A busy week.

Location, At Home

A busy week here at home…..

On Wednesday Clyda had “revision” surgery on her 2004 knee replacement. The plastic plate on which the knee joint rests and rotates was worn and deteriorating to the point the knee became unstable. The “revision” surgery replaced the plastic plate with a lifetime unit which was also thicker thus providing less movement in the joint. Clyda should feel more stable as she walks.

The surgery went well and with the use of a “nerve block” in her leg she had no pain for a day and a half. She was released on Friday and is doing very well. She uses a walker to get around but in truth, could get by with a cane. She has Physical Therapy here at home provided by Visiting Nurses.

Meanwhile, I have been cleaning up the RV. I have all the sinks, shower and bathroom cleaned, carpets vacuumed, and all the provisions removed. As usual, I have a few items which need fixing. Some of those have been done already but the biggest item is to try and get a vent line from the bathroom sink out to the vent stack from the shower. At present there is an auto vent under the bathroom sink which allows the sink to drain properly but also allows gas from the grey water tank to vent back under the sink.

The main obstacle to adding a vent line is the AC channel running fore and aft between the ceiling and the exterior roof. If I can find a work around, adding the vent line would be beneficial. I am trying to do this without putting another hole in the roof.

Fall desert trip.

Location, At Home

Well, well, well….It has been a long time since I last posted and much has happened.

My desert trip went off without a hitch. Son Tim came from Houston for 10 days of hiking and 4x4 trips. It was a pleasure to have him. The rest of the crew appreciated him also as they had someone to answer their “rock” questions.

We hiked almost every day which is a rarity for us “old guys”. I kept a log of the hikes and trips.

I think the main reason for all the hikes was the amount of prior planning and the quest for finding the unknown in Death Valley. Each year as we learn more about the history and peoples of Death Valley we also add to our list of things to see and do.

I have had a long running list of places to see and check them off as we do them. My list is four pages long and contains 52 items. Some of these we do over as newer people join us and I note the year we did them. Also, we like to check every few years to see if certain artifacts still remain or has someone taken or defaced them.

This year we rechecked several areas on found for the most part all is as we last saw them.

In particular we hiked to “Rood” rock at Jayhawker Springs to recheck that item and found it much as it was before. It is a very good hike up hill which gets your blood pumping.

We also took a 4x4 trip with a guide to find Jean Lemoigne’s grave and his wagon. The wagon had been hitched to two mules which Lemoigne had tied to a mesquite bush when he fell ill and died. The mules also died. Someone later took the wagon back to a canyon near Lemoigne’s cabin. Lemoigne died in 1919 which makes the wagon almost 100 years old. The wagon was intact but had been smashed down by heavy snows over the years. The idea that it was still there is remarkable.

I'll end with a nice sunset picture.

Getting ready to hit the road.

Location, At Home

This has been a busy week as I try to get ready for my annual fall desert trip.

On Sunday I washed the truck and gave it a coat of wax. I used Meguires Cleaner Wax as the truck has been sitting all summer and was quite dirty. Over this I put a coat of regular Meguires which really made it shine.

Tuesday morning I washed and put another coat of wax on the RV. It really shines now.

Today it was time to get a haircut and run a few errands. I also washed and waxed Clyda’s car.

Tomorrow morning I will check the tire pressure in the RV and truck tires before it warms up and then do my grocery shopping.

Friday morning I leave.

In the spring we had a large Elm tree removed and the stump ground twice. That still left a lot of large roots in the area where we want to plant another tree. Craig has been digging and cutting those roots, some of which are rather large as you can see by the photos.

 A large hole.

 

 A large root partially buried.

 

 Some of the roots removed from the hole.

I think he has enough removed that we can now plant a Ficus that has outgrown its pot. It should make a nice shade tree without getting really big. Then again, if it does get big I don’t think I will see it in my life time.

 Ficus waiting to be planted.

Some RV maintenance this week.

Location, At Home

Last Monday I completed a major project on the RV.

This spring when I took the cover off my awning in preparation for my 10 days with the Visitadores, I noticed that some of the vinyl came off the underside of the awning. Not having time to do anything about it I used some trusty duct tape to stop any further deterioration until I could find a new awning.

Needless to say, 10 days in the wind while working in the back country didn’t do the awning any good. To get it home I just added more duct tape.

After several days of searching on-line I decided to order a replacement awning and do the replacement myself. After all, I had done a replacement many years ago to the awning on our Class C motorhome and it turned out just fine.

The replacement awning was from Dometic just as the original one on the RV and it was a fraction of the cost of one from Camping World. I briefly thought about taking it to Camping World but with the cost of fuel plus the awning it was just out of my price range.

I ordered the replacement in July and installed it last Monday. It came in a large cardboard tube like those used for cement forms. I still have the tube and am not sure what to do with it. Maybe I will advertise it on Craigslist.

Installation went well with help from my neighbor Paul. The only problem occurred when we started to put tension back on the tension rods inside the roller tube. There is an aluminum shaft turning inside of an aluminum bushing and these tend to Gaul. A little oil solved that problem. Oh, and refreshing our memory via a YouTube video as to which way to turn the tension helped also. The awning looks good.

I did have a mystery later in the week as my RV batteries seemed to be down in voltage. I checked the water level and added a little too each cell but that wasn’t the problem. Normally, I have the built in battery charger turned off and only the roof solar panels keep the batteries fully charged. Heaven knows we have had enough sunlight lately to keep the solar working at peak efficiency. I turned on the internal battery charger and left it on overnight. The next morning the batteries seemed to be fully charged so late in the day I turned the charger off and then after dark checked to see what the voltage level was. While in the trailer I noticed that the front closet light was on. Ah-ha, I found the source of the battery drain. Apparently I had left the light on after one of my many trips into the RV.

Today I decided to run an equalization voltage on the batteries. I do this with the solar controller which has an equalization switch which jumps the battery voltage up about 1.5 volts. With the batteries at full charge I run the equalization for two hours. While this is running, I remove the battery caps and lay a folded paper towel over the cells to keep acid from splashing out. The batteries do bubble during this process. I also unplug the 12v line from the refrigerator circuit board and make sure all other 12v appliances are turned off.

Hopefully this will keep my batteries in tip-top shape.

Sunset at Poipu beach, Kauai.

Home from Kauai.

Location, At Home

We returned home from Kauai last Sunday after flying a “red eye” flight which left Kauai at 9 PM on Saturday.

It is our least favorite way to fly but it saves us from flying to Honolulu from Kauai to get a flight back to Los Angeles.

Killing time at the Marriott before our flight.

The car got a smog check this week so that is done for a few years.

On Thursday, Gary and Cindy, our Kauai hosts arrived in town for a wedding this evening. We all had dinner with Don and Bev to celebrate Don’s 65^th birthday. Yesterday we all went to the “Funk Zone” to wine taste and get lunch. The “Funk Zone” was once the home of small business, artsy shops, and even a few homes. Now it is home to restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, a brewery, and other small businesses. We tasted wine at an established winery which has been there for almost 50 years. We picked up lunch to go and ate it at the wineries outdoor seating area.

Last night Clyda made HuliHuli chicken and she created a Luau at Don and Bev’s house.

Unfortunately, no one thought to bring a camera so no photos.

On the tech front, I am trying to find a replacement battery for my ACER Netbook computer. On line searches just left me confused. My battery is rated at 10.8volts while most matching batteries on line are rated at 11.1 volt. I am not sure it matters as there is a voltage regulator built into the computer. More research required.