Service please!

6:49 am - Wednesday - February 13th - Wittmann, AZ - 42º F (!!!), 50% humidity (!!!), wind 5 mph out of the east by northeast......cloudy today with a forecast high of 68º F (!!!).  I don't recall the last time I woke up to a temperature in the 40's!

Tuesday began with a beautiful sunrise, and ended with another sunset fire, and everything in between went as well as one could hope.  I mentioned in yesterday's missive that Tuesday was the day we had scheduled for the service on our Newell in preparation for our Alaska trip this summer........

......we had disconnected from the utilities, and were rolling our wheels toward Mesa, AZ and All Aboard America (charter bus company) where Leo Witt, our mechanic, would perform our service.  It's been two years since we last had the coach serviced.  We've covered around 12,000 miles in that interim and it was time to change the oil, replace the coolant and all our filters (fuel, transmission and oil), as well as have the running gear inspected and lubed.  We departed Wittmann around 7:50 am, and arrived at All Aboard America two hours later just before 10 am.....love that Phoenix area traffic.....

.....why travel 140 miles round trip to get our coach serviced?  Well, there are not many experienced Detroit Diesel 2 stroke mechanics left in this country and you go where they are.....it's that simple.  Once we had finished discussing with Leo what we wanted done to our baby TLE and I hopped in the VW and made tracks across town to have breakfast at a place we recently saw reviewed on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (Triple 'D') by Guy Fieri......Perk Eatery located in Scottsdale, AZ (Yelp gives them 4 stars on 453 reviews).  You all know I am a 'Huevos Ranchero' guy, and they had one on the menu so I had to try it.  TLE had their 'Chicken on the Coup' (2 eggs any style, crispy sausage, biscuits, and sausage gravy) which was one of the dishes Guy Fieri featured on his show.  For me the Huevos Ranchero was top 5 ever, and TLE loved her dish.....

 Huevos Ranchero

 TLE's 'Chicken on the Coup'

.....we dined alfresco for the first time in literally months, and enjoyed just sipping coffee whilst soaking up the sun.....it was wonderful.  While we were eating we got a call advising the Newell service would be done around 12:30 pm, and it was now 11:30 am.....we had one more chore.....a stop at the Phoenix Trader Joe's which stocks spirits in addition to wine and beer.  I haven't had any of my favorite Finlaggan Islay Single Malt Scotch ($19.99/bottle) in months, which is a Trader Joe's brand, and since we were so close we had to stop in and pick up a couple of bottles.

We were back at All Aboard America by 12:30 pm at which time Leo went over a couple of things which need attention before we leave the area.....the rear brakes are down to 25%....I think they are the original brakes, so they've got almost 170,000 miles on them.  The fronts are at 80%, so I doubt if I will have to have them relined in my lifetime.  In addition, there is a torque rod located directly above the rear axle which needs new bushings.......

Torsion Bar in need of new bushings on each end

......so we will schedule a return trip in early March just before we depart Wittmann to have the rear brakes relined, and new bushings installed on the torque rod.  Otherwise our 37 year old Newell is in great condition. 

One thing discovered two years ago was that the gear oil in our giant differential was about a quart low as the seal had been leaking.  Leo replaced the missing quart of gear oil, and then tightened up the bolts hoping that would stop the leak.  The good news is it worked.  The oil level was the same as it was two years ago.  I had been checking the temperature of the axle each time I checked the tired temperatures over the intervening months and it was always running cool.  Had it been real hot that would have been a sign we were losing gear oil again.

We were out the door heading home by 1:15 pm, and back in Wittmann about 2:30 pm....a much faster drive home with no rush hour traffic!

About 5 pm we headed out side again to have another sunset fire, and did not go back inside until after 7 pm.......

.....we sat talking quietly, and sipping adult beverages....one of my favorite things to do with The Lovely Elaine....thanks for stopping by!

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A much deferred task......

6:22 am - Tuesday - February 12th - Wittmann, AZ - 32º F, 62% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north by northwest.....clear today with a forecast high of, get this, 67º F!

By 10 am Monday I was able to walk outside in a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops......haven't been able to do that for quite some time.  There was little, or no breeze, and the sun quickly warmed up everything, including the trailer.

My main task for the day was to take care of a long, long delayed project.....add LED outdoor, strip lighting to the rocker panel on the driver side of the Newell.  I bought the lights about 2 years ago, but never got around to installing them.  I installed the same type of LED lights under the passenger side rocker panel 4 years ago, and it was my intent to do the same on the driver side, but just kept procrastinating.  Well, for some reason, Monday seemed to be the day I would finally get off my duff and finish the project.  

There was a lot of preparation for the actual installation, but by early afternoon I was installing the new LED's, and wiring them into the same switch which controls the passenger side lights.  By 2 pm I was done, so all that remained was to wait for darkness to see how effective the new set was.

Another first Monday was sitting outside in the early evening and enjoying a campfire.....we haven't done that since we were in Georgia visiting our friends Roscoe and Genie in early January.  Before that I would have to go all the way back to Southwest Harbor to find our last campfire experience......much too long!

We sipped some Alamos Malbec (I puffed on a cigar) and watched the sun slip over the western horizon one more time......

 My friend Tom always has a pirate flag flying from his flag pole in the front yard, so I raised my pirate flag out of respect

.....the sunset was cloudless, but beautiful nonetheless.  Around 6 pm TLE went inside to prepare for tacos, and I grilled up some pollo asado on the Sea-B-Que........

....about 7 pm it dark enough to check out the new lights on the driver side......they look great!

 The new driver side LED's

The original LED's

.....it's been so long since I installed the originals that I apparently ordered the wrong color....the new ones are a bright white, while the originals are a warmer yellow.  I bought two reels of the strip LED's, so I'll use the extra one to redo the passenger side so they match.

We watched a couple of recorded programs, and were in bed before 10 pm......Tuesday we roll our wheels for the day over to Mesa, AZ to All Aboard America to have the Newell serviced, and then return Tuesday afternoon to Wittmann.

Thanks for stopping by!

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A wonderful Sunday......

8:36 am - Monday - February 11th - Wittmann, AZ - 39º F, 45% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the west by northwest.....crystal clear, blue sky day with a forecast high of 59º F.....

Deep blue skies this morning

.....managed to sleep in until after 8 am this morning.....love being awakened by the rising sun on a clear day gently oozing through our bedroom curtains!

It was a little overcast Sunday morning, but by early afternoon the skies had cleared and we had a delightfully sunny, balmy afternoon.  We watched the entire English Premier soccer match  between the Tottenham Hotspurs and Leicester City which was won by the Hotspurs 2-1.  The second match between Chelsea and Manchester City was a 6-0 blowout in favor of Manchester City.

By the time the second match was at full time it was time for me to venture outside.  As you will recall I spent a couple of hours Saturday getting our gray water macerator pump working again, and I was successful, however, it began to leak after a few minutes of running so I was determined to completely remove it, take it inside the trailer to my work bench, then disassemble, clean, and put it back together.  This time I was completely successful and now it works properly.

By the time I finished with the macerator pump it was time to get dressed and drive into Surprise to meet fellow Newell owners Adrianne and Karen for lunch at Rio Mirage Cafe on Bell Ave.  We ate at Rio Mirage a few years ago when we were in town, and liked the food so a return visit was in order.  We met our friends there at 12:30 pm, and were seated within 5 minutes.....

.....Yelp gives them just 3.5 stars on 326 reviews, but after eating there twice now we would be at a solid 4 stars.....no question about it.  Very good, rustic, fresh Mexican food.  We talked endlessly for a couple of hours before paying our tab and heading for home.....thank yo Adrianne for treating us to lunch!

On our way home we stopped in at the local Goodwill, one of our favorites by the way, to see if they had anything without which we could not live......I found a very cool, black Tabasco shirt which I have to share with you.....

 Front

Back....great graphics!

......TLE also found a couple of things and we were on our way across the parking lot to the Trader Joe's.  We had bought a bottle of wine they were promoting within this store (a 2014 Cab) at the amazing price of $3.99/bottle (normally sells at $11.99/bottle).  We drank that bottle Friday night and loved it so we returned to by 6 more bottles......what a killer deal!

We were home a little after 3 pm putting away our spoils, and settling in to watch the Pebble Beach Pro/Am.  They had a late start due to rain, and hail in the morning, so it was obvious they would not finish all 18 holes on Sunday.  By the time the final pairing finished the 16th hole it was dark, so as I sit here this morning they are playing the last two holes with one of my favorites, Phil Mickelson, ahead by 3 strokes with 2 to play!  He began the day 3 strokes down, so he had a very good final round.

And that, my friends, was our Sunday.....thanks for stopping by!

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