To clarify something from yesterday's blog... a lot of wonderful people were emailing and texting us with helpful advice. I should have made it clear we don't have an air brake or air suspension system, its hydraulic brakes and lines and pads on this rig. So it's a pretty basic system with long steel lines, fluid and master cylinder.
We had rain all night long, and I tell ya, it was wonderful to wake up to the soothing sound on the roof of the RV with raindrops falling off the leaves in splatters. The rain had stopped, but the trees covering our site were still dripping. We stayed in bed until 8, and then made coffee before venturing out with the dogs.
He had to drive for the county in the morning, so trekked back to the Chilton courthouse, got into the ADRC county handicapped van and drove all the way to his designated pickup facility, only to find out they had CANCELLED and not called it in to Steve! So it was a wasted trip, and wasted time for him when he could be back looking at the repairs on his beloved motorhome. ARGGHH!
But he was able to stop at home and pick up all of our Halloween decorations that we had piled up in the garage to bring to the park. We are going to decorate our site tomorrow after the rain is done and the sun is out.
It was good though for him to spend the morning away, because then ground had dried up. All the rain from last night had soaked in or run off. With all the nice gravel Steve had previously spread on this site, it was now all pretty dry.
Steve raised up the rig a bit higher on our hydraulic levelers so he had even better access underneath. Then Steve donned his overalls he brought from home. He spread an old plastic tablecloth on the ground, and headed under the rig with his flashlight to check it out. He examined every inch of every line that he could see up in the front, and then worked his way backwards.
Look at this happy man!!!! It appears to not be so bad after all! Its only rusted off at the end of one line in an accessible spot right by a fitting. He checked all the other areas around it and those all looked good.
I brought him the various tools he needed, because I am the official "Tool Gopher" when he works on things. (-plus I take pics for you readers of my blog-) I know the difference between tubing wrenches vs box end wrenches, vise grip pliers vs adjustable pliers, and SAE vs metric sockets. I am an ex hardware store gal, plus I grew up in a mechanical family. This is how I look to him when I bring the tools within his reach under the rig.
He was able to get off the old fitting, and it won't be bad to replace. There is plenty enough line left to do some double crimps and flare to put on a new fitting. He has the flaring tools on hand in his toolbox. Look at that!
He has an air compressor on board as well as an air powered brake line bleeding tool. We will be able to fix this and run in the new fluid, pump it up and test it. One quick run to the auto supply store and we will be able to finish this up toot sweet.
Speaking of tools, I snapped this of Steve's pride and joy tool box. It's made from re-purposing the two sides of a big old steel shop desk. The drawers are heavy duty and extend all the way out for better access than any tool boxes he looked at 12 years ago when bought this motorhome. He has just about anything he needs along when we are on the road. Having a 22 year old rig, that is ALL necessary equipment!
While Steve was off driving today, or rather trying to drive, I set up a few things on our campsite to make ourselves at home. Our awning, some chairs, our ground carpet and some flags. I changed the message board at the kiosk in front of our campsite too.
Tomorrow we will add our Halloween Decorations
in preparation for the big huge event on Saturday!
As most of you readers know, Steve retired last year from being the Maintenance Supervisor at this park. The powers that be at the state level never filled his position. They are making the rangers do double duty to preform maintenance, cleaning and repairs. Sad. They are experienced law enforcement officials, and not handymen! They do the best they can, and do call on Steve from time to time to get advice, or locate the proper service places to fix things they can't handle.
This morning we popped into the office to complete some paperwork, and I noticed the toilet in the woman's public restroom was wobbling on the floor! The bolts were loose and there was some water leakage on the tiles. Oh my!
Sooooo after only ten minutes in the office, Steve was already fixing something! It was just like being back at work again. LOL LOL LOL ! It's all my fault because I was the one who noticed the loose toilet in the first place.
He patiently explained to the rangers of what of two things could be wrong. One was easy (bolts slid loose from the flange) , the other one would require a plumber (cracked flange below the tile line). He guided them through shutting off the water, disconnecting the water line and removing the toilet from the flange.
He showed them how to remove the old wax ring, and check the flange... wheee it was NOT cracked and was easy to clean up. They got new bolts and a new wax ring to replace the old ones. Steve guided them through the process and helped them with the repair.
Ahhh first day to volunteer in the park
and he's back to work???
He also helped the rangers again this evening with
some repairs of new parts that came for the broken tractor.
Sure wish the state big wigs in Madison would realize that big parks of this size have things that break down ... and it gets pretty expensive without any maintenance staff on hand. Our natural resources and the facilities to use them suffer as things keep breaking down. It's happening all over the state with the latest round of budget cuts again. If things were maintained regularly in this park, like the last five-six years under Steve's watch, things would be so much in better shape. The workers and staff in this park miss Steve a LOT. Awwwwwwww Okay.. off my soap box.
On to camping!
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