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....

Eclipse Eve

So we finally got to the final destination.   About 1050 miles from home.   Slept in as nothing on the agenda much for today.   We had a nice breakfast of eggs and stuff on the grill outside.  I was smart enough to book a spot near the shower house so that was convenient.   We took a ride into the thriving metropolis of Cadiz, Ky ( Pop 2558).   Nice little town and they were ready for the Eclipsers to show up.  Many a shop had t-shirts and such, as well as photo ops with face cut outs.   Here are a few pics from town:

Naya trying out a pig.  There was a pig on just about every corner, each one painted differently.

Enjoying a nice bistro set up in the Antique store.  I bought a nice 3 gal drink cooler that color matched the Pineapple.  Period correct too, Ted Williams Model from Sears Roebuck!

Took this pic for my Mom.  Right up her alley lol.

After a run through a few antique stores, we hit the local grocery to stock up for dinner and Monday's viddles.  Afterwards, we dropped off the food at the site and headed over to the resort conference center for a talk by an astronomer.   I forget his affiliation, by highly knowledgeable and has been chasing Total Eclipses since the late 1960s!  I went in thinking I wouldn't learn anything, but I was wrong!  Picked up some good tidbits of info on things to look at, etc.

We drove down to the 'beach' and formulated our plan for the next day on where to set up, etc.  Then at 4PM there was Archery.  I took a pass and chilled at the campground but Lucy's Dad and Naya both got some bullseyes...

Other than that it was a pretty low key day.  Probably the most relaxing day (aside from tomorrow) of the whole trip....

Day 8 - Adventures in Plumbing!

Okay so now that Jeannie had joined us, our Solar Eclipse Expedition was complete.   We loaded up and rolled out of the Singing Hills RV park, but I took a few photos on the way out.   Nice place.  Owner Eldon is SUPER friendly guy and interesting to talk to as well.

Our Spot for the 4 nights we were there.

Nice New Shasta Retro Trailer.  All the look of a Canned Ham with modern conveniences 

I'm doing this wrong.  These people have corporate sponsors!

Parting view just before we left.

As Jeannie had missed the previous days at Mammoth Cave we went back and did the self guided tour as all the others were sold out (people flooding in for the eclipse).  We stopped for a photo op first!

The tour was about a mile walk (half a mile each way) into the areas we had already seen.  We spent about 90 minutes in the cave again as it's so cool in there.
We packed it in and headed west!  We only had about 125 miles to go this Saturday so it was close to noon when we left the Cave.    5 minutes into the trip, the girls are screaming about a water leak.... WTH?  I don't have any water on board (or so I thought).   I managed to crack an old brittle fill line to the water tank which we didn't fill, but was now 3/4 full.  Apparently a check valve was letting the shore water into the tank when we were hooked up at the campground.

I figure out pretty quickly that it's not a stop event just yet.  I have Lucy rustle up the nearest Home Depot/Lowes and it's only a mile or two out of our way.  So we head off so I can buy parts for repairs.

Fixing the hose from the fill outlet to tank.

New hose and my plumbing nightmare and water heater.

The ancient hose that cracked and the tape that didn't do anything to slow down the leak.

It's hot out (90s) and I'm sweating my butt off but we get it all squared away in about 40 minutes of so.  In the meantime, Lucy's Dad went to the grocery store and got us some sandwiches and stuff, so we maximized the stop.  
Back on the road and aside from a stop for gas, it was a pretty enjoyable drive on a US highway.   Not alot of traffic and easy cruising about 65mph.   We arrived at the campground around 4PM or so.

This was the slopey spot.   I got the coach evened out from left to right, but the front was definitely uphill.  Lucy and I had the coach to ourselves and it was tricky sleeping.  The first night we tried head toward the front but my knees collapsed and I woke up in a squat.....so the next two nights I slept head down and that was alot better.

We took a walk down to the lake and I wasn't impressed with the beach.  Muddy squishy bottom and pee pee warm water made for a less than enjoyable swim. Got showered off and back up to the site for dinner.

Day 7 - Wow, been out for a week already!

Today I had decided to take it easy.  It is a vacation after all right?   My sister-in-law was flying into Nashville (about 2 hours away) in the early evening.   Originally, I said, I'll hang out at the RV park all day and catch up on my magazines, sit in the hammock and take it easy.

I kinda wish everyone got going earlier so I didn't have a lot of time to think about it...Yep, I changed my mind at the last minute and hopped in my FIL's Mercury.

The only plan was he wanted to take us to downtown Nashville (I had been there for 2 days for work about 2 years ago).  On the way through Bowling Green, he pulled off at the Corvette museum.  Ended up going in and spending about 90 minutes looking at all the vettes.   Some really cool concepts and one offs.  

The Cormaro - 96 Camaro body on a C5 platform.  Sneaky test mode!

My buddy the LT1, same engine in my Station Wagon!

Not to mention the victims of the now famous sink hole.

Now it was lunch time and we decided to get some Nashville Hot Chicken.  We chose Prince's as it was on the north side of town (direction we were coming).  Sketchy neighborhood in a run down strip plaza.   And the line was out the door!   We waited about 90 minutes to get our food with more chicken being delivered through the dining room while we stood in line!

I got the mild and it was fine, I tried Lucy's Xhot and it was really spicy!   Delicious fried chicken, worth the wait for sure.

Now we were a bit later than hoped and missed getting into the Capitol Building by 5 minutes...  There was a State History museum a block away and we got an hour in there before they closed.   We then walked down to Honkey Tonk Row on Lower Broadway.   We went in and out alot of shops and had a few beers here and there.

About the time I'm thinking, great we can go to the airport and get out of here, we find out the flight has been delayed by 2 hours.  Greaaaaat.....now is the part I feel like I made a bad decision.

To make a long story short, we got back to the RV park around midnight, and pretty much went to bed right away after a shower.

Day 6. Spelunking in Mammoth Cave.

Thursday, August 15th.  I wake up around 0830, and I go and have some breakfast.  After breakfast, we get in the car to go to our 10 o'clock tour, which is the Domes and Dripstones tour.  The tour has us get on a bus to transport the tour to another entrance.  I met this kid named Foxe, and we talked about the Hunger Games, and how much this forest looked like the forest in that movie. When we were going into the cave, it was literally a door in the side of a rock.  The door led to a small set of stairs, and we walked down this set of stairs for 15 mins or so.  Near the end, Foxe and his family caught up to us, and we were talking about how much cave crickets looked like spiders.  When we were exiting, we went through a set of rotating doors, and walked out into the hot, bright, real world. My family saw a bus that had room for 4 more people, and we hopped on. The bus left, and when we got back, we went into the hotel gift shop.  I was looking around to see if I could find a shirt I liked. (all the ones I liked they didn't have my size)  I picked one out that I liked (that they had in my size)  We had lunch in the hotel restaurant, and afterwards it was time to go to the trog tour.

 We walked over, and at first, I thought I was gonna be the only girl there. I was wrong, there was another girl there. I went into a room, where they had all the caving supplies.  I was the tallest, and I got the XL outfit. (They are designed for kids)  They went over safety rules, showed us how to put on our helmets, and led us outside.  After all the parents got done taking pictures, we went to the historic entrance, and went in the cave for the 3rd time.  We stayed on the path until giants coffin, then jumped over the railing, and branched off from the path.  We went through a cave a couple times, and then went deeper.  There were some times where we had to crawl on our hands and knees, and other parts we had to crawl on our stomach. (those were the fun parts)  We went to this hole called the Worm Hole, which leads to a room called the Spaceship, which was a dead end.  The tour guide had us turn off our lights, and he turned on a lighter, showing us what it was like in the old days. After that he turned off his lighter, showing us complete darkness.  We crawled back out and started climbing back towards the surface. I was sad, and I didn't want the tour to end.

 But every good thing must end. After the tour, we went back to our campsite and relaxed. We had dinner, and soon it was time to go to bed.