Did mostly nothing all day but hang out by and in the URRV, reading books, cooking meals, puttering around and just trying out the "do nothing" concept. No riding! Spent way too much coming to grips with a "Hate Message" I received from a nut job in Oregon, he didn't like my April Fool's Day posting involving Baboquivari Peak. Anyways, moving on.
Friday, April 3
Displaced from the campsite in the Santa Margarita Ranch and drove through Tucson via the I-10 Super Slab, taking the opportunity to dump tanks and top off the fresh water tank at an RV resort ($20!). Then I kept driving east on I-10 and at Benson, AZ I got propane at a propane dealership. I'd first tried a Loves Travel center but they couldn't get my tank to take in any propane....said something wrong with my propane tank.
Dammit.
So I left the Loves Travel Center and drove a few miles to a propane place to have them try again. The guy said it was just because my onboard propane tank was "warm" from the day's heat and driving and it was fighting the inbound pressure of the propane dispenser. He got it going, slow at first then it sped up to normal fill up speeds as the new propane cooled down the tank I guess. Pheeww, I thought I had a repair job in my future!
I kept driving and eventually got off the I-10 super slab at Bowie, AZ and wound my way north about 20 miles to the Hot Well Dunes BLM Campground. I wanted to see how the motorcycles would do at these dunes. The sand on the trails here is much looser!
That is Javelina Peak in the background.
The slideout had been doing its usual bump when sliding out and while disturbing at first, I'd not found anything wrong with the mechanism underneath. Today as I went to move the slideout, it kind of stopped about half way and I had to to keep pushing the button on/off to nudge it fully out. Dammit.
Then I had an epiphany as I noticed the slideout presented no issues coming back in but did have issues going back out. Hmmmm.....was the awning cover dragging and the slideout having to fight to deploy it?
After a bit of puzzling over the awning's mount and removing screws attaching it to the slideout, I finally got it off. It's going to be a two person job to put it back on, if ever I do. I think I may have to replace it because without it installed the slideout goes out and in just fine, no issues, no bumps, no jerks, nothing! So it was the awning causing the issue.
I'll leave it removed and carry it home in the trailer for further study and thought. Not to mention, I need ladders and another person to install it back up or put up a replacement.
Then again, it's a "nice to have" item, it precludes your having to go up on the roof to sweep the top of the slideout clear of leaves, branches etc before sliding it back in. We'll see.
No real riding this afternoon, was just too spent removing the slideout's awning cover and I'd managed to leave the ignition key in the ON position on Yagi when I dismounted it from the front rack so I had to run the generator to recharge Yagi's battery. Doh!
Yagi's battery did charge up pretty quickly so I took her for a brief spin in the nearby dunes....the traction here is trickier than the dunes in the Imperial Sand Dunes area back in California. More on this tomorrow.
The sunset turned out pretty good as I wandered around the nearby sandy dunes (covered with bushes on the top).
7 comments:
You’ve had a heck of a start to April. So nut job was from Oregon. My apologies. We have our share of them here. The sunsets are lovely as usual. Glad you figured out the slide out issue. An awning seems like an easier fix or maybe cheaper. I’m kind of Leary of slideouts, but they sure make a spacious arrangement
He probably hangs out in Portland Bluekat. The slideout really increases the living space on this rig. Thanks for the comments.
Forget about that troll's uneducated comments, Dom. It's not worth worrying about. Beautiful pics as usual, I especially like the colour explosion of the last one.
Thanks SonjaM, todays riding should help the the troll.
While the slide toppers are nice to have, it’s just one more thing that needs to be maintained. A couple of ours need new fabric due to flapping in the wind. I think it does take several people to replace the fabric. But that’s just based on watching YouTube videos. I’ve used the propane place in Benson quite a few times.
Maintained?!? After it started displaying issues I looked at its manual and there wasn’t anything re periodic maintenance? Or are you referring to keeping it clean?
Wow....lost track of you for the past months....you have been right around our neighborhood! RV living is the perfect form of solitude!
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