Spring Fling - Day 58: No Longer Homeless in Ohio

We drove down to Mansfield, OH to the Ford dealership from Martha's sister's home in Brownstown, MI.  Our thanks to Laura and Andy for allowing us to stay with them since Thursday of last week!  

Along the way we had a couple of issues to resolve.

First, the starboard strap holding Yagi onto the rack in back of the CRV broke. Luckily the other straps held it in place but seriously leaning outboard. I hurriedly exited the highway and we put a new strap on. Close call! 

The second thing was Martha's iPhone started acting weird again. The screen blanked out and she could not use the phone so we decided to find the Verizon store in Mansfield.  The phone started behaving again as we waited for customer service but we decided to go ahead and upgrade her phone since it had been due since before the trip. 

As this was going on and her data was being transferred to the new phone, we drove over to the dealership and I chatted with the mechanic, Randy.  

Basically, the solenoid that is related to the house battery had to be replaced along with the fusible link connected to the chassis battery. It had burned and melted quite badly but the way it was installed it was not easily visible. Randy did not believe that the charging circuit to the house battery was compromised and we tested it with a clamp-on amp meter and it seemed to be charging when the engine was running! 

The bill was paid and I drove off following Martha to the Harvest host where we are staying at tonight.  It's called the Blueberry Patch Farm and this located between Mansfield and Lexington Ohio a long highway 42. 

Nice Harvest Host location, two RVs parking spots and we are the only rig here tonight.

The dealership mechanic also replace the failed wooden board that supports the house battery inside the battery box.  The house battery was also replaced by the dealer as the fear was the previous battery had been "cooked".  Unfortunately AutoZone gave them the wrong battery I think, it's a starting battery not a deep cycle battery. 

However, after a couple of calls with RichardM, it should be fine to keep this battery for now just do some calculations as I use it to figure out how many amp hours it really has. The fact that my electrical needs are not very high made RichardM State that it really didn't matter in that we should be fine.   I am guessing it only has, the new battery, between 42 to 70 amp hours, we'll see.

The plan for now is to install a DC to DC charger system once I get home to go with a LiPO4 battery since they have become less expensive on Amazon.

Otherwise, everything seems to be working on Uma and we will start the drive back to Colorado again tomorrow morning.  

Spring Fling 2026- Days 49 - 51: Homeless in Mansfield, OH

Tuesday, June 16

There we were, motoring along southbound Interstate 71 in Ohio, heading for a Harvest Host location for the night.  Suddenly, all the gauges in the RVs dashboard turned off! They turn back on immediately and we motored on wondering what was going on.

Less for a couple miles later, the gauge needles went down again and stayed down and the engine quit.  I pulled over onto a flat spot on the shoulder of the interstate and noticed I had no electrical power as the hazard lights were not coming on. 

We had also smelled a burning smell just before we stopped, and I found that burnt terminals at a solenoid mounted on the firewall of the RV. I also noted that we have no power in the habitat area. Examination of the house battery showed that the Coulomb meter's input terminal had come in contact with the house battery's positive terminal and generated quite a lot of heat and sparks!

So much so, that the cable going from the output terminal of the meter had actually melted right where it connected to the house battery!

So the theory now is, when the short circuit of the house battery was ongoing it was connected to the chassis battery because during motor operation the engine charges the house battery.  This link allowed some kind of surge from the house battery into the electrical system of the chassis and caused the electrical outage.

How did this happen?  Well, the previous day I had implemented temporary reinforcement of the bottom of the house battery tray.  It had developed quite the crack down the middle you see.  I had hoped the temp support would hold till I got the RV home.  Alas, nope.

I found the board you see supporting the battery had somehow slid out from under the tied down battery, allowing the battery to sag forward, allowing the cables to touch.

The picture doesn't show the probably fried shunt device which had actually come in contact with the positive terminal of the house battery.  

Martha called Coachnet to arrange for a tow truck.  The tow truck arrived pretty quickly and got things hooked up. Previous to its arrival, I had dismounted the motorcycle from the front cargo rack, and removed the cargo rack itself so that the RV could be towed. 

The front rack went into the tow hitch of the Honda CRV, and then I mounted the motorcycle onto the rack.  I then also disconnected the Honda CRV from the tow bars in preparation. 

Coachnet had found a Ford dealership in the nearby town of Mansfield, OH.  That's where the tow truck went followed by Martha and I in the Honda CRV.  The RV was dropped off and I checked it in with the service department.  We got a room at the Wingate Suites  hotel in the nearby town of Ontario, OH.  A rather depressing day as you might imagine.

Wednesday, June 17

Waited all day, but got no status on whether the dealership's technician had even had a chance to look at the RV and render a diagnosis for repair.  They apparently were quite busy.

A bit frustrated at the lack of communication from the service advisor, we got another hotel room this time at the La Quinta inn about 8 miles away from the dealership.  Much better hotel by the way, their beds were nice and firm were the previous hotels beds were way too soft and tended to lean, making you feel like you were going to roll out of bed.

Thursday, June 18

We woke early and decided to go talk to the folks at a different truck service center in Mansfield to see if they could fit our RV in.  They said sure, but their diagnostic guy was on vacation till Thursday of next week!  They would of course rake a look at it beforehand but realistically it would sit for a week.  We decided to put this option into our hip pocket and headed over to the Ford dealership. 

The service advisor we had been working with was now on vacation till Monday so we were switched to another service advisor by the name of Ben.  Ben was very courteous and attentive and arranged for me to talk to the assigned technician. We had seen the RV had actually been pulled into the service bay, you see, when we pulled up. 

Some discussion with Randy, the technician, and I explained what I thought had happened with the house battery, he agreed that it was a likely scenario and I authorized three more hours of diagnostic time for him to run down all the wiring involved.  

Well we waited for the diagnostics to continue, Martha and I drove the Honda CRV an hour or so to the heart of Amish country in Berlin, OH.

After a few hours in Amish country which was comprised of very few Amish sightings and crowds or should I say hordes up tourists seeking souvenirs totally unrelated to the Amish we returned to Mansfield.

We stopped by the mechanic and he'd continued tracing wires.  I delivered the key to the house battery compartment for his access.  He remains hopeful he can fix the RV's issue by end of next week.  I hope it's sooner 

In the meantime, we grabbed some clothing and stuff out of the RV and drove the Honda CR-V to Brownstown, MI to stay with Martha's sister and her husband Andy for a few days.

Westward, Ho! Day 9: The National Museum of the US Air Force

Today I drove the Sammy the few miles outside of Wright Patterson AFB to visit the National Museum of the US Air Force.  This museum had been recommended to me by Lee S. and it made it as part of the route I'm taking westward back to Colorado.  I'd not heard of this museum you see, not till Lee mentioned it.

It's very well put together and curated, the four large hangar type buildings cover the different eras of aviation with an emphasis on the military side of things of course.  The museum is free to visit, plan on several hours to really do it justice, there's just so much to see!

Here's some of the stuff that caught my eye:

I didn't know there had been a black aviator flying for the US in WWI:

I've always loved the Shark nose paint theme on the P40 fighters:

One of the premier fighter aircraft in WWII, the P51 Mustang

The Memphis Belle, which achieved the incredibly difficult 25 bombing missions over enemy territory:

The aircraft of the Airborne Soldier during WWII

Another P51 Mustang

This German ME-262 is the best looking aircraft from WWII, IMHO.

The B-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan, effectively ending the war:

Korean war foes, the US Sabre and the Russian Mig 15

MIG 17

During the Berlin Airlift operation, one of the pilots involved had a parachute harness fashioned for his dog; who apparently went on missions with him.

The planes, in all the hangars, are really crammed in there....

This P51 variant really catches one's eye:

Here you go Larry (he requested the Dragon Lady aka the U2) spy plane:

The U2's successor, the SR71 Blackbird:

Another view of the U2

The A-10's powerful gun and raison d'etre, the favorite aircraft of the grunts in a battlefield:

Oh hey look, moto content!  KLR used by the Air Forces Pararescue Jumpers or PJs:

The Air Force One jet that brought assasinated president John F. Kennedy back to Washington, D.C.

FDR's ride to the Yalta Conference:

The YF-23, which didn't win against the F-22 when the competition for the Air Forces's next air supremacy fighter was held.  I kind of like the looks of it:

Not to be left out, here's the Sammy posing by some outside displays of aircraft:

After the museum, I also visited the nearby memorial for the Wright Brothers:

Returning back to Wright Patterson AFB, I spotted this beaver trying to cross the road in front of me.  He saw me and turned around headed for the canal that borders the road.  He stopped and I managed to get the camera out for this shot:

I heartily recommend you visit the museum if you're ever in the Dayton, OH area!  Very nicely done.

Westward, Ho! Day 8: Long Driving Day, now in Ohio

 A very long driving day today, it felt longer than the six hours it took to get to the main gate for Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

Of course, it was the wrong gate to get one's VA issued ID registered, so they pointed me to the Registrations office.

Once I found it, bordering a different portion of the base, it was closed!  Yep, they close on Thursdays for training.  Go figure.  Gate 12 was nearby so I drove the VRRV with Sammy in tow to the Airman at the gate and explained the problem.

Because I had a reservation, she let me pass, making me promise to come back to the registration office tomorrow and get my paperwork done.  Good to go!  I found the blue FamCamp signs and followed them to the campground on the other side of the main runways.

Note: Google maps also knows of the FamCamp location, for future reference.  FamCamp is what the Air Force calls their on base campgrounds; I think it's an outfit they've outsourced these things out to manage.

I checked in and they pointed me at a grassy area with picnic tables interspersed around some trees.  I picked one furthest from the other dry camper and set up camp.  It's $10/night for dry camping aka Boondocking.  No power, water, sewer since it's dry camping but the spot is mine for all four nights for $40!  

As I'm trying to ween myself from the luxury of having campground electric power provided in places such as Army COE campgrounds, this will be a good test.  I can always go find COE sights as I travel further west!  

It's either that or not camp in the warmer states during the summer months!

I was able to go and shop at the base commissary as part of the privileges accorded to Veterans such as myself who have service-connected disabilities.  Stocked up  on groceries and returned to camp to cool off with a nice shower using the outside shower box.

Once I'm "legal" tomorrow, I hope to check out the USAF Museum, supposed to be one of the best aviation museums around.  I might also go look for the Wright Brothers Memorial/Monument located nearby.