We are Soooo Cool Again

Thank goodness our refrigerator escapade is over!!  Maybe you remember the ups and downs over the past year or longer.  There were occasions when our refrigerator stopped cooling completely. Then there would be a period of no issues. And again, sometimes when it was a warm day the fridge just couldn’t stay in the safe zone. But with the cooler temps, we squeezed in the three-month Alaska trip without too much difficulty. But who knew when its last day would come. Well, we chose to end this period of insecurity in Shipshewana, Indiana a few days ago.

Thanks to Leon Hershberger at National RV Refrigeration we are cooling away. After a friend’s recommendation and learning that Leon gives a three year warranty on his work, we chose to replace the cooling unit rather than try to fit a new refrigerator into the place where our out-of-production unit was designed to fit.  He replaced our cooling unit, the entire back portion of the refrigerator, without taking the unit out of the motorhome.  We were relieved that it wasn’t necessary to take out one of Ferd’s windows to get the refrigerator outside.  There is no way our double-door refrigerator was coming out the space of our entry door.  To make room to work in our slideless motorhome, Leon disassembled our table from the wall. He brought the fridge out onto the floor to do his work on the spot.  

Here are the before and after shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three days have passed and we are pleased.  The temperature fell inside in a reasonable period of time and is holding steady.  We have no need to play with the gas and electric switch while crossing our fingers that it would operate.  And we aren’t maneuvering the motorhome so that a minimal amount of sun shines on that side of the rig. 

Yea!!  We are sooo cool.  Thanks for visiting.

Pausing in Omak – Washington State

Aug 23 – 31:    I guess we needed some down time.   We didn’t plan to stay any particular length of time when we pulled into the small town of Omak, Washington, 50 miles south of the Canadian border. But, Omak is where we paused for  nine days. The Stampede Campground provided a comfortable home in our shaded pull-through site with full hook-ups.   The price of $20.00 was reasonable and I could take walks around the park, watching soccer games, kids riding their skateboards and families having picnics.

No, we didn’t even visit the local museum or venture out exploring the 50-mile radius, as per usual.  We had TV, Internet, cell phone, Sirius radio, grocery stores, a Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, a laundromat, a car and rv wash and the tasty Hometown Pizza shop.  Visits into town, about one mile, suited us fine this time.  

There were 70s daytime temps and nice cool evenings in Omak.  We surfed the net to our hearts content and charted our next route…with the windows open. Washing the vehicles and stocking up on groceries was handy.  Jerry made a trip to the local Home Depot for the right bolts and whatever hardware he needed to work on our airbag issue. He was able to remove the valve from Ferd’s air leveling system in the rear and, temporarily permanently, set our ride height. Of course, he would give a more accurate description of this situation. But, you get the picture. 

One feature of this area we wanted to be sure to experience was the local farmers’ markets, offering the fruits and vegetables grown in the fertile Washington farmlands.  Every Tuesday from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. Omak opens their market in the park in the center of town.  The peaches, apples and nectarines looked yummy.  There were both yellow and white nectarines.  So I tried the white ones that the friendly merchant explained were sweeter than the more common yellow ones.

I also learned from the local orchard owner about a different type of apple, Akane.  He described them as a cross between Jonathan and Worcester Pearmin.  Ever heard of that one? It has a little tartness, which I prefer, but there’s a juicy sweetness, too.  Here’s a link about the Akane:  Click for more info.

And Jerry promised to make some fresh Pico de Gallo with the jalapenos, tomatoes, etc. The peppers I found at the market were plenty hot and the tomatoes had that perfect juicy, crisp texture. Jerry’s Pico de Gallo turned out great, even if it was up just a smidgeon on the temperature scale.  It spiced up our pork tenderloin well. And we saved some to share with friends.

And then it was time to move along.  See you all down the road.

Ride Along With Us Again – Alaska Adventure 2010

August 2 – 6:  Are you still with us on the road trip? The next segment takes us to Haines, Alaska, via the Tok Cutoff, Alaska Highway and Haines Highway. This might be the lengthiest post in miles and words in a year or so.  It just belongs together.  So here we go.

On the morning of August 2, after having coffee with the view of the Mount Sanford volcano, we resume our northerly trek on the Tok Cutoff.  We encountered a few patches of buckling road again (photo below), but mostly we had smooth sailing with the Wrangell Mountains and Copper Valley views.  Ninety miles north we were back in the crossroads village of Tok for our second visit. We’ve written about Tok on our way into Alaska on June 2. Our one-night stopover this time was a fill-up and clean-up stop.  The Chevron offers free water and dump with fill-up, plus a free overnight parking spot.  They also have an rv and car wash, more seriously needed by those coming from the east on the Alaska Highway.  We took advantage of everything, including a nice out-of-the-way spot for the night, next to a quiet and congenial trucker.   This was an opportunity for Jerry to ask a question about a peculiar feature he’s noticed in this state.  See these yellow strips attached to the rims of this trailer’s tires?  We’ve also seen many tires marked with yellow paint in the same manner. Why? The trucker informed Jerry that when the driver sees these markers turning he knows that his axles are not frozen. That’s how cold it gets in Alaska!

The next morning we decided to have breakfast at a popular Tok restaurant, Fast Eddy’s.  The accommodating parking lot had an assortment of rvs, semis, pickups and motorcycles. One ambitious motorcycle traveler from California had loaded his/her moose antlers onto the back.  Seems to me that this biker must have wanted this rack badly.  We had to post a couple of these shots for Tim, Bobby, Tammy, Ron, Dick and our other biking friends.  Can you imagine riding from Alaska to California with this baggage?  Maybe they were on the way to their new cabin in the Alaska wilderness….just up this road.

For us, it was time to travel a stretch of the Alaska Highway that we had covered in early June. At that time we were pleasantly surprised as we didn’t find the treacherous road conditions that we had heard stories about before this trip.  People had warned us we might damage our vehicles on the frost heaves, have road crew delays and hit long gravel sections.  This wasn’t the case when we arrived. 

But, wait.  On our return two months later it’s a new story.  We became acutely aware of how the thawing of the permafrost does cause havoc. The Alaska Highway trip from Tok to Destruction Bay was considerably different than when we came over a portion of this road before warm temps.

For about 175 miles, we rode the ruts, kept our eyes peeled for the orange warning flags and took it slow through the gravel areas. The ground crews were busy trying to make some sections more travelable.    It’s evidently a never-ending battle.  I tried to get a good shot of the heaves, but these are the best I could do, even with the new camera’s features helping to steady me.   There’s one photo here of the efforts of American and Canadian scientists and engineers to slow down melting beneath the roadbed for a stable embankment.  The theory is that these devices (pipes) inserted into the ground will keep it at the proper temperature so that frost heaves will not occur.  Seems to be an ongoing dilemma. 

 

The freezing of the soil also creates an issue for the black spruce trees. Traveling through this area, probably for 150 miles, you can’t help but notice these spindly bottle brush trees covering the hills and valleys.  Again, The Milepost gives me the answer.  “Where black spruce thrive, few other plants can survive.  They spread their roots in the boggy, shallow soil above permanently frozen ground.

 

 

 

 

Permafrost blocks water drainage and limits root growth and soil fertility. ….a tree two inches in diameter may be 100 years old.”   Also, their drooping branches invite forest fires to spread, forming a stepladder to the cones on their crown. The fire’s heat opens these resin-sealed cones, spreading the seeds for new trees to begin. Is that amazing?!

On today’s trip (August 3) on the Alaska Highway, if you are still with us after the bumps and dips, we are passing alongside and through places such as Deadman Lake, Beaver Creek, Snag Junction, Pickhandle Lake, Burwash Landing and Destruction Bay.  We crossed once again through Canada Customs, into the Yukon Territory, without any concerns, passports ready.   We averaged 43.9 miles per hour and traveled 237 miles in 5 hours and 23 minutes (according to Tillie the GPS). Our highest speed was 63 miles per hour, one time when we had a smooth stretch and passed someone moving at a snail’s pace.  Even though bumpy, it was a good day.

In the late afternoon we stopped at what is one of my favorite spots over the past ten weeks, Congdon Creek Campground on Kluane Lake.   It is a Yukon government campground, $12.00, no hookups.  We were able to get a site facing the lake and shading our temperamental refrigerator.   I am including a few photos that might explain somewhat my opinion of this location.  The fireweed in the woods is just behind our camp site. And then, of course, there we are playing around at the lake, a short walk from Ferd.   

  

The last part of this road trip I’ll take you on was shortened unexpectedly.  On August 4 we left our Kluane Lake home, looking forward to the long stretch of lakeside driving as we continued down the road flanking this scenic waterway.  But…..just a couple of miles into what would be the day’s 202-mile trip to Haines, Alaska, I smelled trouble – literally.  Any kind of burning smell, of course, sends off alarms, especially when you’re riding down the road in your home.   It seemed to be only in the front of the rig so we narrowed it to the small electric fan that Jerry was using for an extra breeze.   Yeah, that’s it.  Must be the fan motor. A quick stop at the pull off and we had replaced the fan and were smoothly rolling along again….  Not!  Whiffs of that mysterious smell were back in a few minutes. And the ride seemed less smooth, too.   It took us three stops, checking everyplace inside and out, in both the motorhome and the Jeep,  to finally narrow down that lingering smell.  Low and behold, we looked yet another time at the tires and saw up underneath the wheel well that the back, passenger side tire was definitely rubbing.  Long story short…..we have a problem with our leveling system. The valve on that air bag lets out too much air (in my simplistic terms). The next town, Haines Junction, was 70 miles away. Don’t ask me to explain it technically, but with Jerry’s magic maneuvering of the leveling and the ride height on Ferd, we slowly made our way into town.  

After pulling into the first empty lot we saw, we unhooked the Jeep and went into the local library to use the Internet, planning to contact fellow Foretravel owners on the internet forum.  Jerry monitors the site constantly and has learned to trust the regulars for providing knowledge and advice. So, he posted a question about our problem. We hoped for some good and quick suggestions. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…..we took Ferd slowly about two blocks further to the Kluane RV Park.  Without belaboring or relating the next two days of happenings, we gathered the best advice we could and adjusted and duct taped and tested.  Great news. The fix seems to be satisfactory, at least for now. But, should we make a change in our plans to go to a larger town east instead of going south?   Our best evaluation is that we can proceed as is.  So, we cautiously and hopefully, resumed our travels south on the Haines Highway (August 5).  We haven’t noticed any more alarming smell or listing to the right side.  The air bag is holding steady.  Things are good until we can get back to a dependable repair facility.

Having said all of that, we were happy we kept to our plan. The road to Haines is another byway of tremendous natural vistas.  It reminded us of being in Denali National Park or the wilderness of the Denali Highway.  There are no commercial entities and very little traffic for the 146 miles.  Just lots of beauty. 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it’s been nice having you along on this portion of our journey.  I’ll leave you with these last two photos from the Haines Highway, the view at our lunch spot at the summit, Chilkat Pass, and of a small creature who joined us there.    

Take care.  Talk to you later.

Pausing for Painful Repairs

We spent the last four days taking care of some unpleasant, but necessary, repairs on Ferd. After a scenic, but hilly, drive through the Cumberland Pass area of West Virginia, we arrived in Fairfax, Va, to try out the local Elks Lodge where we heard they have nice accommodations for rvs. That is so true, but then there was the bad news.


Immediately, Jerry noticed the signs of the transmission oil leek on the back of Ferd and the front of Ole Yeller. Well, we had just had this problem about 1500 miles ago when heading east through Oklahoma. It didn't take long to conclude that the gasket we had replaced at the Allison transmission shop in Tulsa must not have been the entire problem.
Fast forward after conversations with the Foretravel factory in Texas and mechanic shops here.....we have a new bearing in our transmission installed at the Western Branch Diesel repair facility in Manassas, Va. So far the $2700 fix has put Ferd back on the right path.
Our experience with this shop was super. We had a very impressive mechanic, Seth. Here he is pointing out the problems and solutions to Jerry on our transmission. Everyone at Western Branch Diesel was accommodating and seemed professional. They pushed us out of the shop so we could stay in Ferd the first night. So we only had to go to a hotel one night when the transmission was completely removed and we couldn't move outside.
It's not fun to have these problems, but it could have been much worse.
Now we're ready to get on with our plans.

Regrouping and Relaxing

After leaving Las Vegas we turned our eyes toward an old favorite spot where we could relax and regroup. It sounded like the thing to do since we had several options in mind for our next destination and hadn't made a final decision. We made our way south about 200 miles.

Here we are at the Midland Road BLM outside Blythe, California, a sparsely visited parking area. This little town has any of the necessary amenities, such as restaurants, groceries, laundry and even free water and dump. But mostly the reason for our stopping here is the peaceful scenery five miles out of town.

But what could we be doing there???? Well, let's see:
-staring at the mountain scenery and enjoying the desert flowers
-gazing at the sunsets
-soaking up the sun
-surfing the Internet
-catching up on cleaning
-solving amp meter issues
-reading
-watching movies
-trying recipes
-taking walks
-practicing jewelry-making (Nancy, that is)
-discussing our travel plans
-talking more about travel plans
- and, just drinking in the deafening silence of this place.


This was time we needed and enjoyed. We even practiced some of the recipes we gathered from friends during our volunteer episode in New Mexico. I cooked up a pot of Borracio Beans. And Jerry made some scrumptious Pico de Gallo. (Thanks George!! ) It was fantastic on our steaks and also on tacos the next day.


Now, after enough regrouping, we're ready to roll again. For a few days we are in Quartzsite, just 25 miles east. Since our amp meter went defunct, we decided to inquire at a local well-respected rv repair service, Discount Solar, about a new meter. Hopefully, that will be a quick fix here in Q.

As soon as we can after that repair, we'll begin moving eastward. We'll be traveling to Indiana first for some medical checkups. Then we begin what we are calling our "Historical Journey." The rest of 2009 we'll be visiting historical sites in the eastern part of the country. See you along the road.

How Did We Get Here?

No this isn't trick photography. We are in Paris, Texas, and this is their own version of the Eiffel Tower, standing 65 ft tall with the cowboy hat "Texanizing" it. Paris is about 100 miles northeast of Dallas, just south of the Oklahoma line. How and why are we here? This particular stop sure wasn't on our radar. As you all know, Hurricane Gustav is threatening to annihilate certain areas of the gulf coast. Perfect timing for us to be in Livingston, TX, (near Houston) getting our residency requirements handled. Let's see, 75 MPH winds, flooding, trees falling. Not our brand of fun. So, we made an evaluation and decided that we would go north for a few days and let the high winds and torrential rains do their work without us.


So here we are in Paris. As fate would have it, we went what we thought was the wrong way on the loop around the city. As we were turning around in the parking lot of the civic center we saw RVs parked at hookups.


Long story short, we parked overnight with a convention of square dancers. Had fun watching them reel last night and have a view of the Eiffel Tower. What more could we want?!





But, you say, what's been going on before the hurricane detour?? Prior to this little adventure we were in Nacogdoches, Texas, for a week or so having motorhome maintenance done. In fact, while talking with the service reps at Motorhomes of Texas, we mentioned the trouble we were having finding a replacement for our threadbare couch. Just the labor to deconstruct ours seemed to befuddle most motorhome renovators. Well, it turns out the MOT folks had both the know-how and a nice piece of furniture that fit exactly into the space. Voila!! Here's our new couch. It took the service people a lot longer than they thought to get it installed, but luckily we had negotiated a flat price.

Now, our revised plans are to continue to monitor the Gustav activity as we explore some more in northern Texas.

Time will tell if we make it back down to Livingston to get drivers' licenses. We'll be checking out a new Corp of Engineers park near Dallas in the next couple of days. For now, Paris is nice.

Shakin' it up in Texas

You know the saying: "Everything's bigger in Texas." Take a look at this big guy! We encountered this lovely creature at the Xtreme Paint and Graphics Company in Nacogdoches, TX, while we were there having Ferd , the motorhome, repaired. In Texas they call these humongous spiders "shakers." This one measured about six inches, end to end. When you get anywhere near them you discover that the name is very appropriate as he/she starts the entire web moving vigorously.

Besides learning about spiders, we've had an interesting and pleasant time during the past few days while getting Ferd's repairs done. We came to Xtreme Graphics on a recommendation and expected this time to be the usual painful, or at the very least, boring but necessary experience. But it was anything but painful due to the company owners, James and Jennifer Stallings, and their staff.

Here James and Jennifer stopped for a second to smile for us and you can catch a glimpse of some of their products on the wall behind them.

We can't say enough about the quality of the work done on our motorhome and the attitude of everyone involved. It was fun getting to know these folks and we would strongly recommend them to any of our rving friends who might have need of some exterior changes or a complete new face for your rig. They can transform an old, drab, exterior into a one-of-a-kind showpiece. Unfortunately, we weren't in the line for one of their complete makeovers, but our rig still got expert care.

We snapped this photo of the young man who did our great fiberglass work, Rance. He had a patient and smiling attitude with every one of our questions and did a fantastic job making Ferd all better.

(Don't have a before photo but the right front was torn up and the door hinge had to be straightened. And then there were scratches down the side.)

We were able to incorporate a few paint changes in our work and are pleased with our new striping, well done by Socko, an expert painter. Some of you will remember that we had these awful pink stripes all the way around the rig through the middle of the basement storage doors, along with a big "unicoach" lettering on one side. Well here's Ferd after Xtreme Graphics did their magic on replacing that....

And we had the front striping and headlights cleaned up, too. Our time was well spent.

We drooled over some of the creations rolling out of the Extreme Graphics big barns and had a great time hanging out with these people. Here's an example of the personalized paint job and new front headlights of one customer. Ain't it pretty?