Sometimes You Eat The Bear, and Sometimes The Bear Eats You

"Sometimes You Eat the Bear, and Sometimes the Bear Eats You"

We departed St. Louis and continued west on I-70 across central Missouri.  Before getting too far we stopped at an O'Reilly Auto Parts store to have them check my chassis battery and alternator.  I am still getting readings on my digital engine monitor of between 12.3 and 12.5 volts.  This may be high enough to limp along and run the chassis systems, but it is certainly not charging the battery.  At O'Reilly there was a sales associate who said he would check it out, since he needed to go outside and take a smoke anyway.  Dorcas said suggested we cut off the propane. He put a diagnostic tester on the battery (without disconnecting the battery terminals) and the results were:

Alternator Diode:   pass.
Alternator Voltage regulator:   fail.
Battery:  Indeterminate, not fully charged (no shit!)

Diagnosis: bad alternator

They didn't have an alternator in stock, and even if they could get one, it would be at least a day, and would be an aftermarket model.  I'm not certain they could even get the right type.  RVs use a DUVAC (Dual Voltage Alternator Control) designed specially for RVs with dual battery systems.

In the meantime, I had been talking to Northland Truck Service in Kansas City, about 4 hours east along our route.  They said they could look at it as soon as we got there, and probably get the part and install it that day. They are open until midnight, and we could park at their shop.  Cool!  We checked in and Andy was very helpful.  We put fans on the engine to cool it off so he could check the alternator at its terminals.  Bad news: the readings only showed 12.37v, indicating a bad alternator, as I had expected.  He did pull the terminals from the battery and did a load test on the battery.  We had apparently run the generator enough to charge the battery, because it passed the diagnostics.  Andy then went to the TruckPro store next door (a major truck part supplier) to check on the part.  SETBACK!  The part could not be delivered before next Tuesday, 5 days hence. DANG!  Since we had an event on Sunday near Denver, and had been able to limp along so far, we decided to continue on.  Consequently, I have found my OEM alternator on Amazon for a much cheaper price and free 2-day delivery.  As soon as I decide whether to replace the original 160A alternator with one the same size or whether to install a larger one, I'll have it shipped to either Loveland CO (our next event) or Gillette WY, the event after that.  It should be easy to find someone to install it, or I may do it myself.  The only good thing so far this day is that there was no charge for either diagnosis.

Bad news!

It had been a long hot day and we were looking forward to spending the night in a real RV park, with real 50A power, water and sewer hookups.  Dorcas did some research on the web and found Cottonwood RV Park in Bonner Springs KS, which was right off the interstate and close enough that we could stop early and enjoy some rest.  The only negative is that they received only 1 star out of 5 on the RV park review sites.  But, as they say, what the hell.

The office at Cottonwood RV Park - Not very inviting

When we arrived the sign said no vacancy without a reservation.  When I asked for a site and said we had no reservation, Lucy, the lady behind the desk, laughed at me.  But she did manage to find us a site.  It was very shaded and a pull-though, and the price was right ($33.00).  When I asked about internet and cable, Lucy laughed at me.  Later, when I asked about buying some ice, she laughed at me again. Lucy is a funny gal.  The only really bad part about our site was that is was extremely close to other RVs, but that was OK for one night, and we didn't expect to spend much time outdoors anyway.  Most of the park seemed to be filled with seasonal visitors and transient construction workers.  It was fairly trashy.

A tight squeeze

The park obviously didn't spend much money on upkeep and maintenance of the park.  The office looked terrible and the restrooms were atrocious.  I'm not very picky, but I was afraid to go in and pee.  There were wooden steps leading down a bank in front of our coach that must have been built by a drunken CCC worker in the 1930s.  After one trip down the steps, I was afraid to use them again and walked around.

The "death steps" are worse than they look

OK, we're only here one night, the air conditioners are running great, we're getting good TV reception out of Kansas City, so we can deal with it.  We have actually stayed in worse places. But then bad luck.  About 2:00 am that night I began feeling nauseous.  I won't go into the gory details, but for the rest of the night I was hugging the john.   The next morning diarrhea set in.  I was weak, dehydrated and miserable, and in no shape to drive.  So, with no other option (Dorcas, do you want to drive today?)  Dorcas walked the long way around the deadly steps, and had Lucy sign us up for a second night.  I spent most of the day napping and feeling sorry for myself.

 It can't get any worse, right? Au contraire!  I'm laying on the bed mostly asleep, when the whole motor home shakes violently.  Of course I holler at Dorcas and asked what the hell she has done, but it wasn't her.  I run outside and see the mower guy heading away and an ugly scrape on the right rear corner of the coach.  I chase after him (in my weakened state) and get him and his zero-radius mower stopped.  No easy feat, cause he was moving fast. He claimed not to be aware of hitting the coach, and complained about how hard it is to mow and weed-eat and trim around all the RVs.  I don't know why he was mowing anyway, because it hadn't rained here in 6 years and there was no grass.  Why not fix the "death steps" or upgrade the restrooms instead?  Long story short: Roy, called Lucy and Lucy called Margaret (the park manager) and Lucy said Margaret and the park will take care of the damages.  I was too sick and miserable to talk to Margaret and find out exactly how they are going to fix it.  I doubt she knows how much motor home body work costs.  I'll call her in a few days.  I do enough damage to our coach by myself; I'm getting sick of other people doing it too.  Click HERE and HERE to read about body damage on our trip to Alaska last year.

What? Not again!

After 2 nights at Cottonwood RV Park we hit the road relatively early for us, at least a bit before noon. We needed to make up some time after our unplanned layover in Kansas.   While still not 100% I was feeling much better.  Dorcas and I debated why I got sick, and she didn't, but we couldn't come up with anything. We had both eaten the same foods, and we didn't take on any water at Cottonwood RV Park until after I became sick. Maybe I caught something from someone in the confines at the top of the Gateway Arch.   But lightning does strike twice.  About half way across Kansas, almost 36 hours after I became ill, Dorcas came down with the same thing.  I told her I felt her pain. Sincerely. But I don't think she really cared.

The drive through Kansas is long and dull

As we drove across Kansas we gained about 3600 ft elevation without crossing any perceptible mountain.  Central Kansas is like a big sloping table.  Unfortunately, the daytime temperatures in eastern Colorado were no cooler than those in Kansas.

As sick as she was, Dorcas was able locate what appeared to be a decent overnight stop just across the Kansas border in Stratton CO.  It had the unusual name of Marshall Ash Village RV Park.  We actually entered through a Conoco truck stop and the RV sites were out back.  Oh no! Not again!  But actually it was pretty decent for a short overnight stop.  Again, it seemed to be filled with transients, this time wheat harvesters from Oklahoma.  Good power, cool night, quiet.  Dorcas was trashed and pretty much slept through our stay there.

Our camp at Marshall Ash Village RV Park

The next morning Dorcas was feeling somewhat better, and we got another early start.  Our destination today is Loveland CO to attend a rally with the Diesel RV Club.

OK ... So what is next in store for our intrepid adventurers?  Will the bear eat them again or will their luck change?  Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of "The Adventures of Myron and Dorcas"