Author: Bill

Just wandering around..
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Portable Solar Install for the RV

After our second week of dry camping, both Kathy and I are ready to have our batteries charged by sunshine instead of the generator.  It might be a quiet diesel, but it still makes noise and some vibration inside the coach.

Having installed the Bogart Trimetric Meter  prior to our first dry camping trip last winter, and now after the second dry camping trip, we know that we need to replace about 180-200 Ah of power to the batteries each day.   That means I need to try to get about 50 amps to the batteries to charge them, so I will start off with two 300 watt panels that would produce somewhere between 30 and 50 amps or hopefully 180-240 Ah a day.   Due to flat mounting them on the roof,  I might need one or possibly two more, but that will only be known after we spend some time with those panels.   Since I built a portable set, I need to make sure I can add them to the string when needed.   That will take a bit more questions as I am not an electrical engineer.  But I know one!

I really liked these mounts: AM Solar tilting Solar Panel Mount Kit, but the price is outrageous.  Each panel mounting set is as much as the 100 watt panels I bought to make the portable suitcase though.    I also like their combiner box,  AM Solar Combiner Box, and it too is very pricey,    As I am probably going to hook the panels up in series, I may just be able to use a $20 gland instead of the combiner box.

As for the future path for the  cables down to where the controller is mounted in the passenger side rear-most bay,  my best guess right now is I’ll mount the combiner/gland at the rear of the coach near where the ladder connects to the roof.   I have verified with other owners with my particular coach that there is room back there to bring the cabling straight down inside the rear cap and connect it thru the back of the inverter cabinet.  I also found out there isn’t any insulation back there,  I had assumed that after noticing how warm the rear closet gets when the sun is shining on the back of the coach.

There was an an oddly mounted add-on fan at the back of the engine compartment that was pushing air out the PS engine door louvers.   I pulled that out and the electronics that controlled it from inside the inverter cabinet.   I guess the original coach owner didn’t understand that he needed to keep the engine revs up around 2,000 RPM on long, steep grades to keep the engine running cool, so he must have had that fan installed.

As our NorthByNorthwest trip is getting closer, I decided to build a portable setup first.  I purchased two grape solar 100w panels at Home Depot for $89 each, and I finished making them into a portable suitcase with hinges on the long side.   I originally picked up one of these Victron 75/15 MPPT controller  off amazon.  It was only $118, including built-in Bluetooth, which is something I really wanted.   It was just a test setup as it will just handle the two panels rated amps based on the Victron  configuration calculator sheet on a cold and sunny day.   I am not worried I will ever get them to create the max amps.   I ended up going with the MPPT for the Bluetooth as none of the PWM controllers had a Bluetooth option that I could find.  An added benefit was the ability to set up the panel in series instead of parallel, allowing a longer run of 10 AWG wire and keep the voltage drop below 1%.

It made more sense to me to put the controller inside the coach instead of where I see all the other portable panels mount it.   If you mount the controller out on the panels like every other one I have seen so far,  then the long cables from the panels are running at a lower voltage and higher amps, creating more voltage drop than you probably want; or you need to run thicker (heavier) cabling, which on a portable is probably not what you want.  I know I didn’t.   Having the long cables carrying the higher voltage and lower amps (serially connected)  seems like a much better solution to me, so that is what I did.

I mounted a  Quick Connect Plug behind the battery compartment door, where it also covers a smaller open space just aft of the battery compartment where the HWH leveling controller lives and was a perfect spot to mount the Quick Connector.   It’s hidden, but easy to get to when you open that battery bay door,  just pull the panels’ wire under the lower bar and up to the connector.

The mounted connector is wired with more 10AWG wire that enters the Inverter compartment and hooks up to these 30 AMP Circuit Breakers which will do double duty,  protecting the circuit and allowing me to turn off the panels without disconnecting the quick connect.    There is also a pair of those breakers, but at 50 amp on the output of the controller for providing the same options.

During my week of testing, the Victron controller lived up to its claims.   On the only cloudless day, my 200 watts of panels were putting out 210 watts of power, and according to the controller were pumping 15 amps into the batteries in Bulk mode.  (The Bogart meter said it was 14 amps)   The Bluetooth enabled Victron allows configuration from a Bluetooth app on my phone and has all the reporting capabilities built into it too.  No snaking more wire through the RV.  And no configuring it on a 1/2″ led screen while kneeling in the dirt or gravel in front of the cabinet.

On May 18th,  I hooked everything up for a test run to make sure the panels and controller were working.    I hooked up the Victron to my truck’s battery with some alligator clips, and that allowed me to set up the Bluetooth.  Once I figured out that the pin was six zero’s and not four like most Bluetooth devices,  it automatically downloaded and updated the software a few versions, then it downloaded and updated the controller firmware.   That all finished in a few minutes.

Afterward I configured the controller with my coach’s battery parameters, which are the same as the Magnum Charger set up for Absorb, Float and Equalize.   Once that was  done, I brought out the panels and leaned them against the side of my truck, pointing them toward the sun.  (There really wasn’t any sun, total cloud cover at 4pm, guess I should have hurried more as there was plenty of sun 30 minutes before)   I proceeded to cover them with cardboard so I could hook up the cabling.   Once all the cables were tight, I removed the cardboard, and to my surprise, I was  getting 24 watts at close to 40 volts from the two panels that were rated at 18 volts each or 36 volts max.   What was being produced translated to 1.8 Amps going to the batteries in Bulk mode.   The voltage seems a bit low on the battery side, so I better check that out tomorrow when there is sun!

I finished the legs built from 3/4 aluminum angle, and installed the hinges and handles for carrying it.   I made a special shelf in the coach basement to hold the portable suitcase.

After the initial test, I returned the smaller controller and used that credit to buy the controller sized for what I think will be needed.  Once the new controller arrived, I wired it up in the inverter bay in the same place I had installed the smaller test one.   The new controller allowed me to use 6 AWG wire from the controller to the 4/0 battery cables coming from the inverter/charger.  Installed circuit breakers on both sides,  PV and battery side.   I also ran PV wiring over to right behind the battery bay door as previously mentioned.     I affixed an Anderson type connector in there.   That way I just open that door, pull the cable over from the panels up under the bottom rail and up to the connector.  Then I can close the bay door and we are hooked up, throw both battery breakers on, give the controller a minute to wake up and sense the battery voltage, and then throw the solar panel side breakers on and watch the batteries get charged!!

I ended up mounting the Victron 100/50 solar controller right above the Magnum 2800 watt inverter, allowing me to tap into the 4/0 battery cables from the inverter that charges the batteries.   I have the new 50 amp circuit breakers so when I get some time they will replace the 30 amp ones pictured.

Can’t wait to boondock again so I can test out their full capabilities and look forward to getting the bigger panels on the roof!  🙂

 

 

 

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Upgrading the living room TV stand with a lift mechanism

Ever since designing the TV stand for the RV, I wanted to put a lift mechanism on it.   This week I have finally found the right parts and am assembling it.    The problem with buying one was they are too deep for the area I have.  I mounted it behind the couch and needed something 5″ or less in depth so the couch wouldn’t need to move so far away from the wall and window that it impeded walking past it when the slides were in for travel.

I didn’t want to be able to see the TV when it’s in travel mode, and I also wanted it as low as possible for any driving events, like stopping quickly or large bumps.   I made the stand using cherry wood and three sets of Accuride slides.  I would manually pull it up from behind the couch and insert a couple of wooden poles to keep it up at viewing level.

I tried a linear actuator but couldn’t find one the right length and finally settled on a gas lift strut.   Those were a bit too short for the full height it needed to be, but after searching the web for many weeks, I found a place that had some that had over 22″ of travel and came in 20, 40, 60 and 80 lbs. of force.   I first tried the 60 lbs. one and I could barely compress it.  Realizing that would be way too much force, I traded the two 60 pounders for a 20 and 40 lbs. unit of the same length.   The 40 is still too strong, and the 20 is a bit weak.  If only they made a 30 lbs. unit…

I had to beef up the unit and make a special holder for the top of the gas strut so I could still lift the TV the few inches higher it needs to be once the struts are fully extended.  I bought some 1″ inside diameter steel pipe about 6″ long and modified the top with a couple hacksaw cuts and ball peen hammer to bend over the top end like a cap that will stop the strut from going any further and allowing it to lift the TV!

I also created a mechanism to keep the TV in the down position as the gas struts are a constant push up.   I used parts from a fence gate latch, builders simpson straps and threaded rod with some eye hooks.

 

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FCOC Rally

Sorry for this late post, and its out-of-order status..

This year we are trying a few different RV club rallys,  Freightliner, FMCA and Escapee’s.   This event was put on by the Freightliner Custom Chassis Club.  There were lots of seminars on chassis information but fewer vendors than I expected.   We were all parked together in a large hard-packed gravel lot with full hookups at the Pima County Fairgrounds.   The weather was nice, not too warm and even a couple of cooler days mixed in.  There was even a horse show going on over the weekend we were there.  I especially liked the jumping ring,  Dusty liked all of it.  He got to growl and bark at the horses, especially when they were coming directly at him.

Each night there was a dinner and each morning a breakfast provided by the rally.   There were 50/50 raffles, where half went to the local Ronald McDonald House.   Hopefully Kathy remembers to write up those donations for a tax break next year.

There were vendors hawking all sorts of goods for our RVs and a group touring company that explained their RV tours to Alaska.   We have our sights set on Alaska for next summer (2019) and we  just found out a lot about travel up there from the tour folks.  Even heard about a mod to keep rocks from making holes in the radiator.

But the real reason I decided to go to Tucson was to take a two-day Camp Freightliner class that goes into detail on how to maintain my chassis.  It was held the week prior to the rally.   It wasn’t as detailed as I wanted/expected, but I learned a lot.

We met a lot of new friends while there from around the US.   Hopefully we will get to see them again on our travels.  It’s a really big country, so that may be more difficult than we know.

While we were there, we had our coach weighed on the 4 corners.  To my surprise, we were heavy on the right rear by about 1,000 lbs. compared to the left rear.  I spent the next evening moving about 500 lbs. from the right rear to the left rear and offloaded all the extra clean water I loaded for the weighing.  (they suggested having a full tank of water)  Now we should be very close to even on the rear.

I did purchase a battery watering system that is very nice.  What sets it apart from the others I have seen is little white floats built into each cap.   Now I only have to open the battery door and I can see the water level for each cell in a few seconds, and the best part, without crawling on the ground and opening each cap and peering around with a flashlight.

All in all it was a very good trip!

 

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Where’s Cousin Eddy?

Tony,  you helped me get in the gate at the Paradise Point RV park  in DeTour Village last summer during a torrential rainstorm..   I finally watched the Movie..

Send me an email… bill at cowlesmountain dot com

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Camping at San Elijo State Beach

We are back from a wonderful week at the beach here in San Diego.  (Actually Cardiff by the Sea)  Just south of Encinitas.    We were dry camping, which means there are no hookups for power, water or sewer.   Since this would be our second adventure without hookups, we were ready and I knew what to expect.

We arrived around 3pm on Sunday (15th) and chose the wrong side of the kiosk to go thru towing the car.  Next time we will stay left of the kiosk, not attempt the right side.    I had called earlier in the week to find out if we should tow the car in or let Kathy drive it in.   Turns out if we didn’t tow it, there is an extra $15 a day for the car.   We towed it in.

Once inside the campground, there was a bit of a traffic jam just before our site.   A guy with a trailer was heading the wrong way on the little campground roadway,  I hadn’t been able tell what he was doing.   It appeared to me he was leaving in the wrong direction.  So we were going to need to back up,  which requires detaching the car.   By the time I got the car free of the coach, the guy had got his trailer backed into his site.  Who knew..

I was now ready to pull the RV into the site so the front was facing the beach at maybe a 45 degree angle, giving a nice view out the windshield and also out the passenger side windows and door.   Also a beautiful sea breeze in the windows!

 

The site was up on a tall bluff as we were at the north end of the campground.   We deployed the slides, put down the outdoor carpet we purchased in Quartzite with the sweet hold-down method I learned while at a rally in Tucson last month.   The new carpet gives us a 9′ by 24′ space to put out the lounge chairs, and they are so incredibly light, packing them away later is a breeze!

After we got everything inside and outside situated and ready to relax, I did a quick walk around the coach and realized the small 14″x 14″ panel that covers the water heater was missing.  Ouch!  I immediately realized that while at home last week, I had removed the anode rod to get a replacement and clean out the hot water tank.  Turns out the rod was still about 98% good, so after cleaning it, I put it back in.   Unfortunately it appears I did not turn the panel’s little keeper thingamajig enough to secure it fully and the panel popped off in transit from home to San Elijo Beach.   So instead of relaxing with a cool one, I had to get in the car and retraced my drive to see if I could spot it.

Drove the 27 miles back home and then 27 miles back to the campground without seeing it.   Once I got back, I asked Kathy to drive it again with me in the passenger seat this time.  We got all the way back home and started heading back. As we approached the freeway on-ramp, I thought I spotted something on the side of the road in the bushes.   Since we were going a bit fast and already on the freeway on-ramp, we had to drive to the next exit and circle back.   On the second much slower drive toward the ramp, Kathy saw the panel to her left!   I jumped out and grabbed the flattened panel.  Sigh!  But at least I found it so I could match the paint pattern on a new panel.

 

Once back to the campground after driving the 27 miles 4 times (108 miles) in the car, I was happy to have found the panel and celebrated with a few cold ones that evening.

That evening I did some research to find a tool to bend the flattened edges back so the panel would fit back into the side of the coach.   Turns out what I needed was a Hand Seamer and found a couple listed in stock at the closest Home Depot.

Monday   I drove there the next morning and couldn’t find it anywhere in the store.  I asked three workers and they all pointed me in different directions, one explaining that he gets asked for them all the time and he says they don’t stock them.  UGH.   Anyway,  I go find a fourth employee and show her the picture on my phone, and she doesn’t hesitate to look it up on her phone.  Boom, she walks me over to a $60 one.  I then ask if she has the $26 dollar one.  She looks that up and leads me to a different part of the store where that model is hanging.  (Why hand seamers would be in two different places is strange merchandising to me).

 

I get back to the beach, the glorious beach, and proceed to test out my new tool.  It works and within an hour the panel is back in its place,  a little worse for wear but covering the big white hole that had been there.  [Thank goodness because there is a blazing flame in that compartment when the water heater is on!]   From more than a few feet away, you cannot see all the dings and dents from being run over many times.  Most of the paint is still there, mainly only came off on the edges that I needed to bend back to 90 degrees.

Kathy is saying I don’t need to replace it.  That’s not going to happen.   Those panels are only $50, so the paint will be the difficult part.  I called Tiffin to get the paint colors and they gave me all 4 Napa paint codes.   It appears Napa also will mix it and put it into a spray can.   I will be trying to buy that next week.

Luckily a buddy I had invited to come down for pizza and beer Sunday afternoon didn’t see that text until late in the afternoon.   We weren’t there much due to driving around looking for the lost panel.    And we didn’t get pizza that night either.  But we did Monday night.   Ordered pies from Pizza Port in Solana Beach and picked them up.   All in all a good day.   And to make it better, the sunset was spectacular!  Perfect ending to the day.

It turns out that SESB only allows running generators between 10am and 8pm.   On Sunday afternoon I hadn’t realized that as I only read the part about 6am to 10pm as quiet time.   So Sunday night I only remembered to turn on the genny at about 7:30pm and had to turn it off a half hour later, meaning we weren’t even close to fully charged for the night, and pretty far from it.   So Monday morning we had a fairly low state of charge (SOC)  to run the coffee maker, toaster, heater and microwave.  Kathy tried to cook bacon in the micro and the inverter faulted and wouldn’t go back on.

 

Turns out I had modified the cutoff voltage from the default and moved it up too high.   As we were at a fairly low SOC, the batteries went below the setting I set, causing the fault.  After a bit, I figured out how to do a hard reset of the inverter and it powered back up.  I called the manufacturer to see if my setup parameters were the issue,  they were.  They suggested I put the cutoff voltage back to the default of 10 volts, explaining that the batteries can easily drop to that during a high current draw (like the micro)  then rebound back to 11 or 12 volts a second or two after the load stops.    I turned it back,  now knowing why it should be set that low.  Everything I had ever read about lead acid batteries was 10 volts was a dead battery.   But there is a difference if its under load,  What they are talking about is a battery in a static state.   Live and learn.

Monday night around 7pm I realized I needed to set an alarm to remind me to start the generator earlier, as they weren’t going to get fully charged again on Monday, but at least they would be around 95% charged instead of 80% SOC like the night before.   I figured I need to start it around 6pm to get a full charge prior to the 8pm cutoff time.

Tuesday we finally got to tour the campground.  I hadn’t realized it was so large, over 160 sites.   We were almost to the north end and didn’t know the south end was at least twice the size.  The furthest sites south are at beach level.  And we found beachfront sites down there, some with full hookups.   We talked to one of the camp hosts as I wanted to understand the length policy and FHU info.  He stated it was a recommendation.  You could bring in any length vehicle, but if it didn’t fit in your site, you were “SOL”, basically out of luck and couldn’t stay.   Some of the sites could fit a 45′ coach and most could fit a 40′ one.

There is a nice little campground store just across from the entrance with quite a bit of stuff crammed in there.  I was surprised they sold beer and wine in there.  Kathy spied the ice cream, so I knew we’d be back soon.    That evening my alarm worked perfectly, alerting me to run the genny around 6pm so we could full charge on the house batteries.  They were almost to 98% when I had to shut it down.   So by Wednesday morning, we had the routine working well.   No issues running all the electric appliances in the morning.   Our only other dry camping trip was in the desert north of Quartzite, where there are no generator run time restrictions, so we could run it whenever we needed it, like when all the appliances were running while making breakfast.

At night we headed back into the coach as the temps dropped into the low 60’s as soon as the sun went down and the wind made it feel much cooler.   I had brought the new season of Bosch to watch, giving us a couple hours of watching after dinner each night in the warmth of the coach.  There were a few hearty souls at other campsites (probably) shivering around pretty large campfires.   Much larger than I would have expected the rangers to allow here.

 

On Thursday after lunch at The Taco Shop we decided to create a list of campsites we could fit into along the beachfront for making reservations for next year, taking into account a few very non-level sites not usable for our RV,  or next to the dumpsters, restrooms or dump station, etc.   I ranked them 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices so when we start trying to make reservations for next spring and summer, we can try to get the best sites.

While we were scoping out the sites, another camp host came over and started telling us which are the best sites and also about the FHU sites that are fair game for our rig too.  Dick was his name, and he is a camp host this summer for 4 months and lives in Palm Desert most of the winter.   He was telling us about his Alaska trip last summer and I am ready to start planning a four month trip starting June 2019 if anyone wants to caravan till sometime in September.    He mentioned it was their second trip to Alaska.   Prior to last summer they went there in 2007 with their previous coach.  It sounded great,  except the part about the big rock getting thrown up from a truck going the other direction in a small town that went right thru his windshield, a couple feet above his head.  Seems like I might want to erect one of those Blues Brother fences… Rawhide!

We were leaving Friday, so we performed out last day ritual,  thoroughly cleaning the coach.  I really love the new Dirt Devil central vac I installed last summer.  That thing could suck the hair off my head if it got too close.

One of my new favorite things is to put out and pull up the outside carpets.   The lag screw and washer holding down for the carpet has made that job almost enjoyable with my little 12v impact driver.   San Elijo dirt is almost as hard as that Tucson gravel we camped at a few weeks back, but the new hold-downs made short work of it.

 

Once we were ready to leave, Kathy drove the car home and I headed over to the dump station.  It was easy in and easy out.   I was impressed how clean the bathrooms and dump station were.   Although, I didn’t camp over the weekend, so your mileage may vary.

 

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Heading for a week at the beach

I’ve spent the time since getting back from Tucson checking into maintenance items I learned about during the Camp Freightliner class, and other chores, like  working on the sprinkler system and putting in some flowers and new plants in the renovated front yard.

I watched a video and proceeded to drain my generator’s coolant and replaced that and the radiator cap.  I then decided to look into why the power steering was acting a bit odd when parking and turning the wheels to their stops.  Turns out I was very low on power-steering fluid.   This diesel actually uses motor oil for its power steering fluid.  That was very odd sounding to me and I was concerned that might be incorrect.  After a bunch of phone calls and a post on a Tiffin forum, I was assured it did use motor oil.  I also confirmed that by opening the reservoir and dipping in a paper towel.

That tank was very low, almost no oil around the newly discovered filter in there.   I bought a new filter and a gallon of oil, changed the filter out and poured the gallon of oil in.   Hmm.  Looks like I need another gallon of oil to fill it.. (not quarts).   I went back to the store and bought two more gallons.  Geez, in a car you are usually talking pints…

I filled it up, ran the engine for a bit and turned the wheel a bit to get the fluid moving around.

Today we are loading up the coach to head out.   I had just unloaded it completely as we thought the next adventure wasn’t until June.   But a buddy had reserved a site at San Elijo State Beach and now would be out of town.  He knew I had never camped there and offered the reservation.  I drove up there to look at the site as the max length listed was 35′ and that wouldn’t work for our coach.   I scoped out the site.  It was very large and overlooked the water.   But I wasn’t sure I could fit my RV in there and was about to send a text explaining I probably couldn’t use his reservation.  Just then as I was driving away, I spotted a large Prevost bus driving in, so I turned around and followed him.   He pulled it into the site next to the one that could be mine.  That Prevost looked as long as my coach, so I got out and knocked on the door, asking the driver how long he was.  His reply was 40′, and that he has camped there many times and he thinks most of the sites will fit his coach.

Needless to say,  I texted my buddy and bought that reservation from him.    It’s dry camping, no electric, water or sewer, but a beautiful view!

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Heading back home from Tucson

While at the Freightliner Rally we heard there were places in Yuma that would wash and wax your coach for around $120.  That sounded too good to be true as in San Diego they want $10 a foot for that.. ($400)   I got a couple of names someone had used previously and called  Dave’s Auto Detail (aka DAD’s), they were too busy to do it Friday the day we would be passing thru Yuma.  I called Benjamin’s.   He told me to call him when I was almost in Yuma and he would try to fit me in.   I called 15 minutes prior to the turnoff he told us to use.   He said he would have someone meet me behind Al’s RV Supply.   A few minutes later the tech called me and told me he would be a while as he needed to go back to the shop and fill the water tank.   We drove behind the place and the parking lots was fairly sloped so we drove around front to wait.  I went inside the store and found a lens cover for a basement light I had broken months before and was not able to find the right replacement anywhere.    While I was paying for the lens I got to thinking, it was already after 3pm and figured we would probably need to spend the night as it would probably close to 7pm  when they finished.   So I called an RV campground that was a few hundred yards away to ask them if they had a spot and whether they would allow a firm to come in and wash the coach.   Got an affirmative answer and we headed off.   Checked in and parked just as the tech called me back.  We were on, they were a few minutes away.

I was a bit apprehensive when they arrived as I had realized I hadn’t asked how much it would cost.   I was pleasantly surprised when they said it was $99 for a complete wash with a hand waxing for the sides of the coach but not the roof, they only wash that.  But then the sales pitch started,  for another $49 they would treat the roof with a Wax & UV inhibitor, similar to 303… I opted in.   It took them about 2 hours, with 3 of them working to finish it.   They did a great job!

I was glad we decided to stay the night there as I had already driven 4 hours from Tucson is it was almost dark when they finished.   I find it kind of uncomfortable driving the coach at night due to the side windows reflecting everything back at you.   Going straight is no issue, but practically impossible to see anything to the right or left of you at night.   I had noticed that phenomena one very early morning in Muscle Shoals Alabama on a very short drive from a small campground to a shop to have some work done on the coach.  Even turning off all the dashboard lights didn’t help that.  It’s nothing I’ve seen in any other vehicle before.

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Titan II missile silo

I had read there was a Titan II ballistic missile silo about a 30-minute drive southwest of our campground and I just had to go see it early Saturday morning.  Kathy begged off and I drove there to see if I could get in a tour at the last minute.   I got there just as a tour was getting briefed for the procedures to go in and they allowed me to join it.

Turns out anyone 6′ or over must wear a hard hat while underground.   Thankfully I did as told, I hit a few steel beams when I forgot to duck.  I didn’t realize people where that short during the 1960’s, I always thought that we were talking hundreds of years ago. 🙂

This was a really cool tour, and it’s the only Titan II missile silo left.  All the others were destroyed after the new generation of missiles were deployed.   I was surprised the command center was not very far underground, about 55 steps down,  especially when they mentioned the warhead it carried was a 9 Megaton hydrogen bomb.  If ground burst, it would make a crater 500+ feet deep.   It appears they did not expect them to be directly hit by a similar sized weapon.

The underground site was sealed off by sets of massive heavy and thick doors.   Everything in this silo looked to be in perfect condition.  No rust to be seen, yeah it was in Tucson so that makes sense.

The control room was mounted on large springs that you could see around the perimeter.   They explained that the previous generation of missiles took over 45 minutes to launch once they got the launch order from the President due to not being able to keep them fueled due to the volatility of the liquid oxygen fuel.    They would probably all have been destroyed by a first strike as we only had about a 15-minute advance notice of incoming missiles back then.

These new Titan missiles fixed that issue having a different fuel mixture allowing them to be kept fueled up 24/7.   A launch could happen within 58 seconds of receiving a launch order with the Titan II.    I believe they told us all these sites were decommissioned in the late 1980’s.

The actual silo was accessed thru a very long corridor.   There were a couple of large open bay doors to allow a view of the missile from a couple vantage points.   They also mentioned that the tours on the 3rd Saturdays included a visit down to the bottom of the silo.   Unfortunately I was there on the 4th Saturday morning.

I would highly recommend a visit to this museum if you are in the area.  It was fascinating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lavender Pit, Old Bisby and Tombstone Az

After day two of my class was done, we drove down to the Lavender pit mine near Bisbee Az, about one and a half hours south of our campground.   We drove past Old Bisbee on the way to the open pit mine and thought it would be a nice place to eat our lunch on the way back.

We stopped at the Lavender pit scenic overlook.   It was a really large open pit copper mine.  We had never seen an open pit mine before.  The colors of the dirt and rock all around us was just spectacular.   After gawking for a while we headed further south to Sierra Vista to pick up some bottled water and chips for a picnic lunch, then headed back north toward Old Bisbee.

What a place!   We pulled in and onto a very small roadway that went up the side of the canyon.  It was basically just a foot or so wider than our car with houses and garages clinging to each side of the steep slope.  Reminded us of some of the villages we visited in Europe.   When we got to the top, it was what looked like a dead end and started thinking that couldn’t have been a two way road.   But just then someone pulled out and went off to our left and down an incredibly steep road that I couldn’t see was there and probably wouldn’t have found without that car going down it.   We turned to go down it.  Wow, it was probably a 45-50-degree slope to the bottom of the canyon.

Old Bisbee is an odd little place, kind of 60ish feel, maybe an artist colony wrapped into one.   We found a parking spot right next to the mining museum and started looking around for a shady spot with a table.  It didn’t look like we would find one, so I sat down on a steel bench with Dusty, and Kathy went ahead to see if there were any tables around.   That steel bench seat was HOT, really hot out in the full midday sun.   Kathy yelled and motioned me to come.  She had found a little chess table with two stools in the shade up the hill a bit.

We had found a delightful place for a picnic lunch!   Beautiful cool breeze and pretty view.   And only a few yards away from a washroom.   It was Friday afternoon and there were lots of folks walking around the town on this perfect weather day.   After lunch we went for a stroll up and down the streets, found a cool park kind of hidden up a long flight of stairs.   It had a nice covered area with hilltop views of the town and canyon walls.   After admiring the park for a bit we noticed one house that looked much nicer than most of the others we could see so we headed further up the hill toward it.   Lots of steep narrow roads all around this little canyon town.  I was sad to leave as we wanted to see Tombstone and hopefully still have time to see Kartchner cavern on the way back.

We headed north out of town toward Tombstone using the GPS to find Boot Hill.   I wasn’t sure we would want to stop there when we drove thru it on the way toward the mine, but I am glad we did.   They had one of the roads blocked off to traffic all set up similar to what it would have looked like during Wyatt Earp’s and Doc Holliday’s time, complete with the wooden boardwalks on both sides.   There were outlaws dressed up in period gear in the road,  stage coaches giving rides around the town.   Tourist shops and saloons lined the street, which was considerably longer than I expected.  One of the stage coaches looked considerably older than the others, after walking past it I was thinking it was from the 1880’s and hadn’t been well maintained.  Sort of looked like a deathtrap that might disintegrate while going down the street.

We walked over to the courthouse that was about a block off that road.  We found an ice cream store on one of the side streets.   I met a couple of Arizona Rangers.  They came up to me as I was parked on a bench waiting for Kathy to find a tee shirt.   I hadn’t ever heard of Rangers in Az, only the Texas variety.   I asked them about the gun laws in Az.  He said no permit was needed for open or concealed pistols, and they both said it’s a much safer place because of it.   That just seems odd that policeman would think that, as they have to worry that anyone they stop can legally have a gun.  But they were older gentlemen and thought differently than I would have guessed.

I was pleasantly surprised we had a good time walking around in Tombstone, which I thought would be too touristy for me.   We left and headed toward home base and I wanted to stop at Kartchner Cavern.

When we got there, I asked the attendant at the gate if we could bring the pup into the cave, and he said no, but all the tours were full so we couldn’t go in them either.   He mentioned this cave is the only fully wheelchair accessible one in the US.  He was responding to my questions about the number of stairs on the tour.   I was remembering back to one of the caves we hiked in the Black Hills last summer had about 800 stairs to climb.    I asked about the temp in the cave, to see if it was as cold as the caves from last summer.   He told us it was hot in this cave,  98% humidity and about 75 degrees.   Far cry from the 48 or so degrees of the caves in the Black Hills.

We drove back to the RV after a nice day sightseeing in the Arizona desert.

 

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Heading for Tucson and the FCOC Rally

After we got home last fall, I started researching trips for this year (2018) and thought we might try some of the RV rallies I had been reading about last summer.   A week in Quartzite was the first, then two weeks in Tucson.  After that, a summer couple-month trip to the Pacific Northwest with a one-week rally in Coos Bay, Oregon.   The last of the planned trips is to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta in early October.

The Tucson trip was for a Freightliner Chassis rally.  I had signed up to take a class on maintenance for my chassis and was looking forward to spending a couple weeks in Tucson.

After spending six months on the road last summer,  a new mattress for the coach was required.  Our mattress was a foam type that was way to soft for me, so after reading Consumer Reports, we picked out an innerspring model that was on their recommended list.  The closest dealer that sold it was in Yuma,  so I purchased the new king mattress over the phone during the Presidents’ day sales in February with the intention of picking it up in Yuma on the way to Tucson in March.

Prior to pulling the trigger, I started asking on some forums if folks with my specific coach model were able to get an innerspring mattress thru the front door.  Most folks said no, but a few said they had done it.   I started thinking the “no” responses had probably never tried it and just went with another foam or air mattress, and a few mentioned they bought two long twins which equals a king-size bed.   So after the few folks said they had gotten one in but that it took two people to get it in there, I pulled the trigger.   After that I got to second-guess my decision for a month till we headed toward Yuma.

We arrived in Yuma last Monday afternoon and parked around back next to the loading dock.   I put out all the slides to give us room to maneuver both mattresses.   I had their warehouse guy help me move the old mattress out of the way, but not out of the coach yet, in case the new one wouldn’t fit in thru the door.    After a bit of struggling with the new mattress, me pulling and the young man pushing, we got it in.  Hooray!   Keeping the plastic on it was very helpful, allowing it to slide a bit on the steps as we manhandled it up and thru the doorway and steps.   We offloaded the old mattress.  Geez was that thing heavy, probably triple the weight of the innerspring mattress.

We pulled in all the slides and headed for Tucson, another 3 1/2 hours of driving.   About 50 miles shy of the campground, we pulled into a Pilot fuel stop and I was able to pump 138 gallons into the tank.  [As we were driving the rest of the way, I was smelling a strong odor of fuel.  Bill at first said it was because some splashed on him, but then later he he had forgotten to put on the fuel cap and it was still in his pocket,  oops!!]

We arrived at the RV park at Pima County Fairgrounds just a bit after dark and luckily a camp host came out and guided us to a site.    It had been a long day and we just deployed the coach, hooked up to water and electricity, and called it a day.   Perfect time for a bourbon & seven, but as we looked for the bourbon,  we realized we hadn’t packed it.    🙁