![]()
Feb 7-21 - Largo & Crystal River
We've lumped these two stops together because neither one individually justifies a full report, and also because there are some common frustrations between the two stops. Largo is a smallish city sandwiched between Clearwater on the north and west and St Petersburg on the south and east. The Vacation Village RV Park is very much an island in the city, and getting there was a challenge, as the highway it fronts on is under major construction. Has been for over a year. Probably will be for another year. Our arrival at Largo was uneventful, until somewhere around 5am when it became apparent that our water problems from Fort Myer's had returned. This time, however, the water was running inside the motorhome, and as we were connected to park water, it just kept running and running and running. It didn't take too long to turn the water off, and it didn't really take too long later in the morning to once again replace the plug which had popped off the end of the pipe, but it took all of our towels and most of a week to dry out the carpeting in the bathroom. Fortunately, knock on wood, there's been no evidence of a repeat performance. Things just don't dry out very well when the relative humidity is 90+ percent.
Our next trauma surfaced when we noticed that the car air conditioner was blowing hot air when it should have been cold. We've learned that when you meander as we do, you should always have major work done by national chains, so you can get follow-up down the road if necessary. So, we wound up at the local Midas shop, where they informed us that the AC compressor had partially given up the ghost. Took them most of two days to spend $1200 of our money getting all the appropriate pieces replaced. The car was finished just moments before we departed for Crystal River, so we just drove the motorhome to Midas, hooked up the car and left town.
As we were leaving the state park, we noticed that our car air conditioner was blowing hot air. Needless to say, we were dismayed (major understatement). So, next morning (a Saturday), we headed to our nearest Midas shop - 50 miles away in Ocala. After explaining the situation, they took the car in and confirmed that we had a problem. They suggested that we come back on Monday when they were less busy, and when there would be parts available if necessary. So we did, and after several hours were told that the car probably needs a new computer. Seems the cooling fan doesn't always run when the AC is on, which causes the compressor to overload and shut down. And you can only get a computer from a Chrysler dealer, as it has to be programmed for your vehicle when it's installed. So, we'll be visiting the Chrysler dealer in Clermont when we get back in the Orlando area in another week or so. But at least all that diagnostic work was under the warranty, and as one of the consequences of the computer problem can be a damaged compressor, we really want to believe that we didn't get ripped off in Largo. Anyhow, the Chrysler dealer will want to do their own diagnosis before installing a new computer, so we'll be spending more money in the name of creature comfort. In the meantime, we may get warmer than we like.
There are about 100 pictures in our slideshow for these two weeks. You'll find them here.
|