The bus is supposed to leave Thursday morning and the airplane leaves Thursday afternoon.
We've been experiencing different problems with the bus. It definitely keeps things interesting! Ever since we had the new engine installed we've been having starting trouble. Basic (tool-less) diagnosis told us that it was either 1. The battery/charging system, 2. The starter or 3. A wiring short...
On the drive out here the problem seemed to get progressively worse, every time we stopped it was harder to start. Late Saturday night we made a final fuel stop just outside of OKC, the Lord gave us wisdom...we decided not to turn the bus off. When we pulled into our driveway and shut off the engine early Sunday morning, we never would have guessed that it would be days before it would start again!!! The Lord does love to show his strength!!!
So, what was the problem? First guess was the batts. Upon examination they were totally dead!? When we charged them the bus still wouldn't start, when we took the charger off they were dead again within 3min. It must be the batts. After a few phone calls, a trip to the store and the loss of a large sum of money we had two brand new batteries installed and ready to go...nothing. Hmmmm, maybe tomorrow.
Next day, after much fiddling and wire tracing, we got it started...but weren't sure why (the best kind of problem ). Dad and Annie took it to Home Depot, did their shopping and guess what...it wouldn't start! After another hour of head scratching dad called a friend in Texas who proceeded to explain, in detail, exactly how the starter works and how to bypass/isolate different parts of the system . Viola, it started right up! (Thank you John!)
Now we knew what the problem was, all we had to do was find it. The fun begins (see picture). After several more hours of searching we discovered a sloppy wiring connection on the engine...a five minute fix! Thanks to all of you who expressed concern and support on this issue and also thanks to all those who were praying for us...not that it would go smooth but that the Lord would give us the strength to get through.
We found it!It's been one week and one day now since we arrived here in Oklahoma and so much has been accomplished. Everyone has worked so hard at the different tasks that need to be done.
Here in OKC they have a "Big trash pick-up" at your curb once a month. (You can put out trash equal to the size of 6 washing machines). We just happened to arrive the day before, and with the neighbors help we got rid of all the junk that was left in the house along with all the carpeting. They brought over empty trash cans, and encouraged us to put some of the big stuff in front of their houses.
After tearing out the carpets all the floors had to be stripped of every nail and all the tack strips from the old carpet in preperation for sanding. This has become a tedious job.
Jackie, pulling up nails and staples (no, he's not sleeping on the job)
All the tools, enough to run a construction business, had to be moved out of the bus and the trailer and into the house, so the livingroom was chosen as the temporary "garage".The yard, which was bare and brown when we first saw the house in late January, (see The House ) was now beautiful green, but terribly overgrown. For two days the kids worked at cutting, chopping, trimming, and cleaning up the yard. There were many plants growing right up against the foundation.
Here's Annie and Merrie digging away.
The celler entrance had to be torn down because it was all rotted out. Then the whole cellar had to be cleaned out to make it useable, (just in case a tornado decides to come this way). Chris spent several days heading up this project, working on cleaning it all out, patching the cement floor that had been opened to repair the sewer main (before we bought it), and building a new secure door so it can be used for storage. this also gives us easy access to the furnace, hot water heater, and all first floor plumbing which are all in the cellar.
Here's Chris, working in the cellar. 
No comments:
Post a Comment