New Laptop, New Problems, Possible Solutions…

After having issues with my Open Live Writer Application I resorted to using Google Blogger's service to publish the last two blogs. I did so because for some reason my photos quit showing up in Open Live writer once published.

We weren’t doing much more here in Mesa Arizona that I had already mentioned so I paused blogging because of the issues with Open Live writer and I also was having issues with my laptop keyboard. The space bar would work intermittently making it a pain to pen a new blog.

Then a few days later my laptops screen started acting up until one day I opened it up and the screen was a scramble of lit up pixels and nothing was discernable. Well, that meant it was time to buy a new laptop. Fortunately for me Best Buy had one that suited my needs for a 50% discounted price.

Now all I had to do was get everything off my old laptop’s hard drive. I took the back cover off to get to the hard drive so I could remove it and read it with a cable adapter I own that reads older hard drives. However, little did I know that this hard drive was the type that is hard waited to the motherboard. This SSD hard drive is nothing more than a small circuit board.

With a little research I found a device at Amazon designed to read such drives. For less than twenty dollars I was able to read the drive and retrieve all my files. Now all I had to do was install all my software on the new laptop.

However as we all know those of us he have dealt with Open Live Writer and new laptops know how tricky it is to get Open Live Writer installed and working as we want. Well, my new laptop is configured now and this will be a test post to see how it works.

NOTE: Adding this Java script:to the template for Open Live Writer forces a page refresh that loads the image. Not a perfect solution but one that works.

<script type="text/javascript">
//Get all the doc img
var imgs=document.getElementsByTagName('img');
//Defines
const srcA='drive.google.com/uc?id=';
const srcB='drive.usercontent.google.com/download?id=';
const srcBRemove='&authuser=0';
const targ='drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=';
const suf='&sz=w200';
function reWriteIMG()
{
//loop though the img if it contains the index of the string to replace
for (var i= 0; i < imgs.length; i++)
  {
  if (imgs[i].src.indexOf(srcA) > -1 )
     {
     imgs[i].src=imgs[i].src.replace(srcA, targ) + suf;
     }
  else
     {
     if (imgs[i].src.indexOf(srcB) > -1 )
        {
        tmp = imgs[i].src.replace(srcBRemove, '');
        tmp = tmp.replace(srcB, targ) + suf;
        imgs[i].src = tmp;
        }    
     }
   }
}
setTimeout(reWriteIMG, 5000);
</script>

Best laid plans…

The day I picked for painting the primer on the end cap finally came and it was a perfect day for painting. Eighty degree for a high, overnight lows above 65 degrees and wind less than 8 mph. My plans were coming to fruition!

Before the morning chill was over I went outside to wash the area to be primed with dawn dish soap. After about an hour I went backout to mask off the area to be painted with plastic. Then I did the final cleaning with Sprayway glass cleaner and SPI 700-1 Waterborne Wax and Grease Remover.

The Waterborne Wax and Grease Remover.has to sit 45-60 minutes before applying the epoxy to allow the solvents in the cleaner to dissipate. While the Wax and Grease Remover was drying I mixed epoxy primer with its activator because it must be induced (allow to rest after mixing) at least 30 minutes covered.

It was nearing noon by this time so I let the epoxy continue to induce and broke for lunch. I wanted to be fresh for my first attempt at painting. The day before I had bought some water based paint that was on the discount shelf at Lowe’s to practice with. This allowed me to work not only on my technique but to get comfortable with the paint gun and it settings for air and fluid.

After lunch I donned my goggles and Respirator (charcoal), paint suit and latex gloves. Then I stirred the epoxy once again before spraying, poured the epoxy into the paint gun’s cup using a filter, fired up the compressors and got ready to paint.

I mentioned compressors because I had to use two borrowed 20 gallon compressors to do this job because a 50 gallon compressor wasn’t available for rent anywhere in town. So I used a splitter to join the two compressors together to give me 40 gallons of air supply.

Once the compressors stopped filling their combined tanks I was ready to paint. I used some scaffolding I bought (cheaper than renting and to be sold later) and three borrowed ladders to get up, down and across the endcap so I could maintain a “wet edge” on the paint.

When painting it is important to maintain a “wet edge” of paint for it to have a professional look. I had my Eastwood Concours spray gun with a 1.3 tip set at 28 psi and started spraying about 5 inches away from the surface. I sprayed a initial light to medium coat for the first coat.

Everything went pretty smooth as I was able to maintain a wet edge for the most part and getting up and down the ladders and scaffolding wasn’t as challenging as I feared.I was pleased with my first coat.

After 40 minutes of ”flash time” (time allowed to drive and for solvents to dissipate) I got the paint gun loaded for the second coat of primer.I had planned to put three coats on this day but towards the end of the second coat the gun started sputtering paint which resulted in paint drips all over the endcap. Crap! Now I will need to research how to handle this setback…

SA Japanese Tea Gardens and a follow up to our engine repairs…

When in San Antonio I forgot to mention a neat place we visited while staying at our son’s house. Our son told us we need to check out the Japanese Tea Garden close to where the Cummins Service Center was located. So one afternoon after we went to check on the RV at Cummins to stop by.

The Japanese Tea Garden is a lush beautiful park that was created from an abandoned rock quarry. The garden includes a 60 foot waterfall, koi ponds, a pagoda-style pavilion, and a café. There are walking paths and trails that take you around the garden. Several picturesque stone bridges.cross the waterways.

It was constructed in 1918 by prisoners for about  $7,000.It has paid  for itself multiple times over as it includes areas that are available for rent for functions such as for small weddings. A small wedding was being set up while visited. It is a nice place to visit on hot day in San Antonio.

When I last blogged we had just left San Antonio and were  quite pleased at how the RV handled during our drive. When we arrived in College Station Texas we set up our site and settled in.

As soon as set up Sharon insisted we needed to rent a carpet cleaner because the Cummins service folks left quite a mess around the opening to the engine..Curious about the work they had done we started to inspect things closer. There was quite a bit of engine grime all around the front area so I decided I needed to take this up with the Cummins people.

Before calling I lifted up the engine opening cover to inspect their work.  The top of the engine was very clean but when I crawled under the RV to inspect the underside of the engine I was horrified to see oil everywhere. Oil was dripping off of multiple surfaces prompting me to immediately call Cummins in San Antonio.

When I called the service manager was very understanding and told us have the carpets cleaned and they would pay for the service. He also stated that we should take our RV to a nearby service center and if the oil leak was due to their work they would pay for it.

We chose to simply rent a carpet cleaner so we could do the cleaning ourselves to our satisfaction. As for the oil leak it took a while before we could get it serviced. Once we did they determined the valve cover gasket was the likely culprit and ordered the part. We have since returned and had the service performed.

While we certainly weren't pleased with the original work on our RV we were very pleased with how their customer service made things right. We would return for service there because of that and do recommend them for the same reason.

Fingers crossed that this is now all FINALLY behind us!

Damn that was an expensive stop!

My last blog had us still at Canyon Lake and being towed to Cummins in San Antonio, Texas. While the RV was in the shop we stayed at our son’s house about 45 minutes away.

It took five days before I got the dreadful call from Cummins to inform me that we had leaking fuel injectors which were causing the problem. Four of the six were leaking significantly, one was slightly leaking and the other was marginal. Therefore the only logical choice was to replace all six of them.

We drove over one afternoon to pick up some needed items from the RV since our stay with our son would be longer than we thought. Good thing we did as we discovered that the technician had somehow broken our lighted exterior door assist handle. Of course they agreed to pay for it but the part is (sigh) on back order.

About four days later Cummins called to say it would be ready the next afternoon. I told them I’d just pick it up the following morning  in case there were any unexpected issues. Sure enough I was later informed that they found a possible oil leak during the test drive and would have to clean it up then do another test drive.

Had we planned to pick it up that afternoon it wouldn’t have been ready until San Antonio’s primetime for rush hour. Thankfully the next call we received explained they cleaned the underneath of the engine block and could find no oil leak. The conclusion was it was most likely residual oil from the repair. Residual oil is not uncommon in this type of repair.

We picked it up the next morning only to discover yet another snafu. For some reason the tow truck driver had removed our tow hitch and when he put it back on he installed it backwards. We only discovered this because the tow hitch had obviously been dragged down the road and damaged the steel ends that attach to the car.

With the help of a Cummins service guy we put the hitch on correctly and determined it was safe to tow the car even with the damaged ends. I will replace them before we go anywhere else. Finally we hooked up the car and happily left San Antonio. The RV was running great and we drove three hours over to our old home town of College Station.

Sharon and  I sure hope all of this is now behind us and we can look forward to our future travels…

NOTE: Todays pictures are from our stay in San Antonio while our RV was being repaired.

Well that’s not good…

When we settled in at Canyon Lake I began to search in earnest for soultions to our check engine light and error code. The conclusion was to replace the (very expensive) fuel pressure sensor. I ordered the part and hoped for the best.

Before the part arrived we had to move to a different site and when I tried to start the RV it took several tries before it would start. Blowing smoke the whole way from our old site to our new one was a bit unnerving.We were looking forward to getting the part and hoping it would solve our issues.

When the part arrived I installed it and made sure to torque it down to the required 52ftlbs. Then I tried to start the RV and it started right away.Hoping this solved everything I started it and let it run a while and didn’t see any black smoke but also knew it wasn’t under load  I started it another time and it started right away. Success? Maybe, maybe not…

The next day I tried to start it again and after several tries it wouldn’t start. Why it started the day before was puzzling. So I called up Good Sam's Roadside Service(reluctantly) to see where they would tow it to get serviced. I told them we were scheduled to leave the a park on a Friday so they could come on Thursday leaving a just in case day since we were dealing with Good Sam's.

They scheduled a wrecker to come get me by 10 am Thursday and about an hour after they verified the service that morning they called to say that they had to change wrecker companies.Hours later they called to say a wreaker would be at our site within 300 minutes.I guess they say minutes because it sounds better than hours.

A wrecker finally showed up and after having difficult disconnecting our drive train our RV was on its way to San Antonio .An hour later we pulled into Cummins Sales and Service and checked in for our Friday morning appointment. This was June 31st. Knowing full well we were headed into a long holiday weekend we went to our son’s house to stay while waiting fort the repair.

We find out later that nothing got done Friday since they spent several hours trying to reassemble the drive shaft that the tow truck driver messed up. With no work done on the RV until several days later it took a nearly a week to determine the problem…bad fuel injectors.

They performed the very expensive work and the RV was ready for us to leave on July 11th. We were very fortunate to have a place to stay with family while waiting for our RV. Hopefully this troublesome time is now behind us… 

Uh, Oh Something’s not right! Error Code ID 94 FM 2

We left Brady Texas and moved on down the road with our next destination to a place we have visited many times before, Canyon Lake Texas.When we were about 15 miles away I noticed our check engine light came on and was amber.

I looked for a spot to pull over and when I maneuvered safely off the road I checked my add-on scanner which revealed an error code ID 94 FM 2. I searched on-line and found a website that explained it was “Injector Metering Rail – Data Erratic, Intermittent or Incorrect'”. The ECM “detected that the fuel pressure signal is not changing”.

Reading that it was not a serious problem (requiring towing) I drove on.The check engine light went off and I drove another 10 miles before the light came back on. I pulled over once more and saw the same error code so I waited until the light went off again.

As I pulled back on the road  this time I notice excessive black smoke from the tailpipe when starting off or under load but we were able to drive another 10 miles to campground. I did notice some "stuttering" when I got close to campground when under load.

At the campground I called Cummins and they suggested it could be the Fuel Pressure Sensor which I ordered since we were here for 6 days. A $400 part, circled in yellow above) but it was worth a try if it meant not having to go to a service center.

In the meantime we will simply enjoy Canyon Lake. For us that means daily walks around the campground and occasional day trips. Our favorite day trip is down the old river road to New Braunfels. I’ve blogged about it before so will just include a few pictures in this blog as a reminder.

As soon as the part arrives we can figure out what we are doing next. But such is life on the Road of Retirement…

Winter 2022–2023, It’s a Wrap!

Our winter stay became a month longer than originally planned. Towerpoint invited us to come in early a discounted rate and because we stayed two weeks longer in April for me to take care of a medical issue we actually stayed four months in Mesa AZ.

We surprisingly only did a little bit of hiking mostly due to the chilly weather most of the winter this year .It seemed all the extremes limited our long hiking excursions whether it was cold,,rainy or super hot.

We did, however, enjoy the amenities of the RV park. We were able to fall into a routine of working out at the onsite fitness room five days a week and as a result we are certainly in better shape now than we first arrived. Now we just have to maintain this level of fitness sans the convenient fitness center.

We also played a little bit of disc golf, a sport we both really enjoy playing. We played some pickleball at our resort as well. We prefer just playing singles when we play pickleball as it gives us a better workout than doubles does.

We met a lot of new people who we now call friends and were lucky enough that late in the season some of our  previously made friends showed up here. It was so fun to enjoy their company as well.

There were some holiday festivities we participated in. Mardi Gras and St. Patty’s day were two of our favorite celebrations at Towerpoint.

There were plenty of happy hours at one of the many Cal-Am parks while listening to some live music. We also snuck off to visit a few Breweries and enjoyed happy hours at old town Gilbert AZ.

We were glad to see that they have cornhole boards at several of the resorts in Arizona as we missed playing this game. When we wintered in Florida this was a very popular activity.

We also visited several locations for some winter and migratory birding. Our very favorite sport was birding at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve. Sharon really enjoyed trying to capture the flitting little birds with her camera and did a great job on several of them, including this Verdin (a very tiny bird) above.

It wasn’t all fun as both Sharon and I caught Covid (omicron) while wintering in Arizona. We both still have a few lingering effects from this encounter. We also had to endure some medical issues after we visited our Dermatologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale AZ. Sharon had to do a lip peel for her lower lip as it had some precancerous concerns. I was unfortunate enough to need a couple of Mohs surgeries on two Basel Cell Carcinomas, both were successfully removed.

Despite these setbacks we really have enjoyed our stay here and look forward to returning soon. We went ahead and made reservations for next year but may or may not come here as it is way too far in the future to make any solid plans.

If we do come back we really do look forward to seeing our new friends again!

A few fixes while in Mesa AZ…

We are settling into our winter routine here in Mesa AZ. We’ve been hitting the gym, talking walks, making the short drive to Gilbert, enjoying the music on the patio at this park and birdwatching at the Gilbert Riparian Park. Along with the fun, one huge plus of these extended stays is we have time for a lot of purging, chores and repairs which have been on the back burner.

The first thing I tackled was our Suburban hot water heater. Over the last few weeks we noticed that our electrical side of our hot water wasn’t functioning. That’s really not a big deal since we also have propane which also powers our hot water heater. However, it needed to be repaired.

After close inspection I found that the thermostat had been charred by excessive heat. I also tested the hot water electrical element and it tested fine. I did notice our anode rod was ready to be replaced as well. Finding no other issues I ordered a new thermostat and replaced it. Well, that didn’t fix it either.

The way I do mechanical/electrical repairs is by researching the heck out of the issue online before tackling what I think the problem might be. Then one by one I try all of the “fixes” I have uncovered on the internet. When unsuccessful, I start the process over and research even more for new fixes.

Well while researching I also had to repair our front A/C unit as it too wasn’t seemingly getting electrical current to start up. Having repaired our a/c many times I suspected one of the start or run capacitors was the culprit but upon checking them out everything seemed fine.

Perplexed by the assortment of electrical issues I focused on our power source. After looking at our 50 amp electrical plug I found it too had some char near the base of one prong of the plug. So I took apart the plug and trimmed all the wires to get new copper to the prongs. One prong had a slightly loose connection as well.

Well once I fixed the electrical plug both the A/C and the electric side of the hot water heater started functioning normally. Sometimes stepping back to look at the bigger picture reveals the true solution.In retrospect  I should have realized there might be a loose wire since the A/C would sometimes work but mostly wouldn’t.

With those things fixed I can focus on our really big problem. That problem is our Atwood Levelleg System no longer works because one of the legs is seized up and will not go up or down. We have been fortunate that since the problem first arose we have been able to find nearly level sites at each campground we stayed in..

We are grateful these extended stays allow me the time to do the research needed and a mailing address for parts so I can tackle such problems as these…

Why are some camp hosts so rude?

Again the time came to move on so we packed up the RV and entered another state  into South Carolina. We were heading to a new, for us, campground named Conerose Campground which is a COE campground located on the huge Lake Hartwell.

Near the small town of Townville, SC this is another fabulous COE campground. We did run into a challenge getting there though. I knew from looking at the drive using Google Satellite View that the last few miles would be on crappy roads. What we didn’t know was that we would have to make two u-turns to get to the park. Yikes! However, it was our own fault using our GPS and not noticing beforehand there were two Conerose roads.

We finally arrived at the gate house and were informed that someone was still in the site. No biggie. I politely asked where we could park to wait and the gate attendant curtly states we have to leave the park outside the gate. She proceeds to tell us to make a u-turn behind the gate house, which is totally impossible for our sized rig to do.

I explain this to her so then I was told that I should drive through the host loop to get turned around which I was able to do. Outside the gate house I pull over on the narrow road so I could get out to assess what lies ahead to do yet another u-turn so I would be pointed back toward the park. That’s when Miss Surly sternly hollers that I can’t park there as I am not yet outside the gate!

To which I say, sorry, but I am going to look at my u-turn options ahead before moving any further. She then tells me I can do a loop through the neighborhood.and marches back to her gate house. As I peruse my options once again her advice would have been dreadful for our sized RV so I found a spot where we could back into and turn around once unhitched.

We waited an hour and a half before the person finally departed our site. As we were checking in little Miss Surly had suddenly become little MIss Bubbly only after Sharon emotionally confronted her about her lack of useful information in front of a co-worker. I am guessing she was afraid of being reported. Unfortunately she is not the first surly camp host we have encountered and I am sure not the last. Some people relish the power embodied by being a camp host while others are truly welcoming.

Once settled we loved our large and heavily wooded site. We chose this area as it was close to Clemson SC and we wanted to visit the University. A short drive away we found the University and both felt it was a bit underwhelming especially after visiting the magnificent University of Alabama (maybe we had overhyped our expectations). We did stroll around a bit but the highlight was the SC Botanical Gardens on the campus.

We hiked a beautiful lush trail along a creek and encountered lots of birds and beautifully landscaped planting. Near the end of the trail was a small cabin that reminded us of one of our stays in a cabin in Gatlinburg TN near a babbling creek. We highly recommend this short hike as there is much to see. Many of today’s photos are from this garden. It was very enjoyable and washed away all the unpleasantness from the day before.