My Life and Travels
Worked on leaking heater hose this morning.
I taped a line to my $29.17 NAPA 5/16th wrench in case I dropped it while tightening the hose clamp. Without this line the wrench would have fallen into the engine several times.
Tightened the clamp nut about 30 degrees of a full turn. Run the engine up to full temperature and no leak. After the engine cools down I will see if I can get a little more of turn on the nut, after I get the wrench on the nut i have just my finger tips as turning leverage.
The location of the “Ajo Border Patrol Station” is in the lower right hand corner of this picture. The town of Ajo is in the top left hand corner.
The light spot above the word WHY is the station.
In this picture you can see the square layout of the station about 100 yards north of the town Why, AZ and 10 miles south of Ajo, AZ. I guess they didn’t want to have a sign on the outside of the fence, “WHY BORDER PATROL STATION” and every time a border patrol person is ask what station they work out the answer would be, “Why.”
Today we drove to the town of Ajo ( ah-ho ) to fined a wrench to tighten my leaking hose clamp, see the town and open pit copper mine.
The hole started as hill and ended as a hole 1100 feet deep.
The town square from the visitor’s center.
Lunch spot.
Saw this fire just south of the campground, ranger said it is in Mexico, they are burning trash, a hour later it was out.
Sunset.
Ordered a 5/16 swivel head wrench from NAPA, will be here tomorrow/Friday $29.00..
Wonderful sunny and warm day, 82.
This morning I noticed some antifreeze under the coach. It took a while but I found the source
Down inside that dark hole is heater hose with a leaking hose clamp.
You can see the shining clamp just above the middle. The clamp’s nut is on the far side, this could be a challenge, oh well at least I know where the problem is.
This weather report is why we are here. Sunday when I got serious about finding a place to go to this was the closest place with warm weather. Monday morning at the laundromat we talked to a local guy from the Fiesta who was washing zebra uniforms who had an inch and a half of snow at his house. It will melt off but really. Don said he got in an ice storm between Carlsbad and Big Bend National Parks.
Tuesday’s drive.
Where we are:
Almost every site has a new concrete pad to park on with a six to eight inch drop front to back, REALLY.
Don’t know how long we will be here, nice warm weather is key.
Had to leave the southern RV Park by 11:00 a.m. We were out by 8:30 on our way to a laundromat and then heading to the warmest place I could find. We should be so Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument by tomorrow.
After Brian’s balloon flight I had to add more pictures.
This is Bruce, his 37th Fiesta.
View from balloon.
Where they landed.
Jean took this picture while looking for her son flying in a balloon powered by hot air. Brian and Bruce stayed north and east of the RV Park.
Here are more pictures of Brian’s balloon flight. Don Clapp took these pictures while we were setting up the balloon.
Brian’s Flight:
Landing site:
Pictures of setting up the balloon and leaving earth.
The balloon got up today, light winds moving towards the northwest.
Bruce splashed the balloon in the Rio Grande twice and then the wind changed to the north and he landed in the reservation. The tribal police were very nice however they will not let any travel off the main highway without an individual escort.
Today’s flight, the blue dot is where we are camped, just north is the launch field, red pin is where Bruce landed.
Where he landed.
Bruce and John were able to move the balloon to this point before the wind came up and they had to let the envelope down. The chase team was not allowed to step off the main road ( highway 313) until given permission which was after the envelope was down and folded up by Bruce and John.
We had to carry the envelope and the basket to this point next to the highway.
Here is where the balloon landed, GPS coordinates.
Denise took this picture as we were driving over the railroad tracks.
It was a fun day.
The balloon flew again today.
This is picture of Bruce’s balloon I got from the internet.
I don’t know where it was taken. Working on the crew does not give me a lot of time to take pictures of the balloon.
The flight was from the north end of the launch field, southeast, north, south over the museum ( first landing target), northwest to mid launch field, south to land due west of the museum by a quarter mile. Chase Crew got to the balloon three minutes after Bruce touched down, another chase crew caught him and helped us bring the envelope down. A beautiful morning.
Brian got to ride in a hot air balloon today, ZROZRO7 pilot Bruce Skach from Wichita,KS.
We have been crewing on Bruce’s balloon all week and we have sure learned a lot about ballooning. This is Brian’s “I’m going to fly where in what?”, look.
It is truly an honor to fly in a balloon you just got to help lay out, inflate and now get off the ground.