Talked to Lenny this am, he's doing pretty good. We'll be heading his way next Friday am, so whatever you want to plan down this way will work for us. Give a holler and let me know when the last of the ice falls off the roof.

Steve, are you on the way yet? We're just south of Knoxville TN and you could park in our driveway overnight if you want. We don't have any hookups but we have a lot of good wine and vodka.
Jim

We're headed downstate tomorrow, then south from Canton Mon morning.

Quick stop north of Dayton to give Doorman the AC cover I have for him. Stop Mon night somewhere in northern Georgia, I suspect, but you never know, Knoxville might be a good stop! Don't need any hookups. Shoot me a PM with your phone # I'll call if we do end up in your area.

Looks like we'll be in northern florida Tues night and probably stay Wed/Thurs with Lenny and Judy. He's up and around and doing well. I talked to Judy this morning. Hopefully we'll see Danny before we leave for the Keys on Fri.

Jim, we're also looking forward to the Raccoon MTN GTG on our way back. See you there!

We got another 4 inches of snow last night.
I was all ready to go by 2 PM, roads were clearing. (I really hate to run in salt)

Decided to head downstate to my place near Detroit. Almost made it.



Got 5 miles out and the POS GM alternator quit charging. Turned around to swap in my spare.

(The other day in another thread on isolators I was bad mouthing these 60 amp POS. Must have read my mind.)

The first thing that failed after I got 86Barth was the alternator 2 yrs ago (broken slip ring brush). Bought 2 more, tested one for 2 months, became spare. Installed the other. It has less than 10,000 miles on it. Got real hot, something shorted.

Fortunately I have the good spare, takes about 1/2 hr to swap including switching pulley. Working fine again.

Decided to try again tomorrow morning.

Sorry for those trials and tribulations, but, It feels sooooo nice once you get a little farther south. Even if it's a truck stop for the night.

Makes me think that carrying a spare alternator might be a good idea.

Be sure to test it. There aren't any new ones, so all we get is rebuilt ones, with the cheapest Chinese parts installed by the cheapest Mexican laborers and sold with a "lifetime guarantee." If it fails, no problem, they will gladly replace it with another one just like it!

I think I may do what I did way back the last time I had these alternators... find quality parts and rebuild my own.

I'm pumped anyway... better weather tomorrow. I'm out of here in the morning!

Don't get TOO excited; it's a brisk 64° here. Bring your fur jackets...

3 inches more snow... Finally left this morning.

The road (?) I live on:



The main road?



Nice shiny road... VERY slick... at least the weather's clearing.



Barreling along at 25 mph. Oh good, a plow... more salt anyone?



Made it to Canton (near Detroit) still some snow here...



No Barth should ever be driven in this crap...
Tomorrow, SOUTH!!!

46 deg. Mostly sunny here tommorow. Give me a call in the A.M.

Daffodils and crocus blooming here

Azaleas and camellias already done here; redbud's in full bloom.

Supposed to snow Wednesday night in East Tennessee Think I'll start walkin' south.
Jim

Just after noon Friday Steve made a quick detour to drop off a AC cover. Thanks again.
Between Bill NY and Steve I now have 2 good shrouds.

Do to weather south didn't get a chance to visit but a few minutes. Steve was hoping for a little rain to clean off all the salt and crap off the coach. Looking at the radar I say he got some.

Steve, are you out there?
Jim