Welcome to our travels and adventures


Welcome to our travels and adventures

Give Us Some Heat

What a flurry of activity in our last couple of days in Ontario. Sunday sees Barb cleaning up and getting the house ready for our departure and I’m in the attic – try to picture my 6 foot frame in a small space where I can only kneel on 2x6 ceiling joists while trying to connect flexible ducts to the air vents and the air exchanger. Ouch… Anyway, I finally get the holes cut in on the outside and on the interior walls for the air vents and the wire is run for the wall control. We turn the unit on and surprise, surprise, it is running, blowing air out where it should! Now to do the WiFi thermostat so we can monitor the house temperature and make adjustments if need be.

We had to return the tables and chairs on Monday morning, pickup some much desired Canadian cheese for our friends at the Plantation and get our prescriptions filled for our stay in LA. I also had a low beam out on the passenger side and of course, waited until the cooler weather to change it. It appeared to be a simple task of just reaching in from under the hood to remove the old bulb and insert the new one. Well, removing the old bulb was not a problem but inserting the new one was a different story. I just couldn’t get enough room for my hand and arm to push the new bulb into the light. Out comes the battery and the battery box so I could get enough room to push the bulb in. Once in and all connected, all was good, low beam working again. Now the bad news – since I upgraded the bulb to a brighter model, I had to do the drivers side too. Again, a simple task to remove the old, perfectly good bulb but again, could not insert the new one. So, out comes the battery and the battery box and was able to get the new one in, replace the battery box and battery. Now, I know enough that I can not put any body oil on the bulb and I wore latex gloves but did not notice the grease on the gloves from removing the battery etc. I didn’t think I touched the bulb but must have because within a few minutes, the blub exploded in the light lens. Off to get another bulb and try again. Out comes the battery and box and old bulb. Inserted the new one and turned on the lights. What? The lights are on but on high beam and I could not switch them off. Put the old low beam in and all is good except now the low beam does not work but at least they are not on high beam now and can be switched. Don’t know what I did but the parts guy suggests it may be a defective bulb so make the exchange and tried again with the same results – high beams on and can’t be switched off! I’ll wait until we get south and have a professional look at it down there.

Tuesday and we are putting things away, tiding up the garage, picking tools etc that will go with us to LA – they might come back too. We decided to hook up in the morning but brought the slides in so we wouldn’t have snow to knock off. Barb made sure the inside was secured for morning.

Wednesday, we are on our way, planned to cross at Buffalo and take the NY toll road after we looked up the toll costs online and realized it was not that expensive and shaved 2+ hours off our trip. Our first stop was duty free. We were sitting on a downward slope as I remembered to call Visa to let them know of our plans. So, we’re sitting at near freezing temps, the heater blower on, the trailer running lights on and holding the brakes to keep us from rolling downhill. We were like that for about 25 minutes talking to Visa and I smell burning rubber but there was a highway bus next to us and it could have been him. Ok, so we’re ready now and we start up, pulling around to the ramp to the bridge when our alternator gauge goes to zero! The check gauges alarm comes on! Great, we’re on the bridge, no where to pull over so we have to keep going. There was no delay so we pull right in to the guard gate and switch off the engine with our fingers and toes crossed that we will be able to move out without the hook! Our stay was brief and soon ready to roll. I asked the guard if he knew of a place nearby that could look at our problem and he did not so now what? Our decision was to kick it up and see where we get to, there has to be something around if we need help – after all, isn’t that what ERS is for? We start up ok, the alternator starts reading about 10V and by the time we were on the freeway toward I90, the alternator was reading full at 14V – yippee! We were still on edge that the problem might come back and of course it would at the worst time.

By the time we were approaching Cincinnati, it was getting dusky and we had to turn on the running lights so I was a bit nervous in case the alternator would not carry the extra load but we were good! Soon we were at the next chasm and that was the headlights - or should I say headlight, anyway I turned them on and the alternator continued to work fine. I will have to get it checked when we get settled in LA. we stayed the night at the FlyingJ in Walton, Ky. It was close to our turn off to I71 to Louisville and we could get some dinner since we do not carry much when we cross the border.1412001 Dec 04 Rigsbys Last Trip From Ontario

Thursday and the alternator issue is still on our minds but after fuelling and heading to I71, all was good so we sat back and enjoyed the sleet, snow and rain that we drove through on our way to Louisville. Once we were clear of Louisville and head’n south on I65, the skies cleared and the temps started to rise – it must be an omen for us that this is going to be a terrific winter for us. We stopped at the Walmart in Clanton, Al for the night and to restock our groceries. It was wonderful, sleeping with the windows and vents open, one of the best sleeps lately.

On Friday, we were up and at’m early, we were both anxious to get to the Plantation, get the jacks down and kick back. Bill & Ann had us in for dinner so we don’t have to cook, what a treat. Our site looks so different as our Eucalyptus tree had died and was taken out during the summer. It did make it easier to back in without it stretching out into our parking space. As we were setting up, Bill & Ann came by to welcome us back. We went to there site soon after and caught up on the news and gossip – along with a few beverages.

Saturday was a wind down day, we checked in at the office, stopped and chatted with some friends along the way and made our way back to the rig. Whew, who wants to cook – no one put their hands up so we asked Ann & Bill and they didn’t want to either so hello O’Charlie’s.

That was our trip for this week, we hope all is good where you are and wish you a Merry Christmas…..

1 comment:

  1. dodge dodge headlights are a pain in the butt and the wallet ..,,glad to hear you at least had one light ..there is a daylight fuse block type thing for the headlights.spent dollars on bulbs and then took it to Chrysler garage and they took about two minute's to check the daylight thingy and that was the thing .. same symptom's that you had high beams only ,,anyways check that block fuse or what ever it is ,, ok merry Christmas and big hugs.

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