We are in command of a Winnebago Rialta! Yay.
August 9th dog and I hitched a ride south with a gracious young lady all the way to my destination on Siesta Key. Thank you Jami.
We picked up,the Rialta and headed north to the Tampa Bay area where we landed at a friend’s (Laurie) home. The drive was uneventful other than the check engine light came on. I checked all the essential systems and all was OK. I think that once we run some fresh fuel through it, the engine will be much happier. With the Rialta plugged in, we enjoyed a couple days of A/C and exploration parked in her driveway. Laurie chauffeured me around to pick up some essentials. You know, things like coffee and a coffee press.
I made one trip to a buddy’s house while based at Laurie’s place. I stopped to fill up on some low price gasoline (actually $3.11/gal isn’t really low). When I started to leave the gas station, the brake peddle went to the floor. Oh oh! Fortunately, with a couple pumps of the peddle I could stop. Hey, I grew up driving junk heaps. I drove home to Tampa from Clearwater Beach one day with no brakes. Surely I could manage to make it one more mile to John and Debbie’s house if I drove carefully. I arrived without incident. Actually, by the time I got there I did have a little brake peddle. We hung out for a few hours and when I left, the brakes felt normal again. Not that that made my drive back to Laurie’s any more relaxed. Each intersection brought a minor panic until the first press of the peddle didn’t bottom out.
It never acted up again . . . . yet. Maybe it was from sitting a long time? Maybe some crap in the brake fluid? To be safe, I went to a friend’s shop and we flushed the brake fluid and I’m ready to press on with fresh brake fluid. I don’t think I’ll cross Blood Mountain on my return trip however.
If you are in the Tampa/Brandon area, Alternative Auto Care is the place to go. Jessie is an excellent mechanic who is honest and his prices are fair.
I am currently parked at Becky and Matt Larson’s house. Both Becky and Matt are accomplished photographers and artists. In the next couple days, I hope to spend some time in their darkroom doing some wet plate work.
I’ll post an update when I shove off for my next stop.
Ciao