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2015/04/21-25 (T-S) IN, MI, Home

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2015/04/21 (T) Back to Twelve Mile, IN

The outside air temperature dropped into the 30’s (F) last night and the air temperature in the coach fell to 60, so when I got up this morning I turned on the Aqua-Hot diesel-fired hydronic heating system to take the chill off.  We eventually got up, got dressed, and walked across to Small Town Brew to get a couple of cups of coffee and chat with owner Lisa Paul and her friend/neighbor, Ashley, who helps her run the coffee shop.  Both of them remembered both of us, which was nice.

It’s interesting sitting in a small town coffee shop, where everyone is a friend or relative, and just listening to the conversation.  We are outsiders her, of course, strangers to most of the folks who drop in, but everyone is nice to us.  Some are curious about who we are, and where we are from, but rarely ask why we are there, in this little coffee shop in this little town, surrounded by corn fields.  Of course, we usually mention that we are friends of Butch and Fonda, so that probably answers whatever questions they may have had.

We eventually returned to our coach and had breakfast.  We tried connecting our WiFiRanger to Butch and Fonda’s Wi-Fi router yesterday and it was able to connect and obtain an IP address but the data transfer rate was so slow that web pages would not load and e-mail would not download before timing out.  I turned our Verizon Mi-Fi on and we had a very weak but usable signal, so I connected the WFR to the Mi-Fi and we were able to do the few things we needed to do online.  We then went in the house to let Butch and Fonda know we were awake and see what they were up to.

Butch’s brother, John, and his nephew, Brock, showed up and helped Butch with the driver side front wheel assembly on Butch and Fonda’s MC-9 bus.  The tire/wheel was off when we arrived yesterday and I learned that Butch is replacing the hub bearings and seals, installing an automatic slack adjuster for the brake, and replacing the brake pads.  It looked like quite a job with some large, heavy parts, so I did my part by staying out of the way.  I also took a few pictures at Butch’s suggestion.  He does not want to write articles for Bus Conversion Magazine, but he has been interested in having me write articles about projects on his bus.

Linda spent some time working with Fonda’s new sewing machine that she got while they were in Quartzsite, Arizona.  It is a little smaller than a regular sewing machine, only weighs 13 pounds, and only cost about $130.  Linda gave her sewing machine to her sister many years ago but now that she is retired she is thinking that it might be nice to have one for mending tasks or projects, such as new privacy curtains for the bus.

Butch got a catalog recently from Crimp Supply in Royal Oak, Michigan, which is not at far from our house.  I glanced through it last night and it contains a lot of specialized parts that would be useful to a ham radio hobbyist or someone converting a bus into a motorhome.  I called and requested a catalog and had a nice chat with Debbie.  She was willing to provide me with additional catalogs that I can give to members of GLCC and CCO at the Back-to-the-Bricks and/or Surplus & Salvage per allies in August and September respectively.  She was also willing to show up in person and give a brief presentation on her company and hand out the catalogs.  Cool.

Brock had to leave after which Butch and John decided to go to the shooting range along with a third guy whose name I did not get.  I went along to see the range and watch what they were doing.  Butch had home-brewed some shotgun shells for his Ruger revolver and wanted to test them.  They caused the revolving chamber to jam so they will require some additional work.  John had a new semi-automatic pistol and wanted to see how it handled.  He also had ammunition he had loaded with bullets he had cast and wanted to test fire them.

I was offered the opportunity to shoot but declined.  I have never handled a pistol and it would have been a waste of good ammunition.  I did take a class in rifle marksmanship while I was at the University of Missouri – Columbia many years ago.  I was in the Air Force R.O.T.C. Program at the time and thought I should know something about how to handle a firearm.  Learning to handle a pistol correctly would have been more relevant, but I do not recall a course being offered for that.  I bought a Ruger 10-22 rifle at that time, and I still have it.  It’s a .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle designed to look like an M-1 carbine and features a 10-round rotary clip that is flush to the bottom of the stock when inserted.  I was only interested in shooting at paper targets so I added a scope to it.  It is safely tucked away with a trigger lock on it, but I have not fired it in many, many years.  I should probably bring it to Twelve Mile the next time we come down, let Butch inspect and clean it properly, and take it to the range just for grins and giggles.

John and the other guy went back to Logansport from the range.  When Butch and I got back to the house he continued working on the driver side front wheel of their bus.  I helped a little, but mostly by taking photographs for a possible future article.  After putting tools and parts away we sat and relaxed for a while and then all of us went to Logansport for dinner at Pizza Hut.  It was 8:45 PM by the time we got back so everyone said “good night” and turned in for the evening.

2015/04/22 (W) Chillin’ in Twelve Mile

Yesterday looked and felt more like winter than spring with gray, cloudy skies and blustery, cold winds.  The temperature overnight dropped into the mid-30s but we were toasty warm under blankets with our electric heating pad turned on.  I got up at 7:30 AM and turned on the thermostats.  The temperature in the kitchen was reading 63 degrees F but the temperature by the dashboard was only 53.  The Aqua-Hot has performed very well since I rebuilt the blower bearings and quickly brought the temperature in the coach up to 70 degrees F.

We put on our sweats and walked over to Small Town Brew for coffee and conversation with owner Lisa Paul and whomever else might be there.  Three local guys were enjoying their morning brew when we arrived.  They eventually left and were replaced by others.  Most of the patrons seemed to be retired or semi-retired farmers.  One fellow, Lee, chatted with us at length about a canvas covered hoop barn he put up.  It was constructed using laminated wood hoops rather than steel, was 30′ wide by 70′ long and cost about $4,000 15 years ago, although I was not clear whether that included the 4-foot high poured concrete walls.  He already owned concrete forms and the heavy equipment that one finds on farms, so he was able to do a lot of the work himself without renting equipment or hiring contractors.  Still, it has to be the lowest cost way to create a structure for getting our bus out of the weather and out of sight.  It is unknown, however, whether the Township and County would let us to put it up.

Butch left at 8:30 AM for medical appointments in Logansport and Fonda came over at 10:45 AM to gather up Linda for a girl’s day out.  Linda wanted to go to McClure’s Apple Orchard on US-31 between IN-16 and US-24.  Although it is very close to Twelve Mile Fonda had never been there.  They were then headed to Peru.  Although it is the same distance from Twelve Mile as Logansport and Rochester it is the city that Butch and Fonda visit the least.  Peru’s claim to fame is that it was the birthplace of Cole Porter and Emmet Kelly and was the winter home of several circuses many, many years ago.  I believe there is a circus museum there that Nick Russell wrote about in the Gypsy Journal.

With no bus project or social interactions I settled in to work on my blog and await everyone’s return.  It started out sunny this morning but by 11 AM was thickly clouded over and looking wintery with blustery winds.  The only bus project I had in mind to do today was to pull out the chassis batter tray, check the circuit breakers, disconnect the batteries, swap the upper 12 V pair with the lower 12 V pair and reconnect them.  It was not something I wanted to do alone and I did not have to do it today, especially under cool, windy, overcast conditions, so I ended up not doing it.

Linda and Fonda eventually returned, having first gone to the Walmart in Logansport.  Linda picked up some hummus and Snyder’s sourdough pretzels so we snacked on those for lunch.  Linda then hung out with Fonda while I continued to work in blog posts.  Butch finally returned from his medical appointments and busied himself with something.  Whatever it was, he was not outside working on their bus and neither was I.  I managed to get the post for April 1 – 3, 2015 uploaded to our blog.

Linda and Fonda developed a plan for dinner.  Fonda made a nice salad and baked a loaf of par-baked bread that we got from Marilyn.  Linda made black beans and rice and prepared a mix of fresh blueberries and strawberries for dessert.  Linda and I each had a glass of Franzia Red Sangria.  After taking all of dirty serving containers back to our coach we returned to the house to visit a bit longer and finally returned to our coach just after 9 PM.  That left me enough time to pull together the posts for April 4 – 6 and upload it before turning in for the night.

2015/04/23 (R) Return to Michigan

I was awake at 6:30 AM and finally got up at 7 and put on my sweats.  The Aqua-Hot was already on so I turned up the thermostats and turned on the engine pre-heat loop.  I also turned on the Broan cube heater and pointed it into the cockpit as the temperature on the dashboard was only 50 degrees F.  I walked over to Small Town Brew, got a cup of coffee, and said “so long for now” to owner Lisa Paul.  Linda was still asleep when I got back so I fixed a couple slices of toast for my breakfast, turned on our Verizon Mi-Fi, and settled in to take care of a few e-mails.  Linda finally got up and, as I suspected, had not slept well last night.  She had some toast and orange juice but had no interest in coffee, a strong indicator of just how tired she was and not feeling completely well.

When she was done with the toaster I turned the cube heater off and turned the electric block heater on.  The overnight low temperature was forecast to drop into the upper 20’s and starting the big Detroit Diesel at that temperature is hard on the engine so I wanted it nice and warm before I cranked it over.

Butch had an appointment with an ophthalmologist in Indianapolis around noon and had some other things to do down that way as long as they were there so he and Fonda planned to leave by 9 AM.  He came to our bus just before 9 AM to let us know they were close to leaving and that he put an air hose out by the automotive bay so I could fill the front tires on the bus if needed.  Based on the readings from our TireTraker TPMS, however, no adjustment was needed.

We planned to leave sometime after they did but not later than 10 AM.  The main reason for not leaving sooner was to give us time to digest our breakfast, but the other reason was our relatively short drive today to Camp Turkeyville, an RV park on I-69 just north of I-94.  This will be the first time I have been in Michigan, which I certainly consider home, since we left on November 30, 2014.  Turkeyville is only 80 miles from our house, but we will have a full hookup site so we can dump our waste tanks tomorrow morning and not need to use them on the final short drive to the house.

We started getting ready to leave around 9:45 AM.  I shut off the block heater, put Butch’s air hose away, and then took care of the chassis batteries, auxiliary air, and shorepower.  The DD fired right up and I switched it to high idle while it built air pressure.  As soon as the chassis was at ride height and the air dryer purged I pulled onto IN-16 pointing eastbound and pulled into the curb/parking lane.  That was around 10 AM.  I left the engine idling while Linda pulled the car up behind the bus.  By the time we hooked up the car for towing, checked the lights, and pulled away it was closer to 10:20.  I noted that the time was 10:30 AM EDT as we pulled onto US-31 N from IN-16 E.

Traffic was light and we had an easy run up US-31 to US-20 except for the 15-20 MPH crosswind from the WNW.  I also had a very cold breeze blowing into the cockpit by my feet and had to turn the heat up to stay comfortable.  We were an hour into our trip when I finally realized that I had not opened the air supply valve for the shutters on the two front house air-conditioner condensers which are installed in what is normally the spare tire bay.  Those shutters are held open by a spring and held closed by air pressure.  When they are open air can easily find its way into the cockpit.  There is also a mechanical damper that is supposed to regulate fresh air flow to the cockpit, or cut it off completely, but the flexible actuator cable broke some time ago and the damper/cable are difficult to access so it has not been repaired.  Either the cable broke with the damper in the closed position or I taped some sort of cover over the air inlet once upon a time because once I closed the shutters for the A-C compressors I no longer had cold air coming in by my feet.

Traffic was heavier on US-20 eastbound but it always is as it runs just south of South Bend and Elkhart, Indiana, and a bit north of Goshen.  It is still a limited access highway until east of Elkhart, so it moved along up to that point.  There was one stretch between there and Middlebury where major construction was taking place, but we got through that easily enough.  After that it was a nice, rolling, 2-lane highway and we rolled along at 55 MPH except for the occasional town on intersection.  We always enjoy driving through this part of Indiana.

We turned off of US-20 onto I-69 N, crossed into Michigan at 12:53 PM EDT, and pulled into the Michigan Welcome Center five minutes later.  We only had 37 more miles to our destination but we both needed a short stretch break and I wanted to open the air valve for the A-C shutters, which is in the bay under the driver’s seat.  We resumed our trip and exited I-69 at exit 42 around 1:45 PM, crossed over the highway, and traveled the 500 yards to the Camp Turkeyville entrance.  We followed the long, wide, winding entrance road and stopped at the office where Linda got us registered.  They put us in a 50A full hookup pull-through site with easy access that was long enough for us to leave the car hooked up for towing.

We went through our usual arrival routine and then Linda fixed a light lunch of French Country Vegetable Soup and a tofu hotdog on pita bread with mustard and relish.  She also made a pot of coffee.  We connected our WiFiRanger to the RV Park Wi-Fi system but did not seem to be able to move any data so we turned on our Verizon Mi-Fi and connected the WFR to it.

Linda spent the afternoon reading a book on her iPad and I mostly worked on my blog post for April 7, 8, and 9.  I had 14 photos for that post but inserted them into the post rather than put them in a WP image gallery.  I logged into our personal WordPress site, installed WordPress 4.2, and then installed updates to plugins and themes.  Once that was done I uploaded the blog post and uploaded/captioned/inserted the photos and generated the tags.  I clicked the “Publish” button about 7:10 PM.

Linda put dinner on the table about 10 after I finished working.  She made a nice tofu scramble, a dish that vaguely resembles scrambled eggs, and served it with toast and jam, a small glass of juice, and black seedless grapes.

I thought about working on my blog post for April 10th, as it is the last one for which I have photos, but I was too tired to get involved in that tonight.  We pointed our front OTA TV towards Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, found the local CBS station, and watched a couple of episodes of The Big Bang Theory and whatever else was one.  We caught some local weather and decided to enable the diesel burner on the Aqua-Hot, turn the thermostats on, and set the temperatures for 60 degrees F.  The overnight low temperature was forecast to be 27 and it was already 29 when we went to bed.  Welcome to Michigan in late April.

2015/04/24 (F) Touchdown

I awoke at 6:30 AM to an outside temperature of 27 degrees F.  Our coach has several ways it can be heated if we are plugged into adequate electrical power, including three electric toe-kick heaters.  I turned on the Aqua-Hot diesel burner and electric heating element last night before going to bed and left the living room and bathroom thermostats turned on with the temperature dialed back to just under 60 degrees.  I also turned on the Broan cube heater, dialed back the thermostat, and set in on the step to blow into the cockpit.

I got up at 7:15 AM and put on my sweats. It was 60 degrees F on the kitchen counter, but the refrigerator adds some heat mid-coach.  The thermometer on the dashboard read 53.  I turned the thermostats up to 68 and turned on the Aqua-Hot engine preheat loop.  I also turned on the front electric toe-kick heater.  I made coffee and then turned on the electric block heater for the engine.  I checked e-mail and monitored our amperage while I waited for the coach to warm up and for Linda to get up.  We were drawing about 30 A on Leg 1 and 20 A on Leg 2.  On a true “50 A” RV electrical service with a main circuit breaker that functions correctly we can safely draw 40 Amps on each leg, so our usage was not going to trip any breakers.

By 10 AM the temperature was up to 40 degrees, the sun was shining, and it’s was delightfully cozy in the rig.  I got a call from Michele Henry at Phoenix Paint in response to an e-mail I sent her yesterday and talked to her for 15 minutes.  We had planned on a 10:30 AM departure but by the time I connected the sewer hose, dumped the waste tanks, and put the hose away it was 10:45.  We had the bus and car ready to travel by 11AM and pulled out of our site.  We had to wait for a few minutes until someone moved a 5th wheel which they had temporarily parked in the middle of a two-way road while waiting to get into their site.  We finally made our way out of Camp Turkeyville and pulled onto I-69 N at 11:13 AM.

We had an easy run to our house and our wheels “touched down” on our driveway at 12:45 PM.  Even the dirt roads for the last two miles of our trip were in reasonably good shape, which made for a nicer homecoming.  We opened the house, put the cats in their carriers, and took them inside.  I got the bus plugged in and the air shut off while Linda put the batteries back in the water softener and sanitizer and turned the well pump on.  I turned the gas back on for the kitchen and fireplace and then set all of the thermostats up to 65 degrees F.  We unloaded a few things from the bus and then had lunch, after which I sent text messages to both of our children and to Chuck Spera to let them know we were home.

After lunch we unhooked the car from the bus and continued unloading the bus but did not get everything taken off.  I was tired and took a long nap, only getting up when Linda told me it was time for dinner.  We had a Daiya Mushroom and Garlic pizza.  We have used Daiya vegan cheese for a while but did not know they made pizza products until we saw them at the Dierbergs Market in Edwardsville, Illinois.  It had a thin, crispy, rice flour crust (gluten-free), lots of garlic and cheese (of course), and was very tasty.  I wish we could buy them near our house.

After dinner I called Butch to let him know we made it home safe and without any new or reoccurring bus issues.  He had reassembled the driver side steer wheel and discovered that the new brake drums he got from MCI some time ago are the wrong ones, so he is going to have to track down the correct ones next week.

2015/04/25 (S) Return to Regular

Do you remember when OTA TV stations used to break in to programs with special news bulletins or emergency alert tests?  At the conclusion of such interruptions the announcer would say “we now return you to your regular programming.”  Having spent most of 61 years living in stationary dwellings we still consider being back at our house to be the baseline for our regular lives.  The last two years, however, we have spent half of the year, more or less, living in our converted motorcoach.  That fact, combined with the fact that we moved to a new-to-us house just before we started our extended traveling, has altered our perception of what constitutes “regular.”  All we know for sure is that living this dual lifestyle is our new normal and we like it.

Whether living at home or in the bus we have routines.  Part of our “at home” routine is Saturday morning breakfast with our friends from the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club (SLAARC) and that is how we started our day.  We took our usual route to South Lyon and were surprised by the extent of the construction work at the I-96 and US-23 interchange.  We knew this interchange was scheduled to be rebuilt starting this year but as of March 1st, when Linda last drove through there, work had not started.  A lot has happened since then, and from the look of things this is going to be a BIG project.

There were a LOT of people at breakfast, 24 by Linda’s count.  It was good to see our friends and ease back into ham radio talk.  The club president, Harvey Carter (AC8NO), had the personalized club jackets we ordered from Sunset Sportswear in South Lyon over the winter so we got those from him after we were all done eating.  The jackets are dark blue with fleece lining and yellow embroidery that looks very sharp.  The left breast says “South Lyon Area” on top and “Amateur Radio Club” underneath.  On the right breast is our first name (in script) on top and our call sign underneath in block letters.

We stopped at Barnes and Noble on the way home to pick up a gift for grand-daughter Katie and found two books that we thought would interest her.  One was on rocks and gems and the other was on snakes, both of which are interesting to Katie.  Both are also an integral part of the desert southwest where we spent the winter.

When we got home I set about the tasks of moving various pieces of technology from the entrance foyer to my basement ham shack/office, reconnecting it to power and our network, and starting it up.  I started up our Linux box but the video driver would not “catch” so I shut it down and restarted it in Windows 2000 Pro, updated the es|et nod32 anti-virus database, and installed three Microsoft updates.  I checked e-mail on my primary laptop, responded to a couple, and then installed updates on all of the websites I manage.  WordPress just released version 4.2 and each new release triggers a flurry of plug-in and theme updates.

Our daughter, Meghan, had arranged for us to come over mid-afternoon to visit and have dinner without the bother and fuss of fixing a big meal.  Minn, the female cat, hid immediately but Inches, the male cat, hung around for a while.  Grand-daughter Katie is working at Pizza House in Ann Arbor where he dad, Chris, has been the general manager for a long time, but she got off work and arrived just after us followed by Chris, who had run out to pick up dinner at Seva.

Our son, Brendan, daughter-in-law Shawna, and grand-daughter Madeline showed up a little later, and Inches promptly disappeared.  Madeline is very sweet and interacts with her two kitties, Gus and Iggy, just fine but our cats, and Meghan’s/Chris’s cats, disappear whenever she comes to visit.  They are just not used to the size, motions, and sounds of a 28 month old.

Seva is a vegetarian restaurant that has been a staple of the Ann Arbor restaurant scene for many years but recently moved out of downtown to a location on the far west side of Ann Arbor.  While not just around the corner from Chris and Meghan’s house it is much closer, and easier to get to, than driving into downtown.  Many of their menu items are vegan, or can be made vegan, and that is mostly what they ordered.  We had a nice visit with excellent appetizers and main dishes, a dozen choices in all, and a nice Riesling wine from Washington State.

After appetizers we distributed the gifts we had picked up for everyone.  Besides Katie’s books Madeline got a “Dr. Seuss” book about deserts and a t-shirt from Marilyn with a design on the front that changes color in the sunlight. Both of our children, who kept an eye on our house for us over the winter and took in our mail, got the following:  A bottle of Red Chile Wine from St. Clair Winery in Deming, New Mexico; a bouquet of pequin chiles from Hatch Chile Sales in Hatch, New Mexico; a box of Prickly Pear Cactus jellied candies and a jar of Prickly Pear Cactus jelly from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona; a bag of Green Chile Pistachios from Eagle Ranch (Heart of the Desert) in Alamogordo, New Mexico; a two box set of olive oil and peach balsamic vinegar glaze from Queen Creek Olive Mill in Queen Creek, Arizona; and a non-stick grilling mat from the “Big Tent” RV Show in Quartzsite, Arizona.  We appreciate what they do when we are away which would be more complicated for us without their assistance.

We enjoy looking for gifts that are unique to the areas we visit and tend to limit ourselves to items that are consumable so no one has to find room to store or display something, at least not for very long.  We saw many wonderful art and craft objects this winter but they present a special challenge beyond simply getting them home.  We are no longer collecting “things,” as we already cannot display or store the stuff we have, and our children are in somewhat the same situation (which is why we still have a lot of stuff instead of them having it).

Then there is the matter of taste.  Both children have their own taste in art and have carefully arranged items for display on their walls and shelves.  As much as we might like something, and think someone else might like it, buying art for other people is fraught with peril because there is an implied expectation that it will be displayed.  If it is displayed but the recipient does do not like it then the gift is intrusive.  If it is not displayed the giver is disappointed and potentially offended.  Better to stay clear of all that by avoiding surprise gifts.  The exception is if we know they are looking for something in particular and we come across one.  In that case it is a simple matter to take a photo with one of our smartphones and message them to see if they want it, making it clear that “no” is an acceptable answer.

Madeline goes to bed at 8 PM so she left (with her parents) at 7 PM.  Both Minn and Inches came out shortly thereafter to have a bite to eat and get the attention they had missed for the last four hours,  We stuck around for another hour which gave us just enough time to get home before it got really dark.  Brendan and Shawna had kept/used Linda’s Honda Civic all winter. They came in two cars and went home in one so that Linda could get the Civic back to our house.  There is a chance that she will have to go into the bakery a day or two this week and I do not like be without transportation, especially when we have a lot going on.

We sat in the living room for an hour reading and relaxing with our favorite iPad apps/games but without the benefit of our natural gas fireplace logs.  I lit them when we got home and they operated for about 60 seconds and then shut off and would not relight.  I turned the pilot flame off and will deal with that tomorrow.  I went to bed, read for a while longer, and then went to sleep.

 

2014/06/15 Family Time

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We were parked in a fenced compound area next to the regular “campground” at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds.  The campground has gravel sites with 50A full hookups, and we were allowed/encouraged to use the sewer connections to dump our holding tanks before departing this morning.  We had checked out the campground last night and decided that it would be easier for us to pull around to the dump stations on the outer road than to maneuver into and out of one of the open campground sites, all of which were back-ins.

I have mentioned before what a nice facility this is.  Several of our GLCC members are from north central Indiana and explained to us that the fairground is as nice as it is because it is booked every week for most of the year, winter being the exception.  Elkhart is considered the center of the RV industry in the U.S., but the reality is that RV-related industry is located throughout north central Indiana, and a little bit of southern Michigan, with a few facilities in other parts of Indiana and Ohio.  There is also significant RV industry in California, Oregon, and Florida, and to a lesser extent in Pennsylvania and Alabama.  By “RV Industry” I am referring to manufacturing, not RV parks, resorts and campgrounds, or RV dealers and service facilities, which are obviously located all over the place.

We skipped breakfast and coffee, as we always do on travel days.  Linda prepared the inside for travel and then we visited for a while with our GLCC friends.  Around 9:00 AM I unplugged the electrical power, stowed the cord, turned on the chassis batteries, opened the air valve for the engine accessories, and fired up the engine.  I did not have any trouble getting out of our parking spot or the compound.  I drove over to the dump station, which can accommodate nine RVs at one time, and Linda followed in the car.  While the holding tanks were emptying we hooked up the car for towing.  With everything stowed and secured for travel we checked the toad controls and lights and were on our way, exiting the fairgrounds at 9:25 AM.

We followed the same route home that we used when we left the Escapade rally a month ago: CR-34 (Monroe St.) east to CR-29 north to IN-4 east to IN-13 north to US-20 east to I-69 north to I-96 east to M-59 east and finally a couple of miles of dirt roads to our house.  We stopped at the Travel America (T/A) truck stop on M-60 at I-69 to put biocide and Stanadyne diesel additive in the tank along with 75 gallons of diesel fuel.

We had just over 1/4 tank of fuel indicated on the fuel gauge when we pulled in to the T/A.  If the gauge is anywhere near accurate that was approximately 50 gallons of fuel, enough to travel another 200 miles and still have 15 – 20 gallons in the tank; more than enough to get us to the Mobil truck stop on I-96 about 25 miles before our house.  I wanted to use as much of the fuel in the tank as I could before adding more but did not want to risk running out or sucking sediment off the bottom and clogging the fuel filters.  In the end we decided it was safer to stop and add fuel while we still had the 1/4 tank.  The 75 gallons brought the fuel gauge up to 5/8ths, which is what I expected.  The fuel tank capacity is 235 gallons, but I assume the full mark on the gauge corresponds to 200 gallons.  That makes every 1/8 of a tank on the gauge correspond to 25 gallons.  We also presume that our average fuel economy, based on prior data, is 6 MPG which equates to 150 miles per 1/8 tank.

We did not fill the tank because the bus is going to be sitting for a while and we did not want to have all of that fuel onboard aging in the summer heat.  There is a reason, however, to keep the fuel tank as full as possible.  Most of the fuel that is pumped to the engine is used to cool the injectors and the DDEC engine computer and returned to the tank. The more fuel in the tank, the less frequently any particular molecule passes through the engine giving the fuel in the tank more time to dissipate the heat.

Our trip was easy and un-eventful other than the powered driver-side windshield shade quite working.  Add that to the list.  We got home by 1:30 PM which gave us time to unload food and a few essentials from the bus and take showers.  Since Linda spent Saturday morning preparing food, she only had minimal cooking to do for dinner.  Our son, daughter-in-law, and grand-daughter arrived at 3:30 PM and our daughter and son-in-law arrived at 4:00 PM.  Madeline had a cold, wasn’t feeling well, and had only had a short nap, but she was fine as long as she was busy.  This was a combination birthday and Father’s Day gathering, but mostly an excuse to gather our small, immediate family.  We had a lovely summer meal of potato salad, collard greens cole slaw, baked beans, and cheeseburgers with chocolate cupcakes (from a local bakery) and fresh strawberries for dessert.  All vegan, and all delicious.

Brendan, Shawna, and Madeline left shortly after dinner and Meghan and Chris left around 8:00 PM.  Although our morning departure and drive home had been quite routine and the family gathering had been relaxed and relatively easy, it all added up to a long day.  I started the download of an update to my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription that looked like it was going to take a while, so we skipped watching an Episode of Doc Martin and turned in for the night.

 

2014/06/08 (N) Positioning

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We were up around 7:00 AM, showered, dressed, and gathered up toiletries and other last minute items for our outing.  I did a last minute check of e-mail and RVillage and then shut down the computers, printers, and NAS units and packed up my laptop.  We started our final loading process at 9:00 AM and had everything on board by 9:20 AM.  While Linda configured the car for towing, I turned the chassis batteries on, disconnected the shorepower line, stowed the cord, checked that the inverter was operating, and opened the air valves for the engine accessories and the air line to the car auxiliary braking system.  While Linda closed up the utility bay I fired up the main engine and drained the moisture out of the auxiliary air tank.  We checked the lights and finally checked that all of the bays were closed and locked.  GPS and TPMS on with all tires reporting in, all gauges reading normal, and side mirrors adjusted.  Tag axle up for the tight 180 degree turn exiting the driveway and all ahead slow while Linda verified the car wheels were turning.  She was on board and buckled in at 9:30 AM and we were on our way.  We have gotten reasonably efficient at this departure routine, but when driving a bus with a car in tow you do not simply turn the key and drive away.

We had light rain overnight and it was still drizzling as we pulled out.  No problem; cloudy skies often make for easier travel.  We drove up to M-59 and headed west, picking up I-96 westbound on the west edge of Howell.  By the time we turned onto I-69 southbound at the southwest corner of Lansing, Michigan we had run out from under the rain and the overcast gave way to partly cloudy skies with patches of blue making for very pleasant driving conditions.  At Coldwater, Michigan we headed west on US-12, a route we have driven many times and always enjoy.  Just north of Elkhart, Indiana we exited US-12 onto M-205 which swings south and becomes SR-19 as it crosses into Indiana.  About two miles into Indiana we turned east on County Road 4 and 0.7 miles later turned into the entrance to Elkhart Campground.  It was a little before 1:00 PM and we had made the 160 mile trip without rest or fuel stops.  I set the cruise control at 60 MPH on the Interstates and 55 MPH on M-59 and US-12, but had to slow down for interchanges and lower posted speed limits going through small towns.  We usually base our expected travel time on an average speed of 50 MPH which seems to account surprisingly well for all of these variations.

We got checked in to the Elkhart Campground using our Escapees membership to save 15% off of their overpriced 50A FHU grass sites.  They put us in a new part of the campground we have not used before.  The spot was level so I but the tranny in neutral, set the parking brake, and shut the engine off.  I shut off the air and chassis batteries and hookup up the shorepower line while Linda got the inside ready to use, our standard arrival routine.  In all fairness, Elkhart Campground is not a fancy RV resort but is nice enough, and one of only two RV parks in Elkhart, Indiana, so part of what you pay for here is location.  We have been here at least 9 times, usually for Great Lakes Converted Coaches rallies.  It is centrally located for much of our membership and has a building with meeting rooms and kitchen facilities that they let us use for no additional charge.  Our reason for being here now is to add a couple of days of RV use to the GLAMARAMA rally and position ourselves for an easy, early morning entry into the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds on Tuesday.

For lunch Linda served some of the cold three bean salad she made yesterday along with tofu hotdogs (with mustard, relish, and onions, of course).  After lunch we got our WiFi Ranger connected to the campground WiFi network and checked in to the campground on RVillage.  The website indicated that there were 11 other people checked in here, but we knew that some of them had been here after the recent SKP Escapade and subsequently left.  We went for a walk around the campground and found the FMCA Frustrated Maestros (Great Lakes Chapter) camped by the activities building.  It was obvious that they were having a pre-rally and using it to rehearse before heading to the GLAMARAMA rally in Goshen on Tuesday.  We recognized Ron and Meredith Walker’s Prevost XL bus conversion but did not see them outside.

As we were finishing our walk we ran into Nick Russell of The Gypsy Journal and he invited us in to their motorhome for a brief chat.  Terry was busy removing their old combo washer/dryer to make room for the new one they are supposed to get tomorrow, but she put her work aside to visit.  We finally got to see her loom which we have read about on Nick’s blog.  Considering what a sophisticated device it is, it fits surprisingly well in their Winnebago Ultimate Advantage (which has slides).  Terry was obviously very excited to have it and enjoyed describing its operation to us.  She is mostly self-taught and already producing some very intricate designs.

For dinner Linda made a nice green salad to go along side a bowl of the vegetable chili she made yesterday, served with crackers and a glass of Franzia Sweet Red wine.  We went for a walk after dinner and ended up having a conversation with several of the Frustrated Maestros, including Ted (K0DDB) who took up the banjo at age 56.  As we walked past Nick and Terry’s motorhome Terry was outside talking to Greg and Jan White.  Greg was “parting out” the combo washer/dryer that Terry had just removed from their rig to salvage as many usable spare parts as possible since they have the same model in their American Eagle coach.

We got back to our motorcoach just before 8:00 PM and tried to connect to the Technomadia live UStream videocast they were doing for the Mobile Internet Aficionados private membership Facebook group, but the WiFi at Elkhart Campground was not up to the task and I did not feel like turning on our Verizon MiFi device.  Linda turned the TV on instead and checked out the stations available to us.  We had all of the major networks and decided to watch the final episode of Cosmos and then turned in for the night.

 

20140418 (N) Taxi Turn Oops

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We complied with the Fairgrounds’ request that we not depart until today, but we wanted to be on the road by 9 AM.  We were up at 7:30 AM and got busy right away with our departure routine.  The 5th Wheel parked next to us decided to leave last night.  They were from Alaska and the husband was an instructor for the RV Driving School.  He had also been an “ice road trucker” at one time.  I told him that I was not sure what the best technique was for exiting the infield over soft ground with freshly spread loose gravel.  He suggested the following technique: 1) Pull up the tag axles to put more weight on the drive tires and to keep them from dragging on the ridges created by the space between the drive tires; 2) transmission in 1st gear (manual selection); 3) Keep the engine at 900 – 1,100 RPM (high-idle) and avoid quick changes in engine RPM to keep from spinning the drive tires; 4) keep moving; don’t stop.

We were ready to go by 8:00 AM and said our farewells to Butch and Fonda.  We were anxious to get home and decided not to stop at the dump stations.  Linda went ahead of me in the car to block any traffic from entering the infield through the gate.  I made it through the soft part of the infield just fine using the technique as previously described.  I got across the horse track without difficulty and then made a sharp turn onto an interior road where we could stop to hook up the car.  As I came around the corner I clipped a sign with the driver side rear view mirror.  In my defense I thought it was a cloth banner, but it wasn’t.  The mirror was pulled loose from the motorized base and plastic parts were broken in the process.  Butch and Fonda were pulling out behind us and stopped to see what the problem was.  We used some of the Rescue Tape we keep on board to tape the mirror onto the base and adjusted it by hand as best we could.  I had an adequate view down the driver’s side of the coach, allowing me to drive it safely.  We hooked up the car and were on our way by 9:00 AM.

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing and without incident.  We exited the fairgrounds onto Monroe Street east to County 29 north to IN-4 east to IN-13 north to US-20 east to I-69 north to I-96 east to MI-59 east to Hacker Rd south to our house.  We had light traffic and pleasant weather for the whole drive.  When we pulled up in front of our house (on the street) Linda got out to help position the coach in the driveway.  Jasper immediately came out from under the passenger seat and got down in the stairwell to look out the lower window and I had the sense that he recognized we were home.  As soon as we got parked, Linda took the cats inside and then took off for the grocery store while I plugged in the shore power, unhooked the car, and started unloading the bus.

I spent a little time getting a couple of blog posts uploaded to WordPress before John and Diane arrived around 5:00 PM.  Linda made a very nice green salad with walnuts and dried cranberries and a bow-tie pasta dish with sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and pesto for dinner.  John and Diane brought a bottle of Barefoot Sweet Red wine which we had with the meal.  We had fresh mixed berries with biscotti cookies for dessert.  Tomorrow was a work day for everyone but me, so John and Diane took their leave around 8:30 PM and Linda headed off to bed shortly thereafter.  Since I did not have to get up at Oh-Dark-Thirty I worked at my desk for a while before retiring for the night.  Linda has not been feeling well for the last few days and cannot figure out if she has a cold or allergies or both.  I’ve been tired too, but rallies can do that, especially when we are working.

 

2014/05/10 (S) Goin To Goshen

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We were up at 6 AM with our sights set on a 7:30 AM departure.  Most of the supplies that still needed to be loaded onto the bus were staged in the front vestibule, on the dining room table, or the bathroom counter.  It took several trips to get everything on board, including the cats, but it was an easy final loading process.  We are getting better at this with practice but it certainly helped having the bus parked with the front door opposite the front door of the house.

With everything on board we did the final preparations on the car and bus, pulled the shore power cord, and stowed it away.  We finished closing up the house, checked the lights on the coach and car (they were all working), arranged a few things on the interior, and were ready to roll.

The cats had already sought the safety of their travel locations under the front passenger seat even before I sat done in the driver’s seat.  The big Detroit lit right up and as soon as the oil pressure came up I engaged the high idle to make it easier to build the air pressure and switched the suspension to drive mode.  When the air dryer “sneezed” (purge valve opened) I turned off the high idle, pulled up the tag axle (to shorten the turning radius), put it in gear, and pulled out of our driveway.  It was 7:30 AM.  We made our way up to M-59 and headed west.

It was a chilly morning, though not as cold as earlier in the week when I reset the tire pressures and the TPMS sensors.  I quickly discovered that I had cold air coming in by my feet and shortly thereafter realized that I forgot to open the air supply to the louvers for the air-conditioner compressor compartment behind the front bumper.  When the louvers are open that compartment allows outside air to get into the bay under the driver’s seat and from there into the cockpit, especially at highway speeds.  The louvers require air pressure to close and prevent this air intrusion.  Rather than pull into a business or shopping center I decided to continue on to I-96 west and stop at the rest area at mile marker 112 which would allow an easy off/on just before reaching the Lansing area.

As I suspected, the air supply to the louvers was closed.  I usually shut off this circuit when parked to minimize leaks and auxiliary air pressure run time, but this is (obviously) not part of my mental “to do” list yet.  Every trip I say we need to create written checklists, one for departure and one for arrival, but we get busy and never follow through; at least we haven’t yet.

From the rest area we continued on I-96 west along the southern edge of Lansing, picked up I-69 at the southwest corner of town, and headed south towards Indiana.  It was a downhill run from there, or so it seemed, as the pyrometers were often near the bottom of the scale.  We exited onto US-6 and headed west towards Goshen, Indiana.  We picked this route so we could pick up US-33 north and come into the Goshen area from the southeast.  Our initial destination was a Walmart supercenter at the southeast corner of town on the east side of US-33.  Our plan was to meet up with Butch and Fonda who were driving in from Twelve Mile, Indiana.  From there we would have a short, but slow, drive up US-33 into the heart of Goshen and then east on Monroe Street to the Elkhart County 4-H Fairground.  It’s only a few miles but it is slow because of the heavy traffic that always seems to be present on this high density commercial/retail stretch of a two-lane US highway.

The Walmart "stables" on US-33 southeast of Goshen, IN.

The Walmart “stables” on US-33 southeast of Goshen, IN.

We were in phone contact with Butch and Fonda so we knew their departure was delayed by business and bus issues.  We arrived somewhat ahead of our agreed rendezvous time, and decided to wait for them at the Walmart as long as we could without getting uncomfortable about the possibility of not getting to the fairground before the 2 PM arrival cutoff.   We did some shopping, had a bite of lunch, took some photographs, and played some games on our iPads while we waited.  The Walmart had a “stable” for the Amish buggies and it was full, with additional buggies tied up to the fence line.  You just don’t see that most places, but this is one of the things that is uniquely interesting about north central Indiana.  Butch and Fonda eventually got on the road and were making good progress but we decided around 1:15 PM to go on to the fairgrounds and try to meet up with them there.  That meant they would not have to stop at the Walmart and incur additional time delay.

Like most rallies, the Escapade requires rigs that want to park together to arrive together.  They also want the rigs identified in some way as being together.  For small groups (four or less) they wanted matching ribbons tied to the driver-side mirror.  For larger groups they wanted the arrival planned in advance with a placard in the window of each rig that identified the group and the rig number, 1 of n, 2 n, etc.  Although the Escapade did not provide a rendezvous area the arrival rate had slowed down by the time we pulled in and they allowed us to unhook our car and wait for our friends, who pulled in not more than 10 minutes behind us.

We had a nice chat with the parking crew while we waited and found out that some of them were members of the SKP Chapter 6 – Great Lakes, which covers Michigan.  We joined the Chapter at the 2010 Escapade at this very same fairground but have not yet made any of the rallies.  Chapter 6 is one of the oldest chapters in the Escapees RV a Club and will celebrate its 30th anniversary at a Labor Day rally this year.  The rally will be in Michigan and perhaps we will be able to finally attend.

We were directed to our adjacent parking spots on the east side of the infield of the horse track and got backed in with the assistance of the parking crew.  The fairground was well prepared for RVs on parts of the property that are not set up as permanent RV sites.  Electrical cables emerged from manhole covers and ran to outlet boxes on the ground and temporary water manifolds were placed alongside the power lines.  We only connected the shore power for now, having arrived with a full fresh water tank.  I dialed back the charger section of our Magnum 4024 inverter/charger to an AC input of 25 Amps before connecting the power through to the coach.  This limited the amount of power the charger section would use, ensuring that adequate power would be available for other essential coach functions such as the refrigerator, auxiliary air compressor, lights, coffee maker, and television sets.

We put out our patio awning to shade the passenger side of the coach from the afternoon sun and sat around for a while enjoying a snack of pretzels and almonds along with a tasty adult beverage (us, not them).  Linda and Fonda went for a walk while Butch and I fell asleep.  We woke up hungry and eventually decided to go out to dinner.  We took our car and since I was driving I had to pick the restaurant.  We ended up at a Chinese buffet and all ate too much.  We were surprised to see a lot of Amish buggies tied up outside the restaurant and even more surprised to see so many Amish inside enjoying the buffet.  I thought it was actually pretty cool, just unexpected.  By the time we got back to our buses we were satiated and tired.  We retired to our respective coaches for the evening.

 

2013_08_06 (Tue) Back Home (For Now)

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

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

The Mackinac Bridge connects Michigan’s two peninsulas.

The Mackinac Bridge connects Michigan’s two peninsulas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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