Nuestra casa rodante – Our Airstream, travels and such…

roger September 27th, 2010

We live about 3 hours from Yosemite but we don't go there as much as people would think we would.  We have never camped on the valley floor.  We took a road trip there in 2008 with our new hybrid.  We actually camped there later that year.  But this year it was on the floor.  I was really looking forward to it.  Plus it was about 5 months since we had taken out the trailer.

I got the reservations in the early spring.  I used the technique of checking for reservations every 10 minutes during a day.  When they showed up, I grabbed them!  Our first night, oddly, was Labor Day Monday.  I knew the campgrounds would be full but was hoping the park would be clearing out after the holiday weekend.

Time to get the trailer ready.  As you know in the previous post, I had replaced all the lights with LED's.  It is dry camping in Yosemite and 3 nights could be a bit of test for us.  We had gone 4 nights in Albuquerque last year and had to run the generator a bit to help out.  This was going to be a good test.

Another component of power usage is the propane heater in the trailer and the water pump.  We knew it would probably be a bit chilly at night so we did need some method heating.  I have always wanted to install a catalytic heater in the trailer but they are a bit pricey for the permanent models.  A catalytic burns propane, and therefore gives heat, without any power.  All you need is a spark via some piezoelectric generator.  So I got a catalytic heater, a portable one, Mr. Heater.  I almost bought one on our Albuquerque trip.

Now, what do I do about the water pump?  We need the water pump to run any of the water in our trailer.  Or do we?  One of the blogs that I read gave me a few tips recently.  We already knew about doing dishes in a bowl as Roxie used to tent camp with her family.  The water saving valve was a good idea, I thought.  I got one for my sink at home and I like it.  I know I am saving water.  However, Roxie did not like them in the trailer and I had to show her the 'override' function and she used it extensively.  So I don't think it helped that much.

However, the ONE tip that helped the most was the water jug used to 'flush' the toilet.  The normal flushing HAS to be the biggest user of water in the trailer.  By not running the pump all the time to flush we were able to use the campgrounds water to flush.  Brilliant idea!

I also washed the trailer AND truck before the trip.  This was unheard of!  We replaced a trailer tire for good measure.  We actually shopped for groceries BEFORE we left on a trip and were very ready.

• Airstream , Trips
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roger September 26th, 2010

I LOVE LED lights.  I really LOVE LED lights.  The combination of bright light vs low power usage make them a no-brainer in an RV.  I have always wanted to have LED's throughout our trailer but their cost has made it prohibitive.  No longer.

OUTSIDE LED's

My first foray into transforming the trailer started in the summer of '06.  We were heading to the WBCCI International rally in Salem, OR.  I had seen some people put LED's in their taillight in a thread on Airforums.  I gave it a go.

I bought some of these:

Taking them apart gives you this:

So I take the lenses off of the trailer:

I wire them to the connectors and mount the LED platter to the housing.  The way I did this was use wire nuts.  I siliconed the wirenut to the housing and the platter to the wirenut.  (I don't have a photo of this but you will see something similar later on.  I then buttoned them up (this should be an animated GIF):

I

I did the 'high' brake light also (another animated GIF):

I also did the license plate light.  Here it is all done:

INSIDE LED's

Once again a couple of threads at Airforums served as reference and a way to pass on information.  This thread and this thread.  I knew about SuperBrightLeds but felt they were a little pricey.  I found another source, www.ledwholesalers.com.  I just purchased a single bulb to try it out.  These are 1141 replacements:

I first tried this test bulb in a fixture.  Here are the representative shots (I used warm white instead of bright white):

I was pleased enough with the results that I ordered bulbs for the entire trailer and replaced them.  However there were a few bulbs outside that I needed to retrofit also.

These were the outside step lights and the torch (I call it the neighbor light because all it lights up is the neighbor's RV).  I replaced those with 1141 equivalents but this time I got them in a more circular pattern, like a normal bulb.  I also got these in bright white since they are outside.  I got these bulbs, and some for my truck, from an eBay seller (ushd) at a very reasonable cost.  Here is their eBay store.

Here is the step light:

Here is the torch:

Here they are all on:

One other thing that I did with the flat 1141's was put them in the backup lights:

Here are the backups at night.  It is hard to tell in the photo but they are now bright enough to actually see something behind the trailer.  Previously they were only good to warn people about the trailer moving.

In conclusion, I put in LED's for many reasons.  Power savings, decreased heat, reliability, increased output and I think they are COOL!

We have yet to see about the power savings.  Our trip to Yosemite will help prove it.

• Airstream , repairs
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roger March 15th, 2010

The weekend started out uneventful.  We setup the trailer to go to Paso Robles on Friday.  Took our time, brought stuff from the house, chasing cats out of the trailer and finally on the road.  We stopped in Hanford for lunch and I checked the trailer tires for any hot ones, as I always do.  One was warmer than the rest.  I saw the tread was bulging out all round the tire.  I have already replaced a trailer on highway 41 in 104 degree heat and I did not want to do anything close to that this time.  We stopped at Carrol’s tires in Hanford and got new one (~$94).

We made it to Wine Country RV around 2pm and setup the trailer.  We went around and met people from our San Joaquin unit and the Central Coast unit.  We then returned to the trailer for a bit to unwind.  That evening we went to eat in Paso and went to Good Ol’ Burgers.  We have been there many times over the years and have always enjoyed it.  Their onion rings are outrageous:

Coincidentally our son was also in Paso visiting a friend and they joined us there that evening.

We went back to the trailer and opened the door and something ran out of the door!!  It was one of our cats that had stowed away!  Now what do we do?  Damn cat!  Down to WalMart to get food, cat box, litter.  That put a damper on things for me.  Roxie thought it was hilarious.  All in all the cat did not do too bad.  The pathetic part was that we actually looked in the trailer for that cat before we left.  Grrrr…

Saturday we wanted to go see the Airstreams at Sky River RV, and I was also looking for a 12V lamp for the oven.  I went to the parts at Sky River and asked about the bulb.  They didn’t have one.  I also asked him about the Airstreams as there were NONE on the lot.  He told me they move them to a lot in San Luis Obispo.  We had nothing else to do and didn’t know what to do for lunch so it was off to SLO!

We went to the new Airstream lot and looked around.  We do want to get another Airstream in about 4 years but will always look when we get a chance.  They had numerous models but we really liked the 27FB Classic and the 30′ Classic.  We will see how it goes.

One thing we like to do when we go to Pismo Beach is Roxie eats clam chowder at Splash Cafe and I eat tri-tip at Mo’s Smokehouse BBQ.  Luckily they have them in SLO also so Roxie picked up her bread bowl with clam chowder and we both went to Mo’s.  I love the garlic fries but not so much with Roxie due to how long they remain.  That evening we went to a chinese buffet with the WBCCI units (17 people).

Sunday morning had a meeting regarding the state of the WBCCI and what can be done to help it out.  Essentially it is dying.  They are not getting younger people attracted to the club.  Joe tenBerge, Region 12 2nd vice president, was there to talk about the subject.  I told him about Airforums and there were many discussions about the WBCCI there.  He said he has seen them but they were very negative.  Well sometimes you have to swallow the negative to learn things.  He said he would look around there.  I was surprised how many from OUR unit have never heard of Airforums OR Airstream Life magazine.  I need to educate them.

We had a lunch of tri-tip sandwiches with the units and then in the PM, ice cream sundaes.  That evening we saw a couple of trailers from the Airforums Western Womens rally but did not meet any of them.  Monday was the trip home.

We are thinking about going to the Bass Lake rally in April and/or a rally in Tehachapi in May.  We will see.

• Airforums groups , Airstream , Trips , WBCCI
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roger March 10th, 2010

Yes, it has been a while since I have posted or we have planned to go somewhere.  Both are happening now!

We are going to Paso Robles this weekend with our WBCCI unit, and another one for a joint rally.  It will be held at Wine Country RV.  We are using this as a great excuse to get out with the trailer.  We like Paso since it is pretty close to us and we are familiar with the town (lots to do).  We also have not been out with our WBCCI unit for about 3 years and we can reconnect with some of them.

Just because we have not had the trailer out does not mean it has been quiet in our RV life.  The tow vehicle, our F250, has given us some grief.  You may remember the problems we had with it on our Albuquerque trip and the transmission issue.  About 1 month after the trip the truck started surging at idle and it threw a code.  The code was for an ICP (Injection Control Pressure) valve.  As this was happening, I had the batteries run down to the point where it just had that clicking sound when starting.  Once I got the batteries charged, the truck started running rough and threw another code!

Wow!  Two at once!  The code mentioned something about an injector had low pressure.  I know that injector repairs are EXPENSIVE!  I decided to attack the ICP problem first.  A trip to Ford and about $200 later, that was fixed.  But the truck still was running rough.  I lived with it for a few more weeks.  Now it was time to take it to a local diesel shop.

The first thing they saw was the batteries were very low and were not holding a good charge.  Diesels are very hard on batteries, hence the reason for two in our truck.  They need a minimum voltage to start correctly.  These were having problems with voltage and they recommended I get them replaced.  I still had 1 month left on the full Diehard replacement so I hauled them both to Sears.

Their tests concluded the batteries were fine, naturally.  I tried to convey the information, from the diesel shop, that batteries in diesels are under a different set of requirements and the standard automobile load test is not pertinent.  After a day or two of ‘discussion’ the Sears manager was willing to warranty replace one battery but I had to purchase the other outright.  I can live with that.

I took the batteries back to the diesel shop.  They installed them and started looking for the injector problem.  It was gone, it cleared up after the new batteries were installed.  We deduced that the fuel injection control module (FICM) is very susceptible to low voltage but once the fresh batteries were put in, it relearned its program.  Fantastic!  Plus the shop only charged me two hours for easily four hours of their time.

So was that it?  No!  Next I started hearing a squeal when the A/C compressor would kick in (defroster).  I wasn’t sure if the belt was just slipping (preferable) or was the bearing going out on the compressor (oh no!).  It turned out it was the belt tensioner.  It was fixed in place and not movable, as it should be.  Hurray, another repair!  The tensioner’s are pretty pricey, about $180!!  So we replaced the belt at the same time, it was due at 90K miles.

The truck seems to be running good now (knocking on wood – my head) so we will test it out on this trip.

Our extended warranty expired in August around the same time we paid the truck off.  It seems that the truck knew the warranty expired.  However all of these repairs did not reach what our payment used to be so we are still ahead of things.  I am just curious if the people that determine these warranties are the same ones that make the actuarial tables for life insurance?

I will post about the rally after we are back, maybe even during.

• F250 , Trips , WBCCI , repairs
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roger October 13th, 2009

I have uploaded the photos from the trip, including the balloon fiesta.  They are on my Flickr page here.

• Airforums groups , Airstream , Albuquerque Balloon Festival , F250 , Trips , WBCCI , repairs
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roger October 8th, 2009

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday, it will be explained further down.

I forgot to mention lunch Tuesday.  We looked online for a restaurant in Gallup, NM since we were heading through there at lunch time.  We had two choices, Earl’s and Genaro’s.  Earl’s was a bit like a Route 66 cafe so we opted for Genaro’s.  Might as well have one last meal that represented New Mexico.  We found out again how California Mexican food differs from New Mexico Mexican food.  I feel the difference is in the chile’s used.  I have not been a real fan of chile in general but I have liked what I have been tasting here.  One reviewer of Genaro’s raved about the Green Chile Cheese Fries so we thought we would try those.

I wasn’t so thrilled with them but they were OK.  Roxie had a burrito with Green Chile sauce on top.  I had a shredded beef taco. They both were good.  The salsa with the chips was the hottest we have ever had, I believe.  Roxie found out the hard way.  I have learned NOT to dip into the salsa before I get my drink if I have never had the salsa before.  Roxie didn’t wait, she dug right in and took a big dip.  She was VERY glad when her drink came.

The real topper was the sopapilla.  We have had variations of them, even two days previously.  A puffy pastry that you eat with honey.  It did not prepare us for the biggest sopapilla we have ever seen:

This thing was the size of someone HEAD!  It was huge!  It was pretty good but it would have been nicer to have a few smaller ones instead of a big one.  All in all we did like Genaro’s and would seek it out again.

This brings us to Wednesday.  As you may remember we had made it to the KOA at Holbrook.  That morning (Wed) we found out that we had to get home and cut our trip short.  The reason was not due to health reasons but something that we could not take care of on the road.  We decided to get on the road and get to at least Kingman that night.  We were sad that we could not continue on but we did accomplish our main goal, the Balloon Fiesta.  We can get to Arizona with only one night of travel so we can, and will, hit the locations we want to see.

So we got into some rain and cloudy weather in Flagstaff.  On a truck related note, the passenger door switch used to think it was closed all the time.  Now it is thinking that the door is open when it is closed and closed when it is open.  Another thing is there is a check engine light that came on again.  This is the ‘generic’ check engine light.  While refueling I remembered there was an auto parts store nearby.  I was able to rent a OBDII code diagnosis tool.  What it told me was the computer had not relearned some sequence.  I think this may have happened during the transmission service.  I read on the internet that I was supposed to clear the code and let the truck idle at operating temperature for 5 minutes.  I did so and the light is gone.  Yea!

We made it to Kingman but it was about 3pm and we thought that was a bit too early to stop.  We know that the more we travel this day, the less we travel the next.  We pushed on to Needles, but we wanted some more variety so we took Route 66 through Oatman, AZ.   The first part of the road was standard desert road wide, straight, bumpy.  However it did change to a more Route 66′ish road but narrower.  Right when it changed we came across these two in the road.

We had read about their friendly wild burros.  I read that as an oxymoron.

This road is very interesting.  Even moreso when towing a trailer.  Very narrow, curvy, a lot of up then a lot of down.  The truck handled it with aplomb and we eventually came to Oatman.  We were there just before 5pm and things were closing up so it is somewhere we need to come back and see again.  We did see some more of those burros.

These were being fed from a store owner in town.

We made it to Needles and stayed at the Desert View RV Park.  The price was good and they said their WiFi was very good.  Well it was not, we had to sit outside at the end of the trailer by the road to get service.  But it was a bit too cold (yes, we remember it being 100 degrees the week before) to be outside so no WiFi.  I think they need a few more antennas in the park.  I tried my 3G card but it was only Edge and it cut in and out.  Hence no blog last night.

On to Thursday.  Left Needles and traveled the boring I40 W to CA58 W.  Yawn!  Down the Tehachapi’s, the hill that started our truck fun.  No problems.  We made it home about 5pm.

Would we go back to the Balloon Fiesta?  Sure, probably not next year though.

Will we get to Northern Arizona?  We want to, this was the second attempt.

Do we want to east New Mexico cuisine again?  Definitely.

Did we meet many new interesting friends?  We always do.

Will we take another trip?  Come on!!!

• Airstream , Albuquerque Balloon Festival , F250 , Trips , repairs
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roger October 6th, 2009

Today the Balloon Fiesta is over for us.  I am sure there will be more coming in for this weekend but it is time to hook up  and head on out.  However, before we left we were treated to another show.  We rolled out of bed at an earlyish time but not too bad.  We saw balloons floating over our trailer like the previous morning.  They were taking off from the field and heading south with the wind.  Many went directly over our trailer.

This wave of balloons cleared our parking area and we noticed another wave from the north coming in.  They would descend by the field, drop their marker (like the previous morning), then pop back up and continue on.  The vast majority of them continued to the south but a few actually set down behind the motorhomes about 3 rows back from us.  This was pretty impressive to see that maneuvering.  We turned to look at another coming in, lower, lower, lower, boom.  He landed right next to one of the Airstream rows and right behind our traveling buddies, Bob and Phyllis.  The pilot asked the group around the basket to help hold the balloon in place until his chase crew could get there.  Naturally, he got full compliance.  In this picture you can see Bob and Phyllis having a great time (they are the ones looking at the camera and beaming from ear to ear and their trailer is in the background).

Roxie was right there also helping out.

The crew got the bag deflated and down to the ground.  Again they asked for help to get the air out of the bag and there went everyone again.

Everyone involved really enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching them.  There were enough hands already.

We got back on I40 W and backtracked a LOT today.  We made it to Holbrook, AZ and are at the KOA tonight.  We both had nice long hot showers in their restrooms.  We dumped both our tanks and now we are somewhat back to normal.  We will head to Cottonwood and the Dead Horse Ranch State Park tomorrow.

• Airstream , Albuquerque Balloon Festival , Trips
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roger October 5th, 2009

Ok.  You know the drill.  I have good news and bad news.  Which do you want first?  What news is the good and what is the bad?  There are so many possibilities.  Let’s start with the bad news.

We did NOT set the alarm this AM for once.  We thought we would naturally get up early enough to see anything.  There actually was a Texas Hold’em competition for the balloons this morning.  There huge cards on the field (I did not go verify) and the balloonists would drop a marker to get the best card.  Depending upon the wind direction they would launch from the north or south to fly over the field.  The wind was blowing from the south, as it has for 2 days now so they launched from the south.  This meant they were coming directly over us!  I thought this might be the case but was unsure until we heard a burner ignite over our trailer.  We hustled outside to watch them float over.

Now this guy looks real low but he wasn’t so bad.  Here is another shot of him a bit further down his run.

See, he is gaining altitude!

As all this was going on I would look to the south to see what was coming, then to the north to see what the balloons were doing over the field.  This is the bad news.  We saw a balloon that was severely deflated and still very high.

It is the one on the left (this is a friends photo).  We saw it come down faster than normal and only stopped when it hit the ground.  That is just part of the bad news.  It appears this balloon clipped one of the hospitality tents at the south end of the field.  In clipping this tent, it tilted the basket enough to eject the pilot (or passenger, it is still unclear).  He tumbled about 20 feet to the ground appearing to suffer a broken hip.  Prior to this the pilot was attempting to gain altitude by hitting the burners.  Balloons do not react real fast so it obviously did not help enough.  The combination of extra heat and less weight caused the balloon to shoot into the air very rapidly.  This entire sequence was very frightening to the remaining passenger in the basket and she responded by opening the top of the balloon which caused the rapid descent.  We only say the descent but I am conveying the information from eye witnesses.  That was the bad news.  I am sure there is more on Google by now.

The good news is the truck!  It is fixed!  I visited a transmission shop, Mike’s Transmission which was only about 1 mile from us.  I immediately had a good feeling from Mike himself and he stated he would do a diagnosis on the transmission and give me an estimate and there would be no charge.  I could decide what to do then.  He called back in about 1 1/2 hours and told me what he had found.  The sensor gave two codes.  The first said it had reached 315 degrees!  He said if there was this code only then it would mean overheating but the second code showed it had reached -40 degrees, yes 40 below zero.  This pointed to the sensor.  I could get the part ($80!) replaced for a total of $170.  However, since the pan would be off I could get new fluid and the filter replaced for $250.  That was a no brainer.  Do the extra service.  About 2 hours later the repair was done and a new friend neighbor gave me a ride there.  I talked with Mike a bit and determined that not only was he a very nice and honest guy, he really knew his business.  Also I feel if he did not know how to do a job or felt he couldn’t, he would NOT do it.  Very recommended shop!  So remember, wait until Albuquerque before you have any transmission problems.  (Hey, Mike if you are reading this, you need to get away to the lake, SOON!)

This evening the group had another meal.  This was not a potluck but had bratwurst, hamburgers and/or salmon and other sides provided.  It was the last get-together before the rest of us bug out tomorrow (some already have).  This has been a fun rally. Bob and Phyllis came to the trailer for a bit to visit before they continue on eastward tomorrow.  We had fun with them and I know they will continue to have a good trip and I am sure we will see them again.  You always tend to see other Airstreamers again.

The distance to this rally is the real killer for us but we will do it again some time.  This is the first time that I can remember us dry camping for 4 nights without adding water or dumping gray water.  Roxie has done a great job in conserving.  As far as power, I created my extra battery box similar to this one so we have had 4 batteries for the duration.  However we have been running the generator regularly to charge the laptops (I don’t like my inverter).  It has been a learning experience.  But tomorrow night we WILL have full hookups so we can take nice long (7 gal hot water) showers!

• Airstream , Albuquerque Balloon Festival , F250 , Trips
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