January 15, 2016 - Tampa, FL

Edith was anxious to start the day with sightseeing, but when she pulled up the shades in the front she was aghast to see the rain.  The sky was so dark and made everything look so bleak.  Abandon the though of going out?  Maybe we will go out later in the afternoon.

Edith told Erwin that it was raining he made a grouchy face because he was as disappointed as Edith was.

Erwin walked to the tent for breakfast and coffee. Edith chose to stay inside the Lil’ Home (LH).  Also, Erwin needed to check with Newmar guy for follow-up on repairs.  “Sorry about the rain and we may do it or not”, the guy said.  

After Erwin got back from the tent he received a phone call from Newmar telling him that the service technicians, Anthony and Kary, were at our LH, knocked on the door and there was no answer. They left when there was no answer, but Edith was inside.  Of course, she cannot hear the knocks!  Erwin told the guys to come on over and they did.  They were not able to fix the air conditioning, but troubleshoot the exhaust vents in the kitchen and the bathroom.  They used the last motor controller that we needed for opening/closing the slideouts for the other motorhome yesterday, so they placed an order today and have it airfreighted to the hotel tomorrow.  The technicians were very friendly and helpful.

Service ticket taped to the windshield so technicians 
can find the unit to work on

We were about ready to head out of the LH when Anthony and Kary came back again. Anthony said he was able to find a motor controller that is more powerful than what we had, so he proceeded to replace it.  When all was done the slideout still would not open!  Anthony and Kary checked and checked to be sure the wirings were placed right, checked the slideout switch.  All looked ok, but still it would not open. They called more technicians over.

The technicians had been at it for at least 6 hours before they finally figured out what the problem was. It was the piece of the carpet under the kitchen sink that stopped the slideout from extending out.  Solution?  Edith will be at the helm and Erwin will have to push the slide out to force the sliders to go over the carpet.

New motor controller on the right

Apparently the LH had a wall to wall carpet when the first owner bought it. It was later removed leaving only the remnants under the slideouts.  There is not much we can do about it now.  We will have it taken care of when there is budget for it.

The sun finally shone and the sky started to show its blue color. The clouds were very interesting.  It felt so warm all of a sudden which was nice for a change.

Newmar Service charged us for an hour and 45 minutes of service instead of 6 hours.  What a big relief!  We were impressed with the patience and courtesy of the service technicians. It is nice to have someone come to do minor repairs while you are at a rally.  We went to Newmar's temporary office to pay the bill.

We went to Camping World to return the LED light bulbs that we did not like. While there we picked up 4 leveling pads that were on sale for almost half price off.

We visited the RV show again, went in some models, went to booths. We did not buy anything this time.

Hey!!!
See the SOLD sign...
Someone actually paid a million plus dollars for this one!!!

A saleslady told us that it was the best photo attempt
she saw the whole day

The clouds looked very interesting and the sunset was interesting to watch.

We decided to have supper at IKEA which was not too far from the fairgrounds.  Their entrees are very reasonable and of good portion. Edith got stuffed chicken breast with mashed potato/gravy and steamed vegetables. Erwin had chicken tenders, french fries and garlic bread.  

We did not know that most gates to the fairgrounds were closed after dark and the one that we wanted to go in was closed and locked.  We did not know until then that the only entrance to the fairgrounds was on Orient Blvd. We were almost worried that we may not be able to get inside and spend the night in our LH. It took us more than half an hour to finally gain entrance to the campground!

A busy day yeah, but lots of stress!  Hope everything will be alright tomorrow!

January 14, 2016 - Tampa, FL

Erwin thought the breakfast social started at 9 am, but when he went through the papers for events he found out it started at 7:30. He was lucky that they still had Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee.

The weather was not as cold as it was yesterday, but the sun was up.  Edith was anxious to go out for sightseeing today.  A visit to one of two cemeteries is on her list: Oaklawn Cemetery and Myrtle Hill Cemetery.

Before we headed out for sightseeing Erwin made a call to Blue Ox customer service about the towing package we have on the Lil’ Home (LH). The knuckles are so rusty and they are not even a year old.  Unfortunately, the knuckles are not part of a 3 year warranty, but are easily replaced by ourselves. A set of two knuckles will cost $90.  We will need to buy a cover to protect the towbar while the LH is parked.

At 10 am we went to the tent for a meeting with Newmar Corporation officials.  They explained about the company's goal, the changes being made to new motorcoaches, facilities, etc.  In the past they used Spartan engine chassis, but are now switching to Freightliner engine chassis.  After the meeting was over Erwin talked to one of the officials, Ron Stitcher, about retrofitting our LH by adding a base cabinet in the dining area.  He told us that we would need to get specialists look into it and see if it can be done and to be sure it does not add too much weight.  We will have that taken care of in the near future.

Ron Stitcher 

We were going to Oaklawn Cemetery first, but we were driving by Myrtle Hill Cemetery, so made a turn to go in there.  There were several beautiful statues and tombstones. Many of them were in good shape. There were some intricate carvings . Such a beautiful old cemetery that was established in 1917.  Some were strange and some were awesome.

We went to Oaklawn Cemetery that is near Tampa downtown.  It is situated at the intersection of Morgan and Harrison Streets. It was the first public burial ground in the town. According to Wiki, the location was deeded in the mid-19th cemetery and was described as the final resting place for "White and Slave. Rich and Poor".   The information stated that there are over 1,700 graves.  Former mayors, senators, famous lawyers, pirates, slaves and confederate soldiers are buried there. Edith fell in love with this cemetery and spent a long while checking out and taking pictures of graves.

On way back to the Fairgrounds we stopped at IKEA to see if they have letter/document holder.  It did not have the style that we wanted.  We strolled about for a while before we left to go home.

After resting a bit we walked to the RV show, checked out more 5th wheel trailers and motor coaches that were way in the back that we did not see yesterday.  There were some performances around the area. 

We went inside the building where expensive motor coaches are displayed.  We decided to tour one of them. Of course, we had to take off shoes in order to go inside.  Wow, beautiful, but too glamorous for our taste.  You almost don't want to touch anything!!!  

Let's take a peek inside $2.6 million dollar motorcoach

https://youtu.be/_nzAPXOcu7o

The sky started to darken a bit and it was time for us to walk back to the campground.  We were tired from walking a lot.  We were hungry and it was close to suppertime.