Missing my Valentine...

Well, I am still at John Prince County Park. Louise, who was supposed to arrive this evening, had to extend her stay for a day. Fortunately, the space I am in just happened to be available tonight, so I did not have to pack up and move. The extra time did give me the opportunity to finally finish fixing the satellite dish -- I never got to it on Saturday due to the compressor fiasco, and the weather has been too crummy the past two days to want to be up on the roof.

Speaking of the compressor, the karma we generated by stopping to help Ed Way last Tuesday came back to me Saturday. My neighbor, Bill (from Massachusetts), noticed me struggling to load the darn thing on the Suzuki, and immediately offered to drive me to Lowe's in his truck. That was an hour out of his day, for someone whom he had not yet even met. Thanks, Bill!

Lowe's exchanged the compressor without question when I told them what was wrong. Since I only brought in the unit and not the accessories, I ended up with another accessory kit, which I gave to Bill. The replacement unit is working like a charm. It was also a pleasure meeting Bill and his wife, Fran.

Keeping the karmic trend going, one of the folks I met at the Friday soiree told me her husband had incorrectly installed new batteries in their coach, and now, after correcting the problem, the coach would not start. On Saturday evening I went over to look at it, and tracked the problem down to something wrong with the Allison transmission computer. A bit of internet sleuthing that night suggested where I might look, and Sunday morning I opened up the Vehicle Interface Module to find a blown fuse. Replacing the fuse cured the transmission problem, and the Allison then graciously allowed the engine to start. Jim and Loane, who had been looking at a possibly expensive road service call, were so grateful that they dropped by yesterday with a bottle of wine and a card. Apparently, some number of other folks around the campground had tried their best to revive the coach to no avail. I have to say, Monaco Coach was not only unhelpful in all this, but even gave Jim just enough incorrect information to send pretty much everyone on a wild goose chase.

I spent the rest of Sunday and most of yesterday working indoors, as it became unseasonably cold here, with winds gusting to 30 or so. With the warmer weather today, I got the dish taken care of and also installed my fancy new high-flow air filter, made of oil-impregnated cotton, on the main engine, along with a little filter cleaning indicator (basically a vacuum gauge).

Tomorrow morning I will check out as early as I can and get the motorcycles down to Del Ray Beach. I am hoping they can take care of them while I wait, but, if not, we will stick with the original plan of picking them up en route. Louise gets in at 5:30, and I will pick her up in Odyssey and we will get as far south as time, motorcycle pick-ups, and other circumstances permit. We should, then, still be able to make our Thursday night reservations in Key West, though we will have to drive straight through, and save sightseeing the rest of the Keys for the return drive.

I have exhausted my supply of dinner fixin's, so tonight I think I will go out, assuming I can get in anyplace on Valentine's Day.