The chair

I should have set up the camera to get video of getting this through the door.  It was pretty comical. I was about to give up when I tried one more angle, and voilà!

It'll take some getting used to: feels like it crowds the space a bit, but it's exactly what I wanted in terms of function.  I'll use a cam strap to secure it to the passenger seat when in motion.  I like it.

The ongoing LED conversion

The fluorescent conversion is done...

I chose the "warm" color, which looks positively yellow next to daylight.  It's nowhere near that dramatic "in person."

Next up:  some replacement for the light that's built in to the range hood.  The view from down under:

What I think I'll do is get an adhesive strip of LED's and run it underneath the front edge of the hood, and slice wires onto the red and white wires which lead into the incandescent bulb that's there.   The stove top doubles as a work surface, and that one little bulb doesn't help much.

These are both examples of projects which I enjoy doing, and which would involve quite a bit in labor costs if I had Merrigan's do it. Win/win.

Learning

See anything unusual?  Good! There's a panel like this on almost all RV's.

So? A while back, the left-most switch failed.  In case you don't know, when it's held down it turns on the indicator lights.  Not crucial, but it is nice to have some idea of how full the holding tanks are!

So this turned into a Project.  If I took it in to the RV place, it'd have cost me probably something like $100.  So:  I looked at Radio Shack for a replacement switch.  Nothing fit the space or had the right functionality. I sent an email to the people at Forest River, the company which bought Coachmen a few years back, expecting very little except a lead on where I might buy a switch.

I got back a quick email offering to send me a switch in the mail.  The switch arrived; and in short order I learned how to crimp on connectors, and got myself a really cool new wire-stripping tool.  Total cost was maybe $25, most of which was for the wire-stripper, which has many other uses.

The best part was that I learned some new stuff.  I was ridiculously pleased with myself for having gotten this done.  As I will be when I finish retrofitting the fluorescent fixture with LED bulbs. And every silly little bit I learn helps me stay engaged and confident about setting out for parts unknown in this thing.   Saving money is a good thing, but I'd rather spend it on things WAY outside my skill set like getting the rear axle rebuilt, and learn to do the stuff I can.  Besides, it's fun. It's not just a way to get places, it's a cool toy!

Getting un-stuck

The parts are in at Buck's to complete the differential re-build.  That's scheduled for next week Wednesday and Thursday, along with whatever needs to be done about the driver's side air spring.

Total cost -- you don't wanna know.   Srsly.

Moving right along ...  yesterday was a new high in page-views here.  What I started as a way to keep a few friends and family posted on what I was doing, and where, now has readers.  One, even, from Moscow.  Yes, that Moscow, not the one in Idaho.  Welcome, all!  Leave a comment from time to time to remind me you're there.

Recently, Bob Wells has put up a couple of blog posts about a line of small travel trailers: the Runaways.  The first was here and the second (just up today) is here. These are very cool looking little trailers, which can be pulled behind little cars.  There's a picture of one being pulled by a Smart Car, which strikes me as all kinds of unlikely:

Really?!!

As Bob points out, these aren't for everyone.  They're not for me, for a number of reasons which I'll talk about in a minute.  But I find them, and the idea of them, strangely compelling.   One of these would make it possible to get a small SUV to tow it with and use as daily transportation at home.  (I suppose I could tow it with Buttercup the Hyundai Accent, but that strikes me as only a little less unlikely than the Smart Car idea. I've toyed with the idea of towing Buttercup behind the Beast, but that's really unattractive.  Well, the idea is attractive, and people do it all the time, but I've got enough problems navigating in traffic with the Beast by itself.  Not to mention the cost of a decent tow rig (I'm a little sensitive about costs right now!)  The things I find appealing about the Runaway idea is that (1) it'd be new; (2) It'd be so small that I could see around and behind me; (3) I could park it at a campsite and go to town, or some back road, that would be difficult with the Beast.

Here's the problem:  size.  Plus the fact that I've towed trailers and it's not my idea of fun.

Staying in/with one of these strikes me as a kind of hybrid between tent camping and RV-ing.  Here's a picture from Bob' blog (referenced on the right) which shows what it would be like:

Neat, huh?  The killer for me is that the trailer is too low to stand up in.  You'd sleep and haul stuff in the trailer, and essentially live outdoors. Which is fine, except for bugs and bigger critters which want to eat your food, and rain and privacy.  When I first had the idea of getting an RV, my image was of the VW camper vans of yore.  Then I pictured myself in one of those for a multi-day rainstorm in East Somewhere, MT.   Possible?  Sure.  Desirable?  Not for me.  So since I seem to have the option, no matter how appealing the various small-trailer solutions are, I'll leave them for others.

But --- awwwww!  They ARE cute!

A little stuck

It's looking like I won't be able to get out with the Beast for a while, even though a friend has gotten me this cool sticker for the rig.

The problem is a bunch of appointments and obligations here in Tucson.  Work on the roof; cable TV repair on the roof; miscellaneous postponed doctors' appointments.  The repairs that Buck needs to do on the rig.  

So it's looking like early April, which gives me PLENTY of time to do various chores around the house and in the rig.

I'm trying to be all grown-up about it, but I'd really like some road time.  Soon.   Waaaaah!

Something I've been thinking about: traveling alone.  For many years when son Mike was young, we packed him and a big canvas tent in the obligatory academic's Volvo station wagon and headed west.  Donna was a good sport about it, but she's a homebody at heart and pretty much always would rather have been back on home turf.  Now that our ways have parted, travel is a solo enterprise... a lot of my friends are working, and don't have the freedom to get away that I do.  A lot of them aren't entranced by the idea of spending a day or two just watching the clouds go by.  And I'm not all that entranced by the idea of sharing a small space for days on end with just about anybody. But part of the good thing about travel is sharing.  "Hey, lookit!"  "Did you notice that really grumpy-looking guy at the last rest stop?" "Thanks, I'd love it if you brought me a beer!" 

So I'm thinking about ways to get together with other like-minded people without actually living with them. As a newbie, I'd never really thought about "meet-ups" and caravans.   But maybe those are just what I'm looking for.  I need to put some energy into finding ways to share, but not over-share, my time on the road.

Now that there are some experienced RV'ers reading this, any ideas?

R

Planning

Just got off the phone with Buck, my mechanic.  The gears for the differential re-build should be in sometime late next week.  So the Beast will go in probably for much of the week of March 16th to complete the work on the differential, repair the driver's side air spring, and get an oil change.  That suggests that I have this week and next to get the smaller maintenance stuff done that I can do myself.

Next week here in Tucson is the Escapade: an event sponsored by the Escapees RV club.   Seminars and sales tents and stuff.  I think I'll pick a day during the week and get a day pass... the full event would cost a couple hundred bucks, and I'm not convinced it's be worth that.   Not to mention driving clear across the city every day.  This will be my first contact with an RV event!

City of Rocks State Park

I'm beginning to plan my next excursion for somewhere around the week of March 23rd. I'm thinking heading over into western New Mexico and heading north.  There are some interesting places in the general vicinity of Silver City, NM.  Might circle around and come back through Flagstaff, and check out the spot(s) near there which might be good for a 14-day stay during the summer.

The roof repair work on my house is underway, and given an even break with the weather, that should be done before my next trip, giving me a clear slate (and a depleted bank account!) for future travel.

The Beast is safe ...

I had a couple of frankly worried-sounding messages about whether I was really going to get rid of the Beast.  I realized that my last post wasn't completely clear about that, so -- no, the Beast has a secure home with me for a while, at least.   I'm planning another short trip in southern regions of Arizona/NewMexico as soon as I can get some work done on the house, and longer trips up north are next on the agenda.  As soon as it warms up a bit.