Monthly Archives: June 2022
A Sign Of The Times . . .
Everyone is enjoying the beach, which of course is why we’re here.
And a bunch of them are trying their hand at surfing using Boogie Boards.
Luckily it’s easy to see where the deep water starts here. The dark blue line is where the shallow water drops off, going from walking depth to as much as 30-40 feet in just a few steps.
And down the beach in one direction we’ve got someone riding a giant Scoobie Doo,
and in the other direction, we’ve had people flying big kites all afternoon.
We even saw a Carnival Cruise Ship heading out of Mobile and out across the Gulf.
I was surprised to see the big oil rigs offshore.
They look like they’re pretty close, but according to Google the closest one is 9 miles out.
And they’re even pretty at night.
When it gets dark you can see a lot more rigs are out there.
And when they’re not swimming, there’s volleyball . . . or I guess that’s a group version,
puzzle-solving this 1000 piece puzzle,
or even a game of cutthroat bingo.
Tomorrow Jan and I are getting together with a childhood friend of mine, and having lunch at Throw’d Rolls.
A Sign Of The Times:
Two Buck Chuck is now $3.99 Chuck
Thought for the Day:
Remember, a big man with a big knife and a scowl isn’t nearly as scary as a little man with a big knife and a big grin.
June 6, 2010
Last Day in Salt Lake City…
We headed for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes about 11 am, but first we drove thru a Holiday gas station right down the street. I wanted to check out access since I want to fuel up tomorrow morning before we hit the road south.
Diesel is down to $2.91, a pleasant change from a few weeks ago where I paid $3.69.
Sweet Tomatoes (also known as Souplantation in some areas) is a really good soup and salad buffet place we first discovered in Ft. Myers, FL last year, and we try to eat there went ever we find one.
After lunch we drove over to Walmart to do some shopping, and then Jan wanted to get her hair done for our daughter Brandi’s wedding in two weeks.
Then, heading home we stopped by Camping World so Jan could look at some of their recipe books.
Getting home I worked on some stuff around the coach.
I repaired a connector on the wires that connects the tail lights on our toad to the coach. Then I installed a video camera in my engine compartment so I can monitor the operation of my PacBrake exhaust brake.
Then a little before 5 pm we drove over to Famous Dave’s BBQ to have a last dinner with our good friends, Pat and Judy Benson.
We got back to the rig about 7 pm and started getting ready to travel tomorrow. Then about 8:30 a bad thunderstorm, complete with hail, roared thru the area, but I don’t think it was bad enough to do any damage, at least not here.
Tomorrow we head south to Monticello, UT, about 270 miles away, on our way to Arizona.
June 6, 2011
Almost as Good as Bears . . .
This morning started off with a call from our daughter Brandi just checking in and talking about Landon’s latest antics.
About 10:30 we headed out on our Bear Hunting day trip, but our first stop was for breakfast at the Hi-Lo Diner where we ate dinner last night. Jan had eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits. I had Eggs Benedict with country fries, and it was more than I could eat.
One thing we had noticed last night was this inscription on their coffee cups.
Now I would have sworn that Dawson Creek, BC, Canada thinks that they are the beginning of the AL-CAN highway. At least they thought so when we were there 3 years ago.
So this morning I thought to ask, and their answer kind of makes sense.
The cashier said that US 97 originates in Weed, CA and goes all the way up to Dawson Creek. And checking it out when we got home shows they’re right.
US 97 runs up to the Canada border at Oroville, WA and there becomes PH (Provincial Highway) 97 and, poof!, 1400 miles later you’re in Dawson Creek. And actually PH 97 runs all the way up to Watson Lake in the Yukon as the AL-CAN along with PH 1.
But when you get Dawson Creek, it’s still another 1500 miles to Fairbanks. A long trip.
For our bear hunt, we left Weed and headed south on I-5 to Mt. Shasta where we got on CA-89 and drove west.
All on a rumor.
A lady at the RV park that someone told her that someone had seen bears out around Dana, CA, so off we went.
And it was a beautiful drive.
Dana is about 50 miles away and about 10 miles before we got there we came down out of the mountains into a wide, flat valley that, although at about 3300 feet, looked like the Kansas prairie.
This beautiful little church is in the small community of Glenburn.
Still bearless and heading home, we saw a sign for a Wildlife Viewing area in the Shasta National Forest so off we went. Most of the road was really good, but we kept going until we were on a road like this.
Still finding no bears we turned back to the campground we had passed and stopped to stretch our legs. Hearing running water Jan and I walked over to the river and found these beautiful falls.
Called Lower Falls, it has been fished since the early 1800s. Salmon and trout run through here still today, and if it was the right time of the year there would be bears here.
A day late, a dollar short.
I also did this short video.
Looking around we noticed that there were chipmunks everywhere, zipping around like hummingbirds. Of course Jan just had to feed them.
Who knew chipmunks like Rold Gold Pretzel’s?
They had obviously been fed before because when people show up, they come running . . . or zipping, as it were.
Jan said seeing all the chipmunks running around was almost as good as seeing bears.
Getting back to I-5 in Mt. Shasta, we decided to head about 35 miles north to Yreka, CA, and the nearest Wal-Mart. While we were there I stopped in at the Radio Shack, and then it was on to the Wal-Mart next door.
By the time we left the Wal-Mart it was after 4 pm so we decided to have dinner at Black Bear Diner before heading home so we could compare it with the Hi-Lo Diner.
And it was quickly obvious that these two places had the same origin. The menus, made up to look like newspapers, were almost identical, as was most of the menu items. And the food was just as good, too.
As we pulled in, we noticed an Ambassador Motorcoach towing an SUV on a trailer. Jan and I play a game in these cases and try to identify who in the restaurant are the RV’ers. But in this case it wasn’t hard. It turned out to be someone we knew, Ray Kannada. And he was also at the Lake Minden Thousand Trails in Nicolaus, CA about a week before we were there.
It’s really amazing sometimes how small the RV world is..
Coming back to Weed, we had some really scenic views. Here’s another shot of Mt. Shasta still partially covered by clouds. Hopefully it will clear before we leave on Saturday.
You could also see the clouds rolling into the valleys as the day
You can also see the fog in how Black Butte looked yesterday,
And how it looked today. It’s hard to tell it’s even there.
We got home a little after 6 after a 200-mile trip and a lot of beautiful sights. Tomorrow will probably be a nice stay-at-home day.
June 6, 2012
Blinded By The Light . . .
With apologies to Bruce Springsteen (or Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, as your taste may run) I think that’s what happen to this armadillo who wandered into the area the other night. He came out of the trees and grass across the road and seemed to be doing fine until he came into the glare of all the lights. Then he couldn’t seem to figure out what to do, or where to go.
He bumped around the fence for a while, then managed to crawl under the gate, but then turned around and started bumping into the gate again. Finally he got out of the glare of the lights and continued on his way into the darkness.
And if that wasn’t strange enough, about an hour later, I see something moving off to my right on the road leading up to the gate. It’s a bunny rabbit, and unlike the armadillo, he seemed to know exactly where he was going, and wasn’t bothered by the lights.
He got directly opposite where I was sitting, stopped, looked over at me, and then continued hopping through the gate. When he got to the crossroad, he stopped again like he was checking for traffic, and then, making a left turn, hopped on down the road and off into the darkness.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was hippity-hopping down the bunny trail.
Sorry. I just couldn’t help it.
As a follow-up on some of my recent gadget evaluations, the cooling mister is still working great.
Since we’re starting to see a few days in the upper 90’s, I added a 2nd nozzle to the water line this morning, about two inches below the first one. According to the thermometer, this immediately dropped the temperature another two degrees, and the difference was noticeable.
The Vehicle Sensor alarm that I recently purchased is also working out great. Once I saw that, I ordered a second sensor, and now have one at each end of the approach roads. Each one is located about 150 yards from our rig and does a great job giving us a heads up on approaching vehicles.
Lastly, an update on the Kindle Fire tablet we got a few weeks ago. Jan uses it at night to read books, play games, and surf the Web. She’s really kind of taken it over. Because of the glare, it’s pretty much useless outside in the daytime, but then she just switches to her regular Kindle.
Ryan Etheridge, the Marathon Safety guy here just came back from his two weeks off and brought us back some great boudin direct from his hometown of Lafayette, LA. Thanks again, Ryan.
And speaking of food, this afternoon we had another great meal dropped off by a rig catering company. Steak, potato salad, green beans, and banana pudding for dessert.
Yum!
A guy could get used to this.
On a final note, if you’re a Beach Boys fan, they’ve got a new album out called “That’s Why God Made the Radio”. With 12 new, mostly Brian Wilson songs, the album really has that vintage Beach Boys sound. Backed up by studio musicians who played with them in the 60’s, the guys, most of them in their 70’s, can still hit those harmonies just like the old days.
It’s a $4.99 MP3 download on Amazon, so check it out.
June 6, 2016
It Was Late And I Was Tired . . .
or Do We Have Too Many Friends To Keep Up With?
In yesterday’s blog I tried to marry Judy Mott off to someone named Ed. But it seems she wants to stay with her present husband Dick. So much for my matchmaking ability.
I’m not sure where Ed came from, except as it said, It Was Late And I Was Tired. Jan and I both think we know another couple named Ed and Judy, but couldn’t put a last name to them.
Blog reader Rick Rousseau identified the motor in yesterday’s trike as a GM product.
Rick said that the fact that the two inner exhaust ports were spaced very close together confirmed it.
Here was my reply to Rick.
Rick,
Well, I had it narrowed down to GM, Ford, or Chrysler, LOL.
The last time I fooled around with this stuff was in mid to late 60’s, with Hemi’s, 427’s, 428’s, 429’s etc. If it wasn’t at least 400 cu.in, it wasn’t a real motor, just a hamster in a wheel.
All these high-output small blocks came around after my time.
In 1965 I did shoehorn a Buick aluminum V-6 into my Triumph Spitfire along with two Judson Superchargers, one on each bank, when I was racing in the SCCA Unlimited class.
Ran like a bat out of hell, but for some strange reason I kept blowing out rear-ends. Who knew? LOL.
Greg
Today being the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy, France, got me to thinking about my late Uncle Theo.
And that got me thinking about his wife, my aunt Virginia, who still lives up in north Alabama. So I put in a call to her to check in and let her know we expect to be up there around the middle of August to visit.
I didn’t find out until years later that he had landed on Omaha Beach during the first day of the attack. But Omaha Beach was just his third campaign. He was also part of the Torch landings in North Africa and the Husky Landings in Sicily.
All in all, he fought across Europe in 7 campaigns, ending up at the Battle of Bulge in Belgium. Dug in near Bastogne, Belgium, he said it was so cold nobody wanted to fight. “We could see the enemy, but we didn’t shoot at them, and they didn’t shoot at us.”
Here’s what I wrote last May after he died. Check out the rest of the story.
Around 3pm, I got the ladder out of the truck and went up on the roof of the rig to check out my leaking rear AC. The first thing I noticed was that there was no water running off the sides of the rig on this one, but plenty from the front unit.
And as usual in a simple job like this, one that should only take about 15 minutes, it took me almost an hour to just to get to the problem. It took me about 30 minutes to get one of the four bolts loose that holds the cover on the AC unit.
Then I started taking the sheet metal cover off the evaporator unit. And of course two of the 30 odd screws that hold it on were also stuck. So out comes the big screwdriver and the hammer.
Getting the cover off and moving the evaporator coil aside, it was easy to see the problem.
That white plastic tray is the drain pan and that round hole is the actual drain. There’s one on each end of the pan and they were both stopped up with all the gunk that was floating around in the pan, and the pan was full and running over and into the intake filter below and dripping down onto the bedroom floor.
I was able to unstop the drain holes enough to get things flowing for today. But I’m going to have to come back tomorrow to finish up by cleaning the evaporator coil, cleaning out the drain pan gunk, and then putting in some bleach to really clean out the drain holes. But I was wiped out for today. I’d been up there for almost two hours and the heat and sun were really starting to get to me. So I covered everything back up and came down.
Jan had been setting outside keeping an eye on me and could tell I wasn’t feeling well. When I went up on the roof it was overcast and about 80. When I came down the sun was out, and it was 88. Unfortunately it’s going to be even hotter the next few days so I may wait a few days to finish up.
But for now, the problem is fixed and it’s no longer leaking into the bedroom.
June 6, 2017
Dead Man’s Hand . . .
After yesterday’s 91°, today’s 75 and partly cloudy was a nice relief, especially since we didn’t get the also-promised rain showers this morning.
Today we thought we drive up north to Deadwood, so after a quiet morning we left the rig about 1pm. Getting into Deadwood about 30 minutes later, our first stop was the Visitor’s Center to pick up some brochures and make a restroom stop.
Then it was on to a recommended place for lunch, Harry’s Spaghetti Western Restaurant
We each got one of their dinners, starting with a salad.
After that, Jan got the Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken, while I got the Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Meatballs.
For dessert I had the Spumoni Ice Cream that came with the meal,
while Jan upgraded to the Tiramisu Cake.
And after a very good meal, we drove up the hill to the Mt. Moriah Cemetery, where both Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried . . . as well as over 3,600 other unlucky people. The place is enormous
We would have walked around a bit, but as you can tell it’s pretty steep and hilly, and since my knee has been acting up, we took a pass.
A friend of ours, Jim Dean, has, I think, his grandparents, buried here.
Coming back down the hill, we drove down Deadwood’s Historic Main Street.
Hence the sign ‘Historic Main Street’.
Leave it to me to sniff out a model train layout, and there was one right on Deadwood’s Historic Main Street.
The layout of the Northern Hills Railway Society is in the basement of a gift shop, and admission is free, though it costs $1 to run the trains for 10 minutes.
The layout is 80 feet by 16 feet with over 1200 feet of track, 54 engines and 400 cars.
One thing I liked is all the small details and dioramas.
Note the yellow biplane flying under the bridge below.
Coming back up to street level we were just in time for one of the scheduled gunfights.
When I saw the poker table set up I thought that they were reenacting the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok, but it was some other famous gunfight.
As it was the whole thing took place right in front of the saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was shot August 2, 1876.
Playing Five Card Draw, the hand Hickok was holding consisted of black aces and black eights, now known as a “Dead Man’s Hand”. He had discarded the fifth card, and supposedly the replacement had not been dealt. At least that’s the way the story goes.
What does it tell you about a town when they have so many saloons that they just number them, rather than name them.
Heading home about 4:30 we drove on into RC for a quick stop at the Harbor Freight for a couple of things. Then it was back to the rig with a stop at the office to re-up until Saturday.
Tomorrow, the Dinosaur Museum and Mt. Rushmore.
Thought for the Day:
Remember, what happens over the rainbow stays over the rainbow.
…..
Up Close And Personal . . .
Recapping our visit to the Alabama Safari Park just south of Montgomery yesterday. We had seen a flyer for it and decided we had time to check it out on our way down to Gulf Shores.
We got there a little before the 9am opening time and found ourselves already 4th in line. And more cars were quickly pulling in behind us. When they opened the gate we drove up to the Gift Shop to buy our tickets rather than do the drive-thru since Jan wanted to check out the Gift Shop, and we wanted a potty break before doing the 1-hour drive-through the park. And of course, Jan found a couple of things she wanted.
Crossing into the park we found a number of animals waiting to greet us.
Or at least waiting to sample some of the feed from the buckets we bought when we got our tickets. And the llamas pretty much shoulder everyone aside to get to the feed.
This guy came around to my side and seemed disappointed that I didn’t have any.
This Thomson’s Gazelle wouldn’t come right up to the Jeep but waited for us to throw the food on the ground.
But this Blackbuck wasn’t shy at all and stuck his head right in the window.
And everywhere we looked around this 350-acre park we saw animals.
Next up were Jan and Landon’s nemesis, the camels.
Jan, Landon, and camels do not get along very well.
Back in 2013, when Landon was 2-1/2, we took him to the Bayou Wildlife Zoo near us in Alvin, TX.
While we were taking the open-air tram ride, I thought this Bactrian Camel (two humps) was going to climb into the tram with Jan.
He took a liking to Landon’s brightly-colored backpack and decided he wanted it.
And came after it.
She kept trying to push him away, but a 1500 pound camel doesn’t push very easily.
I’m not sure if Jan was trying to protect Landon here, or trying to get Landon to save her.
But luckily he finally gave up as the tram pulled away.
But yesterday the camel just took the feed bucket away from Jan and proceeded to chow down.
While another one decided that our Styrofoam antenna ball looked tasty and started chewing on it,
finally pulling it loose and chewing it up.
We told them what had happened when we got back to the Gift Shop and they sent a guy out to check on the camel.
Then turning a corner, this is not what you want to see standing in the middle of the road, blocking your way, a 2000# Banteng.
But he turned out to be pretty gentle when we fed him, and he even let us pet him.
However, I think overall the ostriches are the scariest looking.
Then after losing the first feed bucket to the camels, Jan lost the second one to the Zebras. They just bit down on the bucket and snatched it out of her hand.
Next we saw Bison and the big-horned Watusi cattle, neither of which came close to the Jeep, which was fine with me.
We did come across these two ring-tailed lemurs out in the grass, running around like squirrels. However, I think these guys must have escaped from their enclosure since the guidebook says they have their own island surrounded by a moat.
I guess these guys learned to swim.
By the time we got back around to the exit, we could see a large crowd gathered to greet the new visitors.
And get fed.
Then after a very enjoyable visit, we were back on the road a little after 10am.
June 5, 2010
Salt Lake City…
About 11 am our friends, Pat and Judy, came over to our rig, and after talking for a while we headed out for lunch right down the street at Applebee’s.
After talking over old times after lunch, we headed out for some sightseeing. We spent several hours driving around downtown, and then up into the hills overlooking the city.
Here’s a shot of the Mormon Temple and the Temple plaza.
And here’s a side shot of the Temple.
This is up in the hills north of the city looking down on State St., the main thoroughfare running for miles out from the city.
Here’s a shot of the mountains to the west of Salt Lake City. They had snow here in Salt Lake just last week, and are trying to reopen the ski areas because of all the snow they’ve had.
And here’s another colorful mascot like the pronghorn antelope we saw the other day.
After coming back to the rig, Pat and Judy headed home for a while, Then about 5:30 we met them and some of their family at the Texas Roadhouse a few miles away.
We had a great time getting to know them, along with the great food.
After dinner we took Pat and Judy home, with a detour to the new Mormon Temple up in the hills overlooking Draper.
We got back to the rig a little before 8 pm and settled in for the night.
Tomorrow we’ll run some errands and then meet Pat and Judy at a nearby Famous Dave’s BBQ for dinner.
Weed, CA
June 5, 2011
Lavender Bears . . .
Here’s a new pic of Landon in his new pool. Brandi says he loves it and cries when she takes him out.
She also said she got to sleep in this morning since Lowell got up to take care of Landon. When she got up the house was quiet and she thought Lowell and Landon had made a Starbuck’s run, but when she came out into the living room, she found this. Apparently, they had pooped each other out. Really cute.
Friendly RV Park here in Weed
is a very nice little park with a great view of Mt. Shasta that should look like this.
But due to the rain and overcast looks like this.
Although it went down to 39 degrees last night it’s supposed to get into the 60’s today. And it’s supposed to really clear up on Tuesday. We’ll see.
About 12:30 we did our biweekly LandonSkyping, and as usual, Landon was all over the place. Brandi and Lowell said if they walk into another room, he’s crawling right along behind them.
We can hardly wait until we get to see him in August.
A little later Jan fixed a lunch of left-over Chinese from Taste of China in Oakhurst last week. I wish we’d brought a gallon of that Hot & Sour Soup with us.
After lunch I finally got the satellite working by moving it about 30 feet behind the rig and shooting through this gap in the trees. It also didn’t help that, although it’s hidden in the overcast,
this mountain, “Black Butte” is also in the way.
Because of all this I can only get about 75% signal level, but it works.
After a nice nap Jan and I headed out about 5:30 to downtown Weed and the Hi-Lo Diner. The Hi-Lo has been around since the 40’s and is the original store of what became the Black Bear Diner chain of 50 restaurants in 8 states. Apparently there was a divorce back in the 1970’s that split things up. One side then partially bought out the other, leaving the Hi-Lo by itself.
We had been told this place was really good and they were right. Jan had the Chicken Fried Chicken and I had the Chicken Fried Steak, and for dessert, Jan had the Blackberry Cobbler and I had the Peach Cobbler, both ala mode.
Boy was it all good. So good that we’re going to eat breakfast there tomorrow before we set out to explore the area.
Leaving the diner we drove around Weed, or what there is of it. Weed is a picturesque town but it only has about 2000 residents.
We did see this neat totem pole, although why it’s in front of a discount store, I have no idea.
Tomorrow, according to Jan, we going to look for lavender and bears . . . or lavender bears . . . or something like that. We’ll see.
More Gate Guarding Stuff
June 5, 2012
Mystery Solved . . .
The other day I’d complained about the fact that our fresh water tank was black so that with the summer sun on it, the water was always hot and you couldn’t take a cool shower even if you wanted to.
Well, reading on another blog, I found out why the tanks are black. Or at least the good ones. It keeps down the algae. The black tanks keep the sunlight out which greatly retards the growth of the green stuff. Actually I should I remember this from my aquarium days. But then that was back in my sticks and bricks lifetime, and far, far away.
I guess hot water is better than green water.
One of the many perks of being a gate guard, well, one of the perks, maybe, is the occasional catered meals brought in by vendors for the crew. And lucky for us, the gate guards are included in “crew”. But although we’d heard about the meals, this was the first time we’d been on the receiving end.
OK, there are two perks, the pay, and the occasional catered meal.
Ok, there’s one perk, the pay. The meals are just a bonus.
Last Friday, right before we got back from our granddaughter Piper’s graduation, they dropped off Fried Catfish and Shrimp Dinners, with Hushpuppies, Cole Slaw, and Corn, and though we didn’t have it until lunch the next day (Saturday), it was still good and crispy heated up.
But even better, right before suppertime the same day, a delicious! steak dinner showed up. Consisting of a great piece of meat, green beans, au gratin potatoes, salad with ranch dressing, a roll, and apple cobbler for dessert, it was really, really good. And the steak covered the entire bottom of the compartment. The green beans are on top of it.
The steak was still hot and juicy, and tender enough you could cut it with the plastic fork. In fact, everything was hot, except the salad, which was cold. Not sure how they did that. Guess they added the salad at the last minute.
Anyway, it was amazing how good everything was. The potatoes were melt-in-your-mouth, and I’d swear the green beans were fresh, not canned or frozen. Even the roll tasted fresh-baked, not the generic pull-apart variety. All in all, a great meal.
And the rumor is, there’s another meal coming today (Wednesday) or tomorrow. Here’s hoping.
I was reading on the RV.net forum about a gate guard couple working a gate with multiple rigs. They’re apparently handling about 600 vehicles a day (We normally do 60-80), but because of the heavy traffic, they’re making $565 a day.
Wow! That’s a little over $206,000 a year. When I mentioned this to Jan, I guess I had a little too much excitement in my voice, because she gave me “The Look”, and . . . you married guys know “The Look”, right? The one that means you just stepped in quicksand and there’s no way you’re getting your foot back in one piece . . . yeah, that Look. Anyway, she Looked at me, and said “Don’t even think about it.”
Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
June 5, 2016
Moving On Down The Road . . .
Jan and I were up about 6:30 for our usual pre-prep to travel back to Lake Conroe today. As usual I had done a lot of things yesterday afternoon to get ready, I.e., stowed the sewer hose, etc. I normally would have also put up the shore water hose, but since I don’t have a working water pump right now, I left it hooked up for today’s showers.
The replacement water pump is on the list, but it’s now been pushed down to third place. Instead, first up now is to climb up on the roof and check the drain holes on the rear AC. I’ve got water coming in from the AC filter when it’s running and I don’t see any sign of it running off the side of the rig as normal. It’s probably an algae buildup.
Then second, is my microwave door problem. The latch has apparently broken inside and I can’t open the door, even after holding in the button and pulling on the door as has been suggested.
At this point, looks like I’m going to have pull it out of its over-the-counter cabinet, and remove the panels to get to the latch to release it. Replacement parts should only be about $18. Certainly better than $300-$400 for a new one.
Jan and I headed into Columbus for our usual Schobel’s breakfast buffet. We always eat here before we leave Colorado River, and always have breakfast at the Cracker Barrel before we leave Lake Conroe.
Yes, it is a rut, but it’s a tasty rut.
Besides attracting us to the good food, Schobel’s also seems to attract neat customized trikes. This was the first one we saw in their parking lot last December.
And then this one today.
I didn’t get enough of a look at the engine to know what it is, beyond a V-8. Maybe a reader will know.
With a Busch beer keg for a fuel tank, and a Busch beer container for a saddle bag, I’m sensing a theme here.
Now that’s heavy-duty suspension. It would look right at home on a John Deere tractor, especially with the green paint job.
A switch for everything.
Now I’m not sure what the little ‘distillery’ here is for. That’s the fan and radiator in that rear box, so maybe it’s his radiator overflow.
But since it’s a Russian Standard Vodka bottle, maybe he’s making up some homebrew as he drives.
A neat bike.
Back at the park, I was outside finishing up and ran into Vicki Hall, a fellow gate guard, and Facebook friend. She had posted a photo of their 5th wheel and said they were at Colorado River. When I saw the photo I realized they were parked right behind us.
Then a little later, Vicki’s husband Roy also came over to say “Hi”. Nice to put a face to a name and a Facebook post.
The way we’re parked on this circle, the rear end of our coach is near the camper right next door. Since our engine compartment is only about 15 feet from where they were outside cooking and eating breakfast, and we weren’t in any real hurry, I decided to wait for them to finish before I cranked up since it takes 5-6 minutes for the rig to come up on the suspension airbags before we can pull out..
So about 15 minutes we were pulling out and getting hitched up. And by 10:30 we were on our way to Conroe.
Saturday, when we were traveling down to Seabrook for our Taft/NASA reunion, we both commented on how there was no wind along the way, with the flags all hanging limp. But we both figured it would be different today, And it was.
Today the flags along the way were all at right angles to the poles. The only redeeming part was that it wasn’t as gusty as in the past, just steady from the north.
Passing Brookshire, we pulled over on the shoulder for a potty stop. This is a good place for that because the shoulders on both sides of the three lanes are extra-wide, due to the fact that they are designated as Evaculanes for hurricane evacuation, giving people 5 lanes to get out of town.
While we were stopped I cranked up the generator and turned on the AC’s. When we left Colorado River, it was overcast and 73 degrees, and it was supposed to stay that way the whole trip. But the sun came out and put an end to that. So AC’s it was.
We got into the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails a little after 12:30 and found a nice site in our favorite ‘E’ ring. Then a little later, I talked with Judy Mott about getting together while we’re both here. Really looking forward to seeing Dick and Judy again.
Life is good.
Still In Rapid City, SD
June 5, 2017
Working, But Not Fixed . . .
Or, Led Down the Wrong Path.
Well, we finally hit the 90’s today with a high of 91°, but tomorrow’s high is supposed to be 75. So a little let-up in the temps.
And along with the heat came afternoon thunderstorms, which meant I was dodging lightning while I was outside working on installing the new starter. And as I figured it was a lot harder to get the starter back on with the solenoid already attached.
According to the manual I should be doing all this with the generator out of the rig and the bottom panel off. Which is why it takes me so long to accomplish this repair.
In fact it took over an hour and a half of fooling with the starter, getting the two bolts started and finally tightened down. Then it was just a matter of connecting up all the wires and then reconnecting the 300amp fuse in the battery bay to put 12 volts back on the generator.
So now it was just a matter of pressing the Start button and listening to it crank, right?
Wrong!
Dead silence.
So now it was back to basics. So I rechecked the wiring that I had reconnected and checked for the high amperage 12 volts at the back of the solenoid.
All OK.
So my next check was for the 12 volt control signal coming from the Start button to the back of the solenoid. Because of the way the wiring harness was routed before I removed the starter, I couldn’t get to this connection before to check it. But getting the wire loose from the back of the solenoid, I put one lead of the voltmeter on it and the other on a ground connection, and pressed the Start button.
No 12 volts.
So next I made up a jumper wire with a spade lug on one end and bare on the other end. And after plugging it into the back of the solenoid, I touched the bare end to the high amperage 12 volt lug on the back of the solenoid.
And after several tries, the generator cranked up and ran.
So I had just learned a $166 lesson, buying a new starter that I probably didn’t need.
But as I said, before I couldn’t get to the wire anyway. So now I needed to find out why the signal wasn’t getting to the solenoid. So I went back to the copy of the service manual that I had downloaded. And all it told me was the signal from the Start button went into the Controller box and came out to the solenoid. Not a lot of help.
Next I got on the phone to Cummins/Onan for some tech help. I was trying to figure which connector on the controller fed into the wire harness and then out to the solenoid. But as happens, what I was seeing on the generator itself did not match up with what the manual said.
But the tech help wasn’t much help. In fact, since my generator was18 years old, they didn’t have any service data on it, not even a copy of the service manual that I had found online. So I was on my own.
I did try several things to trace the wire with no luck. Then finally I was chased back inside by another thunderstorm rumbling through.
But the pressure is off. I can make the generator run, even if I have to run a separate wire from the solenoid to inside the rig. But however, we will have the house AC’s running while we’re on our way back to Texas in the next few weeks.
But at least now I have a spare starter.
Tomorrow if it doesn’t rain we’re going up to Deadwood to take a look around.
Thought For The Day:
WE ARE ALL: Ugly to someone, fake to someone, stuck-up to someone, ain’t shit to someone, a loser to someone, a bitch to someone.
BUT WHO THE HELL CARES.
Make your money, pay your bills, take care of yourself and your family, and don’t worry what anyone else thinks.
….
