Friday, August 24, 2012, Reno, NV

First on my agenda today was to contact American Coach Service about the non-working latch on one of our cargo doors under the coach. The news wasn't very encouraging. The Service department offered two solutions. One involved taking the mechanism cover off from the inside. Since this isn't a pass through bay, that was ruled out quickly. The other solution was to use some type of shim to push back the plunger on the lock. I had already asked at the office and they didn't have one. I called Coach Net and they gave me the name of several shops in the Reno area to take the coach to. I called one and they said I could save $75 on a service call if I brought the coach in. I also called around to some auto parts store and none of them sell Slim Jims. I had pretty much resigned myself to going to a shop Monday as we leave town.
Gerri's plan for the day was to go shopping with Kathleen and the girls. Mine was to play some World of War Craft with Sean and then go see a movie called the Expendables at 4:40. When Kathleen came to pick up Gerri her friend Ian Porterfield was with her. Since I could get the top part of the door open a little, I ask him to put pressure on the door in a couple of directions, I thought that maybe the door was just in a bind. No luck, then Ian opened the next door back and he discovered that he could see the plunger on the offending lock. In about two seconds, after I returned with a screw driver, the door was open. It turns out the plastic plunger was broken where it attached to the cable that would normally pull it back. The door latches with only one lock but that should be fine until I can buy a metal replacement. I have had a couple of suggested sources after I posted info on the problem to the American Coach Yahoo Group.

Sisters and friends

Shannon at Karaoke

Gerri and Kathleen took the girls to Kohl's for shopping and in between shopping each girl went to the salon next door to Kohl's and had their hair cut. Maddy and Milana were in need of more clothes, where Shannon needed school supplies so Wal Mart was the destination for that. By 2pm shopping was completed and then they went over to Kathleen's friend's complex for pool time before pizza and Karaoke. Also with the group they picked up some of their friends, Mikey (Milana's boyfriend) and Maureena (Maddy's girlfriend). While eating pizza Shannon performed several songs. Ian, Kathleen's boyfriend, also sang.

I went to Sean's house at about 4 pm, we had a little time before the movie so we played some World of War Craft. The movie we went to was The Expendables 2. It feature several aging adventure film stars; Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  We saw enough people killed to depopulate a small mid-western city and too many explosions to count. The accuracy of the good guys' fire and the inability of the bad guys to hit anything was amazing. The popcorn was good and of course I enjoyed spending the afternoon with my grandson, Sean.

Shannon and Milana sleep over, first to use the bed in the lounge

We played some more WoW after we got home and before the rest of the family got home. Sean and I ate the leftover pizza. We visited for awhile before returning to the coach for the evening. Even with all his problems Sean can be a joy to be around but when there is a group he seems to act out more.
Maddy and Milana stayed with us overnight in the coach.