SUMMER IS FLYING BY

Time seems to pass by quickly here at the Sandy Shores Campground at  Silver Lake, MI.  We've become very comfortable in our jobs, and feel fortunate to be working here.  Sandy Shores Campground will continue to be full every weekend until after Labor Day, and openings for weekday sites are going quickly.  A full campground means the grounds crew must do thorough but quick cleanups to get ready for new check-ins at 2 P.M. everyday.  Hank is part of that crew 3 days a week.

Selene is feeling much more confident with the office work she does 3 days a week.  The office has large windows on all walls, so it's easy to feel a part of all the activity that is constantly going on, both inside and outside.



  The  coming and going of people and vehicles is entertaining in and of itself as they walk to the beach across the street with water toys and boats, or drive off to the dunes with their colorful vehicles, or just go out for a stroll down the road to shop and explore. Sunset is late here (currently 9:13 P.M.) so there's plenty of  daylight time for after-dinner activities.

The two days we have bathhouse/pool duty from 10 to 6  pass by quickly as we do hourly checks. The biggest job is keeping the floors dry inside the entrance  and the shower dressing areas.  Sometimes it's so busy you just can't do a good job, but we do what we can.  Hank can't do much pool cleaning as the 82 degree pool is very busy all day long.  We also do 3 ride-arounds in the golf cart picking up lawn debris from the seasonal sites and deposting it in a compost area in the woods. Selene checks the laundry room each hour  to make sure its neat and clean . Every night,  Hank  does a late-night Quiet Hours walk around the park.

On one of our off days, we usually go to Hart or Ludington for shopping and a meal  There aren't many restaurant chains  in this area, but there are  a lot of longtime family owned places. A few weeks ago, we went to the Country Dairy for lunch. It's a nearby  family-owned  dairy farm with a restaurant  and store that is known for their good sandwiches, bottomless cups of white or chocolate milk, cheese products,  ice cream and related treats in many flavors and forms. We didn't take the dairy tour because it was rather warm that day, but we've heard that it's quite interesting.






Most of the time, the weather has been warm with only 2 short hot spells so far.  It cools off quickly at night.  Most of the rain has fallen overnight, and even if it heavy, the sandy soil absorbs it well and there haven't been any flooding issues in the park.  Whenever we're in the RV, we have continuous entertainment with all of the pool activity that takes place right in front of us.  We have plenty of free time for ham radio, computer use, reading and watching DVD's, and we've enjoyed a couple of campfires.  Life here is certainly not boring!

SILVER LAKE, MI: The "Season" is Here!!

The Silver Lake area is a tourist destination and the major part of the "season" is here.  The campground has been full the last few weekends, and with the 4th holiday in midweek, it was the same most of this week and will continue until mid-August.

We've settled into our jobs and we are enjoying our experience here at Sandy Shores Campground.  On Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, Selene works in the office where there's always something going on, and Hank does mostly outside work that's needed to keep the grounds clean and neat - a trademark of this campground. On Thursday and Friday, we both take care of the bathhouse/laundry/ pool area right next to us  for 8 hours while the regular crew gets some time off.  We check things about every hour or so to make sure the floors are dry, and the facilities are clean.....average time  20-30 miutes  per hour on busy days.  The seasonal campers are responsible for their own yard work, so we make a few rounds in the golf cart picking up bagged yard waste and depositing it on the compost pile in the woods.  Monday and Tuesday are our off days. Hank also does the nighttime security walk  at about ll:30 P.M. each night to make sure everyone is observing Quiet Hours which start at 11 P.M., and that job usually takes about an hour.

Our relationship with the owners, their sons and our co-workers continues to be very positive .  The family as built this campground from the ground up and they have every right to be proud of it.  The weather finally warmed up to daytime highs in the low 80's which is average for this time of year.   Our first two months here were very wet, but sunny days are in abundance now.

We have a full hookup site on a concrete pad.  This is our view from our front window.

The pool is heated and is used  from 10 A.M. to 9:30 P.M.

.  The biggest draw to the Silver Lake area is Silver Lake itself and the huge sand dunes that surround part of it.  "One of Silver Lake’s most popular features is its 450-acre off-road vehicle area. Visitors may cruise up and over the expansive dunes in their own 4x4s provided they’re outfitted with an ORV sticker and a ten-foot orange flag. Alternatively, travelers can rent off-road vehicles specially equipped to handle the unique challenges of driving on sand. The Silver Lake Sand Dunes are the only sand dunes east of the Mississippi River where visitors are allowed to drive private motorized vehicles over the shifting landscape. Silver Lake’s ORV area operates from April 1 through October 31."


                                                      
                                                                                                         
 

 Lake Michigan is on the west side of the dunes.  The "dunies" love riding their jeeps, dune buggies, various bike, and other 'off road vehicles (ORV) up and down the steep hills, or even climbing up on foot  to enjoy the view from the top.

 The campground has a private beach on Silver Lake along with a small marina.


The water is fairly shallow almost to the end of the marina and then drops off pretty quick.  The summertime water temperature is warm compared to that of Lake Michigan.

This past Thursday night, Thunder on the Dunes was held with a fireworks display from the dunes.  Dusk comes late here and this event didn't start until about 10:15 P.M. so Quiet Hours started later that night.



Two  personal events have taken place in the last month.  Selene got her first smart phone a few weeks ago.  Her old flip phone was a 3G phone, and the nearest Verizon tower is 4G.  A new phone was in order and she decided to join the modern generation.  It continues to be a learning experience for her.

The other event was not pleasant.  Hank's main laptop crashed after a series of events attempting to correct a small problem.  The final result was that the hard drive had to be reformatted and the operating system reloaded from external media back to original factory condition, then updates to bring it up to current standards, and all user software and data re-installed.  HP worked with him, and after a couple of order snafus, he received a new one overnighted at no charge ( savings of about $50).  The last 10 days he's been gradually getting things back in order, although some old applications and some data stored in inaccessible Microsoft data spaces will not be recovered. HP stayed in touch a couple of times with offers of help if needed.

That's our life for the last two months in a nutshell.  We'll be here until right after Labor Day.

MAY 9 - JUNE 9: Our Summer Home

It's hard to believe we/ve been at Silver Lake for a month already.  Our schedule is easy to handle and leaves us plenty of free time as well.  Our off - days are Monday and Tuesday.

The campground was full for Memorial Day weekend.  Attendance will pick up again in a week or two when school will be out. The week of Fourth of July has been sold out for several days.

The first weekend in June was the 2019  Silver Lakes Sand Dunes Jeep Invasion, an annual event that brings thousands of visitors to the area for a full weekend of events. One of our campers said there were over 1400 Jeeps ( all kinds and sizes) registered for the gathering.



There was a little excitement last week when one of the workers noticed a tree limb about 50 feet off the ground showing a fresh crack and threatening to fall on a seasonal park model.  The campground owner quickly contacted his favorite tree service, who arrived soon, and then spent 3 hours removing the threatening branches and cleaning up. Since the campground is in a wooded enviroment,  this may be a common occurance. We've  had some high wind gusts a couple of times during our stay.

We've  seen black squirrels for the first time. There are large fish in Silver Lake so fishing is a common pastime along with riding and walking the dunes.  As always, we have plenty of computer actiities to keep us occupied, which is good since we don't get any TV reception.  Daytime temperatures are usually in the 70's so it's  pleasant to sit outside and maby even enjoy a campfire. The seasonal residents are friendly and have made us feel welcome.



We're on site 94.

MAY 9: Off On a New Adventure!

With our annual first quarter events over and done with, it was time to head for our summer stay at  Sandy Shores Campground on the shore of Silver Lake near the famous Lake Michigan Silver Lake Sand Dunes.



 We've never been to this  part of Michigan before, so this opportunity gives us new territory to visit while we put a few coins in our pockets as workampers.

Sandy Shores Campground has been a family-owned campground for almost 40 years with  214 campsites - 147 seasonal sites and 67 overnight sites. There's a heated pool, bath house and laundry building, playground, and a private beach across the road along with boat docks. The campground is open from early May to late September. The upcoming holiday weekend will be very busy!



 The owners, Jerry & Chris, and their son Mike,  live in the campground for most of the summer.  Another son, Nick lives close by.  We are two of the seven workkampers here.

When we arrived on May 9, our first assignment was to get familiar with the area and the attractions that are nearby.  Since then, we've gotten better acquainted with our bosses and fellow workers, and started slowly on our individual jobs. Hank will be helping with campground maintenace and  and doing some nighttime security rounds. Selene will be working with reservations and check-ins at  the office.  Two days a week from 10-6,  we'll be responsible for keeping the bath house and laundry in good shape. Another couple does all of the pool work and most of the bath house work, including the heavy cleaning. We have a golf cart for our use.

Little House is parked right next to the pool and bath house/laundry with full hookups, concrete pad, and a nice side yard. We have good Verizon WiFi service, and the campground also has free WiFi which is better than most campgrounds, at least at our site. However, phone reception can be iffy,  and there's no 'over the air' TV reception.


Our campsite is on the right side of the building where the first camper is parked.






Michigan's spring has been very late in arriving, so daytime temperatures are pretty cool especially with a breeze off the lakes. Nights have been mostly in the 30's and 40's.  The natives assure us it will warm up for the summer!

We'll have more details in upcoming blog posts.  There are lots of  campground pictures here:
https://sandyshorescampground.com/the-campground/gallery/

APRIL 30 - May 8: 2019 Maintenace Session

 The Ramblin’ Pushers is an organization of Class A (DP) and Class Super C diesel motorhome owners who gather for an annual Maintenance Session, the MS, It is one of our favorite events to attend. The MS activites are done by over 200 volunteers  There are  approximately 100 seminars,  dealers/vendor/service personnel, and friendly motor home owners all providing knowledge, maintenace, and repairs in a friendly atmosphere for 6 event-filled days.  All brands under the REV ownership are welcome to attend, and this year that brought around 220 RV's to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN.

We were move involved than in the past.  Selene helped with assembling the goody bags, worked several days in the event office,


 and served as a seminar host several times.  Hank was the assistant to the leader of the seminar hosts as well as being a seminar host himself,  and served as a mentor for similar RVs to ours.  We were First Timer Guides to two couples which included phone calls before the event, meeting them as they arrived, and making sure they knew  how to find their way to  the different venues in the fairgrounds. With a large daily morning breakfast buffet,


 several lunches, two receptions and the dinner finale, along with the seminars and service appointments,  the time went by very quickly. In addition, there were  optional off-site activities including 4 factory tours, 2 Amish dinners, and one stage show.

The on-site motor home service was put to good use by most of the attendees as well as ourselves. On our way to Goshen, as we traveled the West Virginia Turnpike, the "check engine" light came on twice while climbing the steeper grades, but went off after stopping for lunch and fuel.  Cummins Sales and Service from Fort Wayne, IN is a huge sponsor of this event, and was providing many types of service for those with Cummins engines.  A tech was able to read the engine code from our pre-rally situation and determined that we needed a new crank case filter.  We also had an oil change and during that service, they found our serpentine belt was starting to show some wear.  Our Aqua-Hot also needed maintenance service as well as a replacement part which was handled by an Aqua-Hot specialist on site. Hank  bought some more interior LED lights There were other vendors changing out tires, repairing or installing satellite systems, washing and waxing coaches, and tackling many other issues that come up while moving motor homes down the road.



  There was coach-weighing available upon arriving and when departing.


 As usual, we enjoyed the event as well as seeing friends from past years, and meeting others for the first time.

APRIL 17 - APRIL 29, 2019

Since our last blog post, life has continued to be very busy.  Our stay in Raleigh was great.  We enjoyed meeting up with friends, going to club meetings, taking care of doctor appointments, visiting with the members in the Moose Family Center and preparing for the times ahead.




On April 17, we moved from the Moose Lodge in north Raleigh to the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in west Raleigh.  The Raleigh hamfest was to be  held there on Saturday, April 20 and we needed to be close to help with the preparations and the big event.  The hamfest was a great success and we saw many of our old friends from our time living nearby.

Sunday, April 18 - We left Raleigh and drove two  hours west to the Cross Winds Family Campground in Linwood, NC for a week's stay. We hosted a rally for the RV Radio Network club April 24-27. There were only 6 other attendees, but we had great time being together for breakfasts, happy hours, dinner, club meetings and prize drawings.  The campground let us use their activity building for 3 days.





 On the 27th, we had a day devoted to ham radio with a special event station outside. This encouraged others walking by to stop and see what was going on, and we had a few visitors from the surrounding area.

Sunday, April 28 was a long travel day  for us as we drove about 430 miles north to the Marysville, Ohio Walmart where we parked for the night. Monday, April 29, we completed our journey to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN.




  We are helping with several programs for the 2019 Maintenance Session - a rally devoted to learning about, and caring for, a diesal pusher motorhome. This is our 4th year to attend this event.  We made it to Goshen and got set up just before the heavy rain of the day arrived.  This area has been very wet over the last week, and the forecast is for more rain to  fall this week with cool temperatures..  Thank goodness almost all activities take place inside one of the many buildings on the property.  We'll be here until May 9th when we'll hit the road to Michigan for our summer adventures.

MARCH 7 - MARCH 28: The Whole Story

We promised a full report on our March repairs, so here are the facts from Hank's notes on how things played out.

Thursday March 7th:
Traveling north on US-29 toward the Charlotte hamfest, as we approached Roystan GA, the RED "STOP ENGINE" light came on accompanied by the harsh screech of the audible alarm.  Just as I managed to get nosed into the drive of a strip mall the engine stopped.   I managed to coast the coach into a safe position( with no power steering) and called Coach-Net Roadside Assistance giving them the details - STOP ENGINE alarm, Motor Shut off, we have an American Tradition with a Cummins ISL engine on a Spartan Chassis.
 
Coach Net soon called back to let us know they had contacted Peach State Freightliner and we were to be towed to their shop as soon as they could get a wrecker to us.  I reminded them that we had a Spartan chassis and a Cummins engine, but they insisted that this shop could do the work.  A few minutes later we got a call from Peach State Freightliner notifying saying that in order for them to work on our RV, we had to consent to them running a 2 hour diagnostic session at a cost of around $350. 

Shortly thereafter Coach Net called to confirm information for the towing company.  About half an hour later Coach Net called to tell us the tow truck should be there within 2 hours.

The BIG wrecker arrived at about 11:45 and finally had us hooked up at 3 PM for the half hour drive to Peach State Freightliner near Commerce, GA for repairs.   It was too late for them to do a 2 hour diagnostic that day, but said they would do it first thing in the morning and we could check back around 10:00 AM for the results.  They are basically a truck sales/service facility and have no provisions for staying with the RV so we checked into a motel for the night.
 
Friday March 8th:
We arrived at Freightliner shortly before 10:00 and were told they still had the coach in the shop.  We checked back every hour after that and at 3:00 were told they had completed the diagnostics and would have the report ready for us in a few minutes They explained the delay had been due to an hour lunch break followed by a company wide meeting.  At about 3:30, the  Service Advisor called us in and said we would need to take the coach to a Spartan shop.  They had found several intermittent check engine codes and one major code indicating a dangerously high exhaust temperature.   Investigating the codes they determined that they suspected the wiring harness to the ECM (Engine or Electronic Control Module) and that was causing false codes and further trouble shooting had confirmed a problem in the wiring harness rather than the sensor itself.  They said they do not have access to the Spartan wiring diagrams and therefore can not work on the problem any further.   Since it was late, and they were not open on Saturday or Sunday, we would need to wait until Monday to tow it to a Spartan shop.

On Saturday we called Coach Net to report the situation.   They assured me they would be towing me to another location at no charge if needed.  A short time later someone from Coach Net called me to get additional information and said they would be contacting Freightliner at 9AM Monday morning and would arrange for the tow. I would hear from them soon after with towing information.

Monday March 11th:
Early Monday morning  I called Coach Net to confirm information for the day but the agent was unaware of the plans, but eventually found info and said they would call Peach State Freightliner and I should proceed to the shop by 9:00

We checked out of motel at about 8:30 and made the short trip to coach to get clean clothes and various swap in/out of items and be ready for tow truck to arrive.  Shortly before 10:00 AM  Coach Net called and said they would be towing me to a Forest Park GA Cummins shop for repairs TOMORROW - there were unable to find a tow available today.   We returned to the motel and managed to get the same room back.  While we were moving our luggage into the motel room Coach Net called and  said the wrecker would be there to pick up our coach within the hour!   We packed up and checked out again!

We followed the wrecker down the interstate through Atlanta arriving at the Forest Park Cummins shop at 2:30 PM.  It was too late to start work that day so they parked us for the night in the parking lot.

Tuesday March 12th:
This shop was a brand new facility and their Grand Opening was on Tuesday with many local dignitaries present including the Governor and news media.  We were welcome to participate and had 3 free meals, a tour, and a Cummins Gift Bag containing a hat, sunglasses, and coffee cup with Cummins logo.  

Most of the RV crew at this shop had come from a Cummins Coach Care shop and were used to working on motor homes.  It did not take long to determine that the problem was correctly diagnosed as problems in the wiring harness.   A coolant level sensor had developed a leak and the pressurized coolant had been pushed through the sealed wiring cable connection and had forced coolant down through the wiring harness.   A call to Spartan found that they no longer stock a wiring harness for a 2008 model coach.  The original price would have been $2,500.00 but they do not have the template boards to make them any more, and even if they did delivery time would be 6 weeks to 2 months.  Searching online for "custom wiring harness" found many companies who will make them, but calls to their office found that they only take bulk orders, not orders for just a single harness.

Tuesday March 19th:
After a week of trying to find a workable solution, I called the Spartan Factory Service main facility in Charlotte MI and talked to a long time service advisor we had worked with previously.   He recognized the problem immediately saying they had seen this dozens of times and we only needed to replace that specific cable, not the entire wiring harness.  The new cable did not even need to be run through the wiring harness loom, any route was fine.  We also needed to clean up any corrosion at the connecting pins in the sealed plugs at both ends, or replace the plugs if the pins could not be cleaned up.  And of course replace the leaking sensor.

This was good news since we did not have to come up with an expensive wiring harness, but once they got into the work they found that the coolant had indeed been pushed all the way to the sealed plug at the far end were it connected to the ECM.   The coolant had not penetrated into the sealed ECM but the pressure had to push it somewhere - and that was back up through the other 50 wires into the wiring harness where it had broken down some insulation and caused corrosion in the wiring.  The connecting plugs on both ends had a lot of corroded pins an gunk which took a lot of time/labor to clean up and many new pins had to be soldered into the plugs.  

Thursday March 28th:
3 weeks after the breakdown -
Once all repairs had been done a long run on their dynamometer found no remaining problems.   The parts were not expensive but 2 weeks+ of labor charges at over $200/hr mounts up in a hurry.