(I’ve done 3 posts tonight so read on down.)
As Rosanne Rosannadanna always said, “it just goes to show you, it’s always something — if it ain’t one thing, it’s another.” But this one ends really good!
When I went to depart the Charlotte area Sunday morning I rolled the Honda up on the dolly and it goes “crunch”. Short version, it seems that when the Nashville Honda folks did the AC compressor replacement they missed a few screws, or they otherwise didn’t hold. Thus a shield on the bottom of the engine compartment came loose and caught on the dolly, pulling it almost totally off. I was able to remove the shield but two other shields were connected to the first one … I just couldn’t reach the last 2 bolts on one of the shields that was hanging down and dragging on the ground. So I had to call Good Sam Roadside Assistance. They found me a garage that was open on Sunday and only 3 miles away, tow truck arrived quickly and the job was so simple that the Firestone garage didn’t even charge for the work.
With all of that I did have to delay departure till Monday morning but off I went on Monday to Savanna and arrived Tuesday afternoon into Titusville/Cape Kennedy Florida Tuesday afternoon.
But as Rosanne said …
I backed the Honda off the dolly and there on the ground was signs of an oil leak. I got a plastic bin under it to not further dump on the ground and sure enough the engine oil was totally off the dip stick … had the Honda towed to the local Honda dealership …
The dealer in Titusville hopped on it the next morning and called with an estimate. Meanwhile I had spoken with the Nashville Honda folks and put the two companies in touch … Nashville covered the complete cost. First rate dealership.
Only issue, they couldn’t get all the parts till the following week and Enterprise Rent-a-car couldn’t get me a rental till Friday. I really didn’t need the car except I had planned to go to Cracker Barrel (6 miles away) for Thanksgiving. It just got better … I was doing my laundry and a nice lady says, “we got together with KOA and are doing a full Thanksgiving dinner in the club house tomorrow”. So better than sitting at a table alone at Cracker Barrel, I had dinner with a table full of RVers.
Life is good.
I spent Tuesday, December 1st, at the Kennedy Space Center. It was an outstanding day and a very special place for me. I worked at NASA Houston JSC in 1972 during the Apollo 16 and 17 missions. In hindsight it was the best job every. In most jobs even though you know what the company does you don’t necessarily have a real sense of being part of it. At NASA every few months you got to go over to Mission Control and watch what we did lift off the face of the earth. I’ve attached a few photos of both the Saturn V rocket used for Apollo and the Space Shuttle. There is no way to tell you how enormous they are. You can also see the assembly building with me and my tour guide in the foreground. The other shot with the building in the distance is 5 miles away and still huge.
Today is Friday, December 4th and I’m still in Titusville. When I picked up the Honda this Wednesday I discovered on the way back to the RV that the Air Conditioner was not working. I took it back on Thursday and fortunately they could recreate the problem but while searching for the cause, the problem went away. We gave up and I drove it back to the RV park. But as Rosanna said … On the drive I discovered the engine temp gauge was pegged in the red. I limped it to the RV park. This morning I had it towed back to the dealer. The good news is they discovered an intermittent temperature sensor that was causing this problem, and also explained the air conditioner problem. Cheap fix and a good one.
This evening I went to the Titusville Space View Park in hopes of seeing an Atlas V launch but there was too much wind.
Retirement Escape 