Monday, August 12, 2013 – Here we are starting
the first posting on our new blog. We’ll
begin by entering our Journal entries for a few previous dates.
Friday, August 2, 2013 – Here we are at
the Monaco service center in Coburg’ Oregon.
It is Friday evening and the service center is closed for the
weekend. On Thursday the technicians
analyzed our slide problem. They found
that the two motors that operate the slide mechanism were both destroyed. They told us that the slide mechanisms have
been upgraded and they would order new mechanism for us. The new motors have more torque and the mechanisms
have the steel crankshafts instead of an aluminum crankshaft. They will be shipped here from Indiana, and
should arrive in a few days. That’s fine
with us because next week we will be attending the FMCA rally in Albany,
Oregon. We will be back here on August
11 for the installation of the new slide mechanism.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013 – Here we are in
the Paradise Cove RV Park in Wheeler, Oregon.
Not much of a park. It’s on a
very hilly site of the parking sites are terraced down to the water. Where we had to park we could not get the TV
satellite. So last night we decided to
move to a better site where our rooftop dish could get the satellite. When Lynn tried to bring the slides in the
large living room slide would not move.
Something is jammed. We called
Coachnet. They should be here some time by noon. The technician who came was John from
Skipanon Marine & RV, Warrenton, OR.
After we get the slides in and locked we drive over to Coberg, Oregon to
the Monaco Service center. This kills
our plan to go to Ilwaco in Washington for a week before the FMCA convention. Such is life with an RV.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013 – repair list for
Monaco Service center.
1 - Living room
slide is jammed.
2 - Door hard to
open. Door drags on the frame at bottom.
3 - Caulk the
shower.
4 - Adjust the
levelers. Left side is low.
5 - Refrigerator light
still fails to come on occasionally.
6 - Driver’s side
window curtain needs adjusting.
7 - Replace panel on
side of pantry drawers and adjust position sideways.
8 – Bedroom TV.
9 – Grab assist
bars.
On June 23 we headed north to
Panguitch over night and then on north with stops at Utah Lakes, Heyburn for
two nights, the Wild Horse Casino at Pendleton, OR, and the Vancouver Elks for
two nights. We were happy to spend only
two nights and the Vancouver elks which is very close to interstate 205 with
its continuous traffic noise.
Thursday, July 4, 2013. Here we
are in Vancouver Washington at the 99 RV Park.
Today we visited the Pearson air museum.
It was extremely interesting. The
history includes the story of early airplanes and early pilots. The new museum also contains one of the early
Stanley steamer cars. To start the car
you first half to light the burner under the boiler. In 30 to 60 minutes the
car is ready to move. After the museum
we went to a local brewery. The service
was so poor we went to a Denny’s restaurant and had a great deal. The weather here today is unusually
cool. The weather forecast here says it
will warm up considerably next week
Next Monday we plan to go to the Washington coast where we have
reservations for one week at each of five Coast-to Coast Parks. Then on August 6 we will go to Albany Oregon
to attend the FMCA’s Regional rally.
After that will start making our way south toward home.
Saturday,
July 13, 2013 - Our trip has been good so far.
We were in a campground on the north side of the Columbia River with a
good view of the Pacific. Ilwaco is 7
miles away in Washington. Just south of
Ilwaco is the Coast Guard lifeboat training station. This is where they deliberately roll a 44
foot boat to teach the crew how to survive a roll in rough water.
Then we had a bit of
a problem with the motorhome. We were
watching TV one evening when the TV just quit.
All breakers were ok but the back half of the motorhome had no 120 volt
electric. We knew that Monaco/Holiday
Rambler has two major service centers in the US, one in Indiana and the other
one in Coburg, Oregon, just 200 miles south of us. I called them and they had me turn on the
back air conditioner. It worked so that
meant that the transfer switch is ok.
The technician concluded that there was a problem in the converter
circuitry. He said it was going to be
complicated so we should bring it to Coberg.
Matt, the Service Writer told us they had a 6 week waiting list but
bring it in and they would work us in.
We got it back today with a brand new combination
breaker/converter/junction box and everything works. This is a 15 building motor home construction
facility where they built Monacos and Holiday Ramblers until recently. Erlin, the mechanic who worked on our rig worked
in the factory building RVs before they closed it. Great mechanic and great service!
Sunday, July 15, 2013 - While at the
Monaco Service Center we asked them to fix several minor items. They adjusted the cable latch on the slide
out kitchen cabinet, fixed the refrigerator light, and replaced the vacuum door
spring. The mechanic also suggested that he replace the wooden panel on the
side of the kitchen cabinet. To do that
and adjust the Walk-In door we made an appointment to return to the service
Center on August 15th.
From here we head to
the Oregon coast for three weeks, then back here to Albany, OR for the FMCA
Regional. After that we go 40 miles
south where we have a return appointment at the Monaco Service Center to have
the entry door adjusted and to replace a plywood panel on the side of the
kitchen slide out. And one half mile
south of the Monaco Service Center is the Oregon location of Paul Evert’s RV
where we have an appointment to install the signal cable from the DVR to the
outside wall mounted TV. Then back to the Oregon coast for a visit with
Lynn’s long lost step daughter. Finally we
head home in early September. That is
the plan to date.
