Category Archives: Maintenance

Ozark Takes a Walk

Some mornings I wake up well before sunrise. Maybe I need to use the restroom. Maybe it’s a loud car or other noise. Sometimes it’s Ozark the cat moving about on our bed or scratching in her litter box. Some of the time I fall back into a slumber filled with dreams and I’m not really sure if I was ever awake or not. Does this ever happen to you?

Yesterday morning, I heard Ozark in her litter box. I drifted back to sleep only to wake up to the sound of Ozark in her litter box. This repeated countless times. Donna was out of bed before me. When I finally rose, she said Ozark needs to go to the vet. She said Ozark was climbing into her Clever Cat litter box every five minutes but didn’t seem like she was able to urinate. Something was clearly wrong.

We looked online for veterinarians nearby. At 8am, Donna started calling for an appointment. She was able to obtain an appointment at the Hemet Animal Hospital at 10:15am. We worried that Ozark might have a urinary tract blockage. I looked at Google maps and it appeared that the hospital on Girard Street was between 11,000 and 12,000 feet away – a little over two miles. Donna thought the best thing to do was to carry Ozark in her crate and walk there. Rather than carry the crate like a briefcase, she used our laundry basket – which has a shoulder strap – to carry the crate.

This turned out not to be the best idea. The basket was awkward and kept hitting Donna’s leg, so Ozark was getting bounced around. And the distance was badly underestimated. The scale of the Google map or the key to the map weren’t correct. It turned out to be 3.7 miles – a long walk. They were late, but they made it and the vet was still able to see them.

The vet diagnosed a urinary tract infection. Ozark didn’t have a blockage. In fact her bladder was nearly empty. She was just feeling an urge due to the inflammation of the infection. She was given medication and sub-cutaneous hydration – $162 later they were on their way home. Donna called a taxi for the ride home. Ozark came home with prescription medications – one was a sedative to keep her stress level down. She seemed to respond to it well at first, then she acted a little hyper. After a while she settled back down.

Ozark resting on the sofa

One thought about the cause of her condition may be stress due to a change in diet. Before we left San Diego I went to Petsmart to buy cat food. They didn’t have what she usually eats so I bought the next closest thing (same brand, different formula). We’ve been blending the last of her usual food with the new formula. Cats don’t like to switch foods. So yesterday, I went to Petco and bought her usual stuff. The vet also recommended hydrating as much as possible with canned foods and broth in her usual food as she recovers.

Later I accomplished a task that needed to be done. I cleaned our battery banks with baking soda solution. Our house batteries are flooded wet cell 6-volt golf cart batteries. Flooded lead acid batteries are well-developed and proven technology. However, they can gas and produce acidic corrosion while charging. The corrosion can be a real pain as it attacks connectors and the battery tray. Baking soda neutralizes the acid, but over time the acid builds up again. I’d like to get away from this cycle and replace our house batteries with absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries. They don’t vent acidic vapors and corrosion isn’t an issue. The problem is cost – I would have to spend north of $1500 to replace our house battery bank with AGM batteries. Our friends Mark and Emily Fagan wrote all you want to know about batteries in these posts.

Donna defrosted a tri-tip steak she bought at Trader Joe’s in San Diego. I looked around online to figure how to prepare it. We were introduced to tri-tip steak about a year ago on New Year’s Eve when Debbie Bednarski had one for our New Year’s Eve dinner on December 31, 2014. See this post.

I lucked out when I cooked the tri-tip back then as I had no idea what I was working with. Tri-tip is associated with Santa Maria, California – the barbeque capital of California in Santa Barbara County. I read that tri-tip is a west coast thing although it seems to be gaining acceptance in other parts of the country. After looking at a few recipes, I had a plan to cook the tri-tip on the Traeger wood pellet grill.

I dry rubbed it with Brooks Brown Sugar Bourbon Rub and let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The Traeger made the rest of the cook easy. I think it came out fine – juicy with a pronounced beef flavor. Donna thought it could’ve been a little more tender. I cooked it to about 130 degrees internal temperature and let it rest for about 20 minutes in a loose foil tent. Maybe I could’ve taken it off the grill five minutes earlier.

Tri-tip ready to rest in a foil tent

Sliced tri-tip

Tri-tip plated with baked potato and zucchini saute

I know I go over the top at times about our dinners. I want readers to understand we’re not out on a camping trip – this is our lifestyle and that includes eating well.

I paired the dinner with an IPA ale from Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton, Calfiornia. It’s an IPA style beer brewed with rye – maybe we should call it a Rye-P-A. It’s a very good ale with a creamy-frothy mouth feel.

Rye-P-A

This morning I plan to hit the pickleball courts for some fun and exercise, then become a couch potato as I watch the NFL Conference Championship games.

Early Christmas Celebrations

We started Friday with Donna getting creative in the kitchen. She fried corn tortillas, then soaked them in enchilada sauce. The tortillas were stacked with cotija cheese and chopped green onion in between them. Then it was topped off with two eggs over-easy, chopped cilantro and green onion. Stacked enchilada with eggs for breakfast!

Stacked enchilada with eggs

After the hearty breakfast, Donna walked to Enterprise and rented a car. We got the $9.95/day three-day weekend deal – and they upgraded us from a compact car to a 2016 Buick LaCrosse. Donna drove the rental car to Sharp Outpatient for her annual mammogram.

While she was out, I dumped our gray water tank. While I was at it, I noticed that our fresh water hose had a drip at the water inlet fitting. It was a slow drip, but it needed to be addressed. I shut off the fresh water supply and disconnected the hose from the quick-release fitting. The drip was coming from the union of the Kwik Link 105 degree connector at the water inlet to the coach.

Kwik link connector at fresh water inlet fitting

I walked out to the overflow lot and got a new rubber hose washer from the trailer and came back to the coach. I tried to remove the Kwik Link but it was stuck. I had a locking plier at the coach, but I still couldn’t remove the Kwik Link. I walked back to the trailer and got a second locking plier. With two locking pliers, I could hold the brass fitting with one and turn the Kwik Link with the other. It finally broke free.

I found a smooth, hard, white substance on the threads of the Kwik Link. The source of this substance is a mystery. I used a file to clean the threads and cleaned the Kwik Link thoroughly. I reconnected it to the inlet with Teflon tape and connected the hose. No more drips.

After Donna returned from Sharp, she went back out to shop at Trader Joe’s. She put together a gift basket of goodies for my step-dad, Ken Keller. She also bought me a goody – a 13-year-old Speyside single malt scotch whisky. It was distilled in 2002, then aged in oak barrels until it was bottled by Alexander Murray and Company in 2015 and private labelled for Trader Joe’s. Speyside scotch is the name given to whisky distilled near the Spey River in the Scottish Highlands. Some of the best scotch comes from this region, such as Macallan and The Glenlivet. Trader Joe’s and Alexander Murray do not divulge the actual distiller of this scotch.

13-year-old Speyside single malt scotch

Alexander Murray has a reputation for facilitating the purchase of high-quality spirits (mainly scotch) and bottling them under private labels. In addition to Trader Joe’s, you’ll also find the Kirkland Signature line of scotch at Costco is bottled by Alexander Murray. They also offer spirits under their own label.

On Friday night, we drove to Donna’s sister’s house in Point Loma. Sheila was having an early Christmas dinner for a few friends and family. Her son Connor will be spending Christmas with his dad and paternal grandparents in Minnesota, so this weekend was Christmas time at home with his mother.

Sheila prepared a seafood themed dinner. We started with hors d’oeuvres including lobster sliders!

Lobster sliders – yum

In addition to Donna and I, Sheila’s friends Carole and Bill along with her friend Salma and Salma’s son Jace were there. We had a fun evening with laughter and conversation and a few drinks.

Sheila served lobster bisque, then the main course was King crab legs. Giant King crab legs!

King crab legs

We called it a night a little past 10pm.

On Saturday morning, we drove up to Sun City (Menifee) to visit with my step-dad. The traffic was fairly light and we made good time, arriving a little before 11am. We sat and talked for a while and presented the goody box packed with food, snacks and a bottle of rum to Ken. Then we drove over to the Chinese restaurant for lunch. We lingered there for an hour and half before driving back to his place. My daughter Shauna phoned him to check in while we were there.

A few years ago, I set up an account with Life Station and had a device delivered to Ken. It’s an emergency contact through a phone line to a dispatch center. To use it he needs to wear a wrist band that’s a wireless connection to the phone device. If he were to fall or have a medical emergency, he could contact the dispatch center through the wrist band microphone. He doesn’t use it. He doesn’t wear the wrist band and the only thing this set-up is doing for him is giving him a one-touch emergency contact point next to his bed where the main device is. It’s right next to his landline phone which serves the same purpose.

I’ve been paying about $30/month for the subscription fee for years now and after talking it over, we decided to return the unit and cancel the subscription. When Ken is out and about, he carries a cell phone and he has the landline in his home. I felt a little bad about suggesting we cancel the Life Station, but it really didn’t make sense to keep it when he’s not using it.

After visiting for a few hours, we said our goodbyes. It made me sad to see him waving goodbye in the driveway. He cut such a lonely figure. I don’t know when I’ll see him again. With Christmas and New Year falling on a Friday, the rental car agencies here in Pacific Beach are closed for those weekends.

The hour and a half drive home was punctuated by bad drivers making crazy, dangerous maneuvers. Fortunately, we didn’t see any accidents this time – usually there’s a crash somewhere along I-15 when we make this drive.

Back at Mission Bay RV Resort it was time for their holiday Hawaiian luau. The weather wasn’t very cooperative. Rain was threatening. We had tickets for the luau dinner plate but I wasn’t feeling up to it. Donna went and visited with our friends, Kris and Tom Downey. I stayed home and watched the football game. Donna dropped off the luau plate for me. It rained heavily at times – enough to lose the satellite signal during the fourth quarter. I gave up on the game and finished reading a book.

Today we’re back to clear skies and the temperature should reach the low to mid 60s. I’ll be watching football. We have a happy hour invite for this afternoon.

Lost Cat

I’m writing my 600th post on this blog today! I’ve been writing a little less than usual lately – mainly because we’re stationary for an extended period and I haven’t had much to say.

Friday was a blustery day. I used the time indoors to remove the screens from our vents. We have two 12″ Fantastic Fans in roof vents that have screens on the inside. These fans do a great job of pulling fresh air into the coach and circulating it out the roof. Over time, the screens collect dust and need to be cleaned. The screens have eight screws in a plastic ring attaching them to the electric fan. It’s not too difficult to remove them. I cleaned them with 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner and water, using a Brillo bug scrubber to get the stubborn debris off.

At 4pm, we joined Tom and Kris Downey at their place and we drove over to Offshore Tavern and Grill on Morena Boulevard for happy hour. Tom and Donna tried the New English Brewing Pacific Storm Irish Stout while Kris and I settled on Stone IPA. The beers were good! We ordered appetizer plates – seared tuna, mac and cheese, poke and a 50/50 mix of tater tots and sweet potato fries with cotija cheese. We shared the appetizers and it was enough to call it dinner. We talked and enjoyed each other’s company for a couple of hours. I was so wrapped up in the conversation and food, I neglected to take any pictures.

On Saturday afternoon, I scootered Donna to her sister’s house in Point Loma. Donna’s nephew Connor was in a play and Donna went with her sister Sheila to watch it. I walked a few laps of the park and visited with the guys at the security shack while she was away. After the play, Sheila and Connor came over to visit and see Ozark the cat.

Donna wanted to ride her bike on Sunday morning so I got her bicycle out of the trailer and pumped up the tires. She planned a route along Old Sea World Drive to Quivira Basin and back. While she was out, I watched the Chargers game against Kansas City. It was another heartbreaker with the Chargers only needing a yard to tie the game but not being able to get it done before time expired.

We had a visitor for the afternoon game. Debbie Bednarski came down from Carlsbad. She planned to pick up her husband Bruce at the airport around 3pm. I’ve known Debbie since we were in junior high school. Donna made her famous crab cakes and served them over a bed of herbs and spring lettuces. We had a beer and enjoyed conversation while keeping an eye on the Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay game.

Donna’s famous crab cakes

Whenever we have visitors, Ozark the cat enjoys the attention she receives. She’s gregarious and always approaches people when they come into the coach. This was true when Sheila and Connor were here and she snuggled up to Debbie on the sofa as well. Lately, she spends much of the afternoon curled up on the seat in the front of our living room. I’ve read that cats sleep up to 17 hours per day.

Ozark the cat doing what she does best

We had a curious incident with Ozark on Saturday morning. As usual, she was in bed with us when we woke up. We didn’t get out of bed right away. But when we did get up, Ozark had disappeared! Usually she’ll head to her food dish and wait while I clean it and fill it with food. She didn’t come out this time. I figured maybe she was sleeping behind the sofa. After a couple of hours, Donna was getting really worried because this was unusual behavior and maybe Ozark was sick or something.

I got a flashlight and took the cushions off the sofa. Ozark wasn’t under or behind the sofa. I took the lower drawers out of kitchen cabinet to see if she got in there somehow. Nope. I checked the bedroom closet and the small opening in the bedroom slide. No Ozark. Donna was calling her but we didn’t hear any response.

Donna was getting worried – a coach parked a few sites away from us lost a cat recently. They posted signs for their lost cat – it was a stray they picked up in Ohio and traveled west with. I knew Ozark had to be in the coach somewhere. We hadn’t opened the door so it wasn’t possible for her to get outside.

Our bed has two long drawers under it which open at the foot of the bed. Donna pulled open the drawer where she stores our towels and sheets. There was Ozark, nestled in the towels sleeping. It’s a mystery how she got in there. I’m thinking the drawer was left open enough for her to climb in which is something she does whenever a drawer or door is left open. One of us must have closed the drawer without even thinking about it – neither of us recalls closing it. There aren’t any openings in the pedestal the bed sits on where the drawers are located, so there’s no other way for Ozark to get into the drawer. Anyway, she wasn’t lost and we’ll be careful not to leave any drawers open.

Today we have cool weather and warnings for gusty winds and high surf at the beach. The high will be in the lower 60s as it’s been all weekend. The forecast calls for warmer temperatures on Thursday and Friday, then another spell of cool temperatures. The only thing on my agenda today is to clean and refill our hummingbird feeder. We have regular visitors feeding at it and I like watching them.

My hand is much better. I’ve been exercising it with therapy putty and plan to play pickleball tomorrow.

My hand is healing from the surgery

*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!

Wait and See

I wrote about our dinner at the Brew Project with our friends Bob and Sini in my last post. When we went out Friday night, Donna and I both left without our smartphones, so I didn’t have any pictures. Sini sent us a photo Bob took with her phone after dinner.

Sini, Donna and me

We drove the rental car up to Menifee on Saturday to visit my step-dad, Ken. Ken was diagnosed with an abdominal aorta aneurysm – this is a serious problem with the large blood vessel coming from the heart through the thorax and abdomen. Ken is 84 years old and not a good candidate for open surgery to repair the damage.

We visited with Ken and his neighbors, Ray and Helen. Helen had driven Ken to the emergency room Thursday after the enlarged aorta was found during a back x-ray. They performed a CT scan and confirmed the problem. Ken was in good spirits and seemed to be getting around fine. We were surprised to learn that in all of his years, Ken has never been to the hospital! He has another appointment on Wednesday to discuss the next steps. I’ve been reading information on the Internet and I don’t see a lot of options. We’ll find out in a couple of days.

The drive on I-15 and I-215 is always interesting. On the way home, traffic slowed to a crawl at the junction of the two freeways. I always expect heavy traffic near the Pechanga Casino, but this was unusually heavy and miles north of the casino. After stop-and-go travel for 20 minutes, we saw a multi-car wreck with damaged vehicles, emergency vehicles and tow trucks on the side of the road. Once past the scene, the traffic sped up and drivers were going 80 miles per hour and weaving through traffic again. Crazy!

Last week, I posted about the lithium-ion battery in our Verizon Jetpack blowing up again. A reader commented on that post with a great idea. He suggested using a timer on the 120-volt AC cord to turn the power on and off. This would allow the battery to discharge while the timer cut the voltage off and recharge when the timer is on. I thought this was a brilliant solution. Partially discharging and topping up the battery should solve the overcharging damage and a partial discharge shouldn’t affect the life of the battery like a full discharge would.

Last week, when I went to Al’s RV Parts in Yuma, I found a Radio Shack store right next door. I bought a digital wall timer there.

Digital 120-volt AC wall timer

The only problem is, I don’t really know the discharge rate or the charging rate of the Jetpack. When I bought it, the Verizon guy told me it would run for about three hours on the battery. I used this as a guideline and programmed the timer to alternate periods of one hour off (battery discharging) with random one or two hours on intervals (charging). Theoretically, the one-hour off would discharge around 30 to 40 percent of the battery capacity. One hour on may not be enough to fully recharge it, so having some two-hour charge periods in the 24-hour program should keep it charged. After using it since Thursday, it seems to work fine. Hopefully I can get a few years worth of use out the battery without suffering another blow up.

Sunday was mostly a hang-out day for me as I watched NFL football. It seems wasteful to squander such beautiful weather – we had clear blue skies and the temperature was in the mid-70s. It’s easy to become complacent about the weather here in San Diego – the good weather is expected and often taken for granted. Having said that, there’s rain in the forecast this evening and in the early morning hours tomorrow before we resume the mid-70 sunny days.

Donna went out for run to Crown Point and back – two miles each way. She’ll head up to LA to run in a 5k at Universal Studios next weekend. Ozark the cat was a couch potato like me all day.

Ozark zonked out on our bed

I saw terrible news on Facebook this morning. Our friends Jeff and Deb Spencer (Rollingrecess.com) were hiking the Flat Iron Trail in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. After they reached the summit and started the descent, Deb fell and broke her arm and went into shock. Her wrist was shattered and will require surgery. She had to be rescued from the steep mountainside – it took 4 hours to get back down the mountain. Our thoughts go out to both of them and we wish Deb a full and speedy recovery.

Today I need to make “things to do” list. I have a number of things to attend to and I keep forgetting some of them. We’ll go out to lunch, then return the rental car.

Moving on to Casa Grande

Sunday was a wacky day for sports – at least it was for me. The Moto GP race from Sepang, Malaysia was marred by controversy over the antics of Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi – unfortunately it will affect the outcome of the championship. The Formula One race in Austin, Texas saw points leader Lewis Hamilton force his teammate off track at turn one in a wildly entertaining race with changing weather and track conditions. In NFL action, the Chargers didn’t bring it against the Raiders. They played poorly through three quarters in every phase of the game, then scored three touchdowns in a span of 13 minutes.

I fired up the Weber Q grill Sunday evening. Although I love cooking with the Traeger wood pellet fired grill, I still use the propane Weber from time to time. Donna had prepared a pork tenderloin with a sesame-chili-ginger marinade. It was excellent! She served it with sweet potato mash and sauteed kale.

Grilled pork tenderloin

Served with sweet potato mash and sauteed kale

Sunday night was our last night in Usery Mountain Regional Park. The sunset was a beauty. I think Ozark enjoyed this park as much as any place we’ve been. She spent a lot of time on the dashboard looking out the windshield. Donna calls it cat TV. She was entertained by an endless display of wildlife. She watched the birds – cactus wrens, LeConte’s thrashers, Gambel’s quail. She saw lizards and rabbits and listened intently as the coyotes wailed.

Another desert sunset

We packed up and left Usery Mountain on Monday morning. On the way out, Donna stopped at the park office to inquire about camp hosting. We may apply to return to the park as camp hosts. The job would require 40 hours of work per week per couple. In return, we would have a free, full hook-up site. It requires a minimum four-month commitment though. We’ll mull it over and maybe send in the application next spring.

Our next stop was Speedco in Casa Grande. I wanted to have the coach serviced. Speedco is a truck lube and tire service center. They have a medium-duty preventive maintenance service that applies to our RV. I had the motor oil changed (28 quarts), oil filter replaced and chassis lubed. They also checked the gear oil and oil level in the front hubs/bearings. I didn’t have the fuel filter replaced since I changed it in June, but they gave me a fuel filter as it’s included in the package price.

I also paid for used oil analysis. Used oil analysis can reveal trends that may indicate abnormal contaminants which can be a sign of wear or impending failure. When I read the results and compared it to the last analysis, I was puzzled. Some of the properties of the oil seemed unusual. Then I remembered that the last analysis was done on Lucas Magnum diesel engine oil. Since then I’ve switched to Chevron Delo 400 LE diesel engine oil. I’ll never use Lucas again. The analysis of the Lucas oil indicated viscosity breakdown and the Petroleum Quality Institute has issued a warning for that oil.

The Chevron Delo oil has different additives than Lucas uses. The base stocks used in most quality motor oils are similar – it’s the additive packages that are different. For instance, Delo uses a silicon anti-foaming agent. This made the silicon content of the used oil seem high to me in comparison to the last oil analysis. Silicon can also mean dirt has been ingested by the engine. If we had a dirt problem from an intake leak or bad air filter, there would be other telltale signs. Our used oil analysis didn’t show any abnormalities.

The oil was last changed in January, about 10,000 miles ago. One of the things you can see in the used oil analysis is the Total Base Number (TBN). The TBN is an indicator of the oil’s useful life. In our case, the TBN was 7.7. Since Chevron Delo starts out with a TBN of around eight and the oil isn’t considered depleted until TBN is below two, we could have gone a lot longer before changing the oil. I wanted it done now though as we won’t be near a Speedco in the coming months.

We pulled into the Fiesta Grande RV Park around noon. This is a Thousand Trails/Encore park. We aren’t Thousand Trails members but we were able to book a week here at the Passport America rate. We have a full hook-up, pull-through site and full amenities for less than the site we had at Usery Mountain with no sewer.

Road trips wear Ozark out

Last night, Donna made caprese for us to snack on with a beer as I watched the Monday Night Football game. She used fresh mozzarella, compari tomatoes and fresh basil from her potted plant and drizzled it with balsamic vinegar reduction.

Caprese plate

Today we’ll start with pickleball and then see what the day brings. I expect sunny skies and warm weather – the forecast calls for upper 80s.

Tire Overload

We left the Flying C Ranch around 10:30am and followed I-40 westbound to US285 north (map). The wind had shifted and we had a tailwind on I-40. Of course this meant a crosswind as soon as we started north. We were going up and down grades with the net result being another gain in elevation.

Our destination was only about 75 miles away. We wanted to spend some time in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A week should allow us to sightsee and get a feel for the place. On the way, Donna looked at different RV parks and campgrounds on her laptop. We debated going to a casino about 15 miles north of town for the weekend. Parking at the casino is free and they offer a shuttle to downtown Santa Fe.

Eventually we decided against it. We wanted to be in Santa Fe where we could walk to restaurants and shopping or take a short transit bus ride to the city center. Our first choice, Trailer Ranch RV Park was full, so we booked a week across the street at Los Suenos de Santa Fe RV Resort. This is a convenient location with everything from taquerias to natural food stores to large department stores within easy walking distance.

We have a long pull-through site. The first site they gave us didn’t work out. It was also a long pull-through, but it had a tree on the left rear corner and a stump on the right rear. It was impossible to turn a rig a long as ours without hitting either the stump or the tree. If I didn’t have the trailer I probably could have jockeyed back and forth and got in. But if I didn’t have the trailer, I wouldn’t need a long pull-through site.

One of the workers told me to move down to another site that was more accessible and we set up without any issues in site 88. There are empty sites on both sides of us.

After we set up, I saw a motorhome trying to get into a back-in site. He had a tow dolly on the rear and couldn’t make it work. He eventually gave up and upgraded to a pull-through – site 86, two sites down from us.

These sites slope from left to right slightly. I saw him back his coach over boards he placed behind the wheels to raise the right side. Then I noticed he had improperly supported the rear of the coach. Here’s a picture – I’ll explain the problem with this.

Coach raised by driving onto boards

The rear wheels are duals. He placed boards under the outer wheel only. The load at the right rear of his coach is intended to be supported by two tires. Having boards under one tire means the entire load is supported by that tire – the inner wheel is just hanging in space.

I’ll use my rig as an example and put some numbers to this. My coach is fitted with 295/75 X 22.5 tires. The tire pressure placard placed by the manufacturer (Western Recreational Vehicles) calls for 110 psi in the front tires and 95 psi in the rear.

I’ve weighed my coach on a certified scale and have the axle weights. My front axle is rated for 12,000 lbs. My actual front axle weight is under that by several hundred pounds. My rear axle is rated for 19,000 lbs – my actual rear axle weight is just over 18,800 lbs.

Looking at the load and inflation tables for my tires (Toyo 295/75 X 22.5 load range H), I can see how much load they can safely carry when inflated to the pressures listed on the placard. The load and inflation table has two columns for each pressure figure – one for tires in single wheel applications (front) and one for tires in dual wheel applications (rear). The dual application always has a lower weight rating due to inconsistencies in how duals carry the load. Things like pressure differential between the two tires or tire diameter variation or even road crown can affect how much load each tire carries in dual configurations.

Back to my example. Toyo says with 110 psi in single wheel application, my tires can support 6,175 lbs. Multiply this times two front tires and I can safely carry 12,350 lbs – a safe margin over the gross axle weight. Since I don’t know my side to side variation, having 110 psi gives me a margin of safety. My 11,000+ lbs front axle weight might be closer to 6,000 on one side rather than evenly distributed. The only way to know that for sure is to have each wheel load weighed separately.

On the rear, Toyo says 95 psi in dual wheel applications can support 5,070 lbs. Multiply this by 4 tires and I have 20,280 pounds of load capacity for the rear axle – again, a safe margin over the 19,000 gross axle rating and my actual weight of 18,800 lbs.

Now, what happens when I place a board under one rear wheel? That makes that wheel equate to a single tire application. The load and inflation tables tell me that a single tire inflated to 95 psi (remember – that’s what my rear tires call for) can support 5,510 lbs. Let’s assume that my rear axle weight is evenly distributed side to side. If we divide my actual weight of 18,800 by two we see that each side of the rear axle is carrying 9,400 lbs.

That single rear tire with board underneath is severely overloaded. Please don’t do this. The tire carcass may suffer damage from being overloaded in this manner. In my neighbor’s case, the problem is made worse because the board is smaller that the width of the tire, so the entire contact patch of the tire isn’t supported.

Today we have beautiful weather. The high is supposed to reach 80 degrees under clear skies with very low humidity. Last night, the temperature dropped to the low 50s and we slept with the windows open. We’re at an elevation of 6,650 feet above sea level now. We’ll take a bus downtown and go exploring today.

RV Museum

I ran a few errands on the scooter yesterday. Getting from the east side of Amarillo to the west side on a scooter requires planning. I don’t like to ride the scooter on the interstate. Here in Amarillo, I-40 has one-way service roads on either side of the interstate. On the north side of I-40 it runs west and on the south side it travels east. There’s a snag though. I-40 passes over a large rail yard just before you reach downtown. The service roads don’t go through the rail yard.

Going westbound, you have go north to SE 10th Avenue before you can get past the railroad tracks. On the south side of I-40, you have to loop south to SE 27th Avenue to get across the tracks. I learned the way quickly and it’s a minor hassle (map).

In the afternoon, I scootered Donna to her hair appointment at The Plant Studio. The stylist there, Johnny, was recommended by a stylist in Tempe, Arizona, who attended one of his classes. She told Donna, “If you’re ever in Amarillo, stop and see this guy.” While she was having her hair done, I rode over to Jack Sisemore’s Traveland to check out the RV museum.

Traveland is an RV dealership with a very friendly atmosphere. Jack Sisemore has a great story leading to his successful business. He started by borrowing $2,400 from his grandmother to open a gas station – I think it was in 1962. He added a second station soon after. He bought a motorhome for family camping trips and rented it out at his gas station to offset the cost. Within a year, he had six rental units.

In 1974, he opened his RV dealership on a small lot. He expanded that to over six acres of land. Later, Jack and his son, Trent Sisemore, were founding partners in Keystone Travel Trailers. They sold 1,000 Keystone Travel Trailers the first year. Production ramped up to as much as 1,000 units built per month!

The receptionist at the dealership walked me out back to a warehouse where the museum is. Entry is free and it’s open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm. In addition to the RV collection, Jack collects motorcycles. He had old cars, boats and motorcycles along with memorabilia from earlier times. I was free to walk among the displays and enter the old RVs. Here are some photos I shot.

1941 Westcraft

1941 Westcraft interior

This 1941 Westcraft was owned by a defense worker. He lived in it in a special workers’ camp that provided restrooms and showers. After the war, he relocated to Arizona. This is a very rare trolley roof model.

Wally Byam’s Airstream

Wally Byam was the founder of Airstream travel trailers.

Max Factor’s 1976 FMC

This 1976 FMC was owned by cosmetics mogul, Max Factor. FMC coaches were 29 feet long and were built from 1973 to 1976. The were pricey, selling for $27,000 to $54,000. At that time, you could buy a house for the same cost. Only around 1,000 were built.

1948 Flxible Bus used in the movie RV

Interior of the Gornike’s Flxible

This 1948 Flxible was used in the movie RV starring the late Robin Williams. Jeff Daniels played the part of Travis Gornike who traveled with his family in this bus.

Teardrop trailer pulled by a 1948 Ford

1963 Chris Craft speed boat

In addition to the RVs, cars and boats, there were many interesting motorcycles – mostly hanging from the ceiling.

1967 Bultaco Matador in the bed of a 1967 Chevy El Camino

1973 Triumph Bonneville

He had many Harleys on display. The one that caught my eye was this 1977 XR750 flat track racer. The number plate was signed by nine-time National Champion, Scott Parker. Flat track bikes are raced on dirt oval tracks. They don’t have brakes and are pitched sideways to power through the turns.

1977 Harley-Davidson XR750

The other bikes that caught my eye were the Bultaco machines he displayed. Bultacos were built in Barcelona, Spain from 1958 to 1983. They sold first-rate racing machinery to the public and dominated Trials competition with Sammy Miller riding in the 1960s and 70s. Their motocross bikes were capable of competing with factory teams in that period as well. The Bultaco Astro was a formidable flat track machine. Their enduro bikes competed and won in the International Six-Day Trial competition. They also built road racing machines that won world championships. The name Bultaco comes from the founder – “Paco” Bulto. He took the first four letters of his surname and the last three of his nickname.

1968 Bultaco Pursang

There were many smaller displays of period artifacts such as these motor oil containers. Prior to World War II, oil was dispensed from glass containers with long metal spouts attached.

Old motor oil containers

Do you remember these?

I spent about 40 minutes in the museum before I went back to pick up Donna.

One of the errands I ran earlier in the day was to exchange my sewer hose at Walmart. I’m happy to report the replacement Rhinoflex hose doesn’t leak.

This morning, it’s uncharacteristically foggy out. I plan to load the trailer today – I hope I can find a self-serve car wash to clean the scooter first. This evening, Donna and I will take a free limo ride from the park to a local favorite – Big Texan Steak Ranch.

Tomorrow we’ll leave here and head to New Mexico. We’ll probably head to Santa Fe, but our plans are flexible.

Just Another Day

I mentioned the wind in my last post. There was a comment questioning the decision to relocate on a windy day. I’d like to clarify the situation.

We were heading west and there was wind out of the south at about 20mph. This isn’t extreme, but it’s noticeable for sure. When the wind is moving perpendicular to the direction of travel, the driver of a high-profile vehicle needs to continually adjust and compensate for the force of the wind. This can make driving mentally and physically taxing. That was my point. Twenty miles per hour wind didn’t keep truckers off the road and we saw other motorhomes traveling as well.

At this time of year, high wind seems to be typical for the area – we’ve had 15-20mph wind every day since we arrived in Amarillo. Along the north side of I-40, east of Amarillo, we saw wind turbine generators. These are usually placed where there is sufficient wind on a regular basis to power the turbine.

Google file photo of wind turbine generators

On Friday, I did some maintenance on the coach. I sealed the seams in the living room slide-out. I sealed the driver’s side bedroom slide a while back. I still have one more slide to seal to complete the job. Over time, the caulking can crack – this can allow moisture to intrude behind the fiberglass. It’s an item that needs to be checked occasionally – just like caulking windows in a sticks-and-bricks home.

Donna prepared a whole chicken by lightly coating it with olive oil, then spiced it with salt, pepper and granulated garlic. I cooked it on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill. A five-pound chicken usually takes around 70-75 minutes to cook. I was inside the coach when I saw a neighbor standing in front of the grill. I got up to see what he was doing, but he walked away and went inside his travel trailer before I got out the door. I’m not sure, but I think he may have opened the grill to see what was happening inside. I went out and saw the temperature had dropped about 50 degrees, so I’m fairly certain the door was opened.

The dry climate here allowed the chicken to cook a little faster than I expected. It came out fine, but I’ll have to adjust my cooking times for dryer climates. Donna made vanilla-maple-bourbon acorn squash mash to go with the chicken along with asparagus. She picked up the squash while out walking in Gettysburg one morning after spotting a pile of squashes with a “Free” sign out at the end of someone’s driveway. (She also grabbed a pumpkin and still deciding on its fate.)

Roasted chicken with maple-bourbon sweet potato mash

Roasted chicken with vanilla-maple-bourbon acorn squash mash

On Saturday, we rode the scooter to the Golden Spread Farmers’ Market at Sunset Center. Most of the produce there is grown on family farms within 70 miles of Amarillo. It was smaller than we expected, but that may be due to the time of year. We kicked around and bought sweet corn, fresh basil and miniature yellow squash.

Amarillo farmers’ market

Lots of fresh melons

We rode through the historic Route 66 section of downtown. This area is about a mile long and has many antique shops. It was quiet on a Saturday morning and we didn’t stop to shop.

Last night, I grilled bacon-wrapped petite filet mignon on the Traeger along with fresh corn on the cob. Donna served it with baked potatoes. What a yummy meal for the Labor Day weekend.

Speaking of Labor Day, tomorrow is the holiday. Labor Day is a working man’s holiday, first celebrated in New York on September 5th, 1882. The following year, it was again celebrated on September 5th. In 1884, it was decided the set the Labor Day holiday on the first Monday in September and that tradition has held for 131 years.

Other than watching the Formula 1 race and making a run to the store, I have no plans for today or tomorrow. I hope your Labor Day weekend is a good one. Since I’m no longer a member of the workforce, Labor Day is just another day for me.

Fill’er Up

In my last post, I mentioned filling our fuel tank with 50 gallons of diesel fuel at the bargain price of $2.22/gallon on our way to Nashville. If you follow this blog, you probably have noticed that I often mention topping up our tank with 40 or 50 gallons of fuel. We have a 100-gallon fuel tank, so why do I top off the tank so often? There are a number of reasons.

First of all, I’m the type of guy that likes to have at least a 1/4 tank of fuel in my vehicles at all times. You never know what may come up and stopping for fuel in an emergency situation – like driving someone to a hospital – doesn’t make sense to me. In our motorhome, a quarter tank of fuel isn’t enough. Our Onan 7.5kW Quiet Diesel generator draws fuel from the same tank that supplies our Cummins ISL diesel engine. The generator fuel pick-up is a stand pipe that extends approximately a quarter up into the tank. This means the generator can’t draw fuel if the tank is less than 1/4 full. This is by design – it prevents the operator from running the tank dry with the generator. That way when you dry camp, you’ll always have enough fuel in the tank to drive to a fuel station.

Another reason is moisture in the tank. Diesel fuel is hygroscopic. This means it will attract and hold moisture. The air space in the tank will have a certain amount of moisture in it, depending on temperature fluctuations and humidity. By keeping the tank full or nearly full of fuel, the air space is minimized and less moisture is present. Our main fuel filter is also a water separator. Water stays in the bottom of the filter where there’s a valve to periodically drain any water collected before it can get to the fuel injectors. I check ours from time to time, but I’ve never had a noticeable amount of water in the filter.

When I fill our tank, I treat the fuel with Biobor JF. When moisture is present in diesel fuel, microbial contamination can occur. There are hydrocarbon-utilizing microbes that thrive in the fuel/water interface. They live in the water and feed on the fuel. Biobor is an economical way to combat this. It also adds lubricity to the fuel. Since Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) was mandated and and implemented at the end of 2010, diesel fuel doesn’t have the same lubricating properties it had before. ULSD has 15 ppm sulfur, previously it was 500 ppm. Fuel companies are supposed to blend lubricating additives in the fuel, but I like the peace of mind knowing that the Biobor adds lubricity.

Most of the time, I buy diesel fuel at a Pilot/Flying J travel center. I like knowing that I can pull into the trucker lane and have plenty of room to maneuver. I’ve read that most RV collision insurance claims occur in gas stations – people try to maneuver a large rig in a tight space and end up hitting something. I also like the high-speed nozzles at the trucker lane. I can pump 50 gallons in less than 5 minutes. I have a Pilot/Flying J RV Plus card that is a fuel credit card. I swipe the card at the pump – it automatically adjusts the price to seven cents below the advertised cash price and I can pump up to $1,000 of fuel. Most fuel stations will only allow $100 on a credit card. It’s a pain when you have the swipe your card, then go inside and give your card to the cashier to complete the fill-up.

Lately, I’ve been planning ahead for fuel stops. I have an app on my phone called TruckerPath that shows me all of the truck stops along my route. I also look at a web site called TruckMiles. This site shows daily average fuel prices by state. We’re in Tennessee now and will head to Memphis in a couple of days. We’ll probably overnight in West Memphis, Arkansas like we did on our way east. TruckMiles shows Tennessee diesel fuel prices average 10 cents/gallon less than Arkansas – so I should fill my tank before I leave Tennessee and enter Arkansas.

The last thing I look at when I plan my fuel stop is the Pilot/Flying J fuel price chart. I look at their prices and I also pay attention to the column showing the intended bio blend. Nowadays, a lot of diesel fuel is blended with bio-mass based fuel – it’s not all petroleum-based. Our generation (CAPS era) Cummins ISL engine is approved for up to 10% bio blend. The Pilot/Flying J chart shows the intended blend ( I think this is lawyer speak as they don’t guarantee the exact percentage). Bio blended fuel is noted with a “B” number – B5 is 5% bio, B10 is 10% bio and so on. Bio content in the fuel adds lubricity, but bio-mass based fuels are less stable than petroleum-based fuel. They also are more prone to attract and hold moisture. My preference is for B5 or less bio content. In some areas, such as Minnesota, it’s hard to find diesel fuel that’s less than B20. Again, by filling my tank when it’s half full, if I have to pump B20 into my tank, I’m cutting the percentage down by mixing it with the existing fuel in my tank.

That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about filling up with diesel fuel. But if you read this far, it may help you decide where and what fuel to put in your tank.

We’ll head into town today, but first I need to get on the roof and reset my satellite antenna for the western arc satellites. I wrote about that here.

Generator Maintenance

In my last post, I wrote about getting a generator up and running. The main reason this generator quit working was lack of use. Regularly exercising a generator should be part of the preventive maintenance schedule. Gasoline-powered generators can suffer fuel system maladies such as varnished carburetors from fuel evaporation. Gasoline also has a shelf life. Although gasoline is formulated with stabilizers, it will deteriorate over time. Gasoline is made up of many compounds. Some of them are light and volatile while others are heavier and less volatile. The light, volatile components evaporate first and over time, the chemistry of the gasoline changes.

Running the generator on a regular schedule keeps fresh fuel running through the fuel system. The fuel in the tank should be replenished every six months or so – maybe longer if additional stabilizing additives are used.

The generator needs to be run under load – it should power electrical consumers that equal about half of the output capacity. This allows the engine to run at full operating temperature and also warms up the electrical windings and removes corrosion from electrical contacts. The oil circulating in the engine will prevent internal corrosion. It needs to be run long enough to get the oil up to operating temperature. I would say half an hour is the minimum. The manual for our Onan Quiet Diesel 7.5kW generator suggests two hours of run time per month.

Yesterday I performed another part of the scheduled preventive maintenance on our generator. I changed the engine oil and oil filter. The maintenance schedule for our generator calls for an oil and filter change every 150 hours. We have a meter on the start switch on a panel in our coach that records the generator run time. Whenever the generator is running, it records the time in increments of 1/10th of an hour.

Generator start switch and hour meter

The last time I changed the oil and filter in our generator was last September. In 11 months, we put 150 hours on our generator. If we hadn’t hit 150 hours, I would consider changing the oil at 12 months. The generator engine isn’t especially hard on oil. Engines that don’t spend much time idling or running hot at high load are easy on the oil. Also engines that come up to full operating temperature each time they’re used are easier on the oil than engines that are run for short duration.

The crankcase of the engine condenses moisture from the air as it cools down. Over time, this moisture contaminates the oil. In extreme cases, it can form an emulsion and hinder the lubricating ability of the oil. When an engine is regularly brought up to full operating temperature and the oil temperature reaches or exceeds 180 degrees Fahrenheit, the moisture in the crankcase or in the oil is converted to steam and driven out of the engine.

If an engine is regularly run for short durations and the oil temperature stays too low – 150 degrees or less – it will have excessive moisture in the crankcase and should have the oil changed more often.

Our generator is usually run for at least an hour at a time and always gets up to full operating temperature. Every time I’ve drained the oil from it, I haven’t see any sign of excessive moisture. Lately we’ve been running the generator as we drive down the road to operate our roof-mounted air conditioner. This makes it a much more comfortable ride in hot, humid areas. It also ensures plenty of exercise for our generator.

Some modern cars have oil service indicators that customize the oil change schedule. These systems don’t actually sample the oil for condition. They monitor the driving conditions such as how much time is spent idling and what the temperature of the engine and environment are. Plugging these factors into a table, it comes up with a recommended oil change interval.

Today we plan to go to the farmers’ market at Bolton Landing (map). Donna’s sister Pam and her husband Gene will join Tom, Linda and us to shop there and go out to lunch. This afternoon, I’ll start preparing the coach for travel – I want to pull out early on Sunday.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Maintenance

Ozark Takes a Walk

Early Christmas Celebrations

Lost Cat

Wait and See

Moving on to Casa Grande

Tire Overload

RV Museum

Just Another Day

Fill’er Up

Generator Maintenance

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