Not quite a carefree trip

Our trip to Bay St. Louis, MS hasn’t been without issues. We dewinterized at our first stop in Memphis, TN. While we were flushing antifreeze out of the lines I thought it was taking longer than it should for the furnace to warm up the trailer. Hot air was coming out of the floor vents but the air flow didn’t seem to be as strong as I remembered it. I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination or not. I should have investigated this sooner because it turned out that a cover over one of the unused vents on the furnace had fallen off. Once I returned the vent cover to its position the strong airflow returned and the furnace didn’t have to run nearly as long to keep the Wildcat up to temperature. I had allowed a lot of propane to be wasted.

At 4:00 AM on Saturday morning, with an outside temperature of 27 degrees, we ran out of propane in our first bottle. It was down to 59 degrees inside the trailer before I woke up. For some unknown reason the changeover regulator wouldn’t draw from the other propane bottle. My best efforts to fix this problem were fruitless. I had to physically remove the empty bottle and move the full one over to the other side. Not a fun thing to do in the dark and the cold. After the switch was made the furnace fired right up and we were warm and toasty again.

I was able to get in touch with Town and County Mobile RV repair and by 10:00 AM the repairman was testing the regulators. One hour and $155.00 later we had a new changeover regulator and our problem was solved. Sixty bucks of that money was just for the service call and another forty two dollars was for his time to test and fix the problem.

We left for Bay St. Louis, MS on Sunday morning. What’s up with the State of Mississippi? With the exception of the Welcome Center on I-55 just across the MS/TN border, all other rest stops along the entire southbound length of I-55 in MS were closed. We stopped to fuel up earlier than planned just so we could use the bathroom.

The trip from E Z Daze RV Park to Bay Hide Away RV park was 389 miles. That’s the second longest trip we’ve ever made in one day. Normally I prefer to keep our maximum miles to 325 per day. The new Ford truck averaged 10.5 MPG for this leg of the trip, that made me happy.

So we are here at Bay Hide Away RV park and it has been cold and rainy for two days. I hope it warms up soon.

Glad you made it there. What do you mean about the furnace cover?

Hang in there Richard. Hopefully you have all the trouble behind you now and smooth sailing the rest of the trip. The warm weather is on its way!

moo- I would assume he's talking about the actual cover over the furnace/blower. Ours would come loose every trip in the old camper. I finally bent a bracket from thin sheet metal and used self tapping screws to hold it in place.

Richard Mondavi wrote:
We left for Bay St. Louis, MS on Sunday morning. What’s up with the State of Mississippi? With the exception of the Welcome Center on I-55 just across the MS/TN border, all other rest stops along the entire southbound length of I-55 in MS were closed. We stopped to fuel up earlier than planned just so we could use the bathroom.

I think that this is something that we're going to have to get used to until the states get into better financial shape. I've read that many of the southern and western states are shutting down their rest areas to save money in their budgets. Like MS they may leave the welcome centers open, but they're shutting the rest down. I've also noticed that maintenance at the state rest areas seemed to be way down the last couple of trips.

I'm glad I have my "Exit Now Directory". Before I start a trip, I usually plot out where the good truck stops are (Flying J, Petro, Loves, etc.) so that I'm not caught short. WalMart Super Centers are good for a piddle pit stop too. I know it seems inconvenient to get off the interstate, but what I'm looking for is usually within spittin' distance of the exit so it's not too bad.

Hang in there Richard .....

I don't think the closed rest stops would have bothered me if I would have known they were all closed. Instead it was like a big tease. You come up to the rest stop and there is a "closed" banner on the sign but underneath it will say something like "next rest stop 42 miles". When we would get to the next rest stop there would be the "closed" banner again.
Misssissippi could have put a sign along the highway letting drivers know that all the rest stops along I-55 are closed.

moo2613 wrote:Glad you made it there. What do you mean about the furnace cover?

I guess I could have worded that better. MountainMan has it right though, it's a cover over an unused duct for the blower on the furnace.

I've never investigated the furnace, just always turned it on. Maybe I need to look into this a little more and make sure the cover is in place.

Here in Virginia our new Governor Bob McDonnell (R) has open up some of the closed REST STOPS already. The rest that were closed should be open this month.

"unused duct for the blower on the furnace"? What exactly is it. Do I need to look at my furance to get the drift?
That two (2) way gas controller thing on mine has also be iffy. I now just run on one tank till it runs out and then I open the other one and turn the arrow (switch) toward it. At least I know when a tank is empty.

Ole Yella wrote:"unused duct for the blower on the furnace"? What exactly is it. Do I need to look at my furance to get the drift?
That two (2) way gas controller thing on mine has also be iffy. I now just run on one tank till it runs out and then I open the other one and turn the arrow (switch) toward it. At least I know when a tank is empty.

The Suburban furnaces are designed to be used with many different makes, models, and floor plans of RV’s. Rather than make a dedicated furnace for each make or model they build blower ducts on both sides of the furnace. When the furnace is installed in the RV the only ducts that are uncovered are the ones that will be needed for that model, the others are left covered. It was one of these unused ducts that the cover vibrated off. The ducts are circular and the cover is locked into placed with a simple twist.

I have a rear kitchen model and the furnace is located at the very rear of the Wildcat. That area takes the most bouncing and jarring when driving down the road.

Glad you made it down there, Richard. Seems like we all have "traveling challenges" now and then, doesn't it?

Also, thanks for explaining about the furnace.

Enjoy the sunshine.

I'm beginning to feel it was a mistake to pick this campground and this area. Other than the two casinos there isn't a lot to do. The beaches aren't much to look at, although we did drive up to Pass Christian, MS today and the beaches there look much better.

Bay St. Louis RV park is just an OK park. Not nearly as good as the comments on rvparkreviews.com. Their Internet system was down for 24 hours yesterday. One thing I didn't think about when considering this park was propane. They don't sell propane at this RV park. The owners are very friendly and helpful though, and I think this is why they received such good reviews.

I love the $3.49 seniors lunch buffet at the Hollywood casino. I also love the $5.00 free play on Tuesday for seniors at the Silver Slipper Casino. After two visits we're up $15.00....Woo Hoo! I told you we were low rollers. I also love the fact that the casinos comp drinks while you're gambling. In the St. Louis, MO casinos you have to pay for any alcoholic beverages.

You're at Bay St. Louis RV Park? I thought you were staying at Bay Hide-a-Way.

You could go to NASA-Stennis one day. It's easy to get to.

http://www.ssc.nasa.gov/public/visitors/

Years ago we got the best BLTs in a restaurant in the top of a tower there. That was probably about 22 years ago.

Oops, as usual Richard is lost. We are really here at Bay Hide-A-way. I think it is wishful thinking that we were in a different campground.

Jebby wrote:Oops, as usual Richard is lost. We are really here at Bay Hide-A-way. I think it is wishful thinking that we were in a different campground.

No, no I'm not lost, I'm locationally challenged. DW always thinks I'm lost when in reality I'm merely scouting new areas.

Yes, we are here at Bay Hide Away. My mind got a little muddled, I think the sun got in my eyes while typing, I was distracted, but I'm sure I didn't make a mistake.

We plan to visit the Stennis Space Center next week.