6 Pack

When last we left off the new "6 Pack" was assembled and sitting on a mat on the ground near the compartment where it will be installed......the rust inhibitor was drying, and all that remained was to apply the new gray Rustoleum enamel over the rust inhibitor and then install the "6 Pack".

Around 11 Thursday I started applying the gray Rustoleum, and by 1 it was dry.  In the interim TLE and I assisted Tom in his quest to find the corners of the building site for the new barn using the figures provided by the architect I believe....or maybe it was the surveyor.....I'm sure Tom will remind me later.  Nevertheless we finally were able to pound stakes into the ground representing the four corners of the barn, and now we know it's orientation to the house, and the property boundaries.

Then, for me, it was back to the "6 Pack" project......I needed to finish drilling the 4 holes in the piece of Corian Tom had provided as the new platform for the "6 Pack"....of course, when I went to install the Corian one hole was slightly off.....that is to be expected when utilizing the "Hockwald Way".....but I was able to slightly enlarge the hole through the metal floor and all lined up.  

Next it was time to move the assembled "6 Pack" into the compartment and fasten it to the platform with screws, but first I needed to attach the 5 incoming air lines to the "6 Pack".  Once that was  done and the valves were secured to the platform with the screws it was time to connect the many wires.  Using the printed picture with my handwritten notes I began the process.

The picture (above) provides a nice "before" shot of the 32 year old "6 Pack", and the picture below provides the "after"......quite a contrast, no?

A "6 Pack" every guy would be proud of......

Of course, the next step was to fill the system with air again to see if there were any leaks, and there were a couple of very small ones where the air lines attached to the manifold, but I was able to finish tightening those connections pretty quickly and the system not only seems to be holding air, the front valves actually raise and lower the front as they should now.  Prior to the "fix" I could only lower the front, not raise it, so now I have full functionality once again.

By the time I finished putting all my tools, and other stuff away it was closing in on 5:30 pm.   I was filthy from head to toe from my work on the installation so I headed into Tom's home, at his invitation, to take a shower in their cavernous shower room just off the master bedroom......there are like 5, or 6 shower heads, so you are being hit with hot water  from all sides.  By the time I emerged about 25 minutes later I was so relaxed I could have laid down and gone to sleep for the night.

One more thing crossed off the "to do list" and, now, on to the next item.

Thanks for stopping by!

Air Supply

For the first half of Wednesday TLE and I helped Tom and Darlene map out all the underground irrigation pipes in their back yard.  The reason for this exercise is that no pipes can run under the concrete floor of the new barn they are building, so any that do must be capped off and rerouted before the foundation is laid.  Tom had rented a cool electronic device that helped to locate the pipes.  This worked out well because I really didn't want to work on the air valve replacement while the sun was still on the driver side of the coach.

By 2 pm the sun had moved to the passenger side, and, therefore, time to tackle the air valve replacement project.  Tuesday I related the beginning of the replacement of the front air manifold and its six air valves.  Wednesday (3rd Saturday) I printed off an 8.5" by 11" picture of the manifold and went to work labeling every wire, valve and air hose on the printout so when we take apart the old manifold we can put everything back together the same way.

The picture with all my notations

Next it was time to detach the air hoses, and cut the wires so we could remove the old delaminated plywood board and the old air valves.  Once they were out Tom went to work transferring the brass fittings from the old valves to the new valves.  While he was busy at that I scrapped off a layer of rust, and then wire brushed the floor of the compartment to get it ready for the application of the rust inhibitor.  It didn't take long to apply the inhibitor......now I will have to wait 24 hours for it to dry before I can apply the gray Rustoleum paint so the floor matches the rest of the compartment, which is all gray.

 The empty air valve compartment freshly painted with the rust inhibitor

The new manifold assembled and ready for installation Thursday

The new mounting platform cut and ready to have holes drilled

Tom and I finished the assembly of the new air manifold just about 5:30.  While we cleaned up TLE began dinner preparation.....oh, I forgot to add earlier that around 2 pm Darlene left to drive back to the Mesa house for a couple days to take care of some family business, so it was just three of us for dinner.

A  little after 6 TLE, Tom and I convened to the backyard ramada to eat Buffalo Burgers, baked potatoes and salad.  The three of us talked, laughed and ate as the sun set on another great day in Wittmann, AZ.

Thanks for stopping by!

Off the beaten path.....way off!

Tuesday I went over with Tom what needed to be done to prepare for replacing the front "six pack" of air valves I wrote about yesterday.  The valves are mounted on a 1/2" thick plywood base, which is bolted to the metal floor of the compartment.  Sometime in the past years water got in that compartment which resulted in some rust on the floor of the compartment, as well as the four galvanized bolts, and worst of all the plywood base had delaminated, so it must be replaced, the bolts must be replaced, and the rust abated before we can begin installing the 6 new valves.

Around 11 TLE and I headed into Surprise to visit the local Home Depot to pick up a piece of 1/2" plywood I could cut down, some 16 gauge wire to use to hook the new valves together, some wood sealer for the plywood,  and some rust inhibitor and some gray Rustoleum (I already have the necessary replacement bolts).  Just after arriving at Home Depot TLE received a call from Tom asking if we could pick up a few things for Dave Crouse.....the gentleman I wrote about in yesterday's blog entry......he was at Dave's home borrowing some extension cords, and Dave happened to mention he was heading into Home Depot to buy a few things......Tom suggested I could pick them up and save him the 34 mile round trip drive.  I got on the phone with Dave and took his order (8 3/4" PVC elbows, a 50 amp breaker switch and a 30 amp breaker switch).

After we finished our business at Home Depot we headed over to the local Subway store for lunch, then to Trader Joe's, then over to Goodwill (in the same shopping complex as TJ's) to browse.....we found nothing we couldn't live without so were on our way back home arriving just before 2 at Dave's home to drop off his HD order.   Dave is a very interesting guy, and it's hard not to talk with him about his passion for hot rods and vintage cars.....of course I am more than happy to accommodate him as I love to hear the stories....so that stop took about 30 minutes......lol.

Tom's daughter, Laura, had invited us all over to their home for Quesadillas, so we left around 5 pm to make the 30 minute drive over to Laura's.  The Quesadillas were exceptional, and we ate, talked and laughed almost continuously until just before 8 when it was time to bid our hosts adieu.  

TLE and I sat in the back seat of Tom and Darlene's Honda SUV going to and from Laura's.  For some reason TLE, believing herself to be an exceptional back seat driver, decided she would find a different way home to avoid some of the traffic lights and traffic we encountered on the way over to Laura's.  This kind of goes against my instincts, and past experience learned while attending the school of hard knocks......I have learned when traveling in an unfamiliar area you should always return the way you came.  Every time I have ignored my instinct it has not ended well, but TLE, Tom and Darlene are not burdened by my multitudinous bad experiences, so we followed TLE's recommended route.......all seemed to be going well until the paved road.....and I emphasize the word "PAVED" here......turned left, and at almost the same instant turned to a somewhat smooth dirt road.  TLE assured us the pavement would begin again, but I have been in this situation before, and the pavement never returns......the road always gets much worse.  Soon we passed by the last of the houses with lights, and then it was just us, our headlights, total pitch black darkness, and TLE's Google map directions on her iPhone propelling us ever forward.  Soon the road became a one lane dirt track, and that is being generous.  We began to encounter large mud bogs left over from the rains 10+ days ago, and had to detour around them sometimes driving over bushes, etc.  All the while I am "sounding the alarm" that in my experience over several decades these adventures rarely ever turn out well......you always come to a point where you are forced to turn around because the road either ends, disappears, becomes impassable, you run out of gas, or you get impossibly STUCK and must walk miles to get help. About 4.7 miles from what we hoped would be the "return" of pavement we came to a spot that was not passable......we had driven over 6 miles on this ever deteriorating road going slower and slower in the 2 wheel drive Honda SUV to avoid bottoming out, or high centering.  My companions in this spontaneous, unplanned "adventure" (TLE's word, not mine) were all giggling at my disillusionment/discomfort, and my not so subtle sighing.   As it happens this single lane dirt track parallels for about 6 miles the old Chrysler proving grounds test track, but due to the pitch black conditions we were unable to see anything except what was right in front of us......lest any of you think I am using hyperbole to make my point here is a picture of what I was seeing....and this is the good part.

6 miles after the pavement ended......

Ultimately we reached the point where the road became impassable, so Tom found a place to turn around and we began our 6 mile trek back to where the pavement ended.  So, do you believe this is where the "adventure" ended?  I thought so, but I was wrong.  After getting back to civilization running on virtual gas fumes (the car computer kept saying we had less than 3 miles of gas left.....not good when there are at least 6 miles to pavement), we stopped to fill up with much needed gasoline........as we headed back toward Center Street, our exit off HWY 60, it was decided by the "adventurers" in the car that we should drive to where the dirt track we were on comes out to the pavement again, and drive in to the impassable section to see if Google maps was correct.......to see if it really was 4.7 miles more to the pavement where we turned around.   I was more than happy, at this point, to accept the Google Maps mileage, but I was once again in the minority.....so here we go again driving on a single lane dirt track passing by the odd cow here and there......you could see the look in their eyes which seemed to say......"what the h**k are you doing out here at this time of night?".....this time of night now being after 9:30....I was thinking I would be back "home" way before this time watching "Justified" on my DVR, but, instead, I was on an "adventure" not of my choosing.  Of course, we reached the impassable spot exactly 4.7 miles from where the pavement begins again.....in case you are interested the dirt track we were following for over 10 miles is called Dovetail Valley Road....."Road" is a rather generous term......I am sure at some point a few decades from now this "road" will be improved, and paved, and there will be no one left alive who remembers it as it is now.

Once we were back on pavement I felt better......there had been no "bad ending"......just a lot of giggling by my comrades at my discomfort.....I was able to begin to see the humor in what we had just done and my behavior.  No doubt these types of adventures are much more enjoyable for me in broad daylight when one can see what the lay of the land around them is.  We arrived back "home" about 9:45........without the bad ending.  I guess I am still not completely at ease with what Mr. Jello and Miss Serendipity throw my way.....something to think about hmmm?

This post is a little late as it took me the better part of the morning to figure out how to relate our "adventure" with the appropriate humor, and still have friends later in the day.  I hope I have somewhat succeeded. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Fix It Already!

Catching this head cold put on hold a number of repairs I need to make while I am here in a good spot with a good friend to help when needed.  There are a number of small, elective repairs I need to make, but the most important repair is to fix the speedometer signal sending unit.  Without a functioning speedometer I have no cruise control, and without cruise control I am not as happy driving the coach as I would like to be.  Since the speedometer quit working last year in southern Wisconsin we have traveled 6,123 miles and I have gotten somewhat used to not having the cruise control, but am I happy about it?  NO!  When we were in Spearfish, SD at the Newell Gurus Rally my friend Richard helped me get the whole drive unit detached from the transmission where we discovered the problem was a broken drive tip, or drive pin, if you will.  

This is the 1.25" long culprit

It has taken so long to replace that broken drive pin because it is hard to find.  I spent hours and hours on the computer looking......gave up for a while.......then a few weeks ago I found it on a website called "Farmtronics" located up in Alberta, Canada for $5.95.  At the time I thought we were going to be in Wittmann, AZ within a week, so I had it shipped to my friend Tom's home.  As it turned out the drive tip had to be backed ordered (3 week back order), and I had hernia surgery........we arrived at Tom and Darlene's home just one day before the drive tip arrived.

Monday I was back to almost 100%, and was the day I decided was the day to get this new drive tip installed.  The square end was slightly big so I had to use a flat file to shave off a little, and then install it.....it fit perfectly and within 30 minutes I had it installed, and the signal generator reinstalled.

Front air manifold

Next up I will be rebuilding the 6 air valve manifold that controls the front air ride, and leveling characteristics of the coach.  Two years ago, when we were visiting Tom and Darlene, Tom and I rebuilt the rear six pack which has ceased working due to too many air leaks.....I don't want to wait for the 32 year old front six pack to spring any leaks.  When we were in Sioux Falls, SD visiting our new Newell friends Todd and Dawn who own a 1984 Newell, Todd gifted to me 5 of the six MAC valves I needed......Elaine and I had done a lot of work on his coach while we were there helping them get the coach ready for the rally.  He had ordered too many of the valves so gave the extras to me as a "thank you gift".  So, all I needed was one additional valve to rebuild the front manifold.  Tom and Darlene were going to be in the area where the MAC valve distributor is located running errands, and volunteered to pick up the extra valve so that saved us a 100 mile round trip drive.

Monday was also the day we needed to dump our black tank.....it had been 9 days, and while it was not full, it is better when using our portable macerator pump to not wait until the tank is full.....just makes it a quicker, easier job.  Below is a picture of the setup I use to pump the dreaded "black water" into Tom's sewer cleanout located exactly 50' away.....how do I know, you ask?  Because that is exactly how long the hose is!

My homemade portable Jabsco macerator pump setup

The pump out went smoothly, just as it should after so many years of doing it, but you just never know what will happen......if you are interested in what can happen while dumping your black tank when you least expect it click on this link......"Paint it Black".

I spent part of the afternoon getting the coach ready to drain the air out of the air lines so I can work on the front six pack by putting jacks under the coach to keep it from settling all the way down.

As I have recounted numerous times over the past couple of years, you just never know who you will meet along the way.  Monday was one of those days.......my friend Tom recently met one of his new neighbors while riding in his golf cart and invited him over for dinner last night.   The neighbor's name is Dave Crouse, the owner of the famous Custom Auto in Loveland, CO.  Dave spent a couple of hours regaling us with stories of his work, which was totally fascinating.  One of his proudest achievements was the restoration of the Norman Timbs Buick Special.

I love this kind of stuff, and was so grateful to be able to meet and spend time with Dave.

Of course, my blog about Monday is not complete without a picture of our first Saturday sunset.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Ride Captain, Ride

I spent part of Sunday thinking it was Saturday......I guess it is inevitable when one lives like there are six Saturdays.  Personally, I blame my disorientation on the various decongestant drugs I have been living on these past 5 days in order to feel somewhat normal.  I don't know about you, but I am always concerned when I have to take this kind of medicine as I am not sure if I am just delaying my recovery in favor of not feeling like my head is going to explode 24/7, or actually speeding it up.  Either way I am feeling a lot better....probably back to 85-90%.  I didn't need to take any decongestants during the day Sunday, so that is a notable improvement.  This is my first head cold in about 10 years, and getting over it in 5 days seems like a blessing.

Around 11:15 TLE and I set out on a bike ride......our first since leaving RJRP a week ago.....funny, it seems like it has been longer than a week.....way longer.  Our goal was to ride in a south easterly direction "up" to HWY 74.  I knew from our drive the previous that it was 7-8 miles to the intersection of 211th Ave. and the highway.....what I did not know was there was an elevation gain of almost 400 feet between our "home" and our destination.  This is a common failing when one drives a route before riding it.......you just don't seem to notice the subtle grades of 2-3% while in a car.  Nevertheless, the whole point of riding this day, for us, was to get some exercise, and exercise we got.  

As it turned out the total distance was just shy of 8 miles......the route we chose was good because of the very light traffic up until HWY 74, which is why we chose to turn around at that juncture.  The ride back down 211th was, predictably, much easier than riding up it.  We were back to HWY 60 in no time......instead of crossing 60 we decided to turn left and ride down to the Shell gas station to have lunch at the Subway which is attached.  The shoulder was pretty good for the 1.25 miles we were on the highway, but I wouldn't want to ride it too far as the truck traffic is pretty heavy.

Somewhere along the shoulder I must have run over a staple as I noticed my rear tire.....why is it always the rear tire?........was going flat as we started our ride home after lunch.  I tried just pumping it back up hoping it would get me home, but alas, it was not to be.....I had to stop and put a patch on the tube (after pulling out the staple, of course) in order to make it home.  Fortunately I had a patch big enough to cover the two punctures.  This kind of debris is another big reason why we don't like to ride shoulders on busy highways.  Amazingly, this is the first flat I have had since before we arrived in RJRP back in November.  I need to be sure to put spare tube back in my trunk bag.

In all we rode 19 miles......well I rode 19 miles....TLE rode 17....she stopped 1 mile short of HWY 74, waiting for me to make my turn around.  We got back to the coach around 2 pm.  After taking a shower I took a well deserved nap, and so did TLE.

Tom and Darlene got home from church around 5, and we had a nice dinner around 7 consisting of Chicken Alfredo, salad and garlic toast.  It has been a little colder the past two nights so we have been eating inside.....Tom set up a portable table and we sat in camp chairs......this is what we call "formal dining" at the McCloud's.......lol.

It won't be long until the new carpet is installed and then they can bring their furniture over from the old house, but for right now we are camping inside......:D

Thanks for stopping by!

How Pleasant....

Saturday, the actual Saturday, I felt much better.....still clearing my head of snot from the cold, but definitely on the mend.   Tom and Darlene were friends over, who also happen to be in the carpet business, to measure their home for new carpeting.  The plan was to drive over to Wells Country Store to buy lunch, then TLE and I would part ways and drive over to Lake Pleasant for the afternoon to do a little site seeing, while the rest of the gang took care of business at the house.

The 3 new plates: Arizona (top left), New Mexico (lower left) and Kansas (3rd plate going from left to right on bottom row)

Not far from Wells Country Store there was a small flea market in progress so we stopped off to see if there were any treasures we couldn't do without.  TLE didn't find anything, but I scored 3 state license plates to add to my license plate wall in the trailer.....Arizona, New Mexico and Kansas.....I paid about $6.50 each......not too bad.  I still have a long long way to go to bring the wall up to date with every state we have visited.....I think I need 13 more plates (Wyoming, Nebraska, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, Idaho, Washington D.C.).

From there we headed southeast towards Lake Pleasant arriving around 2 pm.  There is a $6.00 per car entrance fee.  The lake itself is about 10,000 acres, and is an important part of the Arizona water project.  It was completed in 1927, but did not reach it's maximum height until 2005.  It is fed by the Agua Fria River, and also via canal by the Colorado River.  Saturday it was particularly windy, and there were a lot of sailboats out on the lake taking advantage of the wind.

 A great day for sailing

TLE in front of some quite tall Saguaro cacti at the visitor's center

Some nice examples of Barrel Cacti

We drove to several vista points, and then through a couple of the campgrounds, which provided great views of the lake, but were a little tight for our rig, however, there is what they call a "primitive" campground right next to the lake where I could see us spending a few days.  There are no hookups, but that is fine with us....much more open and fewer RV's to clutter the view.

Part of our reason for taking the drive was to see if the route over to Lake Pleasant was compatible with riding our bikes, and as it turned out it is not.....the shoulder, where we would be riding, is not in good condition, and there is a little too much traffic for our likes.

We arrived back home around 4 pm just about the time Tom and Darlene's friends/carpet people, Gary and Sandy, where getting ready to leave.  We gave them a brief tour of our Newell....they are going to be retiring soon, and are thinking about buying a motorhome.

Later, around 6, we adjourned to Tom and Darlene's home to have dinner together.....there were still some taco makings left from a couple of nights ago...the meal I missed as I wasn't feeling well.  After dinner TLE and Darlene played a card game (Phase 10 I believe) while Tom and I talked.  It was a nice day, and nice evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

5th Saturday

My good friend Tom and I exchange messages on a daily basis using Google Messenger.  We are both retired now and love the fact that every day feels like Saturday.  The days on our weekly calendar look something like this: 1st Saturday, 2nd Saturday, 3rd Saturday, 4th Saturday and 5th Saturday, Saturday, Sunday......1st Saturday being Monday, and so it goes.....we didn't assign a number value to the original Saturday, because, well.....it's just Saturday. Back in our workaday lives Saturdays were when you got stuff done around the house, or took a mountain bike ride, or spent hours walking the isles in Home Depot.....we cherished every minute of every Saturday......now we can do that every day.  It's just a state of mind that we have fallen into, and I like it a lot.

5th Saturday saw me continuing to rest and get over the head cold.....and that is as far as it has gone, thankfully.....no chest congestion, or sore throat.....I seem to be on an upward arc now....feeling better by the hour.  Although my head still feels larger than usual, and according to TLE my head is bigger than normal without a head cold.  I had to resist the temptation to get outside and do, or accomplish something.......but I don't really have to because there is always another Saturday the next day.....plenty of time to get stuff done.  I pretty much spent the entire day resting, taking naps, drinking fluids, and trying to gauge how I felt on a scale of 1-100.....I think I about 65% as of the end of day 5th Saturday (Friday.....sorry if I am confusing you.....lol).

I mentioned previously that Tom will be breaking ground soon on a large 60' X 70' barn on the back of his property......the contractor came out to help Tom make some changes to the positioning of the barn in relationship to the property lines and the house.  It looks like a final position has been determined, and it is just a matter of modifying the plans.

Tom and Darlene drove into Wickenburg to visit Tractor Supply.....just as fun as Home Depot.....to buy some hardware needed to complete a toilet installation in their new home, and a weed sprayer that will mount on the back of their golf cart.....the property here is pretty big, and even though it is serious desert, it has rained recently and the weeds have exploded.

5th Saturday sunset

As is our habit with the McClouds, we almost always assemble together for dinner.....I BBQ'd hamburgers and hotdogs........the hamburgers were for Tom's daughter Laura and her 2 kids, and hot dogs were for the amazing Chili TLE made for us.....as I cooked we watched the sun go down again on another Saturday......5th Saturday to be precise.  We sat around a fire and talked until close to 8:30 before heading inside......it was a good day......a day worthy of its title.

Thanks for stopping by!