October 5th - 7th - BALLOON FIESTA actually begins!

October 5 – First Day of Fiesta and Crewing

There are over 600 balloons here for the Fiesta, the largest gathering in one place in the U.S. and possibly the world. Balloons come from all over because of the great winds here.

I volunteered to crew and had to find  my pilot. He was located in the W5 section of the launch field. This is at the very opposite end of where you enter. It is well over a half mile walk from the field entry gate. We were told to be there at 6:30 a.m. for the Mass Assention. I met with two fellow crew members in the RV Park at 5:30 a.m. We waited for the bus to pick us up and take us to the launch field which is a mile away from the campground. After waiting for a while we decided to walk there. The car parking lot on the corner for day visitors was already filled. As we arrived at the field entrance gate we had to be scanned and our bags checked. (I wish there was that much security at the Perry County Courthouse.)

We proceeded to the admission gate where our tickets were scanned. It is $10.00 per morning session and $10.00 per evening session to get on the balloon launch field. All crew members get into all sessions free all week. We were admitted and walked through the massive crowd to the other end to meet our pilot. Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days and there are a crazy amount of people on the field. I would have taken a picture of the crowd but it was dark. Last year they say that 860,000 people attended. Seeing the crowds I believe it.

My pilot is Brian Taylor from Columbia, Missouri. He had one crew member with him so he was really relying on us volunteers to help. Before dawn there is a "Dawn Patrol" which is six balloons which launch in the dark to help predict the wind conditions. Brian said the elite of the elite are picked to fly at night. After the Dawn Patrol took off and once it got light out they played "The Star Spangled Banner". On the last note all the balloonists put full fuel to their burners, even if not connected to their balloons yet. It was really cool.  Here is a picture of those near us. 

Due to the huge number of balloons the whole process of launching is choreographed by sections. Pilots are told when they can launch by "Zebras". These are volunteers who are assigned to different sections. Here is a picture of our "Zebra". A super nice guy who enjoyed his job.

They are told by radio from the "balloonmeister" what areas can take off next. 

We started the work of readying the gondola and unfolding the balloon (called the envelope). It is then inflated with a huge fan that is powered by a lawn mower engine. We inflated and were waiting for our turn to launch when out of nowhere the weather changed and a huge morning fog rolled in. Here is a picture of the fog moving in.

After about an hour all launches were cancelled for the day because of it. We then took the balloon down and packed it up. We were done until the evening session. Here is picture of me hanging out by our balloon.

One lady posted later in the day that we witnessed history. In the 45 years she has been coming here fog never rolled in like that before.  

I walked to the other end of the field and stood in line for twenty minutes for a bus ride back to the RV Park but one never came so I walked back. I got back to Marge about 10:00 a.m. and was beat after being on my feet for four hours plus walking over two miles there and back.

We were told by friends that Costco had a ticket sale for members. We could buy four tickets for $28.00. (Normally $10.00 each). I got on line and ordered some for Kelly. I thought we could just use our phones for the bar codes on the tickets but they had to be printed out. Of course we don’t carry a printer with us so we had to hunt up a friend who printed them for us.

At four o’clock there was a meeting and Happy Hour at the Hosts’ rig. After attending it we grabbed a little supper and caught the bus to the launch field. We had plenty of time to get there carrying our bag chairs and backpack.  We got the balloon up and inflated and the glow proceeded. They did long blasts of flames then short blasts. It was really cool. I took a video but it is just too long to download so here is a picture.

We were just all hanging out by the balloon when out of nowhere a blast of cold air came in and blew our balloon off center to the point that it was going down. Brian was in the basket and told us where he wanted to lay the balloon down. We all had to hustle to get chairs and other items out of the way that could puncture the envelope. We then helped guide the balloon down, get all the air out of it, and pack it up. Brian said we all worked wonderfully as a team and prevented a catastrophe. About that time skydivers were dropped up over the field and they were shooting fireworks off as they slowly descended. It was quite impressive but I couldn't get a good picture of it because they were so far away. No pictures of the balloon going down because we were all in panic mode.

The evening ended with a fireworks display. They went off from the opposite direction everyone was expecting. We turned our chairs around and watched. It was a wonderful display. It stopped and all of a sudden fireworks started in back of us, then they started again in front of us. It was like duelling fireworks displays. It was really cool. They had a lot of types of fireworks I had never seen before.  It was a great end of the first day. The line to catch a bus back to the RV Park was huge so Kelly and I just walked back with a couple of fellow Escapee Boomers camped near us.

Sunday Brian wanted us there again at 6:30 a.m. By the time I got a bus and walked there because of the crowds I was late but it didn’t matter because we were the last in the waves of balloons to launch. It was much colder Sunday morning but a beautiful day for flying and hundreds of balloons took off. Many went right over our heads. Brian was having trouble with his burner so decided not to fly and to try and get it fixed for Monday's flight. We were in an area of about six Missouri pilots and the fellow next to us took off. I jumped in with his chase crew. He landed in the field behind our RV Park so I could help with the balloon and also get a ride back.  Because of the crazy amount of traffic the cops only allow traffic to go in one direction. Even though we were a chase crew we could not go the direction we needed to go to pick him up. We had to drive miles around in a big circle and come in the opposite side of the RV Park. When we found him he already had the balloon down and deflated thanks to some kids who were watching nearby. He said he let them help because they were local kids and had crewed before. There are lots of rules about how you handle the envelope so that you don't damage it. We got his rig packed up and loaded and I walked back to Marge which was only about a thousand feet away. Kelly watched all of them landing from Marge and said one came over only about twenty feet above Marge. Pretty cool.

Sunday we had a Happy Hour at 4:00 p.m. at the campground. My pilot did not inflate Sunday evening and we did not go back to the field to watch. I watched the fireworks from the campground.

Monday morning I was up on time, made coffee and headed to catch the bus. The weekend was over so the crowds are way down. The bus came immediately, there was no line at the admission area and no crowds walking to the other end of the field. I ended up getting to the balloon at 6:02 a.m. I was glad I made some coffee to bring and my chair to sit in. I watched the "Dawn Patrol" take off once again.

When everyone arrived Brian told us he would be competing today and we would not take off from the field but would find a place in town where to launch from. He would then fly the balloon back to the field to try and toss a bean bag close to a marker to get points.  We all took off with the other Missouri pilots to find a place to launch. We ended up on a cul-de-sac in a subdivision. All the residents came out to watch as we set up the balloons one at a time. Our biggest problem was keeping the balloons from catching on the chain link fence. We all helped out. Here is a picture of one balloon getting inflated.

This cul-de-sac was half the size of the one I live on in Perryville and we were all on the left pushing the balloon away from that fence. Brian was the last to go up so we pretty well knew what to do at that point. All the residents and kids on the street were out taking pictures. I told one kid he was going to be late for school and he said "you bet". He was having a ball. I couldn't get any pictures until Brian took off with one crew member.  Here is a picture.

They pushed the basket off that bush as they went up. Here they go on up from the launch site.

We then piled into the van and started the chase. We knew the direction he was headed but needed to try and keep him in our sites. As you can see there were dozens of balloons in the area at the time. The winds did not cooperate and Brian couldn't compete because he didn't make it back to the field. He landed in the field behind our RV, literally about 1000 feet from Marge. Here are a couple of pictures as they came down as we arrived.

We got the envelope deflated and everything packed up until tomorrow. I am hoping the weather is good tomorrow and that I will get to go up! Brian is going to compete again tomorrow. The flight today was about 45 minutes. Perfect weather.

After eating some lunch we headed to the Petroglyph National Monument and learned about all the petroglyphs in the area. All sites had about two mile trails in so that was out for us.

)Our Escapees Boomers group is going to a big winery for supper. If we hadn't signed up to go I would go back to the field tonight to watch them launch "gas balloons" which will leave and compete for distance they can go. Some have gone as far as South Carolina from HERE. Crazy stuff.

I can't get a picture of the size of this event from the ground. Here is a picture someone posted from the sky. It gives you a little idea of what a big deal this is in the world of ballooning.

Here are a couple of pictures of the "shape balloons". Jesus was twice as high as any others. I would say at least ten stories high.

Totally cool!!!!!!!!!

 

October 2nd-4th - Balloon Fiesta RV Parking

On the 2nd we arrived early afternoon and got parked. Parking areas are tight. There are going to be 800 rigs in this field. Here is a picture of us after the rain last night.

The folks on the right are from Oklahoma, the folks on the left are from Georgia. We are all here for the first time.  You can see that it rained overnight. We did not pay extra for the "Lakefront Lot".

All of this RV parking is over an old city dump which they say can emit methane gas. Therefore all generators and propane BBQ pits have to be at least two feet off the ground. No charcoal BBQ pits allowed and no other open flames.

Here is a picture of the mountains looking out from Marge. The open area is the road out in front of us which you use to get in and out.

Here is a picture of the RV area from where we have to park the truck, which is about 1/8 mile from our rig.

Yesterday Kelly and I went to the Pueblo Cultural Museum. It was quite interesting and really well-done. Here is a picture of me out front.

The museum had a very nice restaurant so after going through it we ate lunch there. Kelly had Tacos which were made with various local ingredients and spices. One was stuffed with Cactus, which really had a different kind of taste.  Here is a picture.

I had a Buffalo Burger, which was much better than the one I had ten years ago in Deadwood, Wyoming.

Every day at 4:00 p.m. is "Happy Hour" at the Hosts' rig. Last night we got our balloon assignments and a chance to meet the other crew members. My pilot is from Columbia, Missouri, what is the chance of that? We will get some training after Happy Hour this evening and head to the field in the morning, which is about a mile away, by shuttle. Our pilot wants us there at 6:30 a.m. After the morning ascension there is nothing until the evening. Here is a picture of the extent of the info we get about our pilot and crew members. A little confusing to say the least.

They are expecting 800,000 people over the week-long event. It costs $10.00 to get into each event each day. I get in to all events free because I am a crew member. Kelly will have to pay. I signed up to crew all nine days but our pilot is not flying all nine days and often events get cancelled because of weather. It was not forecast until last night but it has been raining off and on since 2:00 a.m. It is supposed to stop around 4:00 p.m. today.

I saw this sign this morning and have found it to be quite accurate.

I am unable to connect to Kelly's hotspot at the RV parking area, there is no other wi-fi and even trying the wi-fi at McDonald's I can't get the new computer to behave as it should. I don't know what's going on. Unfortunately the blog may be sketchy until I get home. Too bad because there is going to be a lot to see.

Just bought two jugs of Distilled Water for my neighbor. He had never checked his batteries so I helped him get to them. We found that they were really low on water. Now that the rain has stopped we will head back to the parking area and fill up his batteries.

September 29th - October 1st - On the Way to Albuquerque

We left home Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Quapaw, Oklahoma at 2:00 p.m. We stayed at the Indian Casino RV Park there. Upon arriving they told us that we got a night free if we had a Casino Card. We set up, unhooked, and drove to the nearby casino to get a card. This was the first casino we have ever been to that NOWHERE was there a sign saying "Casino", not on the road signs, not on the buildings, nowhere until you got inside. Weird. It is on the Quapaw Indian Reservation. Maybe they have rules against that, I don't know. We got our card and Kelly had to check out the machines in short order. Our "free" night at the campground ended up costing $40.00 - Kelly's loss at the machines.  These people aren't dumb.

We went back to the RV and sat out to enjoy a nice breeze, with a cordial, on the shady side of the rig. Here is a picture.

It is a very nice "concrete" campground with electric and water hook ups. Here is another picture of the area behind us. It goes on for many rows.

We had 50 amp hookup problems at Rend Lake a couple of weeks ago. This time I hooked up and the exact same problem, electric only on one leg of the 50 amp plug. Thus only half of the electric in Marge would work. I connected to the 30 amp line and everything worked. We would use it. I took my 50 amp surge protector to another campsite, plugged it in, and it worked fine on both lines so I knew it was not my equipment. I then went to plug back into the 30 amp line at our site and the 30 amp breaker would not reset. Crap. I then had the idea of adapting the 50 amp down to 30 am to see if everything in Marge worked and it did. We just had to watch our electric usage. I let the office know that the outlets were bad on our site. She said she would send maintenance out and offered to move us to another site. I told her we were already set up and unhooked so we were fine. Nobody ever came by to check out the electric pedestal.

We left at 7:00 a.m. and headed to Amarillo. This was our longest leg, 459 miles. No issues other than there are limited filling stations on the turnpike. I couldn't get over for the last one and only had a quarter of tank remaining. For some reason the gauge drops like a rock below a quarter tank on this truck. I was down to the red warning line when we spotted a filling station with diesel off the turnpike. We got off and filled up. Close call. Based on the fuel I put in we only had about two gallons left which at 8 miles to the gallon is only 16 miles. We probably wouldn't have made it to the next station. That would have made for a bad day.

We had to pay to get back on the turnpike. The sign that said "Exact Change Only" and "$1.75" we got out the money but as I pulled up to the toll booth (no attendant) the sign said "Four Axles - $3.00". Fortunately we were able to scrape together another $1.25 in quarters (you couldn't use bills or credit card). We will be sure and have a bunch of quarters available for the trip home. This $1.75 was in addition to the $12.50 we paid when we got on some miles back.

Our next fuel stop was near the Texas line. It was a Love's Truck Stop with a Subway so we went in to eat a sandwich since it was well past noon. We got in there and there were absolutely no tables. We got our sandwich and went out and sat in the truck and ate it. We never saw that before anywhere.

As we entered Texas it started raining. It rained all the way to Amarillo and was pouring rain when we got to our destination. They were rebuilding the Interstate in that area and we could not get off at the exit for the RV Park. We had to go down to the next exit and wind our way through a subdivision and through school traffic to come in the back way. Here is a picture of our site with water standing everywhere.

It is 69 degrees out and the rain let up a little so I filled the water tank. It could be raining harder in the morning. We need to arrive at the Fiesta with a full water tank. I then hooked Marge up to campground water. We will dump in the morning after showers. It is a nice enough place for one night with decent wi-fi so I can do this blog.

We have no idea what the wi-fi or internet or cell service will be like in the RV parking area at the Balloon Fiesta. I will blog when I can. The weather is supposed to be great. It continues to pour rain here.

September 23rd - Sewer Cap Fix and Reservations

Today the new sewer cap arrived in the mail. Actually two of them arrived because I accidentally ordered two. I tried to stop the order on one but was too late. At less than $3.00 each, it is not worth sending one back. I'll put the extra in my parts bin.

Here is a picture of the new cap with a "Made in USA" sticker proudly displayed on it. How often do you see that nowadays, particularly on something that only cost $2.97?

Here is a picture of the cap installed. It took less than two minutes to cut the old wire tie off , fasten the new rubber cord, and twist on the cap. The fit is quite tight so it should stay on for another 13 years.

Right after I installed the cap the LP Gas guy came to fill up the LP tank on Marge and the LP tank at the house.  Yesterday I filled the gasoline tank for the generator so, other than filling the water tank and putting in food and clothes, we are ready to head out early next Monday morning.

I made reservations for two campgrounds on the way out to Albuquerque next week. One was on the Indian reservation just inside Oklahoma and the other was in Amarillo. I took a picture of the campground address in Oklahoma for a reminder because they did not need a credit card to reserve. I forgot to put anything in my phone about the reservation in Amarillo figuring it would be on my credit card. But they are not going to charge the card until we get there. I forgot the name of the place so I had to get out the Good Sam Book and call a couple of campgrounds until I found the one where I made a reservation. Good thing I called because the reservation was not at the place I thought. We are staying at Amarillo Ranch RV Park. We will have to fill our water tank and dump our sewer tanks there so we are ready to dry camp in Albuquerque the next day.



 

September 19th-21st - Camping at Rend Lake, an Electrical Issue, etc.

Alexa and Aaron met us at Rend Lake Thursday afternoon. It was getting pretty warm by the time they arrived so I pulled out the fan and plugged it into the outside outlet, no power. I went inside and checked the outlets nearby. The one on Kelly's vanity and the one in the bathroom did not work either. I knew the bathroom outlet was on a GFI Circuit Breaker in the panel box so I checked it. I flipped it several times but it would not reset. I called my "electrical" friend John and he said there was no good way to check a GFI Circuit breaker but he had one. When we got home we could swap it out and see if we got power. A new GFI breaker is over $45.00. I didn't want to buy one if that wasn't the problem.

Not long after that Kelly told me that the microwave was not working. Strangely it was on a different circuit breaker. I reset the microwave circuit breaker. It appeared to be setting properly but still no power. These problems would have to be dealt with at home. Fortunately the air-conditioner and refrigerator were working.

Several weeks ago I purchased a cheap basket to sit on the floor of the shower to corral the shampoos and conditioners while on the road. Kelly said she liked the size of the basket but it needed to have holes in the bottom to let the water drain out. If we didn't do that about a half inch of water would accumulate in the bottom and it would get moldy between uses. Here is a picture of the basket before I drilled nine holes in the bottom. It should serve the purpose.

Friday Kelly took a shower and dropped the handheld showerhead. The showerhead is plastic and it broke off where it screws into the metal shutoff valve on the hose. This showerhead was advertised as one of those "super-duper" jobs that increase the power of the flow of the water so you use less. This is always important in an RV where you often have limited water supply. I must say it did work as advertised and we both loved it. Here is a picture.

Fortunately I had in a cabinet the old "super-duper" showerhead which we used before. It is an Oxygenics showerhead which also mixes air with the water to increase the flow. I was going to put it in Homer but never got around to it. I'm glad I didn't because we needed it this trip. Here is a picture of it.  It is metal so it should never break off like the other one.

Now I could take my shower.

Saturday after Alexa and Aaron left we packed up the camper and headed home. We did not have water or sewer hookups while there so we had to dump the tanks at the dump station before leaving. When I pulled up to the station and went to unscrew the cap off the sewer drain I saw that it was missing. Here is a picture.

The cap was on the pipe at home so apparently on the way over to Rend Lake it fell off somewhere. These caps are tethered to the pipe by a rubber cord. The rubber cord on this cap had broken a couple of years ago so I tethered it with the white wire tie you can see in the picture. I guess it broke off as well due to old age. The cap was old and did not fit tightly over the nubs so I'm not surprised it fell off. I'll order a new one. An easy fix. It has to have a cap to be legal going down the road.

After getting home and unpacking the camper I decided I had to find out why the microwave wasn't working. I was sure it had to be that the internal fuse had blown. I pulled it out and took the case off to get to the internal fuse to check it. IF I HAD BEEN THINKING, before going to all the work of pulling the microwave out, I would have just unplugged it and plugged something else into the outlet to see if there was power.

Once I had it out and apart I checked the fuse and it was good. Now what? I then ran an extension cord from the house directly to the microwave, plugged it in, and it worked. At that point I checked the microwave outlet and found it was dead. I put the microwave back together, unplugged the extension cord, and plugged the extension cord into the camper.  I then went to the fuse box and again flipped the microwave breaker, it seemed fine. I then flipped the GFI Circuit breaker for the other dead outlets and it "reset" just as it should. It hadn't done this yesterday. I checked the outlets that were dead before and they were all hot now.

What I then realized is that there had been nothing wrong with the breakers at all.  I had plugged the RV into the 50 amp receptacle at the campground and assumed that it was all working properly. It was not. One leg of the 50 amp outlet was not working so I was only getting electric to half of the camper. Luckily it was the half with the air-conditioning and refrigerator.

I then thought back to when I plugged the RV into the park pedestal. I used my Surge Protector and it showed a green and blue light, which means correct wiring. But it only showed it on one side. I had to get the manual out to refresh my memory that for two good lines of 110 volt power for a 50 amp connection it should light up green and blue on both sides of the surge protector face. I was only getting power to one leg, i.e. half the camper outlets. If I had been paying close attention when I plugged it in I would have noticed that and would have moved the RV to a different site. Oh, well, problem solved and we survived. I will definitely be more observant next time.   

September 17, 2019 - Marge Scrubbed by ME

Well, Sunday the professional detailers did not show up to give Marge a scrubbing. I emailed the company and they quickly responded with an apology. After several emails they were unable to get in contact with the local detailer they had hired for the job and had no alternative in the area. I had a choice of having it done this winter in Florida, or cancel the detailing and getting a refund. I opted for the refund. The no show was aggravating because we sat around all day waiting for them to show up, I had pulled in the slide outs, unhooked the electric, and moved the truck so they could do the job unobstructed.

Monday morning I decided that I should just wash Marge myself. Upon starting I realized she was REALLY dirty. It is hard to pick up dirt in pictures but here are a couple of "before" pictures.

The front cap always gets lots of bugs. Getting the ones up on the top white section requires me to stand on the second from top step of my eight foot ladder, which is a little precarious. I then have to scrub the bugs with a brush to get them off, then wash, then rinse. Last year I coated the cap with Polyglow which is a sealant. This helped in getting the bugs off but it was still a slow process of scrubbing, washing, rinsing, and moving the ladder multiple times. Up and down, up and down.

The area of the trailer behind the truck bed gets lots of dirt, bugs, and road tar. Here is a "before" picture.

All the black spots in the picture are tar left after I scrubbed the bugs off. I put some gasoline in a squirt bottle and worked on a couple of globs of tar at a time. When finished it all had to be washed and rinsed. A slow process. 

The front cap and lower area get the most road dirt and bugs and take the longest to clean.  The back cap doesn't get any bugs but it does get a lot of dirt which is picked up by the tires and swirled around the back. Here is a "before" picture of the lower part of the back cap.

The sides get road grime but also get a lot of streaks from dirty water running off the roof. Here is a "before" picture of one such spot with arrows pointing to the black streaks.

Unfortunately these black steaks don't come off with car wash soap. They have to be scrubbed with a cleaner like Awesome and then the area washed.

Monday I did the front, back, and door side. By then it was mid-afternoon and 93 degrees so I quit for the day. This morning I did the off door side.  Here are some "after" pictures.

Front cap

Lower front area.

Back cap.

Side area with no black streaks.

In the above picture you can see shiny and whiter areas where I removed some decals last winter because they were cracked and faded. I have ordered some oxidation remover with wax and hope that in one application I can bring back some shine and blend in the areas. Doing the two sides will be a several day project. 

For me trying to keep an RV clean and shiny is absolutely the worst part about owning an RV. Because they sit out so much they fade fast after a cleaning and waxing due to all the UV rays. Ours doesn't have clear coat like a car finish. If I ever buy another rig it would have full body paint, making cleaning and polishing a whole lot easier.

September 15th - Generator Fuel Line Leak and Marge Scrubbed

On Thursday I pulled the empty LP tank out of Marge and took it in to get filled. After doing that I was putting gasoline in the fuel tank for the generator in Marge and decided to run it for a while. I started it from the outside and immediately saw that the fuel filter, which I had just recently installed, was leaking profusely. It didn't leak when I installed it a couple of weeks ago!  Here is a picture. You can see the gas pouring out of the bottom even after the generator was shut off.

So much for cheap Chinese fuel filters. I went to O'Reilly's and got a GOOD Chinese fuel filter. It is metal, at least three times the size, and three times the price of the cheap one.  Here is a picture with the generator running and no leaks so far.

No more cheap fuel filters for me. I had two more of the cheap filters and threw them away so I wouldn't even be tempted to use them in the future on anything.

Today Marge was scheduled for a professional washing. They were scheduled to be here between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. I even got an email yesterday reminding me of the appointment.  Guess what.  They didn't show up. I called the company but they are closed on Sunday. I sent an email but will also call tomorrow and hopefully get it rescheduled soon.  Marge really needs a bath!

Today I emailed my release form to be a crew member for one of the balloons at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. I signed up to work all day for all nine days. (I may regret that but Kelly said "What else are you going to do all day?") Usually the pilots do not go up all nine days. I will see how it works out. I'm hoping to get to go up once. It is up to the pilot they said. It costs $650 to go up for a ride with the one outfit that does it commercially at the fiesta and you have to book in advance. I'm not paying that much.

We will be camping at Rend Lake next weekend with our oldest daughter, Alexa, and her friend. We are going to take both campers so Alexa can get some experience driving Homer. It is a little different than puttering around in her Honda Civic. It is supposed to be hot next week but there is a lake and a beach where we can get in the water. We have not "camped" in several years. For good or bad we have become RVers, i.e. travelers, rather than campers. We have some firewood here at the house but you aren't allowed to move firewood around anymore because of bugs and diseases. I have a lot of scrap lumber I have been hoarding. I will take a bunch of it to burn in the campfire and get it out of the way in my shop.  It should be fun. I may even stay up past 9:00 p.m.!

September 12th - Homer came Home and Got a Couple More Needed Repairs

I picked up Homer from the shop yesterday. He now has new front brake pads and rotors, new rear brake kits, new rear wheel cylinders, new water pump, and a new timing chain cover. Additionally he got an oil change and his license renewed.  He is good to go mechanically.

When I got him home I noticed the front lower corner on the passenger side of the house had pulled loose. Here is a picture.

It is pretty easy to see this isn't right. This lower corner cap is just a plastic transition piece. The white in the picture is the torn caulk. I think the corner just pulled loose from old age because there was no sign of anything having hit it or caught it at anytime. I jacked Homer up and got under there to make a repair. It was easy to push the corner back into place but it was quite another to get up in behind it to drill holes to reattach it to the supports, one of which had pulled loose from the floor above. It took close to two hours to get it fixed. Most of that time was spent crawling in and out to get different tools.  (I need a "runner". I used to do that for my dad.)  Here is a picture of the repaired corner.

I now have to decide if I want to re-caulk it. The caulk had been painted blue when the motorhome was built. I can't get blue caulk. If I re-caulk it I'll have to decide what color would look the least offensive. I may not even caulk it. It is totally on the outside so no possibility of any kind of leak to worry about.

Yesterday when I stopped to get Homer's license renewed I pushed the fob to unlock the doors. I was on the passenger side to get the paperwork and the door did not unlock. I could hear the actuator work and could see the button go up and down like it is supposed to. The door handle just did not unlock. I unlocked the door with the key, no problem. 

I decided this morning to look into this problem. My first thought was to spray the key with lubricant and work the key back and forth in the lock to make sure nothing at the key area was binding. I did that but it still didn't unlock with the fob. I then took the inside door panel off and worked the key lock with the key and used the fob button to watch how it all worked. Interestingly the key lock and the pull up button on the door do not work off the same rod. The rod from the key lock to the door lock was not moving at all when the fob activated the actuator even though the rod to the pull up button was working properly. 

There are only small cutouts in the door in this area so it was really hard to see if something had broken at the door lock to cause this problem. I really didn't want to take the door lock out and have all that mechanism with rods and actuator to deal with. I decided to just put it back together and use the key to unlock the passenger door as needed. I sprayed everything I could reach inside the door liberally with lubricant. It did not work for a while then all of a sudden everything worked as it should. I don't know why but I just put it back together and hope it keeps working.

We will put Homer in the shed since we are taking Marge to Albuquerque. 

September 7th - Marge Wheel Cleaning and Homer Repairs

Next Sunday Marge will get her first "professional" bath.  I noticed all the wheels looked pretty bad when I rotated the tires yesterday.  I know they will not polish the wheels as part of the wash next week so I decided to do it this morning. Here is a before picture of one wheel.

Here is an after picture.  

I am happy with the results. I used a wipe-on aluminum cleaner I had purchased when we had the pontoon boat to take care of. This stuff cleaned the wheels up nicely with little effort and no buffing.

The truck goes into the shop on Monday for an oil change and fuel filter change then it will be ready to go to Albuquerque as well.

Homer is still in the shop.  On our trip to Alaska and on a trip a year later to California I smoked the front brakes a couple of times on steep grades. This caused the rotors to warp a little which causes a vibration when I push on the brake hard. I lived with it for a couple of years because it wasn't dangerous. I decided to get them fixed after a recent trip. I always tell my mechanic to treat my vehicles like his own. Because of this he decided to check the rear brakes as well. When he did he found two broken brake springs and both brake wheel cylinders leaking. This is being fixed as well. I attribute the rear brake issue strictly to Homer's "old age".  At twenty-six years old things like this happen with vehicles.

  

Homer is also in for an oil change and an inspection so I can renew his license next month. Upon changing the oil they noticed that the water pump is leaking. This is good news and bad news. The bad news is it will cost about $400.00 to replace it. The good news is that they caught it while in the shop and the pump didn't go out on the road and possibly require a tow and us being stranded for a while somewhere.

The joy of owning vehicles. This is my month for spending money on them.

 

September 6th - Rotating Tires and Slide out Reinforcement

Today I decided it was a good day to rotate the tires on Marge. I try to do this about every 9,000 miles. I can only rotate them front to back because I only have two jacks and two jack stands to lift one side of the trailer at a time.  Since I was getting all dirty it was also a good time for me to crawl under Marge and inspect the frame reinforcement work which was just completed a couple of weeks ago.

I will honestly say I was shocked to see how much metal they had added to the trailer frame. Here is a picture of two of the five six inch tall "C" channel rails they welded to the frame from one side to the other. The arrows with black borders point to the new metal. The arrow with the red border points to the factory installed two inch cross member in this area of the trailer, which was clearly inadequate.

There are three other six inch "C" channel cross members welded further back from the ones in the picture toward the rear of the trailer. All of these are to support the weight and movement of the two opposing slide outs. 

When I pulled off the wheels on each side I also found three two inch box metal supports welded in three places. These supports were welded in where the two six inch stacked box metal frame parts meet. Here is a picture with arrows pointing to the new reinforcement metal.

I am sure this work has added well over a hundred pounds to the frame but it should not flex anymore when the slides go in and out. Apparently Carriage frames are not as rigid as they claimed. In their defense we have dragged this trailer over 44,000 miles since purchasing it. Use takes a toll.

I torqued all the lug nuts so Marge should be good to go to Albuquerque in a few weeks after she's washed and tanks filled. 

September 3rd - Getting Ready for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

I'm slowly getting things lined up for the trip to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta the end of the month.  I took the truck (Moe) in today to have the front alignment checked after the rough roads in Newfoundland ruined the front tires. Sure enough he needed an alignment for $69.95. Here is a picture of Moe's front end with the new front tires and a fresh alignment. He goes in next week to get an oil, oil filter, and fuel filter change so all is fresh for the 2,000 mile trip.

Marge gets a professional bath next Sunday compliments of my daughter, Annie. Once that is done I need to take one of the propane tanks in to be filled, get gasoline for the generator's tank, check to make sure the furnace, water heater, and fridge all work on propane. We will then be ready to load up clothes and food for the trip.

Since so many people will be traveling to the Balloon Fiesta I thought there might be a problem finding a place to stay where we can fill up the water tank and dump our sewage tanks. We need to arrive with a full water tank and empty holding tanks. I decided to make reservations for our stops on the way out. It is a 1,000 mile trip we will make it in three days. Our first stop will be September 30th in Quapaw, Oklahoma. We will stay at the Downstream Casino RV Park.  Our second stop will be in Amarillo, Texas on October 1st. We will stay at the Big Texan RV Park.  We will pull into Albuquerque mid-afternoon on October 2nd. It will be interesting to see what the dry camping spots will be like. I am sure there will be a lot of dust on the big lot and lots of noise from generators at least during the day all week.

The new plug for the 30 amp cord arrived today so I installed it as well and checked it out before putting it away. Here is a picture of the new plug ready for duty.  Hopefully this one will last longer.

The parking at the Balloon Fiesta is dry camping so I won't need this cord or any other during that time. All electrical needs will be provided from the batteries and generator. The biggest challenge will be not filling up the holding tanks with waste water over the extended period of time. I believe there will be a honey wagon available if the tanks need to be dumped. (A honey wagon is a septic tank truck that comes around and pumps out your tanks for a fee.) It is hard to tell what that will cost. It is a captive group so they can charge what they want.  Kelly and I can be pretty conservative with our water usage when we want to. Maybe we won't need the service.