Jeep Temperature, Wash the RV.

 

Jeep temperature sensor.

The other day when we went to the cabin I noticed that on the way home the temperature gauge wasn’t working.
This morning I went out to hunt down a new temperature sensing unit. A had to go to three different auto parts stores before I found one. This time it was at the Napa store.
I had to look on line to find out where the sensor was located on the engine but after that it was an easy job to change it. Once I got the sensor changed I started the engine and after a little while the temp came up.
I have been suspecting for a while that the temperature sender was going bad. Maybe that is why the engine has been running so rich. Only time will tell.

Wash the RV.

The RV was looking kind of run down after sitting all summer. It was covered with grimy dust and moss was starting to grow in the gutters.
I have been a little reluctant to wash the RV since we are in a drought and people are watching to see who uses water inappropriately. I finally decided “Screw Them” and washed the RV.
It looks a lot better.

Well, that kicked my butt so I’m done for the day. I think I take a little nap and then write the blog for today.

Redwoods, The coast and Lunch

 

Armstrong Woods State Park.

We picked up Sue and Denis around 10:00 and headed for Guerneville and Bob’s place.
I was thinking that we could stop by and visit Bob and then take a walk in Armstrong Grove Redwood State Park which is right next door to Bob’s house.
After a short visit, Bob suggested that we do just that. The park entrance is about half mile from Bob’s so we all got in Patti’s car and drove to the park entrance.

We walked the trails checking out the big trees.

There were lots of interesting root balls of the fallen giants.

 

We came to a spot called the Magic Circle. Here are several large trees that have grown from the rim of an old stump that has since disappeared creating a large circle of trees.

Denis is taking a look at the view.

Here is what he sees.

A lot of the trees have interesting burls on them. Burls are a growth that forms on a tree from an injury.

Here is one that we decide should be called; the grumpy old man of the woods.

 

Here is another one called the Icicle tree.

We wandered around in the trees for an hour or so marveling at their size.

Here is a sign in front of one of the giants that will give you some idea of the size and age of these forest monarchs.

It is a bit amazing to think that if this tree was standing at the goal line of a football field and you cut it down the top would hit the goal post on the opposite end of the field.
Just picture that, Amazing eh?

Here is Sue and Denis on the trail.

The Pacific Coast Highway.

We left the park, dropped Bob off at his place and headed for the coast.
It is about a 30 minute drive from Guerneville to the Pacific Coast Highway US-1.

The ocean was fairly calm although a storm is supposed to get here tomorrow.

Lunch at Bodega Bay.

We drove to Bodega Bay and went down to the Spud Point Marina where we had lunch at the Spud Point Crab Company.

 

They have very good Clam Chowder.

Bodega Head

After lunch we drove to Bodega Head to check out the view.

This is looking north from the head.

A lot of Ice plant grow on the rocks along the coast. It can be very colorful at certain times of the year.

Here it is in it’s fall colors.

We watched the waves crashing against rocks for a while and then headed for home.

It was a really nice day.

Sue and Denis at the Cabin.

 

We leave for the cabin.

We stopped by Sue and Denis’s RV around 9:00. They were more or less ready to go so after a few minutes we were heading out. We made one stop to fill the gas tanks.
Eventually we were on the road.

Arrival.

We stopped at the Boonville Market and bought a couple of sandwiches for lunch then continued our drive to the cabin. We arrived around 12:00 and after showing Sue and Denis the cabin and other stuff around the camp we sat around outside and ate our lunch.

Sue and Denis at the cabin.

A little walk.

After lunch Sue, Denis and I took a walk up the road to the Bear Spring. On the way back we took the cabin loop trail  and followed it to the dirt bench. After a short break there, we headed back to the road and down the hill to the cabin.
I forgot to bring the camera again!

Trip to the grove.

After a short break at the cabin, we got in the jeeps and drove down to the Grove.

Here is Sue and Patti standing by the swimming hole. It’s a little low at this time of year.

We wandered around the grove for a while checking out the giant redwoods there.
After a while we headed back up the hill.

Patti thought she had left her camera at the cabin so we stopped by there to look for it. The camera turned out to be buried under some stuff in the jeep.

Heading home.

We left there and headed for home. We stopped at Old Town Windsor for dinner at Lupe’s. Everyone enjoyed their dinner (or “supper” for the Canadians).

It was a good day.

Today (Tuesday) we are going to take Sue and Denis to the coast.

The Solenoid Valve Again. A visit from Felice And Friends From Canada Arrive.

 

Another try at the solenoid Valve:

I had a little free time this morning so I decided to take another look at the solenoid valve in the van. I pulled the valve out of the van and put it in the vice where I tried to blow air through it. It was closed and of course no air went through the valve. Next, I applied 12 volts to the coil and the valve clicked (it was a light click). I tried blowing through the valve and was able to do so but there was a lot of back pressure.
I decided that the valve was just barely opening.
What to do?
I thought; I have the old washer so I can double up on the washers, that should provide enough room for the valve to open fully.

So that’s what I did, I put the old washer on top of the new one and tightened the stem back down good and tight so it won’t leak.

I put the whole thing back together and installed it in the van. The van started right up and ran just fine. I didn’t see any leaks so after idling for about 10 minutes, I took a little ride. I drove about 5 miles out of town and back home. Just enough to get the engine up to operating temp. When I got home I just shut her down and went inside for a while. Later I came back out and checked to smell the van for raw gas. There was a very slight gas smell which I expected as the gas in the carburetor will still boil and some fumes will be released. I turned on the ignition and heard a good solid click from the solenoid. Then I could hear fuel pouring under pressure into the float bowl of the carburetor.
That means the float had sunk and much of the gas that was in the float bowl had drained into the manifold (possibly through the idle circuit I don’t really know for sure).
If the solenoid had not been there a lot of the fuel in the line would have been forced into the carb and even more fuel would be at the bottom of the intake manifold.
Hopefully this will stop most of that problem, even though the fuel will still boil and the float will still sink when that happens. Less fuel will get into the manifold with the solenoid in the line. Hopefully.

We will see.

Mr. Ed.

Since the van was running we decided to go to Lorraine’s to pick up “Mister Ed”.
Mister Ed is a 1-3/4 bore black powder cannon that my friend Jerry and I had co ownership in. Sadly Jerry has passed on and Lorraine said that I should take the cannon as she had no need for it.
Today we took the van over there and got Mr. Ed 

Felice:

My daughter, Felice, came by for a visit today. It’s always nice to see her. She just returned from a trip to Europe and had tales of her experiences there. Patti and her had a nice time reminiscing and discussing travel in Spain.
We went out to lunch at a place that was new to us; Derk’s Midtown Café. It was okay. Felice left around 3:00. 

Friends Arrive from Canada

We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our friends Sue and Denis from Quebec, Canada.
Patti has been following their progress across the states on face book. Today after Felice left, Patti got on line to check on them and found out that they were at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds RV park so off we went to see them.

It was a happy reunion. We visited for about an hour and made plans to take them to the cabin tomorrow.
So that’s what we will be doing tomorrow. Hopefully we will remember to take some pictures.

Talk to you later.

Getting Ready to Migrate South for the Winter.

 

Fixing the jeep.

I received the power module for the braking system on the jeep Thursday afternoon. Friday morning I installed the power module and it works just fine. That was the last major project to get done before we leave for Arizona.

Yard and House Work.

Patti and I did a little yard cleanup trying to get things ready around the house. Today, we will go through the house. 

Other that that, we are pretty much ready to go south.

Okay that’s it for now.

Slow Days.

 

We are still slowly putting things in the RV as we think about them.

Yesterday I ordered the Power Module for the aux brakes on the jeep. It should be here tomorrow or the next day.

I installed the XM radio in the RV.

In the past I tried using sticky back Velcro to hold the radio on the dash but the heat of the sun melts the glue and it lets go. This time I made a bracket and screwed the base to the dash. I also did a better job of running the wires. This time the installation is ~ permanent.

Not much more happening around here. Just getting ready to head south.

Getting the RV Home and a Trip to the City.

 

Bringing home the RV:

We got the motor home out of the shop on Friday afternoon and filled it up with gas on the way home. That way we don’t have to stop on our way out of town in a few weeks.

We started getting things together and slowly are putting stuff in the motor home.

A visit to San Francisco.

We forgot to bring the @^#$# camera!

Saturday we went to San Francisco to visit with my daughter and her husband. They have a really nice place on a hillside with a great view of the East Bay and the Bay Bridge.

We always enjoy visiting with Gabriella and Morgan. They are fun and into a lot of cool stuff.

We had lunch at “The Old Clam House”; this is the oldest restaurant in San Francisco. It was built in 1861 and is still in business. As the name suggests they specialize in seafood.

Morgan and I shared a dozen raw oysters and we both had the steamed clams in a broth. The oysters were fresh and tasty as were the clams.

Patti had a Shrimp Louie and said that it was good.

Gabriella had a spinach salad and a Pasta dish that looked like couscous with snow peas and sun dried tomatoes. She loved it except for the tomatoes.

The food is good but be prepared to pay a good price for it. I suppose that goes for any place in the city.

The trip home.

Every time we go to visit with Gabriella and Morgan we get lost on the way home trying to get out of the city. This time we made sure to followed Morgan’s directions to the letter and eventually got to a part of town that I am familiar with. Soon we were crossing the bridge into Marin county. It feels like a race track coming north down the hill from the Rainbow Tunnel; everyone is in a hurry to get home. Everything moved along pretty good until we got north of Novato where there was a wreck.

The wreck was off the highway but the rubbernecker’s caused the traffic to be backed up for several miles. After about 45 minutes of stop and slow traffic we cleared the wreck and from there it was good sailing all the way home.

Sunday:

I have been working on enhanced security for my shed. Today I mounted the hardware.

Those bolts won’t come out without a lot of noise and serious destruction of the door and wall of the shed.
Nothing is perfect but maybe this will be a deterrent. Locks only keep out nosy people; a determined thief, not as much.

Auxiliary brake system:

I got the documentation for the system out of the motor home and from what I have been able to figure out, it looks like the power controller is fried. Today I tried to order a new controller on line but even though I found the web sight for the manufacturer I could not find anywhere to buy parts, only complete kits. I will try to call them tomorrow and find out what’s up.

Okay, That’s all for today