-Gramps-

Diane and I have a saying that started after our grand boys came along. We used it on them (and they would use it back if necessary) if one of them or I (Diane has complaints but never whines about anything) mumbled and groused about something. “Whining is not attractive” Matters Of The Heart Blog Post

We have all had them, those moments when we are so overjoyed to be motorhome owners and those other moments, the ones where you take a deep breath and ask yourself: "Why did I ever buy this big blasted thing?" Not So Good Coach Moments

Ditto for Tough Tops, replaced three toppers, no issues after two years.

When I was young My Uncle Jonah taught me about raising apples, tobacco, peaches, grooming horses and the danger of electric fences. He tried, unsuccessfully, to teach me how to milk a cow. He gave Diane and I our very first Christmas Tree. My aunt Helen, Jonah’s wife, and Diane like each other very much. All the members of the Parker family are very special to me. Which brings me to my Aunt Hazel. My Aunt Hazel ( a memory and a tribute)

Charleston

For most of the month of February the three of us were parked on a live oak covered lot at Sunshine RV Resort, an Encore Park in Vero Beach. We choose to stay there because we wanted to see our daughter Jeri race in the Publix Florida Half-Marathon in Melbourne. Months 2,3,4 and Another Magical Day

2017 has been a very busy year, at least for the first three months. The Fourth one has been wet, very wet, but more about that later. The first one was good. Diane and I are finding out that retirement and being Snowbirds ain't bad, ain't bad at all. January and Disney World

A couple of days ago, I started to clean old document files off my laptop. For a computer geek like myself, this is a bit like cleaning out my closet. I may not need a certain shirt, it has a stain, or it doesn’t fit, it needs to go, but I still want to hang on to it. My Favorite Things (then)

Unless you are using SAT Data, which I understand costs a small fortune, you will have to us your Verizon wireless plan, we do that all the time, no problem so far. We turn my wife's Windows 10 smartphone into a hot spot and stream Netfilx and Hulu plus anytime of the month. We have not experienced any data crunching that would stop us from streaming.

I suggested the possibility for the need to make this change back in 2011 in the forums and and I think that idea was moved over to the blog section. I created a poll just for the fun of it back then too. You can read it here and see the comments it got and the votes: A Can Of Worms. This is what I said back then, some of the economic reasons for the change have improved over the last six years, but my thoughts have not changed on the subject. I have made it a point to avoid most controversial subjects here. That hasn't stopped me from posting one or two provocative things, I guess. This entry may cause a bit of conversation, but here goes. FMCA's membership is down. The magazine is so much smaller than it used to be due to a lack of advertisers. The RV industry is still living on the edge of an economic non recovery. Times are not very good at the moment. The price of gas is not going in the direction most of us would like and loans for RV purchases both towables and coaches new or used are still hard to get. Sometimes you have to adapt and take advantage of circumstances (and) not let them get the best of you. There is a lot in common with all RVs when you think about it. Lots of full timers live in towables as well as coaches. Manufacturers of both use a lot of the same suppliers including interior parts, electronics, appliances and various small supplies. We all have to dump our tanks the same way! I believe that there is strength in numbers. We need to combine our resources, work together to make things better for those who make RVs and those who buy them and use them. Who knows maybe the RV industry could form its own lending institution and offer loans as well as lobby Congress and state governments for things that the industry needs. Sorry, but that is still necessary, wouldn't you agree? So to work toward the goal of making things better for all: It is my humble opinion that the Family Motor Coach Association should become the Family RV Association. All RV owners of towables and coaches should be eligible to become members of the association. I wasn't there (as much as I would have liked to have been) at the Perry Convention. I hope that opening the convention to towables indicates that maybe some people are thinking the same way I am. Am I opening a can of worms? Who knows? Let's find out. Comments are certainly welcome and hoped for! So is your vote...but you need to register if you a not a member of this site. Derrick L "Gramps"

Your picture makes it look like your vertical wood pieces/trim are solid, anyway glad to help out.

One of the first things FMCA could do is promote itself, like this website and Facebook. I blogged here for years, now I post a link to my own site. It shocked me to attend an FMCA regional rally or even a national one, go to the FMCA booth to buy a shirt or hat, gather some info, talk to other members and in the process find out the people visiting the booth didn't know that FMCA has its own website. In many cases the folks manning the booth did not know we have a website as well. Why is this?

To get to the inside standoff end, I remove the top corner decorative medallion (for lack of a better word), and remove the ribbed insert. There are brackets behind then which hold the whole thing on to the metal frame. I unscrew those. I don't know if you have a solid trim or some extra trim that i don't have.

The piece on the side you need to remove is about two inches wide and matches the wall not the wood. The slide out stops on it when in. It isn't really designed to be removed so what I did was after I pried it off the wall made my repair, I screwed it back on , instead of nailing it. I used screw covers, those plastic caps that you see all over a coach. I figured it wouldn't be the last time I had to remove this trim piece. I discovered too that the box that houses the motor and chain drive is a bit tight. I used a saws-all and cut it open so I could get my hands in there without having to remove the whole thing. Then I modified the fabric insert to fit the larger hole I made. By the way, my living room slide out is cable driven as well as one bedroom side. Notice the piece with the screw cover, that is one that has to be removed to get to the metal cover over the cable channel.

Did someone by chance hit the house power kill switch by the front door? Its in the wheel well. Happens by accident a lot in our coach. I call it the panic switch because that is what it does, causes a panic.

I am not sure if taking pictures of a Great Horned Owl nesting in a large live oak over our coach made me think of this old FMCA blog entry or not, but if it did then that is okay. I wrote it not long after we lost our grandson. I re-read it myself this morning and I like it so maybe you will too. Looking Up!

Yes to the question about the crimping tool. I bought it at Lowes and the cable cutters as well. The crimp doesn't have to look good, just has to hold. If the cable you are replacing is a bottom one its not as hard to get over the pulley in the overhead as others. The kit comes with a Chinese finger trap (hey that's what I call it.) and I have found that sometimes I need a small gauge wire inserted in the trap and that wire taped to the cable to pull it thru. You will need to remove the overhead trim and the side trim so you can remove the metal cover over the cable channel that runs up the side of the slide out opening. Good luck and you can call my cell if you need some assistance. I will PM you the number. Derrick

If you intend to make the cable repair yourself you will need a pair of bolt cutters and a swagging/crimping tool. I carry both with me all the time and six repair kits. I have not had to use one to make a repair for a couple of years now. When you get ready to make the repair, I can be available if you need me, I have done it a bunch of times until I had the standoffs adjusted correctly, then the cable fraying stopped. 14 inch bolt cutters swagging/ferrule crimping tool AccuSlide website with how to videos.

The motor and cables are over the top of the slideout cabinets, inside the trim around the opening in the coach, not underneath the drawers. Unfortunately the picture does not show the top trim over the slideout. I have the same slide and my trim has a fabric insert which is held on with velcro, remove that and you see the motor, and the chain drive the cables are connected to. This is only a guess but I suspect you may have to remove the medallions on each end of the top trim to gain access. A better picture with the ceiling line showing, could help to verify that.

I checked into it. It will increase a campground wifi radio signal and bring it inside your coach. It will increase the speed at which your devices, which would be secure behind the Winegard router, talk to each other and to the campground or other public wifi that you log it on to. This would work with Xfinity public wifi, Tengo Net, which is normally pretty bad, as well as other public streaming services. What it will not do is speed up the gateway that the public wifi you are using has. In other words if a campground is paying for enough bandwidth from their provider for 25 simultaneous heavy to moderate users and you happen to sign on with what appears to be a great connection as user number 37 the Winegard is not going to make it better for you than the other 36 people. Your connection to Facebook or whatever is still going to in a word, stink. It has been my experience that even with a great radio signal inside my coach, campgrounds just don't have enough bandwidth, the pipe is too small from Century-Link or Comcast or whoever.

Colony Tire, where we bought all our new Michelin's thru the FMCA program told us don't use anything on your tires except a good car wash. That's it. There is no safe protectant or shine product, that will not age your tires. One of the techs went so far to say, the shinier they are the quicker they die (dry out) Just clean them with soap and water. Also they said to cover them with a UV screen, not the wrap around type unless it is made from a breathable material. They prefer the snap on screens that cover the wheel well. They protect your tires from UV light even on a cloudy day. Mine were custom made by Kool RV Sunshades. Considering what 22.5 tires cost, I took them at their word and followed their advice to the letter. Colony Tire

Well, Al, did you start a blog and if so how's it going?

We shall see, but come late April or First of May I will have Comcast wired internet again until November as my main source..will cut Verizon back to a couple of gig.

Yes, me too.

Update...I have used over 49.9 gig for one phone/hotspot for this billing cycle I changed to Unlimited retroactively. I am not being throttled as far as speed is concerned and still using my phone as a 4g hotspot. The second phone has used just under 0.70 gig. I also ran an internet/network bandwidth speed test. I am presently located in Vero Beach Florida, and I pinged a server in Miami, 29.2 Mbps download 13.7 Mbps upload Latency: 77 ms Server: Miami, FL Your Internet speed is fast Your Internet connection should be able to handle multiple devices streaming HD videos at the same time. Not quite the speed of Cox, or Comcast cable modem, but fast enough to do what I what to do on a single device at a time.