Time Marches On

It's become a bit of a "Groundhog Day" existence here at our South Carolina home.  My Dad is still living here which has really been an adjustment for us.  He is a 97 year old man with an 18 year old's mindset.  He still thinks he can do anything, until he takes a "digger" and I have to pick him up off the floor. 

One of us has to be physically present with him at all times to monitor his movements.  Thankfully we have been able to hire a respite company to have a companion with him two days a week for several hours so Marti and I can get out and do some of the things we need to do.  He doesn't like the companions, he calls them "baby sitters".  We call them angels!  :c)

Since Dad came to live with us last July, we've had three ambulance trips to the hospital, once for the broken hip, once for what appeared to be a stroke (it wasn't) and once for severe chest pains.  His ticker is getting a little worn out.  But he's happy, eating well and watching his favorite TV shows:  Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.  I never really watched those shows before, now I'm not thrilled I watch them now, they make me feel really stupid.  Maybe I shouldn't have slept so much in school!

We are planning a Disney World trip first week of June with our grandsons Andrew and Owen.  My older brother Jon, who recently retired, is coming down from NJ to stay with Dad.  That's a great relief to know Dad will be well cared for and will enjoy somebody else to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy with.  ;c)

I've been getting the Journey ready for the trip, I serviced the generator myself but had to make an appointment with a Freightliner dealer for the engine oil/filter and chassis service because I have no place to handle 20 quarts of used engine oil. On the appointment date I drove the Journey down only to find out they never got me on the schedule and were not able to do it.  Thankfully since I'm retired, I was able to reschedule another date for the next week.

Drove to the next  week appointment and ended up cooling my heels in the truckers lounge for FIVE hours.  I learned two things from this experience:  In the future, I'll stick to using Speedco shops for the Journey's service (which usually takes no more than and hour) and that truckers are very touchy-feely.  The truckers in the lounge with me were mesmerized by watching Dr. Phil on TV.  The whole five hours.  I was enlightened to  discover after five hours I am not touchy-feely.

The Journey lives in a nearby storage lot where I check on it regularly and about every 4-6 weeks run it around.  I am amazed at how dirty it gets just sitting still.  It gave me great satisfaction to be able to bring it to the paved lot next to our house (we live on a dead end street) to wash it and go over all the systems.  I tossed all the can goods we had left in the cabinets, they were all over two years old, and gave the carpets a good cleaning.  More scrubbing will be done over the next week.

I went to replace the water filter and fill the water tank to flush the antifreeze out and found the filter canister was cracked on the bottom.  A call to Lichtsinn Motors in Iowa got a new one mailed out to me, it arrived today.  It is a bit different so I may have to change some fittings to install it.  I took the Journey back to the storage lot for the next couple of days (don't want the HOA to complain) until I can work on it again and noticed one of my air pressure gauges has gone bad and when I closed the door, the step motor broke.  Another call to Lichtsinn and a new motor is on the way, I'll have to run by Freightliner to pick up a new gauge sometime next week.

I'm also replacing the front tires, they are Michelin XRV tires and although they have not aged out, they have severe cracks in the sidewalls.  A known issue with them.  It didn't matter that I've been very careful about keeping them covered and used 303 Protectant on them.  I'm done with Michelin and have two Goodyear G670 RV tires on the way, should be in next week.  The rear tires are just starting to show tiny sidewall cracks, they are even newer than the fronts, but I'll wait to next year to replace them.

I want to go to the Winnebago factory service center to have my left side slide looked at, it appears to need adjustment, it has dropped in the front side about an inch.  It still works just fine, but the slide arms ride on plastic bushings and I think they are worn.  Unfortunately that will have to remain on the back burner because of my Dad living with us.  Since we use the Journey so infrequently, it can wait.

So that's the latest, just doing what needs to be done.  Family first.  Dr. Phil, no way!

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