Category Archives: Maintenance and Repair

Goatheads

We had a fairly quiet day at the High Desert RV Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday. It was windy in the morning, but Donna was determined to go out for a bicycle ride. Wind is the worst on a bicycle. It’s an invisible force that holds you back as you pedal into it. When you climb a hill, you know there’s a summit ahead. When you ride into the wind, it can feel like there’s no end in sight.

Around here, we have hills as well as wind. High Desert RV Park is just west of the city. Albuquerque sits in a valley – more like a basin actually. The Rio Grande River runs through the center of the city. Our location has us high above the Rio Grande. Most of the good bicycling roads run east from here, down into the valley. Of course that means the return trip is all uphill. At least Donna was riding downhill into the wind yesterday and had a tailwind component while climbing. That was the good news.

The bad news was that she got a flat about a mile away from our site. She decided to walk the distance back to our coach which meant pushing her bike uphill most of the way. When she reached our site, she told me her front tire was flat. I pulled the wheel and removed the tire. I found remnants of goathead thorns in the tire.

Goathead stickers (Google file photo)

Goatheads (tribulus terrestris) are a non-native invasive species that thrives in arid climates. The fruit of the plant drops in clusters of five nutlets or burrs. Each burr has two to four sharp spines. They are a hazard to bare feet and dog fur – and also bicycle tires.

I only felt one goathead spine penetrating the inside of the tire. I pulled all of the spines I could find from the tire. Then I patched the tube and pumped the tire up. Then I noticed her rear tire was flat as well. I found more goathead spines in the rear tire. I located the puncture and patched it after pulling all of the spines I could find from the rear tire. Then I noticed the front tire had deflated. I retrieved a bucket from the trailer and filled it with water. I inflated the freshly patched rear tube and dunked it in the water bucket. The patch didn’t leak but I saw a steady stream of air bubbles coming from two other holes in the tube. I wasn’t going to put three patches on, so I replaced the tube.

Then I removed the front tire again and pumped up the tube. When I dunked it, I had the same result – patch was good but two other holes streamed bubbles in the water. Luckily I had four new inner tubes on hand in the trailer. While I was inspecting her tires, I came to the conclusion that it was time to replace them. The tread surface is fine with lots of rubber left, but the sidewalls are looking thin and fragile with cord showing in places. These are handmade racing tires – not the most durable. Donna’s no longer racing and the liveliness and slight speed advantage these tires offer aren’t worth risking a blowout. I ordered two new Continental Gatorskin tires for her. These are durable tires resistant to punctures. With my Amazon Prime account, they’ll deliver here on Saturday.

Our site at High Desert RV Park

I set up the Traeger smoker/grill. Donna had the large mat under our awning with chairs out and the table cloth on the table. I roasted chicken thigh quarters that Donna seasoned with Stubbs dry rub. The Stubbs has become a go-to rub for us.

Chicken thigh quarters hot off the Traeger

Donna served the chicken with forbidden rice and bok choy braised in white wine, chicken broth, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. And it was ready just in time for the Thursday Night Football game.

Chicken thigh quarter with braised bok choy and forbidden rice

The New York Giants pulled off a win against the Washington Redkins, but neither team looks to be real threat.

We have pleasant weather today, no wind. The forecast calls for a high of 77 under clear, sunny skies. I’ll scooter Donna down to old town Albuquerque where she’ll meet up with her friend, Hazel Thornton, for lunch. After dropping her off, I’ll make a Costco run.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Sour Ale

Thursday was a pretty quiet day around here. My big deal for the day was servicing the scooter. I changed the engine oil and filter and also the gearbox lube. This is required every 3,000 miles. Donna went out for about an hour on her bicycle. Later she walked to the natural foods store half a mile from here. She was disappointed in the quality of their produce though. As usual, Ozark hung out and watched the birds outside.

Ozark keeping an eye on things

I went to the office and extended our stay here at Los Suenos de Santa Fe RV park through Monday. It’s a good thing I did it when I did – the place is sold out next week! The Thursday night NFL game was entertaining. It looked like it was heading to overtime when the Broncos stunned the Chiefs in the waning seconds to win 31-24.

On Friday morning, I rode the scooter over to the community center to play pickleball. Donna walked over about a half hour after I arrived. I played for nearly three hours. I was whipped by the time we were done! We were told about a new outdoor pickleball court that will open Saturday afternoon. I don’t know if my legs can take another day of pickleball at this point though.

On Friday afternoon, I repaired the windshield washer nozzle on the passenger side. I’ve been putting it off since we arrived here. The plastic housing where the hose attaches cracked and separated from the nozzle. After thinking about it, I decided to try gluing it back together with a contact adhesive called Goop. This stuff will adhere to almost anything. The trick is to pre-fit the parts so you know exactly how you want them positioned. I applied a thin bead on both parts and allowed it set for two minutes. Then I pressed the housing into place and held it for a few minutes. That’s all there was to it. By allowing the contact adhesive to set up first, when you press the parts together, they bond immediately. It looks like it will be a good repair – time will tell.

For happy hour, Donna and I went to Duel Brewing – a Belgian-style brewery and tap room (map). Duel isn’t your run-of-the-mill micro-brewery. They specialize in Belgian-style beers that are complex to brew and unique in taste and character. I had a Belgian pale sour ale. Sour ales are so different and can be very tasty. They are made sour by intentionally allowing wild yeasts or certain bacteria to enter the wort. Usually brewmasters do everything possible to keep a sterile environment and only allow specific brewers yeasts into the fermentation. Brewing sour beer is risky – if the wild yeast or bacteria get out of control, the brew is ruined. The sour ale I tried was out of this world! Donna had a Belgian witbier called Marcel – it’s brewed with coriander and bitter orange peel. She really liked it. We shared sardines and olive tapenade and cornichons with sliced baguette.

Belgian pale sour ale

We only had one beer each as we were on the scooter. When we returned to the RV park, it was filling up fast. I saw an unusual outfit in one of the sites. It was a tiny trailer that transforms into an elevated tent with a canvas room trailing behind. I wish I could have watched them put it up.

Small trailer transformed into this

Another unique RV pulled into the site next to us. It’s a medium-duty Freightliner truck with a long wheelbase and living quarters. It also has a gooseneck trailer hitch. I talked to the owners – a friendly couple from Minnesota. They use their RV to haul a horse trailer. They spend the summer in Minnesota, then haul their horses to Georgia in the winter. The truck is fairly new to them and they’re out for a few weeks of travel without the horse trailer.

Freightliner medium-duty truck – RV

Gooseneck hitch in back

On the other side of our site, we have two identical Newmar Dutch Stars. They’re traveling together – I don’t know if they’re related to each other. One has a Mississippi plate, the other Louisiana. Other than that, they are the same with a 4018 floorplan and exactly the same paint scheme. They even have similar name signs on the dashboard.

Today we’ll buy bus passes and head downtown. We’ll decide later if we want to play pickleball this afternoon.

Gray Water Drip

Amarillo Ranch RV Park was nearly filled to capacity over the Labor Day weekend (map). Lots of grills were cooking on Sunday although most people stayed indoors to beat the heat. We didn’t grill on Sunday – Donna made shrimp fra diavolo on the induction cooktop instead. Served over whole wheat angel hair pasta mixed with zucchini noodles, it was outstanding.

Shrimp fra diavolo over angel hair pasta

On Monday morning, we saw rig after rig pull out of the park as people headed home and back to their workaday lives. We started the day with a treat. Donna cooked up a frittata – which is an Italian egg dish similar to a quiche without the crust. Donna filled it with bacon, potato, mushrooms and green onions and topped it with extra-sharp cheddar cheese and fresh basil. Yummy start to the day.

Frittata for breakfast with fresh cantaloupe

A while back, I noticed our sewer hose had damage. It looked like it had been stepped on or maybe hit with a mower. The three-inch hose is reinforced with a steel wire coil inside the polyolefin hose. The steel wire was kinked near the end. I use Camco Rhinoflex sewer hoses because of the heavy-duty construction. Anyway, when I dumped the gray water, the hose had sprung a leak near the end where it had been kinked.

On Monday afternoon, we rode the scooter to Walmart. Donna bought groceries and I bought a new Rhinoflex sewer hose. We had a full load on the scooter coming back home. I took the old hose to the trash dumpster and set up the new one. I opened the gray water valve and saw water dripping from the fitting on the RV end of the hose. I closed the valve and disconnected the hose. I loosened the locking ring on the bayonet fitting that attaches the hose to the RV drain. I made sure the bayonet fitting was fully seated in the hose end, then tightened the locking ring. I opened the gray water valve again and saw water dripping from the fitting. I looked closely and saw the problem. The fitting is made from two pieces of plastic swaged together to allow the fitting to swivel. This one was defective and leaking where the two pieces are joined together. I’ll have to return it and try another. I’m not having much luck with sewer hoses.

Later, I fired up the Traeger while Donna marinated chicken thighs in sriracha sauce and lime juice. We had plenty of open space around our rig as the park had really emptied out. I cooked the bone-in thighs skin side down for 45 minutes on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill/smoker. When I took them off the grill, Donna basted the chicken with equal parts honey and sriracha and let them rest for a few minutes. This was a new recipe and it was very tasty – you have to like spicy for this one though. Donna served it with a side of colorful cauliflower rice, another new recipe.

Honey-sriracha chicken thighs

Speaking of eating, Ozark the cat has an incredible appetite. We put nearly a quarter cup of dry food in her dish in the morning. We refill it in the afternoon. By bedtime, she’s crying for more food. Donna is concerned about her getting fat. I think she’s still a growing and developing kitty – she’s about nine months old now.

Does she look fat?

We had a few raindrops overnight – hopefully it knocked some of the pollen out of the air. The ragweed pollen count has been very high and I’m feeling it.

Today I’ll return the sewer hose and run a few errands. This afternoon, I’ll take Donna to her hair appointment and have a look at the RV museum at Jack Sisemore’s Traveland.

Nashville Talent

On Monday morning, Donna went for a power walk from our site at Nashville Jellystone Park (map). While she was out walking toward the Two Rivers Campground and the Nashville KOA, she saw the downtown shuttle pass by and came up with a plan for the day.

She thought we should roast a whole chicken for a late lunch – kind of a dinner for lunch plate. Then we could take the shuttle to downtown Nashville and see the sights. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I unloaded the Traeger wood pellet fired grill and found a problem. We had traversed some rough roads, especially on I-40 through Knoxville. The Traeger had obviously been bounced around and one of the door hinges came off. The screws had vibrated out and the door was askew, the other hinge was loose. Luckily no real damage was done. I found the screw and nut and reassembled the door.

Donna prepared the chicken by rubbing it with olive oil, salt, pepper and granulated garlic that she bought at Brooks BBQ in Oneonta, New York. She went to the pool for a quick dip while I fired up the Traeger and roasted the chicken. It comes out so moist and tender on this grill – it makes the best chicken you’ll ever have.

Roasted whole chicken hot off the Traeger

Earlier I had scootered over to the Opryland Resort and Convention Center. I wanted to get a look at the bus/RV lot that Donna found mentioned in the Escapee’s Day’s End Directory. The directory said that free overnight parking could be found there. I rode all the way through the lots at the Opry Mills Mall and back through the resort. I saw dedicated bus/RV parking near the Mills, but it was clearly marked “no overnight parking.” In fact, every lot I looked at was posted. On the way back to the campground, I saw another lot at a strip mall that had two RVs and a couple of tractor trailer rigs in it. It looked like it would be fine for dry camping – a big lot and no signs prohibiting overnight parking. The downside was the slope of the pavement and the lot was empty during the day, but there were several bars, restaurants and the Willie Nelson museum in the area. I didn’t know what it would be like at night.

We had reserved two nights at the Jellystone Park for half price on our Passport America discount rate – two nights for $75. A third night would cost another $75. I’m trying to average my costs down by finding free or low-cost sites as we move west. Our trip through the northeast was expensive – we’ve been spending like we’re on vacation. But we wanted to stay one more night in Nashville if we could.

Anyway, the shuttle picked us up at 3pm. There were two other couples already on board from the other RV parks. We made one more stop at a nearby hotel where three women boarded. The drive to downtown took about twenty minutes and the driver talked non-stop, giving advice on what to see and where to eat. The shuttle costs $10 per person for a round trip. The return trip is actually free – they pick up on the bottom of the hour (4:30, 5:30, 6:30, etc.) at the Country Music Hall of Fame. They don’t issue tickets – they work on the assumption that you must have already paid the $10 if you are boarding to go back to the Music Valley area.

Donna and I wanted to check out the music scene on Broadway. There are a few street musicians and many clubs and bars with live entertainment. Most of the places on Broadway don’t have a cover charge. The musicians play for a small fee paid by the bar and tips. They are hoping to get “discovered” by a Nashville recording studio.

Our first glimpse of Broadway was at the corner of 4th and Broadway at the Honky Tonk Central (map).

Honky Tonk Central

We walked east on Broadway and made our first stop at the Broadway Brewhouse for a cold one. I had a Tennesee-brewed IPA that was pretty good and Donna sampled and then went ahead and ordered a Tennesee-brewed stout that was really good. After leaving there, we continued east on the south side of the street and crossed over to the north side at 2nd Avenue. We saw a man with a trumpet, microphone and small amplifier on the corner. He had backing tracks playing through the amp from his smartphone and was singing “What a Wonderful World.” This guy had Louis Armstrong down. It was uncanny – Donna thought he was lip syncing at first. We hung around for a few songs and dropped some money in his trumpet case. He chatted with us before we moved on. He was a super-nice guy and very talented.

This guy could impersonate Satchmo

We walked back west on Broadway, stopping in a few shops to look at western hats and cowboy boots. We stuck our heads in a few bars to see who was playing but we wanted to get a look at everything before we sat down somewhere.

A friend of Donna’s suggested we stop at an off-the-wall place in Printer’s Alley owned by her friend. It’s an English-style pub called Fleet Street Pub. We found it a few blocks north of Broadway. Printer’s Alley is a little off-beat for Nashville, but it has history and charm. We stopped at Fleet Street but the friend of Donna’s friend wasn’t there. Donna chatted briefly with her husband.

Printer’s Alley

We found a blues club in Printer’s Alley and went inside. A very talented guy was on stage playing Mississippi Delta blues – more specifically he was playing songs by the blues great Leadbelly. He took a short break and came over to where we were sitting. His name is Fritz and he was really friendly. While we chatted with him, a woman who was sitting next to us went up on stage and played the keyboards and sang. It was so cool – these talented musicians are all over the place. After a couple of songs, Fritz joined her and they did some songs together. Fritz was playing a cheap knock-off Chinese guitar, but in his hands it sounded great. Then he picked up a saxophone and wailed on a song accompanying the woman at the keyboard (we didn’t get her name).

Fritz making music

We wandered back to Broadway and started our pub crawl. We would stop in a place that had live entertainment. If the band caught our fancy, we would order a drink and hang around for a few songs. Other times we listened for a few minutes and moved on. In one place there was a duo that shined. One of the guys guitar playing style reminded me of Stephen Stills. Donna put in a request for Homegrown by Zac Brown. They didn’t really know the song, but they looked it up on an iPad and immediately played and sang a very good rendition. I was blown away.

We finally came back to the Honky Tonk Central for our last stop of the night. It’s a three-story building with a bar and stage on each floor. We stayed on the first floor where one of the hottest bands I’ve heard in a while was playing. The guitar player was amazing and the sound he was getting from his Dr. Z amp was unbelievable. I haven’t heard tone like that since the Joe Bonamassa concert we went to a few years ago.

Hot band at our last stop

By then I’d downed enough beer and it was time to find the shuttle home.

On Tuesday morning, I got busy re-organizing the trailer – again. I’ve had the Traeger grill in the very back of the trailer, behind the scooter. Donna thought it might be getting a rougher ride back there than it would in the front. I bought into her logic – I could see how the trailer might whip up and down behind the axle over bumpy sections. I took everything out of the right front, next to my tool chest by the side door. I rearranged that stuff and then lifted the Traeger into that area and strapped it in place. We’ll see if it rides better there.

I took my time – check out time was noon and we were only going a few miles. We had everything packed and I fired up the engine at 11:50am. We drove to the lot I had found the day before. There was a bus conversion RV and tractor- trailer rig as well as another semi-trailer parked in the empty lot. We claimed a space between the tractor-trailer and the semi-trailer.

Donna and I walked to the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. On our way, we saw the lot that was mentioned in the Day’s End Directory. It was marked RV/Bus and Trailer Parking. I had missed this lot on my reconnaissance run earlier. I had passed by it on the west side where there’s a private lot being used by Bridgestone Tire and Rubber Company for high-performance driving classes. I thought the whole area was for Bridgestone.

We walked into the RV/Bus lot and didn’t find any signs prohibiting overnight parking. These signs are posted in all of the other lots on the huge Opryland complex. This lot was level and looked to be very quiet. After some debate and walking back and forth across the lot, we decided to go back to the coach and move it across the street to Opryland. While the lot we were in looked to be a sure thing, I was a little apprehensive about how things might go in the night. It wasn’t level and all the bars in the area could mean lots of noise and the possibility of people getting out of hand in the night.

The RV/Bus lot only had a handful of cars in it and one big truck in our section. The next section over has had a number of tour buses coming and going. It’s very quiet and level.

The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center houses the largest atrium I’ve ever been in. It has waterfalls and a stream running through it. It’s filled with tropical plants – so many were in bloom that I had an allergy attack. A big New York Life Executive Council meeting was happening there. We wandered around. Donna wanted to take the boat ride in the stream that’s inside the hotel complex, but when she saw it cost $9.50/person, it didn’t seem worth it. I couldn’t capture the grand scale of this place, but here are a few pictures.

Fountains in the atrium

Stream inside the hotel

Boat rides through the atrium

Donna in front of a waterfall in the atrium

We went to John A’s for dinner, it was only average food at best. Then we stopped at Nashville Palace to take in some live music. Once again many people that appeared to be regular customers got up on stage to join in for a number or two. Lots of talent here. Our overnight spot turned out to be quiet with no troubles.

Today we plan a short trip down the Natchez Trace Trail to the Merriwether Lewis National Monument. We found free dry camping is available there and we hope to take advantage of it before we head west to Memphis.

Long Wait for a Quick Fix

We took our time getting ready to move yesterday. I went into the Cabela’s store in Hamburg, Pennsylvania after spending the night in their lot. I bought a pair of lightweight trail runner shoes. Donna went for walk in the neighborhood.

We changed up our plan and decided to spend a couple of nights at an RV park in Gettysburg before heading to D.C. We reserved two nights with our Passport America discount at the Artillery Ridge Camping Resort three miles from historic Gettysburg (map). We were preparing to leave around 10am.

After pulling the slides in, I retracted the HWH leveling jacks. The parking lot at Cabela’s sloped and I had the jacks well extended. I felt the coach shudder as the jacks came up and Donna heard a noise back in the bedroom. She said to me, “Did you hear that? Do they always make that sound or is it because I’m standing back here?” I didn’t know what she was asking about because I didn’t hear anything in the front of the coach.

I went outside to walk around the coach and look everything over. When I circled around the right rear, I saw a problem. I could see the ram from the hydraulic jack extended down within an inch of the pavement. The pad that should be on the end of the ram was dangling from one spring, the other spring was missing.

I used my push broom as a pry-bar in an effort to push the ram back up. I couldn’t budge it – I only succeeded in bending the broom handle. We were in trouble. We couldn’t roll down the road with the ram extended like that. I needed help.

We have a roadside assistance plan with Coach-Net. Apparently, Monday mornings are a busy time to call. I used Coach-Net once before and they were very good, but like all call centers, they have their issues. I was on hold for nearly 10 minutes before I talked to someone.

When you call, the first person you talk to goes through a verification process including all of the vehicle info and personal info that’s already on file. This took another 10 minutes. Then they document the problem description and turn the case over to their technical people. I advised the woman that technical assistance over the phone wasn’t going to help. I knew what needed to be done – I just didn’t have a big enough pry bar or a second set of hands. She said she had to turn the call over to a technician before they could have someone come to the coach. Then the call got disconnected.

I called back and got right through this time. I explained what just happened. She put me on hold for a moment, then came back on the line and said she checked with their technical department and everyone was on the line with a customer – she would mark my case “priority” and I would get a call back.

Donna called the campground in Gettysburg and told them we might have to cancel due to mechanical issues. They said they would hold our site until we called later in the afternoon and told them whether we could make it or not. They were very nice about it.

I sat back and read a book with the generator running and air conditioners on. It was already in the upper 80s and humid out. About a half hour later, I got the call from the technician. He said he would find a mobile service in our area and call me back with a name and ETA. I waited another 30 minutes – by now it was one and half hours since my initial call. So I called them back again. The guy told me he was working on finding someone that could come to my location – I needed to sit tight. After another 30 minutes, he called and said he had someone that could do the work. It would take 90 minutes for them to get to me. I thanked him and sat back with my book. It was 12:30pm and I didn’t expect help until 2pm.

I went outside to look for the MIA spring. I found it – it had shot straight up and jammed in the chassis. It wasn’t broken, but it had come off the tab on the jack pad. I had repaired this pad when we were in Bakersfield last year. The tab was bent and I straightened it as best I could, but it wasn’t right.

I was surprised to see a service truck with an Onsite Fleet Repair logo on the side pull up next to us at 1pm. I started putting my shoes on when I saw the driver on his cell phone. My cell phone began ringing. I answered and told him he was right outside our door. By then, there were more than a dozen RVs in the Cabela’s lot.

The driver and his sidekick got out and introduced themselves. I showed them the problem. He removed the jack pad and went into the rolling workshop in the back of his truck. He had a large vise and was able to quickly straighten the bent tab. The other guy took a long pry bar and a block of wood to the ram. I opened the manual valve on the solenoid so the fluid could pass back to reservoir as he pried the ram up. Once he had the ram up, he used the pry bar to extend the spring. The first guy grabbed the end of the spring while it was tensioned by the pry bar and guided the end into the mounting tab. I couldn’t bear to watch. If the spring slipped from the pry bar while he had his hand around the end, the heavy spring would likely take off a finger or two. They had it in place with no trouble and we were back in business.

I extended and retracted the jack a couple of times to make sure the spring would hold. All was good. Coach-Net covered the dispatch and travel time for the mobile repair. I had to pay their minimum labor cost of $90.

We were on our way by 2pm and expected to be in Gettysburg by 4pm. I stopped at the Flying J truck stop at exit 10 on I-81. All of the pumps had trucks at them. I lined up behind a truck and waited. It took him about 15 minutes to fill up and pull forward. I took on 50 gallons of fuel with two high speed nozzles in about 5 minutes. The fuel cost $2.75/gallon with my Pilot/Flying J discount card. The truck that was fueling ahead of me only pulled forward far enough for me to get to the pump. I couldn’t move until he moved. After five minutes, I walked up to the cab of the truck. It was empty – the guy had gone into the store! There wasn’t anyone behind me so I was considering backing out of the lane. Just as I made the decision to do so, Donna saw the guy return to his truck. He pulled out and we followed. This turned out to be a 30-minute fuel stop.

We turned onto I-83 at Harrisburg and the traffic slowed to a crawl. Donna saw a lighted sign that said be prepared to stop – traffic incident at mile post 7 on PA581. Our route was taking us across PA581. It was stop and go for more than five miles.

Traffic jam

When we finally made it to mile post 7, we saw the incident. We were heading westbound. The blockage was a wreck on the eastbound side of the highway. The five-mile backup on the westbound side was entirely due to drivers stopping and gawking at an overturned tractor-trailer rig and a wrecked Cadillac Escalade on the other side of the divided highway!

We found the Artillery Ridge Camping Resort around 5pm and checked in quickly. Our site is spacious but it isn’t level. I used pads under the rear jacks after dumping the air from our suspension and it’s still an uphill walk from the bedroom to the front of the coach. We’ll live with it.

I was ready for a cocktail. It hadn’t been the best day, but like Sean Welsh (Our Odyssey) says, “These are first-world problems.” There are people all over the world coping with much worse situations. Donna made her famous crab cakes for dinner. They were delicious.

Crab cakes

We want to go sightseeing in Gettysburg this morning. Thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon.

Up and Running Again

I didn’t post to the blog yesterday because I didn’t do much on Tuesday. In my last post, I mentioned Donna’s bike ride on Monday when she rode past the Hudson Headwaters Health Center where I was. Her route also took her past the confluence where the Schroon River empties in the upper Hudson River (map). Here are a few photos she took on her ride.

Schroon River looking west

Schroon River looking east

She got to a point where she thought she might have a missed a turn and stopped for directions at the ticket office for the tour train that runs up the Hudson River. The train doesn’t run on Mondays, but there was an employee at the office who helped Donna find her way. It turned out that it was not the route Donna had planned, but very scenic anyway.

Boarding platform for the train

Train track along the Hudson River

On Tuesday evening, I made chicken leg quarters on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill again and they were absolutely delicious. This has become a favorite dish. After an hour on the grill, I basted them with a honey-maple glaze and cooked for another 10 minutes. At 99 cents a pound, this meal can’t be beat! Donna served it with sauteed zucchini and corn with red peppers.

Honey-maple glazed chicken

Earlier in the day, Donna borrowed Linda’s car and drove to Westport on Lake Champlain to meet up with her friend, Karen Dayan (map). They had lunch and spent the afternoon together.

Karen and Donna

Karen is a long-time Ironman participant. She recently finished third in her age group at the Lake Placid Ironman. She’s qualified to compete in the Ironman Hawaii event several times and is headed to the Half-Ironman World Championship in Austria in a few weeks.

While Karen and Donna were catching up, I followed doctors orders and hung out in the coach. I used antibiotic soap and a pail of water to cleanse my feet, then let them air out without shoes and read a book. It was raining, so I had nothing better to do. In the afternoon, Ozark climbed into her carrying crate and napped. She usually only goes in her crate when we’re traveling. Maybe she’s trying to tell us it’s time for a change in scenery. She’ll have to wait a few more days – we’ll pull out of here on Sunday.

Ozark catching a cat nap

Last week, Donna’s sister Linda told me their generator wasn’t working. They have a 1800-watt portable generator that they use when they dry camp or have a power outage at home. She told me it worked fine the last time they ran it, but then it sat unused for several months and now it won’t start. I figured the fuel in the carburetor evaporated and left varnish deposits gumming up the fuel passages.

Yesterday, I couldn’t stand another day of inactivity. I started my day by deep cleaning the Traeger grill. Then I put Linda and Tommy’s generator on our table and went to work on it. I removed the side cover and the air filter housing. I saw the housing was cracked where it mounts to the carburetor.

Cracked air filter housing

Side cover removed exposing carburetor

I removed the float bowl from the carburetor. The float bowl is the fuel reservoir that meters the fuel mixture into the carb venturi. I expected to find varnish deposits. What I found was worse. The bowl had rust deposits and scaly, dry white flakes in the bottom. The white flakes were some kind of mineral left behind. I don’t know if water had gotten into the float bowl or what the origin of these deposits was – I’ve never seen this in a carburetor before.

Rust and scale in the bottom of the float bowl

I cleaned the bowl with carburetor cleaner and scraped the deposits. Then I removed the main jet from the carb body and shot carburetor cleaner from an aerosol can through the fuel passages.

When I reassembled everything, I used room temperature vulcanizing silicone sealant on the cracked air filter housing. Meanwhile Tommy went out to buy a gas can and fresh gasoline for the generator. He had to go out twice because after buying the gas can, he got side-tracked when Donna texted him and asked him to pick up something at the store. He came home with the gas can, but forgot to buy the gas. This was okay as it allowed time for the silicone sealant to set up.

By then, Donna’s parents, Duke and Lorraine Connor, arrived to spend the afternoon with us. Tommy and I set the generator on the ground. I opened the fuel petcock, switched the ignition on and set the choke. On the third pull, it started. I opened the choke and the generator ran smoothly. I think Tommy was surprised to find it running like that. I fully expected that I would have it up and running again.

Donna and her mom set out snacks on the picnic table. Unfortunately, while I worked on the generator I spilled old stinky gasoline on the end of the table. I rinsed it as best as I could, but the odor lingered.

We had a couple of rain squalls kick up, so we moved the heavy table under our awning to wait them out. The rain passed quickly the few times it fell and it was a mostly sunny day.

Donna prepared pork tenderloin skewers spiced with cumin and hot sauce and added red onion, green pepper and pineapple chunks. I cooked them on the Traeger grill and then Donna brushed them with a pineapple-ginger glaze that she prepared earlier. I neglected to take a picture of the dinner plate – it was fine meal. We had potato salad and broccoli slaw on the side and lots of appetizers from the afternoon still on the table. For dessert, we had a silken tofu chocolate pie that Donna made – no one guessed that it was made with tofu! This was yet another excellent recipe that a fellow RVer, Karin Von Kay, shared with Donna.

Donna and her parents

Last night, we watched a Netflix movie at Tom and Linda’s RV – the movie was Homefront. I couldn’t give it more than 2.5 stars on a scale of five. The others were a little more generous with their ratings.

The weather looks good this morning. I plan to change the oil and filter on our generator this morning as scattered thundershowers are in the forecast this afternoon. Donna is headed out for another bike ride.

A Riveting Tale

In my last post, I mentioned how hard the water is here at Addison Oaks County Park (map). It left water spots and streaks after I washed the coach on Wednesday. After writing that post, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I got the ladder out and a couple of clean microfiber cloths and went at it with a waterless cleaner call The Solution.

While I was working on the finish, going up and down the ladder, Donna went for a power walk. She walked about five miles and got her 10,000 steps. I cleaned about 3/4 of the coach by the time she came back. I took a break and we had lunch. I kicked back for about 20 minutes and finished the Vince Flynn novel I was reading before I went back to work cleaning. It took about three hours to get the job done. The water spots were stubborn in places.

Sometimes when we’re rolling down the road, I hear a rhythmic rattling sound on the right front of the coach. It only happens when we’re driving on concrete slab with expansion joints that set up a certain frequency. While I was cleaning, I noticed a side panel on the right front beneath the compartment for the HWH hydraulic reservoir and pump had play in it. This body panel had two rivets holding the trailing edge to the frame. The rivets were worn and loose. I could grab the panel and rock it back and forth and hear the same sound I heard on the road.

I got a few tools out of the trailer and went to work. I drilled out the old rivets with my cordless drill.

Upper rivet drilled out

About this time, Donna was leaving for her hair appointment. When we knew for sure when we would be in the area, she made an appointment with the stylist she used to go to when we lived here. After her hair appointment, she planned to drive to Harrison Township for a meet up with a swap group she established a few years ago. Donna didn’t expect to be home until after 9pm, so I was on my own.

Back to my task. After drilling out the old rivets, I set up my pop rivet tool. Blind rivets are commonly called pop rivets – this is because the original manufacturer was POP. Pop rivets are tubular with a mandrel through the center. You insert the mandrel into the tool and push the rivet into the holes on the parts you are joining. The tool pulls the mandrel, expanding the rivet and flaring the back side until it clamps itself in place. The mandrel then snaps off, leaving the rivet in place.

Pop rivet tool and rivet

Rivet mandrel inserted into tool

After installing the new rivets, the panel is now held firmly in place. This should prevent the rattling sound.

New rivets in place

After I put my tools away, I rode the scooter to the store a few miles from here. I found local IPA brewed by the Rochester Mills Beer Company in 16-ounce cans. I brought a four-pack home and tried it. It doesn’t have the balance and mouth-feel of good west coast IPA. It had a grainy flavor – not malty, but a thin grain aftertaste.

Cornerstone IPA, Rochester Mills Beer Co

Maybe it’s the can that’s influencing the taste. I’ve had it on tap at their brew pub before and liked it. They also have a milkshake stout that I liked before and I’ll have to try it next time.

Before Donna left, she gave me a quick lesson on how to preheat the convection oven and set the cook temperature and time. I planned to reheat one of the frozen pasties we picked up in the U.P. for dinner. It occurred to me that our Traeger smoker/grill is also a convection oven. Why use the indoor microwave/convection oven when I could fire up the Traeger outdoors and maybe also add some smoky flavor to the pasty?

Pre-cooked frozen pasty

Heating up the Traeger

Ready to eat

I had the pasty on the grill for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. It came out perfect, but didn’t retain as much smoky flavor as I thought it would.

Donna got home after 10pm. It was bedtime for me.

Donna’s new do

This morning, I woke up to the sound of thunder and rain drumming on the roof at 7am. There goes a half day’s work cleaning the coach!

Weather radar this morning

The rain has stopped now and I hope it bypasses us this afternoon. We want to grill dinner with our friends Jason and Danielle Bates and their sons. The current forecast shows a 50% chance of rain this afternoon. Our plan B is to meet up for pizza.

Table Rock Dam

Turkey Creek RV Village is located near the mouth of Turkey Creek where it flows into Lake Taneycomo. Lake Taneycomo was formed when a dam (Powersite Dam) was built on the White River near Forsyth, Missouri in 1913. The name Taneycomo came from its location – Taney County, MO. The lake resembles a river although it is in fact a reservoir.

In 1958, Table Rock Dam was completed upstream from Branson and Table Rock Lake was formed. Cold water running through turbines to generate electricity from deep in Table Rock Lake changed the character of Lake Taneycomo. Near the Table Rock Dam, the water in Lake Taneycomo runs fast and the temperature is in the 40s. As you travel down Lake Taneycomo, the current slows, the depth increases and temperature rises.

Spillway at Table Rock Dam

Last week’s heavy rainfall has the spillways at Table Rock Dam releasing water at a rate of 20,000 cubic feet per second. By regulating the flow from Table Rock Lake in coordination with water released at Powersite Dam, flooding along Lake Taneycomo is controlled.

Water running cold and fast near Table Rock Dam – the sign warns of sudden increases in flow.

Donna and I rode the scooter up to Table Rock Lake yesterday and explored. Our first stop was at a part of Table Rock State Park, just below the dam where I shot the two photos above. The dam is 6,423 feet long and stands 252 feet above the stream bed (943 feet above mean sea level).

We scootered across the dam and went to the Shepard of the Hills Fish Hatchery. The Shepard of the Hills Fish Hatchery raises 800,000 trout per year and they’re released into local waterways, making Lake Taneycomo a trout fishing destination. The state record brown trout was caught here.

Touring the hatchery is free. They have guided tours several times per day. Donna and I opted for a self-guided tour of the facility. We started inside the air-conditioned building. The heat and humidity outside was oppressive at 90 degrees. They have an aquarium display with various trout sub-species in all sizes.

Trout aquarium

This guy was a lunker – I’d love to hook something like this!

We went outside and walked along the raceways full of fish. I’ve been to hatcheries before, but I don’t recall ever seeing this many fish.

The raceways were covered with mesh to protect the fish from herons and other birds of prey. Although I saw people lifting the mesh along the edge to take pictures, I didn’t do that because there were signs prohibiting it. I shot photos through the mesh. They have fish food dispensing machines – a quarter gives you a handful of pellets. The fish are conditioned to receiving handouts and swim en masse toward people by the raceway.

Young trout

Small trout expecting me to feed them

We found a raceway filled with brood stock ranging from three to 13 pounds. These fish are kept for a few years to lay and fertilize eggs. Some of them breed in the spring, others in the fall. I bought a couple of handfuls of pellets and the big trout went wild when I threw fish food pellets into their raceway.

Large breeders in a feeding frenzy

We’d been out in the sun long enough so we returned to the air-conditioned building. We found another room there with terrariums filled with more local wildlife. They had turtles, snakes and frogs. There were also taxidermy displays.

Trout are not native to Missouri but have been in the lakes and rivers here since their introduction in the 1880s. After cooling off inside, we got back on the scooter and backtracked to the Chateau on the Lake – a resort hotel and spa overlooking Table Rock Lake.

Entrance to Chateau on the Lake

We took a look around and continued back to the dam. We stopped again at the Branson Belle. The Branson Belle is a showboat offering lunch and dinner cruises on Table Rock Lake. The two-and-half-hour cruise includes lunch or dinner plus a variety show. Cost is about $70 per person.

The Branson Belle viewed from a covered deck

While we were there, we saw the ubiquitous Ride the Ducks amphibious tour vehicles. These vehicles offer tour rides throughout the area including a splash into Table Rock Lake.

Ride the Duck tour vehicles

Amphibious tour vehicle in Table Rock Lake

We made a stop on the way home – Donna bought a few groceries and I bought fender washers at Lowes. Back home, I installed the fender washers to complete the air conditioner shroud replacement. It was hot on the roof! By then it was beer-thirty and I called it a day.

That’s a Lot of Steps

Yesterday was Monday, so that meant pickleball at the Branson Sports Center from 9:30 to 11:30.

Before we headed out, I went over to our neighbor’s Carriage fifth-wheel RV. Donna and I met and talked with them – Thomas and Beverly – the night before. Thomas asked if I had a hammer he could borrow. He had a section of wood trim fall off the bedroom wall and wanted to re-attach it. He invited me in to look at it and I saw what needed to be done. With a few tools and some glue, I was able to straighten the fasteners. Then I added some Gorilla glue before I smacked the strip back into place. It took a few well-placed hits with the side of my fist and it was secure. The Gorilla glue will set and it won’t come off again. Twenty minutes later, Thomas and Beverly were on their way, heading to the national parks in South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.

We rode the scooter to the north side of town and paid $3 each to play pickleball. Pickleball hours are from 9:30 to 11:30, but we played until noon. There were only about a dozen players so we played pretty much non-stop. I love this game and I got a good workout.

Last evening we walked to the old downtown area of Hollister. They had a sidewalk art show on Historic Downing Street. Local artists had their work on display in front of many of the shops on Downing Street. We looked at paintings, then stopped in at a shop Donna visited on one of her walks – a flea market. They had a set of cloth napkins and matching table runner she wanted to buy. She didn’t have money with her when she was there before and figured if they were still there, she would get them. Sure enough, they were there, so she bought them.

Art walk on Downing Street

We made a brief stop at Ye Olde English Pub. It was crowded and a five-piece horn band was making music. It was too loud in there so we didn’t stay. We walked back up the street to Hook and Ladder Pizza. We had the specialty pizza for dinner and it was quite good – crispy thin crust, tasty sauce and generous toppings. The round trip to town and back was about a mile and half walk. This coupled with my pickleball games in the morning brought my step total to 14,935 for the day. That’s a lot of steps.

Last night, I thought about the air conditioner shrouds I wrote about in my last post. I added 1″ fender washers under the mounting screws to spread the clamping load. It occurred to me that I didn’t do it right. The stamped steel chassis that the shrouds are fastened to don’t have enough surface area. What I really need to do is put a 1″ fender washer between the plastic shroud and the chassis, then add another fender washer between the flat screw head and shroud. This will sandwich the plastic shroud between the two 1″ fender washers and clamp it place, spreading the load effectively to prevent the plastic shroud from cracking.

I think we’ll go visit the fish hatchery at Table Rock Lake today. While we’re out I’ll buy more fender washers.

Shroud Mystery

Sunday was Father’s Day and also officially the first day of summer – the summer solstice. I had a couple of projects to tackle. Actually I combined the tasks as they both entailed getting up on the roof of our coach.

Last week, I ordered new shrouds that cover our rooftop air conditioning/heat pump units. The shrouds on our coach had cracked and needed to be replaced. I spent some time on the Internet trying to figure out which was the right part number to use. It was somewhat confusing. From what I gathered, I needed to order a shroud with the Dometic part number 3308047.012 to fit our Dometic Penguin 15,000 BTU units. However, I saw references to 3308047.006 and 3308047.020 and 3308047.032 – all saying it was the correct part for our unit.

I finally found a document that cleared up the matter. The last three digits are color codes in Dometic’s numbering scheme. All four of the shrouds are the same 3308047 but the .006 is shell white, the .012 is polar white, the .020 is gray and the .032 is black. The other thing that confused me was the appearance. Our current shrouds are solid with no vent holes. The replacement part has vent holes on the left side. Later I read that the solid shroud with no vents are early models – the vents were added later, but they’re dimensionally the same. The vent holes facilitate the exhaust of heated air drawn through the condenser.

The shrouds protect the mechanical parts of the air conditioning (A/C) unit and also ensure proper air flow through the condenser. A fan pulls air through the condenser coil which resembles a coolant radiator in your car. The refrigerant is a hot gas at this stage of the system – heat from the interior of the coach is transferred to the refrigerant. The condenser cools the hot gas and converts it back to a liquid.

Since the primary function of the shroud was to direct air flow through the condenser for cooling, it didn’t make sense to me to have a dark shroud on the roof absorbing heat from the sun. A white shroud that would reflect heat from the sun seems more sensible.

I ordered two polar white shrouds through Amazon. I received an order confirmation e-mail right away and the next day, I received shipping and tracking information. The order was being fulfilled by a third party – PPL RV Parts Superstore in Texas. Then things got interesting.

The FedEx tracking info showed the parts en route. On Thursday evening, when I tracked the shipment, it showed the parts in Springfield, Missouri (40 miles away from here) and said delivery was refused, package returning to shipper. What?

On Friday morning, I called Amazon customer service. The rep was helpful – she looked up the order and once she understood my problem, said she would contact the shipper. She sent PPL an e-mail and copied me. PPL was on top of it. A gal in their customer service department phoned me right away. Then she talked to FedEx. She called me back and said they tried to deliver in Hollister, but the package was back at their center in Springfield. She confirmed our address, then got our site number. She e-mailed me later telling me she had given the information to FedEx and asked them to write my site number on the packages.

On Saturday morning, I missed a call from FedEx. They left a message saying they would need my site number to deliver. Hmmm?? I called the number they left and got voice mail. I left my name, number, address and site number. I tried calling them seven times in the next 45 minutes and got voice mail every time. I sent this information to the gal at PPL. She called later and said she talked to FedEx again – they had the site number and it was out for delivery. I have to say PPL was very good at following up.

The packages showed up around 5pm Saturday afternoon. The site number was handwritten on the boxes. The message from FedEx Saturday morning remains a mystery, but I understand now why the packages were marked refused. My name and site number weren’t on the shipping label, just the name and address of the RV park. The RV park office didn’t know anything about the packages and they refused them. My phone number was on the label – all the driver had to do was call instead of returning the packages. I’m not sure if I made a mistake on the order or if PPL did, but PPL made sure I got the parts.

So Sunday morning, I broke out the extension ladder and got on the roof. The first order of business was to sweep the droppings from the mimosa tree from the top of the coach. This is the messiest tree I have ever parked near. Once I accomplished that, I set about replacing the shrouds.

After removing the front shroud, I cleaned the fins on the condenser with a stiff nylon brush. A lot of cottonwood fibers were on the fins. This is something I should do annually. There are 1″x1″ foam strips that seal the shroud to the condenser fan opening to ensure proper airflow. The new shroud came with about 100″ of 1″x1″ foam with adhesive backing. I cleaned the area where the foam adheres with alcohol, then applied the foam strips.

A/C with shroud removed and new foam seals applied

One of the things you run into with an older vehicle that has had more than one owner is poorly executed previous repair work. The screws holding the shroud to the frame on the front A/C were mismatched. Someone put oversized screws on the front, probably a result of stripping out the originals. The old screws were rusted and I wanted to replace them.

I set the new shroud in place, then scootered over to Lowes for hardware. Donna joined me and I dropped her off at Country Mart across the parking lot for a few groceries. I was pretty sure I needed two 14-3/4 sheet metal screws to fasten the front of the shroud and two 10-3/4 sheet metal screws for the rear of the shroud. The guy at the hardware aisle at Lowes looked at the old screws I brought with me and said I needed 1/4″ x 3/4 and 12-3/4. Since my eyes aren’t the best and he does this stuff all day, I took his word for it. When I returned and got up on the roof, I discovered that the new screws were too big. I needed 14-3/4 and 10-3/4 just like I thought. I kept the screws I just bought to add to my inventory and went back to Lowes to buy what I originally went there for.

With the right screws, I was able to finish the installation of the front A/C shroud. One of the things I did differently was to add 1″ fender washers under the flat-topped screw heads. The mounting holes in the molded plastic shroud are 1/4″ diameter and only have about 3/8″ margin to the edge of the shroud. This is poor engineering. The fender washers should spread the clamping load over a larger area and reduce the chances of premature cracking around the mounting holes.

Fender washers under the mounting screws

I went to work on the rear A/C. I found different mounting screws on the rear unit. It had 12-3/4 and 10-3/4. This was probably the original size. I had what I needed on hand. The seals on the rear unit were in better shape but still needed to be replaced. I cleaned the condenser, replaced the seals and mounted the shroud. Job done!

New shroud in place

Ols shroud painted brown with duct tape over the cracked mounting point. That's mimosa tree detritus on the tape

Old shroud painted brown with duct tape over the cracked mounting point. That’s mimosa tree detritus on the tape.

With the condensers cleaned and new foam seals and shrouds, the A/C units should operate more efficiently.

After I put my tools away and cleaned up, Donna made me a special Father’s Day lunch. She picked up smoked barbeque ribs at the Country Store. They have a big smoker in the lot in front of the store and make them onsite. She whipped up a potato salad from scratch and filled a plate for me. The ribs were tasty, but I was spoiled by the ribs at Blues City Cafe on Beale Street in Memphis. These were no match in the tenderness category.

Special Father’s Day lunch

I spent the afternoon kicking back and watching the Formula 1 race from Austria. I had calls from all three of my daughters wishing me a happy Father’s Day.

Donna outdid the purchased lunch by making baked shrimp with fennel and feta for dinner. Yum-yum.

Baked shrimp with fennel and feta

It was a good day!

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Maintenance and Repair

Goatheads

Sour Ale

Gray Water Drip

Nashville Talent

Long Wait for a Quick Fix

Up and Running Again

A Riveting Tale

Table Rock Dam

That’s a Lot of Steps

Shroud Mystery

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: