Tag Archives: FMCA GLAMARAMA 2015 Rally

2015/06/20 (S) Cable Entry Box

We had not been to our local ham radio club breakfast the last two Saturdays because of the GLAMARAMA rally and a visit from Linda’s brother, Ron, and his wife, Mary. The club was conducting VE testing today, rather than the usual 4th Saturday of the month, because the ARRL Field Day event is next weekend. When we got to breakfast at 8 AM there were already a lot of people there and seven more came in after us. We did not take a head count but it was somewhere between 25 and 30 people. We also did not have our usual waitress but the substitute very efficiently got everyone’s order taken and delivered.

The 40 foot tower on the east end of the house with the old OTA TV antenna on top.

I checked with Mike (W8XH) and he is available to help us get the antennas mounted on the small tower on Monday or Wednesday, assuming I have the cable entry box (CEB) installed and all of the necessary coaxial cable on hand. Getting the CEB mounted was my main goal for today, but not the first thing I had to do. I called Chuck as we were leaving breakfast at 9:15 AM. He was at home and suggested we stop by there and pick up a key to his shop. He was working on landscaping when we arrived so we did not stay long and we were back home by 10 AM. Linda finalized her shopping list and headed off to gather the things she needed to prepare tomorrow’s brunch. I changed into my work clothes, gathered up the laundry, put a load in the washer, and got to work on the CEB.

The CEB is designed to mount on the outside of the house, allowing wiring to pass between the inside and outside of the house in a way that is weather tight and animal proof. Coaxial RF cables and control lines enter through the bottom, connect to lightning arrestors in the CEB that provide a path to ground if/when needed, and then continue through the wall of the house and thence to various devices. Those devices might include cellular phone signal boosters, Wi-Fi systems, TV sets, satellite receivers, personal weather stations, or amateur radio gear such as radios, remote antenna switches, and antenna rotators.

The general area on the east end of the house at the base of he 40′ tower where the CEB will be mounted.

Superficially the installation looked simple. With the copper back plane removed there were four mounting holes, one near each corner, and two large holes in the back. All we had to do was hold the box against the wall, mark the locations of the four mounting holes and the big cable entry holes, set the box aside, drill the holes, put the box back up and secure it. Right. Sort of, but not exactly. Mounting the box took seven hours to complete.

The first step was to remove the copper back plane with the three lightning arrestors installed on it. I took care of that yesterday. The next issue was that the house has shiplap siding, i.e., the east wall where I needed to mount the CEB was not a flat surface. I decided to use 1″ square aluminum tube, installed vertically along the back of the box at the outside edges, to span multiple siding boards, ensuring that the CEB would be plumb. I also decided to leave the tube long enough to go all the way to the ground and use it to support some the weight, in effect creating legs for the CEB. That was Linda’s idea. She’s a smart girl and a licensed amateur radio operator.

The back of the CEB with one of the vertical mounting bars.

We had some surplus pavers and garden blocks and I found one that was just wide enough to catch the bottom of the legs. I also had some left over paver base material, which meant I did not need to make a trip to the store. The paver base material was from a project long, long ago (in a place far, far away) and I used it to create a base for the foundation paver, which was approximately 18″ x 12″. I leveled the base side-to-side and pitched it away from the house for drainage.

Yesterday I purchased a 3′ long aluminum tube at Lowe’s and a 4′ long tube at The Home Depot. Three feet turned out to be a good length, so I cut a foot off of the 4′ tube. Things then got trickier. The positioning of the CEB was critical as the two large holes in the back were for adapters for 2″ plastic conduit. I was going to have to cut 3″ diameter holes through the bond that would come out above the plate on top of the concrete block foundation. In the chosen mounting location the bottom corner holes in the CEB would be below the siding. The lower right leg would be at least an inch away from the concrete block foundation and the lower left hole would be in front of a basement window opening so neither of these were going to be screwed into anything.

The CEB in position on the east end of the house with the door open. The copper backplane has been removed.

I wanted the CEB anchored at more than two points so I decided to drill two additional holes in the back, one on each side, approximately half way between the existing top and bottom holes. I measured the spacing between the top and bottom holes as carefully as I could. I measured down from the top end of each leg a distance for the top holes that was just sufficient to make sure the door of the CEB was below the 2″ iron gas pipe that runs horizontally along the outside of the house. I measured down from there for the new middle hole and the bottom hole. I then drilled the three holes through each leg by drilling opposing sides. I had to use a powered hand drill for this work as my drill press was stored behind a large pile of RV furniture that we took out of the bus and was inaccessible.

I attached one of the legs to the back of the box using two short bolts through the top and bottom holes. I then used the middle hole in the leg as a guide and drilled through the back of the CEB. I repeated this procedure for the other leg. I drilled the holes in the legs as accurately as I could but they did not quite line up so I had to enlarge them slightly by using the drill bit like a router bit. Not ideal, to be sure, but aluminum is relatively soft and it worked.

The east end of the house with two 2″ holes for the conduit.

I attached each leg to the back of the CEB using 1.5″ 1/4-20 bolts through the bottom corner holes. I snugged these up but left them loose enough that we could move the legs. The top and middle holes were located in positions that would allow lag screws to be screwed into the siding and underlying plywood. We had to tilt the legs to get them under the 2″ iron gas pipe and then straighten them and set them on the foundation paver. We had to do this multiple times but it was easy once we figured out how to do it the first time.

With the CEB in position I marked the location of the holes for four 3″ 1/4-20 lag screws. We removed the CEB so I could drill the holes for the lag screws and then put it back in position and screwed it to the wall. I marked the locations of the two holes for the conduit as best I could and then unscrewed the box and removed it again. I used our 1/2″ Craftsmen corded drill for the 3″ hole saw. I bought this drill in 1978, along with a lot of other Craftsmen tools, when we moved into our house in Farmington Hills. I still have almost all of those tools and they all still work.

The CEB in position with both pieces of conduit through the back.

With the conduit holes drilled I cut one of the 18″ lengths of conduit in half, inserted the pieces into the adapters, and placed them in the holes. We then put the CEB into position, got the adapters through the holes in the back of the CED, and tried to line up the holes in the legs. The conduit was being forced up as it went through the bond, especially the one on the left, and would not allow the holes in the CEB to line up with the holes in the legs. We took the retaining rings off of the adapters and removed the CEB, again.

I shortened the conduit pieces to approximately 5″ and checked the fit in the holes. We wrapped two bands of adhesive backed foam weather-stripping around each piece of conduit and placed them back in the holes. I then applied a bead of adhesive caulk all the way around each adapter at the wall. We put the CEB in position for the final time, got the conduit adapters through the holes, snugged up the retaining rings, and put the four lag screws in. After tightening the four lag screws I tightened the two bolts in the lower corners. I then tightened the adapter retain rings and put the open end caps on. The conduit ended up getting pulled back out of the wall a bit so I used the thin end of a 10″‘wood shim to try and force the caulk back into the gap around the conduit adapter. It did not go back in very well so I will have to figure out something else to seal around the conduit.

The CEB was finally installed and very solidly anchored. I got the copper base plate and remounted it to the five studs (four corners and one center) using some antioxidant/anti-seize compound on the stud threads. The last step (for today) was to install the snap in covers for the 16 cable entrance holes in the bottom of CEB. I also ordered 16 grommets and will remove the caps and replace them with grommets as I install devices and run their cables and wires into the CEB.

The CEB with the copper backplane installed and the three Morgan lightning arrestors mounted (two lower left, one top center).

The two pieces of conduit open into the sump pump room (large closet) in the northeast corner of the basement just above the wood plate that sits on top of the concrete block foundation. I plan to install the SureCall Fusion5s 5-band cellular booster (amplifier) in this room to keep it close to the CEB and because there is AC power available there. I bought an installation kit for the Fusion5s that includes a lightning arrestor which will get mounted in the CEB. I also bought an amplifier for the OTA TV antenna that will mount on the tower a few feet below the antenna. The amplifier will get its power through the coax from a power inserter that doubles as a lightning arrestor and will be installed in the CEB with the AC power supply (wall wart) in the sump pump room.

I did not get these two additional lightning arrestors installed today. By the time we got the CEB installed we were tired. The high temperature was OK (near 80?) but the relative humidity was very high. I was also very sore the whole time, especially my left knee, undoubtedly the lingering after effect of using the power chisel earlier in the week to remove thinset and mastic from the floor of the bus. Getting down and up at least 50 times during the afternoon did not improve matters, but we got it done.

Even though she was also tired, once we reached a point where I could finish up alone Linda got busy making several food items for tomorrow. In the midst of all that she heated some Amy’s Lentil Soup and made grilled cheese sandwiches with Diaya cheese or dinner. Diaya makes an excellent non-dairy cheese that works well cold or cooked into dishes.

After dinner I returned a call from Butch to find out more about their new property and buildings, and discuss bus and ham radio projects. One of the things Linda made was an apple pie so we stayed up until it was cool enough to wrap up. That turned out to be 10 PM, by which time we ready to turn in for the night.

2015/06/07 (N) Too Soon, Too Late

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Unlike the Escapees Rallies, which always have a “hitch up” breakfast on the day of departure, the FMCA rallies always end with the entertainment the evening before departure day. On departure day there is an asynchronous but generally smooth exodus of motorhomes that can start as early as 6 AM. A small group of members from the Ontario Rovers chapter was parked across from our row of GLCC buses and they started firing up their engines at 7 AM and pulled out shortly thereafter. No one objects to, or is disturbed by, this as it is understood and accepted that folks need to get on the road as suits their personal plans and travel styles. We are usually required to vacate the rally venue by noon unless we are part of the debriefing meetings.

One of the things I find most interesting about rallies is the somewhat contradictory feelings many of us seem to have on departure day that the rally is ending too soon but we would have been glad to leave sooner. The sense that it is over too quickly has to do, for me at least, with the fact that we enjoy the camaraderie of our fellow converted bus owners who we only see very occasionally. The sense that it has gone on too long is just the fatigue of an intense multi-day event where every day is packed full of things to do.

John and Paulette pulled out around 9:30 AM followed by Don and Sandra and then Larry and Alma. The Canadian contingent of our chapter (two buses and a Class C motorhome) was headed to a campground in Middlebury, Indiana about 17 miles away. They had planned to leave just before noon on the presumption that they would not be able to check in any sooner than that. Karen called and found out their sites were vacant so they all prepped their coaches, hooked up their cars, and were gone by 10:30 AM. Once we saw they were getting ready to leave we did not have any reason to linger so we prepared our coach for departure and so did Scott and Tami. We both decided to hook up by our sites rather than at the dump stations. We pulled away just after 11 AM with them not far behind us.

We took the outer road along the southern boundary of the Fairgrounds over to the dump stations at the southeast corner. There are at least five parallel lanes that RVs can use to dump their holding tanks. We have never had to wait for one but when we got over there they were all in use and there were five motorhomes waiting to get in. We had to dump before we left, and so did Scott and Tami, so there was nothing to do but wait our turn. Soon enough we were able to pull up, hook up our sewer hose, dump our holding tanks, rinse out the hose, put it away, close up the bay’s, and head for the exit.

The easiest way in/out of the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds is NOT through Goshen, Indiana which involves narrower streets, lots of traffic, and railroad grade crossings. From Gate 5 at the far northeast corner of the fairgrounds we turned right on CR-34 (Monroe St.) and headed east. About a mile later, give or take a bit, we turned left and headed north on CR-29. A couple of miles later CR-29 ended at IN-4 which we took east to IN-13. IN-13 starts (ends) at that point and only goes north from there.

We discussed whether to turn east onto US-20 or continue north on IN-13 but finally opted for the US-20 route. IN-13 becomes US-131 in Michigan and we could have taken it up to I-94, passing through Three Rivers, Michigan on the way. But US-20 is a good route that we have traveled many times and is the quickest way home from this part of Indiana, getting us over to I-69 very directly.

Once we got to I-69 the rest of our trip was on Interstate highways except for the last 13 miles. We stopped at the Michigan Welcome Center / Rest Area at mile marker 5 and then continued up to Lansing where we exited onto I-96 east. As we approached the exit for the Mobil Truck Stop at M-52 our fuel level was indicating just below a half tank and I decided not to stop and top it off. We talked about taking the Latson Road exit but M-59 is the most direct route home so I took that exit like we usually do. M-59 only goes east from there and rolls along interrupted by only two stop lights. Approximately 11 miles later I turned south on N. Hacker road and we completed the drive to our house.

We had very light and intermittent rain from the time we left the fairgrounds but it did not affect the drive. The only issue with the bus was that the Battery Balance Light and Vanner Equalizer Light both came on twice. Both times it happened I had just hit a very bumpy section of road so I am wondering if I have some loose cables. I have not checked the batteries in a while and terminal connections are probably due to be cleaned and tightened. The batteries are three or four years old at this point and are standard lead-acid maintenance-free batteries. I keep them on maintenance chargers when the coach is parked, but these batteries typically only last about 5 years so I need to check them and keep an eye on them.

We pulled into our driveway around 2:45 PM and Linda got out to direct me as I parked the rig. We were level without any adjustments so I shut down the main engine, switched off the batteries, closed all of the air valves, and plugged in the shorepower cord. It was not raining so we busied ourselves emptying the bus, including the refrigerator, of items we needed to get into the house sooner rather than later. We did not empty the freezer section as Linda needs to clean out and rearrange our home refrigerator freezer section first, and we left a lot of the clothes on board.

The wind was gusting stronger as the afternoon progressed. It continued to spritz off and on but the heavier rains finally came around 6 PM. They were initially isolated and intermittent but became stronger and more persistent as the evening hours advanced and by 9 PM we had lightning and thunder. Our son called around 9:30 PM just to check in with us, see how our week was, and bring us up to date regarding their activities. Last week was grand-daughter Madeline’s first full week of part-time day care. She will be staying home on Monday’s and Friday’s through the summer and hopefully be able to spend some time with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Bruce.

2015/06/06 (S) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 4)

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Today was the last day of the 2015 GLAMARAMA rally. It started at 7 AM with a pancake breakfast that ran until 9 AM. For the third year the rally organizers hired Chris’s Cakes to provide the pancakes. They had three long propane fueled griddles with sliding depositors. The operator stopped the depositors and used a lever to release the batter for six pancakes at a time and then moved it to the next position and did the same thing until the griddle was full. All of the pancakes had to be flipped by hand but the operators (cooks) were fast and generally accurate. They would occasionally flip three of them into the air at once and someone would try to catch them on their plate.

Linda and both had coffee. She had to work registration from 8 – 10 AM and left to go do that. I was hungry so I had three pancakes even though they probably contained eggs and/or milk products. I should have saved the calories; neither the pancakes nor the syrup had any flavor. Zero, zip, nada, nothing; no taste. I cannot remember the last time I had food that was that bland. But Scott, Mark, and I settled into an in-depth bus conversation that lasted until after 9 AM and the coffee was OK.

Linda and I met up back at the coach a little after 10 AM. I got a call from Gaye a Young letting me know we had a meeting with FMCA Executive Director Jerry Yeatts at 2:30 PM. Linda and I went back to the Coach Supply Direct booth and talked to Josh some more about fabrics. He confirmed that the Flexsteel 529 captain’s chair had a skirt around the base and that we could do a 2-tone fabric on the Flexsteel 591 captain’s chairs. We got the set of Lambright fabric samples from him along with the MCD shade material samples, and took them back to our coach to study in situ.

Although we liked the Bonkers Havana fabric we had previously selected, we ultimately selected two different ones. The Lone Wolf Brass was similar to the Bonkers Havana but lighter and much less green. Until we saw them together we did not realize the Bonkers Havana was green at all. The Legacy Borpeaux was a deep maroon, a color that appears in the Lone Wolf Brass and Bonkers Havana weaves. We will use the Lone Wolf Brass as the main fabric for the 591 chairs with the Borpeaux as the inset for the lower back and center aft seat panels. The 529 chairs will be all Borpeaux as the design of the chair does not lend itself to a 2-tone approach and we wanted some variety in the fabrics as long as they coordinated well.

The selection of materials for the MCD night shade was limited to six choices with one of them being black and another one white. Of the other four there was one we liked (B33). It was a bone (bisque, biscuit, etc.) color with a subtle but nice pattern. We wanted this opaque material to be light, but not “white,” so it would reflect artificial interior light when it was pulled down. The day shade is only available as a black fine-mesh screen. It is designed to block sunlight during the day but allow you to see out without anyone outside being able to see in.

With our selections made we went back to see Josh and return his sample materials. We keep feeling like we are close to placing an order but Josh needs to work up his pricing and get us the line drawings of the chairs. For our part we need to determine the dimensions of the cushions for the sofa and talk to A–1 Upholstery and get their estimate of how many yards of material we need so Josh can order all of the fabric at one time.

We went for our first walk around the Fairgrounds for this rally, although Linda has been walking every evening with Vicki Lintner. We were back at Building A at 12:30 PM. Linda had signed up for the Ladies Tea, which started at 1 PM so she headed over to the Home and Arts Building and I went back to our coach.

Frank Griswold drove down and bought a day pass. He and Sandy had planned to come to the rally in their Prevost H3-45 Vantare conversion but were unable to attend due to family issues. Jim and Lydia Marin decided to leave and go visit their children and Tim Olsen decided to depart right behind them and get home before the rain got his newly acquired, and freshly washed, Royale Coach Prevost XL dirty. When you have inside storage for your bus you have the option of being concerned about such things.

I was eating a sandwich for lunch, had Jasper on my lap, and was working on this blog post when Pat Lintner knocked on the door around 2 PM. He had purchased 18″ LED replacement lights for one of the ceiling fixtures in their Prevost bus conversion and wanted help wiring it. I took my voltmeter over to his coach to check the wiring. All we needed to do was identify the +12VDC and DC ground wires and while it seemed obvious how the fixture should be wired I was getting some odd readings on my meter. I did not want to rush and clip any wires until I was confident that I understood how the fixture was wired, and I had a meeting at 2:30 PM, so I told Pat I would be back before diner to finish the job.

I met with Gaye Young (FMCA national education committee chair) and Jerry Yeatts (FMCA executive director) for about 30 minutes to discuss the current status of the national education committee and its work. I then participated in a roundtable discussion with FMCA national secretary Vicki Ferrari and six other chapter secretaries. It was a very informative session that lasted for 90 minutes.

I had a chance to think about the fixture wiring while walking to and from my meetings, so after the chapter secretaries roundtable ended I went back to Pat’s coach, identified the +12VDC and DC ground wires, verified the voltage, clipped the supply wires, and got the LED bulbs installed in the ceiling fixture. I was done in time to walk back to my coach, which was not far from Pat’s, drop off my volt meter and iPad, and walk over to Building A for the Volunteer Dinner where Linda was waiting for me at the front door.

We went in and were greeted by Charlie Adcock, FMCA National President, who addressed Linda as Mrs. Bruce, and then by Jane Roush, who addressed Linda as Fay, all of which she found slightly amusing. I suggested that she had an identity crisis but she assured me she liked it that way. Dinner was green beans in butter with bacon, mashed potatoes (milk and butter), beef tips in gravy, and dinner rolls. There was no salad so we had dinner rolls with margarine for dinner. Mostly we go to these events to sociable and visible but it would be nice if a bit more consideration was given to having food available for people who have gluten issues or do not eat meat, eggs, or dairy for whatever reason. Green beans, properly prepared, are actually very tasty without butter and bacon.

We returned to our coach for a while and finished the leftover seitan stroganoff so we at least had something other than bread for dinner. We walked back to Building A, which we are parked behind one end of, for the evening entertainment. Sarah Ghetto performed at the first GLAMARAMA in September 2013 and was popular with the crowd so they invited her back. She was born blind and with a cleft pallet. The pallet was corrected surgically and she is an attractive and talented 31 year old woman with a college degree in music education and a voice that does justice to the Ann Murray covers and other songs she performs. She owns her own motorhome and travels with her parents from her home base in Norman, Oklahoma about five months of the year. Her dad sets up the lights and sound, MC’s the show, and plays guitar and/or sings on a few numbers, but dad makes it clear that Sarah is the star and keeps the spotlight on her.

FMCA is an International organization with members from Canada and Mexico in addition to the U.S.A. and yet they insist on hiring performers who pay tribute to the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and sing God Bless America and other nationalist songs. The Great Lakes Area (GLAMA) in particular includes all of Ontario and our Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter includes members from the entire area (IN, MI, OH, and Ontario). Our Canadian friends seem to take all of the religious-patriot nonsense in stride, but we find it inconsiderate at best and offensive at worst. Still, we enjoyed Sarah’s concert, most of which was not this kind of stuff. The Marlin’s also did some of this kind of music but most of their show was just great renditions of oldies.

We all walked the short distance back to our coaches after the concert and stood around in conversational groupings. To our surprise Mark Lovegreen had pulled out. He was headed to a relative’s farm outside Topeka, Kansas and wanted to get started with the trip. Linda and Vicki went for a walk, as they have every evening, and returned as the daylight was fading. They took down the American and Canadian Flags for the last time and folded them properly.

As darkness fell so did the temperature and once again it was just Scott and I having a conversation. This time it was mostly about holding tanks. By 10 PM we were getting a bit chilled and finally returned to our respective coaches for the night. I had some fresh fruit for desert and then went to bed and wrote for a little while before turning off the lights. At rallies our days usually start early, are filled with things to do, and run well into the evening. By the end of four or five days of that everyone is tired, but it’s a good kind of tired.

2015/06/05 (F) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 3)

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Today was day 3 of the FMCA GLAMARAMA 2015 rally. We were up at 7 AM after a poor night’s sleep in which the trains seemed to be almost continuous and the engineers seemed to leave their horns on for prolonged periods of time rather than just tooting them. We were at breakfast before 7:30 AM and had coffee while conversing at length with our friends from GLCC. Unlike the full breakfast that was included as part of the rally yesterday, today’s breakfast was simply coffee and donuts. The day’s rally activities got started at 9 AM so everyone went their own separate way at that time.

Linda and I went back to our coach for a while. We got word from our daughter that our step grand-daughter, Katie, woke up very ill this morning with a temperature of 103 degree F and unable to keep food down. When Linda headed to the 9:45 AM presentation on the FMCAssist program I stopped in one of the vendor buildings to pick up a receipt from Daryl Lawrence and chat with Josh Leach from Coach Supply Direct about our interior remodeling project. I then returned our GLCC sign to the office and went back to our coach.

The luncheon was at 11:15 AM, which seemed a bit early, but we walked over with our Canadian friends from our GLCC chapter and got in line. As usual we could not eat most of the food (by our choice) but we were able to make tomato and onion sandwiches using hamburger buns. Our daughter contacted Linda during lunch to let us know that Katie’s mom was taking her to the emergency room and we did not need to travel home in the car as Katie would probably not be attending her high school graduation this evening or the family dinner planned for afterwards. Although that greatly simplified our day we were disappointed for Katie and concerned that she get better very soon.

After lunch we went back to talk to Josh some more. Darin Hathaway was still out on Aqua-Hot service calls but things were so slow in the vendor area that Josh was willing to step away from his booth for a little while and bring his Corian samples box to our coach. It turned out that the Sandstone color/pattern was a perfect match to our existing kitchen counter. We do not always have that kind of good fortune when working on our 24 year old bus conversion.

We talked about chairs and Josh suggested that a Flexsteel Class C captain’s chair (model 529) might be a better choice for our dining/work table grouping than the barrel chairs we thought we wanted. The 529 is only 24 inches wide (to the outside of the arms) and can be mounted on a bolt down swivel/slide base with a seatbelt bar. It has a higher back than the barrel chairs but appears to be better proportioned for our space. The higher back would also be more supportive and the back does recline, so it would be adjustable the extent we have room.

We also talked about the Flexsteel 591 captain’s chair, with and without a footrest, for the passenger and driver seats respectively. Josh looked at the motorized bases for both chairs and thought they could be reused. That would be nice if true as it would save us cost and potentially simplify the installation. We still like the Lambright Havana Bonkers cloth fabric but are wondering if it might be too dark to use on all of the furniture. He gave us the name and phone number of A-1 Upholstery in Elkhart and said that they could make our custom sofa cushions and were the best upholsterers he has worked with. We will not have time to call them until Monday.

Last, but not least, Josh took measurements of all of our windows (except the windshields and cockpit windows) for MCD duo-shades. While potentially not as attractive as the Specialty Window Coverings (SWC) pleated day-night shades we currently have they would probably work better mechanically and be more effective in blocking light while affording us a view. We will almost certainly replace the shades in the bedroom as one of them is already broken. Whether we do the others will depend, at least partially, on cost but the quality of the design and manufacturing is very low and many of the metal pieces are actually bowed and have been since the day they were installed. In retrospect we should never have accepted them.

We spent the afternoon in/near our coach reading, writing, and paying attention to our cats. The Chapter Officers and Vendor’s Reception started at 4:15 PM. We walked over with Bill and Karen Gerrie who are officers in the Ontario Overlanders chapter. We had a sampling of items from the fresh fruit and relish trays. Linda had the Franzia Moscato and I had the Franzia Refreshingly Red wine. While waiting in line we finally made the acquaintance of Gaye Young, the chairperson of the national education committee, and her husband Jerry. Gaye is a candidate for FMCA national secretary. The election will be held at the national convention in Madison, Wisconsin at the end of July.

We went back to our motorcoach for a while and then returned to Building A to hear The Marlins. A group of four brothers, The Marlins gave a high energy 90 minute performance of an eclectic mix of popular music from the last 75 years. Back at our coach several of us stood outside talking until it got cool and dark. Vicki and Linda took down the American and Canadian flags and folded them. Linda then went in for the evening while I remained outside talking to Mark Lovegreen, who owns the highly modified MCI MC-8 parked next to us with the Laughing Raven Touring Co. markings. Mark is from Alaska and we continued our conversation for quite a while talking about buses and travel. It finally got chilly enough that we both retired to our respective coaches, although Mark was probably just hitting his comfort zone. I worked for a while on this post and then went to bed.

2015/06/04 (R) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 2)

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We had a very full schedule today. Breakfast was provided from 7 to 9 AM by the catering branch of Das Dutchmen Essenhaus restaurant as part of the rally fee. We went over at 8 AM with the Canadian contingent of our GLCC chapter. Breakfast was eggs, potatoes, and ham, so we had potatoes along with coffee and orange juice. The potatoes were OK, improved by ketchup and Tabasco sauce, the orange juice was excellent, and the coffee was acceptable except that they ran out. Yeah, they ran out of coffee at an RV rally breakfast.

We walked over to registration at 9 AM to find out our pavilion assignment for the social this afternoon. They put us in Building 17, about as far from where most of us are parked as possible. Oh well. We walked over and put up our chapter sign and then started spreading the word as this was a different location than we had the last two years. With the help of Vicki Lintner and her bicycle we managed to get the word to everyone, including those chapter members that we knew were at the rally but not parked with the chapter.

The vendor buildings were on our way back to our coach so we walked through those. We stopped at Daryl and Cheri Lawrence’s booth and paid them for the TireTraker repeater Daryl gave us to try when we were in Quartzsite, Arizona this past winter. We were able to use our volunteer “vendor bucks” to pay for half of the repeater. Daryl also confirmed that we should be able to back the dill valve stems out of our inside dual tire extensions slightly (1/4 turn) to get the TireTraker sensors to activate more reliably.

Josh Leach was there from Coach Supply Direct so we chatted with him a bit. He can order the Flexsteel 1341-CH barrel chair with the Lambright fabric we like and can order the Flexsteel captain’s chair for the passenger position in the same fabric. He estimated delivery at five weeks. He can also get Corian countertops made and had a good assortment of sample pieces so we are going to try to get him to the coach with the samples and select something.

We also stopped at the MCD shade vendor and at one of their competitor’s booths. We are thinking about replacing the two shades in the bedroom with the duo-style roller shades. The MCD vendor also gave us a great tip on how to adjust our AutoMotion motorized windshield shades using layers of painter’s tape to get the fabric to roll up onto the spool correctly. The shades from either vendor are custom made and shipped. The MCD guy will ship them for free. The other guy is local to Elkhart so we could pick them up if needed, although there is certainly a real cost to the 300 mile round trip.

Back at the coach I returned a call from Mike at Suburban Seating and called Rick Short at ISRI USA but was not successful in reaching either of them. There was a meeting of GLAMA chapter presidents, national directors, and alternate directors at 1:30 PM with GLAMA President Jane Roush so I went to that. FMCA National President Charlie Adcock and Senior National Vice-President Jon Walker were also there.

While I was at the meeting Linda and Karen (Gerrie) left at 2 PM to pick up the food and sundry items for our GLCC chapter social. My meeting ended at 2:30 PM and I went back to the coach to get our chapter banner. Bill Gerrie agreed to help he put it up. He grabbed two chairs and I grabbed the banner and Scott Bruner, who was on golf cart transportation duty, drove us over. Bill and I got the banner tied up where it was visible and then sat and talked until Linda showed up in our car with the food. She had the air-conditioning on full blast to keep it cool. She’s a clever girl.

By 4 PM almost everyone had shown up so we had a moment of silence to allow folks to practice their individual pre-meal traditions. We were just getting in line to get our food when the photographer showed up and wanted a group picture. We gathered on either side of our banner and she apparently got what she needed although I only saw her take one photo. A few more members showed up and joined the food line. When everyone had their first helping, and a chance to eat some of it, George Myers asked if we could start the meeting and he could have the floor. No problem. I called the meeting to order and gave him the floor.

Besides being a member of our chapter George and Sue run the golf cart transportation service for the rally. George is also the GLAMA VP for Indiana. Since there was only one geographic Indiana chapter (the Hoosier Cruisers) all of the multi-state chapters, like ours, were put under the Indiana VP. Thus George had five chapters that he was responsible for assisting and had to go visit the other four. The main thing he wanted to cover was the FMCAssist program which is included as part of a full or associate membership in FMCA.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly enough. Of equal importance to me was that everyone seemed to enjoy the food. We had pizza the last two years so we were not sure how well our food choices would be received. We had at least 30 people there. Jane Roush, Charlie Adcock, and Jon Walker were supposed to drop in and speak to the group. I gave them a 5-to-6 PM window but they did not make it by the time our social broke up at 6 PM. Several folks helped clean up the pavilion and divide up the leftovers, some of which got loaded into our car.

Most of us are parked together and we ended up with a big circle of chairs back at our rigs. After putting away the leftovers Linda, Karen, and Vicki went to play card bingo while the rest of us talked buses and travel. I tried one of the Shortt’s Soft Parade beers we had in the fridge. To the extent that I like beer at all, which isn’t very much, I prefer fruit beers and lagers and do not care for the bitterness of hops. Based on that our daughter had suggested I try the Shortt’s. It had an orange citrus taste but also tasted too much like beer for me. But you don’t know if you don’t try. Eventually people drifted back to their coaches until the four of us who were left were chased indoors by darkness, bugs, and the chill of the night air.

Linda and I stayed up a while longer but we got word during the social that our older grand-daughter (Katie) had secured two tickets for us to attend her high school graduation ceremony tomorrow night. We were excited that she was able to get two more tickets but it also meant we would have a very long day tomorrow.

2015/06/03 (W) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 1)

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Today was the opening day of the 2015 rally of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Great Lakes Area MotorCoach Association (GLAMA). We were expecting three more arrivals from our Great Lakes Converted Coaches (GLCC) chapter but only two of them made it in before the 5 PM parking cutoff. Jim and Lydia Marin, who parked next to us at Elkhart Campground on Sunday, arrived during the morning while Linda and I were out running errands. Larry and Alma Baker arrived mid-afternoon.

Linda and I had our usual breakfast and then left around 8:30 AM. Our first stop was Martin’s supermarket on US-33 northwest of downtown Goshen where Linda ordered the food for our chapter social tomorrow. She and Karen Gerrie will pick up the deli trays, chips, pop, plates, napkins, and eating utensils tomorrow just before the social begins.

When we were done at Martin’s we continued up US-33 towards Elkhart, took CR-20 over to SR-19 and followed that north to W. Franklin Street where we headed west to the Elk Park Industrial Park and Paul’s Seating. We met with Paul who was as helpful as he could be but it was basically a wasted trip. He did not have a showroom, did not have additional information about the products shown on his website, and no longer carried any form of barrel chair. His business appeared to mostly be recovering existing furniture, although later in the day we were looking at Pleasureway motorhomes (made in Elkhart) that featured furniture from Paul’s Seating. It did not impress us as the highest quality RV furniture we have seen.

Paul suggested we look at MasterCraft for barrel chairs. Linda pulled them up on the web browser on her phone. They were in LaGrange, Indiana, which was quite a drive to the east on US-20, and did not have anything illustrated on their website that looked like the kind of chair we wanted/needed. We went back down US-33 to Goshen, stopped along the way for a soft pretzel at Ben’s, and then returned to the fairgrounds.

I made phone calls to Isringhausen, Suburban Seating, Villa International, and Glastop RV Furniture. I chatted with someone at Isri, Carlos at Suburban, Melanie at Villa (in Elkhart), and Peter from Glastop. The calls to ISRI and Suburban were in connection with getting an ISRI 6800/6832/6860 bus driver seat. The calls to Villa and Glastop were for barrel chairs.

We sat outside our coach for a while and chatted with Mike Dickson. He and Kathy are in the Jayco Class C next to us. We eventually got hungry and Linda made faux deli slice sandwiches for lunch. By that point I was ready for a nap and slept for about two hours. We had some of the seitan stroganoff for dinner around 5:30 PM. I put on my nice GLCC shirt and at 6:05 PM we took the GLCC chapter flag over to Building A to line up for the opening ceremonies. I thought I could handle the flag alone but we decided to have Linda help carry it. She was wearing her Desert Bar T-shirt so she went back and changed into her GLCC shirt.

The opening ceremonies started at 6:30 PM. After the presentation of the Canadian and American colors, the singing of both national anthems, the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag, and a very religious invocation, we had the parade of chapter flags. That was followed by the introductions of a long list of FMCA dignitaries and announcements. Fortunately it was all done by 7 PM. There was a short break before the Frustrated Maestros started playing and we took that opportunity to return to our coach as did many of our other chapter members. Several groups of us stood around and chatted until it got chilly and we all went inside. The rest of the evening was spent in our coach using our iPads.

2015/06/02 (T) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 0)

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We were up at 7 AM and had cinnamon toast for breakfast but did not have coffee. We checked various routes to the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds (EC4HFG) and searched online for information about any possible road construction problem areas but did not find anything that looked problematic. By 8 AM we had started preparing the bus and car for travel. Linda walked over to Curtis’s coach to say “so long for now” but all the shades were down so she sent him a text message that we were on our way. We pulled out of our site at 8:15 AM. I pulled up clear of other RVs and stopped to wipe off the passenger side mirror which was obscured with dew. I am always surprised that I don’t notice things like that before we start to move.

We took CR-4 west to SR-19 and went south, crossing over the Indiana Toll Road, to CR-6. There are times of the day that this intersection would be very busy but traffic was light this morning and I had no trouble getting into the correct turn lane and completing the turn. CR-6 is a 4-lane road and moved along nicely all the way to CR-17 except for a short lane closure for local maintenance. We turned south on CR-17, took it down to US-20, and headed east. As I expected, this stretch of US-20 was still very much under construction with only one lane open in each direction and no wide loads over 11 feet permitted. Traffic was more congested and slower but it moved along. When we got to SR-15 we turned south and ran along nicely until we got to a construction zone that had the road down to one lane with flaggers. We waited patiently and eventually got through the bottleneck. We were routed through a short detour and then finally entered Goshen. We followed the SR-15/US-33 Truck Route and found ourselves in another one lane construction zone with flaggers, and a train thrown in for good measure, but we eventually made it to our turn onto eastbound CR-34 (Monroe Street) and drove the final mile to Gate 5 of the EC4HFG.

We were directed to the staging area where we unhooked our car. We were then led to the area reserved for our Great Lakes Converted Coaches Chapter and backed into our site. The Laughing Raven Touring Co. bus was already parked in our area. We saw this bus at Elkhart Campground while walking but did not realize it was headed to the rally. The owner, Mark Lovegreen, is not a member of our chapter but wanted to park with other buses and we were glad to have him. I reserved 12 parking spaces, the parking crew gave us 13, and I had a least one coach that was not going to show up so we had the space. Also, Pat and Vicki Lintner got parked on hard surface nearby as the ground in our area was very soft when they arrived on Sunday. In addition to being our chapters National Director Pat is the Senior VP of GLAMA would normally be parked elsewhere except that he likes to park with the chapter.

While Linda set up the interior and made coffee I hooked up the electrical power. Our main 50 A circuit breaker did not want to set. I finally pushed the lever hard enough to move it but did not like the way it sounded and did not get power to the coach. I have indicator lights that told me there was power at the coach end of the shorepower cord but I verified that using my VOM. I removed the cover from the disconnect box in our coach and verified that there was voltage present on both the L1and L2 bus but no voltage present on the output lugs of the circuit breaker. Bummer.

Linda turned off the 30A supply circuit breaker and unplugged the cord. I checked with the VOM that there was not voltage present and then unclamped the L1 and L2 load wires, removed them from the circuit breaker, and then removed the breaker from the box. I tested it for continuity and with the lever in the “ON” position and one leg showed a short but the other leg showed an open. That meant I should have had voltage coming through to our Progressive Industries EMS on one leg but I never did. Regardless, we needed a new breaker as at least the one side had clearly failed.

The circuit breaker was a Square D QO style 2-pole 50A model. I knew that Lowe’s carried QO breakers so Linda searched for the nearest store using her phone. There was one on US-33 back towards Elkhart so Linda fixed a “to go” cup of coffee for me and I headed there. They had a good selection of QO breakers including the 50A one that needed. I looked briefly at refrigerators and noted that they had the Frigidaire model we are considering in white, black, and stainless steel. Maybe we will drive up later to look at them.

I took a different route through Goshen to avoid the one lane construction zone. Back at the coach I refilled my coffee and got to work. As bus repairs go this one was pretty straightforward. Getting the two load wires into the circuit breaker clamps was a bit tricky but I got them in. The QO breakers snap onto a mounting rail at the bottom and then the contact fingers snap over two blades at the top. All of that took a bit of pushing but I got it in. I put the cover plate back on, reconnected the shorepower cord, turned on the supply breaker, and turned on the coach breaker. We had power to the coach but it shut off. I reset the breakers (turned them full off and then back on) and everything appeared to be fine and the power did not trip out after that.

With our power problem averted Linda walked over and got us registered and signed up for one of the few remaining time slots to work in the rally office. She had volunteered to work registration but most of the time slots were already filled and the only thing left was Saturday morning. Shortly after she returned to our parking area three more buses showed up: Bill and Karen Gerrie, Mike and Kathy Dickson, and Joe and Mia Temples. Next in were John and Paulette Lingafelter followed by Don and Sandra Moyer. Late in the afternoon Scott and Tami Bruner arrived. That only left a couple of coaches arriving tomorrow.

I borrowed a sledge hammer from Joe Temples and pounded three pieces of rebar into the ground to serve as supports for the clubs three flag holders. A number of RVs around the rally site had the same design and I suspect that there was an article in the magazine, or something online, about how to build these. They are very simple and inexpensive, can be taken apart for transporting, and rotate with changes in wind direction. Our club as a USA flag, a Canadian flag, and a Chapter flag.

We all stood around in small, shifting groups talking about this and that. I laid down around 2 PM and napped for about 90 minutes. We are conveniently located to one of the bathroom/shower facilities so Linda took a shower there so as to not use up the good water in our tank. By 6 PM most of our group had left to go out to dinner. We ate around 6:30 PM, having a nice, light supper of cold chickpea salad on a bed of power greens.

A little before 7 PM we drove back to Lowe’s to look at refrigerators. It turned out that the ones I saw were the 18 cu. ft. models not the 16 cu. ft. one we need/want. The 18 cu. ft. model would fit in our alcove but take up the entire width leaving no space for a pull out pantry. We looked at solar powered spotlights for illuminating the flags at night but at $18 each decided not to buy any as we needed at least three and would ultimately need the approval of the club to buy them. We stopped at the Martin’s market on US-33 and picked up a deli tray brochure and a few grocery items.

Back at the rig there were lots of folks gathered in conversation. Linda and Vicki went for a walk while I chatted with Mark (from Alaska) and Scott. Scott and Tami recently had a new Whirlpool residential refrigerator installed in their bus so I went to see it. It’s a very nice French door fridge with lower freezer drawer but is too tall for our alcove. This is the style refrigerator Linda wanted but we could not find one sized to fit our space. Bill Gerrie helped me get the U.S. and Canadian flags off of the holders. Linda and Vicki returned just in time to help fold them properly. With darkness came much cooler temperatures and everyone retreated to the warmth and comfort of their coaches.

Someone reminded us that Paul’s Seating in Elkhart was a good place to shop for furniture so Linda Googled it and found the website. There were pictures of lots of chairs, including a barrel chair, but no information about dimensions, fabric options, or prices. We will likely go to Martin’s in the morning and place a food order and then drive in to Elkhart and find Paul’s. The critical path for our interior remodeling project goes directly through the selection of furniture and then through the refrigerator replacement so we are starting to feel some pressure about getting decisions made and orders placed.

2015/05/28 (R) Ice Cold Internet

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I was up until after 1 AM last night fussing with my computer but the OS was updated and was running better (I think) when I finally went to bed. I need my beauty rest so I did not get up until 9 AM this morning. Linda had already made coffee so I checked the temperature of the refrigerator (41.4 degrees F) and then got out the soy creamer. 41 is better than 45 but given where the thermostat was set the temperature in the fresh food compartment should have been 35 degrees or lower. We had a very late breakfast of homemade granola and small glasses of orange juice to wash down our vitamins.

Because I did not get to upload any blog posts last night I switched up my routine and spent the morning working at my desk. The weather was very nice so Linda went for a long walk. My computer was back to normal and I managed to upload nine posts to my blog (May 10 through 18) by 1 PM.

I had an e-mail back from Ken Schramm yesterday letting me know that his “last day at Wayne RESA” gathering would get underway around 3:30 PM at Ashley’s Beer & a Grill at Westland Mall. Brendan and Shawna’s celebration is from 5 to 8 PM in Ann Arbor so we will be able to attend both events although we might not make it to Ann Arbor until 6 PM.

Today was our friends’ 44^th wedding anniversary. Butch and Fonda were married the same year we were one day before us. We did not know each other then but are now friends through our mutual passion for converted highway buses.

Brendan called and talked to Linda. It turns out that tomorrow is grandparents/special friends Shabbat at Madeline’s daycare center and Brendan thought we might want to attend. It starts at 10:30 AM and includes lunch. The food at the daycare center is vegetarian but not vegan so we will see how that works out. Brendan is going to take care of Linda’s plants so we will take these with us and go to his house when we are done at the daycare center. I will pick up our electric pressure washer while we are there so I can wash the bus on Saturday. We were going to buy cards today for Ken, Brendan, and Shawna but decided we would do that tomorrow on our way to Ken’s gathering.

Linda made large green salads with chickpeas for lunch. We both put on a few pounds over the winter and really want/need to take them off. After lunch I worked in the bus. I removed the wood trim along the top of the beveled strip mirrors on the wall in hallway. The strips were glued directly to the wall so I put the trim back on. If we do not want to see these mirrors we will have to figure out some way to cover them.

There was a triangular horizontal panel between the upper edges of the J-lounge and the dinette with four switches mounted in it. Two of those switches no longer control anything but the other two still do. I secured the panel above the passenger side HVAC chase and blocked it in so it could not move. I dressed all of the loose wires with cable ties and cable clamps and secured them to the floor. I cut two grates from a piece of expanded metal and secured them over the two holes in the driver side HVAC chase where the sleeper-sofa was installed. That sealed up the last of the holes that the cats might get into. If one of them got into the HVAC system we would have disassemble half the bus to get them out.

I removed all of my tools and miscellaneous parts from the bus and set them on steps leading to the house. I had put one of our folding chairs inside the bus to sit on and moved it to the location of the passenger chair as a safety barrier after I moved the trash can out yesterday. I folded it up and put it back in the bay where it is stored. While Linda vacuumed the inside of the coach with our Shop-Vac I put tools and parts in the garage or back into the appropriate tool boxes. When she was done we got the Shop-Vac out of the bus and put it in the garage.

There is a maple grab handle on the right side of the entrance stairs (as you enter the bus) attached to a piece of maple trim from the back side. The finish is worn and the handle is loose. I wanted to tighten it, which required access to the back of the trim board. Linda recalled that we had Creative Mobile Interiors (CMI) tighten this handle when we first got the coach so we figured there had to be a way to get to the back of the trim board.

We removed the cockpit HVAC access panel just below the trim board but it did not appear to provide access to the back of the trim board. I removed the only two screws I could see (at the right end of the trim) but it still would not come loose. I figured the trim board had to be screwed on somewhere else and the only possible place was under a piece of inset brass finish trim. This brass trim is used throughout the bus, including around the edges of the Corian counters, and has an adhesive backing. I have found screws under it in other places so I pried the end up and peeled it out, revealing three screws.

I thought I was on the verge of success until I removed the three screws but still could not get the trim board loose. I tried prying it at various points with a screwdriver but it would not budge and we finally came to the unhappy conclusion that it was glued on. Perhaps it is secured from underneath in some manner that we did not see but I will have to return to this when I have more time. Linda suggested that we cut the handle off and install a new one that can be screwed on from the front. She’s a clever girl. As long as the access panel was off we vacuumed out the cockpit HVAC system and then replaced the panel.

About this time a UPS truck went by headed deeper into our neighborhood. Since we live on a dead end street I knew the truck would be coming back so I waited for it and flagged down the driver. I explained to the young man that we had two packages delivered to the wrong house in the same week about a month ago and that I had called the 800 number and talked to customer service but I would appreciate it if he would mention it to his colleagues as we will be ordering a lot of stuff starting in the second week of June. He was very nice and said he would.

Our last bus task for today was the hard one. We moved the passenger chair from the garage back to the bus using a hand truck so we did not have to carry it. It is very heavy but with Linda guiding the top and me supporting the base we got it inside and set in position. We tilted it fore and aft so I could slide the mounting studs into position and line them up with the holes in the base. I then bolted it down to the support rails by tightening the four nuts.

This was all trickier than it sounds. The bolts have square flanges that have to engage in the open slot of the channel to keep them from turning while being tightened or loosened. But that required me to pull up on the studs as the nuts were not going on that easily. As when I took the nuts off, I had to wedge one of them up with a screwdriver while I got the nut tight enough that the bolt would not spin. I reconnected the power to the chair and we checked that all of the adjustments still worked, especially the footrest.

With the installation of the passenger seat we were done working on the bus until after GLAMARAMA and have two seats with seatbelts so we can tow the car rather than drive it separately. This will be much nicer for us and the cats, although I expect the modified interior will freak them out initially. We will be gone most of Friday but have Saturday to prepare food, reload the coach for the week, and wash the exterior. Oh the joys of owning a converted coach.

For dinner Linda served the last of the whole wheat capellini with Portobello mushrooms and asparagus and steamed some broccoli. A piece of whole wheat bread and a small glass of Leelanau Cellars Winter White wine completed the meal. We had watermelon for dessert later.

I returned to my office after dinner and updated our Rand-McNally RVND 7710 GPS. I then continued uploading blog posts. By the time I quit working around 10 PM I had uploaded nine more posts and was caught up! I think 18 posts in one day may be my all time record. I did not get to work on articles for BCM, or copy files between our NAS units, but I was satisfied with what we had accomplished today.

2015/05/27 (W) The Root of all Things

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Yesterday I used up the last of the coffee beans that Jeff at Teeko’s shipped to us in Quartzsite in late February so this morning I transferred the beans we had roasted last week into our airtight containers and started using them. Grinding our own custom roasted coffee beans is how my mornings usually start and is just another small thing I like about being retired.

We rarely made coffee at home in the morning when we were employed outside the house. It took too much time and made a mess that had to be cleaned up later, including the travel mug that we had to remember to rinse out at work and then bring home. Besides, Linda got free unlimited coffee and tea at the office and I found it easier to stop at Panera and get a large coffee to go; half hazelnut and half decaf. It was part of my morning routine that I found comforting and the cup was disposable when I was done.

I had a follow-up appointment and evaluation at the endodontist today, so I did not work in the bus this morning other than to take a few pictures of the old dinette corner, where I removed the mirrors yesterday, and the area under the bed, which I also worked on yesterday.

After morning coffee and breakfast I went to my office to work at my computer. I off-loaded the pictures I just took, selected a few, processed them, and copied them to the folder for this blog. I then downloaded and installed Adobe FlashPlayer in order to view the Gilbreath Upholstery Service website. The download also installed a McAfee virus checker that I did not ask for or want and I don’t recall being given an option to opt-out. I really dislike it when programs do things like that. In fact, I think it should be illegal and companies who do it should be subject to heavy fines. I tried to download the PDF catalog but Adobe Reader said it had an unrecoverable error. Arrrgh! I e-mailed them to request one that worked. We will see if that results in anything.

I was responding to a few e-mails when Butch called. He was trying to figure out the best way to connect up the eight L-16 6 VDC batteries he bought in Quartzsite to make a 24 VDC battery bank with a 12 VDC center tap. Working only from verbal descriptions we finally ended up with the same diagram of a series-parallel interconnection scheme with equal electrical path lengths through all of the batteries. The difference between series-parallel and parallel-series is not important when the batteries are operating correctly but each connection scheme is vulnerable to a different battery failure mode. I happen to prefer the series-parallel scheme as I think it results in better battery charging, but that’s an often debated subject. The equal path lengths through the batteries, however, is something that is worth accomplishing if at all possible.

By the time we were done talking I needed to leave for my endodontist appointment. Dr. McWatters said the root canal they did on my upper right rear (tooth #4) last September looked good. They tested the upper rear teeth on my left side but did not find any indication of a problem. That would normally be good news, except that I had an intermittent problem in that area all winter so I know something is wrong and will eventually require attention, most likely when it is least convenient for me (middle of the night on a weekend). But for now there is nothing more to do.

hen I got home I had a few pretzels and hummus and some red grapes and then got back to work at my desk. I copied my blog post drafts for the 17th through the 26th from e-mails to Word and started editing them. I took a break to have some tea and write while Linda cooked dinner. She grilled two veggie burgers along with the rest of the asparagus we bought on Sunday and served the potato salad she made earlier in the day. Most of the asparagus was mushy except for the tips which I attributed to the plants not the cook. These were very large purple stalks, not the usual somewhat thinner green ones so maybe that had something to do with it.

After dinner I returned to my desk and finished editing all of my blog posts for May 10 through 26. Somewhere in the middle of that work Phil Jarrell returned my phone call from yesterday. We agreed that I will call him back after the GLAMARAMA Rally and he will bring his laser level and we will shoot some elevations. With a little luck and a bit of perseverance we may get a gravel driveway connecting the 3rd (westernmost) culvert to our concrete driveway with a level spot for one or two guest RVs to boondock. We will also get a dozen tree stumps removed, get a French drain installed to remove water from the western end of the property, and get a hole dug for a ham radio tower foundation. That last bit of digging will also require a rebar cage, hinged tower base, and coordination with a supplier that can pump concrete immediately after the hole is dug.

When I was done editing my blog posts I logged into our WordPress site, deleted 181 spam comments, and installed an update for our Fast Secure Contact Form plugin. I started creating the post for May 10 but half way through the Chrome browser became non-responsive indicating that it might be out of memory. That seemed unlikely, but I closed all of the program’s I had open, shut down my computer, and restarted it. When I logged back in nothing was responding so I sat and waited until I was eventually able to do things. The first thing I did was uninstall the McAfee Security Scan app that got installed along with the Adobe FlashPlayer earlier today. I then proceeded to download three updates for Windows and MS Office, or tried to.

The three updates were only 27 MB total, but after 35 minutes they were only 53% done. My guess was that the data rate on our AT&T “High Speed Internet” (DSL) connection had slowed to a barely usable trickle, perhaps because of all the rain we had the last few days, but whatever the cause it was almost midnight so I left it to finish at its own pace and went to bed. I worked on this post and played a few games by which time it 12:45 AM so I got up, put on my robe, and went back to my office. The download had finished and two of the three updates had installed. The third one reported an error but Windows Update needed the computer to be restarted to finish the installation so that’s what I did.

Windows updates normally install during shutdown and finish installing on startup and that is precisely what happened this time as well. I let the system startup completely (until the hard drive light was not on) and then downloaded, installed, and ran the latest version of CCleaner. It downloaded much faster so maybe it was the Microsoft update server that was slow, or perhaps the McAfee app was causing the problem.

We had rain yesterday and more rain today, including some thunder. The lights flickered a few times both days but the generator never came on. If out Internet performance is still sluggish in the morning I will reset the AT&T gateway and see if that helps. I also noticed that our home refrigerator was suddenly showing 45 degrees F instead of 40. Linda had loaded it up with food yesterday, and added the potato salad today, but the temperature should not have changed by that much and should have returned to the 40 degree set point within a few hours. Even adjusting the thermostat down did not rectify the problem over the course of the day so perhaps something else has changed, such as a blocked vent. I will have to check for that tomorrow. Hopefully the power blips did not blip some control circuit. I think I will pull the fridge away from the wall and cycle the power. We can vacuum off the back while it is out. If it still won’t hold the temperature we want Linda might get a new refrigerator for the house sooner than expected, although a call to AAA Appliance Service Network in Howell might a more prudent first response.

2015/05/25 (M) Memorial Day

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We spent the morning lounging around drinking coffee and enjoying the holiday. Hey, even retired people need a day off. Actually, we continued to research refrigerator, seating, and upholstery options for the bus, taking a break to have a tofu scramble and toast for breakfast.

We stumbled upon the Yale Appliance blog which proved to be very informative. Yale is a very large appliance store in the Boston area and maintains a blog about appliances. After reading what they had to say in some fairly recent postings we realized that we should probably not be looking for a “counter depth” refrigerator. It also appeared that our best bet in terms of case dimensions and interior volume might be a standard top freezer design and our best bet in terms of both price and reliability might be a Frigidaire.

We went to the Frigidaire website and found that the FFHT1621QB might fit our needs perfectly. It is a 16.3 cu. ft. top freezer design available in black, white, or stainless steel with doors that can be hinged left or right. (We need a fridge with doors the hinge on the left.) It is 28″ W x 30-1/8″ D x 64-3/8″ H and only needs 3/8″ clearance on the top and sides and 1″ in the rear. The depth includes the doors and handles; the depth of the case alone is only is 26-5/8″. Our refrigerator alcove is 33-3/4″ W x 29-1/2″ D x 66-3/4″ H so it will fit easily, recessing a bit more than our current 22.6 cu. ft. Jenn-Air and leaving 5″ to its left for a pull out pantry. The pantry will have be custom built and measure approximately 5″ W x 28″ D x 66″ H including top and bottom mounted slides/guides. Also of importance, we will not have to modify the cabinet above the refrigerator alcove.

In terms of seating we checked out Gilbreath Upholstery’s website but then concentrated on the Bradd & Hall website. Bradd & Hall is a well-known RV (& marine) furniture supplier in Elkhart, Indiana. They handle the Flexsteel RV and marine product lines and also sell the Lambright Comfort Chair product line, although the latter is available directly from Lambright in Shipshewana, Indiana. We have sat in the Lambright Lazy Relaxor Lite swivel recliner (wall hugger) at RV rallies and found it nicely sized and very comfortable for us. It is 24″ W x 33″ D x 38″ H and needs 2.4″ clearance from the wall. It is normally a free-standing chair so we are unclear whether it can be secured to the floor or be used with seat belts. We plan to visit Bradd & Hall on Monday, June 1 before we check into the GLAMARAMA rally and this is one of the things we will ask about.

Bradd & Hall also sells a Flexsteel Barrel Chair with a bolt down pedestal base that locks in different positions and includes a bar for attaching seat belts. It is 26″ W x 30″ D x 34″ high and might be a better fit for our bus and what we are trying to accomplish with our remodeling project. Last, but not least, they sell Flexsteel Captain’s Chairs (which Flexsteel calls “bucket seats” on its website). We need a chair of this type to replace the oversized front passenger chair and possibly to replace the driver’s chair. My hope, however, is to get an ISRI 6800 seat for the driver’s position. These are the seats that are normally installed on tour buses.

An advantage to getting everything from Bradd & Hall, except for the ISRI driver’s seat, is that we can get the same fabric on the passenger Captain’s chair and living room chairs and buy additional materials to have the seat and back cushions made for the sofa that I will build (with storage underneath). We will probably find a folding chair for the desk and can have the seat recovered in the same material so that everything is coordinated.

Linda called the J. C. Penney’s salon to see if Renee was working and had openings. She was, and she did, so Linda booked a time, grabbed her car keys, and headed to Twelve Oaks Mall. That seemed like an opportune time for me to head to the bus to double check measurements and ponder design solutions. I checked the dimensions of our refrigerator alcove and the Frigidaire FFHT1621QB will definitely fit very nicely. The front part of the passenger side of the bus has 13′ 3″ of flat floor space available for a desk and two chairs with a small dining table between them. On the driver side of the bus the aft end of the sofa nook is 7′ 2″ from the entrance step. If I can fit both chairs and the table in the first 7′ 2″ on the passenger side we will have room for a 6′ long desk that is 26-1/2″ deep. That’s long enough to have a file drawer on one end and a printer shelf on the other end with plenty of room in between for a chair.

We have been planning on reusing the Corian top from the old dinette table so I decided to disassemble the top from its base. I had never really looked at the construction before now and discovered that the Corian is glued to a wood panel that is secured to the two massive posts that are screwed to the base. I was able to disconnect the base from the posts easily enough but there did not appear to be any way to separate the Corian from the support structure. I took a few whacks at it with a pry bar and small sledge hammer and it was clearly not going to come loose.

The good news is that we can now select a new table top in whatever size, shape, and material suits us and use the same material for the desk top, which will double as additional kitchen counter space. Our assumption has been that we will use Corian, but Corian is heavy so we will consider other options before making a final decision. We discussed extending the desk top all the way down the wall to the front of the living room, although it would only be about 6″ deep at most, and building shallow cabinetry to go under it and fill in the space above the HVAC chase and below the window trim. That space will essentially be wasted otherwise, and have to be finished in some way, so building small storage spaces is worth considering with or without the extended desk top.

What all of this comes down to is that we have to select the two chairs we want to use in conjunction with figuring out the table size and support system, and then finalize the design of the desk. We plan to recondition all of the woodwork (with Touch of Oranges and Touch of Beeswax) and replace the refrigerator before we install the new floor, which has to go in before the furniture. That’s the order in which decisions have to be made and the work has to be done. Chairs and custom woodwork are potentially long lead items so we need to get them finalized and ordered, but they are the last things to get installed, so it should work out OK in the end.

It rained hard for a brief time mid-afternoon, after which Linda went for a long walk. She was walking almost daily this winter in Quartzsite, Arizona but has not walked much since we got home. That gave me time to work on this blog post.

Earlier in the day we snacked on nuts instead of having lunch. Linda made whole wheat capellini for dinner using the Portobello mushrooms and some of the asparagus we bought yesterday at the Howell Farmers Market. It was delicious.

I had intended to work at my computer most of the day but that obviously did not happen. When I finally went to my office after dinner I had a long chat on the phone with Butch about hardware for the slide out pantry and other bus-related things and then checked a few websites that he suggested as good sources of specialized hardware. I then e-mailed GLCC members about parking with the chapter and took care of some other e-mail. In addition to computer-based work I need to keep working on the bus but I am also at the point where I need to order some things and then settle in and work on drawings for the desk, pantry, and sofa.

2015/05/20 (W) Duraclean

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Today was carpet cleaning day. Linda had been picking up the house for the last week getting ready but we still had a lot of last minute stuff to move, including the cats. We put them in the library along with their food, water, and litter tray. We also moved their cat “tree” out there. They were confused and unhappy about the arrangement but we figured it would be less stressful for them than constantly trying to find new places to hide as Jack moved about the house with his big, noisy carpet cleaning machine.

Jack Hoskins runs a one-man carpet and upholstery cleaning business named Duraclean. Located in Farmington Hills near our previous house, Jack took care of our cleaning needs for the last years we were there. When we bought the house in Oceola Township we had him clean all of carpets after the painters were done but before we moved anything into the house. We did not have him clean the carpets in 2014 but had him out today to do all of them, including my office / ham shack, which was under construction when he was here in 2013. Jack arrived right on time at 8:30 AM, walked through the job with both of us, and then spent most of the rest of the day cleaning. Jack works hard and always does a nice job.

Once Jack was squared away we bagged up the pieces of carpet and pad from the bus that would not fit in the trash container and took the container and the bags to the curb.” (We live on a dirt road and don’t really have curbs, but it doesn’t sound right to say we took the trash to the edge of the street.) We then unloaded the box from my car with the garden trailer I bought at Lowe’s yesterday, opened it, removed all of the parts, and assembled it. Linda broke down the cardboard packaging, gathered up some other cardboard and our usual recyclables, and we loaded them into my car to take to Recycle Livingston later.

Keith Kish (Kish Lawn Care) showed up mid-morning to finish cutting our grass. His Hustler zero-turn riding mower was not repaired yet but he borrowed an articulated stand-behind mower from his son. Something failed in the hydraulic pump on his Hustler and blew a 1 inch hole in it. The cost to replace the pump and put the mower back in service will be significant but his business is primarily based on that machine.

I mostly puttered in the bus while Jack worked in the house and Keith worked in the yard. Linda eventually went to the recycling center and then stopped at Lowe’s to buy some plants, pots, and potting soil. She is going to try growing some tomatoes, which are one of her favorite summer things, and some herbs. She moved the hummingbird feeder away from our deck and hung it on a stand in the shade of a tree we can see from our outdoor table.

I boxed up the ceramic tile pieces that were still spread out on the floor of the bus and moved the box to the garage. That stuff is heavy! I turned on the chassis batteries so I could move the driver’s seat forward to get access to the seatbelt attachment bolts. I unbolted the two seatbelt straps and removed them so I could remove the last pieces of the old white carpet from behind and next to the seat. I then reattached the seatbelts, moved the driver’s chair back, and turned off the chassis batteries. Refinishing the area around the driver’s seat will be its own special challenge and may not get done with tile as I may need something more flexible. It will not, however, be heavy carpet intended for use on floors.

My next task was to remove the flexible duct adapters from the HVAC chases. One of them has an AC electrical cable passing through it, so I will have to undo the cable from a nearby outlet box to get the adapter free. While I was working on these relatively minor tasks I was also thinking about furniture options. It finally dawned on me that we did not have buy an expensive custom made sofa-bed or use chairs instead and try to figure out how to finish that area. I could build a simple but very effective sofa out of wood and have a bottom and back cushion made to the exact dimensions we need using a fabric of our choice. That opened up the possibility of the fabric matching whatever we get on the chairs. The seat cushion could double as a bed for one person, with the back cushion removed, and the seat could hinge up to reveal a large storage area rather than dealing with the complexity of a drawer on suspension glides. The HVAC supply and return could also be easily be accommodated and I would not have to figure out how to finish the chase or conceal all of the wires that run along the floor in front of the chase. I discussed the idea with Linda and she liked it.

I moved the dinette table up front and we considered its size and placement relative to the seating we would like to use on the passenger side of the coach across from the sofa. We agreed that one of the things we would do while we are at the GLAMARAMA rally is visit Lambright Furniture in Shipshewana and Bradd & Hall in Elkhart. We also discussed buying a carpet remnant and trimming it to fit in the front part of the bus while we attend the GLAMARAMA rally.

I called Butch to see how his cataract surgery went on Monday. Apparently it went well, at least his world is suddenly brighter and more colorful. We talked through various bus projects, including approaches I might take to get a flat, level underlayment for the floor tile.

Keith wrapped up his work, collected his payment, and moved on to Sean’s yard just north of ours. I suggested that he come every week instead of every other week as long as the grass is growing as quickly as it has the last two weeks and he agreed. Keith normally does a nice job with our lawn but was now a couple of days behind schedule and trying to catch up using equipment that was not his. He did not want to drive the stand-behind mower over or near gravel, so some areas along the pull-through driveway did not get cut. He was also not able to work around obstructions as tightly as he can with his zero-turn mower, and appeared to not overlap some rows.

Jack wrapped up his work not long after Keith and took off for another short job before calling it a day. I let the cats back into the house and then decided to get out our self-propelled Honda walk-behind mower and trim up the yard in front of the house and some of the areas Keith had missed. It took a while to get the mower started but I eventually did.

Linda made a nice salad and baked an Amy’s pizza for dinner. It was 6:30 PM by the time we finished eating. Linda gathered up the plastic wine glasses and toilet paper holders she bought yesterday at IKEA and we drove to the store in Canton to return them. The glasses were too tall to fit in our wine glass display case in the bus and the toilet paper holders did not fit in the places we needed them to go in the house. While we were at the store we looked at their selection of refrigerators, none of which will fit through the entrance door on the bus, and just wandered through looking for ideas. We were not up that long after we got home, it having been a long but productive day.

2015/05/19 (T) More Ceramic Tile

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We were up by 7:30 AM. A cold front moved through here last night with gusty winds and much cooler temperatures. The overnight low was 49 degrees F so I closed up the house and made coffee while Linda got ready for her girl’s day out with our daughter, Meghan. We had toast for breakfast and enjoyed our coffee in the living room to the warmth and glow of the gas fireplace logs. We both agree that this was a good purchase.

Linda left round 9 AM. I put a load of towels in the washing machine and then called Kate at work. I left a message asking her if she would check with Brian about an X-Plan PIN. I then returned a phone call from Kelly at Brighton Ford and had a nice chat about the F-150. She worked hard to provide me with additional pricing information as a follow-up to our meeting with Frank on Saturday. She was able to get the price on an in-stock $46,000 F-150 XLT 4×4 off-road down to $40,000 (with X-Plan but before tax, title, and destination charges). Six grand is a significant difference, and the F-150 is a nice truck, but forty grand is way more than we were thinking about spending on a vehicle.

Kate called me back while I was on the phone and I returned the call as soon as I finished talking to Kelly. Kate had already checked with Brian and he was willing to get us a PIN. One of the odd things about shopping for vehicles in Michigan, especially the Detroit area, is that Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have several “plans” that provide non-negotiable pricing for employees, vendors, and family/friends. These plans are so widely available that dealers practically assume that you have access to one of them. I think Ford is making good vehicles and the availability of X-Plan pricing certainly makes them that much more attractive. Unfortunately they are not selling the mid-sized Ranger in North America, just Europe and Australia. Mid-size trucks are more our size.

View of kitchen floor looking toward rear from living room. Black Ceramic tile has been removed to just past the refrigerator.

I moved the towels to the dryer and then got to work in the bus. The high temperature today was forecast to be 57 degrees F so I figured it would be a bit more comfortable working on the ceramic tile removal. I opened all three roof vents and set the front and middle fans on exhaust. With the front door open there was plenty of airflow. I put on my Tyvek jumpsuit and gloves and carried the unbroken tiles I got out the last couple of days to the garage for safe keeping. I then put the pieces of the ones I broke in a laundry basket to get them off the floor. They will eventually go in small boxes for disposal.

With all of that material out of the way I vacuumed up the small pieces and tiny shards as best I could along with carpet pad staples and tiny pieces of carpet, pad, and wood. I then removed the small base molding from the hallway which turned out to be more difficult than I expected. I put on my safety glasses and face shield, grabbed my floor chisel and 3-pound sledge hammer, and continued removing tiles from the floor.

Getting the tiles out of the hallway was more difficult than the kitchen/dining area. The narrow hallway limited the directions from which I could position and strike the floor chisel and the result was a much higher percentage of broken tiles. I did a little better as I moved into the area in front of the bathroom and bedroom doors and then into the bathroom. I stopped when I got to the tiles under the toilet. I will have to remove the toilet to get those tiles out and that is not going to happen until after the GLAMARAMA rally. I do not to remove and reinstall the toilet more than once so it will not get reinstalled until after the new floor is in place.

It was 1:30 PM when I quit chiseling for the day and I left the cleanup for next time. I got cleaned up and went out to take care of errands. I picked up our freshly roasted coffee beans from Teeko’s, had French fries at McDonald’s for lunch, and then went to Lowe’s. I was looking for some sort of grinder to grind down the thinset mortar that is adhered to the plywood subfloor but did not buy one. I bought a wheeled cart to pull behind our lawn tractor instead.

By the time I got home Linda had returned from her girl’s day out. She showed me all of the things she bought at Ikea, including four long-stem plastic wine glasses. We took them out to the bus but they would not fit in our wine glass holder. She also saw an 18 cubic foot refrigerator (Frostig) that might fit in our fridge alcove.

I turned on the gas fireplace logs, made some tea, and put a second load of towels in the washer. We sat in the living room researching the IKEA refrigerators on our iPads to the warmth of the fireplace. I had searched for roof access hatches this morning and found several places that sell them online so I showed that to Linda. I need to call Pat at Apex Roofing and discuss thus approach.

For dinner Linda made very nice salads with raspberries and walnuts. She then heated up the leftover risotto and lightly sautéed baby carrots as a side dish. We sat in the living room after dinner for a while and then watched the 1st and 2nd episodes of season 1 of A Touch of Frost. Although not a BBC production, it was very engaging.

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Tag Archives: FMCA GLAMARAMA 2015 Rally

2015/06/20 (S) Cable Entry Box

2015/06/07 (N) Too Soon, Too Late

2015/06/06 (S) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 4)

2015/06/05 (F) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 3)

2015/06/03 (W) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 1)

2015/06/02 (T) GLAMARAMA 2015 (Day 0)

2015/05/28 (R) Ice Cold Internet

2015/05/27 (W) The Root of all Things

2015/05/25 (M) Memorial Day

2015/05/20 (W) Duraclean

2015/05/19 (T) More Ceramic Tile