It was nice and peaceful at our boondocking spot in the Peg Leg BLM area. I especially liked the sunrise every morning. The sun would turn the mountains purple just before the sun came out. Nice!
Nov 12th, we moved southeast 149 miles to Yuma, AZ. I had to stop and put $50.00 worth of diesel in the truck, just enough to make it into Arizona where the price of fuel is a good dollar cheaper.
The RV park we are going to be for 2 weeks, is the Desert Paradise. It is an Encore park and part of our Thousand Trails (Trails Collection) membership so it is no cost to us. We found a nice FHU (30 amp) site with a little shade.
It is still pretty warn here, close to 90 everyday. We did get out one morning for a hike before it got too hot. Donna and I hiked the Telegraph Pass Trail. I used to do this about everyday, and made it to the top 4 or 5 times. This was Donna's second time up here. We went up to the gate. After that, it is crazy steep.
Made it to the gate.
Donna at 'Donna Rock'.
Once we were set up in one location, I had a few things to repair. First was a drawer that bounced enough that the bottom was coming apart.
I took it apart and glued it every which way till I knew it wouldn't come apart again.
We then noticed a foul smell in the RV. It was the gray tank vent under the kitchen sink. The one-way valve wasn't one-way anymore. I picked one up for $8 and it was an easy replacement.
Then it was time to take apart the fireplace. Donna had been wanting to clean it out and I needed to fix the revolving shaft that makes the pretty flickering flame. A little cleaning and contact cement, and it is like new again.
Next up was to replace one front tire on our truck. Last April, I noticed our front right tire was wearing pretty bad on one edge.
I scheduled the truck for a front end alignment and they couldn't do it until I had a good tire on. We put the spare tire on and got it aligned. The issue was that our spare tire, as good as it looked, had a date code of 3414. A seven year old tire on the front. Not something I wanted to chance. All our other truck tires had a code of 0518. We did drive all the way to Washington state and back to Arizona. It was time to buy a new tire. Big O Tires said they don't carry a Michelin LTX MS2 LT235/80R17.
And they said it would be better if I replaced one tire so it matched all the rest. Onward to Discount tire, and crap!
Our Michelin tire is discontinued. Can't get one. I was talked into buying two tires and replace both on the front. I bought a couple of Michelin AGILIS Crossclimate LT235/80R17 tires (dated 0921).
So now we have new 2021 tires on the front, four 2018 tires on the back and for a spare. We definitely feel safer now.
A couple of months ago, our Southwire Surge Guard
started showing 'Replace Surge' in the window. I guess it protected us from a power event. Yay....that will just cost us $330.00. Oh well, better than several thousand, really. I just received it's replacement, A Progressive Industries EMS-HW50C.
I have had two of these before in different RV's and never had a problem. I will be installing it tomorrow.
We also ordered a new RVers GPS. We had a Rand McNally 5510
This old unit had no update capabilities, a weak screen, and poor batteries. Definitely time to upgrade. We have a Garmin RV 890 coming in soon.
Next on the 'list of things to do', is a bit of a problem with our big living room slide. Under one side of our dining table, the floor edge of the slide was showing some day light.
With any pressure, you see daylight.
Sure enough, there was a bit of sagging going on with our slide floor.
It is just in this one area. It doesn't look like any wet wood damage so I have a plan to repair it. I will be using some 2 inch aluminum angle. With lots of stainless steel screws.
We shall see how that goes. Why can't that slide be built like our bedroom slide. It has a nice edge on it.
And the last, and biggest issue to repair, is our spongy floor in the living room. Apparently our model year, 2016, had this issue. They used a 'sandwich insulated floor'. A two very thin pieces of lauan with Styrofoam center. Good insulation, but the problem is that the floor supports were too far apart, and with high use, the Styrofoam to lauan glue connection will break down (de-laminate) and become spongy. The Crusader is considered not a full timer's rig.
So I have some floor to strengthen up and make solid.
After studying all the U-Tube videos on the issue, I have a plan. I have ordered some special epoxy and syringes, and will drill holes in the soft floor, all 6 inches apart, and inject epoxy.
Sounds kinda weird, but they report that this works well. And in the end, we will get new floors too.
We shall see, what we shall see.
The Fergs out .......
