Aug 15th

We drove up through the middle of Delaware and into Pennsylvania.  Shortly after entering PA the rain started.  We were traveling numbered but narrow Pennsylvania roads.   The rain and the hills and turns made the driving a little scary but nothing compared to when we added Amish buggies to the mix.  Then it got really interesting.  We must have passed at least 20 buggies going in our direction and more than that going the other way.  Sunday afternoon is their social time and, rain or shine, they are socializing.

Pretty hard to pass in a situation like this.

When we arrived at Carol’s cousin’s house in Wormleysburg, PA – a very small town just across the river from Harrisburg, PA, her aunt and uncle, Dave and Charlotte had joined cousin Jan and her husband George to welcome us.  We had a nice visit and lots of good food.

Here is a slide show.

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Aug 11th

The plan for today is to pick up Carol’s grandson Logan and his girlfriend at the Baltimore airport and then to the GMC for the ride down to the shore.  We have another storage place in Salisbury, Maryland – free this time (intoductory offer).

Carol’s son Rick will meet us there.  Arrived at Ocean City and love the seaside condo and boat.  We went out to dinner on Rick and Kelly’s boat.

Aug 12th

The day started and ended with rain but nice weather in the middle.  We (Rick and Logan) did a little fishing and we then had pizza for dinner.  Not much else to report.

Aug 13th

More rain was predicted but did not materialize.  Went for a long walk on the boardwalk and had some really good french fries and ate some chocolate.  Going out for crab dinner tonight.

Aug 14th

The crab dinner was really good.  We watched Avatar on blue-ray DVD – really amazing, almost as good as the 3D in the theater.  We went for a boat ride and did some fishing.

Here’s the slideshow.

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August 9th
The Brake Buddy worked great so the battery was the culprit – along with me for not charging it at least once during the week.  We drove through some Baltimore-Washington traffic and got the coach to the storage lot on time and in good

condition.  Here’s hoping that nothing bad happens there.

We visited with our friend Barb and she took us out for a crab feast – the restaurant is right on the water and has a beautiful views of the bay.  Tomorrow we will go to Annapolis and do a little lunch and sightseeing.

Aug 10th

Not much happening today – hung around most of the day and at about 3:00 we went to Annapolis for lunch and a little sightseeing.  We came into the city/town over the Naval Academy Bridge and right

into the middle of the town center. It is really pretty and, for some reason, not very crowded.

Here is a slide show of the photos we took at Annapolis.

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Aug 8th

Just a long day of driving across Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  We crossed the Apalachian Mountains and there we lots of long hills but, other than the noise of the driver’s side exhause manifold leak, the coach did really well.  The ambient temps went from under 70 to low 90s and the engine stayed relatively cool throughout the trip – never got above 215 and it only got there once on a really long hill in the low 90s.  It seems as though the thermostat is broken though – the engine was regularly able to get well below the thermostat temp of 195 – even when the ambient temp was in the mid 80s.  Steve Ferguson has suggested taking the thermostat out and just using a flow restrictor like, I guess, they do in race cars.  Well, a broken thermostat is basically a flow restrictor – as long as it fails open.

Another problem developed during the day…  The Brake Buddy started activating itself.  When we unhooked the Tracker we found that the battery was almost totally dead.  Since we were parked in a WalMart parking lot we pulled the battery out and replaced it with a new one – I am hoping that the lack of power was a possible reason for the Brake Buddy’s antics.  We’ll hook it back up tomorrow and give it another try.

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Aug 7th

Spent the night in Vandalia, IL at a really nice campground.  They told us they didn’t have internet access but someone nearby did and, using our external antenna/amplifier we were both able to get good internet access.

When I started the coach in the morning it was running a little rough but nothing obvious.  We stopped for gas right away and then couldn’t start it.  Sat there for about 40 minutes, even unhooked the Tracker because it was in the way.  It seemed like a fuel problem and, at first, I thought it might be flooded so we just waited and tried over and over.  Finally, I decided I had better figure out what it was so I pulled a plug wire and veified spark.  I wanted to see if the fuel pump was working so I had Carol try to start while I held onto the fuel pump – it is mounted on the outside of the frame just in front of the tank selector valve so easy to access.  As soon as I held the pump and Carol tried starting it started right up.  We stopped a little later for something and, again, it wouldn’t start so I went out and wiggled the connectors on the fuel pump it started.  Later, I pinched the connector a little to make it fit tighter and it has worked since.

Other than that issue we had an uneventful day.  I think that the fan clutch is still a little suspect – runs a lot when I don’t know if it should – but we stayed cool and mostly quiet.  Staying in a Happy Corners, Ohio WalMart parking lot tonight – no internet.

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Aug 6th

Wow, what a difference!  Steve had suggested that I change both the thermostat – to a 180 degree one – and the fan clutch.  I don’t really have the time or place to change the thermostat since campgrounds don’t want you doing that and, while we could do it in a parking lot I figured why not just change one thing at a time anyway and change the clutch.  The Hayden fan clutch was so quiet that Carol didn’t think it was on.  When I say “quiet” I mean when compared to the Delco.  The trip can continue in peace – it was so bad that it it was making the trip less than enjoyable.

My observations are that the Hayden seems to come on at a lower temperature but turn at a much reduced rate from the engine RPM.  I would have to guess, based on the noise and the engine temperature readings (more on that later) that the Hayden’s rate of rotation percentage goes up with the temperature. The Delco on the other hand seems to be either on or off – a close match to the engine RPM even at 60mph.  The result is noise – lots of noise with the Delco – and relative quiet; you can hear it but it is hard to distinguish from the engine noise.

The engine temperatures were much better and steadier with the Hayden.  With the Delco, the engine temperature would oscillate between about 190 to 210 and, occasionally, it would get to 215 if it was really hot and we were climbing even an average hill in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.  With the Delco the temperature virtually never stayed the same for any time at all – it was always moving either up or down.  With the Hayden the engine temperature was very steady – at just under 200 – and would only move a little if I was climbing a hill.  It never got above 205.

The difference in the weather was pretty notable.  With the Delco we drove through ambient air temperatures from low 70’s to 105.  When the temperature would get to 80 the cycling would begin and the only thing that changed was the rate of temperature climb – when it was hotter the engine got hotter quicker.  Today, we left Kansas City with the temperature at about 80 and spent most of the day with it at around 85 and it got to 91 for a little while.  The engine temperature would stayed steady throughout the day.

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Aug 5th

Took the Tracker to a local garage to find out what is going on with the excessive tire wear on the rear tires.  He put it on the lift and says that something is bent but cannot figure out what it could be – he said the misalignment is obvious when it is up in the air.  Suggested we take it to a body shop with a frame straightener.  They should be able to figure out what is bent and straighten it or replace it.

Swapped out the AC Delco 15-4644 fan clutch and reinstalled the Hayden 2797 to see if we can make some of the noise go away.  We’ll see tomorrow.

We spent the day with our friends Tom and Lynn from Milwaukee and visited the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City, MO.  Very lively place and lots of people, mostly young, walking around and having a good time.  We were too late for the shopping though – oh darn.

Here’s a slideshow.

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Aug 3rd, Carol’s birthday, we drove to Pratt, Kansas to a pretty nice motel, restaurant, RV park – small but OK.  The dinner at the restaurant was not good and the 30 amp service was pretty weak – it would only run one AC unit.  It was record-breaking hot out – got to 105 degrees – and the fan was on virtually 100 percent of the time in the afternoon.  At 90 degrees it was on about 70 percent of the time.

Aug 4th

Arrived in Kansas City, KS area with no issues other than the fan noise.

Here’s the slideshow of our visit.

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Aug 2nd

We drove to Santa Rosa, NM.  The temperature ranged from 70’s to 90’s and the only issue was the cycling fan clutch.  In the morning I had removed the vacuum controlled heater valve and replaced it with a manual shut-off that I had in the coach.  It was old and leaked a little so we stopped a couple of times to see if we could replace it but no dice.  In Albuquerque we removed the passenger side wheel well to see if that would help with air flow and the fan cycling but it made no significant difference.

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August 1st, the first day of our trip to the East Coast and back.  I was a little concerned with the coach because the last thing that happened last night was I spotted a couple of puddles of what appeared to be antifreeze under the coach after our return from filling the gas tanks. I had just gotten an email from Carl Stouffer so I asked him what he thought and he said not to worry and have a good time – I took his advice.

This is actually the shakedown cruise so we have to expect some issues – lots was done since the last trip and there are bound to be some problems.  Problem 1 is the heater or defroster seems to be on.  I had replaced the vacuum controlled valve some time ago and it was working well but now it seems to be constantly on.  I have a manual shutoff valve and I will put that in when everything cools down – meanwhile I unplugged the heater fan motor since it is always on.  Problem 2 is the engine temp is oscillating between 190 and 210 or so via the cooling fan and clutch.  It seems that the engine wants to run a little hotter than the fan clutch wants it to so it keeps coming on and making tons of noise.  I am theorizing that the air flow through and around the radiator – also new this trip – is the issue and not the engine since the fan clutch kicks on at different engine temps.  Some baffeling and some venting seem to be in order.

The drawers under the couch are having a problem.  Problem is they are actually a little overloaded.  A storage drawer under the bed and a storage cabinet under the dinette would really help a lot.  We have temporarily added some catches to keep them from opening on left turns and straps to help us open them when we want.

We stopped for the night at Elephant Butte State Park in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  This place is amazing

Our campsite at Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico

– for single night, with no reservation we paid $8 for a large site with electricity and water.  The $8 included $3 (I think) for our tow car.  There is no internet, of course, but the private campground in town wanted $32 and all they had to add was TV – cable I guess.

Here is a slideshow of our visit.

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