My Life and Travels
Another night at highway rest stop. We pulled into a corner so we could have the bedroom slide out.
It is a big parking area out in the middle of nowhere. Nice and quite p, Two trucks and two cars when we called it a night.
It has some neat art and information about the pony express.
Updated maps 9/9/2016 – Will post maps after I upload data from Inreach.
Yesterday I finished up a home painting project.
When I painted the house the molding around the front porch pillars where pretty rotted at the corners and would not go back around the pillar housings.
I decided they needed to be replaced and did not reinstall the original ones.
As you can see in this picture these pieces have two angles on them. Their is a 10 degree angle from the outside edge up to the inside edge and also the inside of the molding has a 10 degree angle coming down from the main pillar. Last winter I cut all the pieces of molding out of lengths 2X4’s and over the last couple of days I got them painted and install on the porch.
I think they look pretty nice.
I titled this post “Timing of Home Repairs” because I removed these pieces of molding when I painted the house in 1980. Some project just shouldn’t be rushed.
From April 2016 Motor Home magazine.
“In regard to the October 2015 letter “Cold Showers Build Character,” there is a solution. The problem is caused because the cold-water pressure is slightly higher than the hot-water pressure at the showerhead. When the water is stopped at the showerhead, because the cold-water pressure is higher, it backflows cold water into the hot-water side. A simple solution is to install a check valve in the hot-water line ahead of the shower-mixing valve.”
Last week I installed this back flow valve in our motor home.
Shower valve access panel is in the bedroom wall behind the sliding bedroom door.
I used this Harbor Freight Multi-Tool I purchased on a discount coupon over a year ago. I think it was like $12.00. This saw edge is thin which will create a very small cut in the wall.
Here is the wall opened up.
My motorhome is plumbed with PEX and the Quick Connects comes with a plug to stiffen for the cut end of the tubing and a lock clip.
Check valve plumbed in, if I do another one of these I would move the valve closer to the end of the tubing.
Here is the final project with the access panels put back in.
Parts List from Amazon:
Homewerks VCK-P40-B3B In-Line Check Valve, Female Thread x Female Thread, PVC Schedule 40, 1/2-Inch
2 of Watts P-610 Quick Connect Male Adapter, 1/2-Inch CTS x 1/2-Inch MPT
Another small house project while we are at the big house.
Last fall I was on the roof of the motorhome looking for possible water leaks when I noticed several places around the shower bubble which needed to be resealed.
And the finished installation, started at 8:00 am. finished at 2:00. One more project on our small house and we will be ready to head out onto the road.
We have had this motorhome since November of 2004 and with close to 90,000 miles on it the dual pane windows are leaking. I rebuilt the passenger side front window in August of 2014 and the driver’s window in 2015. This year I am doing the two windows over the couch and dinette.
These two windows are kind of heavy and very expensive to replace if they are dropped.
To ensure they didn’t get dropped and broken I built a support to assist in getting them out and back in.
The windows have a set of 25 screws which hold them in place along with a lot of sealant/glue around the outside of the frame. This sealant usually comes loose all of sudden so it is really helpful to have a place for the window to drop onto.
Here is the film which has built up on the INSIDE of the windows.
I ran my finger through the film so it can be seen.
First you take off this end bracket, remember it is also GLUED in place.
Then the two screws which hold the center bar in place.
Spread the window frame and take the dual panes of glass out of the frame.
Next the panes of glass are cut apart and cleaned. The window which slides open has a metal bracket which must come off the window. This is quite the job.
I soaked the window for several hours before starting the hard part.
It took me five hours of cutting between the metal and glass, then beating on the frame with a piece of oak and a hammer to get this one off.
After the two panes of glass are resealed together the metal lock frame is glued back onto the glass.
I used this spacer to ensure I had the frame is centered from top to bottom.
After another 2.5 hours I had the dual panes of glass back into the frame without ruining the rubber seal around the glass and another 15 minutes to get it installed back into the motorhome.
Now is time to start the window over the dinette. The same process all over again. However after 2.5 hours of working on the metal bracket
one of the two panes broke.
I get to purchase a new piece of glass. Oh, well
Ordered the glass last Wednesday, when it came in this morning (Tuesday) the corners were not rounded so hopefully the correct glass will come in tomorrow, Thursday.
Our first Grandson:
Jack was born at 12:22 July 6, 2016
Here he is at three weeks.
Grandpa providing Jack with his favorite thing.
The stairs into the basement laundry room have started to rot out. The bottom step has a twist in it and needs to be replaced. This project has been on my list since last winter, so it’s time. Trip to Homedepot and away we go.
Taking out the old steps was not all that much fun but it only took a couple of hours.
Figuring out the rise and run so all the steps were equal was a challenge. Working in this defined space on my first set of steps took a while.
I poured two additional footings so the weight of the stairs would have a good foundation to set against. I also additional concrete at the bottom of the stair runners so the runners were setting on concrete and would not touch any dirt. The bottom/base of the stair runners were mostly setting on the basement floor however about an inch was touching the dirt. This was enough to draw moisture and over the years cause the bottom couple of inches to start to rot. My guess is these where put in during the 1935 remodel or before.
I don’t think these are going to go anywhere soon.
Steps are 2 X 10’s.
Not bad, took the tiles off the original steps with a couple we had left from the 2004 remodel. When I was done it looked like I hadn’t done a thing.
When we got home we were greeted by a new family of birds on the side porch.
They grew up fast and before long they were gone. I think we will leave the nest and see what happens next year.
We started our Spring travels going to Mariner’s Spring training and finished up in Yellowstone for two weeks. We’ll leave in August for Zion and Albuquerque, New Mexico Balloon Festival.
Motor Home miles: 4864
Tow car miles: 1619 with 647 of those miles in Yellowstone
Gas: 780 gallons
Yellowstone trip fuel priced ranged from $2.22 to $2.73 306 gallons.
In the last two years we have traveled 18,159 miles in the motor home and 5,349 in our tow car.
Fishing
This is the largest lowland’s lake trout I have ever caught – 17 inches, 1.5 pounds. I have this picture thanks to Jeremy and Steven who came with me on Monday. I got a BIG fish however fishing was slow.
Here are the two fish I caught Monday June 13, 2016.
Here are the fish from today (Wednesday June 15, 2016). When the fish are biting it’s easy, I was off the lake at 9:30. The one on the left is 15 inches and weighed 1 1/4 pounds.
Here is why I have thermometer inside my refrigerator.
Absorption refrigerators are nice to have in an RV for travel. They will work on 110 volts electric and propane. This allows us to go just about anyplace. The down side is they are not very efficient and sometimes they just quit.
We have had this refrigerator since November of 2005 and in the last five years it has now quit working three times. The first time we were at Lees Ferry in northern Arizona on a 100 degree plus day. After trying all kinds the things I figured out that if I turned all the power off to the refrigerator, let is rest for at least a minute, it will reset itself and work again.
It has actual quit one additional time when the cooling system leaked all it’s ammonia. I purchased the cooling unit and replaced it myself at just under the price of a new refrigerator. Oh, ya I forgot the replacement cooling unit leaked after a year and I had to replace that one.