Focht Family Blog

We left Statesboro Friday morning, dropped Punch off at the vet’s office to board and drove to Ocala, FL. Once in Ocala we dropped mom’s trailer off at a dealer that R-Vision recommended for repairs. Unfortunately, they said they are about a month behind. They didn’t tell us this when we called to see if they could do the repairs. So… not sure when mom will have her own space again. Until then, she is stuck on our sofa.

After dropping the trailer we called to find out where hospice was and found out that my grandpa has not been moved yet because the bed they thought he was going to get was given to a more urgent patient. We visited with grandpa, Jo (his wife), and Chris (Jo’s daughter) for a while. Grandpa was not having a good night. He didn’t seem to know we were there and he is also battling a lung infection. My dad showed up and we talked for a little bit and we decided to both come back in the morning and see if grandpa was better. We drove to Walmart and stayed the night.

The next morning we arrived at about 8:30. Grandpa was awake. He was watching us and seemed to know we were there so I just talked to him about my family and showed him pictures of his great grandchildren. He tried to talk back but I couldn’t understand most of what he said and I am sure that frustrated him. His mind is perfectly fine, it is just his body that has failed. He used to travel the world speaking and Parkinson’s has robbed him of the ability to speak. Chris came in a little after 9:00 and she has an easier time understanding him because she has spent so much time with him. We sang some hymns with him and he sang along, even keeping tune. Then we got up to leave and I patted him on the shoulder and told him we were leaving. He opened his eyes, looked a bit startled and said clearly, “Hi Bonnie, How are you?”. He recognized me and knew who I was. He then said hello to my mom and my dad, shaking my dad’s hand. He seemed very happy to see us all although his moment of clarity did not last long. I am still glad that grandpa knows we were there.

As soon as a bed becomes available at hospice he will be moved there and they will remove his feeding tube. The doctors have told them that he will probably fall into a deep sleep after 2-3 days and never wake up. He is battling a lung infection and sores and his kidneys are already starting to shut down so I hope that he will live long enough to be moved to hospice and give him and his wife the peaceful ending they desire. Since I do not have most of my pictures with me, I copied a picture of my grandfather off of a website that sells some of his books. He was a pioneer in the field of Christian Psychology and Counseling.

Today we spent most of our day on the side of the road. We stayed at a Walmart last night and got an early start today. We were going to try to make it all the way to Seattle by tonight. However, about an hour from the Oregon border while we were still in California we heard a pop followed by a hissing noise. Nathan didn’t hear the noise but then noticed that he was losing power although the engine was still running and there were no alarms. I told him it sounded like a hose had blown.

We pulled off onto an exit but it didn’t look like there was anything on the road but snow so we limped back up the on ramp and parked on the side. We put some flares out (thanks to the police at our last breakdown) and put the slide out enough to open the access panel. When Nathan opened it we found that a metal elbow had been blown off of a hose. It was the turbo so without it we would not have enough power to get up any of the mountains unless we were going about 4 miles an hour! We called Spartan and all they would do is send a tow truck. They wouldn’t get us a flatbed tow and said we would have to sign a release for them to tow us. After the last one damaged our coach we didn’t want to do that.

We called Cummins and tried to track down the part so Nathan could fix it on the side of the road. We found one that said they had it in Oregon. We arranged for a courier to pick it up and bring it to us. When the man got to the shop to give the part to the courier he found out that although the computer said he had it, he did not. He said he could have one at his shop first thing in the morning. He arranged for a tow truck to come and get us and while we were waiting Nathan decided to try to patch the problem. Here is a picture of the elbow that blew off after Nathan patched it. The rim was sheared off when it blew so Nathan had to use some duct tape and tighten the collar a bit more to get it to hold.

Nathan thinks it blew because it is rubbing against the metal plate on the side and when the engine is flexing on the bouncy roads it was putting to much pressure on it. He thinks when they put the new engine in they didn’t check to see where everything was rubbing when they replaced all of the hoses. If there is something good that has come out of it, I noticed that one of the bolts on another collar was rubbing a hole in one of the air conditioner hoses, so we can get that fixed as well. This is a picture of the hose after Nathan moved the collar and taped the hole that was starting to develop from the rub.

We did a few trials of speeding up the ramp and backing back down. There was some air escaping around the elbow because we could hear hissing but the elbow held up to the pressure. We tried going up one mountain pass and when we made it over we canceled the tow truck and decided to limp to Oregon to get the part. The good part is that so far on this breakdown we haven’t had to vacate the RV. On the way to Oregon we found a place with a wide pull-off that had lots of snow so we stopped so the kids could see it. Timmy was up front but for some reason the other two did not answer when I called them multiple times to come out in the snow. So… here is Timmy playing in the snow.

Here is a picture of the trees that were behind Timmy while he was playing.

By this time we were starting to get into flurries and we were glad we weren’t being towed after dark in this weather. Here is a picture of the snow hitting our windshield and a picture of some beautiful snowy scenery we were driving by.

After we got into the town in Oregon we were driving to we stopped at a mall and walked around and ate dinner. We then drove to Cummins and parked for the night. Hopefully when we get up the part will be here and we can repair and get out of here in a timely manner so we can make it to Seattle tomorrow.

We are still stuck in Columbus, Ohio. The engine is totaled on the RV. We found out a few days into this ordeal that the engine had a recall on it for doing this exact thing. We got lucky that it didn’t blow through the coach or damge the transmission. The new engine is supposed to be here on Monday and the earliest we will be out of here is Friday but they are thinking it will be a little later than that. We took the kids to the Science Museum today. I will post more on that with pictures tomorrow. Spartan is going to give us some money to cover the extra eating out and the rental car. We have been able to visit with my mom’s cousins a couple of times while we have been here. They live near Dayton and that is only an hour away. Mom’s trailer is supposed to be fixed tomorrow. The tow company owner is coming to fix it and he is also going to move us a few feet into a different site at the park we are at that is available as long as we need it. Things could be much worse. We have a place to stay and food to eat. Everyone is healthy and well.

By Mr. Toad I mean the singing stuffed frog in mom’s trailer. Yesterday was another adventurous day in the life of the traveling Focht family. We were making our way from Indiana towards Pennsylvania. In Ohio, about 20 minutes east of Dayton I felt a small bump while driving and then an alarm started sounding and the engine shut off. I looked in the mirrors and saw smoke billowing out of the coach. I coasted to a stop on the side of the road and Nathan jumped out to see what happened. I had the kids at the door to get out because I was thinking fire. However, it was oil everywhere and the smoke was from the oil on the hot engine.

We called Spartan and they sent a tow truck. We called Good Sams and they sent a tow truck for the trailer. I called a cab and had them pick me up on the highway and drive me back to Dayton where I picked up a rental minivan and I came back just as the tow trucks were ready to leave. I put the kids, mom and the dogs in the minivan with me and we followed the trailer. Nathan rode in the truck with the RV. About 15-20 miles down the road I am driving behind the tow truck. He is going 64 in a 55 driving in the left lane. All of a sudden sparks are flying out of the trailer and then the trailer runs off the road and into the median heading for oncoming traffic. I should mention at this point that the tow truck was still traveling straight on the highway. Apparently he had not hooked it up correctly and he didn’t even feel it when he lost it. Just as the trailer is about two feet from going into oncoming traffic, the trailer started turning back in because of the embankment. It came to a stop in the middle of the median. It is amazing that it didn’t flip. There was some damage but it looks like it was only about $500 worth and the tow truck company is going to fix it.

Unfortunately the RV isn’t so lucky. Looks like it has major damage and they said it will probably be at least five days before they know the extent of the damage. Spartan will cover the costs but it leaves us stranded in Ohio and we are all staying cramped in the trailer. We extended the rental of the minivan for a week and the camping for a week and I am hoping Spartan will cover those costs as well as some costs for all of the meals we are now having to eat out because there isn’t enough room to cook and feed 6 in the trailer.

I guess life is never boring….. My take on it is nothing flipped, nothing caught fire, and everyone is safe and okay. Everything else is just inconveniences! :)

Well… we did make it most of the way to Indy before stopping for the night. However we probably should have stopped before we did. The kids were already in bed for the night and we drove until ablout 10:00 or so before looking for a Walmart to crash at. At around 9:00 we started smelling diesel fumes but didn’t think much about it. Note: If you smell fumes, pull over and investigate.

We got off of the freeway in a little town in West Virginia called Cross Lanes. We knew we were low on fuel and decided we needed to get gas before going to Walmart so we would have enough for the generator to run all night. When we stopped we realized that we were leaking diesel at a fast rate. We pulled over to the side of the gas station and called our Good Sam ERS to have us towed. They said we would have to be cleared by a fire department before they would tow us so they called the local fire department for us. This was a volunteer department and I cannot say enough nice things about them. A young man in a pickup was the first to get there and he called it in. Next 3 more men on a fire truck showed up.

They said we needed to get the kids out because of the fumes so we took them out and put them in the trailer until we figured out what we were going to have to do. The firemen knew my cell was dying so they called all of the local hotels to find us the last room in town (big football game that weekend). The chaplain came and he drove my mom, me and the kids to the hotel where we checked in. Nathan stayed with the RV and trailer to get it towed. The trailer ended up getting towed to the hotel parking lot so we could let the dogs out every few hours (hotel did not allow animals).

Nathan had problems getting someone to tow the RV so finally at 6:00 in the morning he drove it to the local Cummins shop (luckily there was one in town). They diagnosed that a rail had a leak in it and it needed to be replaced. They didn’t have the part in stock but there was one in Louisville, KY that they could have overnighted on Monday. Unfortunately we needed to be in Indy by Tuesday so Nathan got creative with a solution. We rented a car and drove to Louisville, picked up the part from the distribution center and drove back. We dropped the part off at the shop so they could fix it first thing Monday. They had everything fixed and we made it to Indy by 9:00 Monday night.

There are still a few fumes in the bathroom because the diesel is still burning off of the engine from where it had spilled but it is getting better everyday.