And now, Camp Spartan
It's been a few days... I owe you dear readers an update. Devon, the Newmar technician assigned to the bus-house arrived early, before much brightness, on Wednesday morning. It was 6:00am. In order to be prepared I was up at 5:00am and scrambled around getting everything stowed, coffee made, my briefcase loaded, slides in, jacks up... you get the idea. As Devon and the bus-house disappeared from sight at 6:02am (!!!), leaving me alone in a cloud of limestone dust, hungry, still tired, I remember being thankful that this situation doesn't happen often.
Fast forward to 1pm. The bus-house is done. Some adjustments here and there, a couple new proximity switches, and a few hundred bucks later I'm hopeful that the problems are solved. Won't really know until the weather turns cooler later in the year, as it seems there was an inverse relationship between the slide-locks functioning and the temperature. If nothing else I gathered some knowledge about how the slide system works and should be better prepared if similar problems show up again.
I was on the road back to K-zoo by 1:30pm. With the early completion at Newmar my plan now was to spend Wednesday night back at Markin Glen, have dinner with Dar, Jack and Cher one more time, and then Dar and I can make the trip to Charlotte together today. And that's exactly what we did.
This morning was more leisurely than yesterday... slept in 'till almost 8am. We were packed up and ready to go by 11am. The short 75 mile drive over to Charlotte went good and we were parked by 12:30pm. I checked in the office and we're all set for the work to be done tomorrow... Friday.
The work we're having done is almost all preventative maintenance... those things that need to be done annually, or every two or three years. Included in the list is a new air cleaner for Cummins diesel motor (definitely NOT the air filter on your Daddy's Oldsmobile), fuel filters (two of 'em), lube job (more zerks than people who live in Climax, MI. if I'm not mistaken), transmission filters and fluid change (this is the expensive one $$$), safety inspection of all chassis systems and components, and a few more filters, thingys, and fuzzits -- all of which are critical to the safe and efficient operation of the bus-house. Because the three year maintenance milestone is the most comprehensive, I'm hoping that I can get away without the stop in Charlotte next year. At least that's the plan.
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I've included a few photos from the past few days with this post. The first is Dar posing on another caboose (I know, it's becoming a theme), a shot of us along the Kal-Haven bike trail that runs from Kalamazoo to South Haven, and a pic taken of the bus-house at Camp Newmar. As always, click on the images to see them full size.
Fast forward to 1pm. The bus-house is done. Some adjustments here and there, a couple new proximity switches, and a few hundred bucks later I'm hopeful that the problems are solved. Won't really know until the weather turns cooler later in the year, as it seems there was an inverse relationship between the slide-locks functioning and the temperature. If nothing else I gathered some knowledge about how the slide system works and should be better prepared if similar problems show up again.
I was on the road back to K-zoo by 1:30pm. With the early completion at Newmar my plan now was to spend Wednesday night back at Markin Glen, have dinner with Dar, Jack and Cher one more time, and then Dar and I can make the trip to Charlotte together today. And that's exactly what we did.
This morning was more leisurely than yesterday... slept in 'till almost 8am. We were packed up and ready to go by 11am. The short 75 mile drive over to Charlotte went good and we were parked by 12:30pm. I checked in the office and we're all set for the work to be done tomorrow... Friday.
The work we're having done is almost all preventative maintenance... those things that need to be done annually, or every two or three years. Included in the list is a new air cleaner for Cummins diesel motor (definitely NOT the air filter on your Daddy's Oldsmobile), fuel filters (two of 'em), lube job (more zerks than people who live in Climax, MI. if I'm not mistaken), transmission filters and fluid change (this is the expensive one $$$), safety inspection of all chassis systems and components, and a few more filters, thingys, and fuzzits -- all of which are critical to the safe and efficient operation of the bus-house. Because the three year maintenance milestone is the most comprehensive, I'm hoping that I can get away without the stop in Charlotte next year. At least that's the plan.
----------
I've included a few photos from the past few days with this post. The first is Dar posing on another caboose (I know, it's becoming a theme), a shot of us along the Kal-Haven bike trail that runs from Kalamazoo to South Haven, and a pic taken of the bus-house at Camp Newmar. As always, click on the images to see them full size.
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