Museum of Aviation

February 22, 2026

We visited the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, GA, with Bill, one of Harold's Navy buddies. The museum consisted of four different hangars and some outside exhibits. With the fierce winds that day, we stuck to the indoor exhibits. There's always something that makes me appreciate what those who fought in the past have had to contend. This time I was struck by the WWII friend/foe airplane chart. Imagine having to determine within a split second whether the airplane you see is a friend or foe, to fire upon or not. 

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Grr...ABS and CMS lights!

Feb 16 - 24, 2026

It's kind of "he said, she said" version of our not-so-great week.

Grr...On our way to Robins AFB in Georgia, our dashboard lit up. First it hit us with ABS failure. That was quickly followed by CMS failure. While neither were show stoppers, and we were able to continue to our destination, we were going to have to go to a Spartan authorized repair center for diagnostics. Grr... 

So, we spent one night in our campsite at the famcamp on Robins AFB, got up early and drove the 30 minutes to Rush Truck Center in Macon, GA. They open at 7:00 am and are a first come, first serve facility. We expected to be there most of the day, possibly overnight if they had to order a part. Well, that stretched into four days with three overnights in a hotel as they tracked electrical issues step-by-step. Grr...so much for a quick fix.

They finally found a pinched wiring harness between the chassis and the "house" part of the coach. Guess what was not considered a warranty issue? Plus, there was an electrical issue with Silverleaf system on the house side not reading the proper voltage. By Friday afternoon, we're several thousand dollars into the repair. We asked them to stop the Silverleaf diagnostics since that has been an ongoing issue and though we'd love to figure it out, it wasn't preventing travel. We paid our bill, and headed back to the famcamp. Grr..., the ABS and CMS lights hit again. So there's something else besides the pinched wiring harness. 

Then, when we got to the famcamp, there was someone in our site. Though I hadn't coned off our site, I had spoken to the staff a couple of times during the week, letting them know what was happening. Grr....

We had called Rush on our way back to the famcamp, and they asked us to return on Monday morning. We did, and this time they found a wire rubbing against the chassis. This was covered by warranty and probably the real issue all along. How much of a fight do we want to put up with Spartan? Grr... We picked up the coach the next morning, after yet another hotel overnight, and headed to a new campground.  

It was a frustrating week. I was searching the Internet for both new coaches and new houses, wondering if it was time to quit full-timing, get a new coach, find a place to live, or some combination thereof. Grr...

Bags are packed

More waiting

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Anti-Lock Braking Warning Warning Will Robinson.

Feb 16 - 24, 2026

While traveling in our home on wheels, both, an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and a Collision Mitigation System (CMS) warning lamps lit up on our dash.

Will Robinson and Robot Model B-9

We called Spartan RV, the fine people who manufactured the chassis, and they referred us to the closest Spartan Authorized Service Center to us at the time - Rush Truck Center in Macon George for repairs.

Our home at Rush Truck Center

We called A.J., the service manager at Rush Truck Center. He told us that they don't schedule appointments, but are a first come first served facility.  We continued on to our campsite for the night which was the Family Campground on Warner Robins Air Force Base which is a separate story.

As an ABS warning is not a critical error however we wanted to get it addressed as soon as possible as our chassis warranty runs out in June.

Will Bear overseeing the work.

The technician found that the J1939 bus (what all the chassis computers communicate on to include Engine Control Unit, transmission, brakes, Tire Pressure Monitoring System, electronic dash board, etc.) had 50 ohms of resistance at one end and 100 ohms at the other. The standard resistance is 60 ohms. Troubleshooting found a cable pinched between two inside body panels under the dashboard and the effected area was spliced out.

Cable to the CMS pinched in the wall panel

The technician took it for a test drive and returned our rig to us as no faults were found. This was on Friday near closing time. On my first drive the ABS warning light illuminated.

Sorry for the glare but in the middle you can see the ABS SYSTEM FAULT text.

 We returned to Rush Truck Center on Monday, and they found a cable near the ABS computer with chafing.  Repairs were effected, and we have been happy travelers ever since.

During this evolution we were displaced from our home while the rig was in the shop for maintenance. We had the opportunity to visit some hotels in the area. Yeah, for free breakfast and a pool.

Parked in the penalty box.

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Stuckeys!

 February 14, 2026

Most of us that are older can remember stopping at a Stuckey's while traveling. I liked them better than an regular ol' gas station because Stuckey's had souvenirs, candy, and other things to see. I think Dad didn't like them as much because he knew he'd end up buying something or other in addition to fuel!

Stuckey's kind of died out for awhile; but in 2019-2020, granddaughter Stephanie took over the board. The corporation purchased a pecan processing plant and has once more started making Stuckey's pecan candies in house. They currently have 50 licensed locations. We stopped by their processing plant and retail store in Wren, GA. 

How is that pronounced?

Side front view of the plant

Stephanie Stuckey and me

Our haul

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Slide Out Topper Repair

When our motorhome was built, Newmar installed Slide Out Toppers on our rig. The toppers help keep leaves and other debris off the top of the slide. Travel days are easier as I don't have to drag out a ladder to clean them before retracting them.

Note The Fabric Topper Keeping The Snow Off The Top Of The Full Wall Slide Out.

The other evening we heard an odd sound that took me a couple of days to figure out what the noise was. Come to find out the aft end of our full wall slide out topper had pulled out of the track.

Mind The Gap!!!!

It took me some time on a ladder to squeeze the topper back into the track, regrettably I did scar the track some with my plyers.  Bummer.

Squeezing It Back Into The Track.

Once back in. I then closed up the channel a little.

Hulk Smash It Shut

I still need to find a replacement stainless steel finishing washer so I can reinsert the screw.

Job Mostly done.

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Six Plus Six Equals One Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety-eight and Fifty Two One Hundredths

Our rig has two banks of batteries.  One bank of two 12 Volt batteries is for the chassis and are used to start the nine liter diesel engine.  We replaced them a short time ago.  The other bank called the house batteries didn't necessarily need to be replaced but as they were coming up on their fifth birthday I thought it prudent to replace them now when I could purchase them at an attractive price instead of paying full retail for them.

Dust-covered battery bank

The house batteries in most class A RVs are a bank of six volt golf cart batteries (size GC2) wired in a series-parallel bank to provide twelve volts in enough ampere-hours to power the refrigerator for around one day without needing to be recharged.

The Heavy Duty Wiring And Fuses

When our rig was built, Newmar installed a bank of eight GC2 batteries but in an improved Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) chemistry. AGM batteries feature a fiberglass mesh to contain the electrolyte between the cathode and anode plates which allows them to be placed closer and tighter then traditional flooded lead acid batteries. This format makes them more structurally sound (shock and vibration damage resistant) and more energy dense.

Another advantage is lower maintenance as they are of a valve regulated AKA sealed design so I don't have to check electrolyte level on forty eight cells on a monthly basis.  WIN!!!! Down side is they cost more than a traditional lead acid battery.

Flooded and AGM GC2 Batteries On The Shelf At Sams's Club. An Inexpensive Upgrade.

I was looking for a national retailer to purchase my eight batteries. The MSRP on a Duracell GC2AGM battery is $368.99 each ($2951.92 for the set) however some Sam's Clubs have them for $217.72 each ($1741.76 for the set) a savings of  $1210.16!!!!!!!

New Batteries Installed With The Help Of My Friend Glen

Some fellow RVers recommend that I purchase Lithium Ion batteries instead. Those batteries would cost around $700 each. However, they'd have a much longer lifespan.  I will just buy sets of AGM chemistry batteries and save some money.

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Congaree National Park

 February 6, 2026

When we were at Myrtle Beach we would get asked about our next stop. We'd say that we were going inland toward Columbia, that we wanted to go to Congaree National Park. It may have been just me, but I got the impression that most folks didn't realize that there was a national park just a couple of hours away. We stayed at the Ft. Jackson MWR Weston Lake facility. Congaree was about 30 minutes from there. 

The park doesn't charge an entrance fee so we figured that it must not get terribly crowded except for the firefly event. Well, the park was busier than we expected, and we were quite glad to see an empty parking spot. 

One of the park's highlights is the boardwalk through the swamp. It wasn't too crowded, and thankfully the mosquito meter was pegged at zero. We enjoyed our stroll through the swamp, gazing at the tall loblolly pines and cypress trees, including some state champion size trees. Perhaps the highlight was watching a woodpecker for a good 10 minutes. He didn't seem bothered by us at all.

If you canoe or kayak, the park looks like a wonderful place to explore. Since most of the park is in a flood plain. Our attempts to canoe or kayak in the past have made us conclude that we're far better suited for other activities!

Back to the firefly event. The park is home to a species of synchronized fireflies. In mid-May the fireflies, in search of a mate, shine their lights simultaneously. The park holds a lottery in April for evening admittance. Thousands upon thousands of people enter the lottery with only 960 vehicles admitted (120 per night). I was hoping for a video in the visitor center, but no such luck.  Oh well. At least we didn't have to put up with mosquitos!

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