Postcard from New Mexico- 1

Posted on Wednesday, 11 April 2012 by bruce10b

12 April 2012 

 

Santa Fe, NM

On Sunday morning (sort of… 10:15 AM is nearly not morning!), 4/8, we left SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson headed for Las Cruces, NM. Spent the night at the KOA in Las Cruces where we collapsed into bed. We are definitely out of shape from having too much fun in Benson!

It was an uneventful trip (the best kind) and we arrived by about 4:00 PM. I thought we’d made it by 3:00 PM but forgot we went from MST (Arizona doesn’t use Daylight Saving Time) to MDT. So much for an early arrival.

While we didn’t suffer any breakdowns on the trip, we did have some strong winds for the last 90 miles. Makes for a tiring trip with lots of wheel correction which made The Captain a little grumpy! But the next day those headwinds became either tail winds or still air and the driving was much easier. We arrived in Santa Fe Skies RV Park by 4:00 PM. This will be home for the next month as we do the usual doctor/dentist/dermatologist/ophthalmologist appointments. We really need to find these services in Arizona (Benson, Sierra Vista, Tucson), but we know these Santa Fe doctors and have hesitated starting all over again.

At any rate, the Montana is in its back-in site ($650/mo including electric) which will be home for the next month as we get ready for the road east to Maine. With luck I’ll keep from breaking the Montana as I did last year!

Fuel Economy

Btw, we’d been running at 11.2 mpg coming out of Benson, but that gave way to 10.1 by the time we got to Las Cruces with the nasty headwinds. The next day we drove the 280 miles to Santa Fe, NM. I initially tried driving at 60 mph but between the extra speed and some uphill running the mileage dropped off below 10 mpg. So I throttled back to 55 mph and watched the mileage slowly creep up to 10.3 till we got to Albuquerque. From Albuquerque to Santa Fe is an elevation change of about 2,500′ and there went the mileage again! We ended at 9.9 mpg for the whole 505 miles. A non-F350 diesel truck owner might not think that’s much to write home about, but compared to 8.4-8.6 mpg on a previous Las Cruces-to-Santa Fe trip, that’s 15%-18% improvement over the old firmware. And this without the Banks electronics connected (intake filter, exhaust and inter-cooler are still in place). I doubt we’ll get the 15%-20% increase in fuel economy from the Banks we got when the older Ford firmware installed, but hopefully we’ll see some additional improvement. At more than $4.15/gal for ultra-low sulfur diesel, everything little bit helps.

It turns out the new Ford engine-control firmware Lawley Ford installed in 11/2011 as a recall fixes (among other things) my biggest gripe about the 6.4 liter diesel. The cleaning cycle of the diesel particulate filter (the DPF) has been changed significantly and now occurs less frequently… perhaps every 750-1,000 miles vs. every 75-100 miles. This change makes for a big improvement in fuel economy. And why did Ford engineers make the change? Well, it wasn’t to reduce owner expenses. Rather, Ford wanted to reduce their own warranty expenses. Turns out the frequent DPF cleaning cycle was burning out temp sensors. DPF cleaning is done at 1,250 deg F and these temp sensors are used to control that upper temperature limit. So, while Ford’s improvement is very much appreciated, their motivation was apparently entirely self-serving.

So, now I’m anxious to get the Banks operating again. And to that end I got the name of the mechanic who  helped RVing friends Mike & Susan with their 2002 Ford F350 which has the older 7.3 liter diesel. Spear’s Automotive in Cedar Crest, NM is apparently a Banks dealer and repair center and they made a very big improvement in Mike & Susan’s truck. So we will be making a visit there before we leave town in hopes of getting our Banks controller running right.

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Postcard from Arizona- 8

Posted on Sunday, 8 April 2012 by bruce10b

April 2012

Benson, AZ

Been awhile (mea culpa!). Here’s a quick summary…

Entertainment

Retro Rockets at the New Year’s Dance

RVers seem to want entertainment if they stay put for any length of time. SKP Saguaro indulges that with local groups like The Elliotts (Benson locals), The Partners (singing duo), Johnny Bencomo (solo 24-string guitar, singer), The Retro Rockets (’60s rock), and cowboy poets Waddie Mitchell (one of the 2 original organizers of the Elko, NV Cowboy Poetry Festival) and Baxter Black (Benson rancher, author, former veterinarian, long-time radio commentator).

Miller Mamas… ‘What’s shakin’, baby?’

They also got residents and visitors on stage for things like the park’s annual Out Takes. Celia goes to a 3 times-per-week line dance class and her dance buddy Kim asked Celia plus 3 additional line dancers to perform a line dance done to a Glen Miller medley. They christened themselves The Miller Mamas, were the first act on and were awarded great applause. Well done Admiral!

The park also does an annual Ladies’ Night Out dinner for women only. Again, Kim convinced Celia and their buddy Alaska Linda to help her do a lip-sync of Dianna Ross & The Supremes doing “Stop! In the Name of Love“. Their routine got a standing ovation. Celia says they didn’t think of themselves as the Supremes but rather as the Extremes. No photos cuz no men allowed. Well… unless they’re serving dinner!

RVing friend Mike Phelps plus 6 others did a piece for Ladies’ Nite Out which was a synchronized swimming exhibition… sans swimming pool & water!

Both acts were so well received they were asked for a repeat performance the following month so that those who weren’t back in the park yet could see what they did.

Btw, when they were rehearsing “Stop! In the Name of Love”, Celia listened carefully to the lyrics and thought “Is this how I would handle this situation?” The answer was a clear “Hell no!” So if they do it again next year they’re going to lip sync the song “Hit the Road Jack!”

Side Trips

Jeff, Brian & Susan and a very patient BBC waitress!

Bisbee is a fun place to visit for a few hours. We learned about the Bisbee Breakfast Club restaurant in the old town of Lowell (now part of Bisbee) and have gone there a few times. We had lunch there with friends Jeff, Brian & Susan (plus Donna, Susan & Mike off to the left) then did the tour of the town… 10 minutes?

Lowell’s theater used to be the fire station.

The old town sports what looks like an old movie theater, but we later discovered (by looking beneath the marquee) that the building actually started life as a the fire station for this town.

There’s not a single gas station anywhere in this tiny town… the Gulf sign and the non-functioning gas pumps further down the street are artifacts of days gone by.

Restored Indian motorcycle circa 1930 (?)

The local motorcycle shop has showcased a restored Indian across from its’ shop. But don’t let the old Indian fool you… theirs is a Harley shop.And the Bisbee Breakfast Club (called the BBC by everyone that eats there) is a frequent destination of hungry bikers. I understand they also have a location in Tucson.
Seems an unlikely spot for a gas pump right outside The Palace (yikes!), but this old relic is actually in front of what was once a Chevrolet dealership.

The sign for The Palace makes me wonder if it was once a hotel. Or my favorite speculation… perhaps a brothel! Nearly everything but the bike shop and the co-op organic market on the North end of the main street seem to be unoccupied.

Down and out for awhile

While all the rehearsals were going on for Out Takes and Ladies’ Nite Out, Celia kept saying she wasn’t sure if she was having a problem with allergies or if she was getting a cold. Well, the data is now in and it’s official: it was definitely a cold. It was a really slow moving virus that hit nearly all the park and took weeks to get run its’ course. I was about 10-days behind The Admiral, and it lasted longer. In fact, I was starting to worry that I wouldn’t get over it before we had to hit the road, but after about 6 weeks I realized I was coughing less and sleeping at night instead of all day, so I guess that’s behind us.

Lawley Ford in Sierra Vista, AZ

When we arrived in Benson, the truck kind of gave up the ghost. Turned out to be the high pressure fuel pump which Lawley Ford in Sierra Vista replaced under warranty. Replacing the pump is a really big deal as the cab has to be lifted off the chassis to get to the pump. The truck was back to full power again, though I thought I had some sense of ‘harshness’ when running on the highway… not a miss, but more like some cylinders were producing a little more power than others.

We also had a connector backshell missing from the engine wiring. A backshell is a plastic hood the covers and protects the wires as they leave the back of the connector and in this case also includes a mechanical device to separate/re-connect the connector halves. Dunno when it broke and fell off, but I suspect it was missing when we bought the truck from CarMax in Albuquerque, NM. You need the mechanism because these 96-pin connectors require 20#-30# of separation force. The connector is on the engine wiring harness and, as it turns out, the whole harness has to be replaced if the backshell is damaged. The diesel tech said he thought he might be able to get it done under warranty if we waited 3 months (he was afraid Lawley Ford would be blamed for damaging it). Sure enough, Lawley Ford, and particularly the diesel tech Leeroy Miles and the service rep Joe Wozniak, convinced Ford to replace the harness. As it turns out that was exactly what needed to be done: a surprise benefit was that the ‘harshness’ I mentioned when running above 45 mph is gone! The truck is running better than I can ever recall.

My point of all this diatribe is that if you have a Ford diesel (or gas!) truck and find yourself needing repairs or service anywhere near Sierra Vista, AZ, don’t be afraid to give this dealer a try. Initially I was very hesitant because we have all the Banks gear installed, but it wasn’t the issue reported by some Ford truck owners where a dealer refused warranty coverage because they claimed the modification might have caused a problem. Lawley’s tech disconnected the Banks electronics, then ran their regular diagnostics. I had to pay the labor of the extra steps, but that was a long way from the $3,200 bill to replace the high pressure fuel pump or the $1,200 to replace the harness!

Toyota Service

We had towed our Toyota Highlander to Benson so we didn’t have to drive the truck for errands. Since we’re leaving it there for the several months we’ll be gone, we wanted it serviced so the old oil didn’t sit in it while it sits unused. Plus we had an incentive to get a couple recalls done, especially the cooling unit for the power inverter which can cause a fire on certain serial number cars. We contacted Sierra Toyota in Sierra Vista and they checked our car. Thankfully we aren’t affected by the recall for the power inverter, but we did have another recall for clips to be replaced on the carpet. So we were able to get that done before leaving plus have the car serviced while we waited.

To make it even better, friends Mike & Susan followed us to the Toyota dealer then took us to lunch at Golden Corral. I’m sure you know the place.. it’s the all-you-can-eat place with the Chocolate Fountain in the dessert bar. About the time we finished lunch I got the call that Highlander was ready, so the timing was perfect.

So, why all the blah-blah about getting our Toyota serviced? Because we paid about 1/2 what we normally pay the independent mechanic in Santa Fe. And that mechanic charges much less than Beaver Toyota of Santa Fe charges. We thought it was a bargain for the routine maintenance service we wanted, and we’re not used to dealers of any brand being this reasonable. Plus they washed the car and vacuumed the interior. Thank you Sierra Toyota!

Changing Cameras

My Canon 5D-II DSLR has gone to a new home along with all the lenses in January. In place of the 21.1 MP 5D-II, I bought a 24.3 MP Sony NEX-7. The NEX-7 is a much smaller camera body, easy to carry, and has more pixels on a smaller APS-C sized sensor. The Canon lenses I had won’t work on the Sony (yes, they make adapters, but the adapters didn’t include autofocus or aperture adjustment at the time I sold everything). So I have to replace lenses.

Initially I bought only 1 lens- there was just nothing available till the end of March! The 18-200mm zoom lens I bought, designed for Sony’s NEX video cameras, is pretty big compared to other E-mount lenses of the NEX line. But images are very good for a lens which covers focal lengths from 18mm thru 200mm (11X zoom range). Recently I’ve added several other of Sony’s E-mount lens and have still managed to go from about 25 lbs. of gear to maybe 10 lbs. even with all the new lenses. Best of all there’s no loss in resolution and equal or (under some conditions) better image quality thanks to Sony’s brand new EXMOR sensor.

Sony Thailand under water in October 2011.

The wait for the NEX-7 was significant as Sony’s Thailand factory, built specifically to build only the NEX line of still- and video-cameras and accessories, was devastated by floods in October of 2011. Since Sony had to start from scratch again, there have been significant delays. Lenses are way behind the need of users, and some models of NEX cameras, reviewed using pre-production samples, were many months behind the expected 1st delivery date. But all in all the NEX-7 is proving to be a very influential camera in the market as it has made a surprising splash in the world of interchangeable-lens-mirrorless-cameras (sort of a ‘range finder camera’ style reminiscent of the old Leica IIIF film cameras if you’re old enough to remember those).

I still have my Panasonic LX5 as back-up. It’s a very small camera which would easily fit in a pocket were it not for the protruding Leica lens that Panasonic designed into this camera and the optional electronic viewfinder. If the NEX-7 proves to be as good as I think it will, the LX5 will probably be going to a new home as well.

Memorable quotes

Signature tag from Bill McClung on the Sony NEX Forum at http://dpReview.com:

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic!

Particularly meaningful to a couple old toots that discovered RVing during their ‘golden years’! 🙂

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Postcard from Arizona- 7

Posted on Tuesday, 27 December 2011 by bruce10b

27 December 2011

The Furnace Problem That Wasn’t

It’s been getting cold at night (20s F), but the furnace has always worked well down to at least that temp when we set the thermostat to 62 F. Sometime after we arrived, however, the furnace stopped getting as hot as it should. It would run and run, and often the burner would cut off shortly after lighting. The fan was blowing air that was sometimes barely warmer than the outside temp and at best it was body temp. Clearly something was wrong somewhere in the furnace system, but the repair folks were all out of town for the year end holidays. Then we got lucky when…

Celia asked around among others in her line dance class and got the name of a mobile repair guy that’s new to the Benson area. One person had had occasion to call him and he’d treated them fairly and done a good job. So we called Wayne Tedford (928-242-9123) and asked for help. He apologized that he wouldn’t be able to get over right away… would 2 hours be OK? Huh?! In my mind 2-hours is pretty darn close to instantaneous!

Wayne had the right equipment to check the pressure of our propane line and, happily, that was the problem. Why happily? Cuz pressure that’s too low is probably caused by a bad regulator and, at least in our case, a regulator is easy to replace. Plus, as RV parts go, propane regulators are cheap. We have an RV parts store 1.5 mi. down the road (Cates-Hill on AZ-80), so he was back in 30 minutes with a work-alike part that fit the space. Now we have a new cross-over regulator from the same mfr. (Marshall). The story was that the model regulator delivered with our Montana had a high failure rate. The replacement regulator has been on the market longer and is touted as being reliable. We’ll see. Plus it’s possibly the last 250,000 BTU crossover around as regulator mfrs have stopped making anything that big for an RV (seems odd considering all the high-end rigs available these days).

The big surprise was when Wayne removed the old regulator and oil started dripping out of the low pressure hose. Yikes!! Turns out this is a common occurrence and almost always shows up on the low-pressure side of the regulator. I asked where the oil came from and Wayne asked which version of the story I wanted to hear. Apparently the experts don’t agree: could be propane turning back into oil; or leaking seals on the supply pump; or a certain chemical (sorry… forgot the name) which is added to propane for odor; or a combination of these guesses. Whatever the cause, you really don’t want to get any of that nasty oil stuff in your mouth like I did while trying to blow the excess out of the hose. Uugh! 1/2 hour after I set the old regulator on top of the power pylon it was still oozing oil. I can’t help but wonder if that was what killed the regulator but have no idea.

Merry Christmas

We managed to get past the holiday, but not without falling off the diet-wagon. A couple of chocolate Santas (each), a bunch of cherry cordials, a chocolate orange (each), packages of various chocolate candies, and more. After all that we were ready to say “Enough!”

As planned, we did manage to avoid the big 2-day Christmas feed at the club house by going out to eat. We’d planned on Golden Corral in Sierra Vista (buffet style restaurant) but they closed for Christmas day. It seems like any question you might have has answers at Celia’s dance class, so once again Celia asked and, sure enough, she got an answer, this time from Alaska Linda. 3 places were open this Christmas: Denny’s in Benson, Omar’s Truck Stop (dunno where they are but they’re supposed to have really good chicken fried steak) and the Triangle-T Dude Ranch in Dragoon. Armed with Celia’s info, friends Mike & Susan did all the arranging and I volunteered to haul 5 of us in our truck. There were 10 of us all together and we had a great roast beef dinner with all the trimmings but gravy (the Admiral says that’s good but I disagree!). And we had 3 choices of pie (the Admiral says that’s bad but I disagree!). And they provided live entertainment. Raleigh Jay sang and accompanied himself on guitar… we enjoyed his singing very much. Unfortunately for Alaska Linda and her party, they arrived too early for the roast beef and had ham steaks instead. They weren’t impressed.

It’s getting warmer

The NWS says it’s getting warmer this week. Supposed to get into the 70s during the day by Wednesday. Hope that’s true. We’ve seen mostly high 40s or low 50s for the last couple weeks as the jet stream has drooped down near our latitude. Night time temps are the biggest concern: we’ve seen 20F every nite for the last 5 nights. Generally speaking, NWS predictions suck for San Pedro Valley evening temps… we’ve been consistently 10 or more degrees colder than forecast. Same thing happened last year, and local TV forecasts are worse.

Anyway, a general warming trend is welcome news and I may actually be able to put my down coat away for awhile. Annie & Kelly are perfectly happy with the colder temps, but I whine a lot!

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Postcard from Arizona- 6

Posted on Friday, 16 December 2011 by bruce10b

15 December 2011

Christmas is getting close. I can tell cuz the Christmas lights have already fallen down 2 times and the big bow on the front has fallen 3 times. Made us feel pretty festive. So when friends Mike & Susan invited us to go with them to see the Christmas lights in Tucson we jumped on the opportunity.

It’s pretty easy to do. There’s a street in Winterhaven area of Tucson named Christmas Ave. Property owners there go all out decorating their yards, trees, houses, cars or anything else that stays put for a few hours in the evening. I guess when you live on a street with a name like that you have no choice. Even those in the neighborhood who don’t celebrate Christmas join in. Like the house with the makeshift minora made from plastic pipe; and another with a giant dreidel.

Mike did his homework and got us there quickly: I-10 to Exit 255. N on Miracle Mile (past the NoTell Motel… seriously!) to Oracle, 2 blocks left to Ft. Lowell, then down Ft Lowell to Christmas Ave. He even found a map of the neighborhood that showed the proper route to drive through the neighborhood. It needs to be organized cuz there are a lot of cars! Tucson police control all vehicle access and each of the entry points is lighted with emergency lighting. There are only 3 nights when cars are permitted into the area, otherwise you have to make it by foot. There’s an entry fee: as many canned goods as you can afford. The only problem I saw is that pedestrians are permitted onto the same streets as the cars, so it can get a little scarey and we needed to stay alert.

Trying to get photos turned out to be a challenge… night shots from a moving car are if-y at best. So, if you’ll pardon the fuzziness, here’s our memory shots:

Straight from an animated movie…
Dunno how I managed this one!

LOTS of cars!

Not sure… an Arizona igloo?

Anybody wanna play Angry Birds?!

Not terribly inventive, but it was better lit than a shopping mall.

Even this Jeep got a layer of lights!

Mike looking pretty grim: “Where’s the bathroom?!”

Yep… a dreidel

Traditional southwestern motif

Couldn’t miss this with lights banging on/off.

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Postcard from Arizona- 5

Posted on Monday, 12 December 2011 by bruce10b

12 December 2011

Warranty Truck-Repairs

Yesterday we were finally able to take the truck for a proper Sunday drive… our first since Lawley Ford in Sierra Vista completed warranty repairs. During an earlier visit they updated the firmware and this time they replaced the high pressure fuel pump (plus a couple other things). They also discovered there’s a problem with our Banks 6-Gun Tuner and had to leave it disconnected. So this drive was to see if things really were running right and that there wasn’t something that went wonky after sitting for a week or so.

I’m happy to say the truck runs great! What’s more, the firmware update seems to have improved our fuel economy. Halleluiah! What an improvement. When we pulled out of our campsite our on-board mileage computer said 16.8 mpg. By the time we got back after 106 miles driving (including 1,500′ elevation change), the mileage was over 18 mpg. Granted we haven’t seen what happens with a real load pulling our trailer, but there is certainly an improvement running solo.

The best mileage we ever saw after installing the Banks tuner was just over 17 mpg running solo. So repairing and reinstalling the Banks tuner would mean we would have to settle for poorer fuel economy… we’re not gonna’ go there. So I think we’ll pass on rushing to get the tuner (harness?) repaired.

I have to believe that the other (non-tuner) Banks mods, i.e. the air cleaner + DPF-back exhaust system + inter-cooler, are probably part of the reason the mileage has improved compared to stock. Knowing what I know today, I’d probably pass on installing the expensive Banks 6-Gun tuner + iQ display since we aren’t interested in more power without improving fuel economy. Today I’d choose just the mechanical mods.

Looking Good!

Our Montana has a rubber roof. Sort of. Montana covers the plywood roof with a thin rubber membrane. That rubber film does a good job keeping the roof water-tight and it can survive for many years with some care. But the rubber film will die in the sun unless it’s treated regularly. Montana says it should have a treatment every year to provide UV protection. Kinda like sunscreen for the roof.

Our winter-neighbor here in Benson has his New Horizon travel trailer washed & waxed every year by a local named Hooper. His rates are very reasonable and, for a small extra charge, he’ll use a special washing product which protects the rubber film. Our neighbor’s trailer always looks really nice, so we asked Hooper to do our Montana and to use the special rubber protectant.

It took Hooper quite awhile since he got delayed by wind and weather, but he finished a few days ago and what an improvement! I’d forgotten how much shinier the rig was when we first took delivery. Now it looks even better because the polymer-based wax (?) he uses has filled those microscopic scratches that buffing leaves behind. Now the rig fairly glistens in the sun and finally the decals have some protection too. At $5.50/foot + $25 for the special rubber protectant, we think it was a bargain.

We were a little disappointed to discover there was already some damage to the decals, though. We really needed to have done this last year. Now we have at least one location on the nose fairing where a decal is starting to curl (it hadn’t had any protection applied at the dealer). Plus there are a few places where rocks or bugs have nicked the decals and the white shows through. And these decals are supposedly the tougher variety that Montana uses now.

Rainy day

This is a la niña year and that means extra snow in Santa Fe. And apparently rain in Benson. Like Santa Fe, Benson had an essentially dry monsoon season. But now we’re sitting in our Montana watching everything get a good drink. There’s already been 0.3″ of slow steady rain. Not exactly what a person thinks of here in the desert, but an interesting change that is supposed to go on for a few days.

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