Blue Streak & Pony Head
South
with permission by Court Nederveld
The Nedervelds, Court, Peg, Terry and Sheba the
Labrador have lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan for 24 years. Grand
Rapids is a beautiful place and offers some of the finest
recreational and vocational opportunities a person could ask for.
However, Grand Rapids also offers winters that 24 years ago were
merely inconvenient. But as we got older the winters to us,
seemed to get harder, longer, and not nearly as fun as they used
to be. There is a saying in Grand Rapids that goes "We have
8 months of winter and 4 months of rough snowmobiling!"
So, about 6 years ago, we started planning for the day when we
would make a change, and head someplace where the winters were
shorter and milder. We investigated many places, a few of the
finalist were Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Corpus Christi, Texas and
Florida.
Pennsylvania, while beautiful and having many of the
recreational pursuits we enjoy, also has a state income tax and a
higher cost of living. Padre Island, just east of Corpus Christi
was a contender right to the end, and lost out only because as we
stood on the beach on South Padre Island in February in 65 degree
sunshine, we called Punta Gorda, Florida and discovered that the
air traveling west over the Gulf had warmed to 75 degrees by the
time it got to Punta Gorda. That, plus Money Magazine naming
Punta Gorda #1 and #4 best place in America to live two years in
a row, convinced us that at least for the immediate future,
Florida would be the new home of the Nedervelds.
Preparations:
- We decided to stay in Grand Rapids until our son
graduated from High School. This he did in June of 97.
- The next weekend we put the house which we built 13 years
ago up for sale.
- Then we discussed how to move 25 years of stuff to
Florida. The answer is one that I would recommend to all.
We had a public auction of our household goods July 12.
It took 4 1/2 hours to sell every personal item we owned
except for clothes, Pony the '66 Mustang and of course
Blue Streak the Travco. By 6 PM that day not only was
everything sold but the folks who bought it hauled it
away. We were able to clean out a 2200 sqft house and not
break a sweat!
- We purchased a condo in Punta Gorda. Pool, Tennis Courts,
Golf course across the street, our own dock on the canal
that goes to Charlotte Harbor, we can't wait to get
there.
- Now the first crack in our
carefully laid plans appears. The house doesn't sell. We
wait... and wait... and wait... The days start to get
colder, winters coming and we don't want to get stuck
living in an empty house in Michigan in the winter.
- We decide to press on. My wife tenders her resignation
with her employer of 17 years. Her last day was Oct. 17.
- Our son decides to stay in Grand Rapids, gets an
excellent job creating electronic construction
catalogues, gets his own place and settles in.
- We look at the stuff we have left and realize that it
won't quite fit in the Blue Streak. So, we are forced to
rent a 5 x 8 trailer instead of a car trailer. This means
that Blue Streak will tow the trailer and Pony will
travel separately and follow Blue Streak to Florida.
- We get a small break. We had been trying to figure out
how we could drive the vehicles to Florida without taking
any of my vacation time to do it. My employer sends me to
Newark, Ohio for two weeks. Newark is about 330 miles
south and east of Grand Rapids. Our thought is that we
will drive the vehicles to Newark the weekend of Oct. 17.
Spend the week in Newark and then the following weekend
drive to Carnesville, Georgia where my wife's brother and
family live. Carnesville is about 591 miles from Newark.
- She will spend the week with her family and I will fly
back to my next assignment. The following weekend I will
fly back to Carnesville and we will make the run to Punta
Gorda which is about 631 miles from Carnesville.
Friday night, October 17th, we arrive home
about 6 PM and we decide to start packing up clothes and what
not. My plan is to be on the road by noon Saturday. We receive a
message from the trailer rental place that the trailer we
supposedly reserved isn't there and might not be. They wouldn't
know till after 12 noon Saturday. So much for my plan to be on
the road by noon. By 11pm we are beat and head for the last
nights sleep in Grand Rapids.
We also get word that the Travco "Odyssey" had left
Grand Rapids Tuesday and made it to Indiana where the brakes
failed. Odyssey was waiting on parts due in Thursday and as soon
as the repairs were complete was continuing on its way.
Saturday morning: October 18th, 7 AM, 29
degrees on the thermometer. We get on the phone and find another
trailer. I go to my last dentist appointment at 8 am and I am
happy to report no cavities. If anybody ever needs a good dentist
in Grand Rapids, go see Dr. Steve Watkins in Ada (Steve, if you
see this, you owe me a residual on all the new patients you get
from my plug!). I get home and continue to load Blue Streak. Time
keeps slipping away. My wife insist on giving the house a
complete cleaning top to bottom. My son wants to have lunch with
us one last time. Peg runs to the store because we decided that
we should each have a CB radio so we can keep in touch as we head
down the highway. I top off Blue Streak and Peg tops off Pony. I
decide I want new windshield wipers on Blue Streak. Now the
parking lights won't come on. Time keeps on running, running!
Last minute instructions to our son. Supper at Kaisers Family
Kitchen. New batteries in the CB's, Hugs, Kisses, my wife crying.
Load 'um up, rollin', rollin'! Can you believe its 5pm already?
Wait a minute! I just remembered, I haven't driven Blue Streak
farther than 40 miles in any one stretch. I don't even know what
kind of gas mileage I get. Now I even have to pull a trailer. And
Night is on its way. Oh, well! 
We pull out of Kaisers Family Kitchen and head south on Alden
Nash Rd. I really can't tell I'm pulling a trailer although I am
very aware that I probably can't stop as fast. We travel about 5
miles and turn left onto I 96 east heading towards Detroit. The
CB's work fine. The sky is clear and the sun is going down. Blue
Streak accelerates quickly (OK steadily) to 70 mph which I decide
is just fine for me at least until I get some miles under my
belt. I crank up the stereo with some Jefferson Airplane's
"Embryonic Journey" and settle back to enjoy the ride.
Checking the rear view mirror I see Pony tucked up behind me and
Sheba is riding shotgun for Peg.
I 96 travels east across Michigan and the AAA TripTik says to
take it to US 23 south. We get to US 23 in about an hour and then
head south. Blue Streak seems to be hardly breaking a sweat at 70
with the trailer in tow. But now the sun is almost gone and I
switch on the headlights but the taillights won't come on. I have
turn signals, brake lights, flashers, etc. but no taillights. I
don't want to stop quite yet, the Triptik says Newark is 6 1/2
hours and we have only been on the road about two hours. But we
are both tired. It has been a busy day and we are running out of
steam.
Finally, I see a sign for a KOA and we exit from US 23 and the
campground is just off the highway. We pull in and can
immediately see that they are full. It's 7:30 and the campground
gate says they can put us in a field, but I can't pull into the
campground until after 9 PM because they are having Halloween for
the kids and there was hundreds of kids running around in
costumes. I thank them and choose not to wait. I figure that
sitting at the gate for an hour and a half would be time better
spent getting me further towards Newark.
Back on US 23 we go! I decide to stop for gas and to check the
TripTik for any spot we might hole up for the night. Surprisingly
both Blue Streak and Pony have used about 1/2 a tank of gas. Pony
sips in about 8 gallons of gas and Blue Streak drinks like fish
and polishes off about 20 gallons. Back on US 23 then to US 475
then onto I 75 south and we go about another half hour and come
up on a rest area already filling with trucks and campers for the
evening. We park, use the facilities, walk Sheba, have some
munchies, rearrange the stuff in Blue Streak, read the paper,
make the bed and crash for the night. You would think that being
in a new bed, in the middle of nowhere, after a hectic day, with
semi's running their engines all night, that we would be unable
to sleep. Let me tell you, we laid our heads down about 11 PM and
the next thing we knew it was 6 AM. Felt much better. The TripTik
says we have traveled 198 miles with 132 left to go.
Sunday morning: October 19th, There is frost
on the windows but really not to bad out. We walk the dog, make
some coffee and I have a container of Tapioca pudding for
breakfast. We take our time, start the vehicles and let them both
warm up. I do a walk around Blue Streak, check the trailer and
generally make sure everything is hunky-dory. 7:20 AM and we pull
out onto I 75 and continue south. We leave I 75 at Findlay and
turn onto US 23 again. At 8:20 we stop at the Marion Bob Evans
for breakfast. Sausage omelet for Peg, eggs Benedict for me and
dog food for Sheba. Before getting back on the highway we fuel up
one more time. Didn't really need it yet but I wanted full tanks
for the run to Newark. (Actually we stayed in Pinkerton about 30
miles west of Newark) My company is providing me with an
apartment in Pinkerton, so we park Blue Streak at a shopping
strip within visual sight of the apartment and gather up the
important stuff, like laundry, cocktails, dog food and head for
the apartment. Don't have a bead on the mileage yet because I
seem to have lost one receipt. Looks like we will sit here for
the week. Our plan is to leave Pinkerton Friday afternoon,
hopefully on the road by 1 PM. Do about 3 hours, stop for dinner
and then do about 2 more. That should put us in Beckley W.
Virginia for the night. Saturday we hope to do 3 hours before
lunch and 3 hours after lunch which should put us in Carnesville,
Georgia.
Friday afternoon: October 24th, We are
loaded and fueled and at 1:35pm we pull out of Pinkerton, Ohio
and head east on US70. Grand Funk's Closer to My Home is blasting
on the stereo and the faithful Pony tucks up behind Blue Streak
as we climb to 65 mph. We cruise for about an hour and turn south
onto I 77. It starts to rain. We wander south for another half
hour and stop for fuel and lunch in Marietta, Ohio. Wanted a bowl
of chili but the Big Boy was all out. Split a chicken sandwich
with Peg and got back on the road again after about 45 minutes.
It continues to rain.
Our first problem arises about 6pm when Pony decides to
overheat. We pull into a
gas station in Charleston and check the radiator. Its low on
water so we fill it up, gas up Pony and Blue Streak and head back
onto I 77 and into the mountains of West Virginia. It is
drizzling. Blue Streak has no problem going down the mountains.
Going up the mountains is a whole different issue. Second gear
and the Truck Lanes became our standard of operation going
uphill. Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven seemed appropriate. Top
speed of 40 mph. Some big bus style motorhomes pulling sport
utility vehicles pass us uphill doing about 70 mph. What the heck
powers those monsters?
Our second problem arises about 8pm when I decide to pull into
a welcome center located just before the Va. border. I get
confused by the signs that say truck parking and end up in a
typical gravel lot with about a hundred semis and no facilities.
I decide this isn't what I wanted so we turn around and head back
to 77 and continue south. More time lost!
Finally, just over the VA border we come to the Virginia
Welcome Center at Rocky Gap and pull in. Elevation 2557 ft. We
walk the dog, and Peg cooks up some burgers and green peas. I
have frozen tapioca pudding for desert. I decide that this is
where we will sit for the night. Peg points out the big sign that
says two hour parking only. I point out the semis and RV's that
have the drapes shut. We decide that if they want to knock on the
door and tell us to move they can. Barring that we plan to get
some sleep.
 Problem three is
my fault. I take the dog for a walk and decide to run with her
around the parking lot. Its dark and only the parking lot lights
are illuminating the area. I break into a full run with the dog
beside me and head up toward some pavilions. As I look at the
sidewalk coming up, I think I see the standard handicap style
curb. The next thing I know my head bounces off the concrete and
I lay there for a moment trying to see if I am still in one
piece. Head hurts pretty good, knee is very tender, hands scraped
and bleeding, and a silver dollar sized skinned area on my right
shoulder. Right little finger feels like it might be broken but
after a few minutes I can move it and self diagnose it to be
sprained but OK. After a few minutes, I decide that no one is
going to come and offer sympathy, so I get up and limp back to
Blue Streak. As I hobble across the parking lot I look back and
see that the handicap curb has transformed itself into an eight
inch curb. Peg bandages me up, gives me an ice pack and checks to
make sure the life insurance policy is paid. Little Anthony and
the Imperials are playing "I'm all right" in the
background.
We hit the sack about 11pm, and I decide to see if the 12 volt
TV we had worked. It worked fine except there is only one channel
in the mountains of Virginia and that is channel 7 NBC. But, on
the upside it reduced the need for the remote control.
Saturday morning: October 25th Well,
nobody came and pounded on the door to tell us to get moving so
consequently we overslept. I had planned on being on the road by
7:30 but we did not wake up until 8:30. Got dressed and decided
we would get on the road and stop for breakfast later. Blue
Streak and its faithful companion Pony pull out onto I 77 about
9:30 and drive for a while in dense fog. I slip Led Zeppelin's
"Misty Mountain Hop" into the stereo. Later the sun
comes out and then just to complete the cycle we get light rain
again. We stop in Stateville, NC for fuel. Back on the road and
heading south, my head still hurts from last night but most of
the other pains are about gone with the exception of my shoulder
which hurts like the dickens. Noon comes and we pull off for
lunch in Blackburg, SC. I had a burrito and Pegs says she is glad
she's in Pony and not in Blue Streak with me.
I 77 continues south and we pick up I 85 in Charlotte, SC.
Pony decides to pull the overheating act again and we pull off
into a gas station. Same problem, radiator is low. Fill it up
temp drops and we hit the road again. The trip continues fairly
uneventful until we get to the Georgia border. There is a traffic
accident there and we sit for about 15 minutes. Finally, traffic
starts to move and we continue south on I 85 to exit 54, Rte 63.
We turn off and head toward Peg's brother's home in Carnesville
Ga.
Peg's directions leave a little, well a lot to be desired.
Blue Streak, all 27 ft plus a 14 ft trailer finds itself on a one
lane, clay mud, drainage ditches on either side, two track that
didn't go anywhere. As I maneuver deeper into the hills on this
two track, we pass lots of mobile homes with at least two cars on
blocks or with weeds growing up through them in every front yard.
As I open the window, I swear I can hear dueling banjo's.
Finally, we crest a hill and there is a short lane off to the
left with a gate. I stop and tell Peg that I am turning around
while I have a chance and if her brother lives back here then she
should call him and tell him we are going to continue south. With
Pegs help, and some jockeying back and forth I get Blue Streak
turned around, Peg calls her brother and we find out we missed
the turn and we arrive at her brothers home a little later and a
little muddier than we planned. All I had that seemed somewhat
appropriate for the area was Grand Funk's "Footstompin'
Music".
This is where we will sit until next weekend.
Thursday, October 30th: I am sitting in a
manufacturing facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin thinking about
tomorrow. My plane leaves Milwaukee at 10 am Friday and arrives
in Greenville, Spartanburg, GA at 3pm. Then I still have a 1 1/2
hour drive back to Carnesville. Peg has promised to have Blue
Streak and Pony ready to leave when I get there, so we should be
able to be on the road by 5 PM. Since the TripTik says that Punta
Gorda is 631 miles and twelve hours, my plan is to try to get at
least 3 hours in Friday before we stop and then Saturday a
minimum of 6 hours and finish up Sunday. What a crock of bear
poop! I call my boss and request approval to take the Red Eye out
Thursday night. It's approved and I arrive in Carnesville, GA at
1:30am Friday.
Friday October 31st, Halloween: 1:30 am I
crawl into bed to get some much needed sack time, oversleep and
Peg's brothers' family insist that we have breakfast. Eggs,
bacon, coffee and toast (all extremely low carbohydrate).
Breakfast was a good idea, we're feeling good, awake, and ready
to roll. Blue Streak and Pony fire up and pull out of the
driveway at 9:45AM. I plug in Vanilla Fudge "Season of the
Witch". A few minutes later we stop, top off the fuel tanks
and we turn onto I 85 south and find our cruising speed at about
65 mph. The sun is shining and I kick in the CD with the Beatles
Magical Mysterie Tour! Six tons of motor home barreling down the
highway at 65mph with the Beatles cranked up on the stereo, a
"God it's great to be an American" feeling, and the sun
shining warm and bright, how much better can it get!
We travel south for an hour and a half and hit the outskirts
of Atlanta, turn onto I 285 which goes around the east side of
Atlanta. Surprisingly little traffic considering where we are.
Around Atlanta and we pick up I 675 south which goes about 15
miles and merges with I 75 south. The sky is getting cloudy and
we are hearing weather reports of rain coming up. Pete Fountain's
New Orleans Jazz is playing on the stereo. Macon, GA comes up and
its time for fuel. We stop, fuel Blue Streak and Pony, grab some
cheese and beef jerky out of the refrigerator and we are off
again. Probably the shortest pit stop yet.
We pick up I 475 around Macon, connect back up with I 75 and
continue south. The rain begins. I put Grand Funk's Gimme Shelter
on the stereo but it doesn't help. I try Shinin' On, doesn't help
either. Oh well, turn on the lights, windshield wipers and hunker
down. Pony falls back a bit, so I call Peg on the CB. Find out
that Blue Streak is throwing off so much spray that she can't see
if she is tight up behind us. So, we continue south passing
Cordele, Tifton, Adel, and finally Valdosta. The Florida border
is approaching and we stop at the Florida Welcome Center just
inside the border. It is 4:30 and we have 321 miles left to go.
This is the half way point. We have gotten in the 6 hours I
wanted to do today and we decide that we will stop here for the
night.
But wait a minute. We still have two hours of daylight yet and
if we continue two more hours then we would have only 4 hours to
drive tomorrow. We grab some more cheese and beef jerky and pull
back out on I 75 for a two hour tour.
This time Sheba decides she wants to ride in Blue Streak with
me. I can't resist. Led Zeppelin's Black Dog goes on the stereo
and we are rocking and rollin'. Florida is a lot flatter than
Georgia and Blue Streak and pony move up to 70+ mph. Minor
construction slowdowns at a few places on I 75 but nothing that
brings us to a stop. We pass Lake City, Gainesville, and Ocala.
Just south of Ocala, we pull into a rest area. This will be our
resting area for the night. It's 7:30, we walk the dog, talk
about what to have for dinner and the fact that we are only 175
miles from Punta Gorda.
Peg says to me, that she would be willing to try to knock out
the last 175 miles tonight. I point out that we have been driving
since 10 am, we're tired, its raining, and the fact that we would
probably get there about 11pm and what would we do then? So....
We grab some more cheese and beef jerky, Sheba wants to stay
with Blue Streak, I slip Grand Funk's Mean Mistreater on the
stereo and we're off. We pull back out onto I 75. A quick stop
for fuel in Wildwood, Florida adds some more time to the trip but
we push on. Still raining.
The miles roll by and even I am getting fired up as I count
down the remaining miles and I put the Honeydrippers "I Get
A Thrill" on the stereo. We pass Tampa, where the rain
finally stops, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and before we know it
exit 29 appears and we turn onto RTE 17 into Punta Gorda. Now the
fun begins. Where is our condo and how do we find it. We pull
into a shopping mall parking lot and call my parents who also
live in Punta Gorda 8 months out of the year. They had arrived
the previous weekend. Its 10 PM. Mom and Dad are surprised to
hear we are in Punta Gorda since they didn't expect us until
Saturday afternoon. We park the motor home in a strip mall parking
lot about a half mile from our condo, jump in Pony and head over
to Mom and Dads for a late dinner.
I'm still wired and decide to go to the condo with Blue Streak
and at least unload the trailer, so I can bring it back to the
Rental place the next morning. We pull into the condo parking lot
about 11 PM. I start to unload the trailer. Doesn't take to long
so we unload Blue Streak as well. One thirty in the morning we
are done. We blow up an air bed and crash for the night. Tomorrow
is going to be busy as well.
Saturday morning November 1, 7:30 am: I hook
up the trailer to Blue Streak and head out to the rental place.
Trailer is dropped off and I head over to a place off Tamiami
Trail, about 2 miles from our condo, that stores motorhomes for
$30 a month. I park Blue Streak, shut it down and lock it up. By
8:30 am Peg and I are having breakfast and planning how we are
going to get furniture and primarily a bed delivered today.
Fifteen hundred and fifty five miles, three
weekends and 28 hours of driving. Blue Streak gulped down 263
gallons of fuel at 5.9 mpg and Pony sipped 86 gallons. Blue
Streak never missed a beat, and Pony had only the two episodes of
overheating. Peg and Sheba made the journey unscathed and I ...
well, I made it too. We passed through Michigan, Ohio, W.
Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and
Florida. All that in a 25 year old motor home followed by a 31
year old car.
Some good things were the AAA
Triptik. With that in hand we
never missed a turn and even knew when we would run into some
construction delays. It told us where the rest areas were and
what kind of facilities they had. We signed up for Good Sam's Road
Service because we had an old motor home and an old car.
Fortunately we didn't need to use it. The CB's made for easy
communication between Blue Streak and Pony. Peg used the CB's to
tell me every time somebody beaped and waved at her and Pony.
Some of the things I might have done differently. I definitely
would have had Blue Streak tuned up. Blue Streak has duel exhaust
and according to some of you out there I should have been around
9 mpg. We should have given more of our remaining stuff to
Goodwill so that Pony could have ridden on a trailer and Peg and
Sheba could have ridden with me in Blue Streak. It would have
been nice to do some sight seeing but we didn't have time.
Did we enjoy our trip? You bet! What an adventure. I know,
lots of people live full time in their RV's, but this was our
first time. Stopping in rest area's and parking in mall lots,
proved that you don't have to pay for the privilege of stopping
your vehicle.
That is the story of Blue Streak and Pony and their adventures
on the road from Grand Rapids, Mich. to their new home in Punta Gorda, Florida.
Blue Streak... On the Road
Again
with permission by Court Nederveld
As I have posted on the main page, Blue Streak left Florida
for a 7 week tour. A combination of business, pleasure and
vacation. Those of you that read about the Blue Streak's journey
from Michigan to Florida, will recall that trip was virtually
trouble free. However, as some of you know, anytime there is a
significant deviation from the norm, there will be an opposite
deviation somewhere to bring the universe back into balance.
Well, let me tell you, the universe is in balance. Enough
ranting, slip Creams "Tales of Brave Ulysses" in the
stereo and I'll get on with the story.
July 25 saw a bright blue sky, temperatures in the low
nineties
and a gentle breeze. Peg had loaded most of the supplies we would
need into Blue Streak while it sat at the storage place. We
tidied up a few things and then went to start it and the starter
wouldn't disengage. Worked on that for a little while, it started
to act properly and we brought Blue Streak to the house. Finished
loading it, put the car cover over Pony, and about noon headed
out to I75 north for the start of our trip. Slipped a little
Vanilla Fudge "Ticket to Ride" in the CD player and
settled in for our first day of driving. Final destination to be
Jackson, TN. But we just wanted to get about seven hours in today
and finish up the last six tomorrow.
 Three hours we cruise and as we roll down the
highway about 75 mph, suddenly get a smell of antifreeze and I
notice the temperature gauge lift off faster than the space
shuttle. We roll into a rest area and being the non-mechanic that
I am, can plainly diagnose the fact that there does not seem to
be a fan belt. Not only is there no fan belt, but I don't have a
spare one either. Luckily, we had paid our Good Sam Road Service
fee before we left and so we called them and about an hour later
a tow truck showed up, hooked us and towed us about 30 miles to
an Amoco station that had a mechanic on duty. He took about an
hour to put a new fan belt on and about 6 pm and $68, we pulled
back out onto I75 and continued on our way. Jefferson Airplane's
"Embryonic Journey" pounded from the speakers as we
made our second start of the day. Four more uneventful hours and
we pull into a rest area, $free, make dinner, walk the dog and
hit the sack. I want to be up early because we still have 6 hours
to drive.
Sunday morning, again we seem to have the best weather you
could want. We have some breakfast, walk the dog and hit the
road. We stop for gas about every two hundred miles, we are
getting a whopping 4 miles to the gallon. Yes's "Going For
The One" is sweetly playing in the background, when suddenly
I notice that we have either full throttle or no throttle. Once
again we make an unscheduled stop and I, being the now more
experienced mechanic, Jefferson Airplane "Its No
Secret" playing background, immediately spot the fact that
we no longer have a throttle return spring. However, we do have
lots of Bungee cords and after a few minutes we are back on the
road again.
It's 3:30 Sunday afternoon and we roll into Chickasaw State
Park just south of Jackson, TN. Beautiful park $13 a day,
electric and water. Almost no one there. We set up camp, pitch
the screened canopy and settle in. It is about then that we
notice the refrigerator is not working. I wondered why The Billys
"Warm Beer in the Morning" was coming from the
speakers. Not only is it not working but neither the propane nor
the electric wants to work. So, we buy some ice and make do.
Monday comes and I have to go to work in Jackson. I get back
to the campsite every night and we enjoy the quiet and
peacefulness of the State Park. Wednesday comes and the potable
water pump gives up the ghost. It works when you draw from the
storage unit but hook the shore water up and it just leaks as
fast as the water comes in. We adapt, improvise and overcome. I
also get a new throtle spring and install it $1.19. The plan is
to leave Jackson Friday at noon and make a run up to Grand
Rapids, Mi.
Again, Peg gets everything ready to leave, I leave the plant
about 11am and head back to the State Park in my rental car. I
help her with some last minute packing and jump into Blue Streak.
I will drive the motor home to the rental agency and Peg will
drive the rental. We will drop the rental off and hit the road.
I turn the ignition and _______. I turn it again, ________.
Being the now even more experienced mechanic, I pull out the
jumper cables, hook up the rental and turn the ignition.
_________. Now I am thinking that the starter is still sore at me
for the things I said to it the previous Sunday. I get out the
hammer and give the starter a couple of good wacks. __________ A
neighbor sees me struggling and comes over and grabs the jumper
cables and puts them directly on the starter. He proceeds to
electrify the living daylights out of that starter. Lighting
bolts are flying, but the starter refuses to turn. I offer the
starter one more chance and it doesn't respond. Once again, Good
Sam to the rescue.
 We call Good
Sam and about an hour later a tow truck appears and hooks us up
and tows us to an Exxon station in Jackson, about 25 miles away.
Peg, Sheba and I follow in the rental car. It is this action that
allows me to see that that the platform that holds the Onan
Generator is bouncing up and down over every bump. This is, I am
sure not the correct manner for the Generator platform to be
acting. I make a note to ask the mechanic at the Exxon station
about it.
At the Exxon station, I regale the mechanic with
how it would not turn over, in fact not even make a noise. I tell
him how we jumped, banged it, electrified it and generally cursed
it. It was my humble opinion that the starter need to be
replaced. Well, the mechanic jumped in the motorhome, turned the
ignition and got ________. He then brought out the portable
battery and hooked up the cables to the battery and turned the
ignition and got _______. He then crawled under the motorhome,
banged on the starter and had me turn the ignition, ________. He
then took the jumper cables directly to the starter with no
response. He then crawled out from under the  motorhome and said, "looks like the starters'
shot". Same diagnosis I made and I have never been to
mechanics school. I then had to settle a dispute between the
mechanic and the person that orders parts. The mechanic said he
needed a starter for a 413 Dodge and the parts guy said "you
mean a 440". "No a 413." "You mean a
360." I jumped in and told him that as hard as it might be
to believe, it truly was a 413. He looked at me and called the
parts store, asked if they had a starter for a 413 and sure
enough they did. In the background I was sure I heard The Doors
"People Are Strange".
...........................................................................................................................Our
Mechanic
While I waited for the starter to arrive, I
mentioned to the mechanic that I was getting 4 miles to the
gallon which seemed unreasonably low. He poked around the engine,
and discovered that the choke was stuck 3/4's of the way closed.
He fixed that and I had him put in a new set of spark plugs. I
also showed him the generator platform and he welded it it up and
put on another bracket for good measure. Finally the starter
showed up, got installed and $481 later, we left for the rental
place about 5pm. Dropped off the rental and were on the road by 6
pm. I slip in the sound track from the movie Star Trek First
Contact, cut 5 and "Fully Functional" blasts from the
speakers. Only six hours behind schedule.
We decide to run until 10pm. Up 412 out of Jackson, into
Misouri, and onto 57 in Illinios. When we pulled in to a rest
area for the night $free, a truck driver pulled in and informed
us that we didn't have any tail lights. Great! I think to myself
that maybe the lights will fix themselves. Little Anthony and the
Imperials respond softly with "Wishful Thinking".
Saturday morning we take off and the trip north is uneventful.
We are now getting 5.9 to 6.2 miles per gallon. A 50%
improvement. Again, we have great weather and Barbra Strisand is
singing "Lessons to be Learned". We stop for what will
be our last gas stop, since we are only about 50 miles from where
we intend to stop and see some friends of ours in Holland, Mi. We
top off the tanks, wash the windshields, walk the dog, and its
time to load'em up. The door will not unlatch. It's not locked,
the bolt will not pull back. My tools are ..... in Blue Streak.
Again, we adjust, improvize, and overcome. I throw Peg through
the window (it was open) and she hands out my tools. I take the
lock apart and it appears that thirty years of gunk has cause the
bolt plate to get sticky, and finally the plate just bent instead
of sliding back and pulling the bolt with it. I make a temporary
repair and make a note to clean all the gunk out of the latch
mechanism when I get a chance. We load up and hit the road, the
Platters "You've Got That Magic Touch" blares from the
CD.
Our time in Grand Rapids is relatively uneventful. Peg gets a
new refrigerator installed and a new potable water pump at the
same time, $680. I continue to fly out each Monday to where I am
assigned and our son, who now lives in Grand Rapids proceeds to
hit mom up for money every chance he gets $350. Peg rents a car
for four weeks, $700. I take the door latch apart and clean all
the gunk out of it $0. Four weeks go by. It is getting colder and
the leaves are beginning to change. It's time to make our way
back to Florida. Our plan is to swing over to Lancaster, Pa. and
then south.
First stop is going to be Ohiopyle, Pa. Love this place.
Hiking, fishing, whitewater rafting, bike riding, Falling Waters
etc. We leave Grand Rapids, Sept 4th and make it to Ohiopyle that
night. Two problems immediately arrise. First, it is Labor day
weekend and there is no room at the State Park. The ranger finds
a Campsite for us at a campground called Scarlet Knob $23. This
place was a PIT. The restrooms have >NEVER!< been
cleaned. (Do you sense my emphatic disgust here?) The showers,
well I don't know because I refused to take a chance. 2nd
problem, Ohiopyle is in the mountains and Blue Streak had a bear
of a time going up, and then going down. All I could think of was
the brakes going out and my 6 ton motorhome on its own going down
a mountain. But, we made it and the next morning we decided to go
into the town and do some white water rafting. But, being the
holiday, every outfitter was over booked and so we did some
hiking up in mountains, Sheba, the dog, loved it. Then we decided
to head on over to Lancaster.
We head east on the Pennsylvaina Turnpike and notice that now
the brakes are starting to squeal a little bit when you stop. We
decide to swing through Gettysburg and visit the battlefield but
when we get there, because it is the holiday, there are 25
million cars and 100 million people there, no places to park,
etc. so we roll on through. We decide to continue on to the
Rustic Meadows Campground and Travstock 98.
Rustic Meadows turns out to be a very nice park, but way
overpriced $27 a night, water & electric. As evidenced by the
fact that the park was half empty on the day before Labor Day.
But it served its purpose. Pegs' sister and family lives nearby
and we spent some time with them. During one of our trips to
Peg's sister's house we returned to find that one of the new
hoses on the new Potable water pump had split and was spewing
water out the back of the Travco. I went to the store got a new
hose and installed it myself, $2.25.
Travstock '98 was held and the prize for the Travco that
traveled the farthest distance went to ..."Blue
Streak". The prize for best looking Travco went to .....
"Blue Streak". The prize for best music playing in a
Travco went to ........ "Blue Streak". We are very
proud!
Wednesday comes and we decide to head south. The plan is to
take five days to travel about 1200 miles, arriving Sunday.
Monday I have to fly out to Salisbury, North Carolina. Blue
Streak pulls out on the highway and we head for the Shenandoah
Valley. I want to visit Luray Caverns. I slip the Beatles
"The Long and Winding Road" into the CD player and
we're off. The trip down I81 is uneventful and we decide to stop
at the Shendoah Caverns first. Beautiful, stalagmites and stalagtites, ribbons etc. Spent about 2 1/2 hours there. Back on
the road again and we cruise down to Luray Caverns. In addition
to the Caverns they have an antique car museum that we also took
in. This stop was probably 3 hours. We pull back onto the highway
and head for the "Natural Chimneys" State Park where we
plan to spend the night. Vanilla Fudge "Come by Day, Come by
Night" kicks in and we're off.
Blue Streak pulled into the Natural Chimney State Park about 6
pm. Only about a half dozen campers there so we picked a spot out
by ourselves and set up camp. Peg mentioned that it would be nice
to have a fire in the firepit after dinner, so since I wasn't
allowed to go chopping down trees in a state park, I took a walk
around the park to all the empty sites and sure enough there was
loads and loads of wood in or near the other firepits. I carried
what we needed and built a huge fire for us to enjoy. Made
cocktails, had dinner and then made "smores". Roasted
marshmellows with a piece of chocolate and held between two
graham crackers. MMm good! Interestingly, Janis Joplin's
"Get It While You Can" was playing in the background.
About 11pm we decided to take showers and when we got to the
shower house Peg walked in the mens showers with me and scrubbed
my back for me. Its nice having a campground nearly all to
yourself.
Thursday morning we walk to the Natural Chimneys. Pretty
interesting. The park has a hiking trail so we take Sheba and
hike the trail. Finally, we make it back to the Travco, pack it
up and make our way back to I81 and continue south. The State
park cost us $13.
As we wander south, we notice that we are going to be only a
few miles from where I have to work the next week so we decide to
find a campsite near there and spend one more week on the road.
We make a stop at a rest area/information center and find a
brochure on a campground just outside Salisbury, NC. Blue Streak
heads for "Bass Lake Campground". When we arrive, the
guard at the gate informs us that it is now a Coast to Coast
campground and that only members can stay there. We look at the
virtually empty campground and ask him how many people are
scheduled to arrive. He smiles and says that for $22 a night he
will let us stay. We pull in, park, and I will admit it was a
very nice park. Restrooms were spotless, showers spotless with no
lack of hot water, grounds maintained, nice fishing pond, trails
etc. We stay there Friday and Saturday night. Sunday, we move
over to a Holiday Inn that my company has reserved for me.
Sunday night comes and Peg and I find out there is an Elks
Lodge in Salisbury, (I'm a member of the lodge in Punta Gorda) so
we go there for cocktails. Sitting at the bar talking to the
other brothers, they tell us that this particular lodge has its
own campground just outside the city. They tell us that we should
go see it, because once we do we will want to stay there. So the
next morning, Peg goes and scopes it out while I am at work. That
night she tells me about it and we move out of the Holiday Inn
and over to the Elks Lodge Campground. $7 a night. We had the
entire campground to ourselves. The campground required a key to
get past the gate so we felt very secure. The showers were clean
and apparently had never ending hot water, and the campground
itself is on a point that juts out into the Yadkin River. Little
did we realize until the next morning that the sun came up right
over the river. We were treated to the most beautiful sunrise
every morning that you ever saw. Well Friday came and it was time
to head for home.
We left Salisbury about noon, and headed down I77 towards
Guyton, Georgia where some friends live. It was going to be about
a 6 hour drive and Jimi Hendrix "Highway Chile" pounded
from the speakers. We planned on spending the night with them and
then get an early start Saturday for an 8 hour drive home.
About three hours out and its time to stop for gas. We fill up
and as we turn onto route 321 we feel a slight hesitation.
Looking down I notice that the ampere meter is no longer
registering any output. I check the other gauges, they look fine,
so I deduce that the new fan belt has finally stretched and is
slipping. Since its daylight, and I am not using lights or
windshield wipers the battery will sustain me for 3 hours. When I
get to Guyton, I will tighten the belt. Blue Streak roles into
Guyton about 6pm and we spend a very enjoyable evening with
friends we have not seen in a year.
Saturday morning, I check the fan belt and it seems a little
loose. I tighten it and Blue Streak fires right up. It's 11am
already and we have 8 hours to go. Blue Streak pulls out and I
notice that the amp meter is registering nada, zip, dooda. Once
again I make the decision to trust the batteries. I falsely
assume that as long as the engine is running, it will keep going.
Only when I try to start it will I have problems, or so I
believe. We make a few unscheduled stops for the dog, lunch,
tighten the fan belt etc. but generally keep going. Oh well, the
8 hours just became 10 hours. But we are back on track. Then I
learn about dead batteries.
I95 in traffic, going around Jacksonville, Fl. Blue Streak
gives a cough, a jerk and proceeds to decrease its speed from 75
to 45. I figure it is time to exit now or be sitting along the
highway. As luck would have it, as I roll down the exit ramp,
there at the bottom is a Pep Boys auto repair shop. I pull into
the lot and park. I confidently walk into the service area, and
tell the "Customer Service" manager my problem. He says
that they can install a new alternator and battery, if they have
a alternator for that old a vehicle. Also, because they are busy,
he can't get to it for 4 or 5 hours, and I would have to go
inside the store to the parts department to see if they had a
alternator.
Having little choice, I go to the parts department and sure
enough about 5 minutes later I have purchased a brand new
alternator. $53 with a $10 rebate when I return the old one. I
head out to Blue Streak, fire up the Onan Generator to recharge
the battery and decide that I can probably change the alternator
in the 4 or 5 hours I will wait for the service guy to get to
me.One and a half hours later, one skinned knuckle, two dirty
hands, a sweat soaked shirt and a fan belt that now seems a bit
to large, (couldn't get it as tight as I would have liked) the
new alternator is in, the battery has recharged, Peg has
collected the $10 rebate and when I hit the ignition blue Streak
fires up and the amp meter registers positive. The Platters
"You've Got that Magic Touch" seemed appropriate.
But our problems are not over. As we pull back onto the
highway, it takes us about 15 minutes to realize that we are
going the wrong way. We pull off the highway and get back on
going the other way. Total time lost for the alternator and bad
navigating, 21/2 hours. Oh well, the 8 hours just became 13
hours. But we are back on track.
The trip drones on until we reach the outskirts of Ocala.
There we run into pouring rain and a decision I made earlier
comes back to haunt me. The fan belt that seemed too large and
couldn't be tightened as much as I would have liked, gets wet and
begins to slip. Minutes after entering a rain squall, the amp
meter would drop off. This time however, we are running with
lights and windshield wipers and you can watch the battery drain
by how the windshield wipers are slowing down. Then we would come
out of a squall and after a few minutes of driving, apparently
the belt would dry off and the amp meter would kick back in. It's
is still light so we press on.
A short time later, we are again in a terrible downpour when
Blue Streak changes its sound from a soft purr to the sound of a
mac truck. It startles us and we immediately pull into a rest
area to check the problem. The exhaust pipe in front of one of
the mufflers has let go. No choice but to continue on. I put The
Doors "Riders On the Storm" in the CD player for good
luck.
Now it is dark, we continue down I75 hoping that nothing else
will go wrong, and that we don't get stopped for not having tailights. It looks like we may get home about 11pm. However, the
fates had different plans. I told Peg I felt like Ullyses trying
to get home after the Trojan war and the gods are conspiring to
keep me from reaching home. The rain comes again, harder than
before. The amp meter drops out again, the lights begin to dim. I
tell Peg that I do not want to try driving on the highway, at
night, without lights or windshield wipers. Blue Streak pulls off
I75 and into a Kmart lot. We park, cook some food, walk the dog,
run the Onan Generator for airconditioning and to recharge the
batteries. We say a little prayer for no rain in the morning, put
Jimi Hendrix "Wait Until Tomorrow" in the stereo and go
to bed, just 60 miles from home.
Morning comes and it is cloudy, and misty but not raining. We
slip Neil Diamond "September Morn" in, fire up Blue
Streak and are on the road by 7:30. At 8:30 we roll into Punta Gorda, swing into the complex where we live. (The neighbors
appreciated the throaty sound coming from Blue Streak at 8:30 am
on a Sunday morning) Peg and I unload Blue Streak. I walk over to
see if Pony will fire up after sitting for 7 weeks. Pony says
"glad to see you again" as she turns over once and 289
cubic inches of Ford V8 springs to life.
Peg says she will follow me over to the storage area so I fire
Blue Streak up one more time and drive over to the site. I shut
Blue streak down, close the curtains, make sure the master switch
is off, do a once around for anything we may have forgot and lock
it up. Peg hasn't arrived yet so I begin to walk to the entrance,
and then down the drive, and then down the street. Can't figure
out why she hasn't arrived yet. Finally, a car stops and I notice
a neighbor of ours motioning for me to get in. I ask, "why
Peg didn't pick me up" and find out that even though Pony
fired right up, she wouldn't move forward or backwards.
I get back, and a quick check of the automatic transmission
fluid, shows that Pony is down two quarts. I fill her up and she
takes off like an Ethiopian Chicken.
Peg and I settle in for the day, glad to finally be home. I
throw a CD in the stereo and Yes "Wonderous Stories"
begins to play.
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