We are at Infinity Coach, in Sumner (map).
We arrived Sunday afternoon, got squared away, and unloaded the bikes. On Monday, we had a nice visit from friends Ron and Judie, who are staying nearby in Puyallup.
Monday afternoon the entire Lewis clan pulled in to the lot in their respective rigs, back from the holiday weekend somewhere on the dry side. It's been nearly two years since we've seen them, and we had a nice reunion, including a barbeque at their house.
Things got underway Tuesday morning, with Odyssey going on the lifts for a lube, oil, and filter change, followed by a complete generator service. Today we had the driver A/C serviced, wherein we discovered that a fitting had come loose and the system had lost its entire charge. And the local Detroit service guy came by to have a look at the TPS problem.
Of course, nothing ever goes completely smoothly, and, after removing all our old house batteries, we discovered that the replacements don't fit in the allocated space. We're running the whole coach right now on our two Wal-Mart group 65 starting batteries (although, to be fair, we are plugged in to a full 50-amp shore service). I spent this evening re-drawing the battery bay layout to accommodate, we hope, the new Trojan 8D AGM batteries. If these don't fit with the new layout, we will have to go to size 4D, and we would have to then go to a Discover brand EV battery to get the capacity we need (the Trojan 8D's are 230 AH each, and the Discover 4D's are 245 AH each).
Tomorrow we will find out if the eight Trojans can be crammed in to the existing space in a different orientation. No matter what, we'll need to make some new jumpers and modify the hold-down brackets.
Of the eight Xantrex 8D's we removed, all fully charged, four read "Good" and four read "Marginal" on a battery load-tester once we had them out. Of the four marginal ones, one had a badly warped and inflated case -- clearly, we cooked it, and I am very glad it did not explode or out-gas. There may be something particularly warm about that spot in the bay, as it is closest to the Trace and the Vanner, so we will be moving the battery temperature sensor for the charger to that position.
If the four "good" batteries are still reading good after sitting for 24 hours, we might move two of them to the start battery bank, replacing the aforementioned Ever-Start flooded group 65's. The other two will be up for grabs.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Meandering south
We are at the City of Kent's free Naden RV Park (map), really just a handful of parallel-parking spaces next to a strip of grass. There is also a dump station and water spigot here, though, free of charge. The city allows only one night, but it is completely free.
Across the street is a large vacant lot, which current satellite imagery reveals had several houses on it up till fairly recently. A sign advising environmental impact studies underway proclaims the site to be designated for a City of Kent "Events Center." I suspect that the start of construction on the Events Center will spell the end of free city RV parking in this location.
This is the sort of spot that is right up our alley, though the more timid among the RV community would likely pass it by. When we arrived there were two other rigs here, whose age, condition, and appearance suggest that the occupants are also full-timers, but by circumstance rather than choice. The immediate neighborhood is extremely run down, to include the fact that the dilapidated homesteads across the street were, no doubt, condemned through eminent domain. A few structures remain which are entirely boarded up, and one or two ramshackle houses remain in the area in occupied status.
We chose to eat in tonight, but the GPS reveals a number of restaurants just two or three blocks to our east.
Speaking of good spots, last night's digs were A+. Getting to and from downtown Seattle was a snap on the #131 bus, if a bit colorful (as we often find, when riding urban transit systems). We had a great meal at our club, but it was still daylight when we boarded the return bus, as is normal at this latitude in late May. When we got off the bus across the street from the lodge, we decided to walk another half block and do some completely unnecessary shopping at Fred Meyer.
We ended up restocking the wine cellar and buying a few other essentials, but, more importantly, we discovered a decent laundromat in the same plaza, just half a block from our parking space. We were leaving today anyway, so we threaded Odyssey around through the new senior housing complex and past the Bingo parlor, and parked in Fred's lot while Louise did the laundry. In the same lot were also two fast food outlets and a Hollywood Video. We have definitely put this spot on our must-return list, especially when we need to be in Seattle for any reason.
Across the street is a large vacant lot, which current satellite imagery reveals had several houses on it up till fairly recently. A sign advising environmental impact studies underway proclaims the site to be designated for a City of Kent "Events Center." I suspect that the start of construction on the Events Center will spell the end of free city RV parking in this location.
This is the sort of spot that is right up our alley, though the more timid among the RV community would likely pass it by. When we arrived there were two other rigs here, whose age, condition, and appearance suggest that the occupants are also full-timers, but by circumstance rather than choice. The immediate neighborhood is extremely run down, to include the fact that the dilapidated homesteads across the street were, no doubt, condemned through eminent domain. A few structures remain which are entirely boarded up, and one or two ramshackle houses remain in the area in occupied status.
We chose to eat in tonight, but the GPS reveals a number of restaurants just two or three blocks to our east.
Speaking of good spots, last night's digs were A+. Getting to and from downtown Seattle was a snap on the #131 bus, if a bit colorful (as we often find, when riding urban transit systems). We had a great meal at our club, but it was still daylight when we boarded the return bus, as is normal at this latitude in late May. When we got off the bus across the street from the lodge, we decided to walk another half block and do some completely unnecessary shopping at Fred Meyer.
We ended up restocking the wine cellar and buying a few other essentials, but, more importantly, we discovered a decent laundromat in the same plaza, just half a block from our parking space. We were leaving today anyway, so we threaded Odyssey around through the new senior housing complex and past the Bingo parlor, and parked in Fred's lot while Louise did the laundry. In the same lot were also two fast food outlets and a Hollywood Video. We have definitely put this spot on our must-return list, especially when we need to be in Seattle for any reason.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Biding time
We are at the Burien Elks Lodge, near the Sea-Tac airport (map).
We came here because we want to have dinner tonight at the Columbia Tower Club, in Seattle, and this lodge is adjacent to a bus line which gets us nearly door-to-door on a single city bus, for $1.25 ($2.00 during "peak" hours). In just a few minutes we will hop on the bus.
It turns out that there is also an Enterprise car rental right across the street, a fact which we will file away for future use. It's also a nice lodge, and they serve three squares a day -- we'll try them out for breakfast in the morning.
The lodge has eight brand-spanking-new RV spaces with full hookups, and $15 gets us 50 amps of power for the night. The current satellite imagery reveals a different layout, and I surmise that the lodge sold the land that the former 14-space RV area occupied, in the southeast corner of the property, to make way for a brand new senior living complex which now sits to our east. The RV sites were moved here, to the southwest corner of the property.
We are just biding our time now, until we are due at Infinity on Tuesday. We decided not to try to haul ourselves down there today, mostly because of tonight's dinner plans. Over the weekend we will try to hook up with some other folks, including some full-timing friends who happen to be staying in Puyallup.
We came here because we want to have dinner tonight at the Columbia Tower Club, in Seattle, and this lodge is adjacent to a bus line which gets us nearly door-to-door on a single city bus, for $1.25 ($2.00 during "peak" hours). In just a few minutes we will hop on the bus.
It turns out that there is also an Enterprise car rental right across the street, a fact which we will file away for future use. It's also a nice lodge, and they serve three squares a day -- we'll try them out for breakfast in the morning.
The lodge has eight brand-spanking-new RV spaces with full hookups, and $15 gets us 50 amps of power for the night. The current satellite imagery reveals a different layout, and I surmise that the lodge sold the land that the former 14-space RV area occupied, in the southeast corner of the property, to make way for a brand new senior living complex which now sits to our east. The RV sites were moved here, to the southwest corner of the property.
We are just biding our time now, until we are due at Infinity on Tuesday. We decided not to try to haul ourselves down there today, mostly because of tonight's dinner plans. Over the weekend we will try to hook up with some other folks, including some full-timing friends who happen to be staying in Puyallup.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Mountain
We are parked for the night at the Lake Sammamish Elks lodge, in Issaquah (map).
We spent last night in the same spot at the Quinault Beach casino, since it was so quiet and lovely there. While we were all alone on Tuesday night, there were three other rigs in the gravel lot last night, although the lot is so enormous, no one was within a hundred feet of us.
We decided to go back in to the resort for dinner last night, and we sat down in the sushi bar so Louise could indulge her craving (she reports the sushi was quite good). I chose to have the buffet, which, although limited in selection (three salads, and two choices each of entree, side dish, and dessert) was quite tasty, and a bargain at $8.
Our server suggested we go back to the promotion desk to get another round of coupons (apparently, player club members can get different coupons every day), and, although we were too young to take advantage of the $3-off buffet coupon (50 and over only), we did get another $5 each in free slot play, which we basically cashed in. So, while we spent a bit more at the restaurants over two evenings, we walked away with $30 in cash for our two-day "free" stay, which amounted to about a 30% discount on our dinner-and-wine bill.
We had a very pleasant and scenic drive here along US-12 and WA-8, with periodic gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier, which is visible on only the nicest days (and always prompts us to say "The Mountain").
Tonight we are having dinner with friends in the Seattle area, and tomorrow we will head down to Sumner to check in with Infinity Coach.
We spent last night in the same spot at the Quinault Beach casino, since it was so quiet and lovely there. While we were all alone on Tuesday night, there were three other rigs in the gravel lot last night, although the lot is so enormous, no one was within a hundred feet of us.
We decided to go back in to the resort for dinner last night, and we sat down in the sushi bar so Louise could indulge her craving (she reports the sushi was quite good). I chose to have the buffet, which, although limited in selection (three salads, and two choices each of entree, side dish, and dessert) was quite tasty, and a bargain at $8.
Our server suggested we go back to the promotion desk to get another round of coupons (apparently, player club members can get different coupons every day), and, although we were too young to take advantage of the $3-off buffet coupon (50 and over only), we did get another $5 each in free slot play, which we basically cashed in. So, while we spent a bit more at the restaurants over two evenings, we walked away with $30 in cash for our two-day "free" stay, which amounted to about a 30% discount on our dinner-and-wine bill.
We had a very pleasant and scenic drive here along US-12 and WA-8, with periodic gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier, which is visible on only the nicest days (and always prompts us to say "The Mountain").
Tonight we are having dinner with friends in the Seattle area, and tomorrow we will head down to Sumner to check in with Infinity Coach.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Quinault Beach Resort and Casino
Odyssey camped in the Casino's designated RV area.
The view out our windows is lovely; dune grasses and gently rolling waves.
The view out our windows is lovely; dune grasses and gently rolling waves.
Not Declawed
When people see our cats, often the first thing they say is, "Oh! They have painted nails!" Actually, our cats are wearing a product called SoftPaws, plastic nail caps that glue in place.
Angel wears blue caps:
George wears pink caps:
The caps are hollow and come with small bottles of SuperGlue and nozzles to squeeze the glue into the caps. They come in several sizes (our cats wear Medium). Once the cap is slipped on with the glue, they immediately stick in place.
The different colors serve a purpose beyond fashion. Each cap, once glued in place, remains on the claw until that claw is shed, or sloughed off. This takes between 6 and 8 weeks, so on average, each cat sheds about 1-2 claws per week. When we find, say, a pink claw floating around the bus, we know it's time for George to get another cap. Don't like pink or blue? SoftPaws come in thirteen colors. I occasionally get emails from the company trying to sell me "seasonal" colors for different holidays. I suppose if you're really into decorating, you could choose orange and black for Halloween...
The caps don't seem to bother the cats at all. They don't shake their paws or try to bite or lick the caps. The only time they were unhappy was during the very first application, when 10 caps were put on at once (we only cap the claws on their front feet.) I think they disliked having their paws held for that long. Now, though, with only 1 or 2 caps going on at once, they don't object. In hindsight, I could have put on a few caps a day and made it easier initially.
SoftPaws don't stop the cats from scratching. They still stretch out and try to dig into soft surfaces. However, the blunt ends of the caps don't catch on anything, so no damage is done. George and Angel are strictly inside cats and don't need their claws to climb or fight. While they could be surgically declawed, that is a major medical procedure. SoftPaws is easy, safe, completely reversible, and relative inexpensive. Certainly less expensive than replacing damaged furniture! After almost three years, we have been completely satisfied with this product.
On edit: Sean just read this post and said it sounds like an advertisement. Just to be clear, we have nothing to do with this company except as happy customers. It was time to reorder more claw caps and I decided to blog about them.
Angel wears blue caps:
George wears pink caps:
The caps are hollow and come with small bottles of SuperGlue and nozzles to squeeze the glue into the caps. They come in several sizes (our cats wear Medium). Once the cap is slipped on with the glue, they immediately stick in place.
The different colors serve a purpose beyond fashion. Each cap, once glued in place, remains on the claw until that claw is shed, or sloughed off. This takes between 6 and 8 weeks, so on average, each cat sheds about 1-2 claws per week. When we find, say, a pink claw floating around the bus, we know it's time for George to get another cap. Don't like pink or blue? SoftPaws come in thirteen colors. I occasionally get emails from the company trying to sell me "seasonal" colors for different holidays. I suppose if you're really into decorating, you could choose orange and black for Halloween...
The caps don't seem to bother the cats at all. They don't shake their paws or try to bite or lick the caps. The only time they were unhappy was during the very first application, when 10 caps were put on at once (we only cap the claws on their front feet.) I think they disliked having their paws held for that long. Now, though, with only 1 or 2 caps going on at once, they don't object. In hindsight, I could have put on a few caps a day and made it easier initially.
SoftPaws don't stop the cats from scratching. They still stretch out and try to dig into soft surfaces. However, the blunt ends of the caps don't catch on anything, so no damage is done. George and Angel are strictly inside cats and don't need their claws to climb or fight. While they could be surgically declawed, that is a major medical procedure. SoftPaws is easy, safe, completely reversible, and relative inexpensive. Certainly less expensive than replacing damaged furniture! After almost three years, we have been completely satisfied with this product.
On edit: Sean just read this post and said it sounds like an advertisement. Just to be clear, we have nothing to do with this company except as happy customers. It was time to reorder more claw caps and I decided to blog about them.
Free ocean-front camping
We are at the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino, in Ocean Shores, Washington (map). The casino has a dedicated gravel RV lot overlooking the Pacific Ocean. One merely needs to check in at the front desk in order to stay. We are the only ones in the lot (although there is another rig that apparently spent the night in the casino's paved parking lot).
What a delight. It was dark and quiet last night, with only the sounds of the crickets and the surf to lull us to sleep. We had an excellent dinner at Emily's restaurant inside the resort, and to top it all off, the casino gave us $10 apiece for signing up in their player reward program. Oddly, this excellent spot was not listed in our casino camping directory -- we found it in our Day's End directory, and it is also listed on a couple of our on-line resource guides.
Speaking of the Day's End directory, this resource, available to Escapees members, consists of member-contributed overnight stay suggestions, and has rarely steered us wrong. Things do change, though, and so the member contributions are marked with the date of submission. Monday afternoon, we followed one such suggestion for a stop in the town of Astoria, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia.
It was a great spot -- an undeveloped lot next to a drive-up espresso stand (anyone who has been to the Pacific Northwest knows that drive-up espresso stands are more common here than phone booths or mailboxes). The lot was right on the Columbia, across from the fishing-boat harbor and next to both the tourist trolley line (only running on weekends this month) and the shoreline walking/bicycle trail (map). Our guide said that other Escapees had overnighted in this spot as recently as 2004 without a problem.
We had a very pleasant afternoon there, watching the ships coming and going down the Columbia (the deep-water port of Portland is upriver from this spot), and fixed ourselves some dinner. We were undisturbed until around 8pm, when the local constabulary dropped by to very politely inform us that remaining in a vehicle overnight is prohibited by ordinance throughout the town (on public OR private property), handing us a copy of said ordinance. We thanked him, and then scrambled to get Odyssey road-ready in the little bit of daylight remaining.
We try to always have a backup plan, and our backup for this night was Fort Stevens State Park, about ten miles away, with its enormous campground of nearly 500 sites. We rolled into the park in the last vestiges of twilight, and selected an easy-in/easy-out spot at the very beginning of "G"-loop. The entire park was forested, so no satellite access, but we did get 50 amps of electric power for our $22 fee. The campground was mostly empty on a Monday night, and we hardly saw another soul until we left yesterday morning.
While our other Oregon State Park stays have been exceptionally pleasant and easy, this park needs to get its act together. Perhaps they are suffering from the logistical difficulties of running such a huge campground. In any case, we arrived shortly after the check-in office closed, although the ranger did come out while we were standing there to post the site-reservation list (so that walk-in arrivals don't accidentally occupy sites that have incoming reservations). We were looking for payment envelopes and a drop-box, thus far ubiquitous features of state park campgrounds for after-hours check-in. The ranger told us there was no drop box, and, not to worry, someone would come by around about 8am to collect fees.
Fine by us, we've done it that way before. BUT, even though we were expecting it (and had our check already made out), the ranger-aide that came around at 7:45 did not bother knocking, instead leaving a very snippy "Request for Compliance with Park Rules" notice on our door. A notice which said to go to the office to pay the fees by 9am, which, of course, I did not even find until I walked the dog around 9:30.
Now the office was a good half mile or so from where we were parked, so we decided to pay on our way out -- neither one of us wanted to hoof it a mile just to drop off a check, and we weren't going to unload a vehicle just to do it either. So I was happy to see a ranger drive up around 10ish, and I went outside with the check in my hand. Apparently, though, the roving rangers are not equipped to accept payments, a fact which, I pointed out, conflicted with what the office ranger told us on the way in. She seemed satisfied when I told her that we would pay on our way out in about an hour, but, still, our whole experience was colored by this vague implication that we were breaking some kind of rule. Sheesh, people, put out some envelopes and stick an iron ranger in every camping loop -- every other park in the system seems to have gotten this right.
We are now just three hours from where we need to be on Thursday, so we are debating whether to remain here another night, enjoying the serenity and the ocean views, or head inland and overnight someplace in the vicinity of Olympia.
What a delight. It was dark and quiet last night, with only the sounds of the crickets and the surf to lull us to sleep. We had an excellent dinner at Emily's restaurant inside the resort, and to top it all off, the casino gave us $10 apiece for signing up in their player reward program. Oddly, this excellent spot was not listed in our casino camping directory -- we found it in our Day's End directory, and it is also listed on a couple of our on-line resource guides.
Speaking of the Day's End directory, this resource, available to Escapees members, consists of member-contributed overnight stay suggestions, and has rarely steered us wrong. Things do change, though, and so the member contributions are marked with the date of submission. Monday afternoon, we followed one such suggestion for a stop in the town of Astoria, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia.
It was a great spot -- an undeveloped lot next to a drive-up espresso stand (anyone who has been to the Pacific Northwest knows that drive-up espresso stands are more common here than phone booths or mailboxes). The lot was right on the Columbia, across from the fishing-boat harbor and next to both the tourist trolley line (only running on weekends this month) and the shoreline walking/bicycle trail (map). Our guide said that other Escapees had overnighted in this spot as recently as 2004 without a problem.
We had a very pleasant afternoon there, watching the ships coming and going down the Columbia (the deep-water port of Portland is upriver from this spot), and fixed ourselves some dinner. We were undisturbed until around 8pm, when the local constabulary dropped by to very politely inform us that remaining in a vehicle overnight is prohibited by ordinance throughout the town (on public OR private property), handing us a copy of said ordinance. We thanked him, and then scrambled to get Odyssey road-ready in the little bit of daylight remaining.
We try to always have a backup plan, and our backup for this night was Fort Stevens State Park, about ten miles away, with its enormous campground of nearly 500 sites. We rolled into the park in the last vestiges of twilight, and selected an easy-in/easy-out spot at the very beginning of "G"-loop. The entire park was forested, so no satellite access, but we did get 50 amps of electric power for our $22 fee. The campground was mostly empty on a Monday night, and we hardly saw another soul until we left yesterday morning.
While our other Oregon State Park stays have been exceptionally pleasant and easy, this park needs to get its act together. Perhaps they are suffering from the logistical difficulties of running such a huge campground. In any case, we arrived shortly after the check-in office closed, although the ranger did come out while we were standing there to post the site-reservation list (so that walk-in arrivals don't accidentally occupy sites that have incoming reservations). We were looking for payment envelopes and a drop-box, thus far ubiquitous features of state park campgrounds for after-hours check-in. The ranger told us there was no drop box, and, not to worry, someone would come by around about 8am to collect fees.
Fine by us, we've done it that way before. BUT, even though we were expecting it (and had our check already made out), the ranger-aide that came around at 7:45 did not bother knocking, instead leaving a very snippy "Request for Compliance with Park Rules" notice on our door. A notice which said to go to the office to pay the fees by 9am, which, of course, I did not even find until I walked the dog around 9:30.
Now the office was a good half mile or so from where we were parked, so we decided to pay on our way out -- neither one of us wanted to hoof it a mile just to drop off a check, and we weren't going to unload a vehicle just to do it either. So I was happy to see a ranger drive up around 10ish, and I went outside with the check in my hand. Apparently, though, the roving rangers are not equipped to accept payments, a fact which, I pointed out, conflicted with what the office ranger told us on the way in. She seemed satisfied when I told her that we would pay on our way out in about an hour, but, still, our whole experience was colored by this vague implication that we were breaking some kind of rule. Sheesh, people, put out some envelopes and stick an iron ranger in every camping loop -- every other park in the system seems to have gotten this right.
We are now just three hours from where we need to be on Thursday, so we are debating whether to remain here another night, enjoying the serenity and the ocean views, or head inland and overnight someplace in the vicinity of Olympia.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Dripping wet on the Oregon coast
We are at Nehalem Bay State Park (map).
The big news of the moment is that both of our windshields are, again, leaking. We left Lincoln City yesterday in a light rain, and stopped for lunch at an overlook along the coast, where we put the dish up to get our mail and upload the blog and map links. That's when we noticed that there was some water coming in at one spot along the top of the upper windshield. Removing the sill trim also revealed water coming in along the bottom edge.
We rigged out our trusty towel arrangement (that we had hoped we were done with forever), finished eating lunch and reading the news, and continued along the coast through Tillamook. By which time, we had three dribbles coming down the inside of the lower windshield as well, and the upper was now shipping water in multiple locations along the top. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I have a sinking feeling that the 3M urethane adhesive that they used is just not the right product for this application. In any case, I sent off an email to Coach Specialties, and we will see what they can come up with.
At this point, of course, we are a thousand miles from there, and have commitments starting this Thursday in Seattle. So we will likely not get back to Alameda for any kind of repair until July. As long as there are no signs of the glass actually separating from the frame, we'll just live with it -- after all, we're used to the wet-towel routine by now.
Just to make matters worse, our throttle-position sensor (TPS) problem has returned. Frequent readers may recall that we spent a good deal of time (and money) at W. W. Williams in Tucson diagnosing an intermittent power loss, which turned out to be an intermittent open in the TPS return signal. Using a combination of existing spare wires, I bypassed the TPS return signal, patching it in to the common return line from the power-take-off adjustment (which is used to implement the high-idle control) at the "rear" junction box in the wet bay. That cured the problem -- at least until the last couple days. I've double-checked all my connections, and all seem secure. Since the problem is intermittent, I am at a loss to know what the next steps should be.
The rain has stopped, so we are mostly dry now, at least for a day or two. We'll continue our slow trek northward, ending up somewhere around the mouth of the Columbia today.
Oddly, although we've been on line all last night and most of this morning, the satellite has dumped us off in the last hour, and I can't seem to get enough of a signal to get back on. So this post, too, will be stored until our next stop.
The big news of the moment is that both of our windshields are, again, leaking. We left Lincoln City yesterday in a light rain, and stopped for lunch at an overlook along the coast, where we put the dish up to get our mail and upload the blog and map links. That's when we noticed that there was some water coming in at one spot along the top of the upper windshield. Removing the sill trim also revealed water coming in along the bottom edge.
We rigged out our trusty towel arrangement (that we had hoped we were done with forever), finished eating lunch and reading the news, and continued along the coast through Tillamook. By which time, we had three dribbles coming down the inside of the lower windshield as well, and the upper was now shipping water in multiple locations along the top. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I have a sinking feeling that the 3M urethane adhesive that they used is just not the right product for this application. In any case, I sent off an email to Coach Specialties, and we will see what they can come up with.
At this point, of course, we are a thousand miles from there, and have commitments starting this Thursday in Seattle. So we will likely not get back to Alameda for any kind of repair until July. As long as there are no signs of the glass actually separating from the frame, we'll just live with it -- after all, we're used to the wet-towel routine by now.
Just to make matters worse, our throttle-position sensor (TPS) problem has returned. Frequent readers may recall that we spent a good deal of time (and money) at W. W. Williams in Tucson diagnosing an intermittent power loss, which turned out to be an intermittent open in the TPS return signal. Using a combination of existing spare wires, I bypassed the TPS return signal, patching it in to the common return line from the power-take-off adjustment (which is used to implement the high-idle control) at the "rear" junction box in the wet bay. That cured the problem -- at least until the last couple days. I've double-checked all my connections, and all seem secure. Since the problem is intermittent, I am at a loss to know what the next steps should be.
The rain has stopped, so we are mostly dry now, at least for a day or two. We'll continue our slow trek northward, ending up somewhere around the mouth of the Columbia today.
Oddly, although we've been on line all last night and most of this morning, the satellite has dumped us off in the last hour, and I can't seem to get enough of a signal to get back on. So this post, too, will be stored until our next stop.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Tourist season opens -- no bag limit
We are at Devils Lake State Park, in Lincoln City, Oregon (map).
We had a pleasant drive out to the coast, stopping at the diminutive Ellmaker State Park, really just a roadside rest area ("No Overnight Parking"), for lunch. We hit the coast in Newport, where we stopped briefly at Walmart (also no overnight parking) for some supplies.
The surf was pretty spectacular all along the coast yesterday, and the drive up was scenic. We set our sights on the Lincoln City area to end the day. Tourist season has begun, and we passed many "no vacancy" signs here in Lincoln City as well as the other coastal towns. So it was not too surprising that there was no room for us at our first stop, the Chinook Winds Casino north of town.
Having now seen it, we're unlikely to stop there again. The casino has designated some RV parking, but it is in a cramped, oddly-shaped lot, where not a single space is level. The spaces are mere inches apart, and there is hardly room to maneuver a large rig. To top it all off, the entrance to this lot has a large swale just in front of it, making it dicey to even get Odyssey in and out without damage.
Interestingly, this lot is one of the closest to the casino itself. By contrast, a very large, flat, level lot a bit further away sat completely empty, yet clearly marked (as with all the other lots) "No RVs." Far be it from me to complain about how the tribe wants to regulate its free RV parking, but whoever laid this out really missed the boat. A little bit more welcoming layout would bring in more business. We don't gamble much, but we always buy dinner, and often breakfast as well.
So we came back through town to this park, which, while small, was not yet full for the night, and had at least one space left large enough to fit us. We're in the trees with no satellite coverage (so this is being stored for upload later), but there is 50-amp power which came in handy during the cold, rainy night. It's also only a block from Kyllo's grill, a popular local establishment we had noted on our way in and where we walked for dinner, which was quite tasty.
With no internet to get our morning news and comics, we'll probably make it an early day and head north. The weekend crowds will clear out today, and tonight we should have more choices for parking.
We had a pleasant drive out to the coast, stopping at the diminutive Ellmaker State Park, really just a roadside rest area ("No Overnight Parking"), for lunch. We hit the coast in Newport, where we stopped briefly at Walmart (also no overnight parking) for some supplies.
The surf was pretty spectacular all along the coast yesterday, and the drive up was scenic. We set our sights on the Lincoln City area to end the day. Tourist season has begun, and we passed many "no vacancy" signs here in Lincoln City as well as the other coastal towns. So it was not too surprising that there was no room for us at our first stop, the Chinook Winds Casino north of town.
Having now seen it, we're unlikely to stop there again. The casino has designated some RV parking, but it is in a cramped, oddly-shaped lot, where not a single space is level. The spaces are mere inches apart, and there is hardly room to maneuver a large rig. To top it all off, the entrance to this lot has a large swale just in front of it, making it dicey to even get Odyssey in and out without damage.
Interestingly, this lot is one of the closest to the casino itself. By contrast, a very large, flat, level lot a bit further away sat completely empty, yet clearly marked (as with all the other lots) "No RVs." Far be it from me to complain about how the tribe wants to regulate its free RV parking, but whoever laid this out really missed the boat. A little bit more welcoming layout would bring in more business. We don't gamble much, but we always buy dinner, and often breakfast as well.
So we came back through town to this park, which, while small, was not yet full for the night, and had at least one space left large enough to fit us. We're in the trees with no satellite coverage (so this is being stored for upload later), but there is 50-amp power which came in handy during the cold, rainy night. It's also only a block from Kyllo's grill, a popular local establishment we had noted on our way in and where we walked for dinner, which was quite tasty.
With no internet to get our morning news and comics, we'll probably make it an early day and head north. The weekend crowds will clear out today, and tonight we should have more choices for parking.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
From Ducks to Beavers
We are at the Elks lodge in Corvallis, Oregon (map).
Yesterday we drove back up to Les Schwab (actually, Bob Dickman Tire Center) in Junction City and had them put new steer tires on. We went with Goodyear G670 RV MRT tires, which are made for the RV industry. Normally, I would never buy an RV tire, since our driving pattern is so different from the typical RV, and truck tires are easier to deal with from the standpoint of getting them repaired or replaced on the road. (Truck tires, for example, almost never incur a disposal fee, because the carcass can be salvaged and either regrooved or retreaded.)
That being said, we had a dilemma. We've been wanting to go to the 315/80R22.5 size (vs. the 12R22.5 size we are running now), and they had only Michelin XZA2 Energy and the above-mentioned Goodyears in stock in that size. They would have been happy to order me the Goodyear G291 truck tires that I really wanted, but I would have to pre-pay (and they would take a few days).
All well and good, except that we had a concern that the slightly wider size might conflict with the steering knuckle/tie rod end, a concern raised by Chappaqua Transportation, who used to run a fleet of German-built Neoplans. I remember standing in their pit and looking at how close the tie rod ends came to the sidewalls and sharing this concern. So the Les Schwab guys had agreed to mount up a 315 to see if it was going to be a problem, with the agreement that if it didn't work, there would be no charge to take the tire back and sell me a 12R instead. BUT, that deal was only good on in-stock tires, not anything I might have them order.
What it came down to, then, was that I'd rather have the Goodyears than the Michelins. The Michelin is probably a better tire, but:
In any case, the 315's fit just fine, with no rubbing or conflict with the tie rods, and so now I am the proud owner of a pair of Goodyear RV tires. We'll see how they do. Now that I know, of course, I will buy the cheaper (and, IMO, better) G291's when it comes time to replace the tag tires, putting the 291's on the front and rotating the 670's to the tag. As a side note, I am very glad the 315's fit with no problem, since we very deliberately replaced all our 8.25" wheels with 9" ones two years ago, explicitly to upgrade to the wider tires.
As for the front-end shimmy, as predicted, the fresh tires all but eliminated it. That being said, we can still detect a muffled "thump" with about the same period as the tire rotation, so whatever underlying cause there may be, it is still with us. Even though we put the best two of the four older rib tires on the tag (which meant one of the two steers we removed went back to the tag axle), those tires are also cupped, and so, perhaps, we are hearing/feeling some shimmy from the tag axle transmitting through the frame.
The two R250's that we removed are being sent off to Bridgestone for analysis. Perhaps they can tell us what our problem is. The centers of the treads are in perfect condition, with nearly the full factory tread depth intact. Conversely one shoulder of each tire is almost completely worn off, as if we had a serious toe-out misadjustment, except that the wear is uneven around the circumference. In some places, there is no tread left, with casing rubber showing through, and in other places the tread is nearly fully intact, with scalloped transitions between the regions. We got barely 40,000 miles out of these tires, which, by all rights, should last 150-200,000.
By the time we finished at the tire dealer, it was late afternoon. We realized that we would not make the coast in daylight, so we decided to stop here. Corvallis is an RV-unfriendly city, with local ordinance prohibiting staying in parking lots, which made the Elks lodge our only in-town option. This is a small lodge with a tiny parking lot, and it was packed for Keno night last night, but we were met in the lot by one of the locals, who welcomed us and directed us to an available corner. This morning's challenge will be getting turned around in tight quarters, since I don't really want to have to back out onto the street.
On our way in, we noticed an unassuming little restaurant a block away called "The Gables," which advertised prime rib. A little research revealed the place to be a local institution, so, naturally, we walked over for dinner. I had the prime rib, which was excellent, and Louise had the seafood linguine, also excellent. We shared a bottle of local Oregon Merlot, "The Academy" brand from the Deschutes valley, which turned out to be quite good.
Yesterday we drove back up to Les Schwab (actually, Bob Dickman Tire Center) in Junction City and had them put new steer tires on. We went with Goodyear G670 RV MRT tires, which are made for the RV industry. Normally, I would never buy an RV tire, since our driving pattern is so different from the typical RV, and truck tires are easier to deal with from the standpoint of getting them repaired or replaced on the road. (Truck tires, for example, almost never incur a disposal fee, because the carcass can be salvaged and either regrooved or retreaded.)
That being said, we had a dilemma. We've been wanting to go to the 315/80R22.5 size (vs. the 12R22.5 size we are running now), and they had only Michelin XZA2 Energy and the above-mentioned Goodyears in stock in that size. They would have been happy to order me the Goodyear G291 truck tires that I really wanted, but I would have to pre-pay (and they would take a few days).
All well and good, except that we had a concern that the slightly wider size might conflict with the steering knuckle/tie rod end, a concern raised by Chappaqua Transportation, who used to run a fleet of German-built Neoplans. I remember standing in their pit and looking at how close the tie rod ends came to the sidewalls and sharing this concern. So the Les Schwab guys had agreed to mount up a 315 to see if it was going to be a problem, with the agreement that if it didn't work, there would be no charge to take the tire back and sell me a 12R instead. BUT, that deal was only good on in-stock tires, not anything I might have them order.
What it came down to, then, was that I'd rather have the Goodyears than the Michelins. The Michelin is probably a better tire, but:
- They were over $100 a piece more than the Goodyears: $637 vs. $528 per tire.
- We're clearly going through tires faster than we'd like, so any promised longevity improvements in the Michelins would be wasted on us.
- The purported "energy" savings of the Michelin "Energy" series will probably not materialize for us (long story), especially since we are not intending to put these on the drive axle.
- Speaking of the drive axle, when it comes time to change those tires, Michelin does not make a M+S rated traction tire in 315's. In fact, their only 315 traction tire, the XDN2, is directional, meaning that we would either never rotate them, or have to dismount/remount/rebalance all four drive wheels every 20,000 miles. Goodyear, on the other hand, has the Regional RHD traction tire in our size.
- Call me petty, but I'd rather not send my money to France if I can, instead, send it to Ohio for a similar product.
- Petty again, perhaps, but Michelin's truck tire web site is crappy. There is no way to simply input your size and get a full list of available product in that size. You need to specify an "application" first. If you put "RV" in for application, you only get a handful of results. "Bus" is even worse, yielding no results in that size. It took me over an hour of fiddling with the site just to find all the 315 steer and drive tires available in the US. And anybody that makes it that hard to get information does not deserve my business.
In any case, the 315's fit just fine, with no rubbing or conflict with the tie rods, and so now I am the proud owner of a pair of Goodyear RV tires. We'll see how they do. Now that I know, of course, I will buy the cheaper (and, IMO, better) G291's when it comes time to replace the tag tires, putting the 291's on the front and rotating the 670's to the tag. As a side note, I am very glad the 315's fit with no problem, since we very deliberately replaced all our 8.25" wheels with 9" ones two years ago, explicitly to upgrade to the wider tires.
As for the front-end shimmy, as predicted, the fresh tires all but eliminated it. That being said, we can still detect a muffled "thump" with about the same period as the tire rotation, so whatever underlying cause there may be, it is still with us. Even though we put the best two of the four older rib tires on the tag (which meant one of the two steers we removed went back to the tag axle), those tires are also cupped, and so, perhaps, we are hearing/feeling some shimmy from the tag axle transmitting through the frame.
The two R250's that we removed are being sent off to Bridgestone for analysis. Perhaps they can tell us what our problem is. The centers of the treads are in perfect condition, with nearly the full factory tread depth intact. Conversely one shoulder of each tire is almost completely worn off, as if we had a serious toe-out misadjustment, except that the wear is uneven around the circumference. In some places, there is no tread left, with casing rubber showing through, and in other places the tread is nearly fully intact, with scalloped transitions between the regions. We got barely 40,000 miles out of these tires, which, by all rights, should last 150-200,000.
By the time we finished at the tire dealer, it was late afternoon. We realized that we would not make the coast in daylight, so we decided to stop here. Corvallis is an RV-unfriendly city, with local ordinance prohibiting staying in parking lots, which made the Elks lodge our only in-town option. This is a small lodge with a tiny parking lot, and it was packed for Keno night last night, but we were met in the lot by one of the locals, who welcomed us and directed us to an available corner. This morning's challenge will be getting turned around in tight quarters, since I don't really want to have to back out onto the street.
On our way in, we noticed an unassuming little restaurant a block away called "The Gables," which advertised prime rib. A little research revealed the place to be a local institution, so, naturally, we walked over for dinner. I had the prime rib, which was excellent, and Louise had the seafood linguine, also excellent. We shared a bottle of local Oregon Merlot, "The Academy" brand from the Deschutes valley, which turned out to be quite good.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Mall rats
We're back at the Valley River Mall, in nearly the exact same spot along the river. After our jaunt up to Harrisburg yesterday, where we settled on a pattern for our floor covering and ordered the material, we came back by way of Junction City and the Les Schwab tire dealer there. Our front-end shimmy has been getting worse, and we sought yet another opinion on the source.
The tire guys felt that the latest shimmy is actually due to the very badly cupped left front tire. They quoted us on a pair of new tires and moving some others around, and we headed back down to Eugene to collect the scooter, which was ready after a minor carburetor adjustment. We had also made arrangements with Mike Wilson of Willy's Custom Concepts to come take a look at some touch-up that we need, and it was simplest to just spend another night here in this excellent spot.
In a few minutes, we will pack up and head back up to the tire dealer to see about mounting some new tires. I think, from there, we will head back over to the coast via US20 through Corvallis, since we have nearly a full week before we need to be in the Seattle area.
The tire guys felt that the latest shimmy is actually due to the very badly cupped left front tire. They quoted us on a pair of new tires and moving some others around, and we headed back down to Eugene to collect the scooter, which was ready after a minor carburetor adjustment. We had also made arrangements with Mike Wilson of Willy's Custom Concepts to come take a look at some touch-up that we need, and it was simplest to just spend another night here in this excellent spot.
In a few minutes, we will pack up and head back up to the tire dealer to see about mounting some new tires. I think, from there, we will head back over to the coast via US20 through Corvallis, since we have nearly a full week before we need to be in the Seattle area.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
A familiar place.
We are in Eugene (pronounced with the accent on the second syllable), a town that is very familiar to us, since we spent three weeks or so here having Odyssey painted.
Since those early days, we've acquired the Days End directory, available exclusively to Escapees members, and it told us that the Valley River mall here allows up to three free nights of RV parking in a designated section of their lot, so that's where we are (map).
I have to say, this is a great spot. First off, we are parked right next to the Willamette river and its lushly vegetated banks. We have a lovely view, and the only sounds all night were the honks of the geese and the quacks of the ducks (the wild kind, not U of O fans). Plus, it is walking distance to the Olive Garden. (I think we once parked overnight in the Toys 'R Us lot, which is even closer to the Olive Garden, but we hadn't started blogging yet, so I am not sure.) Of course we browsed the mall after dinner and were happy to spend some money there -- what a refreshing attitude, considering most malls we've encountered forbid overnight parking.
Nice view of the Willamette River out our window.
Yesterday we had a very scenic drive along the Umpqua river, from its mouth in Reedsport all the way to the small town of Drain. From there we headed on to I-5 and to the town of Cottage Grove, where the small 76 station in town was reported to have the cheapest diesel in the state, at $2.679. That's the cheapest we've seen in a while, and likely will see again in the next couple thousand miles, so we filled up. As we coasted in on a nearly empty tank, I put 260 gallons in -- the young attendant nearly fainted when I opened the filler door and said "I'll take $700 worth" (Oregon has no self-service fuel -- station personnel have to operate the dispenser).
It took half an hour to put that much fuel in through an automotive-style nozzle (truck-stop nozzles are much larger and faster), and we nearly ran the station dry -- their "low tank level" alarm started chirping halfway through. Still, it was worth it -- the cheapest truck stop in the state, Flying-J in Troutdale, is at $2.719, and we'd still have had to put 70 or 80 gallons in just to make it to Troutdale and keep the level above the generator dip tube.
From Cottage Grove we came straight up I-5 to Eugene, and headed over to the Honda motorcycle dealer to drop the scooter off for service. We're hoping it's a simple adjustment and that the scoot will be ready later today.
After breakfast we will head north fifteen miles or so to Harrisburg, to talk to some folks about replacing our carpet with a woven vinyl flooring material. After nearly three years, the carpet is just plain done, at least in the high-traffic area through the living room, and we're hoping to replace it with something that is easier to clean. By which I mean remove the pet hair, which is constant, and the pet stains, which are occasional.
Following up on yesterday's post, Louise (who tracks things like visitor statistics to this blog) suggested that readers who do not fit into one of the categories I outlined might want to write in and let us know why they are following along. Perhaps there is a whole other group that I've overlooked, and it's always helpful to me, as they say, to "know your audience."
Since those early days, we've acquired the Days End directory, available exclusively to Escapees members, and it told us that the Valley River mall here allows up to three free nights of RV parking in a designated section of their lot, so that's where we are (map).
I have to say, this is a great spot. First off, we are parked right next to the Willamette river and its lushly vegetated banks. We have a lovely view, and the only sounds all night were the honks of the geese and the quacks of the ducks (the wild kind, not U of O fans). Plus, it is walking distance to the Olive Garden. (I think we once parked overnight in the Toys 'R Us lot, which is even closer to the Olive Garden, but we hadn't started blogging yet, so I am not sure.) Of course we browsed the mall after dinner and were happy to spend some money there -- what a refreshing attitude, considering most malls we've encountered forbid overnight parking.
Nice view of the Willamette River out our window.
Yesterday we had a very scenic drive along the Umpqua river, from its mouth in Reedsport all the way to the small town of Drain. From there we headed on to I-5 and to the town of Cottage Grove, where the small 76 station in town was reported to have the cheapest diesel in the state, at $2.679. That's the cheapest we've seen in a while, and likely will see again in the next couple thousand miles, so we filled up. As we coasted in on a nearly empty tank, I put 260 gallons in -- the young attendant nearly fainted when I opened the filler door and said "I'll take $700 worth" (Oregon has no self-service fuel -- station personnel have to operate the dispenser).
It took half an hour to put that much fuel in through an automotive-style nozzle (truck-stop nozzles are much larger and faster), and we nearly ran the station dry -- their "low tank level" alarm started chirping halfway through. Still, it was worth it -- the cheapest truck stop in the state, Flying-J in Troutdale, is at $2.719, and we'd still have had to put 70 or 80 gallons in just to make it to Troutdale and keep the level above the generator dip tube.
From Cottage Grove we came straight up I-5 to Eugene, and headed over to the Honda motorcycle dealer to drop the scooter off for service. We're hoping it's a simple adjustment and that the scoot will be ready later today.
After breakfast we will head north fifteen miles or so to Harrisburg, to talk to some folks about replacing our carpet with a woven vinyl flooring material. After nearly three years, the carpet is just plain done, at least in the high-traffic area through the living room, and we're hoping to replace it with something that is easier to clean. By which I mean remove the pet hair, which is constant, and the pet stains, which are occasional.
Following up on yesterday's post, Louise (who tracks things like visitor statistics to this blog) suggested that readers who do not fit into one of the categories I outlined might want to write in and let us know why they are following along. Perhaps there is a whole other group that I've overlooked, and it's always helpful to me, as they say, to "know your audience."
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
We get mail (and visitors!)
We are at Sunset Bay State Park, west of Coos Bay, Oregon (map). It's a nice, quiet park, in a deeply shaded stand of trees. A trail leads to the beach at a shallow, protected cove. We're here, in part, because there is electric power here, and our fuel level dropped below the bottom of the dip tubes for both the generator and the Webasto heater during our drive yesterday. So our choices were to put in 40 gallons or so of diesel at sky-high coastal prices, or find hookups to get heat and hot water until we cross back over the ridge to the land of more reasonable prices.
We're glad we came here, because this little stretch of coast is one we have not visited before, and it is quite beautiful. There are a couple of state parks and a county park along this stretch, providing plenty of rustic camping opportunities. The only down side was that getting the satellite on-line was a challenge. We had to choose our spot carefully, then I had to jiggle Odyssey back and forth in the space until I could get a shot to the bird through a narrow gap in the trees. So narrow that we are on the internet, but the TV signal is blocked.
And now, some reader mail:
Reader "his-self", who professes to be an "almost-retired" guy from Colorado, inquires whether one needs to be a member to use BPOE (Elks) campgrounds. While some people do try to slip in under the radar, the official answer is a resounding "yes." Elks facilities are available only to members of the order in good standing. In fact, we had a bit of difficulty ourselves in Brookings: the lodge fiscal year has just started, and, while our dues our paid up and we are in good standing, we paid, uncharacteristically, at the last possible moment this year, owing to having been out of the country when the bill arrived. So my new and current membership card has not yet caught up to us in the mail. When I went inside to register, they asked for my card, and all I could show was last year's (now expired) card. I had to convince them verbally that I was paid up and that my new card had simply not yet caught up to me.
The good news is that becoming an Elk is easy: make friends with an Elk in your home town, and ask him or her to sponsor you into the lodge. Dues vary by lodge -- we pay around $100 per year to belong. I encourage you to do this before you hit the road, as it becomes more difficult to find a sponsor and be present for the initiation ceremony when you are on the move full time.
One final note about Elks (and other fraternal order) "camping": In many cases the lodge has no license or permit to operate an overnight facility. This is why it is so critical that they restrict access to members of the order -- if the facility is open to the public, then they are running a public accommodation and must have an inn-keepers license (or similar), collect taxes, and comply with all those pesky laws. If the facility is there for the enjoyment of members only, then it falls in a different category. This is why the lodges "request" a "donation" from visiting members using the facility, rather than "charging" a "fee."
Loyal reader Spyderman, whom we met briefly, asks, along the same lines, whether we have looked into Thousand Trails and similar programs. Yes, we did, but we rejected them. In fact, we belonged to Passport America for a year, and never once used it. This is because we seldom stay in developed campgrounds, and we even less seldom go out of our way to stay at a particular place. Elks lodges are particularly convenient for us because they are usually located in town, and we happen to be visiting or passing through the town anyway. For example, we usually end up walking (or riding transit) to dinner when we stay at a lodge.
By contrast, Thousand Trails locations tend to be far away from anything. If we are going to be out in the boonies, so to speak, then we would rather be boondocking, which is generally free. I haven't done the math, but a rough guess is that we actually pay real money for overnight parking perhaps one night in every ten. And, usually, those paid nights are because we want to be someplace specific, such as downtown San Jose, or inside the park gates at Disney World, where pre-paid programs such as Thousand Trails would be no help whatsoever. They are great programs, though, for people who typically stay in RV parks, either because they need the hookups, or they prefer the social environment of parking with other rigs.
In addition to mail, we get: Visitors!
Yesterday, while stopped for lunch at a state wayside overlooking the ocean, we had a knock on the door. Readers Kelly and Rocket (and dog Mojo, an American Eskimo like Opal) were passing the wayside in their Itasca and happened to notice Odyssey, and so circled back to say hello. We had a nice chat. I have to say that we are still sometimes surprised by the number of people reading this blog, many of whom we've never met.
I say that because we never intended to develop an audience for this blog. Now that it has worked out that way, I find myself adjusting my writing accordingly, at least to some extent. Some day I hope to post an introductory page to this blog, so that visitors surfing by have some context for it. Until I get around to it, I'll post it here:
We started this blog mostly to keep our three sets of parents, numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews, and a number of pre-Odyssey friends informed as to our whereabouts and what was happening in our lives. The alternatives were writing or phoning everyone individually, which is really daunting when you consider that, as full-timers, that means everyone (in contrast to living in a fixed place, where you end up running into or getting together with a huge percentage of those people on a regular basis), or sending out updates in a mass-email sort of way. A blog, we reasoned, was something they could check in with on their own schedule as they saw fit, plus the web format allowed us to include features not available in email, such as direct links to maps.
Because of the intended audience, the writing tends to be a little dry. (And then we did the laundry, and afterwards, we had dinner.) Parents, after all, want the full detail. As it has turned out, the parents are pretty much the only subset of the original audience that actually read this on a regular basis. The rest of our readers tend to fall into three groups:
The blog turns out to have yet another purpose that we did not anticipate when we started it. We have both developed an age-related disease, CRS. (This stands for, politely, Can't Remember Stuff. It is an early-onset form of the related disease, CRAFT -- Can't Remember a Flippin' Thing). We find ourselves saying things like "Didn't we stay someplace in Amarillo where we could walk to the Olive Garden -- where was that?" And so, the blog has also become our own reference guide -- we find ourselves referring back to it constantly. I had to go to it, for example, when our CPA asked us how much time we each spent in California last year. Honestly, I have started including things explicitly because I know I will be looking for them later, like links to parks, and details of what was good and bad about each spot. I am also religious about the map links for the same reason.
So thanks, everyone, for sticking with us, even when my verbiage goes off on wild tangents. And do keep the emails (and visits) coming!
We're glad we came here, because this little stretch of coast is one we have not visited before, and it is quite beautiful. There are a couple of state parks and a county park along this stretch, providing plenty of rustic camping opportunities. The only down side was that getting the satellite on-line was a challenge. We had to choose our spot carefully, then I had to jiggle Odyssey back and forth in the space until I could get a shot to the bird through a narrow gap in the trees. So narrow that we are on the internet, but the TV signal is blocked.
And now, some reader mail:
Reader "his-self", who professes to be an "almost-retired" guy from Colorado, inquires whether one needs to be a member to use BPOE (Elks) campgrounds. While some people do try to slip in under the radar, the official answer is a resounding "yes." Elks facilities are available only to members of the order in good standing. In fact, we had a bit of difficulty ourselves in Brookings: the lodge fiscal year has just started, and, while our dues our paid up and we are in good standing, we paid, uncharacteristically, at the last possible moment this year, owing to having been out of the country when the bill arrived. So my new and current membership card has not yet caught up to us in the mail. When I went inside to register, they asked for my card, and all I could show was last year's (now expired) card. I had to convince them verbally that I was paid up and that my new card had simply not yet caught up to me.
The good news is that becoming an Elk is easy: make friends with an Elk in your home town, and ask him or her to sponsor you into the lodge. Dues vary by lodge -- we pay around $100 per year to belong. I encourage you to do this before you hit the road, as it becomes more difficult to find a sponsor and be present for the initiation ceremony when you are on the move full time.
One final note about Elks (and other fraternal order) "camping": In many cases the lodge has no license or permit to operate an overnight facility. This is why it is so critical that they restrict access to members of the order -- if the facility is open to the public, then they are running a public accommodation and must have an inn-keepers license (or similar), collect taxes, and comply with all those pesky laws. If the facility is there for the enjoyment of members only, then it falls in a different category. This is why the lodges "request" a "donation" from visiting members using the facility, rather than "charging" a "fee."
Loyal reader Spyderman, whom we met briefly, asks, along the same lines, whether we have looked into Thousand Trails and similar programs. Yes, we did, but we rejected them. In fact, we belonged to Passport America for a year, and never once used it. This is because we seldom stay in developed campgrounds, and we even less seldom go out of our way to stay at a particular place. Elks lodges are particularly convenient for us because they are usually located in town, and we happen to be visiting or passing through the town anyway. For example, we usually end up walking (or riding transit) to dinner when we stay at a lodge.
By contrast, Thousand Trails locations tend to be far away from anything. If we are going to be out in the boonies, so to speak, then we would rather be boondocking, which is generally free. I haven't done the math, but a rough guess is that we actually pay real money for overnight parking perhaps one night in every ten. And, usually, those paid nights are because we want to be someplace specific, such as downtown San Jose, or inside the park gates at Disney World, where pre-paid programs such as Thousand Trails would be no help whatsoever. They are great programs, though, for people who typically stay in RV parks, either because they need the hookups, or they prefer the social environment of parking with other rigs.
In addition to mail, we get: Visitors!
Yesterday, while stopped for lunch at a state wayside overlooking the ocean, we had a knock on the door. Readers Kelly and Rocket (and dog Mojo, an American Eskimo like Opal) were passing the wayside in their Itasca and happened to notice Odyssey, and so circled back to say hello. We had a nice chat. I have to say that we are still sometimes surprised by the number of people reading this blog, many of whom we've never met.
I say that because we never intended to develop an audience for this blog. Now that it has worked out that way, I find myself adjusting my writing accordingly, at least to some extent. Some day I hope to post an introductory page to this blog, so that visitors surfing by have some context for it. Until I get around to it, I'll post it here:
We started this blog mostly to keep our three sets of parents, numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews, and a number of pre-Odyssey friends informed as to our whereabouts and what was happening in our lives. The alternatives were writing or phoning everyone individually, which is really daunting when you consider that, as full-timers, that means everyone (in contrast to living in a fixed place, where you end up running into or getting together with a huge percentage of those people on a regular basis), or sending out updates in a mass-email sort of way. A blog, we reasoned, was something they could check in with on their own schedule as they saw fit, plus the web format allowed us to include features not available in email, such as direct links to maps.
Because of the intended audience, the writing tends to be a little dry. (And then we did the laundry, and afterwards, we had dinner.) Parents, after all, want the full detail. As it has turned out, the parents are pretty much the only subset of the original audience that actually read this on a regular basis. The rest of our readers tend to fall into three groups:
- Bus nuts. These are folks who are converting their own buses, or own a converted bus, or who met us at a bus rally. They tend to be most interested in the bus-specific aspects of our travels: where did the bus fit (or not fit), what roads were un-traversable, where did we get the engine rebuilt, and how did all those specific features we included when we built Odyssey work out in the long run? What would we do over again, and what would we do differently?
- Full-timing wannabes or newbies. These are people who are contemplating moving on to a rig full-time or actively working towards that goal, and they want to learn from our (and others') experiences. What works well and what doesn't work well for full-timers? How do we control expenses? What do we miss, and what don't we miss?
- Other RV'ers, full time or not. These folks are here to get insight into the places we've stayed and the things that we've done which they, themselves, might want to include on their own itineraries. Many, many people in this group, for example, followed our Mexican adventure with great interest.
The blog turns out to have yet another purpose that we did not anticipate when we started it. We have both developed an age-related disease, CRS. (This stands for, politely, Can't Remember Stuff. It is an early-onset form of the related disease, CRAFT -- Can't Remember a Flippin' Thing). We find ourselves saying things like "Didn't we stay someplace in Amarillo where we could walk to the Olive Garden -- where was that?" And so, the blog has also become our own reference guide -- we find ourselves referring back to it constantly. I had to go to it, for example, when our CPA asked us how much time we each spent in California last year. Honestly, I have started including things explicitly because I know I will be looking for them later, like links to parks, and details of what was good and bad about each spot. I am also religious about the map links for the same reason.
So thanks, everyone, for sticking with us, even when my verbiage goes off on wild tangents. And do keep the emails (and visits) coming!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Out of California
We are at the Elks Lodge in Brookings, Oregon (map). The lodge here has a nice campground facility, with 30-amp power and water (and looks like cable TV, too) at each site. At $15 per night, that's a steal along the coast -- we paid that much Sunday night for dry camping. The lodge also has a dump station, although we don't need it, having emptied our tanks back at Van Damme.
The lodge is just a block from the main drag, and we walked to dinner last night at local eatery the Onion Grill. The food was fine, and it was close; better options are available elsewhere in Brookings, but we didn't want to walk as far as a mile.
We are relieved to finally be out of California. Our plan, before the windshield debacle, was to be in Nevada on May 4th, so we are a full ten days later than that. Not a big deal, but we do have to keep track each year. We pay property and income tax in California as absentee landlords (the condo in which we formerly lived is now a rental unit), and there is some magic threshold beyond which California can claim us a residents and tax the rest of our income as well. We only narrowly avoided this last year, with all the health-related visits.
Today we will continue north along the coast, stopping, most likely, somewhere in the neighborhood of the Oregon Dunes.
The lodge is just a block from the main drag, and we walked to dinner last night at local eatery the Onion Grill. The food was fine, and it was close; better options are available elsewhere in Brookings, but we didn't want to walk as far as a mile.
We are relieved to finally be out of California. Our plan, before the windshield debacle, was to be in Nevada on May 4th, so we are a full ten days later than that. Not a big deal, but we do have to keep track each year. We pay property and income tax in California as absentee landlords (the condo in which we formerly lived is now a rental unit), and there is some magic threshold beyond which California can claim us a residents and tax the rest of our income as well. We only narrowly avoided this last year, with all the health-related visits.
Today we will continue north along the coast, stopping, most likely, somewhere in the neighborhood of the Oregon Dunes.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Eureka!
We are at the Samoa Boat Ramp, a Humboldt County park on the island of Samoa, across from Eureka (map). There is camping here for $15 per night, with a lovely view of Eureka across the bay.
We've decided to hold off on the Honda adjustments until Eugene, since the Honda dealer here is closed today. Instead, we will enjoy a hearty breakfast at the Samoa Cookhouse before continuing north up the coast and into Oregon.
We've decided to hold off on the Honda adjustments until Eugene, since the Honda dealer here is closed today. Instead, we will enjoy a hearty breakfast at the Samoa Cookhouse before continuing north up the coast and into Oregon.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Mendocino coast
We are at Van Damme State Park, just south of Mendocino (map). There is a campground here, on the inland side of the highway, with picnic tables and fire rings and bollard-enclosed spaces that are generally too short for Odyssey.
We are, instead, parked in the day-use lot, which is right on the beach, across the road from the campground entrance. This lot is also designated for "En Route" camping, an option available at several California state parks. It's the same price as the main campground ($20), without the extra amenities, but we have a much better view. En-route camping is only available to fully self-contained rigs, and is limited to a single night. Theoretically, en-route campers are supposed to be out by 9am as well, but, since this is also the (free, in this park) day use lot, we just became day-use visitors as of 9.
Yesterday we had a lovely drive along the Russian River, through Guerneville, Forestville, and Duncans Mills, and out to the coast at Jenner. Traffic and crowds were light for a Saturday -- tourist season is not yet in full swing. This section of the coast highway, through Sonoma and Mendocino counties, is twisty and hilly, and it was slow going, but we had a nice sunny day and the scenery was gorgeous. Odyssey's Bavarian heritage, designed as it was for the narrow and twisty alpine roads, stood us in good stead, negotiating the switchbacks with aplomb.
Today we will complete the northernmost stretch of CA-1, turning inland at the "Lost Coast" and joining US-101 in Leggett. We'll likely be in the neighborhood of Eureka tonight, where there is a Honda motorcycle dealer -- the new scooter needs some adjustments.
We are, instead, parked in the day-use lot, which is right on the beach, across the road from the campground entrance. This lot is also designated for "En Route" camping, an option available at several California state parks. It's the same price as the main campground ($20), without the extra amenities, but we have a much better view. En-route camping is only available to fully self-contained rigs, and is limited to a single night. Theoretically, en-route campers are supposed to be out by 9am as well, but, since this is also the (free, in this park) day use lot, we just became day-use visitors as of 9.
Yesterday we had a lovely drive along the Russian River, through Guerneville, Forestville, and Duncans Mills, and out to the coast at Jenner. Traffic and crowds were light for a Saturday -- tourist season is not yet in full swing. This section of the coast highway, through Sonoma and Mendocino counties, is twisty and hilly, and it was slow going, but we had a nice sunny day and the scenery was gorgeous. Odyssey's Bavarian heritage, designed as it was for the narrow and twisty alpine roads, stood us in good stead, negotiating the switchbacks with aplomb.
Today we will complete the northernmost stretch of CA-1, turning inland at the "Lost Coast" and joining US-101 in Leggett. We'll likely be in the neighborhood of Eureka tonight, where there is a Honda motorcycle dealer -- the new scooter needs some adjustments.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Ahh, home again at Wal-Mart
We leak-tested the windows again yesterday, just before noon. Even though the additional sealant had only been curing about 20 hours, we felt we needed to have most of the afternoon available, if needed, for any additional repairs. A good ten minutes or so with the pressure washer revealed no further leaks, and so we declared the job done.
With half the day still ahead of us, we decided to get on the road, rather than spend another night in Alameda. We had the bikes loaded back up and everything stowed in another hour, had a quick lunch, and headed out. As I wrote yesterday, we headed directly to Cotati and the Lowe's there to buy some replacement diaphragms for the recirculating valves, and a few other hardware items.
We've now replaced all three valve diaphragms, but, even so, the valve on the kitchen sink again started leaking. A quick check of our own blog revealed that it has been fourteen months since that valve was rebuilt, so it's not unreasonable that it was needed again. The two bathroom valves made it nearly three years, but the kitchen sink gets used easily more than twice as frequently (I do dishes twice a day, plus hand washing and what-not) so it makes sense that the valve needs more attention. It does make me glad we chose inexpensive and easily rebuilt irrigation valves, as the source of the trouble appears to be mineral build-up from hard water, which would likely have a similar effect on any valve we used.
By the time we were done at Lowe's it was nearly four o'clock -- too late to press on toward Guerneville and the coast, so we made a grocery stop and then drove a couple miles further north to the Wal-Mart here in Rohnert Park (map). Fortuitously, there is an Outback Steakhouse right next door, where we walked for dinner after I got the valve rebuilt.
Tonight we will be on the coast.
With half the day still ahead of us, we decided to get on the road, rather than spend another night in Alameda. We had the bikes loaded back up and everything stowed in another hour, had a quick lunch, and headed out. As I wrote yesterday, we headed directly to Cotati and the Lowe's there to buy some replacement diaphragms for the recirculating valves, and a few other hardware items.
We've now replaced all three valve diaphragms, but, even so, the valve on the kitchen sink again started leaking. A quick check of our own blog revealed that it has been fourteen months since that valve was rebuilt, so it's not unreasonable that it was needed again. The two bathroom valves made it nearly three years, but the kitchen sink gets used easily more than twice as frequently (I do dishes twice a day, plus hand washing and what-not) so it makes sense that the valve needs more attention. It does make me glad we chose inexpensive and easily rebuilt irrigation valves, as the source of the trouble appears to be mineral build-up from hard water, which would likely have a similar effect on any valve we used.
By the time we were done at Lowe's it was nearly four o'clock -- too late to press on toward Guerneville and the coast, so we made a grocery stop and then drove a couple miles further north to the Wal-Mart here in Rohnert Park (map). Fortuitously, there is an Outback Steakhouse right next door, where we walked for dinner after I got the valve rebuilt.
Tonight we will be on the coast.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Alameda isn't so bad
The view is pretty great
Don't like it orange? How about pink? Every night is different!
Don't like it orange? How about pink? Every night is different!
Still in Alameda
Yesterday, while we were having lunch with a good friend over in Jack London Square, Coach Specialties finished sealing up voids in the lower windshield seal, and we were hopeful that we might be finished and on our way this morning.
Once burned, twice shy, however, and today after lunch, with a full 24 hours of cure time behind us, I took out the trusty pressure washer and tested for leaks. Alas, we found one small leak in the upper windshield seal, and a couple in the lower as well. So this afternoon they had to touch up those areas. We'll spend another night here to allow the sealant to cure, then repeat the leak test tomorrow afternoon. If everything holds this time, we will be on our way on Saturday morning.
Between last night and this morning I did considerable work on route planning, to account for the various commitments we have over the next month or so, and we are now agreed on a plan. From here, we will head over to the coast. We'll take CA-116 over, intersecting the Pacific Coast Highway just south of Jenner, thus avoiding the congested portion from Mill Valley to Bodega Bay. This will also give us a chance to stop at Lowe's in Cotati for some critically needed parts (replacement diaphragms for our water recirculating valves). Lowes are in short supply out here, being far outnumbered by Home Depots, but, as I've written previously, Home Depot no longer carries these parts.
We will then travel north on the PCH, CA-1, all the way until it ends at the junction with US-101 in Legett, and continue north on 101 halfway up the coast of Oregon, where we will turn inland on OR-126 to Eugene and a rendezvous with a shop in Harrisburg that we may have install some new flooring.
I expect to proceed up the coast at a very relaxed pace. For one thing, it's magnificently beautiful, and we want to take it all in again. For another, it is a narrow and winding road in many places, so much so that it is a restricted route -- if Odyssey were just another eight inches longer, we would be prohibited from traveling on it.
Once burned, twice shy, however, and today after lunch, with a full 24 hours of cure time behind us, I took out the trusty pressure washer and tested for leaks. Alas, we found one small leak in the upper windshield seal, and a couple in the lower as well. So this afternoon they had to touch up those areas. We'll spend another night here to allow the sealant to cure, then repeat the leak test tomorrow afternoon. If everything holds this time, we will be on our way on Saturday morning.
Between last night and this morning I did considerable work on route planning, to account for the various commitments we have over the next month or so, and we are now agreed on a plan. From here, we will head over to the coast. We'll take CA-116 over, intersecting the Pacific Coast Highway just south of Jenner, thus avoiding the congested portion from Mill Valley to Bodega Bay. This will also give us a chance to stop at Lowe's in Cotati for some critically needed parts (replacement diaphragms for our water recirculating valves). Lowes are in short supply out here, being far outnumbered by Home Depots, but, as I've written previously, Home Depot no longer carries these parts.
We will then travel north on the PCH, CA-1, all the way until it ends at the junction with US-101 in Legett, and continue north on 101 halfway up the coast of Oregon, where we will turn inland on OR-126 to Eugene and a rendezvous with a shop in Harrisburg that we may have install some new flooring.
I expect to proceed up the coast at a very relaxed pace. For one thing, it's magnificently beautiful, and we want to take it all in again. For another, it is a narrow and winding road in many places, so much so that it is a restricted route -- if Odyssey were just another eight inches longer, we would be prohibited from traveling on it.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Back in Alameda
We are once again at Coach Specialties in Alameda (map). My emergency duct-tape job did the trick, and we made it here yesterday afternoon with the windshield still in place and in one piece.
We were a bit surprised by the amount of traffic flowing off the old Navy base as we arrived. I later learned that there is a massive antique and collectibles fair here on the first Sunday of every month.
This morning they pulled us into the shop and got right to work on the upper windshield. With the bottom and most of one side already loose, it was a relatively easy job to cut it free the rest of the way, and it came out without damage. Upon inspecting the areas where the urethane did not adhere, the speculation now is that the rust-converting primer that they used to treat the corrosion around the window seat had not fully cured when they glued the window in. So they ground everything back down to bare metal and glued it in again, using a wider bead against the metal this time. It's quite warm in Alameda today, in the 80's, and they moved us back outside into the direct sunlight to help the curing process along. Fine with us, as it means we do not need a hotel tonight (and some way to transport Opal there).
So we are back outside for the night. Tomorrow, they will pull us back in and finish the sealing of the upper cosmetically, then pull the trim off the lower and see what it needs. We are all hoping that the glue is actually still holding down there, and that the leakage is from some voids in the urethane that resulted from being overly cautious applying the messy stuff in the cockpit, where it's all too easy to get it on the headliner and/or the dashboard.
Whatever the fix, we are planning on staying right here in Alameda for at least a full day beyond to assure proper curing of the sealant, and then I'm going to blast it with the pressure washer to double-check for leaks before we leave.
We were a bit surprised by the amount of traffic flowing off the old Navy base as we arrived. I later learned that there is a massive antique and collectibles fair here on the first Sunday of every month.
This morning they pulled us into the shop and got right to work on the upper windshield. With the bottom and most of one side already loose, it was a relatively easy job to cut it free the rest of the way, and it came out without damage. Upon inspecting the areas where the urethane did not adhere, the speculation now is that the rust-converting primer that they used to treat the corrosion around the window seat had not fully cured when they glued the window in. So they ground everything back down to bare metal and glued it in again, using a wider bead against the metal this time. It's quite warm in Alameda today, in the 80's, and they moved us back outside into the direct sunlight to help the curing process along. Fine with us, as it means we do not need a hotel tonight (and some way to transport Opal there).
So we are back outside for the night. Tomorrow, they will pull us back in and finish the sealing of the upper cosmetically, then pull the trim off the lower and see what it needs. We are all hoping that the glue is actually still holding down there, and that the leakage is from some voids in the urethane that resulted from being overly cautious applying the messy stuff in the cockpit, where it's all too easy to get it on the headliner and/or the dashboard.
Whatever the fix, we are planning on staying right here in Alameda for at least a full day beyond to assure proper curing of the sealant, and then I'm going to blast it with the pressure washer to double-check for leaks before we leave.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
And now, the news
Alright, I'll give this another shot:
We are in a strip mall in Castro Valley (map), a location we chose because there is both a coin laundry and a grocery store here, and we needed both. We ultimately decided to spend last night at the Livermore Elks, mostly because we discovered that a city bus runs right past there and into downtown, and we availed ourselves of that fact to have a nice dinner at local landmark Strizzi's Italian restaurant.
When we arrived downtown we discovered the main drag completely closed off, and the booths and stalls of the Livermore Wine Country Festival just closing up for the day. I wish we had known it was going on -- we would have gone downtown an hour or two sooner and browsed a bit. No matter; we had an excellent dinner anyway. We found ourselves wishing we had checked out the transit situation the previous night, as this place would have been a better choice to celebrate our anniversary.
Speaking of which, alert readers have pointed out that there is also an Elks lodge in Tracy, "not far" from the shopping center we mentioned. Of course, we knew about the Tracy lodge from our trusty Elks camping directory, which is one of our worth-its-weight-in-gold resources for finding stopover spots, especially in major metropolitan areas. That being said, "not far" is a relative term: there were no suitable restaurants within walking distance from that lodge, and we never, ever drive either the bus or the motorcycles after a couple glasses of wine. Suitable libations, of course, are mandatory elements of any celebratory dinner, at least for us, and so we pressed on to Livermore.
In the good news/bad news department, our decision to stay in Livermore another night turned out to be fortuitous. It was quite windy in that spot, and, over a period of time, I noticed the wind seemed to be whistling right through the upper windshield. Closer inspection then revealed that the entire glue bead along the lower edge, and then extending up and around the right hand side, is no longer adhered to the metal. Even slight thumb pressure will open a gap into daylight. So this morning, we duct-taped the window in on both sides and across the bottom, the fear being that it could literally pop out on the freeway. Even closing the door causes the window to move slightly, so we've opened some windows to allow the air pressure to vent.
I have no idea how they are going to fix this mess. It would seem that the window(s) will have to come out and be re-glued properly, but removing them carries the risk that they will break. Tomorrow morning I will call Neopart to see if replacements are even in the country -- we could end up stranded in Alameda for weeks.
Quarter-inch gap in the window sealant that let the wind whistle in.
We are in a strip mall in Castro Valley (map), a location we chose because there is both a coin laundry and a grocery store here, and we needed both. We ultimately decided to spend last night at the Livermore Elks, mostly because we discovered that a city bus runs right past there and into downtown, and we availed ourselves of that fact to have a nice dinner at local landmark Strizzi's Italian restaurant.
When we arrived downtown we discovered the main drag completely closed off, and the booths and stalls of the Livermore Wine Country Festival just closing up for the day. I wish we had known it was going on -- we would have gone downtown an hour or two sooner and browsed a bit. No matter; we had an excellent dinner anyway. We found ourselves wishing we had checked out the transit situation the previous night, as this place would have been a better choice to celebrate our anniversary.
Speaking of which, alert readers have pointed out that there is also an Elks lodge in Tracy, "not far" from the shopping center we mentioned. Of course, we knew about the Tracy lodge from our trusty Elks camping directory, which is one of our worth-its-weight-in-gold resources for finding stopover spots, especially in major metropolitan areas. That being said, "not far" is a relative term: there were no suitable restaurants within walking distance from that lodge, and we never, ever drive either the bus or the motorcycles after a couple glasses of wine. Suitable libations, of course, are mandatory elements of any celebratory dinner, at least for us, and so we pressed on to Livermore.
In the good news/bad news department, our decision to stay in Livermore another night turned out to be fortuitous. It was quite windy in that spot, and, over a period of time, I noticed the wind seemed to be whistling right through the upper windshield. Closer inspection then revealed that the entire glue bead along the lower edge, and then extending up and around the right hand side, is no longer adhered to the metal. Even slight thumb pressure will open a gap into daylight. So this morning, we duct-taped the window in on both sides and across the bottom, the fear being that it could literally pop out on the freeway. Even closing the door causes the window to move slightly, so we've opened some windows to allow the air pressure to vent.
I have no idea how they are going to fix this mess. It would seem that the window(s) will have to come out and be re-glued properly, but removing them carries the risk that they will break. Tomorrow morning I will call Neopart to see if replacements are even in the country -- we could end up stranded in Alameda for weeks.
Quarter-inch gap in the window sealant that let the wind whistle in.
Bad Blogger Day
Well, Google has locked us out of our blog. Like many before us, we are getting this error:
I'm posting this through my "Performancing" FireFox extension, which seems to still be working.
I haven't a clue how to get around this problem (suggestions welcome). It is, apparently, related to IP addresses somehow. Unfortunately, we have little control over the fact that HughesNet forces our HTTP traffic onto a proxy (random IP every time) in order to provide "acceleration."
If this post goes up OK, I'll come back in a few minutes and give the update I was trying to post when Blogger refused to let me in...
We're sorry...
... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.
We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.
We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.
I'm posting this through my "Performancing" FireFox extension, which seems to still be working.
I haven't a clue how to get around this problem (suggestions welcome). It is, apparently, related to IP addresses somehow. Unfortunately, we have little control over the fact that HughesNet forces our HTTP traffic onto a proxy (random IP every time) in order to provide "acceleration."
If this post goes up OK, I'll come back in a few minutes and give the update I was trying to post when Blogger refused to let me in...
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Not in Reno
We are at the Livermore Elks Lodge, in Livermore, California (map). Observant readers will note that we are heading in exactly the opposite direction from that stated in my last post, and that we have missed EmComm West. And therein lies a tale.
We woke yesterday morning to a bleak, rainy day at our friends' ranch in Murphys. Rain at that elevation means snow higher up, and a quick check of the CalTrans highway conditions web site revealed that our intended route over the sierras, CA-88, was under strict chain controls, as was US-50 one pass further north. No problem -- we'll just leave the ranch a bit earlier, backtrack a bit further, and cross over on Interstate 80, which was reported open with no controls. (Heavily-traveled I-80 benefits from additional CalTrans resources and equipment, as well as the simple fact that the traffic tends to melt away the snow as it falls.)
So we said our good-byes, buttoned up Odyssey, and started back down the hill to Murphys and Angels Camp. As I prepped the coach, I noticed a puddle of water in a familiar place on the dashboard -- reasoning that the new windows were well sealed and could not possibly be leaking, we concluded that, as we had previously suspected, the water dripping from the cockpit ceiling is actually ingressing through the upper side windows. Oh well.
By the time we reached Murphys, we were beginning to suspect that perhaps the new windows were not fully sealed after all -- water was running down the inside of the glass. Higher speeds on the way to Angels Camp closed the case: we saw bubbles around the seals as the wind pressure forced air into the wet seams. So in Angels Camp we made the only reasonable decision we could: to return to Alameda to have Coach Specialties fix the leaks, which turned out through further observation to be pervasive around both new windshields.
The bad news is that I am out $10 for EmComm (and missed an opportunity to test for my General Class license there), and we have to backtrack ~150 miles and spend an extra week in California. The good news is that we discovered the problem only 150 miles from the shop (May is the beginning of the dry season in California, and we could easily have avoided such a storm for several more weeks or even months), and we really don't have any other firm plans until Memorial Day, when we need to be in Washington.
Given the change in plans, we adjusted our return route to take advantage of $2.84 diesel at Flying-J in Ripon, and then set out to find a place to stop for the night. Since yesterday was our wedding anniversary (four years, thanks for asking), and we wanted to go out for a nice dinner, we headed over to a large shopping area in Tracy where a search turned up several restaurants, and Google Earth revealed several large parking lots and even a Wal-Mart. Even though none of our boondocking resources indicates this, Tracy apparently has outlawed overnight parking, as announced by prominent signs at the Wal-Mart. Not wishing to risk eviction in the middle of the night, we pressed onward (Tracy officials take note: we'd planned to drop at least a C-note on our anniversary dinner, and probably would have loaded up on groceries and some hardware essentials as well, but we'll likely not exit the freeway in your town again.)
The Elks Lodge here in Livermore is a familiar stop for us, but it meant having our anniversary dinner at Chevy's. Sort of a Cuatro de Mayo celebration. Now we have another day to kill before we return to Alameda. We may spend another night here, or go to Alameda a day early, or do something in between. As I type this, a brass band is in the park across from us practicing their Mexican music, we presume for a Cinco de Mayo celebration later today.
We woke yesterday morning to a bleak, rainy day at our friends' ranch in Murphys. Rain at that elevation means snow higher up, and a quick check of the CalTrans highway conditions web site revealed that our intended route over the sierras, CA-88, was under strict chain controls, as was US-50 one pass further north. No problem -- we'll just leave the ranch a bit earlier, backtrack a bit further, and cross over on Interstate 80, which was reported open with no controls. (Heavily-traveled I-80 benefits from additional CalTrans resources and equipment, as well as the simple fact that the traffic tends to melt away the snow as it falls.)
So we said our good-byes, buttoned up Odyssey, and started back down the hill to Murphys and Angels Camp. As I prepped the coach, I noticed a puddle of water in a familiar place on the dashboard -- reasoning that the new windows were well sealed and could not possibly be leaking, we concluded that, as we had previously suspected, the water dripping from the cockpit ceiling is actually ingressing through the upper side windows. Oh well.
By the time we reached Murphys, we were beginning to suspect that perhaps the new windows were not fully sealed after all -- water was running down the inside of the glass. Higher speeds on the way to Angels Camp closed the case: we saw bubbles around the seals as the wind pressure forced air into the wet seams. So in Angels Camp we made the only reasonable decision we could: to return to Alameda to have Coach Specialties fix the leaks, which turned out through further observation to be pervasive around both new windshields.
The bad news is that I am out $10 for EmComm (and missed an opportunity to test for my General Class license there), and we have to backtrack ~150 miles and spend an extra week in California. The good news is that we discovered the problem only 150 miles from the shop (May is the beginning of the dry season in California, and we could easily have avoided such a storm for several more weeks or even months), and we really don't have any other firm plans until Memorial Day, when we need to be in Washington.
Given the change in plans, we adjusted our return route to take advantage of $2.84 diesel at Flying-J in Ripon, and then set out to find a place to stop for the night. Since yesterday was our wedding anniversary (four years, thanks for asking), and we wanted to go out for a nice dinner, we headed over to a large shopping area in Tracy where a search turned up several restaurants, and Google Earth revealed several large parking lots and even a Wal-Mart. Even though none of our boondocking resources indicates this, Tracy apparently has outlawed overnight parking, as announced by prominent signs at the Wal-Mart. Not wishing to risk eviction in the middle of the night, we pressed onward (Tracy officials take note: we'd planned to drop at least a C-note on our anniversary dinner, and probably would have loaded up on groceries and some hardware essentials as well, but we'll likely not exit the freeway in your town again.)
The Elks Lodge here in Livermore is a familiar stop for us, but it meant having our anniversary dinner at Chevy's. Sort of a Cuatro de Mayo celebration. Now we have another day to kill before we return to Alameda. We may spend another night here, or go to Alameda a day early, or do something in between. As I type this, a brass band is in the park across from us practicing their Mexican music, we presume for a Cinco de Mayo celebration later today.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
The land of Jumping Frogs
We are visiting good friends near Murphys, in Calaveras County (approximate map). They have ample parking for Odyssey on their ranch, where they raise champion Quarter Horses as well as other livestock. It is lovely here, an idyllic little valley with a swift-running stream, nestled in highly forested hills.
On our way up here yesterday, after leaving the fairgrounds, we drove through historic Angels Camp, which is gearing up for the annual fair (and jumping frog jubilee) in just two weeks' time. Tomorrow we will have to backtrack through Angels Camp and take CA49 up to CA88 through the Carson Pass, as Ebbett's pass east of here on CA4 is still closed for the winter.
Tomorrow night we should be at the Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno, where I'll attend EmComm West on Saturday. While we're in town, we will try to get together with friends in the Reno area before continuing north toward Oregon.
On our way up here yesterday, after leaving the fairgrounds, we drove through historic Angels Camp, which is gearing up for the annual fair (and jumping frog jubilee) in just two weeks' time. Tomorrow we will have to backtrack through Angels Camp and take CA49 up to CA88 through the Carson Pass, as Ebbett's pass east of here on CA4 is still closed for the winter.
Tomorrow night we should be at the Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno, where I'll attend EmComm West on Saturday. While we're in town, we will try to get together with friends in the Reno area before continuing north toward Oregon.
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