Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » [GMCnet] Robin Does Dothan! Friday and Saturday
| [GMCnet] Robin Does Dothan! Friday and Saturday [message #202575] |
Sun, 24 March 2013 19:04  |
Robin Hood
Messages: 1078
Registered: April 2011
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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I got an early start on Friday morning leaving out as the storms came
through Jackson. Because neither of my coaches are drivable at the
moment, I decided to go to the convention in my 1968 Pontiac Catalina.
It wasn't long before I hit my first snag. My windshield wipers were
getting hung up on the chrome at the top of my windshield. Part of the
windshield wiper was interfering with the trim. I did a quick bit of
surgery, and the problem was gone.
The next problem that reared its head was my headlights going out.
This had never happened to me before. I heard some static on my CB
radio that coincided with the highway signs flickering with the
reflected light of my headlights. This happened on a couple of
occasions with no particular rhyme or reason.
My smart phone told me the phone number for an automotive electrical
shop in the next town I was going through, and they worked me in. 30
minutes and $60 later, the culprit had been found. It was a light duty
spade connector that was part of the dimmer switch. It was the female
end and it had fallen apart so that it would no longer hold onto the
male end of the electrical connector.
I was thrilled! Up until the time an hour or two later when a semi
truck flashed his lights at me, and I realized I once again no longer
had headlights.
Since it was daylight by this point and I knew I could reach Dothan
before dark, I decided to push on.
I got very lucky a couple of times, such as the time I stopped for gas
to try and figure out how to get to Dothan from interstate 10, and the
gas station I pulled into just happened to be sitting at the
intersection where I needed to make my next turn.
I really only made one wrong turn on the way to Dothan. That was
turning into the wrong gate at the Peanut Festival Fairgrounds. All
things considered I think I did pretty well.
I got parked and made my way into building one which was the main
convention facility. The first person I saw was none other than my
friend and neighbor Tom Phipps! He got me hooked up with some
volunteers who got me parked over by the fairgrounds bathhouses. It
was a great place, I could set up my tent and everybody had to walk
past in order to go to the bathroom or use the showers if they want
using the facilities in their coaches. It was a good place to meet
people.
Kim Weeks got me registered for the convention and into my first tech
session already in progress. It was a newbie session, designed to
orient us first-timers to the convention. Our badges were green, and
we were instructed to spread ourselves out and meet as many new
interesting people as we could.
Between the end of the tech session but before the catered meal on
Friday evening, I got my tent and campsite set up. The weather was
very cold (relatively for a thin blooded southern boy like me ) and
windy, the forecast was for storms the next day.
Supper was excellent, (pulled pork, dressing, mashed taters, salad,
and of course sweet tea) and I wound up sitting amongst a bunch of the
Greater Midwest classics group, not realizing who they were or that I
had pitched my tent at the end of their line of coaches. I feel like
they pretty much adopted me. :). Especially Larry and Teresa. I got
lots of offers of crash space in case the weather turned particularly
bad or my tenant got flooded. I hate it that I didn't get to see
sStick Miller's coach, or his parrot! :-)
Entertainment after dinner was a magician comedian type fellow. He did
a pretty good job, and he thoroughly zinged a ton of club officers and
vendors and other characters.
On Saturday, I was up early and grabbed a bagel at the main facility.
I caught two tech sessions. The first one was on regular preventative
maintenance and other gotchas for the GMC presented by Mr. Hudspeth.
The next tech session was a seminar about generators for the GMC
hosted by Jim Bounds. There are not a lot of really good options for
us now that Honda has discontinued their EV 6010 line of generators.
JimB showed us a idea he is working on that is not ready for prime
time yet, but it's promising, at least if you're only interested in
driving one modern style air-conditioner. I only other hand require
BOTH my roof air-conditioners to work, because the air here in
Mississippi is like soup. I suspect I'll have to nurse Mr. Onan along
until I can score a Honda somehow.
I skipped the next tech session because several people offered to show
me their coaches. Neil (whose last name has escaped me) has a 1978
Royale like mine. Unlike mine, his is in wonderful shape and has lots
of interesting modifications and special touches that he is added.
Forest Crow showed me around his Palm Beach and I really liked what he
did with his window blinds and his screen door.
I mentioned to my new friend Neil that I was planning on making a run
to a liquor store I had passed on the way into the fairgrounds. He
said that he could use a live there as well to pick up some wine
before his wife arrived, and he had been wondering how he was going to
get there, since he didn't have a toad other than a large electric
scooter. The weather was rainy so that was out of the question. I
offered to give him a lift in my 68 Pontiac and he accepted. I don't
think he was quite ready for my car's... personality. :) it's still a
work in progress, you see. "but you did get all the way here from
Jackson Mississippi in this car correct?" he asked nervously. :) "Yup!
Here let me hit the windshield wipers for you... Oh dear I think that
might have made it worse." We got our adult beverages and made it back
to the convention without incident. I wound up pouring my vodka and
Kahlúa over my vanilla ice cream, and it was good.
I did more socializing, and put some aluminum wheels on layaway with
Jim K. He insisted I take one home with me, and pay him later, since
he knows I'm good for it and it would save him the trouble of having
to load the thing back to California. I'll probably buy one wheel of
months or maybe two months until I have the whole set. Manny's disc
brake system is also intriguing. I was going to spend some money
redoing the drum brakes, but if I can get new parts that turn it into
rear disc brakes at that price point that's an interesting idea.
I got to meet more people; Matt Colle, Ken Henderson, Rob Mueller,
Kerry Pinkerton, Jim Kanomata, Jim Bounds, and during the ice cream
social I at least got to serve butter pecan ice cream to half the
attendees it seemed, including Brian Songer. :)
Saturday night is when the storms hit for real. The wind tried to
mash my dome tent flat, and the heavy rain and beat hard on it waking
me up a few times. A fair amount of water splashed into the tent,
since it's more of a summer style tent with nothing but a rain fly and
some mosquito netting between me and the weather. Fortunately I was
about 6 inches off the floor on my air mattress and my sleeping bags
and blankets only got wet where they hung off the side.
(to be contnued)
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