Some broke stuff in Mackinaw City, Michigan

On our drive North through Michigan, we stopped for lunch about an hour out from Mackinaw City, entering back onto the freeway, we ran over a flattened traffic cone in the center of our lane.  The cone jumped, bumped and tumbled from the front bumper to the back bumper of the van, and I guess that the same happened with the trailer.  No parts fell off when the cone jumped out from under the trailer, and we both said “sure hope nothing got hurt”.

We arrived at the Mackinaw KOA and after checking in, one of the KOA employees walked in the office and said “That Trailer is making a clicking, whirling noise, when I walked by it”.  We walked to the rear of the trailer, and the stabilizer motor was running, and it was running against a stopped and closed stabilizer, and the clicking noise was the cam in the unit that prevents damage when it is stressed against a stop, up or down.  I looked at the switch panel for the rear stabilizers, and the two toggle levers were broke and bent.  One switch was bent up, and this was the one that ran for an hour, and was still running.  The remaining switch was loose and broken inside, and the front of the fuse holder was broken off and gone.  I couldn’t get the motor to quit running, switch bent up and stuck, and the fuse was stuck in, and none of my pry tools could remove it.  We went ahead and found our site and leveled the trailer.  I got out a bag-o-tools and started to fiddle with the fuse, and the motor running and the cam a clicking.  In fear of hurting the wiring if I were to ground one of the wires, and to relieve me of the stress of the noise, I turned off the 12v power inside the trailer.  Now quiet, and the neighbors are starting to loose interest in the project, and I start to drill out the two rivets holding the panel in place.  I’m able to unplug the fuse, and restore 12v power to the trailer.  While laying on the ground and looking at the broken stuff, I call Woodland RV in Grand Rapids, Michigan (We bought the trailer here in 2008) and tell Kelley in Parts what I’m looking at.  After a email of the stabilizer parts and another call, Kelley is looking for the parts we need.  I can solder and replace the parts when they are found, and we can live for a week or so without the rear stabilizers.

I had not hooked up any utilities until I had the stabilizers sorted out, and I found that just a little closer to the front of the trailer, the dump valve handles were bent.  The black water metal shaft has a U bend, between the handle and where it disappears into the body.  The valve is still closed, but I’m afraid that If I can pull the handle enough to open the valve, I might not be able to push it in enough to close it.  The poop tank is full enough to the point of smelling really bad, every time the toilet is flushed, and it needs to be dealt with today.  I’m not looking forward to drilling out rivets to remove the bent rod today.

Mackinaw Bridge, from the park.

Anne-Marie and I walked around the park a little, and even though it was close to quitting time for the State Park, we checked out the gift shop.  We hope to visit the fort, and the Lighthouse today.

We are signed up for one more nights stay here, and then on to Duluth.