This is one of those stories that should have been over, but isn't! As mentioned before, our water heater tank failed after more than ten years of service. I made calls around and chose to take the motorhome to Camping World for the new water heater as they came up with a price that was significantly below any of the other locations when installation was included. It took several days to get a new water heater as we have one with the "motor aid" featuer which uses engine coolant to keep the water hot while traveling. The new one arrived at the Denton, TX store on Wednesday, December 29 and they arranged to install it for us the afternoon of Dec. 30.
When I picked it up the installing tech told me that I should ignore the drips as it was from spilled antifreeze when he installed it. I had not taken extra antifreeze along so I stopped and got more on our way home since some loss is normal. When I got back to East Fork park the drip seemed to be worse, so I looked under the coach and removed the access panel before connecting the water. As soon as the water was connected I found that the water supply into the tank was leaking. We called Camping World at 8 on Friday, Dec. 31 and they told us to bring it back, which we did ASAP. Of course the trip is more than 60 miles each time. We were there about an hour when the tech came to tell us that the leak is from the new tank and that it is bad also! Since it was New Year's Eve, the Atwood supply house was closed and there was nothing that they could do until Monday!
We drove the motorhome down to our friends for the weekend and then back to the park on Sunday. I then discovered that we still have a small coolant leak as well! On Monday they did call me back to let me know that they will have another water heater on Jan. 6 and can put it in for us at 1pm on the seventh. Because of this history, I told them that I felt very strongly that the installation was poorly done and was not properly tested. The service manager agreed and said that they would be having a tech we have previously had good work from, do the job for us.
But nothing is life is all that simple! We will be closing on our new RV-port home on Thursday afternoon, so we take the motorhome in as early as we can and then head east to Tyler, TX for the closing. We will then have to come back to this area in order to pick up the motorhome before we go and move into the new home! What a mess!At least we did have a great time with our friends over the New Year weekend.
I sure wish that I had chosen the place that charged me more and that did better work! I will be very careful about checking everything out before we take the motorhome back to Tyler as well. And you don't want me to give an opinion on the choice of Camping World for service work!
When we finally arrived at East Fork Park, the staff were kind enough to put us into one of the 
administrative sites and to decline for us to pay for our stay here we we have chosen to make an effort to get some work done while we are here, just to be fair about it. Of course, having the park staff think of us as hard workers goes a long way to keeping our good position here and being so welcomed back and we wish to keep it that way. I started working on a tree trimming project over near the office on Monday, then Tuesday was rainy all day and so when it cleared off about noon today it was back to work. We will try and get all of these treed completed but only have another week to work before we head up to Tyler to close on our new home. Tomorrow we will be off as we take the motorhome in to get the new water heater installed. Now that will be a hppy day when we have hot water once more. We really miss the simple things of life!
I was outside of the motorhome yesterday about noon and I discovered some water dripping from under the area where our water heater is mounted. Investigating lead to a leaking tank in our water heater! I suppose that the timing could have been worse as we are at least near numerous places to get it replaced, but just after getting things back from other repairs doesn't make this sit very well.
When I think of it, I probably should not complain all that much as this RV is now 12 1/2 years old and 10 1/2 years of that has been full-time living. I do know that most folks predict about a 10 year lifespan for appliances under this type of use and we did have to replace the refrigerator more than two years ago. So I guess it could be worse, but it still doesn't make my day! I guess we know what I'll be taking care of the next few days. I called Camping World but they have to get back to me as they don't have the exact model that we have, in stock.
It is Christmas Eve now and the young children are starting to get excited! For days now the number of brightly wrapped packages under the tree seems to grow each time they leave the room. Today it has reached a fever pitch and still no Santa and we are forced to wait one more day! Andrew and Harmony got up from naps this afternoon and were still told that they must continue to wait. Perhaps if we stay close and watch the tree it may make things happen sooner? Or sticking close may help to still the raging anxiety? Can it be that none of the adults really understand just how difficult waiting really is?
This has been an interesting day for grandparents as we watch the nervous energy continue to build. Tomorrow morning we will have to get started over to the grandchildren's house a little bit early as there is a good possibility that they muy burst if we do not get there early. We too look forward with anticipation, but for one more of those mememorable days with family.
We have finally arrived back at East Fork Park on Lavon Lake. We had thought that we would be here for a month, but as it happens we will now only be here for a week. This has been quite a long page for our adventure, as it is the first time that we have spent so long without our RV home. My grandfather used to tell me that one needs to be without something in order to appreciate what we have, and this time has really proven that to be true!
On Thursday, Dec. 3 we left it off at Vogt RV for some minor maintenance and we moved into the spare bedroom at our son's home. On Tuesday, Dec. 7 we moved it from Ft. Worth to Dallas and Rush Truck Center, for what turned out to be one of the most major isses that we have ever experienced with our motorhome. We knew of(or suspected) some problem with the repair done back in June, but this turned out to be much more major than we thought with replacement of the tank as well as the replacement of heater hoses and other routine maintenance that I had wanted done. I will always be greatful to Edwards Ford in Kansas for stepping up and paying the entire cost of the tank and labor, but that didn't do much for the extra week that it took for the new tank to arrive. Of course, the hose replacement, which was a bit more major with ours due to the "motor aid" water heater that has long hoses to supply coolant to keep the water heater hot, but all of this was done during the wait for the arrival of the new tank.
As it turned out, we finally got our home back on the evening of December 22, after just four days short of 
three weeks with our son & his family. As much as we do love our kids and grandchildren, I don't know if grandma and grandpa could have survived much more of being loved so much by a four year old and a three year old! They are wonderful and lots of fun, but how we revel in the quite here in our motorhome!
We have another reminder to us how thankful we should be, just across the way from us here. What remains of the trailer that one of the volunteers and later gate attendants here at East Fork is in the RV site there. It seems that about a month ago, she had a fire in her two year old "Montanna" fifth wheel. Like so many RV fires, the result was total distruction. The insurance did take care of things and they are supposed to send someone out to clean up that RV site, but in the meantime it is a stark reminder to all of us that if there should be a fire, first of all, get out! We don't know exatcly what happened, but we do know that nobody was injured and the owner is now living in town and doing OK. It kind of puts our time without our RV home into proper prospective!
They say that all is well which ends well and I do believe that this one is finally at an end! After more than two weeks of waiting, we picked up the motorhome last night! Because it was nearly 6 pm when we picked it up and we had to drive thgrough rush traffic from west Dallas to Sachse, we 
chose not take it to the park and set up, but just parked it on the street for the night and we move back into it this morning, but what a relief this is!
While it was in the shop, I chose to have some maintenance work done as well as the gas tank replaced. We have the "motor aid" water heater and there are heater hoses that run from the engine to behind the rear wheels to keep the water heater hot when traveling and all of the heater hoses were still original so I had them replaced, along with several other maintenance items since there was a week's wait for the new gas tank to arrive. The tank took the full week to come and then it was another two days but at long last the problem has been resolved.
This seemed extra long for us as we had left it with an RV dealer for several days just prior to taking it to the Ford shop, making the entire ordeal last for about three weeks. They say that one does not appreciate anything until we spend some time without it, and I can tell you that this has all brought home to us just how much we don't want to be dependent upon our children. Our son and his family were happy to have us stay, even for such a long visit, but I would think that they will be happy to have their life back, just as we are to recover outs. The good side of this is that I can now report two Ford dealer repair facilities that I strongly recommend.
This all began when we had the fuel pump replaced last June in Kansas, continuing when I discovered that the tank would overflow, if filled completely from the top of the tank in November. We returned to Rush Ford Truck Center for repairs because we had previously had a good experience there and our son lives close enough for us to stay at his house during the repairs. In this case, the motorhome was inside of the shop for the entire period, so it would have been problematic for us to have stayed in it. Also, the truck shop is not in a very nice part of Dallas.
What really stands out here is the fact that the Kansas dealer who did the original work, stepped up and covered the entire cost of repair for this new problem. It turns out that the mechanic who replaced our fuel pump had twisted off one of the mounting studs for the pump and that resulted in the pump seal begining to leak after a short period. Since the stud is a permanent part of the 75 gallon tank, it then had to be replaced. The cost of the repairs done in Kansas was $1300, which was for a fuel pump and all associated labor. This time, the tank alone was nearly $1400 and the total cost of the tank replacement and all associated repairs was $2350! Even so, Dick Edward's Ford in Manhattan, KS did stand behind the work that they had performed and the paid that entire cost, direct to the shop here in Texas. Of course I did pay for the maintenance work which I had performed, but that is only fair. Clearly this Kansas dealer is one that can be relied upon and if anyone should find themselves in need of repairs while in central Kansas, I believe that Dick Edwards Ford is the place to go.
We have now been squatters in our son's home for just over a week, and while we do love our grandchildren, we sure do miss our own home, and even more our bed! We chose this time to get some work done on the motorhome because it means we don't have to live in a parking lot, moving out each day for the mechanics and such. That has turned out to have been a really wise move as our home is now sitting in a shop, partially disassembled and waiting for a part!
This one of those stories that began under unhappy circumstances, but now it seems will have a happy ending. The problem began with the discovery that when I completely filled the fuel tank, the overflow would come out on the top of the tank, indicating some type of problem. Since we had the fuel pump replaced due to a rat invasion back in June, I suspected that this was related to that previous work. As it turns out, that was exactly had happened. The bad news is that the Dallas Ford shop has determined that we will have to replace the fuel tank as a result of bad work in Kansas and the total cost of repair will be some $2300+! 
But there is good news as well. It seems that the Kansas dealer has had some previous complaints of the work of the mechanic who worked on ours and he is "no longer with us" as they say. The dealer service shop has agreed to cover all costs of the repairs on our motorhome! I have long said that the mark of a good service company is not one that never makes a mistake, as nobody is perfect. The true measure of good service is in what they do to correct it when the worst happens. In my opinion, Dick Edwards Ford, in Manhattan, KS has now met that qualification. Despite our less than happy experience, I would not hesitate to return there for service in the future as they have proven that they truly do stand behind what they do.
We have taken advantage of our children's hospitality to get some work done on our motorhome, and have been staying with the kids, rather than to live in a parking area at RV shops and garages. We dropped the RV at a dealer in Ft. Worth first for a couple of days to get a window resealed, as I don't do nearly as much 
of that sort of thing as I once did. The particular window is quite large and I really didn't want to try and manage removing and replacing it.
Next was a trip to the Ford shop for a problem that has developed since we had the fuel pump replaced last summer, where the tank overflows out the top when full and on to the ground. We took it into Metro Ford Truck, in Dallas where we have had work done before, even though it is a long way from here as they keep the RV iside the shop where it is more secure and I have come to have faith in their work. The mechanic called a short time ago to say that he found some shoddy workmanship from the Kansas Ford Shop, which he feels very strongly should be paid for by that company. At his request, I called that shop and talked with the service manager about it, then asked the manager to call the mechanic now working on my RV. The good news is that the Kansas shop has agreed to pay for at least part of the repairs. The bad news is that it will be a couple of days before he can get on with what he needs to do so we will be squatting with the kids for at least a few more days. But this sure beats life in the parkinglot, so I'll not complain too much.
I'll post more when this story is complete and I will let everyone know who both dealer shops are, whether the result is good or bad.