The heat is on.....

7:36 am - Tuesday - December 31st - TWW - 33° F, humidity 54%, wind 5 mph out of the southeast....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 55° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were enjoying some scoops of Rum Raisin Ice Cream in Cedar Key, FL.....

......the view this morning.....

The Suburban gas furnace which has vents going to the bathroom, and the entry of the Newell has had this squeak upon startup which lasts anywhere from a few seconds to few minutes ever since we purchased her back in March of 2008.  Since the squeak always went away (eventually) we lived with it, but now that we have the new electric motor it was time to pull it out of its cubbyhole and service it just like I did the kitchen one Sunday.  We also needed to go into town to retrieve the two packages from the PO Box which included the cabling needed to connect the solar tracker with the Bluetti AC200MAX in the shed, as well as another Suburban gas furnace Dinosaur control board, so I wanted to get tp servicing the heater early.

The aforementioned gas furnace is located under the Dometic refrigerator, and is actually easier to access than the kitchen one, so I anticipated being able to remove it from its cubbyhole in way less time than it took for the kitchen one, and I was right.  It took about 30 minutes, and I was walking out to the trailer with the heater in hand to change out the motor and sail switch.  As I write it has gotten so warm inside the Newell I had to turn off two of the three heaters....nice!

In all it took me around 2.5 hours beginning to end to refurbish the heater, and we were on our way into town to pickup our mail.  In all we were gone around 90 minutes, and I was now installing the 100' long cable between the solar tracker, and the shed.  I also had to connect the solar tracker with the Bluetti AC200P solar charger that provides the trailer with AC power.  The tracker requires 12 volt, so I connected some 12 gauge wire to the Bluetti, and connected it to the solar tracker.  Seems like an easy job, right?  Well it took me the better part of 2 hours to get all that done, and by that time TLE was reminding me we were going to BBQ a top sirloin on the Sea-B-Que for dinner.  By the time I finished it was closing in on 4 pm, so the sun was getting settling into the western horizon.  Once powered the tracker went from the neutral position to facing the sun pretty quickly, and I was able to verify that power was making its way to the shed Bluetti.  Tuesday will be the real test.

.....the top sirloin, which we bought at COSTCO a few weeks ago, was cooked to 123° F (medium rare), and TLE provided a side of mushroom risotto....a great meal.  A little Pino Noir was also consumed.  After dinner we headed out to the sunset firepit to enjoy another TWW sunset......

By this time the solar tracker has returned to the 'neutral' position

....we didn't head back inside until 6 pm where I watched the entirety of the NFL game between the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers.  If you like lots of offense, this was your game.  I do like lots of offense, and this one had it in spades with a total of 74 points scored....the final score......40-34.

Thanks for stopping by!

It two times the charm?

7:46 am - Monday - December 30th - TWW - 36° F, humidity 55%, wind 5 mph out of the southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 58° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were enjoying one of many sunsets at Cedar Key, FL.....we stayed there for 5 weeks, and every single sunset was memorable.....

....this sunset photo was taken at the local Tiki Bar....about a 3 minute walk from Sunset Isle, the RV park at which we were staying.

From time to time I begin my latest missive with the phrase "There was just one thing which I had to accomplish on (day of week)", and this time it was to pull out the same Suburban gas furnace I pulled out a few weeks ago to replace the electric motor.  I had attempted to service the motor by lubricating the shaft which turns two different fans....one fan (I call it the front fan) blows air at the 'sail switch', and the other is more of a squirrel cage type fan (the back fan) that blows the hot air produced by burning propane into the duct work attached thereto.  I found just one source for this fan, and that was on eBay for $79.19 shipped.  Most places had this motor 'OUT OF STOCK'....

They provide all the gaskets you will need, the motor and great instructions

The old motor removed....I will be taking it apart, and rebuilding it to keep as a back up should I need another in the future.  

The new motor to be installed....I bought two of these motors to replace the old, worn out ones in the salon, and bathroom.  The one in the bedroom is working great right now.

.....I began the removal of the Suburban gas furnace around 10 am, replaced the motor, and gaskets, then reinstalled it by 12:30 pm.  Instead of working on the furnace on the kitchen counter I took it out to the trailer work bench where all my tools reside....much more efficient than walking back and forth to the trailer to get one more tool....lol.

Once the gas line was reattached to the furnace I turned on the thermostat, and waited for it to come alive.  Within 20 seconds I heard the fan which blows against the 'sail switch' begin to turn, then in another 20 seconds I could see the flame in the combustion chamber ignite, and we were in business!  Nice and quiet!  As I sit here in the salon typing this missive Monday morning my feet, and hands are warm.

Once all my tools were put away I changed clothes, and began to watch some more NFL football.  The morning game was not very competitive, but the afternoon, and evening games were with both going to overtime.  I could not have asked for a better Sunday afternoon.

TLE and I continue to be in great health.....we've never had the Wuhan Flu, or any flu for that matter since 2013.  We sleep well at night, and are sticking to one meal per day.  The 325 watt solar panel powering the trailer Bluetti AC200P solar generator gets it back to 100% every day, so I can now use the trailer as if I were plugged into an electrical pedestal.  The other 325 watt panel is putting over 300 watts of power into the Bluetti AC200MAX during the middle of the day, which is 100 watts more than the three individual 100 watt portable Bluetti panels were doing.  I think we got 250 watts one time, but most of the time it was around 200 watts during midday.   We will be picking up the 100' power cable from our PO Box Monday to connect the EcoWorthy Dual Axis Solar Tracker into the Bluetti AC200MAX, so our generator run time 'SHOULD' decrease dramatically from this point forward....we'll see.

Thanks for stopping by!

Taking care of the necessary things Saturday.....

7:36 am - Sunday - December 29th - TWW - 36° F, humidity 49%, wind 8 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 64° F.  On this date in 2017 we were heading back to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff Medical Center where I was treated for a small stroke.....

 .....hard to believe it has been 6 years, but I am doing well, and have zero after effects, however, it is possible TLE may disagree with that assessment....lol!

We said our 'until next times' to Charles and Phyllis Saturday morning as they headed back to Phoenix until after New Years.  Is it really almost 2025?  We knew there were several things which had been delivered to our PO Box in Seligman, so we headed into town around 9:30 am to see if we could pick them up....the business end of the Post Office is closed on the weekends, so if anything which was delivered did not fit in our box we would not be able to get it until Monday.  They do have parcel lockers, but they are all full 99% of the time, so we get slips telling us we have stuff to pickup, but can only get it Monday through Friday.  

The 30 minute drive into town was uneventful, and as we feared, two of the three things which were delivered were too big for our box, so we'll have to wait until Monday to get them.  We made quick stops at the Family Dollar, and the Hardware Store, and were on our way back to TWW within 30 minutes of arriving in town.

We needed to dump our black tank, so as soon as we got home we began that task, and while we were at it we topped off our fresh water tank which was only down 20 gallons from the 140 we had filled it with before we headed to SoCal last week.

Once we were done with that business I decided I was done for the day.  There was a triple header of NFL games on Saturday (College football is done for the year, except for all the bowl games), so I changed clothes and settled into a nice afternoon of naps and football.  The Chargers won their matchup against the hapless Patriots to secure a playoff spot, the Broncos lost a nail biter in overtime to the Bengals, and my L.A. Rams won another nailbiter verses the Cardinals securing a 4 point victory with a last second interception in the end zone to put themselves in a position to secure a playoff spot on Sunday.  The last two games were very good games, while the first was a blowout, that wasn't even as close as the 40-7 final score....lol.

That's all I have to report for Saturday.  Sunday we'll get back to work.  I've received two of the three new electric motors for our Suburban gas furnaces, and one under the kitchen counter is first on the list to have its squeaky motor replaced.   We had a nice sunset, but it was too breezy to enjoy outdoors, so I went outside around 5:35 pm to get these shots....

.....thanks for stopping by!

Progressing slowly, but surely......

7:01 am - Saturday - December 28th - TWW - 35° F, humidity 70%, wind 7 mph out of the southeast.....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 62° F. On this date in 2018 TLE and I were 50 miles south of Atlanta, GA taking a break at a Rest Area after slogging through terrible Atlanta traffic in a driving rain storm....

.....we prefer not driving in the rain, and rarely do, but we had reservations at Sunset Isle in Cedar Key the next day, so had to drive in the rain to get there in time....never again....lol!  Combine the heavy rainfall with the always terrible Atlanta traffic, and you get one long, exhausting driving day.  Atlanta traffic is always bad, but rain, and accidents make it almost unbearable. The view right now, this morning....

.....'red sky in the morning, sailor take warning'.

We awoke to find our house batteries dead as a door nail....at least that is what we thought.  This was a first for us.  The only things that run during the night are the two basement Norcolds (freezer and refrigerator), otherwise everything else is off that might drain them.  We need our house batteries (two large 8d batteries) to work properly in order to run those Norcolds, the control board for our  Dometic refrigerator, the house water pump, and all of our interior lighting....it is all 12 volt.  Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, this issue needed to be dealt with sooner than later.  

Over the past 10 days I had been noticing that the batteries didn't seem to be charging properly, and was beginning to think that I needed to replace the Intelli Power charger/converter.  I know, I know.....my mind always goes to the most expensive and difficult thing that might be the problem.  I do have a spare charger/converter for just such emergencies, but I just replaced the current one back in 2021, so its only 3 years old.  I remembered I had had an issue with the rear electrical panel at the back of the coach a few months ago with one of the two bolts on the shunt being loose, but I had tightened it, and all seemed to be well.  Anyway, I decided to check it again to see if that was the issue, and sure enough it was loose again.  I tried to tighten it, and it would almost get tight, and then get loose again.  I realized at this point the threads in the brass plate into which it is screwed might be stripped, so I removed the bolt to find that is exactly what was wrong.

The 12 volt power passes through the shunt from left to right, and the right bolt was the one that would not tighten

  

I've been carrying with us tap and die kits in both metric and SAE, and have done so for over 10 years, but have rarely used either of them.  The Newell is entirely SAE, so I pulled out the SAE kit, and found the tap that matched the size, and thread pattern of the brass bolt.  I then inserted the tap into the hole with the nonexistent threads, and slowly screwed it into the threadless hole.  When I unscrewed it there were now a fresh set of threads...perfect!  I then reinserted the brass bolt, and tightened it down, and it held.  Suddenly I could hear the charger rev up, and begin charging the aforementioned batteries.  The good thing is the batteries were not dead, but due to the faulty connection were not able to receive the necessary voltage to be charged, or to run anything in the coach.  Fortunately, during this time, I was running the Predator 5000 generator, so we had 12 volt power to the coach while I was repairing the stripped threads.  Within a few hours the batteries about 90% charged, and then the solar panels took them to 100%.  What a relief the issue was so simple, and that I had the correct tools to fix the problem!

A few weeks ago Charles and Phyllis delivered two more 275 gallon IBC water totes that will be used to catch, and store rainwater coming off the house roof.  They've been sitting out by the CONEX waiting for some attention since then.  Charles wanted the steel cages removed from each tote so they would be easier to move around when empty, so TLE and I focused our energies on doing just that.  There are a lot of screws which hold those cages together, so it took a couple of hours to remove them, but now they are ready to be cleaned (inside), and then we can begin to set up the water catchment system.  Progress is slow here at TWW, but we are making progress each and every week.

With the steel cage

Without the cages

The discarded steel cages

Phyllis and TLE prepared a beautiful roast beef accompanied by potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions with a touch of garlic for our dinner fare Friday afternoon....

.....those ladies can cook!  We all cleaned our plates.  As always we had a wide ranging conversation, and good vino to be enjoyed.  Life is good at The Wilson Wilderness!

Thanks for stopping by!

To the cocoon!

8:10 am - Friday - December 27th - TWW - 35° F, humidity 55%, wind 8  mph out of the south.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 55° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE, Art Young (good friend), and I hiked a portion of the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon.....little did I know at the time that I had had a stroke earlier that morning.....I had felt a little 'off' earlier that morning, but was not associating that with a stroke.....

.....nevertheless, we hiked 5 miles down, and 5 miles back out of the Grand Canyon.  When the unusual symptoms I had experienced earlier that morning returned the very next morning I had TLE drive me to the medical clinic at the Village, where I was put in an ambulance, and rushed down to Flagstaff Medical Center where the stroke was confirmed.  I have zero lasting effects from the stroke as I write this morning.  My doctor told me I had just won the lottery when all the symptoms disappeared within 24 hours (right side weakness, slurring words, right side of my mouth drooping, etc.).  Today marks 7 years since that day.  As you may recall, if you are a frequent reader, he stroke was the result of untreated high blood pressure.

TLE and I were up around 6 am Thursday morning to get ready for our 5.5 hour drive back to TWW.  After posting pictures of our Christmas day, and publishing my latest blog post we were out the door by 7:30 am.  We made a stop at the local ARCO gas station to refill the VW tank, and then Ralph's Supermarket to buy a few things before getting on I-210 east bound around 8 am.  The drive eastward was beautiful, and uneventful.....

....I drove the first 160 miles, then TLE took over the helm until we got to Kingman, where we refilled the VW tank once again for the final 67 miles home.  We lost an hour when we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona, but we were still home by 2:20 pm....not too bad!

Charles and Phyllis had arrived at TWW a couple of hours before us, and will be here through Saturday morning.  It took us about an hour to get unpacked, and put away everything, and by that time Phyllis was ringing the dinner bell.  It is good to be back home to our Newell cocoon, sleeping in our own bed once again, with no outside ambient light, and no city noise....just the sounds, and the dark skies of the high desert. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas 2024

 6:23 am - Thursday - December 26th - Rancho Cucamonga, CA - 47° F, humidity 66%, wind 3 mph out of the north by northeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 67° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were flying back to Nashville, TN after spending Christmas with our children.....

.....we left our Newell at the local Elks Lodge while we were in California.

Christmas 2024 with our family.....

With our hosts.....Chris, our firstborn, and The Amazing Rochelle

Some of the grands, and great grands

TLE and I with Levy, Kate's son, and the youngest of our grandchildren

The annual family Christmas Picture - 2024

Rochelle, TLE, Cynthia and Zoey

The girls

The guys

.....it was an amazing day capped off with Chris and I smoking cigars on the patio, and drinking Irish Whiskey....we talked for a couple of hours about everything under the sun....my heart is running over with gratitude, love, and thanksgiving....

.....TLE and I hope your Christmas was as amazing as ours.

Thank you for stopping by!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Eve of Christmas.....

7:25 am - Christmas Day - December 25th - Rancho Cucamonga, CA - 48° F, humidity 87%, wind wind 4 mph out of the north by northeast....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 63° F.  On this date in 2023 we were celebrating Christmas at the home of my first born son, Chris, and his wife, Rochelle.....

 .....just as we will do this year.  When I see this picture with so many people in it who would  not exist, or be with each other except for the fact that TLE said 'YES' 53+ years ago my eyes fill with tears of happiness, and joy.  The only ones missing are my youngest son, Tim, his wife Laila, and their two children, Crosby and Bowie who live in Georgia now.

We were awake before 6 am Tuesday morning getting ready to make the 5.5 hour drive to SoCal to be with our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren for Christmas.  We didn't plan on leaving until 10 am (9 am SoCal time), and we did not want to be rushing around getting ready to travel.  By 9:45 am everything had been done from shutting down the Newell for a couple of days, to locking all everything (garage, CONEX, house, both Newells, the trailer, and the shed), so we hopped into the Beetle to begin the 7 mile, 30 minute drive out to westbound US-66 (we can do the same drive in the Expedition in about 9-10 minutes).  

We stopped at the Maverick in Kingman to top off our VW tank, and were back on our drive within 15 minutes.  TLE drove the second leg of about 100 miles to a Rest Area where we took a break, and then I drove the rest of the way....we got a little rain, but for the most part is was a beautiful drive....

.....we arrived at my son's home in Rancho Cucamonga around 2:15 pm.....exactly 5.5 hours after leaving TWW.  Chris and Rochelle were at Rochelle's parents home when we arrived, so we let in ourselves, and unpacked for our stay.  We would be heading to Kate (2nd daughter) and Nick's home to have dinner, and decorate Christmas cookies around 4:15 pm.  TLE ordered takeout from the Panda Inn Express, which we picked up on our way to Kate and Nick's.....

With my honorary daughter, Amanda

TLE, moi, Amanda, and Kate

With Amanda's beau Mark

My oldest daughter, Meredith

With Kate's oldest daughter, Charlise (we all call her Charlie)

Third daughter, Sharon

With Nick, Kate's husband

With Rod, Sharon's husband

Decorating Christmas cookies

....we had a great time, but by 7:30 pm TLE and I were out of gas so we bid our adieus until Christmas morning when we will be together again.....MERRY CHRISTMAS, and thank you for stopping by!