Getting Ready, & The Model T Club Tour

Model T Ford

So, I'm in the driveway packing the truck & trailer for my next trip (more later) and Model T Fords started going by.  Now I live on a rarely busy county road that makes a loop along Lake Ontario, but is usually not driven unless you are visiting on the road.  The one exception is during the winter the main road NY 104 between Rochester & Oswego (part of the Seaway Trail) may close due to heavy snow or an accident & the traffic is routed along our road.

They had signs on the vehicles, but went by to quickly for me to read them.  As I was driving back from my noontime swim I saw a couple of them stopped along side the road.  I stopped and found that they are all members of The Model T Ford Club, International.  They are doing a week long tour of the area with a base in Auburn, NY.  There are around 250 of them, and they have been going by all day.

A couple more photos:

As I mentioned at the start of the post, I'm packing for a trip.  This will be the first camping trip with the new 2016 Tacoma.  I leave Friday morning, and have just about everything but the last minute items packed.  I want to weigh the works, and the transfer station is not open on Fridays, so I have to weigh it tomorrow.

The trip is a short one - I'm meeting Don & Anne (the friends I went to Alaska with last June & July) on Friday in eastern NY, then making a couple of 200 mile hops to Lamoine State Park in Maine where we will meet Don's brother & head the next day to Acadia National Park.  We will be there for a week, then spend another week exploring New England.

I have reservations for the truck to go to Nantucket on August 9th for 2 weeks visiting my brother (without the trailer; the ferry price is bad enough with just the truck!) then back to Oswego, pick up the trailer & head to "Pickin in the Pasture", a bluegrass festival in the Finger Lakes.

After that I get to relax until the end of October when I'm heading South for the winter.

Until next time -

Gap Mangione Concert at Sodus Point

Concert at the Lighthouse

Not a lot happening with travel but I did attend a 4th of July weekend concert with friends at the Sodus Point Lighthouse.  The season opener was a concert by the Gap Mangione band.  Lots of big band & jazz numbers, including a few made popular by Gap's older brother Chuck, who did many concerts in Waterman Theatre, the SUNY Oswego facility I retired from.

The park was very crowded - Dick had to park 4 blocks away.  Lots of vendors, and  as you can see from the photo, while we got to the park early, we ended up sitting quite a ways back from the pavilion. A warm, cloudless day - glad I had my chair with the built in sun shade.

As to the trailer & projects, I did install the wireless back up camera on the trailer but am unhappy with the 7" mirror mounted monitor.  It image is so dim it is unusable, even with the brightness turned all the way up.  I'm going to call the company on Tuesday to see if I can exchange it for a brighter version.

I'm also less than pleased with the ARE topper I purchased for the truck.  The inside finish inside is quite rough, particularly in the corners - shards of glass fibers are sticking out just waiting to stab you.  It also leaks in light rain.

Next week I'm planning to load up the truck & trailer for a trip (although I won't be leaving for Maine until the 20th) to determine how much drop or rise I need with the stinger holding the hitch.  The suspension of the Tacoma is softer than a full sized truck, so the only way to see how much drop & if I'll need the weight distribution hitch is to do a test setup.  I did tow the trailer around 60 miles with a 1" drop stinger & it went well, however the truck bed was empty.

Some Trailer Modifications

The New Power Vent

A few more projects for improving the trailer.  The 10" bathroom vent was becoming brittle from Arizona sunlight, and needed to be recaulked a couple of times to stop leaks.  Rather than replacing it with the same thing, I purchased a kit to switch to the power vent Escape is currently installing in their trailers.  Here is a page describing the process.

I also changed the stock GoPower solar charge controller to a Blue Skies Sun Charger 30. The advantage of the Blue Skies controller is the voltages can be set to match my Interstate batteries.  The GoPower is non adjustable, and all but the float voltage was too low.  A photo of the new controller is on my Trailer Modifications page - 2016 Modifications.

Until Next Time -

A New Tow Vehicle!

2016 Toyota Tacoma Off Road

Not a lot is happening with the trailer but it has a new tow vehicle.  While I loved the RAV4 (except for the small gas tank) it has 134,000 miles on it & while they have a reputation of going for far more than that, I worry about being stuck with a major repair or replacement while traveling (Although I probably should have replaced it in Arizona - the same configuration was $1800.00 less in Yuma).

In any case, I'm now the proud owner of a 2016 Tacoma short bed, off road.  Even without the bells & whistles "premium" packages, it is pretty amazing how far dashboards have come since the 2010 RAV4.  It is going to take a few weeks to adjust.  My favorite gimmick is the door unlocks when I get within 2' of it.  The "key" stays in my pocket - just push a button.  My iPhone bluetooth to the Tacoma, loading all my contacts, etc.  It even "rings" over the vehicle sound system with my iPhone ring tones. I'm sure that any of you that have a new vehicle are not all that impressed, but I am!

As to the trailer, I have replaced the Go Power solar controller with a Blue Skies SB 3000i.  It can be adjusted to meet the charging specifications for the Interstate 6V batteries, while the Go Power is pretty much factory set to lower voltages.

I also washed & waxed it, added a stiffer mattress, and did a major cleaning - lots of desert dust in all the cracks & crevices.

The plans for a trip to New England are firming up - I'll probably be heading out around July 20th with the trailer, haul it back to Oswego, then go for a visit on Nantucket with my brother in August.

Until Next time -

Spring Report

Canada Geese & Goslings

Unfortunately, I'm not on a trip, but took a couple of photos of some Canada Geese families at the swamp near my house.

It has been a cool & wet April here in Oswego; I'm still trying to recover from the 70°F days in the South.  I have settled into a full sized house & started up some of my "home" routines - delivering Meals on Wheels, swimming laps at the college pool, and, of course, fish sandwiches at Rudy's, our local on-the-lake fish stand.

I took the riding mower to be serviced - at the end of the season it started blowing smoke.  Since the grass didn't stop growing while the mower was gone, I forced up my old Craftsman walk behind mower to knock down the first Spring growth.  Hard to believe, but for a mower that has not been run in 10 years it only took three pulls to get it running!  Even though it has powered wheels, pushing it around the yard sure makes me appreciate the riding mower...  

Until next time -