After picking Linda up on the 16th from the Akron/Canton Airport, we stayed another day in Amish country. Linda wanted to see her sister and brother-in-law before we left the area. We had dinner with them on the 17th and played one more game of canasta, which they won again. With our tail between our legs we hugged and left the next morning.
Our destination for the 18th was Cincinnati. We had an uneventful trip to Columbus, then headed southeast towards Cincy. Linda looked at radar and saw a bad cell ahead, so we just made it into a rest area, when the skies opened. We waited until the storm passed and continued on to Cincy.
We noticed the storm was following us towards Cincy. We hoped to get setup at the RV park there before the storm hit. It didn't work that way. Pulling into the RV park the skies opened again. The bus rocked and rolled in the wind as the rain came pouring down. The weather radio was broadcasting a tornado watch. We kept our eyes peeled. Looking over the a building at the RV park, we watched a dumpster float.
With all the wind, none of the parked RVs lost their awnings. They were lucky.. After the storm we unhooked the car and settled into a campsite. When unhooking the car, Tim noticed oil all over the front of it and some on the back of the bus. This doesn't look good. A small puddle of oil collected under the bus. Tim crawled under the bus and saw oil dripping from 1 of the 2 oil filters. Tim tightened the filter as much as he could by hand. The filter stopped leaking, but only with the engine off. With the engine running, oil pressure built up and the filter leaked again. The next morning we called around trying to find a shop to take a look at the bus. After a couple of hours making calls, we located an independent truck repair shop in western Cincy about 20 miles away. We didn't hook up the car to spare it getting another oil bath and headed to the shop. Arriving we saw nothing but dump trucks, school buses, and other trucks of all descriptions. Tim goes into the office and meets the owner. He leads Tim to an area that he tells a couple of techs to move trucks out of the way, so they can look at our bus. A tech with a long pony tail slides under the bus, then pops back up and says he has seen many Detroit Diesel Series 60 engines that have filters work loose. He uses a large, industrial size band oil filter wrench to tighten the filter. He reports to the owner what he found. The shop owner is concerned the mating lip of the filter might be damaged and leak again. He suggests to replace both oil filters. Filters are relatively cheap, so 2 new filters were installed. Yeah, no leaks and a clean car behind the bus.
Next up, Nashville. We drove to just north of Nashville after getting the oil leak solved. Tim made an appointment at Inverter Service Center for the next day. 1 of the 2 inverters bit the dust during our visit to Pittsburgh for the nephew's wedding. The other inverter was flaky also. The next day tech, Randy, got right to work on the bus performing his surgery. First, he carefully removed the old inverters.
 |
| Randy has removed 1 inverter and is working on the 2nd |
Linda was curious on the progress being made, so she took a look.
 |
| Linda sees both inverters have been removed |
The inverter that stopped working in Pittsburgh showed a large water stain on the top cover. Water and inverters don't mix, so water may have lead to the inverter's demise.
Two new Magnum Energy inverters (made in U.S.A.) are installed. Randy did a neat job.
 |
| Randy & P.J. in bus bay figuring out how to integrate auto gen start |
We decided to have auto generator start capability based upon the temperature inside the bus. We have always worried about traveling with the 2 cats and leaving them during the day when we're sightseeing. If the power at the campground goes out we want the generator to start to keep running the roof air conditioners. It can get toasty very quickly inside the coach without the air conditioners running. Got to make sure we have a couple of cool cats on board the bus.
Next stop Nashville. We had an appointment on Monday afternoon at Prevost service located in Goodletsville just north of Nashville. Friday night we went to the Grand Ole Opry. We always enjoy the shows and the people who attend.
 |
| Entrance to the Grand Ole Opry House |
We moved the bus on Saturday from Inverter Service Center in White House to Goodletsville at Prevost. Prevost has a great place to park while waiting for service.
 |
| Big Red parked at Prevost service in Goodletsville |
We had made arrangements for dinner with one of Tim's fellow prostate cancer patients and his wife who live in nearby Franklin. Before dinner we went to Opry Mills outlet mall. Boy, was that a mistake! Linda found the Vera Bradley store. If you've never heard of Vera Bradley, just ask your wife, daughter, or almost any female. After about two hours of shopping, Tim was called in for "back up." Tim was told to stand in line, so Linda could continue to shop. Finally we got out of there and needed a hand truck to take purchases to the car....whew!!
Saturday night we met John & Betsy Yarborough for dinner at a great place just north of downtown...Germantown Cafe.
We got to know John & Betsy while Tim received proton radiation treatment in Jacksonville. John & Betsy are great and friendly people. We enjoyed them in Jacksonville and had a great visit with them.
Sunday we drove southwest from Nashville to eat dinner at the famous Loveless Cafe. The cafe is located next to the Natchez Trace Parkway. People come from all over the country to visit both. Loveless Cafe did not disappoint. We have a tasty dinner and the biscuits were awesome. We bought two bags of biscuit mix.
 |
| Tim in front of Loveless Cafe, Nashville |
After our mid-afternoon dinner, we drove a small part of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Parkway starts 444 miles away in Natchez, MS. We have driven many parts of the Parkway in the past, but never the northern section. The Parkway is gorgeous. If you have a chance to drive any part of it, we recommend it.
 |
| View from below of one of the Parkway bridges |
 |
| Wild turkeys crossing the Parkway |
Monday the bus had some service work done at Prevost, then we headed for Allatoona Lake, which is northwest of Atlanta.
No comments:
Post a Comment