Today was the big day to leave for Tennessee, didn't happen.
We got the Flex back at 5 PM yesterday, with its base plate and wiring modifications done. NOT! Hopefully the base plate is OK but the wiring was not. When we got it home I plugged it into the coach and while the turn signals and brake lights functioned properly we had no tail lights on the Flex. We decided that we would pack up the coach and drive both vehicles to 4 Wheel Parts Plus, the installer, have the wiring problem corrected and head to TN from there. We planned on being at their shop shortly after they opened at 8 AM. It seemed a decent plan.
While packing up the coach I picked up our portable water softener, about 40#, to store it in one of the basement bays. The bay was under one of the slides so I was hunched down, facing away from the coach when I picked the softener up. I took a step backward and was turning to put the softener in the bay, and banged my head on the corner of the raised bay door. Blood flowed. I had knocked off the transmitter that clips to my bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA). The transmitter clips to a abutment that is embedded in my skull. As I was blotting the blood I realized I could wiggle the abutment. The bleeding soon stopped so that wasn't a problem. I called the office of the ENT Dr. who installed the device and they said they would have the Dr call me back when he arrived. About an hour later they called and told me to come up and have it checked. They are in Columbia, MO about 45 miles from us. The abutment is a two piece unit. One piece was screwed into a hole they drilled into my skull. The top of that piece is actually below the surface of my skin. The exposed part screws to the embedded part. Fortunately the problem turned out to be that I had a loose screw in my head. The impact had slightly loosened the screw that holds the pieces together. The pieced embedded in my skull was still tight. It took awhile for him to find a sterilized screw driver but after a little tightening I was on my way home.
4 Wheel Parts Plus was on our way home so we stopped. The guy assured me that they had checked the taillights and that they worked. He said there must be something wrong with the 7 pin plug on the coach. I told him that I was pretty sure that I got a 12v reading on the correct pin when I checked the coach 7 pin with a multimeter. He said we needed to bring both the coach and Flex in to have it checked. We went home packed the coach and drove both it and the Flex back to town. It was around 1:30 PM. I was still hoping to get left today.
After some diagnosis the problem was not the coach 7 pin, it was a bad connector in one of the Flex taillights. I don't know if it was a new connector they installed or perhaps their moving wires around caused one of the factory connectors to fail. The guy replaced the connector, we had taillights and around 2:30 PM we left to drive over to the mall, hook up the Flex and head south (4 Wheels parking lot is small and they have a lot of vehicles on it. We didn't think we could get back out of the lot towing the Flex.)
At the mall I hooked up the tow bar, the safety chains the electrical umbilical, the breakaway cable and was ready to install the braking system in the Flex. Towed vehicles are supposed to have brakes, similar to a towed trailer. The unit I bought for the Flex, from 4 Wheel, sits on the floor where the drivers feet would normally be. A clamp connects to the brake pedal and the other side is braced by the seat. Sounds simple enough. After fighting with a "ridge" in the Flex floor plan I finally gave up trying to get it to work correctly. The "ridge" kept the unit to close to the pedal, it wouldn't function correctly. Kathy headed back home with the coach and I headed back to 4 Wheels. The guy from 4 Wheels told me that it was okay if the unit sets at a hokey angle, with the back up on the ridge and the front down lower. He said it will still work OK.
Back home at Kelsey and Andy's I hooked the utilities back up to the coach, we got the AC running and just sat for awhile getting cooled down, today's high was 94.
I feel like maybe I'm a slow learner. For some reason it appears that the Lord did not want us heading out today. First the taillights, then me banging my head and then the problems with the brake unit. A fast learner might have seen the light earlier and decided to wait for another day to leave. 😀
Tomorrow we will learn what God has in store for us then.
Thanks to those who have been praying for us. Nothing that happened to us today was all that serious. All issues were solved. So far I haven't even had a headache, or any pain (after the first few minutes) from banging my head.
God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.
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