Tag Archives: Quartzsite Market Place

2015/01/20 (T) Buses, A-C’s, and a Get-Together

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Today was another day of variety.  After our usual coffee and granola I drove over to the Quartzsite Market Place dry-camping area where the Western GM Bus Rally was still taking place.  I met with Larry and Carol Hall and spent over an hour photographing their GM PD4106 bus conversion.  It was very nicely done and they had straightened it up so that there wasn’t anything extraneous lying around inside.  Larry was also kind enough to move the bus several times to allow me to get an angle of view with a good background and lighting.  An article on this bus conversion will appear in a future issue of Bus Conversion Magazine.

Larry & Carol Hall's GM PD4106 bus conversion at the Quarzsite Market Place.

Larry & Carol Hall’s GM PD4106 bus conversion at the Quarzsite Market Place.

When I was done with the photo shoot I returned to our coach to transfer the image files from my camera to my computer, organize them, and back up them up to our NAS device.  For lunch we had tofu hotdogs wrapped in tortillas with mustard, onions, and pickle relish.  I then talked to Butch briefly about the TPMS vendor Linda and I spoke to yesterday in the “Big Tent” and discovered that we had talked to different vendors about different products.  I also let him know that I was going to work on our air-conditioners.

The three house air-conditioners (A-C) in are bus are Cruise-air split units and are initially controlled by three 12 VDC switches on the lower right dashboard.  Those switches get their power from a single 2 Amp fuse in the low voltage distribution panel.  The A-C’s did not work the last time I tried to use them (at Martin Diesel) and I found that this fuse was blown (open) so that was the place to start.

I pulled the old 2 A blade style fuse out of the distribution block and checked for voltage on the supply side and no voltage on the load side, and that is what I found.  I then checked for resistance from the load side of the fuse holder to ground with all three switches off and with each switch turned on, one at a time.  The resistance was infinite (open circuit) with all three switches off (as expected), ~45 Ohms for A-C switches 1 and 3, and ~450 ohms for A-C switch number 2.  All three switches control relays in the DS rear corner of the bus that switch on AC power from the breakers in the AC distribution panel.  Two of the switches also control the solenoid air-valve that controls the air-powered shutters for the two condenser units in the front spare tire bay.  So it was reasonable that one of the switches might show a different resistance from the other two when closed, but at this point I did not know if any of these measured values were correct or even reasonable.

I borrowed a 6 Amp auto-resettable circuit breaker from Butch and inserted it into the fuse slot.  Our testing revealed that switches 1 and 3 caused the breaker to trip but switch 2 did not, and it did not matter whether the 120 VAC power for each unit was turned on at the circuit breaker.  The evaporator units and control panels in the house, however, did not come on unless the 120 VAC power was on along with the 12 VDC corresponding dashboard switch.  That confirmed that the dashboard switches are controlling AC power relays.  I knew from previous work that those relays were in the driver’s side rear corner of the bus/bedroom but our testing indicated that they were probably not the problem.

The common element for switches 1 and 3 was the MAC solenoid air valve on the air panel in the bay under the driver’s seat.  This valve controls air-powered shutters at the front of the spare tire bay where the living room and kitchen A-C condenser/compressor units are installed.  The shutters are held closed by air pressure and held open by a spring in the absence of air pressure.  I keep the air supply valved off when we are parked to minimize air leaks and reduce how often the auxiliary air-compressor runs, but when compressed air is applied to the valve, which is ‘normally open’ when the front A-C units are off, the air pressure closes the shutters.  If either front-located A-C unit is enabled at the dashboard the MAC valve closes off the air supply and vents the pressure on the shutter actuator, allowing the spring to pull them open.

I disconnected the wires from the solenoid and confirmed which wire was the +12 VDC supply to the terminal strip.  I checked the resistance of the solenoid coil and it appeared to be shorted, so I left it disconnected.  We rechecked the A-C units and the two located in the front bay would still not turn on.  Butch figured that there was probably a limit switch on the shutters to prevent power from being applied to those two A-C’s unless the shutters were open.  I loosened the fitting at the valve to relieve the pressure and the shutters opened up.

With the shutters open and the solenoid disconnected we finally got all three A-C’s working, so we have fixed the problem for now but not permanently as the system not does function as designed.  As a side note, it appears the three control switches are incorrectly wired.  Switch 1 is the front A-C, switch 2 is the center unit, and switch 3 is the bedroom.  Switches 1 and 3 are wired to control the shutters for the spare tire bay but the compressor/condenser units for the front and middle A-C’s (1 & 2) are located there.  My guess is that this has been miswired since the coach was built.  The wiring needs to be corrected and I added it to my project list.  Until then, the “fix” is to just make sure all three switches are ‘ON’ anytime we are going to use any of the air-conditioners, ensuring that the shutters are open and the units will operate.

Camp Lieberville in Quartzsite, AZ (our coach is not shown).

Camp Lieberville in Quartzsite, AZ (our coach is not shown).

We left around 3:40 PM and drove over to the Quartzsite Yacht Club for the 4 PM RVillage get-together that founder/CEO Curtis Coleman had scheduled.  Curtis was already there with Patti (the Village Tart) as were Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard (Technomadia), Jim and Chris Guld (Geeks On Tour), and our friends Butch and Fonda Williams (MCI MC-9 NJT and W9MCI and K9MCI respectively).  Lots of other folks showed up including Forrest and Mary Clark, the first two RVillage Ambassadors.

We left a little after 6 PM and drove out to the WINs area on Plomosa Road to deliver a birthday card to Mara.  Her sister and brother-in-law were there but left shortly after we arrived so we stayed until after 8 PM visiting with Mara.  When we got back to our coach Linda heated up the leftover root vegetables for dinner.  She read while I updated my BCM article status spreadsheet, checked e-mail and RVillage, and worked on this blog post.

 

2015/01/19 (M) The Big Tent

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I got up at 7 AM, made coffee, and had some while Linda slept in.  I left at 8:15 AM and drove to Lloyd and Verda DeGerald’s motorhome on East Kuehn Street.  Lloyd was still there so I was finally able to purchase the Webasto flame sensor (photocell) I needed for our second/spare Webasto DBW2010.75 burner.  I then drove the short distance west on East Kuehn Street to the entrance of the Quartzsite Market Place camping area and drove in to the Eagles International rally.

This GM bus conversion tows a VW bus with matching paint. I wonder if they use the VW to pull the bus out when it gets stuck?

This GM bus conversion tows a VW bus with matching paint. I wonder if they use the VW to pull the bus out when it gets stuck?

I grabbed some general purpose bus photos while Byron Pigg cleaned up the area around his bus so I could photograph the exterior for Bus Conversion Magazine.  While I was working Butch called to let me know he was almost back from Blythe and wanted to meet Gary, the owner/publisher of BCM.  Before Butch arrived Neal Sunderland, VE6NL drove up and looked over Gary’s MCI MC-9 Moose Creek Motor Cabin.  Gary was over talking to the GM bus owners but came back and had a long chat with Neal.  I exchanged contact information with Neal and we agreed to meet later at our coach so he and his wife could see it.

Eagle buses certainly make very nice motorhome conversions. This one was pulling out of the Eagles International rally at Quartzsite.

Eagle buses certainly make very nice motorhome conversions. This one was pulling out of the Eagles International rally at Quartzsite.

When I was done “working” I returned to camp and had a bite to eat.  I then transferred the photos I had just taken to my computer, organized them according to subject, and backed them up to our NAS device.  By the time I was done Linda was ready to go to the market area.

Quartzsite is a place with a sense of humor. Central Ave I-10 overpass.

Quartzsite is a place with a sense of humor. Central Ave I-10 overpass.

Quartzsite is, metaphorically, a “big tent” but there is literally a Big Tent set up here that houses the Big Tent Sports, Vacation, and RV Show.  The Show started this past Saturday but today was our first chance to go.  Besides, our RV insurance agents (Charles and Chris Yust of C&C Marketing) had advised us at the SKP Happy Hour to avoid the weekends and come during the week in the afternoon.  Because traffic was so congested on Central Avenue heading south from Main Street to Kuehn Street we decided to walk the 1.4 miles from our coach to market area.  Along the way we ran into Mark and Emily Fagan.  They are photographers and writers and I recognized them immediately from Escapees Magazine and their blog.  We introduced ourselves and had a nice chat before continuing our separate ways.

At least they are in agreement about the size.

At least they are in agreement about the size.

We walked through the Big Tent, stopping at a few booths and quickly passing by many others.  There was a much higher percentage of non-RV vendors than we normally see at RV rallies, and significant duplication of others.  There were at least 18 vendors selling some kind of miracle pain reliever and a dozen vendors selling LEDs.  We did, however, spend some time with the TST TPMS vendor who was from the factory and will probably go back and buy a complete system from him.  We also stopped at the FMCA booth and chatted with FMCA President Charlie Adcock and ran into RVillage founder/CEO Curtis Coleman there.  We lingered awhile at the Carnu-B booth watching a demonstration of products for cleaning, polishing, and waxing the exterior of a motorhome.  We spent a few minutes at the Escapees RV Club booth and talked at length with the folks at European Motorhome Tours and The Ultimate Road Trip (Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and Alaska).  If money were no object we would do the European Tours.  They are typically 30 days and sometimes more than 40 and include the motorhome rental, all of the overnight stops, admission to key attractions, and some of the meals.  The main added cost, besides flying there and back, are groceries and fuel.

Charlie Addcock, FMCA National President, in the Big Tent at Quartzsite, AZ.

Charlie Adcock, FMCA National President, in the Big Tent at Quartzsite, AZ.

Neal Sunderland called while we were still at the Tent and we agreed to meet him and Nora at our coach at 4 PM to see it and chat.  Lou called while we were visiting and we agreed to meet for dinner at 5:30 PM at Crazy Jerry’s.  We had vegan pizza and sat until almost 8 PM talking.  While we were there I got a call from Curtis Coleman of RVillage inviting us to drinks at the Quartzsite Yacht Club.  He was there with Patti and the Gulds (Chris and Jim).  The QYC is across the street from Crazy Jerry’s, so that was easy.  The Amber Bock on tap was very tasty and we were there until 9:45 PM.

 

2015/01/18 (N) The Desert Bar

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Today was divided into several distinct pieces.  At 8:30 AM we connected Linda’s iPad to our Verizon MiFi and Facetimed with our son, daughter-in-law, and grand-daughter.  At 25 months her vocabulary is developing quickly and she recognizes us on the iPad as Grandma Linda and Grandpa Bruce.

The Nellie E. Saloon at The Desert Bar outside Parker, AZ.

The Nellie E. Saloon at The Desert Bar outside Parker, AZ.

When we concluded the call I made a quick run over to the Quartzsite Market Place to touch base with Gary Hatt and the folks at the Eagles International bus rally and the FMCA Western GM Bus Chapter rally.  I returned to pick up Linda and we chatted briefly with Jim Guld of Geeks On Tour.  He and Chris are staying at our encampment for at least this week.

Linda at The Desert Bar.

Linda at The Desert Bar, upper level.

We headed up AZ-95 to Plomosa Road and headed east into the BLM camping area to pick up Mara.  She is camped with the WINs (Wandering Individuals Network) but we drove past their camp and she flagged us down on the return.  We got a brief tour of her Fleetwood Bounder and then headed for the Desert Bar.  It was over 40 miles to get there with the last five on a primitive road that is not regularly maintained.  It was very rough in places but our Honda Element had enough ground clearance to handle it and 4-wheel drive was not needed.  It was, however, a slow drive.  There is also a network of rougher trails that ATVs use to get to the bar.

The lower level of The Desert Bar. Lots of people for a Sunday afternoon.

The lower level of The Desert Bar. Lots of people for a Sunday afternoon.

One of the buildings that makes up The Desert Bar is the Nellie E. Saloon.  It is named after the mine that operated there at one time.  The bar began very humbly in 1983 and has grown considerably since that time.  It is the quintessential “let’s build it and see if they come” venture.  And come they did.  It is completely off-grid and powered mostly by solar energy, although we did see a propane tank which we presumed fuels the cooking grills.  Hours are weekends (Sat and Sun) noon to 6 PM from the first weekend in October to the last weekend in April.  We got there a little before it opened but there were already people there and by 1 PM there were at least 200 people milling around and eating and the live band started playing.  It was an older but active crowd, reflective of what we generally see around Quartzsite.  The Desert Bar has moved beyond famous and is now legendary.

Linda with our friend, Mara, at The Desert Bar.

Linda with our friend, Mara, at The Desert Bar.

The beer was canned but cold and fairly priced, especially considering the location.  We had veggie burgers that were tasty and cost $3.50 each.  We shared an order of garlic fries with Mara and they were excellent.  There were lots of other choices on the menu as well, so of which we could have had.  As we were getting ready to leave we spotted riders on horseback coming up the road so we stuck around long enough to photograph their arrival.  These were the original, 1 HP, ATVs of the American west.  We had a great time there and it was certainly a unique place and experience for us.

The dance floor at The Desert Bar.

The dance floor at The Desert Bar.

We left at 2 PM, stopped at the Wal-Mart in Parker, and got back to our rig at 3:30 PM. I dropped Linda off and headed over to Lloyd DeGerald’s place.  Verda was there but Lloyd had their credit card machine with him so I said I would come back tomorrow morning to buy the Webasto flame detector photocell.  I then headed back to the Eagles International and Western GM bus rallies to grab some general bus photos.

Linda and Mara enjoying the vibe at The Desert Bar.

Linda and Mara enjoying the vibe at The Desert Bar.

Gary and I touched base with Buck Bolding to get squared away with arrangements to photograph his Eagle later in the week.  We also walked over to the Western GM rally and made arrangements with Larry Hall to photograph his bus on Tuesday morning.

Byron Pigg and his wife Betty had straightened up their 1985 model 15 Eagle so I spent some time photographing the interior.  The rally was having a pot luck (carry in) meal at 4:30 PM and invited me to stay so I had some plain spaghetti and green salad.  While I was there I met Rico and Monica, a couple from Europe that have spent four months each winter for the last 15 years traveling around the world in a decommissioned Swiss military truck with a large trailer behind it.  Rico drives buses in Europe for a living and works enough hours in eight months to earn his full year’s pay, which gets paid out to him once a month all year long and making it convenient to fund their annual travels.  Gary and I chatted with folks until it was dark and I finally left to go back to my coach.

Patrons arrive at The Desert Bar on the original, 1 HP, ATV.

Patrons arrive at The Desert Bar on the original, 1 HP, ATV.

BCM publisher Gary Hatt (L) at the Eagles International bus rally at the Quartzsite Market Place drycamp area.

BCM publisher Gary Hatt (L) at the Eagles International bus rally at the Quartzsite Market Place drycamp area.

I spent the rest of the evening copying photographs from my camera to my computer and working on this blog post.  Somewhere in all of that I got a phone call from Lou Petkus of the SKP photographers BOF and we figured out a time/place to meet.

Sunset over 'Q' Mountain from the Eagles International bus rally site.

Sunset over ‘Q’ Mountain from the Eagles International bus rally site.

 

2015/01/16 (F) Making Contact

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The Aqua-Hot came on a couple times last night for a few minutes and it was nice to hear that old familiar roar and know that it was working the way it is supposed to.  I need to see if I can put a new clamp on the hose that comes out of the middle zone pump.  I also need to shorten and re-route the tube to the expansion tank, but the burner/combustion process is finally working correctly for the first time in 3-1/2 months.  At some point Butch and I will try to figure out what is wrong with the other burner and fix it if we can.  I also need to make the same wiring/connector modifications to the second burner so it is plug-n-play interchangeable with the installed one.

Butch and Fonda decided to make a run to Yuma today.  He needed parts from Home Depot, Lowe’s, or Tractor Supply Company that he figured he could not get in Quartzsite, Blythe, or Parker, although Blythe has a good sized NAPA Auto Parts store.  We chose not to go this time for various reasons, not the least of which was that Linda’s sister is arriving on Thursday and Yuma, along with Los Algodones, Mexico is one of the places we want to take her.  But more immediately we wanted to meet up with Gary Hatt from Bus Conversion Magazine today and attend a get-together that Technomadia scheduled at Beer Belly’s for 1 PM.  I also received an e-mail yesterday that Lou and Val Petkus had arrived in Quartzsite so we are trying to arrange to meet up with them.  Lou is the head staff photographer for the SKPs Escapade in March and I am the assistant staff photographer.

Our out-and-about day, however, did not start until late morning so that left the morning open to get other things done.  As usual, Linda went for a walk while I started writing an article for BCM on the work we did yesterday on our Aqua-Hot.  Linda and I took lots of pictures and I think it will be a solid technical article when I am done.

We left at 11:15 AM and drove to the Quartzsite Market Place dry-camping area.  The entrance is on the north side of Kuehn Street east of Central Avenue (US-95) but is not easy to spot.  We stopped at the Too Crazy Ladies trailer and picked up our engraved SKP Ham BOF call sign tags and Rescue Our Cats sign.  We then took the back entrance into the RV parking area, which is just to the left of the TCL trailer.  It did not take us long to find Gary Hatt back with the Eagles International Bus Rally group.

Gary Hatt, publisher of Bs Conversion Magazine, recently acquired this Eagle bus conversion.

Gary Hatt, publisher of Bs Conversion Magazine, recently acquired this Eagle bus conversion.  We met him for the first time at this Eagles International Bus Conversion Rally in Quartzsite, AZ.  Linda is talking to Aqua-Hot service technician Lloyd DeGerald (left).

When we arrived Lloyd DeGerald was there with his assistant working on the Aqua-Hot in Gary’s recently purchased Eagle bus conversion.  Gary’s friend John was working on other projects on both the Eagle and the MC-9 Moose Creek Motor Cabin.  Lloyd determined that the Webasto controller was not functional and needed to be replaced.  He had a new one for $800 and a used one for $400.  Gary went with the used one and had Lloyd do a full service on the unit as well.  While the technicians were working on the Aqua-Hot Gary gave us a tour of both coaches.  By the time he was done with the tours Lloyd had the Aqua-Hot running very nicely.  Before he left I chatted with him about the photocell flame detector and he said he had one for me at a discounted price.

We walked around the market area visiting the vendor booths by the street to kill a little time and found a particular vendor open who had been closed the last few times Linda checked.  They had organic dried apple slices as well as organic dried veggie chips.  We bought a bag of the cinnamon apple chips and a bag of the veggie chips and had a few of each while we strolled.  We worked our way back to Gary’s buses by 12:45 PM, gathered him up, and walked over to Beer Belly’s “Adult Day Care” (outdoor bar) for the Technomadia RVillage get-together at 1 PM.  It took us a few minutes to spot Chris Dunphy’s signature black hat, as Beer Belly’s was crowded, but we finally did and joined the group that was gathered there.  They have also written articles for BCM but like us had never met Gary in person so I made the necessary introductions.

Beer Belly’s had Amber Bock on tap so Linda and I each had one.  We don’t normally drink at 1 in the afternoon, and beer is not normally my first choice if I am going to drink, but the sun was warm and the beer was cold and it was all good.  We stayed about an hour, chatted with some of the other folks that showed up, and then walked back to Gary’s buses.  We agreed to come back and pick him up at 5:30 PM and drive him to our campsite so he could see our bus and get away from the crowd for a little while.

L-to-R: Gary Hatt's Eagle, his MC-9 Moose Creek Motorcabin, and some of the other Eagle bus conversions at the Eagles International rally.

L-to-R: Gary Hatt’s Eagle, his MC-9 Moose Creek Motorcabin, and some of the other Eagle bus conversions at the Eagles International rally.

Given the timing of our social encounters we decided to have an early dinner.  I was using my iPad when the FedEx truck pulled in.  I went out to meet the truck but Barb beat me to it.  There was one package addressed to Butch so I figured it was the gauges from PartDeal.com but we left the box on a chair by the front door of their bus.  Barb indicated that someone named Jim was supposed to come work on something on Butch and Fonda’s bus and was going to park his motorhome onsite for a few days.  The generator bay door was open so I wondered if Butch was having a problem with the genset.  If so, he had not mentioned it to me.

For dinner Linda made white rice with greens and things and heated up some mock orange chicken she has had in the freezer for a while.  It was a relatively quick and easy meal to prepare but very tasty.  We were just starting to eat when a familiar looking SUV pulled in with two kayaks on top.  It was Chris and Jim Guld of Geeks On Tour.  I knew Jim wasn’t here to fix a generator but was pleased to find out that they were checking out of the Scenic Road RV Park tomorrow and moving in with us for the next week.  We have known them for a few years but never really had a chance to just socialize in a relaxed setting so we are looking forward to a little quiet social time with them.

I left a little after 5 PM to fetch Gary and John and drove by the DeGerald’s motorhome first to buy the photocell flame detector but they were not there.  We were back at the coach before it got dark and I had just enough time to give them a tour of the bays.  It was chilly so we went inside and gave them a tour of the interior.  We had a little wine or beer, as suited individual tastes, and just sat and visited.  All too soon I had to drive them back.

Butch and Fonda pulled in around 8 PM.  We were getting concerned about their dogs only to discover that the dogs had traveled to Yuma with them.  I chatted briefly with Butch and a little while later he brought over our turbo boost gauge.  We turned in early as we are headed to Lake Havasu City very early tomorrow morning.