When a conversation starts off like that you know there’s a good one coming! Do you remember the childrens teaching book series “Bernsteil Bears”? Well part of todays fodder will be that sort of lesson from me to you! Going to try and process pics of this as we talk to you’ll probably get a few coffee breaks this morning…
OK , I’m back and like I said, in line with the Bernstein Bears theory… “That was a very good lesson… do what I say not what I do…”
As all stories go everything was fine, we made it to the Sunshine Statesmen rally which was only like 50 miles away.. no biggie. Janie & I hopped up into JayGee, loasded it up… sure there were some things not working.. generator sat too much and was dead, a hole in the fresh water tank meant to me we have water when we get there… you know, stuff like that. JayGee sits at the shop and rarely gets out or any attention from the guys but hey, it’s only 50 miles.. right? Everything went well 
Brought the pit bike for a little riding fun, it was great to see everyone and have some good food with everyone 
Everyone went to a Celtic fair in Mt. Dora which has a large kilt population 
Not sure is those sun glasses are period 
and Mot Dora… yeah we have a mountain in Florida… with a port on top .. yeah, figure that one out…
But that rally was great and preparing to leave yesterday morning we were looking forward to a long way home trip… good to get out in JayGee for a little exercise.. afterall He’s never let me down……….
So here e are parked at a nice little spot… we didn;t pick it, JayGee did 
Matter of fact, this is a pretty busy spot at an intersection out in the woods 
Why did we decide to spend our Sunder afternoon right there? Now remember boys and girls, always be aware of the condition of your coach, do a walk around, check your bearings and brakes periodically and touch your hubs to be sure there is no heat that should’nt be there… right. Well, there wasn’t any heat on the bearing but there was a wheel issue come up 
One wheel decided to go rogue.. well to be fair, it was the lower control arm on a 1973 coach deciding to show us how weak it really was 
That was it, take it from me.. when your front wheel comes off you have purchased property. WHY ME? Well, for many years we have known that the first year 1973 lower control arms were welded up Toronado arms which were by nature on the weak side. Bob’s your Uncle…. I’m on the ground. One call and AAA+ with an RV rider and Maranda was there with the big rig 
With a little confab with the Capt. of that vessel we made a plan to drag the carcus op on the Landall 
I would be marker 
the man brought it within a fist… what a driver!!! 
That last 10 drag hurt a little but he got up there 
Pretty soon though we were loaded and started the trip to the shop @ 42 miles. 
12,000 was nothing for this rig.. could carry over 100,000 so coming into the shop just before dark made our day nothing but eventful 
You know you always need to find good in everything, there was a guy on the corner selling really nice oak firewood.. he gave me 3 for 2 after all the good entertainment 
…
The moral of this is know your coach, I should have had the front end looked over before the trip… even over the past several months if someone would have inspected the lower control arms I betcha we would have seen the issue and we would have been enjoying that long ride home. As it happened we did have a contingency plan of a tow service and we were only 40 miles from home so OK, maybe I was prepared for a problem but I may not have had the problem if I would have inspected the suspension before I left. Guys.. be aware off your coaches condition. True “the plumbers pipes always leak” so you may or may not want to travel with me… do as I say.. not as I do! Check your coach over all the time. These are the things you must know about when purchasing a GMC… all that stuff needs to be checked before you go home with it. In a 40 year old vehicle, there are just soooo many things that can bite you. So it’s a new A arm, the drive shaft was damaged and we’ll see what else.
Have a report from Kevin’s cocoon but I’ll do that tomorrow. Have a great day and go look at your lower A arm for cracks around the lower ball joint. Don’t go anywhere if you see a crack… OK, Mr. Burnstein… give it a reast… .
