Double, double, toil and trouble...

Here's an update on our star-crossed vacation. On July 22nd, we got Sadie ready for the return trip (150 miles) to Portland, where we planned to spend the night at Mom's house and meet the next day with Julie from Russellville Park retirement community.

My brother, Charlie, delivered Mom to the RV park while I was busy airing up tires and doing final checks for the road trip. Jill was walking Pogo. Charlie's daughter Laura needed to use the bathroom at the park, but we had a little trouble with the code for the lock on the door. And of course there was a little concern about getting 94 year-old Mom aboard, given Sadie's tall entry steps. Finally, we got underway a little after 1 PM.

We stopped at the Scatter Creek rest area, about 10 miles north of Centralia, WA. While we were having our lunch, it occurred to me that I had never seen anyone load Mom's luggage aboard the coach. Indeed, it was not present. Nor was it in Daisy Mae.

I tried to call Charlie, but he wasn't answering his cell phone. I was able to reach his wife, Bev, and we decided that if we couldn't get hold of Charlie, who had the luggage in the trunk of his car, we would go on home and Bev would mail Mom's stuff to her. Finally, Charlie called and confirmed the plan.

Just as we pulled out onto the interstate, Charlie called again and said, "Turn around. I will meet you at the rest stop and bring the gear." There is no place to "turn around" between the rest area and Centralia, so we agreed to meet in Centralia at the outlet mall.

It took Charlie about an hour and ten minutes to catch up to us. The transfer was made, and we continued on home, arriving about 7:15 PM. I called Bev to let her know we were home, and she said Charlie hadn't returned yet. He probably was caught in rush-hour traffic in Olympia.

This was one vacation that left us happy to be home.

On the road again!

Yesterday, we arose after spending the night at the Super 8 Motel in Shelton, WA and had a leisurely continental breakfast in the motel. We updated our emails and then headed over to Vander Wal's Garage to see what progress had been made on repairing Sadie's brakes.

Marlo, who holds down the fort in the office, told us that Don Vander Wal had stayed until 8:00 PM working on the problem of why the break pedal would not firm up after bleeding the system. He finally discovered that the new master cylinder that was supplied by the auto parts house was defective. Somehow, Don managed to get another master cylinder, and then he came in before opening to install the new one; this on a day when he had to travel on business!

Marlo told us that everything was done except bleeding the system again and that we should be on the road by 2:00 o'clock. We decided to drive out to Hood Canal to the cabin where my brother and his family are vacationing. Shortly after we arrived there (about 12:30 PM, as I recall), Marlo called to say that Sadie was ready.

We went back and paid the tab, thanked all our new friends at Vander Wal's, hooked up Daisy Mae and headed for The Waterfront at Potlatch RV park. Upon arrival we were assigned space #11 and we settled in to enjoy what we came here for in the first place. The weather was glorious, the view spectacular, the fact of having the brake nightmare behind us priceless.

We enjoyed the venue until about 5:00 and then headed over to my brother's place, where we had a sumptuous feast including smoked salmon, filet mignon and pork chops, which had thawed while Sadie's refrigerator was without power. In addition, we had fresh steamer clams and sauteed oysters, shrimp pasta and cole slaw. A little vino completed the repast, which was better than any I have ever had in a restaurant, because it included so many family members and dining al fresco beside the still waters of Hood Canal.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Are you sure this was our vacation plan?

OK. This is not the blog post I had intended to be making, and this is not the date on which I had intended to make it. We left Independence on Sunday, July 18th, for four glorious days on Hood Canal in Washington state. On the way, we picked up Mom in order to deliver her to my brother and his family, who are staying in a cabin a few miles away from The Waterfront at Potlatch RV park.

We made it to within about 15 miles of our destination when Sadie's brake pedal went to the floor, and the brake warning light came on and stayed lit. Fortunately, we were able to stop before anything awful happened. I limped in to Sundance RV and Auto in the outskirts of Shelton. Sundance doesn't have a service department for mechanical problems, but they were very gracious in allowing us to stay on their lot for the night (remember this was Sunday.)

I called Good Sam Emergency Road Service, and they couldn't have been nicer. The first thing Antonio wanted to know was whether we were safe. I assured him we were and proceeded to tell him my tale of woe. He took my phone number and said that, since it was Sunday, he would do some research and see how best to help us. Then, he promised, we would get a call back.

After about half an hour, Veronica called me and said that they had located two possible places that could repair Sadie's brakes, but of course she wouldn't know for sure until morning. She suggested that we be towed to one of them for safe keeping. I assured her we were in a safe place and asked if it might not be better to wait until we found out for sure who could do the repairs. She agreed and promised to call in the morning.

When we woke up on Monday, the coach was cold inside.
We had no AC power for the electric heater, and I didn't want to run
the battery flat by using the propane furnace, which has
a 12V fan. Pogo wrapped up in a blanket to keep warm.

On Monday, which happened to be my birthday, Veronica called a little after 9:00 AM and said that she had located Vander Wal's Garage a mere five miles from us, and she said a tow truck would come to us in two to two and a half hours. About 45 minutes later, Mike from Nisqually Towing showed up. He was very professional, very courteous and very competent. In a matter of minutes he had Sadie hitched up to his tow vehicle. He took us to Vander Wal's, where we were met by Don Vander Wal.

Sadie's link to the Nisqually Towing truck.

Just about ready to tow.

Here's Mike, whom Jill dubbed our "angel of mercy."

Don, too, has been very accommodating, professional and competent. He took Sadie in right away and began working on her. About an hour and a half later, he reported that the master cylinder had failed. He also suggested replacing the flexible brake hoses, which were showing their age. He told us that it was unlikely that Sadie would be ready that same day, but he said we could stay aboard her in the garage yard, behind a locked gate. He even gave us the key to the gate, so we could go to my brother's cabin for a birthday celebration.

Vander Wal's Garage, highly touted among the locals in Shelton.

Don Vander Wal could not be more accommodating.

In spite of everything, we slept like tops, and in the morning we went to McDonald's for breakfast and WiFi. We checked back after a couple of hours and learned that there was a little hiccup in the works. There is a valve in the system that is designed to provide SOME braking, even when the system fails. When it is activated in a failure situation, the valve piston moves so that brakes on at least two wheels give some braking. Thank God for modern technology, even the kind that dates back to 1988.

Poor Sadie jacked up for repairs.

It turns out that when the piston is activated, it has to be deactivated, in order for the brakes to be restored to proper working order. In the case of Sadie, that meant uninstalling and reinstalling it. Once that was done, bleeding the brake system could commence. Unfortunately, that process commenced late in the day and didn't go well. At last, Don told us that we would not be able to leave today.

So, we are currently housed at the Super 8 Motel. We could have stayed in Sadie, but we really wanted to have a long hot shower and TV, which were not options with Sadie in her current state of being propped up on jacks, without electricity. We are hopeful that we will be back on the road tomorrow.

Summing things up: 1) We are incredibly grateful to our Creator that we were saved from disaster when the master brake cylinder failed; 2) we are very grateful to Good Sam Emergency Road Service for prompt and thoughtful service; 3) we are so thankful for Mike and Nisqually Towing... our angel of mercy, as Jill called him; 4) we are very grateful for Don Vander Wal and his crew for their prompt service and professionalism in taking on a difficult and unexpected repair job with no notice and for being so very gracious in giving us a place to stay.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the kindness of The Waterfront at Potlatch RV Park in forgiving us for not keeping our reservation. They usually require full payment if there is a cancellation less than a week before the expected arrival in the summer. They forgave the whole thing and told us whenever our coach is fixed, they will find a place for us.

We did get the chance to go to Potlatch State Park
and see what we came to see, if only briefly.

Here's the birthday boy. Not the birthday I would have
planned, but we had fun in spite of our troubles.

Pogo likes to walk on the beach.

This is not the vacation we planned, but it has been so full of blessings, that we would be ungrateful indeed, if we were to pout about the situation. It is great to be alive. We serve an awesome God!!

The Wet Carpet Blues

The Wet Carpet Blues
(Tune up your guitar and strum a blues beat.)

I woke up this morning;
Got outta my bed.
Took me a shower,
And washed my bald head.

I covered my kisser,
With lots of thick suds,
Shaved off my whiskers
And put on my duds.

I went to the bathroom,
To use the fixed throne.
I suddenly noticed the socks on my feet were as dry as an ol' hound dog's bone.

Chorus:
I lost those wet carpet blues;
I lost those wet carpet blues;
I lost those wet carpet blues,
And I no longer have soggy shoes.

I fought the john and the john...LOST! (I think.)

Day two of the battle against pot. Today, I got kind of mad at this whole leaking toilet situation. I got online and did some research about this plumbing, which I found is called "The Gray Menace." It turns out to be Poly-Butylene (PB), which was very popular in the era in which Sadie was built. Later, not so much. There were apparently a number of class action lawsuits about the stuff, primarily regarding its usage in home construction. Seems that prolonged exposure to heat and pressure had a tendency to rupture PB pipes. Thank goodness I always use a pressure regulator at the park faucet.

That being said, PB is what I have and I had to work with it. I removed the pot again and went to True Value with a piece of the pipe. My plan was to install a shut-off valve in the system, so we could at least use the rest of the plumbing, in the event the toilet needed to be removed.

I purchased a 1/2" X 3/8" compression shut-off valve, brought it home and installed it on the PB pipe stub. Jill turned on the pump. Hello; it leaked. I tightened the fitting another 1/4 turn and went about my business. Fifteen minutes later, I checked the fitting again...it was leaking. Tighten a quarter turn...wait 15...check...tighten a quarter turn...wait...well, we decided to go to Dallas and check on the house. When we returned, I checked again...it leaked.

OK. Now I was taking no prisoners. I turned off the water, removed the valve and...well, I had a problem. The brass compression ring that is part of the valve wouldn't come off the pipe. I got out my frameless hacksaw, and with a mighty 1/4 inch stroke, I sawed through the ring far enough that I could break it with the twist of a screwdriver.

Having removed the valve completely, I returned to True Value. Now, when you live in a small town and you go to a hardware store with 6 employees, they get to know you pretty fast. Amidst some good natured ribbing, I picked out my next array of parts for my aresenal. These comprised a PEX press-on Street elbow and a straight lavatory supply valve.

I went back to Sadie and installed said items. Then I turned on the water pressure and checked for leaks. No leak! Just to be safe, I left the system under pressure for about 45 minutes and never found a leak. At last, I felt comfortable reinstalling the toilet...until, that is, I remembered the broken sink sprayer that is attached to the toilet for the purpose of cleaning the bowl.

Alas, I was faced with a decision either to leave the broken sprayer, thus dooming myself to the possibility that I might have to remove and replace the toilet yet another time to replace it, or to endure the ribbing of the True Value guys. It was off to TV for me.

With some mild expletives and a couple more skinned knuckles, I finally conquered the john! Of course, the proof of the pudding will be in checking the bathroom carpet tomorrow morning. Will it be wet, or will it be dry?

Tune in next time to see if success is really success or if it is only defeat in success' clothing.

The Battle Against Pot

A few days ago, after Jill left for a visit with daughter Tara in Denver, I noticed the carpet in the bathroom was wet. Let me back up a moment. Prior to this discovery, I had foolishly let the gray water tank get too full. After my shower, I noticed the water was not draining out of the shower pan, a sure sign that it is time to dump.

I did the dumping and thought no more about the situation, until I went in the bathroom later in the day and noticed the wet carpet. Once before I had allowed the gray tank to over fill. In that case, the carpet immediately outside the shower had become wet. In this new incident, I attributed the wet carpet to the overfilled gray tank and the coach, perhaps, sitting at a slightly different angle, causing the water to "settle" in a different area.

Ever the optimist, I tried drying the carpet with towels and a heater with a fan on it. I thought I was making progress, until I got up in the night, used the toilet, and discovered my PJs were wet, where they had lain on the floor during my "business." That was the night before last.

Yesterday, I had to leave early for the drive to the Portland airport to pick up Jill. When we returned home, I found the carpet even wetter. Some investigation showed a little dampness around the place where the supply pipe emerges from the floor behind the toilet. With a heavy heart, I concluded that I needed to remove the toilet and investigate further. (The heavy heart was the result of having removed this toilet once before for a different problem.)

I read the installation/removal instructions in the manual and went to True Value to buy the "right" tools, because I remembered how difficult it was to remove the toilet with the tools I had on hand. I have to admit that the thought of having a "legitimate" reason to purchase some new tools mitigated my heavy heartedness a bit.

Upon arriving back home, and with all due alacrity and dispatch, I attacked the toilet. After some struggling with access to the bolts and more than one skinned knuckle, I had the beast out. I determined that the fitting joining the water supply line to the toilet was leaking. Upon further inspection, it appeared that the compression fitting was slightly deformed, probably as the result of 22 years of having been compressed. I also discovered a hose loose under the toilet and replaced it on its nipple, adding a hose clamp, which was in absentia.

I reattached the compression fitting and had Jill turn on the water pump. Oops! It was leaking worse than before. "Turn it off; turn it off," I cried. I disconnected and reconnected the compression fitting. "Turn it on!" Jill complied. No leak. "Turn it off." I began reseating the toilet and reinstalling washers and nuts on the virtually inaccessible flange bolts. Good, good; that one is on. OK, I think I have... Oh! No!! One of the nuts dropped into an inaccessible recess in the plastic casting that is the base of the toilet.

I removed the one nut I had been able to get on to the bolt, disconnected the compression fitting and removed the toilet again so I could shake the missing nut out of its hiding place. On the next attempt, I got the compression fitting tight and installed the washers and nuts. At last, the toilet was back in its proper place. I picked up my tools, congratulated myself for a job well-done and sat down to relax for the evening.

This morning. I got out of bed and went in to use the bathroom. Funny! The carpet seems wetter than when I went to bed. I reluctantly felt the compression fitting, and Yes! it was drip, drip, dripping on the carpet.

Tune in next time to see if our hero can stop the leak and re-install the pot without using any curse words.

And the adventure begins.

We are currently residing at the Ash Creek RV park in Independence, OR. The sale of our home will be complete tomorrow, and the construction of our new home is underway in Dallas, OR, about 15 minutes from the RV park.

We moved all our worldly possessions out of our stix and brix into P.O.D.S. (Portable On Demand Storage units), which left us effectively homeless, while we are having a new home built, complete with RV garage for Sadie!! We moved aboard Sadie in our driveway and stayed there a couple of days while we cleaned up the house before turning it over to the new owners.

Ash Creek RV park is nestled in the middle of Independence such that you might never see it, if you didn't make an effort. Our son, Patrick, works a block away and had no idea it was here. It is not fancy, but the facilities are nicely kept. Many of the residents are either full time in the park or are snow birds and stay here in the summer and somewhere further south in the winter. We are quite comfortable, and we believe we will be able to remain here comfortably for the 4 - 5 months it will take for our new home to be ready.

The one problem we have is that just about the time we moved into the coach, the fresh water pump stopped working, along with the overhead light in the bedroom and the overhead light in the kitchen. Since we are connected to city water and have other lights these problems have not been stressful, but they are in need of repair, whenever I can find the time to fix them.

Today is Fathers' Day, so we will be spending the day with Patrick and his wife, Katie. I'm sure the electrical problems will still be here tomorrow!