Beating the heat

Thursday, August 8, 2013

 This is our third trip to Santa Fe in August. Our first trip was planned to be just a stop in Santa Fe on our way to Colorado. After spending a few nights in Black canyon campground, we decided there was no reason to keep going. The nights got down to 50 degrees, and the highs were seldom over 80. Perfect weather, and we were only 15 minutes from town. Not to mention the price of $10 a night fit right in our budget. The campsites are paved, and in a forest of pines which smell great. It doesn't get much better.

  Our trip started uneventful, and in August that is a good thing. We did get in an unexpected thunderstorm in Dublin, that seemed to come out of nowhere. Shelly had just washed the truck yesterday, so she wasn't too happy about that. We turned west in Post, Texas and was heading to Brownfield to a stopover rv park Don and Sheron told us about. We had a blowout on the right rear tire on the airstream. It dented the lower curved part behind the wheel, but shouldn't take too long to fix. Changing the tire in 100 degree heat is not fun. We should go someplace cooler. We set up camp in Brownfield, and found a tire shop still open at 6 pm. 10 minutes later we had a new tire and were ready to go. We watched old home movies, and waited for the temperature to cool down before taking the dogs for a walk.  

Friday, August 9, 2013

  I changed the tire early this morning to get it done before it got hot. We drove west to Roswell, and then north to Santa Fe. Not the prettiest scenery, but they had gotten rain recently, and it was the greenest I had ever seen this part of New Mexico. We got to Black canyon campground about 4, and set up in site 13. Our reservation isn't until tomorrow, and someone else is in 24. The temperature was 73 and the pines smell great. Ahhh, now to unwind. We hiked the trail to the top of the hill, and could both tell we were above 8000 feet. Just a little out of breath, but the hike felt good. 

 The top of Black canyon trail.

Our campsite #24

 This is site 13

  Saturday, August 10, 

We woke up to 42 degree temps this morning, but it was 60 in the Airstream even with the windows open. It rained a little bit last night, but the sun came out this morning. We moved over to site 24, and got set up. We drove into town, and I bought a Nikon D5200 camera at Sam's club. The firefighters gave me a retirement gift, and I have been wanting a good camera. It was a confusing choice to pick which camera. This should do everything I need. Now I just have to figure out how to use it. The traffic in Santa Fe was bad. I don't remember it being this bad last year but it is a Saturday. We ate at Panda Express, and found wifi in front of McDonalds, so we checked emails. We checked in with our parents and kids to let them know we made it here.  Drove back to camp, and it started raining, so we sat under the awning. I had the brilliant idea to eat ice cream, and got chilled, so I had to find warmer clothes. We watched another home video DVD, and kept an eye on the voltmeter. It only dropped .1 volt to 12.2 volts, so we were good. That was the first time to watch television while boondocking.

 Sunday, August 11

 Sat by a campfire to start the morning. Relaxing day! Beautiful sunny, and low 70's for a high. We hiked the trail behind the camp again, and I got to try out the new camera, and read the manual. The night was clear, and we watched for meteors, but we only saw a few. It started sprinkling about 6 in the 

 Monday, August 12

Drove into town to check on the status of our health insurance for Shelly. We found a wifi spot in front of la Posada hotel, and checked emails. Went shopping at restore, and found abs plastic pipe fittings very cheap. Shelly was super excited! Ha! Drove to Camel rock casino and spent $5 there, but we got 4 bottles of water! They didn't have the slot machines we liked from last year, so we drove to Buffalo Thunder casino. Shelly started winning and was up over $3, and I was down $2 when I got bored with the 1 cent bets, so I gambled big with 10 cents, and won $30! I knew that wouldn't happen again, so I cashed out and quit. That was the first time to actually win. Last year we broke even, and I was happy. We are going back for Shelly's birthday, so it'll probably be back to even for this year. We hiked Black canyon trail again, and relaxed outside waiting for the meteor shower. Just as it got dark, the clouds rolled in, so we called it an early night. 

  Tuesday, August 13

 40 degree morning again! 

A great way to wake up!

After breakfast sitting around the fire, we drove to the ski basin to hike. We hiked the Winsor trail into the Pecos wilderness area. It is a beautiful trail through the pines and aspen. We stopped at a creek for lunch, and I hiked about another half mile toward Nambe lake. I heard it is a beautiful lake, but I wanted to be back at the truck before the thunderstorms build up, so I turned around and hiked back to where Shelly was. We ate lunch on a flat rock next to the creek, which had several small falls, so it sounded peaceful. The hike to the creek was 2&1/4 miles one way, and the first half mile was steep. Both the dogs were wore out by the time we got back, and all they wanted to do was sleep all evening. We built a fire again, and sat outside to see if there were any meteors, but we didn't see any. It was a clear night, and a good way to end the day.

A map of the trail system in Santa Fe national forest

Shelly near Nambe creek

 

Bright red mushrooms. I did not try to eat them!

 

Shelly with her attitude. She says it is my fault.

Where the Pecos wilderness starts

Shelly being pretty

 Wednesday, August 14

It was 50 degrees this morning instead of the usual 42. Very nice weather. We drove into Santa Fe and  washed clothes. Went shopping at Albertsons for coffee and good bread. We went to Smith's for other groceries. We ate at Red Lobster for lunch. I had the blackened trout, and Shelly had the captain's platter. It was good, but not great, and Shelly and I decided to use the other gift card at Olive Garden. We used the wifi at Lowe's, and got caught up on world events. I got the camera and lenses registered for the warranty, and found the app for the IPad that lets you download the pictures wirelessly from the camera. It also lets you control the camera from the IPad or iPhone. It seems like a neat feature, but I'm not sure how practical that will be. We found a game called Othello at a thrift store, and played it once we got back to camp. It is easy to learn, but looks like it will take a long time to learn all the strategies. We walked the dogs, and talked to several people. One guy told us about solarpenny.com and said they had two 100 watt panels for about $260. Anne Pustejovsky had gotten into camp while we were in town, and we woke her up to say hi. We met her last year, and she was in a turquoise camper called a TaDa! We visited with her for a while, and she said she would show us her pictures of her trip to Africa tomorrow. Shelly and I sat by the fire and talked about a retirement party. 

 Thursday, August 15

 It is hard to believe we have been here six days already. We had a lazy morning sitting by the fire. I downloaded the pictures onto the IPad, and deleted about half of them. It is nice to take several pictures of the same shot, and delete the bad ones. Anne showed us her pictures of her trip to South Africa. it looked like a fun adventure. We hiked the Nordic ski trail which was a little over two miles, but mostly flat terrain.

 Bright red berries. I did not try to eat them either.

Santa Fe off in the distance from the mountain

 A rest stop.

Shelly got to text to Erica while on this trail. I guess it overlooks Santa Fe, and is close enough to get a signal. It is funny how we get used to cell phones, and expect to have service everywhere. We picked up two big bags of pine cones to put in the flower beds at home. We played Othello again, and mahjong. 

Friday, August 16 Shelly's Birthday!

As we drove into town, Shelly's phone kept dinging. It is her birthday, and all the birthday wishes kept her phone busy. She got to talk to Tyler and Parker, her Mom, and Erica. We started at Camel rock casino again, but both lost $3 each, so we went to Buffalo Thunder casino again. Shelly lost $5 and between both of us, they got their money back from Monday. But it was fun. We drove into town, and stopped at Lowe's for wifi again. Shelly's insurance company said they needed proof of prior insurance, so I called United health, and went through the whole automated phone thing where they ask what I need. I tell them "proof of insurance",  and they say I'm sorry I did not understand you. After doing that about four times they finally say they will actually let me speak to an operator. But not before being put on hold for 15 minutes, while getting to listen to their great elevator music. They finally answered, and said they would be happy to mail the proof of insurance to us. Great, except we're 600 miles away from our mailbox, and no, they couldn't email it to us or the new insurance company. Hipa violation. Thanks, government. So, I called the new insurance company and told them it would be a couple of weeks before we could get the proof to them. They said fine, but they really don't need that anyway. Grrrr. We drove to Olive Garden for a late lunch. Shelly ordered stuffed mushrooms, and I got the grilled chicken flat bread.  The waitress said she would be right back with the breadsticks, and salad. About fifteen minutes later she brought us salad, and said they were baking fresh breadsticks. The meal was great, and the breadsticks were fresh and brought to us when we were almost done. But they were fresh. No complaints, just a funny story. Back at camp, we hiked to the top of the trail again, and it was almost dark when we got back. 

Saturday, August 17

We had a lazy morning, and after breakfast we decided to see the Indian market in town. This is a once a year event and draws lots of visitors. All the plaza was closed to vehicle traffic, and booths set up for vendors. We enjoyed people watching. I had told Shelly she could get an Ipad for her birthday, so we went to Sam's and bought the IPad 4, and upgraded her phone while we were there. It was 90 degrees in town today, and we found out that that was the high in Texas also. Back at camp, it was 75, and much better. 

Sunday, August 18

Tradewind restoration part 3

This past week , I have been working on the parts that go through to the outside. The air conditioner, fantastic fans, battery boxes, fresh water inlet, stabilizer jacks, and the tongue jack. I wanted to check the air conditioner, so I had to run 110 to it, as well as a 12 volt wire to run the thermostat. That meant I had to hook up the converter, and sort through the jungle of wires that came off the 2003 Classic. 

 Looks like fun doesn't it?

The air conditioner in place. That will help, since they are calling for 100 degree temps all week. 

The water tank and converter sort of in place. 

I know how much fun polishing is. Maybe that is why I keep putting it off. Now that summer is here with a vengeance, it will be even more fun. Oh we'll, here goes. Don't I look purty?

It is shining up nicely! 

With only three weeks before I retire, it is getting hard to concentrate on anything. We will be going to Santa Fe again to escape the heat. I need to check out our 1973 Overlander to get it ready for the trip. The air conditioner blower motor bearing started locking up on our last camping trip. I was able to get some wd40 on it to get us through the weekend, but I need to oil it. I am surprised the 40 year old unit still works. It is hard to imagine what it is going to be like not having to be back home at a certain time. The closest we got to that was our 5 week trip to New England two years ago. Even then, we knew we had to be back. I am getting excited. But back to polishing. Ugh! 

 These are the trim pieces on the bottom of the Airstream showing a before and after! Still polishing. But we took a break to go camping at Lake Whitney state park for a few days. 

San Marcos and Guadalupe rivers trip

 San Marcos and Gaudalupe rivers trip

 Thursday, may 30, 2013

We're heading south for a little rest and relaxation and tubing. After this last week of all work, and not much sleep, I'm ready. We drove to Belton to 35 and South to Austin. Map quest rerouted us around Austin on the new toll road. It is a great road, but we're not sure if they are going to charge us $1.69 or $1.69 per axle. All the toll stations are closed, and it is all pay by mail, so after passing 5 or 6 of the stations, we don't know if our bill is going to be $8.45 or $30. We will find out when we get back home. We had to stop in Kyle for the great Mexican food at Casa Maria's again. We weren't disappointed. After checking in at Pecan park, we talked to several people who went through Austin on 35, and into a nightmare of a traffic jam. It took over an hour to get through Austin. Maybe I'll remember that story when our toll bill arrives in the mail. A lot of Airstreamers are in the park already on Thursday, even though the rally starts tomorrow. We visited with everyone, Debi and Jim Rich, Sid and Bonnie, Bonnie's brother Sam and Pam, Terry and Mary, Steve and Amy, Joe and Rachel without Rachel tonight, Deb and Ken, Craig and Debbie. 

 Friday, may 31

Shelly and I talked Sid into chauffeuring us to the bridge for tubing. Terry and Mary went with us for a relaxing tube ride. The water is a little murky from the recent rain, but feels great, since it got up to 95* today. We had our potluck, with Shelly bringing her Mexican chicken and cherry dump cake. All the food was delicious. Connie and Johnny showed up just in time to eat, and brought barbecue from Luling. We sat around Steve's propane campfire and visited with everyone. 

 Saturday, June 1

Spent a relaxing morning before tubing down the river again. This time Joe and Rachel, Bonnie, Sam and Pam, Terry and Mary went with us. What a difference Saturday makes on the river. Serene was a good description yesterday, but today the river was crowded with college kids enjoying the day. Quiet was not what they  were after on the river, but people watching became the event of the day. After we got back to the camp, we decided to sit on the edge of the riverbank, and watch the tubers in the rapids. We ate at the potluck again, and won two door prizes; Flamingo lights, and a t shirt with the airforums logo on it. We sat around the campfire again and visited. 

 Sunday, June 2

Lots of folks packing up this morning. Guess they have to work tomorrow. I'm going to have to learn Frenchy's line, " I had a job once, I didn't like it!" There are about six Airstreamers still here. We floated the river again in the early afternoon, and the crowd was about half the amount of yesterday, but still a little crazy. We ate leftover Mexican chicken, and washed clothes before visiting with everyone again.

 Monday, June 3

Caught up on the IPad with world events, before packing up and saying goodbye. Drove to the River Road rv camp on the Guadalupe river just out of New Braunfels. Set up camp, and walked up to the bridge and floated down to our camp. It is a short float, but we tied off to a rope in the river and kept cool in the river most of the afternoon. We ate ribs and potato salad, and watched tv before going to bed early.

  Tuesday, June 4

We enjoyed a lazy morning before Erica and Damon showed up around noon. We all floated the same short section again twice and took advantage of the cool river. It has been getting up in the mid nineties in the afternoon, and the river is about 75*. Shelly made chicken burritos and leftover corn salsa. We played Yahtzee several times, then sat watching the sunset and listening to the river. 

 Wednesday, June 5

I guess I finally caught up on my sleep, because I was up at 6:30, but everyone else slept in. I drove up river road, to see if the place was open that we put in the river last year. It wasn't, so I drove on to lazy L & L camp to see our alternatives. It was a nicer camp, but the sites were smaller and further from the river. I like hearing the rapids only 10 feet from our Airstream, but the other camp will do for a backup plan. We spent most of the day lazing in the river staying cool, and played double Yahtzee at night. 

 Thursday, June 6

 Where does the time go? It's already time to pack up and go home. It is hard to believe we've been gone a week already. 

This is how we convert our living room to a second bedroom! The swivel rockers feel even more comfortable outside

That is Erica and Damon chilling on the Guadalupe!

Our camp!

1959 Tradewind restoration part 2

The holding tanks in place

The plywood painted on bottom for moisture protection.

 I spent several days working on the holding tanks, sub floor, and belly pan. None of this will be seen, but all needs to be done before putting the body back on. That will be the exciting part.

This shows the dump valve locations, and the black tank rinse inlet.

Crimping the belly pan over the rail

Lowering the body onto the frame. 

Checking the holding tanks for leaks

We spent several days riveting the body onto the frame, and replacing the right side lower panels. I thought riveting would get old after about 30 minutes, but I'm still having fun after two days. Shelly and dad, however, are on the other end of the rivet, and aren't having as much fun. It is starting to look like a real Airstream again! I bought a new catch for the step to hold it in the up position, and decided to put it on last night. The 1" angle iron brace is right in the way. I put in the same place as our 1973 Overlander, but the new catch is for the step from the 2003. That means I had to cut the brace off. Now I need to decide if it is necessary to weld it further back. At least the new catch works. 

The right side before the panel replacement

The new panel

Drilling the holes

Lots of Clecos

The new side

Close up of the new rivets

The old back panel

The new back 

The new panel on the left side.

We spent several more days riveting, and decided to replace the back panel. The old one had quite a few scratches and holes, so off it came. The new one sure looks nicer. I advertised on Airforums that I needed a window to replace a wrong window on the left side. The previous owner had put a jalousie window in its place, and I didn't like it. A nice gentleman from South Carolina happened to have an 18" window, but no frame. That will fit the frame I took out from the lower window next to the door. The previous owner had covered that one with aluminum, but the frame was still good. I cut out for the refrigerator vents, battery boxes, water heater, and furnace, as well as a side outdoor light. The outside is almost done once I get the door ready. That may take several days itself. 

The new compartment door

The battery compartments from the 2003 Classic took the place of some holes in the front

The lower refrigerator vent

 The door seems to have been abused. I think it had been slammed open a few too many times. I took the small door apart, and decided to replace the skins on it. The door handle had been replaced recently, and the hole patched with aluminum. It did not look bad, but since I am replacing skins, it will be relatively easy to change that one too. Now I am down to about  half the old skins, and I think it will look better to have all new skins, so what the heck.This is a learning experience, right? Now, should I change the hinges to the right side of the  door, like it should have been to start with? What was Wally thinking, anyway? I'll have to think on that one a day or two.

  After thinking on it a couple of days, I guess I'll go with the original suicide door.

    I spent several hours cutting the new skins, and took them to a tin shop in West, Texas. While       they were bending the panels, I got to see the devastation from the fertilizer explosion. It was amazing to see the effects of the blast. Wow. 

I spent about three hours riveting the outside skins back to the door frame.

It turned out nice. It looks better than the patched door. The aluminum was about $100, and the bending cost $60. I'll have about 12 hours labor in the door. Plus, it was fun!

It was really cool to see Johnny Alonzo's signature inside the door. I added my name to the panel, and riveted it inside the door. Who knows who will find it in 50 years?