carson
Well-known member
The perfect time to go. Weather forecast perfect, RV perfect, raring to go. DW's birthday the following day, a good excuse not to buy a birthday present. 
Destination was Fort Clinch State Park in Fernandino Beach on Amelia Island, FL. One way distance was 170 mile NE from our home, via good roads (no Interstate). The driving time was 4 hours 15 min.
Highlight 1: Great ride, Jeep in tow, for about 2 hours. I started to notice a bit of braking problem, had to stand on the pedal severely a few times; unusual procedure.
Lowlight 1: Determined that both front brakes were not doing their job. The steering was also affected. What to do? No smell from dragging brakes, so it couldn't be all that bad. Keep on trucking... were happy to finally arrive at the park. (I'll post another story about the park later).
Found a great repair shop in the little town, recommended by the park ranger. They were able to squeeze me in the following day, despite their super busy schedule. They asked me to come in at 7:30 in the morning.
On the way there, a big oak tree lowered one of its branches an wiped out my batwing antenna. (My bad..forgot to lower it) Guess that will be lowlight 2.
We took the Jeep to go sightseeing. Next...
Highlight 3: Happy that we found repair shop and could relax for the day.
Lowlight 3: Headed for a yet unknown place to have a nice breakfast. Drove about 1/4 mile at a legal 45mph. Oops, a 35 mph sign came up. Ok, slow to 35...Oops, within a few hundred yards a school zone started. A small flashing yellow light on the pole, which I missed seeing. The school zone was about 75 yards long. A police car was on the grass with a couple other cars. A 35 mph sign was visible just ahead. Oops... police cruiser with flashing light behind me. We had already pulled over to look at our maps, in a good space. That's when I saw him behind me, already parked. Well, the normal routine, dr license, registration etc. The nice officer told me to stand by while he checked me out on their computer. Then he said that fines were doubled and would cost me $240.00. My record showed clean and he was amazed. I landed up with a warning ticket (wheew). After I told him we were looking for a cafe for DW birthday. Immediatly he recommended "the best" place down the street (a policemen's hangout), wished my DW a happy birthday and said have a nice day. I went overboard in thanking him and that I was proud of the work he was doing in the community. (Despite the obvious Radar trap).(Revenuing)?
Back to the repair shop around 2pm...RV still sitting there untouched. Was told to come back around 4pm..should be finished by then. Well, at 4pm, the wheels were off and the problem turned out to be collapsed hydraulic lines on both sides. There was no apparent damage to the calipers nor disks or pads. The part is on the way from across town. OK..happy again. Come back a 6pm he said.
At 6pm, wheels still off... wrong parts arrived, had to reorder. OK.
Arranged to allow us to sleep in the RV on their lot, while up on jacks. Even got them to run a long powercord (20a) so that we could run the AC. By this time it was over 100? inside. To cut this short, the RV was finished at 6pm the next day. He called me on my cell while we were on a ferry trip excursion to St, Mary's, GA, an hour boat ride from Fernandino Beach. T'was nice to get back to the campground and relax.
Lowlight 4: :-[ :-[ During back-in parking another oak branch nicked my rear ladder; I can fix that myself. (Good grief) ;D
The following day, Friday, we were homeward bound. Sure felt good to have hi-powered brakes again. I must say, that was a trip to remember.
Check my post under Destination soon of the Fort Clinch SP, with pictures.
carson FL
Destination was Fort Clinch State Park in Fernandino Beach on Amelia Island, FL. One way distance was 170 mile NE from our home, via good roads (no Interstate). The driving time was 4 hours 15 min.
Highlight 1: Great ride, Jeep in tow, for about 2 hours. I started to notice a bit of braking problem, had to stand on the pedal severely a few times; unusual procedure.
Lowlight 1: Determined that both front brakes were not doing their job. The steering was also affected. What to do? No smell from dragging brakes, so it couldn't be all that bad. Keep on trucking... were happy to finally arrive at the park. (I'll post another story about the park later).
Found a great repair shop in the little town, recommended by the park ranger. They were able to squeeze me in the following day, despite their super busy schedule. They asked me to come in at 7:30 in the morning.
On the way there, a big oak tree lowered one of its branches an wiped out my batwing antenna. (My bad..forgot to lower it) Guess that will be lowlight 2.
We took the Jeep to go sightseeing. Next...
Highlight 3: Happy that we found repair shop and could relax for the day.
Lowlight 3: Headed for a yet unknown place to have a nice breakfast. Drove about 1/4 mile at a legal 45mph. Oops, a 35 mph sign came up. Ok, slow to 35...Oops, within a few hundred yards a school zone started. A small flashing yellow light on the pole, which I missed seeing. The school zone was about 75 yards long. A police car was on the grass with a couple other cars. A 35 mph sign was visible just ahead. Oops... police cruiser with flashing light behind me. We had already pulled over to look at our maps, in a good space. That's when I saw him behind me, already parked. Well, the normal routine, dr license, registration etc. The nice officer told me to stand by while he checked me out on their computer. Then he said that fines were doubled and would cost me $240.00. My record showed clean and he was amazed. I landed up with a warning ticket (wheew). After I told him we were looking for a cafe for DW birthday. Immediatly he recommended "the best" place down the street (a policemen's hangout), wished my DW a happy birthday and said have a nice day. I went overboard in thanking him and that I was proud of the work he was doing in the community. (Despite the obvious Radar trap).(Revenuing)?
Back to the repair shop around 2pm...RV still sitting there untouched. Was told to come back around 4pm..should be finished by then. Well, at 4pm, the wheels were off and the problem turned out to be collapsed hydraulic lines on both sides. There was no apparent damage to the calipers nor disks or pads. The part is on the way from across town. OK..happy again. Come back a 6pm he said.
At 6pm, wheels still off... wrong parts arrived, had to reorder. OK.
Arranged to allow us to sleep in the RV on their lot, while up on jacks. Even got them to run a long powercord (20a) so that we could run the AC. By this time it was over 100? inside. To cut this short, the RV was finished at 6pm the next day. He called me on my cell while we were on a ferry trip excursion to St, Mary's, GA, an hour boat ride from Fernandino Beach. T'was nice to get back to the campground and relax.
Lowlight 4: :-[ :-[ During back-in parking another oak branch nicked my rear ladder; I can fix that myself. (Good grief) ;D
The following day, Friday, we were homeward bound. Sure felt good to have hi-powered brakes again. I must say, that was a trip to remember.
Check my post under Destination soon of the Fort Clinch SP, with pictures.
carson FL
