Interesting start of my trip

[David Anderson]

Driving up I35 just south of Waco Tx the streetside inside dual became 3 tires, with 1/3 of it laying on the center stripe of I35.  I limped off the interstate and pulled into a small grocery store parking lot in Troy TX.  The only damage was my bottom camera pod got bent up and the outer lens knocked out.  Fortunately no damage to the fender well of the coach.  I called a local tire service and he was there in 5 minutes.  He was a Good Sam provider, so there was no charge to install the spare.

We drove on to Dallas to pick up a Niehoff voltage regulator ($252) from a place on I30 just out of downtown.  Yuk, driving in downtown Dallas not fun.  The lady boxed the item and hid it in the bushes by their gate since we couldn't make it before closing.  That was nice of her to do that.  The new regulator solved my goofy Niehoff issues I've written about on the Eagle board. 

We spent the night at Walmart in Mesquite and drove on the next day, found a tire shop outside of Greenville TX.  Bought two new Dunlops for the steers, moved the two Toyo ,steers to the streetside drives, retired the 9 year old Wanli tires and put the spare back into its hiding place.  Total cost for 2 tires, 3 mounts, and two balances, $1230.  My oldest tire on the coach is now 6 years.  We were pretty far behind on our itinerary so we only made to Idabel OK and spent the night in the Quachita  National Forest, very nice there. 

Drove on to Branson via Fayetville and spent a couple of days at Table Rock Lake SP.  Very nice place.  Boy it was hot 103.  Went up to Springfield and spent some time at the Grizzly distribution center.  That place is Tim the Toolman heaven,  I did leave with my wallet still full, however, but I was drooling over some of those wood working tools. 

We drove on to South Bend IN and spent the night at Walmart.  I had to get a picture wearing a Texas Longhorn shirt giving a hook em horns sign at Notre Dame stadium.  It was well received by my Longhorn friends.  The drive through Illinois and Indiana was pretty sad as has been reported in the news about the drought. 

After SouthBend we drove onto Camp CoBeAc near Houghton Lake MI where we spent 2 weeks building a dorm at the camp.  That brings us to yesterday where when we were ready to leave I had lost 3 gals of coolant that I posted about on the "Losing Coolant" thread. 

Now we are at Frankenmuth enjoying Bavarian culture and will press on eastward tomorrow.  Hopefully no more bus problems. 

David

[David Anderson]

Forgot to mention.  I bought 3 new 31D start batteries at Tractor Supply Saturday.  Mine were 5 years old and the bus cranked slowly yesterday after sitting for 2 weeks.  They were Exides $99 each.

I fueled in St Louis 2 weeks ago at 3.53 gal.  Fueled yesterday in Saginaw at $3.89gal.  Ichk, big jump and expect higher as I get into New York.

David

[Melbo]

We were up in Iowa and Illinois and spent the last weekend of July dry camping -- when we started home the fuel price was up like 17 cents a gallon

Was still cheaper than flying and better than driving and staying in hotels -- and we got over 7 and close to 8 miles a gallon

Keep driving and keep smiling -- the bus is the way to travel

Melbo

[robertglines1]

From SW Indiana  : last wed our year total was 13 inches  Thursday in two hrs we got 5 inches. Most ran off.  Last nite 2 more.  Maybe a start to recovery. But don't let numbers fool you. You can't feed corn for two reasons; one can't collect crop insurance for cost if you do. also some is poison to live stock because of nitrogen content.  .

[robertglines1]

David: sorry  I got off topic. Please keep your trip log going. I like to hear about others adventures. Get to live the trip thru their eyes.  enjoy the ride. Bob

[Tenor]

David,
Are you planning to attend the Back to the Bricks Rally in Clio Aug. 15-19?  It's only 20 minutes south of Frankenmuth!

Glenn Williams

[David Anderson]

David,
Are you planning to attend the Back to the Bricks Rally in Clio Aug. 15-19?  It's only 20 minutes south of Frankenmuth!

Glenn Williams

No, we are heading to Charlestown NH for a 4 week church building job.  It starts Aug 20,  but we will play on the way, Sandusky OH, Pennsylvania sites, Niagra, Anarondikes, etc.  We are leaving Frankenmuth as soon as I get the radiator shroud put back on the bottom of the coach, driving to Ann Arbor to get a picture at the "Big House" Michigan Stadium and on to Sandusky.

David

[Tenor]

Sorry we'll miss you!  You would certainly get a better stadium photo of Spartan Stadium in East Lansing! 

Glenn

[wal1809]

WEll talk about two Eagles passing in the night.  I headed up 35 to Ft. Worth and then west to Weatherford, Texas.  The next day I back tracked to Troy, Texas and spent the night and Sunday headed back home.  Glad to hear you got going again.  I am going to replace all 4 on my duals and that will put me at 3 years for the oldest tires.

[Oonrahnjay]

(snip) I fueled in St Louis 2 weeks ago at 3.53 gal.  Fueled yesterday in Saginaw at $3.89gal.  Ichk, big jump and expect higher as I get into New York.  

     David, I've seen fuel in the southern Virginia area (I buy fuel out of NC when I can -- taxes *way* too high) go up about 20 cents in the past two weeks ($3.45-->$3.65).  But I was in N York State a couple of weeks ago and some places it was $4.19.  It must be legal to smoke crack in NY State.

[jmblake]

What part of Pa are you going through? We are about a 1.5 hr north of Pittsburgh, we just was up in Erie over the weekend and on the way home fueled up for 3.89 a gal BTW the TA across the parking lot was 4.01 gal If you are coming across 80 the exit before entering Pa from Ohio there is a flyin j that is mostly .15 cheaper then Pa. If you are close maybe we could meet up. Jason

[David Anderson]

We've been in East Harbor State Park since Monday touring Sandusky, Lakeside, Marblehead, and the theme park at Cedar Point.  My neck still hurts from the roller coaster rides.   Heading out this morning to Lake Wapasund SP near Loundonville to visit Amish country.  A stop at Lehman's Hardware in Kidron is on my bucket list   We will head to Niagra Falls Monday via I90 and US 20 and see some sights up there.  The radiator clamp began leaking again after I stopped at E. Harbor SP so I pulled the shroud off and tightened it some more.  I can't reposition the clamp without losing my coolant, so I hope the screw down will suffice.  I'll keep you posted.

David

[rv_safetyman]

David, you are using HD Spring clamps aren't you? 

If you are using just the run of the mill automotive worm clamp, I would double up the clamp until you get home and install  good spring clamps.

If you are using spring clamps, you may have to double up with a automotive clamp until you figure out what is going on. 

I did not review your thread about the coolant loss, but if you are trying to use used silicone hose, good luck in getting it to seal.  If it is rubber hose, the initial material "creep"/flow should have occurred in the first few heat cycles.

Have fun on your trip and travel safely.

Jim

[belfert]

David, you are using HD Spring clamps aren't you? 

If you are using just the run of the mill automotive worm clamp, I would double up the clamp until you get home and install  good spring clamps.

Are you talking the type of spring clamp like is used on pretty much every new car today?  I use the constant tension worm type clamps on rubber and silicone hoses.

[rv_safetyman]

Brian, I had not thought about the term spring clamp.  I used that term incorrectly.  The typical automotive spring clamp is something like this:

http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=2147009263

You will not find that kind of clamp on a Bus or Semi.

What I should have said was "constant torque clamp".  An example is shown here:

http://www.breezeclamps.com/ct.htm

I think all of today's HD trucks and buses use these clamps.  I am pretty sure Eagle used them and so David probably has them on his bus.

Jim