After a 5 month interval we received emails from Joe Lacey the other day. With his permission, I'm posting them here for all his friends to read. As usual he presents us with a couple more object lessons 
Here's the first:
Colby, Kansas. You can't find a room anywhere in town....said the Motol 6 room clerk....had we tried to check in tomorrow....big softball tournament. Better get you up to date on why our room last night was required....and why we were requesting to stay another night....
Frankly I don't know where to start... considering our motorhome trip has been filled in one after another glitches. Let me recap extremely briefely... had a blow-out on the Susquehanna River bridge....right on the bridge.... backed up traffic for about 5 miles for a good minutes while a cop car flashed its lights to warm traffic while we literally wore the tire off the rim...did not ruin the rim, but ABS line was broken and sooner or later that would have to be repaired. However, unfortunately "all in good time".
It cost us $450 for a new tire. While we were feeling sorry for ourselves... or perhaps the $450. We should not have complained. The next we had another blowout. Again, $450 left our wallet. Looking back, this is a 2001 motorhome and thus the tired were due to be replaced. Frankly, we sort of forgot that we had 6 slightly out-of age tired..... and we didn't plan on replacing all tired to the tune of $2100.
We continued to Kansas City where the engine light came on. I saw the oil gauge light come on. I reduced speed and pulled over. Let the engine cool a bit and continued on to the Kansas campground. We let the funds build up and called Cullins and told them our problem. I was hoping it was a blown fuse on the fan. It wasn't.''
Cummins has a cooler right in back of the radiator. However, the problem is that the back wheels kicked up a lot of dirt. Someone figures out a better way to eliminate having the radiator and cooler getting plugged up was to position the radiator and cooler against the side. Unfortunately we don't have such a wonderful way to do things. At some point a bit of a oil leak happened. (there is a reason I'm typing with errors...and un-natural sentence structure.....I'll get to it in a moment)
So, the oil mixed with the dirt and cogged up our radiator and cooler element. Because I acted quickly, I saved the engine. All it cost was $2000 to have the radiator and cooler cleaned....all of it was labor.
So, we left Kansas City on October 5th. Of course it bright us to Colbe, Kansas. Our destination was Denver, CO. Did not get there. About 6pm the engine light flashed on, we started losing power and white smoke poured out of the exhaust. Cricket was driving.
We called Cummins....who had just worked on the unit. They asked us how close were we to Colby, KS. We said about 30 minutes away....as happened we were headed to the Wal-Mart for the evening. We were told there was a Cummins in Colby. Got the phone number, called them and told the Cumins was across the street from Wal-Mart. They were not open. But the home was home and came out to guide us in to a bay.
Technical stuff aside, injectors, 2 pumps, etc.... all under warranty. But we needed to stay the right (and will stay for an additional day.) We hope to reach Denver on Friday. Cricket's brother is driving our small "Cottage" motorhome while she drives the big motorhom.
-joe nomad 2-
Joseph Lacey (Nomad 2)
Here's the first:
Colby, Kansas. You can't find a room anywhere in town....said the Motol 6 room clerk....had we tried to check in tomorrow....big softball tournament. Better get you up to date on why our room last night was required....and why we were requesting to stay another night....
Frankly I don't know where to start... considering our motorhome trip has been filled in one after another glitches. Let me recap extremely briefely... had a blow-out on the Susquehanna River bridge....right on the bridge.... backed up traffic for about 5 miles for a good minutes while a cop car flashed its lights to warm traffic while we literally wore the tire off the rim...did not ruin the rim, but ABS line was broken and sooner or later that would have to be repaired. However, unfortunately "all in good time".
It cost us $450 for a new tire. While we were feeling sorry for ourselves... or perhaps the $450. We should not have complained. The next we had another blowout. Again, $450 left our wallet. Looking back, this is a 2001 motorhome and thus the tired were due to be replaced. Frankly, we sort of forgot that we had 6 slightly out-of age tired..... and we didn't plan on replacing all tired to the tune of $2100.
We continued to Kansas City where the engine light came on. I saw the oil gauge light come on. I reduced speed and pulled over. Let the engine cool a bit and continued on to the Kansas campground. We let the funds build up and called Cullins and told them our problem. I was hoping it was a blown fuse on the fan. It wasn't.''
Cummins has a cooler right in back of the radiator. However, the problem is that the back wheels kicked up a lot of dirt. Someone figures out a better way to eliminate having the radiator and cooler getting plugged up was to position the radiator and cooler against the side. Unfortunately we don't have such a wonderful way to do things. At some point a bit of a oil leak happened. (there is a reason I'm typing with errors...and un-natural sentence structure.....I'll get to it in a moment)
So, the oil mixed with the dirt and cogged up our radiator and cooler element. Because I acted quickly, I saved the engine. All it cost was $2000 to have the radiator and cooler cleaned....all of it was labor.
So, we left Kansas City on October 5th. Of course it bright us to Colbe, Kansas. Our destination was Denver, CO. Did not get there. About 6pm the engine light flashed on, we started losing power and white smoke poured out of the exhaust. Cricket was driving.
We called Cummins....who had just worked on the unit. They asked us how close were we to Colby, KS. We said about 30 minutes away....as happened we were headed to the Wal-Mart for the evening. We were told there was a Cummins in Colby. Got the phone number, called them and told the Cumins was across the street from Wal-Mart. They were not open. But the home was home and came out to guide us in to a bay.
Technical stuff aside, injectors, 2 pumps, etc.... all under warranty. But we needed to stay the right (and will stay for an additional day.) We hope to reach Denver on Friday. Cricket's brother is driving our small "Cottage" motorhome while she drives the big motorhom.
-joe nomad 2-
Joseph Lacey (Nomad 2)
