Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Free Beer

In my last post, I showed the catch basin I made to contain any fluid that might leak from the HWH hydraulic synch cylinder. No fluid has leaked since I had a drop of fluid last weekend. I’m thinking now that the drop of fluid I saw running down the threads on the U-bolt holding the synch cylinder may have been residual oil from the original leak. Perhaps a small amount of fluid remained on the horizontal steel mounting tab for the cylinder. When I fiddled around with the jacks, this residual fluid may have run off the tab and down the U-bolt threads.

On Wednesday, my lifelong friend Jim Birditt rang me up. He was headed to the Wild Horse Pass Casino (map). He’s a truck driver hauling household goods for North American Van Lines. He planned to stop overnight and park his Peterbilt truck in the casino truck/RV lot. I rode the Spyder there in the afternoon to meet up with him. We had a cold one and caught up a bit. I’ve known Jim since I was in the 8th grade. We spent a lot of time hunting together in the 90s.

We talked about the mysterious hydraulic oil leak. We came up with a theory. The synch cylinder has two pistons inside that move when fluid pressure is applied to one side or the other. There’s a shaft that moves with the pistons. This shaft extends out of one end of the cylinder. The shaft has a seal. Maybe at some point, after we set up here at Towerpoint RV Resort, the shaft seal leaked some fluid. Maybe the seal rolled or something was caught in the seal allowing fluid to seep past. If some foreign matter was in the seal, it may have washed out with the leaking fluid and the seal re-seated itself. It’s just a theory, but I can’t come up with any other explanation for why the cylinder would leak fluid one day, then stop leaking. The hydraulic system works fine, I’ve moved the living room slide to apply pressure in the cylinder and there’s no leakage now. I’ll keep the catch basin in place for a while just in case it leaks again.

Jim was planning to head to Tucumcari, New Mexico the next morning. I showed him an alternate route. He’s been driving trucks all his adult life and knows just about every route in the country. But he never went up the Beeline Highway (AZ87) through Payson, Arizona to get to I-40 east. He usually goes up I-17 to I-40. He tried my suggestion on Thursday morning and phoned me later to tell me the route worked out great. He picked up I-40 at Holbrook.

On Thursday evening, Donna and I prepared a whole chicken. I used my favorite chicken rub – Lambert’s Sweet Rub O’Mine – and cooked it on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill.

Traeger wood pellet fired grill

I cooked the chicken for about 80 minutes and used a quick reading meat thermometer to check for proper internal temperature. I shoot for about 170 degrees in the breast and over 180 in the thigh. Cooked on the Traeger, the chicken remains moist while fully cooked at these temperatures.

Whole roasted chicken with Sweet Rub O’Mine

Donna served it with steamed broccoli and wild rice cranberry salad. A delicious meal!

Roasted chicken quarter with broccoli and wild rice cranberry salad

On Friday morning, we played pickleball. The courts aren’t filled with players and people waiting for games anymore. Things have really thinned out here as most of the snowbirds have headed for home.

We went to Tia Rosa’s Tacqueria to meet up with David and Karin Von Kay for lunch. We first met David and Karin in Des Moines, Iowa last year. They were in the site next to us at the fairgrounds where David was showing his 1966 Chevelle in the Good Guys car show. Donna and Karin have stayed in touch and frequently trade recipes. It’s so much fun to meet new people on the road and hook up again at another place later.

Things are winding down for us here at Towerpoint. Our initial two-month stay officially ended Friday. I settled up our electric bill, then extended our stay another six nights – we’ll leave Mesa on Thursday the 21st. I have a few things to get done before we go. At first we thought we’d stay an extra five days and leave on Wednesday. I have the initiation to the Elks on Tuesday night, so I thought an extra day would be good.

On Friday evening, Towerpoint had their final end-of-season party. Free beer, chips and salsa and pretzels. Hard to beat free. Donna and I wandered around the pool area where the party was in progress and visited with a few people we know from the pickleball courts. We were happy to see Howard and Nancy there – they’re the friends that had a horrible traffic accident with their motorhome resulting in severe injuries to Howard and his mother-in-law. Howard’s a trouper and seemed to be doing better than expected. They plan to stay here for a few months while Howard and Nancy’s mom recuperate.

The party included live music – something Donna and I always enjoy. The band was good in spite of the fact they used a synthetic drum track – I always prefer a full group of musicians – even drummers.

Good music – we love live bands

Donna brought a hoop and did some hoop dancing. The band really appreciated her efforts as it encouraged dancing and attention to the music.

Donna hoop dancing

Oh yeah

It was extremely windy making the hooping difficult for her – but it was impressive nonetheless.

From here our plan is to head up to Cottonwood for four nights. This will give us a chance to make day trips to Jerome and Sedona – plus I can catch the Moto GP race a week from Sunday. We’re not sure where we’re going from there.

*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!

Synchronizing Cylinder

On Sunday evening, Donna prepared a new recipe called sweet and spicy salmon. My oldest daughter Alana shared the recipe on Facebook and Donna wanted to try it. She bought frozen wild Alaskan sockeye salmon steaks from Costco. She placed each piece of fish on a square of foil and poured coconut oil over the salmon. Then she drizzled the fillets with honey and dusted them with a mixture of cumin, paprika, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Then she sealed the foil over the salmon and I cooked it on the Weber Q grill.

Sockeye salmon fillets wrapped in foil

I slightly overcooked the salmon – I wish I would have taken it off the grill sooner. The thing is, the salmon keeps cooking in the foil – it has to be opened up quickly once the fish is off the grill. Steam rose from the foil packets when I opened them.

Sweet and spicy salmon hot off the grill

The fish was tasty though. We’ll make it again – next time Donna says she would add just a little more honey and maybe put veggies in the packet with the salmon. I’ll take it off the grill sooner and open the packets quickly.

Sweet and spicy salmon served with roasted brussel sprouts

All day I’d been checking in the forward basement compartment for a hydraulic oil leak. The paper towels I had spread in there remained dry. On Monday afternoon, I fiddled with the hydraulic jacks. A few hours later, we had a small drop of oil spreading on the paper towel. It was dark by the time I checked it out so I couldn’t determine the source of the leak.

After playing pickleball this morning, I cleared the forward basement compartment and crawled inside. I used a flashlight and clean paper towels to see if I could figure out where the oil was coming from. There’s a 1-1/2″ diameter hydraulic cylinder about a foot long in the compartment. Each end of the cylinder is held to a steel tab with U-bolts. I could see hydraulic oil on the threads of the U-bolt on the rear of the cylinder.

HWH synchronizing cylinder

I loosened the U-bolts and tried to trace the oil. There’s a 90-degree elbow fitting and a hydraulic hose near the U-bolt, but it was dry around the fitting and hose. There’s also a rod that protrudes from the end of the cylinder. I read through a HWH hydraulic system service manual and learned a few things.

The cylinder is a synchronizing cylinder – commonly called a synch cylinder. It’s used when two or more hydraulic rams are operated simultaneously – such as the hydraulic generator slide or the living room slide-out. It’s not part of the leveling jack system. This had me puzzled because the intermittent leak happened after we set up here at Tower Point RV Resort. I haven’t operated the generator slide or the living room slide since we set up two months ago.

I found out that the rod protruding from the end of the cylinder will move when the system the synch cylinder is plumbed into is activated. So I tried running the generator slide open and checked the rod. No movement, so it’s not part of the generator hydraulic system. Then I pulled the living room slide partway in. The rod extended from the cylinder. So it’s plumbed into the living room slide hydraulic rams.

I put the living room slide out again and checked the synch cylinder for leaks. No sign of any fluid leak. I cut an empty one-gallon plastic water jug and made a catch basin. I wired it in place under the end of the synch cylinder where the oil dripped from the U-bolt. I’ll keep checking for a leak and try to trace it again. In the mean time, the catch basin will keep oil off the basement carpet and anything else in there.

Catch basin wired in place

I’m hoping the leak isn’t an internal problem with the synch cylinder, but I’m beginning to think it may be. I looked it up and that part costs $474!

Yesterday I stopped in at the Towerpoint office to pay the electric bill and extend our stay to Wednesday, April 20th. The lady in the office was going to give me five extra days at the monthly rate instead of reverting to the daily rate. Then we talked about the daily rate with Passport America. We’re Passport America members and it gives us 50% off of the normal daily rate. She did the calculation and the Passport America rate worked out to be about $10 higher for the five days – but it included electricity. The monthly rate doesn’t include electricity.

We’re expecting temperatures in the 90s before we leave. That means running both roof air conditioners – and using a lot of electricity. I opted for the Passport America rate so I’ll have no worries about running the air conditioners as needed. She told me not to pay my current electric bill – they will read the meter again on Friday (our original end date here). I’ll settle the electric bill and pay for the extra five nights then.

Mysterious Oil Leak

I mentioned in my last post that Donna kayaked the Salt River again with her friend Audrey on Friday. This time, instead of taking our two-seat Sea Eagle 370, she used one of Audrey’s single-seat Sea Eagle 330s.

Audrey with her Sea Eagle 330

Here are a few pictures from their trip down the river. They started near Saguaro Ranch below Saguaro Lake and pulled out at Granite Reef four and a half hours later.

Egret flying down river

Wild horses off Donna’s bow

More wild horses

Stand up paddle boards – with dogs

View of Red Mountain down river

Also, I mentioned rain moving in Friday night. There were scattered thundershowers in the area while we had the J Street potluck. We got lucky and the thundershowers stayed to the north and east of us. At one point there was virga in the east – virga is rain falling in the sky that evaporates before it reaches the ground.

Virga – rain falling from the clouds but it doesn’t reach the ground

The virga created a rainbow. It rose from the right and arced in a quarter circle. It disappeared before I could shoot a photo. Then it re-appeared in a mirror image arcing down to the left.

Second half of rainbow

My project for Saturday was servicing the Spyder. I needed to change the engine oil and filter and the hydraulic control module (HCM) filter. The engine oil in the Spyder also lubricates the transmission and operates the hydraulic shift mechanism. The first task was removal of the plastic body parts – known as the tupperware.

Spyder with body panels in place

Four body panels removed to change the oil and filters

The Rotax 998cc V-Twin engine in the Spyder has a dry sump lubrication system. Most automobile and motorcycle engines are a wet sump type. Wet sump means there’s an oil pan below the crankcase containing the oil supply for the engine. A pick-up tube in the pan delivers the oil to the oil pump where it’s sent through the engine under pressure.

A dry sump system is commonly found on race cars where it offers certain advantages. In a dry sump system, there isn’t an oil pan below the crankcase, there’s a remote oil tank instead. Two oil pumps are used – one to scavenge the oil out of the crankcase after it has circulated through the engine. The oil is then pumped to the remote reservoir. A second oil pump delivers the oil from the reservoir to the engine where it circulates throughout the lubrication system.

Dry sump systems are more complicated and also have certain requirements for checking the oil level correctly. The reason the Rotax engine uses a dry sump is primarily a packaging advantage. The 60-degree V-twin engine is compact front to rear but it’s a tall engine. Taking away the oil pan from the bottom of the engine reduces the height, allowing it to sit lower in the frame.

Race cars use dry sumps for a number of reasons. They reduce power loss from drag that the oil in the sump can create as the crankshaft spins through it. It also takes away the chance of the oil pick-up drawing air as the oil sloshes around in the oil pan through high G-force loading in turns or with braking and accelerating.

On the Spyder, the dry sump meant I had to drain the oil reservoir, then remove a second drain plug on the crankcase to make sure it was fully drained. When you shut down the engine, the pump in the crankcase no longer pumps oil back to the reservoir. The oil in the engine lubrication system slowly drains to the bottom of the crankcase. I estimate nearly a quart of oil came out of the crankcase drain. On start-up, the scavenge pump in the crankcase would quickly pump that oil back to the reservoir. Here’s a photo showing the remote oil reservoir – it’s poorly focused but I didn’t notice that until I had the body panels put on again.

Remote oil reservoir

I had one problem. The HCM filter for our Spyder could be one of two different part numbers. I never had it apart before, so I didn’t know if we had the short filter or the longer one. The replacement filter I had was the longer one. It turned out I needed the short one. I’ll have to get another filter and take the body panels off again to change the HCM filter.

Spyder buttoned up and under cover

When I was finishing up, Donna was preparing to drive her rental car to a hair stylist in Tempe. She opened the big basement door on the passenger side of the coach and found oil on the nylon bag that holds our windshield cover. Lots of oil. I looked at it and saw it was hydraulic fluid. There are hydraulic lines and an accumulator for the HWH leveling jacks and slide out rams on the top of the compartment. I looked for leaks around the area where the nylon bag was stored but couldn’t find any.

I put a strip of paper towels under the hydraulic lines so I could see if it dripped. The drops on the paper towels would provide a clue where to look for a leak. I checked several times all afternoon and into the night. No drips. I checked again this morning. No drips. Where the hydraulic fluid came from is still a mystery at this point.

We have rain in the forecast today. I heard a few drops already as I typed this. I plan to hang out and watch the Moto GP race – I’ll also watch the Moto 2 and Moto America races. Donna is planning to do some shopping.

By the way – congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings for making the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 25th consecutive year. That’s right – they’ve made the playoffs every year since 1991!

Erosion and Corrosion

Thursday was just another day. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. I made my usual stop at Lucky Lou’s for happy hour with the crew and delivered a bag of fruit and vegetable scraps Donna saved for Mike and Jodi Hall’s tortoises. There was rain in the forecast due to hit us in the evening.

Back at home I didn’t fire up the Traeger – it wouldn’t be good to run it in the rain. So, Donna prepared chicken leg quarters in the convection oven. She cooked it as a one-pan meal with fingerling potatoes and kalamata olives.

Chicken leg quarters and potatoes roasted in the convection oven

They came out great, but next time, we’ll cook the chicken on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill to enhance the flavor of the rub and get the skin crispier.

Plate of chicken leg quarters and potatoes over XXX

Plate of chicken leg quarters and potatoes over arugula

The rain came later than expected. We had a lot of rain overnight, but it was dry and partly cloudy by morning.

Donna went kayaking with her friend Audrey on the Salt River Friday morning. She left just before 8am and I headed over to the Sports Complex for pickleball. After playing for two and half hours, I came home and relaxed. I finished the book I’d been reading and decided it was time to get after a few projects.

The first thing I attended to was testing the coolant on our Cummins ISL 8.9-liter diesel engine. In large diesel engines with wet liners, the coolant needs to have additives. These important additives dissipate over time. They aren’t needed in smaller diesel engines like the Cummins 6.7-liter ISB found in Dodge Ram pick-up trucks.

The smaller diesels aren’t built with wet liners. Their cylinders are cast into the block and machined to the final dimensions, making them an integral part of the engine block. On larger diesel engines, wet liners are common. This means the steel cylinder is a separate part that drops into the engine block. Seals on the bottom of the cylinder liner keep coolant from entering the crankcase and the top of the liner is sealed by the head gasket.

When combustion takes place in these cylinder liners, a vibration occurs – somewhat like ringing a bell. Although the amplitude of the liner vibration is very small, it’s enough to create a pressure wave that forces the coolant away from the outside wall of the liner. When the coolant moves away from the wall, it cavitates. The coolant then rushes back to fill the void from the cavitation and smashes into the outer liner wall. This happens on every firing cycle – so it happens several hundred times per minute while you’re driving down the road. Over time, this constant movement of the coolant can start to erode the steel cylinder liner. Think of it as wave action eroding a rock on the beach – but at a much accelerated pace.

Diesel engine coolant has additives to prevent cavitation and the sudden onrush of coolant against the liner. I ordered some test strips awhile back from Fleetguard. These strips are immersed in the coolant for 1 second. Then 45 seconds later, three pads on the strips change color and are compared to a chart. They show the freezing point of the coolant and the level of molybdate and nitrite. When I compared our strips to the chart, I saw that we were still in the safe zone, but should have more additive. I added a pint of Fleetguard DCA4 to the coolant.

Coolant test kit

My next project was to replace the anode rod in our Suburban 10-gallon water heater. When dissimilar metals are in contact with an electrolyte, galvanic corrosion occurs where one metal is attracted to the other. It’s the same electro-chemical principle that activates a battery. The water tank in our heater is metal. The water in it acts as the electrolyte – especially when certain minerals are present and other metals in the plumbing create the galvanic action. Most household water heaters have glass or ceramic lined tanks but galvanic corrosion can still happen as the liners don’t fully seal the metal components. It’s advisable to check if your hot water heater has an anode rod. You can get the basics here.

Our water heater tank has an anode rod that acts as a sacrificial metal. The rod will corrode in preference to the metal tank. As long as the rod corrodes, the tank will remain intact. However, the anode rod will erode away to the steel core as it performs its job, then it’s no longer effective.

The last time I changed our anode rod I used a magnesium based rod. These work really well but corrode more quickly than the aluminum alloy rods. I planned on changing it again after about 12 months. Well that was 18 months ago. Procrastination strikes again. I had a new aluminum rod on hand, so I got to work.

Our water heater is behind this panel on the living room slide-out

First off, I opened the breaker on the water heater electrical circuit. Taking out the anode rod would allow the water heater tank to drain. You wouldn’t want the electrical water heater element to heat up without water in the tank – it would burn out the element in short order.

I taped a plastic bag below the anode rod to divert the water from the coach. Then I used a 1-1/16-inch socket on a half-inch drive ratchet to remove the anode rod.

Water heater and anode rod

Once I had the rod loosened enough, I realized I made a mistake. I didn’t turn off the fresh water supply and open the hot water tap to relieve pressure. The rod blew out of the tank with about 50 psi of water pressure behind it. I got a face-full of hot water filled with calcium carbonate sediment!

Oops - turn off the water and relieve the pressure first!

Oops – turn off the water supply and relieve the pressure first!

The anode rod was eroded but still had plenty of material left.

New aluminum alloy rod and old eroded magnesium rod

I wrapped the threads on the new rod with teflon tape and installed it. Then turned the fresh water supply back on and opened a hot water tap. Air was forced out of the hot water tank through the tap as the tank filled. Once I had a steady stream of water coming through the tap, I reset the breaker for the water heater electrical element. Job done! Twenty minutes later, I was ready for a hot shower and trip to Red, White and Brew for a cold one.

When I returned from the brew, Donna was pan frying potstickers and shredded cabbage on the induction cooktop for the weekly J Street potluck dinner organized by our neighbor, Jeanette. As usual, it was a fun time socializing around tables set up in our street.

The next project is to service the Spyder – oil and filter changes. We should have dry weather today with warm temperatures and clear skies. Tomorrow I’ll post a few pictures from Donna’s day kayaking the Salt River.

String ‘Em Up at the Handlebar

Yesterday’s temperature didn’t reach the predicted high 90s – the thermometer stopped climbing at 95 degrees! I spent most of the afternoon indoors reading a book.

Sometimes when I’m lying on the sofa reading, Ozark the cat flops on the floor next to the sofa. I mean she really flops noisily on her side and stretches out. She wants me to rub her belly when she does this. If I start rubbing her belly, she’ll roll from side to side and take it all in. What a funny cat – she seems more like a dog at times.

Ozark stretched out waiting for a belly rub

At 4pm, Donna and I headed out on the Spyder. I wore jeans in spite of the heat. The burn on my right calf is nearly healed and I’m trying to limit the amount of direct sun on the tender skin.

We rode east to Apache Junction. Our destination was the Handlebar Pub and Grill. We planned to meet Andy and Donna King at 4:30pm. Andy wanted to eat early before he took the stage at 6pm with the String ‘Em Up bluegrass band. We joined them for a drink and waited for our friends Brett and Cheri Miller to arrive before we ordered food.

Bluegrass music is fun and we had a great time. The String ‘Em Up band played a lot of standards and even threw in a nice version of The Weight – a song originally recorded by The Band.

Donna, Donna and Andy with mandolin player and singer Frank Hamilton sneaking into the photo

Cheri and Brett Miller

Brett’s selfie with all of us in the background

The String ‘Em Up band – Andy is hidden with his Dobro behind Frank

We had dinner at the pub. Donna had wild Alaskan salmon and I had a green chili hamburger. Their burgers are excellent and came with a side of blue cheese potato salad that Donna plans to recreate at home.

Today we have overcast skies and a change in the weather is coming. It’s actually humid here today in Mesa, Arizona. There’s a chance of showers this evening and cooler temperatures with scattered thunderstorms in tomorrow’s forecast. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Hot Days and Sad News

My last post mentioned a change at the Phon D Sutton recreation area on the Salt River in the Tonto National Forest. This recreation area was open to self-contained RVs for overnight stays – no hook-ups provided. It required a pass which cost six dollars per night. That changed and it is now open for day use only.

Donna said the place really deteriorated and was in need of general maintenance. When RVers were there, we watched out for each other and bagged our trash and used the dumpsters. Now, the day-use visitors leave beer cans and trash all around the parking lot. We wondered why it changed. Our friend, Emily Fagan, already researched the issue and wrote about it in this post. The area definitely isn’t being managed with the public interest in mind. Something’s rotten in the Tonto National Forest. By the way, the header photo for my blog was taken by Mark Fagan at Phon D Sutton.

On Monday night, Donna made yet another new dish. She prepared wild Alaskan cod fillets steamed in parchment paper with orange juice, asparagus and fresh tarragon. This was a tasty dish – the fish was so tender and yummy.

Fisk filet steamed with asparagus and terragon in parchment

Fish fillet steamed with asparagus and tarragon in parchment

Great combination

Tuesday morning at the pickleball courts I heard some sad news. Our pickleball friends, Howard and Nancy, left the park on Saturday to head home to Arkansas. Howard was driving the motorhome with his 92-year-old mother-in-law in the passenger seat. His wife Nancy was following in their car. Somewhere near Tucson, the motorhome went off I-10 and crashed down a steep embankment. Howard and his mother-in-law had to be airlifted to Tucson. I was told he had a broken back. His mother-in-law also broke her back and both legs. I don’t know anything else about the accident. I searched online to see if I could find any more information, but couldn’t come up with anything. We’re wishing the best for them and hope they make a full recovery.

After pickleball on Tuesday, I had a delivery. The two Suncast cabinets I ordered arrived. I assembled the cabinets and mounted them on the wall in the trailer beside the cabinets I had installed earlier. Now I have two cabinets on each side. I used the same Munchkin Xtraguard latches I used on the first cabinet installation to keep the doors closed

Suncast cabinets mounted side-by-side

After installing the cabinets, I spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. The thermometer hit 90 degrees, so reading indoors with the air conditioners running was the way to go. Donna rode the Spyder to her piano lesson at 3:15pm. When she returned an hour later, I rode it to the store. It was not happy after a hot start in this heat. Apparently the refineries haven’t switched to the summer blend gasoline.

Gasoline in the summer has lower volatility than winter blend fuel. The switch to summer blend gasoline is federally mandated from May 1st to September 15th. In high temperatures, the winter fuel can boil in the fuel lines, fuel rail or injectors. This can cause hard starting, rough running and stalling.

The Spyder starts fine, but if it sits for a short time after running at full temperature, it runs rough for a minute or two until the fuel vapor clears the injectors. I’m sure it’s a fuel issue – it has only happened when we have high ambient temperature. I don’t think there’s a fuel pressure or injector problem. The engine starts right away and only runs rough for a minute or so. I think I’ll try a fuel additive to lower the fuel volatility.

Today the forecast calls for the temperature to reach the upper 90s here in Mesa, Arizona. It should cool down to the lower 80s by Friday.

Wild Horse Crossing

Donna and I had some fun activities this weekend – together and separately. On Saturday night, I went to Phoenix International Raceway located on the west side of Phoenix in Avondale with Mike Hall and Ray Laehu. I wrote about the tickets I got for free in my last post. I was surprised to find free parking at the raceway, however I wasn’t surprised to find $8 beer.

This was the first time Indycars have raced here since 2005. The cars were very fast, but I don’t follow the series so I had a hard time identifying the cars and drivers. The lead cars start overtaking the back markers on the one-mile oval after about 10 laps. This really jumbles up the field. Indycar has an innovation that helps the fans – they have an electronic number plate on the side of the car behind the driver that shows their position. The numbers change as the car’s race position changes.

Indycar streaking past at 190mph on the front straight

I always enjoy racing, but I’m not a big fan of oval track races. We had a good time though. The 250-mile race was over after about an hour and half and unfortunately ended with the last two laps under a yellow caution flag. No passing in this situation so the ending was anticlimactic.

On Sunday morning, Donna’s friend, Audrey Arrington, and her partner John Mitchell picked Donna up around 10:45am. They were going kayaking on the Salt River. I unloaded our Sea Eagle kayak, one seat and paddle from the trailer but didn’t unpack and inflate the kayak. Their plan was to take it along with Audrey’s inflatable kayak and set up both of them at the river. I stayed home to watch the second round of Formula 1 racing from Dubai and the Moto GP championship race in Argentina.

They left one car at Phon D Sutton Recreation Area – the place where we dry camped a little over two years ago. The recreation area is posted “no overnight camping or parking” now. We don’t know what happened, but Donna plans to find out why they closed it to self-contained dry campers.

They took a second car and drove upriver on the Bush Highway to a parking area with river access near the bridge on Bush Highway. That’s where they inflated the kayaks and put in. They cruised down the river, mostly floating with the current and enjoying the scenery. The two-hour river trip had some real highlights. They saw a herd of wild horses crossing the river just in front of them at one point. Donna was on the left side of the river and passed in front of the herd while John and Audrey went around behind them on the right. John shot a short video of the horses – you can see Donna in her kayak on the other side of the river.

Video of wild horses crossing the Salt River

Then they saw a bald eagle on a gravel bar alongside a turkey vulture feeding on a dead fish. They also spotted about half a dozen herons along the way. They really enjoyed their time on the water and plan to make another trip. The river is generally not flowing so early in the year. Salt River Project (SRP) just started releasing water from the Stewart Mountain Dam this week and will continue to do so through the summer months.

On Sunday evening, we rode the Spyder over to see our friends, Lana Jansen and Joel Myaer. I brought my laptop along. Joel is a computer guru and convinced me to install Windows 10 on my laptop. I’ve been reluctant to do it based on negative comments I’ve heard from others that made the switch. Joel had shown me how the operating system worked on one of his computers a few weeks ago.

We made the switch at their house where they have unlimited high-speed internet access – that way if anything went wrong and I had to repeat the three gigabyte download process, I wouldn’t be eating up my data plan. I also had the advantage of Joel’s expertise in setting it up. I have to say, so far I like Windows 10. It seems like a hybrid of Windows 8 and Windows 7 or XP.

While the operating system was installing, we went to Mattas Cantina on the corner of Brown and Ellsworth. This restaurant wasn’t there when we lived in the area – it opened a few months ago. The original Mattas Mexican Grill is near Towerpoint RV Resort on Higley and Brown and there are two other locations as well. Mattas serves West Texas-style Mexican food – I guess it’s what’s called Tex-Mex. Donna and I both ordered the chile verde plate. It was way different than any chile verde I’ve ever had. Usually chile verde is made with chunks of slow-cooked pork smothered in a green tomatillo sauce. This chile verde had chunks of slow-cooked pork served with potato chunks and peppers and onions in a spicy sauce. It was very hot but tasty – just different than I expected.

This morning while I was at the pickleball court, I had a phone call from the Mesa Buckhorn Elks Lodge. The woman on the phone wanted to know if I could make it to the orientation tonight at 6pm and the initiation tomorrow night! This was unexpected, but I was happy to say I would be there. About half an hour later, she called back and said she had made a mistake. The orientation is in two weeks on April 18th which is what I had been told earlier. So we’ll extend our stay here at Towerpoint for sure now.

We’re having another hot spell with the temperature expected to be in the 90s for the next few days. It should cool off again by Friday. I know I should be getting some projects done – all I accomplished over the weekend was the usual dumping and flushing of the holding tanks and cleaning the bathroom drains. Just like in a sticks-and-bricks house, drains accumulate hair and whatnot and need to be cleaned out periodically. With the heat, I may procrastinate a bit more – I have more than two weeks before we move – right?

Breaks From the Routine

It’s been a fairly routine week here at Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. That’s what happens when we stay in one location for an extended period of time – we fall into a routine. Donna plays pickleball with me on Monday, Wednesday and Friday – I play at least five days a week. On Tuesday and Thursday, Donna works out with a personal trainer. She also bicycles, runs or walks a few times a week, so we’re getting plenty of exercise.

On Mondays and Fridays, I hit happy hour at Red, White and Brew. On Thursdays, I have happy hour with the usual crew at Lucky Lou’s. Last Wednesday, we met my friend from our high school days, Andy King, and his wife Donna for sushi at Osaka Japanese Steakhouse. We each ordered our favorites a la carte from the sushi menu and sat and talked for about two hours. It was a good time and I’m looking forward to meeting up again next Wednesday at the Handlebar Pub where Andy will be performing with the String ’em Up bluegrass band.

On Thursday at Lucky Lou’s, tables were set up by the entrance with a variety of snack foods. It was a fundraiser for Golden Gates of America – a local non-profit funding education for learning challenged kids.

Fundraiser at Lucky Lou’s

That night, Donna prepared a new recipe – fennel-crusted pork chops. She cooked 1-inch thick pork chops in a cast iron skillet on the induction cooktop along with potatoes and shallots, then popped the skillet in the oven to finish cooking.

Fennel-crusted pork chops in the skillet

Fennel-crusted pork chops with potatoes and broccoli

It was an excellent meal. Donna says it was easy to prepare – everything in one skillet, except for the steamed broccoli which was cooked separately. Next time, she says she’ll make it even simpler by just mixing fresh baby spinach or other greens in with the potatoes when they come out of the oven.

I managed to do a little more work in the trailer this week – it’s shaping up. I’m waiting for two more Suncast cabinets to arrive. Meanwhile, I have a few things that need to be done on the coach. I’ll try to get started on those projects this weekend.

On Friday morning, instead of playing pickleball, Donna took an Uber ride to downtown Phoenix. She met Jan Walker at 40th and Van Buren (map). Jan is traveling by foot from Oceanside, California to the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia. The reason for her long journey is to raise awareness and funds for the September 11th National Memorial Trail. Donna has been following Jan’s journey via Facebook after a fellow minimalist from San Diego mentioned meeting her on the first day of her trek. Donna walked with Jan for about seven miles – Jan said it made the time go by much easier. Their route took them up Galvin Parkway past the Desert Botanical Garden to McDowell Road. I rode the Spyder to the intersection of McDowell and Pima Road to pick Donna up at 12:30pm. Jan planned to make it to Fountain Hills by the end of the day.

Donna and Jan and Jan's Rise Up for the Fallen cart on McDowell

Jan and Donna and Jan’s Rise Up for the Fallen cart on McDowell

I picked Donna up so we could make it to a lunch date at Fat Willy’s restaurant at the Viewpoint RV Resort. We met our friend, Marilyn Cross, there for lunch on the patio. We met Marilyn and her husband Ron in Hemet, California at the RV Resort there. They took us on a day trip to Idyllwild when we were in Hemet. They were in Mesa for the afternoon having some interior work done on their motorhome. Ron stayed with the coach while Marilyn met a friend to play pickleball in the morning, then ran a few errands before meeting us for lunch.

Marilyn is an avid pickleballer and we talked a little about game strategy. Donna and Marilyn caught up on things and the conversation danced around politics – scary topic. We talked about border crossings – Ron and Marilyn are Canadians. She told us a couple of funny stories. Once, when crossing the Canadian border, Ron was asked if he had any firearms in his coach. He said, “No, but my wife’s a pistol.” Another time he was asked if had anything to declare and he said, “I do declare I’m one handsome guy.” Funny stuff, but you have to be careful – not all border agents have a sense of humor.

After taking Donna home, I made my usual stop at Red, White and Brew. They had a new IPA on tap – Birthday Suit from Goldwater Brewing in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s a new brewery and pub that opened about a year ago. The IPA was citrusy and surprisingly light-bodied although it had a kick with 7.6% ABV.

A citrusy and refreshing IPA

While I was sipping my beer, a woman sat next to me at the bar and started conversation. A few minutes later, three guys walked in. There were only two open seats at the bar. One of the guys came up to the woman and asked her if she wanted tickets for the Indycar Race at Phoenix International Raceway. He said he would give her two tickets so we could go to the races. She told him she wasn’t with me – we’d just met. Then she told him she couldn’t make it to the race. The guy offered the tickets to me if I would give up my seat at the bar. I thought it might be some kind of April Fool’s prank but I took him up on it and called my friend, Mike Hall. Mike was planning to go to the race and buy tickets there. I told him I had two free tickets – he’ll pick me up this afternoon and we’ll head out to Glendale for the race.

Free tickets!

Speaking of April Fool’s, I posted on Facebook that our old house here in Mesa was up for sale and Donna and I were getting off the road and buying our old house back. This morning I revealed it was an April Fool’s post. Actually, our old house WAS for sale in the fall when we stopped in Mesa for a brief visit. It’s since been sold.

Last night at 5:30pm, one of our neighbors organized a potluck dinner for the people on J Street and friends. Donna made chicken meatballs to contribute. It was a fun time and good eats too!

Chicken meatballs over a bed of spinach

J Street potluck

Today my projects will go on the back burner again so I can go to the races.

Directing the Dolphin

I finally got started on a couple of easy projects yesterday after a couple of hours on the pickleball court in the morning. We had much cooler weather – the high temperature for the day was 67 degrees. That’s a drop of more than 20 degrees from the weekend. It stayed overcast and windy all afternoon and a few raindrops fell – not enough to wet the pavement though.

I went to Ace Hardware to pick up some 3/16″ rivets with long 1/2″ shanks. I wrote about my rivet repair in this post. The rivets I used for that repair were a little short and didn’t hold well enough. I needed to replace them again. The longer shanks on the rivets I used this time should hold up fine.

I planned on buying some carabiner clips to secure the doors on the cabinets I installed in the trailer. The doors are set up for padlocks but I didn’t want to hassle with locks every time I wanted something in the cabinet. I thought a carabiner would work if I could find the right size. Donna had a different idea. She’s been working with Procter & Gamble’s PR firm. They sent her a package that included Tide PODS and a few gifts. One of the gifts is from a company called Munchkin – they make baby products. The product Donna received is a latch to secure cabinets, drawers and anything you wouldn’t want a toddler getting into. They’re called Munchkin Xtra Guard multi-use latches.

Munchkin Xtra Guard latch

Donna received four latches – I used two on the cabinet doors and it looks like they’ll work perfectly. They’re easy to install – they have an adhesive backing that sticks to the door surface.

Xtra Guard latch on the trailer cabinet

There’s a button on the top and bottom of the pads – holding these buttons in releases the latch. They should keep the doors closed while we roll down the road but it will still be easy to access the cabinets.

Latch released

I decided to order two more of the Suncast cabinets to install in the trailer. I like the way they’re built and it will make it easier to store and access stuff.

I took a few measurements and installed D-rings to secure the Traeger wood pellet grill/smoker in the trailer. That was the extent of my projects for the day. Today I’ll add a few more D-rings to secure the ladders and a few other things.

Last week, I stopped at Seńor Taco and had the daily special – fish taco with rice, beans and soft drink for $5. Donna and I like fish tacos – we always have them when we’re in San Diego. Good fish tacos obviously need to be made with a good fish filet. Then it’s the sauce that makes them special. The Seńor Taco fish tacos are good.

Fish taco plate at Seńor Taco

On Monday afternoon, I rode the Spyder to the Sprouts store at Higley and Southern. Donna sent me there with a small shopping list. I bought two fresh tilapia filets, a lime, a jalapeńo pepper and an avocado. Donna already had the corn tortillas, cabbage and cilantro. She made blackened Baja fish tacos.

Donna’s homemade fish taco plate

She seasoned and pan fried the fish filets in a cast iron skillet. Her sauce was made from yogurt, jalapeńo pepper, lime juice and cilantro. Very tasty and we each had two big tacos for a total cost of about seven bucks!

Last night, Donna made a spring minestrone soup with chicken meatballs. The meatballs were made with ground chicken, panko bread crumbs, minced scallions and garlic, egg, salt and pepper. Another tasty treat. We had leftovers for lunch and it was even better the second time around.

Spring minestrone with chicken meatballs

This morning when I rode my bicycle home from pickleball, I found a motorhome blocking our street. It was a 34-foot National Dolphin. I carefully went around the front of it where there was about three feet of clearance. Once I went around it, I saw a woman sitting on the steps in the doorway of the coach smoking a cigarette. I stopped and she said, “I’m wedged in here.”

I looked back and saw what she meant. Apparently she was pulling out of her site and turning left. She didn’t account for the swingout of the rear and the last basement door on the right rear was hard against a palm tree.

After looking at it, I told her she needed to crank the steering wheel full left and slowly back up. She was afraid of causing more damage. I told her it will scrape at first, then swing away from the tree. She did as I said and was able to reverse back into her site. Then I had her go forward and angle to the right to pull into an empty site across the street from her. Once she pulled halfway into the site, I had her reverse again and crank the wheel to the left. I guided her back then told her to stop, crank the wheel right and come forward. She was in the street now heading in the opposite direction of the way she first tried to go. It didn’t matter – it’s a short street and either direction will take you to the park exit. With a wave and a thanks, she was on her way.

She was alone and driving a motorhome into or out of a tight space without guidance isn’t easy. Although her coach was only 34 feet long, the National Dolphin is gas powered and the chassis has a lot of rear overhang. The longer the distance from the rear axle to the rear of the coach, the greater the amount of swingout.

We should see a high temperature of about 70 degrees today with partly cloudy skies and a gentle breeze. Very comfortable. This evening we plan to meet up with my friend from high school, Andy King, and his wife Donna for sushi.

Unusual Easter Dinner

Ozark the cat has been enjoying her time here at Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona (map). She spends most of her day sitting by a window or on the door steps watching birds outside. Sometimes she even sounds like a bird – she’ll make a trilling sound deep in her throat that sounds like a bird I hear in the palm trees at times. I haven’t been able to identify the bird. Ozark also craves attention. She’ll walk up to our feet and flop down, wanting to have her belly rubbed. She rolls from side to side as I rub her belly and pet her.

Ozark the cat sitting in the galley

It was a warm day on Sunday. Although the temperature only reached the mid 80s, it warmed up quickly in the morning and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Without much of breeze, it felt hotter. I stayed inside most of the day and read with the air conditioners on. I wanted to stay out of the sun as the burn on my right calf is still healing and it’s sensitive.

Burn on my hairy calf

Donna decided to make her usual St. Patrick’s day meal on Easter Sunday since we didn’t have it on St. Patrick’s Day. She saw a recipe that claimed corned beef was a traditional Irish Easter meal. I did some research and found this wasn’t true. In fact, beef wasn’t readily available a century ago in Ireland. Corned beef is an Irish-American tradition. The corned beef in America was a cheap meat and substituted for the salt pork that was more common in Ireland. It’s origin is attributed to Jewish communities in the early twentieth century.

Donna prepared traditional Irish-American boiled corned beef with cabbage and carrots. She served mashed potatoes on the side and homemade Irish soda bread – my favorite.

Our Easter corned beef and cabbage plate

I saw on Facebook that our RV friends, Brett and Cheri Miller, had the same idea – Cheri prepared corned beef for them on Sunday as well. We’re making our own traditions out here on the road!

As we left the coach to play pickleball this morning, our neighbors were preparing to leave. I saw two coaches pull out from our street. Almost all of the Canadian visitors and many of the snowbirds will leave by the end of the week. I hope enough people are still in the park to get some pickleball action next week!

Our route to the pickleball courts takes us past a second-generation type 2 VW camper (T2 from 1967 to 1979). I remember back in the early ’70s thinking these were large vehicles. Today it looks small compared to all of the large SUVs we’re used to seeing. A VW T2 camper had a wheelbase of 94.5 inches and an overall length of of 177 inches. By comparison, a 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee has a wheelbase of 114.8 inches and an overall length of 190 inches.

Early ’70s VW type 2 camper

We have another warm day ahead but it’s also windy today. That might make it seem cooler. Tonight a cold front will move in. We should be down to the mid 40s overnight and tomorrow’s high is expected to be 70 degrees. Last night the temperature never dropped below 55. Our new Leesa mattress is surprisingly comfortable in warm weather. That was one of the things I wondered about foam mattresses.

Today I’ll head out to Ace Hardware to pick up a few supplies so I can get some projects done. Other than that, I’ll probably just read another book.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Free Beer

Synchronizing Cylinder

Mysterious Oil Leak

Erosion and Corrosion

String ‘Em Up at the Handlebar

Hot Days and Sad News

Wild Horse Crossing

Breaks From the Routine

Directing the Dolphin

Unusual Easter Dinner

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