Our Home: Since March 2012!

Our Home is an RV (“Retirement Villa,” aka, recreational vehicle). Specifically, it’s a DRV Mobile Suites fifth wheel trailer pulled by a Volvo 630 motor coach. We also park a smart car on the bed of the Volvo, when we travel.

Home had been located at our “Home Base” in Oak Hill, FL.

But, in November 2013, we relocated our Home to Yukon, FL (suburb of Jacksonville, FL) and began living in our Home full time.

16 MARCH 2014 – OUR JOURNEY BEGINS

Janet and I, about 09:00, started the process of hitching up the Mobile Suites to the Volvo and, by 11:00, we bid farewell to Yukon, FL, USA (Jacksonville) beginning our next adventure: An extended journey to Alaska via Yukon, CA (Canada) for the 2014 summertime; then, back to the Lower 48 for the winter.

The drive north on I-10 West and I-75 North in Florida was very pleasant; but, soon after crossing into the State of Georgia, the weather turned from sunny and bright to foul and rainy (and cooler). The very heavy rainstorm persisted for about 75 miles; soon afterward, we ran into bumper-to-bumper Atlanta traffic (about 50 miles south of Atlanta). Rather than drive I-75 North through downtown Atlanta we took the I-285 West bypass to intersect with I-75 North a short distance south of Marrietta, GA. We continued traveling I-75 North to Adairsville, GA, where we spent a very comfortable night at the Harvest Moon RV Park, arriving just about 20:00 (about 9 hours later).

17 MARCH 2014 – MORE ADVENTURE

After a very good and restful night’s sleep, Janet and I woke up, but after coffee and breakfast, and were ready to be on our way to meet Carl and Donna Wagner in Friendsville, TN. Very pleasant drive for about 100 miles, leaving the rain behind us, when Janet asked, “Do you still have your headlights ON? I don’t see the running lights on the Mobile Suites!” Yikes! We’ve experienced a similar problem before when the Volvo’s LCM (light control module, aka computer controlling the lights) sensed a short circuit in the wiring to the taillights and shut down the circuit. I had promised myself that I would fix that before we left Yukon, FL; but, weather conditions didn’t allow me to do that and, now, I’m paying the price.

We stopped in a Tennessee rest area and I crawled under the Volvo bed to wiggle wires, hoping to find the short [circuit]. The previous time, God had granted that I find the problem in the wiring within about 20 minutes of starting to look; this time, I found nothing, but the lights, mysteriously illuminated when we decided to continue driving. Unfortunately, we had running lights on an intermittent basis all the way to Friendsville, where we met Donna, who escorted us to the tire company from which we purchased new tires all-around–Volvo and Mobile Suites. Last month, I replaced–with great help from Josh, our younger son–the tires and wheels on our 2008 smart car, converting to 6.5″ wide wheels and the same size tires all around.

Carl met us after work; and, he and I took our rig to a secure storage area for the night. After that the four of us–Carl and Donna, Janet and I–went to supper (we each ordered a half-rack of BBQ pork ribs) and then we spent the night at the Wagner’s beautiful home atop a hill (a mountain for us Floridians!).

18 MARCH 2014 – PROBLEM SOLVED AND THE ROAD TO CROSSVILLE, TN

The next morning, Carl drove me to the storage area to trouble shoot the lighting problem; so, in 40F temperatures, I crawled under the Volvo bed again, wiggling wires and the only wiring connector in that system. The connector is the culprit this time; it’s making intermittent connection in that circuit, but full connection to the stop light and turn-signal circuits. I plan to fix that during our month-long stay in Crossville, TN, home of the HDT ECR (Heavy Duty Trucks’ East Coast Rally).

We drove back to collect our wives and went to lunch in Maryville, TN. After lunch at a Thai Restaurant, Carl and Donna took Janet and I to our rig and escorted us to US 321 South, heading to Deer Run RV Resort in Crossville, TN.