The Winning Streak Continues

 

Blairsville, GA  (high 79, low 66)

 

We’ve had a lot of rain since last Thursday, although most of the time it was light rain with no lightning or thunder, Rain without thunder and lightning seems pretty unusual for us coming from the lightning capitol of the world (Tampa).  The nice thing about the rain was that we also had some cool temperatures along with it and haven’t had to run the AC for several days.  I don’t think it got above 70 degrees yesterday. It was wonderful even though we had to dodge some rain showers.

On Saturday. we had plans to go to the farmers market,  the Butternut Festival in  Blairsville, and the Watermelon jamboree here at the park.  Rain was predicted all day, but as it turned out, most of the rain went around us and we were able to get to all three events.

At the event here at Rivers Edge, we played a few games of bingo and we were hoping Al’s good luck would continue at bingo, but it didn’t.  However, they passed out raffle tickets and Al won a glass top convection oven.  It’s kind of like the Nu-wave oven we already have and love.  We’re hoping we’ll be able to take it back and exchange it for something else.

 

If you remember a week or two ago, I wrote about having an engine oil analysis done on the motorhome.  Our Monaco has a Cummins Diesel engine and we recently had the oil changed at the Cummins shop in Ocala, Florida. 

I had read some posts on Rv-Net Forum about having an engine oil analysis done on the used oil in the engine.  I went so far as to order the free kit back in November of 2012.  The problem is that you have to drain some oil and get a clean sample.  You send the sample back to  them and for $25 they analyze the oil, which can give you insight in any problems in your engine, and hopefully before much damage can occur.

I ordered the free sample kit from Blackstone Labs. Their cost for the analysis is $25.  It was highly recommended on the forum, presumably from people in the know.

We never had it done, due to the difficulty of draining a little oil at a campground. 

The following is a sample of what the report could look like.  It’s way too technical for me.

 

We had considered having our oil change done at Speedco (per Paul Dahl’s recommendation) and I discovered Speedco does these oil analysis right at their facilities.

We ended up at Cummins instead of Speedco, since we needed a new belt for the generator, but we asked them about the oil analysis.  They said they could get the sample and send it in for $35. 

They were supposed to send us an email with the results, so imagine how  scared we were when they called us on the phone with the results.  It’s kind of like when the doctor calls!

We were told this company rates the engine from 0 to 4, with zero being the best.  Ours was a zero.  Thank goodness. 

Anyway, it’s just something to consider.  Apparently it’s done for gas engines as well as diesel.

 

We’re being lazy this morning, enjoying the cool morning.  I believe I see the sun trying to peak out, so it probably won’t be as cool as it’s been.