We had reserved a great campsite at Claytor Lake State Park that is near to our old home town of Christiansburg, Virginia. We booked this site for the maximum time of two weeks to allow us time to complete all of our annual health checkups plus some vehicle maintenance.
This leg of our travels was about 400 miles over two days of driving. This is a bit longer than we really like to drive, but needed to get to our Virginia location for some appointments.
We also had an unexpected brake failure with the 5th wheel coach while traveling in the steep mountains from the Cincinnati area to a one night stopover in Huntington, West Virginia! Yikes!!!
It was a good thing we had two full weeks here because it was a completely full time with running everyday somewhere. I drove about 800 miles on the truck during this two weeks! It was exhausting!
We had our doctor appointments scheduled for some time, along with both of our dental visits, my dermatologist visit, family and friend meetings, and a bunch of vehicle work. I needed a vacation after these two weeks!
Vehicle Maintenance
The first order of business as soon as we rolled into Christiansburg was an appointment with a tire/brake shop for the Bighorn coach. As we were driving through the West Virginia mountains, we had one coach wheel (out of four), that was way overheating. So hot I could not lay my hand on it.
I routinely check the wheel/tire temps at rest stops and one was found to have an issue. I thought it could have been a stuck brake or wheel bearing going bad. So, do I call for roadside assistance from a rest stop and maybe have to spend a day or two at a busy rest area stuck here or keep going?
I decided to let it cool down for a few minutes and then keep going but stopping often to check on it. At the 2nd or 3rd stop, it was no longer overheating. That could either be good or bad news.
Well, we drove another 200+ miles like that to our WVA stop and then on “home” to Christiansburg, VA. At the shop, the mechanic lifted the coach and pulled the wheel and hub off. He had never seen one this bad. The brakes are electric activated drum brakes. One of the brake shoe springs broke and came apart lodging between the hub and brake shoe. Not good.
After severe wear and overheating, the entire assembly came apart and scored the hub severely. They had to special order a new hub and brake assembly requiring us to spend a couple of nights at the local Hampton Inn while repairs were made.
While they were at it, I had them check all four wheels and repack the wheel bearings. No more issues with RV wheels or brakes!
While we were in town, I also took the truck in to the Ford dealer for a 15,000 miles check up and maintenance. They changed the oil, filter, and both fuel filters, did the multi-point inspection, and about $300 and three hours later, I was done at another shop.
Then our 2004 Ford Explorer has been making a pretty heavy knocking noise when de-accelerating, so into the shop it goes. You might remember that Pat started driving the Explorer last June along behind me driving the truck and camper combination.
Having the smaller vehicle was great to venture out exploring large cities or small back roads. It added more flexibility to our travels but it did come with an increased maintenance cost. As we found it.
The repair shop could not determine exactly where the knocking was coming from. After replacing a few likely culprits, the sound and vibrations were still there. We decided after spending a good chunk of change to cut our losses. The next step of replacing the transfer case would be even more expensive.
So for now, we are back to having just the Ford F-350 dually truck to navigate around the local areas that we happen to be in. Oh, and we also took our daughter’s small car into the shop for some needed repairs to keep her safe. Finally, all vehicle work completed.
Doctor Appointments
It was time for our routine annual doctor and dental checkups and blood work requiring a few more trips into Blacksburg and the Radford hospital (blood work). So far, everything looked okay except for some slightly higher blood pressure that I just need to monitor. And we both need to return to the dentist in Sept for some crown work and a small filling.
Family & Friends
Since this is back to our hometown area, Pat kept us busy with visiting someone most everyday. I also met with a group of FM friends that are mostly made up of retirees. We had a great time catching up on each other’s activities from the last few months.
I also met with some of my former Finance Team and a drop in to the office. The business world continues as always with just some different challenges. One new challenge is the sale of my former employer (Federal-Mogul Corp) to Tenneco Automotive. I’m sure changes will come from that.
We also were able to attend our Draper Valley Presbyterian Church for both weeks while we were in town. It was very nice to see our church family after a year away.
Tigger
As I posted about last week, our 18 year old cat and travelling buddy died after becoming very weak the past week. The vet tried a new heart medication, but he continued to go downhill. Someone said that he wanted to be buried back in his home of Virginia. We sure do miss him, but also have some more flexibility while traveling, not caring for our senior pet.
Claytor Lake State Park
Our stay was at the maximum 2-weeks and the park is absolutely great. They have many watersport activities, good hiking trails, a very nice campground in the D-loop for large rigs, and lots of open green space. We really enjoy the nature side of these parks after staying in many private RV parks. With our busy schedule, we just did not have too much time to enjoy this park.
Blog Updates vs Real Time Social Media Updates
It seems this blog tends to lag the real time by about two weeks as I get time to make updates in between travel days and sightseeing. I am trying to get it closer to current, but in the meantime, we both try to post updates on Facebook about where we are and what is going on.
Some have been confused by these Facebook updates when we are in one place, while the blog indicates another place.
Next up is our trip to Williamsburg VA to meet some good RV friends we made in Florida and to see all the Colonial city attractions.
Sign up for the blog updates and leave a comment if you wish. We love hearing from you! Take care and God Bless.
It was fantastic seeing you and Pat again!
It was great seeing you as well. Tell Ted that we missed seeing him!
Thanks for the update. Sorry about the Explorer as I know you will both miss having it, especially Patricia when she wants to make a quick trip to the store or somewhere. Hopefully you will find an alternative later. That is a really nice campground. It looks very clean and spacious. Glad you got all your mechanical fixes and updates done. Now you will have smooth sailing for a while. So glad you got to attend the Memorial Day cememony at the Nat Cemetary in DC. What a special place to commemorate the day. Wish we could have joined you in DC but we couldn’t work it out. Will keep following your travels and will join you again as soon as we can. Love to you both. Lorna
I keep trying to encourage Trish to learn to drive the truck. Maybe this summer! All of the major fixes are done, but with any RV, there is always something new it seems. Being at Arlington on Veterans Day and when the POTUS was laying the wreath on the grave was indeed special. We hope to catch you guys down the road somewhere for sure! Love
It was great to see you while you all were here. Looking forward to doing it again during your next trip “home.”
Yes, it was good to great to see the entire group. Our next time through is mid-Sept, so hope to see everyone then.