"if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room"

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Done!!

Our last shift at Amazon was Friday night. Rudee and I both ended up watching the clock way too much while we worked. I guess we were hoping it would move a little faster. Several times I glanced at it thinking, surely another hour had passed only to find out it had only been 15 minutes. :-)
When we returned from our lunch break at 10:45 pm they announced that all of the Camperforce (that's our "official" title at Amazon) were to be dismissed at 2:00 am to report to the large break room downstairs for our "mustering out". Let me tell ya, that old clock almost screeched to a halt after that! We finally made it and headed downstairs to the "party". We got checked in by an HR person and was given yet another T-shirt. Several managers got up to speak and pretty much all said the same thing. We were then dismissed and our very first Amazon experience came to an end. The work was probably the hardest work we had ever done and I can't be prouder of Rudee. We both hung in there in spite of the aches and pains. As soon as we exited the building I gave her a hug and yelled out "we did it!', I was pretty excited to be done. :-)
Here is a photo of us and our fellow Camperforce co-workers.


They were a great group of people who I can now call friends. :-)
Several of us met at the Huddle House restaurant for a last celebration meal before saying our goodbyes. Rudee and I then went back to the rig and got a few hours of sleep.
Saturday morning I got the rig fired up and the power cord put away. The motorhome started on the first turn of the key, not bad after sitting for two months. :-)
I pulled the jacks up and we pulled out onto the roadway so I could hook up the Dakota. Once everything was hooked up we pointed the nose of the rig North and headed for home.
The temperature when we left Cambellsville at 10:30 am was 68 degrees and once we got to Indianapolis (only 200 miles!) it was 38 degrees. Brrrrrr! That was a BIG change. Beside the temps we drove in rain and heavy traffic for the entire trip. We made a stop at a rest park a few miles from the exit to our daughters house and unhooked the truck. Rudee would drive it the last couple of miles so I could back right in their driveway. I got the rig parked and started the set up procedure. First thing on the list is to lower our stabilizer jacks. No problem, jacks came right down and were leveling the rig when they stopped. I pushed the button manually and nothing happened. Not good! I hit the "store jacks" button and they returned to their up position but would not deploy again. :-(
I checked all the fuses that I could find but nothing was wrong there. I finally crawled under the rig and checked the hydraulic motor. The solenoid on the motor would click when Rudee pushed on the buttons but the motor would not move. I gave up on it for the night since it was cold, pouring rain and getting dark. I soon found out the same motor works the slide outs too so it will be a little cozy (and bouncy) in the rig until I can fix it.
We took Amanda and her family out to the local Pizza Hut for dinner where son in law Ryan, their next door neighbor Steve and I proceeded to drain two pitchers of beer. Hey, it had been a tough day!
After dinner we headed back to the motorhome (with Rudee driving) where we finally headed to bed. :-)

This morning Ryan and I started looking for a fix for the slide out/jack motor. My first check was the batteries. I learned a long time ago that if anything is going "goofy" in an RV that it might be a bad battery causing it. Both of the batteries were "A-OK" so we moved on. The next thing to check was the ground for the motor. Ryan undid it from the frame and cleaned everything with a wire brush and I tried the buttons again ..... nothing. We then tried to "jump" start the motor by bypassing the solenoid, that didn't work either. We are pretty certain the motor is shot and it is a little over our heads replacing it so I will make some calls tomorrow to the local RV places to see if anyone can fit us in their service schedule. The good news is we are safe and sound, our rig is still "livable" with the slides closed so we can stay warm and dry. The bad news is the bedroom slideout contains our closet and my clothes drawers so I cannot get to my underwear! Rudee had all the laundry clean and put away so there is only one dirty pair that can be washed so I guess I'm "El Cammando" for a few days. :-o I know, TMI but like I always say, I'll keep you posted!

8 comments:

  1. time for a quick run to Wally world....

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    1. Dee,
      I hate to buy new shorts when the ones I have hardly have any holes in them and the elastic in the waist still has a little spring to it. LOL

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  2. Oh no! 2013 really needs to go away! Glad you made the trip safe! Was a wild night here, Casey and I made a mad dash for the storm shelter at 11:15 last night when we had a tornado warning pop up. Al was working and the entire plant was shuttled to the storm shelters. We heard the big glass windows at the movie theatre were shattered. And the plant had the roof vents opened and C-mod flooded from the rain...several pallets of merchandise ruined. We're busy packing and will be heading south tomorrow sometime. See you next month.

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  3. I think Santa can pack an extra pair of briefs or thongs in his sleigh for a good boy such as you! Glad you guys made it home safe and sound. Hope you get the motor repaired. I know when our slides are in, Steve's body fits wall to wall.

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  4. another reason not to do the laundry! LOL (I tend to put off the laundry)
    A big Congratulation for sticking out the Amazon job until the very end! I know that must have been a great feeling!

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  5. Enjoy reading your posts. Except I really didn't need a mental picture of "going commando." LOL

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  6. Well at least you have a little extra jingle in your wallet for the unexpected repair. Hope it is an easy and reasonable ($) fix.

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  7. Enjoy your blog. But early in the morning I did not need the mental image of going "commando." LOL

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