Looking for Parts at the right Dealer!

Today I decided to go directly to Cummins Central Power up in North Kansas City even though it is more than 30 miles away.  They have several Midwest states as their territory and KC is one of them.  Cummins is also Onan so I went right into the parts counter.

Again I had to wait a while as other customers were ahead of me.  But soon it was my time, and the fellow at the counter knew exactly what I needed and the model number that I was using was the right number.

He looked it up on his computer where he had complete exploded drawings of the entire machine with part numbers and inventory lookup.  The problem was he didn't have it in stock.  There were several in his other stores, Omaha and Des Moines were the closest.  But we decided that I had time, so just order the tank from the Cummins facility in Tennessee.   It will take a week and they had more than 50 so we will get one.  Pricey little item at $125.

It took about 45 minutes each way, and I will have to make the trip again next week when the tank comes in.   By then it may be too cold to install it here in KC.    At least we will have the parts........

Also mid afternoon, we got a call from some carpet installers that we didn't recognize.  But they identified themselves as Home Depot installers, and confirmed that they had our new carpet in their warehouse.  Whew!  I wondered if we would get this done before leaving here.........

So the appointment was made for next Wednesday.  Again they will call by 7AM to let us know a 2 hour window that they will be arriving in.  You know, we will be there between 9 and 11.  I guess they don't mind wasting my time because theirs is way more important......  We aren't paying a lot for the installation, which is a special that Home Depot has running right now, so perhaps we will put up with what ever it takes to get it done.

The rest of the day was routine, reading blogs and napping with Biscuit on my lap.  She loves to snuggle in the big chair, but is way more jumpy at the slightest noise......

Retired Rod

Generator Parts

I try not to write a blog when I am steamed about something that happens during a day, because it always comes off as a rant, and makes me look bad and not the person that steamed me.

It is now fairly late at night and I have forgotten about today for a while, but still just thinking about it seems to cause me to go grrrr.  But lets see if I can just report the facts as they happened.

Remember that I need the overflow tank for my Onan generator that I found cracked the other day?  So I drove out to Olathe Ford RV in Gardner, Ks as they are listed as the closest dealer.  I waited at the parts counter for a while until a lady decided to help me.

I asked for the coolant recovery tank for a 6 KW diesel Onan.  She had a chart of the models and I pointed to the specific model on her chart HDKAH.  She seemed perplexed.  She said they just order parts from the Cumins dealer up in North Kansas City.   Now what is it that you want?

She didn't like my model number even though it was directly off of her hard plastic chart that they look up oil and air filters from.  She told me I was wrong.  She asked me again, "What is it you need?"  Eventually after looking at the computer for a while she declared that there was no such thing in the generator.

"You need to go get your model number straightened out and find out what the part is called before I can help you!"  and with that she sat down at her desk with her back to me and started calling someone on the telephone.   At first I thought she might be calling Cumins, but no it was a completely unrelated matter for someone else.  She was just done helping me.

I have never been able to do business with these folks very well, but they are our only game in town here locally.  My younger son purchased his RV here, and my older son took his in for repairs, and they ripped the steps off of his 5ver because they forgot to fold them up and caught them on a concrete post.  They still haven't made that right.  I'm not sure what I expected by going out there in the first place.  I guess I should have known better, so it is all my fault to begin with.....

Anyway, I drove back here about 15 miles and the windows were all steamed over most of the way on the inside............

Retired Rod

Rving Friends

Today was just another one of those cool fall days where the sun is out, but the wind seems to blow all the leaves around the yard and house.  You go outside and you want it to be warm, but it just isn't!

But then it is the first day of November, and winter is a lot closer than any of us want to admit to.  This week end is the time change and things will really seem dark and dingy once it is dark when we are eating supper.

But the definite highlight of our day, was late in the afternoon, when Lynette and Mac of Mac and Nette's Retirement Adventures, stopped by our house here in KC.   In fairness, we knew that they were coming because they called last night and said they would be in town doing Doctor visits and such.

We hadn't seen this fine couple since we inadvertently stumbled on to them last fall in Amarillo, Texas.  They spent the winter in Yuma, and we spent it in Mesa, so even though we were both in Arizona we seemed miles apart.  Well, we both read each other's blogs so not that many miles.

Some how we ended up down in the new basement room which has no carpet and very sparse furniture, but that didn't seem to matter as we were all talking a mile a minute catching up on all the stories that we needed the rest of the details on.

When you read the blogs, you only get a small snippet of the facts and happenings, and that causes almost more questions than answers.  So it becomes what about this and what about that.  Three hours just disappeared.   We needed to let them get back on the road because it is over an hour back to Garnet where they are parked in their old home town.  But it was almost 8 PM before they left.  Sorry about that, but it seemed like old home week.

Since we haven't been able to do much in the way of RVing due to my health issues, we seem to be completely out of the loop, so perhaps we pry a bunch of info all at once, but then I know we enjoyed their thoughtfulness to stop by.

So that was the end of our day but a delightful surprise!

Retired Rod

Beggars night!

I sometimes wonder how I got started blogging every evening. Seems like it would just be easier to pass on some of the nights that we haven't done much for the day.  But no, I feel like I have to explain nothing.  So here goes.........

This is Halloween, and Loyce likes to have all the kids and grandkids come over here for Halloween, so she was cleaning and getting the house ready for that all day, and I have learned to keep myself small during these times.  

Now obviously I can't change my rotund size, but by keeping myself small, I mean sitting over here in the corner and not making a mess anywhere...  Just speak when spoken to and otherwise stay out of the way.

Fast forward until tonight, when we had the extra large bucket of Original finger licking good chicken with all the fixins.  Both sons and their wives and five grandkids polished it all off.  The kids and parents canvased our neighborhood for all the goodies available, and then they were back about 8PM devouring it as fast as possible.

The sugar highs set in and the younger ones began to cry and not listen to their parents.  So the party was over just as fast as it started.  Tomorrow is a school day!  I meant to take some pictures of the costume get ups, but I'm still not moving fast enough to catch younguns when they are on a sugar high.

Anyway Loyce thinks Halloween is one of here special times of the year, and we will never ever leave before the first of November.  Never!

Retired Rod