Itchy feet in the winter

I've been really wanting to get out for a while. No particular destination in mind, just ... out.  One of the things I leaned on my short trip to Buenos Aires sanctuary a while back is that short trips are a bother.  The "overhead" of getting ready to go on the road and packing up after I get home is pretty much the same whether I'm going out for a few days or a few weeks.  And for a few days, it's just not worth it.

I've felt like I want to get out for a few weeks now.  But there have been just enough things here in Tucson which demanded attention (like, for example, at the moment: Getting the hot tub fixed!) that it's been hard to see how to clear anything like a week.  And then there's the where to go issue.  My thought was to go over to the Quartzite area near the AZ/CA border. Every RV'er in the world goes there right after Christmas, near as I can tell, and this is not an appealing prospect:

The Really Big RV show in Quartzite, AZ in  January

So I'm considering options.  Factors are temperature, crowding, relative closeness. And it would be nice if the scenery was attractive. I'll share my thoughts when I have them.

Still here, still home

Progress reports:

The refinishing project for some of the kitchen area cabinets is done. I didn't take a picture, but when I do I'll come back to this post and edit it and the picture will go about here:

[insert picture]

Progress on the tire maintenance/repair project:  I resolved the questions about a compressor.  The only 12V air pumps I could find were really expensive.  So I opened for a small 120V compressor, which was on sale at Amazon.  I've been playing with it on and off and it does the job, although it does take a long time to take the rear tires all the way up to 80# like they want. This means I do have to run the generator in the rig to make AC for it, but I figure that's OK.  The genset should get more regular use anyway. So the only remaining part of the tire projects is a log wrench.  The universal problem is that shops use pneumatic impact wrenches and almost always put the lug nuts on way to tight.  The rated lug-nut torque for my Ford E450 Superduty chassis is about 150 foot-pounds, and apparently it's not unusual for tire guys to put them on with something like 400 foot-pounds.

So I'm picturing myself in a pouring rain, trying to remove one of the inside tires on my dually  rear axle.  Yuck!  There are lots of alternatives, ranging from a monster lug wrench to a breaker bar to my own pneumatic lug wrench (I've got the compressor, right?)  Some of these are expensive, some not.  This project has consumed a chunk of travel change already, but I'm almost done. With the compressor, it should be easier to keep the tires properly inflated, which will keep them happier and last longer and make it less likely that one will fail on the road.

It's looking less likely that I'll get on the road before Christmas.  Scattered appointments and holiday social events and some damn cold weather are interfering.  We had a stretch of nice warm weather which I talked about in the previous post; now we're having a stretch of record cold, with overnight temps in the 20s. And there's no place much warmer closer than, say, Florida.  Not going there.

So maybe it's time for ...

Merry Christmas!

Still in Tucson. Good weather for maintenance chores.

In Tucson, enjoying the great late Fall weather.  After a cold snap when the overnight temps got down below freezing for 4 days in a row, we're in a stretch of above-normal temps: mid- to upper-70s during the day.  Cloudless.  Calm.

I finished the task of re-finishing cabinet drawers and doors in the kitchen area.  Sure looks all shiny bright!  When I was installing them at the rig in the storage lot, I decided to listen to some tunes.  Nope!  Radio -- new, shiny, feature-filled radio -- was dead.  Dang!  So I added a trip to the guys who installed it to my to-do list. (I did check the fuse; was OK)  A day or two later, I decided to move the rig over a couple of feet to give me some more space between me and the TT which had just parked next to me. Nope!  The real problem was a dead starter battery.  WTF?  (If you know what that means you won't be offended.  The rest of you, don't ask!) I pulled the little Hyundai over to jump-start the Beast.

It started immediately.  Nice!  Two added "extras" when it did:  the 4-way flashers came on, and the radio lit up. I figure I'd left the flashers on for some inexplicable reason, which is what depleted the battery over several weeks.  And it turns out that there are two power supplies to one of these modern "car stereos."  One is the actual power for the unit, the other is to maintain the unit's memory for various settings.  BOTH must be connected for the unit to work.  In my situation, the main power is connected to the 12V system in the coach, and the memory power comes from the front starter battery.  So when the starter battery gave out, no tunes.  Live and learn. I ran the engine for a couple of hours while I was doing other chores, which charged up the battery enough so that it started right up the next day.

I'm making slow progress on the tire repair kit project.  I got a bottle jack, which turned out to be the wrong size. Returned it to Amazon, got one that's the right size.  Got a lug wrench.  Wrong size.  Returned it and I'm pondering alternatives.  Thinking about how to get the spare tire off its rear-deck mount when there's stuff on the adjacent storage rack.  Thinking about a more powerful air compressor to air up tires (and air bags -- remember??) when I'm out.  All of this is a considerable expense which (aside from maintaining air pressure on a routine basis) is by way of insurance.  Money I'm spending on things I may never use.

Almost ready to hit the road, and the most likely destination is still Quartzite.  Late next week?

And another thing ...

Since I'm not going anywhere right away, I'm thinking about what the unsolved issues are for me when I do get out.  I'm almost done with refinishing the doors and drawer fronts in the kitchen area, and it does make a nice cosmetic difference.  I've got the little Verizon device which gives me voice communication when I don't have ATT.  I'm working on the tire repair kit.

I do need some leveling blocks and chocks.

I'm pretty sure I want/need a new backup camera rig.  The Beast came with a hard-wired rear view camera which is mounted down low.  I'm pretty sure the intent was to facilitate hooking up a tow vehicle.  It's not real useful, particularly since its view is blocked by the rear cargo rack or (when it's mounted) the bike rack.  Mostly what I want is something which will give me better visibility in the passenger-side blind spot, so I can merge right with greater confidence.   It'd also be great to see the rear racks so I don't back up into something when I'm maneuvering in close quarters.

An RV is like a boat, eh?  A hole in there water you throw money into.

Preparing for next summer

I fully expect to get out in the rig this winter; I mentioned that I'm thinking of going over to Quartzite before the huge crowds around January events over there.

I'm thinking that I may spend more time on the road next summer than I did this year.  If I have a plan (firm as Jello, as Nina from the Wheeling It blog would say), it's to focus on New Mexico.  It's close enough to home that I can get to interesting places without spending days and days getting there; it has some really cool cities like Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and my friends the Reillys are in up in White Rock near Los Alamos.

There are some issues I've been thinking about for a while.  One is tire problems.  If I have a tire go out on me while I'm on paved road, I'm pretty confident that my AAA Plus RV coverage will help get me going again.  The tires on the rig are reasonably new, and look in good shape.  But what if -- what if I'd had a tire go out on me while humping down the seemingly endless dirt road to Hatch Point in Canyonlands?  I don't have a jack, which strikes me as tempting fate in a really big way. Kinda stupid, actually.  I posed this question to the rv.net Class C forum, and got some interesting advice.  Here's the tire trouble kit which a boondocking RV'er from New Mexico has assembled:

This represents a significant cost, and like any insurance, it's hoped that it'd never be used.  I already have the Viair 88P pump.  The bottle jack makes sense.  The electric impact wrench is probably the biggest expense, and the biggest "if."  I'm thinking of approaching this in stages:  get the jack, see how it works with the road clearances in my rig, see if I can get the lug nuts off my wheels without power tools.

In general, it seems to make sense to get over my newbie tire-changing anxieties in a nice safe storage lot in Tucson than out in someplace wild and wonderful. I'll keep y'all posted.

Looking forward

The trip to Boulder via Southwest and Fox rental car was a success.  Getting to Boulder from the airport wasn't much fun; Google Maps got me royally lost in an industrial area, but once I got on Rte 36 all was well.

Next RV trip:  I thinking about a few days over in the Quartzite area just to see what it's like before the hordes descend in January.  It's one of the few nearby areas with warm (-ish) temps this time of year.

My current DIY project for the rig is refinishing the doors and drawer fronts in the kitchen area, which are looking pretty run-down.  Here's a sample:

Now here's the problem.  It's not entirely apparent in the picture, but the finish on the drawer is much glossier and a bit darker than the rest of the "cabinet."  I put that in quotes because it's some kind of faux wood-finish stuff, which is pretty banged up after 16 years of use.  I have the other elements -- two drawers, two cabinet doors -- all stripped and ready to be finished.  Plan A: make them like the one drawer I did. Plan B: Get some new stain, re-strip the one I already did, and make them not-so-glossy and closer to the background finish.  Plan C: re-do them all in a much darker finish, not trying for a match at all.

Good thing I'm in no hurry, and enjoy this kind of thing.

Hmmm.. I suppose I could rip the whole thing out and build new cabinets out of real wood. Nah!

Quick trip to see the family

Headed for Boulder CO to see family before the weather and holiday travel crowds make it less pleasant.

Flying, rental car -- what an odd way to travel *grin*