GMC Trek II...The Journey Home
What a journey it was!
My son and I left Pittsburgh International bound for Orlando Florida on July 18th. We booked a flight on AirTran Airways, and we had one of their new Boeing 717 aircraft.
To be honest, I enjoyed AirTran better than Southwest. We got to do a cheap upgrade to first class, and they offer XM radio in every seat.
After we arrived in Orlando, Jims wonderful wife, Janie, picked us up at the airport to give us a ride to the Co-op. Of course, once we got there, we did the usual BS routine, which I thoroughly enjoyed, all the time we did that, we were checking systems on the coach. Then the generator shut off... Oh oh... Round 3. Jim took a look at it and determined that it was the fuel line going to the Onan had become pinched. It was replaced.
I took a few shots of some other coaches on the property as well. Here they are, and if I know anything about them, I'll mention it...
Jim told me he brought this one back from ??? ( I cant remember for the life of me) A new project perhaps for a 23' Duramax???
This little 23' coach was getting the exact same thing done that mine had to have... Valves were all crud due to SITTING! Please, take my advice...use your coach... or you will have big headaches. I plan to run mine just to run it.
This is a really long overhang on this one. I like it, but I doubt it would be practical here in PA... I'd always be draggin...
This is the one Jim was working on, called the "Entertainer" You ought to see all the recording stuff in this coach!
Old Trolls go here to die... Jims very own Onan graveyard.
This baby is up on the lift getting some serious work done by a owner who obviously loves his coach. I am betting it will be A-1 when it's all done!
This coach has a very striking paint job on it, and Jim is installing one of Ken Hendersons electric wiper kits. Jim says it was easy to install, and with the factory hydraulic one being so hard to come by, these are the answer. I can't wait until I can afford one! I have a tons of these motors at my disposal (friends with junk yards)...Just gotta get the rest of the kit...lol!
Anyhow, it's time to get this show on the road. I paid Jim for his work well done, and then we decided to stay in Kissimmee for the night, at the KOA. Well, one night turned into 3... go figure. It was fun though. Here is my little bugger just sitting in her spot.
If I were to move to Florida, I think maybe Kissimmee has a shot at getting a new resident...Namely us.
This is the "point of no return". This is where the coach died last time and had to be towed on the back of that that huge wrecker back to Jims. We cleared that hurdle...
Ahh, I love Daytona beach too... We were going to take the coach down onto the beach, but the guy in the little booth suggested otherwise...High tide was approaching, and he didn't think it would be wise... We then stopped by the speedway for a photo op. While there, I had a minor brake issue that turned out to be a bad master cylinder diagphram, the cap, in essence. Try to find one...I had to buy the whole master cylinder.
Here we sit at Beverly Beach Campland. And I mean sit. all it did was rain, and hey, we even had a waterspout 1/4 mile from us! It did a little damage in town, but not a lot. This is also where the steering box seal bit the dust. I wound up cutting a few belts and jumping the isolater to allow the coach to run on "Onan Power". I then proceeded to go the 45 miles up to Jacksonville to have a new pump installed. Jim called a good friend of his, Allan Assaf, who has a really cool company called Stat-Line which specializes in Ambulance rebuilding, selling parts, and much more. Allan, the owner, is a really great guy, and they know the GMC quite well. Allan is also a avid motocross rider, and his office is FULL of awards won. He ordered the parts that Jim said we needed and he had his mechanic install them. Everything went really smooth, too smooth...
We left Stat-Line and got a few exits up the road, and the seal on the new pump blew! Unreal! At this point I am becoming totally frustrated with this whole ordeal, so I called Allan, and he told me to bring it right back. I did, and after spending a lot of time on the phone, he came to find out that there would not be one available until the next day. I guess it's hotel time...Taking Allans suggestion, we decided to stay at the Holiday Inn at Jacksonville Airport. It was really a nice hotel.
The next day rolls around, which by this point was 7/24/07...We woke up and made it to Allans shop at about 11:30 AM. To show you the kind of fellow Allan is, he lent us one of his trucks so we could get to and from the hotel. It was a cool truck. I believe it may have been a ambulance at one time.
At the shop, the repairs are started. On Allans advice and thoughts, it was decided for cheap insurance to replace the steering pump as well. Something developed high pressure to blow the seal again. We also looked at the little filter for the wipers, and it turned out to be plugged with silicone... We have no clue how that occured.
Here she is being worked on...
And while its being fixed, some people just have to snooze...LOL
After the repairs were complete, we tested it and all looked well. Lets roll!
I've been told it is hard to keep some GMC's on the road. I could actually leave go of the wheel at this speed and she tracked straight and true.
Found this plane on the side of the road in Georgia. Kinda Cool...
Welcome to South Carolina! The only issue we had in this state was a plugging fuel filter, but that was a 5 min change in Wal-Marts parking lot.
Man, We love Sonic... If they would build one here at home, I'd be a happy camper... By the way, the GMC don't quite fit in the carhop area... real close...
The next few states rolled by effortlessly, and then I wanted to stop at the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia. It is the second tallest arch bridge in the USA, and it just plain looks good!
The bridge... then we have...
The 600+ steps to get back to the motorhome...Whew... Down was soooo much easier...
Almost home... When I arrived home, I went to check the fluids and lo and behold, I left the oil cap off in West Virginia. Darn... Hey Jim, send one up here! LOL You have the address...
Home at Last!
(The white truck is a 99 GMC Envoy...Apparently it can be towed 4 down because the transfer case goes into neutral. Nice matched pair)
