I’ll bet everyone has experienced this situation with their vehicle: something looks, feels or sounds wrong but when you have it checked out, it’s behaving like a little angel. The crew at Tidewater Hydraulic were great; here we just pull in and within minutes we are in a bay and the mechanic is underneath doing his detective work. No appointment and it wasn’t like they didn’t have other jobs in the works. Slides out and in several times. Jacks down. No leaking seen. Round two and still nothing. Finally after about an hour has passed the manager says that they don’t see any leak and they could replace the hose but why? The mechanic tightens the fitting a bit and the manager says “no charge.” We insist on paying something and settle on $50. I love the south. We’d driven both vehicles just in case Annie had to stay for a lengthy repair.
By this time it’s 11am and we head a few miles away to a Speedco (an ExpressLube for trucks and RVs). While waiting our turn Russ says that we should warm up the generator which promptly quits within seconds of firing up. Ou,ou I know why- the generator is designed not to run when the diesel level is below a quarter full and we probably were that after 500 miles since the last fill-up- only two days prior.
Ok then. We lose our turn, head next door to Love’s for diesel. Thank goodness the pumps are fast-fill and the trucks move up when they are done. The process is time-consuming because you have to go in to pay no matter by which method. Pumps don’t accept credit cards. If you want a receipt then you pull ahead to let the guy behind you move up and go back in. These truck fueling places, Love’s, FlyingJ, Pilot and others are pretty much all alike. They have parking for the truckers, showers, fast food and we RVer’s just have to manage around all that. Some places have RV lanes but we’ve yet to experience that. Many regular gas stations offer diesel and we can carefully fuel up if there’s enough maneuvering room; this is more likely to occur away from the northeast.
Back to Speedco and after only a 15 minute wait we are directed in.

I kill time by starting on this post.

Inside at Speedco where Annie gets fresh engine and genset oil

By 2pm we are done; just glad we didn’t go to Slowco! The process moved along, the only hitch was the generator’s oil drain plug was majorly stuck. Worse case was we’d have to drive off and buy a replacement plug if it was ruined during extraction.  Nearly every time we’ve stopped for fuel or during these maintenance stops today, Russ gets to engage in conversation with a trucker. The pieces of info are priceless and enlightening, and we are reassured by how friendly and courteous they are to us and each other- well, so far anyway- and on the roads too.

Hub cap gone AWOL

As soon as we returned to our site, Russ jumps out and says that the driver side hub cap fell off, he might have run over it and we have to go back and look for it! That piece need to be removed to check the tire pressure and must not have gotten back on properly. This should be fun- scouting the grassy road edges and median with 3 lanes of traffic whizzing by! Needless to say, that shiny disc remained elusive and I am in jeopardy of losing my “finder” title. Speedco told us to send them the bill after we purchased a replacement from a Freightliner dealer in Jacksonville on our way to St Augustine Monday.

1,047 miles. In three days. I feel like we have been transported in the blink of an eye. I’m pretty sure that traveling that distance in Ms Ortolan would take us 4 to 5 weeks!
Benj bid us farewell in Clinton; he heading due north and we, well, mostly south with enough west to avoid NYC. As we approached The Tappan Zee Bridge a sign proclaimed, “High winds, trucks consider alternate route.” Oh did you see me cringe? Sure, we braved that cross wind, and how great that we basically looked at each other and said “what wind?”

Our KOA guide leads us to our spot

We traveled through snow (teeny bit) and our second KOA stay brought us by cotton fields in North Carolina. White puffy cotton balls balanced atop brick-red stalky bushes created a field of high-topped snow. I had the urge to pull out my nail polish remover but my newly polished toes screamed nooooooooooo.

Three days to Brunswick, GA with each successive day longer than the one before and despite the length, each one an easier drive. The worst stretch is I95 between Wash DC and CT and we avoided most of that. By Day Two my hand was disengaged from the handrail next to my seat and by Day Three I was feet up on the dash, pink piggies smiling in the sun. 🙂

In travel mode:Precious items normally on a counter need to be properly stowed. I decided to still keep a log/journal

The hydraulic fluid leak Russ discovered before Thanksgiving still appeared unchanged as evidenced by the paper towel test. When we had to make an unscheduled stop to retract the bedroom slide a ½” the next move was to find a service place in Brunswick. He’d noticed that section moved out just enough to be noticeable and sure enough when I hit “retract” the slide pulled in. Not sure if the reduced hydraulic fluid had allowed the holding pressure to drop or maybe it was a fluke; either way we needed to address the leak.
At 4pm we arrived at Coastal GA RV Resort, got situated and promptly washed a very grungy Bonny. The park isn’t really a resort but having a pool must qualify it to claim resort status. It’s a huge cement parking lot with grass and shrubs separating each site. But it’s level and allowing vehicle washing at no extra cost is a rarity. Our spot was a pull-through and close to the pool and laundry.
My plans for lovely weather Thursday appeared to be in serious jeopardy thanks to the hydraulic repair and oh while we’re at it let’s do that engine and genset oil change at Speedco and fill up with diesel. Chores first, play eventually.