Electrical Fix, Next Trip Is…

I have showed this picture above before…it is the heart of my electrical problems…this is he place where the Florida Rat had made a nest, but the rat is unrelated to our problem.

    

To recap what I previously posted, this gizmo to the left is the Intellitec Battery Disconnect Relay, while the one on the right is a 12 Volt Continuous Duty Solenoid, which allows for the interaction between the house batteries and the engine battery.

I replaced the solenoid today with this Cole Hersee 12V Insulated SPST Continuous Duty Solenoid that Amazon delivered Thursday.  Temps were still over 100 on Friday, but a comfortable mid-80’s today…so today was a much better day to do the work in.  Here are my steps:

1)  Disconnect Engine Battery.  Got a voltage meter read on it before and after the disconnect, and after.  Battery was reading 12.6 either way.

2)  Disconnect House Batteries.  Got a voltage reading on them combined and separated…one at 12.86, the other at 12.91.  Combined they were at 12.89.

3)  Did a reading of the Solenoid and there was no juice coming to it.  So I disconnected the wires, making a mental note of what goes where…knowing I ALREADY had a picture just in case…and then removed the old Solenoid.

4)  Installed the new Solenoid, hooked up wires, made sure all wires were tight.   Then hooked up the house batteries.  Then hooked up the engine batteries.  Then tested…..AND…..

Ever have one of those days….everything just seems to be going along just fine, and CRASH!   Well, that’s how my day felt when I tested it…and it still did not work.  Engine running, no charge on house batteries.  Engine off, electricty plugged in, no charge to engine battery.  Time to bring in the big guns….HEY ARNY!!!!!

To make a long story shorter….Arny wants me to look for connection problems, ground wires especially.  While I look, I decide to wiggle the various fuses along the right side.  See those ones in the middle of this fuse bank…the ones which look metallic?  Well, I wiggle the one on top and I hear the Solenoid engage with a very loud CLICK  CLICK  CLICK.  I push it in further, it clicks, and run my tests….all works.

So I run over to the nearest Napa store, and I pick up two, a 5 amp and a 10 amp, Circuit Breaker Fuse.  WHY 2?  Because what I take out is a 10 amp, but it calls for a 5 amp.  The one right below it is a 20 amp, but it calls for a 10 amp. 

If you look at the picture above, along the bottom it says 15A Max, and it has a blue fuse in it, which is a 15 amp fuse.  The next one is a bit hidden, but it says 10A Max, but the gold metallic thing says 20A when I take it out.  The Silver one is hidden, but it says 5A Max, and it had a 10 amp in it…it was the loose one, the one which I needed to replace.

Looking again at the replacements you can see that the metal attachment legs have three parts to it.  The “Universal” to them is that you break off the length to fit what you need.  On the one that we replaced, the person who “broke off the legs” was not careful, and it broke off below the mark…making it too short…so it wiggled (vibrated) out real easy.  Hopefully this will end our problem.  And just to be sure….I have a 5 amp and a 10 amp coming in from Amazon as spares, and I saved the 20 amp that I replaced with the 10 amp because there is a 20 amp in this fuse box at the very top…and it is in a 25 amp max location, so it is definitely good.  These Circuit Breaker Fuses act like a fuse in that they will break the circuit if to much of a load (amps) are put on them.  The difference is, with a fuse, you have to replace it.  With a Circuit Breaker Fuse, it will reset itself once it cools down and will allow for the circuit to connect again.

So now we are ready to test it out on our next little trip….which will be to the Santa Cruz, Pinnacles National Park, and PROBABLY Big Sur areas.  I have reservations at Sunset Beach for Monday-Thursday, September 21st-24th.  Then we will go to the less crowded Pinnacles National Park for the weekend, then PROBABLY go to Big Sur for the Monday-Thursday of the following week.  These popular State Parks are busy on the weekends, but you can get into them on the weekdays this time of year.  Pinnacles National Park is just not busy at all…being one of our new National Parks, they will struggle to get people there for awhile…but the plus is that they have ELECTRICITY at many of their RV sites for under $30 per night (half that for seniors with the senior card).  Another draw….they have California Condors there!   These rare birds nearly went extinct (down to around 20 birds), but now boast a population of nearly 500 birds.  As ugly as they might look, I want to get a picture of them.  Also, this time of year is good whale watching time…and we can’t pass up a visit to the Monterey Aquarium, which I have been to a number of times, but Marcia has never seen yet.  We also hope to find time to visit a cousin or two that live in the area.  And why “PROBABLY” with Big Sur?  Well, we might just want to go back to Sunset Beach again…or try one of the other beach camps in the area.

But first thing first…and on Monday, mom has her surgery.  Mucinous Carcinoma represents approximately 1% to 2% of all breast cancers. The main differentiating features are mucus production and cells that are poorly defined. It also has a favorable prognosis in most cases.  This is the type of Breast Cancer mom has.  So of all the breast cancers out there, she has the one which is the better one to have…not that anyone is standing in lines hoping to catch it.  All Breast Cancers are bad…all Cancers are bad…there are just some which are better to have than others.  This is the case with mom’s.  My next post will probably be “post surgery”, so prayers and precious thoughts for mom from here on out would be appreciated.

Slight Reversal – Washington then Oregon

With mom’s breast cancer diagnosis, we have decided to tour Washington then Oregon instead of heading up the Oregon Coast into Washington.  So our plans now are to leave early Sunday evening, go as far as Corning, California, straight through the rest of Northern Cal and most of Oregon on Monday where we would camp just south of Portland, then continue our run up to the Olympia area where we will slow down, pick up highway 101 to Port Angeles where we can take a day trip via the ferry over to Butchart Gardens.  (if you click on the link, it will bring up a small pdf which shows a map and provides some of the history of the gardens).  From there we will follow 101 slowly down the coast into Oregon, with the option of heading on back quickly if the surgery happens quicker than any of us anticipate.

In a dozen days from now mom visits her surgeon, and two days before that she is having a “ct scan” of the area where her cancer was 20 years ago.  Time will tell how this is going to go, until then it is a waiting game and time for prayers.  She is very appreciative of those who have made contact with her through facebook, and I know she reads the comments on our blog too.  Her facebook  page is open to the public, and she will “friend” just about anyone who asks.  (facebook links above are to her page)  Of course, one has to be registered on facebook to really use and view facebook, which is one of my pet peeves about facebook.)

Sandy and Patti are having a little “sister time” up in Reno this weekend, they like to go up there at least once a year and have “spa time”, as they call it.  Not the biggest gamblers in the world…Sandy rarely plays anything over a penny slot, but they both enjoy their time up there now and then, and this time it is just the two of them.  Once they come back Sunday, it will free us up to head on out, and instead of fighting the traffic on Monday to get over to I-5, we will take off Sunday around 4 or 5.   As for the “pink ribbon” in the Reno picture, well, I think I am going to add that to my pictures this trip in memory of my mom…  

Our Next Trip is a Coastal Escape

Working on our next trip…looks like we are headed up the Oregon and Washington Coasts with a day trip to Victoria to see Butchart Gardens.  We can leave on Monday the 27th when our family activities are over.  Figure we can be in Coos Bay Tuesday night, and then we will slow down a bit until we get into Washington…we have been up he Oregon Coast before, and we love it...but we will really slow down the Washington Coast is an area we have not explored before.  Figure we will be back around August 22nd, give or take a few days, and travel around 2,000+ miles.

This last Sunday our trip back to the Sacramento area was fairly uneventful until we pulled into Arny and Sandy’s backyard.  It was a sunny, slightly cloudy day.  We went to church in Truckee again, and got a couple burgers to go from Burger Me…we were on the road by 12:45 for Sacramento.

When we got into the backyard, Arny was opening our house door from the outside (to let the dogs out) at the same time Marcia tried to unlock it … which jammed the mechanism inside the door.  This happened last year when I was unlocking it and opening at the same time to let the dogs out for their morning run. 

   

Above is an illustration of the door when it is locked…if you look at the red arrow, that little metal piece is to the left of the brass piece.  When you try to open the door, it does not move the brass piece, and the door remains latched (shut).

   

In these pictures above the door is unlocked. The metal piece has now slide under the brass piece—which is the movement of unlocking the door.  Now when you move the handle, it moves the brass piece and opens the latch.  What was happening was that this little metal piece was sliding into the hole of the brass piece, and sticking when the door lock was being moved to the unlock position AND the door was being opened at the same time.  In that position, it would not move the latch, requiring the door access panel be removed and then easily pry the latch open by freeing up this metal piece from the hole.  To fix it, we bent the brass piece back..so there is no way for the metal piece to slide into the hole.  Should have thought about that last time, instead I just avoided opening the door right as it was being unlocked. An easy fix, but it sure was frustrating trying to get the door open when it was locked close.

Before we leave in 12 days I will need to change the oil in the motorhome, and give it another bath.  Other than that, I think we are in good shape for a bit longer trip.  Of course, I will give things a good look over, including all the previously loose battery and power connections, and we will top off the tires which, over time, loose a little pressure as you drive along.  It is nice to have the troubles behind us, and we are looking forward to seeing Washington and little bit of Vancouver Island.  For now, we will enjoy our family time, and get a few things done.

Next Trip Starts Sunday to…

We have our next trip planed, another one week trip, this time up north to Shasta area, then along the Sierra’s to Burney Falls, past Mt. Lassen to Lake Almanor, then to Quincy, one night in Truckee again and back to my sister’s house the following Sunday.

We will stay at McCloud for two nights, and it is our plan to drive the Everitt Memorial Highway which goes up Mount Shasta to the old ski area…it is a launching off point for many who wish to climb higher up the mountain.  I have heard it is a pretty little drive and, weather permitting, you can get some good pictures.  The road to the top (Panther Meadow Trailhead) just opened up July 1st.

After two nights at McCloud with full hookups, we are going to go to the State Park (no hookups) at Burney Falls for a night and another visit to one of Marcia’s favorite waterfalls.  From there we are going to drive to Lake Almanor for another no hookup at the NF Park for another night.  Thursday we will pull into Quincy for two nights at an RV Park we have stayed at a few times now.  Then on Saturday we will go back to Truckee and stay at Granite Flat for another night before we head back down the mountain to Citrus Heights on Sunday after church and a quick lunch (no hour wait this time).

This trip is designed for the following:   a) get us out of the heat again, b) provide mixture of full hook-ups and no hook-ups, which is what we would be doing if we were on a longer trip, c) give us another check of the motorhome without getting too far off from our family, and from where we know our motorhome could be looked at and fixed “if” something went wrong again.

On Saturday we are having another cul-de-sac 4th of July.  Burgers, hot dogs, brats, shrimp, beans, potato salad, etc., etc., etc.   And, of course, lots of FIREWORKS.  Hope you all have a safe 4th of July, and for those who are American, who live in America, or are visiting America, please know and understand that we are, for the most part, a very patriotic people.  For those who want to do us harm, it is said that Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, stated, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."   Although he may not have said it, the outcome of the war showed that this statement was accurate had he said it.  I pray to God that we still have that resolve.

Sometimes it only takes ONE

On Monday Skruffy and I went t Crystal Beach, which is between where our church is (we had dropped Marcia off for her weekly woman’s bible study) and our motorhome where I was doing another battery check-up.  With the mild weather we had over the weekend, the battery was fine because I had everything turned off.  After Skruffy’s little run around, we got in the car, sat back listening to the radio, and after awhile I spotted a pelican out in the water that I just had to get a shot of.  See in the picture above that white truck?  All I had to do was pull in right along those logs, roll down the passenger window, and I had a clear shot of him.  So that’s just what I did……Got out the car camera (old camera), lined up the shot, got zoomed in all the way on him, and OH NO!  He is going to fly away!!!!   SHOOT!!!    So that’s what I did….

I only got ONE SHOT, and that is all it took.   Sometimes, it only takes one…..

The rest of the week was filled with getting a few chores done, a visit from Marcia’s brother Dean and his wife Caryl, and a trip to Momma Marias for lunch, and after agonizing for years…..I finally bit the bullet and made my deal with the devil …. better known as….

Yep, FACEBOOK….

I have resisted and resisted publicly getting on Facebook, using Facebook, trying to like Facebook.  I just find it so intrusive in a way, yet so useful in another way.  I like being able to communicate easily with the many relatives and old friends who are on and use Facebook.  I hate it when I get a notice that says, “so and so ‘liked’ this posting they saw….and it is about, well, if you are on Facebook, you know the many things that it might be about.  I don’t mind getting the posts that my “friends” share, but I don’t need to see all or any of the things they “like”.  Yes, I know, the more I tell Facebook that I don’t want to see these things, the fewer they will happen…except I find that Facebook just moves to another person and tries to shove their “likes” down my throat. 

So I decided that setting up a Facebook page would be a good way to remind people of our blog, especially since we are headed to Alaska this year….we will have lots to share.

And in order to set up a GoingRvWay facebook page, you have to be a individual user of Facebook.  Above are shot of my Facebook page, and our GoingRvWay Facebook page.  Clicking on each picture will take you to the corresponding page.   “IF” I set this up right, when I post to our blog, it will automatically post a small blurb to the GoingRvWay Facebook page.  If one follows that page, the blurb will show up on that users Facebook ‘Home Page’, where you see all the stuff people you follow post.  

I also set up a Twitter Page, where a blurb of a blog post will “tweet away” so that those who set up their twitter page correctly, will get a “tweet” about us posting on our blog.  Again, click on the twitter picture above and it will take you to the twitter page.

Time is clicking away….we leave in 18 days.  We are pondering loading up and heading over to Dean and Caryl’s after church on Sunday, coming back Tuesday and getting anything we forgot, do some last loads of laundry, and head out for good after church on Wednesday.  The only thing that is concrete is the leaving on Wednesday after church…if we can wait that long. 

Third Sinkhole Nearby, Heavy Rain, Quick Trip on Tap

Over the weekend a third sinkhole opened up around 1,000 feet to our east.  This red car was park where these people always seem to have a car parked, they heard a “whoosh” and went outside to find their car in a hole.  The called a tow truck which quickly got it out.  

By the evening, the hole grew a bit, and stick was lowered into it, broke through the upper crust and went down six feet.  No water, a dry hole which may or may not collapse all the way through before being fixed.  This is about 1,100 feet from where they were pumping water, and is between the pumping site and a large pond which sometimes has water in it, and sometimes does not.   Are they all connected?   I think so, the county still insists that the pumping is unrelated to all this.  Ya, right.

On Monday we got hit by the huge storm which swept across much of the nation the past few days.  Around 2 pm the heavens opened, the water fell for 30-45 minutes as hard as I have ever seen (which means I have seen this before, even driven through it more than once in a car.)  Then it let up and just rained for another few hours, then off and on through the night.  Awoke to a very large KaBOOM this morning and then it was over.

 

Now it is cold, and will be for another day or two.   I say that while wearing short pants, sleeveless shirt, and no socks on.  This is one of those days when I see people in jackets, sweaters, even winter coats while I run around in shorts.  Sometimes I stop and ask myself, “Is t cold?”  The majority of the time the answer is “NO”.  Mom says, and frankly I remember, that after church on Sunday during the winter time in Sacramento they would come out to the car finding us kids waiting for them and she would be lucky if I still had a shirt on.  (Hated button up shirts then, and now.)

We are headed over to the east coast for a couple of days to spend some time with Marcia’s brother Dean and wife Carol.  We always enjoy our visits there, hook the motorhome up to their 20 amp outlet and that gives us all we need since we are typically in the motorhome only for sleeping while there.  We were going to head out on Wednesday after church and stop at our favorite rest area, but with temps expected in the low 40’s at night we figured leaving Thursday and fighting the morning traffic was going to have to do.

Five Days Left, Five Busy Days

It has been a busy, busy nine days, and we have a busier five days to go before we hit the road again.  Basically the motorhome is ready to go, except for one last large Grocery buy, and we are replacing the accordion style shower curtain with a “sticks and bricks” style water repellant fabric shower liner.  The only issue is that we have a 30 inch gap, and the shortest pole to go across the area is was 32 inches.  Well, that was easily fixed by Arny who shortened down the pole by a few inches and it easily fits.  Tomorrow I plan to remove the accordion door and put up the new shower curtain.  I did the same thing in my 5th wheel some eight years ago.

As for the grocery buy, we need to have most of our stuff for around two weeks until we get near Salt Lake City….although we can shop at a Smiths in Cedar City around the 10th.  In anticipation of the big buy, I have rearranged stuff to make room under the bed, and cleaned and arranged the pantry which now has nearly three free shelves.   Marcia has been busy making and freezing some soups and chili.  I kind of regard this as a dress rehearsal for when we travel through Canada to Alaska next year.

Yesterday I went down to Oakland to visit my oldest son Michael who had recently returned from Washington D.C. from a summer internship. Thursday he starts back at Berkley for his final year.  We had a nice visit, and he is doing well.

Today I went by my brother Bob’s work to say goodbye to him.  His life is very busy and very complicated right now, but he is handling everything well.

Today is my sister Sandy’s birthday, and tomorrow it is Arny’s birthday…we are all taking them out Saturday night to Claim Jumper.  For dinner tonight Marcia made her wonderful Egg/Grits/Sausage/Bacon casserole….it was awesome.  First time she included bacon.

My brother Roger dropped by a few days ago.  We found out that he and his wife Rochelle will be in Nevada right along our route….right smack in the middle of Nevada.  It is kind of “out of this world”, if you know what I mean….if not, you will when I post that interesting blog around the 7th or 8th of September.

Tomorrow my daughter Stephanie is driving through from Salt Lake with her roommate and good friend Jenny on their way to the Bay Area for the weekend.  She will stay the night at Grandma’s house Thursday night, go to lunch with all of us Friday before they head out. We plan to see her in Utah when we stay at Lake Jordanelle.  

Somewhere in all this I also plan to give the dogs one more grooming and cleaning.  Have one last dump using the blue tote and it goes back into retirement until our return next fall after our Alaska trip.  And we have a bunch of laundry that needs to be done which we were holding off until right before we leave because it will be ten or more days before we can do it again.

Most likely my next posting will be coming from the Yosemite area…what a way to start a long trip with a visit and drive through Yosemite!