Our RV Adventures

We are now the proud owner (renter?) of a 5’ x 5’ storage unit at the Extra Space Facility in Dickinson, only about15 minutes from here. We’ll take some stuff over Friday morning and also pick up some bins.

When I called earlier today to check out pricing, I also confirmed that they did NOT required insurance like the Public Storage place does. And although I was told that the monthly rent would be $28, but I thought I’d seen it online cheaper. And I was right.

If I booked it online, the monthly charge dropped to $23. That’s $60 a year saved. Nice!

The two actuator remote controllers that I ordered for my remote dump valve system came in today, and I quickly discovered that this idea wasn’t going to work.

I had planned to use this 2 gang outlet box to hold the remote modules with 1/4” phone jacks mounted on the front plate to plug in the actuators. But I found that through I had measured everything, I hadn’t allowed for the extra protrusions. So the modules won’t fit.

So it was back to Amazon to order a larger case, which should be here Friday.

So hopefully I can get it all put together this weekend. I’ve got a handle on how I want to mount the actuators on top of the valves, but I’m still not sure how I’m going to connect the actuator shaft to the dump valve handle. I want something that I can quickly and easily disconnect so I can dump manually if I want. So I’m still chewing on that.

About 5:30 this afternoon I cranked up our Onan generator to be sure it was good to go our visit from  the RV Mobile Lube guy on Friday afternoon. He’ll want to warm it up to change the oil. I was happy to see that it started right up with no problems, and about 45 seconds later the transfer switch kicked over and we were running on the genset.

One thing I’ve noticed before is that the transfer switch is fast enough that the DirecTV /TV combo didn’t even glitch, nor did the front AC. I had turned off the rear AC, because the generator stutters a little with both AC’s running.

Now I’m probably going to hear from readers that I shouldn’t start the generator with the AC running. But that’s you should let the genset come up to speed and stabilize before you put it under load. Which is why my transfer switch has the 45 second delay build in. In fact the only way I know that it has switched over is the voltage dropped from 124VAS to 121VAC, the standard output voltage for my genset.

However, though the switchover to the genset is pretty unnoticeable, the change back to shore power drops out both the DirecTV DVR and the TV. But it doesn’t seem to affect the AC or the coffee pot clock.

But at least we’re ready for the lube guy.

Thought for the Day:

I waited until the price dropped to $1000 before I bought one for my Commodore Amiga.

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Jan and I headed out about 1pm with our first stop at the Monterey’s up in Alvin for lunch, Jan getting her usual Chicken Ixtapa,

and my big bowl of their great Chicken Tortilla Soup,

the Chicken Tortilla Soup that all others are compared to.

Then we headed back down Hwy 6 and then FM517 to check out storage units. For a long time, before and after we started RV’ing, we had a large storage unit, at 10’ x 25’. It started out as a temporary storage area for our furniture while we were remodeling our house in the mid-90’s. And then it just hung on like a bad cold.

But this time we’re downscaling, probably to a 5’ x 5’ unit, the smallest size they seem to have, at least around here. What we’re looking for is a place to off-load seasonal stuff like our electric heaters, winter quilts and clothes, and then stuff we don’t need unless we’re traveling, like our Brake Buddy braking system.

At first I was thinking about getting 3 of those large plastic shelving units, which would run about $90 and then we’d stack plastic storage bins on them. But then I realized that if we’re just stacking the bins, what do we need shelves for?

The first place we tried, and the one we’re most likely to use, the clerk was at lunch, so we’ll have to check back. But according to their website, a 5’ x 5’ would be $23 per month. Not a bad price, I guess.

Heading up I-45, Jan remembered that there was one of those multi-story Public Storage places at the Victory Lakes exit so we decided to take a look.

Turned out to be about what I expected. Well, except for the price or prices. First off, the price was $42 per month. But then there’s the $25 lock purchase fee, one time only though. And of course you’re required to have insurance on your contents. Which runs a minimum of $11 per month. And then there’s first and last month’s rent.

I’ve rented apartments with less trouble. So we’ll check out the $23 place later this week. Hopefully it’s priced a little more reasonably.

Then it was on to WalMart to pick up new prescription for Jan that got updated after her blood work the other day, and a few other things.

Next up I stopped off at my clients to pick up an Amazon package that had come in this morning. It seems like I’m always looking for a screw, or nut, or bolt, digging through drawers and bins. So when I saw this assortment on Amazon I thought I’d give it a shot. And it’s really nicer than I expected.

It’s a 1300 piece set of SAE bolts, nuts, and washers, metric bolts, nuts, and washers, and an assortment of metal and wood screws, packed in three nice trays that combine into one case.

Deluxe Hardware Assortment

Check it out.

Finishing up, we made a last stop at Harbor Freight for a set of set drill bits for my remote dump valve project. Then it was home about 6pm.

A very nice day.

Thought for the Day: 

Raising kids is like a walk in the park. Jurassic Park.

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