Friday, July 7 - Headed toward Michigan

 This morning we left home and started making our way to Michigan. Tonight we are staying at Camp Lakewood in Effingham, IL, 240 miles from home. East bound traffic on I70 wasn't bad but we saw several backups and a lot of bumper to bumper on the westbound lanes. 

We stopped at the Silver Lake Rest Area, first one in IL, if you are eastbound.

Then it was on to Camp Lakewood.

Temperatures were only in the mid 80's but the humidity is higher than it has been in Centertown.

The process of getting left was interesting, again. Our big awning quit working around the time we got back to Missouri. I called around and finally found a mobile guy who came out on June 7th. He said the awning motor was fine but the controller board was bad. I gave him the information on our Service Contract people and asked him to fix it. I told him that we planed on leaving before the 4th of July. On the 14th I called him for an update. He told me that he had not heard back from the Service Contract people. I offered to call them to try and expedite things but he said he would handle it. I sent him a screenshot from Tiffin Parts that showed a new controller. Finally, on the 28th he came with a replacement controller. After seeing that it didn't work I found out  that it was a used controller and he told me that I might have to replaced the entire system because it was out of date. After some discussion he called Dometic, the awning maker, with the actual model number off our awning. The Dometic guy gave him the model of a replacement controller that would work and told him where he could buy it. He called and found out that the cost was $200 more that the price the Service Contract people had agreed to. The problem was that the controller model they priced would not work with out awning. Then he told me that he was going on vacation with week of the 4th. I asked him to make a deal with Service Contract people, have the correct controller shipped to me and that I would install it. I told him I would pay extra to have it shipped overnight. I never heard from him and no controller arrived. If anyone know a competent RV service person in central Missouri please send me their name.

I  planned on having our onboard propane tank filled Wednesday afternoon, at AA Propane in California, MO. The last time we bought propane was mid-Dec in Tucson, AZ.  As I was doing my pre-drive checks I found a flat inside dual on the passenger side. Something was bad with the stem and I couldn't get it to hold air. I called Brockes Tire on got on their schedule to have a Service Truck some Thursday and fix the tire. I couldn't find my valve stem removal tool so I bought a new one. In the evening I pulled the stem out, played with it awhile, put it back in and the tire seemed to hold air. Thursday morning at 7AM I called Brockes and told them not to bother ending a Service Truck I would drive the coach to them. I did and they replaced the valve stem and the extension.

Also, as I was doing my checks on Wed, I learned that the onboard water pump wouldn't work. I called US Rents it and the quickest he could get me one was Friday. I called Camping World in Columbia, MO, gave them the pump model numbers and was told it was to old for them to get a replacement, it was a 2007 model. He suggested I try Amazon. I  had already found one on Amazon but was uneasy over it arriving the next day. I ordered it and by 4PM Thursday I had the pump. I installed it Thursday evening. It seems to work fine.

On top of that, on Wednesday some issues about the results of my April 25th blood tests came up. That issue won't get resolved until we return to MO.

Praise God for getting me through the above pre-drive problems with a minimum of stress.

Tonight I'm setting outside at a picnic table typing this up and enjoying God's creating. 

God is good. I  pray that He blesses you and yours.