Clearing Red Bay and then Trouble.

Good land, where do I begin to describe today...

I was up and showered in time for the 7 AM door opening for my repair guy in Bay 15.  I had found that I needed further repair on my dragging screen and storm door, when we were on the jacks.  He drove over to our site in a car, and did some further adjusting.  With a rubber mallet!  Wow, I wasn't ready for that.

Then we became engrossed in changing a small light fixture on the underside of the mirror arm.  I had gone over to the parts store and purchased the right light, in a LED fixture, but hadn't been able to get the wires out right.

The tech even had trouble, and then we were both working on it with my tools.  We got it after a bit of fumbling.  He knew how it came apart, and that knowledge is the reason I keep going back to Alabama.

Next I went over and paid the billing.  Most of it was the insurance money for the hail damage but I got to chip in a bunch too.  They did warranty one little job behind the drivers door where the wall paper wasn't laminated correctly, but otherwise all repairs were on my tab.

We hooked up the car and decided to head out, after going up and checking out of the campground.  Free!  If your going to hire us at $95 an hour for multiple thousands, camping in on us!

It was 11 AM by now, as we left the town.  Leaving the town is also leaving Alabama, as the city limit is the state line too.  We drove to Corinth, Ms where we stopped at Wendy's and the fuel station in front of the Kroeger store.  Diesel was $3.89.  We bought the pump limit of $125.

Onward to Memphis, where as we were in the busiest part of the freeway, the motorhome dash went dark!!!!  The air conditioning  went off and everything was dead, except the diesel engine.  We kept right on driving, as we had to get out of that busy town.

We opened up windows and I started the generator and the roof a/c's.  As we crossed the Mississippi river bridge, it looked like a massive ocean to the South.  Water for as far as you could see.  Again it was right at the side of the road, so there was no way we were stopping here either.

Once we cleared the I 40 interchange and were soundly on I55 headed to St Louis, we stopped in a truck rest area.  Just parking and trash cans.

With my volt meter, I determined we had lost the fuse panel power for the fuses on the top of the dash board.  I had no idea where the power came from that drove those busses.  Loyce suggested that we call Tiffin back and see what they recommended, so I did.  leaving a message to call me back before they went home.

I got back on the road, and headed North toward St Louis, not Jonesboro, Arkansas.  We might need some serious help.  After about 30 minutes the service tech called back, and explained that the resetable breaker that drove the fuse panel was in the locker behind the front wheel on the passenger side.

He suggested that I pull over and he would walk me thru it.  After exiting the interstate and parking along the exit ramp, I was out on my hands and knees with all the stuff pulled out of this locker, and up on top of the frame rail, once a panel was removed was the master electrical panel.  What a mess of wires and relays.

Of course I didn't know what I was looking at, but with his description and the help of the volt meter, we managed to get it back on.  And I learned a lot about my rig in the process.  I was dirty from crawling in the gravel, and sweaty from the heat of the day and engine, but the a/c in the dash was back on.  Along with the radio and our gps and the brakes in the car and so forth.

After all of that, we drove up to Ed and Marylin's favorite Hinton's campground in Sikeston, Mo.  Sikeston is  where they have  Lamberts restaurant.  Home of the throwed rolls as featured on the food channel.

This campground is surrounded with flooding on three sides, but is slightly higher than the water, which they claim has crested.  We drove thru the water on the exit ramp.  We also drove thru water on the interstate that was sand bagged.  They had tractors hooked to pumps lowering the level on the road.  I hope it has crested or I 55 will be closed soon.

And to make sure that the day's problems weren't over, the Atwood Jacks would not actuate once we were on the campsite.  So the book and instructions had to come out again while we got that logic panel reset.  By now, I was not a happy camper, and just wanted the whole thing to come to an end.

We did get the jacks down and re leveled, and the new settings stored into the memory after about a half hour of messing around.  I had written myself some notes, the last time this happened, which served us well.  The brains go out after the loss of power, or if you put the transmission in gear while the jacks are extended.  Beepers blare and lights flash wildly.

So tonight wasn't throwed rolls, it was more like TV dinners, and dancing with the stars.  At least this place has a nice cable TV connection, and green grass and with the good sam discount, it was under $30.

Lets hope we don't have as much excitement tomorrow!

Retired Rod