Bells, Buzzers, Chimes and Dings

We had a short drive today, about 75 miles down I-65, then to 113, then US 29 south. We are heading towards Pensacola. Easy drive, right? Well, about a half hour into the drive, all of a sudden, "BRRRRRING!" And here's where our readers say, "What the hell was that?" "I don't know!"  Yep, you've got your lines down...good job! Well, it sounded like a chime, or someone dragging a mallet across a marimba. Eldy checked all his gauges, they were fine. There were no error messages. He said maybe it's the radio, so we turned the radio off. About twenty minutes passed and, "BRRRRRING!" the warning sound came again. I unbuckled and came over to Eldy's driver's side and looked everything over. We couldn't find anything wrong. We tried to figure out where the sound was coming from. Eldy said it sounded like it was coming from the navigational system. We're so skittish now, about the 26 possible warning lights and sounds on the control panel that we figured, OK, we've got a new problem.

I get out the Freightliner manual and looked for the 800 number to call for help, thinking, how in the world am I going to explain the warning sound we are hearing!?  "BRRRRRINNNNGGG!" A third time...and the third time was the charm! As I sat there thinking how in the world am I going to make this sound on the phone to a truck tech guy who's used to truck drivers calling in with more specific problems than a "BR-R-R-ING!", and I thought about the sound I was going to make, even practicing it a couple of times, I looked down at Eldy's phone, and EUREKA!!!..."Eldy, maybe it's your phone!" He says," Oh, yeah, I changed the sound a couple of days ago when I upgraded the software on my phone. I changed it to the one below the chime. (the marimba)." NOW you tell me! His phone is turned up LOUD because he's a little hard of hearing, so it REALLY sounded like it was coming from the dash. Problem solved and an embarrassing phone call avoided...whew! I tell you, it's been a very stressful couple of days....I'm going to need a couple of BIG beach drinks when we land at Gulf Breeze.....

Gulf Breeze resident

We found a great park run by the National Forest Service called Fort Pickens Campground. It's on the Gulf Islands National Seashore. We are actually on a barrier island, but it's not like some where you can drive and park your RV on the beach. We are in a campground. We'll be staying here for about a week, we think....$10.00 a night for 50 amp and water, but no sewer. The beaches are a beautiful snow white. That's about as close to snow as I'm gonna get for a long time! But that's ok..weather is beautiful....60's during the day for the next couple days, then it's going to drop down into the 50's..Saw my first armadillo ever. You know you are in Florida when you see the palm trees, white sand, assorted pastel hues of houses and aliens. HUNH? Really! We did see aliens and have the photo to prove it. There's a little green alien in the doorway. We'll have lots more to show and tell tomorrow......The Blue Angels,  National Naval Aviation Museum, Fort Pickens and lots more coming up.....see you tomorrow!

armadillo noseying around our campground