Cooling unit on Tuesday!

Mustard Field, Kalispell, MT

Things are looking up - Camping World tells me the replacement cooling unit will be in either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.  If it is early enough to get have it replaced on Tuesday, I might even make part of the Tennessee Rally. Of course, things don't always go as planned, but I'm hopeful.

I'm going to weight the trailer again now that it is packed.  I checked the tongue weight - a little high, so I'm going to have to move some stuff from the front to the back.  I'll have a better idea of what I need to change after getting both weights.

Till next time -

So Much For Planning!

Pectol's Pyramid, Capitol Reef National Park, UT

I finished with doctor & dentist appointments, let "Meals of Wheels" I wouldn't be delivering for 5 months, cancelled a bunch of meetings scheduled throughout the Spring & Summer, and started packing the trailer. Since it takes a day or so for the refrigerator to get cold, I turned it on yesterday morning. I also added bleach & water to the fresh water system to sanitize it.

Then it was off for a swim, and back to the house to plan how to schedule stops between leaving Oswego & the first day of the Egg Camping Club's "5th Annual SE Spring Eggscursion April 19 - 22." Since I like to drive 200 miles or so per day & stop in early afternoon I planned my stops & left room for 4 days in Washington, DC.  I've been there a number of times since my daughter lived there up until last April, however we never spent much time in museums & I decided  to see some.  So, the schedule was set & I'm leaving on Thursday.  Yea, WAS has become the operative word.


The first thing I noticed was that the remote thermometer sensor in both the freezer & the refrigerator sections was going up, not down - sure never saw that before.  In the past it never took a full 24 hours to reach normal temperatures, if fact it was usually ready to go in 10 - 12 hours.  When I went to bed it was still 5° above the outside temperature.

This morning it was at the outside temperature - 44°F.  I did the usually wiggling of things, shaking the entire trailer to get things flowing, switched back & forth between electric & gas, etc & no change.  The chimney was getting hot on gas or electric, I could hear gurgling in the coils, so it seemed like at least part of it was working, but still no cooling.

Made a call & off we went to Camping World in Syracuse, the nearest Dometic repair facility.  The end result?  A bad cooling unit - unusual in a 12 month old trailer.  The good - it is under warranty.  Another good - Maybe the bad cooling unit is part of the problem I had this summer with erratic cooling. The bad - A call to Dometic still has not been returned after 4 hours as to the availability of a replacement.  Camping World said it would take a couple of days if it is in stock at Dometic, otherwise at least a week or two.  Rather than wait to hear on the availability, I headed home & will wait for a call when Camping World hears from Dometic. Since it isn't all that popular size (5 cu. ft.) I'm not optimistic. Oh well, at least I didn't make reservations other than the July rally in Oregon & they promise me it will be repaired by then!

I did get to try my new "Grand Areo Towing Mirrors". They took a bit of time to set up, but there is very little shake even at 60mph, and they stayed in place & in adjustment over the rough roads & wind between here & Syracuse.

So, I'm back in Oswego with a half packed, sanitized trailer but who knows when I'll be ready to go!

Till next time...

Banks! (Another non RVing Post)

Chipmunk & Peanuts

I have some advice for all of you.  DO NOT LET YOUR BANK BE SOLD!!! 

While I can't really do anything about it, my bank that I've been using for the last 25 years has decided to get out of upstate NY.  Since there isn't a branch of the new bank they sold their accounts to in Oswego, the new one with my checking & savings accounts will be in the same building with the same people as the old bank. So far, so good.

While they announced the sale almost a year ago, everything went on hold while the FTC or who ever deals with what bank can be in what part of the country decided if the deal could go through. Unfortunately, they just announced that the actual change will take place in mid May when I will be at least 2000 miles away.

1st interesting point - they sold the checking & savings accounts to one bank & the Credit Cards to another so discussing any problems means dealing with 3 banks. The next interesting problem - all current credit cards, debit cards & terminal access cards will stop working as of May 20th, as will on line access to the accounts.  Even my "high interest" (insert laughter here) on line savings account which is only indirectly connected to the old bank (I have to use the ATM to make deposits or withdrawals, not a teller) will be transferred to the new bank.

According to the old bank, no problem; the new banks will send new cards well prior to that date which can be activated after the 18th.  Since the cards must be activated before use (from your home phone) it is a bit of a problem for me.  They also announced that any automatic deposits, withdrawals  will probably stop working and on line bill paying will definitely stop working on the 20th. Since I have my retirement funds electronically deposited & pay all my bills with on line bill paying, that is going to be a problem.

Even if I could figure out where I'd be for long enough to give them an address & wait for mail, they will not send cards to a post office general delivery, so there is no practical way for me to get the new cards. The new bank is fairly local - branches in NY & PA only, so out west I don't have the ability to visit a branch.

The old bank says that's an interesting problem - talk to the new bank; the new banks say they don't have much information from the old bank so they don't know yet how smoothly the transfer will take place. They do assure me that they won't lose any of my money, however I may not be able to access any of it until I return in September.

My rather ridiculous solution is to open new accounts at a branch of the new bank located in a near by town, apply for new credit cards with the new branch, re enter all the on line bill paying information, change all the automatic payments & withdrawals to the new accounts (hoping that I remember all of them, particularly the ones I only pay every 6 months or once a year), transfer enough money to cover the expenses of the trip to the new accounts (in case I can't access the on line savings account after the 20th), & hope that when I get back I can deal with all the duplicate accounts.  My current bank tells me there will be no problem letting the replacement credit cards that will be mailed to me by May 18th sit unactivated until I get back in September. I wonder what effect all the new cards & accounts will have on my credit score?

At least the people at the new bank have been great.  Not much they can do about the unknowns, but they have been more than helpful setting up things in the short time I have before I leave. The District Manager says she can solve any problems that crop up over the phone - sure hope so!

All this makes you think about how "convenient" electronic banking has become.  Sure, you can pay bills from any place you can access the internet, withdraw money anywhere in the country, or world for that matter, but making a change sure is a lot of work!

Till next time!

Introducing the "Safari Wagon"

The "Safari Wagon"

Well, I can now call the RAV4 the "Safari Wagon" (Yes, the forsythia are in bloom & it is March.) A very strange spring for Oswego! Anyhow, while not really a trailer modification, the job is done -  (A tire cover is on order)

And, I definitely need to get started on this trip - I have too much time on my hands. I added a under sink filter to the trailer so if I hook up to or pick up some bad tasting water I can still enjoy my coffee. The first filter I tried was a Whirlpool one designed for refrigerators (there isn't enough room in the utility compartment for a standard under sink filter). While I liked the fact that you could change the Whirlpool filter with a 1/4 turn twist, it leaked at the "O" rings. I got on Whirlpool's web page, started a "Chat" session with them & they insisted that they didn't make the product (even though their trademark is on the instructions). Eventually, they gave me an 800 number to call to get help. Called, and they insisted that the refrigerator filter was a whole house filter. Eventually, they told me to go back to Loews & buy replacement "O" rings (this is for a brand new filter). Went to Lowes & they gave me a replacement cartridge to try - still leaked, so I pulled & returned it & replaced it with a standard refrigerator in line filter. More difficult to change, but for the amount of water I'll use it probably won't need to be changed more than once a year so it will work.

A photo of the filter is boring - here is one of the faucet:

The New Filtered Water Faucet

Hopefully, this is the last addition to this page, at least until I get underway heading south!

Well, a new day, a new project. As I've mentioned earlier, I don't use the 4 person dinette as a table, but leave it set up as a bed. In fact, I've removed the posts & hardware from the table both to save a bit of weight & so clothing baskets can slide underneath the bed.

While the cushions that are supplied with the Escape work well for sitting, they are too hard for sleeping. My solution for the last couple of trips has been to add a 2" Memory Foam Topper. That made it comfortable, but caused 2 minor problems - the folding table hit the topper and wouldn't fold to its normal storage position. In addition, the AC receptacle on the sink was partially covered by the topper.

My solution was to replace the 4" cushions with a gym mat. We used the gym mat under our air mattress when tent camping - it has a hard & soft side & worked well in the tent so why not try it in the trailer? I has to remove 2 sections & add a round to the top rear corner, but it was 4' wide & fit almost perfectly. Another advantage is it folds in sections, so it is easy to roll back the mattress/topper, fold as many sections as necessary, and get into the under seat storage areas. (Sorry for the shadow in most of the photos - I'm using the Nikon D700's built in flash & it doesn't get along well with the 17 - 35mm zoom lens.)

The Gym Mat

Folded in Place

Opened

Folded Back to Access Underseat Storage

I also added a raked mattress to make my doctor happy - some stomach problemsI've been having  seem to improve sleeping on a slant. I had to modify the topper cover to fit both it & the tapered mattress, but in the end it works, and is comfortable. That space at the bottom is on purpose - it lets my toes hang off the bottom!

Topper & Tapered Mattress

There is one last project for me to start -

I've given up on the Run Flat tires that came with the RAV4 Sport model.  As I've previously stated, it was a big mistake - the run flat tires are expensive, only last 20K miles, produce a harsh ride, and are completely useless in snow (while we didn't have a winter this winter, we usually get close to 200" each season).

I purchased a rim & 5 Goodyear Assure Gas Saver tires (for just about what I would have paid for 4 run flats). I'm building a mount to store the new spare tire on the roof rack. While it fits inside the back of the RAV4, it takes up too much space. Since I don't want to spend the $2000.00 quoted by the local junk yard for a RAV4 rear door with a spare tire "bump", let along the hassles of getting it painted, mounted, etc the roof looks good. I suspect it will hurt the gas mileage, particularly when the trailer is not attached, but if it is too bad, I can always move it back inside. Who knows, it may break up the air flow and improve things with the trailer behind it!