From Furnace to Axels

It’s the end of October and the weather in Pahrump is finally cooling down. From what the locals say, this week has been unseasonably hot. The upper 80's and low 90's are not for me!!!  But we are now coming into more of the normal temps of the mid to low 70’s during the day and the upper 30’s to low 40’s at night.

With the cooler days Mark will be busy working on the 5er. Upon some inspection he found that the axels need some parts replaced. Thankfully he can do the work himself, and Amazon had the parts that we need. We have 13 days left here so Mark has no need to rush getting the job done. I hope he remembers that and doesn’t try to do it all in a few days. It’s a major undertaking but he feels that he can accomplish what needs to be done. God will guide him all the way too.

We had a nice surprise this week. A friend that we met in Yuma last year, came to Pahrump on his way down to Yuma and looked for us. He is now parked next to us for a few days. His beautiful partner is recouping from a broken ankle but will be joining him in Yuma sometime after the new year.  Today he and Mark took his Motor home into town to solve a problem. The part is ordered and Mark will put it in for him when it gets here. Mark needs to open a  traveling repair shop. hehe He often helps others in need.

Even though Nevada’s Treasure RV Resort is beautiful, we are looking forward to heading to Yuma and meet up with our winter snowbird friends. Lots to look forward to as we all reconnect and have some fun while leaving the snow behind. :)

Furnace and a/c weather

The new furnace we ordered from amazon.com came on the day we were told it would and it was in great shape. Mark was amazed that all the connections and such were included, we had nothing else we needed to purchase. And it’s hard to believe but it was a relatively easy install; insert and connect. Of course  there is always some wrestling involved when trying to put a rectangular piece into a diagonal area.

Once the furnace was connected we turned off the a/c and turned on the furnace to see how it ran. Wow, what a difference a new furnace made compared to one that was 15 years old and falling apart. We should find that we use less propane since it runs correctly and now pushes more air than the old leaky one did.

After a few days of the install, Mark rebuilt the cabinet with the same pieces and he did a great job too. At first he thought he would have to replace pieces with new. But he got it all done with no new parts and it looks very nice. I think he even amazes himself sometimes.

Since the install, the furnace has had to run all but one night. Yes the nights get cool, like in the low to mid fifties. And living in a trailer that means it gets chilly inside. It's crazy here, a/c during the day and furnace at night. But that is fall in Nevada for ya. Ha, Minnesota has days like that  from time to time too.

This week has been a hot one with Mark spending the afternoons in the pool. He is a fish and loves the water, Me, I prefer dry land with a good book and my recliner. Even though it gets hot these days, the lack of humidity make a walk with Lola tolerable. And she loves to go for the walks and I need all the walking I can get.

Two more weeks here and then off to Yuma, AZ where we will spend 4 months before traveling to other states we have not been to.

Until next time,

As always, it’s an adventure.

Furnace went down

A quick entry as to what has been happening in our travels. As you may already know we are staying at one of our favorite RV Resorts (that sounds cool, Resort) Nevada’s Treasure. And I have been enjoying a dip in the pool and hot tub to cool down most every day as it’s been in the mid 80’s. Don’t feel too bad it’s a desert so the nights cool down into the upper 50’s and lower 60’s. 

Well Yesterday I woke up to a rather cool RV. We have been hearing a noise coming from the furnace for many months and even though I had told Cindy it was nothing I had planned on looking into it when we got to our Yuma layover. Well noise is one thing but no furnace at all was not something I intended on running into. So after checking the 12 volt panel, pulling the fuse and testing continuity and voltage I found that electrically every thing was fine at the panel. Bummer, replacing a fuse was going to be a lot easier than what was coming next. 

So I get down on the floor and pull the fresh air intake panel off. Then using my stern face look, I stared down at the furnace. Well that didn’t get it to run either but it was worth a try. So now as I look at the cabinet the furnace is in and am forced to face the hard cold fact that it will need to come apart before I can even get at the furnace for more testing. Yep the furnace was installed and then the cabinet built, which happens a lot in the RV world.

Now not to get off subject but I just talked to a guy with a motorhome that paid $2500 to have his refrigerator replaced. It was to big to move out thru the door so they had to pull out the windshield and take it out thru the front of the motorhome. Talk about a Keurig moment. 

Well after stripping down the front and one side of the cabinet I could now (oh yea after pulling the outside vent off) move the furnace and start pulling the wiring loose. Bamm, first electrical connection I pull I find it’s burnt. I know you're thinking, great it is just a bad wire. Well yes and no as using a mirror revealed the connection at the furnace was also burnt requiring me to completely remove the unit to replace the board.

Once out and on the table I set up outside I gave both the board and the blower motor a closer inspection. Finding that one of the blower fans, yes it has three, had been rubbing the housing. That was the tick I was hearing but not all of it. After stripping the furnace down further I got the blower motor all the way out and discovered, as suspected, it to needed replacing. 

Ok so now I needed a logic board for the furnace the blower motor, a gasket set and the plastic fan cage that had been rubbing and had two vanes broken. %$##@ I said to myself as I looked up parts on the internet this was turning into an expensive fix. Especially when you consider the furnaces age. 

So I went back outside and sat down taking a brake started staring at the furnace almost zombi like contemplating my next move. Suddenly I realized there was something else that I had not noticed yet.

With all the tipping and turning I had done on the furnace while taking it apart I had not spent any time inspecting the burner box. Now not so intently focused on the teardown I could see the other half of the furnace standing on end and noticed the grayish dust that had build up between the two burner boxes. Now I had to replace a furnace in our house for this same gray dusty reason. And after further inspection proved to be that this burner box had been compromised as well.

Well it made the decision easier, we were going to be ordering a whole new furnace instead of spending money on the repair parts. I thank God the wire connection had failed forcing me to remove the furnace or my lovely bride and I might not be here to fill this portion of the blog in. Carbon monoxide poisoning or a fire might have been our fate. 

So now till the new furnace gets here and I get it installed we are using one of our supplemental heating solutions. Our Big Buddy portable propane heater with what I have turned into refillable bottled gas. 

As always, It’s an Adventure.

Not too hot in the dessert

A hectic morning. I woke up to Mark hurriedly getting dressed, and myself being quite chilly. My first thought was that we ran out of propane sooner than we should’ve. But when I crawled out of my warm cocoon I found Mark checking fuses and the furnace. Yep, you guessed it, the furnace gave up the ghost. It had been rather noisy at startup for some time already.

So after taking the furnace out from under a cabinet, of which it was put under before the cabinet went in, Mark proceeded to price his options on line.

The next thing I know the furnace is outside on the work table and Mark is heading into town. Upon returning from town he proceeded to tear the furnace apart. When I asked him what he was planning on doing, he really didn’t know yet. hehe But decided fixing it may be cheaper than a new one. Time will tell whether or not it will get fixed or replaced. In the meantime we are praying it doesn’t get so cold over night until the furnace is in and running again.

After much discussion and hard thinking we decided to order a new one. It made more sense replacing the whole furnace rather than replacing parts of a 15 year old furnace only to have it go down again. Amazon will have the new one here by Thursday. 

As always, it’s an adventure.

***UPDATE: Upon further inspection we found that the heat exchange was cracked and rusted. So we are doubly glad that we ordered a new furnace and not just parts. And thank God the furnace quit running before we were endangered by the CO2. 

RVers Prayer

Fall 2017 and Back on the Road! by Mark

Fall 2017 and Back on the Road!

So we are back on the road and it is time for me to catch the blog back up on our happenings.

So what happened today during my adventure. Well to start with I made myself a great cup of coffee using our Keurig. I know Mark, it's a Keurig, you push a button and the machine automatically makes and pours you a cup off coffee. Well lets just say I am a little kitchen challenged so while automatically making a second cup again using the Keurig things all fell apart. The cup is only half full, did I punch the wrong size button? Who knows. But after tasting the coffee it was very obvious the automatic part of the Keurig was no longer working, in fact I thought I had already tasted the worst coffee in the world but I was wrong this truly was the worst cup off coffee I had ever tasted. So no second cup of coffee. You know only I could screw up a cup of coffee using a Keurig! 

This meant I got an even earlier start on getting in trouble. Took My Bride over to the laundry room and then after giving my neighbor Julie some grieve about her New Motorhome got caught up on how her summer went. Julie is from Philadelphia and is the oldest sibling of how many I don’t know. But she did say one of her Sisters is 73. 

Well a few years ago she decided to take off so she bought a New Motorhome and left Philly  to find a new place to live, which lead her to Nevada Treasure RV Resort. She tells me while standing on a ladder putting covers over the wipers and mirrors on her New Motorhome that her friends got her a taser, mace and a baton for safety when she left. She’s a little rough round the edge but what a Great Story she is.

Ed her neighbor and very good friend followed her out from Philly with his Dodge diesel and a 35’ 5er. Now Ed is a bit older than Julie but just as independent so their combined efforts at getting things done are often oddly interest. They have there own way of doing things.

Last year parked on the lot behind us was a independent contracted Programmer. He was working on a project for the military at a base not to far away. Have you heard of Area 51? He often stayed on base for days at a time but when he was around we got to talking. His wife and two children are living in Seattle while he lives is a small RV in Nevada Treasures while working on this project. The RV is much more cost effective for him than using a Motel even with Commercial Rates. He arranges work so he gets home for two to three days every few weeks and is planning to use the RV when his family comes down to see him as well as for camping when he is done with the project. 

So why did I bring this up? Simple this year the guy behind me is a independent Hazmat and ammunitions Cleanup Contractor as well as a pretty good Guitar Player. He works out at the same military base doing bomb site testing and clean up at some of the 70 _ 50 sq. mile bomb sites that are on the base. They work with multiple mini blasts as well as full bombings with multiple building designed to specific demention. Often these sites are also chosen with mountain location approaches and design to simulate a specific train solution. 

Very interesting story here as well as he and his wife live in their 5er traveling from one site to the next. He thinks he will be working in Virginia next. 

Electrical:

We have been running the solar to charge our 4 battery bank for months now and it has worked out well. Since we have been doing more and more boondocking requiring us to use the 3000 watt inverter more often although sparingly this has worked out very well.

We haven’t run the generator since the 9 days in late May and early June when we got back to Mn and it was overcast for over a week. But then most of our stay was in Hutch or @ Harlan’s and at both we had access to shore power for our electrical needs.

Now that we are back on the road parked here at Nevada Treasure in Pahrump, to keep our expenses down our strategy is to run solar all day on both 12 and 120 volt then switch over to short power if we need to when we go to bed to run the extra refrigerator, clock and cell chargers overnight.

As a test ran on solar for most of day and evening then shut every thing off allowing the batteries to stabilize and they pulled 12.73 volts. Fully Charged after running all day even using the vacuum, ice maker, computers, spare refrigerator and phone chargers. Nice!

Propane vs Electricity thoughts:

7 gal propane = 161 kilowatt-hours of electricity or 23 kilowatt-hours per gal. 

2.99 propane per gal. x 7 gal or 30lb tank = $20.93

$ .15 per kilowatt-hour x 161 kilowatt-hours = $24.15 

Propane @ 2.99 per gal is $3.22 cheaper to run 

As always an adventure

First week

Our first week in Pahrump, Nevada went well. The first two days of our stay were quite warm so the a/c got a work out. The rest of the week, it was too nice outside to turn the a/c on although when inside the a/c would’ve felt great. By around 5 the sun is setting so the temps drop fast. Around here the sun really is the boss. At night the furnace runs since it gets down to the mid 40’s to low 50’s. Mornings are crisp and cool and great for Lola’s morning walk to the dog run or around the resort.

On a trip into town to get some things at Home Depot, Mark dropped me off at WM so I could get a much needed hair cut. The stylist did a great job so I was double happy. After shopping for a few groceries Mark and I went to look at some new and used motorhomes and 5th wheels. It’s fun to look even though we have no intentions of buying. We are happy with the home we have. It’s paid for and that is an even bigger reason not to buy. hehe

Today our little Miss Lola went to the groomer. Mommy is always apprehensive when taking her someplace new. But the lady has been grooming for 25 years and the reviews were all wonderful. 

After we dropped off Lola, we headed to Mom’s Diner for breakfast, oh dear they are huge, delicious breakfasts there at a more than fair price. I just couldn’t finish the whole thing. Mark had no trouble, but was more than full when we left the diner. Smiths grocery and a stop to fuel up the truck and we headed back home. 

The groomer called us around 3 to come and get Lola. She was rather curt when we got there. It seems she wasn’t real happy with the fact that Lola is a wiggle worm. Dana is used to it and Lola is used to Dana. But Lola got a very nice cut and even has little ribbons on her ears. I have no idea how to get them off without tearing her hair and hurting her, other than cutting them out before I can’t get the ribbons out at all.  She has never had ribbons in her hair before.

My gland is still not back to normal and now the tendonitis in my elbow is causing problems with my left arm. When we get to Yuma, if I can last that long, I’ll find an orthopedic doctor and get a shot in the elbow. It’s about every two years that I need one. Then I should be good until something else on me falls apart. “sigh”

Yesterday Mark put in a new faucet in the kitchen sink. The old one, for a reason we don’t know, would always get so tight you couldn’t move the nozzle and sometimes turn off the water. As long as he had the sink out, he replaced the stainers too. The sink looks new. And it is so nice not working so hard just to turn on the water. Oh and yes, as always when working with plumbing, Mark did get a wet. hehe

Last night Mark went looking for scorpions and came across a man that catches them for pets. Yikes. The gentleman was well informed about those little buggers. Mark learned that scorpions have 8 eyes but can not see. The don’t like light which is why they are out at night, the smaller ones are more aggressive and venomous than the big ones too. Scorpions are not native to the area. The palm trees you see all over are not native either. They were brought in from Mexico and along with them came the scorpions, hidden in the bark. 

 With the information Mark got last night and finding a scorpion by the 5er where Lola goes, we are going to Home Depot today to get some spray to kill and ward off the scorpions. He will also, unknown by him as of yet,  be spraying the area and RV for any other bugs.  I guess there are black widow spiders here too. Darn I have bugs.  Why stay here you ask? We love the resort is our answer.

Our Address for the month of Oct.

Mark and Cindy Benton
301 Leslie St.
#17
Pahrump, NV 89060

Nevada's Treasure once again.

Landed in Pahrump today to settle in for a month. Doing a full set up, haven't had that since we left so it is going to feel good to be home.

We took the same site as last year and were greeted by two of the same neibors as we had before. So great to see them again and plan on getting a chance to catch up with them real soon.

The dually did another amazing job of pulling us and the 5er thru flat land, valley and mountain passes. She has already gotten 5,000 miles on her since we left so she due for a service.

Got a chance to see Batman and his lovely bride Bettie in Salt Lake City before we left Utah and talked to Norm and Donna on the way out of town so we have our site reservations all set up for our winter stay in Yuma.

Big Thank You goes out to Batman for loaning us his power cooler. We were able to pick up extra supplies in town before we left Utah and keep them nice and cold.

BTW the thermal cooler is a Coleman 120v/12v and works fantastically. It's set up in the RV running off the 120 volt inverter, powered by our solar as we drive down the road. I love it when a plan works. It Rocks.

Cell reception was poor at best last year, but with my new phone I hope it works so I don't have walk to the south wall for signal. It is 86 deg. right now so it feels warm in the sun but it is really nice in the shade even without a breeze. Mark.

The trip to Pahrump was uneventful unless you count going through Las  Vegas. Luckily the town really does sleep during the day so the traffic wasn't as bad as it could've been later in the day. But more than I could've handled; Mark drove through like it was second nature to him. He amazes me with the type of driving that has he had to go through. God gave him quite a skill.

Tonight we went to supper at the restaurant here at the resort. We were happy to see that Angel was still waitressing. We really got nice welcoming hugs. The social butterfly of the resort welcomed us back as did the ladies at the front desk. As Mark said, it was like coming home.

Leaving Utah we found that no Walmarts allowed overnight parking and some other places as well. So we drove further, to Nevada and stayed in a WM lot there. In the morning I walked across the lot to the store and picked up supplies so we don't have to leave here for a few days. And I got a much wanted bottle of wine for a glass or two tonight.  I found the WM store to be very clean, and the people very friendly. It was quite warm when we got there but by the next morning I had to turn the furnace on to get the chill out. It got down to 53º

It has cooled off here in Pahrump after a hot 87º. Without the humidity it is more tolerable than the northern states where it is humid. By later tonight the a/c will go off and we will be bundled up under the covers as the temp drops to 55.

As always, Miss Lola was a great traveler, but very happy to be out of the truck and in her own bed. She likes the dog walk where she can be loose to run and sniff as she pleases. We will no longer walk along the outskirts of the park as we did last year. That rattlesnake may be gone, but it is not the only one in the Nevada desert. 

Time now to hit the shower and then pour myself a glass of wine while I sit in the recliner with my feet up. We had a long hard day. Cindy

As always, it's an adventure.

Visiting Friends

Yesterday we met up with some friends that we met in Yuma last winter. They live here in Utah, so we went to lunch together and had a wonderful time visiting. The drive to and from Heber was so beautiful. But to me it’s always beautiful in Utah. I love fall and all that it entails and God painted all the mountains and hills the most beautiful colors. I don’t know how Mark managed to stay on the roads while observing all the wonders around us.

After getting home, we had to tear down so we could dump the tanks. Then move back to our site and set up all over again. That is ONE of the down falls of not having full hook ups and having to move to dump. But it got done in spite of all my fussing. hehe We both took long much needed showers after that. Mark went to the shower room here at the resort and I opted to stay home and shower where the water is soft. :) Yep, I do like the comforts of home and knowing that the shower is clean. Seeing as how we only have antenna to rely on here, there is very little tv to watch. But I do like to read so that helped pass the time after my shower.

Today we will be heading back to the clinic for hopefully some relief from my plugged up salivary gland. I ate a bagel this morning to make sure it was still acting up. Yep, it blew up like a balloon. Praying for relief today. I don’t care if they have to drain it to get it unplugged, I just want to be without pain.

If I have no pain from a procedure we will be going to visit some other friends here in Utah. Lola will get to come along as well. She is always welcomed there with open arms and treats. hehe So we are looking forward to another enjoyable day with great friends.

Calling all doctors.

Things aren't going as planned. Since I still have the swollen painful gland issue, I will need to go to urgent care again. A message has also been sent to my primary doctor in Hutch. It's not a good idea to head out to who knows where until the gland problem has been solved. So we will be staying in Provo a bit longer than planned. It's still too hot in Pahrump, Nevada yet anyway.

We will have to move to the dump station so we can dump. The tanks are full. As long as we have to move to dump we hope to move to a site with has sewer, the one we are in now does not. When we checked in here we had no options, now many have moved out so I hope we can get a full hook up site. We will also need to get our propane tanks filled today as well. The temps are quite low in the night so the furnace has been running often. During the day we use the electric heater so save on propane.

God has his reason for  this happening. So I just have to accept this and pray for healing. He will take care of us, he always has.

As always, it's an adventure