Some orthopedic work on Moose

About a month ago when we were in Jackson Hole, WY I broke one of our cardinal rules.  I attempted to back up the motorhome without my being able to see Sandy in the side view mirror.  And in the process I broke something else – the left rear end cap of the motorhome. A very large birch tree was in the way.   Ouch!


I won’t do that again.  If I can’t see Sandy, I am not moving. Period.

I had to craft an extension to the exhaust pipe to make sure the superheated gases from the turbo exhaust vented outside of the end cap on the long journey back to Texas.  Fortunately, we did not have to go much out of our way as we had to go through Texas on our way to Tennessee.

Thank goodness for insurance.  It was five numbers BEFORE the decimal point.  Most of the cost was due to the four different colors on the motorhome and the intricate design.  Some of the damage ran through every color.We just finished a two week stay at Xtreme Paint & Graphics in Nacogdoches where Moose was stitched back together better than new.  And then lots of paint and clear coat were added to the exterior. 
Now we are on our way to Readyville, TN where we will spend some time with good friends Gary Omel and Sandy Starlin.  While there we will do some minor maintenance and have fun.
More later.  Stay tuned.

How to save $295.00

The companies that make component parts and appliances that go into making an RV are notorious for over pricing replacement parts.
Here is a perfect example:
Recently the gasket on the refrigerator door came loose at the bottom of the door. I did a thorough search on line, and for our model of refrigerator/freezer the cost of a replacement gasket is $299.00 plus tax and shipping. Yes I did say two hundred and ninety-nine dollars. Outrageous! Especially so since it probably cost less than $15.00 to manufacture the gasket.
This was my solution:
I found a white vinyl weather stripping at Walmat for $5.00. Think of two thick-walled soda straws side by side. That's what I got.

I cut out the “bad” section, cleaned the area under the old gasket with alcohol, then I warmed up the vinyl door with a hair dryer and peeled the adhesive protective strip and pressed into place.  Less than 10 minutes to do the job.

The $295.00 saved sure looks better in my pocket.

Stay tuned

Some wisdom, some good mpg and a significant repair for only $1.98

We only had to drive 246 miles today and it took us 4.75 hours.  The temptation was to sleep in and leave late, but from experience we have learned to leave a cushion in case something unexpected happens.  And as we know, the unexpected often happens.

We arrived at a Super WalMart in Oklahoma City, OK just off of I-I40 around 12:30 noon.  First thing I did was take Trixie for a comfort walk.  As I was returning to the coach I thought that the "stone guard" or whatever it is called than hangs underneath the back of the coach looked unusual.  I had never seen it leaning like that and as I got closer I could see that it became detached on one edge. Oh crap, I thought now what?

Apparently, it had been loose for quite a few miles today as the left edge had an area worn away of about 1.5  x 8 inches.

Long story short.  $1.98 worth of parts from a nearby Home Depot (in same mall) and it was back in working order.    So that is probably going to the the only significant repair I will ever do to the coach for under $2.00.

Today's trip was on mostly flat terrain and at times we were getting up to 9.4 mpg, but finished with 9 mpg.  Not bad for a 450 HP Cummins engine.

Last item.  About two weeks ago the rear AC unit stopped working.  Magically it is now providing cool air.

Tomorrow we will stop at MCD RV Innovations in McKinney, TX to have two of our new shades repaired as they do not roll up the same way as when they were installed 11 months ago.   As my good friend, George Hatfield says:  “it is always something.”

Stay tuned.

On our way to Nacogdoches, TX

We departed from Cochiti Lake, NM early this morning and headed east and north toward Amarillo, TX.  We drove 304 miles in 5.5 hours and stopped for lunch en route  at a picnic area along I-40 in Texas.  We arrived in the WalMart Super Center parking lot here in Amarillo about 1:30 (actually 2:30 CDST).  No problems.  No wrong turns.  No rain.  Just a smooth easy drive.  We are one of 14 campers, RVs or motorhomes here.

Tomorrow we will drive about 220 miles to Oklahoma City, OK and stop at another WalMart Super Center.  We always buy groceries or other supplies at the store where we are parked, and Sandy and I have been known to round up carts and pick up trash.  It’s the least we can do for having Sam Walton’s heirs let us stop overnight for free on their property.

Another plus for us with WalMart is that they will accept the used oil from my changing the oil in our diesel  generator.  So this afternoon I dropped of the nearly 5 quarts I was carrying in one of the storage bays.

Recently, we have begun using Google Maps to get a bird’s eye view of the destination parking area and the turns involved.  It really helps us to know what we face ahead of time.

Trixie note.  She is quite the good little traveler. Sandy puts her bed in back of the co-pilot chair and Trixie climbs in and snuggles down for a long nap.

This is just a quick update.  I don’t want you to get bored.

Stay tuned.

When is a mystery really a money making enterprise?

It was suggested to us that we visit the “mysterious staircase” in the  Loretto Chapel in Sante Fe.  Like good and gullible tourists we went to take a look.  The staircase is beautiful and  really is a masterpiece of woodworking.  But is it a miracle or just a legend?  We’ll let you decide. But it is a charming story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretto_Chapel
The museum gets about 250,000 visitors per year who each plunk down $3.  Nice little business.
I took a few photos.  No mystery in that.




After doing our part to help the local legend we walked around the old part of Santa Fe.  It is a charming area of shops and restaurants.


Thanks for checking in. 

Stay tuned

A trip into Santa Fe, NM

We were getting low on some items and I needed to change the oil in generator so we drove the 25 miles into Santa Fe.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera.  Santa Fe is a neat city with unique southwestern architecture and a rare find called Sage Bakery.   I Googled “bakery” and found this 56 year-old-bakery.  Sandy had a cappuccino and I had a cup of plain coffee and we each had a pastry. Everything was wonderful.  We took home a loaf of raisin-pecan bread that will go great with coffee for breakfast tomorrow.

While in Santa Fe we visited Walgreen's for our flu shot.  According to CDC anyone over 6 months of age should get the flu shot this year.  Did you get yours?

Here was tonight’s sunset.

Next Tuesday we begin a long south-easterly trip that will take us back to McKinney, TX to have a couple of quirky window blinds adjusted and then into Nacogdoches, TX for some fiberglass repairs and finally into Readyville, TN where we hope to remove the carpet in our living room and replace it with tile or laminate. Once we leave Readyville in late November, it will be by car to drive about 600 miles to Illinois to spend most of December with our children.

I will not be blogging as often, but stay tuned.

Cochiti Lake Campground, New Mexico

We drove about 40 miles today from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta grounds to this U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Park.  More about our new location in a moment.

We really enjoyed seeing all of the balloons and watching them take off and land.  It was a worthwhile experience.  But the location for camping was the worst we have ever experienced.  For $30 a night we got to park on an sloping surface that consisted of ground up asphalt, dirt, rocks, sand  and lots of prickly sand spurs.  No water and no electric, but plenty of dust.  I was glad to leave.  Enough of that.

But there were some bonuses to being at the Balloon Fiesta.  For one we got to see good friends Rudy and Carolyn Legget and their cute dog Abbie.  Rudy is the person who convinced us to look at the Foretravel brand.  We also met up with Roger and Linda Berke.  Roger is one of the smartest Aqua-Hot techs and fixed our hot water/heat system back in March.  We now consider Roger and Linda to be friends and they are fun to be with.  The six of us went out to dinner one evening.



We also met up again with Mike and Bev Heine.  We first met them at Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico last March.  This was our 3rd time to see them.


Lexie (13 years old) Bev (could pass for a teenager) and Mike Heine.  You can’t meet nicer people.

They were gracious and invited us to a dinner of delicious grilled Alaskan Halibut that Mike caught on their recent trip to Alaska.

Today as we prepared to leave Albuquerque we noticed that when the Honda was hooked up to the coach that one of the turn signals was not working.  I called Rudy, who diagnosed a bad diode.  I will get a replacement soon and teach myself how to put it into place.  It is really great to have friends who know more about motorhomes than I do.

Cochiti Lake is our kind of place.  It is very, very clean.  The parking pads are well spaced with lots of room between.  We are in a new portion of the camp ground and our streets are paved.  We have a beautiful patio with covered table and we even have a very attractive post lamp.  For those of you who have been to Buckhorn Lake Resort in  Kerrville, TX or Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone, this place is on a par with them.   However, while we do have 50 amp service and water, we do not have a sewer connection, so we will have to drive a short distance to the dump every four or five days.  Not a big deal.  And we get all of this for $10 a night.


Our patio

View of campground


Tonight’s sunset

Stay tuned.