Freightliner Service Center, Gaffney, SC

Shame on me. Well, at least for part of the story.

We travel to Gaffney, SC each winter to have our motorhome serviced at the Freightliner Service Center. These are the people who build the chassis the motorhome sits on. They know their stuff, and they are great to deal with. Today has been no exception.

We limped out of Orlando Tuesday morning with a throttle issue that seemed to be overcome through the use of the cruise control. Once at speed everything was fine, so we only had trouble when we stopped at a rest stop and had to get going again. Yesterday it was a bit more problematic and we felt lucky to have made it here. Needless to say, our confidence in the RV for a long haul trip was weakened. Today the tech checked all of the possible electrical connections in the involved circuit and found no fault. He made an adjustment to a parameter in the control unit that should allow the throttle to override the low voltage error the computer was seeing, and a test ride had no repeat of the issue. Still, our concern remained because this has been intermittent. It is hard for a tech to fix what is not broken when he checks. Last year we experienced the same symptom as we approach Gaffney. The solution was to replace the throttle sensor, which is actually an assembly that includes the pedal and bracket. It is an $800 part! That replacement did solve the problem for a year and 10,000 miles. Yet, here it is again. We elected to go for the sensor replacement again. It will increase our confidence, but there is still no guarantee. We shall see.

So much for the good news. Now for the whine. Wasn't National Whine Day last week? Maybe that was Wine Day, but I digress. We also intended to replace the shocks on the motorhome with top of the line Konis. Folks say they improve handling and the ride, and with our last coach an upgrade in shocks was noticeable. They were just not Konis. Konis are supposed to be a bit better than the brand we used before, so we shall see. Just not today. Or, tomorrow. Well, maybe a little. It turns out that shockwarehouse.com sent the incorrect shocks for the front of the coach. When they arrived at the house I noted a difference in the size of the boxes. I checked the part numbers and they seemed correct. Here is the mia culpa. I only checked the last four digits of the part numbers, and from memory to boot. The tech brought the bad news: "not even close". I have sent an email to shockwarehouse.com with a photo of the box with the part number and a copy of their order confirmation. They are not a match. I expect this will all work out, except for the inconvenience and added expense of getting them mounted elsewhere. I will post how this works out, and how shockwarehouse.com handles their error.

I wish that was the end of the bad news today. It can't be good when the tech asks you to step into the shop and says, " I have something you need to see". In this case what he wanted me to see was damage to the fuel tank caused by an improperly mounted steering stabilizer. The steering stabilizer is called a Safe-T-Plus. It is a great addition to any motorhome. We swear by them after our front tire blowout in west Texas. They really help maintain control. Anyway, it turns out that when this item was installed by Lazy Days in Florida when we bought the coach, they failed to do two things. First, there is a spacer that must be installed to provide adequate clearance from the fuel tank, and second, a clearance check is supposed to be performed to insure that the spacer used was adequate. Didn't happen obviously. A call to Safe-T-Plus uncovered this shortcoming and they are happy to send the proper spacer and longer bolt if needed. Aside from a little inconvenience on my part, a happy ending. Yea!

Tomorrow we get the new pedal assembly installed and head to Bluffton, SC for dinner with Nina and Archie Sellew. That is always an experience that will wash away whatever ails you. Such great people.

If the next post is just to let you know how the shockwarehouse.com experience turns out, all is well.

EDIT: Shockwarehouse.com failed to respond to multiple attempts to contact them through email, phone, their website and Facebook. They only responded when I initiated a dispute resolution through PayPal. I eventually got the correct shocks, but I am now looking for a trusted place for the install.

Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid-Florida

Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid-Florida held its twenty-fifth annual reunion at Parker Lake Park in Lakeland, FL today. Barbara is a foster coordinator for the organization and very active with the group. For days in advance she was filling 136 gift bags for all of the registrants. This morning she left very early to deliver the bags and help get the venue set up for the arrival of fosters, adopters and lots of dogs.

It is always a fun day, and this was no exception. There was a food vendor, DJ, dog masseuse, and the DogLypics. Sea Scouts helped with dog walking and selling of raffle tickets. There was also a silent auction of dog-related items. For the most part all of the dogs got along and enjoyed the day. It is a great opportunity for fosters to again meet the dogs that spent time in their homes while awaiting their forever family. In many cases it is also a time for the adopted dogs to meet dog friends from their foster homes. Our dog, Bella, for example, got to spent time with Cooper who is a tripod living with her original foster family. Only having three legs does not slow Cooper down in the least. The two had a ball playing with one another. All in all it is a wonderful experience.

The DogLympics gave the dogs a chance to show their stuff. There were several events like the ball toss and agility course. Bella entered two food related events and, considering her strong food focus, we had high expectations. First was the Bobbing for Bisquits event and Bella was in a three-way tie for first place. A bob-off followed and an over-coached competitor narrowly edged her out of the gold. Bella was again nudged away from the gold in the Popcorn Toss by the same dog with the over achieving human assistant. She has since told us that she expects to focus on these events over the upcoming year so that she can be triumphant in the 2017 rematch.

Bella took silver in two events!