The week of Mark's maintenance so far

As it has been a while since I posted last, this writing will include several things that I have been keeping myself busy with over the course of the last few weeks. As I write this something a good friend and well versed individual once told me is “rv’s are not meant for full time living”. He is right in part as if you are to take on such an adventure be prepared for some repair time spent on the rig keeping it in order. Now with that said what have I been up to now that we are as I call it “Stationary”.

One of my tasks has been to start a reassessment of how to lock down the many cabinets and doors in the rv. As you may have read we suffered a minor setback upon arrival here in Yuma. We found that several cabinet doors had come open during this leg of the trip dumping contents onto the floor, a door that separates the living room from the bedroom had come loose pulling out several screws and bending the roller assembly. A couple of drawers came loose causing damage to them and it seems I also managed to put a dent in the dually’s box rail as well by the center rail tie down.

How did this happen and even more importantly, what have I as a newbie learned from the experience. Making tight turns on uneven ground are a huge no-no causing the clearance between the hitch pin box and the trucks box side to become not existent. Hence the dent and the kind of rocking of the rv to have magically jared every thing open.

Ok as I am not about to attempt to repair the truck box I will concentrate on securing and repairing cabinets and doors.

First off I removed the sliding door between the living room and bedroom loft as it had not been secured enough from the factory and the sliding mounts to the door had come loose and banged around and had gotten bent. I pulled off the attaching brackets and using two pair of pliers managed to straighten both to their correct configuration. Next I moved the brackets to new locations because the screws had come loose. Then I pre-drilled pilot holes then fastened them back to the door using the new screws. Then with the help of my wife we reinstalled the door on its track and then adjusted it for movement and alignment along the sides.

The draw bottoms that came loose were held together with small brads which pulled out. Now I am not going to mention that they are possibly over weighted with content. We are living full time and so are carrying everything we need. I had some small screws with shoulders that I predrilled into the drawer bottoms and now have the bottoms screwed down making a much better hold and support. (special note here I plan on doing this to all the drawers in the cabinets) 

One of the cabinets has pull out drawers and both were sprung during the issues above. I straightened the slides on one and used the same screws to repair the bottom of the drawer as well as adding screws to front of the drawers facing. I also plan on doing this to the other as well.

Cindy and I have spent some time in rv stores (a lot of them here) looking at better ways to secure the cabinets for travel. There are several solutions out there but most quite frankly are no better than what is on them now. Cindy did find some positive outside cabinet door locks that she feels will work well, but we still need a good solution for the draws and sliding door. 

We have also looked at every stop for a manual electrical transfer switch to replace the auto switch I have had problems with but it seems no one stocks them. So as long as we now have a mail service one was ordered and should be here in a few days.

Our latest adventure has given us a chance to become intimately familiar with the supply side of the rv’s propane distribution system. As you may or may not know just as the rv has two electrical systems (in my case three counting the solar). It has redundant heating, (furnace and hot water) and cooling, (refrigerator) systems running on ether electric or propane. 

Before we left we noticed that the connecting hoses to the twin propane tanks on board were very stiff so we replaced them with new ones. At first all was working well but then things started going down hill as it was noticed that it seemed harder and harder to get the fuel to switch from tank to tank as time has gone on. 

Redundancy is a very important part of rving as mentioned above we also have multiple ways of heating the rv and for good reason as you will find out by reading this next section.

Late in the day before Thanksgiving one of my propane tanks ran out and when I went to manual switch the supply over to the other tank fuel at the regulator propane refused to flow form the known full spare tank. After some trial and error I swapped it out with another tank (I keep a total of 100 lb. of propane when all the tanks are full) and at first it seemed to work. Then later that night disaster hit and the fuel delivery system shut down completely again. We do have a heating backup system and as it was late and Thanksgiving was the next day I had to piece meal my time working on the problem. And to add just a little more adventure to my dilemma the system worked periodically and then would not. I pulled up a plethora of knowledge on the internet and began learning about the components of the system. 

On a side note, I learned that even the caps that screw to the valve on the propane tank have safety valves in them. And that the regulator brings down the liquid propane pressure from a high of between 100 to 250 psi (depending on application) down to 10 psi, has a valve specific mounting orientation and a moister release system built into its body.

Ok well after chasing this all down and finding at best it was only working some of the time I proceeded to remove all the hoses and valves and start over from scratch. What was found after doing this was that condensation had caused the cross over pipe leading from the spare tank to the regulator to plug with a calcium build up. This had contaminated not only the hoses but also the regulator and safety valves thru out the system. 

First thing needed was to find a way to blow the calcium contamination out the supply pipe. Now I have a small compressor for tires but it does not have a revisor tank to build up air pressure in. So by rigging a temp hose from my truck spare tire to one side of the line and using my finger to block off the other side it build up pressure and then releasing my fingers caused a flow of high pressure to escape which eventually cleared the line.

Then the propane regulator was replaced with an auto switching unit (yea! no more getting up in the middle of the night to change supply tanks), as well as all the hoses and safety valves in the system. We now have a higher efficiency burning stove as well as furnace. And did I mention I no longer need to get up in the middle of the night to switch over the tanks as the auto switch takes care of that task now as well.

As the manual electric transfer switch has gotten here today I took the time to set up and test out my three systems before installing the new switch. All of which, shore power, generator and solar worked well. So now with a little revamping the auto switch will be replaced with the manual one and the electrical systems should be working as expected.

One more quick note before I sign off. The things I write about may sound overwhelming to some but are really nothing more than expected maintenance with an rv being used for full time living and travel. We have met multiple neighbors while camping with new rigs that have had major problems and they have just left the rv lot so I consider my self blessed that I have 1. and older rig and 2. as few and simple to solve problems that we have had. 

Ok so back to retirement. It a good thing I am so I can keep up. Mark Benton

One week

We have been in our winter home for a week now and don't regret our decision to stay. It's pretty quiet and everyone is so nice and so friendly. The weather is better than we ever expected too. Lows in the mid 50's and highs in the mid to upper 70's and NO humidity. The dirt level around here drives me nuts, but then I didn't have all that far to go anyway. Hush, no comments on that one.

Today I got a haircut at the salon here in the resort. The stylist knew just what I wanted and I got a great cut. So I will go back to her while we are here. Lola will get groomed on Friday. I hope she gets a good cut too. With shorter hair we are hoping that she won't pick up so much dirt.

We are enjoying checking out the various stores around the area and have found some great places to eat as well. Red Lobster being on the top of that list. hehe The grocery stores are very few in this area, but am sure closer to Yuma there will be a much better selection. Not that we need anything out of the ordinary. But I really really need to find some Beau Monde that I use in my veggie dip. The only place in Hutch that I found it was in Cashwise. It was spendy but boy I would pay more just to have some now. I wish I had known I was so low, I would've stocked up before we left. :(

It's so relaxing around here that I think Mark should have his naps perfected soon. But to be sure he still is practising several times a day. It's hard getting used to retirement after working for 55+ years. But he LOVES not going to work every day. I'm still getting used to that. LOL

This Thanksgiving will be the first in many years that I won't be rushing around making a feast. We will take part in the Thanksgiving potluck here at the resort. Everyone brings a dish and the resort supplies the turkeys. I will greatly miss MY dressing and MY gravy. I won't eat any others. Yep, I'm that picky. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too. Christmas Day I will be making turkey and all the trimmings if I have to borrow room in someone else's RV. hehe Not sure what I'll do with the leftovers, but I will worry about that when the time comes. :)

We won't be missing out on Christmas cookies. With help from Mark the cookies will get made. They just won't be as fancy as other years and the batches will be much much smaller. This should be interesting.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Today we made a big decision, we decided to stay at this RV resort for 4 months. We like the location, the atmosphere here and all the amenities. Plus it's way less rent than we paid for the apartment. The neighbors are  respectful of everyone's privacy, quiet, and yet are very friendly. Our lot has nice shade and just over all quite comfortable and nice. I hope we will be happy here for the winter.

Lola got her second bath today.  She has decided that laying in the dirt will do since there is no grass anywhere. We do need to find a groomer and get her a shorter hair cut. Gee, I wish, Dana, our special groomer was here. I'm nervous letting someone else cut Lola's hair. Almost as bad as someone besides Kimmy cut mine. Gesh the burdens we must bare. LOL

November 16, 2016

We made it to our next campgrounds after 6 hours of driving. We did stop several times to get out and stretch and get fuel. A surprise was waiting inside the camper when we landed and I entered to start setting up..... Somehow cupboard doors that had no way of opening opened. There were cans and broken items all over the kitchen. The slides had to be partially moved to close the doors again. That is why we have no idea how they opened in the first place. Because of that it took me much longer to get the inside ready. Mark finished the outside way before me this time. At the next trip to town we will be purchasing some kinder locks for ALL cupboards and drawers. Hopefully that will prevent the mess to happen again.

Bright sunshine, 61 and coolish in here too. I left all the windows and vents open last night since it was still quite warm in here. I don’t think I’ll do that tonight. hehe

This park has no wi fi except in two locations in the park. Mark bought a months worth of internet so we can take care of personal matters. It’s not a matter of wanting internet, we need internet.  We now have an address for a month too. And will set up a mailbox today at the office. When we checked in they were not very informative about anything, just handed us a brochure and showed us to our site. Not at all like the others we stayed at and this one is HUGE. There are many many full time residents and people that come back year after year. At least they were all friendly people that we met, and it is a very nice park. Mark will also have to check at the office how to get tv at our unit. Again they told us nothing, but they smiled. :)

LaCinda & Mark Benton

Blue Sky Rv Resort

10247 S Frontage Rd
Lot #40

 Yuma, AZ 85365

We have been following the Minnesota weather and are smiling that the snow will miss us this year. We do however have a lot of dust to deal with. Which means that Lola needs another bath and I need to keep dusting and vacuuming. Oh my how awful. hehe

November 15, 2016

A four day stay at a KOA campgrounds in Apache Junction, Arizona is coming to an end. Originally we only planned to stay for two days to get some rest. But after trying to find someplace else to camp and stay for a month we had to extend our stay. Being new to this whole full time RV living we learned that you can’t always fly by the seat of your pants and have no plans. When heading south reservations are needed just as the brochures state. Thank goodness we have what is needed to do drydock camping as well. After searching and calling we found a hopefully, nice place in Yuma, Arizona. From the sounds of it, it is quite the resort with some fine amenities. We shall see. 

Tomorrow morning we will break camp and head out on a 200 mile trek  to Yuma, Arizona. We have had good weather here and hope that it will be just as nice in Yuma. Sitting outside in 86º weather is not something we did in Minnesota. The drier air makes the temperature much easier to tolerate.

Last night we pulled the awning down and today we enjoyed sitting in it’s shade. But after looking at it most of the day, Mark decided to wash it before rolling it back up. Even with limited supplies the awning looks a lot better. Of course it took some time to get it rolled up right since it has not been used by us much at all. We kind of forgot how to get the job done. hehe The weather we had before leaving on our southern trip was not the best so we only used it once. The wind would have ripped the awning apart most of the Minnesota summer we had this year.

This time our home will be parked for a month. If we like what we see when we get to the campgrounds it could be our landing for two to three months. That would mean we could have our mail forwarded to us. As we leave I’ll wave good-bye to Suspicion Mountain or as I have called it, My Mountain.

November 13, 2016

Here we are in Apache Junction AZ. We finally found our warmer weather. hehe And this is the view from our camper door this morning....

This morning I'll be going to church on tv again today. The churches here are far from all of the campgrounds and we can’t remember where WE are half the time to begin to remember where we saw the last church. Today sometime we will set a route and call ahead for a one month stay. All done rushing to get where it’s warm, we are there. Just not sure where we will set up for a longer stay just yet. Then we can do some sight seeing. Towing the RV makes that difficult to do, to say the least. Even getting gas is difficult. Not all stations are set up for a rig to pull through unless you have diesel like the semi’s do. Our truck runs on gas.

We are enjoying our travels and  will like it much better once we can set up camp on a more permanent basis. Like a month or a couple weeks at a time. Tearing down and setting up all the time is wearing on us. We have met some couples that have been doing the full time RVing for years.They all sold more of their stuff than we did too. And each year they clear more out of their storage. hehe For us this first year is a learning curve and have been told that the first year is the hardest. We knew that going in, but have been reassured that the second year is better. hehe Each time we go out we learn something, And that we need to write things down. LOL

The mountains have been way more than I ever expected. OMG, what a  wondrous sight of what God created. Some times they look like just a back drop from a movie, they are so surreal. Driving through them wasn’t as scary, for me, as I thought it would be. Mark was white knuckleing it but he never showed it once. My mouth was hanging open in awe the whole time. I just couldn’t take pictures fast enough either. The phone that Mark got me before we left was not working very well, so he got me a fabulous new one at Verizon in Flagstaff for my birthday. And it has a wonderful camera on it. We may get the extra camera attachment too. But I’m kind of frugal and don’t want to spend the money. But then again, what we have been seeing I really want to save in a picture. Anyway back to the scenery. Everywhere you turn your head you see mountains. I don’t think I could ever get sick of that sight.

Oklahoma was just a short go through at the panhandle. The roads were terrible so we were glad the time there was short. Kansas was very pretty and the people were so nice and friendly. Texas was just cattle and feedlots and miles of that or miles of nothing. hehe New Mexico was filthy, we will not return to visit or stay. Arizona is a place that I could stay. Love all of it, but wouldn’t love it in the summer, on this side of the mountains. Then it is too hot. This week will be the last of the HOT weather, then it will be more to our liking, in the mid to low 70’s for a high and 40’s at night. Some days of course will be warmer. I see that snow is in the forecast for Minnesota at the end of the week. 

 Mark has some things to fix on the camper before we can boondock for a longer period of time, and we need to make a WM run. We looked on line last night and found one to be only a mile or two away. :) Then back here to sit and do nothing. :) Mark said he loves not knowing what day of the week it is, setting the alarm clock or going to work. hehehe Good thing I brought a calendar to keep track or what day of the week it is. hehe

November 9, 2016

November 9, 2016.

After spending the night at another WM in New Mexico, we had a great breakfast at a Dennys just down the parking lot. The breakfast was thanks to a gift certificate from a wonderful coworker of Marks. And the breakfast was fabulous. We needed a good substantial breakfast since supper was so minimal. 

My eyes got wider and wider the closer or further we got into Arizona. I could see mountains on the horizon and my mouth dropped and eyes were all over. Good thing I wasn’t driving or we could have had a BIG problem. To me it was mountains all over the place but to the natives there they were just hills. I was in awe of all of what I saw. Well, that was  with the exception of the abandoned homes littered all over the place.  The closer we got to Holbrook the more monotonous the scenery became. But I was tired of riding in the truck by then too.

Oh my goodness how could I forget a harrowing experience that we had. Well it was for me anyway. Coming out Albuquerque going through some mountains, the road changed to one lane because of, get this, bridge work. So here we are stopped on a bridge in the mountains!!!  Two places I don’t like being. My heart and stomach were pounding like a room full of bass drums. To me it seemed like hours, but in reality it went smoothly and didn’t take much longer than about 20 minutes. Too much excitement, we needed a place for the night.

We found a very nice Good Sam’s campgrounds, OK RV Campgrounds, in Holbrook, Arizona, for us to call home for a good rest. The sites were all pull through much to Marks delight. It was quiet, had free wifi, cable tv, showers, laundry and complimentary coffee and rolls in the morning at the office. We highly recommend this campgrounds to everyone.

After setting up we collapsed onto our chairs. Mark took a short much needed nap after the hard work of setting us up for the night. It took some work for him to get us hooked up to the cable for tv, but he is good at that sort of thing so we had more than two channels for a change.  Lola was so happy to be home in her bed, that as soon as I put it on the floor she was in it right away. 

This may all sound rather boring and mundane but our days are mostly on the road right now, trying to get to warmer weather. We are enjoying each day so to us it is exciting and a new experience that we will never forget.

We decided to stay another night here for some extra down time. We went up to the office and had coffee and a muffin before tackling the laundry. Yep, the maid decided not to come with us on our journey so I have to do it all…… yet.  There were 8 machines so the three loads were done in no time at all. Mark made today a “Lola day” so he spent time walking and playing with her. She has been such a wonderful traveler. So content in the backseat sleeping until she decides she wants a pet or a hug. 

Tomorrow we will be hitting the road again, working our way to Mesa Arizona. Yes, I know that we had said Utah. But being retired and on no time frame, we can change our minds as often as we like.