April 17, 2006

April 17, 2006

Front Royal, Virginia through West Virginia and Maryland to Carlisle, Pennsylvania

YEAR 2 DAY 304

 

< singing >

Almost heaven

West Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains

Shenandoah River

( with apologies to John Denver )

 

We have just settled into a parking spot at Flying J, Joanne is beginning to prepare supper, and I've just begun to do today's accounting. I looked at the Wal-Mart bill from earlier today, and was somewhat surprised at Joanne's purchases. Apparently we're stocking up on items only available in the United States. Four cans of the brand of peach iced tea Joanne likes, 3 "Foxies" for Bo, and 1 "Tuggy" for Bo. Oh ... and 50 % off Easter chocolates. My goodness !

Today started out raining in Virginia, was cloudy in West Virginia and Maryland, and sunny in Pennsylvania. HA HA HA ! Despite travelling only a relatively short distance today, we were in 4 states.

This morning it was raining while I did preventive maintenance and prepared for departure. Last night when we came in, we drove about 10 miles off I-81 down back roads to get to the RV park. This morning we drove about 2 miles in the opposite direction to get to Interstate 66, then drove west on I-66 back to I-81, where we turned north once again. We left the Interstate at Winchester, Virginia to find a Wal-Mart. Before getting to Wal-Mart I stopped at 2 automotive service centres attempting to get a front end alignment. Neither shop could handle a dually. At Wal-Mart Joanne went to shop while I made phone calls. First call was to Guide Dogs Of The Desert in Palm Springs, California, to apply for a WorkCamping job there next winter. I had an interesting conversation with them. I hope we might be able to work something out, although they need somebody for longer than we would be able to be there. Next I phoned Budget Transmission in Knoxville to report on how the repaired transmission is doing. It's fine, although the back-up lights and the dash board gear indicator lights on the are not functioning correctly. Budget Transmission diagnosed that problem as a faulty neutral safety switch, which they replaced. They will pay the bill for me to have it replaced again at a transmission shop that is a member of ATRA, as they are. Next I phoned Mechtronics in Oregon, who repaired the transmission a year ago. They are still trying to get answers to my questions, although Budget Transmission is not being co-operative with them. I went inside Wal-Mart to look up some phone numbers in the Yellow Pages. I phoned a bunch of transmission shops. None were ATRA affiliated < sigh >. I phoned a bunch of alignment shops. None could handle duallies < sigh >. We left Winchester.

A little ways down the road, we stopped for lunch in the parking of the West Virginia Information Centre. After lunch, we drove through a little corner of West Virginia, then a little corner of Maryland, before reaching the Pennsylvania border. At Interstate 81 mile 1 in Pennsylvania we stopped at a large RV dealer. I bought a new air conditioner shroud, and a replacement vacuum breaker for the shower faucet. The sun was shining and it was warm. I wanted to install the shroud at the dealer, to ensure it was the correct model. It was. Actually, it's a better model than the original, and it fit. The job took longer than I thought it would, but it went just fine. I removed the shower faucet to replace the vacuum breaker. Our shower faucet's vacuum breaker is not a removable and replaceable piece, as I thought it would be. It's moulded right into the faucet assembly. However, removing the faucet allowed me to identify the problem within the vacuum breaker, and I fixed it as best as I could. If that works, great. If not, I'll have to buy a new shower faucet assembly, which isn't expensive. I borrowed the Yellow Pages from the RV dealer, and tried to find an ATRA transmission shop nearby. If I had found one, we would have stayed at the RV dealer's campground. There were no ATRA shops nearby < sigh >. I've decided that the wheel alignment isn't all that important, after a discussion with an alignment shop this morning in Winchester, but I would like to have the transmission's neutral safety switch replaced before we get to Canada. ATRA might be a U.S. organization.

We decided to continue driving north, to a Flying J, and dry camp in their parking lot tonight. Tomorrow morning we'll drive north to Harrisburg and look for an ATRA shop there. After Harrisburg, we might detour to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Joanne really wants to visit the Hershey chocolate factory. The traffic on I-81 was very heavy today, all day. The Flying J RV parking lot is overfilled tonight with the mass exodus of Quebecois returning home from wintering in Florida. Joanne has suggested that we join the ranks of full time RV'ers who vow never to travel east of the Mississippi. Good idea !

When we arrived at Flying J, I filled up with diesel, refilled the fresh water, and added air to one of the truck tires before squeezing into one of the last sites available. We had supper, then I worked on today's accounting. Late in the evening, I went inside the Flying J and asked for a Harrisburg phone book. I found an ATRA transmission shop in Harrisburg. Wish me luck.

DSK