I'm back!!!

[dsprik]

I'll bet it was quiet while I was gone...

I am using my Motorola E815 cell phone for my air card. It took two 80 mile round trip runs into Traverse City's Alltel office to get things up and running, but I now have the internet. Running about 110 kbps in this area.

The trip home a week ago went well. Bill Tea and Town and Country RV of Clyde, OH are a first rate, class act dealership. We couldn't be happier. Cheryl absolutely loves our new home. So do I.

The 2002 GMC 4x4, Ext cab, LB w/ 265 Cooper tires did a great job. We had a real test coming north in I-75 throught Flint, MI @ 4 PM on a Fri afternoon. All three lanes packed, and drivers trying to come flying down the on ramps, expecting to somehow miraculously merge into that. I had to do two panic stops at 2 consecutive exits. Truck and 3400 performed great (did turn my brakes up a little though...)

Allison trans is a tremendous work of art. Had to fool it though at 55 mph, as it won't downshift until approx 62 mph. Otherwise, RPMs stayed at 2500. Did that for the first 40 miles. Called the dealership, then finally figured out that when I reached 55 (on cruise/tow haul), even when flat and up to speed, I had to tap the tow haul off, let it shift down, then tap the tow haul back on immediately again. As I said, all other speeds, like 65 on the interstate, it had no trouble shifting down on it's own. Not sure why it doesn't like that speed. Trans temp was fine.

What really amazed me was that I had no trouble coming out of a rest area and getting to speed quickly with that Duramax pulling 11,800+ of 5ver. Amazing engine. We were going to weigh it at some scales close to home, but ran out of daylight, and I did NOT want to rig up for my first time ever in the dark... We will weigh as soon as possible, though.

My mileage calc were 10.1 mpg during our first leg before figuring out that we were pulling at 800 RPMs over what we should have been running. Then, the last leg came in at 16.6 mpg, which seems a little high, but I went over the figures a couple times.

So, we are here at Bellaire in Craven park for 6 more weeks.

No major problems with our 3400 so far. We ended up with a Queen bed instead of a King. After sleeping in the Queen now for a week, I want my King. We have the King 4 inch memory topper laying on top of this mattress, and while it is very comfortable, I need more room. I "fell" off my side of the bed the first night (I claim Cheryl pushed me...) because of this pad draping over the sides of the bed. Bill Tea is working on this for me.

Our stove was installed out of level. Had not read or heard about this one... I thought the slide was out of level. I called Rich and we each looked at our kitchen sldes to compare while on our cells. With his help, we finally figured out the the slide was fine, but the stove was screwed into the cabinents with the front down slightly. Cheryl put a pan of water on the stove and she caught it as it slide off the front of the stove.

I simply unscrewed the top front two screws and the front bottom two screws. I then bought a 20" 1x2 and lifted up the front of the stove (it easily pivoted on the back two top screws) about an inch. This came out perfect. I then redrilled and re-screwed the top two screws into the counter top. I couldn't re-attach the bottom screws as the stove is now about 3/4" out away from any wood. Not necessary though as the 1x2 under the stove is very solid. Previously, there was nothing under the stove, and the two bottom screws did all the supporting.

Everything else is great. Rich took a look at our tub and mentioned that our drain is now different. I will post a pic. We did have gaps at the junction of our tub and wall. I caulked. We also changed the shower head, but I need a shutoff valve between the hose and the new head. I will work on that.

More later.