Post trip and Irma!

So we got back home in late August and things got crazy quick.   As noted in earlier posts, I had to be at work the next morning, so there was no real clean up on the coach, other than emptying it out.

At my first free moment, I called FI Tech and we ran down the list, reinstalled the factory tune, etc.  The fuel pump issue was still there so I got a RMA number to send it in for repair.  About that time there was this rapidly growing tropical system Irma, growing in the Atlantic.  I had a bad a feeling about it as it was in what my Dad deemed "Hurricane Alley".   As a kid growing up in Ft. Lauderdale Beach, it was a concern every year.  My Dad instilled in me a great interest in meteorology and it didn't hurt that I met Bob Gordon (a weekend weather guy for channel 10 in Miami) when they were shooting the movie "Jaws of Death" across the street in the Yankee Clipper.

It's a fun B drive in movie and Bob is the bartender in the Green and white striped shirt.  I warmed up to him and he encouraged me to go harass the star Richard Jaeckel. Richard invited me to come back the next day and sit on the set.  My Dad was excited to do so too, so we sat off camera on the north corner of the bar in the Wreck Bar (world famous).   Bob was super nice and invited our family down to the WPLG studios in Miami to see everything.  This being the 1970s, no web, no internet.  I was amazed at the equipment and the print out of the surface maps that are so easily found on the web now.

Bob taught me how to read these maps and as a surfer, I am forever grateful for the knowledge gained that day.  But I digress.....

Here comes Irma, blowing up into the storm of huge proportions and Houston is still underwater.  I decide NOT to send in the FI system just yet as instincts tell me, danger is afoot.  At this point the 5 day forecast is just north of Puerto Rico, and I have a BAD feeling.

As the coach was away for awhile, the side yard weeds took over and I pull out the coach to clean it up.  No Biggie.  Hop in, put the fuel pump fuse in, it starts running, I fire her up and pull her out.  I do the garden work and then jump in as I'll go pick up the daughter from the library and then head to the gas station as I know gas is gonna jump up 20+ cents a gallon soon.  Get in and hit the starter and CLICK.   WTH?   Gotta go, gonna be late, so I jump in the car and collect the kiddo and return thinking I'll jump it.   CLICK.....Oh No!  Wed night it's on the lawn and my gate won't close as the coach is in the way.  Call my buddy up and he is there in an hour.  We determine the starter is not good (It has maybe 3000 miles on it and maybe 40-50 starts).   We get around the gate issue as he suggests unbolting the gate and re-bolting in the close position.  BRAVO to the Mechanical engineer he is!   We get that done and call it a night.

Next day I pull the starter and take it to the parts store when I have to show them how to hook it up.  Figure the solenoid is bad, so I save a few $$ and just get that.  I put it in, and zoom it works!  I go around the block and park it.

Well fast forward a week and Johnny was right about Irma.  It's a full on prep mode and the entire FL peninsula is on red alert.   It's 2 days before the arrival of the storm and I have the house locked down and we decide to move the vehicles to our studio.   I pull the Pineapple out into the front yard and we stuff a 10 ft kayak inside it.  Lucy takes off for the studio and I do a few more things around the house.  20 min later I jump in and CLICK!  You know that feeling you get right before a fight or something you REALLY don't want to do?  That sinking in the pit of your stomach, OH SHIT moment?  Yeah that one.  My mind races with the WTFs.  I get out and walk in the house for a second and then remember, I just hooked up the house batteries again.  I run outside and pull all the fuses so the only thing connected is the chassis battery.  WOO HOO it starts.  I was going for gas, but the hell with that.  I call Lucy and say you better be ready, cuz I ain't stopping this pig until she's parked.

I get there and pull her in no problem...

We managed to squeeze two more cars in there and leave one (the SUV AWD) at the house.  About the time we get the last car in there, I go next door to the brewery for a cold one and sure enough the 5PM update says we are more or less out of the woods and the west coast is going to get it......PHEEEEEW.

At 5AM the next morning the wind is RIPPING at my house.   It really doesn't let up for about 18hours.  This is one BIG and nasty storm

We get off easy though as we never had sustained hurricane force wind.  Only a few MPH below it for over 12 hours, but we stayed outside the worst of it.

Good thing I moved the coach!  That's her slip at the marina.

The next morning, I went to check on my Mom's as she was out of town.  Mostly good, only minor damage and no power.  We were lucky in that our power was restored around 1 AM!  Later that afternoon, I go to retrieve the cars and coach.  She fires up and drives home no problem.

I  don't think too much more of it and a week goes by or so.  I am now 2 weeks away from our Disney trip although their campground is closed until further notice due to storm damage.  Anyway a week later I want to pull the coach out and wash it from the big trip and all.   It won't start!  Same problem again! 

Oh No, I guess it wasn't the solenoid.   Short version:  I spend all weekend going through EVERYTHING on the coach, disconnecting all the extra wires, etc. and can figure it out.   Late Sunday afternoon, we decide it's a starter issue.   I have to take down the neighbor's fence so I can crawl under the coach on the side of the house.  We just put the fence back up from the storm lol.

I get the new starter in Monday night after work, and the problem doesn't go away.   WTH!!??
I start looking REALLY closely at the battery cables and realize that while it shouldn't make a difference, I move the line to the starter so it physically touches the one from the battery.  I burnish it all up and boom!  She cranks right away!    Hooray Disney vacation in 48 hours is saved!

Day 12- The Home Stretch

So we are up by alarm clock at 7ish and checking all systems and fluid levels, we roll out about 8-8:15 as we have a solid drive.   I pretty much already know that our goal of being home by 6PM isn't going to happen without a teleporter or warp engine on the coach (Lucy's class starts at 6:30), but I feel good that we will make it home for me to be at work the following morning.

We get out and rolling down US 231 toward Panama City, FL and make a left on FL 73 and head toward Marianna (the day before this was the secondary goal to stay at the state park and tour the cavern when the park opened, but oh well....).  All goes well and soon we are on I-10 humming east.

As the morning is coolish, I'm rolling the rig up around 3,000 RPM and the alternator belt is quiet and we are making time around 75 or so MPH.   Too good to last, the belt starts squealing 30 minutes later and I have to back it down to about 68MPH or to keep it from squealing.  I dunno maybe it was the engine's way of saying to break her in gently (although she now has almost 2,000 miles on her).

The speedo is off, but this is about 67-68 and the top of my ability with the semi loose belt....

The hours roll by, we take a right on I-75 and stop for lunch in Lake City, FL.  We get back on the road and hit the turnpike.  The GMC having 6 wheels is classified as a 3 axle vehicle, although it really only has one axle up front.   Anyway, those extra two wheels basically double the turnpike charges and I'm none to keen to spend $30 to use a road for 250 miles.   As on the way up, we take it from I-75 to Kissimmee and get off.   Cost was about $5 as they get you for the stretch between Orlando and South Florida.   On the way up I took I-95 and US 192 to the turnpike in Kissimmee as it's only 12 miles longer than the turnpike (and about 20-25 min).  We roll down the turnpike and soon are whizzing through Orlando...

I get off in Kissimmee and beat my way east through St. Cloud.  It's not bad, just about 30 traffic lights to stop at and it gets a little monotonous.   Soon we are humming along on US 192 east and I come up on Holopaw Junction.   From my many trips to the Cooperative Motor Works I have found that taking 441 South to Okeechobee, FL and the FL 710 BeeLine to WPB, to be about the same amount of time in the motorhome.

At the last second, I bust a right at the blinking yellow light I first turned on in 1983 with my buddy Johnny K. and make haste south.

I love this road as there is nearly zero traffic and so relaxing.   Also my daughter likes to yell out the window at the cows to make them look up.  A short time later we are soon at FL 60 and the famous YeeHaw Junction.

About  60 minutes later we are in Okeechobee, FL and driving past Sirum's GMC

Sirum's is another GMC restoration shop in Florida.  I feel blessed to have so many options in Florida to keep these wonderful machines churning the highways and byways.   As you can see the parking lot is empty as it is after hours.   I have passed Jeff's shop a hundred times and yet they are always outside of  business hours.  One day, I will introduce myself when they are open!

From here it's only 90 minutes to the barn and this is very familiar ground and we waste no time in burning up the miles....

We arrive at the house about 12 hours after leaving Dothan, AL and are quite happy to be home.  I dump the sewer tank, we unload and I pack her up the side yard and get ready to get back to the daily grind......

The Return Journey......

We were up and on the road by 9AM, which is a fairly amazing accomplishment at our house, but we had a long way to go and a short time to get there.

I had opted to take a different route home, than the one on the way up, as we would have gone through Atlanta in the later part of the afternoon, which didn't really appeal to me much...

We headed east after a stop in Cadiz, KY for some gas and breakfast (to go fresh made for us).  We hit the Nashville area around 10:30 and there was ALOT of traffic, so we baled off the highway and took some surface streets.  By chance, we would up passing Prince's Fried Chicken again!  By using a few different surface streets and US Hwys, we avoided the traffic jam and wound up on I-65 heading south through rolling hills.  Everything was running good, and we were doing well with time....too good.

Soon enough we hit the Alabama

The girls have this handstand deal they do at the state welcome centers, so of course I go to pull off at this one too.  As I'm coming down the exit ramp all of a sudden the engine dies.   Everything dies, no electrical...   Now I have no power brakes or steering which could be scary, but I'm on an off ramp and still rolling about 40-50 so I can steer ok for the moment.  I take aim at a spot and we glide to a stop without making a scene.   WTH now!?

Well, it doesn't take me long to figure out what happened:

The battery cable which is new, was made too short.  As you see in the above picture, the battery has slid (not held down) toward the driver's side.  The terminal was a crimp on, and pulled out.  As I didn't make any sudden lane changes just before, I can only surmise that it was teetering on the brink for some time.   I'm so glad it happened when it did as I was safe in a parking lot and able to work on it.   I inspected it and figured out the orientation and it slid right back in and I squeezed it with VIse Grips and taped it up again.  It works!  But wait, what is that noise?   Sounds like the fuel pump is running and there is no key in the ignition......Great now what?   I turn off the battery kill switch and sure enough it stops.  Turn it on and the it starts running.   I start the engine and it's okay, turn it off, fuel pump still running.   Flip the kill switch and go to the toilet and get a cold drink.

Now I need to prevent the battery from moving.  A 2x4 would be perfect, but I don't have one handy, but I do have a leftover piece of Hickory, so I put that in the battery tray and run a screw into it to hold it in place.  Ta-Da!   When in Alabama...as they say lol.

This didn't set us back too long, and I make a call to the shop to find out about why the fuel pump won't stop (and let the owner know, his tech should have used a little more wire on the battery cable - honest mistake trying to keep it clean and tidy).  I talk to the engine mechanic and he assures me the fuel pump won't burn up as it's constant duty and cycling fuel in a loop for the FI system.  He suggests trying to reset the Computer in the FI system.  At this point, I'm wondering, why I didn't put a Quadrajet on this engine (oh yeah, the hope for better fuel economy).  I decline to mess around with the software 800 miles from home and I NEED to be back at work the day after tomorrow.  Since it's running I'll just flip off the battery when I stop and off we go.  

I'll add as a side note that after being home and calling FI Tech, they issued an RMA to return the unit for repair as the computer is telling the FP wire to be hot all the time (should prime for 2 second, then drop until the engine is started).

A few hours later we are hitting the Birmingham Area and the rain starts.  Did I mention we have no AC in the coach?   Traffic is a snarled mess and slow and it's getting to be a steam bath in the coach...

We make a pit stop at O'Riellys to pick up a clamp on battery terminal and some belt dressing.  The alternator has been a pain as over 3000 RPM the belt slips as mentioned in earlier posts.   The belt dressing in short was a waste of money as it didn't help.  I don't take the time to swap over the battery connector as it's still raining pretty hard.

We finally run out of the rain after a couple more detours to avoid traffic stoppages on I-65.  We get close to Montgomery and now I'm looking for an alternator as we also saw voltage spikes up around 16 volts while humming down the hwy.  Once it went up that high, it would stay there until I stopped the engine.  We find a cluster of 3 parts store near the highway and go for it.  I pull into the lot at O'Riellys (first one) and the parking lot is not level where I stop so one of the front wheels is on an incline while the other 3 are not.

The store doesn't have the right alternator and I take the few minutes in the shade (why I picked this parking as it was 90+) to replace the battery terminal connector.  I go in coach and notice that due to the way I parked and stopped for an extended period (as opposed to driving a over a bump).  I obviously put a twist strain of the body and roof of the coach as my driver's windshield is now sporting a top to bottom crack!

Right about now, a nice guy in a pickup truck rolls up and asks if we need help and he loves GMC motorhomes, lurks on the Facebook group, etc. etc.  As you can imagine, I'm not at my best right now and while I answer him politely, my answers are short matter of fact and probably not too friendly sounding at that juncture.  I assure him, I have it under control and need to get on the road as I want another 200 miles before we stop for the night.  We both head out and I feel bad that I wasn't nicer to the guy.   It's about 5PM and we get through the rest of Montgomery and start to head SE towards Dothan, AL.   For a town I never knew existed 2.5 years ago, this will be my second visit in 2 years.

As the hours tick by, I'm really in a bad mood about the windshield, the alternator, oh and it rains some more.   Back on a US Hwy, I'l enjoying the lack of traffic but my mood is dour at best.  I have Lucy start calling around the Dothan area to procure us a hookup for the evening.  She's finds us a spot at the A Okay RV Park  just south of town.   We are about an hour out and the guy says he was about to leave but will wait for us.   We arrive at 8:15PM in the dying daylight.  He is super nice guy, and we quickly hookup and then head over to the office as he has showers and will wait for us again! We chat a few minutes and then head back to the coach as I'm wiped out.   I managed to squeeze an extra hundred out of those 200 miles I was hoping for (Tallahassee).

Since the fuel pump kept running, I had to kill the battery so NONE of the interior lights (they are all 12V) worked.  We had fun with flashlights for the evening and used my 110V Drop light as well.

Day 10 - The Main Event!!!

Interestingly, I'm writing this post over a month later from Disney's Ft. Wilderness Campground.  After returning home, we have had a hurricane, and lots of other stuff all happening, keeping us incredibly busy.   In fact the Pineapple only got a wash post trip two days ago (can't show up at the campground looking all scruffy!)

Anyway, Aug 21, the day of the eclipse.  The evening before we had scoped out a spot and loaded a bunch of stuff into Lucy's Dad's car (pop up tent, chairs, etc.)  He was up early and headed down the beach to secure a spot for us.  They got a good one right at the waters edge with a great view across the lake.

Tommy Chilling out, waiting.

As is was before 7, it wasn't crowded yet, but all the serious astronomers had there spots scoped out and were setting up.   Only 5 hours until it starts!    I had been waiting for this day for many years, especially after the early 2000s when my friend Matt went to Aruba to see one.  He had said it was a MUST SEE before you die.   He had a massive heart attack about a year later and passed at 44 years old.   That's the kind of stuff that makes you re-prioritize things....so here we are!

As it started, you don't notice any change until at least 3/4 or more of the sun is blocked, then the light starts to dim and crescent shadows are everywhere....

 My daughter took these shots with her camera and a pair of the eclipse glasses in front of the lens.

 By now there was an eeire light about and off in the distance I saw the Cumulus clouds go from buffy white, to grey, to gone in the matter of a couple of minutes.   A minute later I could see them again so I knew the shadow was getting really close.   Everyone is watching up with the eclipse glasses and in that last second of sunshine you get the Diamond Ring!  The one shot is from my SIL's phone, the more complete image is one my daughter took

To say is was spectacular is an understatement.   It is hard to put into words what goes on in the next 2 and half minutes of totality but it goes by pretty quick as every one is trying to drink it all in as there is so much going on around you as it is happening.  The crickets and frogs all go into night time song, there is an orange 360 degree sunset which gives everything an other worldly glow.  

But to look up and see the Sun's Corona with you naked eyes is a true celestial marvel...

Again these shots were with my daughter's camera, although Lucy may have taken them..

 All too soon the Moon's shadow has passed and it is the same sequence of events now in reverse.  We hung around for about another hour, and then started packing it all out.   By 4PM Lucy, her sister, and the kiddo were horseback riding.....

We had a nice dinner and then a campfire and off to bed as everyone was up early and we were packing out in the morning to head home.    We had an aggressive schedule on the return trip as up until now we had done about a max of 380 miles in one day (fraught with the Fuel Injection issues no less).  The next to days were going to be 500+ miles each day....