Ready to Roll…well, almost

This has been my “go to place” for oil changes ever since I moved to the area back in 2011/12.  You drive in, and for around $24 the HHR would get done, and for around $30 the motorhome would get done...you don't even get out of your vehicle.  Well on Monday I drive by and see no cars, no garage open…pull in and see a note on the window that it was not open anymore, and they recommend a place in the town of Dunedin to the south called “take 5 oil change”.  Thank goodness I was in the HHR and just happened to be driving along because on Tuesday I had plans to get the oil changed in the Motorhome.  Back home I call ‘Take 5’ and yes, they can do the motorhome.  So Tuesday I drive to the motorhome, take it to Dunedin, and pull into ‘Take 5’.  Wow, this is going to be a tight fit…

‘Take 5’ bought out the ‘Havoline Xpress’ in the area.  This Havoline is now a Take 5.  You enter to the right, drive around,and enter the “pit” from the rear.  All is well except, with ‘Take 5’ comes a bunch of new equipment.  Also, look at that tight turn when I exit if I enter the far left bay in the picture.  Yep, this is going to be a very tight fit. 

They have me enter the bay in the middle of the building…that helps.  The new “Take 5” prices don’t help…it is going to cost more like $40 instead of the $30 I have been paying.  EXCEPT, they got me on the transmission service.  It has been about 35,000 miles since the transmission was serviced in Sacramento after we first bought the Dynamax.  So for a mere $120 more, they will essentially pull the transmission fluid out and replace it with fresh fluid.  There is a machine they have which does this, takes about 20 minutes.  In a sense since there is some of the old fluid still in there, it is more like a refreshing of the fluid.  But I still feel it is worth it. They offer a $15 discount on the entire oil and transmission change, so for $138, it is a deal.  Instead of pulling through when finished, I offer to back out, which is a good option.  45 minutes later, I am on the way back to the RV Storage area.

I guess this is a good place to mention that one of the motorhome tires was a bit flat.  Instead of 80 psi, it was down to 35 psi…not good .  It was the driver inner dully again…the one we had fixed in lower Tennessee last October.  The nearest Discount Tire is in Orlando…but I think someone must have played with the tire because I just can’t believe the same tire went flat…but it could be a nail.  I drive slowly over to the Take 5, keeping an eye on the tire pressure and the tire temp.  Going 30 MPH, and with the motorhome pretty much empty, I make it fine.  They fill up the tire while there.  It drops 3 psi on the way back, not sure if that is good or bad.  The next day, it is down to 55 psi…not good at all.  There is a Goodyear store less than a mile from the RV storage, and I stop by on Wednesday to see if they can look at it on Thursday…they can….9 am.  YUK!  I hate early appointments.

It is your typical Goodyear store.  He tells me to pull around back, which shares a driveway with Publix Grocery Store’s 18 wheel truck deliveries…but I get back there and parked without a problem.  Marcia follows me with the HHR, and after we drop the motorhome off,  we take her cousin Mary out to breakfast to a new to us Restaurant called Spirou's Cookhouse & Desserts, a now new favorite place which we will have to try out many times next time we are home.  The menu is simple.  The food is fresh and delicious.  The service was wonderful.  The company (cousin Mary) was outstanding.  And the desserts they have laid out on the counter…well, it was very difficult, but we did not touch them…much like Jimmy Carter never touched that female that he said he lusted after when he was President.  Only in our hearts and dreams….  Ya, they looked that good.

2 hours later, Goodyear is done.  Yes, the tire’s valve stem was bad.  The guy said it couldn’t have been changed six months ago.  THAT’S when I remember…when the tire went bad in Tennessee, we pulled into a Cracker Barrel.  Called our road service, guy comes out and puts the spare on the inner driver’s side, and we drive on until we came to a town with a Discount Tire store.  We spent the night in a Cracker Barrel there, then went to Discount Tire where they fixed the valve stem the next morning. They ask me if I want it back on the driver’s side dully, or on the spare…I tell them to make it the spare.  Hence, the same tire bad now is not the same tire as then…just the same location.  This stem, put on a few years ago outside of El Paso Texas, just did not set right.  All is well…and I verified that the tire pressure sensor system is now working on all ten tires. 

Sunday after church I will bring the motorhome over the RV-Mobile Home park next to us (bottom left red mark).  Our condo is located up in the upper red mark area.  Yes, it is that close.  It is too bad they don’t have any winter parking for motorhomes, because that would just be too convenient.  I turned the refrigerator on today, so tomorrow I will run the generator for an hour or so while I take clothing and a few other things over to it.  Sunday we can get the stuff in the fridge, and essentially take anything we wish over to it since it will be so close.  Monday we will wake up, take long, very long, showers (anyone who travels in an RV gets that one) by noon we need to pull out of the RV park, load the rest of the stuff up while it sits in the condo driveway, eventually we will be off and running.