The saga of the fridge

I'll be adding to this post as we progress. It will likely won't be resolved until after we get home in April.

 Our fridge, a Norcold 1201LRIM, is acting up again, unable to keep the food safely cool though both freezer compartments are cold.

Investigation showed one of the two fans was not working. These fans are critical to the correct working of the fridge as we found out two years ago when both fans quit. That time it turned out to be nothing more than a corroded connection so it was an easy fix.

Following some advice from RV.NET we temporarily placed a 120VAC 12" fan in one of the vents. This helped a lot and eventually the fridge began to cool. Fridge temperature is hovering around 40F though is some places is higher.









The fans can't be replaced without removing fridge! It doesn't have to come out of the motorhome but has to be disconnected from gas, electricity and water lines and pulled into the galley area. The fans are NOT accessible from the outside the rig.















For a better temporary fix we are waiting for a couple of 120mm 12Volt computer fans to wire in there somewhere so we can use the fridge while underway. Perhaps hang them from the upper fins or somehow attach them to the back of the fridge and/or the base of the upper vent opening. I'll use these same photos to ask for specific suggestions from the experts on RV.NET.




UPDATE Jan 26th  Further research leads me to believe that the fans need to go way down, perhaps above the fans in the top photo. Others have suggested putting one in here some where blowing up. I don't see that there is room!

Then I need to figure out where and how to get the 12VDC I need. I'm pretty sure it's those heavy black and white wires. Spicing in there will be fun. Another problem is that the fans I have been able to find are quite light plastic and I don't know how they will stand up to the heat.

Also, recently the fins in the back of the fridge are frosting up, much more on one side than the other. I suspect that part of the problem is the ambient temperature here, low to mid 30s Celsius (90s F) and another is the fact that the fridge is too full. We can fix that by shopping more regularly and NOT putting 5 litre boxes of wine in it!

Update: 26 January:  Defrosted the fridge a week or more ago and drank the wine and now it appears to be holding up much better. Though there is a lot of moisture on the top of the inside of the fridge it isn't frosting up as much or as fast.






The big question is what to do when we get home? Just replace the fans? Replace the entire cooling unit? Replace the fridge with the same? OR replace with a residential compressor fridge? This would involve adding one or two more solar panels, another inverter/charger and another solar controller all to run the fridge. We would also need a switch to be able to turn off the 120VAC to that inverter/charger when running the heatpump while having only a 30 Amp connection is available, such as when we are here in southern Mexico.

A domestic residential fridge is much cheaper than a new RV fridge, even factoring in the extra solar and inverter. Just the cooling unit for our present fridge is $1100.00 US.  Most of the residential fridges  are quite energy efficient though what the power usage here in high ambient temperature Mexico we have yet to find out.

A lot of the above depends on the age of our fridge. Is it the original? (2002) or was it replaced before we bought it in 2008?  We're hoping that we can discover that by the serial number.

Decisions, decisions.

Now it doesn't want to run reliably on propane. I cleaned the burner but no change.
AARRGGGHHHH!

I was told by a tech on RV.NET  that I have to remove and clean the burner orifice and the igniter. This is a bit awkward and I'll have to take the fan down and turn the fridge off. Might wait until I install the new temporary 12V fans.

We defrosted the fridge last week and by today it was looking the same. Another problem.

More in another post.

Some Local Wild Life

One of the many local crocodiles (Cocodrilo in  Spanish).

Sometimes not so easy to spot (right of centre):

Sometimes very easy to spot:

Good thing that cats have nine lives. Not sure how many Totopos, the restaurant cat, has left. Check out what she is watching so carefully in the background:

And much less intimidating, various iguanas.

Though sometime the iguanas can be quite stupid.  The waiter occasionally leaves bits of salad on this stump for the iguanas. This little one apparently hasn't noticed mister crocodile checking out a possible snack!

And birds; a juvenile heron

and the adult form:

And relatively rare here (the first I have ever seen), a Blue Footed Booby. Which according to witnesses, washed up on the beach after rolling in on the surf. Exhausted it waddled up to the strip of vegetation between the beach and a house where it stayed recovering for almost 24 hours. Thankfully local dogs and tourists left it alone.

This photo was taken just before dusk. The bird was still there next morning but was gone by later in the day.


And not so rare, a Black Capped Blue Eyed Turista:

Settling in at El Manglar

I thought that I should at least start these posts while they would show up as 2015!

I'll be back to fill in next year :)

It rained a little: That water at the entrance to El Manglar was at least 6" deep.

Temporary mirror fix: Make a cardboard template of the broken glass, trip to the glass shop , where a stock mirror was cut while I waited, 60 pesos. Tube of silicone sealer, 65 pesos, done;

UPDATE:  As of 11 June 2016 the mirror is still hanging in as shown. Other than a few smears of silicone it works well. I keep forgetting to order a new gla$$ from Velvac.

Zihua, Week One

Day one,

Monday, November 30. A crew arrived to do some fibreglass and paint repairs to a neighbours trailer. Art liked the workmanship so we decided to have an old OOPS and sundry scratches and rock chips taken care of:

Old OOPS repaired and primered several years ago:

New Colour coat and top coat, looking like new. 

Note the colour match. Only part of the panel was painted.

They came back a few days later to apply the clear coat. 

6,300 pesos in all. $525.00 Canadian

Margarito spotted the damaged bumper on the Jeep and asked if we wanted it repaired as well.

We had been told by the dealer at home that it could not be repaired as it wasn't open at the back and we would require a new bumper. 2000 pesos (160.00 Canadian) later it had been removed and taken to the shop, the back cut open, damage repaired, back plastic welded up, painted and re-installed. Cheaper even than our insurance deductible.

29 November On the road to Zihuatanejo

We left Bugamville RV Park at 9:05, a little later than hoped for but not truly expected. Beginning to accept reality.

We were looking for a new stretch of cuota (toll road) towards Morela, according to reports just before Irapuato is a new Salamanca-Leon highway. we saw a few signs as we got near then finally one for Morelia, Salamanca and Leon.

Well Leon was in the wrong direction, Morelia was where we would be going and Salamanca was on the way. Then we quickly came upon the exit for the Salamanca-Leon cuota. As we entered the turn into the exit we spotted a second sign back on the highway that read "MORELA SALIDA 200 METERS". Morelia  exit 200 meters. ! ! ! ! ! Very rude words. Too late to get back on the highway, we were well into the exit.

As we joined the highway to LEON we noticed a car ahead of us making an illegal left hairpin turn into the  southeast bound lane. By the time we realised that he had done the same thing as we had done, thought about doing the same thing (around several workman) it was too late. It appeared that this had been a temporary exit that was in the process of being closed now the new exit was open. Oh well, we'll take the first retorno. Except there wasn't one. Almost to Leon there was a Silao exit which put us heading south east to Silao, guessing still at least 10 Km away.

Eventually we  were back in Silao passing the Guanajuato toll road we had come down one hour and 20 minutes and 165 pesos in tolls earlier. Now we really should stop for fuel before Zihuatanejo. We had spotted a good one an hour and a half ago on the first time around so this time we kept watch for it. We fuelled up and by 11:15 we were back to watching for our exit. This time we made the right one. At 11:30 we paid another 130 pesos in tolls. At least this time we were going in the right direction.



Fifteen minutes later we were on another toll road, one we remembered from previous years. Here we took a ticket and would pay at the end.

Thirty five minutes later we paid 419 pesos and very soon after we were crossing Lago Cuitzeo. Morelia wasn't far away.

This bridge/causeway is 5,600 meters in length.


This highway crosses the main North South Mex 15 to/from Mexico City and leads directly into Morelia. We have heard rumours that they are constructing a new Cuota (Toll Highway) from here to Patzcuaro which would avoid Morelia altogether and save an hour or more on the drive. No sign of it from here as yet.

We had also heard that the Periferico around Morelia was much improved. I think that was a little optimistic. It was better than it had been and much work had been done but the right lane in particular was very rough. However the signage to and from the Periferico was much improved so we didn't miss it and find ourselves in the middle of the city which happened two years ago.

Off the ring road and on the highway to Patzcuaro we began looking for somewhere we could pull off for a quick lunch and a short walk around for Tia. An hour after paying the last toll at Quitzeo we found space near a Pemex. 35 minutes later, at 1:55 PM we were rolling again--next stop: Zihuatanejo.

Six tolls (839 pesos) and three hours later we were off the 37D toll road and south bound on the Mex 200 to Zihuatanejo and one more hour to the Pemex in Z to top up with fuel. 103 Litres @ 14.02 pesos per litre. (Roughly $1.10 Canadian)

According to the fuel tank capacity we probably would have made it with out the fuel stop in Silao but we don't like to take chances. Adding the 141 litres we took there meant we used 244 litres since the previous fill. The most we have ever put in at once was 264 litres. And the low fuel light had been on for a while!

The fuel stop took another 20 minutes and 10 minutes after that, at 6:30, we had arrived at El Manglar just in time to get parked before dark.

To Guanajuato

Shortly after we arrived at the Midway Inn two more rigs arrived, a huge truck with a 5th wheel, and a motorhome, both from Quebec. They were heading to the Pacific coast via Guadalajara, while were aiming further south, though for part of the way we would likely be on the same roads.

Though the electrical plugs were wired correctly the voltage was too high so we ran the generator for a few hours. We watched the evening news from home thanks to the satellite and basically just kicked back relaxing, fueling up for the next two days of driving.

Setting off just before nine we weren't feeling too rushed though about half of our route would be new to us. We had a 2013 Guia Roji road atlas and the GPS both of which seemed to agree though the GPS wanted us to turn northwest from just past San Luis Potosi while we wanted to go southwest. We added a way point to the GPS routing and that made it happy enough.


We checked also with Google Maps and again things seemed to agree but we had a lot of trouble with the Street View where we would join the highway at Silao and turn south for just a few kilometers. It seemed to take us sideways over an overpass where the road suddenly disappeared!

Nevertheless we got underway and had a mostly uneventful drive. The road we wanted was signed for San Felipe, which was the way point we had used. Once we were on that road we cancelled the way point and the GPS was quite happy to take us mostly the right way. I say mostly because at Villa de Reys there was a new highway being constructed and things had changed. Also at San Filipe there were some changes being made.

The road wasn't too bad for the most part, except for a nine kilometer stretch with very narrow lanes and zero shoulders with sharp drop offs to the fields. Fortunately there were no semis heading our way.  The supposedly new bit from San Filipe to Silao though wide and straight had some surfacing issues. Lowest bid contractor or some politician's brother-in-law with a hand in (or out) being  the likely explanation.

As we approached Silao we could see straight ahead of us high on the mountain the huge statue of Christ in Guanajuato. However we had to go around three sides of a square before we would get there. Closer to Silao the signs for Guanajuato began to appear and very soon we were back on familiar highways.

We knew that there had been some development near the RV park entrance but by keeping a couple of sharp eyes out we found our turn in to Bugamville RV Park. The actual site though had moved. Instead of being straight ahead and to the left, it had been moved to the other side of the lane and was to the right. We pulled in, and having the place to ourselves we didn't back into a space but just drove a big loop and parked sideways.

Jacks down, slides out, power checked OK, plugged in, satellite dish set and we were done. By 2:00 PM.

This park has been around for years and is the only option for anything much bigger than a van in Guanajuato. The owner had died some years ago (he was a very nice helpful and friendly man) and now one of his sons has taken over. He too is friendly and helpful. We believe the other son has the rest of the property

The Park has needed work for years, so moving it to another field was probably a good idea. He has about 40 sites each with water, sewer and 15 Amp electric outlets, though they are fairly narrow. Power seems fine, hard to really tell with only us drawing on it. Also nice are the clean washrooms and showers with hot water.

Now it's lunch time so off the the little cafe at one end of the park. A couple of beer, a filet of fish, dinner tonight would just be something light and easy.



One thing we hadn't done was refuel. We prefer to fill up at the end to the day rather than stop in morning. We'd have enough to make Patzcuaro but to push through to Zihuatanejo on what was in the tank would be silly. We'll find fuel somewhere tomorrow.

Friday, 27 November; Crossing the border

So much for being at the border at 8:00 AM, we didn't get rolling until 7:45. We had both slept in!

There is a direct toll road but it does not accept cash or credit cards. In fact there are only transponders and  readers for  cameras. If your vehicle doesn't have a Toll Pass, a photo is taken of your license plate and a bill mailed to your home address. We didn't know what would happen with a Canadian Plate and we wouldn't get the mail until April so not wanting to take chance we went the long way.

We crossed the Rio Grande via the Columbia Toll Bridge, $7.00 US and we were at the border. We parked along the building (there is not a lot of room here for big rigs--the commercial trucks have their one route through.)

Inside we got our immigration forms and the import for the Jeep. No problems with doing that in Gillian's name, guess the new passport number made the difference.

Then the rig had to be X-Rayed. This involved everyone getting out while the machine rolled past. Then Art got back in and drove back to where Gillian was waiting. No room for the motorhome to turn down where the cars go so he swung out and around to the main exit lanes and headed back the the wrong way as directed.

There was no traffic coming out but he had to make another U turn at the end and swing in to pick Gillian up, so he was keeping close to the right hand edge while watching ahead and to the left deciding just where to turn to make that pick up and wait for our clearance after the officials had studied the X-Rays.

A loud BANG made him return his attention to the right hand side of the rig where he saw the side view mirror glass hanging by the heater wires. He had drifted just a touch too close to a lamp post. A rude word was spoken. Loudly and repeatedly.

He made his turn, the glass swinging, and parked. A close look showed that the mirror arm had take the brunt of the force and had moved aft, the mirror housing had turned on it's shaft. All these were adjustable, though the set screws didn't want to move.

The mirror glass had shattered in it's plastic frame but the retaining clips that fit the frame to the motor housing had not fortunately broken and when gently put back up and pressed they snapped into place. A mess of white 3M tape crisscrossing the mirror glass looked like it would keep the pieces from falling out. And the driver could still see somewhat. Also the convex mirror below was undamaged.

Getting the set screws to loosen took some careful judicious tapping and coaxing and finally began to move. The Mirror arm moved back into place with some fiddling and the set screw tightened down.

A test showed that the mirror adjustment motor was undamaged and everything worked OK.

It could have been a lot worse, and in fact the repair only took about 20 minutes.



Next stop about 50 Km down the road, a Pemex for Diesel and the next door OXXO to see if we could get time on the cell phones. Fuel was fine, the phones were not. The system was down.

Another 2 kilometers was the final customs check point where we were waved through after checking the vehicle permits and immigration forms. 11:15 and we were clear now of everything except the toll booths and lunch.

We were now 50 minutes behind where we were in 2013 and we hoped to go farther this time. We grabbed a very quick lunch a couple of hours later at one of the five toll stops we would have today.

A few kilometers before our stop for the night we pulled into a Pemex for more fuel and to try our luck with the phones. Gillian put 20 pesos on each of our phone numbers (2 from Zihuatanejo and one from Puerto Vallarta). Gillian's worked, neither of Art's did. That's why we just put 20 pesos on; we suspected that some or all might not work.We'll sort them out in Zihuatanejo.

We arrived at Las Palmas Midway Inn in Matehuala at 5:45 and parked for the night. Looking at the log book from 2013, it seems that taking the bypass around Saltillo cut an hour off the driving time.

U.S. Thanksgiving, our Last Day in the USA

Thursday, 26 November

We spent the morning packing up and hooking up. No rush for once, we had plenty of time and we weren't going far today. The next three however. . . . .

Finally ready to leave San Antonio. Checkout time noon, but the staff said "Stay for dinner" so we did. Served at noon, Turkey and stuffing supplied by the park, the rest was pot luck.

This was Round One:

Then there was the desert table:

And a good time was had by all.

We shared our table with a couple of neighbours from home who had provided some Willis Point Spot Prawns. Just like home!

With everything ready, even the Jeep connected before hand, as soon as dinner was over we were on the road at 1:30 PM. We were both stuffed like Turkeys and had brought a goody bag with enough leftovers for another meal or two.

In previous years we had stayed at a Flying J for the night, where we would top up the fuel and spend a noisy night. A fellow camper at Braunig Lake told us that they stayed in the Travel Center a bit further north, secure and quiet, so we made that our destination. 






We arrived to nearly deserted parking lot at about 4:00 PM. The Travel Info Center was closed for the holiday! But it was beautiful and relatively peaceful even though it was located between the highway and the railroad

DONE!

Wednesday, 25 November, dawned in the clouds and rain. We were hoping for the windshield to be installed today. We got a call from the glass company saying that they were at the pickup dock, and how was the weather where we were? Well, it wasn't actually raining at the moment and was in fact drying a bit. The forecast for the rest of the week was worse, we really didn't want to wait any longer. They tentatively suggested waiting for better weather  but didn't take much convincing to come out and see how it went.

They arrived about noon, the installation went well. The good news was that the weak Canadian dollar meant the $200.00 deductible was 151.02 US dollars.

Tomorrow is the US Thanksgiving and there will be a pot luck dinner at noon with the park providing Turkey, with stuffing. This afternoon Art made a large bowl of cranberry sauce as our contribution.

It had been raining all afternoon, we had hoped to get some packing up done. Tomorrow we'll hook up the car, get the bike on the bike rack, put the chairs away dump and fill tanks as appropriate, wind up the electrical and cablevision cords, water and sewer hoses and be ready to roll as soon as lunch is done. Checkout time is actually 11:00 but we have been told to stay. It has been fun, all things considered, but we'll be glad to get out of here.

We will likely not have email until we arrive in Zihuatanejo, hopefully on Sunday. Here is the plan:

Thursday afternoon head to the Welcome Center just north of Laredo for the night.

EARLY Friday head to the border, the Columbia Bridge crossing, hope to get there by 8:00 AM. We have no idea how busy it will be or how long it will take. The norm is an hour or so. We also hope to get the phones sorted out. We will likely end up with new numbers.

Friday night, either Matehuala (our hope) or if late, Saltillo.

Saturday drive to Guanajuato via a new route via San Filepe (from near San Luis Potosi) a new route for us.

Sunday, if we are still on schedule and don't have to detour too far for fuel, we will run to Zihuatanejo via Morelia and Patzcuaro without stopping (other than lunch and fuel).

All three will be fairly long days but we are tired of waiting. Zihua here we come!

And still longer

Though the windshield was ordered and shipped most promptly, it didn't get too far before being delayed by weather in Oregon. It was held up in Hermiston OR. for two days!

Gillian made good use of the unexpected spare time and gave the rig a good Spring Cleaning. The weather was actually very spring like, nice warm sunny days, cold nights, clouds and showers and repeat. Though to be fair, this week we had more sun than showers.

Art took advantage of the weather to go for a ride around the area. He thought he would check out the nearby town of Elmensdorf. But first a detour north to highway 181 to see what a couple of small stores there might have on hand. The Dollar General Store was a good one, everything from rubber boots, hand lotion and dairy products--including skim, 1%, 2% and whole milk. And beer. Don;t forget the beer. The grocery store next door did not live up to the name. Snack foods and of course, beer.

Back on the Old Corpus Christi Highway he proceeded south and eventually came to what must have been Elmensdorg. The GPS (which he had borrowed from the Jeep in case he got lost) said he was there. Some houses and possibly a couple of cafes though it was hard to tell if they were open. There was a nice park, occupied by one couple enjoying each others company.

Just out of "town" was a large well kept commercial operation of some type, then it soon became apparent: It was a huge or HUGE parking lot for rail cars. No wonder trains are so numerous past the RV Park. At all hours. 


He called Gillian and said he'd be home soon. He has hardly made a dent in the battery readout so decided to push it on the way home, setting the assist to level 4, about 80 or 90 percent. On the flat and level roads he cruising at just under 30 KmH and was home in 20 minutes.

We made a few trips into San Antonio, some for shopping, some just to look around. We had planned to go to a typical Texas Barbecue, but the recommended place closed early and the next night was closed all day!Fortunately ? the windshield disaster meant that we would be around another day or two or. . . so

Texas Pride Barbecue was way out in the hinterland, 15 or so miles away. We made it Tuesday with Mark and Dianne following in their truck. (Neither of us have a vehicle that will carry more than two people.) It was an interesting experience to say the least. No dishes, not even paper plates! The meat
was served on butcher's paper, the sides in small paper bowls. Good comfort food. The theme was an old gasoline station and I'm sure we were eating on the garage floor. (Well,from tables on the garage floor). No chairs, just benches. I'll post more photos later.Especially if Dianne sends me hers!



On the way home on the very dark road we were startled by the sight of a very large and fortunately grey horse dashing across the highway in front of us. Don't know how, but Gillian managed to miss it by no more than a foot or so. At 90 Km/H !  We carried on feeling fortunate and Art dialed 911 to alert the authorities of the danger.

Back in the rig Art poured Gillian a large vermouth and helped himself to a large scotch.

Then to the internet to check the whereabouts of the windshield. In transit Denver. Hmmm. That's a long way, but it was time stamped 3:30 AM.

About 2:00 AM Art woke up, felt unable to get back to sleep so he got up and checked the tracking number again. It had arrived! 

Then the wait gets a litte longer.

Wednesday Morning the weather turned out to be bright and sunny as forecast though it had been cool overnight. Shortly after noon as promised Lighting Glass arrived with the windshield in the back of their pickup truck and they got to work immediately.

The old one came out easily:

 There was quite a bit of rust around top of the inside frame. We had had a small water leak years ago
that had seemed to seal itself. Jerome, the owner, said that it was common on rigs of this age (14) and he could give it a rust treatment that would stop its progression. We had found the same problem when the passenger side windshield was replaced several years ago at home.






Then the new windshield went in. The top right corner was not quite seated so Jerome gave it a few slaps with an open hand:

We all heard the crack!

I'll give Jerome credit, he was on the phone immediately to have a new windshield shipped. Jerome called today (Friday) to give us the tracking number. We could see on the tracking info from FedEx that it had been picked up in Coburg Oregon by FedEx at  3:49 PM and is scheduled to arrive in San Antonio Monday.  Jerome said that he would be here Monday midday and that we could leave Tuesday.

Since we had already to hang around until our friends arrive on Saturday and leave Sunday, that is only another two days. Four weeks since the day we arrived. We're paid up to the 21st. Better go into the office and pay for three more days. Fortunately,  their Passport America discount is 50% so we are only paying $23.50 a day.

Thursday morning before the sun came around to the front we put a coat of paste wax on the front cap, not that it looked like it really needed it, but it is much easier to remove the bugs from a well waxed and polished surface and our up coming  travelling days will be through some bug country.

Then after a nap and lunch (yes, in that order) Art did a load of laundry. After the local BC Evening News we went off in search of a Chinese Restaurant. Following advice from various internet pages we chose to the Lung Fung Restaurant. (Ladysmith friends will recognise that name!). Though not the very best we have ever had (That distinction belongs to one in Mission BC we went to at least a couple of decades ago) it was certainly not the worst. It was in fact very enjoyable. We brought enough home for another meal each.

Friday, 20th November. Jerome called, things are (once again) looking good. So far. Weather forecast for today was cloudy and wet but it dawned a third clear day, though looks like it is going to deteriorate later and for the rest of our time here with cool even cold temperatures forecast for some nights--mid to low 30s. Fahrenheit! Good thing I brought my jammies.

The wait gets shorter.

Saturday morning Art had breakfast at the activities center, Bacon, eggs, toast and just had to try it, biscuits and gravy. Never had it before. Interesting, probably won't bother again. Biscuits were OK, somewhat similar to but not nearly as good as Mom's Baking Powder biscuits. The gravy was reasonably tasty white mushroom gravy. Probably a commercial mix, it tasted better than it looked! Not being an egg fan anyway Gillian stayed behind with her own granola and coffee.

Since the rain looked to be holding off, under cloudy skies, early in the afternoon Art decided to go for a bike ride around the area. A few miles up the road towards San Antonio (not on the freeway!) we had seen a Mexican restaurant that advertised 5.49 breakfast.

Art decided to stop in and see what the menu looked like. He ended up staying for lunch! Very good Mexican food. We may go back together one day. Continuing around his planned loop the rain began. No rain jacket of course, the only one Art had brought is a heavier cool or cold weather one. His denim shirt getting wetter he took a side street and a more direct route back to the park.

Checking the tracking number we saw the windshield getting closer! Looking good!

Monday morning it looked like the windshield would be here tomorrow! YEAH!!

We have been slowly changing out the incandescent light bulbs and florescent tubes in the rig to LED units. They have a much lower current draw so when boondocking the batteries will last longer. We phoned a few RV places and found one that claimed to have a good stock. It was on the other side of town, but we headed over.

We found it without difficulty and discovered to our surprise that not only did they have a reasonable selection, but also, a nice surprise, the salesman knew his stuff! Unfortunately they only had one bulb that would fit the bedside lamps or a pack of six. They're not cheap so just got the one to see how it would work. We also bought an LED replacement for the front 18 inch florescent fixture. The fixture takes two tubes but we find it quite bright, we'll try one for now.

Tuesday The glass shop phoned! Cloudy, showery and windy day (it had been a very windy night) though it was forecast to improve later, they said that they could come later but Wednesday would be better for the weather. We were OK with that since we had already decided to wait another couple of days to meet with Mark and Dianne, friends and neighbours from home. They will come mid day Wednesday. Spoiler Alert! In hindsight this may have been a mistake. (Not the waiting for Mark and Dianne!)

Good day to try out the new LED stuff. The one in the bedroom bedside lamps works very well. The one bulb gives more light than the two original incandescent bulbs at much less current draw. We also had purchased a flood for over a dinette bench, the other side already has one. Another good choice.

Now for the front florescent fixture. Art removed it from the ceiling and took it out to the picnic table on our little patio to do the required mods. Take out the tubes, chop off all the wires, drill out the rivets securing the ballast.

The replacement snaps into the florescent tube connectors and wires directly to the feed wires. Art noticed a blank dummy switch. He had noticed that the RV shop had a good selection of such switches so we have decided to add the second tube and install a switch to enable/disable the second lamp. Power to the fixture is controlled by a wall switch.

On the same circuit and controlled by the same switch is another fixture with two thirty inch tubes which are much too bright especially since both fixtures come on together. One of these florescent tubes had died, the other was dying—flickering—so we just took them out. The wires' retaining clips have lost their sticky so they can be seen laying across the glass. Art will tape these up with white duct tape and leave the fixture empty.

Two more to go: The “over” the dinette light. We had long ago installed this light where the coffee maker belonged and soon after removed most of the bulbs leaving just one as it was quite bright. This will be replaced with the LED equivalent. And the bedroom overhead (over bed) ceiling light has 5 incandescent bulbs, same ones as in the dinette fixture takes so we will probably put four in there. IF and only if we can find a new LED compatible dimmer switch. The original one is likely not LED compatible.

Art took the perfectly good 18 inch florescent tubes he had removed into the office to see if they knew of any one who might have a use for them. The eyes of one of the staff lit up. She had two tubes out in her rig.

Probably post a couple of photos here tomorrow. Or the next day, or the day after that or. . . .  :)

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13^th

We both had a rather poor night's sleep last night, Tia was quite restless beginning about 2:00 AM. We took turns giving her a little fuss, she settled for a while (we didn't) then she started again until about 5:00AM. We finally got up about eight, Tia about half an hour later!

Still no word from Lightning Glass, though Mike from the bike shop called: the shifter was in and they would do it while we waited. We headed out around noon. At the shop no one could find Mike, or where he had put the shifter! About 10 minutes later he wandered in, coffee cup in hand!

While Mike went to work we went across the street to the Bird Bakery for lunch where we had very good turkey sandwiches and OK coffee. We just managed to find a seat in the very busy establishment. We were surprised to note the demographics: Of the 40 to 50 patrons, only 4 were men. A significant portion were 20 to 30 something ladies. Art remarked that he was surprised that there weren't a lot more single males! Repeating this comment back at the bike shop one of other customers laughed and said he had thought the same thing earlier.

Mike was fine tuning the shifting and soon we were done and back on the road by 2:00 PM. One stop at HEB for groceries and another box of Franzia wine then home. (Though in all honesty we do consider wine to be a food group.)

Next on the must do list: Phone Lightning Glass. Art was told that the glass had left Oregon on yesterday and was in California. He thought it might be here by tomorrow but didn't know for sure. He promised to call Art back with a tracking number. An hour or so later he called back.

A search on the internet found the shipper's website (Thanks Mr Google.) and Art entered the tracking number. It was shipped on the 11^th, arrived in Fontana CA at 6:30 this morning. Estimated delivery date in San Antonio: the 17^th. We arrived here on the 27^th of October. To compare with our last trip down this way, on November 17 2013 we arrived in Zihuatanejo.

We have been in the USA much longer than estimated and are rapidly depleting our US cash. Hope to keep enough at least for fuel on the way home in the spring. By now we should have been spending pesos!

Dinner tonight was again in the activities room, Pot Roast, green beans, mashed potatoes, salad and chocolate/marble cake. Sure beats cooking and doing dishes!

On another note, we heard heard this afternoon from friends and neighbours from home who will be arriving at this RV park on the 21^st! As it is very unlikely that we will be able to leave here before the 19^th we may elect to stay a couple more days for a visit.

This delay has also meant that we probably won't detour to Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta on the way south since timing will be very tight and we will in any case be in PV in late February. To spend 2 nights and one day in each of Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta and 7 or 8 days travelling from here to there and in between would put us late into Zihuatanejo, where we will be leaving earlier than usual (Mid February) because of commitments in PV.

Scheduling our lives was almost easier when we were working for a living. Not that we regret retirement!

Into Week Three in San Antonio

Still hanging on in San Antonio.

One thing taken care of; the antenna for Art's shortwave ham radio was an easy fix. A connector from the antenna tuner had broken off due to the vibration and bouncing down the road. Cut back and strip a bit from the end of the wire and crimp on a new connector (he always carries a selection) and its good to go.

Monday, 9 November we got through to the satellite dish company—they actually returned Art's call. After some questions from Robert and answers from Art, the problem was diagnosed—the controller needed a software update.

We had known that and had thought that it had been done when the new LNB was installed before leaving home. Should have tested it completely. We had a good signal after the new LNB was installed, the receiver worked fine. BUT we hadn't tested the controller from the beginning, with the dish down.

We had a good signal because the dish had already been locked onto the satellite's position before the LNB was changed and hadn't been moved. With the old firmware the controller didn't recognise the new LNB.

Then we decided to chase down the windshield problem. Call to Trans America Class but the agent wasn't available. We then called Lightning Glass, the shop that was to do the work. They had been waiting for Trans America to order the glass. Trans America had contacted them and told them to order the glass and they would be reimbursed, including shipping. Art was told that the glass had been ordered and would be shipped Tuesday. Lightning Glass then dug up the paperwork and checked with Art to make sure all the details were correct. Passenger side glass? NO! Driver's side!

At least Art had remembered that today is Gillian's birthday! She wanted to see the Natural Bridge Caverns northwest of San Antonio.

Art's bike still wasn't shifting properly so since we would be here another week we decided to take it in to the shop on the way out to see the Caverns to get the shifter replaced. They confirmed that the problem was in the shifter, couldn't find the exact one in their reference books to they called Pedago

and ordered one from them. It should be in in . three days.

We arrived at the Caverns about 1:00 PM and had a little look around then asked what the walk was like and how far. 75 minutes, steep and wet surface. Art decided that even with the side stix it was probably better to stay back with his book. (He always has a book!) At the ticket counter Gillian was told that the tour would start in 10 minutes. She said we needed lunch first and was told to come back after lunch.

Much to our surprise there was no restaurant in the place. The nearest miles away. We opted for the snack bar. Chili Nachos and a beer for Gillian and Chicken and Chips and a root beer (an occasional treat) for Art.

Poor Gillian, not a happy birthday lunch, the nachos were exceptionally terrible. Disgusting. A few soggy thin “tortilla chips” round and very thin crackers of some kind—not real tortilla chips-- a little chili sauce drizzled on and a load of disgusting orange semi liquid stuff that was supposed to be cheese. Cheese Whiz from a jar would have been a huge improvement, and neither of us like Cheese Whiz!Art willingly shared his very nice chicken and chips with her.

Then it was time for her Cavern Tour while Art settled down with his book for a while. . . and popped back to the snack bar for a hot dog and another root beer. 

After a bit he returned to the Jeep to take Tia out for a little stroll then relaxed in the Jeep with his book until Gillian returned. Happily, she much enjoyed the tour and walk through the caverns.

We were back at the park about 5:00 PM. Once Tia was fed we changed and drove downtown for Gillian's birthday dinner. We found a place to park in a hotel parkade and walked out to the street. Art asked “Which way do you want to go?” Well right there in front of us, directly across from the parkade exit, was ZINK Bar and Bistro.

We had an excellent dinner and a nice chat with the waiter who was pleased and surprise to find that we knew of and had even driven through the small town in Jalisco Mexico that he was originally from. We had no room for desert but cheese plate and wine item caught Gillian's attention. We'll be back for that some evening.

Tuesday Lightning Glass called to ask again details about the motorhome, make, model and to ask if it was the passenger side windshield. A little late! It was supposed to have already been ordered! And NO, NO, NO! Its' the driver's side windshield. They (Lightning Glass) had been to the rig, had taken details from there registration and photos of the windshield damage. And they asked this yesterday. Windshield should be here for Saturday. Yeah, Right. Somehow we are not brimming over with confidence.

The internet was very intermittent today, but eventually it came back and later in the day we downloaded the firmware fore the satellite controller. Now, where did we put that USB-Serial adaptor? Or did we bring it? We do have one. We had located it at home when we first knew that the controller would need an up date. Ah. Then we decided to let Jim do it when he changed the LNB. It's at home.

Oh well, back to town. There was a Radio Shack and a Best Buy near the HEB grocery store and we could use a few more things from there too. Of course then it was time for lunch, so we tried out the nearby Cracker Barrel.

Food was reasonably good, no real complaints. Art ordered the chicken livers. He is quite fond of liver and Gillian is not so it's not usually cooked at home. (Though when Trekker was ill and not eating she used to cook liver for him. Art would always sneak some for himself!) A surprise though, the livers were battered and deep fried. Quite good, just barely over done. The side salad he had with them was excellent.

Back home, lets try to update the controller. If it all goes well we should be in time for the 5 O''clock news at 7:00 PM.. Let's just say Art is barely computer literate. Connected everything up, followed the “read me first” doc which we had printed out, line by line. No luck at all. As soon as we turned the controller on to start the up load everything stopped. Tried several times. Frustration. Have to call Robert in the morning. We watched local TV on the park's cable.

Today had been a very warm day mostly sunny and very little wind. Quite pleasant outside, very warm inside (86F) We thought about turning the air conditioning on to at least reduce the humidity but were reluctant to since the forecast was for much cooler temperatures. Later in the afternoon the breeze came up, blowing through the motor home from left to right, and with the extractor fans on the temperature began to drop. By dinner time we closed the windward windows and by bed time it was very comfortable.

Wednesday morning Art called Robert again and explained what had happened. On had not happened. His suggestion? Download and use the firmware upgrade for serial to serial connection rather than USB to serial connection even though the laptop has no serial port.

Again the internet was being difficult but eventually we had the desired download. Plugged the computer into the controller. Clicked the .exe file, selected the desired port (previously decided upon after much frustration) and turned the controller on. ZOOOOOOM it was done.

Now to select the various parameters such as what language, what type of LNB (given that by Robert) and the type of dish mount. Gillian climbed up on the roof to find that, only to later find it printed on the Controller manual! When the last item was selected (dish mount) the controller began it calibration routine, moving the dish through its limits then shut down.

Now the test: Turn the controller on. Up down and around for a while then several minutes later: Locked on! Turn the receiver on. TA DAAAA! Lots of time to spare before watching the 5 O'Clock CHEK 6 News and various Remembrance Day ceremonies. At 7:00 PM of course, thanks to being on Central Time.

Thursday morning came verrrry early (twoish) Tia waking us up with a bark, then later a few grumbles. She has been doing this on and off for a while. At home it was every night for weeks. At first we thought that she needed out but later realised that was not the case. She was just upset or worried about something. Now she settles with a bit of attention, a bit of stroking and goes back to sleep.

We are pretty sure that she has somewhat from dementia and wakes up lost and confused. At home, if she lost sight of us she would stand and bark twice—two sharp barks. She is also very deaf so calling her or talking to here is not very effective.

At 3:00 AM Art woke up again, a very cool breeze blowing through the bedroom window and across the bed. 1^St, close the window, then turn the ceiling fan down to low (Gillian might want it on) then close all the other windows and turn the kitchen ceiling vent thermostat down 'till the fan turns off.

The forecast as right. It was much cooler today. In fact for much of the day Art wore a T shirt, a thin light weight sweatshirt and until late afternoon, a light denim shirt over that.

After watching local (San Antonio) news and weather and, at long last, Global TV Morning News we spent the rest of the day catching up with the blog, reading, visiting with neighours and a doing a couple of loads of laundry.

Now as 7:00 PM approaches it's time to post this and get ready for the 5 O'Clock CHEK news!