Getting Ready To Move On

Ten months we’ve been sitting here at our South Carolina “home”.  Not completely by choice, but waiting for the all important disability examination by the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital in Columbia, SC.  I’ve had some routine low level appointments, the cataract surgery and the follow on care.  But this is the Big Daddy of them all, and hopefully, will be the last one before the results and my paperwork goes to the rating board.

Just as a precaution if there are any follow up visits from what they find tomorrow, we’ve signed up for a three month workamping stint (Oct, Nov, & Dec) at the Strom Thurmond Army COE Recreation area, located on the border of South Carolina and Georgia, just outside of Augusta.  That way, if a follow up is necessary, it will only be about an hour and a half drive to get there.

It means we’ll be leaving being really close to our grandsons, Andrew and Owie.  We’ve just begun watching Andrew play football.

He’s the team’s Center, and hikes the ball to the Quarterback.  So far this season, they’ve won their first two games.

And Owie just loves to come over to the Journey and play Mimi Marti’s Nintendo WII.

We’ll certainly miss them, but we’ll be close enough to visit at least once a week.  Marti is teaching the boys piano lessons, she’s using her music degree that she worked so hard in college for.  ;c)

To sooth our sad departure, we have a great reason to roll.

We’re going to spend a week with our granddaughter’s Kierra, Taylor and Rebekah at their new home in Missouri, outside of St Louis.  It’s been over four months since we’ve seen them and we need new pictures.  Rebekah is growing like a weed!  :c)

I spent a couple of hours this morning doing my pre-moving checks, with a special add on.  Along with checking the batteries, the engine oil, the generator and so on, I checked the engine coolant for the correct levels of antifreeze and Supplemental Coolant Additives (SCAs).  (Don’t worry Sherry, SCA’s are not something to worry about on gasoline engines).

SCAs are important in diesel cooling systems.  Without going into great detail and putting you to sleep as to how SCAs work, lets just say there are certain amounts that have to be in the coolant.

How to check them?  You use these little test kits.

The Fleetguard kit I bought at a Freightliner dealer.  The bottle on the right I got at a NAPA auto parts store.

Inside they have a little test strip that you dip into the coolant. 

The SCAs, antifreeze and pH levels turn little patches on the strip a certain color.  You match the colors to the color graph on the package and you can get the levels.

In comparing the two test kits, I got conflicting results.  I’m not in any danger, but the results beg a retest.  One of the problems is the test kits have a shelf life and the Fleetguard kit was expired.

I bought these from the Freightliner dealer and these were them most recent ones they had in stock.  The other kit, from NAPA has no indication of any date.  I’m going to hit a couple of other truck dealers and see if I can get a fresh kit or two.   You should check the coolant SCA levels every six months.

Then the all important tire inspection and pressure check. 

I use a good, dual foot truck tire pressure gauge.  You can get one at Camping World for about $15.  Money well spent.  The nice thing about these gauges is you can use it easily on the hard to get dual tire stems.

If all goes well, we’ll roll out Friday after a grandparents appreciation breakfast at the grandson’s school.  About 750 miles to the granddaughter’s house.  I don’t intend to do any PDD driving days, but once I get behind the Journey’s wheel and hit the highway, who knows?

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.