Tag Archives: CAM-PLEX

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_05 (Fri) The In-between Time

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We awoke to the reality that Escapade was done and life could return to “normal” for a couple of days before the next phase of our adventure. Just as in a fixed home, part of “normal” is maintenance. At 8:00 AM John from All Pro Water-Flow showed up to clean the waste tanks (black & gray). John normally summers in Monument, Colorado and spends winters in Yuma, Arizona. Business has been slow in Colorado this season because of the fires, and the trip to Gillette for the RV rallies had proved to be a good business move for him.

John cleaned the tanks using water at 2600 PSI fed through a small diameter high pressure hose to a special nozzle. The nozzle and hose go through a clear adapter inserted into the drain line where it attaches to the tank outlet pipe. The nozzle tends to pull itself into the tank and this arrangement allows him to control the high pressure line and see the effluent as it comes out and goes into the drain hose (which is obviously hooked to the sewer fitting). He was able to access the black tank fairly easily as it has a 3″ ID drain pipe with one 90 degree sweep that bends down to exit the bottom of the coach. The gray tank was an entirely different matter. The drain is no more than 1.5″ ID and Ts into the 3″ line. It makes a jog before a final 90 degree elbow (a sharp turn, not a sweeping one) where it’s attached to the tank. John tried several things and finally switched to a different nozzle with a spring on the end which allowed it to move through tight turns. The gray tank needed cleaning, but the black tank really needed of cleaning, and I was glad we had this done. We had not had the tanks cleaned in the four years we have owned the coach, and I can only wonder if/when any prior owners had it done.

Our tank level sensors worked a little better afterwards, but not perfectly. There could be lots of reasons for that, and getting them to work was not my primary objective as I plan to install the external See Level sensors anyway. John was patient, persistent, and took the time he needed to get the job done at no extra charge. This was another good vendor experience and another good learning experience for me. When I eventually redo the utility bay, I will make some modification to the waste plumbing that makes it much easier to clean the gray tank in the future.

We had noticed on the Escapade Extras newsletter for yesterday that the DOVES C-BOF had arranged for all day training at the American Red Cross office in Gillette. I called the contact person to see if we could get into their two training sessions, but the classes were full. We discussed future training opportunities that will be available following the 2014 Escapade, and I noted them in my calendar. I also sent her our contact information via e-mail.

While our next door neighbor Rick was preparing to leave, I e-mailed him our contact information. I left the patio awning rolled up so he wouldn’t have any clearance issues when pulling out. He left for Sundance late in the morning. By that time the sun had pulled around to the southeast so we put the patio awning back out. It was very warm and cloudy, and the humidity was up a bit, but we didn’t close up and use the ACs. There was a chance of thunderstorms, but none developed.

Linda did laundry and stopped at the grocery store while I worked on the membership and financial records for our FMCA Freethinkers chapter. I then returned my attention to the preparation of blog posts, and discovered that I had received a recommendation from Magnum that I had not yet implemented. A quick trip to the inverter bay and I had the maximum charge rate reset to 80%. The Magnum ME-ARC remote is a bit confusing at first, but the more I use it the easier it becomes. The manual, however, is absolutely essential, and I keep a PDF version on my iPad2 and laptop so I don’t have to dig out the paper versions.

I worked at my computer most of the afternoon and early evening. I’ve been capturing our daily activities using the Note app on my iPad2. I try to fill them in before bed each night, but they are rarely polished enough to upload to the blog. I e-mail them to myself and save them on my laptop where I can more easily do final editing and eventually upload them. I am about a month behind at this point, but I am catching up. I need to select a photograph or two for each post and then up they go!

We started to go for a walk after dinner but only got as far as VJ & Carol’s motorhome and invited them over for a drink and conversation. They had never been invited inside a Prevost conversion, so we wanted to unveil the mystery on behalf of all Prevost conversion owners everywhere and help them check that off their bucket list.

When VJ and Carol said their farewell for the evening it was still light enough for a stroll around the RV park. Many RVs had left during the day, but many were still here. New vehicles were also arriving, but not in Boxelder RV Park. Earlier in the day we had noticed lots of horse trailers arriving in the stables area immediately north of Boxelder RV Park. Linda checked the activities listing for the CAM-PLEX and discovered that a 3-day equestrian event was taking place. The horse trailers were using a road that comes into the stables from the east. The horse park and RV park are separated by fences with gates, which were closed and roped off to prevent animal, pedestrian, or vehicle traffic moving between them. This made good sense; the equestrians wouldn’t want us traipsing amongst their horses any more than we would want horses trotting through the campground. From our living room we could see them coming and going to the equestrian park, which is apparently due east of Boxelder RV Park.

We had fresh strawberries for a late dessert and turned in for the night.

2013_06_27 (Thu) Cowgirl Barrel Racing

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Today was the first early entry date for the Escapade, and RVs started rolling into Boxelder RV Park at 8 AM. The parking crews were ready and waiting and directed the rigs to their assigned areas and got them parked with great efficiency. Lynn & Linda Laymon were working the area near where we are parked, and I recognized their names from the roster for the Habitat For Humanity build we will be doing in Sheridan in July. We had a nice get-acquainted chat that Linda joined when she returned from her morning walk. (We have been walking together after dinner each evening, but Linda likes to do a 4 – 5 mile power walk in the morning, and I figure that’s an opportunity for each of us to have a little “me” time. We are, after all, living in a 300 sq. ft. condo on wheels with a really big “yard”.) In the course of the conversation we realized that the shift from FMCA to SKP had occurred and we got out our SKP name tags and pinned them on.

We enjoy being members of both FMCA and The Escapees RV Club, but they are different. FMCA is larger and has an extensive volunteer governance and management structure, as well as a paid staff. Membership is restricted to motorhomes, but it has a fair number of members and chapters focused on bus conversions, so it’s a good fit for us. The Escapee RV Club is smaller, and is actually a privately owned family business. There are no restrictions on what kind of RV you own, and there is a much stronger focus on full-time RVing. The club was founded by Kay and Joe Peterson as a support group for full-time RVers. They were living in a trailer and raising a family at a time when that was not “fashionable” as Joe was an itinerant electrician. I have heard it said more than once that “You belong to FMCA, but you are an Escapee.” Based on our limited experience, that rings true.

I was reminded this morning that “someone” has a birthday on the 30th of this month and that they would like to be taken out to dinner, “or something.” I accepted the “heads up” as a friendly but necessary reminder as I do get preoccupied at times and forget things, even important things like “someone’s” birthday. Plus, the 30th is the opening day of the Escapade, so the activity level will ratchet up quite a bit and I could certainly be distracted by that. An online search of local restaurant menus, however, failed to reveal anything other than a deli with a couple of vegetarian sandwiches that could be made vegan by leaving off cheese, mayo, and any other animal products that might normally be included. Not exactly a gourmet birthday meal, but at least “someone” wouldn’t have to prepare it.

We were on tap for another warm day, but decided to leave the windows open and the vent fans on as long as possible. Although we have a good 50 A electrical connection here at the CAM-PLEX, we like fresh air, and the house air-conditioners are rather noisy so we prefer not to use them if possible.

We spent the late morning and most of the afternoon working at our computers. I worked on my draft blog posts while Linda worked on our personal accounting. We had the vent fans going and some small fans to move air around, and I was surprisingly comfortable in spite of the interior temperature climbing past 88 degrees F. Linda usually tolerates (likes) heat much better than I do, but wasn’t feeling 100%, so mid-afternoon we finally turned the air-conditioners on and brought the temperature back into the mid-70s. (BTW: Because of the surface area to volume ratio of the bus and the amount/quality of insulation in the ceiling and walls, we can only maintain a 15 – 20 degree differential between inside and outside. However, even a 10 degree differential makes a big difference.)

Linda made a wonderful dish for dinner with farro (an ancient Italian grain), garlic, onions, mushrooms, and asparagus. The dish was fragrant, earthy, nutty, slightly creamy, and with just enough chew to have a great mouth feel. She paired it with a simple green salad and we opened the bottle of Lawrence Elk black currant wine we bought at the Prairie Berry Winery in Hill, South Dakota. Being from Michigan, we have ready access to wines based on fruits other than grapes, especially cherry and pear. The black currant wine was unique and very much to our liking, and I wish we had bought more than one bottle. (I guess we will have to go back.)

We were wrapping up dinner and preparing for our evening walk when Cheryl stopped by to let us know that there was a cowgirl barrel racing event going on over by the Morningside Park grandstand. We walked over to the small horse arena and joined them to watch cowgirl barrel racing, junior calf lassoing, and age 7-10 girls and boys goat tying. Finally, the real west. I snapped a few pictures and sent one to our two children.

When we felt we had been sufficiently westernized (and seen enough baby goats tossed to the ground and tied up to last us a lifetime) we continued our walk and found Charles and Connie Martin’s MCI bus conversion, which they had moved from Windmill RV Park to one of the generator only (24 hr.) lots. We stopped to chat for a while and got lots of good tips regarding travel directories and resources. It turned into a longer visit than we intended, but it was nice to spend time with fellow FMCA GLCC members. By the time we left their bus the sun had set and the temperature had dropped, so we had a chilly walk back to our coach. The coach was still closed up with the ACs on, but the compressors had disengaged and it was a pleasant 78 degrees F inside. We opened the rig up for the evening and had some fresh sweet cherries (Rainer’s) for a dessert snack. It was then off to bed as we are scheduled for a tour of the local coal mine tomorrow at 9 AM.

2013_06_23 (Sun) FMCA Comes To A Close

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As usual, the exodus from the FMCA 50th Anniversary rally started early, with some motorhomes pulling out as early as 6:00 AM. It is always an interesting experience to watch the departure process from a major RV rally. Unlike the arrival process, which is highly organized and managed by the organization running the rally, the departure process is completely asynchronous and self-managed. It is not, however, chaotic; to the contrary, it is quite orderly. People leave when they need to and are ready to go, and that just seems to work out well. They are attentive and considerate, and there’s never any congestion; just a random but steady flow of RVs.

We had considerable rain the past few days, and some of the parking areas developed minor flooding and very muddy soil. Inevitably, some motorhomes were stuck and had to be pulled out. We have been in that situation on two previous occasions, but our site this past week was high with good drainage and well-graveled roads. Except for a few soft spots, notably where people cut corners too tight at intersections, there were no serious problems in Boxelder RV Park.

We had already arranged with the CAM-PLEX office to move to the Windmill RV Park this morning, so after breakfast we drove the car over to scout out a level, 50A full-hookup site. We left the car there to “hold” a spot, which were first-come, first-served, and walked back to the coach. We did our usual departure thing of unhooking the utilities, putting up the awnings, and otherwise preparing for the short, slow move. We had no problems pulling out, and took paved roads over to our new site. Once we were parked we did our arrival thing and leveled, hooked up, and settled in for the next few days.

We are staying at the CAM-PLEX while we wait for our early entry date on the 27th for The Escapees RV Club Escapade rally, which will also be at the CAM-PLEX June 30 – July 5. We will extend our stay here until July 7 and then move to Sheridan, Wyoming for two weeks to work on a Habitat For Humanity build. It appears that we will have to move again on the 27th to a different RV Park here at the CAM-PLEX as the Escapade is not using this one. But for now we have 50A power, which will allow us to run our air-conditioners. With some hot days forecast, that’s a good thing.

We decided to deploy our new Zip Dee Awnings, both to shade the coach and to let them dry out. Much to or surprise, we discovered that we could fully deploy the large patio awning following the directions we had. (We left our directions at home. The ones we had came from the Zip Dee booth and did not match our hardware exactly.) With the upper rafter arms hooked onto the roller tube shaft we could not get the latch pins on the rafter arms to engage. Our analysis of the problem was that that the fabric was either 2″ too short or the upper rafter support arms were 2″ too long. I wrote an e-mail to Zip Dee, but fortunately it never got sent. Further study of the rafter arm revealed that the hook on the free end was attached to a spring-loaded inner tube that was free to slide inside the outer tube. The available travel was just enough that the hook could be placed over the roller tube shaft AND the latch pin could be engaged.

Perhaps it is part of still being new to extended-time RVing, but the awning episode was yet another example of the emotional roller-coaster that sometimes comes with this lifestyle. First comes the surprise and then the disappointment of discovering (yet another) problem. This is followed by the frustration and annoyance of not being able to figure out what’s wrong and/or fix it. Then a certain sense of helplessness arises at not being able to get assistance or parts (things always seem to break on Sunday, so it’s rarely a “day of rest”). Next is the dread brought on by considering the possible dire consequences of continuing the journey with the problem unresolved. A sense of resignation settles over you as you accept that the problem will remain unfixed for the time being and will probably require a change of plans and added expense somewhere down the road. Then the “ah-ha” that comes from food, release from anxiety, and time for further thought. And finally, the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that comes from having figured it out and fixed it, even if only temporarily.

Along the same line, we were discussing our broken searchlight over lunch and decided that it would be better to seal it up with Rescue Tape and not use it than try to repair it. The wires inside the base go through a hole in the roof that is not sealed. Removing the base opens up the possibility of water getting in through that hole if I am not able to get it resealed. As we rarely need/use the searchlight, that was too big a risk for too little benefit.

As we were finishing up our encampment routine, we had motorhomes pull in on either side of us; Peter & Sybil on the passenger side and Rick on the driver side. Peter & Sybil had purchased a Progressive Industries portable 50A EMS from Lawrence RV Accessories during the FMCA rally. It had been working fine, even through the big storm, but quit working when they moved to Windmill RV Park and hooked up. I looked at the unit and noticed moisture in the LCD display (where it should not be).

I shook the unit and thought heard a sloshing sound, indicating that water had probably gotten in to the unit and shorted something out. I checked the outlet with my multi-meter to make sure the power supply was properly wired and providing the correct voltages so they could at least plug in and have power. Sybil called Daryl Lawrence and he answered the phone even though it was Sunday! They were still at the CAM-PLEX and came right over. Daryl examined the unit, came to the same conclusion I had, and swapped it out for a new one. The PI EMS units are generally very reliable, and the company stands behind them and the vendors who sell them. Peter & Sybil were leaving the next day for North Dakota, so this was truly great service for a great product from a great RV vendor. (We got our Progressive Industries EMS-50 from Daryl a year or so ago and rely on it to protect our coach’s electrical systems from problems arising outside the coach.)

As long as I am on the subject of PI EMS units, when we changed campsites and plugged in I followed the maintenance recommendation I received a few days earlier from the owner regarding the buzzing coming from the unit. Immediately after applying power, during the 2′ 16″ time delay before power switches through, I quickly cycled the contactor by moving the override switch back and forth. Sure enough, the buzz disappeared. (Technical note: Although the unit is sealed, it is designed to have the cover removed so wiring connections can be made. Dust can and will build up on the contactor contacts which results in a degraded electrical connection and the resultant buzzing. The contacts arc slightly when they close and open, and cycling them quickly and repeatedly cleans them.)

Fixing the “ET” searchlight in Windmill RV Park

In the afternoon we got the Little Giant ladder out and configured it as a 14′ extension ladder. I climbed up and attached the searchlight head to the base using some of the rescue tape we bought from a vendor at FMCA. The light can still be turned on and tilted up/down, but cannot be turned side-to-side. This is a temporary fix until we can get the bus inside at Phoenix Paint and do a proper repair with Michele Henry’s help. This will probably be in conjunction with the GLAMARAMA rally in Goshen, IN September 18 -22. What is unknown at this point is how well it will hold up to travel at highway speeds. That test comes in a couple of weeks.

While I was on the roof I inspected the skylights and vent fan domes for damage from the recent hail storm, but they all appeared to be fine. I then made a temporary installation of the WiFi Ranger Mobile Titanium (WFR-MT) by zip-tying it to the weatherhead cable entrance on the front roof. I fed the cable through the weatherhead while Linda pulled it into the former ceiling mounted TV cabinet directly below. (This cabinet originally housed a 19″ CRT TV. That TV was removed and a door made by Jaral Beatty of Logansport, Indiana to cover the opening. The door is walnut veneered plywood with solid walnut edging and Jaral managed to match the existing wood finish very well. Because this was a former TV cabinet, AC power was already available inside.

With power to the WFR-MT, we were able to connect to the local/secure network and reconfigure it. We were then able to select one of the public/open WiFi signals that were still available at the CAM-PLEX and connect through to the Internet. The signals were very strong and the connection steady and reasonably fast.

After dinner we went for a walk and watched another beautiful sunset. As dusk turned to night we witnessed the rising of a “super moon”, which appeared 14% larger than normal due to a slightly closer lunar orbit. (The 14% is something Linda read online, we did not measure it.)

When we got back to the coach, Linda decided to watch Inspector Lewis on her iPad via our free WiFi connection. We were able to stream the entire episode without hesitations due to frame-buffering. That’s a pretty good WiFi connection! A lot of RVs had left the CAM-PLEX by this time, so competition for the bandwidth was obviously less than during the FMCA rally, but it was still impressive.

Since we appeared to be on a technological roll, I decided to (finally) hookup the front over-the-air (OTA) TV Antenna, rotor controller, and TV set (monitor). What’s this about going online to get an Access Code to enable ATSC scanning on the TV set??? Yup, our Westinghouse 22″ LCD/LED TVs require an activation code that can be obtained online, by text message, or by phone. Fortunately, we had all three methods available to us so we got the code, entered it into the set, and away it went. Ta-da; we have PBS and Create! Now it feels like home. 🙂

2013_06_21 (Fri) FMCA Day 3

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We went to bed last night with a 20% chance of rain in the overnight weather forecast. We are not sure when the rain started, but around 5:00 AM the skies opened up and it rained hard for an hour. We are camped on somewhat higher ground with good grass sites and red rock roads, so the water drained away and we did not have flooding or muddy site/road issues. This was not the case in other CAM-PLEX RV parks, as I discovered while walking to the 9:45 AM International Area (INTO) meeting. My timing was bad, and I walked the 3/4 mile to the Wyoming Center in a downpour that included pea-size hail. My raincoat and small umbrella were no match for the rain, and there was not a golf cart or shuttle (school) bus to be found anywhere. In the end it was just water, and clothes eventually dry out. Always looking for the learning experience in any situation, I resolved that we would purchase serious wet weather gear when we had the chance.

Linda remained in the coach to make sandwiches for lunch as we planned to meet up with Louise Stuart and Craig Davis after the 11:30 seminars. We went to the Nostalgic Look Back at the Early Coaches of FMCA, moderated by Mike Middaugh, F3456. Mike is yet another member of the Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter that we also belong to. Mike was joined by several other vintage converted coach owners who shared photographs of buses from the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, some of them buses they had owned.

We then walked over to Louise and Craig’s motorhome, a very nice 38′ Monaco Dynasty. We had our respective lunches and a great chat as we got to know fellow members of our FMCA Freethinkers Associate Chapter. The service tech from HWH showed up around 2 PM to fix their slideout, so we took that as our cue to return to the vendor area in search of more knowledge and solutions to problems.

After some further discussion with the folks from A-1 Water Treatment we decided to purchase one of their water softeners with attached pre-filter. It was both heavy enough and bulky enough that we arranged to have them deliver it to our coach after the vendor area closed today.

We then stopped at the WiFiRanger booth and purchased a WiFi Ranger Mobile Titanium (WFR-MT) and optional AC power supply. (The Titanium version is identical in functionality to the standard version except for a metal case in place of a plastic one, and a 5-year warranty instead of a 1-year warranty.) The WFR-M/MT device mounts outside the coach and combines a WiFi “booster” (transceiver) and a WiFi router. The booster communicates with available Wi-Fi signals that can serve as on-ramps to the Internet. These signals originate somewhere beyond our coach and are paid for, and controlled by, someone other than us. These can be public/open (unsecured) or private/closed (secured). Use of a secured signal requires the correct authorization (password). Public/open networks are, by definition, free to use as you do not need a password to connect to them. Secured networks may be free, such as at some businesses, or there may be a charge, as in airports, and some hotels and campgrounds. There is an extensive system of public/open WiFi access points available at the CAM-PLEX, sponsored by WiFiRanger. It has been very good around the Wyoming Center, but varies out in the Boxelder RV Park. The booster allows us to receive this weak signal, use it, and send a suitably strong signal back. It does not, however, guarantee on-demand, robust access, as this is also a function of how many other stations are trying to access the system at the same time.

The router section of the WFR-MT generates a secure, local network that we control. Although it is generated on the outside of the bus, it should be strong enough inside and around the coach to allow us to use our devices wherever we want around our campsite (within reason). We won’t know this for sure until we hook it up, of course, but the device has been used and well reviewed by other travelers, including Technomadia. Being a full-fledged router, it not only allows multiple WiFi devices to securely connect to the Internet (via the external WiFi source), but should allow them to securely communicate with each other. (BTW: Technomadia has the definitive book on mobile connectivity. http://www.technomadia.comor Amazon.com)

I plan to mount the WFR to the cable entrance weatherhead with zip ties if it will work. The device has an Ethernet cable that plugs into a POE (Power Over Ethernet) power supply. The front cable entrance weatherhead opens into the cabinet behind/above the drivers head where a 19″ CRT TV was once housed. It comes with a DC power adapter, but we purchased the AC power adapter as there is already AC power in this cabinet that is supplied from the inverter subpanel.

Our Verizon 4G/LTE MiFi 5510L Jetpack device does essentially the same thing as the WiFi-M, except it communicates with Verizon cell phone towers instead of external WiFi sources. We will be using the Wi-Fi Ranger when possible, and the Verizon 5510L otherwise (assuming it has a usable signal). This means we could have two different WiFi networks running simultaneously. The upside to this is that we could have multiple devices accessing the Internet through different pipelines, resulting in faster data transfer. The downside to this is that devices on one network can’t communicate with devices on the other one. (We could solve that problem with a WiFi Ranger GO.) Although interference between the networks is possible, it is unlikely.

We needed an additional length of hose to hook up the new water softener when it arrived, so Linda picked up a 10′ long food grade hose from the Camco booth. She then returned to the coach to straighten it up for a visit later from Louise & Craig while I went off to the Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (GLAMA) gathering at 3:15 PM.

I attended the Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (area) meeting in the late afternoon. The main items of interest at the GLAMA meeting were the upcoming GLAMARAMA in mid-September 2013 and the 2014 GLAMARAMA planned for next June. Both rallies will be at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN. After that the intention is to move it around through Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Ontario (Canada), perhaps doing two consecutive years in each state/province.

On the walk back to the coach I had a long, technical conversation with Michele Henry of Phoenix Paint in Edwardsburg, Michigan regarding how to remove and reinstall the broken searchlight on the front roof while minimizing damage to the paint. Michele’s shop did the roof repair and repaint on our coach, and she always has a good sense about how to approach something like this. She talked me through the best way to approach it, and after considering the process carefully, I decided to defer an actual repair until we can get the coach back to her shop.

Louise & Craig came by around 5:30 PM and we continued our conversation over snacks and some Red Ass Wine from the Prairie Berry Winery in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The new water softener got delivered just as they showed up, so hookup was deferred until later. We put out the Blue Diamond Wasabi Soy almonds, and I think they caught Louise by surprise. (Sorry Louise. We really should warn folks about these. If you like almonds, and you like spicy, you will find these addictive.)

2013_06_20 (Thu) FMCA Day 2

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Again today there were no early morning seminars that caught our eyes. The indoor vendors opened at 9:00 AM, so we headed over to scope them out and buy a few small things we knew we needed. Jirah LEDs appeared to have a bulb with an elongated neck that might work in our aircraft style swivel downlights, so I bought one to try for $15. I also picked up some nylon straps from Coil-N-Wrap that are used to separate the shore power cord from an adapter or extension cord. Linda picked up an onion keeper, tomato keeper, and a set of stacking measuring spoons held together with magnets from RV SpaceSavers. Where would we be in this world without magnets?

We stopped at Lawrence RV Accessories and talked to Tom, the owner/president of Progressive Industries (PI). We have a PI EMS-50 that I installed last year. It works very well but has developed a buzz. Tom suggested using the bypass switch to clean the contactor contacts by switching it on and off quickly several times before the 2-minute time delay expires. If that doesn’t clear it up, he said they would replace it. PI is well known for their excellent products and warranty policy; they basically stand behind their products for as long as you own them. Our unit has a remote display that is installed in the bay near the unit. I purchased a kit with a second remote and switch. The switch will go in the bay and the 2nd remote will go in the house panel.

We stopped by the Zip Dee Awnings booth and had a good chat with the owner/president. We got some personal instruction on how to deploy our patio awning in full and caravan (partial) positions and he also gave us printed instructions to take with us. A stop at the nearby Magnum booth allowed me to clarify a few things about our inverter and they suggested dialing the charge rate back to 80% if it is currently set higher.

We also had a good chat with the guy from the Aqua-Hot factory. He confirmed what Lloyd Degerald told us yesterday; fuel is the issue and annual maintenance is the key, especially the fuel filter, which needs to be 10 micron, and the nozzle replacement. I described our Parker Fuel Polishing Module (FPM) installation, which caused him some concern; specifically that it not apply pressure to the pump or restrict the return flow. I assured him that the FPM, as installed, doesn’t do either of those things. He confirmed that our older model 100-S unit can use regular coolant and requires ~ 16 gallons, plus whatever is needed to fill all the lines and heat exchangers. He also confirmed that on this unit there will be bleeder valves at the heat exchangers as these are usually high points, and that bleeding the loops is best done there if they are accessible. (They often are not very accessible, and our coach is no exception). The system can be bled by applying air pressure to the tank (through the radiator cap), but that is not the preferred method. We learned in the seminar the day before that the unit has a mixing valve that should regulate the outlet temperature at ~110 degrees F. The mixing valve is adjustable, but is under the unit and very difficult to access. Finally, the expansion tank for our unit should be 5 quarts. I do not know the exact size of ours, but I am sure it is much smaller than 5 quarts. Making space for a larger one will require the water pump to be relocated, but that is something I am considering doing anyway. We also found out that all of the manuals are available online at their website for no charge.

We stopped briefly at the WiFiRanger booth, but decided to come back as the owner (Kelly Hogan, Mr. WiFiRanger) was doing a seminar at 11:00 AM on RV Internet Connectivity. We went to the seminar and it was excellent. It was not specifically about WiFiRanger products, although they obviously sell products designed to address the topic. We returned to the booth and chatted with one of the employees (Evan), but ended up going to Kelly’s trailer (man cave) later for a more personal consultation and demonstration. He also had a variety of free beer.

At this point, we may just buy the WiFiRanger Mobile (WFR-M) and forego the WiFiRanger Go (WFR-GO). The WFR-M mounts outside the coach with a cable going inside the rig for power (and data in some configurations). It communicates with an external Wi-Fi station and regenerates a local/private WiFi network while providing router functionality. The WFR-GO is also a wireless router but it also has wired ports, a special port for the WFR-M, and a USB port for tethering a cellular device, such as our Verizon 4G/LTE MiFi Jetpack 5510L. The WRF-GO allows you to seamlessly integrate these devices, but effectively replaces the router functionality of both the WFR-M and the MiFi device. This means you have paid for three routers but are only using one of them. The penalty for not have the WFR-GO is that you have to switch your devices (phones, tablets, computers, etc.) to whichever WiFi network you are using. We can probably live with that.

While wandering the CAM-PLEX grounds we found Jr. Showman’s bus conversion and had a nice, long chat with him. We gave him a copy of the February 2013 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine, which features our coach. We then walked over to check out the Windmill RV Park, where we will be staying between the rallies.

After dinner we headed over to the Morningside Park grandstand for the opening ceremonies and concert by The Birminghams. I swore I had never heard of this group, but many of their songs were quite familiar to me from my youth, and they gave a very nice concert. Three of the five musicians were original group members. We finally made contact with Louise &Craig from our FMCA Freethinkers Associate Chapter. They sat with us, and we had a nice long chat afterwards. We agreed to meet for lunch the next day.

On the walk back to our coach we watched a thunderstorm develop off in the distance. The storm to the southeast was particularly impressive; one of those iconic western thunderstorms that is isolated in an otherwise clear sky and thus completely visible. The light really is different in the West, and the views are expansive. The prevailing winds at our site suggested that it was moving southeast, away from us, and the overnight forecast was for a 20% chance of rain.

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.

2013_06_17 (Mon) On The Way To FMCA

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We were up early for breakfast and prepped ourselves for travel with showers and a shave (Bruce). I looked through my e-mail for our FMCA Rally registration confirmation but couldn’t find it. Linda called the FMCA headquarters to see if we needed it (we didn’t) and inquire about any specific arrival instructions (there weren’t any). We then went through our departure routine. We dumped the waste tanks, topped off the fresh water tank, disconnected/stowed the hoses, hooked up the car, and straightened up interior. We filled out our FMCA toad hang tag and emergency locator card and placed our entrance placard in the lower outside corner of the lower DS window. The last thing we disconnect and stow is the electrical power shoreline.

We pulled out of our site at the 3 Flags RV Park at 9:35 AM. We had estimated a 2.5 hour drive to the CAM-PLEX in Gillette, Wyoming, and pulled up to the entrance at 11:55 AM. Access to the facility was easy from the I-90 exit for Garner Lake Road and a short drive to the west entrance. We were surprised by the lack of FMCA specific signage, which we have seen at past rallies, but it wasn’t really necessary at the CAM-PLEX. The parking crew was well organized and got us directly to the holding area and in line for the “Family 50 Amp” parking area. We quickly had enough coaches and were led to our camping area by a golf cart. We got to the Boxelder RV Park area and were able to pull through into our site with the car still attached. We then had to quickly unhook and move the car as other RVs would soon be backing into the spots behind us. We ended up in site F-20 with full hookups and 50 A power! FMCA always designates parking areas at rallies by Lot and Street numbers. We were on 7^th Street in FMCA Lot 2.

We then went through our arrival routine. While Linda set up the interior, I plugged in the electric & reset the “AC in” parameter on the Magnum 4024 inverter/charger to 30A (the default setting) to take full advantage of the available 50A service. I turned on all needed circuit breakers and then connected water and sewer lines. We then opened all of the awnings except for the patio awning, for which it appeared we might not have sufficient room. Our campsite made ready, we met and chatted with adjacent motorhome owners. Not knowing where it was, we snagged a golf cart ride to the nearest info booth, dropped off our emergency locator card. The booth wasn’t that far away so we walked back to our coach. I took a photo with my phone and e-mailed (or texted) it to our kids. By then it was mid-afternoon and a bit warm, so we (me, at least) took naps. We then went for a walk, found Pat & Vicky Lintner’s coach, and visited for a while. Pat and Vicky are fellow members of the Great Lakes Converted Coaches Chapter and Pat is our National Director, representing us at Governing Board meetings. (Linda is the treasurer of this chapter.) We then walked over to the buildings to scope out the route and location. Upon return to the coach we had dinner. We then drove to Home Depot to get a small fan and some reflective insulation for the skylights as it was expected to be hot here the next two days. The overnight lows, however, were forecast for the 50’s most nights.