One thing led to another.....

 7:06 am - Tuesday - April 9th - TWW  - 49° F, humidity 18%, wind 7 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were touring Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ.....

....there is so much to see near Page, AZ!

I started out Monday intending to do one thing, and got totally sidetracked, but in a good way.  I intended to apply the second coat of paint to the greenhouse using the airless paint sprayer, but had noticed when I was working on the Jeep Sunday that there was a strong gas smell, so I wanted to check that out to see if a fuel line was leaking.  I wish it has been that simple, but it wasn't.  After thoroughly inspecting everything I determined the tank was leaking on the bottom, so to fix the leak I needed to remove both front seats (the fuel tank is under the driver seat), which is never as simple as one might hope.

3 hours later I had finally removed the seats, mounting brackets for same, and the strap holding the fuel tank in place.  Of course, the tank was 'full', so we (TLE and I) had to empty it, so I could inspect the bottom of the tank, find the hole, and cover it with JB Weld.  I placed the now empty fuel tank on the workbench in the trailer, and began to inspect the bottom of the tank  with a very bright flashlight in the area where I could see fuel was dripping before I removed it.  The suspect area was on the right side of the floor pan, next to the area between the two front seats.....

....you can see the area circled in red on the floor pan still damp from the leaking gas.  Anyway, that is where I centered my attention on the bottom of the fuel tank.  There was nothing totally obvious, but I found one likely spot, and a few other possible suspects, so I covered all of them with JB Weld.  Once it cures I'll fill the tank partially with water to see if I was right.  If not, then I'll know where the leak is, and fix.  I'm pretty sure I've identified all the possible leak areas.  The tank, by the way is black plastic, not metal....

The most likely spot 

Other possible culprits

....while I had the tank out I decided to sand out the rust visible in the picture above, and paint it.  The other side was painted, but the driver side never was, apparently, but it is now....

.....by the time I finished panting the floor pan it was well after 3 pm, and time to get cleaned up for dinner at 3:30 pm.  

Monday evening was also the date of the Final game of 'March Madness 2025' between Florida and Houston.  I really had no favorite in this game, but was kind of pulling for Florida because TLE is from Florida.  The game seesawed back and forth in the first half with Houston getting out to a 10 point lead at one point, but by the half time buzzer sounded Florida had narrowed the lead to 3 points.  The second half started out horribly for Florida who found themselves down by 14 at one point with 15 minutes to go, but with 8 minutes to go they had narrowed the lead to just 5 points.  With less than a minute to go they went up by 1 point, and then widened that lead to 2 points with 19 seconds to go.  Houston never got a shot off on their final possession, and lost by those 2 points.  A very exciting game with a dramatic ending.  Florida only held the lead for 1 minute and 4 seconds during the entire game, but they led when it mattered most.  This was one of the largest comebacks in a Final 'March Madness' game.

Thanks for stopping by!

Splitsville.....

 7:31 am - Monday - April 8th - TWW - 46° F, humidity 21%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I hiked the Honiker Trail near Goosenecks State Park.....

......down to the San Juan River, about a 1,000 foot drop in elevation.  One of the coolest hikes we've ever done.

Sunday was the second day in a row with temps over 60° F, and no wind.  We needed to cut more firewood for the house as the wood box on the deck has been seriously depleted the last couple of weeks, so we headed out to the area south of the Eco-Worthy Dual Axis solar tracker where had a lot of large uncut logs awaiting our attention.  It took us most of the morning to cut and split the wood pile, then transfer it to the wood box on the deck, and basket in the house, but by the end there was very little of the original pile of wood left....

Just need to cut that log into three pieces then split them

.....the fuel line from the fuel pump to the carburetor in the Yamaha Rhino developed a split where it attaches to the fuel pump, so TLE and I spent about an hour fixing it....that was not expected....lol.  I had some spare fuel line, so I cut off the bad piece, and spliced in the new piece, and got her running again.  

I also spent some time working on the Jeep.  It is really hard to start, and I think the battery is not holding a full charge.  When it is briefly at 100% it starts very easy, but the next day it won't start unless I attach a battery charger to it for about an hour.  I think I may need a new battery.

Finally, I took care of a small project I began back in September when I ordered new American Flag decals for the trailer.  The brand name of the trailer is American Trailer (San Diego, CA), and there was a flag decal on the front, and the rear, of the trailer which over 18 years have faded to the point where you could not even tell they were flags, so I ordered new decals, and got them in September, but never installed them....lol...what is wrong with me?  Anyway, I installed them just before sundown Sunday....

.....and with that another day at TWW came to an end.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Blackout, or not?

 7:28 am - Sunday - April 6th - TWW - 39° F, humidity 34%, wind 3 mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 67° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were boondocking at Goosenecks State Park in Southern Utah.....

Click any picture to enlarge it

See the Newell and trailer in the distance?

.....we were completely by ourselves.  Words cannot adequately convey how amazing this place is.

At last we had a day without clouds, very little wind, and temperatures over 60° F!  Time to get a few things done!  First off I finally installed our 2025 tags on the rear Newell license plate.....

.....as you can see, I have a protective cover over the license plate, so in order to install the new tag I must remove the entire license plate.  I know many people 'black out' the  numbers on their license plates when posting pictures online, but I don't get the point of that.  Your license plate is in public 100% of the time, 365 days a year.  If anyone wants your license plate number they can take a picture of it, memorize it, or write it down.  What are people trying to protect when they black it out?  If I'm missing something, let me know!

Anyway, next up I installed those angle aluminum plates I cut the other day using the band saw to keep the new batteries from moving about in the battery compartment when we are underway.....

.....just before we arrived here back in October I ordered 2 gallons of Chevron Delo 100 40 weight oil to refill our oil reservoir for the big Detroit Diesel 6v92, but never poured it into the reservoir, so no time like the present.  The reservoir holds about 3 gallons of oil, and we were down to about 1 gallon after more than a year.  I'm not sure if I have mentioned this previously, but these old series 92 engines use only single grade oil (40 weight in this case).  The only time it is recommended to use multi grade is when temperatures are consistently below freezing while operating the vehicle.  Delo 100 40 wt is hard to find, but I get it from West Marine for about $26/gallon.  There are still a lot of these old Detroit Diesel 6v92's out there being used in marine applications around the world, so West Marine continues to stock it.....

The 3 gallon oil reservoir

....in addition to that I continued stowing things away in the trailer in preparation for our departure in 2 weeks (from today, Sunday April 6th)! Wow, 2 weeks?  

Things are still drying out here from the rain/sleet storm we had a few days ago, but we should be able to apply the second coat of paint via airless paint sprayer to the greenhouse Sunday, or Monday.  We've got to re-mask the two windows as the winds we had during that storm tore off a lot of the paper we had taped to the windows to protect them from overspray.

I had the Valero Texas Open playing in the trailer all day, but spent most of my time outside walking around the property, moving things from the trailer to the garage, and to the CONEX.  Frankly, it was just nice to be outside without needing a jacket, watch cap and gloves to be comfortable.

We had dinner around 3:30 pm while watching the first NCAA 'March Madness Final Four' game between Florida and Auburn.  As I mentioned previously, all four 'Final Four' teams were ranked #1 in their particular pool, so TLE and I were hopeful that both 'Final Four' games would be close, and what do you know?  They were!  Florida was behind by 8 points at half time, but played much better in the second half defeating Auburn by 6.  The same for the second game between Houston and Duke.  Houston trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, and in the second half, also, but rallied to win by 3.  Duke did made just ONE field goal in the final 10 minutes due to the suffocating defense by Houston.  Houston finally went ahead to stay with about 13 seconds to go, and held on to win as time expired.  The only other time they had the lead was in the first two minutes of the game. Two great semi final games!

Thanks for stopping by!

April is a grab bag of weather.....

 7:15 am - Saturday - April 5th - TWW - 36° F, humidity 50%, wind 9 mph out of the north.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 61° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I had just arrived at the Elks Lodge near Pismo Beach, CA....

.....less than one block from the Pacific Ocean. Has it really been 8 years? 

The view this morning....

We bid adieu to Charles and Phyllis around 9 am Friday morning.  It was still very cold outside, with lots of frost everywhere, so we kept our 'until next times' brief, and scampered back into the warm confines of the Newell.  We kept thinking it would get warmer Friday, but it never did.  The forecast was for low 50's, a little sun, and no wind, but I don't think it ever got to 50° F.  In fact, we were the recipients of more precipitation, plus wind of the unexpected variety.....mostly wind driven sleet, with some rain  on and off all afternoon.  

The sun made an appearance, if ever so briefly, around 1:30 pm, so I went outdoors thinking, foolishly, that I would finally, after almost 6 months, install the 2025 tags for the Newell....lol!  They run from November to November, and we paid for them in late September, so it wasn't really necessary to install them until now since we've been sitting here at TWW since October, but now we will be on the road in a few weeks, and it would be good to have the current tags on the license plate, don't ya think?

Unfortunately, while I was getting a screw driver to remove the license plate, it began to sleet quite hard, thereby quashing any plans I had to do something constructive Friday.  I spent time in the trailer moving somethings around, hoping the sleet/rain would abate, but no such luck.  I finally surrendered around 2 pm, and headed back inside for the balance of the day.  There was, of course the second round of the Valero Texas Open, which I watched, and there were a couple of good naps thrown in for good measure.

So far April has been a 'grab bag' of weather.  The current weather forecast for the next week is dryer, and promises a lot of sun, so maybe, just maybe we can finally get some work done around TWW before we leave.  As I write all I can see is blue sky in every direction, and the temps may get into the 60's today, so we've got that going for us.  Our Eco-Worthy Dual Axis solar tracker tilted today at 7:09 am....the earliest ever, and our Bluetti power bank is almost back to 90%, already.  The sun now sets at 7 pm, and rises around 6:08 am....soon we will have over 13 hours of daylight each day.

The temperatures in Likely, CA are sort of mirroring ours here, and it appears we will arrive to highs in the 70's with overnight lows in the high 30's.  The past three years we have arrived at LPG&RVR around the first week in April, but this year we will not arrive until the 27th, or 28th.  Three weeks makes a big difference in weather, and temperatures.

Thanks for stopping by!

A few small things....

 7:29 am - Friday - April 4th - TWW - 34° F, humidity 61%, wind 6 mph out of the north.....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 53° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I had just arrived at Goosenecks State Park in Southern Utah for a two week boondocking stay....

.....no, this is not the world famous 'Horseshoe Bend' on the Colorado River near Page, AZ....this is the entrenched meander of the San Juan River near Mexican Hat, UT (southeast corner of Utah). This was our daily view for two weeks.  Goosenecks State Park remains one of the top 3, or 4 boondocking locations we have used in our 13 years on the road....right up there with Rincon Parkway (Ventura, CA), Rock House Road near Borrego Springs, CA, and Lone Rock (southern Utah near Page, AZ).

Thursday gave us another bitter cold morning after a night of snow flurries, sleet, and rain....not necessarily in that order.  After things warmed up a bit, TLE and I helped Charles and Phyllis remove their old water natural gas water heater, and install their new propane water heater.  The old one had been used by the prior owners, but since it was not set up for propane it eventually gave us the ghost.  It was definitely a 4 person job!  I didn't realize how heavy those things are....lol.

After that I spent time installing the new muffler clamps on the new mufflers for the 1969 Chevrolet C-50 I bought on Amazon.  Brian had tack welded the exhausts in place, so I could get the exhaust clamps and be able to remove the mufflers in the future, if the need arises......

....I didn't think they would be difficult to install, and for once I was right.  It took me less than 30 minutes.  I started the truck after installing the new clamps and it was even quieter, if that is possible.

Before I arrived to help with the water heater Charles, Phyllis and TLE assembled a 'composter' in the greenhouse area.  TLE and Phyllis already had a compost pile going, but this 'composter' is supposed to speed up the process...

....additionally, Charles and Phyllis brought up the additional 50' feet of welded fencing so we now have enough to install the fence around the greenhouse, with some left over.  There will be two wooden gates, which have been ordered, and should be delivered to their home in Phoenix next week, so we almost have all the materials needed to complete the project.....

....now if the weather will warm enough so we can finished painting the greenhouse framework, install the roof, and wrap the walls!

Shortly after I finished installing the muffler clamps on the C-50, and put away my tools it began to snow, as forecast.  Over the course of the afternoon we had snow, sleet, hail and rain.  The only thing missing was the forecast lightning and thunder.  Fortunately, the snow did not stick, and by sunset what little was on the ground had melted.  At least we managed to get a few small things done Thursday.

I spent the afternoon indoors watching the Valero Texas Open (San Antonio), but headed over to the house around 3:30 pm for our communal dinner, which consisted of  Nathan's Jumbo hot dogs, coleslaw, and corn maque choux (pronounced 'mock shew'), which is a Cajun dish.  

Charles and Phyllis will be leaving for home Friday morning, and we will not see them again until just before we leave, so we've got a lot of 'by ourselves time' the next 10 days, or so.  We are hoping that with the warming trend we are entering we will be able to get more done around The Wilson Wilderness before we leave.  Combined with my shoulder injury, wind and weather in general most of the major work here has come to a stop for the last two weeks.

Well, that is it for Thursday.....thanks for stopping by!

Winter won't let go....

 7:38 am - Thursday - April 3rd - TWW - 33° F, humidity 77%, wind 4 mph out of the southwest......partly cloudy this morning with a forecast high of 47° F.  We had a dusting of snow overnight....

.....but it will be melted within the hour.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were enjoying the Pacific Ocean  at Vandenberg  Surf Beach near Vandenberg Air Force Base (outside of Lompoc, CA)....

....partaking in some vino and cheese.  One of my favorite memories from the past 13 years.

Wednesday began cold, and blustery, and continued that way all day long.  I didn't even change into my work clothes, although I did do some work continuing to organize the trailer for eventual liftoff on the 20th.  I moved a lot more stuff from the trailer to the garage for storage over the summer, and a few things from the garage back to the trailer such as our anti gravity chairs.  

Charles and Phyllis arrived around 1 pm for their two day stay this week, so we'll be on our own this weekend.  I decided to use the Central Machinery band saw, for the first time, that came with the CONEX when Phyllis bought the property a year ago this month.  I wanted to cut some of that angle aluminum I bought in Flagstaff into smaller 2.5" long pieces to use to brace the two 300 amp hour Cloud Energy batteries in place in the battery bay, so they will not move when we travel.  I needed to change the band saw blade to one that would cut metal, and it took me a while to figure out how to do that, but after an hour, or so I had the new band saw blade installed, and had the 4 pieces of angle aluminum cut within 5 minutes.  At least, now, I know how it works, and how to adjust it....

....an speaking of things I did in the CONEXT Wednesday, I also installed a new shop light.....

....it is a 4' LED shop light, and is perfect for the space.  By the time I finished in the CONEX it was getting close to our 3:30 pm dinner time, so I cleaned up, and put my tools away. TLE made a casserole for dinner including a side salad.  Charles provided the wine, and as always, a good time was had by all....good food, and conversation is always a great way to end another day at TWW. 

We were hoping to get a second coat of paint on the greenhouse this week, but with wind, and then the under 50° F days it has not been done.  The weather continues to be uncooperative adding snow/rain overnight, and sub 50° F temp days Wednesday and Thursday.  We do think we can get the old water heater out of its cubbyhole, and the new one in place Thursday before the rains returns for the afternoon.  

We are coming into a warming trend again.....

.....so we should be able to get a lot more done after Friday....we'll see.  We've got a few more very cold overnight lows still to come, but then things take a turn for the better!

Thanks for stopping by!

A fortuitous decision......

 7:17 am - Wednesday - April 2nd - TWW - 35° F, humidity 52%, wind 10 mph out of the south....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 46° F.  Was supposed to be raining this morning, but now it might rain late this afternoon for an hour.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were at Seal Rocks RV Cove, OR enjoying the morning view of the Pacific Ocean from our 'lido deck'.....

....an unusually dry, clear day for April on the Oregon Coast.

We had a need to restock our pantry, so we headed for Flagstaff around 10:00 am to do just that.  Of course, any visit to Flagstaff means a stop at Savers Thrift Store, which has to be our favorite thrift store ever.  I'm pretty sure we have never left that store without something with which we could not live....lol.  We arrived at Savers around 11:30 am, and spent the better part of an hour browsing.  TLE found a couple of Skorts (shorts/skirt), a flannel shirt, and a couple of dresses.  I found a 'T' square, another pair of suspenders (Duluth Trading), a battery powered clock for the trailer, and three shirts (2 long sleeve, and one short sleeve).  With it being Seniors Day (10% discount), 3 items with 'yellow tags (50% off marked price), and the 30% discount coupon in our digital account there we saved over $47 off their always great prices.

Next we headed to the local Home Depot, which is just 3 blocks from Savers, to restock a few of my trailer supplies (things I keep on hand all the time).  I bought 1 gallon cans of Acetone, Naphtha (mineral spirits), WD-40, as well as some angle aluminum, masking tape, and two sided tape.  My inventory of all these items was near zero.  Additionally, I bought an LED shop light for the CONEXT, and 1 gallon jugs of coolant and 15-40w motor oil for our truck.

From there we had planned to head to 'The Lumberyard' Brewing Company for a latish lunch, but decided to do our food shopping first at Fry's, then head to lunch around 2 pm.  That turned out to be a very fortuitous decision. Why?  Well, when we exited the store a little after 2 pm it was snowing quite hard, so we aborted the lunch, and headed directly to I-40 to get down to a lower altitude ASAP!  We almost always defer grocery shopping to the last thing we do before we head home since we are often buying produce, and other perishable items needing refrigeration in a short amount of time.  Within a few miles the snow had stopped, and we were back into sunshine, and mostly clear skies.  We arrived back at TWW without incident around 3:45 pm to, again, mostly clear skies, and lots of sun....completely different weather than Flagstaff.

Thanks for stopping by!