Fair warning – Monday was another fun-filled tourist day with LOTS of pictures. Our first destination was the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
This time we got an early start and we took scenic Gates Pass to get to the desert museum. This is the same route that we took with Tom and Marilyn Anteau when we made our return trip from Old Tucson last Saturday. Old Tucson is just around the corner (metaphorically speaking) from the Desert Museum.
We stopped briefly at the top of the pass to enjoy the views:
Here’s the sign on the main road (N Kinney Rd) directing us to the Museum.
The Desert Museum entrance.
I just had to take a photo of this “rolling billboard” for the Desert Museum that was parked out front. A 1960 Studebaker Lark Station Wagon, I believe.
Once again we were able to use the coupon book we purchased at the FamCamp office for $15. This coupon book has really paid for itself… our half-price entrance fee was a whopping $15.50 for the two of us.
As you can see from the brochure below… no pets allowed 🙁 But, we knew that before we came here… poor little dog “Coach” had to stay at home in the Coach again. At least he has air-conditioning; whereas we don’t.
This was our tour-guide for the day; a fold-out map of the museum attractions. If you click on the picture of the map (below) to enlarge it, you can see the many trails and loops we walked.
According to Wikipedia: “The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre (40 ha) zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952.” (Click HERE to learn more from wikipedia, or HERE for the museum website).
Now follow along on our tour – I’ll keep the narration to a minimum this time:
So what do you think? Is this a cool place or what?
Now how about a tour through the gift shop:
Now that was like a gift shop on steroids, wasn’t it?
Adjacent to the gift shop and museum exit is one more aquarium display:
Book your trip now… you gotta see this place!
I even collected all the animal footprint stamps that are located throughout the park. Most of the kids that visit, get a cool booklet to put their ink stamps in, but I made do with the back-side of our tour-guide map. It gave me something to do other than take pictures… guess that didn’t work out so well, eh?
After our awesome, but somewhat hot, tour of the Desert Museum, we decided that we still had enough time left in the day to check out a big white church that we heard and read about. We saw the church along-side of Interstate 19 yesterday when we visited the Titan Museum. A neighbor at the campground told us it’s a “must-see” attraction and it’s only about 19 miles away from the Desert Museum. So we plugged it into the GPS and off we went.
However, since this post is large enough already; I’ll make a new one… Here’s a “teaser” picture of San Xavier del Bac Mission Church:
Sunday found us traveling south on Interstate 19 towards Nogales. An interesting fact about this highway, is that the “mile” markers are actually “kilometer” markers.
Our primary destination for the day was the Titan Missile Museum located 20 miles south of Tucson in Sahuarita. We decided to save the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum for Monday – mainly because we got a late start to the day Sunday, and also, we were told it’s best to leave ourselves plenty of time to enjoy the Desert Museum.
We checked online and found out the museum isn’t dog-friendly, so we had to leave little dog “Coach” in the Coach with the air-conditioners set at 72 degrees.
Here’s the entrance to the museum parking lot which is right beside the gate to the missile silo located behind the building.
The museum entrance.
Once again, we were able to use the coupon book we purchased at the FamCamp office for $15 and got in for half-price. A very reasonable $9.50.
And here’s a view of the missile silo.
This is the last of the Titan Missile sites. (Click on the “green font” for a link to wikipedia) The Titan II missile is the largest missile ever built by the United States. During the Cold War, 54 Titan II missiles stood alert in their underground silos all across the country. In 1987, the last Titan II was deactivated.
“At the Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona, visitors journey through time to stand on the front line of the Cold War. This preserved Titan II missile site, officially known as complex 571-7, is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987.
Able to launch from its underground silo in just 58 seconds, the Titan II was capable of delivering a 9-megaton nuclear warhead to targets more than 6300 miles (10,000 km) away in about 30 minutes. Nowhere else in the world can visitors get this close to an intercontinental ballistic missile in its operational environment. This one-of-a kind museum gives visitors a rare look at the technology used by the United States to deter nuclear war. What was once one of America’s most top secret places is now a National Historic Landmark, fulfilling its new mission of bringing Cold War history to life for millions of visitors from around the world.”
The nose cone that housed the 9-megaton nuclear warhead.
The 9-megaton nuclear warhead: Yeah, I’m sure it’s the actual one 🙂
After a short wait, we were ushered into a small conference room for an orientation and video presentation.
Then we were herded out the back door of the museum building to the silo entrance.
The docent-guided tour consisted of several different volunteers. At the silo door entrance, a couple of the volunteers explained the procedures the missile silo crews had to go through to access the highly-secure facility.
We then walked down 55 stairs. Here’s one of the “blast” doors that had to be accessed to enter the facility.
Here the volunteer-guide points to the second “blast” door. The first one has to be closed and secured before the second one can be accessed.
Then we walked through one of the tunnels to the control room.
Entering the control room:
And here it is – the missile control room aka launch control center:
The launch keys were locked in the cabinet on the left in the photo below.
The guidance control panel.
The tour-guide told us this is the lunch clock… never to be confused with the launch clock.
More keys… these were mostly for important places like the mop closet and paint locker though.
Side view of the command console position.
The entire underground facility was protected against shock with these giant springs.
After our tour of the control room (complete with simulated launch demonstration) we went down the long cableway (tunnel) to the silo:
After going through another “blast” door, we got our first view of the missile.
Some of you may already know that several scenes in the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact were shot at this site. The missile itself was depicted as the launch vehicle for the film’s Phoenix spacecraft, the first warp prototype.
We had to view the missile through glass panels that were installed in place of the doors:
After everyone got their pictures, the volunteer tour-guide led us back down the long cableway (tunnel) to the stairwell where we came back topside.
Then we were let loose to wander the grounds on our own.
Old M151 Jeep parked near the silo.
A metal ramp provided access to the top of the partially open silo door.
At the top of the silo door, we could take pictures though the glass panels.
The hole you see cut out of the side of the warhead is to prove that it’s inactive. I learned that the 103-foot-tall missile had to be left outside for a month so that Soviet spy satellites could verify it no longer carried a payload.
Rocket engines were on display under cover near the silo:
What a cool tour and awe-inspiring place. Another “must-see” to add to your list if you haven’t been there yet.
On our way back out, we went through the gift shop and asked about the nearby copper mine. We heard they offered tours that were supposed to be pretty cool. Unfortunately, the copper mine is closed for tours on Sundays and Mondays. Oh well, guess we have to save something for next time, right?
After we left the Missile Museum, we stopped in for a “cold one” at the American Legion Post 66 that is located just outside the entrance gate. It’s been quite a while since we were in an American Legion Post. I used to be a part of the American Legion Riders (motorcycle club) back in the ’90’s when I was stationed at Fort Carson. I don’t belong to any specific post now, but have a “paid-up-for-life” or “PUFL” membership card. It was a nice place, with good prices and free popcorn. You can’t beat that! Too bad, the American Legion Posts and VFW posts aren’t as RV-friendly as the Elks Lodges…
And with that, we called it a day and headed back to the Agave Gulch Campground to see if little dog “Coach” was being good. He was.
Check back in tomorrow (Monday) for a full recap of our visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum…
On Saturday we went to Old Tucson. Another full day of activities! But this time, we had leave little dog ‘Coach’ in the Coach for the day.
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts ( HERE), we made plans with fellow Alpiner’s; Tom and Marilyn Anteau, to tour Old Tucson together. We met them by chance (and good fortune) here in the Agave Gulch FamCampwhere they had just returned to – after being in Anchorage, AK. for the last few months. Tom graciously offered to drive, so we piled in his car and made the circa 20 mile trip.
Sign at the entrance to the parking area.
We were able to use another coupon from the booklet we purchased at the FamCamp office and got in for half-price. A reasonable $19 for a full day of fun and activities. Tom mentioned that it had been ~45 years since he was last here.
For those of you that didn’t know, (me included), Old Tucson Studios is a movie studio and theme park just west of Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and close to the western portion of Saguaro National Park. Built in 1939 for the movie Arizona, it has been used for the filming of several movies and television westerns since then, such as Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Little House on the Prairie. It was opened to the public in 1960, and historical tours are offered about the movies filmed there, along with live cast entertainment featuring stunt shows and shootouts. (source Wikipedia)
We arrived just in time to join the first of the three guided walking tours that the park offers each day. Our guide was enthusiastic and informative. I had no idea so many films were shot in one place.
Guided tour of the Old Tucson Studios.
After our guided tour, we were released on our own recognizance to visit the many buildings or activities throughout the day guided only by the performance schedule brochure we received at the entrance.
Train station with armored stagecoach. Notice the “High Chaparral” sign in the background.
The first of many skits/shows throughout the day was “Sir William Wiley’s Miracle Elixir Show”, a ~30 minute presentation that was full of bad jokes and slapstick comedy… what fun.
Tom was pulled from the audience to play a part in the little show. His 5 minutes of fame…
Here’s Tom in action. He had to bang the drum on signal… and often the performer(s) would fake him out for everyone’s amusement.
Tom received his consolation prize – an ice-cold bottle of elixir (Root Beer) and was applauded for his efforts.
We continued on to explore the many buildings until the next scheduled performance.
Do you recognize any of these street views from your favorite Old Western Movies?
Here’s Stilla posing in front of the Town Hall.
Here’s Tom and Marilyn walking up the street… probably looking for a gunfight…
No explanation needed:
In the Grand Palace Saloon, we watched “Old Tucson – A Musical History of the Silver Screen”, to live singers. Nice.
Here, “Cookie” gave us a demonstration and informative dialogue on chuck wagons and campfires.
A gunfight skit provided for lots of entertainment. One of several throughout the day.
A western town isn’t complete unless it has a Sheriff’s Office and gallows, right?
Marilyn and Stilla sauntered around town, looking for trouble no doubt. Or are they looking for me and Tom?
Now join us for a little train ride around the town…
We got off the train at the station opposite the “High Chaparral” movie set. Click HERE for more on this.
The “High Chaparral” movie set.
Building at the “High Chaparral” movie set.
And here’s probably one of the most-filmed locomotives in the world. The Reno.
This locomotive legend was almost destroyed in 1995 by fire. Click HERE and HERE for more information on this.
Here’s a nice shot of the stagecoach coming into town.
And another well-performed skit, complete with high-flying acrobatics and lots of explosions…
Some of the buildings to visit, weren’t buildings at all…
This Saloon-Keep gave us the run-down on saloons ‘back-in-the-day’. I don’t think I would want any of the whiskey or beer they served up back then.
How did the OK Corral get here? I thought it was in Tombsone.
We paused for a few minutes to check out the Bluegrass music playing at the Arizona Theater.
Chinese Alley:
And another skit; a re-enactment of the movie – “Heaven With a Gun“. Well performed.
And here’s another shot of the stagecoach leaving town…
Many of the buildings were chock-full of movie memorabilia and wardrobe items.
What a great place! Another “must-see” if you’re ever in the area. Hope you enjoyed the visit with us and the pics.
After departing the Old Tucson Studio, we took the scenic route back to the campground. We’re going to have to come back to check out the nearby Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We hurried back to let our respective dogs out of the Coaches, where they’ve been cooped up all day.
Nice views from one of the pull-offs, eh? Once again, the pictures don’t do it justice.
Many thanks to Tom and Marilyn for taking us along with them to check out this very cool attraction. We sure enjoyed it!
Stay tuned to see what we’re up to next…
Oh, and by the way… little Coach did just fine again today all alone. We took him for an extra long walk once we got back 🙂
On Friday morning, we decided to extend our stay here at the Agave Gulch FamCamp located inside the Davis-Monthan AFB.There’s so much to see and do in and around Tucson! We paid for an additional 3 days so we could try to soak in as much as possible. So that puts us out of here on the 21st when we will probably head over to the Escapees Park in Benson. From Benson, we can visit nearby Tombstone and maybe Bisbee. Then, we’ll start heading north to Colorado since the house still hasn’t sold 🙁
After paying $60 for an additional three nights, we also purchased a coupon book from the campground registration office with many half-price deals for local attractions. The coupon booklet cost $15 and we expect to recoup the cost with the savings from the first attraction.
We then jumped in the pickup and drove just outside the southeast gate to the Pima Air & Space Museum. We found out the museum is dog-friendly, so we were able to take little Coach along. We brought his doggie backpack along so we could carry him around when we’re inside the buildings.
With over 80 acres and 300 planes, the Pima Air & Space Museum is quite astounding. Click HERE for more information.
Here’s the entrance to the parking lot:
And here’s the entrance to the main hangar-type building:
We used our coupon booklet to get the half-price discount so the entrance fee was a palatable $15 for the two of us.
Now follow along on our tour… I took a lot of pics as usual, but I pared them down to the following favorites in order to give you a good sample of what’s here at this superb attraction. Hope you enjoy…
The Wright FlyerWorld’s smallest aircraft, the Starr Bumble Bee.
Here’s a Chief Warrant Officer Four (CW4) uniform on display (Vietnam era) that I found particularly interesting since I retired as a CW4.
The new Dreamliner 787 from Boeing is now on permanent display here. Click HERE for the news article.
There was even an exclusive separate hangar building for the famed B17 “Flying Fortress”. I really enjoyed all the “nose art” on display in this building.
One building housed all the space related items. They have a lunar module simulator and a space station docking simulator to play with. I landed the lunar module pretty hard… probably caused some damage 🙂
Unfortunately, the bus tour for the AFB “boneyard” didn’t allow dogs, so we weren’t able to go. It would have been an additional $7 and I’m sure worth it… but oh well, maybe another time. At least we were able to take little Coach along with us everywhere else today.
As usual, the exit is through the gift shop… one thing I thought was especially interesting is that they sell old aircraft parts. I wonder if they sell a lot of these items?
Authentic aircraft items for sale in the gift shop.Dreamliner 787 items for sale in the gift shop.
Here’s a couple aerial view posters of the massive aircraft “boneyard” that were for sale. Click HERE for some more awesome aerial views courtesy of google.
If you like planes (and who doesn’t?) and have a day or two to kill… this is probably the most superb collection of aircraft in the world. I highly recommend this tour. Don’t miss this attraction if you are ever in the area!
We were pretty much beat after being on our feet all day, so we enjoyed a lazy evening and just kicked back in the Coach afterwards. I used the evening to catch up on the previous days blog. And now, as I write this… I’m still a day behind.
Today (Saturday) we toured Old Tucson, which is the old west town made famous as the location for more than 300 movies and TV shows. But, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow…. 🙂
On Thursday the 16th, we left the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande and traveled the 80 miles to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. We were sad to leave but made plans to get together again for a tour of Tombstone and maybe Bisbee sometime next week. My Mom, stepdad, brother, and Cheryl will drive down to meet us once we get closer to the area. But first we want check out the Tucson area…
I used the AllStays App for Military FamCamps on the iPhone which took me to the Davis-Monthan FamCamp website. From there, I clicked on the directions link which gave me the route through googlemaps. Click HERE if you would like to get the AllStays App for military FamCamps.
We arrived at Davis-Monthan AFB by 12:30 PM. Here’s the gate (below) that the GPS routed us to. We could see the campground to the right just inside the gate. However, as you can see from the photo below, we weren’t going to fit through with the barriers up. We turned the warning flashers on and walked up to the gate guard. He wouldn’t put the barriers down and said we had to turn around and go through the main gate. He offered to block traffic for us while we turned around. About that time, a nice lady that was going out the gate, stopped and came over to introduce herself. She was one of the campground hosts, and confirmed that we shouldn’t try to go through the gate, she had seen others try and fail. So, we disconnected our tow vehicle and did a three-point turn-around with the help of the gate guard. Oh well, another lesson learned – which is; Don’t just trust the GPS, always read the fine print on the website if directions are given, and in this case they were… I just didn’t read them 🙁
After going back around to the main gate without incident, we drove through the base to the campground registration office. We scored a nice site with full hookups for $20 per night. Click HERE for more information on the Agave Gulch FamCamp if interested.
After getting set up and settled in, we jumped in the Silverado and went on over to the BX to browse around. For my non-military readers; BX is short for (Base Exchange). If we were on an Army post it would be called a PX or (Post Exchange).
We made it out of the BX with minimal monetary damage, but then we went to the Commissary to stock up on groceries…
We took our commissary goodies back to the Coach and put things away. Then we decided to drive around and check out the base a little bit before it got dark.
According to my friend Wikipedia: The base was named in honor of World War I pilots Lieutenants Samuel H. Davis (1896–1921) and Oscar Monthan (1885–1924), both Tucson natives. Davis, who attended the University of Arizona prior to enlisting in the Army in 1917, died in a Florida aircraft accident in 1921. Monthan enlisted in the Army as a private in 1917, was commissioned as a ground officer in 1918, and later became a pilot; he was killed in the crash of a Martin bomber in Hawaii in 1924. Click HERE for more information on this cool air force base.
The most interesting thing (for me) about this air force base are the 4000+ aircraft from the Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, and other federal agencies including NASA that are stored here for regeneration or recycling. The climate and hard caliche soil provide for ideal storage conditions. The nearby Pima Air & Space Museum offers docent-guided tours through the “Aircraft Boneyard” aka the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG). We plan on going there tomorrow.
Here’s a few pics we snapped while just driving around:
Don’t forget to click HERE to see some really cool aerial views of the boneyard, courtesy of Google.
When we got back to the campground, we drove through the different loops to check out the other sites. And much to our surprise, we saw another Alpine Coach. And we even know who it belongs to. Tom and Marilyn Anteau of Anchorage Alaska!
We last saw Tom and Marilyn at the Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally” in Quartzsite. They put their Coach in storage here on the air force base after the January rally and left for Anchorage… they had just flown back into town and pulled their Coach out of storage the previous day. It’s a small RV world after all, isn’t it? It was Tom, who first told us about this somewhat hidden gem of a campground. Thanks Tom!
We made plans with Tom and Marilyn to tour Old Tucson on Saturday. But meanwhile, tomorrow (Friday the 17th) we tour the Pima Air & Space Museum. I’ll do separate posts on those shortly… and yes, I know! I’m behind again on the blog posts 🙂
It’s been a while since my last post. We haven’t been up to a whole lot, so I’ve been taking a bit of a break from the blog. We’ve been hanging out at the “Dirt Farm” in Casa Grande since around the 2nd of April enjoying some family time with my Mom, Stepdad, brother Steve and his girlfriend Cheryl.
We’ve been parked in front of Mom’s house moochingdocking off their recently installed 50 Amp power. Steve and Cheryl’s house is situated a little ways behind this house on the same ~4 acre lot that they have affectionately nicknamed the “dirt farm”, complete with chickens and ponies.
Here’s stepdad Jimmy working on a little dirt and rock garden in our front yard – oops.. I mean their, front yard 🙂 Jimmy is always busy doing something. Sometimes retirement isn’t easy.
Stilla and my Mom have been pretty good about going on morning walks. They’ve been going distances of at least two, and sometimes three or more miles. I even went with them once 🙂
Here’s stepdad Jimmy and brother Steve working on yet another project. I’ve been helping out as needed to “earn our keep”.
There’s a seemingly endless number of projects to get done here on the “dirt farm”. Here (below) Jimmy is putting in some pavers. I kept telling him they’re crooked but that’s how mom wants it 🙂
Here’s Jimmy at the checkout counter on one of our many trips to Home Depot or Lowe’s. I provided moral support and light lifting as needed.
Mom and Jimmy getting a section of dirt ready for some grass seed.
This is going to be a green lawn some day, I’m told 🙂
The back yard is slowly coming together. The fence keeps Mom’s cats from escaping when they use the “doggie-door”. I call this the “maximum security” area. The “minimum security” area is defined by the fence around Mom’s house where we’re parked, and it separates the two houses on the farm. The “general population” area is around my brother’s house where the ponies and chickens are kept.
Another backyard “maximum security” area view with some recently laid sod.
It hasn’t been all work around here though… we took some time to get in a little ATV’ing one day.
My cousin Dale and his wife Lisa from Denver came by to visit during the Easter holiday. It was great seeing them again.
Cousin Dale hasn’t been on an ATV in years… since the days they still made 3-wheelers! And it was Lisa’s first time. We took turns riding each of the three ATV’s so they could get the full experience. Steven’s quad (below) found some tumbleweeds… I wonder who that was?
Relaxing after a hard days ride 🙂
Lisa and Dale. Stilla and little Coach in the background.
Easter morning started out with my Mom finding some baby “Easter Bunnies” in the horse manure pile she was spreading out for her fruit tree orchard.
Awww… aren’t they cute?
Even our Easter guests weren’t safe from projects while they were visiting. Here we all are, picking up a pool for the ponies that brother Steve and Cheryl bought.
Somehow we managed to fit the round object into the somewhat square hole on the trailer and safely made it back to the farm.
Brother Steve and Aunt Kathy. Steve is describing how the “pony pool” will be positioned in the ground with “ramps” for the ponies to get in and out.
And here we are; out for another meal… something we did often during our time at the “dirt farm”.
We kept busy evenings playing games around Steven and Cheryl’s nice dining (aka game) table.
And sometimes we had “movie night”.
Cheryl, Mom, and Jimmy. “Movie Night”
But alas… all good times have to come to an end 🙁 It’s about time to start heading back towards Colorado (weather permitting). The house still hasn’t sold, so we are going to go back to see what we can do. Besides, Stilla wants to check on the daughter(s) and grandson.
But first, we still want to check out some things in the Tucson area that we haven’t seen yet, so we’ll head down to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base FamCamp. We’ve heard it’s pretty nice.
Goodbye “dirt farm”! And goodbye, Mom, Jimmy, Steve & Cheryl… thanks for putting up with us for a while! It’s getting too hot here anyway 🙂 Hopefully, we’ll be back before the snow hits up north again (wherever we are).
We’ve been hanging out at the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande for a couple weeks now. The name “dirt farm” is not meant to be derogatory. It’s the name my brother and his significant other, Cheryl, have given to their 5-acre homesite complete with horses and chickens. It’s actually quite green for the moment with the recent rains and somewhat cooler weather.
This is also where my mom and stepdad live in their separate, but smaller pre-fabricated house. Brother Steven and Cheryl have the “big house” – a super-sized triple wide home.
We’ve been parked in front of Mom’s house, where stepdad Jim just finished hooking up a 50-Amp receptacle in the garage. Now we, or anyone else for that matter, can mooch power from either house… just depends on who you want to visit. 🙂 Although, the houses are only a couple hundred feet apart, we opted to park at Mom’s because it’s fenced in. This is great for little dog, Coach. We don’t have to put him on a leash… just let him out the door in the morning to do his business. Besides, as I reported earlier, the ground at Steven & Cheryl’s 50-Amp pedestal was still soggy from recent rain when we first arrived here.
When we weren’t working on the “dirt farm”, we went out to eat a few times… but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been eating well at the farm too! We’re going to have to get away from here so we can go on a diet! Just kidding Mom 🙂
While enjoying all the good meals and the company of family, we’ve been helping out a little with all the on-going projects around here. Some of these projects include, but are not limited to: running electrical power and burying cable for outlying sheds and a casita; putting up or moving fencing; spreading gravel and leveling with the bobcat; etc., etc.,
Brother Steve and Stepdad Jimmy spreading gravel.Mom’s future orchard… all leveled and ready for planting… almost…Mom working on the future fruit tree orchard.
And the first fruit tree goes in…
Mom’s first fruit tree in the new “orchard”.Earlier picture of Mom’s vegetable garden. There are now two rows of corn and one row of onions… more rows to follow…
I also used the time here to reorganize the contents of my cargo trailer and made room in my “Conex” storage container for more items. Now I can park either the ATV or the Harley inside the trailer, depending on which one we decide to haul around in the pickup with us.
Trailer contents before reorganizing.
The new Xantrex inverter/charger that I wrote about in my last post has been working as advertised. Although, when I did some checking, I found out that the technician forgot to tighten down the nuts that hold it to the basement wall. I guess he got distracted after finger-tightening the nuts… must have been tired from lifting the 75 pound unit into place.
Also, I think I need to come up with a junction box of some sort for the wire connections he spliced. I wish he would have taken the time to run new wires, the old ones (orange) were just a couple inches too short.
In other RV maintenance related news; I finally took the time to do something about the sagging insulation in the engine compartment. My stepdad had some super-sized washers that I was able to use after drilling holes through the closet floor (under the drawers). Don’t look too bad, eh?
I also fixed a support bracket for the charge-air cooler tube that had broken again. This bracket had been fixed once already by my old high school buddy and good friend, Mike Harris. My buddy Mike welded the bracket, but I think the extra weight of the sagging insulation that was laying on top of the tube was just too much for it. Thanks anyway Mike! 🙂
Oh, and by the way – the technicians at Speedco lied! They didn’t lube the u-joints on the Coach after changing the oil and replacing the fuel filter like they said they did. There was absolutely no evidence the dirt-encrusted grease fittings had been touched with a grease gun since last year. So I cleaned the fittings and lubed them myself while I was under there.
It’s been great spending time here at the “dirt farm’ with family. Thanks Ma, Jimmy, Steve & Cheryl! See you again soon… hopefully we’ll be back in time for some Easter fun at the farm 🙂
And now it’s time to move on… we’re signed up for an Alpine Coach Pre-Rally in Valencia CA that starts the 19th. After that, we’ll convoy to the FMCA Rally in Pomona. We’re looking forward to both rallies, there’s going to be lots of activities and new things to do and see.
Here we are at a rest stop by the Imperial Sand Dunes along I-8 yesterday (Wednesday) after we said our farewells and hit the road.
I decided to load the Harley and the bicycles for our next adventure in California. I parked the ATV safely away in the cargo trailer back at the “dirt farm”.
All loaded up for the rallies in California.
We found an overnight spot at the Red Earth Casino along highway 86 next to the Salton Sea. And the price was right, Free! We just had to stay at our $20 limit inside the casino…
Little Coach enjoying some California dirt.
We should make it to Valencia in a few hours after I post this. Check back in later to see what we’re up to. 🙂
It was a very early day on Tuesday – we had to get up around 5:30 AM and hit the road by 6 AM to make the 55 mile trip to Gilbert, AZ for my scheduled inverter/charger repair. The Xantrex inverter/charger went out on me last week on Thursday. I wrote about this in a previous blog post titled “Dirt Farm“.
Stilla joined my Mom, stepdad Jimmy, brother Steven, and his girlfriend Cheryl in their car so they could run “errands” (code for shopping) in and around the Phoenix area while I stayed with the Coach.
We arrived at Tekris Power around 7 AM. The knowledgeable technician, Robert Meeker, quickly verified that my old Xantrex RS2000 was ready for the trash can. They don’t make them any more and parts are hard to get… repairing the unit is not cost-effective. He determined that the best replacement unit is the Xantrex Freedom 3012. This is a nice 3,000 watt unit that will go well with my 8 house batteries and residential fridge.
Urban Escape Vehicle parked behind the Xantrex “authorized” service center in Gilbert, AZ.Items on display inside the office at Tekris Power.
My extended warranty company, EasyCare, sent a warranty coordinator to verify the failure and authorize the replacement. He arrived around 10AM, took photos, asked questions, and filled out a lot of paperwork. We got word by telephone that the replacement was authorized about an hour after he left. The end-result was a bill for a little over $3000… luckily my portion only ended up being around $375 thanks to the extended warranty.
Here’s the old RS2000 unit on Robert’s workbench. Notice the small vents on the bottom that are clogged with dust. This side was mounted against the wall and probably contributed to it’s demise. Although, it has lasted 10 years – which is a pretty good run for an inverter/charger. The Coach is a 2005 model.
Robert packed up my old inverter/charger in the box from the new unit. I decided to keep it in case someone might need parts or want to have it repaired.
Here’s Robert mounting the new unit on the back wall of the basement where the old unit was. He must have crawled in and out of there about 50 times before he was done hooking things up.
And here’s the new unit all mounted and ready for wiring.
While my technician, Robert was working away… I got a text from my friend, fellow Alpine driver and blogger, Mike Kuper. He and his lovely wife, Donna are currently staying at an RV Resort in the nearby Mesa, AZ area.
Mike came over on his scooter to visit and provide moral support while the Coach was getting fixed.
Mike hung out with me for a good portion of the day while we talked Alpine and full-time RV stuff. We even walked over to a nearby restaurant, Los Favoritos to have some fish tacos for lunch. It was good seeing Mike again… it’s a small RV world after all 🙂
We first met Mike and Donna in Portland, OR at an Alpine Coach Pre-Rally in August 2014. We convoyed together afterwards to the FMCA Rally in Redmond where we enjoyed more time with them on a sightseeing trip to Lava Lands in addition to other rally activities.
Here’s a few pictures we took back then on a hike we took around an old volcano… this was before I was doing the blog:
Donna and Stilla at Lava Lands National Monument (Oregon) in August of 2014.Lava Butte – Newberry National Volcanic Monument near the Lava Lands Visitors Center in August of 2014 with Mike and Donna.Lava Butte – Newberry National Volcanic Monument near the Lava Lands Visitors Center in August of 2014 with Mike and Donna.
Mike has a great blog named “Flying the Koop” that I read regularly. I even emulated his website when I was starting mine. Check it out.
After Robert finished up the inverter/charger replacement and put in a new system control panel to replace the old one (they weren’t compatible), we tested everything out with shore power and the generator. We even boiled some water in the microwave using just the inverter on battery power… don’t think the old unit would let me do that! I paid my portion of the bill and headed back to Casa Grande. Stilla and the others were still out shopping and running around the greater Phoenix area, so I drove back alone.
I knew it was time for an oil change and what better time than now – since I was already out and about. It’s been a year since the last service and we’ve put on about 8000 miles since then.
Mike told me he had a good experience at Speedco near Casa Grande, so I plugged them into the GPS and got there by 5 PM. Thanks for the tip Mike!
After a 20 minute wait, they drained and replaced my 25 quarts of engine oil and the filter. Then they replaced my fuel-water separator filter with a Baldwin BF 1293-SPS, but couldn’t get to the other fuel filter (an FF5488) that is hidden above the starter. That one was replaced last year and the shop that did it then, had to remove the starter to gain access. I decided to let that one go until next time… maybe I’ll try to tackle that one myself.
I paid the somewhat reasonable $200 bill and got back to the “dirt farm” shortly after Stilla and the rest of the family.
We decided to stay parked in front of my Mom’s house because it’s fenced-in. This is convenient for little dog “Coach” so he doesn’t go near the horses or get chased by the chickens at my brother and Cheryl’s. We’ll have to test out that 50-Amp pedestal they installed next to their house another time. Meanwhile, we’re doing ok with an extension cord to a 20-Amp outlet… especially, since I have a new 3000 watt inverter 🙂
Time to close out todays blog post and go help out around the farm here in order to earn our keep. Wouldn’t want to wear out our welcome here with the family… especially since we still don’t have a buyer for the house back in Colorado Springs yet. We need to save some bucks in the campground budget category until we head to Valencia and Pomona on the 19th. At least we’ve already paid for those rallies.
We’re still hanging around the “dirt farm” with my Mom, stepdad Jim, brother Steve, and Cheryl. Since the inverter/charger went out on the Urban Escape Vehicle, (see my last post) we’ve been minimizing battery usage by having meals and watching television with our hosts. Thanks family!
Urban Escape Vehicle parked in front of Mom’s house at the “dirt farm”.
We still haven’t moved over to the 50-Amp pedestal that brother Steve had installed next to his house, since it wouldn’t do us any good now anyway. You may recall from my last posting, that recent rains prevented us from parking there when we arrived. The ground was pretty soggy… wouldn’t want to sink in and get stuck.
Anyway, I was able to schedule an appointment with the authorized Xantrex service center in Gilbert, AZ for Tuesday morning. We’ll depart early in the morning to get there by 8 AM.
Meanwhile, we’ve just been puttering around here or in the local area. Yesterday (Sunday) we drove over to Coolidge to browse the flea market with Mom and Jim. Mom picked up a few more fruit trees to plant at the farm.
Entrance sign to the national monument from the main road in Coolidge, AZ.
We were able to use my disabled veteran National Parks Pass in lieu of the entrance fee.
Entrance sign in front of the Visitors Center.
The visitors center was chock-full of displays and informational placards.
We watched the film in the theater and then browsed all the displays until it was time for the guided tour.
Artists conception of daily life back in the day.
Here’s a diorama of the “Great House” with informational placard below.
I was surprised to learn there’a a large number of archeological sites throughout Arizona.
Once you step out the back door of the Visitors Center, you are greeted with a grand view of the ruins.
When it was time for the guided tour, we gathered under the pavilion.
Our tour guide, John, was passionate and knowledgeable. His background was in engineering, so he gave his presentation from that perspective.
Here, our informative tour guide John, is explaining how one of the circular openings in the wall align with the setting sun on the summer solstice.
Another view of the ruins from the front, or is it the back? Oh heck, the other side.
Informational placards were placed throughout the compound:
Mom and stepdad Jimmy posed for a picture.
Then it was our turn.
Another view of the ruins. I found it interesting in itself that the protective structure was built around 1932. It replaced a wooden structure that was in place before that.
After our tour of the Casa Grande Ruins, we took the short walking tour from the parking lot to view some more of this compound. Here’s the ball field with another informational placard in the foreground.
There were many of these signs all around the parking lot and compound.
Stilla supported one of the local “artists” inside the visitors center.
Great tour!… I would highly recommend it for anyone visiting the area.
Back at the “dirt farm” there’s always something to do. Here’s some electrical wire getting laid in the ground to power up the sheds, and recently built casita.
And here’s Jim and Steve filling in one of the ditches. I even helped a little… the fun part was packing it back down by running over the fresh dirt with the ATV 🙂
Anyway, gotta run and help out a little more…
Stay tuned to see how our repairs to the Urban Escape Vehicle go tomorrow…
We’ve enjoyed our time here in Prescott Valley at Scott and Julie’s house. But, with more rain and possible snow expected on Tuesday afternoon, we decided it was time to head south for warmer weather while we had the chance. So, we said our sad goodbyes in the morning between rainstorms and moved on. Plus, we didn’t want to wear out our welcome at the Richardson Ranch 🙂
View out Scott and Julie’s backyard.
The evening before we left, Julie made us an awesome spaghetti dinner… thanks Julie!
Here’s our moochdocking spot, looking east. The streets were finally drying somewhat after the last couple days of rain. Sure Julie… we believe you… it’s really nice weather here most of the time… suuuure…. 🙂
And here’s looking west.
Our hosts saw us on our way. Bye Scott & Julie… see you again soon! Thanks again! We’ll definitely be back to see some of the local attractions with you when the weather’s better.
A sign over I-17 just north of Phoenix told us to drive with care due to winter weather conditions. Luckily, we were able to stay dry and the Urban Escape Vehicle stayed clean except for a very brief rain shower near the middle of Phoenix.
By the way – we had decided to go down to the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande to stay a while with my Mom, Stepdad, brother Steve, and his girlfriend Cheryl. They reported good weather there, plus we can save a little money on diesel and campgrounds until it’s time to go to California for a couple Rallies in mid-March that we already signed up for.
We got to the “dirt farm” without incident after fueling up and dumping tanks at a Pilot/Flying J nearby.
Brother Steve and Stepdad Jimmy showed us the 50-Amp pedestal they finally got installed 🙂 However, the ground was still pretty soggy from recent rain at the designated spot, so we opted to park in front of Mom’s house until it gets a little drier here.
Our own 50 amp pedestal at the “dirt farm”. Pedestal is to the right, next to the house.Pedestal with 30 and 50 amp service!Brother Steven and Cheryl’s house, aka “the dirt farm”. Their name for it – not mine 🙂
Here’s where we’re parked in front of Mom and Jimmy’s house on the “dirt farm” until the 50-amp site on the side of Steven and Cheryl’s dries out.
View up the drive. The Coach is parked in front of Mom’s house on the right.
On Wednesday, we downloaded the ATV from the pickup and puttered around. Here’s Mom (below) starting her garden. She’s planting some corn and onions. The “dirt farm” has gotten quite “green” since we were last here in mid-January.
We went into town for lunch at a place we call the “Cactus Garden Restaurant”. It’s official name is BeDillon’s. Nice place, good food with cool ambience, this was the second time we’ve been here. They even have a little museum on site.
After lunch, Mom had us all working hard in the garden. We even managed to keep the rows straight and even, with a little help from tent stakes and string. Then we enjoyed another family meal and an evening of movies.
On Thursday, I helped stepdad Jimmy pick up supplies at Lowe’s so he could finish up some more electrical runs and breaker boxes to supply power for outlying sheds and the garage. There’s always something to do here at the farm.
When I returned and stepped into the Urban Escape Vehicle, I heard the Inverter/Charger (Xantrex) alarm going off. The display panel indicated an Inverter/Charger internal fault and there was no power except for 12 volt. This is especially bad for us because we have a residential refrigerator. We must always leave our Inverter/Charger running with the Inverter “enabled” in order to power the fridge at all times.
I checked everything I could think of, but we have no 110-120 volt power to anything, no matter what I do. Every time I reset (either from the display panel or on the actual Inverter/Charger) it goes directly to “fault-mode” and the alarm sounds.
Our surge-guard appears to be working fine and “clicks” when I plug in to shore power. The generator appears to be supplying voltage when I turn it on, but again, the Inverter/Charger keeps going to “fault-mode” whenever I “enable” the Inverter portion of the Inverter/Charger.
Now, I thought that when hooked to shore power or with the generator running, I could still power all my appliances (Fridge, Microwave, TV, etc.,) without the Inverter being “enabled”. But, since I ALWAYS leave my Inverter “enabled” for the times when we disconnect from shore power or turn the generator off… so that the batteries will continue to provide seamless power – I’m not sure. I certainly can’t get any appliances to work now, no matter what I do with the Inverter/Charger.
Here’s a picture I took of the Inverter/Charger which is mounted sideways on the back wall of the basement. It’s the RS2000 model from Xantrex, and I’m relatively sure it’s original equipment from 2005. As you can see from the lights; the “Network” light is on and the “Charger Enable” light is on. In this current state, it does not alarm, but there is also no power to any appliances. Now, if I press the “Inverter Enable” button, the “Fault” light comes on and the alarm sounds at the display panel at the front of the Coach in the upper cabinet. The display shows “Fault F026 – Inverter/Charger Internal Failure”.
I then have to hit the “Reset” to stop the alarm.
I checked the network wires and connections.
I pulled off the front panel to see if there was anything obviously loose or wrong.
All the connections are tight and clean.
Then I pulled off the top cover. Note: All necessary safety precautions were taken – no one was hurt in the making of this blog post.
Again, nothing obviously wrong. I guess it’s time to call my extended warranty service and see what run-around I’ll get from them (based on my past experience with the refrigerator compressor) and see where they will allow me to take this problem to get fixed. Oh well, always a new adventure… it’s a good thing we’re parked where we are and not in the boonies somewhere, eh?
We emptied the refrigerator and freezer and moved everything into the house… thanks Mom and Cheryl!
Hopefully, we can get this resolved without a lot of money or drama. Honestly, I should have seen this coming, because I HAD noticed recently that the Inverter/Charger was louder than usual. It always “hummed”, but lately it’s been louder than I remember. I chalked it up to the lower voltage service we’ve subjected the Coach to in recent weeks; 30-Amp at Alamo Lake State Park, garage power (probably 20-Amp) at Scott & Julie’s, and now 20-Amp in front of my Mom’s house…
I called our extended warranty service, EasyCare. They tell me that there are only two “authorized” Xantrex service centers in Arizona. One is in Tucson, the other in Gilbert. I’ll be making some calls in the morning. Stay tuned…
