I have been posting a bazillion facebook updates and I think it's time to stop writing such long posts on there and put them together somewhere cohesively. Here, for example.
So, this will be my way of chronicling my adventure with my new 1994 Mitchell Vogue Prima Vista.
I will fill in the back story later but here is the post I was about to lay on facebook:
Just dropped the Vogue off for some lubrication at a truck shop.
Oil change, gennie oil change and a transmission service. If I'm lucky they will only be about $500 each. The oil in the motor looked black, thick and a little gritty...BAD!
Also having them look the whole thing over mechanically since the guys who worked on it last month didn't check or do any of the stuff they said they were going to check and do (Yup, Media Camping SUCKS!!). I'm hoping the other things (air and hydraulic systems, etc.) will be in better shape than I think they are and won't break the bank. He seemed to think reconnecting/fixing the speedometer won't be a big deal, I hope so... No speedometer means no cruise control. Never had a vehicle with cruise control, would be nice to have on the one I got to drive across the continent a few times since it's there and all.
I'm may need 3 new batteries, also about $500 each (if I stick with the cheap kind... there are other, more expensive options out there like Maintenance free gel (double or triple the cost) or lithium dry cells (super expensive). They are going to load test them but I've got my doubts. Maybe I'll get lucky and they aren't that bad, I did a little reading about how the systems work and they might still be ok, just need a charger (solar + house option sounds like the way to go) to keep the coach battery charged.
Once I get it back I will hopefully be able to raise it up a little so I can get underneath and start replacing all the rusted out sheet metal covering the water tanks and see what's going on with the stuck valve on my poop tank. The storage boxes need some work too, a couple are rusted out.
So many other little projects to work on before I get it back; Need to sew a new front curtain, gotta see about the fan I removed... if it still works I need to make a new bracket to replace the snapped one and probably have the motor serviced by someone who specializes in such things (I read the how-to and I'd be the guy losing the spring-loaded parts). That was one of the things that was specifically supposed to have been fixed by Media during the 2 weeks they had it and they didn't touch it because it was a pain to get open.
Nobody ever said love was easy.
