Still here, decided to just start new thread

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PatrioticStabilist

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Just haven't been here for awhile.

I've been putting up and freezing, apples, peaches, blackberries, blueberries, making jam, corn, ordered half a hog for the freezer.  About done with all that.

I was out cleaning the motorhome out yesterday.  I got the inside cleaned.  I'm going to clean out the bays.  I'm taking way to much junk.  I doubt I use 1/4 of it.

I got the title transferred and Indiana plates for it today, they had expired yesterday.

I'm finally getting a new set of tires, ordered 2 from Vincennes but haven't heard back.  if they don't get them I found a truck tire place here in Sullivan that will get them, same price.  Neither takes FMCA, but the price isn't much different.  I will have all 6 new by January when I plan to leave.  I'm not about to take off with these old ones again.  I haven'thad a problem but don't plan to.

Tom is going to change the oil while home.  We are trying to get a new fanmotor for the genny.  May have to go to Onan directly tried a couple other places.
If we can't get it Wetnights for this too.

Tom said take it to Wetnights to get the front levelor repacked so some things to be done yet.  We are going to go ahead and winterize it, as it will freeze before I leave and I don't want to ruin anything.

I'm just hoping I can go. My MIL is having memory issues, I'm taking over bill paying for her.  Soon as I get it started coming here I'm going to make it all auto pay from her account so nothing but email alerts.  I've got most everything of ours that way too now. Her sister is having even more pronounced issues then she is, they are 86 and 84 respectively and live next door to each other.  It's really sad as both are physically healthy otherwise.  MIL walks a mile a day and comes over and walks with Sue Anne too.  She still drives and takes care of herself and home.  I think she is ok with all the old familiar things and places.  I'm hoping to go 1 or 2 months.  Not sure if I will go back to Florida or maybe head west.  No plan yet.  The sisters son and wife are like me, wanting to take off this winter too.  They have both MIL's  with issues so its even worse for them. I am going to talk with the neighbor that alerted us about her condition and give her my phone number so if I have to come back I can.  Hope it doesn't happen though. We think she will be independent several more years yet, or hope so anyway.

I have been busy with Sue Anne, all kinds of stuff going on in Podunk, USA.  We have been to drag races, demolition derbies, circus, carnival, corn festival, wrestling, and other things. We went to the state fair, when I took Tom to the airport, also Clabber Girl museum in Terre Haute, and of course we eat out at any new places we can find. Sue Anne doesn't miss anything.  I intend to take her long as I can, she may have a boring life when we become much to old to do for her.

I helped our little town by cleaning up the yard at an old house that will go up for tax sale again.  it was on the way to the bluff park and looked awful.  Hauled about 4 loads of brush here to burn, did hire a guy for a couple days to help.  Need to go up and get one more load.  I hope someone buys it at the next sale coming up.  Been going to the board meetings, I'm not in town, right at the edge but our water system is getting sold so interested in that.

Sue Anne and I go walking, she had been in the hospital for a week with diverticulitis and when she got home after a week in bed she was in poor shape.  She couldn't even get up the 3 steps in the garage without help, walking with her has gotten her doing well again.  I also had a minor ankle sprain where I went to the ER, it only took a few days to get better, but I only managed to stay off it 2 days!!

So yep we have been busy and there is mowing to do, and lots of weedeating, plus I have been cleaning a fencerow out, and the new metal roof we had put on and still going to add onto the new garages. I told hubby they weren't big enough!  So There!

Now that catches us up.  This week I'm picking up and cleaning as Tom is coming in Friday for about 2 1/2 weeks.  It will be very nice to have him home.

Hope this finds all of you well.  I need to catch up on reading here too.
 
Carolyn,
I've missed you.  We picked up our new SRX and  I am still learning how to work the gauges. I love adaptive cruise control.  And we learned how to do the towing set up.  So easy.  We had Air Force One installed.  But since we are still not at home Terry is driving the motorhome , towing the Jeep, while I am driving behind in "my" new car!

You sound so busy with all of your projects.  I love hearing of your progress.
 
Tom wants me to sell my little Saturn.  I've had someone interested, its still a good car.  Runs good and looks good, the upholstery and carpet of course are not new but still pretty nice. It has 83k and doesn't use oil or anything, just put 2 new tires on the back so has a new set.  I think I'm the 3rd owner or something like that.

I just hate to tow my new Caddie, afraid I will beat it up.  I never got anything on the Saturn so don't  know why I am concerned.  Tom has to get everything to tow it with so don't know if he will get time to do it this trip home.

I read that all you do is pop the leather cover off at the gear selector and push a switch under there for towing so that does sound very simple if that's it.  Of course need to reread all that stuff again.

Yes, I'm still learning all that info about how to operate the CUE System, they sure do everything but get up and dance don't they.  Hubby will just get to see it when I pick him up Friday.  I'm only getting about 20.4 mpg overall average though.  But it's only got 2000 miles on it.

The best thing for me with the type of lights on it I have been able to drive more at night.  I had almost given it up entirely. The lights are brighter and expand my field of vision.  That is a huge plus I never expected.  However, around cities I'm still going to be very limited, but this has allowed Sue Anne and I to do so much more.  But then the doctor started me on thyroid meds a few months back and maybe that is helping too and I'm also noticing when I get a low blood sugar episode that seems to also.  It's so much better no matter I'm just happy about it. Who knows but whatever the reason I'm thrilled.
 
We love it here, this has been a good move for us.  Sue Anne is really happy to see her grandmother and spend time with her, this is good for both of them.  I'm sure this will let MIL stay home longer.

It's so pretty up here, used to like Texas till it just got hotter and hotter and drier and I love being able to garden and have better looking produce plus the availability of so much that I don't have to raise.

The folks around are very nice to Sue Anne.  She loves going to the diners here in our tiny town and the library.  Of course everyone knows us, but everyone knew Tom anyway.

We have not sold our house in Texas yet, we have lowered the price twice.  With Exxon Mobile coming in the house builders are overbuilding like crazy so sure not helping folks like us.  We are far from hurting on the price but its down to the appraised value.  Thankfully we paid for it many many years ago or that would really hurt. We had an appraisal done on it to know where to price it.  I'm thinking about taking it off the market a month or so then relisting it so it doesn't become shop worn.  The folks that want it can't afford it and the market there is going more upscale instead of country property I guess.  As Tom says will just take the right person to want it and be able to afford it.
 
PatrioticStabilist said:
  I'm only getting about 20.4 mpg overall average though.  But it's only got 2000 miles on it.
We have just under 1000 miles and that is about our mileage as well.  My favorite is the heated rear seats as that is where  I ride when we  have passengers.  Like the heated steering wheel as well. 
 
I have a heated steering wheel and heated front seats, Sue Anne loves those, but I don't know if I have heated rear seats, hummm.  My Lincoln truck has heated seats too, up here in the north it feels really great.

I like all the glass in the top, that's nice.  But I bet that little deal will reduce the mileage, the little air divertor on the top or I call it bug catcher.

It sure rides nice that's for sure.

I wouldn't have that many miles on it but she was in the hospital and I had to drive up everyday so put over 500 miles on it in a week.

Tom insisted I get the oil changed, they just smile, he said there could be shavings in the engine when new and he always insists I get it done.  But he wanted it at a 1000 and I didn't have time so it waited till 2000.

 
Tom insisted I get the oil changed, they just smile, he said there could be shavings in the engine when new and he always insists I get it done.  But he wanted it at a 1000 and I didn't have time so it waited till 2000.

Tom's right, of course. But I doubt it's all that critical to do it right at 1,000. But with today's recommended intervals (5,000 on my F-150), I certainly wouldn't want to wait 'til the recommended interval.

Oh yes -- welcome back.
 
He still changes oil every 3000 miles or very close to it.  He said the quality of the oil may be fine but any particles swimming in it can damage the internal part of the engine.  We have never had a vehicle use oil that I remember.  He says for the small amount of additional money it costs, its the best maintenance you can do.

Our motorhome says change oil every 6000 miles so he is doing that while he is home.


When Sue Anne came home from the hospital she was in terrible physical shape.  She hadn't been feeling good for some time, sleeping way to much.  Those gut infections creep up on her and sometimes she doesn't get a fever, just gets very tired and draggy.  She could hardly get up the 3 steps from the garage to the house.  I told her we would be hard put to travel in January if she stayed like that. 

I started her walking, it was terrible we didn't make it far and she was mad and I was a horrible person to her.  Her grandma comes over and walks with her too.  That 86 year old lady walks a mile each morning and now comes over and they walk some days.  Sue Anne and she made it half a mile this morning.  She has been walking several weeks now and is also losing weight.  She was also getting osteopenia so is taking calcium, she drinks lots of milk but was getting no weight bearing exercise. Now she isn't fussing about it much, she will get up and ask if we are going, her cheeks are pinker and the calves of her legs swelling less.  She is only 5'3" and had gotten up to 194, she is down to 186 fully dressed so its helping.  She will never get her down to 135 but I will be happy to see her at 160 or so.
She can do it we did it before, it took 7 years for over 30 pounds to sneak back up on her.

I like to walk with her but have really bad ankles.  Also I work out in the garden or on our 4 acre yard so much, exercise is not something I really need to do extra except in the winter.

I am thinking of getting one of those 3 wheel bicycles for her too.

Tom is healthy has to take an annual physical so while working keeps up with it.  We have good preventative care in our insurance so I monitor mine too.  We are trying to stay healthy.  Just need to get and keep her weight down, something hard for mentally challenged persons to do.
 
I drove to Indianapolis and back about 160 mile round trip from our house to the airport.  I drove 70 and 75 and once in awhile to 80 and ended up with 23.4mpg.  I am not complaining at all.
 
would you believe went out to the car In the garage to drive to Indianapolis, saw glass all over.  A glass light globe had fallen on the hood of the car and shattered.  It made 2 small dents but in several places where the glass hit the paint Tom said it cut the paint to the metal. they are small but I'm afraid they will rust or something. I'm going to take it to the dealer Wed and see if they can do anything.  Tom thinks they might be able to pull the dings out with dry ice, not sure what they will have to do to the small scratches.  But the car is not yet 2 months old so we are going to have it fixed.  Bet that is not cheap. What a weird thing to happen.  Probably good it didn't fall on the glass on the roof as it might have messed that up and bet it would cost even more.
 
We couldn't find the fan motor for the generator radiator.  Finally I wrote the Ask man and he said the reason was on that old motorhome the original genny  had a manual fan, that's what Colaws had said. He said Fleetwood had put the radiator in a different place for space and added an electric motor so we could just order a generic fan motor to put it in the shroud. Tom did that so hope to get it quickly enough for him to fix it.

2 new tires going on the front Monday and they will check to see all is ok on the front.  It steers and drives good so I hope it still will after this.  Suppose I need to get an alignment too.

Tom said I will still need to take it in and have the front leveler repacked.  That will make me happy I don't like to see him under that thing, makes me nervous.

We have talked about a newer motorhome off and on but I don't want to get one.  I don't know how many more years I can drive one and doubt we take it out as a family.  I like it more then Tom as he has traveled so much he wants to stay home.

Also if the engine or tranny goes bad we could get a used or rebuilt one and go with that.  He said he seriously doubts that happens as both are fine.  We also saw used newer gennys on line if it goes bad for $2200.  Even if all 3 went still cheaper then a much newer one and like he says about all of them seem to need stuff fixed.  It drives really good and Sue Anne and I like it so I imagine this old gal will be with us long as we can still get her in the parks.  Now if they start denying us that might be a different story.  Expect to get the rest of my tires in Nov or Dec.  I will feel better after I get those.  My front tire dates are the first of July, so about as new as I can get I guess.
 
Something finally came together easily.

We could not find the generator fan motor, the company was no longer in business or not online.  Tom decides to just order the fan, blades, and a motor, generic.  He was set to have to alter it to fit.  Well would you believe, here is a 20 year old motorhome and the EXACT same fan setup, shape everything was what we received!  Finally something he doesn't have to work modifying.  I'm sure happy for him, that will save him time. 

So good news this time.
 
Remind Tom to be aware of the direction the fan blows. Make sure it blows the same direction as airflow while driving. It'll blow a fuse if you use the genny while driving, if it opposes incoming air. Then it'll overheat while stationary. It's a common mistake, even by people that know better.

Bill
 
It's a side radiator and the fan motor is mounted in the frame along with the fan blades, it came all in one unit and he just bolts it on to the larger shroud, if he had gotten just the motor and reassembled it I can see that happening.  I'm trying to think if it would even go in the wrong way, but I will tell him just in case

He is out there working, drove to warm the oil up to change the oil in the engine.  I'm not sure if he has mounted the fan motor yet.

I have a panel in a bay under the motorhome and one in the passenger side in front of the seat up top that got beat off on 55 I think it was or 57 coming up from Houston.  There was a section of road that about beats us to death through there, horrible. He needs to fasten them back, I could have but didn't.

Got to get out there and unload the bays, going to cut way down on the junk I'm taking.  I don't use a 1/3 of that stuff, but I realize soon as I take something out I will need it, sigh.
 
Can I clean my K & N filter with any soap and water?  On the net it tells you to get a specific cleaner but
I'm thinking just Dawn liquid would do ok.  Put some in a bucket full of water let soak and clean from the inside to outside.  Will that work?
 
Well he is making progress, fan motor on and working.  Genny has fresh oil, oil filter, and fuel filter.  I'm going to clean all the radiators, hopefully tomorrow.  I need to spray with some cleaner then hose off.

He looked at the engine radiators and they had 2 of the small fans on the outside like the genny but he said underneath on the inside is a huge hydraulic fan. 

He changed engine oil, I'm cleaning the K&N filter, ordered the cleaner and oil.  It was originally put on by Fleetwood as its in the manuals about it.  Everyone says they are no good, but been there 21 years.  Now how many times its been cleaned I couldn't say.  I'm on my 3rd bucket of hot water and cleaner cleaning it.  We are going to rinse well again and hopefully this will be the last time.  It says they only need cleaned every 50000 miles.  I'm wondering if this one ever has been.

We checked belts.  We had a leak in the water storage tank, he fixed it some time ago and it held till lately.  He decided to take it out completely so he could do it right and did.  He bought a special stuff for the plastic and repaired it, he said if it doesn't hold he will order a new one next time, they are over $300. 

He pulled the mats out of the bays, I was going to help, but couldn't yesterday.  He mopped with Clorox underneath and we are going to mop and clean the mats good before putting back. I have never done that as they are very very heavy.

I still need to get my front leveler fixed and the 4 new rear tires. He said get the tranny fluid and filter changed again.  We don't know how religious prior owners were in doing it so he said it won't hurt to do it again so soon. He is going to see if he can fix the TV hookup the "technician" totally screwed up.  I hope it stays warm enough for me to wash and wax it.  It started sprinkling today so couldn't do much more, he had to quit.  I'm hopeful in the next couple of days I can wash it down and start waxing.

He just saved us a ton of money.  As he says if he has time there is nothing on it he can't fix.

Looking like we will be able to take off in January as we want to.  The old girl should be ready to roll.

I appreciate my husband for sure.
 
Sue Anne has been wanting the air horn to work ever since we bought it.  Tom ordered the 2 items and a different button.  He didn't want the switch in the dash we had, why I don't know.  But he said the two pieces her ordered aren't the correct ones.  She will be disappointed, I doubt he has time to order other parts.

He is going to fix it so I can winterize it way easier.  He said the way it is I can drain it pretty good but getting the safe RV antifreeze through it is not easy and this will keep me from having to blow out the lines.  He is going to add a valve, if he can find the right size, and make it so I can just put a tube in the jug of antifreeze and run the pump and pump it through the water system, that way will be a piece of cake to put it through the pipes and everything.  I guess I will have to let it go through the water filter otherwise it won't come through the icemaker and the water deal on the sink.  We are discussing how to keep from adding a lot of antifreeze to the hot water heater, Tom said he will check it out to see if it has a separate valve.

It's only 59 and pretty chilly out, to be 39 tonight, but warmer tomorrow and the next few days so I will get my bay mats cleaned and put back.  (I still have tons of tomatoes and they are blooming and more setting on, so going to cover tonight.  I may pick the bigger ones and put them in the basement to ripen.  Also the bell peppers are producing and my carrots are finally growing.  Have lots of beautiful zinnias and 4 oclocks too, but not much longer I'm sure)

He has the water tank back in.  He showed me where through the years the metal supports had sagged some from the weight of the water, that is one HUGE tank, holds 100 gallons, so he pushed them back up in place.  He  has it all reconnected and is holding water fine. The gauges on all the tanks work so assume they still do! He said they had bolts holding it up that needed allen wrenches to take down.  He took them out and replaced them with ones that are easy to get on and off.

Also needs to reattach the white panel underneath where the inverter was and the panel in front of the passenger seat the rough road knocked loose.

Tom said if he had time he would go over everything in it, to make sure everything is good, but doesn't.  It will be to cold next time until we can get heat in the garage etc out, but eventually he can.

Still I feel very comfortable taking the old girl. She is getting all her routine maintenance done again.
 
  I would leave the air horns to the big trucks hauling 50-100 tons if freight. The can do so much more damage to what they hit than an relatively empty RV. Air horns do not move objects they are just a last resort warning only.... just my very humble opinion. In other words they are not toys to be thrilled over.

 
Just putting in a reply so I can follow this thread.  :)  I enjoyed following the last one through your many adventures.
 

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