We Got A/C! New Inverter. Visitors

 

In my last blog it looked like we could not replace our Motorhome A/C due to parts not being available.  Yes, there were A/C units...but not the parts to convert our older thermostat to work with it...and the brand new thermostats required a special circuit board, which was not available.  Well, on Monday June 6th Arny and I went back down to McColloch’s RV repair and storage to drop off some donuts since he never charged me for the hour or two that he put in researching a work around for the Air Conditioner.  While there, Nick had a surprise for us...the previous Friday he had found a way to do it!  He had a Class A motorhome in his yard which needed two A/C's.  This time Nick found someone to talk to at Dometic who said that if he put in a thermostat which was not the most up-to-date thermostat, but one that was newer than the thermostat that we had (my motorhome and the Class A he had in the yard), that there was a circuit board which would talk to this thermostat and both the A/C and the Furnace.

  

Above is the new thermostat which needed to be put in.  The first picture in this post is what the new A/C unit looks like.  This new thermostat has an "inside temp" so that we now can know how hot or cold it is back by the thermostat.  It also has a clock, and it can be programed to turn on at certain times of the day.  This 'might' be good for those cold mornings when we are using our portable heater, that the furnace can come on automatically at 7 am so that the motorhome is nice and toasty when we get up.  

So we committed to the new A/C right then, and three days later (Thursday) we took it down at 10 am, by 2 pm we were on our way to pick it up.  Just can't say enough about the professionalism and the work that McColloch’s RV repair and storage has done for us over the years.  Cost: $2,300, includes the AC Unit (about $1,650), Thermostat (about $200), Circuit Board (about $125), Labor (about $225) and Tax (about $135).  By-the-way, Friday it was 105 degrees, followed by 102 on Saturday, so it was just in time!

 

Ever since we got this motorhome back in 2014, I always wondered what the 400W inverter, which is under the bed, did...it did not seem to operate any outlets.  I only used it 4 or 5 times, and each time I plugged an extension cord directly into it for a short time in order to make coffee, or run a vacuum cleaner.  Twice I blew its internal circuit breaker (both times running the vacuum).  Well, I lost the use of two outlets, both up by the driver's area, one on each side.  When I got the portable AC, I used one of those outlets, and it immediately lost all power.  It took a bit of trial and error, and found that both these outlets were being served by the inverter, and when plugged into a 110V system, the 110V power bypassed through the inverter to these two outlets.  When I plugged in the portable A/C, the Inverters internal circuit breaker broke...it could not be reset.  So I found this 1000W inverter (pictured above) which is also a pass through for those outlets, and it ALSO has a remote on/off so that I can turn it on and off without having to raise the bed, move things around, to get to the inverter to turn on and off.  So "IF" we need 110V while not plugged into 110V, I can turn the inverter on and use one of these two outlets.  Cost:  $175.00, no labor since I did it myself.

Kathryn (my niece) and her fireman husband Dallas came out to visit, and also to attend a few Baseball Games in the bay area where their hometown Royals are playing both SF and then Oakland.  Kathryn arrived on Wednesday (a week ago) while Dallas went fishing at Lake Erie with a dozen or so friends (it is a yearly thing he has done for years now).  He flew in Monday morning, and we had a family dinner Monday night (Arny's famous Tri-Tip).  Tuesday they took Amtrak to San Francisco where they attended Tuesday night's game (SF won 4-2) and today's game (KC won 3-2).  They will also attend a Oakland vs Kansas City game Friday before heading home.  Kathryn is a die-hard fan of both SF and KC, and you can tell by the picture above (stolen from her Facebook page) that Dallas has a KC hat, and she has a SF hat.  Kathryn wins no matter who wins...unless Oakland wins and then they both lose.  But the big winner was her Grandmother (my mom) who enjoyed many hours visiting Kathryn, and also seeing Dallas on Monday.  We almost had to drag her out of Sandy's house to return her to the Independent Living Facility after Monday's dinner!

It has been a busy month and included a visit down to Aunt Florence's house with Mom and Marcia, a visit with Michael (son) and Anna (pregnant wife), a Walmart Day for Mom and Marcia followed by a lunch at Black Bear Restaurant, many visits over to Mom's, some minor work on the motorhome, another grooming for Indy, and some other odds and ends to help Sandy and Arny and even Patti out.  It has been a busy and productive month, and now we don't have to worry about the summer heat!

Double Crossover Diamond Interchange, Oklahoma Joe’s, And Family Stuff

And I was just getting used to the “Roundabout” Interchange, and now they have come up with another new type of Interchange, the Double Crossover Diamond Interchange, also known as the Diverging Diamond Interchange.  I first learned about this new Interchange a few months ago while reading a newspaper from Arkansas….they have a major construction project going on in West Little Rock dealing with the I-630 and I-430 intersection, and other intersections leading up to this area.  When I saw the diagram, similar to the one above, I was like, “You have to be kidding me….just don’t see how this is going to work!”  Since we left the Sacramento area, we have now seen two of these intersections, and amazingly, it does work.

The nations first DCDI was in Springfield Missouri, pictured above.  Essentially when the traffic crosses over along the top of the overpass, it crosses over forcing traffic to drive on what we would call the “left side” of the road instead of the typical “right side” of the road we are accustom to. By moving the traffic over to the left side of the road, it allows traffic which wants to enter the freeway to turn left without crossing over oncoming traffic. Stop lights are programed to only allow one side of the road to move at any given time.  This stops large backup lines from forming in and before the overpass….and allows for traffic to move quickly and freely when they do have a green light.

It can also be used for roads that pass under a freeway, as shown above, although I have not seen any of these yet.

If you are still having trouble seeing how this works, see the animated picture above.  There is one of these intersections near the motel that mom and dad stayed at in Blue Springs, Missouri.  The first time we went through it, we got off the freeway, took a right turn, and did not even realize that the overpass was one of these new intersections.  When we left after our visit, we just continued down the frontage road the motel is on, and did not go over the interchange until the next day.  

(Above is a picture I took today as I went back to the motel, taking a right off the freeway.)  Once I realized that this was a DCD Interchange, it worried me that I did not see it the day before.  When I took a right coming off the freeway, had I looked good enough to merge?  Because the traffic I was merging with, had there been traffic, would have been coming from the non-typical lane that I would look at.  That is a bit scary considering how many miles I have driven in my lifetime (well over a million miles, perhaps a million and a half, through 47 different states in my lifetime.)

    

Above are two pictures of the Intersection in action.  I know that more and more freeway overpasses within cities are going to be changed over to this new style of Interchange….just like the explosion of Roundabout Interchanges over the past few years.  Who knows what the future holds....

Tomorrow (Sunday) is mom and dad’s last full day here in the Kansas City area.  After they visit their church tomorrow, they will move out to a Hotel by the Airport where they already secured a reservation earlier today, turn in their rental car, and on Monday I am going to get them to the airport and they will by flying away about the time we pull out of the KOA later that morning headed for Fort Smith.  In the picture above this is dad, mom and my Aunt Vera, who married my mother’s brother Harold, who died a few years ago.  Harold was a Pearl Harbor on that fateful day back on December 7, 1941.  Mom lost another brother, James, four years later…but all of her other brothers who served made it home safely. 

We were at a Chinese Buffet Friday night, and mom had just told the story of how my sister Sandy had been at a Buffet with her and dad, and came back with a dozen or more deserts on her plate….well Sandy, she has no proof of her story, but you now have proof of her coming back with Ice Cream, Cherry Pie, Orange Cake, Honeydew, Cherry Covered Bannna, and a Cookie.  By the look on her face, I think she knew she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, don’t you think?   Also, note to self:  “Don’t eat so much at the next Chinese Buffet that you go to.”  

Earlier in the day I took my son Ryan out to lunch for some real good BBQ.  Here he is in his kitchen, and I’ll bet he is glad that I cropped out so much of the picture.  Told him to pick a place, he asked if BBQ was ok, I said, “you bet.”  So he picked……Oklahoma Joe's, the original Kansas City location.  WOW!!!!!

    

First thing, the line. Opens at 11 am, we got there around 11:30, the line wraps around the inside of the restaurant, and out the door.  Took us 45 minutes to place our order, took less than 5 after we paid to get our food….perhaps closer to 3 minutes.

   

Here is what we got….my “Z-Man Sandwich” on the left,  Ryan’s Jumbo pulled pork, or was it beef brisket, on the right.  So how good is Oklahoma Joe's?  Many rate it the best BBQ in Kansas City, and some say that Kansas City is the BBQ capital of the world.  Here are what others say:   Forbe’s 10 Great BBQ Joints Across The USA, Zagat names Z-Man to 50 top sandwich in 50 states list  (also has been on Zagat’s Kansas City's 'Best Barbecue' since 2004), Yelp’s # 3 in top 100 in USA, USA Today America’s Best Ribs, and the list goes on and on and on.  They have won numerous BBQ cook-off contests.  And now, this is the kicker…..Oklahoma Joe’s is run out of a Gas Station! Yes, a Gas Station. Became so popular, they added more tables.  Although you wait in line, you will get a table when you get your food.  And YES, the Z-Man Sandwich was real, real good.  I have had better onion rings, but they were still good.  Next time, if there is a next time, I will get ribs, and I will get them to go so that I don’t have to wait.  And I will get a pound or two of pulled pork, of brisket, of smoked turkey so that we can have Oklahoma Joe’s on the road. 

My niece Kathryn, her husband Dallas (who is a firefighter), and her two kids (cell phone picture did not turn out for them unfortunately) along with mom, dad Marcia and I went out to dinner tonight.  She is my oldest brother Jim’s daughter, and has lived in the area for around 20 years now, give or take a few years.  So we have seen a lot of family while we have been here….but there are others who we wish we could see but probably won’t have the time and energy to see.  But we know we will be back through the area sometime in the future…..to see family, and get some more Oklahoma Joe’s!