August 22nd - 26th - Club Campout in Chatham, Illinois, and Homer Repairs

Our RV club campout for August was hosted by Don and Ruth Ann at the Double J Campground in Chatham, Illinois, just South of Springfield. We had been to this campground before for camp outs. It was superb in every way except there was no Wi-Fi signal in the row we were assigned to for the week. Seven rigs made the trip, which is a great turnout considering our dwindling number of club members. 

Monday evening supper was “Sloppy Joes” provided by the hosts with other members being assigned to bring buns, chips, dessert, etc. We had a great meal. As the sun went down Don started a campfire. Often in August it is far too hot for a fire, but we were fortunate to have cool weather all week.

Tuesday we all traveled for lunch to “Cozy Dog Restaurant” in Springfield for original corn dogs or other delectable items of your choice. This restaurant was a throwback to the old Route 66 days. It was a fun place for lunch. We then headed back to the campground where the men played “Giant Jenga” and the women played “Pegs n Jokers”. Here are a couple of pictures.

I believe Ruth Ann won “Pegs n Jokers” but I KNOW Mike won “Giant Jenna”, beating out Lawrence, Wayne, Bill, and Don, for the prize of a bottle of wine.

For supper we went to “Mario’s Restaurant” in Chatham. The food was great. Everyone needed a take home box except me.  I ate all my salad and Lasagna. Winning made me hungry!

Wednesday morning the hosts provided fresh-baked donuts for all. The donuts were great and thankfully not fattening! We then had a short club meeting. Our only business nowadays is getting volunteers to host upcoming camp outs. We have hosts for June, August, and September of 2023. We skip July because of the heat, and no one has volunteered for May.

We like to eat, so for lunch we headed to “Motorheads Bar & Grill - Museum”.

After a really filling lunch, we toured the museum next door. It was quite an eclectic collection of automotive objects. Here Iam in front of a VW bus in the outside bar area.

As I said, we like to eat so we then headed to “Scoop Du Jour Ice Cream Shop” in Chatham for dessert. To walk off the ice cream we browsed around the Goodwill Store down the mall. I got a good deal on a brand-new insulated mug for a dollar. For $2.00 Kelly got a nice seat cushion to sit on when at the picnic table playing cards. Supper was on our own. We were both so stuffed we skipped supper. Pam provided a homemade dessert later in the evening. Everyone enjoyed it.

We invited past club members for a lunch on Thursday of fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, chips, slaw, and dessert. As I said, we like to eat. During and after lunch we all had a nice visit with former campers - Margi, Irv, Myrl, and Linda. It was good seeing them again. Supper was on our own. Due to the huge lunch no one was really hungry, so we just had a cheese and sausage plate and leftover desserts.

We always say our goodbyes on Thursday evening because people pull out at different times on Friday morning. Some of the folks we will see this winter in Florida, some go to Texas for the winter, and some we will not see until next summer. It was a great week.

Repairs:

As usual, we cannot have an RV trip without an issue or two. Wednesday morning I jumped in the shower early while Kelly was still in bed. I turned on the water, then, as I usually do, I turned the showerhead off while I lathered up all over. I pushed the button on the showerhead to rinse off and nothing. No water. The shutoff button had broken. No amount of pushing one way or the other allowed any water to come out. Here is a picture of the offending showerhead with the shutoff button just below the swivel head. This unit was only a year old and it malfunctioned!

I was soaped up all over and had soap running into my eyes. Kelly was sound asleep up in the cab over at the other end of Homer so she could not be of any help. With soap burning my eyes I tried to get the showerhead off the hose so I could use the hose to rinse off. With soapy hands I couldn’t get a grip. Luckily, I was able to reach a towel and after wrapping it around the connecting nut to the hose I was able to unscrew the showerhead and rinse myself off - garden hose style. I dried off and got dressed. 

I knew Kelly would not be happy if she would have to use the hose for her shower. It then struck me that I may have left the old showerhead in the cabinet when I put this one on a few months ago. I opened the cabinet under the sink and there laid the old shower head with a shutoff valve attached. Here is a picture of the old head reinstalled just in time for Kelly’s shower.

The old showerhead has a separate, heavy-duty shutoff valve so this problem will ever happen again! I hope. I wouldn’t normally carry around an old showerhead but for whatever reason I did this time and it saved the day.

The trip home was a nice drive on a sunny day. We arrived home at twelve noon and unloaded everything. I was cleaning the refrigerator when I noticed a repair I had made to one of the door shelves in the past had broken. These old refrigerator parts aren’t readily available so I fix them if I can. Here is a picture of the door shelve and the broken piece of plastic that I found on the floor. I had used JB Weld for the last repair but it didn’t hold. I don’t think I used enough.

I took the shelf to my shop, scraped off the old Superglue which was used to hold the broken piece in place on the last repair. I also broke off all the loose JB Weld. I then Superglued the broken piece back on again. A small corner piece was missing. I had to mold that area. To do this I wadded up a piece of wax paper, stuffed it in the corner, taped it in place, and then added a thick layer of JB Weld over the entire area. Here is a picture of the JB Weld curing.

After the JB Weld cured overnight, I shaped it up a little with a file and tested it for fit on the refrigerator door. It fit fine so I spray painted it white to have it match the door a little better.

Here is a picture of the door shelf reinstalled. I think this repair will last much longer because the JB Weld is much thicker and wider. The line isn't a crack, it is just an area where the JB Weld begins and the paint did not stick.

I put this shelf on the top of the door which gets less weight and stress on the repair. 

Improvement:

Did you ever finally fix something that was so simple, but you just never got around to doing it for some reason? That is the case with the shelf height for the small cabinet on the end of Homer’s kitchen base cabinet. In the picture below the shelves above the freezer bags were too close together. This made it difficult to wiggle canned goods in and out. Here is a "before" picture. 

The shelves are all adjustable so there was no reason not to make them fit what we normally store there. I adjusted the brackets and shelves and moved the freezer bags down low since they aren’t often accessed. Here is an "after" picture. I don’t know why I didn’t do this years ago.

With this improvement Homer is ready for his next adventure, which is unknown at this time.

August 12th - 19th, 2022 - Work on Homer’s Broken Sewer Fitting and New Ignition Switch

Here are two pictures of the broken gray water tank drainpipe. At the top of the picture you can see the break in the pipe.

A close-up view.

How did this happen? Upon inspecting the sewer drain area I found fresh grass and mud between the metal strap holding the sewer pipe and the sewer pipe itself.  Here is a picture after I pulled the grass out.

The sewer drainpipes hang low behind the back wheels. Clearly someone backed into a grassy area and the drainpipe dug into the dirt. This contact put pressure on the smaller pipe, which connects the gray water tank to the outlet pipe, causing the smaller pipe to break. Luckily this small pipe broke and not the fittings to either tank. 

I know that I did not cause this damage because the last time we used Homer was on our campout in Canton, Missouri, in June. The RV site there was on concrete. I dumped there on concrete, no issue. We drove home and parked Homer on our concrete driveway for a couple of days until he went into the shop for speedometer and parking brake repairs. The shop had possession of Homer for over three weeks waiting on parts. He was parked behind the shop throughout this time. Most of the area behind the shop is gravel but there is a grassy hill in the back. I believe that at some point someone backed Homer into the grass to turn him around and that is how this happened. I picked him up and we headed North up the Interstate headed to a campground in Michigan. When I arrived I dumped at their concrete dump station and that is when I discovered the broken pipe as water came gushing out at me when I pulled the valve. At least it was gray water and not black tank (commode) water. Homer had never been near grass while in my possession this entire summer.

I'm not upset with the shop. Stuff happens. I did tell the owner about it to make sure they are more careful in the future with Homer and other motorhomes with low-hanging sewer outlets. If the main line to the black tank had broken at the tank, or the fitting had broken at the gray tank, it could have cost thousands of dollars to fix and many months of getting a new tank made, etc. We were lucky.

New Pipe and Fittings:

I repaired the broken pipe myself. The only issue was that RVs use ABS plastic pipe, not PVC plastic pipe like that used in homes. No one carries this type of pipe in Perryville. On our trip to pick up the lawn mower from the repair shop in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which is a big town, we searched around for ABS pipe and fittings. Menards had the pipe. I picked up a piece of pipe but it struck me as extremely thin and cheap. I took a piece of it to the fittings bins. The pipe just flopped on a fitting, not a tight fit for gluing. No amount of glue would fill this gap.  We left Menards and tried to find better pipe at Lowes and at a plumbing supply house. Neither had the pipe. In desperation we went back to Menards and purchased a piece of the cheap pipe and glue hoping I would think of something to make it work. 

When I got home I was convinced that the Menards pipe was not going to work. I got online and purchased a one-foot piece of inch and a half ABS pipe from Amazon. (One foot cost as much as the four-foot-long piece I got from Menards.) The Amazon pipe arrived Wednesday and it it fit perfectly in the fitting. Here is a picture of the two pipes side by side. You can see the different in the thickness of the pipes. You can also see that the thicker pipe on the left is taller than the Menards pipe on the right.

Here are pictures with a tape measure showing the difference in outside circumference. The Menards junk pipe is a full one-eighth less in diameter.

I had made my mind up not to use the Menards pipe no matter what. If the Amazon pipe had not measured up I would have used a piece of PVC pipe even though that does not meet residential code.

Fixing the pipe:

Last Friday was a cool day so at 8:00 a.m. I started working on removing the piece of pipe inside the elbow. This was the hardest part of the project. When ABS pipes are glued together the pieces are actually melted to each other. This makes for a seal that won’t break loose. This was proven by the fact that the pipe broke below the fitting rather than the joint coming apart. The remaining broken gray water pipe was right in the way where I needed to work to get the broken piece out of the fitting. I didn’t want to cut the drainpipe back until I had the new pipe ready to install. 

I started getting the piece of pipe out of the fitting by using a hack saw blade to cut grooves into the broken pipe which was still in the fitting. I had to be careful not to cut into the fitting itself. I cut the pipe in about six places as best I could. Because of the curve of the fitting I could not get the blade in far enough to cut all the way through the pipe.  In an attempt to break a small piece of pipe off at a time, I held a small screwdriver in place between the pipe and the fitting. I gently tapped it with a hammer and gently pried between the pipe and fitting.  Small pieces chipped off from the outer half of the pipe where I had cut the grooves. 

After getting what pieces I could off with this method, I then got my Dremel tool out to grind off the rest with a grinding stone. Fortunately, I have a flexible shaft for the Demel tool. This was absolutely necessary for this project because I could not get the tool in place due to the broken drainpipe hanging in the way. I used a small stone wheel in the flex shaft and slowly ground away at the broken pipe inside the fitting. I constantly checked my work to be sure I was not cutting into the fitting itself. I could see progress on one half of the fitting but had to rely on my finger feeling the inside of the fitting for any ridge from the old pipe on the blind side. As I was getting close to getting the old pipe fragments ground out, I cut an inch long piece of PVC pipe to insert into the fitting to check for fit. After more careful grinding, it slid into the elbow. Mission accomplished. 

The new pipe from Amazon arrived on Wednesday. Today I cut off the pipe to remove the broken piece. to have a straight edge to attach to a coupler. I then cut a piece of the new pipe to span between the elbow and the new coupler to the old pipe. Here is a picture of the repair. I was able to pry the pipes apart to make this new connection but it was tricky to get things lined up and in place because the glue dries very quickly. Here is a picture of the repaired pipe.

As the glue was setting up I worked on refastening the drainpipe to its support. Here is a picture of the area of the pipe that connects to the 2 x 4 support above with pipe strap.

A 2 x 4 screwed in from the floor above drops down to support the sewage pipe. The 2 x 4 had been loose and sometime in the past I had added an "L" bracket to support it. With the recent damage the 2 x 4 was once again loose. Here is the area where the 2 x 4 attaches to the floor above. You can see the previous bracket I installed.

I wanted to somehow brace the 2 x 4 but I was afraid to screw into the floor not knowing what is above. I think this area is under the bathtub or the kitchen sink, but I'm not sure. I decided to use contact cement to glue an additional block to the floor to support the 2 x 4 coming down. I also used a bracket to attach the block to the 2 x 4 for more strength. Here is a picture of what I did.

This block with the new bracket did add some stability to the 2 x 4 brace hanging down. Lastly, I reattached the black tank rinse hose. Here is a picture of everything completed.

Hopefully I will never have to deal with this problem again.

Ignition Switch:

There have been some issues with the ignition switch not operating properly. It had been getting worse for a couple of years and was really bad on our last trip. I had it replaced this week. The shop said the switch was totally shot.  The old switch was black and the new switch is silver. Pretty snazzy. 

The only bad part about this repair is that the ignition key and door lock key are different. We now have to carry two keys. This isn't that big of a deal because I normally just use the fob to lock and unlock the doors.

Homer is now ready for another adventure next week - a club campout in Springfield, Illinois. He will get packed up tomorrow.

  

 

August 11, 2022 - RV Trips Mean RV Repairs in My Experience

In my experience in over twenty years of traveling by RV, after just about every trip there are items that need to be fixed or improvements to be made. This trip was no exception. The first item discovered on this trip was that the vanity cabinet door was very loose. I tightened the screw in place but noticed that the two doors then rubbed each other. I took all screws out, except one in the bottom, put toothpicks in the holes, held the door so it didn't touch the other door, then reinserted the screws. Problem solved. Here is a picture. I wish all repairs were this easy.

The next item was that the converter access panel came loose several times. This panel is located just as you enter so being loose or falling off can be a hazard. Here is a picture of the door in place. 

From the factory this panel was one half this size. It consisted of only the black screen portion, which is now on the bottom. The original panel was nailed in place. Soon after purchasing Homer I decided to replace the converter because the old one buzzed so loud it could keep us awake. Upon prying the panel off I could not get the converter out. It was too large for the opening. Additionally, there was very little room to work in to install a new one. The panel was strictly for air flow. I took a saw and doubled the size of the access panel. I could then get the old converter out and the new one installed. I used the wood I cut out in a new frame I made to cover the opening. I didn't want to nail the new panel back on so that I would have future access. This was a good move because last year I had to replace the converter because it went out. The molding is only an inch and a quarter wide and less than a half inch deep. I could have screwed the panel on to the wall, but I liked the clean look of the original with no visible means of attachment. I attached a spring-friction cabinet catch on each side of the wall. I used short screws in the frame to engage the spring catches. It worked fine but sometimes the door would shift a little in the opening, the screw would slide out of the friction latch, allowing it to come loose. Today I solved that problem by adding a second screw to each side. By doing this, even if the door moves left or right in transit, it stays in place. In the picture I have placed arrows showing the double screws and arrows showing the spring cabinet catches. It is tight as can be now. (I should have done a better job the first time, but these little projects keep me out of the bars.

The next issue was the 12-volt power hub I installed several years ago on the dash. On the road we use a Garmin GPS that needs a twelve-volt cigarette lighter outlet for power. We both have cell phones to charge as well as a wireless speaker we use to listen to audio books as we travel.  All of these gadgets need power. I bought a 12-volt power hub and attached it to the dash so that everything could be powered. It has three 12-volt cigarette outlets and one USB port. I purchased adapters for USB ports in the 12-volt outlets.  Here is a picture.

It has worked but the USB adapters and the Garmin cigarette plug often vibrate loose while traveling. Homer is a truck chassis, not a car, so we feel the many bumps in the road. Periodically we would have to push the plugs back in. This trip they just wouldn't stay in tight enough to make a connection most of the time. To get us home I duct taped the adapters in place but even that didn't hold for the entire trip. I decided I was going to glue the two USB adapters in place. Upon rethinking that idea I decided it was a bad one. When we tow the HHR we need to have a 12-volt cigarette outlet available for the brake control alert system.  What to do? A light bulb went off. All I need is friction to hold the adapters in place. I am a big fan of Velcro and always keep some on hand. I hit on the idea of putting a strip of the fuzzy Velcro on each plug and pushing it into the sockets. It worked like a champ. Very tight yet removable. Here is a picture of the Garmin plug with and without the Velcro.

All that is left for me to repair is the gray water sewer line which was broken at some point when Homer was in the shop. It is clear that they backed it into a grassy area and broke the connection because fresh grass and mud were in the strap on the lowest part of the drain. Thank goodness it did not break the tank connections. 

Lastly, Homer goes into the shop Monday for a new ignition switch.

July 31 - August 9th - Fort Wayne, Indiana, Visit, Sterling, Michigan, Campout, RV Repairs

Fort Wayne, Indiana:

On the 31st we drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to visit friends, Jim and Marilyn Edds. Before leaving on Saturday the 29th I happened to check the tire pressures on Homer and found one of the rear duals totally flat. It was 11:00 a.m. I quickly got online and found that my tire place was open until 1:00 p.m. so I immediately called and asked that if I got the tire to them could they fix it. Ben told me they would work me in. I tried to get the tire off to take it in rather than driving Homer there with one dual tire flat but I was totally unable to break any of the lug nuts with my impact wrench. I drove Homer into town. They got on it right away and found a bad valve stem. If I hadn’t checked the tires on Saturday our trip north would have been delayed on Monday until after the tire was fixed. As it turned out we were able to leave early Monday as originally planned. We arrived in Fort Wayne around 5:00 p.m. Here is a picture of Homer mooch docking in Jim and Marilyn’s driveway.

I am happy to report an investment I made last year in Homer paid off in Indiana because was really hot. To run the AC in Homer you normally need 30-amp power. Most residential homes don’t have that. I installed a Softstart on Homer’s AC unit last year. It electronically cuts down the power draw when the AC compressor starts so you can run it on less amperage. We plugged it into an outlet in Jim’s garage and the AC worked fine. Yippee. Then, after ten minutes, it tripped the circuit breaker in the extension cord. Bummer. I thought about it then decided the problem was that the fridge was still on electric. When it kicked on, it, along with the AC unit, it was too much of a draw. I turned the fridge on gas, reset the breaker, and was well. Homer cooled down great.

I am always up early. Each morning at Jim and Marilyn’s I was able to sit out in the morning on their new porch and enjoy the view. Nothing but grass and corn behind their house.

Before I left home I thought the chassis battery was not fully charging. I pulled it out and load tested it. It tested just on the “weak” side, so I charged it up. It was holding 12.9 volts, so I put it back in. I checked my records and the battery was seven years old, put in just after we bought Homer. Once at Jim’s he said he thought the battery sounded a little weak so we pulled it out and headed to AutoZone for a replacement. I hope this one lasts seven years.

On Wednesday we decided to take a drive to Roanoke, Indiana, to check out the shops and maybe buy some Wagyu beef. Kelly has been wanting to try some for a long time. It is very expensive beef. The store clerk suggested we buy the burgers for our first experience. I think they were $30.00 per pound. We didn’t buy any then but walked down the street and visited a few other shops. Roanoke is about fifteen miles from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and they have done a wonderful job of developing their main street with lots of nice shops and businesses. Here are a couple of pictures.

It was time for lunch so we backtracked to the nearby TwoEE’s Winery. Here is a selfie of us as we arrived. We were looking directly into the sun so it was hard to see the picture and hard not to squint.

We had a complimentary tasting of two wines and ordered a charcuterie plate. It was quite good. We then headed back to Roanoke to pick up some Wagyu beef to take home. We bought frozen burgers to enjoy back home. Back at Jim and Marilyn’s we hung out in the comfort of air-conditioning.  We were going to go out for supper but a huge rainstorm moved in so we just feasted on leftovers.

When it was time to hit the sack that evening upon walking out to Homer we instantly realized that we had screwed up. We forgot that our canvas folding chairs were left sitting out. They were dripping wet. We unfolded them and set them up in the garage to dry overnight before traveling.

It is always great to see Jim and Marilyn and exchange stories about what we and our kids and grandkids have been doing since the last visit.

Sterling, Michigan:

Thursday morning we headed North to Sterling, Michigan. Our intent was to surprise some Michigan friends (who winter with us in Florida) at a campout they were having over the weekend. They have been going to this same campground each year to tube down the river. We learned about it from friend, Lee. After he told us there was room for us to join the group, Kelly and I decided to drive up and join them as a surprise. Only Lee was in on the surprise. On our way up Lee advised that David and Jean may not come due to David having gout in his knee. He panicked and called sister, Janet to tell her that we were coming. He asked her to convince David and Jean to come for the surprise. Soon after learning that that had transpired, I received a message from David. I misread the message to say that he knew we were coming. I asked how it leaked out but fortunately he didn't know what I was talking about, so he didn't respond.

We arrived at the campout early Thursday afternoon. After checking in I wanted to dump because the campsites did not have sewer. I pulled the valve for the black tank and all came out well. I pulled the valve for the gray tank and water came out everywhere. When I looked it was plain to see that the pipe from the gray tank valve was broken.

I looked to see what could have caused this pipe to fracture and found fresh grass and mud in the strap holding the black water drain. The arrow points to the area.

The drain is much lower than the bumper and clearly someone had backed into a grass area and hit the black tank drain. It had to be someone at the repair shop because I had not had Homer off the pavement since our campout last month when I dumped with no issue. To get us through this trip I duct taped the pipe over the weekend.

Duct tape is not water tight so when I dumped upon leaving on Sunday, it leaked a little but no big deal. Gray water making a little mess is much better than black (poop) water doing it.

We set up Homer in a spot Lee suggested. George and Janet arrived next and set up their trailer. Then Chris and Marge arrived. While driving down the hill to the campground Chris recognized Homer and told Marge "That's Bullerdieck's motorhome - Homer". It was great fun to surprise them. They set up next to us. David and Jean did not arrive until the Friday and were surprised to see us as well. It was great fun knowing that at least two of the couples had no idea we would be there.

The sites they had at River View Campground & Canoe Livery overlooked the river which is busy, busy, busy with tubers and canoers all weekend. Here are a couple of pictures.

The Michigan clan had tubed this river for many years but now are content just watching the youngsters float by with their coolers of beer and music. 

Friday was David and Jean's 50th Anniversary. Marge set up a tent, a banner, a feast, and had Champaigne to celebrate. Here are pictures of the banner, the happy couple, and Marge making a toast to 50 years of wedded bliss.

Marge, as always, did a great job. It was really sweet of her to set this all up for her little sister.

Since the tent and banner were near the water, all day Friday and Saturday as tubers came by, they all wished Jean and David a Happy Anniversary. It was great fun to raise a drink to them as they went by.

Friday evening we had a fire and listened to music from our generation. The "Anniversary Couple" had a nice dance on the grass in the dark.

Some years back Jean had purchased gag gifts for all the attendees. Rick's was a hat that lit up. He had it with him and wore it as well as his apron on Friday night. He was feeling no pain.

Saturday was our 51st Anniversary and we enjoyed sharing it with this formerly raucous crowd. It was quite hot during the day so several of us waded across the river and sat in the water in our chairs watching the youngsters enjoy their float. I was pleasantly surprised at how well-behaved all the revelers were although clearly many of them had been drinking all day. 

I took some pictures of the couples we "partied" with this weekend. We know all of them, except Rick and Rose, from Florida and treasure their friendships.

David and Jean:

Chris and Marg:

Janet and George:

Lee and Sherrie:

Julie and Terry:

New acquaintances, Rose and Rick:

 

Saturday morning Chris made "Sausage Egg McMuffins" for all. They were fabulous. Sadly, this is the group's last year at this park after coming here for over 25 years. The park has been sold and new rules about reservations, etc., have been put in place that aren't conducive to how this group likes to camp. We were honored to have been with them for their last "Hurrah".

We left early Sunday morning headed for home some 700 miles South. In Indiana we started to look for a place to stop for the night. Kelly got online and found a private campground up the road. Just then a sign came up for Lieber State Recreation Area. We love state parks but often they are too far off the highway to drive to while on a mission to get somewhere. This park ended up only being about three miles off the Interstate. Perfect. It was a Sunday night and they had lots of spaces available. The attendant put us on a nicely shaded lot. It was hot but we still scrounged around for firewood. I rooted around in Homer to find some cardboard for kindling. We ended up having a nice fire.

As we were packing up Saturday night George had given us four Michigan hot dogs, buns, onions, and mustard packs, for a meal on the way home. Once the fire was roaring Kelly made dinner.

We were hungry and enjoyed the dogs immensely. A great meal on the road home.

On Monday we had to stop in St. Louis to pick up my medicine at the Siteman Center. We took the opportunity to have lunch with our daughter. Alexa. After a nice visit with her, and an obligatory trip through Costco, we made the last leg of our journey arriving home at 3:00 p.m. As we arrived at the house a thunderstorm moved in. We were only able to empty the refrigerator before the rain hit.

It was another truly enjoyable RV trip. The Michigan bunch are like family. Hanging out with them in their native environment for several days was a blast. We look forward to seeing most of them in Florida again this winter. 

Finally, Homer issues this trip:

Homer averaged 8.1 mpg for 1450 miles at 65 mph. Can't complain although used a lot of fuel. I didn't add up the cost of fuel. LOL

The ignition on Homer was acting up before we left home. The inside cylinder wasn't always moving in sync with the lock you turn on the outside of the steering column. The key would stick in at times and a couple of times the cylinder didn't want to move forward enough to start the engine.  (A little scarry when you are on the road.) An ignition switch replacement is a pretty easy fix, so I called today and made an appointment for a new one to be installed on Monday. I could probably install it myself but I have other projects taking up my time and a visit to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow for a look at my injured knee. 

Kelly and I went to Cape Girardeau this morning to retrieve the lawn mower that had been in the shop for warranty repairs for several weeks. While in Cape we looked for 1 1/2-inch ABS sewer pipe to fix the broken holding tank drain. We went to Lowes, a plumbing supply house, an RV sales and service center, and to Menard's. Only Menard's had the pipe. All but the plumbing supply house had the fittings. I found that interesting. Fittings but no pipe. Strangely the ABS pipe at Menard's did not fit the 1 1/2 fittings snuggly as it should. It was just smaller in diameter. Too small just for glue to fill in the space I'm afraid. I bought a piece of the pipe anyway and a rubber-metal sleeve to connect the new piece of pipe to the old piece of pipe. I'm hoping the new pipe fits into the old fitting on the tank snuggly. If it doesn't, I will have a problem. We got home and I decided to order another piece of ABS pipe and fitting from Amazon, hoping they will be better quality and a proper fit. If they are I will take the other pipe back to Menard's. The Menard's pipe is very cheap Chinese plastic crap and even the salesman could not believe that the pipe did not fit into the fittings snuggly. I have 1 1/2-inch PVC pipe but I have learned that it can only be connected to ABS with a rubber clamp. I have a connection in an elbow so that won't work. According to internet sources the two types of pipes cannot be glued together. I also learned that PVC fittings can be heated up to get broken pieces out, ABS cannot. I am going to have fun getting the old broken pieces out. It will be a few days before everything gets here. Our next campout is August 22nd so wish me luck!