Our RV Adventures

has been happening on the gate the last few days. It’s been really quiet. We’re only getting about 50-60 vehicles a day through here, and the weather’s been very nice too.

Our days are pretty much in the high 80’s / low 90’s and hopefully will stay there for a while. And while we have had nights down into the high 40’s, recently they’ve been in the 60’s which is nice.

On the Landon front, he’s started playing soccer and Brandi and Lowell just got his first scouting report.

Seems like they’re pretty proud.

Also, Landon got his haircut the other day and has now decided he’s too big to sit in the Firetruck chair and now wants to sit in the ‘big boy’ chair.

That’s about it for now from the suburbs of beautiful Whitsett, TX. So for added entertainment value I’ve reposted our visit to Trinity Site, location of the first atomic bomb test.

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Thought for the Day:

“The Devil doesn’t come dressed in a red cape and pointy ears. He comes as everything you’ve every wished for.”

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“The light of a thousand suns” . . .

Originally posted on April 3, 2010

We got up at 6:30am this morning (man, that’s early!) and after grabbing breakfast at the hotel, we headed about 85 miles south of Albuquerque to the town of San Antonio, NM.  San Antonio is the jumping-off place to Stallion Gate, the northwest entrance to White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) and Trinity Site.  I used to enter WSMR thru this gate back in the early 80’s when coming back from White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in Los Cruces.

But before we left San Antonio I stopped and filled up at the one and only gas station in town. We had read that they also have fantastic homemade fudge, and it looked great. So we decided to stop back by on our way out of town.

After making the 12 mile drive out to SR 525 we turned south and entered Stallion Gate about 3 miles later. They had people handing out directions and security guards checking I.D.

Then it was another 14 miles out to Trinity Site itself.

Along the way we came across this sign several times.

If I hadn’t seen this sign in 2007 when we visited the WSMR Missile Museum I would have been very confused. This is an Oryx. And Oryx are native to Africa, specifically the Kalahari desert area. So what the heck were they doing here?

It turns out that in late 70’s, 93 Oryx were brought over from Africa and their offspring were introduced into the White Sands Missile Range. They were expected to stay on the Range, but apparently the Oryx didn’t read the signs and they began to wander far and wide as now animals have been spotted from 60 miles south of Albuquerque all the way down to West Texas.

And without any natural predators their population exploded. The coyotes and mountain lions in the area were no match for the large antelope with their razor-sharp horns.

Someone then looked at importing the Oryx’s natural enemy. But this came to a screeching halt when it was discovered that the Oryx’s natural enemy were lions. And no one could get the lions to promise to stay on the Range either.

So now there are over 5000 Oryx in the White Sands area, more than there are in the Kalahari.

It’s not smart to mess with Mother Nature.

Arriving at the Trinity Site parking area about 10 am, we found a large number of visitors already there.

Making our way to the entrance, we encountered Jumbo.

Originally it was 25 feet long, 12 feet in diameter, and weighed 214 tons!

This is what it looked like 1945.

Before testing the first A-bomb, called Fat Man, scientist were worried about whether the bomb would actually work the first time.

The bomb was to be triggered by a large conventional explosion which would then trigger the chain reaction. But, if the chain reaction didn’t occur, they didn’t want the precious plutonium scattered all over the area. But by the time of the first test, scientist were more confident of the bomb’s success, and Jumbo wasn’t used. Later the Air Force detonated 8 500 pound bombs in Jumbo, blowing out the ends as seen here.

Next we made the 1/2 mile walk to the fenced-in area of Ground Zero itself. There in front of us was the marker commemorating the first A-bomb.

Nearby are the remains of the 100 foot tower that held the bomb before the test.

This shows what a 10 million degree fireball will do to solid steel. And here’s what the tower looked like before.

Also inside the fenced area was a mockup of the Fat Man bomb itself.

There’s a joke here, but I won’t go there.

Ground Zero is littered with Trinitite, a green rock/glass, created by the searing heat as it fused the sand into glass. It is a Federal Offense to remove any of this from the area.

Trinity Site is an eerie place to visit. It’s hard to imagine the destructive forces unleashed here, even hotter than the surface of the sun. On the other hand, it’s hard to tell anything ever happened here.

The scrub grass looks the same here as it does miles away. There is no crater remaining. In fact the original crater was only about 4 feet deep and 240 feet in diameter, more of a small depression, rather than a distinct crater.

The observers were in a bunker about two miles away when the bomb went off. Windows were blown out 120 miles away and the shockwave was felt 160 miles away. Other observers, 10 miles away, said they could feel the heat, like opening up an oven door.

To conceal the test, the Army said that a munitions storage area had accidently exploded at the Alamogordo Bombing Range. The secret wasn’t revealed until the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th.

Leaving the site about 11:30 am, we were glad we had come early. There was a solid line of cars, about a mile long, lined up at the gate waiting to get in.

Arriving back in San Antonio, we decided to eat lunch at the Owl Cafe and Bar, one of only two restaurants in town. I had read about their great green chile cheeseburgers and we wanted to give them a try.

The place was already pretty busy and we waited about 10 minutes to put in our orders. A little later waiters were telling their tables that the food would be a “long” time, as a tour bus had come thru and they were being served first. Well, didn’t we feel special!

While waiting, I pulled out my Blackberry Storm 2 and started checking the Internet for recent reviews of this place. And they were uniformly bad. After talking it over, I left a $5 bill for my ice tea and we hit the road.

To the gas station right next door with the great fudge. And this time the reviews were right. The fudge is fantastic.

About 10 miles down the road we stopped at K-Bob’s Steakhouse, a western chain of restaurants. And I had a fantastic green chile cheeseburger, so there!

After topping off the tank at the station next door, we headed for Gallup, NM where we are going to spend the night.

Tomorrow, on our way back to Las Vegas, we plan on stopping off at the Petrified Forest National Park about 65 miles west of Gallup. The Painted Desert is also part of this, so we have a lot to see.

And now I have some sad news to report.

Moose is gone. Or rather, Moose 2 is gone.

This is 2nd Moose Antenna that has been stolen by nefarious moosenapping thieves, probably to be stripped for parts and sold on the black market.

He will be sorely missed, but quickly replaced by Moose 3. Or maybe Mickey Mouse, or an M&M.

Fame is fickle.

or Kind of A Techie Blog.

Well, we’ve had our first few pretty chilly nights here on the gate, at least chilly in comparison to our normal nighttime 70’s and 80’s.

Friday night it only went down to about 66, but we had a pretty steady 15 mph north wind all night which gave us a nippy 55 degree wind chill factor. And since I was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt, it got cold fast, until I dug out a hooded long-sleeve sweatshirt.

Then on Saturday night, it went down to 59, not too bad, no wind, but there was a lot of moisture in the air so you ended up damp and cold, not a good combination.

Then last night it got a bit worse, with a temp of 49 along with a little wind. But this time I was a little more prepared, with a long sleeve denim shirt, along with the hooded sweatshirt. But I was still cold.

So tonight, Monday, I’m ready. I’ve got on a t-shirt, the long-sleeve denim shirt, the hooded sweatshirt, and a sleeveless insulated vest, as well as sweat pants under my jeans. I look like a cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy (like I didn’t already) and the Michelin Tire guy, and I’m screwed if I have to use the bathroom, but I’m finally WARM.

I realize that for you folks up in the Midwest and Northwest with the snow and ice storms, this all seems like a bunch of wussy whining, but there’s a reason Jan and I are essentially snowbirds. It’s cold up there.

Of course it doesn’t help that I’m just sitting here, and the only exercise I’m getting is writing on the log sheets, and occasionally getting up to get the name, company, and tag number of a new vehicle. Most of the time we recognize the regulars and already have their info, so we just need to write them in the log along with their time In or Out.

But along with the cold nights, comes the upside. The Fall days here are just great, low to mid 80’s with a lot of sun. It’s actually been cool enough so that Mister pretty much spends all afternoon outside, just sleeping on the table next to me. I usually don’t even bother hooking up his lease since as long as I’m out here, here he stays.

But this has led to Mister having his own fan club. Since with the cooler weather we’re not running the fan and the misting system, he’s more visible and the workers see him as they drive by, and then stop and come over. They take pictures of him, and then I have to take pictures of them holding or petting him. There’s also a lot of pointing out the window as the trucks drive by.

But even with all his notoriety, MIster always insists that I let everyone know that at 30 pounds, he’s not fat. He’s just big-boned and fluffy.

Man, that’s a lot of ‘fluffy’.

I wonder if that will work for Nick and I? Probably not. Neither of us is very fluffy.

One thing I’ve been doing with all my free time sitting out here is that I’ve been writing a program on my laptop to computerize the log system here at the gate. At first I thought I’d write it as an Android app and use it on our Kindle Fire, but having to type in all the starting information on everyone would be a pain on the Kindle keyboard, so I decide the laptop was a better idea.

I created two databases, one containing the vehicle tag numbers, driver first and last names, and the company name, and the other database is the actual log information. This one is used to track the vehicle ins and outs, and contains the tag number, driver name, number of riders, whether they’re going in or out, and the date and time. I also have another date field in the format of yyyy/mm/dd, i.e. 2013/10/07. This allows me to easily sort by the date, which the 10/07/2013 format does not, at least not without a lot of extra code. And since program will generate the date in any form, it’s easier this way.

At this point the program lets me enter the tag/company/driver data into the vehicle database, and then search the data by tag, company, or driver. It also lets me log a vehicle in or out quick and easy, by just typing in the first few characters of the tag, selecting the correct one (if more than one) from the screen, and then clicking In or Out. All info is then written to the log database and it’s done. Only takes a few seconds.

Besides saving a lot of handwriting, log sheets blowing away, getting wet, etc., this takes care of a bigger problem. Sometimes workers stay on site for days, a week, or even two weeks before they leave the gate. So we may end up pawing through dozens of pages of log sheets looking when they came in so we can sign them out on the same line. It doesn’t help that they usually don’t remember what day they come in, either.

If a vehicle comes in that we don’t have the info for yet, it still lets us log them in using only the tag number. Then, using the edit feature, we can update the log with the correct info when we have it. It’s still a work in progress, but it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble.

Well, I guess I’m actually sitting out on the street, so that one doesn’t work, and I still seem to get in trouble. So just forget what I said.

Let’s just go with, It’s Fun.

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And now for more than you probably ever wanted to know about repairing a Splendide Control Module Board. If you’re bored, just skip to the funny Thought for the Day at the end.

Many of you have read about Nick Russell’s problem with his Splendide Washer/Dryer combo. Or rather, Miss Terry’s, since she’s the one who had to go to the Laundromat after it died.

The symptom was that the drum wouldn’t turn in either wash or dry mode. So after Nick made the obligatory phone call to me, I had him check to see if it did the same thing in all the different wash cycles, i.e. Normal, Permanent Press, etc. This was to eliminate a problem with the timer switch itself. After having him check a few other things with no luck, my next thought was maybe that the drive belt had broken, so I told him to call Westland Sales and see what they said before we tore into it any further.

Sam at Westland said he had very seldom seen a belt break and that it probably just came off the pulleys. But after Nick and Terry (mostly Terry) pulled out the washer and removed the back, they found the belt was just fine, not broken and still on the pulleys.

So now I started digging into the repair manual and had Nick (mostly Terry) start checking readings with their volt/ohm meter. After a few false starts and bad readings (mostly Nick), we found the motor itself was good and the problem finally came down to the Control Module Board.

I had a bad feeling about this.

I remembered last year when I was working on my Splendide and ordering parts, the guy at Westland said there were some parts that were no longer available for this model (the same one both Nick and I have: the WD802DM).

And after Nick called Westland back, it turns out that my memory was correct. There were none to be had. And the Internet, and even eBay didn’t offer any help, either.

The Westland guy said there were some people who for $750-800 would take a newer model board and use parts from it to fix your old board. But since a new Splendide (with a new warranty was only (ONLY) $1100, this didn’t really make sense.

The Westland also said that a lot of the time the problem with the boards was one or both of the two relays on it. So before Nick shelled out $1100 for a new washer I told him to Priority Mail me the board and let me take a look at it. Maybe I could find new relays and replace them. For $1100 it was worth a shot.

Receiving the board a few days later, and removing the circuit board from the housing, this is what I found.

One of the legs of what turned out to be the power supply’s full-wave rectifier had overheated and melted the solder off the pad. In fact it had actually burned the copper circuit trace pad off the board. There was no connection between the component leg and the circuit board. Maybe this would be easier than I thought to fix.

My first thought was that maybe something had shorted on the board and caused too much current to flow, overheating and melting the joint. But a thorough examination of the board showed no other damaged or overheated components which should have been the case if something had shorted.

So my next thought was a cold or bad solder joint. A cold joint is one that just didn’t get heated or soldered correctly. It may have been a little dirt or grease in that area, or maybe something else, but the result is a weak joint.

And a weak joint has a higher resistance than it should. And that means more current flows through there, and more current means more heat, and more heat means an higher resistance, and a higher resistance means more current . . . and you get the picture.

Poof! A burned-out joint. This process is called “thermal runaway” and you see it a lot in boards like this that handle a lot of power, like driving a motor.

I decided that before I fooled with swapping out relays, or anytime else, it was probably worthwhile to repair the joint and send it back to Nick to try it out first.

Since the underlying circuit pad was burned away, I decided to just bypass the trace altogether and run a new wire between the damaged component leg and the leads on either side of it. Using a piece of stranded wire, I tinned it (covered it in solder) and made good, solid joints on all three legs.

I doesn’t look really pretty but it will do the job.

So after Nick and Terry finally landed at the Verde Valley Thousand Trails, I put the board in the mail back to them.

And as it turned out, I made two people very happy. Miss Terry doesn’t have to trudge down to the park laundry anymore, and Nick didn’t have to spent $1100. I know that would make me happy. Glad I could do it.

But I also had fun doing this kind of stuff again. I started out repairing radios and TV’s in our garage when I was about 14, and always enjoyed tracking down a problem and fixing it.

And with Nick around I get a lot of practice.

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Thought for the Day:

"Unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free."  Frank Burns,  M.A.S.H

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