Vegetating

Yep…..just vegetating due to the strong winds and cold.  It did warm up to about 53.  AND 70 degrees they say for this Saturday.

I did finally lock on a campground for our Lossey Goosey Group in Dawson Creek next month.  That was on going for about 2 weeks.  The group number is right on the border number wise of being a caravan and thus get a discount.  We’re at 17 rigs but only 12 can show up in Dawson by our departure date due to their attendance of the Escapade in Goshen some 2,100 miles away.  They will catch up to us a little later on.  The group is large but it will be only a short time.  Each will come and go as time passes.  I think in Fairbanks people will do their own thing from their RV parks of their preference.  Some will stay together for awhile then travel by themselves or with a few others at different times.  Thus, Loosey Goosey but with friends always nearby.

Here’s the Loosey Goosey Group of 2011 

See ya……..

Stopped Raining – Sun’s Out

Well we went to Carl’s Jr for breakfast.  Boy did that suck and service was lacking.

Then we went to Camping World in Kaysville, UT to return our inside entrance steps that didn’t fit.  Our outside steps didn’t fit either but we exchanged them for ones that did.  They were very nice and helpful.

Then it was on to Home Depot to have some carpet cut.  They used my measurements.  Oh no, I only measured once.  That was a well spent $20 hopefully.  I will install them on another day along with the outside step covers.

Next was to find the hydraulic fluid reservoir for the jacks.  I couldn’t find the dog on thing.  I called Winnebago and they instructed me where it was and how to get to it.  It’s underneath the second entrance step with one little nut holding the step down.  No problem.  unscrewed it and lifted the hinge step up.  There it was.  I couldn’t really ceck it because the jacks were down.  they have to be stored along with the slides in.  Lesson learned from when a tech didn’t do that at Red Bay, AL (Tiffin).  I did add about a half of ounce and see if that makes a difference.  If the buzzer goes off when going down the road I will add another 1/2 ounce or less.  Otherwise I will have to find a level spot to check it with the jacks up and slide outs in.  I will eventually. 

No rain today and the sun was out and it was a Yuma windy day and held around 50 degrees.  We even open the door and just had the screen door closed.  We had to get some fresh air inside. 

Carol is slow cooking  a pot roast since this morning and it smells so good.  I think we will get a couple of roasts for the road.

Who the hell is this?   It happened just shy of 50 years ago.

See ya…………..

Jacks Down, Red Light & Buzzer

I called Camping World and canceled our appointment with them.  Since the AC/Heat Pump only froze up once and has worked every since, I couldn’t see keeping the appointment.  They would just scratch their heads and say, “Yepper, it’s working now.”  Don’t want to waste their valuable time.  Yes, I’m being sarcastic.  I need to call Winnebago anyhow.  I can’t find the hydraulic reservoir fill.   I had one jack leak out about an ounce of fluid.  I tighten a nut and it appears not to be leaking.  My Jack down light on the dash comes on going down the road ever so often then goes out.   My past experience tells me the fluid is a little low.  I can’t find the friggin fill in this chassis.  I’ve even crawled underneath to no avail.  Winnebago might know?

We’re starting to stock up food for our Alaska trip.  Since we are here on a military base we went to the commissary.  People think it’s a lot cheaper being military.  Nope.  Just like any other food store you have to know the price of what you are buying.  The commissary has no off brands either.  But, there are deals just like any other food stores, maybe a few more.  So we went for the deals.  We stalked up on frozen veggies, a few small frozen dinners, a couple of roasts, canned goods that were on sale and anything that looked like a “deal”.

Since they have diesel here on base I checked out the gas station if I could get the RV to the pump island.  No big problem but do have to be a little careful.  Diesel is $3.89 and if I top off the tank I can make it to Great Falls, MT with no problem.  Great Falls is about 550 miles.  Diesel there is hovering around $4 a gallon. 

I think the number of tourists going to Alaska will be way down this year.  Fuel in Anchorage is right around $4 a gallon.  That’s not too shabby all things considered.  The fuel in Canada has not dropped down this year.  Diesel is running between $5 and $7 a gallon.  That’s about a dollar more a gallon than in years past.  Even in the U.S. it’s crept back up and stayed up.  It’s become the norm I guess, again. The rich get richer…….. If it weren’t all these foreign things going on maybe Uncle Sam could take care of us and deal with these oil companies.  Profits are way to high and it’s affecting us all here at home.  Opps, enough said.

Since we will be in cool weather the rest of the summer I need to pump my RV tires up 5 lbs each.  Their right at the correct air pressure for the weight but I always put 5 lbs extra in.  This will go on my Alaska trip list that is really getting small. 

Plus, I got to straighten out my mud flap.  I went thru a dip and it dragged against the frame and bent the living po out of it.  It looks like something a rookie driver would do.  Hey, a rubber mallet and a few hits and it looks OK.  But, I have to take the mud flap down to get a good swing at it, no bigeee, just time.

Did somebody say SNOW!……no, just my little imagination…. 

The park is about 3/4 full.  BUT we have an empty site on each side of us.  One guy came in and stayed two nights and then moved to another site on gravel.   I guess it might be from running around nude with the windows up.  Here I thought these windows were black out windows.  Oh well….. they will get over it in a few years…..

See ya……

Nutin

Like I said nutin…rain rain and just a little more rain. Oh..cold and windy too her in Roy, UT.  That’s Salt Lake City.

See ya

Rain Rain Rain

Yepper….rain all day.  Vegetated…plus never got above 41 degrees in the daytime.  Yes, 30’s at night.

See ya.

My Base – Hill AFB

This morning didn’t look real good out our front windshield.  We hope the rain stays away for our 280 mile trip today.

Up the road we go….

This is the start of the last red line road over the mountains via route 20 to I-15.

Then it was I-15.  Nice scenery all the way with the snow covered mountains in the distance.

We got fuel in Nephi at the Flying J.  It was $3.89 with the Flying J/Good Sam credit card.  Otherwise $3.95 cash price.

We arrived in Salt Lake City.  This city is spread out with all sorts of traffic.

Here we are……

I didn’t know the Army had trains and not just one.  Plus a large maintenance yard, the whole 9 yards.  Interesting.  These trains looked very active and not retired.

O.K. this is for you people who like fuel mileage numbers.  Driving the red line roads and mountains in AZ & UT my last fill up we got 7.3 MPG.  I have instruments that tell me my at the moment fuel mileage, fuel mileage for the day and fuel mileage since last fill up. Yepper…….  There numbers are pretty close using the old method of figuring with pen and paper.  I got fuel after getting on I-15. My fuel mileage for the day ended up being 10.3 and fuel mileage since last fill up was 11.1 mpg. Now that's what I'm talking about. I think my fuel mileage on this Alaska trip will be around 8 mpg due to red line roads all the way.  I figure if I want to, I can go 700 miles on a tank (100 gal) without worry.  This last fill up I took on 83 gallons to get fuel a little cheaper.  You might say, “Wow why?” and “I say why not?”  The money we saved will pay for a good chunk of our Cracker Barrel breakfast.  That’s why.

We will be here for 11 nights.  Hill AFB Campground is a concrete pad, side by side full hook up 50 AMP, pull thru sites for $20 a night.  This is a secured base meaning if you don’t have a military ID card the armed guards won’t let you come on base.

These fly boys don’t care what the weather is like, they’re flying in it.  As you can see it’s cloudy.  Those clouds opened up about 7 PM and it rained all night.  It’s suppose to rain at least tomorrow morning and temps staying in the 50’s. 

By the time Ed & Sandy Kruty get here next Friday, the temps are suppose to be in the 70’s.  We already put are summer shorts away.

See ya…………….

17 Degrees… What’s That About?

We had both heat pumps going last night and it got to 77 degrees inside the coach.  It was about 11 PM and 35 degrees out when the heat pumps said no more.  Surprised that they lasted to that low of temperature.  We turned on our little brown heater and all was well.  I got up about 4 AM and it was 57 degrees inside the coach.  Two hours later it was 17 degrees outside and 58 degrees inside.  It got light out about 6:30 AM but temp is remaining below 20 degrees.  Projected highs are in the 50’s.  Can’t wait.  I will have to go underneath into the storage bin and pull out the portable LP heater for tonight.

I had to unplug my tire monitoring system due to the cold temps which made the tire pressures low.  They work fine if they are set in the cold.  No bigeee.  I might adjust them later when the sun is the brightest and warmer of course.   I just have to unscrew the sensors off the tire, wait about a minute then screw them back on. 

About 9 AM Carol said it was raining outside.  I looked out the front window…no rain.  I looked out the driver side window…no rain.  Then I listened real good and it sounded like rain.  I opened the door and yepper..it was raining…kinda.  The water connection next site over had broken and was spraying down the passenger side of the Jeep and RV and part of the roof.  I ran out with no shoes and no shirt and turned it off.  Yes it was still in the 20’s.  We went thru construction yesterday……

and needless to say it was dusty and so was the rig.  Now you add water on that dust and you have a dirty rig.  The good thing is it that it’s dirty only on one side.  Jeep Too!

We vegetated today……since it was our first day in the cold.

The hippy dippy weatherman said it was going to rain real good here and in Slat Lake City starting Friday evening.  We figure go up there tomorrow before the bad weather.  This way we will be setting in a site before the rain hits and won’t have to drive in it.  Hill AFB, Salt Lake City is about 280 miles.  So be it….

The winds kicked up about 3 PM today.  Maybe they will be gone tomorrow.  We will hang a left off route 89 and use route 20 over to I-15 to Salt Lake City.

See ya……………….

Holy Crap…Main Road Closed!

More on that later. It was a very scenic trip especially above Flagstaff on route 89.  Carol took the pictures.  

We get up north about 30 or so mile from Page, AZ and a sign across the intersection with routes 89 & 89A  CLOSED….  We wanted to go straight but couldn’t.  We could have turned around and gone south then hung a left and come into page the back way.  Nope, too many miles back and we weren’t really even sure if we were gonna stay at the Elks.  This made our minds up so we headed for Panguitch, UT.  via route 89A.  It turned out to be a very scenic route.

You’ve heard of houses on rocks.  How about a rock on a house.

Up in the mountains we 7900 feet. Weeeeeeeeeeeee

This motorhome didn’t make it.  I think the transmission went out.  A park ranger pulled him about 2-3 miles in the mountains.  The engine retarder had to be working to have enough brakes which meant the transmission failed.  He had to be pulled down the road to a safe place.  that chevy had to be straining.

This is Hatch, Utah where the Escapees had an Outdoor ATV HOP several years ago.  We were the co hosts.

We pulled into a nice little park about 3 miles North of Panguitch called Paradise. 

We have about 350 miles behind us today.  It was about 4:30 PM local time and 53 degrees.  Expected low is 29 degrees.  I didn’t know temps still went that low.  I just threw out the 50 AMP chord and it jumped into the 50 AMP plug.  We will use our fresh water tank.

Get this.  A FHU, 30 AMP, pull thru, free WiFi for $20 then $1 for 50 AMP.  It gets better.  Good Sam members or any member of anything it’s $14.95 (50 AMP) + tax for the same deal.  We’re staying two nights.  Here’s our view from our windshield…..

and the park…nice little park that just opened up.

We stopped in Panguitch and got 13 gallons of fuel at $3.93.  In this cold weather I want insurance I could make it to our planned fuel stop in Nephi, UT for a fill up.  We had strong side winds and head winds today.  Fuel mileage probably dropped into the 7 range.    No luck with a tail wind.  Plus mountains and towns of course.  It was all well worth it.

Now tomorrow we will ?????????

I’m doing this blog at 6:30 AM local and our outside thermometers say 18 Degrees.  Yes, it’s damn cold and I don’t care how dry or humid it is.  It’s cold!

See ya…..

Full Timing Decisions

Us full timers have it rough.  Time to leave again and see more of the good old U.S. of A.  But where?  We’ve been here at this Thousand Trails in Verde Valley, AZ for two weeks.  Now what?  We’re not really sure about Wednesday through Friday nights.  Saturday we have reservations for Hill AFB in Salt Lake City for 10 days I think.  We have an appointment with the local RV doctor Monday for the front AC/heat pump.  It’s working now but making a little unusual noise when it turns off.  It froze up a few days ago.  Ten days in Salt Lake City.  That should be interesting.  I don’t think we ever spent 10 days in a big busy city.  More people means the idiot numbers go up.  Oh boy…..where’s that blood pressure med?

Our problem is that we did want to boone dock over at the Dixie National Forrest on our way north but it’s gonna turn cold real quick like in the low 50’s and then low 30’s high 20’s there.  Nope that’s out.  We could stay at Page, AZ Elks (200 miles) if they have a space.  They have full hook up but only five spaces plus a little warmer.  We will check that out more. Another little park is near Panguitch, UT we could stay at.  It’s expected to be cold there too.  It’s about 350 miles but the winds are suppose to be real strong the next few days along our route in AZ and Utah.  Hopefully they are out of South like they say.  A little tail wind is nice for a change.  We’re going up route 89 North. The winds were bad here Tuesday, real bad.  We thought we were in Yuma.

Here’s the topper.  We had the rig washed yesterday, Tuesday.  It’s 70% chance of rain Saturday no matter where we might be at.  Damn… there goes $75 bucks.

Alaska update.  I wasn’t going to but I’m negotiating with parks in the Dawson Creek area for our Loosey Goosey Group.  I have nine confirmed members (RVs) but need 12 to get a discount of almost 20% off their normally high prices.  I got the Chamber Of Commerce doing a special presentation for us.  They will come to us.  Also, I will try and line up a special tour for us at Sewell’s Zoo Farm.  Been there done that and it’s great.  One of a kind diner there too.  We already have Loosey Goosey members moving toward the Canadian Border but the cold is slowing them down.  We will cross over about mid May for our 7-8 day trip to Dawson Creek.

My Honey Do List is getting short.  Yea……I don’t think I ever got it caught up so why rush.  There went some brownie points.

See ya……

Uh Oh

Today was just a kick around day and do nothing special.

Hey I got a couple of guy friends are still setting at North Ranch doing nothing but trying to overcome their mounting hitch itch. They have to set for awhile due to doctors sticking them with instruments in all sorts of places. I think they even used a saw on one of them. The docs said no traveling and eat healthy. They’re not traveling but I don’t think they’re eating boiled chicken quite yet. Guys, do what the doctors say, damn it, at least kinda.

Joe, Ed, just set back and relax. You will be out here soon enough (oh no!). If not, your women can travel with us….%$*&^#(@)?><.

I wonder what I can get into today. I know….

I took one water filter out of the water compartment that added back in November.  I really won’t need it for awhile.  The filter wasn’t that bad looking/dirty but I tossed it anyway.  I stored the filter container away for future use.  Removing the extra filter gave me more storage area in the compartment.

Then it was time to clean a jack.  Uh oh.  I might have or had  a leak on a jack stand. I tighten one bolt about a 1/4 turn.  I then cleaned it off real good.  Time will tell.  I couldn’t find the hydraulic fluid reservoir to check.  Strange and I wasn’t about to crawl underneath to follow the lines.

I cooked a pound of bacon on the grill.  It really takes on a different taste depending what you have cooked on it.  It’s a real good flavor.  Try it.  Plus it doesn't mess up the stove.

Carol & I sat outside and watched the world go by.

See ya…….

Oh No Double Trouble

Saturday, there was trouble. The front heat pump (AC) was set for heat but only the fan was running and wouldn’t turn off and no heat during the night sometime.   It was about 50 some degrees that night.  Hmmmmm, now what? Our plans for next week changed that quick.  We now have an appointment with Camping World (Winnebago Svc Ctr-under warranty) near Hill AFB, Salt Lake City, UT for 28 April.

I turned off the heat pump at the control thing and the fan stopped running of course. I went outside and had water running off the roof and down next to the front door. That was a first for there.  I went up on the roof and the AC tray was full of water. It hadn’t drained thru the connection to the rear of the rig like it’s suppose to.  Plus in this dry weather there shouldn’t be any water.  I think what happen during the night the heat pump froze up for unknown reason and now it was thawing out and the drain was plugged. The same plug that Lazydays Tucson said wasn’t plugged up.  Their the ones who wanted to undo the factory installed HiDef TV sat and I said NO and we left…………anyhow.

During the day I was testing the heat pump and the AC. Everything was fine. Hmmmmm. I will call Winnebago and see what they say about it.

Then second trouble was we get a call from Ed & Sandy Kruty.  Their in Prescott.  Sure, come on up and we will have lunch.  You should know by now where that will be.

Don’t know what the dish is but for $7.25 including your drink it was a good deal and it even tasted great!  Ed & Sandy both agreed this place had great food.

Sandy made Ed bark like a dog for his food..We had a good time there.

Then we all went back to our rig.  We talked about the trip to Alaska in a little more detail.  Plus where we were going to meet in a couple of weeks which is Hill AFB, Salt Lake City, UT.  We had some great stories to share.

They stayed for a couple of hours.  We tried to talk them staying for diner at the La Fonda Mexican place and they just rubbed their stomachs and said, “Oh no!”  They had a dog that needed to be let out and that would have been to late after diner.  Don’t like those little brown things around inside.

You might reading this on Easter so we hope you all have a nice quiet Happy Easter.

See ya

Dennis Who

Carol and I were walking around and we found somebody in the park that we knew,  Dennis & Pat Swan.  They were packing up for their departure tomorrow.  They couldn’t have gotten a site further from us than they are.  Hmmmm, what does that mean?  They’ve only been here about 4 days or so I think.  We want out to diner later.  Yep, our favorite place.  They had never been but said they would definitely be back.  They too love the food here.  They got a really nice Jeep and have 35’ tires on it along with a lot of other off road “stuff”. 

 

It’s a little high for Pat but she loves to go off roading.

 

Really fun couple and are full timers for over 10 years at least.  We talked about 4 wheeling a little bit, Happy Trails in Surprise, AZ their landing spot in the winter among a lot of other subjects.  It was really nice.  They’re on their way to help out with the Moab Hop that we were suppose to help out with.  We had Mom things going on so we backed out early enough so that the Escapees could fill our spot.  I think the HOP is better off with these 4 wheelers that us by far.  I think they both have rocks and dirt in their blood.

When we got back to the “Baby” everything seemed OK.  Several hours later we realized we were out of shore power.  When you got 8 AGM batteries you just don’t know unless you look at some gauges.  Something was wrong.  I checked all the circuits and switches and gizmos.  I found that our Autoformer appeared not to be working.  I took it out of line and everything was OK.  Hmmmm.  Something to check out when we get to another park.  I still have a device by Progressive Industries in line that will shut off our electric if it goes array again.  The Autoformer was hooked up right at the park’s electric box and might have ruined the Autoformer.  Hopefully not.  Maybe it’s just resting.  I just don’t trust the electric here at this site.  Time will tell.

We got an appointment with the Gary’s Mobile RV Wash for next Tuesday.  We leave Wednesday.  He charges $75 for a wash and $185 for a wash and wax.  I saw him doing other RV’s and using that special water, etc..

See ya…..

Living The RV Dream/Bad Elect

Well, John & Kathy Huggins are Living The RV Dream as many of us full timers are.  They asked Carol & I if we would to a podcast with them about traveling to Alaska in a RV since we’ve been 4 times in a RV.  Our first question was what’s a podcast?   As you all know I’m know very little about the internet and computers and I like it that way.  It doesn’t confuse my small brain.  It already has more information than I can remember.  Anyhow, they basically make a voice recording of a interview and put it on the internet.  That’s about it for my brain.  We went over to their rig for the interview this morning.

Their website is www.livingthervdream.com.

We sat around a microphone and they interviewed us.  I think Kathy is finding out that you don’t ever want to give me a microphone.

We talked about traveling to Alaska for about 1 1/2 hours.  I think Carol & I used up all their electricity and they had a hard time turning us off.  Just being funny.  It was great.  Carol & I love to talk about the preparing stage and then the actual adventure.  I don’t remember if we mentioned our Loosey Goosey Group of 2014 going to Alaska.   See, I already can’t remember just that little tid bit.  They were great interviewers.  They said their internet pod site is http://www.podomatic.com/profile/livingthervdream and the Alaska show will air this Saturday at 7 AM Eastern time.  It will then be available forever.  That’s all I know/remember.  Oh no!  If I got it wrong, they will tell me I hope.

Later that day I started hearing things.  Old age or what.  It was like a high pitch sound that lasted about 5 seconds.  I heard it the middle of last night too.  I didn’t want to say anything to Carol because she say’s I hear things anyhow so I don’t pay them much mind usually.   Then she heard it but again only for a few seconds.  Now I know I’m OK.  We couldn’t find where it was coming from.  First thought was the dash because it sounded like some type of dash warning alarm.  Nope.  Then it happened again and we lost shore power.  Yep, this device was telling us that our voltage was low.  Here’s what it looks like normally.  

It got down below 105 volts and another piece of electronics (the crooked one) and it shut off our shore power and switched over to the inverter.  This might have saved some motors, electronics, etc in the coach.  It’s a Progressive Industries product that I got from Daryl Lawrence (http://www.lawrencerv.com/) years ago.  Great gismo and costs about $400.  It won’t let bad juice in the coach at all.

So, I then got out my 15+ year old 30 AMP Autoformer  and hooked it up since we were in a 30 AMP site.  It boasts the electric up to a good voltage when needed.

It started boosting right away and we were all good to go again.  A lot of people including us are running AC’s.  That will drop the electric down real quick to a unsafe voltage if the park isn’t equipped right.

So, it was another great day in the neighborhood as a retired cop use to say.  I think he was…Mr Rogers.

Don’t forget about the Saturday podcast…

See ya….

The End & Years Gone By

I forgot the last picture for yesterday…..

 

This time last year Carol was the Line Dancing Leader at the LODI WARE Rally in Lodi, CA.

 

I was one of three cooks doing the 20+ briskets for the rally attendees.  It was Ed, Mark and me.

This time two years ago (2012) we were in Texas at our Livingston Lot.  I was smoking pork butt as usual.

Then in 2011 about this time we were in North Ranch, AZ at Denny & Susie’s for a gathering of the minds.  Let’s see….Bob & Molly Pinner, Tommie Sue & Harold Hicks,  Sharon and Don Del Rosario,  Dennis & Susie Orr and us. 

Of course Carol and the girls were out line dancing eventually.  Denny was pretending to be a girl.

 

Then in 2010 this time of the year we were at a FMCA chapter rally.

We loved those bugs…………….

So, it’s nice to have thousands and thousands of pictures arranged by date rather than subject or place.

What were you doing this time a few years ago?

See ya………….