Yesterday morning we were up and getting the bus ready to travel a couple of hours before we are normally even out of bed. We had a short driving day planned, only 150 miles from Elkhart, Indiana to Muskegon, Michigan. We never pull out of a campground before 10 a.m., because we prefer to let the morning rush hour traffic get over with, though Elkhart doesn’t have much of a rush hour anyway. 

But, things don’t always go as we plan, do they? We have a set routine we follow when we are traveling; while Terry stows things away inside the bus, I check our oil and water, give the engine compartment a quick inspection to be sure the motor is still where I left it, then unhook our utilities, stow our TV dish, and scan the bus and van tires with our PressurePro tire monitoring system to be sure of proper inflation.

With all of that done, we hook up the van to our Blue Ox tow bar, disengage the Remco driveshaft disconnect, and do a brake light and turn signal check to be sure everything is working properly. The whole procedure only takes a few minutes, and while we used a printed pre-trip checklist in our early days, after ten years of fulltiming, we have it down to memory.

As I was checking things inside our engine compartment, I spotted green antifreeze dripping from a short three inch diameter hose that carries radiator fluid to the engine. Since we were parked on grass, there had not been a puddle to notice before. Closer inspection revealed a hole in the hose.

We carry a few spare parts with us, as all seasoned bus nuts do, so we happened to have some extra hose of the same diameter in one of our storage bays. We put a bucket under the hose to catch as much fluid as possible, and replaced the bad one with new, then refilled the radiator.

The entire process wasn’t that hard, even for someone as inept of a mechanic as myself. (Let’s be honest, Miss Terry did most of the work while I tried to look busy in case anybody wandered by.)

With all of that done, we cleaned up (in case you have never been around a bus conversion, all you have to do is open the engine bay doors and grease and oil jump out and cling to you), made a stop at the dump station, and pulled out of Elkhart Campground about 11:30 a.m.

This just illustrates how important it is to do a pre-trip inspection every day when you are traveling. You never know what minor problem is just waiting to become a major problem once you’re on the highway. While it was aggravating to lose 90 minutes of traveling time and get all dirty replacing the hose, it was still a lot easier than trying to replace a hose on a hot engine while broken down on the shoulder of the highway, or waiting for our roadside service company to send out a tow truck.

We had a short nineteen mile trip west on the Indiana Toll Road to South Bend, where we picked up U.S. Highway 31 and followed it north 130 miles to Muskegon. We have a week’s reservations at Fisherman’s Landing, a city owned RV park and marina, and we plan to spend the time visiting family here, and maybe we’ll even get our kayaks in the water!

Thought For The Day – It’s hard to make a comeback when you haven’t been anywhere.

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We sure had fun yesterday! My daughter Tiffany and her family are visiting San Diego, and yesterday morning we went to meet them at La Jolla Cove, which has to be one of the prettiest pieces of coastline in the world. I wouldn’t give you a plugged nickel for most of southern California, but scenes like this almost make it worth dealing with all of the traffic, crowds, and big city hassles.

Our granddaughters, Hailey, age six, and Destiny, almost two, love the beach and the water. Hailey is a tomboy and is fascinated with any kind of wildlife, be it the ducks and geese in the park back home in Show Low, Arizona (which she routinely stalks and catches, only to pat them gently and turn them loose), to the marine life that lives in the tide pools at surf’s edge.

Destiny is still too young to adventure far from Mommy and Daddy’s reach, but give her some sand to roll around in, and she’s happy as can be. Oh, to be that young and carefree again!

The place was crowded, even on a Friday morning in February, and I commented to Miss Terry that it must be a real circus on summer weekends. We had to park a mile or so away and walk down to where the kids were, but with the beautiful scenery, it was a pleasant stroll. I tried to call Tiffany to tell her that we had arrived but at the south end of the cove, near the lifeguard station, we had no Verizon cell service. By the time we reached the kids at the north end of the cove, we had three bars of 1X service.

As soon as we arrived, Hailey was eager to show Grandma Terry some of the things she had discovered in the tide pools. Just a quarter mile or so up the cove, harbor seals were whelping their calves, and a crowd of people had gathered on the walkway overhead to see them.   

We had no big plans for the day, so to fill up the time, Tiffany proved that she is her father’s daughter by locking her car keys in the trunk of their new Chrysler Sebring. While we waited almost two hours for road service to come and open the car, son-in-law Jim and I visited, while Miss Terry and the girls played in the park. I really admire my hard working son-in-law, and always enjoy spending time with him. Meanwhile, Hailey had to show off her acrobatic skills for Terry. Can you tell we’re proud grandparents?

Now, I have to report a Bad Nick sighting, right here in San Diego.

When the road service guy finally arrived, he managed to open the car doors, but the keys were locked in the trunk. The car has an inside trunk release, but as part of its built in security system, the trunk would not release from the inside, even after the alarm stopped blaring, because the doors had not been opened with the key, which has some sort of built in computer chip.

So Jim managed to fold down one side of the rear seat, wrestled out some luggage, and managed to force his head and broad shoulders inside the trunk. Somehow he fumbled around and got the trunk to open, and Tiffany finally retrieved her keys. But, we had one more problem. Well, actually Jim had the problem.

He was now stuck, laying on his back, his head and shoulders in the trunk, and the rest of him dangling off the back seat of the car. I wish I would have had my camera handy, because it really was a Kodak moment.

Of course, I wanted to help the young fellow out of his predicament. After all, he is just like a son to me! But about that time Bad Nick arrived upon the scene, and you just know that wasn’t going to be a good thing. I tried to stop him, I really did. But the little imp just had to take advantage of Jim’s misfortune.

Did you know that when you tickle a very strong, very stuck 26 year old construction worker on their exposed belly, they really squirm and wiggle a lot? Or that when you then run around to the trunk to see their head, the ears get really, really red? Did you know how many naughty words 26 year old construction workers can say? Or at least giggle when in such a situation?

Finally Bad Nick retreated, because Jim threatened to do things to him that I’m sure are illegal in several states and all Canadian provinces, and are pretty darned immoral too! I managed to help pull Jim free, and all of those people watching from the sidewalk really seemed to enjoy the show.

Today we’re going to Sea World, and I bet those kids are going to run Grandpa’s stubby little legs off!

Thought For The Day - Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.