[Flick]

Richard and Rhonda stopped here in Sioux Falls for a couple of days as they travel east. We had dinner with them downtown at our favorite restaurant (Parker's Bistro). It's our go to for other gurus that have stopped in (Clarke & Elaine and Tom & Darlene). We had a great time getting to know Richard and Rhonda a little better. I always love to listen to stories of travels. More importantly though I like to hear perspectives on life, family etc from those lucky enough to have reached the other side of the work life called retirement. 

Richard is going to help me with a few things on my coach Thursday while he is here including helping me understand systems. Can't wait. 

[prairieschooner]

take notes Flick!

[Flick]

I did Steve. Our original plan was that I would park my coach next to theirs at the campground so that we could go through it and be near Richard's tools. The weather did not cooperate and we had a storm system that swirled over us for 2 days and rained almost non-stop. So we decided to tackle the project in the large horse stable my coach resides in year-round. My only hesitation was that it has a very fine soil that is almost powder like and gets you pretty dirty but the owner brought us some plywood and cardboard to lay on so it worked out fine.

We started out in Richards coach before we left with a Todd tutorial. I told Richard that I felt like I needed to know the air and electrical system better so he sketched out the "theoretical" systems and walked me thru those. After we got to the coach we looked it all over and found it fairly close to theoretical. So the findings overall:
-transmission leak we think is simply from the speedo cable into the tranny. Richard rerouted a little so it took some pressure off of it and also installed an o ring.
-sniffed around and found no major air leaks.
-airbags looked good.
-he said he could not believe how clean the bottom of the coach was with little to no rust
-my up leveling valve in the rear six pack is not working. Will need to get a new MAC and replace that next spring
I think that is the summary. It was very reassuring to be able to have someone like Richard with his amazing knowledge afirm the coach was in excellent shape and to learn more about how the systems work. He is an excellent teacher and I enjoyed the time they were here. They took off this morning heading South, but hopefully we will see them again as they pass thru in the future.

[Richard]

Awwwww Shucks.

It was a fun day. Todd's coach is in remarkable condition just like Clarke's.
Those classics were really built.

[whatsnewell]

Richard is a great teacher! I have learned a lot from him over the years.

[encantotom]

i am good at rebuilding the mac manifolds. come on down to wittmann and we will take care of ya

tom

[Richard]

It took an hour of noodling before I realized the the Mac's were three way valves. A ha, then we could figure out the logic sequence for travel raise lower.

[encantotom]

they are like 50 bucks apiece.

tom

[Flick]

Wow. Cheapest I found online was $100. Where do you get them Tom?

[prairieschooner]

Todd, best guys are near Tom! just fire that thing up and head south!

PS that is where Clarke & I got ours!