_11-16_12-06 Time Flies

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It’s been three weeks since my last post.  We have been incredibly busy, but that doesn’t mean I have much to write about.  Sometimes busy is just busy.  For my part, I’ve been neglecting our website and this blog in favor of designing, testing, and vetting three other WordPress-based websites; two for RV clubs and one for our local ham radio club.  That has taken a lot of my time, but I don’t mind.  It’s very interesting work that I chose to take on, and I’m learning a lot, which I enjoy.  But it isn’t necessarily all that interesting to write about.

I continue to discover useful WordPress plug-ins and learn how to use them.  I am using Participants-Database to create online member directories, WP-Members to block them from public view and require a username and password to view them, and Exclude-Pages to create web-pages that do not appear anywhere in the WordPress menu structure.  I am also using Meteor-Slides to create automated slide shows.  After a long and frustrating search for a good photo album / image gallery plug-in, I finally figured out how to create galleries using the native WordPress gallery function.  That was a major victory and I was so glad I persisted in my search instead of buying one.  I have also installed WP-Backup-2-Dropbox, which is automatically doing a weekly backup of all four of the sites to my personal Dropbox account.

Steve was over several times to work on the Linux box and we finally got one of the WordPress websites ported over and working!  We had to edit a few pointers in the wp-config.php file and set the permalinks back to default, but that did the trick!  Porting over the other three sites will have to wait, but eventually I will be able to install and test new plug-ins on my own local web-server and even develop content which I can then upload to the live site.  Working on the local web-server instead of the live web-host has a number of advantages.  For one, the system will respond more quickly.  But most importantly I won’t inadvertently take down one of my live sites.

Bus Conversions Magazine ran another one of my articles in the December 2013 issue.  This one was on the construction and installation of the new auxiliary air panel.  You can read more about it on our BCM page.

The new owner of BCM, Gary Hall, has faced and met a whole string of challenges since buying the magazine, but I remain confident that he is on the path to saving the magazine and not just making it viable, but making it better than it has ever been.  BCM remains a unique resource for the non-commercial bus converter and I am doing what I can to help keep it in business by subscribing and submitting articles.  It’s pretty simple really; the magazine needs subscribers, authors, and advertisers.  The problem is that each one of those groups wants the other two groups to be in place before they make a commitment.  No one wants to read a magazine with no content (articles and advertisements).  Authors don’t want to write for a magazine that no one reads and advertisers don’t support.  And advertisers don’t want to spend money placing ads in magazines with no content that no one reads.  Fortunately BCM has advertisers, authors, and subscribers, but they could use more of each.

If you are reading this blog post and you own a converted bus, are converting a bus, are thinking about converting a bus, or have a business that sells things that might be useful to people with converted buses, please consider subscribing to or advertising in Bus Conversions Magazine.  And if you are specifically converting a bus or working on one that is already converted, please consider writing one or more articles about the work you are doing, and take a lot of pictures to go with it.  You do not have to be a great writer or photographer.  If you provide them with a starting point the folks at BCM will work with you to turn it into a nice article.  And I can tell you from personal experience this past year that it is fun to see your articles in print.  In fact, your bus could be the “cover” and “centerfold.”  Now really, haven’t you always dreamed of that?  🙂

Starting with the January 2014 issue of BCM there will be another staffing change.  It appears that they are going to use my article on the FMCA GLAMARAMA 2013 rally that was held in Goshen, Indiana back in September 2013.  While the article is specifically about that rally, it is more generally about the experience of attending an RV rally put on by one of the large RV organizations.  Assuming the article runs, it will be my seventh article in 12 months and my third cover article.  Not bad for a beginner.  I have also agreed to “cover” the Arcadia 2014 Rally in Arcadia, Florida December 29-31.  It’s called the 2014 rally because it runs through New Year’s Eve with everyone departing on New Year’s Day.  This is one of the largest gatherings of converted buses currently taking place in the country, and it will be the first time Linda and I have attended.

Applying putty to base of Searchlight

Applying putty to base of Searchlight

The 19th, 20th, and 21st of November saw me back at Phoenix Paint in Edwardsburg, Michigan working on the bus and consulting with Michele Henry on the repair of the body panels and rear bumper fascia.  I was invited to spend the night at the house of fellow GLCC members Pat & Vickie’s nearby which saved me the cost of a motel and provide dinner and conversation.  Thank you both.

 

WiFiRanger MT permanent mount

WiFiRanger MT permanent mount

We We managed to fix the front roof-mounted remote-controlled searchlight and get it re-attached to the roof.  We also undid the temporary mounting (zip ties) of the WiFiRanger-MT (mobile titanium) and mounted it behind the front TV antenna to the driver’s side using the permanent roof-mount bracketing.  I removed the covers from the front and rear over-the-air TV antennas and was finally able to determine and map the direction they point to the numbers on the controller box.  That will finally allow us to know where we are aiming the antennas.

 

 

 

Access hole in utility bay floor

Access hole in utility bay floor

My last little project was to install the Critter-Guard.  There is a hole in the floor of the utility bay with a ring installed around it that is threaded to accept a screw-in cover.  The Critter-Guard consists of a circular piece of high-density foam, a two-piece plastic cover, and small latches to hold the cover in place.  I was not able to remove the old screws that secure the ring, so I drilled holes for new ones halfway in-between the old ones.  The product came with two sets of slightly different latches to accommodate just this situation.

Critter-Guard parts and instructions

Critter-Guard parts and instructions

Critter-Guard installed

Critter-Guard installed

With the latches installed, the electrical shoreline and fresh water hose were routed into the bay through the hole in the floor.  The foam is split along most of a diameter and has two holes in it (along the diameter line), one for the electrical shoreline, and the other for the fresh water hose.  The foam fits snuggly around these lines and into the hole in the floor.  The two-piece Critter-Guard cover plate is also split along a diameter and has two holes to match the holes in the foam.  The plate has a tongue on one piece and a groove on the other.  It is fitted around the shorelines on top of the foam and the latches are turned to hold it in place.  The net result is that “critters” cannot get into the bay through the utility line access hole.  I plan to submit this little project to Bus Conversions Magazine as a short article / product review.

As long as I’m talking about buses, I found a major air leak in Chuck’s Prevost H3-40 Liberty conversion.  As with all older buses, he has been plagued with air leaks.  Our mobile mechanic, Joe Cannarozzi, has fixed a lot of them by replacing air valves and tightening air lines, but leaks remain, and Chuck’s auxiliary air compressor was still running more often than it should while parked.  I was poking around in the bay under the driver’s seat—looking for the check valve that is usually installed in the air line from the auxiliary air compressor to the air system—when I heard a distinct hissing noise.  I heard it clearly, but it was at a frequency that Chuck did not hear.  He had a plastic tube stethoscope and I used it to clearly locate the leak as coming from the pressure control switch.  This switch (also known as a well pump switch when used in a water system) monitors the pressure in the auxiliary air system and turns the auxiliary air compressor on and off as needed to maintain the pressure between two set point limits.  Once I was able to place the stethoscope at the loudest point, Chuck was also able to hear it clearly.  He removed the old pressure switch, got the specs off of it, and I found an exact replacement in stock at Northwest Plumping Supply in Howell, not far from my house.  Chuck picked it up, installed it, and … no more air leak, at least not there.  The auxiliary air pressure is holding much better than it was before so the auxiliary air compressor is running much less frequently and Chuck (and Barbara) are much happier.  They things that make “bus people” happy are different from what makes most people happy.  You would probably have to try living in an RV to fully understand.

When Linda went in for her annual physical exam in early November she was able to talk to the nurse and find an opening for me.  I was able to get my lab work done a few days in advance, and the results were available in the Henry Ford Health System MyChart website that same afternoon.  I like having the lab work done in advance so that I can discuss the results with our doctor.  Everything was within the normal range, so I was pleased.  I got a new prescription for my nasal allergy medication and had to mail it in to our mail order pharmacy provider as this was the first prescription either of us has had filled since we switched our health coverage  to the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System on July 1st.

The Thanksgiving Spread

The Thanksgiving Spread

We went to our daughter’s house for Thanksgiving with family.  Linda and the two kids did all the cooking and we had a nice assortment of dishes, many vegan-friendly.  We got a Tofurkey for the two of us and it was very good.  (Everyone else had real turkey; boo.)  We had fresh grapes, fresh cranberry-orange salad, roasted Brussels sprouts, candied sweet potatoes, regular mashed potatoes, home make Parker House rolls (thanks Meghan!), some yummy cookies, some nice wine, and other things I can’t remember.  Both of our grand-daughters were there.  It was nice.

My friend and former co-worker, Kate, got back from a week+ trip to Berlin, Germany just in time for us to take her out for a birthday dinner; not exactly on her birthday, but close.  We went to Nirmal in Ypsilanti, an Indian restaurant with a health conscious attitude.  They had a buffet style setup designed for carryout, but you could also have it dine-in, which is what we did.  Linda and I got two vegan entrees (green beans and okra), yellow rice, garlic naan bread, and a small dessert for $5 each plus tea.  Kate ordered Makhani with chicken off the menu.  We adjourned to the closest Starbucks for coffee, photo viewing (on an iPad, of course), and conversation.  Kate had selected 30 photographs to show us, and they were wonderful, as usual.

 

2013_11_01-07 (F-R)A Busy Week

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The first week of November was very busy, enough so that I was unable (unwilling) to do daily blog posts.  Covering the whole week in one post makes for a longer post, but probably shorter than seven separate ones.

2013-11-01 (F)

We were supposed to get our bus back from the shop on Friday, November 1.  We didn’t.  That meant I could not take it to Phoenix Paint in Edwardsburg, Michigan on Monday the 4th.  I was reminded yet again that a true traveler has no fixed plan.  With that off the table temporarily, we turned out attention to other things; Ham Radio Breakfast on Saturday, for instance.  It was good conversation, as usual, and we finally arranged to have one couple over for dinner in a few weeks.

2013_11_02 (S)

Saturday afternoon Steve and Karen came over to visit and have dinner.  They were not able to attend our open house/warming because they were in Arizona where Steve had made arrangements to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon from the south rim and back up to the north rim.  Alas, the park was closed and they had to adjust their plans and find other things to do; which they did (true travelers have no fixed plan).  We don’t see them very often, so when we do we have a great, long visit.  We had a wonderful dinner of enchiladas and Mexican rice, finished off by chocolate cake with raspberry topping made from raspberries that Linda and I picked ourselves at the Middleton Berry Farm back in September.  All vegan, of course.

After dinner we looked at some of their photographs (digital) and they looked at some of ours (also digital).  Steve brought along a Raspberry Pi computer.  It was slightly larger than a deck of cards and had a 16 GB SD Card that served as its solid state hard drive.  It had a couple of USB ports, an HDMI port, and some other connections.  Steve had a wireless network adapter in one of the USB ports and a wireless keyboard transceiver (Bluetooth, I presume) in the other.  We already had an HDMI cable on the TV so he hooked up to that and voila, pictures.  He was even able to control the Raspberry Pi using our TV remote!  Now you have to admit, that’s pretty cool.  We were also delighted to find out that they have spent part of the last few winters in the Venice, Florida area and are returning again this year.  We shared our Florida plans and agreed that we would get together.

2013_11_03 (N)

Sunday we worked around the house and on our computers until late in the afternoon when Chuck and Barbara, our friends and fellow Prevost H3-40 converted coach owners, showed up to visit and have dinner.  Although they did make it to our open house/warming we did not get to visit with them very much that day.  We talked buses, of course, but we discussed a lot of other things too, including Florida, where they have spent the last six or seven winters, most recently in the Naples area.  Again, plans were made to meet while there.

As long as I am on the subject of Florida, we started thinking about extending our stay for at least another month because of potential problems with “seasonal weight restrictions” on the roads around our house.  I found out from Phil (of the pull-though driveway) that the restrictions usually go up March 1 and stay up until April 15.  Most of the roads in our county, and all of the roads we would have to use to get to our house, are subject to these seasonal weight restrictions but the signs never say what that means.  As it turns out, it means a weight limit of 8,400 pounds per axle.  Our drive axle (four tires) weighs 20,000 pounds and we have over 7,000 pounds on each of the front/steer tires, so there’s actually no legal way for us to get the bus to our house during that 45-day window.  What to do?  Stay in Florida for another month!  Problem solved.  New problem: where to stay?  New solution: the same place we are already staying, if they will let us extend our reservation.

2013_11_04 (M)

Monday came and went without the bus being ready.  While this delayed my plans yet again, it also provided more time to work on WordPress projects.  I checked on the WordPress Backup To Dropbox (wpb2d) plug-in and it appeared to be correctly backing up all four of the sites I am working on to our personal Dropbox account.  That was good to see.  I also started soliciting “beta testers” for each of the sites.  I continued working with the WP-Members plug-in and it appeared to be functioning correctly to block access to selected pages/posts behind a user login.  Given that, I started generating user lists for each of the sites to generate usernames and passwords and keep track of when I have created those in WP and provided them to each user.

2013_11_05 (T)

On Tuesday Linda was able to extend our stay at Williston Crossings RV Resort until April 1st (no fooling).  We will figure out later how to manage our trip back to Michigan so that we do not arrive before April 16.  Sometime during the week I received an e-mail from the Prevost Owners Group, to which we belong, that the Prevost Motorcoach Show would take place in Tampa, Florida on January 13 and 14, with a reception hosted by Prevost Car Inc. the evening of the 13th.  That sounded like an opportunity to finally meet some folks from Prevost in person, and to admire brand new conversions (that we will never buy) from the likes of Marathon, Millennium, Liberty, Parliament, and Vantare.  Sometime during the week it also came to our attention that the Prevost Community group we belong to is planning a rally for the first week of April 2014 at LazyDays RV Dealership in Seffner, Florida!  Well Bob’s your uncle.  It looks like delaying our return until at least April 16 won’t be that difficult at all.

I needed to make an appointment for my annual physical, so I got on the Henry Ford Health System website.  They have a new “feature” called MyChart.  When fully functional, which it is not yet, you are supposed to be able to directly book an appointment, and see all of your lab results.  But first you have to set up your account.  I called the number and got an activation code which I then used to create a Username and Password, and was finally able to log in.  The direct scheduling feature wasn’t available for my primary care physician, but there was a “Request An Appointment” page.  So I did.  I asked for an Adult Physical on Mon., Tue., Wed., or Thu. afternoon between Monday November 25, 2013 and Friday December 6, 2013.  Less than 24 hours later I received an e-mail informing me that I had been scheduled for a 1:00 PM appointment for an Office Visit on January 15, 2014.  Huh???

I used to program computers for a living, and I used to do systems engineering, and I used to do sales and marketing of these things, and I ended my career as a consultant.  This didn’t strike me as bad programming; it struck me as bad policy that got translated into a bad systems specification.  So I wrote back to HFHS customer service and told them, as politely as I could, that their system was stupid, that is to say, the policies behind the implementation of their system were not “customer-centric.”  If I had wanted an appointment in mid-January I would have requested one.  So as of now, I do not have said appointment.

The bus was ready to pick up on Tuesday, so Chuck drove me down to W. W. Williams to get it.  I took care of the paperwork and left with Chuck following me in his truck.  I no sooner hit the highway than I got a Check Engine Light.  It came on and stayed on, so I phoned Chuck and let him know that I needed to turn around and take it back if he was willing to follow me and take me back home.  He was, so this we did; my plans further delayed.  There are worse things that can happen on this bus; the Stop Engine Light, for instance.  This light means exactly what it says, the engine is going to stop and you need to get to the side of the road, now, before it does.  I’ve only seen that once, shortly after we bought it.  We took care of some key maintenance issues and have never seen it again (and I hope that we never do).  I figured I wouldn’t get the bus back from W. W. Williams until Wednesday afternoon at best, so any trip to Edwardsburg was now delayed until Thursday.  I called Michele to let her know.  She had Pato and Tommy lined up to look at it on Friday, so I was getting anxious to get it down there.  But there’s nothing you can do until the mechanics (they are now called technicians) are ready to give it back to you.  And frankly, you really don’t want it back until they are sure it is fixed.

While I was gone dealing with the bus, we got a call from Steve (mentioned earlier) wondering if he had left his Raspberry Pi computer here on Saturday.  We checked.  Yup, it was here.  Rather than meet him somewhere, we agreed that he would come back to the house on Wednesday to get it and do some work on our computers while he was here.

2013_11_06 (W)

Steve arrived late Wednesday morning, Linux “tools” in hand.  The principle target of the work was to install Linux on one of our machines and then install/configure the Apache web-server program.  This would allow us to have a “virtual web-server” that I could use to build duplicate installations of my WordPress sites, allowing me to develop and test them before making the same changes to the live sites.  That sounded cool.  Steve has been trying to get me interested in Linux for 10 years but I never saw a real need for it until now.  It turned in to an all-day project (of course, don’t they all?) due to the age of the machine we decided to use, but that was the machine I wasn’t using for much of anything else, so that’s where it needed to go.  Steve got Linux installed and then installed Apache2.  We ran out of time to configure the Apache2 program, but that was OK as it will give Steve a reason to come back.

While we were working on the computers we talked some more about Florida.  It turns out that the Capitol Steps are scheduled to appear at the Venice Stage Theater in Venice, Florida at the end of January.  Our annual get-together with Steve and Karen has often involved dinner and a performance by this group, which specializes in political satire, much of it musical.  They said we could stay overnight at the place they rent for winter in Venice if we wanted to go to the performance, which is at 8:00 PM on a Monday evening.  The nice thing about traveling with cats is that you can leave them for 24 hours and they are fine.  They sleep for 20 of those anyway.

I checked Wednesday afternoon and the bus was reported as “ready to go.”  I decided to pick it up early Thursday morning and head directly to Edwardsburg.  That meant towing the car so I had a way home, but it also meant that Linda did not have to drive me to W. W. Williams.  That worked out well as she had to head in to the bakery on Thursday anyway.

I sometimes get a bit anxious the night before I am going to drive the bus as I don’t drive it every day and we are still finding a fixing “issues.”  I used to experience the same thing when we would book one of the Southgate Flying Club airplanes and go flying.  Again, I didn’t fly every day.  Does this ever happen to you?  As I was drifting off to sleep I suddenly remembered that I had planned to fill the fuel tank at the Mobil Truck Stop on I-96 between Howell and Lansing.  But that was based on leaving from home.  Now wide awake, I got my iPad, pulled up the map application, and zoomed in on the I-94 Baker Road interchange west of Ann Arbor.  There are three truck stops there, two Pilots and one Travel America.  I was able to examine each one carefully, checking in/out access and pump locations.  I decided the Pilot station on the north side of the highway was my best option.  I knew I had enough fuel in the tank to get that far easily, so I was then able to go back to bed and finally fall asleep.

2013_11_07 (R)

I must have been sleeping lightly because around 4 AM I was awakened by the faint sound of running water.  That’s another one of those sounds that will jolt you awake once you become aware of it.  The new flapper in the master bedroom toilet wasn’t quite sealed and the water was running ever so slowly trying to keep the tank full.  I was finally able to adjust the flapper a couple of days later and get it to seal, but between the truck stop research and the running water, it turned out to be a short, fitful night’s sleep.  Not good preparation for a long day of driving.

I would like to say that the trip from W. W. Williams to Phoenix Paint was uneventful, but Check Engine Lights are definitely an event, and I saw ours come on four times.  It eventually went off each time, finally staying off after the 4th time; once it’s come on I tend to be a bit on edge wondering when I will see it again (or worse).

I stopped for fuel at the aforementioned Pilot truck stop on the north side of I-94 at Baker Road and pulled in behind a truck at the last pump, or so I thought.  I sat there for a while until the driver came out and moved it, at which point I pulled up only to discover that there wasn’t a pump at that position.  So I pulled out of the truck stop onto Baker Road, came back in the entrance, and got in line behind a truck that was putting fuel in its tanks.  That truck finally moved and I was able to pull up to the pump.

Getting fuel at a truck stop isn’t like putting fuel in your car.  The gallons and dollars involved are usually an order of magnitude larger and you usually cannot run a credit card at the pump.  I went inside, waited in line, and was finally waited on by a nice woman.  I told her I probably needed 150 gallons and I failed to recognize that she ran my credit card for $150.  I was only half done washing the windshields (the bus has four) when the pump shut off.  It had put in 37.9 gallons for exactly $150.  So I went back inside, stood in line again, and had her run the card for another $350.  Back outside, I restarted the pump, waited for it to finish, then went back inside, got back in line, and got not one, but two, receipts with the dollars and gallons on them.  By the time I got back on the highway the fuel stop had taken about one hour.  More delay.

No sooner was I on the road then I got a call from Chuck checking on how my trip was going.  That was both thoughtful and reassuring; it’s comforting to know folks are aware of you and concerned for your well-being.  In some ways, owning a converted coach makes you part of a “fraternity”, if you care to join.  While we were on the phone the Check Engine Light came on for the 3rd time since I had left W. W. Williams.  It went off and came on again.  I discussed it with Chuck and decided to pull off at MY FAVORITE REST AREA to check the coolant level in the overflow reservoir.  (I talked about this rest area in my article in the February 2013 issue of Bus Conversions Magazine.  This is the same rest area where I was stranded while Linda and I repaired the patio awning that came loose a few miles earlier on westbound I-94.  Ironically, I was on my way to Phoenix Paint at that time as well.  I’m not superstitious, but I don’t like unlikely coincidences.)

The rest stop in question is near Grass Lake, Michigan, about 12 miles east of Jackson, Michigan.  It’s a very nice rest stop; I just seem to end up stopping here for less than nice reasons.  I popped the rear engine hatch, improvised a dip stick, and checked the level in the overflow reservoir.  It was up to the bottom edge of the filler tube, so no obvious problem there.  I looked around the engine bay for any sign of a coolant leak, but everything looked dry.  I took some comfort in the fact that Bob, the service manager at W. W. Williams (Dearborn) had told me that he and the technicians were very impressed with the condition of our engine; that it sounded good and ran well.  They’re real experts, so that’s no small thing.

The rest of the trip really was uneventful.  The Check Engine Light did not come on again, the transmission shifted well, the cruise control worked properly (as it always has), the engine coolant and oil temperatures ran normal, and the speedometer suddenly decided to work again!  I took I-94 W to I-69 S to M-60 W to M-40 S to US-12 W to M-205 W and pulled into Phoenix Paint just a mile north of the Indiana border around 1:00 PM.  I’ve done this trip many times, but it was a very pleasant drive with fall colors still in evidence, light traffic, and nice weather.

Michele got me into the building and parked and had me air up the suspension so they could have easier access to the inside of the wheel wells.  She and Pato got right to work removing the damaged panels while I hooked up the electrical shoreline, got the house battery charger turned back on, and activated some circuits for the inside of the bus including the auxiliary air compressor.  I stopped to look at things and answer questions as I unloaded some items from the car, and then moved stuff from the bus to car that had to return home with me.  What started out as a trip to have paint scratches buffed out had become a trip to also find and seal roof leaks and repair/repaint damaged body panels, so Michele and I looked the coach over and discussed the work to be done. I was there about 90 minutes—a really short visit for me and Michele—and got back on the road for home around 2:30 PM.

I had originally planned to spend a few days at her shop working on some small projects of my own, but that was based on a Monday arrival.  We had plans to meet up with our friend Kate in Ypsilanti on Thursday evening to see Roy Blount, Jr. at Eastern Michigan University’s Pease Auditorium.  I made it home with just enough time to change clothes, but not to eat, and we headed off to Ypsi.  We got there just as Kate and her friend Teresa were arriving and got four seats together.  RBJr was very interesting to listen too when we could hear him and understand what he was saying.  He speaks somewhat softly, and the PA system for the auditorium was not adjusted properly to compensate for that.

After the event we headed over to the Sweetwater Café, just a short walk from the auditorium, for coffee.  They had some nice looking veggie rollup sandwiches, so Linda and I had a late/light dinner.  We finally got home around 11 PM, a long day for me.

Although my health is better than it has been for the last couple of decades, I do not pretend that I am not in my 6th decade.  I can still do the all-day-drive thing, but I am much more tired at the end of it, and it takes me multiple days to recover from it.