Missoula, MT – Saturday May 19, 2017

While we were at the big house I got a few things done to the motorhome.
Added a 120W GoPower portable solar panel.

Trimetric TM-2030-RV Battery Monitor System, this will give me more information about what is happening to the house batteries. It has a shunt so it can calculate the power go into and out of the batteries.

Installed a 2 gallon water accumulator so the water pump does not run so much and uses less power. The pump uses most of the power when it first starts up.

Motorhome got a new engine battery, replaced one purchased in 2010. Looks like I will need to replace the house batteries soon, they were purchased in October of 2012.

Added a WeBoost Cell Booster to improve cell reception.
I think I fixed the furnace.

Last spring ( 2016 ) we had a little trouble with it not lighting sometimes. It would go for long periods of time when it would work just fine. It did not work for a couple of days before we got to Yellowstone and then while at Yellowstone it would only work about half the time. When we got home to the big house it worked just fine. It also worked this spring all the way to Phoenix and back. This afternoon while loading the motorhome I started the furnace to take the chill of the motorhome and ensure the furnace was still working just fine. It would not light.

Did a little google and YouTube searching and figured out it wasn’t the circuit board, but it might be the sail switch which ensures enough air flow from the fan. I was able to pull a cover off the fan. The sail switch is located on the inside of this fan housing/cover. There was a fair amount of dust on the fan blades. Got the compressor out and blew the dust off of each fan blade. Put everything back together and the furnace fired right up. Checked it again 2 hours later and this time I let the furnace run for a while to burn the dust out of the heat exchange.

New CO carbon monoxide detector, replaced a hard wired unit with battery powered.

Air Tabs to help with coach stability in the wind.

We are in Missoula while Richard and Vickie are having their motor home worked on, it doesn’t have much power and is getting bad mileage (worse than normal).

Beavertail Hill State Park, MT – Thursday May 18, 2017

Today’s drive
Across Northern Idaho into Montana. 
We are just east of Missoula for tonight and tomorrow. The forest service campground I wanted to stay in up in the mountains is not open. 

The camp host said they had 2-3 inches of snow here yesterday. They spent most of the morning picking up downed tree branches. 
We are a half mile south of I-90. This is real camping, we are under a large tree and can not get satellite radio or TV.  I could move the TV dish off the motor home but Jean said to skip it because the only show she watches tonight is on CBS and we wouldn’t get CBS any way.  Here Friday night and move to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park for Saturday and Sunday. 

Tanya sent us a video of Jack taking his first steps today. 

Connors Pass, NM – Rest Stop by Hayspur Fish Hatchery, ID – April 9, 2017

Today’s drive.

Yes these pictures are very much the same.    They are both pictures of Harry driving on ICE and SNOW on the 9th of April.
This is one of the many passes on Hwy 50, we are just East of Ely, NV.

Driving up the pass their was a semi stopped in the road just before the top of the pass.  I was able to drive around him when I discovered the ice and snow on the road which stopped him.  The road is a 6 to 7% grade and I guess he was going so slow when he got to the ice he was unable to keep moving.

We were early enough to get a spot to stop.  This was a good time for breakfast and wait for the road to clear.   We got to the top at 8:00 a.m. and the first two sand truck came through at 8:10.  They several passes blading the ice and dumping a lot of salt and sand on the road.  By 9:00 the road was melted (about an inch of ice) and the Highway Patrol stopped to say the road was clear going east.

The plan was to spend the night at Hayspur Hatchery Campground, however the campground was closed.  It is a one lane road into the hatchery and campground and with the campground closed I only had limited options to turn around.  I needed up having to unhook the pickup to get turned around.

We ended at a rest stop just down the main road on the way to Sun Valley.

It was cold, 27 degrees in the morning.