Back in the Saddle

Well after the November debacle with the aborted run to Auburndale for the Smash 'em, Crash 'em, destructo derby, we finally got back out there as the holidays are well behind us.

I basically just replaced all three batteries to get us up and in service again, but still need to go through the whole electrical system, especially since the Solar Panel is throwing an error code. Although the house batteries are topped up, she was plugged into shore power, so not sure the solar is doing what it is supposed to (currently not connected to shore to test this out).

Having inherited my father's Celestron 8 and getting a small taste last January in the Kissimmee Prairie I thought I try again this winter.  Well even in November when I booked the spot, I got the LAST site for this past weekend, and the new moon weekend for February was booked out completely.   I think the word is out on our little secret state park...

With the holidays, work, my graduate coursework, etc. etc, I haven't really been putting the time into the coach that she needs.   As we are doing a long haul in August 2017, there is lots to be done before then and this weekend reminded me of the list of to-dos.   First of all while she drives great, she feels kind of bogged down and the gas mileage on this trip was 5.5 mpg which is far from the 9ish mpg she was getting a year ago.   A few posts ago, the distributor needed a new module, and somehow the timing or something isn't quite right now.  It was getting about 4, so advancing the timing helped a bit, but there is more to it as I'm putting out alot of black soot (unburnt fuel) too.

Now for the fun part!   I took a half day of work Friday and 'hoped' to be on the road by 1PM.  Well 2:30PM was more like when we left, then had to make 2 stops.  I had hoped to get out early enough to visit Sirum GMC in Okeechobee.  Mostly just to meet the folks and check out their operation as I drive by it all the time anyway.   Well, no time this trip as I wanted to be onsite before the big ball of fusion dropped out of sight.

Special guest Co-Pilot Ted E. Bear

On the way out of town on the Beeline Hwy, there was some construction and one of the 3 ft tall Orange cones and fallen into the lane.  I was slowed down to about 35-40 and hit it.  I heard a metallic noise that didn't sound very good.  I had my daughter stick her head out the vent window and she said the wheel flare in the rear was flapping.  I had to drive about 2 miles before there was a safe place to pull over (two lane blacktop).   First thing I noticed when I opened the door was my step was gone.

Yep, it's supposed to be right there under the door.  There was a piece left that I removed (before the pic) as I didn't want to rip my shins open on the jagged edge.  Luckily the the step was cast aluminum so it broke off fairly cleanly.  I feel REALLY LUCKY as my exhaust is intact and the tires did not get punctured.  Just out of frame above the water fill and outlet is a nice orangey smudge from where the cone must have flown up.  A quick roadside check over everything, and some tie wraps to secure the wheel flare (middle bolt got pulled through and was rubbing the rear tire) and we were back on our way.....

I did stop at the very same gas station where I was stranded back in November.  I pulled in next to the lawnmower man and he LOVED the coach.  I felt confident and sure enough she fired right up after taking on fuel.

We got to the park entrance at 5:15PM and right away saw the wife of a ranger that I spoke to alot last year.   I rolled down the gravel road (freshly graveled I might add)  and saw the ranger at the turn toward the campsites.  He waved and hollered at us and said he was working all weekend and we'd catch up.

As I pulled into our camp loop, I immediately recognized the Class C 4WD motorhome of the campground host from last year.  She saw us and was on our site before I even had us backed in all the way.  She was happy to see us and had just arrived the day before!   It was like homecoming!

As the week had progressed, the weather forecast kept getting worse and worse for astronomy.  It looked like our best bet was the first night, but as the sun was dropping fast, there were alot of clouds...75%+ coverage.   I hoped that it might clear up later and set about getting things all set up in the dying light as no moon and clouds meant DARKNESS would be on us soon and there aren't any lights other than what you bring.

We hopped on our bikes and headed over to the astronomy pads (open sky, no trees) and spoke with some of the other atstronmers. Nobody had great hopes for good viewing this evening, but I established ourselves, in case we might slink back later and have a peek through one of their scopes.

Back at the site, we ate our dinner and basically messed around for a few hours.  Around 9 I went out to look at the sky and while there was some stars, I could see it wouldn't last.  So I lit the campfire as the temperature was dropping fast.   At home I was sweating in shorts while loading and now it was about 50 degrees out.

 While I was setting up the fire, my daughter broke out all of the stowaways and they took over the inside of the coach.

Naturally I no sooner had a roaring fire than my daughter exclaims, "It's clear skies!"  After looking it over it was looking somewhat promising.  However, my telescope is from 1975 and completely analog. You need the North star to line it up and well it was pretty cloudy up that way.  I thought I might be able to use my phone to get things close......except I factory reset it this week and calibration is all wrong.  I'm looking at Orion and my phone has it about 90 degrees to the left.   I try to calibrate but it doesn't cooperate.....So more fire and off to bed.

Apparently insulation wasn't very good back in the 70s as I woke up  around 7 and it was 50 inside the coach (about 10 degrees warmer than outside).  When I finally got up around 8:15 the temp had come up a bit.

We ate breakfast and I took a couple of pics of the site.

That 40ft Allegro next to us made me feel tiny.   As it was a beautiful but cold and windy day, we set off on a bike tour of about 5 miles.  First we stopped at the park office and met up with the cool park ranger who had just come back from a buggy ride and was showing folks the old homestead of early settlers in the 1920s.  The house still stands but is in disrepair and not open to the public

Off we went to pedal and see some gators and birds.

For whatever reason, I didn't take any gator shots as there were about a dozen or so in the 6-9 foot range out sunning.  My daughter did get some good shots, so maybe she'll post some of them up here.

This was near the gators as the water was still in this area and there were alot of birds around.  My daughter tried to set up an action cam on her bike to take better stills with the 50x zoom

We completed the ride and then my wife (who had to work in the morning) and some friends of ours showed up.  The weather deteriorated and was completely overcast by sunset.  We had a good fire, drinks and fun to round out the evening.

It started raining during the night and was cold wet and drizzly so we canceled the two hour buggy ride in the morning as paying to get sick didn't seem like a good thing to do.   We had breakfast, and packed up.  It was the first time I used a dump station in a park (usually waited until I got home) and that was uneventful.

To finish it out, it rained pretty much the whole way home which got all the mud off the bottom so I skipped washing when we arrived at home.  That and it was 55 and raining......

Next trip is less than a month away!

Trouble in Paradise...

Haven't posted much as we haven't really been using the coach this fall.   September we took a trip to Italy and Switzerland and that pretty much tapped out all the fun money for awhile, but the trip was fantastic.  

Didn't see any GMCs in Europe but we did see a few Caravans (Euro for Class C motorhome).   I did get a picture of this one in Bellagio, Italy:

Most of them were about this size although we did see a couple that were a little bigger.

Right when we returned, hurricane Matthew popped up and we had a really close shave and the highly damaging winds only missed us by about 20 miles.   We went through the whole exercise of getting ready for the first time since 2005.    We tucked the GMC and my Cadillac (not in picture) away in our warehouse that houses our Circus School and karate dojo.   We could have probably gotten another 2 cars in there with some effort, but it was fine this way.

Fast forward a month and its early November.  I'm excited to get the coach out on the road to head up to Auburndale, FL to see the NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION  at the Auburndale Speedway.   Figure 8 bus races, demo derby, and my fave the boat and trailer race.   It's complete mayhem and ALOT of entertainment for 20 bucks.  

Had had promised my buddy Dave a trip in the motorhome and being a fellow gearhead, this was the perfect excuse.   Quick trip, one night at a nearby state park and meet friends at the race and use this machine for what it was built for.....a mobile party.

I prep it all up and drive up to Lake Worth (20 min) to pick Dave and his girl up and head out.  Right there was a warning sign as I broke the passenger side mirror loose while trying to adjust it....  We look it over and come up with the easy solution of drilling a hole through the mounting post into the coach side of the post (slips over a stud) and run a sheet metal screw through it.   10 min later and we are on our way.

Running up the Beeline Highway, the coach is humming along nicely and life it good.  We get to Okeechobee, FL and I point out Jeff Sirum's GMC shop right there as you come into town.  It's Saturday and I see one car in front of the office.  As we are pressed for time, we roll on and pull into the Racetrac gas station about 100 years past his shop.    I turn off the motor and gas her up, while the others use the restroom.

5 min later Dave points out I left the lights one while pumping.  No biggie right.  Then I say something really stupid, "Gee I hope it starts."   Well boys and girls, don't EVER say that outloud because right there I destroyed our entire weekend.... I got in the coach and went to start and NOTHING.   Not a click, not a pop, not even a half hearted attempt to engage the starter.   WTH?????

First pull the headlights back on, yep they still work.   Try turning it all off and start over.  Nothing.  Get the multimeter and check the battery.   13 volts....Hmmmmm  maybe the starter switch went bad (my coach is wired with a start button, as the column starter doesn't work right).

After  checking all the obvious stuff, I call Mr. Jim B. at the Co op in Orlando.   He tells me where the starter wire is on top of the engine.  Yep, there it is and look a wire is disconnected.  Hook it up and nothing....There is an Ace Hardware across the street, so off we go and get about 5 feet of 12 gauge wire.   we then run right from the battery to the starter.   It goes click click click from the solenoid.  Still show 13 Volts.   Damn the starter went.   Call the parts store a mile down the road and you know what,   They have a starter for a 1976 Oldsmobile 455 in stock (in a town of 5000).  

Dave volunteers to pull the old one, and then I hike the 2 miles in flip flops with the 50 pound starter.  I learned carrying a load long distance in flippys gives you shin splints....I swap it out and pay the man 80 bucks and hike it back.   It feels heavier on the way back lol.  Unfortunately the store did not have equipment to bench test it for us.   We get the new one in and still click click and not attempt to spin the motor.   At this point I walk down to Jeff's shop, but no one is there (he was at a rally of GMCs and someone sent me a pic of him in a kayak having fun)....

Time to call AAA.   It's now about 4:30 (3 hours later) and I tell them I need a flatbed.  Ok we got someone who will be there in an hour.  Great!   Well not so fast as they sent this guy:

Meanwhile I called Lucy and she drove the 80 miles out to pick up Dave and his girl as they said only 1 in the tow truck.   Well me and the tow truck driver talk, and figure out that if he hooks it up, he'll crush hydraulic lines that run on the frame as the rig pinches the frame rails to hold onto the truck it's pulling.   That and the back end will likely drag damaging my sewer tanks......I appreciate his candor and care about my vehicle.  Unfortunately, his company's truck that would work is having an engine overhaul, so he tosses me back to AAA

As this story is so long already, AAA basically then said I was SOL.  I remained calm and explained that no, I have been paying them for 20 years for a reason and they need to get me a tow.   So at 11:30PM the truck and driver show up (details spared).  We get it hooked up (I had to steer it with not power onto the rollback (2 inches on either side!)  

Got home at 2AM and the driver was a master.  He dropped it right in the driveway with me moving the other cars out of the way.....

While I had hours to wait for the tow by myself, I noticed the house lights dimming in the coach and the front battery (starting battery) was warm.   Finally putting it all together I knew it was the battery.

Turned out the starting battery shorted and took the house batteries down with it.  At this point I tried getting a jump from a few people at the station, but it just wasn't happening as the battery was shorted out (I didn't know this yet).

What threw both of us off was the full voltage while trouble shooting.    The house batteries are SUPPOSED to be separate from the starting battery and only bridged via a dash switch for emergency use.   The PO must have (or had done more likely) bridged it all together as I now know that the starting battery is hooked to the house lights, disconnecting the ground from the starting battery, there is still 12V available.    I haven't figured out yet how it's all tied together to rectify it.

Bottom line was two of the three batteries are done.   For now, I have a new deep cycle starting battery and one of the old Optimas still on the house (we aren't going off grid anytime soon) while I save up some money and go to two 6V AGM batteries for the house, get switches and isolators to assure this doesn't happen again....

http://shop.pkys.com/Blue-Sea-6007-Mini-Battery-Selector-Switch-1-2-BOTH-OFF_p_1623.html

Labor Day 2016 - Highland Hammocks State Park - Fruit Salad edition.

About 2 weeks ago I looked for a campsite for Sat and Sun nights as both the girls had Sat morn activities.  I was able to book one of the last three spots into Highland Hammocks State Park in Sebring, FL.  I have been several times before, however, as a tent camper on the primitive loop.


Saturady morning's sailing lessons should have been the warning, but the radar looked great when we left....

On the drive up, the rain was all close to home and the skies cleared and it was really sunny.  Took about 2:30 to run up to Sebring.  We arrived around 5 PM and headed to our campsite.   Wow, there are alot of trees on this site.  I had to ponder the situation for a minute, then I had a plan.  I showed my plan to Lucy and told her to watch the trees on the starboard side.   Considering I park the coach with about a foot on either side at home, I didn't think it would be too bad, but wasn't sure how far apart the trees were.

I got it backed in, but then the fire ring was right next to the coach, so I had to go even further back.

Now, the big tree was really close to the door, but there was enough room to open it and get in and out..

The site (#70 btw) was very shady and damp.  We got everything hooked up and the bikes off and took a ride around the campground.   We didn't get very far as while I was taking a pic of this cute little trailer the owner emerged.

We start talking and find out it's a 1969 Boler.   She said they made about 10K of them and mostly Canadian built.  She calls it the Mango due to the color and shape.  Our coach was just down the way and we pointed it out.  About then her friend arrived (they have a Coleman Pop Up) and we all chatted and then showed off our coach as they were curious.  Soon after our daughter took off with their kids and we wound up checking out their Pop Up, having some drinks and discussion.

We returned to our coach to cook Chicken Fajitas for dinner and to try out the new salt and pepper shakers that look like air hockey paddles (and came with a puck).

We ended up back over at our new friend's campsite for a fire and conversation.  I brought some logs over with me, but we never really got to them as the rain closed in on us.

The funny part was we were in a hole in the middle with lightning off in the distance for quite awhile.  I kept checking the radar and finally said that it was on us and any moment it would probably start.  Not a second later the first drop hit my leg and within 10 seconds it was pouring!  We ran to our coach with our chairs and left our daughter behind (she was inside playing Uno).  It only lasted 10 or 15 minutes and then we collected her for the night....

Day 2 was a late start with breakfast and we finally got rolling around noon...  We did a bike ride around the loop and walked on a few of the trails.

All these were on the Cypress Swamp trail that was built by the CCC in 1933!  You can see the catwalk part which is what I imagine the whole trail was in the beginning...  Pretty neat.  We could hear gators, but didn't see any.


The next trail was the Ancient Hammock (I think).  Lots of ferns and  what not.  Lucy's phone was left behind, so she asked me to take lots of fungi photos...enjoy

 Butterfly of unknown species

 I didn't even see the slug on the log when I took the photo!

 Closeup of the photo two above.  These were soft and velvety...

After the trails, we checked out the CCC Museum (sorry no pics) and then headed back to the campground.   Our daughter was entertained by playing cornhole with her new friends..

Lucy also called our coach the Pineapple in passing.  I latched on to it immediately!  We have been trying to name the coach for the past year but nothing had stuck so far.  We both liked it and our daughter said it was a cool name, so thanks to meeting Laura and her Mango, we got to name our coach.

Sunday night, we cooked dinner over the fire pit in the site pictured above and when the rain came again (harder and longer than the night before) we all sat under the screen tent trying not to get all wet.  This time the fire didn't pull through the dousing and we called it a night.

Monday, Labor day, we slept in a bit, then ate breakfast and went back to the museum to watch a video as the line to get out of the park was blocked by all the RVs waiting to dump their sewage.  I passed on that and dumped it when we got home.

On the way home we hit more rain and in the GMC the wiper motor is powered by the power steering pump (crazy right?).   Anyway about 60-70 miles from home we hit Indiantown and slowed for the 35mph zone.  I heard a new whine that didn't sound good.   I'm pretty sure the wiper use caused an issue and I'm hearing the PS pump running with no fluid in it.   About to go out and check on it now...

Summer Camping in Florida

As we just got the coach back from being worked on, we were anxious to get out of town and enjoy it, as our last camping in it, was back in February.  

Having grown up a tent camper, the only places I ever camped in the summer in Florida was the keys or the Peace River, both of which had cool water and copious amounts of alcohol (in my younger glory days aka as my 20s lol).

I tried to conscript some of my friends, but none of them would have it in August and honestly, I can't blame them as I would AC and they wouldn't.  Now that, I seemed to get the timing issue resolved with the ignition (won't bore you with the details, but I was getting about 4 mpg), I wanted to stretch her legs a little.  Johnathan Dickenson State Park has been a go to spot of mine since the 1980s (above mentioned glory days) as it's only about 40 minutes away and used to be fairly remote despite it's closeness.  Town has grown around it, but once in the gates, it hasn't changed too much.

The preferred campground is the river loop, but it's been closed for months and will re-open in October.  As a last minute decision, I looked on Wed, and the Pine Grove campground still had about 30 or 40 spots open (roughly half full if even).  The Pine Grove is a bit of a misnomer these days, as it used to be a grove of Australian Pines that was thick and lush.  Unfortunately, they are also an invasive exotic species and after hurricane Wilma tore up the grove pretty good in 2006, the state removed all the exotic trees and as you can see it's pretty wide open space now...

I chose a spot near the bathroom/shower as the black water tank leaks, I'm lazy to walk so far, and campground was pretty empty..  This was the view walking back from the showers.

Check in was at 3, but we arrived around 2 and were able to get on the spot as it was vacant.  You can see my new 13x13 foot pop up tent.  It was the debut of the tent and it offers a nice amount of shade.  It does go higher, but I left it on the lower height setting.  It was about 93F out and not having working AC while driving, I arrived, plugged in, put up the tent and hooked up the water, and retreated into the AC to cool down.  Lucy wanted a nap as she hadn't slept well, so I busied myself setting up things and relaxing a bit.

We got the bikes unloaded and started out on a ride around 4PM.  Just down the road we found Mr. Gopher Tortoise who was quite animated and chased a rock dove around the scrub.  We had hoped to ride about a mile over to Hobe Mountain, but Mamma Nature had other plans.....

Not wanting to have my new pop up tent fly away like Mary Poppins, I decided we should peddle back and take it down (not to mention distant rumblings of the thunder gods).

While waiting for the rain to blow in, we amused ourselves with a ride around the campground and were impressed that there were at least 8 or 9 sites with tent campers on them!  The majority of the rest were 3 pop ups, 2 Air Streams,  and the rest were travel trailers, fifth wheels, or motorhomes.  As usual, we were the only GMC in sight.  Although there was a nice vintage 70s small trailer about 20 feet long (no one was around it though :( ).  We didn't have to wait long and shortly after the above photo was snapped, a bolt hit less than a second away, so in we went.

The repairs to the roof are resounding success as it POURED and we were dry as a bone inside.  We played cards and a board game until it let up about an hour or so later.  As we had taken just about everything out of the coach while it was away, alot of stuff hadn't got put back in.....like the gas grill.

The stove is still disconnected as the counter isn't completed yet either.  

So once the rain stopped, I was out there pretty quick lighting a fire so we could get some coals to cook our delicious shrimp over.

As you can see in the background it looked like more rain coming.

 Naya develops her remote control shrimp cooker as this one got peeled

We ended up cooking the potatoes in the microwave due to the weather (was going to wrap in foil and cook in the fire),  but despite the rain the dinner was very tasty.

After dinner fun was putting the top back on the pop up and watch the fire with a backdrop of lighting off in the distance.  Unfortunately, the wind direction had the smoke blowing straight at us (and into the AC of the coach we found out when we went back in lol).   We kept this up until it got dark and then the thrill of sitting in the rain tending a weak fire lost its thrill and we retired to the coach for the remainder of the evening.

As I went to bed pretty darn early, I was also up pretty early.  Daybreak to be exact!

 You can see how humid it is out at first light as the coach was about 75 degrees inside and the whole thing was wet with condensation.

She looks good in the golden morning light :)

I ended up taking a short walk around the campground looking for wildlife, then went back to bed for another hour and a half until others started to wake up.   After breakfast it was good and hot, so of course lets take a bike ride!

On our travels we saw another gopher tortoise who was even bigger than the one from yesterday.  This guy was in a hurry and made off pretty quickly into the scrub.

 Once up at Hobe Mountain (86 ft above sea level and the highest point south of Lake Okeechobee) it was all about the shade as by 10 AM it was over 90 already.  

 There was a nice breeze up here blowing in off the ocean, I didn't want to leave.

 It's amazing how clean the Intracoastal Waterway is up here, it's the same color as the ocean.

 Back down on the ground and in the sun, the girls take in the view of the park looking west.

On the left you can see Hobe Mountain and the lookout tower.  On the right you can see some of the ruins of Camp Murphy.  During the war, it was quite a complex here!

Lucy got her second driving lesson in the coach.  To date she has only driven it in this park. Got get her out on the road in it.

 Nice comparison with a SOB (some other brand).  Usually our coach looks little in comparison.

This guy is a Red Rat Snake that they took outside, but I missed the photo op (see our earlier posting with JD the snake in it).  He was pretty cool and quite a nice specimen.

After the nature center we took a dip in the river, and stopped by DQ on the way home for a snack.  We arrived home just in time to meet the afternoon rain (with lightning), so I didn't get a chance to wash her off yet...Until next time.