Another trip, another repair

[swanky]

The brakes felt mushy on our way to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on the west coast of Michigan (more about that elsewhere) so on our last day we decided to have them checked out while investigating the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. Before we could even leave our campsite, we hit our first major issue, aside from the mushy brakes, in that our leveling jacks would not go up. The control board had a green power on light and a red light at the left rear jack, which was all the way down, but nothing happened when we flipped the retract switches, no noise even. The short version is that the jacks are now wired up so we could get home to Detroit tonight. Not sure what the trouble is, but my suspicion is a simple loose wire that I will never find on my own. An hour underneath this morning and I found nothing irregular.
The brakes, of course, are a different matter--a new master cylinder and a courtesy shuttle to and from the Cherry Fest and we were off, full of cherries and lighter in the wallet. They feel great now and the drive home was smooth except for a good half hour or more of a completely inconsolable four month old and a black tank we decided not to empty because of our need to address the brakes and jacks issues quickly. Our plan to "do it later" was a bit problematic but the kind people at KOA just south of Birch Run, MI helped us out. Lessons learned.
So, now we need to get the jacks fixed, get those brackets put on and who knows what else.
Fun trip, aside from the pricey repair.

[ZoominC6]

Glad you had a fun trip and sorry to read about the mechanicals as it reminded me of our first RV, an SOB (Monaco) MoHo that seemed to have never ending repair issues. Were we ever happy to trade it for our Airstream! I love the photos of your classic coach and wish Airstream would once again make a MoHo that looked like that. Love your "Life sustaining" quote as well. Bet you can't wait to regroup and get back on the road in your beauty.

[Lumatic]

I plugged into a campground with polarity reversed and too high water pressure a couple of days ago. Flood was temporary. Next time I WILL use my pressure regulator on my hose. Hopefully I only blew a fuse in my converter. I knew better, but went ahead and went stupid anyway. What the heck I am on vacation.

[oneniner]

We love Sleeping Bear Dunes.....We usually stop at the Flying J just south of the Zilwaukee bridge exit 151. They have fee RV dump right next to the fuel pumps, not bad diesel prices also.

[Mike Leary]

There will be a time when you will come full-circle with your repairs/replacements; it's
sure enjoyable when you know almost everything is fresh. Done belts and hoses yet?

[swanky]

If only money weren't an issue. I love traveling in our AS, she is simply fun and we have a ball. I have spent today emptying her out and washing to get her ready to go to the storage parking place until our next adventure.

I talked to my Cummins truck shop and we are scheduling a full blown 45 point inspection when they do the bracket things. I might try to get them to skip a few of the points for some savings--I know which appliances work and which don't and I know the AC does not. I don't need to pay someone to tell me those things. Most other stuff is a mystery, despite the PO's meticulous records. I have no way of knowing if things were done properly and I'd really feel better knowing we have no LP leaks.

I also want to do things like belts and hoses and brake lines and anything else that likes to self-destruct while on vacation so we eliminate at least a few surprises for our next road trip. I'm just not sure we can fit that in the budget yet. They will also fix the jacks. I wish I had a driveway where I could at least poke around because I feel like so much of this could be done by us if we could just spend the time learning how and not run afoul of our city's code.
Anyway, thanks for the encouragement, comments, advice, and comiseration.
Our AS sitings on this trip: 1965 trailer at a gas station (pics to be posted later), two trailers off I75N, and being passed in Auburn Hills by a beautiful one. I drive like a granny. I don't know which styles they were but they were all neat and the kids absolutely love spotting them. They also spied one in one of the campground scenes in the movie RV.

[Robfike]

I treat our 1986 345 just like an aircraft. Pre-flight inspection before we go, and Post-flight when we stop. Keep a good maintenance log book. You can buy one of the ones made for an RV that work great.
You can stop many problems before they get big and expensive. I also am also always working off of our "Sqawk list". As problems come to light, I list them and fix them as I can. At least maintaining our 345 is a lot less than a corporate jet!
Rob