The Show Floor At The Rally In Louisville, Kentucky

As you all may know, we are here in Louisville, KY for “The Rally”.  The show raps up tomorrow at the Louisville Expo Center.  This is our first AFI (Good Sam) rally and it was fun.  We of course bought lots of stuff.  Stuff we didn’t even know we needed.  And stuff we were hoping to buy.

We didn’t stay on the fair grounds.  We were 15 minutes away at a full hookup campground.  That gave us some peace of mind with the animals and running our air conditioners to keep the coach cool. The last couple days here have been in the upper 90′s and very humid.  You walk outside and it’s instant sweat.

We met up with some friends of ours at the rally and went to dinner to catch up.  Both going our separate ways again after the show.  It’s always fun to meet up with other rvers that you’ve met along the way.  So keep your eyes out for us next time around.

Tomorrow we’re having something installed, so we’ll have a final update from the show.  Until then…

Brenda And The Freightliner Chassis On The Show Floor. It's Very Interesting To See Up Close And Personal What You Are Riding On.

David & Brenda

Staying The Night At Hans Freightliner Service Center In Maple Heights (Cleveland), OH

We are safe and sound in Delaware, Oh right now but getting here was interesting.  When we left Jamestown, NY on Sunday our engine started to over heat.  The temperature outside was close to 90 degrees and the engine was not cooling off properly.  David called Freightliner, which we love by the way, and they said it could be the fan clutch.  If the fan clutch fails it is suppose to fail in the high fan speed position.  Well, if your engine gets hot, the fan can not cool the engine properly.  Therefore it can over heat.  We were able to bring our engine temp back down the two times this had happened. Which usually happened on an up hill climb.  So we were not totally stopped on the side of the road or anything that dramatic.

Needless to say, we did not want to ignore this and have it get worse.  So there is a Freightliner service center, Hans Freightliner, in Cleveland, OH that works on rv’s.  Our route took us right past this service center anyway, so we called.  They said they could get us in first thing Monday morning.  Nice.  So we plotted our GPS towards Hans.  When we got there we found a fenced off parking lot.  Hans may work on rv’s, and be an oasis center, but they have a closed off fence when they are closed.  So instead of staying outside there fence all night, we opted for a Walmart parking lot just down the road.  First thing in the morning we went back to Hans and they started work.

They did feel it was the fan clutch that need replacing.  David was not so convinced.  He thought it was a bad thermostat.  But as he admits, he has been known to be wrong on occasion.  But of course it can not be that easy.  Nope.  Even though Hans has a whole parts center and machine shop (big and busy place), they did not have the part we needed.  They had to overnight in the part.  So this time we opted to stay inside there fence for the night.  They were also nice enough to let us plug in to there 110 outlet outside there building.  So we were able to run one air conditioner.

So in the moring the part arrived and they got to work.  Once they had everything apart they also noticed we had a small leak in our exhaust manifold.  They said they could fix that to while there at it.  But…that would require a few hours as they would have to remove engine turbo, and drain the coolant to get to it.  We said why not, we’re here and we’ve got time.  No reason to have that go any longer and get worse.

Thankfully everything was covered under warranty.  Both the fan clutch and the leak in the exhaust manifold. When David checked out we only had to pay $55.50 for some more coolant they had to put back in.  If this was not covered under warranty it would have lightened our wallets by over $1700.00!  The people at Hans were very nice and competent.  We even met Hans himself, who still works there along side his employees.  He got to talking to us because he owns a Country Coach and likes to travel.  When we left we had no issues.  So hopefully all is well again.

Engine Before Everything Is Torn Out

Engine After Tear Out

Parts All Over Ground From Our Engine

Interesting Cloud Formation Behind MH. Stayed At Hidden Valley Campground In Jamestown, NY

Well, we made it two more nights.  No accidents.  No fights.  No 4am playtime.  Taking away the toys at night helped with that one.  Everyone, including us, slept.  Funny thing is I keep waking up anyway because it was almost too quiet.  I’m sure I’ll stop that at some point.

We were in Jamestown, NY and we decided to stay for two nights (Fri & Sat).  So we found Hidden Valley Campground which is just lovely.  When we checked in Friday the woman told us about an art festival that the local Audubon Society was putting on this weekend.  So we went to that Saturday.  We met some lovely artists, Brad Wiley and his wife Miriam that made these beautiful and oh so realistic wood carvings.  We had to buy one for the MH.

Baby Wood Duck (Wood Carving) From Art In The Woods Show In Jamestown, NY

So traveling to Cleveland, Ohio today with the kitties out of there carriers again.  No issues.  This is definitely the way to go.  Once the kitties get used to the engine starting up, they’re fine.  Angel even has made herself at home on the dashboard as we travel down the expressway!  At one point or another I’ve had all 4 kitties (separately of course) in my lap as we travel down the road.

You’re all probably wondering how the litter box situation is and the smell.  I am happy to report there is no smell!  We use Feline Pine litter which is wonderful.  It’s made of pine that is compressed into pellets.  So when someone pees, it neutralizes the smell right away.  Poop is another story, but there’s no getting around that one.  Scoop right away and you’re fine.  So unless you are greeted at the door by a kitty or you step on a toy, you’d never know we had them.  Can’t complain.

So all in all, we’re doing well.  We’ve put some items in our tow vehicle just to make things less crowded and cluttered, like the ottoman that we never use.  Dinner time is interesting.   With 4 kitties the bowls are all spread out.  Thankfully they eat quickly and the bowls can get picked up right away.

Dinner Time With 4 Kitties and Tasha Waiting Patiently.

We’re ultimately headed to Louisville, Kentucky for “The Rally“.  Maybe we’ll see you there.

Whisper Enjoying The Sun

Angel Sleeping On The Dash While We Are Driving Down The Road

BK Checking Out The Scenery As We Drive Down The Road

Allegany River In The Allegany State Park, New York

After our sleep deprived night we decided to only travel about 2 hours down the road.  We wanted to take traveling with the kitties nice and slow so we don’t stress them out too much.  Ha!  I think we’re the ones that are more stressed.  I don’t know of any kitty that likes to be on a carrier.  Unless it’s to go home after they’ve seen the vet.  Then they are more than willing to go in the carrier.

We didn’t want to have to scrounge up the kitties and pack them up again.  They seemed to be doing ok in the motorhome.  They’ve gotten accustomed to it, I think.  So we decided to see what would happen if we drove down the road with the kitties running free in the motorhome.

Well…BK, Whisper and Tory all ran under the love seat.  Nothing seems to phase Angel.  She stayed on the love seat sleeping.  She only opened her eyes when we hit a bump.  Once we were on the expressway, all three other kitties came out from under the love seat.  They explored and even relaxed.  No one freaked out.  No one died from a panic attack (that would have been Tory by the way). Whisper even got to the point that he played with his ball a little bit.  He loves his ball.

So from now on, we’re going to travel with kitties loose in the motorcoach.  So far so good.  We’ll see how tonight goes.

Allegany State Park, NY

Angel (If You Can See Her) Sleeping On The Love Seat As We're Traveling Down The Road

BK Hanging Out Under David's Desk Area While We're Traveling Down The Road

Tory Under EuroChair While We're Traveling Down The Road

Whisper Laying In Middle Of Hallway, With His Ball, While We're Traveling Down The Road. BK's Nose Is Right In Front Of Whisper.

Tory, aka: "The Queen" Found Her Throne On Top Of Our Pillows On Our Bed.

So our first night with all four kitties was interesting to say the least.  This is how our night went…

11:00pm – lights out.  2 Kitties join us on the bed.

11:20pm – Third kitty joins us on the bed. There’s no moving now.

11:45pm – Two kitties jump down because they get tired of us trying to move.

12:10am – One more kitty on the bed, which makes two again.

12:30am – Whisper decides he must walk all over both our pillows.

12:31am – Whisper gets pushed off bed by David.

12:45am – Whisper is back on pillows.

12:46am – Whisper gets pushed off bed again.

1:15am – BK decides he’s had enough of us and jumps down. Finally the whole bed to ourselves!

1:20am – BK is back.  Must have just wanted some water.

2:00am – Someone throws up in the master bathroom.  To tired to get up and clean it, will get it in morning.

2:20am – Second kitty jumps up on bed, making two kitties again.  Oh joy, I really didn’t want to move my legs anymore anyway.

3:00am – Whisper decides he must jump up and walk on pillows again. Tried to look under window blind.

3:01am – Whisper gets pushed off bed again.

3:05am – Whisper tries for attempt number two.  This time jumping up on Brenda’s side of the bed.

3:06am – Whisper gets pushed off bed again.  David declares this is not working and we are going home in the morning.

4:00am – PLAYTIME!  Whisper decides we must play with him and his ball.  He comes running in room with ball in his mouth.  Meowing very loudly to get our attention.

4:01am – Brenda throws ball to other side of rv to try to get Whisper to play in living area.  Does not work.  Whisper decides this is a good opportunity to play fetch.  Drops ball at Brenda’s feet to throw again.

4:02am – Brenda throws ball again.  Whisper fetches again and drops ball at Brenda’s feet.

4:03am – Brenda takes ball away from Whisper.  He’s very loud when he plays, meowing and running and such.  Ball will not be left out at night again.  Must get sleep!

4:45am – Kitties are not sleeping so humans must not sleep.  Brenda gets up and cracks front blind open to try and distract kitties with scenery.  BK takes the bait and lays on dash dreaming of new adventures.

5:45am – Kitties jump on bed again in attempt to wake humans.  Little do they know the humans have not slept at all!

6:00am – Brenda gets up.  It’s useless to try and sleep anymore.  Alarm was set for 6:30am.  What’s the point?

Long post because it was a long night.  Good news is everyone used the litter box.  We had no accidents to clean up.  Yeah!  Now if we can only figure out the sleeping arrangements.   And I’m telling Whisper I’m canceling his 4am playtime!

Southern Tier of New York

First night on the road with the kitties and of course Tasha.  We only traveled an hour and a half away to the southern tier of New York (Bath, NY).  We had the kitties in their own carriers so they don’t panic and do something crazy.  Like bothering David while he’s driving.  We’ll work our way up to letting them out of their carriers.  Mind you, these are no ordinary carriers.  They’re actually meant  for small dogs, so they have plenty of room in there.  Plus, these are different carriers than what they go to the vet’s office in.  Which I read was a good thing.

So here we are in a parking lot of an rv repair facility.  We have an appointment for some routine maintenance on our generator.  Then we are off to Louisville, Kentucky for “The Rally” next Thursday.  It’s only 10 hours from here, so we have plenty of time to take it slow with the kitties.

So, cross your fingers for us tonight.  It’s going to be one long night with kitties trying to vie for our attention, on our bed.  Our bed is not meant for 4 kitties and two humans.  I’m hoping the humans will win out.

Southern Tier of New York

Tory and Angel In Their Carriers Traveling Down The Road

Angel Trying To Sleep On The Couch

Whisper Looking Out The Window At New Scenery