Monthly Archives: August 2013

2013_08_31 (Sat) Our New Online Home

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From mid-afternoon on Thursday 29th through late evening on Saturday the 31st I was occupied with moving our domain {website/blog and e-mail} to a new web-hosting service.  That wasn’t all we did, of course, but the process involved a lot of back and forth and everything else seemed to fit in around it.

Like many things in our modern world, we tend to take our communications technology for granted, after all, most of the time it just works.  But just like losing power to your refrigerator, you don’t really understand just how dependent you are on technology until it doesn’t work.  Unlike a refrigerator, which either works or it doesn’t (and it’s usually obvious which condition it is in), our e-mail failure was more subtle.  We continued to receive e-mails from some recipients if they originated them (but not always) and recipients typically received e-mails that we originated (but not always).  But we did not receive replies to e-mails that we sent.  What was particularly strange was that the person sending the reply did not get a bounce-back or other error, so to them it looked like they had sent the reply successfully.  We didn’t know if they got the original message, and they assumed we got the reply.

I do not know what went wrong with our e-mail accounts at iPage, and never will, but they were definitely malfunctioning and iPage was unable to fix the problem and ultimately unwilling to move it to a sufficiently high level of technical support to figure it out.  I have nothing against overseas technical support as long as it is technically competent and customer supportive.  In my support ticket interactions with iPage I never corresponded with the same person twice.  The problem with the “big name” hosting services is the same as a lot of mutual funds.  Huh?  Way too much time and money put into marketing, way too little into a high quality, reliable offering.  It’s a numbers game, and my number was 1, as in, I am only one customer.  We will almost certainly lose money in this transition by not getting an adequate refund from iPage, but one of the secrets to life is knowing when to take your losses and being willing to do so and move on.  In the end we had no choice but to move our domain.

In the two weeks prior to reaching that decision I had two completely independent recommendations for QTH.com as a web-hosting service.  “QTH” is ham radio lingo for “location” and Scott Neader, the guy behind QTH.com, has amateur radio call sign KA9FOX.  The company is located in Wisconsin, and so is the technical support.  In the move from iPage to QTH I exchanged numerous e-mails with Scott, who personally handled much of the set up and transfer.  Moving our WordPress installation (website/blog) turned out to be particularly tricky because of how iPage had it installed.  I would not have been able to do it by myself, but Scott got it done.  By 8:00 PM EDT Saturday evening I had confirmed, as best I could, that everything was working and began sending out e-mails to a selective group of recipients asking for replies to validate the correct functioning of our accounts.  With the exception of a couple of e-mails that got blocked as SPAM (one in each direction) all of our e-mails were received and successfully replied to.

Chuck Spera, a fellow H3-40 owner in our area, found a place locally to make a screen for the awning style window in the main entrance door of his coach.  I drove down to his bus garage in Novi and borrowed it to check the fit in our coach.  It was good, so we are getting two of them.  It’s a custom fabricated part, and it’s easier to get a spare up front.  These are not rectangular screens; they have five sides and are basically trapezoids (top and bottom parallel) with one upper corner cut off to make the 5th side.  The local shop made and checked a template in Chuck’s coach before fabricating the actual screen.  They used a sturdy aluminum channel, and in spite of having five joints, the frame does not flex very much.  This is a significant improvement over the flimsy, poor-fitting we have lived with for the last three years.

I finished editing drafts of two more articles for Bus Conversions Magazine, selecting/inserting the photographs and writing captions for them, and uploaded them to my Dropbox account.  We enjoyed a lively breakfast with our South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club as we do most Saturdays.  We are trying to get ready for a house warming in early October, so we continued to unpacking boxes and find places for things.  We are managing to identify a few things for disposal, recycling, or donation, but that continues to be a challenge for me, which is one of the reasons we are not full-time RVers.

2013_08_29Av01 (Thu) Moving Our Domain

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Ed & Betty’s Tiffin Phaeton in our pull-through driveway.

Ed & Betty’s Tiffin Phaeton in our pull-through driveway.

Ed and Betty joined us for breakfast and we continued our lively conversation from the prior evening.  Around 10 AM they turned their attention to preparing for departure.  An important piece of RVing etiquette is to leave folks alone when they are making or breaking camp.  Every RVer (who has used their rig more than a couple of times) has developed routines for each of these situations.  Engaging them in conversation during these routines is a distraction that creates a risk that something will be overlooked.  It’s dangerous and it’s rude, and seasoned RVers simply don’t do it.

The view from our front door.

The view from our front door.

 

With their preparations finished, we talked a bit more about future plans and when they might be back this way.  They wanted some pictures of themselves in front of their coach, and so did we, so we helped each other out with that.

 

 

Ed & Betty Burns in front of their motorhome.

Ed & Betty Burns in front of their motorhome.

 

Because our bus is in our garage driveway blocking the exit from our pull-through driveway, I had to have Ed back their motorhome out.  As the name implies, the pull-through driveway wasn’t really designed for backing a 40 vehicle out the way it came in.  The entrance to the driveway is at an angle to the road that makes it easy to get in when coming towards our house from the main road.  It’s designed so that we can pull out going forward onto the concrete driveway and make the turns needed to get us pointed back out towards the main road.

 

 

Us in front of our bus.

Us in front of our bus.

 

Because of this design, I had to have Ed make a “12-point turn”, jockeying their coach forward and backward until I could get the front end clear to pull forward onto the road while being careful not to have his tires get off the edge of the driveway or have his rear end hit the neighbor’s mailbox.  We managed to accomplish this in a reasonable amount of time with minimal damage to the approach portion of the driveway, which wasn’t designed to have a heavy vehicle sit in one place and turn its steering tires.  This part of the driveway was still very wet from the heavy rains we had two nights ago, and we ended up with deeper ruts than I had hoped, but not enough to get them stuck.

With the coach extracted from the driveway, Ed got it parallel to, and near, the edge of the road and Betty brought the car up.  Again, we left them alone to go through their toad hookup routine.  More hugs and they were on their way around 11:30 AM.  If things work out as planned we will see them again on Sunday or Monday when we hope to visit the Middleton Berry Farm and pick some fresh raspberries.

My plan for the rest of my day is to sign up with our new registrar/hosting service at QTH.com.  QTH.com is owned and operated by fellow amateur radio operator Scott Neader, KA9FOX.  (QTH is ham radio shorthand for “location, destination, or home base”, as in “I just arrived at my QTH”, so it’s a clever name for a hosting service.)  The process should be relatively smooth, but there may be a window of time during which our website/blog URL and e-mail addresses are unavailable.  My plan is to position that window near mid-night this evening.  Since there is always the possibility of something going wrong, or it just taking longer to complete the switch, I am ending this post here around mid-afternoon while I know I still have access to the website.  I will do a second post when the transition is complete and everything is working correctly again.

 

2013_08_27-28 Babysitting And Our First RV Visitors

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Linda has signed up to babysit our youngest grand-daughter, Madeline, on Mondays so our son and daughter-in-law can attend to their professorial duties at the University of Michigan.  (Our step-grand-daughter, Katie, is 16 and does not need a sitter.)  However, Linda sat on Saturday the 17th.  This week she sat on Tuesday because of our Monday dental appointments.  Next week she is going to sit on Tuesday because Monday is Labor Day.  Like I said, she is babysitting on Mondays.

We both left the house early, Linda for Ann Arbor in rush hour traffic and me for Dearborn in rush hour traffic.  As retired people we are not supposed to be in rush hour traffic; it tends to spoil that special, relaxed mood that is the hallmark of the happily retired.  Morning rush hour traffic headed south on US-23 into Ann Arbor is always bad.  Morning rush hour traffic headed into the northwest suburbs of Detroit on I-96 is always worse.  I was late for my 9 AM dental appointment, but only about 10 minutes.  I won’t be making any more 9 AM appointments in that part of town.

When I was done at the dentist in west Dearborn I headed for Ann Arbor, looking forward to spending some quality time with my grand-daughter.  As I was nearing Ann Arbor I got a call from W. W. Williams in, where else, east Dearborn, letting me know that my special order part was in.  Life really is all about timing.  I continued my journey to babyland.  When I walked in the front door, Madeline was sitting up in the middle of the living room playing with Grandma Linda.  She turned, looked at me, and started crying.  You can’t take anything an 8-month old does personally, but it wasn’t quite the reception I was hoping for.  She got herself all worked up.  Linda tried feeding her, but she was not to be consoled, so we took her for a walk in her very spiffy stroller.

We peeled back the sunshade so she could turn her head and look up at me, which she did frequently.  She stayed calm for the whole ride, and even babbled for a while, apparently satisfied that I was at least doing something useful.  Or perhaps I am less scary when viewed upside down?  As soon as we got back to the house, however, she got herself all upset again.  Having no other plans for the afternoon, I made my exit and drove back to Dearborn to get the special order part for our bus.  Linda told me later that Madeline settled down as soon as I left and had a nice lunch.  It won’t always be that way, of course, and it’s not a contest to see who wins.  Eight month olds are spontaneous, irrational beings, and you just have to accept that and work with it as best you can.  That’s why she has parents, aunts, and grandmothers.

By the time Phil was done working on the driveway on Monday evening he had mixed 14 tons (yes, that’s 30,800 pounds) of sandy silt into and on top of the 6 inches of 21AA road gravel that forms the top layer of the pull-through driveway.  What we really needed at that point was a good, soaking rain and starting late Tuesday evening and overnight into Wednesday we got our wish.  The rain helps the fine particles work their way down into the gravel and lock it together to form a dense mass that will not spread out when driven on, even by a heavy vehicle.  At least that’s the theory.  I drove on it again with the car Wednesday morning and it seemed to be packed pretty hard.

The first test of the pull-through driveway came when the UPS truck showed up with our Centramatic dynamic wheel balancers for the bus.  He pulled the truck right up on the pull-through driveway and backed it out with no difficulty.  That was a good omen.  The next test came when Ed & Betty arrived around 1:30 PM in their Tiffin Phaeton motorhome.  They unhooked their car just after pulling onto our street as I needed them to be able to maneuver the RV to get it parked.  They were also going to have to back out when they left and you cannot do that with a car attached to the rear end of the rig.  I met them at the end of the street, led them to our house, and got them positioned to turn into the pull-through driveway.  Betty drove their car and parked it in our regular driveway.  Ed gave me one of their walkie-talkies and I guided him in to the pull-through driveway with voice and hand signals.  Their motorhome tires did not even leave visible tracks!  Finally, success.  Their rig has 6 tires and weights about 33,000 pounds, so the weight on each tire that is similar to our bus, except that our front tires carry a couple of extra thousand pounds each.  Once they were parked and settled they came inside and we quartered a small, round watermelon and had that as a light lunch/snack.

We had the pull-through driveway built for our own use as a convenient place to park the coach while we load/unload it.  We installed an electrical outlet so that we could also run the refrigerator and maintain the batteries while it was parked there.  We plan to eventually have a “bus barn” to store it in, but for now the pull-through drive is where it will live when we are home.  That meant that we might also want to run the air conditioners while it was parked, so we installed a full “50A” RV electrical service since that is what our coach is designed for.  We also had in mind, however, that it would be nice to have RV friends be able to come for a visit and have a level place to park with some nice shade and decent electrical service.  We also have water available, but we do not currently have a way for folks to dump their holding tanks.  We eventually hope to be able to dump ours using a macerator pump connected by a garden hose (reserved for that use only) to a fitting on the first septic tank.  We can’t use a normal gravity drain hose because we have to pump the tank contents uphill to the septic tank lid.  If we get this to work, guests could do the same as long as their rig is equipped with a macerator pump.

Some of the RV clubs we belong to allow members to list their home or place of business as available for no-cost overnight stays.  FMCA calls these “Stop’in Spots” and the SKPs include them in a list of free and low-cost camping.  There is also a program called “Boondockers Welcome” that our friends Butch and Fonda joined.  We are members of Harvest Hosts, but can’t be a host site as we are a residence not a business.

Ed and Betty originally planned to stay two nights, but they are on their way to some temporary work at the Middleton Berry Farm, a pick your own (PYO) operation east of Ortonville, Michigan.  They have worked summers there for some years, usually during the strawberry season.  At one time they owned a strawberry farm in upstate New York and were the secretaries of the National Strawberry Growers Association.  Ed has a PhD in plant pathology and has done extensive extension service work as a plant pathologist.  The owners of Middleton Berry Farm needed Ed & Betty’s assistance ASAP as the raspberries have come in very well this year.

We did our usual first time visit thing and gave them a complete tour of the house, yard, and bus.  We got to see their motorhome as well, and spent some time trying to tune in over-the-air TV stations with their roof antenna.  The only station we could get was FOX out of Detroit, so Ed turned the system off and put the antenna back down.

Ed and Betty are pretty avid cyclists and have a pair of very interesting tricycles.  They are Spike models made by Trident Trikes and purchased from Craig and Linda Current of http://www.boomersbentsandbikes.com in Florida.  It’s a two front, one rear wheel design with disc brakes all around.  The two front wheels steer and the central structural member is hinged to allow the rear wheel to fold up between the two front ones for storage.  They got the 24-speed gearing option.  I test drove Ed’s and Linda test drove Betty’s and we both found them very comfortable.  Linda can’t ride a bicycle because of occasional balance problems related to her loss of hearing in her left ear, so a tricycle or quadcycle is her only viable option.  At this point in my life, I would just as soon have the stability of a 3-wheeler as well.  Another alternative for us would be a side-by-side 2-seater, which might be a lot of fun, but would probably preclude either of us going for a solo ride.

We sat and talked like old friends and enjoyed a bottle of Pinot Grigio.  Eventually Linda and Betty set about making dinner.  Betty had prepared a “vegan cheese” out of cashew nuts and served it on Saltine crackers.  It was very good, and it reminded Linda that she had purchased a vegan cheese book on our last Holistic Holiday At Sea cruise, but had not yet used any of the recipes.  Linda prepared a nice green salad.  The main course was quinoa with mushrooms and Swiss chard.  She served it with a side of fresh corn, cut off the cob.  We opened at bottle of the 2009 Egri Merlot to go with dinner.  This wine is a little sweet for red wine aficionados, but it is one of the few red wines I will drink.  It lacks any hint of tannin, and is full-bodied enough to stand up to the earthy grain/mushroom/greens dishes that Linda often prepares.  After dinner we sat on the back deck for a while and continued to enjoy our Merlot.  The mosquitoes appeared about the same time we were ready for dessert so we went back inside and enjoyed the last of vegan chocolate cake Linda had made on Monday served with fresh strawberries.  It was still as moist as when she baked it and you would not know it was vegan.  We washed it down with the end of the Merlot, which also goes very well with chocolate cake and strawberries.

The rest of the evening was a free- and far-ranging conversation about life, travels, kids, health, careers, and interests.  We looked at maps and old copies of Wilson’s Free And Low Cost Camping directories and talked about getting large rigs into National Forest campgrounds, which Ed and Betty have done successfully on numerous occasions.  Being full-timers, they are by necessity knowledgeable and skilled when it comes to finding places to park for the night.

 

20130819-26 E-mail Problems

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It seems there is less to blog about when we are at the house, or perhaps there’s just less time to do it.  It’s not that we are less busy; it’s just that what we are doing seems potentially less interesting.  Besides the usual chores that go with owning a house, I spent the last week dealing with our pull-through driveway, ham radio stuff, and a serious e-mail problem.

By Wednesday the 20th it had become clear to me that we were not getting replies to e-mails we had sent out; not a couple of e-mails to a couple of people, but lots of e-mails to lots of people.  Most of these were e-mails to people who normally reply in a timely manner, and they were e-mails seeking information or continuing a conversation, and thus replies were expected.  I started making phone calls and sure enough our e-mails had been received and replied to.  We never got the replies, and the senders never got bounce-backs; the e-mails just vanished into cyberspace.  In one case I sent a single e-mail to two recipients, both of whom had gmail accounts.  They both replied.  I got one reply and not the other.  We also had a couple of folks send us e-mails while we were on the phone with them, but those e-mails never arrived.  Not good.

I opened a support ticket with our hosting service and spent the last week trying to communicate with their off-shore technical support people.  I don’t have prejudice towards off-shore support, but in this case they turned out to be neither sufficiently technical nor supportive.  Every time I updated the support ticket I got a reply from a different person.  I explained repeatedly and in considerable detail the difficulties we were having and they repeatedly sent replies apologizing for the inconvenience, asking me to send them information I did not have, performing simple but irrelevant tests of our e-mail accounts, and then informing me that everything appeared to be working fine.  Arrrgh.  As of this post the problem persists and I have lost any hope of it being resolved.  I hope to accomplish this with minimal downtime or disruption of service.  Our apologies to anyone who was affected by this; we have not been ignoring you and we now know that you have not been ignoring us.  We will be moving our domain to a new registrar/hosting service at the end of this month.

We have a tower that sits at the east end of the house.  It was already installed when we bought the house, and I estimate its height at about 38 feet; not that tall by ham radio standards, but tall enough to treat with respect if you are going to climb it.  It’s an older design and has obviously been there for a while.  It has an over-the-air (OTA) TV antenna on a rotor at the top.  The rotor is not connected to a controller and the coax is not connected to anything inside the house.  There is also a Direct TV satellite dish (single LNB).  The cables from that are also not connected to anything in the house.  The previous owners left the SAT-TV receiver behind, but it is obsolete.  The base of the tower is set in concrete but the tower was not secured anywhere else.  On Friday we rigged up a couple of support arms and attached them to the side of the house in anticipation of climbing the tower on Saturday to remove the old antennas and install our 2m/70cm ham radio vertical antenna.

On Saturday we went to our ham radio club (SLAARC) breakfast in South Lyon.  It’s always good to visit with this group.  Many hams are tech savvy about a lot of things besides amateur radio so I got to bounce our e-mail problem off one of them.  Thanks Larry (K8UT).  After breakfast Linda and I went to Mike’s (W8XH) QTH (location) to look at his ham radio tower as we are trying to figure out what to do for base station antennas.  He has a Heights Tower with a motorized fold-over base.  It is a very nice all-aluminum tower and a very nice installation.  Nice antennas, too, but that’s another story.

Mike then came to our house and brought his professional grade climbing harness.  We got it adjusted to fit me and I climbed up as far as the roof, probably 10 feet off the ground.  (Our tower is only an inch from the gutter.)  As I started up the tower from the roof, the tower had more movement than I was comfortable with, so we abandoned the climb.  I removed the old Direct TV antenna, which was at my shoulder level when standing on the roof, and installed our dual band VHF/UHF (2m/70cm) vertical ham radio antenna at the same height.  The dual-band is lower than I wanted and very close to one of the tower verticals, but it was the best we good do at the moment.  We routed the coax to the back deck, connected it to our Icom 7000 go box, and started looking for 2m and 70cm repeaters.  We were able to activate the K8VJ 2m repeater in South Lyon without difficulty, as well as the Livingston County LARK 2m primary repeater.  We were also able to talk to two guys on the Clarkston 2m repeater, which, according to the ARRL repeater directory that Mike installed on his smartphone, was over 22 miles away to the northeast.  Not bad for 2m on 50 watts with a less than ideal antenna location.  We tried a number of other repeaters but were not able to raise them.

While we were out taking care of ham radio business during the morning, Phil (our pull-through driveway contractor) brought a large load of sand (silt, technically) to the house, pulled the top 6 inches of 21AA road gravel out of the new pull-through drive, and mixed in the sand as he put it back.  As I noted in a previous blog, our bus got stuck in the driveway a couple of weeks ago and had to be winched out.  The problem turned out to be an inadequate amount of “crusher dust” in the 21AA road gravel.  Without a sufficient amount of fine particles, the larger stones don’t bind together and pack to make a hard surface that resists blowout and further compaction.

Mike spent the rest of the day at our house helping us with some computer issues.  He is a retired HP tech and now has an active business of his own working on personal and business computer systems and networks.  By the time we were done it was dinner time, so we treated him to dinner at Olga’s in Brighton.  Thanks Mike.

Sunday is our day to go to the Howell Farmers Market.  The fruits and vegetables are now plentiful and we picked up an assortment of yummy things.  We also got some pointers from Marjorie about apples and pears as we had discovered just a couple days earlier that we have an apple tree and a pear tree, both of which are laden with fruit.

On Sunday afternoon I used our Honda Element to “roll” the pull-though driveway.  The car only has about 1,000 pounds on each tire, so it is in no way equivalent to driving the bus, which has 7,000 lbs on each of the front/steer tires, 5,000 lbs on each of the four drive tires, and 3,750 lbs on each of the two tag axle tires.  Still, the car did a nice job of compacting the surface.  Phil had suggested that I carefully pull one of the front tires of the bus onto the pull-through driveway, but even after rolling it with the car I was nervous that it wasn’t locked together quite as much as it needed to be.  I had also heard from Ed & Betty Burns that they would be arriving on Wednesday in their Tiffin Phaeton, so I was anxious to make sure the driveway would support their motorhome.  I discussed it with Phil Sunday evening and he said he had a plan and would check in the morning to make sure it was going to work.  He was confident, however, that Ed & Betty would not encounter any driveway difficulties.

Monday saw us in west Dearborn for our summer dental checkups.  One of my old fillings was starting to separate from what remained of the tooth, and I was informed that it was time to get a crown.  They had a 9 AM appointment slot available the next day, so I signed up.  Dental work doesn’t bother me the way it does some people.  The sooner it’s fixed the better.

Jim and Kristine Gullen came over for dinner on Monday, the first time they have been to the new house.  Linda made a mushroom risotto using Farro, a wonderful, ancient, high-protein Italian grain that is earthy, slightly nutty, and has great “chew”.  She used mushroom “broth” instead of stock, of course, but that just added to the earthiness of the dish.  She served the risotto with a side of mixed green and “long” beans lightly sautéed in olive oil.  We got the long beans from an Asian vendor at the Howell Farmers Market who told us they are usually stir-fried.  How long are they?; about 2 feet, on average.  They taste like green beans although subtly different.  Linda also made vegan chocolate cake that was excellent and served it with fresh strawberries.  Jim and Kristine brought a couple bottles of wine and we had a wonderful visit over a lovely meal.

Phil came back late Monday afternoon and added some more sand to the edges of the pull-through driveway and also to where it ties in to the concrete driveway.  He had borrowed a compactor device that mounts on the arm of his backhoe and used that to compact the driveway.  I don’t know about Linda, Jim, or Kristine, but the sound of Phi’s equipment working was music to my ears.  The song was “Our bus ain’t gonna sink no more.”

 

2013_08_18 (Sun) Every Rally Has An End

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Every rally has an end, and today was the last official day of the Back To The Bricks Rally in Clio, Michigan.  One of the differences between larger national/area rallies and smaller chapter/SIG rallies is the ending.  Larger rallies often end with entertainment or an activity on the final evening.  There are no official/planned activities on departure day.  Attendees have generally come from a large geographic area and sometimes have long distances to travel upon departure, so RVs start leaving first thing the next morning, often as early as 6 AM.  Smaller rallies, by comparison, are often attended by people who are somewhat more local to the rally site, and are already acquainted with the other attendees.  The final day of the rally usually includes breakfast, after which there are still lots of conversations.  RVs start to leave based on personal commitments, but the departure is slower and a bit more spread out.  Some folks may even remain for another evening or so, depending on the rally site.

And so it was with the 2103 BTTB Rally.  Departure day was the fancy breakfast day.  We still had coffee, juice, muffins, Danish pastry, bagels, and fruit—just like we have had all week—but today there were also pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage.  (Not for us, of course, but they were enjoyed by most everyone else.)  Even as conversations continued all of us started putting the venue back in order.  Grills were loaded onto trailers, leftover food was divided up among those who wanted it, and we carried six or seven picnic tables from the pavilion back to the meeting building.

I left mid-morning in the car and drove back to the house to get Linda.  A few coaches had left before I did, and more were gone by the time we got back around 1 PM.  By mid-afternoon most of the attendees had departed and by dinner time there were only two coaches left; ours and the Lintners’.  Marty was still at the site dismantling the temporary power drops he had installed for the rally and we invited him and Pat to join all of us for dinner out.  We went back to Sullivan’s Black Forest restaurant in Frankenmuth and had a nice meal enhanced by good conversation.  The Linderman’s Framboise Lambic Belgian wheat ale was just as good tonight as it was this past Wednesday.

Marty dropped us back at our coach and he and Pat went on home.  Pat, Vicky, Graciella, Linda, and I sat outside and talked until it got dark and the mosquitoes started to bite.  Graciella came in our coach to play with our cats and chat for a while until her grandma decided it was time for her to come to their coach and settle in for the evening.  So ended the official last day of the rally for us.  Sometime tomorrow we will dump our holding tanks at a nearby RV business and then head back to our house; we just don’t know exactly when we will do that.

 

2013_08_17 (Sat) BTTB Rally – Day 3

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We continued to have a good weather streak for our rally.  Cool temperatures overnight made for great sleeping and the brisk morning air made the coffee taste especially good at 7:30 AM.  The breakfasts are simple, help yourself, affairs with enough variety that everyone can find something they like while no one is burdened with fancy preparation.  A toaster and bagels ensure that a warm breakfast choice is available.

Carl and Cara Muntean’s MCI MC-8.

Carl and Cara Muntean’s MCI MC-8.

As soon as we left the coach to get coffee, a distance of 40 feet from where we are parked next to the pavilion, we realized that two additional buses had arrived since we turned in last night.  Carl and Cara Muntean’s MCI MC-8 was parked alongside the other building, and behind the building we could just see the nose of a late model Prevost H3.

 

Coach Quarters (Mike Middaugh) Prevost H3-45 Marathon Executive Coach.

Coach Quarters (Mike Middaugh) Prevost H3-45 Marathon Executive Coach.

The Prevost turned out to be the 2007 H3-45 executive coach that belonged to Coach Quarters from the Columbus, Ohio area.  Mike Middaugh had the coach in the Detroit area representing Prevost and NASCAR at the Woodward Dream Cruise, and came on up to our rally when he was done with that work.  Mike is a member of GLCC and CCO.

A water distribution manifold, Marathon style, where function becomes art form.

A water distribution manifold, Marathon style, where function becomes art form.

 

This particular H3-45 is a Marathon conversion with an interesting history.  It was in a bad accident and was further damaged while being towed under a low overpass.  It was considered a total loss, and Coach Quarters acquired it.  Mike, however, has been in the converted coach business for a really long time and knew how to get it repaired and back in service.

 

Marty explaining to Graciella who John McCann is and what it meant for his campaign to use this H3-45 executive coach as their presidential campaign tour bus.

Marty explaining to Graciella who John McCann is and what it meant for his campaign to use this H3-45 executive coach as their presidential campaign tour bus.

The final result was a very nice executive coach that Coach Quarters rents out for day use by up to 14 people who need to conduct business while being driven somewhere.  The coach is used to represent Prevost at events, including the Woodward Dream Cruise.  For example, Prevost is the official motorcoach of NASCAR.  The most famous use of this coach, however, was as John McCain’s presidential campaign bus.

 

The H3-45 galley features high levels of craftsmanship and style.

The H3-45 galley features high levels of craftsmanship and style.

Mike positioned the coach by the pavilion and opened it up for rally participants to see, including the interior, the engine compartment, and all of the bays.

Late morning I drove Linda back to our house as she had agreed to babysit our 8-month old granddaughter this evening.  I contacted our driveway contractor to see if he’d had a chance to come look at our problem.  He had been there, and had already formulated a game plan for fixing it that involved some additional material with finer particles to help lock the gravel in place followed by compaction by some heavy roller.  Due to current commitments it will take a week or so for him to get back to the house with material and equipment.  I drove back to the rally site and arrived around 2 PM.

Don tracked me down to see if I was still interested in going to see Bill’s bus barn.  I was, and so were three other folks plus Don.  He arranged with Bill for us to head over.  Bill’s barn has doors on both ends, and a concrete floor with a pit.  The pit is not full length, but more than adequate to work on the underside of one end of a bus at a time.  It’s a “pole barn”, but the main poles that support the 12 foot ceiling are set in from either side, with lower sections on either side for storage.  I’ve looked at enough bus barns at this point to see that a concrete floor with a maintenance pit is probably a necessity.  It would also be nice for it to have an 18 foot ceiling so I can work on the roof, and be long enough for a 45 foot coach with a car attached behind it.  A pull-through design with access roads on either end would also be nice, but not necessary.  What I don’t think we need is the extra square footage for storing as much stuff as the barns I have seen.

GLCC president Larry Baker (standing, rear) conducting a chapter information meeting immediately following dinner.

GLCC president Larry Baker (standing, rear) conducting a chapter information meeting immediately following dinner.

From 4:00 – 5:30 PM was the official “open house”, although most of us had already seen each others’ coaches earlier in the rally.  Dinner was pot luck, with grilled chicken provided as part of the rally fee, and there were lots of good things to choose from.

 

 

Pat Lintner, GLCC National Director, addressing the members.

Pat Lintner, GLCC National Director, addressing the members.

 

Immediately following the meeting GLCC president Larry Baker held a brief information meeting.  Pat Lintner, the chapters National Director, also spoke and gave a brief update on the national convention that was held in Gillette, Wyoming in June and the upcoming GLAMARAMA rally scheduled for mid-September in Goshen, Indiana.

 

CCO meeting about to convene following the GLCC meeting. President Mark Reid seated, right.

CCO meeting about to convene following the GLCC meeting. President Mark Reid seated, right.

As soon as the GLCC meeting was done most of us moved our chairs over to Mark Reid’s coach for a CCO business meeting.  There was discussion of the upcoming Halloween rally in mid-October, and further discussion about rallies in general.

Some of the CCO members at the meeting.

Some of the CCO members at the meeting.

All of the RV groups/chapters we belong to are facing the same challenge of getting members to host and attend rallies.  No doubt the two things are related and determined in part by peoples’ personal financial circumstances and their general feelings about the economy.  This seems to be a particular problem for groups that are formed around common interests, such as converted buses, rather than a limited geographic area, although even geographic groups are struggling.  Several of us continued to discuss this informally after the meeting, but no one seemed to have a full grasp of the problem or any really good ideas as to what to do about it.

As with every other evening of this rally, the temperature cooled off quickly after the sun went down.  Someone had a “Chinese lantern”.  They lit the firepot and turned it loose.  The flag at the rally site indicated no wind, but as soon as they turned the lantern loose it took off to the west.  It rose to quite an altitude and we estimated that it was moving west at 20 – 30 MPH when we finally lost sight of it.  Most folks turned in for the night after that except for a small group that stayed up and talked until sometime after midnight.

 

2013_08_16 (Fri) BTTB Rally – Day 2

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We had another cool night overnight that was great for sleeping.  7:30 AM found the coffee brewed and the bagels, fruit, muffins, and Danish pastries awaiting the rally participants.  This isn’t a “fancy” rally in a fancy place, but it sure is a nice one.

Mike Mullen’s Flxible (on right), the only one at this rally.

Mike Mullen’s Flxible (on right), the only one at this rally.

Two more buses showed up today; Mike (GLCC vice-president) & Mary Ann Muller and Mark (CCO president) & Diane Reid.  Linda took off with a group of the women to search out garage sales, but came back empty-handed.  (She is not a garage sale person.)  Over the course of the morning bay doors were opened on various buses and small groups of (mostly) men could be found peering deep inside.  These sessions are sometimes for the purpose of seeing/admiring someone’s latest handiwork, and sometimes for the purpose of trying to help diagnose a problem and fix it if possible.  There was some of both today.  On Wednesday, for instance, someone blew a transmission hose just as they were pulling into their parking space.  With the help of some of the other participants, a new hose had been custom made by a local supplier and installed, tested, and verified as operational in less than 24 hours.  Today several guys worked on diagnosing a severe vibration problem someone in the rear of a GM 4104.

Bill Gerry’s Harley Davidson with Leyman trike conversion. Bill is in the center of the photo, directly behind the bike (dressed in black, of course).

Bill Gerry’s Harley Davidson with Leyman trike conversion. Bill is in the center of the photo, directly behind the bike (dressed in black, of course).

Mid-late morning Bill Gerry showed up on his Harley Davidson Leyman trike conversion.  He left the Toronto, Ontario area around 6:00 AM for the 4.5 hour trip plus several fuel stops.  As you can see in the picture, it’s a gorgeous machine.  Bill is the de facto “ring leader” of the Canadian contingent that usually attends this rally, but he and Karen could not come this year because of a 50th wedding anniversary party being held tomorrow for some of their best friends back home.  (Karen stayed home to help with the preparations.)  Still, I think it says a lot that Bill thought it was worth driving 9 hours round trip to hang out with all of us for a few hours.  Such is the attraction of the bus conversion community, and the camaraderie of those who choose to be part of it.  As mentioned yesterday, Dennis and Bernadette did make it to the rally in their Class B, so our Canadian friends were represented.

Late morning conversations in the pavilion.

Late morning conversations in the pavilion.

Everyone was on their own for lunch today, so Linda and I had some sun-dried tomato hummus wraps with onions, lots of onions.  Because we knew we would only have a 20A connection, Linda planned the meals we would have to provide for ourselves around not having to cook things.  With the way we eat, however, “no heat don’t mean no eat.”  It was a bit warmer by lunchtime than the last few days, and the cold dishes were particularly satisfying under such weather conditions.

Since most of the rally participants were now on site, I decided to bring out the copies of the February 2013 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine and the May-June issue of The Gypsy Journal to distribute to those who don’t already subscribe to them.  We left home in early June with about 60 copies of the BCM issue and picked up about 100 copies of TGJ in Gillette, Wyoming.  We have been carrying them with us every since and passing them out at campgrounds and rallies.  After today’s distribution we have less than 10 of each left.

Almost everyone was present for the roundtable discussion, which lasted two hours.

Almost everyone was present for the roundtable discussion, which lasted two hours.

At 1:00 PM (Ed time) we circled up the chairs for our roundtable discussion.  This has been a regular Friday feature of the rally since it began.  We had 20+ people in the circle, 30 total in the pavilion, and almost everyone participated.  Someone was having a problem with a 2-year old leather chair that was peeling, and the group helped problem-solve how to deal with the vendor, who was being very reluctant to make good on the situation.  We ended up on speaker phone with them, and made it clear that 30 of us were listening to the conversation.  By the end there seemed to be a greater willingness on the part of the vendor to try to make the situation right.

Other topics of discussion included electrical shorepower and how to build/use a combiner box to plug a “50A” connector into two smaller capacity outlets (30A, 20/15A).  Some of us indicated that we also carry long, larger gauge extension cords with 50A RV/marine twist lock connectors that have the L1 and L2 pins internally jumpered.  There’s no magic to this—20A is 20A—but it does allow power to be applied to both legs of the coach’s electrical system so that everything onboard is able to receive electrical power (except for any 240VAC devices).  That doesn’t mean you can run everything; 20A is still just 20A after all.

We had an extended discussion about supplemental braking systems.  While everyone present indicated that they use one, there were several different types represented, and questions about each of their methods of operation, and opinions about their relative merits.  Like any other vehicle, buses have brake systems designed to safely stop their GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating).  This is the maximum amount of weight the bus is designed to move and stop, including anything it is towing.  Most states and provinces require supplemental braking for anything being towed that weighs over a certain amount, with 1,500 pounds being a common specification.  A major consideration is break away situations, in which the toad breaks loose from the bus.  Many supplemental braking systems are designed to apply the car brakes hard and keep them applied in this situation.

Several discussants had issues with their pneumatic systems so those were put forward and discussed.  At lot of things on buses operate on air, including suspensions, brakes, accessories, and even engine throttles.  The universal reality about air systems seems to be that they leak, so the issue is never IF, but HOW BAD?  Many air leaks are small enough that you can live with them, but not always.

The subject of Coach-Net came up.  Many FMCA motorhome owners have Coach-Net emergency roadside service policies.  What the policies cover is actually fairly limited, but does include towing (a huge benefit for a bus or large motorhome owner), fuel (if you run out), and telephone technical support.  If you need a roadside repair they will try to get the right person to your location to do it, but the cost of the repair is not covered.  Several of our GLCC members had recently had their service canceled, in spite of not having made any claims.  The reason they were given was that Coach-Net had changed their policy and would no longer cover buses (specifically?) that were more than 40 years old.  Pat indicated that he had talked to Jon Walker, a member of GLCC and the recently elected FMCA National Vice President, and that the contract between FMCA and Coach-Net had ended as of July 1 and not been renewed.  The rally participants who were affected by this had no problem signing up for Good Sam Emergency Road Service.

There was a question about solar panels (photovoltaic).  The question generated a lot of comment, but no definitive recommendations.  It was a systems sizing question that was simple to ask, but not simple to answer without specific analysis and calculations.  Finally, several rally goers reported on recent, successful service experiences and gave positive recommendations for the service providers.

After the roundtable ended around 3 PM Bill said his farewells and left for Toronto.  Folks returned to their coaches, resumed their conversation groups, and returned to their “bay watch” patrols and repair work.

L-to-R Gordy, Marty, and Glenn cooking up the burgers and hotdogs for dinner.

L-to-R Gordy, Marty, and Glenn cooking up the burgers and hotdogs for dinner.

Dinner this evening was classic summer fare; grilled hotdogs and hamburgers with the fixins’, potato salad, baked beans, and potato chips.  Some raw veggies were left over from the other night as well.  We supplied our own tofu hotdogs, which Glenn grilled up for us very nicely.  We garnished them with fresh raw onions and mustard.  Potato chips and raw veggies rounded out our meals, which, while not exactly whole-food, plant-based, were definitely vegan.

Prepping the buffet line. There were a few young folks at the rally, although not as many as in past years.

Prepping the buffet line. There were a few young folks at the rally, although not as many as in past years.

Not long after dinner Bill Foley stopped by.  Bill is a CCO guy who lives nearby but was not able to attend the rally with his bus.  Bill has a bus barn that Don has been trying to arrange for some of us to go see.  I ended up at Ed’s coach and had a long chat with Ed, Bill, and Don.  We discussed bus barns, but we also talked about the situation with our driveway at some length.

I eventually returned to our coach to sound of the nearby race track.  We have heard these vehicles at various times most days, presumably making practice runs, but we assumed tonight were actual races.  Some of the rally participants started playing bingo in the pavilion around 9 PM.  They were done by 10:15 PM, after which conversation continued along with the racing.  RVers, or at least the ones we hang out with, tend to be up early and turn in early.  This particularly rally, however, tends to keep folks up a bit later, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings.  We are gathered out in the country, not in a commercial campground or state park, so we have only our fellow rally participants to answer to, and no one objects to conversations extending into the evening.  Eventually the rally site quieted down and the only thing that disturbed the nighttime silence was an occasional train.  (For those who don’t know, it is a requirement that wherever two or more RVs are gathered, there must be an active rail line nearby.  If there isn’t, I think there are special crews that get dispatched in the middle of the night to quickly build one.)

 

2013_08_15 (Thu) Back To The Bricks Rally – Day 1

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Today was the official first day of the Back To The Bricks Rally (BTTB), and more of the attendees arrived today.  The BTTB rally is a joint gathering of the FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter (GLCC) and the Converted Coach Owners (CCO), an independent group of folks most of whom have done their own bus conversions.

With 22 rigs expected this is one of the largest GLCC rallies of the year and has become an annual event.  It is organized and run by Ed/Janet Roelle, and Marty/Pat Caverly.  Bob Shafer was also one of the original organizers, but now spends his time in Florida and is unable to attend.

The day started with breakfast in the pavilion starting at 7:30 AM, provided as part of the rally fee.  We had coffee, fruit, bagels, Danish pastries, and muffins.  The air temperature was in the upper 40’s to start, but the coffee was very hot so it all balanced out.

Arrival day at an RV rally is always exciting as each new arrival reconnects friends, makes friends of acquaintances, and provides new acquaintances who may become future friends.  Around mid-morning a group of the women went looking for garage sales in the area; a tradition at this rally.

Larry and Alma Baker pulled in around noon; the first new arrivals of the day.  Larry is the current GLCC president.  Pat and Vicky Lintner pulled in with their grand-daughter Graciella, around 12:30 PM.  Pat is the current GLCC national director.  (For the record, Linda is the current GLCC treasurer.)  More arrivals followed and by dinner time we had 15 rigs and folks from Wisconsin who came by car as their bus was out of commission.

As more people arrived, conversation groups formed and disbanded throughout the day.  Converted coaches are usually works in progress, so when converted coach owners get together there are always tours of interiors and lots of looking in bays, and so it was today.

The evening meal was provided as part of the rally fee.  We had a variety of fresh veggies, chips and salsa, fresh fruit, bean salad, and several main dishes including Swedish meatballs and nachos.  Ice cream with toppings was served for dessert.

Most of the attendees gathered in the pavilion after dinner for continued conversations, but it cooled off quickly after the sun set.  Folks who arrived today were also tired as traveling, arriving, and setting up are a bit of work.  By 9 PM everyone had retreated to their RVs for the night.

Larry (L) talking to Ed (R) in front of Ed's coach.

Larry (L) talking to Ed (R) in front of Ed’s coach.

Bill and Barb’s GM schoolie pulling in.

Bill and Barb’s GM schoolie pulling in.

The schoolie with the Clark's 1955 GM 4104.

The schoolie with the Clark’s 1955 GM 4104.

Dennis and Bernadette’s Class B. (They left their big bus at home.) Notice the very nice temporary power panel, thanks to Marty's work.

Dennis and Bernadette’s Class B. (They left their big bus at home.) Notice the very nice temporary power panel, thanks to Marty’s work.

Two more rigs in the arrival area. The driveway into the Fireman’s park can easily handle four rigs with toads and this is where we unhooked our cars.

Two more rigs in the arrival area. The driveway into the Fireman’s park can easily handle four rigs with toads and this is where we unhooked our cars.

Preparation of fresh veggies for dinner.

Preparation of fresh veggies for dinner.

A couple of conversation groups before dinner.

A couple of conversation groups before dinner.

Another group under a patio awning.

Another group under a patio awning.

The long dinner table. (There was a shorter one off camera to the right.)

The long dinner table. (There was a shorter one off camera to the right.)

Ice cream and toppings for those who wanted it (which was almost everyone).

Ice cream and toppings for those who wanted it (which was almost everyone).

 

2013_08_14 (Wed) No Way To Start An RV Outing

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We planned to leave today around noon for an RV rally in Clio, Michigan, about an hour’s drive north of our house.  We spent most of the morning with final preparations, loading food, clothes, technology, toiletries, and finally the cats.  We also put fresh water on board and checked/adjusted all of the tire pressures.

The tires were holding their pressures fairly well, but I discovered that the Pressure Pro Tire Pressure Monitoring System was reading 1 to 3 PSI low on most of the sensors compared to my tire gauge.  I have a very good gauge and had its calibration checked a couple of years ago at the Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally, so I tend to trust its readings.  Besides, when it tells me two tires have the same pressure and the Pressure Pro TPMS tells me the pressures are different (from each other) I tend to go with the gauge.

The rear end buried up to the frame.

The rear end buried up to the frame.

The last thing is always to disconnect and stow the shore power line and lock up the house.  I fired up the engine, put it gear, and got stuck in our brand new gravel driveway!  We tried to extricate ourselves, but that only made it worse and the drive tires ended up buried in the loose gravel.  I called the guy who did the driveway work for us to let him know of our predicament and see what he could suggest.  He didn’t have the equipment needed to get us out, but recommended a towing company that could handle vehicles our size.  He also indicated that he would stop by the house tomorrow evening and survey the situation.  Clearly something (else, additional) will have to be done.

The winch really worked!

The winch really worked!

I called Woody’s Towing, and they said they would have someone there within 45 minutes.  While we were waiting for the tow truck, I engaged the level low system and aired the suspension all the way up.  This got the chassis up enough that we could dig out some of the gravel from around the tires and under the rear end.  The tow truck showed up on time.  It didn’t look like a big enough truck to do the job, but it turned to be up to the task.  The secret was the very substantial winch and the use of multiple pulleys to multiple the pulling force.

Impressive tires holes. We clearly were not getting out of this situation by ourselves.

Impressive tires holes. We clearly were not getting out of this situation by ourselves.

The technician had to position the truck three times to finally get us out.  This was because we had to make a hard left turn onto the concrete driveway that would then take us out to the street.  The first pull was straight forward using both attachment points under the front bumper with the bus engine running, the transmission in 1st gear, the tag axles UP, and me applying power as directed.  This was the hardest pull as we had to get the drive tires out of the rather deep holes they had made for themselves.  The second pull was from the driver side attachment point at an angel toward the driver’s side to get us started in that direction.  This got our steer tires onto the concrete driveway.  The third pull was again from the driver’s side attachment point at an angle, pulling straight out towards the street.  This pull finally got our drive tires off the gravel and onto the concrete.  The holes where the tires had been were very impressive.

The technician from Woody’s clearly knew what he was doing.  He got us out without any damage to the coach, and we were glad to pay the $175 charge.  We hooked up the car and were on our way around 1:30 PM.

We made it less than four miles from our house and encountered a major construction-related traffic jam on M-59 just west of US-23; a one lane road with a flagger.  With no way to turn around and no alternate route there wasn’t anything to do put patiently move ahead when we could.  In what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only 15 minutes, we cleared the construction zone and were northbound on US-23 at 62 MPH, my preferred highway travel speed.  US-23 merged into northbound I-75 at the southwest corner of Flint and we continued on our way.  Things were looking good until about six miles south of our destination exit, when another construction zone had the left two lanes (of a 3-lane highway) closed down.  There was a warning sign some miles before, but almost no indication of the actual lanes closures.  No barrels placed a mile or so before the work to close down one lane at a time; just the sudden loss of two lanes of the highway.  Highway work crews should not be allowed to do this.

Some folks, most perhaps, get on their brakes and stay/merge to the right.  But there are always those “other people” (who are obviously more important than the rest of us) who try to speed by on the left for as long as possible and then merge in at the last moment.  Well, not today bunky.  I was already in the right hand lane when I became part of the traffic crawl and I watched with some delight in my driver side rear view mirror as several vehicles teamed up to block all of the other lanes, including the left shoulder.  We patiently worked our way through the blockage for what seemed like our second eternity today, but was again probably no more than 15 minutes.

All set up at the Clio Fireman’s Park.

All set up at the Clio Fireman’s Park.

We exited I-75/US-23 at M-57 and made our way east through Clio, Michigan.  On the east side of town we headed southeast on Saginaw Road.  About three miles down the road we spotted the Fireman’s Park and made our turn.  The Clio Fireman’s Park is a nice little rally site.  It has an open pavilion with power surrounded by fairly level grass and gravel surfaces, all hard packed.  There is a long driveway leading in that provides an excellent place for arriving RVs to stop and unhook their towed vehicles.  We did just that and while Linda parked the car and went and found Marty Caverly to find out where we should park.  Marty and his wife, Pat, are one of the two that organize and conduct this rally.

All of the other early arrival buses except ours.

All of the other early arrival buses except ours.

Today was early arrival day and there were only five other motorhomes there (all converted buses) so we had our pick of spots.  We chose one we had used before, next to the pavilion and with good access to 20A power.  Marty is an electrician and had been working for days to install permanent and temporary power drops so everyone would have a legitimate 20A connection.  In warmer weather we would not be able to function on a 20A connection, but the weather has been, and is forecast to be, cooler than normal for this time of year with highs in the 70’s and lows of 50.

Part of the protocol of RV rallies is that folks tend to leave you alone while you get parked and set up, but once you are done there is lots of meeting and greeting.  We are expecting 22 converted coaches, and the balance of them will be arriving tomorrow, so there will be lots more meeting and greeting.

Sullivan’s Black Forest restaurant and brew pub.

Sullivan’s Black Forest restaurant and brew pub.

The pre-planned dinner event for this evening was the Black Forest Restaurant in Frankenmuth.  The 13 of is figured out car pooling arrangements and we rode with Paul and Claudiene Elbisser.

 

 

The 13 early arrivals at dinner.

The 13 early arrivals at dinner.

I had a raspberry/strawberry Belgian wheat dessert beer and it was freaking awesome!  (I am not generally a big fan of beer and have finally figured out that I don’t care for the bitterness of hops.)  It made a great “cocktail beer” too; think strawberry daiquiri with a hint of beer after taste.  Linda and I ordered a 16” think crust pizza, no cheese, with mushrooms, onions, and pineapple.  What they brought to the table was a pizza with a crust 2” thick.  15 minutes later we got the pizza we ordered, and it was pretty good.

Everyone (except us) enjoying ice cream under the pavilion.

Everyone (except us) enjoying ice cream under the pavilion.

Back at the rally site, we got a tour of Paula and Claudine’s MCI MC-5 conversion.  We last saw it two years ago at this same rally, and they have made a lot of progress on it.  It‘s a very nice design, and Paul is a superb craftsman.  Ed Roelle set up to serve ice cream with toppings, and everyone brought their camp chairs to the pavilion and set them up in a big circle.  Ed and his wife, Janet, are the other rally organizer couple.  We passed on the ice cream, of course, but enjoyed the camaraderie.  As the sun set it got very cool, and folks gradually peeled off from the group to hunker down for the night.

 

2013_08_13 (Tue) Computer Updates And Family Time

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I spent most of the day updating various computers.  One thing you can say for Microsoft is when they issue updates for their operating systems they really issue updates.  On multiple computers it can become an all day process.  When combined with the time I spent updating our GPS units, I did very little else for the last couple of days.

Linda had a noon appointment to get her hair cut and then headed to Ann Arbor to babysit our grand-daughter.  One of my planned chores for today was to wash the bus.  It was very cool all morning and was still cool by mid-afternoon, but as warm as it was going to get.  I forced a regeneration of our water softener to make sure it would be able to keep up with the washing.  I mixed a 4 oz bottle of SUDS that we got as a sample from a vendor at the FMCA rally with a couple of gallons of water.  I hosed off a small section of the rig, applied the SUBS solution with a soft brush, and rinsed it off.  It took a couple of hours to do the whole coach, but its parking spot in front of the house is shaded.  Between the softened water and the shade I did not have any issues with water spotting.

Tomorrow is our daughter-in-law’s birthday, so I drove down to their house.  I got there around 6:30 PM, just in time to see our grand-daughter before she went to bed for the evening.  She is almost 8 months old, and was very tired from playing with her grandmother all afternoon.  Our son picked up vegan Indian food for dinner.  We had a delicious meal and great conversation with the big people, a lovely evening all-in-all.

Back home we were getting ready to turn off the lights and go to sleep when were heard coyotes howling, the first time since we moved to the new house.  That’s something we never experienced in the suburbs.  It was a bit eerie, but it was a thrill.

2013_08_09-12 (F, S, N, M) Odds And Ends

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There is a certain routine to being back at the house, and when we are here it feels like we should get back into that routine.  Otherwise, it becomes too easy to sleep in, start slow, and not get around to even thinking about doing things until the afternoon, by which time it is too late to start anything.

Friday we were still unloading a few things from the bus, finishing up laundry (me), weeding the flower beds (Linda), catching up on accounting tasks (Linda), catching up on operating system updates (me), and other such necessities of daily living.  I placed calls to various service providers and filled out an online trouble report to try and get our AT&T phone line back in service.  Based on the missed calls on our answering machine, it appears that the phone line quite working around June 25th.  What I found interesting was that our High Speed Internet (HSI/DSL) worked fine and never went out.

With necessary chores attended to I turned my attention to writing first drafts of articles for Bus Conversions Magazine (BCM).  I had started an article a while back on the exterior makeover so finished a first draft of that and sent it off to Michele Henry of Phoenix Paint for review.  I had six other projects I had worked on the last 11 months that I also thought would make good articles.  Over the course of the weekend I completed first drafts of all six and sent all seven article drafts off to the Publisher (Gary Hall) and Editor (Wendy Crosby) of BCM, sans pictures.

Until today (Monday) the weather has been delightful since we returned, with blue skies, a few puffy white clouds, highs in the low-to-mid 70’s and lows in the upper 50’s.  Friday evening we decided to get out of the house for a while so we drove to downtown Brighton and went for a walk along the Mill Pond.  This is a large pond formed by a small dam in the heart of downtown, and it has a boardwalk that runs along the east side for about 1/2 mile.  Besides people there were ducks and geese, including babies, and a swan.  We also saw bluebirds and two muskrats.  Downtown Brighton is a happening place on a Friday night.  There were lots of people at the many restaurants, but equally many out walking.

Part of our routine is Saturday morning ham radio breakfast, usually with the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club (SLAARC) of which we are members, but occasionally with the Novi Radio Club.  Having been gone for a while we went to the SLAARC breakfast.  It was good to see our ham radio friends and catch up on what everyone has been doing.  Folks were interested in our travels, of course, and we enjoyed sharing a little bit about that.

Back home I decided to run a computer network cable from our AT&T Gateway to my office in the basement so I could connect the computers down there to a hub and and connect it back to the Gateway.  I’ve been trying to accomplish this connectivity with WiFi, but have had limited success.  I ran a small experiment first to make sure it would work, plugging my laptop into the hub and the hub into the Gateway with all of the components in close physical proximity to the Gateway.  It worked, so I proceeded with the larger project.

I had to enlarge a hole from the basement up into the wall cavity behind Linda’s desk, and managed to nick the Cat5 cable that carries the DSL/phone signal to the Gateway.  Naturally the AT&T repair truck showed up a short time later.  That did not turn out to be problem, however, as the technician very quickly determined that the problem was somewhere upstream in their system.  He had our signals restored at the outside junction box long before I was ready to reconnect to them.

I managed to get the Cat6 network cable run through the suspended ceiling in the basement and into the office.  I put the hub in the center of the room and ran the longest cables I had from various devices across the floor and over things.  I would include a picture, but it isn’t a pretty sight.  😉  The hardwired connection isn’t necessarily faster than the wireless one, but it stays connected, which is more important than speed.

While I was at it I decided to run a new, higher quality Cat6 cable from the AT&T junction box (outside) to the AT&T Gateway (inside).  After poking around in the attics above the garage and the house, I decided that this was not a project that had to be done at this time.  As I have worked on projects in the basement I have been removing old telephone wires as we use a cordless phone system and the wiring is obsolete.  I was going to to continue that work, but decided for now to just fix the cable I had damaged and get our phone/DSL connections back on line.

Another part of our routine is the Sunday morning Howell Farmers Market.  The nice weather continued and we enjoyed strolling through the market and talking to the vendors.  We bought some corn and peppers and herbs.  We bought some more coffee beans from Irene’s Beans of Milford, and also from Teeko’s of Howell.  Teeko’s is not far from our house and they keep their beans green until you buy them.  They then roast them to your taste while you wait.  They have a very wide selection of beans, including 100% Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain.  These are premium coffee beans and are not generally available even at upscale food markets.

On Sunday Linda split her time between weeding, her computer, and just relaxing, which usually involves reading.  Of course she also took time to make meals, which were good, as usual.  I continued working on articles drafts and started updating our GPS units.  I had the docking/update software for both units installed on an older laptop that is not very fast, even with a hardwired network connection.  I replaced the hard disk drive in that laptop some time ago with a solid state drive as I plan to use that computer to run the Silverleaf VMSpc software for monitoring the bus engine while I drive.  I figured the SSD would be more tolerant of bumps and vibrations.  It probably is, but I did not figure on how incredibly slow it would be.

It took quite a while, but I got the Garmin nüvi 465T updated.  This is a nice little GPS unit designed for truckers (the T model) with a 4″ diagonal screen.  Because it is designed for truckers, we can create profiles for different vehicles/combinations, including length, width, height, and weight.  That is very handy when driving a large vehicle.  We use it in the toad, and as a backup for the bus.  I need to move the docking software to my newer laptop if I can figure out how to do it.  Part of the problem is that I also have map subscriptions installed on the old laptop and have to move those as well.

Sunday night was our monthly SLAARC meeting in South Lyon.  Linda opted not to go, but as the Vice-President of the club for this year, I really needed to make an appearance.  Besides, the program was on how to use an oscilloscope.  The presenter was (Dr.) Steve Smith, N8AR, a member of our club and retired electrical/communications engineer who worked on the space program at one point in his career.  Steve has done a number of presentations for our club.  They are always good, and they always draw a crowd, and this was no exception.

This morning (Monday the 12th) we woke to find it very overcast with a high probability of showers for most of the day.  That meant we would not be doing much outside work today.  Our Honda Element (towed vehicle) was overdue for it’s 75,000 mile service, so we took it to Brighton Honda right after breakfast.  While I was getting it written up Linda picked up my favorite Amy’s frozen pizza for dinner as she had plans for dinner and movie with Diane; their belated annual birthday night out.

I planned to continue working on my articles for BCM, selecting, adding, and annotating photos to illustrate them.  But first I decided to install the docking software for our Rand-McNally RVND7710 GPS.  That was easy; the software resides in the non-volatile memory of the unit, which connects to the computer via a USB cable.  I checked for updates; there were some, so I installed them.

I then decided to purchase the Lifetime Map updates, which I had not done previously.  I accomplished that easily enough but had a little trouble getting the docking software to accept the Activation Key.  Closing the software, powering the GPS down, turning it back on, and re-launching the docking software got it to work, but that wasn’t part of the instructions.  Great; time to download and install updated maps, which I did.  It took eight (8) hours!  I know our Internet connection is not very fast, and  I have no idea how much data got downloaded, but 8 hours?!  Unfortunately that tied up my laptop for most of the day, so whatever else I had hoped to accomplish got delayed.  But that was OK; it rained all day, and a slower pace with a subdued tone somehow seemed appropriate.

 

2013_08_08 (Thu) Settling In

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Today was a settling in kind of day.  Linda spent much of it working at her desk on accounting and tax returns, with a break for grocery shopping, cooking, and a walk on an absolutely perfect Michigan summer afternoon.

I spent most of the day at my desk as well trying to diagnose our non-functioning AT&T home phone line and filing an online repair order.  I caught up on correspondence, backed up and moved computer files around, and got back to the task of writing articles for Bus Conversion Magazine.  I also finally got to be present when the backup generator started up at noon for its weekly self-test.

For dinner Linda prepared a dish using quinoa, black beans, corn, onions, and garlic in a little bit of vegetable broth and seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, and cayenne pepper.  The dish had just a hint of heat but let the flavors of the ingredients come through.  She served it along side baby bok choy that she quartered and roasted.  Bok choy has a taste/texture suggestive of Brussels sprouts or cooked cabbage, but more subtle.  I drizzled mine lightly with white vinegar for a little added zing.  A small glass of Summer Sunset from Leelanau Cellars completed the meal.  Latter we had fresh strawberries for dessert.

2013_08_07 (Wed) Family Time

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Our daughter and our son and his daughter came to visit and have lunch today.  While we have lots of projects in the queue, both for the bus and the house, seeing family and friends is the main thing that will draw us home each time we are gone.  The pictures tell the story:

Madeline (8 months old) with her giraffe, Sophie.

Madeline (8 months old) with her giraffe, Sophie.

Madeline with her grandma Linda.

Madeline with her grandma Linda.

Madeline with her dad and grandma Linda.

Madeline with her dad and grandma Linda.

Madeline with her Aunt Meghan.

Madeline with her Aunt Meghan.

 

2013_08_06 (Tue) Back Home (For Now)

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Today was the final leg of our summer 2013 extended RVing trial run.  We had less than 250 miles to travel, all of it in Michigan, so we were in no hurry to leave the Tiki RV Park in St. Ignace.  We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, checked e-mail, visited favorite websites, and eventually prepped the rig for travel; a typical “retired and RVing” kind of morning.  🙂

We dumped the waste tanks and added our usual cleaning solution and some water, and put a ¼ tank of fresh water on board “just in case” we needed it.  We didn’t; there were plenty of rest stops on I-75.  We had spent the last six nights not connected to fresh water or sewers.  We had not been conserving fresh water or minimizing waste water as we had water and sewer available on three of those six nights, but we wanted to see how long we could go to try to gage our ability to boondock.  Water, both fresh and waste, is our limiting factor for boondocking.  Our fresh water tank had just reached empty this morning and our waste tanks were not completely full, so it appears that we could go 7 or 8 nights, possibly 9 or 10 with careful resource management, before having to dump and fill.

The Mackinac Bridge connects Michigan’s two peninsulas.

The Mackinac Bridge connects Michigan’s two peninsulas.

We left Tiki around 11 AM and headed north out of St. Ignace, the same way we had come in.  It’s only a few miles to the I-75 interchange and this approach avoids driving through downtown St. Ignace.  Large profile vehicles can make it through Main Street with no problem, but there is a steady flow of traffic that stops frequently for pedestrians and for vehicles making turns.  About three miles after getting on southbound I-75 we crossed the Mackinac (pronounced “Mac in naw”) Bridge, affectionately known to Michiganders (or Michiganians, depending who you ask) as the “Big Mac.”  I believe it had that nickname long before a certain fast food chain introduced their heart-attack-on-a-bun by the same name.  The bridge is five miles long and spans the Straits of Mackinac.  The speed limit for “loaded trucks” is 20 MPH, and this is one of those times when we chose to consider our bus to be a truck.  It doesn’t sound like anything special, but the bridge crossing took 15 minutes at that speed.  That’s either a long time to enjoy the view, or a long time for the navigator to keep her eyes closed.  😉

The coach in the new pull-through driveway in front of the house.

The coach in the new pull-through driveway in front of the house.

In times past crossing the bridge with a 3-axle motorhome towing a 2-axle car was expensive as they charged by the axle, making the price for the combinaton the same as for an 80,000 lb semi.  As a result, many RVers would disconnect their towed vehicle form their motorhome before crossing the bridge, drive them across separately (if they had two drivers), and reconnect them on the other side.  More recently, the Bridge Authority changed the toll for a 3-axle motorhome to $19.  The normal price for a 2-axle car is $4, and they now charge $23 for the combination, eliminating any reason to disconnect the toad.

Ahhh, electrical power. The bus likes to be plugged in.

Ahhh, electrical power. The bus likes to be plugged in.

The day was cloudy to overcast with a threat of rain that never materialized.  It was cool when we left St. Ignace, and afternoon high temperatures climbed into the mid-to-upper 70’s as we traveled south.  There were several construction zones along the way, but we were able to travel through most of them at 60 MPH, which is the speed we like to travel even when the speed limit is higher.  All-in-all it made for another pleasant travel day, with the added anticipation of returning to our house.  The largest construction zone was over and past the Zilwaukee Bridge near Saginaw where the southbound lanes are closed and southbound traffic is being re-routed to the northbound lanes.  The southbound road south of the bridge is gone and being completely rebuilt for several miles.  The northbound traffic is being re-routed onto I-675 through Saginaw, a relatively short detour.

The coach in front of the house, waiting for its next trip.

The coach in front of the house, waiting for its next trip.

AT the southeast corner of Flint US-23 splits from I-75 and heads due south towards Fenton, Hartland, Brighton, Ann Arbor, Milan, and eventually Sylvania, Ohio and on to Naples, Florida.  We took US-23 to the M-59 exit near Hartland and headed west for two miles to Hacker Road.  A short trip south on Hacker and we were back to our street.  The last ¾ mile was slow as our street is dirt and has potholes, but we finally arrived at our house around 3:30 PM.  We stopped in the street to move the barricades that blocked access to the new pull-through driveway and pulled the coach in; the first time it (or any vehicle) had parked on the new driveway since it was finished in early June (just before we left).

We unhooked the car, repositioned the coach slightly, and plugged it in to the 50A power outlet we installed as part of the driveway project.  Ahhh, power.  We unloaded the cats and reminded them of where their litter tray, food, and water were located in the house.  We then started unloading the house portion of the coach, bringing in only those necessities that we did not also have in the house.  With the front door of the coach parked opposite the front door the house and the coach plugged in to electricity, there wasn’t any urgent need to unload it.  As much as we liked our previous house, the easy of arriving and unpacking confirmed that we had made a good decision to move.

The view from our front porch, just the way we like it.

The view from our front porch, just the way we like it.

We had been tracking the weather while traveling, and it appeared that S. E. Michigan was having a cooler, wetter summer than normal.  This was the first time we had seen our new property during the summer, and the trees, plants, and grass were all lush and doing well.  Linda added some Swiss chard, mushroom broth, and garlic to the end of the Farro dish she made some days ago, and while we enjoyed that with the end of our bottle of Yellowstone Howlin’ Pear wine three young deer chased each other back and forth through our backyard.

 

2013_08_05 (Mon) A Quiet, Easy Day

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Today was our last full day on the road for this trip.  We celebrated by sleeping in, waking up slowly, and having pancakes for breakfast.  Yum.

Main Street, St. Ignace, MI.

Main Street, St. Ignace, MI.

The WiFi at the Tiki RV park was surprisingly good, and I worked on various computer chores, including updating the roster for our FMCA Freethinkers chapter.  Whenever a new member joins, I update the roster and send it out with a request for any corrections.  I typically get corrections from a dozen folks, plus or minus, and end up having to re-issue the roster.  And that’s OK; we are a small chapter and I understand that keeping me informed of these kinds of changes is not a high priority for anyone.  What I hope to do someday is make the roster/directory online and interactive, i.e., allow members to log in and add, change, delete their own information, access the directory, and print a copy to take with them if needed.

Part of the waterfront boardwalk in St. Ignace.

Part of the waterfront boardwalk in St. Ignace.

Late morning we drove into the main part of St. Ignace, parked, and walked the town.  Street parking is metered, but just behind the buildings on the west side of the street is free public parking.  There is a wonderful boardwalk that runs along most of the waterfront from one end of town to the other and it is lovely place for a stroll on a 66 degree day with partly cloudy skies and very light winds, which is just what we had!

The St. Ignace public marina.

The St. Ignace public marina.

Even though this is the height of the tourist season in Michigan, Monday in St. Ignace was fairly quiet.  We stopped at The Garden, one of the two additional restaurants opened by Java Joe’s.  We wanted to try It as they offer various vegetarian and vegan dishes, but they were not open.  Perhaps they only get enough of “us” on weekends to justify being open.

The boardwalk to the marina entrance and light.

The boardwalk to the marina entrance and light.

No problem, Linda fixed some of the Farro dish that was left over from the other night.  She cut up some Swiss chard, lightly steamed it in mushroom broth, added it to the leftovers with a little garlic powder, and heated it up.  Dishes made with Farro seem to hold up well as left overs, and may even improve by being allowed to sit and meld the flavors.  Was it good?  Would I being writing about it if it wasn’t?  It was great!

Linda in front of the Colonial House.

Linda in front of the Colonial House.

Java Joe’s 3rd restaurant in town is Jose’s Cantina.  We went there for dinner and had taco salads with “soy grillers”, hold the cheese.  It was good enough for the price.  We had a table with a view of Lake Huron and Mackinac Island, which was nice.  The place had a steady flow of customers.  Our server, Shantel, was from Manchester, Jamaica, and most of the other wait staff was also Jamaican.  We remembered that on our last trip to St. Ignace we chatted with one of the workers at Java Joe’s (a cook, we think) who was from Jamaica.  What we didn’t know then, but we do know now, is that when the last cruise ships stop visiting Jamaica sometime in April, the tourist dollars dry up as well.  Still, it is a bit surprising, and at the same time delightful, to encounter Jamaicans in St. Ignace, Michigan in August.

A unique RV. (My picture is crooked, the trailer was fairly level.)

A unique RV. (My picture is crooked, the trailer was fairly level.)

We have seen some unusual RVs along the way, but this was a first.  It’s a pop-up pickup truck camper mounted on a flatbed trailer.  It has front and rear porches, with the front one serving as storage.  I chatted with the owners briefly, and they said they had reached the age where getting it on and off the pickup truck was just too difficult.  I gave them a copy of The Gypsy Journal and dropped off eight more copies in the campground office.

 

2013_08_04 (Sun) Return to Tiki

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Today we drove US-2 from Ironwood, Michigan to St. Ignace, Michigan, a distance of approximately 317 miles.  We were on the road for about 7 hours, including rest/food/fuel stops, and lost an additional hour to the time zone change from CDT to EDT.  That’s more miles and more time than we prefer, but we have done 400 mile days when we needed to.  200 – 250 miles seems to be the sweet spot for us at this point, at least until we get better driver/passenger seats in the coach and seal up the wind leaks around the windshield and entrance door.  (The bus is 23 years old after all.)

Most of US-2 through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.) is good, 2-lane road with occasional 4-lane divided and 5-lane (center turn) stretches.  There are also lots of passing lanes, which are needed due to the hilly nature of the western U.P. and the volume of traffic in the central and eastern U.P.  There are places where the surface is rough and bouncy, but on balance it’s a good road to drive.  The speed limit is 55 MPH, but you have to slow down for the small towns.  Even so, we actually prefer traveling on US and state highways rather than Interstates when we can.  And this route gets us home in a reasonably direct way while keeping us as far away from Chicago, Illinois as possible.  My life will not be incomplete if I never drive in, through, or even near Chicago in the bus ever again.

[ A note on Michigan drivers:  speed limits appear to be lower bound suggestions.  One of the nice things about this, is that if you are driving a large vehicle at the posted speed limit, when you get to a passing lane the cars (and trucks) behind you don’t screw around; they step on the accelerator and get around you.  By the time you get to the end of the passing lane, all (or at least most) of the traffic that was behind you is now in front of you.  We did not encounter any blatant bone-headed drivers today, and that helped make for a better and more pleasant drive for us. ]

We had excellent weather for this leg of our trip.  It was 45 degrees F when we woke up this morning.  We pulled out of Curry Park, the city-owned RV park/campground in Ironwood, Michigan at 8:19 CDT.  There were enough discrete clouds to make the sky interesting and the high temperatures only made it into the upper 60’s.  There were plenty of hills and turns in the road, but the bus ran well; it really likes this type of weather and roads.

Although we are trying to learn to be more about the journey than the destination, the reality is that you have to end up someplace each night.  Most of the small towns we went through yesterday and today had signs about not parking overnight on streets and the one Walmart we checked in Ashland, Wisconsin did not allow overnight parking due to a city ordinance.  We took a chance last night (no reservation) and it worked out.  The sites at Curry RV Park were first-come, first-served, but we were in early enough to snag a “full hookup” site even though we only needed/used the electrical connection.  These sites were the only ones that would accommodate our size and turning radius.  That made four nights in a row of boondocking, at least with respect to water and sewage, and three nights for electrical.  We passed several casinos and more than few RV park/campgrounds.  Tonight, however, we wanted to make sure we could get into a RV park/campground with legitimate full hookups as we will need to refill the fresh water and dump the waste tanks before our final leg back to the house on Tuesday.  We also wanted to be positioned so that one more driving day would get us back to our house in southeast Michigan.

Our target was the Tiki RV Park on the north end of St. Ignace, Michigan.  We have stayed at the Tiki before when we had our Itasca Sunrise motorhome, and we liked the park.  We also like the town of St. Ignace, which sits at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge (Big Mac).  St. Ignace is a nice town on the water facing Mackinac Island which lies close by in Lake Huron due east of the town.  It has a marina, which is always interesting and pleasant.  There are plenty of things happening during the summer tourist season.  Like all of the U.P. it never feels crowded and is an unpretentious place.

The five mile long Big Mac connects Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas, bridging the Straits of Mackinac (pronounced Mack in naw), and is high enough in the center span for very large lake freighters to pass under with lots of room to spare.  We like both of Michigan’s peninsulas, but they are very different.  The U.P. is much more sparsely populated and has a cooler, harsher climate (especially during winter).  Trees and other vegetation tend to be shorter, and in many places it has an “edge of wilderness” feeling.

In spite of previous good experiences, we had an issue with our site at the Tiki.  We had walked to the site to make sure the coach would fit and not encounter any obstructions, but we did not walk the entire route to get to the site.  Big mistake.  The narrow gravel road took us around a sharp curve that did not leave me room to maneuver when I found myself facing low overhanging branches from a fir tree.  Pressing forward, the branches dislodged the top half of our broken searchlight.  Once parked, I had to get the ladder out, climb up, and redo the rescue tape that has held it together since I did this same temporary repair in Gillette, Wyoming back in June.  While I was up there I discovered that the limbs also scratched the paint on the driver-side of the roof.  The scratches are not visible from the ground, but that is not the point.  I consider the RV park responsible for this damage as Linda very clearly explained to them the size of our rig, both when making the reservation and when checking in.  We, however, should have known better than to take their word for it that our coach could make it to and into the site without any difficulties.  We are learning, sometimes the hard way, that we should never discount or dismiss even a minor concern that either one of us has about a situation, and to never take someone else’s word that our coach “will be just fine.”

Once settled in our site, we walked down the hill to Java Joe’s.  Java Joe’s is on the main road at the bottom of the hill leading up to the RV park, and is great place to get coffee, breakfast, etc.  It’s about 1.5 miles from there into town, a flat and very walkable distance on a nice day.  On our previous visits here the place was hopping, but it was mostly empty and quiet this evening.  The owner is a “parrot head” and has a Jimmy Buffett concert playing in an endless loop on a TV monitor the last time we were there.  It was still playing.  We went for coffee as we didn’t have any this morning, but ended up getting a couple of dinner salads, sans cheese, as we had not had sufficient greens for the last few meals.  Since the last time we were here the owner has opened a second location just down the street called The Garden that serves “vegetarian and vegan friendly” food.  We were told they are only open Friday through Monday, 11 AM to 3 PM, so we will probably have lunch there tomorrow.  BTW:  I’m not sure what “vegan friendly food is.”  Either it’s vegan or it’s not.

When we got back to our coach we opened the bottle of Yellowstone Howlin’ Pear wine we purchased at the store in Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone National Park and each had a small glass.  It was a very acceptable wine given that we did not get to taste it before we bought it.  As with accepting other people’s opinions about RV sites, purchasing wine without tasting it first is generally a risky proposition.

We will be at the Tiki RV Park for two nights and then head for home on Tuesday morning.  We have nothing planned for here except to relax and enjoy the local area.

 

2013_08_03 (Sat) Across The Northern Tier

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Today was a travel day, and an uneventful one at that (the best kind).  Linda spent some time last evening and again this morning researching places for us to stay tonight somewhere between Ashland, Wisconsin and Iron Mountain, Michigan.  The choices appeared thin; the Walmart in Ashland didn’t allow RVers to overnight due to a city ordinance, and there did not appear to be a Walmart anywhere in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  (I know, I know, that doesn’t seem possible.  It turns out there is one in Ironwood, and probably others we haven’t discovered yet.)  As our route eventually put us on US-2 we settled on a city RV park in Ironwood, Michigan, just over the border with Wisconsin on the north side of the highway.  Based on available online information, this park appeared to have a variety of sites from “full hookup pull-thru” to “no hookup tent site.”  (Note: Full hookup in this case meant 20A electric power, barely sufficient to recharge our house batteries, and run the refrigerator, and run the air compressor.)  The sites were first-come-first-served; no way to make a reservation.  And being a city park, there was no one to call for information on a Saturday, the city offices being closed.  So we did something very unusual for us, we started driving with no guarantee that we would be able to get a site, much less one that our coach would fit in, or if the park was even still open.

We left the Forestedge Winery (very reluctantly) at 9:19 AM CDT and headed south down MN-64 towards Akeley where we picked up MN-34 heading northeast to Walker.  MN-34 ends at MN-200 in Walker and we headed east on MN-200 from there.  MN-200 appears on the map to run straight east-west, but in actuality it bends to the left and right, and goes up and down, through lovely forests and past bodies of water, large and small.  The forests eventually gave way to shorter, scruffier growth and marshy areas that reminded us a great deal of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  MN-200 ended at US-2 and we merged on headed southeast to Duluth, Minnesota 52 miles away.

The roads were generally very good, with smooth, quiet surfaces, and we rolled along at 55 MPH except for the occasional idiot who seems unconcerned about pulling out in front of a 41,000 pound vehicle traveling fast enough to turn their sub-compact into a splotch on the highway.  No, we didn’t hit anyone, but one of the things I do not like is having to suddenly get on the brakes.  Buses do not stop quickly (in a short distance) when traveling at highway speeds.  I know that–and I generally try to drive very, very defensively–but I have no control over what other motorists do, and I find in particular that it is not always possible to anticipate what a stupid/oblivious person might do next.  One or my other pet bus peeves?; drivers who wait until the passing lane is about to run out and then decide to try to get around you.  One &%$*(#! did that to me today and he ended up facing oncoming traffic.  I am not going on the shoulder and risking putting a 41,000 pound bus in the ditch for someone that stupid.  I did not encounter the most common peeve situation today, however, as it involves entrance ramps on limited access highways; people who don’t get up to speed and pay not attention to the traffic that is already on the highway and into which they are required to merge, i.e., get up to speed and blend in.

BTW:  The weather today was almost perfect; blue skies with lots of white puffy clouds (enough to create plenty of shaded areas on the highway) and afternoon temperatures in the low 70’s.

Paul had told us to just stick with US-2 east and we would soon find ourselves in Wisconsin, and so it was.  As you approach the northwest corner of Duluth MN-194 splits off to the left and US-2 goes to the right.  Signs make it very, very clear that trucks are to use US-2 to get into, around, or through Duluth; they are NOT to get on MN-194.  One of the interesting things about driving an motorhome that’s really a commercial bus, is there are times when you are not a truck (such as highway weigh scales), and other times when you are, such as any road situation that involves height, width, length, or weight restrictions.  Toll roads are a toss up; some go only by axles, thus treating you like a commercial semi, while others have special fares for RVs and the things they tow.  Also, if you have a Jake Brake (we don’t) local noise ordinances prohibiting their use apply to you the same as they do to commercial vehicles.  If you don’t believe it, try using yours.

US-2 takes you to I-35 south of Duluth.  From I-35 you travel a couple of miles north and onto the Bong bridge which takes you into Wisconsin, or 10th state.  It’s a fairly high bridge, but an easy one to drive over (sorry Nick).

The drive on US-2 across northern Wisconsin was a bit tedious.  The road is rough and noisy in a lot a places, and each town you go through seems to stretch out along the highway for miles and requires you to drive 30 or even 25 MPH.  It will be nice to be back in Michigan where speed limits are almost universally ignored.

We arrived at the Wisconsin/Michigan border around 3:15 PM CDT, returning to our state of origin.  As advertised, we found Curry Park right where it was supposed to be, and it was open for business and mostly empty.  We spotted a pull-through site with good ingress and egress and made pulled in.  It appeared to be an electric only site, so Linda filled out the form and put the required $15 in the envelope.  Turned out that it was full-hookup site, which is $20 per night and the camp host came around later to collect the extra $5.  Even though we only needed the electrical hookup, we were not about to move.

Our neighbors on either side appeared to be off doing whatever it is RVers do in the late afternoon, so we ran our generator for a while to at least bulk charge the house batteries before switching to shore power.  Linda went for a walk around the park and I put the finishing touches on the blog posting for yesterday while keeping an eye on our batteries.

We have to be very thoughtful about how we use the coach and its various (electrical) systems when we only have a 20A electrical connection.  Not cooking dinner avoids having to use power, so Linda (the smartphone/Google queen) found a well-reviewed restaurant in town that was a four block walk from the park on the same side of US-2, and had pizza on the menu; Federico’s MIKES.  Winner.  Well, maybe.  Since we don’t eat dairy products we order our pizza withOUT cheese.  That is guaranteed to get some strange looks and even questions, and the outcome is always a bit of a gamble.  (We had a fabulous vegan pizza in the Black Hills of South Dakota back in June but we have had others that just were not very good.)  The waitress took our order—16” thin crust, no cheese, with onions, mushrooms, olives (black and green), and pineapple—and a young man in the kitchen who obviously loved making pizza threw himself into the task.  He even came out part way through our meal to see if we liked it.  We did, and we told him so.  We saved a few pieces for lunch on the road tomorrow as it will be another travel day for us, boxed it up, and walked back to the park.

Tomorrow we have another travel day, and then plan to stay put for a couple of nights before our final leg back to the house.

2013­_08_02 (Fri) To Hibbing And Back

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The west is high, dramatic, stunning, stark, “gorgeous”, awe-inspiring, etc.  It is also dry, hot, and barren in many places.  Northern Minnesota and the Great Lakes Region in general, are beautiful, wooded, lush, green, cooler, and wetter.  Not as good for the sinuses, but every place has its tradeoffs.

We fired up the generator at 0630 CDT to recharge the house batteries after using them all night to run the refrigerator, auxiliary air-compressor, and any small miscellaneous loads that were still on.  I always like to bring them back up to full charge, and I have been determining that by waiting until the remote control/display shows that the charger has gone into “float” mode.  Yesterday I figured out how to find the State Of Charge (SOC) meter, so I can now monitor directly the SOC of the battery bank.

One of the outside buses…This must be the place!

One of the outside buses…This must be the place!

Since Paul and Sharon offered to let us remain boondocked at the winery beyond the normal 1-day Harvest Host period we decided to drive the car to Hibbing, Minnesota to visit the Greyhound Bus Museum.  I have wanted to visit this museum for a while but Hibbing, quite frankly, is not really on the way to anywhere.  Besides the museum Hibbing is home base to the Hull Rust Mohoning iron ore mine, largest open-pit mine in the world.  Up the road at Tower is an underground state park that houses an advanced physics laboratory where scientists are catching quarks.

The Greyhound Bus Museum, Hibbing, MN.

The Greyhound Bus Museum, Hibbing, MN.

The drive to Hibbing took 2 ½ hours.  We spent two hours at the museum.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we felt like we more than got our monies worth for the $5 adult admission.  The museum is housed in a nice building with seven buses inside, a nice display of Greyhound artifacts, and lots of information about the origin and development of Greyhound, specifically, and bus transportation in the U.S. more generally.  They have another six buses or so in a fenced lot behind the building.  Most of the buses are open so you can go inside them.  Here are some photos:

They started with a Hupmobile.

They started with a Hupmobile.

The museum has lots of model buses.

The museum has lots of model buses.

An early route map. It didn’t take long for the business to expand beyond Hibbing.

An early route map. It didn’t take long for the business to expand beyond Hibbing.

Uniforms for drivers came early and changed over the years.

Uniforms for drivers came early and changed over the years.

A 1956 PD4501 Scenic Cruiser. This is the iconic Greyhound Bus.

A 1956 PD4501 Scenic Cruiser. This is the iconic Greyhound Bus.

A DD 8V71 with numbered parts and a key.

A DD 8V71 with numbered parts and a key.

The Detroit Diesel 8V71 series engines are pre-computer control machines and are still in operation today.

(See http://www.technomadia.com ; they have just had theirs rebuilt and have reported on the experience.)

 

All of the inside buses lined up in a row, oldest to newest, far to near.

All of the inside buses lined up in a row, oldest to newest, far to near.

The lobby features an old time ticket office diorama.

The lobby features an old time ticket office diorama.

An MCI MC-12 that operated in Canada. I have never seen an MC-12 converted into an RV.

An MCI MC-12 that operated in Canada. I have never seen an MC-12 converted into an RV.

An MCI MC-5 specially made for use in Saudi Arabia. Note the double roof. Its purpose was to “shade” the main roof and dissipate heat to help keep the interior cooler.

An MCI MC-5 specially made for use in Saudi Arabia. Note the double roof. Its purpose was to “shade” the main roof and dissipate heat to help keep the interior cooler.

A pair of 1947 ACF Brill buses in a terminal mockup.

A pair of 1947 ACF Brill buses in a terminal mockup.

Greyhound used Yellow Coach buses in the 30’s and some ACF buses, but eventually used GMC buses (many different models) until GM stopped making them in the 1970’s.  Somewhere along the line Greyhound started using MCI buses (MC-5, 7, 9, 12, and later 96- and 102- series) and over the years bought and used a lot of them.  The MC-5 and MC-9 were particularly popular with bus converters.  Commercial converters, like Custom Coach in Ohio, also did MC-9, as well 102- series, conversions.

An Eagle Chassis and Complete Bus.

An Eagle Chassis and Complete Bus.

Greyhound also ran Eagle coaches.  These became popular with some do-it-yourself motorhome converters because, unlike the GMC buses, the skin was non-structural and could more easily be removed and replaced.  The chassis (skeleton in picture) was made of mild steel, so it was easy to cut and weld to replace rusted pieces or make modifications.  The problem with mild steel, of course, is that is very prone to rust.

A Caterpillar 170 ton mine hauler with 10.5 ft diameter tires. They also make a 240 ton with 13 ft diameter tires. I don’t feel as bad now about replacing the 315/80R22.5 Michelins on our rig.

A Caterpillar 170 ton mine hauler with 10.5 ft diameter tires. They also make a 240 ton with 13 ft diameter tires. I don’t feel as bad now about replacing the 315/80R22.5 Michelins on our rig.

The Hull Rust Mohoning Mine Visitor Center is just a mile up the same little road that leads to the bus museum so we drove up there.  To get to the visitor center we drove through a city park that had nice shaded RV electrical hookups.  It was empty except for one tent.  We saw the same thing Wednesday evening in Buffalo, North Dakota; a nice little city park with nine RV sites with electrical power, and it was empty.  These parks seem to run $15/night, cheaper by the week or month.  Not that we would want to stay that long, but the price is right for what you get, especially if there are things you want to do in the area.  The challenge is finding these facilities.

The 2,200 HP 16 cylinder Cat engine that moves the mine hauler.

The 2,200 HP 16 cylinder Cat engine that moves the mine hauler.

The wheels on the mine haulers are driven by electric motors.  The Caterpillar power module consists of a 2,200 HP 16 cylinder turbo-charged diesel engine that drives an electric alternator (the large cylinder lower left in photo) and a radiator and cooling tank.  The power module with radiator, as shown, weights 28,000 pounds.  In operation it burns 28 gallons of diesel fuel per hour.  The hauler can reach a top speed of 30 MPH while carrying 170 or 240 tons of mined material.  I think the 6 MPG we get from out bus is pretty good!

A small portion of a big hole in the ground, currently about 600 feet deep.

A small portion of a big hole in the ground, currently about 600 feet deep.

We spent about 45  minutes at the mine looking at the equipment displays and the big hole in the ground.  Our GPS says it’s a huge lake, and at one time it had water to a depth of 325 feet, but it is still an active mine and they pumped most of the water out so they could work. Part of the original town of Hibbing had to be moved because of this mine, and it was the split into two pieces that led to the formation of the business(es) that became Greyhound Bus Lines and successor companies.

Hibbing is also the home town of Bob Dylan so Linda pulled up some information about his childhood home on her smartphone.  It was supposed to be at 7th Avenue E (Bob Dylan Avenue) and 21st St., but we could not locate the house.  On the drive up and back we passed through Grand Rapids (Minnesota, of course) and discovered that it was the birthplace of Judy Garland.  Everybody is from somewhere.

An interesting note about Hibbing and the mine; if you look at the Minnesota state highway map and peruse the area around Hibbing, you will see brown lines that demarcate the boundaries of the three watersheds that are found in Minnesota, namely: the Mississippi River, the Atlantic (via Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Seaway), and the Hudson (Bay).  About two miles NNW of the mine visitor center and viewing area is the point, unique in North America, where these three watershed boundaries meet.  Depending on exactly where a raindrop falls, it will end up in one of three very different places (assuming it doesn’t evaporate and soak into the ground).

[18 L We were parked next to this aspen grove while at Forestedge Winery, a most appropriate name for the place.]

We were parked next to this aspen grove while at Forestedge Winery, a most appropriate name for the place.

We were parked next to this aspen grove while at Forestedge Winery, a most appropriate name for the place.

We got back to Forestedge Winery before they closed and sampled some of their Plum wine, which we had somehow missed yesterday.  Sharon had left for Iowa for her mother’s 93rd birthday so we invited Paul to dine with us and he accepted.  Linda made a nice salad and a Farro dish with sun-dried tomatoes, kale, onion, garlic, and Italian seasonings.  Paul brought a bottle of Headwaters Red wine, his rhubarb and chokecherry blend.  The meal was yummy, the wine was just right, and the conversation went on for quite a while.  This is one of the reasons we retired and decided to hit the road.  It isn’t just about spectacular scenery and historically interesting places; it’s about encounters with spectacular and interesting people.  Thank you, Paul and Sharon, for your hospitality.

 

2013_08_01 (Thu) A Short Drive And A Winery

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Jasper on the couch.

Jasper on the couch.

We only had 168 miles to travel today to get from Red Trail Vineyards in Buffalo, North Dakota to the Forestedge Winery in Laporte, Minnesota so we were in no particular hurry to leave.  I was up by 7 AM, however, so I could turn the generator on and top up the house batteries before we hit the road.  I also wanted to add air to the driver-side front tire as I noticed yesterday when I checked the Pressure Pro Tire Pressure Monitoring System that it was starting to read a little lower than I would like.

Juniper by the windshield.

Juniper by the windshield.

Since I was up I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the property to replace the ones I inadvertently did not take yesterday and updated yesterday’s blog post with a few of them.  I also took some pictures of our two cats, Jasper and Juniper, who have been with us on this whole trip, but have not received the attention they deserve in this blog.

Adding air to the tires accurately, however, requires that they are cold and all at the same temperature.  It also requires the main engine to be running to get the air tanks up to 120 PSI.  We were parked facing north, and by the time I got around to this task the passenger-side tires were already reading 5-6 PSI higher than the driver-side due to the heat of the morning sun.

I checked the pressure in the driver-side front tire with my tire gauge, and it was reading 110.5 PSI.  This was adequate, but the lower limit of what I want to run, and at least 3 PSI lower than the passenger-side tire.  I hooked up the air hose and chuck to the auxiliary air fitting in the driver-side front bay and tried to raise the pressure in the tire.  In spite of the manifold gauge reading 120 PSI, all I managed to do was lose a few PSI from the tire.  Although the tires have held their pressure fairly well, they have lost a little bit over the course of our trip.  It has become very clear to me that we need to travel with an auxiliary air compressor that is capable of producing at least 150 PSI at the air chuck if we are to have any ability to adjust tire pressures while away from home.

We pulled out of the Red Trail Vineyard around 9:15 AM and continued east on I-94 towards Fargo, ND and Morehead, MN.  Just three miles shy of the border, detoured south on I-29 for ½ miles and exited to go to the Pilot / Flying J truck stop where we topped off the tank.  They have air pressure lines at each pump, and I started to get the air hose, chuck, and gauge out but decided not to.  We have had our PP-TPMS longer than we have had the bus, and in general it works quite well.  It has one major downside, however, namely, that the “baseline” pressure for each tire is determined by whatever pressure is in the tire at the time the tire pressure sensor is threaded onto the valve stem.  Had I removed the sensor at the truck stop, added air, and reinstalled the sensor, it would have reestablished the baseline pressure at a value that was way too high due to the tire already being hot from being driven 35 miles on I-94.  Later, when the coach sat overnight and the tires cooled off, it would have given us a “low tire” alarm, which would have been annoying.  Newer competitive products have addressed this issue by making the baseline pressure something the user programs into the receiver.  The other major downside to the PP-TPMS sensors is that the batteries are not user replaceable.  At some point they will stop working and have to be replaced at a cost of $35-$50 each.  At that point, we will probably just buy a different system with programmable baseline pressures and user replaceable batteries.

Minnesota, our 9th state on this journey.

Minnesota, our 9th state on this journey.

We returned to I-29 north to I-94 east and crossed into Minnesota, our ninth state (including Michigan) since we left in early June.  We had a very pleasant and uneventful drive through very pretty country; the best kind.  Eastern Minnesota was a combination of green rolling crop lands, lovely lakes and ponds, and northern mixed forests.  Our route was I-94 to MN-336 to US-10 to MN-34 to MN-64, and the roads were all very good except for a short stretch of MN-34 with seams at regular, and annoying short, intervals.  The bus ran very well, and the transmission even behaved the way I think a transmission should, shifting between gears on hills as needed with the cruise control set and no intervention from me.  This primarily occurred on stretches of MN-34 and MN-64 where the speed limit was 55 MPH.  Apparently the transmission is willing to drop out of D into 4 (or at least out of torque converter lockup) when climbing hills, something it does not do as often when I am cruising at 62-64 MPH.

The one thing I noticed on this trip was the auxiliary air system pressure gauge I had installed in the cockpit was indicating that the system would reach 120 PSI and then fairly quickly bleed down to about 105 PSI and then re-pressurize to 120 PSI, over, and over, and over…  At the same time the primary and secondary tank gauges indicated that these tanks were holding 120 PSI until I applied the brakes.

Entrance to Forestedge Winery near Laporte, MN.

Entrance to Forestedge Winery near Laporte, MN.

We arrived at the Forestedge Winery around 1:00 PM, pulled around back per Paul Shuster’s e-mailed instructions, got the car unhooked, and got the bus parked and leveled.  We went over and introduced ourselves to Paul.  He was busy serving wine to potential customers, so we went back to the coach and had a bite of lunch.  We then went for a stroll around the property and worked our way back to the tasting room, where we were able to sample most of his wines.

This driveway goes behind the winery, which is where we parked.

This driveway goes behind the winery, which is where we parked.

Paul and Sharon have a very nice operation in a beautiful setting at the edge of the Paul Bunyan State Forest, and across the road from Lake Benedict.  It’s a tourist/vacation/recreation area, and there was a good flow of traffic through the winery.  There is a nicely gardened sitting area outside and besides tasting and purchasing bottles, you can buy a glass of wine and sit outside and drink it.

 

Our coach and car parked by their Bluebird next to the forest.

Our coach and car parked by their Bluebird next to the forest.

Forestedge makes only “fruit” wines, and has 13 or 14 products.  Although grapes are obviously fruit, this label is used to indicate wines made from any other fruit than grapes.  (Mead, of course, is wine made from honey.)  They started with only rhubarb, and their rhubarb is still grown on the property, but their offerings now include raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, blueberry, chokecherry, black currant, apple, and pear in addition to rhubarb, as well as blends of some of these.  We sampled most of these, and purchased some of the white cranberry, blueberry, chokecherry, black currant, plum, and rhubarb/blueberry.  We won’t be able to do this at every Harvest Host location where we stop, but Paul and Sharon are also members of the FMCA Freethinkers chapter which Linda and I belong to, so there was an additional connection here.  Besides, we liked their wines!  And we decided early in our trip that we were going to purchase wines as our major travel “souvenirs.”  We can enjoy them while traveling, or once we return home, but eventually they are gone and we don’t have to find a long-term place for them in the house.

I finally shut the generator off around 3:30 PM.  I did not let it run long enough this morning to bring the batteries back up to full charge.  In generally it is not good for the batteries to only be partially recharged so I wanted to make sure I did so this afternoon.

The tasting room, art gallery, and patio.

The tasting room, art gallery, and patio.

The weather here was wonderful; blue skies with puffy white clouds and temperatures in the mid-70’s.  We are parked behind a winery, alongside what appear to be a grove of white birch (paper birch) trees, in view of orchards and gardens.  This is no part of this not to like.  While I was resting outside in one of our folding campchairs a Bald Eagle soared overhead.

 

The tasting room and patio looking towards their house.

The tasting room and patio looking towards their house.

Paul invited us for dinner, so we had to explain “the vegan thing.”  Sharon rose to the challenge, making a green salad with fresh picked greens from her own garden, zucchini and onions sautéed in olive oil, and black beans and rice accompanied by their own Raspberry Rhubarb wine.  We had a long, great conversation over this meal, including some tips on what to see and on our visit to Hibbing, MN tomorrow.  As we left their house to return to our coach his final words for the evening were to not be surprised if we heard wolves howling.  We can only hope.