While driving in the rain over Blood Mountain (on the way to Hiawassee) a little bell went off on the dash…something about oil pressure. Once we were parked, Al made an appointment to get the truck checked. We drove up to Murphy, NC to the GMC dealer and they checked it. As the story Al tells goes — he knew it was bad when the mechanic was standing next to the service writer to give him the news that the fuel injectors were shot and that it would cost $5000 to replace them. As he was recovering from the shock, they added that GMC had an extended warranty on the problem, so it wouldn’t cost us anything. Just as Al was recovering, they also said they would pay for a rental til it was fixed. It’s running a lot better now!!!
We enjoyed our week in the mountains of North Georgia. The weather could have been a little nicer, but we did get to spend time with Al’s sister Loretta who is convalescing from a stroke. Al had spent time with her when she was hospitalized in December, and he was anxious to see how she was doing. Fortunately she is doing pretty well and slowly getting where she needs to be. Her dog Dutchess has been a help by calming down. She’s a bulldog who loves to play, and she can be extremely playful, but she is calm around Loretta so worries that she would knock her down weren’t necessary.
From North Georgia we drove to the Marietta area and stayed at the McKinney Campground on Lake Allatoona. It’s a Corps of Engineers park so the price is right, and it’s fairly near to Al’s fathe
r. We’ve stayed here before and we like it. Our visit with Al’s father was the reason for this leg of the trip. He’s 95 and still doing pretty well. He likes to go out to eat on occaision (a break from his frozen dinners), and Al likes to indulge him so we hit some of his favorites like I-HOP and Folks. Ever the genealogist, Al is always trying to get family details and stories, and Leonard usually remembers an awful lot.
Al took the opportunity to schedule an appointment with Camping World to check why we couldn’t get reception from the antenna on the downstairs TV. They discovered that the previous installation of our satellite dome had been done with spliced wires. They made dedicated lines and now Al is happier.
We also spent time with Al’s younger sister Barbara and her husband Tony. They brought along Hank their youngest who will be graduating from HS in June. In August he goes into the Marines (following in the footsteps of his two older brothers). He’s even been doing boot camp activities in his spare time!!
We have passed from Winter to Spring, but you wouldn’t know it by the weather. We have half of our wardrobe that we haven’t worn yet this trip because it hasn’t really been very warm. The one thing we are enjoying is the flowering trees are in full bloom, and the dogwoods have just started to pop out. Al’s still looking for the Azealas.
We’ve decided to name this our breakdown trip. We noticed a slow drip under the RV and took it back to Camping World to check it out. Our plan was to get it fixed and be on our way to Kentucky. Unfortunately, it was the black tank valve that needs replacement (no extended warranty on this one though) and they have to order the part. We came back to McKinney for the night and hope to get it fixed and on the road tomorrow. We seem to be getting a new RV piece by piece. Actually we look at this as our second home and things need to get fixed from time to time (just like our other home), but since it goes over our wonderful highways and byways, it experiences minor earthquakes every time. No wonder things need to get fixed.