Rigadoon has an Adventure

Nov 7, 2017

Leaving Russel Cave, I went south to Arab, AL (pronounced A-rab) for the night.  Rigadoon was making a curious ticking noise so after Googling a bit I decided to get the oil changed in case sticky valves were part of the issue.  For some reason Walmart thinks the truck wants 5w- oil but the manual suggests 10w- or 20w- and I hoped thicker oil might help.  Post oil-change the truck was making the same noise and after consulting the WM auto guys (who clarified that they weren't qualified to comment) I decided to drive to Cullman, the first town big enough to have a mechanic.

Well, in the metropolis of Baileyton, a place not even large enough to be called a wide spot, the dash lights came on and I pulled over into the edge of someone's driveway.  Popped the hood and discovered the shreds of the alternator belt calmly NOT spinning anything anymore.  Well, I can't fix this and I have no cell reception so kindness-of-strangers here I come.

First house across the street had no one home so I trudged up the long driveway where I was parked.  This is farm country and houses are back aways.

Lovely older woman opened the door and invited me in to use the phone when I explained the problem.  Her husband was also there and had some kind of dementia.  He kept politely but firmly demanding to know who I was and I kept politely explaining that I needed the phone for a toll-free call.

Except their phone didn't work.  After multiple tries that only resulted in a dial tone the woman explained that the phone had been acting up lately.

Okay....

I thanked her and went back to the road to ponder waiting for someone to stop.  Decided that was a waste of time and pointed my feet back in the direction I came where a road branched off the little highway and some houses were visible.  And a business!  Woot!   Mimi's Hair Salon (run by Madge, I think) is in the back room of her house and she was kind enough to let me in while doing a color-and-cut and let me use her phone.

It took more than an hour, but Progressive located the flat bed I wanted (remember the pic of the rv in Virginia?   wanted to keep my valves and tanks in one piece).  They also phoned the potential auto shop to verify they could work on my vehicle since I didn't want an rv shop.

I thanked Madge and trekked back up the road to wait for the tow which was 90 minutes away.  I played on the ipad and the cats napped while we waited.  When the guy showed up he was awesome. I fussed about smooshing the back end and he nodded and said he would be careful.  The guy watched the back end as he winched the truck up and when it got close to the ground he put boards under the wheels to give it enough lift to keep from hitting the ground.

The entire area has no street names, only numbers, and the tow driver had to call someone to get directions.  He was at least 80 and the inside of his truck was held together with duct tape in places but it ran and and he seemed pretty sturdy as well.

I was a little nervous when we made it to the shop but I guess combining home and business is common in that area and the owner came out with a big grin, saying that his uncle had the same camper.  Well, not quite the same, his uncle's is a V6 but the guy knew what he was doing anyway.

I had him replace all the belts since they all had to come out anyway and another of them was all cracked and ready to break on some other deserted rural highway.  The only belt in good shape was the AC belt - and I don't use the AC (not updated).  Ah well.  Alabama did herself proud taking care of hapless traveler.

Heating Up In the North

September 5 - 6, 2017

Leaving Toronto was even less fun than getting there.  I thought the going might be easier if I stayed out of the center of town but not only was there a ton of construction, the roads are also potholed and narrow in some places. To make things even more exciting there was a storm building and the bumpy roads in the city seemed to have made the engine heating issue even worse.  The truck was running warm even on the flats and being buffeted by winds while worrying about the rig made me very unhappy. 

I did a roundabout route into Hamilton avoiding the Skyway Bridge and the accompanying gusts of wind. Of course, since I didn't have any cell reception in Canada and only had a vague idea of where Walmart was in the city, I did a lot of slow driving until I got close enough to allow Google Maps to show me the location.  I originally looked up the location in the U.S. and this allowed Maps to show me more detail of that area.

I also discovered that Canada celebrates labor day by allowing laborers to stay home.  Lots of closed businesses and presumably fewer people on the roads. Other than the plants from Lowes being rolled across the road by the wind, it seems like a more civilized way to have a holiday.

Parked for the night and decided to go back to Niagara instead of seeing what Fort Erie was all about in case the heating situation got even worse.  Ah well, another thing to do later.

The border crossing was just as easy although the U.S. border guard spent a little more time looking in my vehicle.  It seems like a pointless exercise to me since he just kind of peeked and maybe opened a cupboard or something.  Really, if I were going to smuggle something into the country I wouldn't leave it lying on floor in plain sight. 

Or maybe no sensible smuggler would be driving a thirty year old vehicle.

Filled up with gas as soon as I was back in the states (SOOO expensive in Canada!) And drove towards Buffalo.  I figured I'd find a place to stop and then look for a muffler shop in hopes that fixing the muffler would solve the heating issue.

I stopped on the edge of the city and found out that most shops were in the center of the city.  Um....no.  Shops that were close to where I was parked had bad reviews except for one, but he didn't think he could fit my vehicle on his lift.  I didn't feel like describing the camper on a Toyota truck base because really, if you can't figure that out then I don't want you looking at my vehicle anyway.

Found a shop in Springville with good reviews and drove there.  Turned out that not only had I lost one of the hangers (twisty tailpipe) but there was also a couple holes in the muffler and it needed to be replaced.  Well let's do that then.

While chatting with the desk guy he told me about a pretty place to visit if I didn't want to do the standard Buffalo-DC route.  Not wanting to do anything standard I went east instead of south and found an absolutely amazing state park.

Another Cylinder Head Post

March 24 - April 16, 2017

One of the nicest things about not being able to achieve freeway speeds is the opportunity to see a lot of rural America.  Churches seem to cluster together (I saw seven in one two-mile stretch) and little cemeteries are everywhere.  Small town Walmarts are also interesting in that they adapt to the local situation.  This one in Trion, Georgia sells straw.

You also meet some lovely people in small towns, like the wonderful guys at ARI Auto Repair.  I was fortunate enough to meet them after deciding that changing the spark plugs really didn't help and Rigadoon was doing the same sorts of things she had been doing earlier in the trip.  The shop did a quick look, thought it might be a burned cylinder, got everything set up so that they could do a complete rebuild if necessary, and then discovered that it just needed adjustment again.  Phew.  They also thought that the first shop back in El Paso had reused the gasket (they had) and it had failed.  They replaced it, suggested I use 100% ethanol-free gas when possible, and wished me luck.  Although I ended up spending more than a week at the Cleveland Walmart while waiting for parts and waiting out storms, time in the shop was only two mornings.

In addition to aiming for 100% gas, I got some Marvel's Mystery Oil to add to the gas.  The thinking here is that the ethanol dries things out and older vehicles aren't really designed for that.  By using pure gas and adding a splash of lubricant, the pistons should move smoothly and not cause more problems.  It's a cheap remedy if it works.

Running from the Cold

January 2 - 5, 2017

After a scary storm at the lake (semis were blown over closer to Fort Worth) and a look at the weather forecast I decided it was time to head south.  We had had several days of 15 degree nights while in Fort Worth and it isn't any fun at all. And we were plugged in.  Even with the electric heater I used 1/2 a tank of propane running the furnace to try to keep everything from freezing.  It didn't work and the water heater froze but thawed with no leaks so it's all good.

The cats were done with the lake after all the wind and rain.

Ever hopeful we headed towards Waco.  My only plan was 'go south.  avoid cities' which makes planning pretty easy.  Mostly it was a series of small town Walmarts but not bad.  The cold weather caught us a bit south of Austin and we shivered through a couple of freezing nights.  Still happy I didn't have any leaks, I turned on the water pump to do some dishes and suddenly wasn't happy anymore.  No water came out.  Actually water did come out but it came out underneath the camper.  Not good.

I spent some time thinking about what to do while driving to Victoria.  Victoria is big enough to have hardware stores and an RV repair shop.  Rather than give up and drive to a repair place I decided to try and figure it out.

Only leaks when the water pump is run. Dry under the sink - not the pump.  Follow the lines.  Under the sink all looks good, check the next compartment.  Yeah, that one is wet.  We start here.

The lines were all covered with insulating wrap so I pulled that off to check them.  Turns out they are all carefully labeled.  Damn.  Always buy an RV from a compulsive person.  Started feeling the lines from the wall that connects to the sink and kept going until I discovered that one corner had popped out of its connector.

That's it.  No cracks, just a Herculean effort required to get the hose back into the corner connector.  I couldn't get it in perfectly and I wonder if the previous owner couldn't either and that's why it separated.  

I patted the area as dry as I could and stuffed a bucket of drying crystals into the compartment.  I also tossed out about 15 pounds of wood pieces that had been used for leveling.

While in the big city I hoofed it to Home Depot to get some weather stripping.  The door is a little warped and I can see daylight through the bottom when it's closed.  Actually the door is irrelevant because of the frig:

Remember this picture?  That's daylight coming in through the vents that were needed for the propane frig.  The one that fit completely into the space and sealed off all the drafts.  Now it's like a wind tunnel When the wind is from that side.  I'll need to do something about this at some point.

The New Refrigerator

The transmission took a week and the boys and I moved into Bro's new trailer for the repairs.  They have two cats also and apparently their adorable little Rexs are extremely territorial and no one wanted to listen to a week of cats howling at each other through a closed door.

While Rigadoon was out, the refrigerator arrived - and everyone but me went back home.  Lucky for me my SIL is a well-bred southern lady and managed to put up with me without using a baseball bat.  She even helped me with the frig.

I consulted Google for how to proceed.  First step is to turn off the propane and disconnect it from the frig.  Easy, as long as you follow one recommendation I saw and use two wrenches, one on either side of the connection because otherwise the whole thing twists. 

 

You then have to get a special plug to close off the gas line and we roadtripped to the local propane place to get the fitting.  Hardware stores sell them also but the part was less than $2 and I knew it was a quality piece.

Next you disconnect the 110 electricity.  I was expecting a complicated dealing requiring capping wires and whatnot but it turned out that they had simply installed and outlet in the back and plugged the frig into that.  Pull the plug and done.

Removing the frig was a matter of removing all the front screws, taking off the door, and unscrewing two back screws.  Then with SIL's help we squiggled that heavy, awkward box through the tiny interior and out the passenger side door.  It wouldn't fit through the house door and I suspect that had the passenger seat still been installed I would have had to remove it to get it out.

Through the wonders of Craigslist, the old frig was taken away by some hopeful with grand plans.  Saved me the trouble of hauling it to the dump.

The new frig was a bit smaller.  When I bought the rig I researched 12v compressor refrigerators and had decided I really wanted one.  They are super-efficient and and can run for a couple days off a battery that isn't recharged.  They also don't require you to be level.  The price difference between the small one I got and the next larger size was too much so I chose the little guy.  I think the ad said something about 6 six-packs.  Not huge, but big enough.

So easy to hook up - the wires that attach to the frig have a small connector at the ends and a fuse wired in.  You just get some wire, attach it to the fuse and run it straight to the battery.

From the closet I drilled a small hole in the wall for the wires. Actually, I didn't have a drill and there isn't much space anyway so I used progressively larger screwdrivers to make the hole.  The wood is thin panelboard and easy to screw through.

From there I followed the other wired down through the closet and popped them on top of the battery.

From the photos you can tell that there's quite a bit of space left from the old, larger refrigerator.  A neighbor of SIL came over, measured the space and made me a drawer that now sits under the frig. 

Power on, Green light comes on.  Compressor starts up.  Dandy.  After more than a month in Fort Worth I can finally take off

Almost There

I did short hops for the next few days on my way to Fort Worth.  Traveling the interstate wasn't quite as much fun as doing small towns but I was more confident about finding places to stop.  And I needed that confidence because the transmission was starting to complain a lot when it got hot and a slight roughness that I'd noticed going up to Carlsbad was becoming noticeably worse.  I was hoping it had something to do with spark plugs rather than the cylinder, but I know nothing about engines and I didn't know if this was an intelligent thought - or just a hopeful one.

Around the 15th of November I called my SIL to ask about arrival timing.  She said the next day would be fine so I settled in at the truck stop and made plans to stop a a store for provisions before heading up to the house.

In the morning I opened my frig to get breakfast and discovered that the inside was less than cold.  It was decidedly warm, actually.  My 31 year old refrigerator had decided to retire in Texas.

Well then.  With nothing else to delay me, assuming neither the transmission nor the engine would give out before the last 100 miles I set out for the big city.

I spent several days hanging out with my SIL before my brother and dad arrived and I spent the next several days not worrying about anything.  We had a lovely Thanksgiving and then I set about addressing the assorted issues that had come up.

Turns out that Walmart has vendors that sell through their site (like Amazon) so I found  good price on a refrigerator through a small company in Florida and ordered it.

Transmission was a little more annoying to deal with but I (well, my SIL, called their Toyota guy and he recommended a tranny person.  Who would be back after a holiday break.  At least there's a plan.

Hanging Out at the Auto Shop

November 7-8, 2016

Getting out of El Paso was horrible.  The only road in the direction I wanted to go was a city street with multiple intersections.  and I stalled at every single one.  Finally made it to Walmart and started shopping for a place to get the truck looked at.  Pronto Auto Repair was nearby and had some good reviews so I decided to show up there early in the morning to look desperate.

The mechanic that I spoke to was perfectly polite and told me I'd have to wait for Viktor, the owner, to find out if they could look at the truck.  I hung out in the parking lot for a couple hours until Viktor arrived and told him what was going on.  He was nice enough to take the truck immediately and I watched as the mechanic stepped through the possible causes Google had presented me starting from least expensive and getting progressively more pricey.

He stopped on the most expensive option - rebuild the  head.  Viktor stepped me through everything they had checked and showed me the lack of compression in two of the four heads.

<Side note:  That little truck had been pulling a 6000 pound camper on only two cylinders.  Now THAT'S a quality motor!>

He told me to think about which of the expensive options I wanted to do and let me know that it would take about a week.  He also agreed to push the camper to the parking lot once the head was pulled and let me live there while it was being repaired.

I called the Main Man and told him what was going on.  His response:  No, the guy you bought it from said he had done a head job.  I let him talk to Viktor and they chatted about several options.  Nothing was resolved and we left it for the evening.

In the morning I gave them back the keys and they started to go to work.  A couple hours later Viktor came out and said he thought about the conversation he had had with the MM last night and decided to do a little different testing.  He took the cover off the cylinder head and tested the valves.  It turned out that two of them were too tight.  They adjusted the valves, handed me a bill that was $1000 less than I was expecting to pay and gave me a cheery wave as I left.

All in all an excellent experience.

Why is it Raining in the Desert?

November 2-6, 2016

Poor little 'Rigadoon is still stalling whenever I stop.  At this point I'm still hopeful it has something to do with the altitude and I noticed that the octane in the fuel has gone from 87 to 85 so maybe using higher octane fuel will help?  Stopped just outside Albuquerque and filled up with 89 octane to see if it helped.  Nope.  The road leads downhill from hill so dropping altitude is my last hope.

Stopped at Truth or Consequences, a spa town that changed its name in 1950 for the radio show of the same name.  A series of thunderstorms were forecast and I was happy to see that the Walmart had covered parking - made of solar panels.

Not entirely waterproof since there was a pretty good stream of water coming from between the panels but still not bad.

I hung out here until mid afternoon when it looked as though the storms had run there course.  As I was getting back on the highway the sky stared looking a bit scary but I figured it wouldn't be too bad and headed into a rainstorm for the next rest area.

I had just about enough time to fill my water bottles and wash my hair before the next storm came in.  And then another one, and then the doozy.

It started with lightning off in the clouds.  Not ordinary flashes - this was close-encounters-of-the-third-kind warning lights.  Along with the hide-from-the-aliens lightning there was thunder, rain and pounding hail.  Although the sound was deafening it wasn't loud enough to mask the sound of the giant hail globs smashing into my roof vents - and then through them.

It's a funny thing about taking things apart.  I had been idly looking at the vents trying to figure out how to take the screen off so I could clear out some tree debris that had been collecting there.  Had to be something about taking off the handle but I hadn't gotten around to discovering how that handle unscrewed.  

Somehow when rain is hitting you in the face and ice is collecting on the screen above you it becomes much easier to understand dismantling things.  One screw, pull the handle, shimmy the screen out.  Simple.

By the time I had the screens out and thawing in the sink the storm had passed, leaving lingering lightning in its wake.  And big holes in two of my vent covers.

New Mexico is flat and I could see at least one more storm (or spaceship) heading towards the rest area so I did the only sensible fix.  Duct tape.

For good measure I slid a couple trash bags over the open vents and closed them firmly to keep the bags tight.  Super-classy, I know, but I was going for dry, not stylish.

Got up the next morning and drove to the outer edge of El Paso.  Wonder if they sell vent covers here?

Off into the Desert

October 9-14, 2016

Fresno was fun not because it's Fresno, but because I was able to meet with an internet friend there.  Seeing someone in real life that you've interacted with online is a little like meeting a first-time friend that you've known for years.

After a day or so I headed down to Bakersfield and discovered that the small leak in the transmission had become something closer to a steady trickle.  Rather than add a quart of fluid every 100 miles I decided to get the leak checked out.  I googled the reviews for nearby shops and chose what seemed to be the best one.

It turned out well although he didn't have the space to lift my rv, he knew the 'sister garage' across town did.  He gave them a call and sent me off with directions.  When I got there I found that they were holding the lift open for me so they could do an inspection to figure out what was leaking.  The answer was "everything".  Fearing they would need to pull the transmission and knowing they were about two weeks out they called another shop they trusted and sent me over there.

Brandon was fabulous.  He pointed out all the places that Rigadoon was leaking and said it could be repaired without pulling the tranny - a one day fix.  I left, he ordered the parts and the next day they put new gaskets in.  Although hanging around the shop for two days wasn't much fun I did get to chat with another customer who told me about his time in the war and as a trucker.  Very cool.

A couple days later and I was on my way over the Tehachapi Mountains.  The one cool thing about this route is that it takes you near the Tehachapi Loop, and engineering marvel that allows trains to climb a steep grade by make a shallower loop around a hill.

Yep, more hills.  I was so worried about the transmission that I missed the exit to the truck stop where I was planning on spending the night.  No worries, right?  It's late in the day and I'll just stop at the next one - it should be cool enough by the time I get there....

So I don't why it didn't occur to me that the desert is going to be hot in October, I mean, it's October!  Leaves are falling, the jackets come out, it's autumn for heaven's sake.  Except that autumn in the Mojave Desert hovers happily around the 90 degree mark.

I am baking while driving into the sun and can only hope the cats have found a cool place to ride.  There is no shade and no way was I going to stop and sit in the sun to do anything so I soldiered on to Boron and the next truck stop.

As I was pulling in desperately hoping for shade I realized that those big semi trailers provide more than enough respite from the sun for a tiny little camper.  We tucked into a spot next to a big rig and settled down for one of the loudest nights yet.

Did you know that trucks run all night?  Yeah.  And they continuously come and go as well.  Butch was terrified but a long, loud night was much better than sitting at 100+ degrees for several hours.

At least we had a nice sunset.

Fending Off The Floods

After reading several (dozen) posts about keeping your Class C from leaking you quickly become convinced that the slightest rainstorm will instantly produce a flood of water coming in through the lights/windows/seams/invisible cracks that will cascade over the edge of the over-cab, soaking everything you own that will subsequently rapidly dissolve into a puddle of moldy mush,  To do my best to avoid this I have stripped the sealant from every single seam and surface that looked even moderately loose.  Some seals were in bad shape and already growing mold beneath them while others came off suspiciously easy, suggesting that an inappropriate substance had been used to coat them.

With every possible opening in the little house open, these 90+ degree days this weekend should finish off any drying of the interior that might need to be done.  Once it's comfortable enough to work outside again I'll finish scrubbing the last few corners and start the process of re-sealing.

I spent a lot of internet time trying to figure out what the best product to use would be and came up with absolutely no consensus.  Since there is no "one best" I've settled on a selection of products for different areas.

   
The roof seals that all look okay will get sprayed with Rustoleum Leak Seal as will some of the seams that look like they really didn't need to be caulked in the first place.


Bigger seams will receive either clear or white external caulk that doesn't contain silicone.  I have no idea why silicone is such a bad thing but it was mentioned several times as a poor product to use so I found some caulk without silicone that still purports to be flexible.

Finally, larger holes and anything that doesn't look well caulked will get the EternaBond treatment.  It won't be pretty but I'm happy to sacrifice beauty for longevity.