Just a short blog tonight since I didn’t get home ‘til almost 8pm after helping a friend with some computer/TV stuff.
Today started out with Jan getting her toeies done at Galaxy Nails, and then she came right next door to where I had been waiting at the King’s Bierhaus restaurant. I just sat and read on my tablet while I waited.
And once again, Jan was not happy with her nail visit. She got there at 11:45 for her Noon appointment, and still didn’t get called in until about 12:20.
What’s the appointment for? And this is the second time this has happened.
And then after a great meal at the Bierhaus, it was on over to the HEB for our weekly HEB stuff, this time on Saturday because they’re closed tomorrow.
And this is something you will never see at Wal-Mart.
Every single one of their 24 checkout lanes was open. That’s 17 full-service lanes and 7 self-checkout ones.
I’ve been in Wal-Mart on Christmas and the day before Thanksgiving, and you’re lucky to find even half of theirs open.
Thought For The Day:
Houston: The only place I can drive 15 mph OVER the speed limit and still have to stay in the right lane because everyone else is trying to pass me.
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
March 30, 2011
We leave tomorrow–Yay!
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that Jan is really under the weather. She woke up this morning with a headache, and then later in the morning started feeling queasy. And it just got worse as the day went on.
By the evening she still had her headache, queasy stomach, and maybe a little fever and joint aches. Basic symptoms might indicate flu, but she has no cough or runny nose. And to the best of my knowledge we’ve not been around anyone with the flu. The normal incubation period is 1 – 4 days.
We got up about 9 this morning and had coffee before I put in a call to Thousand Trails to see if the TT computer had spit out our membership number. And lo and behold, it had.
We were now officially Thousand Trail members. So I immediately tried to make a reservation at Verde Valley. And found out that you can’t make a reservation without a PIN number, and you can’t get a PIN number online, even though it says you can generate a new PIN, you must already have one to get one.
So after calling TT Membership Services and being given one, I went back online and made a reservation for tomorrow.
We’re on our way.
About 3 I drove over to Ace Hardware to pick up some 3’ #10 wood screws to use with the EZ Anchors I already had.
I was trying to remount the grab bar mounted under the dashboard at the entry door and the original holes had enlarged too much when the bar came off. But these anchors will hold 50# a piece, so we’ll see if they hold.
About 5:45 Al & Adrienne called to say they were ready for supper, but Jan was just too sick to go, so we made a date for breakfast tomorrow morning at 8am at Poco & Mom’s. Hopefully, Jan will be feeling better by then.
Later in the evening, I decided it was time to finally install Service Pak 1 for Win7 that came out a few weeks ago. And I also installed Internet Explorer 9 at the same time. I’ve learned over the years to never install an update when it first comes. It’s much safer to wait a couple of weeks for MS to get the bugs out.
But luckily everything went fine. I’m still trying to get IE9 configured like I like it, since they moved some things around and hid others.
More from Verde Valley tomorrow.
March 30, 2012
Living in Las Cruces . . .
Today was the day we would finally get our coach back and be back on the road.
NOT!
We had a breakfast of coffee and muffins at the hotel about 8:30. OK muffin. Bad coffee, BAD COFFEE, BAD!
Then about 10am I took a load of stuff from the hotel room back to the rig and checked in with the repairs. Found out our new exhaust manifold had not come yet, but was expected shortly.
Getting back to the hotel I asked the front desk if we could stay a couple of hours past checkout time and they said ‘no problem”. About noon Jan and I headed over to Carl’s Jr. for a lunch of burgers and fries. Really good. We’ve always liked Carl’s since we first ate at one up in Fairbanks, AK in 2008.
Returning to the shop, I found that the exhaust manifold had finally come in and the tech was hard at work on it, but didn’t think he’d be finished up until between 2 and 3, too late for us to head out for Balmorhea. So it looked like we’d be spending another night in Las Cruces, but this time in our rig.
About 3pm Jan and I headed out on our test drive. We did about 6 miles including a couple of miles on I-10 with no problems. I did notice the increased power on acceleration, and the better working Pac Brake, both a result of replacing the leaky exhaust manifold.
However, I did notice a problem with my air pressure. It was varying a lot, and dropping way down at slow speeds. This was not normal. Before I left on my test drive, the tech had mentioned my purge valve was venting air, and I said it seems to do that when it’s been parked for a while. But when we got back from the test drive, it was still venting, wide open apparently. In fact it kept venting after the engine was off until there was no pressure left in the system.
Again, not normal.
While we were on our test drive, I noticed that Coachlight RV Park where we planned to stay was pretty full, so as soon as we got back I called and found out they only had a couple of sites left, so while the tech was looking at the purge valve, I drove the truck over to the RV park and got us a site for the night.
When I got back, the tech had run another coolant pressure test on the engine and again found no problems, or coolant in the oil. Finally, some good news.
He took the purge valve off and tried to clean it, but to no effect, so I told him to just replace it. And a few minutes later he came back and said they didn’t have one in stock and would have to order it. I said OK and told him to overnight it.
Then came the bad news. It was too late on a Friday afternoon to get an order in so it would have to be ordered on Monday, and so even overnighted, it wouldn’t get here until Tuesday.
CRAP!
But I didn’t want to head out across West Texas and have the purge valve fail and leave me with locked-up brakes at the side of the road.
The tech then said they might have the complete kit in stock that would include not only the valve but all the filters and parts to basically rebuild the air system. He said the valve by itself was $28, but the kit was $160. I told him let’s go with the kit. Of course, he came back a few minutes later and said they didn’t have the kit either.
DOUBLE CRAP!
I told the tech we would wait until Tuesday, and to go ahead and order the full kit and get it fixed right.
At that point, I told him I’d check with him Monday afternoon, and with Jan following me in the truck, started to drive the rig right down the road to Coachlight.
Note, that the operative word is “started”. As in the engine would start, but the rig wouldn’t go. The air system would not build up enough pressure to release the brakes. So I tracked down the tech and told him the problem, and after a few minutes of work, he managed to bypass the valve temporarily and get us on our way.
So it now looks like we’ll be here until Tuesday, at least.
A little before 6 Jan and I headed over to El Comedor for another really good meal of Mexican food, That’s one good thing about staying here a few extra days. They’ve got some great Mexican restaurants here, and the way things are going, we might get to eat at all of them.
We got back to the rig about 7 and settled in. We’ve still got some stuff to put away after living in the hotel for 5 days, but it’s good to be home.
March 30, 2013
Wrapping Up . . .
here in Tucson.
Today is our last full day in Tucson for this trip. It’s been a great time, but we’re really looking forward to moving on, especially since we’re heading up to Apache Junction, where we’ve never spent any time.
New is almost always good. Usually.
We decided we needed one more Brushfire BBQ fix so we headed out about 10:30, but this time we just split a Rib-Brisket Combo Plate. Even that was a lot of food. But it was as delicious as before.
Getting home, I got back to work wrapping up my two electrical projects. First up, I redid the grounds on my truck taillights, and that seems to have fixed my problem once and for all. I hooked the truck up to the rig and tested all the lights. And now everything works.
Next up was my dash lights/Headlights-On Alarm. I decided not to do anything about the headlight switch problem that’s causing the dash lights to work intermittently. I can make them work by fooling with the switch, and I don’t want to try to get it out/repaired and not have it working when we travel tomorrow.
So I went ahead and installed my Headlights-On Alarm, got it tested and the dashboard put back together, so we’re ready to roll tomorrow morning.
We don’t plan to leave here tomorrow before about 11 because it’s only about a 150-mile trip to Apache Junction, and TT parks sometimes get fussy if you arrive before the check-in time of 2pm. So we’re probably going to go up to Bruegger’s Bagels for coffee and a breakfast sandwich before we head out.
March 30, 2015
T-Ball and BBQ . . .
Our daughter Brandi sent over some photos of Landon’s first T-Ball game this season.
Pre-Game Huddle
Who’s on Third?
Heading for home.
Later in the afternoon I went outside and installed the new Camco EVO Premium Water Filter that I bought on closeout from Wal-Mart yesterday. It was very easy to install and set up, and replaced the smaller type of blue Camco filter that we’ve used for years.
Per the instructions, I hooked it up to the faucet and let the water run for a couple of minutes to flush out the filter before I connected it to the coach water intake. The box said that this filter is high-flow at 5GPM, and it seems to show up in the water pressure inside the coach.
The instructions say the filter will last an ‘entire camping season’. Not sure exactly what that means, but I’ll check it in a month or so and see what it looks like. A replacement filter seems to be less than $15 so that’s not bad.
Our daughter-in-law Linda posted this pic of some new patio furniture that our son Chris repurposed out of scrap wood. It’s also nice to see some of our ornaments, the piranha and the lizard, are still in view.
About 6 Jan heated up some leftovers for dinner. She had her chicken pasta dish from The Tilted Kilt while I finished up the rest of my BBQ Combo Platter from Famous Dave’s BBQ last week.
March 30, 2016
Still on the Trail . . .
After coffee this morning, I got back to looking at my AC problem, this time starting to run tests at the control box from inside the unit.
![AC Control Box_thumb[3]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/AC-Control-Box_thumb3.png "AC Control Box_thumb[3]")
The first test was to look for 12vdc between the ‘Y’ terminal and the ‘B’ terminal on the control box, and there’s where it went off the rails.
Instead of 12v, I found 0.77v, not quite enough. This voltage is what pulls in the relay that turns on the compressor. So if it’s not right, then no compressor, no cooling.
Looks like I’m on the right track.
Since this 12v signal is supposed to be coming from the thermostat, I thought I’d next eliminate the thermostat itself by swapping out the control heads between the front and back units.
![Honeywell Thermostat_thumb[6]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Honeywell-Thermostat_thumb6.png "Honeywell Thermostat_thumb[6]")
I was hoping this might be a quick fix, but no. So next I measured the voltages on the thermostat base plate.
![Honeywell Thermostat Base Plate_thumb[2]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Honeywell-Thermostat-Base-Plate_thumb2.png "Honeywell Thermostat Base Plate_thumb[2]")
To get a baseline on a working unit, I measured the voltages on the unit in the bedroom, and found that from the red wire connection on the left, I had 12v on the White, Yellow, and Red wires. The switch is something I added a while back to let me manually switch between HIGH and LOW fan speeds.
But when I measured the unit up front, I got 12v, 5.9v, and 12v. And the 5.9 volts is on the Yellow wire which is the compressor signal. So I’m still on the trail.
OK, but why when I measure the voltage on the yellow wire at the control box I get .77v, but when I measure it at the thermostat base, I get 5.9 v. It’s supposed to be the same wire. I mean, according to the diagrams, it is.
But, next, when I checked the continuity between the two yellow wires, I get nothing. It’s completely open. But it couldn’t have been this way to start with. Otherwise it wouldn’t have worked . . . ever.
Then in looking over the Coleman diagrams again, I suddenly realized something. I don’t know where the 12v is coming from that feeds all this. On a home system, there’s a 24VAC transformer that provides the power to the thermostat and to the relays. But this thermostat runs on 2 AA batteries.
Thinking maybe it was coming from the AC unit somehow, I switched off the breaker feeding the AC, and still found the 12, 5.9, 12 voltages at the thermostat base. So next I checked the rig’s 12 volt fuse panel, but found nothing there either.
So the 12v must be coming from the rig somewhere, but where? The wires just feed out the side of the opening where the AC unit mounts and into the area between the roof and the ceiling, and the 120vac wires do just the same.
At this point, I called it a night, and I’ll call American Coach tomorrow to see if they can help me out.
A number of you ask about Jan’s Funeral Potatoes recipe. First off, Jan will be the first to tell you it’s not hers, it’s Ree Drummond’s, from The Pioneer Woman cooking show. But if you want to try it out, I’ve posted it on Jan’s Favorite Recipe page.
Bon Appétit !
March 30, 2017
Chili Today, Chilly Tomorrow . . .
Well, the cold front started moving in this afternoon, announced by the strong, gusting winds that really rocked the coach. Glad we’re not on the road today.
After a high of 85° today, we’re looking for a high of 66° tomorrow, but still sunny. And then it’s down to 48 tomorrow night. Very nice.
I again spent the morning and early afternoon doing some website work, before heading out about 2pm for some errands, with my first stop at the park office for our mail and to ask permission.
The park has a firm rule against any vehicle washing, rig, toad, golf cart, or whatever. But I noticed a lot of people here have gardens that they water every day, So I ask the manager lady if I could use my flower garden water allotment to finish cleaning off the rig wheels. And after making a face, she said OK.
A while back at an RV Rally I bought a spray bottle of Busch’s Aluminum Wash that was supposed to clean off the corrosion on the rig’s aluminum wheels.
I tried it a couple of weeks ago while we were at Cochise Terrace RV Park in Benson, but the spray nozzle was defective and it just kind of spritzed out, but after waiting the required two minutes and then hosing it off, it was easy to tell that it was really working. It went from this
to this.
Streaky, but it’s obvious it was working. So now I can do all the wheels.
Leaving the office, my next stop was the Chase Bank on Apache Trail to get a $60 money order to mail in with my Arizona CCW application tomorrow. Then it was on to the Fry’s right down the road to pick up a few things before finally heading home.
One of the things that came in the mail was the replacement Moen cartridge for our rig shower. I requested a new one under Moen’s Lifetime Warranty, but it didn’t come in until after we left for Tucson. So as soon as we were in one place for a while our daughter Brandi sent it on out to us.
So it’s now on my repair list. Glad that I got a free one under warranty since a new one is about $50.
About 4pm Jan served up big bowls of Jan’s Famous Chili, which was as delicious as usual. This time, rather than adding corn tortillas, we crumbled up tortilla chips in the bowl along with the shredded cheese.
Gives it a crunchy bite. And yes, it has beans in it. And, no, I don’t want to hear about it.
And this time we got to try out the padded bowl holders Jan bought at the recent Escapade.
They not only keep your hands cool, but they also help hold in the heat in the bowl. Very useful.
Tomorrow? Shiny Wheels and a Non-leaking shower?
March 30, 2018
Soup!
Not much new at work today. Set up a new Canon laser printer and got it working on the network. It’s a high-speed duplex printer and will be used to print out our catalogs.
Getting home about 4:15 I put together a batch of quickie vegetable soup. I start with chicken broth, spiced (salt, pepper, minced garlic, minced onions, thyme, and oregano plus ground habanero for some heat) to taste. Then I dump in a large package of Birdseye Frozen Mixed Vegetables (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Squash, and Zucchini)
And after about 7 minutes in the microwave, it’s all hot and bubbly.
And delicious.
March 30, 2019
No Hikes, Bikes, or Hills . . .
Jan and I went back through the possible Added Cost Excursions for our upcoming Viking River Cruise, trying to nail down which ones, if any, we wanted to tack on to the trip.
The first pass was easy. Jan said we were eliminating any with the words, Hike, Bike, or Hills in the title. And that got us down to about 15 out of 40 or so. Even though this is only a 15-day cruise, some days have 3 or 4 different ones available.
Then we went through them again checking for conflicts with the free excursions that we’ve already booked. Luckily Viking makes this easy by listing any possible conflicts for us. So then we had to decide if we wanted to do the Included one or the Added Cost one.
By the 4 or 5th pass through the list, we’d narrowed it down to 3 add-ons, and not a hike, bike, or hill in sight. So now all we have left is a couple of possible tours during our stay in London.
With that done Jan and I headed out for lunch and some errands about 1pm. Before leaving the park, we dropped off some garbage at the dumpster and checked out the changes going on.
It’s always nice to see park owners putting money back into a park, and this is a nice upgrade. Over the next few months, all the sites are being updated to have a full concrete pad.
Looks like what’s going to happen is that we’re going to play musical rigs as they do one site at a time and we move around.
One thing we wanted to do at lunch was to check out the traffic changeover at I-45 and FM646 scheduled for this weekend. The southbound side of I-45 was to be shut down, but the northbound side was supposed to be routed over part of the new overpass. But, apparently, they lied.
Both sides of the I-45 were closed and traffic was backed up for miles. We got out of it by driving back up an entrance ramp onto the feeder and following Google Maps out into the countryside for a while.
We finally got to our lunch stop, Crazy Alan’s Swamp Shack, about 2:30, an hour after we should have gotten there, but it was certainly worth the delay. We had received a coupon in the mail giving us a free appetizer with an entrée so we thought we’d give it a try.
We started off with the Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms as our freebie,
made with fresh mushrooms stuffed with crab, green onions, garlic, sherry wine, bread crumbs, and topped with white wine cream sauce. One taste and we knew we had made a great choice, both the appetizer and the restaurant.
While Jan followed up with a really good Side Salad with Ranch,
I couldn’t pass up checking out their Shrimp and Crab Gumbo.
It is a Cajun place, after all. And it too, was really good. A little thicker, darker roux than my other fav, Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, but with a slight burnt aftertaste that made it great.
For our entrée’s, Jan got the Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Grilled Veggies,
while I got the Spicy Shrimp Boil.
All I can say is that we have a new favorite place, and it’s close by, too.
And we didn’t even get to try the Crown Royal Whiskey Bread Pudding. We were too full. So next time, no to the appetizer, and yes to splitting a Bread Pudding.
After that great meal, our next stop was right up the mall to the Verizon store to find out if my Galaxy S8+ phone is unlocked so that I can use a European SIM card on our trip to get phone, text, and data while we’re over there. They couldn’t tell me, but gave me a number to call that would know.
Then it was a little further up the road to one of Jan’s favorite spots, The Container Store, so she could check out their travel section for packing stuff.
Finishing up, we made Sam’s Club/WalMart stops to pick up and drop off prescriptions, and then headed home via the long way down Hwy 6 to avoid the Interstate shutdown.
And now I’ll have to plot a new route for our rig check ride tomorrow to avoid I-45.
March 30, 2020
What’s the End Game?
After our successful AC repair on Saturday, Sunday seemed like a good day to get started on our Rubbermaid storage shed. I had already opened the box to get out the manual and some of the parts bags,
So, following the manual, I pulled out the 3 floor pieces and laid them out on the patio. But before I could screw them together I first had to use a screwdriver to punch out the holes in two of the panels.
After I put the first couple of screws I could tell my battery-powered screwdriver wasn’t going to hack it for all 16 screws, and it was going to be a lot easier if I drilled some 1/8” pilot holes in the planks. And it did make a big difference.
I was pleasantly surprised at how sturdy the flooring was, with no sags or give when I walked on it. Next, I laid out the side and roof panels in place to see how it all fit together.
Because of the emphasis on keeping the shed level as it’s being assembled, we decided to put it together on the patio and then slide it over to the plywood platform we’re setting up on the rocks behind the patio.
I sometimes wonder if the people who wrote this manual ever had an outsider put together a shed using it. For example, the manual tells you to punch out the screw holes in the left rear wall panel,
and then snap the panel into place on the floor. But the panel has to be held upright by one person while the other one is told to punch out the holes in the rear wall and then set it in place.
OK, why not just tell you to punch out ALL the holes in ALL the panels before you start putting it together, rather than have someone just stand there holding a panel up?
We decided to do just as much prep work as we could on Sunday and then start the actual assembly on Tuesday. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get all the walls up and fastened together, and maybe a little of the roof done.
March 30, 2021
She’s All Clear!
After lunch at Dickinson Seafood once again, I dropped Jan off at the Solis Mammogram Center up in Webster a little before her 2pm appointment. Then I was off up the feeder to pick up some stuff at the nearby Lowe’s. Next, I headed over to the office for what I thought would be a couple hours before Jan was ready to be picked up. At least that had always been the time in the past.
But I was only able to get a couple of things done, when I got a call from Jan saying she was ready to be picked up, and it had not even been a full hour yet.
And even better, she had the All Clear signal for another year.
Yay!
Picking her up at the Mammogram Center, we drove back down toward Santa Fe, with a stop by the HEB for a few things before getting back to the rig about 4pm.
All in all, a Great Day!
Well, as usual, Texas weather can’t make up its mind. Today we had a high of 81° and are expecting a low of 70 tonight. And tomorrow we’re looking at a high of 77. But then tomorrow night it all changes.
Tomorrow night we’re looking at a low of only 46° AND Gale Force winds. And Thursday and Friday night, it’s supposed to be 48° and 52°.
‘Gale Force Winds?’
March 30, 2022
That’s Twice Now . . .
You’d think I’d learn.
I worked on a number of projects yesterday, but wasn’t able to finish any of them.
First up was to replace my leaking water tank fill valve with a new one. I couldn’t find an exact replacement, since it’s now only sold in Europe.
But I did find this one on Amazon.
It was a little shorter than the original one, but I thought I had enough slack in the tubing to make up the difference.
I was wrong.
My first task was to remove the water line connecting to the left side of the old valve. Although it took a little work, I finally got the 23-year-old joint loose and pulled it apart. At this point, water started running out of the open line, draining from our 100-gallon fresh water tank. Prepared for this, I immediately screwed the new valve onto the line to stop the flow. Leaving me with this.
Then I removed the line going to the other end of the valve, a little more difficult since it was hanging free. But it finally came loose.
So now I switched the old and new valves, using the old one to keep water from running out of the freshwater tank. Next, I screwed the new valve onto the open line and tightened it down. But when I removed the old valve and tried to hook the line up to the new valve, it wouldn’t quite reach.
Bummer!
So I put the old valve back in place and tightened it all down, done for the day. I was going to have to find a short extender piece to make it work.
Moving on, I wanted to change out my rusted 2 hose splitter with my new solid brass 4 spout one like this.
Using my water pump pliers (nee Channellock’s), I started loosening the connector. At least I thought I was loosening it. But then I realized that the outer yellow plastic ring was all that was turning, not the actual inner metal connector. It was not turning at all.
And then, suddenly, I had a bad feeling about this. It was déjà vu all over again.
I had been here before.
And the last time I actually had to cut both the plastic ring and the metal connector off, using my oscillating multi-tool. This, because I couldn’t really force the connection since it was all mounted on a PVC pipe, which I did not want to break off.
And I also remember that to forestall this happening again, I used both Teflon tape and plumber’s grease on the connection.
Which apparently didn’t work very well.
So now I’ve got to dig out my multi-tool and cut this one off too.
Done for the morning, we headed up to Webster to have lunch at Snooze for brunch.
Jan had her usual Bravocado Toast,
while I got the Goldilocks’ Porridge, a mix of steel-cut oats, quinoa, and millet simmered in almond milk and topped with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, bananas, toasted almonds, and hemp seeds.
Really very good.
March 30, 2023
Kountry Eating . . .
Today was an easy one, just lunch at Kelley’s Kountry Kitchen once again and then home.
Jan got her usual Grilled Fish and Veggies,
while I got their Chili & Eggs with Grits and Wheat Toast.
Yum-Yum!
So far so good with my unwanted Windows 11 upgrade. It just looks a little different, but doesn’t seem to be any better, or faster. More like just coder make-work to justify their salaries.
Now back to the remainder of our Friday in Kingsland.
After our Bluebonnet drive out in the country,
we had lunch at one of Chris and Linda’s favorite places, The Potato Shack.
Jan had the Strawberry Chicken Salad,
while Chris and I had the Rib/Potato Combo.
Really good.
And you know it’s got to be good when they only serve breakfast once a month and have to take reservations because it’s so popular.
Getting back to Chris’ we sat around outside just enjoying the view, including the resident animal life.
And that includes Bob.
Bob is a mostly outside cat who roams the woods, apparently not afraid of the coyotes and foxes that inhabit the area. He will come inside to eat, or if the weather is bad, but he soon wants back out.
Jan and I stayed around until after sunset, wanting to get a good photo of the backyard with the lighting that Chris had installed.
Unfortunately, the camera in my Galaxy S21 Ultra is just too good at taking low-light photos
This was taken about 30 minutes after sunset, with the only real light coming from the trees.
Brandi, Lowell, and Landon will be coming in later tonight, with Piper and Derek arriving tomorrow afternoon.
Looking forward to seeing everyone together.
