Sunday Stroll

It's been way too long.  Our Journey has been in exile in the RV storage lot since mid November of last year.  Of course it has been winterized, but with machinery, the worst thing you can do is let it sit.  So today, taking a break from room painting, I went over to the storage lot and gave it a reprieve from just sitting in its parking slot.

I had turned off all the power so no phantom drains from various little electrical devices would have run down the batteries.  I needed to turn all the power back on to get the Journey started.  The master chassis switch is located in the back just above the radiator, behind the engine hatch.

Last fall when I did my oil and filter change, I found the fiberglass grill on the engine hatch had come loose.  Winnebago expoxys the fiberglass to the metal frame.  I re-glued it with some epoxy, but that too failed and everything was loose again.  It was too cold to re-epoxy it, so I used the mechanics favorite thing next to duct tape, plastic zip ties, to temporarily hold things together until the weather gets warmer.

Inside, I turned on the house power and lit off the generator.  It stumbled and ran a little rough at first, sort of complaining for not being run for so long.  When it smoothed out, I put a load on it, turned on the Cat diesel engine block heater and the heat pump.

I cycled the Cat engine intake heater on and off several times to get some warm air in the intake, then turned the key.  The Cat started right up.

I sat there for a few minutes to get oil circulating everywhere and then slowly idled out of the storage lot, stopping to lock the gate behind me.

Before I got back in, I did a walk around the Journey, checking tires, windows, slides, exhaust pipes and so on.  Everything looked good, except I detected slight cracks around the lettering on a couple of my tires.  I took a toothpick and inserted it into the cracks, it hardly went in, so the cracks are minor and the tires are still safe.  I will inspect the tires regularly because Michelin tires are known for cracking badly.  If the cracks look like they're getting deeper, I'll replace the tires.  They are just a little over three years old by the date codes.

I pulled out of the storage lot and headed out towards the highway on some back roads.

After about 10 minutes, I hit Route 66 West and drove past the Bull Run Civil War Battlefield.  All the temps and pressures were normal so I ran the Journey up to highway speeds.

After about 20 miles, I turned off an exit and reversed course.

It was a lonely ride, Marti stayed home with her ankle up on pillows and resting.  One week down, 5 more to go for her ankle to heal.

Returning to the storage lot, I backed the Journey into its spot and shut down the engine and the generator, then turned off all the power switches.

The Journey won't be sitting as long this time, my parts for the Norcold Refrigerator recall have come in, so I have an appointment with my dealer to have the work done the end of February.  Maybe Marti will feel up to taking a ride with me then. :c)

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