Almost There

Well, the Great Oil Change of 2023 has been performed by the masters over at The Truck Center, a beautifully maintained, spotless facility, just a few miles from where we live. These folks are our “Go To” experts when we are down here. You may remember last year at this time we were experiencing some DEF issues and it was these guys that dropped what they were doing (they had about a two-week scheduling backup) and worked feverishly to get us going again. They are a pleasure to work with.

                             Anyway, as I wrote the other day, this Event comes complete with its own Majestic Invoice which this time arrived with just a tad more majesty than previously. The reason for the grandioseness  of it was the inclusion of an innocuous air filter. These babies are the size of a small trash bin and have the price tag of a large diamond. It’s a good thing that (if it’s not too dirty) it can be “blown out” using compressed air and that will get you another “use cycle”. It appears that was what happened last time and now, 20,000 miles later, it was too far gone. So, an appropriate Memorial Service was hastily prepared and when it was over the new air filter was commissioned and installed as the Reigning Filter of Airs. Miss Motor is now breathing a little easier and when you are gulping the amount of air that a diesel motor dragging around a 28, 000-pound motorhome does, well, it can make a huge difference!

                             We drove up to College Station to top off the tank. This is a fifty-mile round trip. You may ask,

                   “Why Don, do you go that far out of the way to procure fuel that can be had just around the corner?”

                   Good question my inquiring amigos!

                   The reasons are mainly these:

                   A. The price was significantly cheaper than locally and,

                   B. I wanted to put some miles on the entire system before setting out for the East Coast. She hadn’t been exercised since early January and you never know what bug-a-boos and/or gremlins have crept in whilst we were away. I am happy to report that it was a fine outing, and everyone behaved themselves except the air conditioning and that may just need a “charging”.

                   When we got back home I took advantage of being “out” and drove up onto our concrete pad so that the rear end hung out over the end of the pad, which is opposite of the way that we normally park. I wanted to check the condition of the inside two tires of the dual wheel set-up that is in the back. These tires cannot be seen without crawling underneath or taking the outer tires off. These two are original tires and while the milage is ok, the “time” factor can be an issue. Luckily these inside tires are not subject to the UV rays of sunlight so that helps out in this situation. I did my inspection and did not find any obvious signs of tire “rot” or anything of that nature.

                             Phew!

                   But, upon crawling out I did notice that under the DEF tank chassis, there was more than enough of a rust issue. This is what happens when you get underneath any vehicle and actually see what goes on down there! Any of you that live in the Northeast or anywhere that there is a possibility of snow and ice…. Well,  you may not want to look underneath your car because it will scare you to death! All of that stuff that they put down on the roads in order for us to drive at ninety miles an hour in any type of road conditions, can, and will, take its toll on your undercarriage!

                                      So, out came the scrapers and rotary wire brushes used in an attempt to get the metal down to an acceptable state of cleanliness in order to put a coat of Rust Primer on and finish it off with a coat of flat black. It’s not that the metal was ready to crumble or anything like that, it’s just that it was staring me in the face, and I am retired, so that means that I have the time, and I also had the supplies already in my handy-dandy-I-carry-almost-everything-with-me tool and supply department!

                   So I spent the better part of the next two hours underneath trying to work at odd angles in an attempt to both scrape and paint. The only ones who suffered anything were my arms and shoulders. The recipients of all this attention were delighted and are wishing that their new “duds” could be paraded around for all to see, but unless you look at the accompanying photos (or crawl underneath) they are destined for a life of obscurity.

                             The planned extrication of our stay here in Texas is only three days away so all these preparations are now at a feverish pitch!

                             Not really, we could leave just about any time now because yesterday while the oil change was in progress we made our way to the local Trader Joes (an hour and a half away) and procured all of the Necessary Emergency Snacks (and Food) for the journey.

                   We probably will not be losing any weight on the trip North.