Thankful to have a brother who is so smart!!!

I am so thankful that my brother, Jimmy, is so smart! He has so much knowledge about mechanical things and how they work - and thankfully he seems to find working on motorhomes to be an interesting challenge.

We arrived on Poplar Springs Farm in Virginia early on Thursday, 10/30, with a list of things we wanted to ask him about. He immediately had suggestions and recommendations.

Here, he and Dwayne are working on the gasoline inlet line.

Jimmy underneath the wheel well of the Trek and Dwayne standing ready to fetch tools as needed.

You may be able to tell that the inlet line (coming in from the right) goes down from the fueling location and then UP to the gas tank - this created something like a "trap" in a drain line, keeping us from being able to fuel the Trek with an automatic hose.

Corrected fuel line, now "down" from fuel inlet and relatively flat from curve to tank.

 We won't know for sure if this corrects the fueling "problem", but it sure will be nice if Dwayne doesn't have to hold the nozzle of the fuel pump for the whole time it takes to pump 35-60 gallons of fuel in the future!

While he had the back tires off, I was able to check the date codes on them - one is 1111 (eleventh week of 2011) and the other is 1211 (twelfth week of 2011).

date code 1111

date code 1211 (hard to see)

Jimmy also has the jackstands that can hold the weight of a 10 ton vehicle, so we lifted it up with the levelers, then put the jackstands underneath, so it was safer to be under it.

When he put the back tires back on, I got to see how dual tires go on - the inside wheel part that goes over the lugs sticks "out" and the outside wheel part sticks "in".

Putting the "inside" tire on - wheel sticks "out"

Putting the "outside" wheel on, wheel sticks "in"

The fancy chrome thing is just a "hub cap" and purely decorative.

The view this evening (10/30) was somewhat more peaceful than the previous (people of WalMart view).

This is the best "campground" you can imagine - amazing views, quiet, incredible meals up at the "main house", a fully stocked "mechanics dream" right next door, and loving family - what else could be wanted?