Two Down.. Over and Under

I accomplished two of my planned "improvements" on the RV today.  I spent from 07:00-9:00 on top of our 12'10'' rig installing two MaxxAire II vent covers.  For the non-rv'ers out there.. this allows you to keep the powered air vents open, even in the rain or while driving.  Not a difficult project but tedious and messy with the sealant that needs to be applied.  The original sealant needs to be cut away to accept the metal brackets, then things resealed.  Not fun on the roof for someone as mature as me.  

This picture shows pine needles as well as the two covers, (one behind the round TV antenna,) and the front AC unit, fridge vent cover and bathroom skylight.

And, I spent from 2:30-4:00 underneath our rig installing a Steer-Safe system.  For the non-rv'ers out there.. this device stabilizes the steering and keeps the rig from being blown around by cross-winds and semis. It also is a big assist in the event of a front tire blow-out from what the videos show.  Info Here   Again... not a difficult project but messy with the grease and wrenches and sockets and heavy parts. Not fun under the bus for someone as mature as me. (A complete description of what is involved is shown at THIS LINK when I installed one on our previous coach)

But.. I feel really good this is done.  We will be ready for our next trip with Bob and Barb Diehl to Kerrville.

  

Two additional "improvements" yet to make... stay tuned. 

Update Sep 22 2013

A quick update... Since getting the new coach three weeks ago, we have spent 10 nights in it.  We got back to Houston on Saturday having spent the previous 3 nights at Buckhorn Lake RV Park in Kerrville TX..   It is one of our favorite places.   I am happy to say all is well with the rig and its occupants. Things are working as intended and I am getting used to navigating this boxcar through Houston traffic, I-10 congestion and south Austin construction.

We have about finished deciding how to fill all the storage space. However,our kitchen sink remains here in the stick and brick house since the coach has its own.  In a few weeks we will return to Buckhorn for a week there with Bob and Barb Diehl.

Old to New

We took the "old rig" to Dixie RV in Hammond LA on Thursday to trade in for our new one.  They have RV pads on their lot, for new owner orientation and to swap out the contents.  




The new one is a 2015 Allegro Open Road, by Tiffin.  It is model 32ca, 34 feet, on a 22,000 lb. Ford F-53 chassis. 12"10"" high.  

The Ford V-10 gas engine is the same one as on the Isata, but there have been improvements in transmission, gear ratios, etc. in 7 years.

We stayed Friday night in it at the dealer, and Saturday night 30 miles down I-10 at a KOA in Baton Rouge.  I wanted to get some highway time and have down time fully checking things out.  All worked.  Nothing needed to be adjusted.  Amazing.  We then left Sunday morning and drove the 300 miles home to Houston.  Very heavy rain Saturday and Sunday so we have determined nothing leaks.  

Pilot and CoPilot did just fine on the interstate.  It was a good test for breaking us all in.  I thought it rode and handled as well as the Isata, but is quite different to maneuver of course. 




It requires some careful planning for gas stops to be able to get in and out of the pumps.  We towed the Honda both ways.. no difference there.   It has an 80 gal. gas tank so has a range of 500-600 miles... I don't know about gas mileage yet, but will be happy with 7 or above towing. I am expecting a worst case of 6.5.   The Isata got 8.5 with the Honda and 9.5-10 without. 
 

There are more pictures HERE  if you want a brief slide show contrasting "the Coffee Bean" with "the Coffee Plantation House."   

It sure felt like a house for the first several hours of drive time... and, as I was backing it into the driveway for the first time at home.)  It has a rear view, and left and right side cameras which help a lot.. for lane changes as well as backing into our driveway.

Pictures of the inside on the next blog post.

Happy Birthday to Me

Actually my birthday was on July 19. But my present was a few weeks before that when we stopped in Hammond LA.  We were on our way to Williamsburg VA to see Carrie and family as well as Jordan's HS graduation.  We stopped in Hammond to have some minor repairs done on "the Coffee Bean" and saw something we liked better.  So it is on order; ready in about 6 weeks.  A 2015 Tiffin Allegro Open Road. We have been thinking about a new RV for 6 months or so.  We have had the current one for almost 8 years.  We have put 51,000 miles on it and slept in it 356 nights according to my log.   This is still quite modest as these things go but is all we wanted.  I stayed with a gas V10 engine. It is 33 ft vs. our current 26.  And the bedroom and better shower will be the big comforts.  We will tow the Honda CRV "Toad" as usual. 

I will need to change the picture at the top and I am taking suggestions as to a new name.  Brother John suggested "The Coffee Plantation".  I had thought about "The Lake House"... so chime in with your thoughts.

April Update

We have had a particularly pleasant April this year.  The last several years it has been really hot but this year things seem normal as to weather in April.   So we have been getting a lot done in the yard and other outside projects.  If you have an interest in how the yard is looking you can see the photos I have taken by CLICKING HERE   By the way, your old homestead is now called "The Fawnview Ranch."  I have resolved myself to the reality that it is as close as we will come to having one.






We also got the Coffee Bean and Toad out of storage and took a 4 day, 3 night trip to Rockport Tx to Lagoons RV park. Pictured here.  I took very few pictures.  It rained half the time but all worked well and we enjoyed the visit as we have not stayed in this area at all.  It is on the coast, between Galveston and Corpus Christi

. One of the things I have been dealing with are the rain barrels I made for Carol a year ago.  They have constantly leaked a bit.   Just enough to be annoying.  Also, there was one occasion where they partially collapsed when filled to the top, from the weight/pressure of the water.  So I have redesigned and built some new ones.   The first version were three 45 gal. barrels.  The new one is made up of two 64 gal. ones.  The barrels are much more sturdy and I greatly simplified the method of interconnecting them.

You may remember I had made a video of my first project.  I have updated it to show what I did this time.  We haven't had a big rain but I expect things to be fine.  You can check out the YouTube video which I have embedded just below.

It is about 8 1/2 min but I made it without sound.  Music didn't seem to add anything and I find most home made YouTube videos that are narrated to not be understandable much of the time.  Not very helpful if one is trying to follow instructions.  Once it starts, you can click the lower right corner to get full screen if you want.

Keeping Busy

In our Feb 22nd post on our Matzke Park Butterfly Garden Blog  (you can take a look (HERE) I described our project to clean out the pond by the patio.  This thing was put in as a birthday present for me way back when Carrie was still in high school.  (so not that long ago, really) We have had it in operation since and have totally cleaned it out about 4 times in that period.  It gradually accumulates dead plant material and had developed a slow leak. So... get out the buckets again.. and mom and I went to work.  We could've used some of those 18 grandkid hands.

I pumped most of the water out, then used a wet/dry shop vac to suck out the last 3 inches of muck.  We then scooped out the two wheelbarrows of pea gravel in the "bog". (yes, I know I called it a "blog" in the video narration)   The water is pumped up from the bottom of the gravel where it is naturally filtered and then spills back into the main pond. I re-lined the bog with a liner that is used to contain oil spills under storage tanks and tried three different construction adhesives that would cement it to the side of the fiberglass pond.  That took about a week.  I finally broke down and bought the 100 feet of special tape that is made for the liner... a double stick rubber that works under water.  Only comes in 100 ft. rolls.

I do have to get the water lilies re-planted and placed. The water plants had almost filled the pond solid, so the compost got a nice addition. I allowed only two small goldfish to remain, as over time, they breed back to a solid dark brown wild variety that you can't see in the pond anyway.   So after it stabilizes, we will get some new ones... the multi-colored shubunkins like these in a picture from the internet.



Anyway... it looks really nice, and I am glad to have it back today.  Take a look yourself:

"Freezy Cold"

(This is a duplicate of the post on our Matzke Park Butterfly garden blog as I initially created it on the wrong blog.)  

Throughout January and February we have had spells of "Freezy Cold" as our kids used to say.  The Polar Vortex swooped in (from the Left of course... make that from our West) several times and dropped the temps into the 20s for a few hours every week or so and this morning we even got some real snow. The birds don't seem to mind and find our feeders even more attractive.




These pictures were taken this morning between 6:30 and 7:30

This white Verbena on the patio is one Carol has had for a very long time and has done well, even though we did not cover it.










                                                                                    Of course, compared to our loved ones in the rest of the U.S. our cold snaps are very mild.  But they still close schools and snarl traffic to an amazing degree.