Getting Ready for Winter in Northern Nevada

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Jim Melvin

Extend-A-Stay

I moved from Deming, NM up to the Enchanted Trails RV Park just west of Albuquerque, NM on I 40. The main reason I stopped there was to get an Extend-A-Stay propane connection installed. I wanted to be able to hook-up my propane barbeque and also be able to attach an extra propane bottle (5 or 10 gallon) to give me more propane in the winter months. I will especially need it this winter when I am workamping at Amazon which is in Fernley, NV. It has been known to snow there but I am sure it will be rather cold.

I always go to R&L Enterprises that is located within the park at Enchanted Trails RV Park. Ask for Randy and you will get someone who not only knows all about propane but doesn’t charge much for his labor. He only charged me $20 to install all the parts and I had the gas lines made to my specs. He is located in the trailer on the right as you enter the Enchanted Trails RV Park. This is a couple of pics of the installed parts. It is the gold tee.

Barbeque Hook-up

I can now hook up a external propane tank and I can also run my barbeque directly off of it, thus elemenating the need to purchase the small propane tanks I was presently using. This shows the barbeque already hooked up to the propane tank. Those propane tanks cost about $5.12 for two tanks and they did not last very long.

Pelonis Heater – Model HF-0003

On the way to Albuquerque I stopped at the Ace Hardware Store in Socorro, NM where I purchased 2 Pelonis Electric Heaters Model HF-0003. They are on sale for $12.99 thru Oct 30. They are very portable and extremely easy to operate. I heard about these thru the lifewithalazydazerv yahoo group. At $12.99 each I decided to purchase 2 of them as I will be in cold weather this winter as I previously mentioned. I will place one in the front of the rig and one in the rear. It has 3 power settings of 600, 900, 1500 watts. There is also a fan setting that runs with the heat off. This heater has a thermostat control knob which can be adjusted anywhere from minimum to maximum. I tested mine on the 900 watts setting with about medium heat. It takes about 8 amps for that setting. I was amazed at the amount of heat it produces. It almost got too hot. The nice thing is that it is extremely quiet. Here is a pic of one.

Although I am not looking forward to cold weather I feel I am prepared for it and hopefully will be very comfortable inside my home on wheels no matter what the temperature is outside.

Short Stop Over In Dallas Turns Long – @%*&

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Jim Melvin

When my rig was towed into Dallas for repairs the folks at Coach-Net, my Emergency Roadside Service, told me the Ford Dealer would begin working on my rig the very next morning. I was confident that it wouldn’t take that long to perform the repair. However, I was DEAD WRONG!! It took me over a week to just find out the part I should have ordered for the repair. The Ford dealer was able to diagnose the problem the next morning, but later called back to tell me they were having problems locating a part.

The part they were looking for was an intake fuel pump that is inside the tank. Ford no longer manufactured the part and a replacement was a Motorcraft part number. I went on line to see if I could order the part and have it shipped to the dealer. There were four parts stores that said they had the part in stock and all were priced the same. I then ordered it online. Once I completed my order I called them to verify when the part would be shipped. They told me it was too late for Friday’s shipments and they were closed over the weekend so it would ship Monday and the dealer would get it on Tuesday. Soon I would be on the road again.

Not so fast Jimbo! I called the part store on Tuesday to verify that it had been shipped and low and behold they told me they didn’t have one in stock as they had said on their website. I then called the three other parts warehouses on line and none of them had it available. Now what? I called the dealer and asked them if there was an aftermarket replacement part for this fuel pump. I can’t imagine that a ’91 would not have a replacement and that the Ford dealer would not have that information.

My father had three MG’s, one dating back to 1955 which he completely tore apart and rebuilt every part on it. He never had a problem finding any part for his cars. My rig is a ’91 RB Lazy Daze and I couldn’t see why there would be any problem. I was sooooooo wrong! Not only could they not find a replacement part but they had no idea what would replace it.

My frend Steve in the Yahoo lifewithalazydazerv group felt my pain and caming running to my aid. Thank you Steve – dinner at the Balloon Fiesta is on me. He contacted his local parts dealer and they were able to track down the aftermarket replacement part I needed. He emailed me the number and I then looked it up on line, where they have a picture. I called the dealer with this information and Daniel told me he would have to call me back after checking with his technician. A few minutes later he called back to state that his technician and he decided it was the correct replacement part and for me to go ahead and order it.

Now I have it on order through Auto Zone who in turn has to order it through their source. It will take 3-5 days then they will ship it out next day delivery to the Ford Dealer. So I am looking at another week here in Dallas. At least I am saving gas and campground money. LOL!!

I just cancelled my reservation at Storrie Lake State Park in New Mexico. I saved a whopping $11 after paying $10.60 for the cost of making the reservation plus one nights stay of $4. That at least beats a kick in the head!! Now I will just take my time getting into New Mexico and should not require a reservation since the campgrounds won’t be as crowded.

Blogs I Follow – Travels With Andy

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Jim Melvin

I started ready Andy’s Blog Travels With Andy long before I even began RV’ing. At the time, I didn’t own an RV, had never driven an RV and never had even been in an RV except for my parents tent camper back in the early 60’s. I don’t know how I got referred to Andy Baird’s blog, but it changed my life enormously.

When I first began reading about Andy he had purchased his first RV which he named Gerty. I guess I was drawn to Andy for several reasons. One reason was because he, like myself, was also new to the RV’ing world and he was single(also like myself). I was already reading Tioga George’s Blog which convinced me that the RV lifestyle was for me. But I also wanted to reassure myself that I had made the correct decision. That is where Andy’s blog helped me.

I started out reading all his new posts, but then took the time to go back and read every post from the very beginning of his blog. What a story! In my reading I was not necessarily looking for how to do things but more about his thoughts about the RV lifestyle. After all I was in new territory now and didn’t have the slightest idea about anything. I was at least 6 years away from retirement, but had no idea what I was going to do once I did retire. For that matter I was not even thinking of retirement. I had a good job, made good money, had a small apartment down at the beach in San Clemente, CA (which I loved) and really wasn’t even thinking about retiring.

Then I started reading Travels With Andy. The more I read the more interested I became and before long I was hooked. After all, if Andy could do it so could I. Andy’s blog is like going to school and majoring in the RV lifestyle. He covers everything you need to know to successfully enjoy RV’ing. He is especially helpful with ideas that make living in your RV more pleasant. Everything from installing solar panels to organizing your wardrobe.

His blog is well organized showing upgrades to different parts of his rig. Andy does not just tell you how to do various upgrades but shows you as well, with many before and after pictures, so you can see what he actually did. It is worth it’s weight in gold. If you are like me I have trouble visualizing what is required and how the finished product looks.

Andy also put his feelings into his blog. That too is important to me as well as the technical end. He reminisces about his father, friends (both in his pre-RV life and those he has met on the road) and his cats. Being single it helped to make a decision on an RV lifestyle for me.

When I was in Rockhound State Park (just outside of Deming, NM) I had the privilege of meeting Andy. He gave me the grand tour of Skylark (his newest RV) with all the upgrades. I had looked up to this guy for years never thinking I would ever get the opportunity to meet him let alone see his rig. Andy also came over to my rig with my friends Jim and Gayle of Life’s Little Adventure fame and showed us some of the neat things he can do with his IPad.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

I have gotten a lot of very useful information out of Andy’s blog. It is well written and very entertaining. But if Andy doesn’t have enough to occupy his time he is also the moderator for the lifewithalazydaze Yahoo group. Plus he also is the creator of Eureka, a CD-ROM showing all of his ideas and has authored several books.

I don’t have any connection to Andy other then that I am a friend he has met on the road. I just like Andy’s style and the multitude of ideas he has suggested. I think you too will enjoy reading Travels With Andy.