Tag Archives: Boxelder

2013_07_07 (Sun) A Day Of Transition

Today was our last day at the CAM-PLEX in Gillette, Wyoming. John & Cheryl pulled out at 6:15 AM, so we did not get to see them off. We had a leisurely morning prepping the rig for travel, and pulled out of the Boxelder RV Park around 10:15. Our destination was Peter D’s Campground in Sheridan, Wyoming, where would be joining nine other rigs (16 people) for a two week Habitat For Humanity RV Care-A-Vanner build coordinated through the HFH BOF of The Escapees RV Club.

The 103 mile drive was “high plains scenic”, and the first glimpse of the Bighorn Mountains was exciting. The terrain was rolling and some of the grades were steep, albeit not steep enough to require special signage. The last 30 miles of the trip one of the pyrometer gauges (Left) started exhibiting a new behavior. On downhill grades, both pyros drop to the bottom of the gauge (300 deg F) as the engine is using very little fuel and getting lots of cooling. As I started up the next grade, the “R” pyro would instantly start to rise as the engine burned more furl, but the “L” pyro would sit on 300 for 3 – 10 seconds and then jump up to and indicate a temperature close to the “R”. (Note: the left pyro has always indicated about 150 – 200 deg F less than the right one.)

We arrived at Peter D’s RV Park around 12:30 PM. Peter D’s is easily accessed from I-90. It is not a fancy place, but it is nice with clean restrooms/showers and laundry room. The sites are a bit narrow, but they are all pull-through with full hookups and 20/30/50 amp power. Out site was close to level and long enough for our bus and car.

I was a little concerned about the pyro readings, so I e-mailed my mobile mechanic and three fellow bus nuts, to see if they had any suggestions.

Before we left Gillette, Nick Russell gave us a bundle of latest issue of The Gypsy Journal to distribute during our travels, so we dropped off copies at the campground office.

Our HFH RV CAV / SKP HFH BOF team gathered at Jack & Shirley Krohn’s Airstream Sovereign trailer at 3:30 PM for the initial team orientation, led by Steven Gullette. We were joined by Matt, the Executive Director of the Sheridan HFH affiliate, and Brian, the construction supervisor for our builds. We learned that we would be working on two different houses, both within a mile of Peter D’s. We had a late addition to the team, so we will have 11 rigs and 18 people.

Our HFH RV CAV / SKP BOF team opening dinner.

We gathered at the Krohn’s again at 5:00 PM for the pot-luck welcome social. Matt brought a grill and the meat and team members brought side dishes. A bit to our surprise, there were several things we could eat (besides the dish we brought). We were barely finished eating when a thunderstorm blew in and we had to gather up our stuff, head back to our rigs, and secure them against the coming storm. At that point we hunkered down for the evening.

BTW: The Rescue Tape holding the two halves of the roof-mounted searchlight worked just fine at highway speeds.

2013_07_04 (Thu) The Nation’s Birthday

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We attended an excellent seminar on Amateur (Ham) Radio and RVing put on by Tom Abernathy, W3TOM. Tom is an assistant division director for the ARRL and the current leader of the SKP Ham Radio BOF, as well the SKP coordinator for The Row. We returned to our coach to work for a bit and make our brown bag lunches for the SKP HAM Radio BOF gathering at noon.

The SKP HAM BOF brown bag lunch was well attended. Tom, W3TOM, shared some information with the group. One factoid I found interesting was that at larger SKP rallies, such as the Escapades, hams usually make up 8-10% of the attendees. This is probably a higher percentage than in the membership at large, and much higher than in the U. S. population, which has about 750,000 licensed amateur radio operators out of more than 300 million people. Tom had quite a few books to give out as door prizes, along with ARRL pens and HAM bumper/window stickers. We got a book on transmission lines and one on emergency communications.

We returned to the coach after lunch and worked until it was time to go to dinner. It was another warm day, and the humidity was up a bit as thunderstorms were forecast for later. By mid-afternoon we had stowed the awnings, closed up the coach, and turned on the air-conditioners.

The 35^th birthday celebration dinner was underwritten by Paul Everts RV. Dinner was preceded by recognition of all the staff, volunteers, and presenters who made the Escapade possible. There was a look back at 1978, the year the Escapees RV Club was formed. The two grand prize recipients were also drawn (we did not win). The prizes were a 16-day Adventure Caravan for two and the Rose Parade HOP (Head Out Program), also for two. Dinner was buffet style, and they got everyone through the lines very efficiently. The only thing we could eat for sure was the dinner rolls, so we each took two. We had some of the corn, although it may have been prepared with butter. The lack of a green salad was a bit disappointing, but we expect that our food choices will be limited in group meal settings such as this. Still, with the number of older RVers who obviously have health issues, it saddens us to see what they are served to eat, and how they gobble it up. Dancing followed the meal, with live music by the Rivoli Review, but we didn’t stay. I don’t dance, and we had heard enough of the Rivoli’s the other night to last us for a while.

We were (understandably) a bit hungry when we got back to our coach, so we had popcorn. Not the healthiest choice, I know, but quick and easy (and yummy).

The City of Gillette fireworks were scheduled for 10 PM at the CAM-PLEX. By the time we got back to our coach, unofficial fireworks were being set off all around us. As Boxelder is on higher ground, we had a good view in all directions. By 8 PM it was obvious we had thunderstorms moving into the area, with an impressive lightning show to the west around through the south to the southeast. The SKP Photographers BOF met at 9 PM in the southwest corner of Boxelder RV Park to assist members interested in photographing the fireworks. By 9:30 PM light rain was starting to fall and I headed back to the coach. I got there just before it started to rain in earnest, and shortly thereafter the main fireworks show began. Either the announced time was wrong or they pulled it forward because of the weather. Fortunately, we were parked so that we were able to watch the show from our living room window. It lasted over 30 minutes, during which time the rain steadily increased, but they got it in. We left the air-conditioners on as storms were forecast to continue through the overnight hours.

2013_06_25 (Tue) Another Short Move

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We knew we would be changing RV parks within the CAM-PLEX this morning, so right after breakfast I dealt with sewer, water, and electric hookups while Linda secured the inside for our short but potentially bumpy trip. Bob Pinner came by around 8:00 AM to check on us, and came back around 8:30 AM to lead us to the appropriate area in Boxelder RV Park. We had our choice of spots and picked one that was level and dry, indicating relatively good drainage, with a good stretch of road in front of it. We chose site D-67 and pulled through into the site from the west so we would be parked facing east. For the nine previous prior days we have been parked facing west such that the hot afternoon sun streams in our large expanse of windshield, making it difficult to keep the front of the coach cool. It has been dropping into the 50’s at night, so the coach is cool by early morning and the morning sun on the windshield is welcome.

For some reason known only to Jasper (our 9 year old male mackerel tabby cat) our preparations to move the coach spooked him and he managed to get under the passenger-side built-in furniture (again). We finally figured out that he was gaining access through a loose heat exchanger screen. He also managed to get to a spot where we could not get to him to pull him out, so he stayed there while we moved to our new site and set up. He decided to hunker down and sleep for a while, but we eventually coaxed him out of the spot to a place where we could get him out. He had disappeared under this furniture once before. Now that we knew his method of entry Linda secured the heat exchanger screens. We think/hope we are finally done with this.

Before we were settled in to the new site, John & Cheryl pulled in next to us on the driver side in their Tiffin Allegro Bus. They were also at Windmill RV Park yesterday and had also agreed to move to Boxelder RV Park today. They were packed and ready to go when they saw us pull out, so they started up and followed us over. Rick, our driver-side neighbor at Windmill, was almost ready to leave when we pulled out, and not long after John & Cheryl pulled in, Rick pulled his Foretravel U295 into the site on our passenger side.

As we were all getting set up in our sites and chatting, I was reminded of the degree to which RVers tend to be sociable and make friends quickly and easily. This is not universally true, of course, but it is more often than not the case. I suppose the obvious reason for this is the commonalities of the lifestyle, specifically the traveling experiences, destinations, and technology. We also tend to be “people of a certain age”, retired with grown children and grandchildren. Although we come from many walks of life, and are probably more different than we are similar, the moirés of the RV sub-culture emphasize and leverage the commonalities.

Based on the weather forecast we had originally planned to go to Devil’s Tower National Monument today. Although we were set up in our new site by 10:15 AM, we decided to “stay home”, work on some small projects, and relax. Our new 10 foot Camco water hose turned out to be defective, when the hose came loose from the barbed push-fitting (again). Although I could probably fix it with a hose clamp, we decided to take it out of service and wait to see if the Camco vendor we bought it from at the FMCA rally would also be at Escapade and try to return or exchange it. It’s a matter of principal.

After lunch we deployed the patio awning to shade the bus as the passenger side now faces due south. I then went on an errand run to Home Depot, where I bought a hose clamp (just in case), a 10″ carbon filter element, a folding 2-step mini-stool (to make it easier to deploy/store the awnings), and some small plumbing parts I needed for a project in our shower. I also found Eastside RV and purchased a 10′ fresh water hose so I could reconnect our water softener. Cherie Ve Ard of Technomadia is big on the idea of serendipity, and I had a small dose of that today, although technically it was more of a “silver lining” experience. Since the water softener has a sediment filter on the input side, I decided to replace the sediment filter in the coach’s incoming water line with a carbon element.

Our new water softener with pre-filter

Imagine my surprise when I unscrewed the housing and discovered that there was no filter element inside! If not for the failed Camco hose, I might not have discovered this for quite some time.

I purchased an Oxygenics shower spray a while back to install as a replacement for both our shower head and body spray, neither of which worked very well. The Oxygenics is really a hand held sprayer that comes with a holder that threads on where the shower head normally goes, allowing it to serve a dual purpose. It is also designed to draw in air and mix it with the water (thus the name) which is supposed to give a more invigorating shower experience while using less water. I capped off the other connection where the original body spray hose was attached. The installation appeared to be successful; the water only comes out where/when it is supposed to.

Late in the afternoon we drove to the local Wal-Mart to buy some new work clothes (jeans and T-shirts) and pick up some grocery items. We had a simple but delicious dinner of lentil loaf and fresh steamed asparagus, and then went for a walk. I played some more with the front OTA TV antenna and picked up several more channels. I also decided that the position scheme I deciphered for the rear antenna was almost certainly not correct for, and therefore not applicable to, the correctly functioning front one. I came to this conclusion based on the fact that we can see (with our eyes) seven TV towers from our site, so we know exactly which direction the antenna needs to point in order to pick up their signals. I will eventually have to remove the front antenna top cover to physically verify how it works, but with warm, sunny weather forecast for the rest of this week, that task will wait for more agreeable conditions.

2013_06_24 (Mon) The Time Between The Rallies

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Today was laundry day, so after breakfast we gathered up clothes and linens. During the morning Peter & Sybil pulled out of the spot on our passenger side and shortly thereafter Ed & Rosemary pulled in (50A, full hookup). Linda left to do laundry, post office, and grocery store errands while I stayed with the coach and cats. Charles & Connie Martin, another couple from our FMCA GLCC chapter, pulled in across from us with their MCI 102C3 bus conversion. They were apparently given a hard time about parking at Windmill RV Park and were told they had to be on the west side of the paved road, which is only 30A & water (no sewer hookup). When we made arrangements with the CAM-PLEX to stay between the rallies they clearly told us we could move to Windmill anytime after 10 AM on Sunday and that 50A full-hookup sites where first come, first served. They even gave us a parking sign to put on our dash. It became apparent that there was some confusion as to who was supposed to park where.

I got on my computer (not literally, of course), went into the WiFi Ranger control panel, and reduced the power from “high” (the default) to “medium.” According to the manual (available online), the connection can sometimes be improved by using less power. I still had full/excellent signal strength in the bedroom, so I was not sure which radio this setting controls, or if it controls both, or if there are even two radios. I will probably try low power to see how that works, and talk to the WiFi Ranger folks about it when next we meet.

I worked on finishing my draft blog post for the previous day, and then went to work on hooking up the rear OTA TV antenna/rotator and TV set. My technological luck of the previous day ran out when the antenna failed its internal calibration process, and would not rotate. I went ahead and set up the TV, another 22″ Westinghouse LD-2240 (LCD/LED flat panel monitor) requiring an ATSC channel scan activation code. (Really, what’s up with that?) I was able to find and view most of the same channels we had up font, but the reception was not as good on some, probably because the antenna was not pointed in the right/best direction. A double check of the inside wiring confirmed that the RF & control cables were connected correctly, so the problem was either the roof unit wiring or the roof unit itself.

It was also possible that the problem was the rotator controller. I tested that possibility using the known-good front unit, but the rear antenna still wouldn’t calibrate. Soooo, back up on the roof to check the wiring to the antenna. The connections are on the rear underside of the housing, which is mounted on top of two brackets that place the underside about 8″ above the lower rear roof tray and just above the main roof. If you are short (I am) and flexible (not as much) there is just enough room to lie down, reach under, and use a short screwdriver. All of the wires were connected to the correct terminals, but I loosened and re-tightened them anyway, including the coax. I climbed down and retested the system, and this time it not only failed to calibrate, it displayed “Er” on the LCD. That’s what I call “negative progress!”

The installation and operation instructions indicated that the problem could be: 1) that the black wire was not connected (it was, on both ends), or 2) that something was blocking the rotor. In the later case that “something” would have to be inside the sealed antenna enclosure. However, warnings elsewhere in the instructions tell you, emphatically and in no uncertain terms, that the insides of the system are dangerous (high voltage) and that it should not be opened as there are no user serviceable parts inside. Huh? So how do I unblock the rotor?

(BTW: these are HD View 360 antennas from AntennaCrafters. There was an older model of this antenna on the coach when we bought it. It was designed primarily for the old VHF/analog TV signals and not optimized for the new UHF/digital ones. The rotation feature also no longer worked, but we liked the sealed, “flying saucer” design in which the rotating antenna parts are in a flat, weather-sealed enclosure that is fairly aerodynamic going down the road. I believe the antenna is an “active” design and provides some amplification of the signal it receives, but I am not absolutely sure of that. The new model has a controller with an RF remote and is designed to pick up the newer digital signals as well as the legacy analog stations that are still operating in some areas. Even though I was putting these two antennas in service for the first time, they were way out of warranty (90 days) as I had purchased them back in 2012 when we were having the roof redone and the coach repainted. Based on my sample of two, it appears that AntennaCrafters has a 50% failure rate on this model. I also have the problem that I bought these antennas from two different sources at two different times, and I don’t which one is which.)

At this point I will probably open up the rear antenna case. After all, with electrical engineering degrees and amateur radio licenses, I figure I’m qualified to do this without endangering my life. But with a storm approaching, that wasn’t going to happen right away. We closed up the coach and turned on the two front air-conditioners to try to keep the interior comfortable as the forecast high was 91 degrees F. The temperature outside was only 82 degrees F, but the sun was intense and the inside temperature was headed for 90.

We sat outside for awhile as it was cooler than inside, and watched a large thunderstorm develop northwest of Gillette. It was drifting to the northeast, but also expanding in size. As the southeast edge neared our location, and the winds picked up, we decided to put all of the awnings up and put the fold-up camp chairs away, not wanting to risk getting caught with them out should the storm change course and get cranked up. We stood outside and talked to Ed and Rosemary while we watched the storm develop all around us. It eventually started to sprinkle where we were so we went inside and soon had a heavy downpour that lasted for 15 -20 minutes. The winds were not overly strong, and our skylight leak (slow drip) did not reappear. The storm eventually moved on to the east. Besides the drama and beauty, the upside of the storm was that it blocked the sun and brought cooler air, both of which helped keep the outside temperature down and the coach more comfortable.

I have loved western thunderstorms since I first encountered them as a boy traveling with my parents. The combination of isolated development and unobstructed views to expansive horizons allows you to watch them develop for a long time as they move across a considerable distance. This is rarely the case back in Michigan where storms develop along frontal boundaries and are often embedded and obscured from view. Also, except in some flatter/cleared agricultural areas, views are not as expansive as in the west due to the extensive tree cover.

After dinner, and with the storm moved off to the east, I went back up on the roof to work on the rear antenna. The enclosure is held together by 8 screws inserted from underneath, but it is high enough above the roof to allow for a 4″ long screwdriver to be used. I had disassembled our old one when it was removed from the coach, so I had some idea of what to expect inside. The physical design hasn’t changed much, but the rotor was definitely binding. With nothing to lose, I moved it by hand and got it freed up, although I have no idea what, if anything, I may have broken in the process. I had Linda apply power to the controller, being careful not to come in contact with any of the deadly voltages I had been warned about in the instructions. It completed the calibration process this time and gave a direction number on the LCD. Success! (Maybe?) I had her cycle it several times, and it calibrated successfully each time, but the rotor was not consistent as to its position. I then had her slowly step through the 16 positions, up and down, several times. Based on what I saw, it appeared that position 1 is just to the driver side of the front of the bus. As the numbers increase the rotor turns counterclockwise, with position 16 just to the passenger side of the front of the bus. So positions 1 -4 appear to be port side bow quadrant, 5 – 8 port side stern quadrant, 9 – 12 starboard side stern quadrant, and 13 – 16 starboard side bow quadrant. This is, of course, with the double-headed arrow on the enclosure pointing towards the front (bow) of the coach. Both antennas are mounted this way, but since I moved the rear rotor by hand, its position may not be correct. It was also not as repeatable in its positioning as it should be, especially around positions 7 – 10, so the front one may not orient the same way. Since the instructions are absolutely silent regarding how the pointing direction corresponds to the number on the controller display, I will ultimately have to take the front enclosure apart and visually determine how it works. That would be easier, of course, if it wasn’t 8 inches above the roof and 13 feet off the ground at the time.

While I was on the roof, Bob Pinner stopped by. Bob and Molly are the Escapade Directors for The Escapees RV Club. He confirmed rumors we had heard earlier in the day relative to parking issues. It turned out that the Escapade had lost the use of three RV parks at the CAM-PLEX due to the damage done by the motorhomes departing the FMCA rally. The SKP’s had not planned on using Windmill RV Park, but now needed it for their staff and volunteers as well 30 A electric (only) registrants. It was obvious that Bob was trying to re-plan a lot of things at the last minute so we agreed to move our coach the next day. The decision was to move us back to the Boxelder RV Park, where we would have full hookups, and a good chance of 50 A power. We figured the sooner we moved the better site selection we would have, so we agreed to move first thing the next morning (8 AMish).

In spite of the issue with the rear TV antenna, we were able to use the rear TV and simultaneously watched different TV programs for the first time in quite a while as we do not currently have OTA, cable, or satellite TV at home and we do not have satellite TV in the coach. Gillette has PBS and Create, so this was the first time it felt a little bit more like living in the coach and a little bit less like being on vacation. The fact that we are between rallies with no pressing need to be anyplace specific, or do anything in particular, also contributed to this feeling.

2013_06_18 (Tue) Early Arrival

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Upon our arrival at the CAM-PLEX in Gillette, Wyoming yesterday we quickly discovered that we did not have a usable WiFi signal so Linda Googled coffee shops and we found one with free WiFi. This morning we headed off early to City Brew for some coffee, bagels, and Internet connectivity. Alas, no bagels, so I had Raspberry strudel sticks (which were probably not vegan). We couldn’t connect to City Brew’s WiFi, but the adjacent Qdoba restaurant had a strong signal and no customers as they were not open yet. We mentioned that we were not able to connect and when City Brew reset their wireless router it worked fine. Linda caught up on our banking and entered receipts into Quicken while I updated Passwords Plus. I then tried to log in to our website (The Phase Place = www.omnibus-mi.us), which is a WordPress installation running on iPage servers, and discovered that I had not specifically recorded the username and password in Passwords Plus. I also realized that I had probably not updated the contact e-mail address with iPage since bfay@twmi.rr.com was shut down in May. Soooo…. I logged in to the iPage control panel and opened a new support ticket to get these issue resolved.

Our neighborhood – Boxelder, Lot 2, 7th St.

With our online business taken care of for the moment, we headed down the street to the HealthStyles Market to get some Daiya cheese for our dinner “cheeseburgers”. We received a 20% off coupon in our FMCA welcome bag, but didn’t have it with us, so we deferred other shopping for later in the week. What a nice surprise to find an organic market, with some of the vegan products we like, here in the heart of cattle country. The FMCA materials don’t even list grocery stores; instead they list “meat markets”. Yikes!

Because we both have personal and business need for Internet access, we stopped at the local Cellular Plus (Verizon retailer) outlet and purchased a Novatel Jetpack MiFi 5510L 4G/LTE Mobile WiFi hotspot device and added it to our existing Verizon “share everything” plan. This device creates a secure (private) relatively short-range WiFi network which will allow us to connect any/all of our WiFi capable devices together and to the Internet via our Verizon data service, as long as we have a usable Verizon signal. It’s a 4G/LTE device that is backwards compatible to 3G/EVDO, and supports IPv6 addressing in addition to IPv4. Many of its functions are accessible throughout the small device screen and buttons, but the full functionality is easily accessed through a web interface via a connected device.

By the time we returned to the coach it was lunchtime. After a light lunch we decided to deploy the large patio awning. We apparently failed to put the manual for the new Zip Dee Awnings on board, but still had the manual for the old ones. Design changes have been minor in the last 20+ years, and I was familiar with the changes, so though we could figure it out. We weren’t able to open it very far due to the close spacing of RVs in the campground and the fact that our neighbors had slide-outs (as most of the RVs here do). The manual indicated that partial deployment was possible and acceptable, but we could not get the rafter (upper) arms to latch onto the roller tube. Our new Zip Dee awnings are very nice, with a translucent fabric that allows some light through so the interior doesn’t get too dark. They are manual awnings, however, and deploying/retracting the patio awning requires a step ladder because our coach is so tall and the latches are out of reach.

We left the patio awning in what we felt was a secure position and walked over to the CAM-PLEX offices to take care of our camping arrangements for the 4 nights between the two rallies. On the way we stopped and visited with the owners of four vintage Flxible bus conversions that were on display in front of the Wyoming Center. Three of the owners were Great Lakes Converted Coaches members, and the 4th one was the son of a member. Bruce brought sample copies of the February 2013 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine, and said he would bring some over for the owners.

The folks at the CAM-PLEX office were very helpful and gave us our parking placard for the Windmill RV Park. This park is smaller than Boxelder. Most of the sites are 30 A electric, but some are 50 A FU. We were told we could move there on Sunday morning the 23rd at 10 AM as specific sites were first come, first served.

By the time we got back to our coach a predicted storm was building to the west and moving our way. With 50+ MPH wind gusts expected, we decided to retract all of our awnings and close up the windows and roof vents. Thick clouds, a cool air mass, and strong winds kept temperatures inside very comfortable. I went for stroll around the campground to take photographs of the clouds. I then came inside and preceded to nap through storm!

After dinner we finally turned on our new MiFi device and connected our phones, tablets, and computers. We spent quite a while trying to set up the computers on the network so they could see each other and share files, and appeared to have it working, only to have it not work and not be able to get back to where they did. It was not essential that we be able to do this, so we let it go for now. Since we now had functioning Internet access I checked the iPage support ticket and found that they had responded. I followed their directions and once again have administrative access to my WordPress installation and have updated my contact e-mails for iPage.