South for the Winter

 Odometer 71,855 miles

Trip Meter- resting

One of the great perks for our situation here in north Phoenix is that our hosts assign us a Model T to drive while we are here!  This year, as last time in 2019, we were assigned the 1917 touring shown above.  The conditions are that we drive, service and maintain the car as if it were our own.  This particular car is a very original hand started car (yep, the crank in front is the only starter).  This car has the original 1917 four cylinder 170 cubic inch engine, which has been rebuilt about 25 years ago.  The car has been stored for most of those years and not driven very much.  That means the engine is still young and that we get almost all of the original 20 horsepower that it can produce.  Twenty horsepower with a two speed gearbox means that you can “fly” along at a brisk 40 miles per hour on the flat, and somewhat slower climbing hills.  For various reasons, skinny tires on wood spoke wheels among them, 40 mph is plenty fast in this car.  We drive the car frequently, and find it to be a great car for shopping and trekking out for breakfast or lunch at a local restaurant.

One of our favorite times of the year is the annual Hidden in the Hills Art show in Cave Creek, and Carefree.  Over a hundred local artists open their homes and studios to the public and put on amazing displays of their works.  There are examples of just about every conceivable art media somewhere in the show.  We watched artists sculpting, painting, carving, blacksmithing, making  jewelry, glass blowing, weaving, and much more.

To make it even more fun, we would drive with several other couples, all in our Model Ts to each home and studio.

Our hosts had recently purchased a classic 1956 Thunderbird sports car, and it needed a bit of attention, which gave us a shop project.

We chased down a short circuit in the dash wiring, repair the turn signal switch, clean the plugs, and mount the spare tire.

For the last several Christmases we have been decorating the Model Ts with colored lights and going in groups around to the various neighborhoods to view the Christmas lights an decorations.  This year was chilly and we all dressed in puffy coats, wool hats and gloves.  There is no heater in a T !  The 1917 we were driving had no running lights, brake lights, or turn signals so I had to hustle and get some LED lights tastefully mounted and hooked up, as well as decorating with light strings.

Showing off my drywall prowess

Another project for Jeff was our hosts kitchen ceiling which had been damaged by a roof leak last year.  The house has a new roof now, so it was time to come to grips with the damage done by the water intrusion.  We went to Lowes and bought a few drywall tools and some tape and compound.  Another trip, this time to Harbor freight netted us a texture gun and hopper.  While we were at it, we decided to upgrade the kitchen lighting with some new LED fixtures.

Each evening we made it a point to come together on the back porch for happy hour, where , other than conversation and cold drinks, the main attraction was to watch the wild bunnies come looking for carrots strategically placed around the porch.  Here we have even attached some to the cactus thorns.  Great fun watching them chase each other and compete for the carrots.

What fun!

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan

On the Road Again!

 Odometer 70,804 miles

Trip meter this trip 1051 miles

Fast forward to November of 2021, the house is finished, and the Pandemic is at a low ebb, we are all vaccinated and boosted- we see no reason to put our ramblings on hold any longer.  We pulled the coach up to the house and began loading up.

A very late start from Grants Pass meant that by the time we had reached Weed, CA on Interstate 5 it was getting dark and we were getting hungry.  We pulled up to the curb in the rest area just south of Weed and had a late dinner and retired for the night.

Up early in the morning with hustle all around us.  Trucks all around us starting engines and checking loads.  I could walk to Starbucks, so I went for a couple hot mochas and sweet rolls before Joan was fully up, and brought them back to the bus.  We were all hooked up and road ready, so it took literal minutes to set up the car for towing (insert key and turn to accessory- check braking system and lights) off we went.

Crossing over the mountains in the Shasta Trinity National Forest, skirting the base of Mount Shasta is easily one of my favorite parts of this trip

And today is spectacular in the clear clean air and bright sunshine.  We see snow as we traverse the high points, but it’s all in drifts beside the road.  I feel exhilarated !  

We have coffee at Starbucks in Susanville and set off for Yearington, Nevada where we’ve stayed the night in previous trips.  

Our transit through Reno is mostly uneventful, if you don’t count the stopping for fuel.  We have a couple fuel stations we find are easy to get in and out of without unhooking the car, and our luck holds at our first stop.  We take Exit 78 off US 395, and turn east on N. Red Rock road where we can get to the outside pumps at the Shell station and get away cleanly.  A clear win for us!

We took Interstate 80 east of Reno, Then jump off on State Route 439 south through a big growing distribution center.  The warehouses here are MEGA sized, and there is a new one being built every time we come through.  Nevada 439 ends at NV 50 and we have to jog a couple miles south on 50 before we come to the entrance to Alternate US 395 which is the most direct route to connect up to US 395 in Shurz, NV.  US395 does a split at Shurz, where you can either go straight north to Fallon, NV on 95 or head north-west and angle over toward Reno.  Were now thinking it was too early to stop at Yearington (on Alt 395) so we continue onto Shurz, and turn right onto US395 towards Walker Lake and Hawthorne.

We arrive at Hawthorne and check into Whiskey Flats RV Park.  We get there in time to hookup in the waning sunlight and take a walk around the park chatting with the brave few who venture out in the chilly evening air.

The next morning we drove the motorhome over to Safeway and did a quick shop before heading south again on 395.  Always easy when you can wheel your cart over to the door of the RV and stock the refrigerator right from the front door!  By 10 AM we were on the road south.  We stopped briefly in Tonapah (elevation 6,000 ft) for a lunch from Subway and continued on to Beatty, NV (gateway to Death Valley !). Just north of the town of Beatty we checked into Beatty RV Park for $25/ night full hookups !  That’s a good deal!  

Relentlessly on, we left Beatty at 8AM (early for us :->) heading 120 miles south to Las Vegas to meet friends.  In Vegas, we stopped at our designated rendezvous, the Meadows Mall, only to get a call that our friends had to bail on us.  We were close to a Panda Express and Starbucks so Lunch was at hand!  After lunch we fueled up a in Henderson at $3.79/ gallon and headed for Kingman, AZ.  We chose to go on Interstate 11 which took us over the new bridge over the Colorado gorge just downriver from Hoover Dam.  Crossing the bridge is underwhelming, because you can’t really see anything but the road bed, and you don’t get the sensation that you are 890 feet above the river below.  Interstate 11 is proposed to replace (or follow the route of) US 93 through Arizona to Phoenix some day.  

Today we get as far as Kingman before we decide to stop for the night.  Fort Beale RV has been our choice in the past, and they have a Passport (discounted) opening for us tonight.

The Name of the RV Park harkens back to 1857, when the US military had a Camp here (Camp Beale Springs) that was often referred to as Fort Beale.

The next day saw us on our last leg of our Fall migration.  We were late leaving Kingman because the battery had died in our Chevy Tracker towed vehicle, and unbeknownst to us the smart charger we brought with us and hooked up the night before was not working.  We jump started the car to stir the oil around for the days towing and with that complete, we were on our way.  We have to jog east on I-40 to get to US 93 again (soon to be Interstate  11, remember?).  93 will take us to Wickenburg, AZ where we’ll take US route 60 towards Phoenix and New River.

By early afternoon we were safely ensconced in our RV spot on Ralph and Ann’s 2 acres in New River.

Home is where we park it, and we are home for a while here in sunny New River.

November 19th 2021

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan

At Home in Oregon for the Pandemic

 Like most people, COVID-19 put a kink in our travels for 2020 and 2021.  A lot has happened since our return to Oregon with our fears on high alert in spring of 2020.  That trip had us wondering if state borders would suddenly slam shut, if gas stations and RV parks would close, travel restrictions would maroon us somewhere in between our winter and summer homes.  Luckily, none of that happened, we arrived safe and secure at our Coastal home in April of 2020.  Then, a major change came as we pondered our situation vis-a-vis healthcare and aging in place.  For medical reasons we needed to be much closer to emergency healthcare, and our doctors were all a 3-1/2 hour drive inland from here.

We did a lot of repairs to get our “dream” home ready to sell and started looking in the Rogue Valley along the I-5 corridor.  With my sister’s help we won the bidding war on an older ranch style home just outside of Grants Pass.  The home site had a 1970’s home on 1.5 acres, and included a 24’x 30’pole barn.

And what a war it was!  We saw the house hit the market via a web link to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) the web server that holds housing data for all real estate offices.  I called our agent at 7AM and she arranged a “showing” for us at 9:30 AM that same day.  We were one of 18 offers that were received by the owners that evening.  Of all those, our bid was the one selected!  We all bid over the asking price of $330,000- (some of us way over) and our combination of all cash and no contingencies (other than home inspection)- won out.  Our home at the coast was still in escrow, so my sister stepped in to help with a bridge loan.  

Joan and I had planned to do some extensive remodeling, to modernize and update this 1970 home.  We were perfectly happy to stay in the motorhome on the property while we removed ceilings and walls to brighten and open up the floor plan.  We drew up the floor plan on the computer using a program called Sketchup and this allowed us to experiment with different options

The walls that are shown with squiggles (clouds) around them are walls that we no longer wanted.  Not shown here are the walls around the original small kitchen, which we also eliminated to stretch the kitchen across the whole exterior wall.

These walls in the old kitchen and entry way must come down

We wanted to do most of the work ourselves, and we wanted to have a big kitchen and dining area, large island in kitchen, views to the back yard, and sight lines into the living room.  We also wanted to remove the lowered ceilings everywhere and raise them back up to 8’.  We have no idea why they were all so low, but the original occupant must have liked the “cozy” ? feeling.  Structurally there was no obstacle to taking out the old supports and putting in new drywall ceilings at the top of wall

We worked diligently from July to November of 2020 to get the house finished so we could move in.

We drew some rather rudimentry drawings of what we wanted the kitchen to look like.  Our idea was to have windows between the upper and lower cabinets to let in light and give views to the back yard while sitting at the island or in the dining room.  We shopped online for cabinets in kit form, that we would assemble and install ourselves.

To do the windows this way, meant taking down the existing exterior wall and re-framing it with the new window openings.  That meant building permits and plan review.  We drew up our plans on a free copy of Sketchup and got them approved, with a few corrections.

Assembling the cabinets was easy and a lot of fun

We built the island on a custom base I made and used 36” wall cabinets and a plywood top

Flooring was the last hurdle to moving in, so we spent a week or more installing oak tongue and groove flooring throughout the house.  Joan did the layout and I glued and nailed.

Finally by November 16th 2020, nearly 5 months since we purchased the home, we were ready to move into it for the first time.  Thoroughly modern, new wiring, lighting, some new plumbing, all new paint and decor. 

Now to wait out the pandemic, here in our “new” home and see when traveling became possible again.

Home. 

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan

Trials in a T

Odometer 67964

New River, AZ


Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Sunset over New River, AZ

 We sure did.

Wheel shattered on right hand turn- we end up on sidewalk

 On our last T- tour to Cave Creek Joan and I were driving the 1915 while the 1917 was waiting on parts.  We made a sweeping turn off Carefree Highway to get fueled up and got an unexpected ride.  While we were in mid-turn the left front wheel spokes broke and we lost our steerage when the axle dropped to the pavement.  I'd like to say I did a great job of maneuvering the car out of traffic, but in fact I had nothing to do with it- we just ended up here!

Replacement wheel arrives

Replacement wheel is installed and we are ready to go

Ralph saw my predicament and headed for home (13 miles) for a replacement wheel right away and we were back on the road in less than an hour.  The Model T has a spare tire mounted to a steel rim so the wheel is not replaced in a normal tire change- just the rim with tire attached.  This situation is not normal and the very old wheel spokes just got too fatigued.

Our visit to a local collector yielded a new casting for the front of the 1917 motor.  As you can see in the picture above the parts that broke were parts that bolt on. (shiny black color in the photo above). We opted to go with a later model casting that belongs on a 1919 or later car and has the option of  accepting a gear drive generator in this location. (or as shown in the picture even an alternator)

Sheet music cover page

Some friends of ours were gifted these booklets of sheet music that have early car themes.  The titles are just hilarious!

More music -Henry Made a Lady out of Lizzie

Sheet music with a motoring theme

Music to drive a Ford by- you could whistle it!

A love story in a song about two cars

Rain floods the driveway to our friends shop

It has been a fairly wet Fall.  Luckily we have a lot of shop projects that we can do while we wait for the rains to pass.

Our favorite route to the hardware store gets closed when the arroyos start to flood the low spots.  This stream is labeled "Skunk Creek" - really !  99% of the year it is a dry road crossing.

Next several days are going to be in the mid to high 60's with lots of sun- yea!

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan

T Time again

Odometer  67964

New River, AZ

The '17 Touring gets a scrubbing

The new girl in town is a 1917 Model T Touring car

We are back at Model T world and a new girl just came into my world.  She is a 1917 Model T touring that has been stored for the last 6 years.  Was a good runner when put away.  I get the job of going over her and checking everything out.  Oil change, water in the radiator, plugs cleaned and gapped, coils all delivering voltage, gas tank removed and cleaned, fuel tap removed and cleaned, gas line blown out with compressed air, carburetor cleaned and adjusted, battery charged (replaced with new).  This one is hand cranked only.  After some adjusting the mixture we got the engine to start, but the running was ragged.  It took me several hours of tuning to get it to run well- and it was worth it!  Joan and I spent the next several days touring it around our neighborhood.

 

Broken fan blade

Then the unexpected happened.  A blade broke on the 4 bladed fan throwing the remaining three blades into a wobble that threw one blade into the casting that is the cover on the front of the engine block, and one nearly into the radiator core.

Broken fan and offending blade

Damage to the engine casting

The photo on the left shows the crack made in the cast metal timing cover and the cam gear cover both!

Ominous rain clouds move in

We are in for a spell of bad weather so I dig in and take the T apart to fix the damage.  

Down to the heart of the problem

I quickly decide trying to remove the radiator.  Getting everything off without this step is possible, but taking the radiator off just makes the whole job a lot more fun.

We have a LOT of T parts around so we set out looking for a timing cover for this model year.

Test fitting a later cover on and early engine

We found some cast covers, but none were the correct one for this engine.  This one is too wide to the left (picture left, car right), but fits all the rest.  If I can find a generator mount from a later car, this cover will work- and I could mount a generator on this motor at some future date.  Hmmm.

One thing is certain, the car is out of service until we either locate another original cover or a generator casting to go with this one.

Learning the ways of the T

We are making plans to visit a fellow "collector" to see if we can find the parts we need to get this flivver back on the road.  That can't happen until Monday because tomorrow we are going to take the Model Ts (there are lots of spares) on an Art tour called Hidden in the Hills.  We've done this for a couple years now and I blogged about it here if you want to know more about this very cool event this link will open in a new page and you can return here whenever you want. Hidden in the Hills

Stormy landscape outside our window

Then, just as predicted, the heavens opened up and the rains came down.

Normally dry stream bead is brimming with runoff

Two inches of rain gives me good reason to stay in the shop and work on the T's !

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan

San D to Phoenix

Odometer  67,964

San Diego to Phoenix

Fuel close to E

We are in a unique situation this morning.  Joan and I are headed for Yuma for a couple nights before continuing on to our friends house in New River, AZ  The unique part is that we normally tank up on arrival, because I don't like the tanks to have air space where condensation can form in them, as the ambient, and day- night temperature changes.

We are in this situation because on our way in on Thursday, we could not find a diesel station to save our soul.  Joan started actively looking about 15 miles out of town.  Usually we can find a truck plaza or a bigger station we can get into.  We jumped off the freeway once only to find the station too small to get into.
Resigned to our situation we went to the RV park and settled in.

Low fuel  warning light

We are going out on the same route, so our first chance at fuel will probably be 22 miles out.  It'll be as familiar as I like to get with the bottom of the fuel tank in this beast.

I was actually doing fine as we headed out.  I was feeling pretty sure that we'd see a station on this side of the freeway that we hadn't seen on our way in, but no.  I have no idea what trucks do on their way in and out of here- but I will never come this way on low tanks again!

Just when I'd calmed down a bit the fuel warning light came on- I'll be honest with you- I didn't even know this bus had a warning light!

An hour on empty tanks finally we reach our last chance fuel station

We kept looking at each exit and sometimes we'd see one that had possibilities AFTER we were past the off ramp.  California, unlike Oregon apparently doesn't encourage stations to put an informational sign on the freeway before the off ramps- we saw none.

Finally, when I was sure we'd be dead alongside the highway, we made it to Campo, CA and the Golden Acorn Casino and truck stop.  If you read my previous blog, you'll remember that we are in the Rocky Mountains here- 4 summits of 4,000 feet- working the Kitty Kat diesel motor hard.

I'm happier than I look here

Our motorhome has a rather flat fill hose and it is sometimes a real pain.  The nozzle has to be held in the horizontal position for the whole fill.  Our tanks take up to 90 gallons and it keeps you pinned down for the whole time.


The fuel this far away from town is usually expensive, and California has a 40 cent surcharge on their fuel.  We were only going to get a few gallons at $4.10/ gal. and wait until Yuma, AZ where the fuel would be a dollar a gallon cheaper.   Well, that was the plan...  The uneasy feeling I got watching the needle settle on E made me put in 30 gallons.  We'll get 'er topped off in Yuma, but for now we'll douse that pesky low fuel warning light for a long while

Air umbilical to towed car

My happiness melted when I walked back to check on the Tracker we tow behind the motor home.  We have an air line that connects the motor home brakes to a braking  system in the car.  Somehow the air fitting came loose from the car an has been dragging on the pavement.

Nothing I can do about this here, and we have towed without brakes before- it is no problem for this size tow vehicle, still I want to get it fixed as soon as possible.

Tucked in at the Westwind RV Resort Yuma, AZ

We finished the transit to Yuma and checked in at the Westwind RV Resort for a couple nights on our Passport 1/2 price card.

SMI repair kit for the air line

I love the discount variety stores that abound in Yuma.  I did a hasty set up and took off for Wally's World and the RV Superstore.  I had a list of items I needed for maintenance, and I just wanted to see some of the cool stuff they always have.  I wanted some plastic drawer catches, which are getting hard to find.  I didn't find them here either, but I did find some 50 pc packs of electrical crimp on connectors, some steel stakes for staking down my satellite dish, some screw driver tips for my impact driver and a few other things I didn't know I needed, all at bargain prices.

Good as new

The next day Joan and I went to a towing specialty shop called Just For Towing in Yuma to get a replacement end for the air line we damaged on the trip from San Diego.  These are specialty coupling manufactured in Germany- I'm glad to be able to get them.

In more than a decade of towing we've never had anything come loose, now we've had two things on the same trip- is it me or ??  Joan and I have a routine we follow when getting ready to leave, which includes double checking each other and complete lighting and brake check.  Hmmm.

Dashboard temp gauge

The trip from Yuma to Phoenix is uneventful and we notice that the temperature is warm for November, even down at this latitude.

We roll into Phoenix and find a Shell station to top off our tanks before we get set up at our good friends RV in New River.

Home is where we park it... and this is pretty nice

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan


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