Phoenix OR–Jun 20, 2014–Not So Bad

We are waiting for a circuit board to be fabricated by HWH which should end our leveling jack problem. They don’t work.

This morning we moved from our level site C18 to an un-level site C3.  We didn’t want to move but it turned out this is a very good spot. Has a great view out the front. Its shadier with more trees and Ty like the view better too.

Ty is staying near the front door, he wants to go back across the drive where he’s found some kind of varmint hole that require watching.

 

This is our view out the front window.

There is a lawn in front of the trees and creek. Here is a shot of Bear Creek behind the trees.

I went out and purchased some leveling blocks and then spent a half hour or longer using them to level the motorhome. I should have grabbed one of the 5th wheel trailer guys to lend a hand.  Finally got it fairly level. Anxious to get our hydraulics working.

Here’s a picture of the RF tire on the blocks.

Tomorrow we’re driving over to Crater Lake.

El Paso, TX–Feb 21, 2013 An Unscheduled Stop

We made an unscheduled stop in El Paso at Rocky Mountain Cummins, one night free in their parking lot.

The problem first occurred a few days back. We were leaving the campground in Bowie, as we were going up the the freeway entrance ramp.  It felt like engine missed a beat, but it also felt like it could have been a bump in the ramp. After that the engine ran fine.

Leaving Las Cruces we experienced the same thing. Now although still subtle, it seemed more like a engine miss but,  just a couple of times and then it ran fine.

Leaving Van Horn we experienced the same thing. Today we were headed for Midland for a visit with my aunt and uncle.  As we were approaching El Paso it seem that we didn’t quite have the normal zip.  Then going through the city we were defiantly losing power and could barely keep the speed up.  I thought about stopping to get it check out, as we passed the Cummins shop on the way out of town,  but thought we would get it checked out in Midland. If it turned out to be something time consuming, at least we would have some family there. And Interstate 10 looked straight and flat as long as the eye could see.

After about an hour of limping along at 50 mph, a ridge of mountains appeared in the distance in front of us. As we approached the base of the mountain range, it became obvious we couldn’t make it over and we decided to take the next off-ramp and go back to Cummins. Of course there weren’t anymore off-ramps and then the right lane was closed ahead.  We stopped in right in front of the barricade to evaluate our options.  There was light traffic so we were ok stopped in the lane with our emergency flasher on and the mile of lane closed signs behind us

Almost two hours and 150 miles east of El Paso. I knew we didn’t have power to continue over the mountain pass and since it was now one lane, I was afraid to try and get stuck. Especially blocking a mob of mad truckers.  Looking at maps on the computer and using our Verizon Jetpack to access Google maps I could see a rest stop a mile or so ahead on the opposite side . I tried to see ahead with binoculars but the highway curved to the right. I did see an unmarked exit road about 100 yards ahead that connected to a frontage road that ran along side the highway. We decided to try to get to the rest stop on the frontage road, even though it was not clear looking at the maps if it would connect and not dead-end.

I also called Rocky Mountain Cummins. They wouldn’t be able to look at it until the next morning but said we could overnight at one of their sites which had 30amp power and water.

We waited until there was no traffic behind us and I slowly (as fast as Horizon would go)  ventured out in to the center lane. We made it up to the turn off and on to the frontage road. We could only creep along up hill because pushing the pedal down too far caused the engine to start miss firing but at least we didn’t hold up traffic.  We lucked out as the road joined up with the rest stop road which went under the interstate.   On the westbound side we made our way back to El Paso at 40 mph.

The next morning Cummings fit us in and started evaluating on the problem. Turned out to be a clogged fuel filter.  They had up back on the road before noon.  A great shop with very friendly people.

I was surprised the filter had clogged up so fast as I just had the rig serviced in Marysville at the dealer before we left at the end of Oct. The Cummings mechanic said he didn’t thing it had been changed that recently.  That night I pulled out the receipt which I keep in the computer using Neat Receipts. Surprise, they hadn’t charged me for a replacement but they should have offered. I usually have the service done at the Freightliner shop and they have always taken care of everything.

I now carry a spare filter and gallon of diesel fuel.

Replaced Rear Bedroom Thermostat

The motorhome has two propane forced-air heaters. The main and larger one has registers on the floor running the length of the motorhome and heats both the bedroom and lounge.

The smaller heater just serves the bedroom and to a lesser degree, the bathroom. It works great but the thermostat is hard to set accurately and has a wide temperature  range where it gets too hot and then too cool.  We like to sleep with the bedroom window open, so the thermostat couldn’t be turn on at bedtime or the furnace would run all night. This meant I had to hop out of bed to turn it on in the morning. I know!

So I replaced the original mechanical thermostat with an electronic one.

Now it stays very close to the easily set temperature. As a bonus it can also be set to turn on and off at desired times. No more popping out of bed to turn on the heater in the mornings.

Installation was a bit of a puzzle. The mechanical the thermostat only used two wires. The electronic one’s installation manual gave directions for connecting, using four to seven wires.  In an internet search I didn’t find a two wire example, only a three wire solution. Using the best guess method, I connected the two wires I had to two of the new thermostat’s wires and it works perfectly.  With only two wires there is no power but the thermostat has a battery for backup and it seem to work ok on battery power. We’ll see how long battery last.

                    

Old on the left and new on the right.

New Furniture

We ended up in the same site (15) in Brookhollow that we were in a year ago. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had a snack outside and watched the 49’er football game.
 
Early Monday morning we drove down the twenty miles or so to Dave and LJ’s RV furniture in Woodland. Besides RV furniture, they offer all kinds of custom interior work including flooring and cabinetry.

We dropped off the Horizon and Debbie and I drove into downtown Woodland to McDonald’s for breakfast. After breakfast, Debbie dropped me off so I could “supervise” and she went over to a brand new Wal-Mart near by.  Although we were only gone for a short time, Ryan and his brother already had the old couches out and the theater seating in and read to install.

Preparing the seating to bolt down to the slideout floor required some modification.

The theater seating install is almost completed. The seats are wall hugger’s and are electrically controlled so they can be stopped at any reclining angle.

The furniture was installed and we were back a Brookhollow by noon. They guys did a great job and we can hardily recommend Dave and LJ’s.  Here is the new couch which is a hide-a-bed. 

And here is the theater seats. Ty is very confused and hasn’t quite figured out what happen to his familiar digs.

Here it is

Just a few pictures of the Samsung installed.

Troy and Roy Robinson did an excellent installation. The fit and finish looks perfect. The total hours came in at fifteen point nine. That included the groups time helping in and out the window.

Debbie loaded all the food from the Norcold into the new Samsung. Almost twice as much room inside.

In the Window

I arrived early Wednesday morning and the Horizon was already out of the bay waiting for the exchange.

The old Norcold is eased out onto the fork lift. Troy guides it through the window.

Here the Samsung is starting in. Troy is directing the fork lift.

The couch which had been removed earlier, goes back in.

The refrigerator and couch safely back in the Horizon.

Norcold is Removed

I went down to Roy Robinson’s around nine thirty, Tuesday morning,  to check the progress and there was quite a lot.  The Norcold was already out!

Here the Norcold is out and sitting in the lounge area.

The hole. There is a lot of stuff in the area under the refrigerator. A little later, the original floor has been removed. The black line on the back wall is where the floor was. Because the new Samsung is six inches taller than the Norcold, the floor needs to be lowered and the top raised. Here Troy has started installing the 2x4’s which will support the new floor.

Tomorrow the old Norcold is coming out and the new Samsung is coming in. Both through the window.

Horizon into the Shop

Around four o’clock I drove the Horizon over to Rob Robinson with Debbie following  in the Jeep. I parked out in the yard and went into the office to check in for tomorrow’s appointment. Since I seem to be adapting to Port Susan time (sleeping in), I thought it would be better to take it in the night before rather than try to get up early in the morning.

Debbie hadn’t seen the refrigerator yet. I know, a little daring to replace it without getting her sign-off first. Anyway she wanted to see it and I asked Ken if it was OK as we walked toward the parts dept. He said it was but it wasn’t in parts any longer, it was down in the service bay. He said when he saw us drive in he told Troy to start getting the Samsung ready, so we better hustle down because he was removing the doors right now.

When we got down there, of course the last bay, the bottom slide-out freezer chest was already out and the doors were close to coming off.  No worry about these guys getting the job done on time!  So far we’ve had nothing but great contacts with the staff here at Roy Robinson. Ken the service mgr., Shawna parts and today Troy who will be completing most if not all of the actual work.

Fortunately, Deb loved the Samsung and I dodged a bullet. Of course I did talk to her about replacing the Norcold and the reasons why, and that the Samsung seemed to be the best fit. She was a little disappointed that it doesn't have in-door ice and water. She’ll have to have a new RV for that feature. 

The Samsung Arrives

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men…. “ (Robert Burns).  I finally got tired of all the recalls of our Norcold refrigerator.  I was also becoming concerned by reports of fires caused by the failure of the cooling unit. There has been four or five recalls one on top of the next. Their fix appears to be installing a shut off which turn the unit off in the event of a catastrophic meltdown and hopefully before it starts a fire.
Several people have kept their Norcold but replaced the cooling unit, the source of the problem, with a much better one made by an Amish company . Others have replaced the Norcold with a residential refrigerator. Mostly with  a small Samsung, and that’s what I decided to do. It cost about the same to replace the cooling unit as buying and installing the Samsung.  A new Norcold would cost almost twice as much. The Samsung has twice the storage space.

Before leaving California I started contacting RV shops to see if we could have it  installed on our way to Port Susan. As it turned out, Roy Robinson, a Itasca dealer in Marysville, about ten minutes away from us made the most sense.

Back to the plan. First I conferred with Ken in the service department of Roy Robinson’s to go over what I wanted. I had a list of several tasks and how I though the job should be done. The Samsung is almost the same size as the Norcold but about 6 inches taller. We agreed on most of my requests and estimated the time would be 12 to 16 hours over 2 or 3 days. We set up an appointment for a month in advance.
I then ordered the refrigerator, a Samsung RF195, from ABT Electronics who had a good online reputation and price. It was scheduled to be delivered the week prior to the appointment at Roy Robinson’s.  All well and good. I checked with the trucking company frequently and followed the refrigerator from Chicago to Seattle.

The morning before delivery I checked status and was told it was scheduled for tomorrow but they didn’t have a time as yet. Fortunately I called again around four and found the delivery had been rescheduled for the day after my appointment.  Several problems. First, Roy Robinson had agreed to plug in the refrigerator for a few day just to make sure the unit was ok before installing it and if we could start the install then we wouldn’t have time to test it. Second,  Roy Robinson’s scheduling is three to four week out, so if we had to reschedule with them, the delivery would delay the install a month.  After several calls back and forth to Excel Trucking and remaining firm and polite, I was able to get the refrigerator back on schedule. I have to say, Excel has been very good with tracking and the dispatchers I talked to were also polite and helpful and in the end their effort was responsible for getting back on track.
So yesterday I went up and met the delivery.

OH GOD!!  I could not believe they were sliding my refrigerator out the side door and not using the lift at the back of the truck!


Believe it. They managed to slide it out without dropping it. Whew!!


Ok, there it is, but wait a minute, where are you guys going.  Just as I thought, although I paid for “white glove delivery” the drivers were going to just drop it and take off. Not so fast they were suppose to un-crate it and take the packaging with them. They knew it because when I mentioned it they said they didn’t know and without any argument took the packaging off and loaded it back into the truck. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to get going, knowing what the traffic back to Seattle is at 5:30 pm.


Here it is.  With the help of Shauna, we were able to get it plug in and working.

Checked it this morning and the freezer was –2 degrees and the refrigerator was 38 degrees, the defaults.  So far, so good.

New Rooftop Dish Antenna

A while back I replaced the old Dish antenna with a new HD one and it works great. But now we’re in Port Susan under the trees and it doesn't work any better than the old one!

The original satellite antenna on the Horizon roof was installed when there were only two satellites in the sky for Dish.  It only locked on one at a time.  As you changed a channel on the other satellite the antenna automatically switched.  As time went on more satellites were sent up. Our antenna starting failing to lock on its satellite. As I understand it, the antenna located the first satellite using GPS then it used that location to locate the second satellite.  When it started failing, it was finding one of the new satellites, which it couldn’t identify, and that sent it searching until it stopped without finding anything.  Winegard, the manufacture, said it needed new some new parts and software but neither of which were available.

The new antenna can lock on all three Dish satellites at the same time.  I had decided to buy the antenna and have it installed on this trip as we traveled through Quartzsite. I contacted a couple of dealers and got the cost to remove the old one and install the new one, around six hundred dollars. After reading the installation manual and watching a video I decided to do the installation myself.

The hardest part of the install was lifting the new antenna up to the roof by myself. 

One task I worried about was having to cut a hole in the roof to route the new cables inside.  It looked like the hole would have to be a lot further forward , about eight feet,  than the existing access hole.  I thought I would try to pull the new wires in with the old wires. I hoped the old wires weren’t  fastened inside the roof.  I attached the wires together and then pull on them. They move about six inches then hung up. I pulled with all my strength and hooray they broke free and the new wire came through.

Dish replaced my old receiver with a new unit and now we can record two show and watch a recorded show at the same time.

The new antenna works great. Finds and locks on all three satellites, except under trees!

Our last blog was from Kingman AZ

5/1/12
The last blog was from Kingman AZ and it was snowing.

We actually have moved from there and are now parked next to our house in California. I’ll try to catch up to the present as quickly as possible.
And here’s the reason for the lack of blog posting, Claire Norman in Debbie’s lap less than a day old.

We left Kingman on the 20th of March, the day after the snow hit, and headed up to the Nevada Treasure RV Resort in Pahrump.  Because of the long drive, we were up early. I fired up the Cummins and raised the jacks. The idiot light on the dash indicated “check transmission” and the transmission refused to go into gear.  Still fresh in my mind was the vision of one of our neighbor’s motorhome being towed away the day before yesterday.  Checked the fluid level, ok. Tried starting and re-starting, no luck. Finally had to get out the transmission manual.  Learned how to display the trouble code and looked it up. It said to reset the EMC. No info on how to do that. The next time I started the light went out and the transmission went into gear and away we went on our way to the “Winnebago Itasca Travelers Southwest Regional Rally” in Pahrump, NV.  

Friday Night in Mt Vernon, WA

It was a dark and stormy night…. We are parked in the parking lot of Valley Freightliner spending the night before we head south for the winter. We arrived here on Thursday for our yearly MH service. During the service they discovered the surge tank was cracked and leaking slightly. The serge tank is plastic and is like a radiator reservoir in a car. O f course they didn’t have one in stock so we had to have one overnighted from back east and necessitated another night in the parking lot. Of course the tank has been redesigned, so the service manager said, and it no longer fit the mounting brackets. So the bracket had to be modified. We had hoped to leave here this afternoon but the job wasn’t complete until late afternoon so we elected to stay another night rather than fight rush-hour, Friday night traffic through Seattle. It is raining tonight but the wind has died down. If you want to see the wet parking lot you’ll have to check last years post as d no photo this time, but it looks the same. Still wet.

Tomorrow we’ll head down to a small casino near Shelton, WA.

New Shoes for Horizon

Last week I called to order tires for the Horizon. Due to the size they have to be special ordered. At that time Allen gave me a price of $571 each. He said it was a show special for the FMCA rally which had just concluded. That sounded like a good price since discussions on the net were about how much tire prices had gone up due to the raise in oil costs and indicated a price of $600 to $650. Last year they were $540 so I was real happy at only a $30 dollar raise.

When we arrived at Les Schwab, Terry, who I dealt with last year, wrote up the work order with a price of $601 each. He didn’t know about a show price. Finally got a hold of Allen and he fixed the price to reflect the original quote. Whew!!

They said the job should be competed around 11am so we had a few hours to kill. I had the first time killer idea and we went across the street to the Sweetwater restaurant and had breakfast. Debbie had the next idea. I would sit in the car and read while she….

went into the Goodwill Store. I had read about three books when Les Schwab called and said Horizon was ready to go. I had to go in and pull Debbie out. She made a major find, a six place setting of dishes just right for the 5th wheel and only $14! Guess I should be more supportive. She probably saved us a hundred dollars or more. Photos pending.

We returned to Les Schwab and while I connected the Jeep up and replaced the pressure sensors on the new tires, Debbie went into the office to pay the bill. When she returned, she said they gave us $50 each for two of the old tires as a trade in. Wow am I happy!

We left the store and headed north. Destination Kelso, WA and the Brookhollow RV park, about three hours in the RV. We’ve stayed there several times before and I like the park, it has a nice layout and space between sites. Debbie is not so enamored but humors me.

More about the park next time.

Finally Florence

We’re finally in Florence and settled in at the Florence Elks RV park.  The drive here was an easy hour and a half through some very beautiful scenery.

This morning Cummins we got in and out right away and now we’re all back to normal, except for the two engine batteries.  I found them 22 miles away down in Reedsport and drove down to pick them up. Installed between rain showers and without starting any fires. I’m certainly getting a workout lugging these 60-70 pound batteries back and forth.  I also had to take out the inverter to change the charging program for AMG house batteries . That thing is really heavy and I almost had to come home with it lying on its side in it’s basement compartment.

I need to post a few pictures that I didn’t include in a few of the previous posts. This is the sunrise at Ocean Shores just before the hydraulic pump motor burnt up.  The ocean view is behind me.

Here is our camp site at Cape Disappointment.

While we were there we drove over to Long Beach.

We passed by this lake on the way to the beach.

This is our site in Coburg. We received the morning paper on our step each morning.  I didn’t get a picture of Camp Cummins.

Here in Florence, Ty tries out a tree.

And here he’s showing off his new spiked collar. He really gets an attitude when he gets to wear it.

Repair update

If everything checks out tomorrow we should be on our way back to California.

Friday they finished installing the new unit from HWH. It appears to be working ok. Cummins didn’t have time to finish calibration so we’ll be staying at least till Monday. We don’t want to get too far from Cummins until we we’re sure it’s working properly. Unfortunately, because of the big game here in Eugene, WA vs. OR, we weren’t able to continue staying in the RV park. It’s full with Duck (UO) fans who came from all over the state for the game. Cummins’ has about ten spaces with 30 amp electric, a couple of water faucets and a dump station. We didn’t stay here before because the sites are on a slope and our leveling jack weren’t working but now we can level the RV and the price is right, free! We also will be close for our 8am appointment. When that is complete we will head toward the coast. We decided to head that way because Oregon requires all vehicles to carry chains after the 1st of November whether they are needed or not. A storm is coming in today and may drop snow on the passes. The way our luck has been going lately we decided to take the cowards way out. Route 126 from here to Florence is not under the Oregon snow chains require law and a couple or other ‘campers’ here at the Cummins Resort said the road is good and is not be a problem for an RV.

During the repair and testing I discovered one of the house batteries bulging and thought bad house batteries might be part of the problem so I started looking for replacements. Despite being in the center of RV land I couldn’t find three Lifeline AMG batteries. We drove up to Junction City to Guarantee RV, Oregon's largest RV dealer but they only had two. I settled for Trojan AMGs and got them installed and the core returned. Now I have discovered the house batteries don’t run the hydraulic pump, the two engine batteries do. They are original so are at least six years old and due for replacement also so I’ll look for some of those over on the coast. They should be easier to find and we’re ready to get going!

Friday evening we went out to the local Elks Lodge for dinner. They were serving Prime Rib. It was very good and a bargain to boot.

Slides and Jacks, oh-no!

We are at Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

We have been exceptionally lucky that our MH for the most part has been pretty trouble free. We have had a few minor problems but nothing major until yesterday.

We were at the Quinault Beach Casino parked in their RV lot about a half mile from the casino, all by ourselves, over looking the ocean. We were scheduled to drive a couple of hours down the coast to Cape Disappointment SP where we had reservations for Thursday and Friday nights.

I had retracted the bedroom slide and the large living room slide and started to bring in the small living room slide and nothing happened! I also found the leveling jacks were not operating. This was followed by a hot electronics smell. Investigation revealed the motor for the hydraulic pump was very hot and apparently had burnt out. Unable to bring in the slide or get the jack up we were stranded in a very isolated spot.

I called our MH road service, Winnebago, the hydraulic people, HWH. I also pulled out all the reference materials and manuals I could find.

I knew the theory on manually raising the jacks but I had no clue on how to get the slide in. The Winne manual covered in detail where and how to crank in the large slide and how to slide in the bedroom slide, but of course it didn’t mention the small slide at all. The road service called back and had a service tech scheduled arrive sometime before 4pm, its 10am now. The call to Winnebago was little help as they apparently didn’t have the slide in their manuals either. HWH took a message and said they would call back. Surprise they did about an hour later. They knew more about the MH than Winnebago did. I got some good information on how to release the pressure in the hydraulic lines and where the valves were to accomplish this task. They said once the valve was opened we could just push the slide in.

About 3pm the RV tech arrived. He wasn’t that familiar with our specific equipment but had worked on similar stuff. I showed him where the motor was under the front steps and after checking for voltage, using my meter because he left his at the shop, he jumped the solenoid on the motor and nothing happened confirming my original thought that it was burnt out and probably the source of the electrical smell. Next he opened the valve to the slide and the three of us tried to push it in. It didn’t budge a fraction of an inch! He tried a second valve, there are three , one for each slide. Still no luck. He opened the third and still no movement. He then opened the valves for the jacks and they retracted. Hooray! As I was looking over his shoulder I thought he was missing the valve that HWH indicated should be opened. He had been opening something in the back of the assembly and HWH said it should be in the front under the jack valves. I told him this and he opened that valve. The three of us again pushed on the slide and lo and behold the slide started in and we were able to push it all the way.

We finally got started toward Cape Disappointment around 5:30pm. As we started driving out of the parking lot the MH tilted to the right and the slide moved out a little. Oh! Shit! I had visions of the whole right side of the MH flying out and landing on the side of the road. After a very tense 2 hour drive we arrive in the DARK to the SP. Found our site and parked.The slide is still about 3 inches out but didn't appear to move any further.

We’re staying here at Cape Disappointment SP until this Sunday when we will cut over to I5 and drive down to Cummings in Eugene, OR. where we hope to get the hydraulic stuff fixed. Then we’ll continue down I5 and save the coast till next year.

Getting Ready to Leave Port Susan

We’re in the parking lot of Valley Freightliner in Mount Vernon for the night where we had the Horizon serviced before heading for California. We dropped it off this morning and they had it finished late this afternoon. We’ll spend the night in their lot and leave tomorrow toward the Washington coast. We will be traveling along the coast all the way down.

We always look forward to heading up here and are always reluctant to leave. Especially leaving all our friends who live here through the winter.

Brad flew up for a week-end visit. While he was here we went over to Whidbey Island to see Deception Pass. A bridge spans the narrows where tidal currents rush through.

Kayakers flock to this area during tide changes due to the tidal rush.

Tire Monitoring

Before leaving on our current trip I purchased a tire monitoring system made by HawksHead Systems. The monitoring system alerts you if any of the RV or towed vehicle’s tires are loosing pressure hopefully allowing you to slow to a stop before a catastrophic blowout. 

When we purchased our first Motorhome in Las Vegas years ago I was driving it home for the first time towing the Jeep behind. I had traveled about long enough to start getting bored. Remembering the CB radio I turned it on and just caught the tail end of a trucker conversation which I heard them say “… if he doesn’t notice it he’s going to have a big problem”. There wasn’t much traffic on the road at the time and I had noticed two trucks passing me. Using the CB radio I asked if they were talking about me. They said I had a rear tire going flat on the Jeep I was towing. It was half flat when I pulled over and checked. Since then I’ve been lucky and haven’t experienced another incident. 

Over the years I have looked at many systems coming to market. Only one, which the tire sensor is mounted inside tire on the wheel, appeared to be reliable.  But it was expensive and installation required all the tires to be removed and replaced adding to the cost. It also required the sensors to be replaced when the battery discharged.

All the systems I have looked at so far required replacing the sensors when the batteries ran out, at the cost of fifty dollars each or more!  In fact one of the more popular systems made changes to their system so that the older sensors were no longer compatible and the older sensors could no longer be purchased from them. If only one sensor went bad, it requiring the re-purchasing of an entire new system!!

The Hawkshead Systems uses inexpensive replaceable batteries in their sensors. The monitor is portable and uses a rechargeable battery so it doesn’t need to been installed and connected to a power source. After recharging for 8hours it will monitor for around 192 hours.

I finally installed the TPMS while we were staying in Santa Maria. It involved setting the pressure for each tire position in the monitor. Then screwing the sensor on each tire. I wanted to put some miles on the system before discussing my experience. Well we’ve gone from Santa Maria to Tucson and I love the system. I was able to check the pressure in each tire at any time in a few seconds. The Hawkshead Systems also reports tire temperature. During the testing I was able to see the tire pressure increase and to my surprise I saw the temperature raise also. The sunny side was much warmer than the shade side. In normal use you don’t need to check the tires, you just drive and if the system detects a problem it sounds an alarm.

Here is the sensor on the front tire of the motorhome.

Here is the monitor displaying the motorhome and the jeep tires. It can track up to 22 tires and pressure up to 140 pounds.

Busy December

NEW Follow our Route

Now you can see our route on Google Maps: Horizon Travel

Debbie’s mom is back on her feet and doing well so we are back home in Concord. We had a busy month.

Brad, number three son, had another birthday and we had a party.

Our club had a Christmas outing at The Lakes RV and Golf Course in Chowchilla. The hosts did a great job of decorating and feeding the group.

Debbie get a helping of ribs.

Now Blake, number two son, and his wife Stacey are over to open their Christmas presents early. They are going to be in Cancun for Christmas week and we wanted to make sure we had a chance to celebrate with them before they left.

Ty attacks a empty plastic bag from one of the presents.

And he folds it up cat style.

Then there was the water pump. I have noticed water accumulating off and on in the service compartment. I have tried to find a leak but had been unable to until now. It turns out the water pump seals had been leaking. Finally it stopped working entirely. I called around and the closest Camping World to us said they had two in stock. Debbie and I drove from Concord to Vacaville, about and hours drive. Unable to find one on the shelf I asked a sales person who after checking told me the two that show in inventory had been installed in MH on the lot. We then went to Alameda to a chandlery and found one there. After I replace the pump we discovered the old pump had been making a very different sound than the new one makes, so the old pump had been going out for over a year.

Now we’re on to the New Year’s Eve club outing and celebration.

We ate…

drank…

conversed…

We also played a game where everyone antes up a couple of bucks. Then roll dice and give a dollar, either to the person on you left of right or you keep it. At some point one person ends up with all the dollars. This time the last two were yours truly and a young six year old.

And the most skillful player won.