Some tasks around the campground

A few weeks ago (actually, back in July!), when we were going through a tunnel on the interstate in West Virginia, we suddenly heard a lot of clanging outside the motorhome. Carl was driving and, looking in the rearview mirror said, "Did a paint can fall off that truck in front of us?" He had seen something that looked like a paint can bouncing against the wall of the tunnel.

When we got to Tamarack, where we were going to spend the night (in the parking lot), Carl discovered the source of the "paint can":

We had lost the hub cover on the tag axle on the passenger side of the coach.

If we had not been in the tunnel, we wouldn't have even known when we lost it.

So, a week or so ago, we went to Freightliner (Excel Truck Group) near Richmond to try to get the missing pieces. Carl had already called the parts department at Newmar and had a quote of over $750 for the three parts. He figured he could get them more reasonably from Freightliner (who makes them) directly.

Since I had driven the Jeep to the Freightliner location, Carl suggested that, while he was in the Parts department, I could wait over there -- with the other "Drivers" -- I elected to wait in the Jeep!

Carl went in to the Parts Department, and could get the "paint can", but they did not have the bracket and center hub bolt, and did not know where he could get them.

After he got back in the car, we thought of Freightliner Custom Chassis, the place in Gaffney, SC where we had been back in July to deal with the gauge problem on Gracie. Sure enough, he contacted them, and they knew exactly what was needed, and sent it out immediately. He was able to get all 3 parts that he needed for a total of $210 (compared to $750+). Just a reminder to us that it is probably better to get chassis parts from the chassis manufacturer rather than from the motorhome manufacturer, and that the Custom Chassis group is the part of Freightliner that makes and services the chassis for motorhomes.

Carl had installed the new "paint can" at the farm, and had polished most of the wheels when we were there, but just had two more to complete, which he did here at the campground.

He had finished the next-to-last wheel (the dual, on the left) by the time I got out there to take pictures. The tag wheel on the driver's side was the last one to get polished.

He was using a wash-and-wax product that he had gotten - spray it on...

... scrub with a wet cloth...

... then polish with another cloth.

He finished up with polishing the lug nut covers and then putting them on.

Another task: I mentioned in a blog a couple of weeks ago that we had a piece of tape come loose on the roof (also discovered when we stopped at Tamarack - on our second stop there on our way east... maybe we shouldn't stop there anymore as we find things that have come loose and need to be replaced when we are there!). We had ordered the tape (Eternabond) and Carl had put it on the roof a few days ago, but he still wanted to seal it down on the ends with Dicor self-leveling sealant.

So, we headed up onto the roof and Carl sealed both ends of the newly-placed tape -- one end...

... and the other end, right next to the air horn on the roof.

While we were up there, we also checked the sealant on the screws that are holding the solar panels in place. That all looked good. We still need to get the solar panels wired in to the system so they can be used to charge our batteries, but, we're thinking that will wait until we are in Mesa this winter.

We're glad that we got the sealant on the roof yesterday (Thursday) as it is raining pretty steadily here at the campground today.

Some pictures from around the campground yesterday:

Our campsite here at Chesapeake Bay RV Resort (Thousand Trails). It is a really wide campsite -- we have a lot of space on our "public" side of the coach (though we are pretty close to the RV to the other side and the one parked behind us).

The only negative is that the entry to the site was between two trees, but Carl got it backed in with no problem. We probably should have had it a little further forward (or back, but I think that would have run into the site behind us) as the front door is right at the tree roots, but we are surviving that!

We went on a long bike ride around the campground yesterday afternoon -- this was one of the ponds/lakes we saw as we were riding.

Our campsite is C-45, one of the yellow (full hookup, 50A) way over on the far right side. We rode around the roads that form the outer perimeter of the campground. The pond that was in the picture just above is the one that is near the middle bottom on the map.

 

We're getting inside work done today as we enjoy being in a dry place (no leaks from the newly-taped area!) during the rain.