Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Pony has reached the Barn, now what?

It was about noon yesterday when we pulled into the farm yard.  What a joy, relief and blessing to all.  The blessing was that we were off of the road and not a danger to anyone else and vice versa.  The cross wind blowing from the south was very aggressive and moved us and others around on Interstate 80.

We had been at the HWH service shop/factory less than a day and I think we were the only customer for the day.  Perhaps that says that the HWH system is getting more reliable as they age. (If you believe that one, I'll sell you a freezer for use in the Arctic!) I think it is one of two things, either the motorhomes are still in winter storage or they are south for the winter yet.  The actual repair was very quickly done, just replace two special valves in the rear jack lines. My question was why did both valves plus another different kind of valve in the pump assembly all independently fail on the same day?

The pump assembly valve controlled the slide extension/retraction action and was repaired at a dealer's shop in Florida.  We had decided then to not repair the jack problem until back at the factory.  So for a whole month, we lived with only being able to use the front jacks. It was a bit of a pain, but I'd much rather have someone work on my rig that understands what he's working on.

When we're away from the farm, we turn all of the breakers off at the meter pole, since there is nothing here that needs any light.  A farmer friend goes to McDonalds at 5 or 6  in the morning driving a road about a mile away, but keeps track of our travels by observing if the yard light is on or off.  So yesterday I decided to not show our presence and left the yard light breaker off.  So who drives in from the field, but our farmer friend on his tractor who was here to do some field preparation work. So much for hiding from the neighbors!

One of the reasons we returned a bit early was the failing health of my 101 year old mother.  So after we had the motorhome parked on the farm, we drove to  the care center to  visit her. It has been almost 6 months  since we've seen her, but we'd say that she is the same as last fall.  Other than an antibiotic pill recently given to her for a "boil" on  her back side, she takes no medications. I wish I were that well off.  Ten days ago the report was that she was not eating and very lethargic.  But yesterday she was eating (desert first) in the dining room in her wheel chair.  She also recognized us and that brought a smile to her face. We briefly visited with the care center nurses to let them know that we'll be in the area and left.

It was then time to do our laundry and head back to the farm.  So on the return trip, it was via the laundromat, a necessary stop for those of us without built in washer/dryers.  (If it was built in, then we'd have to visit the RV park more often, plus we've seen some RV parks that prohibit the use of laundry facilities in your rig. It overwhelms the disposal system.)

I best wrap this up, as there is work to get done outside!

Gene

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