Ramp Up to a Dogwood Christmas

Since our last post, much has happened as we prepared for cold weather and our trip to the Dogwood Rally in Williamsburg, VA. Now we are here in Williamsburg and this is a good time to update our blog.

Several weeks ago it was clear that winterizing the coach was a priority. The coach has a automatic system that was highlighted when we were shopping the coach. 'Prevent a Freeze' is the brand name of the system made by Swan Industries in Oregon. It works this way: Two buttons on the control panel inside are used to implement the system; one switch electronically closes a hot water heater by-pass valve that isolates the water tank from the rest of the water system. Behind the water heater is a plastic tank that holds 2 1/2 gallons of antifreeze. Step 1 is to drain all water tanks and the water heater tank and fill the antifreeze reservoir. Step 2 is to activate the by-pass valve and isolate the water heater. Step 3 is to electronically activate the water pump which will pump the antifreeze throughout the water system. Neat, huh?

Steps 1 and 2 were completed successfully. When Step 3 was activated the pump worked successfully. Sadly, the antifreeze was pumped through the hot water heater on to the street in front of our house. Obviously, Step 2 failed. Two days later after calling Swan Industries, Jim Matheny, and will the assistance of Bill Freed, I gave up and winterized the coach using the old fashioned system: blowing out the lines and pouring antifreeze into the traps. This process worked fine and we were able to put the coach back in storage confident that the cold weather would not be a problem.

Four days after returning the coach to storage and four days before we were scheduled to leave for Williamsburg, I visited the coach for a status check. The good news was no signs of mice; the bad news was the starting and house batteries were all run down. The coach would not start; the generator would not start; and, I was not sure why. Bill Freed again came to my rescue. We used the car to charge the house batteries until we had enough power to start the generator. We then put the cables on the starting batteries. The next step was to try to start the coach engine using the starting batteries assisted by the house batteries using the battery boost switch. It did not happen easily and took many tries before the engine finally came alive. What a great sound!

Each day after until today we checked the batteries. The news was good and we started the coach with no problems. The fault was all mine: I had failed to disconnect the chassis and coach batteries when we left the coach, and we possibly left the inverter on. Whatever the reason, I now disconnect these power resources when I leave the coach. Lesson learned.

We came to Williamsburg on Thursday along with the Halsteads and Tolsons and several other Dogwood members. Thursday night's dinner was grand at the NY Deli and we ate slowly enough that we had a very nice visit inside where it was warm.

Friday was a mixed day: Ladies went shopping and the men stayed home to wrestke with connecting my computer to the Internet using my cell phone. We failed, had a good time. The ladies returned with numerous packages just in time for us to get to happy hour and dinner at the recreation hall. We ate well and had a good time meeting new folks. Tomorrow we have breakfast at 8:30 AM; it will be cold.

We are looking forward to tomorrow as the rally gets into full swing. We will have a Christmas party and gift exchange tomorrow night after dinner.