2 Holes or 4 Holes . . .
One of the items on my repair list of things to fix while Jan is gone this week is a toilet problem. The 2 rear bolts will no longer tighten down. And I thought the flange may have cracked.
So this morning I spent about 30 minutes disconnecting and pulling the toilet. And as I had thought the flange was broken out on one side and cracked on the other.
First thing I looked at was a flange repair kit, but all the ones I found locally were the newer 2 hole mounting, not the 4 hole ones like mine.
When I replaced the toilet the first time back in 2010, the new toilet had only two holes and required a special mounting adapter plate to make it work with the 4 hole flange in the rig.
Then when I replace it again in February 2021, it was back to a 4 hole model. I wish Dometic would make up their mind.
So now I decided to just pull and replace the flange, and quickly ran into a problem.
When I tried to remove the screws holding it in place, there weren’t any. The screw holds were empty. And a little checking online told me why. The flanges and the downpipe are epoxied in place. So it’s not coming out without serious surgery.
So now I’m looking at other ideas for patching the flange. I think I might be to use part of one of the repair kits to just patch the rear two holes. So I spent some time in the Plumbing aisle at Lowe’s this afternoon getting parts for several different ideas I have.
I also got a ball valve and a coupling to screw into the open water feed to the toilet. That way I’ll still be able to take showers until I get it fixed.
Stay tuned.
Down In Fort Myers, FL
May 5, 2009
Sanibel Island…
Today we drove about 20 miles over to Sanibel and Captiva Islands.
Sanibel is know as a premiere shell hunting spot and in fact has one of the top shell museums in the country, the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.
Before visiting the Shell Museum we walked down one of the local beaches so Jan could find some shells.
Bowman’s Beach on Sanibel Island
It’s not as pretty as Gulf Shores, but it is nice.
Coming home we tried out a new Mexican restaurant we had seen advertised, called Iguana Mia. We were really starting to miss Houston Tex-Mex and this place filled the void. Much recommended.
Along The Pacific Coast Highway
May 3, 2010
Home Sweet Motorhome…
We left the motel about 9:30 am and starting driving south along the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway. As we passed thru Pismo Beach we detoured down to the pier to check out the restaurant, Pierside, where we were going to eat lunch later on our way back north.
Although it’s called the Pacific Coast Highway, a lot of it is not exactly along the coast, because the coastline is mountains right down to the ocean. In fact I’ve been amazed about how mountainous California, and especially the coast, really is. Los Angeles especially, was a surprise in how hilly it really is. The city is just surrounded by mountains on three sides, and many of the communities are separated by steep hills. Even the famous Rodeo Drive only travels a few blocks before it starts climbing into the hills. And when we took our Homes of the Hollywood Stars tour, almost all the star’s estates are up in the hills. After all, it’s not called Beverly HILLS for nothing.
We followed US 1 (PCH) as far south as Los Alamos before we turned around and headed back north.
Getting back to Pismo Beach, we had a great lunch at Pierside, a place right on the water beside the pier. I had the Fish & Chips, and Jan had the Shrimp & Chips. They were both great.
Leaving Pismo Beach, we headed back north along US 101 to catch SR 46 to take us back to Coarsegold and our rig.
Before we got to San Luis Obispo we came across these signs along the way.
We seen a lot of these type of signs along our travels — moose, elk, caribou, mountain goats, sheep, bison, oryx, and others. But this is the first time we’ve seen bears. Of course, as with all the other signs above, we never seen the actual animals, just the signs.
Bummer!
We stopped in San Luis Obispo for gas, and to put air in a tire. Then it was on up to SR 46, and then on to SR 41 which would take us all the way home.
We stopped in Kettleman City to use the restroom and get a treat.
Between Fresno and home, we talked to both our kids, Brandi and Chris. And that’s always a treat.
We got home a few minutes after 4, and as usual, it’s always good to be home.
For dinner, Jan heated up the last of the Tuscan Chicken Spaghetti that she fixed in the crock pot a couple of days ago. Like most Italian dishes, it just seem to improve with age.
Then for dessert, we split one of the delicious cinnamon buns that we got Sunday night at Crills II in Morro Bay.
Tomorrow we’ll take it easy as we get ready to travel on Wednesday.
Las Vegas
May 3, 2013
Mirror, mirror . . .
Today we just decided to have a ‘do-nothing’ day so we didn’t even leave the rig. But I guess the ‘do-nothing’ is kind of relative, because I spent a good part of the morning on the phone with American Coach trying to find a replacement bottom mirror for our rig.
Right before we left Apache Junction this past Wednesday, I was trying to adjust the passenger side outside mirror and the bottom mirror came loose and cracked when it hit the ground. So now I need a new one and got on the phone with American Coach this morning.
But I quickly ran into a problem. My factory build sheet says that I have Ramco mirrors, but the mirrors I have don’t look like anything that Ramco makes. And the mirrors themselves don’t have any name or numbers on them.
After Jeff at AC Parts went back and forth in the catalogs and manuals, we finally figured out that my coach was a ‘special-build’. Apparently the original owner didn’t want the normal door-mounted mirrors, but wanted the front cap mounted ones. Which meant mine are actually Velvac mirrors, not Ramco. With that info I was able to track down replacement parts.
I can get the entire assembly for about $50
But since my mounting plate seems to be OK, I’m hoping that I can get by with just the mirror for only $15.
Guess which one I went with?
I’m just glad I don’t have to buy an complete new mirror. They’re $627.00.
Ouch!
While I was on the phone with AC parts, I also got the name of the cabinet latches, or really, catches that I was looking for, but couldn’t find.
They’re called Bulldog Catches, and once I knew the name, I found them on Amazon and several other places. In fact both of the local Camping Worlds are supposed to have them in stock, but they didn’t know anything about them yesterday. But now that I have an actual Camping World part number, maybe I’ll have better luck. We’ll see.
We had a nice call from Brandi this afternoon. They’re planning on moving into their new house in about three weeks and they’re really getting excited.
Tomorrow I think we’re going to check out the buffet at the nearby Boulder Station Casino, and then maybe take in a movie. We’ll see how it goes.
Almost Ready To Roll For This Year
May 3, 2014
Not Much . . .
Happened Today.
With the nice weather the last few days, we’ve sat outside with our coffee and muffins every morning. And today was no exception. The real problem is Mister. He’s an attention hog and just won’t let me alone.
Jan wanted to be sure that I pass on some information about her mammograms. Recently, based on numerous healthcare recommendations, she had started getting a mammogram only every other year. In fact, it had been two years since her last one.
And in fact, some sources are saying you can go even longer if you don’t have any family history of breast cancer, which Jan didn’t. Of course, now she’s very glad she didn’t wait another year. Things could have been a lot worse.
So she says, Get Your Mammograms Now!
Lowell posted this photo of Landon as they were leaving Starbuck’s. Looks like Landon’s not planning on sharing that Frappuccino he’s clutching. Hope Lowell got his own.
Bad Dog!
Our daughter-in-law Linda posted this about their dog, PJ.
This guilty-looking creature just ate 17 meatballs that were cooling on the kitchen counter. Guess who’s sleeping outside tonight?
Our son Chris likes to fly kites and has several big ones. Here he and our granddaughter Piper are trying to get a big kite aloft down on Galveston Beach.
As far as today, I did pretty much nothing, just a few small chores around the rig. And no, I didn’t install the new slideout shear pin. But that’s for tomorrow before we leave here for the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails on Monday morning..
For dinner I fixed up another batch of Chili Five Ways, but like the last time, I used elbow macaroni instead of spaghetti. And as before, I added a can of Habanero Rotel Tomatoes and a can of Red Kidney Beans. Very spicy and very, very good.
A Big Boom!
May 3, 2015
An Interesting Day . . .
or Jan has finally unclenched.
About 11:30 this morning on our from Las Vegas to the Verde Valley Thousand Trails, something tumbled out from under the wheels of a passing semi, and BOOOM! our passenger side front tire suddenly looked like this.
It was an FUN 30 seconds or so until we finally THUMP-THUMPED to a full stop.
It’s late and I’m tired, so I’m just going to do pictures tonight and fill in the blanks tomorrow. We’re fine, the rig is fine, though a little worst for wear, We’re now parked at an RV Repair place in Prescott, complete with 50 amps.
Besides the blown tire, the fuel hose was torn away between the fill cap and the tank, a wire bundle at the front of the wheel well was shredded, and the vibration broke off the bottom outside mirror.
More Tomorrow.
Karma’s a Bitc . . . Cat
May 3, 2016
A Daddy’s Girl . . .
More website stuff today, so more fun for me.
About 3:30 I drove into Columbus to Brookshire Bros. for a few things, including some PowerBall and Mega Millions lottery tickets. Tonight’s Mega Millions is up to $128 Million, and tomorrow’s PowerBall is almost $350 Million.
Of course, my odds of winning aren’t very good, but they’re a lot better than if I don’t play at all. I mean, otherwise, I’d just waste it on booze and wild women.
Jan has decided that Karma is just a Daddy’s Girl. She won’t really have much to do with Jan, and only let’s me hold her. She loves to cuddle up on my shoulder and then snuggle against my neck, rubbing her head against my face.
And today Jan said when I left to go to the store this afternoon, Karma kept walking back and forth in the rig, crying loudly, and then jumping up in the front window to see when I was coming home.
Tonight’s dinner was Jan’s great BCTs (Bacon, Cheese, and Tomato) sandwiches, along with another salad. Then for dessert it was a square of the Sopapilla Cheesecake she made yesterday.
I also posted the recipe for Jan’s Crockpot Spaghetti and Meatballs under the Jan’s Favorite Recipes dropdown. A quick, easy, and delicious meal.
After supper, we watched the latest Castle from last night, and then started in on our last series left over from our gate guarding time – Fargo.
Supposedly this is last year with Stana Katic’s Beckett character on Castle, so it will interesting to see where the show goes after that. They have said they plan on continuing the series, and it does seem that they’ve set up a couple of different possible paths for the show to take.
We watched Fargo two episodes tonight, leaving us 8 more to go. There’s something really nice about being able to binge-watch a series in a couple of days, rather than stretching it out over 10 to 22 weeks.
Fargo has been renewed for a 3rd season, that will start up in early 2017.
On To Melk, Austria
May 3, 2019
Melk, Austria 5/3/2019
Our ship left Vienna last night a little before 11pm and when we went up to breakfast this morning at 7am, it was very foggy, with castle after castle appearing out of the mist.
Even this one, that I’m pretty sure must have been home to Dracula at one time.
Perched high on a mountain crag, and partially obscured by the clouds, he certainly would have felt right at home.
Especially since it looks like the only way to get up there is by bat.
And of course the many churches.
Many, many churches. Just church after church after church.
It’s amazing they had time to do anything else besides build churches. And FWIW these are all in the Baroque style.
We arrived in Melk about 11am, and after lunch, we were off on our excursion to the Melk Abbey, possibly the most famous Abbey in Austria. And that’s really saying a lot since there’s a heck of a lot of abbeys over here.
And it becomes more impressive the closer you get.
Amazingly this place has been an functioning Benedictine abbey for over 900 years.
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the abbey, but obviously somebody was, or did anyway, since there are photos all over the Internet of it.
So I thought I would share some of those.
It’s really hard to express how beautiful this place, almost overwhelmingly so. But two things bothered me about the visit.
First, they have added some sort of multi-media event, telling you about what you’re seeing, but mostly it seems to concentrate on the present Bishop his background, and how great he is.
The whole thing really clashed with the rest of the tour.
Second, adding even more to the ‘tourist attraction’ feel, is that you exit the tour . . . you leave, where else, through the gift shop.
Getting back to the drop-off point for the 200 yard walk back to where our ship was docked, we noticed the high water marks from the Danube flooding the area.
Sanibel Island…
Especially interesting was the one from August 15, 1501.
And just behind this restaurant was a small RV park.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to check out the pedestals to see about the hookups, but we were running late getting back to the ship. But we’ve noticed a number of small RV parks along the river as we’ve cruised.
The Skirnir cast off about 4pm heading up the Danube to our next port of call, Passau. And it didn’t bode well that within the hour, it was raining fairly hard.
Dinner tonight was with our usual group, and as usual, was delicious.
We started off with a real favorite of ours, a Wedge Salad.
And when they put bacon on theirs, it’s two whole strips, not some measly crumbles.
For the entrée, Jan had the Broiled Herb Marinated Jumbo Shrimp with Baby Vegetables,
while I got the Krustenbraten, which is Crispy Pork Loin, marinated in beer, with potato pancakes and Steamed Cabbage.
Then for dessert we both got the Lime Cake, with white chocolate and raspberry sauce.
This place is dangerous to your waistline.
You would swear that the 3 other couples at our tables, and ourselves, were all RVer’s since the staff pretty much have to close down the dining room around us because we’re having so much fun.
Of course the free-flowing wine may have something to do with that.
I have become so frustrated trying to use my new laptop with only built-in touchpad, that I had been trying to find a mouse for it. When I bought it in Budapest, the dealer tried to sell me one, and I should have bought it. But I had forgotten how irritating it is to use a laptop touchpad.
And I hadn’t had any luck locating a computer store near any of our stops to pick one up, so I ask Guest Services if they might had a spare that I could borrow, and they said they would check.
And when I went by later, Monika just handed me one. When I ask if I needed to sign anything, her voice dropped from her lilting Scandinavian accent into a guttural German one as she said, “Ve know vher you live’.
And then smiled.
So I’m not taking any chances. I’m definitely be returning it before we disembark.
I may even buy her an extra one, just to be sure.
Thought For The Day:
If you don’t have anything nice to say, you’re probably pretty fun to be around.
.
