Black Cloud

Have you ever heard the saying "I think a black cloud is following me."  Even though we've had a good time on this trip seeing family, friends, and sights, it has presented many challenges.  We should have known before we left.  We had a few clues.

In mid-March just before Tim left Jacksonville upon the completion of his prostate cancer treatment, Tim noticed water slowly dripping from the bus water bay.  The bus was converted in 1999, so it is around 13 years old.  Upon getting home, 1 of the 2 water heaters had developed a small leak in the case (rust through).  Of course that water heater was located below the other.  Both heaters were removed to replace the bottom unit.  It was noticed that the electric dash was starting to fail as well as the front unit of the 3 roofs air conditioners.  We bit the bullet and had both replaced, trying to be proactive on maintenance.  The new "glass dash" electronics was not cheap, but hopefully will last a long time with great reliability.  These repairs were made May 23.

About the same time we upgraded the front TV to a new LED 32".  The Bose A/V system that we bought a few years ago, but had caused us some trouble was reconnected to the satellite receiver, new TV, and DVD player.  We tested all the units thoroughly.  We parked the bus in the garage until Tim brought it home for Linda to load on June 10.

As we have written in an earlier post, Tim had a cancerous growth on his back removed May 29 requiring 5 internal and 15 external stitches.  The external stitches were removed the day before we left.  Removing the stitches would later prove to be a problem.

We pulled the bus out of the driveway on Tuesday, June 12 to hook up our towed car.  Wouldn't you know the troublesome Bose unit stopped working.  After a few choice words and a threat to throw it over the seawall, Tim disconnected the Bose unit and we left town.

When we arrived in Jacksonville for our first overnight stop, a RV pulled in next to us shortly after we arrived.  The driver popped out and remarked "boy that was a hot trip."  They had their front air conditioner replaced in Ft. Myers the day before.  It stopped working on the trip to Jacksonville.  I looked up and it was the same as our new unit.  This event foretold what would happen to us.

Someplace in Georgia or South Carolina, we noticed the over-the-road air conditioner was not cooling as well.  After a rest stop in West Virginia, the dash air conditioner blew warm air. 

At the New River Gorge stop for 2 nights, Tim's wound opened where the 15 stitches had been removed.  This resulted in a trip to the ER.  We wrote about this in an earlier post.  Then we received a call that my mother had suffered a heart attack and was recovering in a Largo, FL hospital.  She is doing better now.

Boondocking (no hookups) in the parking lot at the hotel in Pittsburgh the bus was running house electric off the 2 inverters.  Tim went to the bus to check on it.  He decided to start the generator to charge the house batteries.  It ran for 1 minute, shut down, and every electrical item in the bus was dead.  After about 10 minutes, 1 of the 2 inverters came back to life and Tim was able to run the generator to charge the batteries.  The dead inverter never came back to life.

About this same time, we noticed the new front air conditioner was not cooling.  We checked into it closer and sure enough only warm, ambient air was coming out of the vents.  Now we have 3 of 5 air conditioners on the bus weren't working and it was pushing 100 degrees.  If you have ever been in a metal bus, now you know what it is to be a slice of bread in the toaster.

We headed on Sunday, June 24th from Pittsburgh to Salt Fork State Park near Cambrige, Oh (southeast Ohio) for a week to relax in nature.  We arrived 5 miles from our turnoff of I-70 late afternoon just past the last exit.  We noticed traffic backed up in front of us westbound.  It took us an hour to drive 5 miles because of construction.  We finally pulled into the campground and set up on our reserved site.  We were tired and hot and wanted to watch some TV to relax.  Satellite TV wouldn't work because of 1 damn tree across. from our site.  Damn it!  We decided to go to bed and try to find another site in the morning without a damn tree in the way.

BLACK CLOUD continued on the next post.