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Home – Dual Pane Windows – August 3, 2016

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.

Home – New Stairs – Thursday June 30, 2016

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.

Spring Trip Wrap Up and Fishing – June 15, 2016

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.

Absorption Refrigerators – Thursday June 9, 2016

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.

Home to the Big House – Wednesday June 8, 2016

We have returned to the big house after our spring travels.  Will be here for June, July and leave again in the small house towards the end of August.

Our spring travels started in February to Arizona for spring training with a trip by the big house for a while and finished up with a trip to Yellowstone.
Today’s travels.

The May – June leg of our Spring trip.

Liberty Lake – Spokane County Park – Tuesday June 7, 2016

We are in site RV13 on a warm day, 94.  Will be here one night, not a bad place when nobody is here. The rock parking spots are 13 feet apart.  Our large slide is taking up 2 feet of our neighbor’s 13 feet.

Update:  We will never stay here again the sites all steep and the people who stay here are urban idiots.  Two groups who came in after us acted surprised they would have to pay for their site, the sign on the camp host site said “Off Duty”. I think they both planned on leaving early the next morning before the host was “On Duty”.  One group had two additional cars come in just before dark and both cars left at 6:30 a.m. and the original campsite owner left at 7:00 a.m.   The restrooms were cleaned in the morning however he left puddles in the men’s side that looked about an inch deep.  

Maps:
Today’s drive

Campground location

Aerial of campground

Yellowstone National Park, Second Trip In 2000 and Beavertail Hill State, MT – Monday June 6, 2016

Our second trip to Yellowstone was September 8, 2000 to September 17, 2000.  This trip was Tanya, Brian, Jean and myself.  Left at 2:30 p.m. on Friday Sept 8 and got home at 2:30 a.m. Sunday Sept 17, 2000.  This trip was a little faster pace.

Saturday – got to the park at 5:00 p.m., camped at Mammoth
Sunday – Mammoth, Tower Falls, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone , camped at Norris Campground
Monday – Norris Geyser Basin, Old Faithful, camped at Grant Village
Tuesday – Fountain Paint Pots, Firehole Lake, Midway Basin, Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin, back to Grant Village
Wednesday – Geyser Basin by Yellowstone Lake, Mud Pots, Mud Volcano,
Thursday – Don’t know what we did
Friday – at 2:40 left the North Entrance for home, 10:30 p.m. drank beer with Tanya at a Montana Rest Stop campground.

Monday  June 6, 2016
We are spending the night at Beavertail Hill State Park, site 24, just east of Missoula.

This is the warmest we have been for a while.  The weather report said it was 91 in Missoula today.  During the two weeks we were in Yellowstone we used 13.6 gallons of propane, I think that is the MOST we have ever used and every day when we ran the generator we had the electric heat on.   We had a great time, might go back next year.