Classes of 2008 and 2009

[IYQ]

With my two weather stations, (one in the sun on top of the trailer and one in shade under the trailer) I had some real record breakers today. The one on top recorded 110 degrees. The one under it recorded 107 degrees and the weather service said it only got to 102. I think they are in Kahoots with the Better Business Bureau. Everyone I talked to at happy hour had similar readings to mine.

I got the dog catcher off my back today by getting my hair cut (both of them) It sure feels a lot better. The last haircut I got was a real bummer so I've been letting it grow so the barber would have enough hair to fix all the hack jobs the last one gave me.

I spent an hour or so in the Supermarket today reading all the labels to find food Low in salt so I can keep my blood pressure under control. Man they load the salt into everything. They put a low salt content per serving on the lable then say a serving is 2 ounces of something that most people will eat 6 or 8 ounces of. 2 oz is only 4 level tablespoons full. Canned beans are really loaded with salt and there is no reason for it. I get rid of some of the salt by draining off all the liquid then rinsing the contents with fresh water, but still have trouble staying under 2400 mg a day. There are a few veggies that are labled "NO Salt Added" and they are really low on salt. But the ones you can find are Corn and stuff like that, you shouldn't be eating anyway. I bought a loaf of Brown Rice Bread to try. It's dry and crumbly and not very appetizing at all. It goes down pretty good if I load it with permento Cheese spread but then I've defeated the reason for eating the brown rice bread. I guess I'll just have to work on a way to give up eating totally.

[IYQ]

Another scorcher. 108 in sun 105 in shade. I think I'll stay in today. We are promised cooler weather next week starting about Tuesday. I went to the Verizon store today to see if they could fix the Weather Widget on my smart phone. They couldn't so they just downloaded another one from a different source. So I lost the ability to see what was happening in the area I am driving in without typing in the name of a town. That was the feature I liked most. I used it to see what town I was near while on the road. Now I have to open Navigator to find out and that requires I fiddle with buttons while driving and I don't like that.

 

It's been so hot here that the water in my Fresh Tank is warm enough to shower with, without turning on the Water Heater. I think I'll try sticking my meat on a hot dog fork out the window and see how long it takes to fry. Maybe if I wear a large brim hat and stand outside I can fry some of the fat off my belly without toasting my brain. (Too Lake)

[sandsys]

It's been so hot here that the water in my Fresh Tank is warm enough to shower with, without turning on the Water Heater. I think I'll try sticking my meat on a hot dog fork out the window and see how long it takes to fry.

Good luck with that. An author of a blog I read broke an egg on the asphalt pavement in Austin, TX, to see if it would fry. She was horribly disappointed.

 

Linda Sand

[IYQ]

Good luck with that. An author of a blog I read broke an egg on the asphalt pavement in Austin, TX, to see if it would fry. She was horribly disappointed.

 

Linda Sand

Linda, I gave up and went to Si Senors for dinner with one of the cowgirls here. She would't wait for the steak on the hot dog fork. Ha!

[IYQ]

The weather station on top of my trailer hit 111 today while the one under the trailer hit 107 and most of the day there was very little breeze. Now (6:15 PM) the wind has kicked up to 15 to 20 MPH and the clouds are starting to roll in. The temperature has dropped to 98. Maybe we will get the relief from the heat they have been promising. I sure hope so. I've had enough of the heat. This little air conditioner will only drop the temperature inside the trailer about 15 degrees, Even with it running full blast it still gets into the 90's inside. If I pulled in the slide it would get cooler but then I wouldn't have any place for my comfortable chair. I made a trip to the bank this morning while it was cool to deposit some checks but that has been the height of my day.

[IYQ]

The Forum was down all day yesterday. It must be something I said that broke it. Our weather is finally starting to cool off. It was much cooler yesterday and today than it has been. I was actually able to sit outside and do some carving as long as I stayed in the shade. Tomorrow is my appiontment to get the trailer worked on. The Forcast is for a 50% chance of rain or Thunder showers. I'll hook up tonight and maybe save myself from an unexpected bath. Once I get done with the trailer repairs, I'll be able to head north and get to the high country. But if it stays cool. I might just stay around here where there is more activity. Keep your wheels rolling.

[IYQ]

I just hooked up my trailer to be ready to take it to the RV Repair Place in the morning. After I came back into the trailer I looked at my weather station and it said 107. I about fell over with shock. Then, I remembered I just put the Sending unit of the weather station in the back of the Truck and it's all closed up. I must be getting Old Timers Disease. This morning I called the bank because I couldn't get into my account on line. The lady ask for my user name and I gave her the user name I use on the bank account I have out west. She said that is not what I have listed for your user name. Then the Bells started to ring and sirens blared as I thought to myself "Dummy that's the wrong bank. I apologized for my lapse of memory and thanked her. Then logged into my bank account with no trouble at all. Some days it just doesn't pay to get up.

 

I'm going to have my RV repairman order some of those solar operated black tank vent fans for my trailer. When the wind blows from a certain direction my black tank vents into the trailer when I flush it. At first I thought maybe the vent was blocked. And, it may be. I'll have my RV man check it, but I'll feel better knowing I'll alway have positive air flow reguardless of which way the wind is blowing.

 

Maybe that is why nobody is posting. I gassed em all.

[steved44]

Well, I haven't posted because we had so much trouble. We were at Kansas City and drove the car North and met Mike and Julie half way and had a great lunch. We talked about all of you and we also heard all about their trip to Ireland (like Mike couldn't find any Irish bars around here). We watched our son compete in the Skills USA national event in Kansas City, and it sure was interesting seeing all of the trades vie for titles for their state. The closing ceremony looked like the Olympics with all the signs, music color and Hollywood lights flashing all over. Great fun. Son didn't win anything, but he did a great job and we are proud of him for getting to the competition. He had to be the Oklahoma state winner to qualify. His specialty is precision machining.

 

Well when we left there I noticed we were having problems with our inverter. Dimming lights, all kinds of problems with 12v power. Then the inverter quit, and our 120v stuff was having problems too. We ordered a new inverter and had it shipped ahead of us to Milwaukee. We arrived and pulled into Carol's sisters driveway about 9:00pm after driving all day from Kansas City. We put out one slide to sleep for the night and planned to re-park the bus in the morning when we could see. Well in the morning the slide wouldn't come back in, the generator wouldn't start and the batteries were dead. Nice! I looks like the inverter fried the house

batteries, so I had to get some more today. I still have a problem, and I think tonight we came on a theory of what is going on. I think one of the battery cables that feeds the inverter is bad. Now all I have to do is find it. Hmmmmm sounds like a fun day tomorrow. Aaaaarrrggghhhhhh Steve

[Sandie & Jim]

I'm not posting because we aren't doing anything. Dog sitting while the kids are on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Jim took the truck in for it's yearly check up. Had my colonoscopy yesterday and got that over with. Just nothing much happening. It's hot - can't believe we came north to get out of the heat and the other day Miles City, MT was hotter than Phoenix.

 

And I sure hope everybody gets their rigs fixed and working. And stay cool.

[steved44]

Yikes, it's 102 here today North of Milwaukee, so it looks like we won't get cool until we get to Canada the end of the week.

 

I did manage to fix the bus though. I was right, one of the main cables feeding the inverter was bad. Looks like some acid got under the protective coating on the cable and ran down to the end and corroded the connection. It was still passing through some electricity, just not enough. I checked one end of the cable and was getting 12.7V and on the other end I was only getting 11.9V so that was the culprit! We found a heavy duty wrecker service here that could make me some cables so I replaced two of them. At least I could get at these two cables, not so on some of them. Now everything finally works again. Now all I have to do is try to figure out where all the tools I used on the job go, and find some cold cranberry juice!! Ya Hooo!

[IYQ]

I was at the RV repair Place most of the day. Three of the things I've been trying to get fixed for the last 2 months seem to have fixed themselves. Maybe my trailer just likes the west and says if you go back east I'm not going to work but I will when you get back west. The Slide out has been giving me trouble every since I left here last spring. Today it worked flawlessly. The electric element on my Hot Water tank hasn't worked in months. Today it worked. I had been having some trouble with the black tank gassing. Every since I've been here is Deming it hasn't had a single belch. I put a couple of those CAMCO roof Vents that are like a weather vane on. Now they will always point down wind. We couldn't find any evidence of a clogged vent or of the pipe sliding down into the black tank. So, I hope these vents solve the problem for good. One of the other companies makes a solar operated tank vent that has a small fan in it and draws the air up out of the tank, But that wouldn't work too well at night. The CAMCO vent causes a vortex in the vent pipe when the wind blows past it and sucks the air out.

 

We are having a BBQ for tomorrows celibration. The Manager is fixing 3 kinds of meat. Chicken, Polish Sausage and hamburgers plus two styles of macaroni and cheese. One of the ladies is bring a big pot of sourkraut. Everyone else is bringing what ever they want like salads and desserts. One of the guys is going to read the Declaration of Independance. Then we are going to watch the movie Yanky Doodle Dandy then go out and watch the fireworks display the city of Deming it putting on. That's about all the excitment I can stand for this year.

 

They had to order some parts like a new set of steps for my trailer today. So I won't be able to go anywhere until at least next week. I guess it won't make much difference because it's hot everywhere. We are trying to have a thunder storm right now and it's nice and cool. There is a lot of noise and the wind has kicked up but no rain as yet. I'll keep my fingers crosses and hope it rains hard enough that it doesn't make mud out of the dust that is blowing.

[Guest coldsmoke]

Happy 4th of July everyone, have a great day and stay safe!!!

[palamine]

Happy 4th of July everyone, have a great day and stay safe!!!

 

From us too. Especially those of you who remembered our Canada Day (July 1st).

[palamine]

Happy 4th of July everyone, have a great day and stay safe!!!

 

From us too. Especially those of you who remembered our Canada Day (July 1st).

[IYQ]

Happy Independence Day. Where else can you be a Homeless, Unemployed Drifter and Love it. Hope you all didn't put on too much extra weight. I think I over did it a little. We had Chicken, Polish Sausage and Cheeseburgers plus about 20 side dishes and 10 or 12 desserts. Now I can starve myself for the next week to make up for it. It was nice and cool tonight (74) we set up lawn chairs on the back corner of the RV Park and watched fireworks all around us. The main display at the air port was pretty empressive for such a small town. People were asked not to put on private displays because of the fire danger but that didn't stop them. They were shooting up rockets in every direction. I thought I was going to have to dig a fox hole there for a while. We had a nice rain during the night last night. It sure cooled things down. There is about a 50% chance for more rain for the next couple of nights. I slept right through the rain but the other told me all about the thunder and lightening during the night. They said the rain really came down hard and for a long while. We sure can use it. I hope the areas with the fires got some of it. Be safe and enjoy every minute of your life.

[steved44]

It was hotter than a pistol in Milwaukee on the 4th for sure. We had a party at Carols nieces house and about 40 people or so attended. It was 102 and we were all sweating up a storm, but the food was great and beer cold so we managed. Their home is right across from a school where they have a fireworks display, so we had front row seats for that. It was a great show and we had a good time, but i was ready to get out of the heat.

We were parked in Carol's sisters front yard on 20a and that was just barely enough power to keep our bedroom A/C going. Today we left and headed North. We are at a county park in Escanaba, MI and are plugged into 50a power for a change. The new inverter is working great, and even the microwave sounds better. I got a Magnum pure sine wave inverter, and you can tell the difference over the old modified sine wave Xantrax that crapped out on us. The remote is much better too. No more idiot lights!

Nice drive up HY41 into the UP, only a two lane road, but nice wide shoulders and NO TRAFFIC! It's finally getting a little cooler up here. We were over 100 degrees all the way past Green Bay, and not until we started getting around on the North side of Lake Michigan did the temp finally go down about 10 degrees. The A/C finally shut off and it looks like the night will be much better than we've had in the last couple of weeks. Tomorrow we will head into Canada and on toward the East. Happy travels Steve

 

Oh yeah, it looks like Kay & Dan got some new wheels! Nice rig!!

[IYQ]

Nice day today. Not too hot but a little humid for the west. I was hoping we'd get some more rain out of it but it's dry as a bone right here but you could see where it was raining near by. I went to town to get some Kleenex and a few groceries. Had lunch at a new restaurant and I'll bet it doesn't stay open a whole year. It wasn't very good and the last thing this town needs is another Mexican Restaurant. I ordered a chicken breast sandwich about 10 minutes later the waiter came and said no Chicken breast. So I ordered a fruit salad. !0 minutes late the waiter came and said no fruit. So I told him BBQ sandwich but NO potatoes, slaw instead. About 15 minutes late he brought the sandwich loaded with fries and no slaw. I told him I didn't want potatoes I wanted slaw. He went back to the kitchen and came back and said No Slaw. So I ate the sandwich and left the fries on the plate. I was sitting there all finished eating, drinking some of the tea when he came back with a big bowl with about two tablespoons of slaw in it. Oh, Well it gave me something to write about. I came back home and found that I'd forgot to get the Kleenex so back to town again. This evening I went to the Adobe Deli with the office manager here at the park. We had Pork Chops that were about 2 inches thick and very juicy and tender. The Onion soup was delicious but it sure sent my blood pressure up. It was a little on the salty side. All in all, a very good meal. The office manager said she hasn't had a meal like that since the last time I was here. That time we just had lunch (at the same restaurant).

[IYQ]

I just posted and the forum ate it so I ain't typing it again.

 

I posted then checked to see if it posted and it didn't so I hit the post button again and it still didn't post. I wrote the above line and it posted both messages. It just isn't my day.

Edited July 6, 2012 by IYQ

[Wanderin]

Ugh ... 4 posts. I kept getting a forum error message. delete delete delete

Edited July 7, 2012 by Wanderin'

[Wanderin]

delete

Edited July 7, 2012 by Wanderin'

[Wanderin]

delete

Edited July 7, 2012 by Wanderin'

[Wanderin]

It just dawned on me that I haven't received any notices in my email since the end of June about new messages. There was one personal message showing from Coldsmoke but I couldn't pick it up. Then, when I tried to post a comment, it kept coming back with database error but showed that a new comment might have been made. However, I couldn't see it. So, here goes again. Anyone else having an issue?

 

Summer has finally arrived. We've been teased with a few nice days now and again but it's July and the best days are ahead. This is when we're pretty thankful to be around this area. The rest of you start complaining about the heat and we get to start bragging. Temperatures are going to hang around mid-80's for as far ahead as the weatherman is willing to predict ... we know his accuracy level though.

 

I just looked at class map and it looks like most of us are getting behind on updating. Us too .... we've moved around a bit but are within about 50 miles of our peg so haven't adjusted it. Now I know the Weavers are hundreds of miles away from their peg. I'm just trying to see where everyone is at.

 

Kay and Dan -- where are you? Are you still heading north?

[IYQ]

The software on the forum is all messed up. To get to the last page I have to enter it into the dropdown window ant the left end of the page line on the top of the screen. The page line says there are 137 pages but there are 138. If you type in 138 in the drop down pages box you can get the the last page. You probably won't be able to see this post because it's on the last page.

[IYQ]

The software on the forum is all messed up. To get to the last page I have to enter it into the dropdown window ant the left end of the page line on the top of the screen. The page line says there are 137 pages but there are 138. If you type in 138 in the drop down pages box you can get the the last page. You probably won't be able to see this post because it's on the last page.

I see they got it fixed. It came up on 138 the very first try that time.

[IYQ]

I made a thing today to shade my batteries. When it gets up there around 105 they were getting so hot that they boiled when charging. That can shorten there life by a bunch. I also turned off all my solar panels because the controller I got has the idea that they need at least an hour of full charge voltage every day whether they have been used or not. The controller in my inverter goes by the actually voltage and amount of current flow so it just keeps them on a trickle charge. Now with the shade over the top of my batteries, they should run a lot cooler. Other than sweating so much that my T-shirt was actually dripping. I managed to get the job done all in one day. The humidity got up to 47% today and even though the temperature only got to 92 the sweat just rolled off me when I tried to work outside. I drank about 2 gallons of water. If that had been cranberry juice I'd be feeling pretty good right about now.