Category Archives: Family-Friends-Home

Post related to our family and close friends and projects around the house.

202304(16-30) – More barn work; painting, conduit, and wires, oh my!

[ This post contains some narrative but consists mostly of 17 photos with captions. ]

SUNDAY 16 April

I finally started painting inside the barn today. Priming actually, but first I finished masking off areas of the concrete floor where I would be painting, using a combination of red rosin paper and masking tape. Before starting on the interior of the staircase, however, I removed the handrail leading up to the storeroom, removed all of the hardware, and set it across a pair of sawhorses in the driveway. There was rain in the forecast, but initially the weather was okay, with a high temperature forecast of 74 degrees F.

I rubbed down the handrail with 0000 steel wool, and then opened a container of Kills2 primer that I had left from this past fall. I gave it a good stir, and used a tapered trim brush to apply it the bottom and sides. I then moved inside and did all of the “cutting in” in preparation for eventually using rollers for the large surface areas. I used up the remaining Kills2, and opened the new 5-gallon pail.

These pails have a 3” (approx.) screw off cap, and I have screw on spouts that replace them to allow pouring the contents without removing the entire large snap on cover. Not that it’s easy—these pails are heavy when full—but it is much less messy than removing the large lid and then trying to pour the contents. I transferred a small amount of the primer into the old, smaller (~ 3 gallon) pail, and set about the work.

The rain did eventually come, and I had to move the handrail and sawhorses inside along the west shop wall. As mentioned yesterday, Linda and I had already placed red rosin paper ~3’ wide, along the base of the two large walls that are inside the barn but form two of the exterior walls of the shop/storeroom in the NE corner of the building.

MONDAY 17 April

As forecast, a cold front came through yesterday, with high, gusty winds, and the temperature started falling noticeably by mid-afternoon. The overnight low dropped below freezing, and we awoke this morning to snow. In anticipation of this, I had moved all of the primer and paint into the shop portion of the barn yesterday, as it is well insulated and had warmed up nicely with the very warm weather of recent days. The forecast was for three nights below freezing, but not by much, with highs above freezing, so I figured the paint should be okay. Overnight lows in the 30’s were forecast again for four nights starting this coming Saturday, but from tomorrow on the weather should be amenable to the work I need to get done in the barn.

Given the weather forecast, today was a good day to work on blog posts, including the processing of photos. I shot over 1,500 frames on our 15-night/16-day Panama Canal cruise, around 500 of them just on the day we did the transit of the Canal. It takes a lot of time to go through that many images, select the ones I want to use (that support the narrative or tell a story in their own right), and post-process them. It also takes a lot of time to craft the narrative, especially more than a month after the events.

TUESDAY 18 & WEDNESDAY 19 April

A view of the East (small RV) bay with equipment and supplies. The wall behind the step-ladder and the walls of the staircase have been painted and primed. Not yet done, and saved for later, is painting all of the staircase trim in a contrasting color, probably a green to match the lower exterior siding,

I managed to complete all of the cutting-in except for the a few spots high up at the exterior barn walls, as I need the 14’ stepladder to reach these, and I need someone to help me move it. Linda was working on accounting for the bakery, and did not need to be interrupted. The handrail dried, so I was able to turn in right-side-up and finish the first coat of primer.

This is another view of the painted walls and staircase as seen from the SW corner the West (large RV) bay looking NE.

Mammatus clouds as seen from our center driveway looking N over part of the garage.

THURSDAY 20 – SUNDAY 30 April

The box adapter has been installed in the upper left corner of the main panel. The inside of the outer portion is smooth to accept the conduit tube. The inner portion is threaded, and retained by a conduit lock-nut. Note that in any photos of the main panel with the cover removed, the main breaker/disconnect is OPEN, so the bus bars are NOT energized. The very large black and red cables at the top, however, are energized but the terminating lugs have safety covers. Still, this is no place to get careless. I am always extremely mindful of the location of these “live” terminals.

During this time period we installed the 2” Sch 40 PVC conduit from the main panel to the sub-panel in the shop, and ran the feeder wires. It might not sound like much, but it was our first attempt at installing the conduit. It was a lot of work, and we took out time to figure things out as we went. Here are some highlights of that work in photos with captions.

Starting from the post at the right of the frame, we installed a 1×6 board horizontally to the 2×6 boards that are on the flat just underneath the windows. The 2×6 boards support the vertical framing for the windows and extend back for two more posts.

This is almost the same photo as the previous one, except that some of the 2” Sch 40 PVC conduit has been mounted to the 1×6 boards and tied into the main panel box adapter. There is a gap in the conduit about mid-run. An expansion coupling will eventually be installed there.

This panoramic image is 1024×334 pixels. Clicking on the image might allow you to see it full size.

A 90-degree bend (elbow, sweep) has been used to turn the 2” Sch 40 PVC conduit up onto the wall of the shop and terminate it in a 2” PVC LL conduit body at the correct distance from the floor.

On the left is an expansion joint and on the right is an LB conduit body with a short piece of 2” conduit coming out of the back connection. Two expansion joints were used for this run, one in the middle of the tube from the main panel to the shop wall and the other in the middle of the tube on the shop wall. The stub in the LB conduit body will go through a hole in the wall and connect to another LB conduit body just above the top of the sub-panel in the shop.

The LB conduit body positioned in the hole through the wall of the shop.

Another 2” PVC LB conduit body inside the shop above the sub-panel. Light is coming through the connection on the back of the LB. A short piece of 2” conduit connects the LB body to a box adapter in the top of the sub-panel. The box adapter is secured from inside the sub-panel with a conduit lock-nut.

Time out for a cat photo! On this particular day, Cabela decided to visit the barn while we were working and hang out on the bed cover of the F-150. She was exploring at this point, but spent most of her time lying down and sleeping.

We fed a “fish tape” from the LL conduit body back into the main panel, being careful of the “live” terminals at the top of the enclosure. We had already unwound and straightened the stranded copper feeder conductors—three #4 AWG (red, black, white) and one #6 AWG (green)—and laid them out in the driveway parallel to one another. We attached all four wires to the end of the fish tape. Linda pulled them into the 2” Sch 40 PVC conduit while I fed them in from the main panel. Not shown is that when the wires emerged in the LL conduit body, we: 1) disconnected them from the fish tape, 2) fed the tape from the LB conduit body on the outside of the shop wall back to the LL conduit body, 3) reattached the wires to the end of the fish tape, 4) pulled the wires through the 2” conduit to the LB conduit body while guiding them in from the LL conduit body, and 5) detached them from the fish tape when they emerged form the LB conduit body. This sequence of events would get repeated quite a few times before all of the wires were installed.

The feeder cables terminated in the shop sub-panel, from left to right: Equipment Grounding Conductor (EGC, Green), L1 (Black), L2 (Red), and Neutral (White). All of the conductors have black insulation except for the EGC. The L2 and Neutral conductors are color coded with tape near the lug connector ends. Note that there is NO connection between the equipment grounding bus and the neutral bus in the sub-panel. Neutral and Ground can only be bonded at one place in the system, and that is at the first disconnect, which in our barn is the main panel. Note also that there is no main circuit breaker in the sub-panel. The L1 and L2 feeder circuit conductors are protected by a 100 Amp, double-pole circuit breaker in the main panel. This circuit breaker also serves as the disconnect for the sub-panel in the even that it needs to be opened and worked on. Until we have final approval of the electrical installation, this circuit breaker has a lock-out device on it to prevent it from being accidentally closed and energizing the sub-panel.

The feeder cables have been cut to the required length to be terminated in the main panel.

The L2 (Red) and L1 (Black) shop feeder conductors have been “landed” on a double-pole, 50 Amp circuit breaker (3rd and 4th from the bottom in the lower right of the panel). The Neutral (White) feeder conductor has been terminated at the bottom of the neutral bus bar on the right side of the panel, approximate mid-way between the top and bottom of the enclosure. The EGC (Green) has also been terminated in the ground bus, but is under other wires and not really visible.

The shop sub-panel with its cover reinstalled.

As of April 29^th, the conduit and conductors for the shop feeder circuit were installed and I could finally move ahead with the rest of the conduit and wiring. I decided that the best/easiest thing to do next was the shop and storeroom as I could do most of the work by myself standing on the floor or a short ladder.

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202304(01-15) – Barn Project and General Update

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[ In addition to the narrative, this post contains 17 photos with captions. ]

MONDAY 3 – TUESDAY 4 April

The conduit trench that runs form the new utility pole along the inside curve of the driveway to the meter box at the SE corner of the barn. Various tools are out as I get ready to move some dirt around to better fill-in the trench.

With all of the rain that came in March I finally had a day to continuing working on the trench for the conduit carrying the large electrical conductors from the pole to the barn meter box. The soil was damp, so it was easy to dig but heavy to move. I placed some of our surplus stacking landscape blocks in the trench every 5 feet of so to help retain the soil that I moved into the trench from either side.

The green bags in the following photo are 40 lb. topsoil, but I had been advised against using them as fill as it just washes downhill. At some point I will probably get out the garden tiller and try to work this soil into the clay, but I would really like to wait until Phil can get back here and correct some of the grading.

I have managed to shovel/scrape most of the soil (clay dirt, really) from along the sides of the upper end of the trench into the cut, leaving it mounded up somewhat as it will eventually settle.

The stackable landscaping blocks are visible in the trench. I used them as partial fill and to stop erosion of the newly place soil in the trench.

WEDNESDAY 05 – WEDNESDAY 12 April

The converted coach and the travel trailer in the barn. We put them inside because the weather forecast included the possibility of large/damaging hail. “Technically, they should not be in there as we do have the occupancy certificate yet (I need to finish the wiring first), but any fine we might get would be miniscule compared to the damage that large hail could do to either/both of our RVs. We did get pea-sized hail, along with lots of rain and wind, but south of us there was ping-pong ball sized hail that destroyed fields of crops and badly damaged vehicles. Note the standing water just off the right edge of the driveway at the SE corner of the barn. I am waiting for our grading and excavating guy to squeeze us into his incredibly busy schedule and take care of the drainage.

Linda (Ama) was away from the house from mid-day on the 5^th until late evening on the 12^th. She was providing live-in child care for our two younger grand-daughters while their mommy and daddy took a 1-week adult vacation to Iceland. I drove down on the 5^th to help get the 10-year-old to her rock-climbing class and then back home for dinner, before returning home myself. I went down again on Saturday the 8^th in time for dinner and stayed the night. What fun that was! Finally, I drove down on Wednesday the 12^th to pick the 10-year-old up from school, take her to her rock-climbing class, and then get the two of us to the Ann Arbor area Buddy’s Pizza to meet up with Ama and the 4-year-old for dinner. When I wasn’t doing those errands, I was home working on the barn, and other things. I will get to those momentarily, but first, some highlight photos of the Ann Arbor events.

Sadie (L) and Madeline (R) with their aunt Meghan (C) at the butterfly exhibit at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday, April 7. (Photo by Linda.)

PXL_20230407_145529564_307x408(L)… A lovely photo of a beautiful butterfly. (Photo by Linda.)

A lovely photo of a beautiful butterfly. (Photo by Linda.)

Saturday morning means ice skating lessons. “Mads” (with her arms and one leg extended) seems to be doing pretty well. (Photo by Linda.)

Easter weekend was upon us so on Saturday afternoon the girls decorated ceramic eggs. (Photo by Linda.)

On Easter Sunday, aunt Meghan came over and the girls decorated actual eggs. The Easter Bunny showed up while the girls were not looking, and the eggs got hidden in the back yard. (Photo by Linda.)

Here I am with the crew after a successful egg hunt. Note that one or two eggs disappeared between the time the Easter Bunny hid them and the girls went looking for them. A squirrel was spotted from the house carrying at least one of them away. (Photo by Linda.)

The Easter bounty on full display. (Photo by Linda.)

Apa (me) and “Mads” discussing something in the her recently acquired book on the history of Algebra. She’s 10-1/2 years old. (Photo by Linda.)

The main “other thing” of particular note, was that the basement zone of our hot-water baseboard heating system quit working. Our system has three zones, and the other two were working normally, so that strongly suggested that the zone valve had failed.

The hot-water baseboard heating system originally had 5 zones, each controlled by one of the zone valves shown in this photo. The basement zone valve is on the far right. The next two are for the main part of the house and the bedrooms. The last two originally served a zone for the breezeway (now our library) and the water-heater, which is just out of the photo to the left. The library zone was decommissioned when we had the new natural gas furnace installed in early 2016. The water heater zone was also decommissioned at that time as the Bosch furnace controls the hot-water tank/function directly.

The zone valves are a Honeywell Home V8043F1036/U Motorized Valve. It has a 24VAC 50/60 Hz motor with an integral end switch and the 1/4-turn brass valve has 3/4″ sweat fittings assembly. The motor-actuator engages a small shaft that protrudes from the valve. There is also a lever on the motor actuator that is supposed to allow the valve to be opened manually and secured in that position, but the lever would not budge. Either the motor or the valve had seized, but I wasn’t sure which one.

This is the motor-actuator portion of the spare assembly removed from the valve body.

Well … it so happened that I had a complete spare zone valve on the shelves in the furnace room. It was still in a box with directions, albeit the box was a bit tattered and the directions were in pretty rough shape.

The valve assembly came with the house, and had probably been there for many years before that. Fortunately, it was fairly obvious that the motor-actuator could be separated from the valve by removing two small screws.

I shut of the furnace (“boiler”) and then shut off the power to the entire system, which is both 120VAC and 24VAC. I took a photo of how the wires were currently connected to the existing motor-actuator and then carefully removed them from the terminal screws. I removed the retaining screws from the existing unit and slid it off, with some difficulty. I was able to turn the valve shaft easily, but I could still not move the manual lever on the motor unit. Problem isolated.

I separated the motor-actuator on the “new” zone valve from the valve body, checked that I move it by hand (I could) and attached it to the existing valve body. I was able to open it manually, so I reconnected the wires, turned the power back on, and then turned the furnace on. I then turned the basement thermostat on and went away to do other things, one of which was to see if I could purchase replacement valve assemblies to keep on hand. As it turned out, I was able to order two spare valve units on Amazon.

The reason for the wait was that this particular Bosch unit has an outside temperature sensor, which results in a strange system behavior during the spring. At this time of year the sub-surface temperature of the earth around the house is still cool and thus the basement tends to be cool as well (most of it is not very well insulated). But because the temperature outside is above some limit, the furnace refuses to operate any of the space heating zones. It still makes hot water; it just won’t heat the house. That’s not a problem upstairs where it tends to be warmed and we also have a forced-air heat pump, but for a period of time each spring the basement just ends up colder than I would like. Worst case, I have been known to close the doors to my office and run a small fan-heater.

Another important “other thing” was that I finally had a chance to talk to the neighbor (Rebecca) across the street about Cabela (the cat). Cabela is a lovely female cat that belongs to Dave and Rebecca (and their kids) but Cabela is afraid of their dog, Kenai, and will not go in their yard when the dog is outside, which is most of the day and evening. (Cabela was actually hanging around our house all winter, and it was then that we learned she belonged to the neighbors). As a result, Cabela spends most of her time around our house and in our yard, but (supposedly) goes home at night where she is fed and has shelter on their back deck.

Cabela does not come in our house and we are not adopting her. She is not ours, and we have no plans to get any more pets unless/until we are no longer doing any extended traveling. The main reason for the conversation was to make sure they were aware that Cabela was hanging out at our place, and that both we and they were OK with the situation. I also let her know that I give Cabela some food (dry kibble) in the morning and wanted to make sure that was OK with them. It was a very friendly chat, and yes, they had seen her over there, and no, it was not a problem. If anything, they did not want us to feel like we had to take care of her. I assured her that we did not, and since we were now kitty-less, we enjoyed being able to interact with her, without really being responsible for her.

Back on the barn project, the major tasks facing me were the wiring, and then the relocating of “things” (many things) from the garage to the barn shop and storeroom. A “minor” task was that I wanted to paint the two exterior walls of the shop/storeroom that are inside the barn, but this had to be finished before I could run some of the conduit. (I hope that makes sense. The shop and storeroom are a 2-story enclosed space in the right rear corner of the barn. The east and north walls are part of the shell of the barn. The other two walls (south and west) are inside the barn. All four walls are insulated with closed-cell foam. There is also closed cell foam above the ceiling of the storeroom, and rigid foam under the portion of the concrete floor that constitutes the floor of the shop.)

I have been moving and staging tools and materials in the barn shop in advance of the painting and wiring work, and decided I needed to move all of it somewhere else as I will be doing a lot of wiring in the shop. The storeroom was the obvious (?) place to move much of it, even if only temporarily.

This photo is out of sequence, but has the critical information about the heavy-duty shelving units. With packaging they were more like 160 lbs. each. I had to open each box and carry most of the parts up to the storeroom individually.

With that in mind, I checked around at Lowes and The Home Depot and decide to get two metal shelving units for the barn storeroom. I bought two KOBALT, 4-shelf, black, units, each 77”W x 72”H x 24”D; 152 lbs. each including the box. An associate at Lowes helped me load them into the F-150, but I had to unload them by myself.

As shown in this photo, I originally placed them against the south wall of the storeroom. I eventually relocated them to the north wall.

The instructions indicated an assembly time of 20 minutes (not including the unpacking). Yeah, right. I had to unpack them and carry them up to the storeroom in pieces. Unloading, unpacking, and transporting the pieces to the storeroom took about hour for each shelving unit (I did them one at a time). My assembly time for the first unit was over two hours. The second unit went a bit faster, but not that much.

A view of the staircase to the storeroom above the shop as I prepare the area to finish priming and painting the walls. Note the red rosin paper on the floor to protect the concrete from errant paint.

A combination of illness, weather, trying to process photos and write blog posts about our Panama Canal cruise, and unexpected home projects had temporarily delayed getting work done on the barn, but by mid-April the pieces were finally falling into place.

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202303(13-31) – Back Home & Back to Work

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[ This post contains narrative along with 11 photos with captions. ]

SUNDAY 12 March

We got back to our house on Sunday the 12^th, but not without some minor issues. Our daughter picked us up from DTW and drove us back to her house where we left our F-150 while we were away. As soon as I turned the ignition switch ‘on’ I got a message on the info screen indicating that there was an electrical problem. The engine started normally, but the battery icon remained on. Linda Googled the issue and found information that indicated we might have an alternator failure along with some vague information about how far we might be able to drive before all of the electrical stuff stopped working. We started for home anyway, but only a mile into the trip, decided it was an unwise decision, and returned to our daughter’s house. She let us borrow her car to get home, and we transferred our suitcases to her vehicle, with the promise to return it in next couple of days.

When we got home we brought our suitcases into the house, but didn’t do much else. I was still obviously ill, so we each took CoVID-19 tests. Mine was positive, which was not a surprise given my symptoms, but Linda’s was negative, which was a relief. Forthwith, all of my interactions with people outside the house included a face mask. Paul and Nancy also eventually tested positive.

MONDAY 13 March

I returned to our daughter’s house the next day with my tools and multi-meter and tried again to resolve the issue, but the fault had not cleared on its own. Okay then, something was definitely wrong. I checked the voltage level on the battery, which was still okay, but decided to replace it and see if that was the problem. The battery was original to the vehicle, which we bought in May 2019 (and was built some months prior to that), so the battery was approaching 4-years old, if not there already. I drove to Varsity Ford in Ann Arbor, only 10 minutes from our daughter’s house, and got the correct replacement battery. It was easy enough to do the swap, but it didn’t fix the problem. Still, it never hurts to have a new battery. I returned the old one for the core charge credit, and made an appointment to bring the car in the next day, figuring (hoping) it could at least make it that far. I was not in the humor to have it towed.

TUESDAY 14 March

Linda drove our daughter’s car and I drove Linda’s Honda HR-V back to our daughter’s house. I then drove the F-150 to Varsity Ford and Linda followed me in her car to pick me up and take us home. I figured it might be several days before they could get to it, but I got a call back a couple of hours. The service writer indicated that the alternator was okay, but an electrical cable had failed and needed to be replaced. I approved the work, of course. I got another call mid-afternoon that the repair was finished and I could pick up the truck. Rather than wait until the next day, Linda drove us back down, I paid the bill, and we were on our way back home yet again.

WEDNESDAY 15 – SUNDAY 19 March

Given my positive CoVID-19 test, I didn’t do much else the rest of the week other than work at my desk. My big accomplishment was the final preparation of the application for the electrical permit for wiring the barn. By the 19^th I finally tested negative and was free to move about (Lowes and Home Depot) and get back to work on the barn.

MONDAY 20 – THURSDAY 23 March

Here I am on the front porch with Cabela. She is not our cat, but has effectively been abandoned by her owners across the street. She craves human attention, and we feed her in the morning to make sure she is getting at least some food without having to hunt.

Today was a big day for me and the barn project; I went to the Livingston County Building Department and submitted my application for an electrical permit for wiring of the barn. The application was processed and the permit issued while I was there, which was very convenient.

Our 2020 Airstream Flying Cloud 27 FBT travel trailer back home and parked in our guest site.

We had been thinking about replacing the kitchen refrigerator and when it started making occasional noises we were motivated to start looking in earnest. This particular LG at Costco was larger than we wanted/needed but our visit there gave us a good idea of what sizes and features were available and at what price.

Tuesday the 21st was also a big day for us as we drove to Woodland Airstream in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to retrieve our 2020 Flying Cloud travel trailer, something we were originally scheduled to do last week. The trailer had been there since October 22 for a long list of minor repair and maintenance issues, and one big repair issue (the ridge that had developed across the kitchen floor from side-to-side).

We had a pleasant drive over. The trailer looked great, with no indication that there had ever been a problem, and we were pleased with the work. We settled our bill (the ridge was a massive job done under warranty) and hooked up the trailer to the F-150. The drive home was equally pleasant and uneventful, and it was nice to finally have our travel trailer back on our property.

FRIDAY 24 – MONDAY 27 March

We would a nice little vegan restaurant (Bombay Food Junkies) not far from our hotel for dinner on Friday evening.

Billie Teneau, a long-time family friend in St. Louis, Missouri had passed away back in late February. She was in her late 90’s and was a bicyclist and successful Senior Olympian. Her memorial service was this Saturday at the St. Louis Ethical Society.

We drove down on Friday and stayed in a hotel that was conveniently located relative to the Society as well as my sister and niece, and Linda’s sister. We drove home on Monday.

My sister (Patty) and her grandson (Logan) doing some coloring at Mellow Mushroom while we wait for our food.

My mother was a life-long member of the Society, her parents having been members when she was born, and my father joined when they married. My sister and I were also born into the Society and grew up there. When I moved away from home to go to college I never again lived anywhere that had a Society. Once we had children our Sunday morning ritual became tent camping.

My niece (Amanda, right) with her daughter, Lilly (left) while we wait for our food at the Mellow Mushroom.

The service was well-attended and very nice. There were people there that that I knew, or knew of, but many more that I did not. Billie, and her late husband Richard (Dick), had varied interests, each with its own associated circles of colleagues and friends, but I knew them mainly as two of my parents’ best friends over most of their adult lives.

My sister (Patty) and her daughter (Amanda) attended the service as well. After the service, we went to a Mellow Mushroom restaurant convenient to where Amanda and her family live. We visited with Linda’s sister (Sister Marilyn) on Sunday and returned home on Monday.

TUESDAY 28 – FRIDAY 31 March

The grand-daughters at a branch of the Ann Arbor Library. The 10-year-old (Mads) in the small chair and the 4-year-old (Sadie) in the big chair.

Linda was busy the rest of this week babysitting the Ann Arbor grand-daughters and doing accounting work for the bakery. In her absence, I turned my attention to the barn. I continued trying to fill in the trench for the conduit from the utility pole to the barn, and started purchasing Sch 40 PVC conduit and various fittings that I would need to wire the barn.

Sadie on the rope climbing structure at the nearby elementary school.

This part of the conduit trench is also not completely filled it yet, and collects water.

Checking out availability and prices of conduit bodies at the big box stores. Running individual conductors in conduit is not going to be less expensive than running NM-B (Romex) cable, but it will definitely be better.

Like plumping parts, electrical devices and fittings have code names and one of the things I had to learn was the proper names for various conduit fittings. The ones that seemed to give me trouble were the LB, LL, and LR conduit bodies, but I finally figured it out. Hold the conduit body with the cover facing me and the end connection pointing up. If the other connection comes out the back, it’s an LB (L shape, Back connection). If the other connection is on the left, it’s an LL (L shape, Left connection) but if the other connection is on the Right, it’s an LR (L shape, Right connection).

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20230220 – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ This post is mostly photos with captions. ]

MONDAY 20 February

The barn as seen from the southeast. The trench with the conduit for the service conductors still needs to be completely filled in. The green(ish) bags along the edge of the driveway are top soil.

Although we were still involved in final packing decisions for our cruise, it was a reasonably nice day, weather-wise, so I took a few more photos of the new barn doors and the daytime light levels in the barn with the doors closed. We zoomed with Paul and Nancy at 5:30 PM, to compare notes and see if there was anything any of us had forgotten to pack for our upcoming cruise.

The inside front half of the barn, with the doors closed, as seen from the landing at the top of the stairs to the storeroom. The 12,000 Lumen ceiling light and the light over the entry door are both turned on. The bottom seals on the roll-up doors are slightly off the concrete to allow them to relax and expand.

The large/west RV bay as seen from near its roll-up door. All of the doors are closed. The 12,000 Lumen ceiling light and the light over the entry door are both turned on.

The small/east RV bay as seen from near the entry door. All of the doors are closed. The 12,000 Lumen ceiling light and the light over the entry door are both turned on.

The Barrina 2’ integrated LED strip light under the stairs is turned on. In general, the light levels were adequate with this minimal amount of lighting supplementing the daylight coming in through the windows and sun tunnels. With RVs in the two bays, however, additional lighting will be needed.

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202302(16-18) – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ This post is mostly photos with captions. ]

THURSDAY 16 February

This is how the roll-up doors were packed for shipping. They were made in Missouri and shipped to West Virginia by mistake. Dan (from Everlast Doors & More) chose to drive to West Virginia to get them, rather than delay the installation by some unknown number of additional weeks.

It was a BIG DAY today. Dan, from Everlast Doors & More, showed up with the two large roll-up doors for the barn! Chuck (the builder) arrived shortly thereafter to help Dan with the installation by operating the Pettibone Telehandler. The telehandler was used to unload the crates from Dan’s trailer and then to lift each door into position while Dan secured the mounts on each end from a ladder.

One of the doors has been removed from the trailer by the telehandler and is being moved into the large/west RV bay.

One of the roll-up doors positioned in the large/west RV bay, ready to be uncrated.

The chain drive box for a roll-up door.

The main ring gear on one end of a roll-up door tube.

A shaft support and tensioner on the opposite end of the roller tube from the ring gear.

A chain drive box mounted on the ring gear end of the roller tube.

The other roll-up door being lifted into place. It is supported by a small section of the original shipping crate to allow the telehandler forks to get under it, and is strapped down to hold it in place.

The small/east RV bay roll-up door (on the left in this photo) is installed. The large/west RV bay roll-up door is being lifted into position with the telehandler. The telehandler weighs 28,000 pounds, so Chuck (the builder/operator) kept it off of the poured concrete at all times.

Dan is securing one end of the large/west RV bay roll-up door to the vertical steel support and bracket.

FRIDAY 17 February

The weather forecast for today was for cold temperatures and light icing. I texted Dan early and suggested that he not finish the doors today. He appreciated that, and said he would be out around noon tomorrow to continue the installation.

SATURDAY 18 February

Dan works on the chain drive end of the small/east RV bay roll-up door.

Good to his word, Dan was back around noon and put in a long afternoon finishing the installation of the two big roll-up doors. He did not like the weather-stripping that came with the doors, and wanted to come back late next week with a different product and finish up. He would also finish installing the lag screws for the side channels at that time. (As it turned out, the weather stripping did not get installed until mid-late March, but that’s for another/later post.)

Dan checks the small/east RV bay roll-up door for proper operation.

The large/west RV bay roll-up door in the closed position.

The barn finally has all of its doors and is now closed in and can be secured.

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20230215 – Accessory Building Project Update

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WEDNESDAY 15 February

The Hyperlite light fixture is the small gray object top center in the photo.

The Motor Cities Electric Utilities crew was here today to replace the utility pole in the SE corner of our property, but that work was not directly related to the barn project, and I covered it in a general post for February 01 – 21.

The other thing that happened today was I bought an appliance cord (pigtail) and wired up the Hyperlite outdoor LED fixture that I recently bought on Amazon. This is a 40W, 5,200 Lumen, 5000K integrated LED light fixture. I mounted it above the entry door inside the barn so I could test its intensity and beam spread. Besides possible use on the outside of the barn, I was planning to use these fixtures for interior lighting along the outside edges of the RV bays. They come in 60W and 100W versions, but I will use more of the lower wattage / lower lumen units for better, more even coverage.

The Hyperlite light fixture has two parts with a hinge design that allows them to be separated for installation. This is the base unit of the light fixture mounted to a framing member above the entry door. The WAGO lever-nut connectors have been installed on the pigtail power cord. It has the weathertight seal that goes between the two parts. The lamp head is adjustable from 0 (straight down) to 90 degrees (straight out) and contains the electronic module and wires for connecting to the incoming power. The base unit has five (5) access holes with weathertight plugs for getting power into and out of the box. It has provision for mounting screws in the back and a built-in bubble level to aid in the installation. It’s listed on Amazon as a commercial unit, and the construction appears to merit that description.

The lamp head has been set onto the hinge pins of the base and the wires connected via the WAGO lever-nuts.

I finally got a chance to test the 12,000 Lumen light fixture at night. It made a LOT of light!

One of the Barrina 2’ LED strip lights lit up the area under the stairs quite nicely.

In addition to the 12,000 Lumen ceiling light fixture, and the light over the entry door, I bought two Barrina 2’ LED strip lights from Amazon to test. These are 20W, 2,500 Lumen, 5000K integrated LED fixtures that I plan to use for the ceiling lighting in the shop and storeroom. (They also have a 4’, 40W, 5,000 Lumen version.) For testing purposes , however, I mounted one of these under the stairs/landing, where it will likely remain. They came with plug-in power cords, so I used one to plug the fixture into an extension cord with multiple receptacles. They also come with pigtail cables for direct wiring (via an outlet box) and 4’ connector cables, that allow them to be connected end-to-end, only requiring one power feed to an entire string of fixtures.

The is the large/west RV bay at night. With nothing in the bay, the 12,000 Lumen ceiling fixture by the entry door lights up the entire space surprisingly well. The two strip lights under the stairs are also on, and the Hyperlite light over the entry door is probably also on.

This photo was taken from the right/east RV bay door. The main light source is the Hyperlite fixture on the wall above the entry door. The light under the stairs is from one of the Barrina 2’ LED strip lights.

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202302(07-10) – Accessory Building Project Update

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Winter was still with us, and seemed unable to make up its mind as to whether it would hang around for a while or depart the Great Lakes Region earlier than usual. Although we finally had electrical power to the barn, which was a huge deal, the big roll-up doors were not yet available for installation, which meant the building was not yet truly weather tight.

TUESDAY 07

As I mentioned in the regular post for February 01 – 21, we picked up the 14’ Werner 2-sided step ladder from Lowe’s a few days ago.

The new 14’ stepladder and 12,000 Lumen light fixture. The light fixture is being powered from an extension cord plugged into the one duplex receptacle that was installed by the electrician as part of the service entrance. The bottom cords of the roof trusses are 16′ above the floor.

As I mentioned in the regular post for February 01 – 21, we picked up the 14’ Werner 2-sided step ladder from Lowe’s a few days ago. I managed to get the new ladder opened and raised into position by myself, but going forward I plan to always have someone help me put it up, take it down, and move it around, unless I can find a wheel kit for it. Otherwise, it’s really too much ladder for one person to handle safely. I used it to hang a 120-Watt, 12,000 Lumen, 5000K integrated LED flat panel light fixture that I bought a few weeks ago at Rural King. I had already attached the plug cord that came with it, and wanted to test the beam pattern and brightness when it was suspended just below ceiling height (about 15’6”).

WEDNESDAY 08

The dually tire tracks leading into the drainage ditch.

When the snow had melted, I discovered that one of the utility trucks had driven into the ditch along the road where the new pole was stored, and driven back out right over the end of the culvert under the driveway, partially crushing it. Ugh. I took photos and e-mailed a couple to the case manager who had been assigned to our project and asked what, if anything, DTE might be able to do about this. Other than not ever getting advanced notification when crews would be here working, this was the only damage that had occurred to our property during the whole project. And the culvert wasn’t crushed shut, so it could still drain, but this damage should not have occurred.

The dually tire tracks in the drainage ditch clearly headed up and over the end of the culvert into the gravel driveway.

Sometime after that, but still in the first two weeks of the month, I got another customer satisfaction survey from DTE. This one acknowledged that the project to replace the pole/transformer and get power to the barn had been completed, and asked for feedback. So, I provided it. Well, once again, I got a call from a customer service representative. In fact, it was they same women I had chatted with the first time. My complaint by that point was that the case manager had not replied to my e-mail, even though the last communication I got from her said to contact her if there were any remaining issues. She said she would escalate that and check on the other pole that was sitting in our yard.

The top center of this photo is the east end of the culvert under the driveway. A little bit of the metal is visible, but the top was squashed down and it is mostly covered and filled with mud.

FRIDAY 10

The builder’s Pettibone Telehandler on site, waiting to help install the two large roll-up doors.

Although it took some doing, the builder (Chuck) managed to get his Pettibone Telehandler relocated from a jobsite in Washtenaw Country to our driveway in front of the barn. This machine weighs about 28,000 pounds and has to be moved by a tractor on a flatbed equipment trailer. Chuck has a guy he uses for this work, and today was they day they were able to get it arranged. The telehandler will be needed to install the two larger roll-up doors, which are now in the possession of Everlast Doors & More, the local company through which they were ordered, and who will install them (with Chuck’s assistance).

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202302(01-21) – General Update (not the barn project)

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WEDNESDAY 01 February — TUESDAY 21 February

Although this post is not (primarily) about the barn project, I did spend a lot of time during this period working on the electrical plan and researching devices, particularly lighting fixtures. Happenings specific to the barn project will be covered in separate posts following this one.

WEDNESDAY 01

I decided to buy a new digital camera for our upcoming Panama Canal cruise on the NCL Joy with our friends (and RV travel buddies) Nancy and Paul. I wanted something small and light but good quality. My birthday was just a few days away, so that was my additional “justification” for buying it (not that I really needed one). After weighing various factors, including cost, I settled on a Sony a6400 with a 16-50 mm E-mount zoom lens. I placed the order with B & H Photo Video, which has been my go-to place for photography equipment for a while now.

This will be my third Sony digital camera, and I have been very satisfied with the first two; a DSLR-a100 and a DSLR-a99. ABIR, the DSLR-a100 was Sony’s entry into the digital camera space in 2006, having absorbed the Konica-Minolta A-mount system and lenses. I have a fairly complete Minolta 9000 35mm film camera kit, and the fact that I could use my existing lenses with this new Sony camera was a big decision factor. The only limitation was the 10 Mp APS-C sensor. Besides the inherent resolution, this also meant my lenses produced more magnification than on a full-frame 35mm body.

I used the a100 a lot and eventually bought the DSLA-a99. This was Sony’s highest end body at the time, with a full-frame (36mmx24mm) 24 Mp sensor, but maintaining the A-mount system. Both of these bodies are true SLR designs, with flip-up mirrors. The a99 is large and heavy, especially with the additional bottom-mount battery pack (like the motor drive attachments of old), but I like the way it feels in my hands.

FRIDAY 03

The new camera arrived today. The a6400 has an APS-C sensor (25.1mm x 16.7mm) with the same 3:2 aspect ratio as a full-frame 35 mm sensor (36mm x 24mm), so it presents an image format with which I am familiar and comfortable. That said, it is definitely small and light weight. Significantly, it has a 24 Mp sensor, so the same resolution as my a99! Also, the 16-50mm zoom lens provides the same field of view as a 24mm-75mm zoom lens on a full frame sensor camera. This is similar to the range I have on my Sony/Zeiss 24mm-70mm zoom lens, which I use with the Sony a99 most of the time. The kit lens is not of that quality, of course, but I am looking forward to the images I get from the new combination. I still like my Sony a99, and I absolutely love my Sony/Zeiss 24mm-70mm zoom lens, but the combination is heavy, and I felt it was too much camera to take on this particular cruise.

The big tradeoff, of course, was the E-mount system for the lenses. But it’s not like I had a choice within the Sony product line as Sony had officially abandoned the A-mount system sometime after I purchased the. (The did bring out an a99-ii with a 42 Mp sensor, with a year of when I bought the a99, but the price was just too steep for a hobbyist. Still, in retrospect I wish I had bought it.) The other major difference (besides price) was that the a6400 is a “mirrorless” camera; the viewfinder, like the rear screen, is just a small monitor. Again, this has it’s good and bad points, and the web, including Youtube, is cluttered with articles and videos that get into all of this.

SATURDAY 04

My birthday was on Saturday and the 14’ Werner Twin (2-sided) step ladder that I order from Lowe’s on December 3^rd finally arrived at the store, so Linda and I went to pick it up in the F-150. In order to carry it home, I had to move and re-secure the three large Rubbermaid tubs that collectively hold about 300 pounds of sand to add weight to the drive axle during the winter. I needed to create a space in the center of the truck bed to allow the narrower top end of the ladder to sit in the bed (vertically) all to way to the front wall behind the cab. Even then, with the tailgate down, the lower half of the ladder hung out way past the end of the lowered tailgate. We took additional ratchet straps and large rubber bungee cords to lock it in place, and tied red plastic flags on the protruding end for the short trip home. The ladder was strapped closed along with two packing boards. As delivered, it weighed 86 pounds, and the combination of size and weight was quite a handful for the two of us. But I have a lot of wiring to do in the barn, some of it 16 or more feet above the floor. I did not want to do that with an extension ladder, and the only one we have is the Little Giant aluminum convertible unit that can be configured as a 14’ extension ladder.

SUNDAY 05

We had the family over for brunch to celebrate my birthday. It’s always lovely when the entire immediate family is able to gather.

WEDNESDAY 15 February

The Motor City Electric Utilities boom truck in the SE corner of our yard. The new utility pole (on the right) is already in the ground.

The wires have been moved to the new utility pole and the old pole has been “topped” in preparation for removal.

It turned out that the crew from Motor Cities Electric Utilities showed up this morning to replace the pole in the SE corner of our property. In fact, it was same crew that was here in January to work on the pole for the house/barn and then started to work on this other pole before deciding to leave. This pole replacement was NOT part of the barn project, however, but a regular maintenance item intended to replace an old pole with a new/taller one, with the added benefit of helping raise the lines across our driveway a bit higher. (The new pole for the barn is also taller than the old one, and also helped raise the wires across our driveway and where they cross the street to the SW corner of our property.)

While they were working, I got a call back from the C/S person at DTE. She had checked on this pole, and found out it was not a DTE work order, and had (probably) been initiated by either AT&T or Comcast (those would be the other two choices). I thanked her for checking into this and getting back to me, and let her know that a contracted crew was here doing the work. What surprised me about this was that I was under the impression that the utility easement was granted to DTE Energy, that the utility poles belonged to them, and that all other users “leased” access on the poles from DTE. But then, the gas line that was run through our subdivision in 2013 is owned and operated by Consumers Power, and it was installed in the same utility easement, so perhaps I don’t correctly understand the arrangement(s) between these various companies viz-a-viz the rights to use the easement.

The old utility pole being lifted out of the ground by the crane on the boom truck.

As I thought about all of this, I remembered that back in October, but sometime after I had initiated the work with DTE, someone was walking down the street checking all of the utility poles. I presumed he was working for DTE, but perhaps he was there on behalf of all of the utilities that use these poles.

The AT&T terminal box (gray) and the Xfinity broadband cable (orange) relocated (temporarily?) to the new pole. I have no idea whether DTE communicated with AT&T about this, but it was suggested to me that I would like have to submit a request to have this dealt with and “pester” them until it is taken care of. For that matter, I suspect that the Motor Cities Electric Utilities crew closed out their job on the secondary pole, but I don’t know who with, and whether or not they notified Comcast/Xfinity, as our broadband cable comes from this secondary pole, and it looks to me like they should (need to) come tidy it up as well. So, I don’t know much, but I do know this, the crews that dealt with the poles and the power lines, made it clear that they are not allowed to do anything with the phone and broadband cables, other than move them out of their way and re-secure them as best they can.

SUNDAY 19

No barn work today. Linda had already been packing for our upcoming cruise, and it was time for me to get serious about doing the same thing.

TUESDAY 21

We made our final packing decisions for our trip this morning and, just after lunch, checked-in online for our flight to Los Angeles tomorrow. I spent the afternoon finalizing blog posts for December 2022, our trip to Disney World and Universal Studios over the holidays, and the electric utility work that took place in January 2023. I had all of those uploaded by 4:30 PM and was done with blog posts until after our cruise.

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Special Blog Post for 20230131 – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ There are no photos for this post. ]

TUESDAY 31 January

Looking back on the last two (2) weeks, it had been an amusing, confusing, slightly sad, but exciting and gratifying time. The electrical service work for the barn (with upgraded power for the house) was done. The crews had all been very professional and had done the work well. But they were also friendly and helpful, as they put up with my presence, questions, and photography with good humor.

The only question that remained, power wise, was when a crew would show up to change out the pole in the SE corner of our yard. This pole does not have a transformer on it, but it does have the tap for our Comcast/Xfinity broadband cable to the house. It supports the electric distribution wires that run E-W down our side of the street, along with the AT&T and Comcast cables. These lines also T-off and go across the street to a pole in our neighbor’s yard to supply services to their house. It does not have a transformer on it, but it looked to me like the T would make installing a new pole tricky. I guess I will find out just how it’s done when someone shows up and does it, assuming I am at home when the work happens. Never once have we been contacted in advance to let us know that a crew was scheduled to be onsite.

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Special Blog Post for 20230130 – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ This post has 9 photos. ]

MONDAY 30 January

Expect the unexpected, right? For me, that’s inline with the idea that “things happen beyond our control, but how we deal with them is up to us.” After a week of somewhat strange communications, but no additional work, a crew from Rauhorn showed up today. Rauhorn is another DTE contractor. I think they do both overhead and underground work, and were prepared for both, but the remaining work was mostly underground.

The small excavator was used to “hang” the large spool of 3-conductor, 3/0 AWG service conductor cable so it could unwind easily as it was fed into the 2” Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit through the bottom of the meter enclosure. The conduit is visible coming out of the bottom of the meter enclosure and into the ground.

I was already familiar with Rauhorn as they did some of the work on the power upgrade for our neighbor’s house across the street back in mid-November. When they were finished doing that work, I asked the crew chief if he had a few minutes to came over and look at what I was planning to do, conduit-wise. He did, and gave me some very useful suggestions as to how to do it to make it easier on whatever underground crew eventually showed up to install the electrical cable to the barn.

The trench from the open end of the conduit towards the pedestal with the service conductors already pulled through. The open end of the conduit is at least 24” below grade, but they did not trench that deep all the way to the base of the pedestal. There is no conduit from this point to the pedestal, as the cables they installed are rated for direct burial. That also means it does not matter if dirt or water gets into the conduit. The conduit was optional, but it saved me the cost of having DTE (or a contractor) dig the whole trench, allowed me to route the cable away from some trees, and will provide external protect in the event that someone ever decides to dig in this area.

This crew was here “to complete the installation of power to the barn,” but were surprised to find that major pieces of the work they planned to do had already been completed, specifically the pedestal and the 350 kcmil service drop conductors. (I was not surprised that they were surprised.) But they were fine with the situation.

The trench for the barn service conductors to the base of the pedestal. The top cover of the pedestal has been removed to allow access to the junction blocks.

I explained about the advice I got from one of their guys before trenching in the 2” Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit, and pointed out the stake that marked the location of the free end near the new pole. With the small excavator (12” bucket), they came prepared to dig a trench, but only had to use it to unearth that end of the conduit (and hang the large cable spool). They dug up to the base of the pedestal by hand as there were live conductors buried there.

The 3-conductor, 3/0 AWG service conductor cable being fed into the 2” Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit through the bottom of the meter enclosure.

They were glad to have the 7/16” rope already through the conduit and used it to pull the 3/0 AWG, 3-conductor underground service conductor (USG) cable from the meter enclosure up to the pedestal. To does this, they suspended a large spool of the USC cable off of the excavator bucket so that it could unwind horizontally. The free end of the cable was attached to the rope in the meter enclosure in such a way that it would not pull loose. One guy helped guide/feed the cable into the conduit attached to the bottom of the meter can, while two guys pulled it through the conduit from the other end by hand with the rope. They stopped with enough cable still at the meter enclosure to make the connections to the meter lugs.

The barn service conductors through the conduit and up through the pedestal. They were then trimmed to the length needed to fit into the junction blocks. At this point, the crew was dealing with live (energized) un-fused wires. They knew what they were doing, and had the right personal protective equipment, but this was still not work for the faint of heart.

On the other end, they opened the top pedestal cover and routed the cable from the barn up through the bottom and out the top. They cut each wire to length to fit into the large junction blocks that were already there. As they were working, I noticed that one of the hot conductors that had been terminated by the previous crew had about an inch of exposed conductor below the insulated junction block. That was a major oversight that could have led to a short or an energized pedestal cover (the covers are made of metal). Rather than try to cut the live exposed metal strands shorter, one of the guys removed the conductor from the junction block, wrapped electrical tape around it up past where the wire insulation ended, reinserted it, and tightened it. He was wearing proper personal protection equipment, (PPE), and clearly knew what he was doing, but all of this was on a live, unfused wire.

The barn service conductors enter the meter enclosure from the large conduit on the left and are attached to the meter socket lugs at the top. (Meter enclosures/sockets have been built this way for a long time, going back to when almost all utility conductors ran overhead and entered the meter enclosure from the top.) The black, red, and bare/aluminum conductors attached to the bottom meter lugs are the service entrance conductors. They are enclosed in a sheath as they exit the meter enclosure at the lower right and go through a hole in the side of the barn, where they are then routed up into the bottom of the main load center and connected to the main breaker (first disconnecting means) at the top of the enclosure. Because this is a sheathed cable assembly, it is not required to be in conduit. Although I would have preferred that it was, this work was done by the electrician, under permit, and inspected/approved by the County. As such, it was not appropriate for me to change it (and would have been a bit of work to do so).

ep was to install a meter, at which point we finally had power to the barn! I closed the main circuit breaker (which serves as the main disconnect for the barn) and then closed the circuit breaker for the Siemens FirstSurge surge protection device. Two green lights indicated that I had power to both buses of the panel. (I later checked the GFCI receptacle the electrician had installed way back when, and confirmed that I had 120 VAC and the GFCI feature worked.)

The trench with the barn service conductors bending into the bottom of the pedestal. This photo shows that the wires, which are direct -burial, are not buried very deep at this point.

The final step was to put the upper cover back on the pedestal and secure it, and use the excavator to push dirt back into the trench and up to the base of the pedestal. One of the crew members said they would transmit the meter number to DTE.

Almost done. They meter was seated in the socket and, just like that, we had power to the barn! It was obviously nice to finally have power to the barn, but the five (calendar) days it took to do this work were fascinating for me to watch and document. I learned a lot from the various crews, who were all (mostly) good sports about me being around with a camera and asking lots of questions.

As the trench by the pedestal was being filled back in, I took this photo to show that the bottom cover of the pedestal does not extend very far below grade, and the wires going to barn bend almost immediately as they leave the pedestal towards the conduit. The same is true for the service conductors going to the house. Any digging within a 5’ radius of this pedestal would risk contact with these conductors. They are all insulated, of course, but still …

I e-mailed the DTE case manger and the planning consultant (with a couple of photos) to let them know the work had been completed and I had power to the barn. As far as I knew, I was now done dealing with DTE other than to get the account number for the new meter and pay the bill each month.

The meter enclosure cover installed and secured.

Although I was not going to pull an electrical permit until mid-March, and probably not start wiring the barn until early April, it was time to work on the electrical plan in earnest. As soon as we returned from our travels I would need to be ready to start buying electrical materials and devices and staging them in the barn. Of course, I needed the big roll-up doors in order to do that.

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Special Blog Post for 202301(24-29) – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ There are 3 photos in this post. ]

TUESDAY 24 January – SUNDAY 29 January

When the Motor City Electric Utilities crew finished their work on Monday the 23rd, the project was well on its way to completion, but not quite finished as we still did not have power to the barn. During the week, I got an e-mail from our DTE planning consultant with contact information for the “case manager” who would schedule the work, and letting me know that I would now be dealing with her from now on. I e-mailed her and introduced myself, and cc:d the planning consultant. I included photos, and let them know the work was almost completed, and that all that remained to be down was to pull the underground service conductors from the barn meter enclosure to the pedestal, terminate them at both ends, and install the meter. Once again, the reply that I received was basically “what?”

By this point, and after discussion with some friends, I had come to the conclusion that my customer satisfaction survey reply, and subsequent conversation with a customer service representative, appeared to have triggered a response from DTE. While I was glad that the work was getting done, I was saddened that the people responsible for planning and scheduling the job, and with whom I had worked closely, appeared to be unaware that the work was taking place. Indeed, the planning consultant indicated that he had only just released the work orders for scheduling. And that was not right; it’s never right to bypass people. Go through the reporting chain to the people responsible and make a higher priority of the work, sure, but do not go around them.

Sometime during this week, the builder also got word that the roll-up doors would not be available by the end of the month and he was trying to pin down a delivery date. At this point, it almost didn’t matter. We would be traveling from late February to early March, and I would not be starting the wiring until we got back. In fact, I had to do some painting even before the electrical work, which I couldn’t do until the temperatures were warmer and would stay that way overnight. Also, I had no interest in doing electrical work in the cold and neither did Marty, who offered to come down and help.

The main load center for the barn with the Siemens FirstSurge device mounted externally, lower right and connected to a 2-pole, 20 Amp circuit break, lower right in the enclosure. This was the only wiring I intended to do on the barn before apply for an electrical permit in mid-June, but I wanted this device in place before the electrical service was energized.

I did, however, manage to accomplish two small things in the barn this week. A while back I bought a Siemens FirstSurge Type 2 “whole house” surge protective device (SPD) and wanted to install it in the main service panel for the barn before utility power was connected to it. Type SPDs get installed after (downstream of) the main disconnecting means, which in this case is the 200 Amp main breaker in the Siemens load center.

The unit is large at approximately 3” x 6” by 2” deep. It is a sealed unit, with four wires coming out a female threaded stud. I had intended to mount it directly to one of the knockouts on the load center, using a male threaded adapter from inside the enclosure, but I ultimately decided against that approach.

As shown in the photo, I ended up mounting it with four screws to one of the horizontal skags that the enclosure (and the siding) is attached to, and connecting it to the enclosure using a 12” piece of liquid-tight flexible non-metallic conduit. The two hot leads from the device were wired to a 2-pole, 20 Amp circuit breaker, installed in the lowest two positions in the right circuit break bank. (The neutral and equipment grounding conductors were terminated in the usual way.)

Type 2 SPDs are also available in circuit breaker form, which is the most convenient way to add one to an existing panel. However, I really liked the more robust specifications of the FirstSurge device.

The sub-panel on the south wall of the shop just east of the door. This is a lug-style panel (no main circuit breaker) that will be fed from a 100 Amp 2-pole circuit breaker in the main load center through fairly large feeder cables. Although both the bus and the travel trailer have 240V/50A (120V/100A) electrical systems, most of the power used in the barn will be used in the shop.

The other thing I accomplished in the barn was hanging the sub-panel in the shop. No wiring was involved; just deciding exactly where I wanted to place the enclosure. I wanted it to be convenient to the door, but comfortable, as I will be using many of the circuit breakers as switches. But I also had to make sure the location was compliant with the NEC.

Last, but not least, I continued to read the 2023 NEC Handbook and started working again on the electrical plan for the barn, as well as researching light fixtures and other devices for the project.

As an aside, The Motor Cities Electric Utilities crew on the 23rd, reattached the riser conduit for the AT&T cable and terminal box to the new pole as best they could. They stapled the cable to the pole about a foot above the terminal box, as that was as much slack as they had to work with. If you look closely you can see the wire goes directly (through air) from there to the junction block on the main cable. It should be stapled all the way up the pole, but that will require a longer wire. I was told that it would be up to AT&T to remedy this, ditto for Comcast if it involves their cables, but that I might have to call these companies myself and be “persistent” in getting them to come out and do something about it. Ugh. I just don’t see why I should have to deal with that situation. Presumably DTE reports to Comcast & AT&T that they have replaced this pole and additional work needs to be done.

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Special Blog Post for 20230123 – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ There are 19 photos in this post. ]

MONDAY 23 January

Digging to find the underground service conductors and the AT&T cable from the house. The wooden stake with the red tip, behind the crew member, is where our DTE planning consultant thought the ground pedestal should (might) be located. The stake to the right, with the orange top, marks the location of the free end of the 2” Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit that Marty and I installed back on November 22nd. A comparison with the three (3) previous special blog posts makes in clear that we had snow yesterday. Still, the crew said the ground was not frozen and was easy to dig. They extended their digging from the old pole to the new one, as new wires would be run in that area.

did not expect work to be done on Sunday, and none was. I also did not know when a crew would be out next to continue the project, but I did not have to wait long to find out. Around 9:30 AM, a three-person crew showed up from Motor City Electric Utilities, a DTE contractor. They arrived with a crane/auger truck and a bucket truck, but they also had a trailer with a small excavator (back-hoe) with a 12” bucket.

This photo is from the south facing north. The new pole is on the left. The existing underground service conductors from the house are clearly visible running up the old pole on the right. The AT&T cable is also visible at the right/lower end of the small PVC conduit lying on the ground.

The insulated disconnect pole is hanging from the neutral distribution line after being used to disconnect power from the house. The crew member in the bucket is dis-mounting the Comcast cable from the old pole, using the bucket to lift it up, and mounting it to the new pole.

The first thing then did was start hand digging (with a shovel, obviously) by the old pole, looking for the underground service conductors from the house. The AT&T line to our house (no longer in service) also runs underground, along the same/parallel path as the power lines. (The service conductors for the house run underground from the meter, at the SW corner of the garage, to the old pole and then up to the transformer. I presumed these were one continuous run, but splices were eventually found underground at the base of the old pole.)

The lower/AT&T cable being moved up and anchored to the new pole.

The next thing they did was open the disconnect switch so they could work safely around the conductors from the transformer secondary taps to the house. But first they worked on disconnecting the AT&T and Comcast cables from the old utility pole, raising them up, and securing them to the new pole. As part of this work, they had to route the existing AT&T cable down the new pole as best they could. (The Comcast/Xfinity cable comes to our house from a different pole in the SE corner of our yard.)

This crew used the hoist on the end of their crane truck to support and lift the broadband and phone cables. The latching hook is the orange thing visible near the center of the photo.

At this point, the existing house underground service conductors were disconnected from the new transformer and the old pole, and cut off about 4’ above where they exited the ground. The AT&T cable was also disconnected from the old pole, but not cut. (Note that our Comcast/Xfinity cable comes to our house from a different pole in the SE corner of our property.) With everything disconnected from the old pole, the crane truck was then used to pull it out of the ground then lay it down. It was then lifted and put on a pair of racks on the crane truck to be taken away. The hole left by the old pole was partially filled in, but was reused to install the new ground pedestal (junction box).

The crane truck is used to pull the old pole out of the ground.

The bottom section of the old pole is loaded onto carrying racks on the crane truck.

The crew had decided early on that they were going to install the new ground pedestal (junction box) in the hole left by the old pole. At this point, they dug up the underground service conductors from the house for a few feet back from the pedestal location. A new cable assembly, consisting of three (3) 350 kcmil conductors, was then routed down the new pole to provide the service drop to the pedestal. (At 350 thousand circular mils, these are big multi-strand conductors.)

The 3-conductor, 350 kcmil cable that will run from the rack to the pedestal.

At the upper end, the three wires were joined to the secondary transformer wires at the rack. The bottom end was left loose initially. The support post for the pedestal was then set into the ground and the conductors from the pole and the house positioned so the bottom pedestal cover could be attached. The two sets of wires were then spliced together using very large, insulated terminal blocks for the hots and an uninsulated junction block for the neutrals. The upper cover was put in place and secured, and all areas that were still excavated were filled back in.

Two of the crew set the support post for the pedestal, part of which is lying on the ground to the right. The large 3-conductor 350 kcmil cable has not been cut to its final length, positioned underground, and secured to the new pole.

The underground service conductors from the house have been routed up into the bottom have of the pedestal and the crew is working to free the AT&T cable so they can move it out of the way and relocate it to the new pole.

This X-shaped cable stripper was the biggest wire stripper I have ever seen. The house service conductors were 3/0 AWG, smaller than the 350 kcmil conductors the ran down the new pole, but still big. (The 350 kcmil conductors will supply power to both the house and the barn.)

The junction blocks used to connect the cables together are visible in the center of the photo. The orange thing is the handle of a large T-style hex wrench. The junction blocks for the hot conductors are insulated, the one for the neutral is not.

A closer view of the junction blocks in the pedestal as the upper cover is put in place.

The 350 kcmil conductors are positioned underground and the first piece of protective PVC cover is secured to the pole.

A final look at the large conductors (for now) before they are re-buried.

Filling in the hole and making it safe.

Using the bucket, the protective covering for the 350 kcmil cables was attached all the way to near the bottom of the rack. The conductors were then spliced together with the conductors from the transformer secondary taps at the rack.

Last, but not least, the disconnect switch was closed and utility power was restored to the house. I e-mailed our planning consultant and included photos of the ending status of the work.

The finished installation connecting the new transformer/rack on the new pole to the new pedestal and the existing house underground service conductors. The disconnect switch has been closed, and the house is back on utility power.

Although the crew was done working on the DTE-related project of getting power to our barn, they were not done working at our property. The repositioned their equipment near the SE corner of our property and proceeded to grab one of the new 45’ utility poles from the ditch down the street and drag up to our place. They had a work order for this pole as well, and used their crane truck to pick it up and deposit it in our yard. They then spent a bit of time looking at the pole they had to replace. In the end, they left without doing anything else, but I don’t know why. Perhaps they did not have everything they needed, or it was just too late in the day to start. It looked like a tricky job to me, as power, phone and broadband lines T off at this pole and go across the street to the pole that supplies our neighbor’s house.

Done for the day, and moving on to the next thing.

As always, I e-mailed our DTE planning consultant and included a few photos of the work.

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Special Blog Post for 20230121 – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ This post has 11 photos. ]

SATURDAY 21 January

Friday came and went with no additional work being done, and no indication of when another crew would be on site, but sometime in the morning, a different DTE crew showed up, again with multiple trucks of various kinds. Working from a bucket truck, they opened the disconnect switch, disconnecting power from our house. The whole-house generator quickly came online and took over providing power to the house.

Bucket trucks positioned for the aerial work. The bucket on the left has an insulated pole that was used to operate the disconnect switches (old and new).

Their first task was to disconnect the conductors from the existing transformer primary to the two distribution lines. The bucket was then used to support each line (in turn) as it was disconnected from the existing insulated stand-off and then lifted up and attached to new insulated standoff on the new/higher crossbar. This increased the height of the lines over our center driveway and over the road to the west where it cuts through the SW corner of our property. Indeed, getting these lines raised was one of the reasons the existing pole was being replaced. The other reason was its age and condition.

The second bucket getting ready to go up.

Two buckets, each securing on one of the distribution lines to the new cross-bar. The line on the left is the “hot” (notice the disconnect switch). The line on the right is the neutral. Besides being connected to one of the primary taps on the transformer, the neutral is bonded to the bare copper ground wire that was installed the full length of the new pole and establishes a local earth reference for the voltage.

Disconnecting the old transformer.

One of the bucket trucks was positioned to disconnect the house underground service conductors from the existing transformer secondary taps and then dis-mount the existing transformer while the other one, which included a hoist, was used to support and lower the old transformer as it was removed from the old pole.

The old transformer on the ground.

The old pole was then “topped” a few feet above the AT&T and Comcast cables. The new 50 KVA transformer was then hoisted up and hung on the new pole. The rack was already installed just below it, but I’m not sure when that happened. The rack is a large vertical assembly with three (3) insulated standoffs.

The new transformer being hoisted into position. Note that the new transformer is pre-wired with both primary and secondary conductors. Note also that the old pole has been “topped” to make more room for the buckets to get into position.

Both buckets work together to get the new transformer on the previously installed mounting bolts.

The primary taps of the transformer were connected to the neutral conductor and the disconnect switch for the distribution lines and the wires from the secondary taps were secured to the rack. The ground conductor was also attached to the distribution neutral and the secondary center-tap on the transformer. The existing service conductors for the house were then temporarily routed to the rack and connected to the secondary transformer conductors. The disconnect switch was closed, and power was restored to our house.

The bucket that was used to hoist the new transformer up was also in the best position to attach the wires from the secondary taps to the insulated stand-offs of the rack. The rack has three stand-offs, one for the neutral conductor and one for each of the two hot (240 V) legs.

In this photo, the existing house underground service conductors (USC) have been temporarily spliced to the new transformer secondary conductors at the rack.

In this photo it is a bit clearer that the house underground service conductors are still attached to the old pole. The Comcast/broadband (upper) and AT&T (lower) cables are also still attached to the old pole.

The crew is done for the day and pulling out. Our house is now running off of the new 50 KVA transformer. I checked inside and the voltage seemed to be a volt or so higher, and less subject to dropping when loads were energized. (We have uninterruptable power supplies throughout the house to protect sensitive electronics. The units we use have a digital voltage display, so I can keep a close eye on what’s happening vis-à-vis electrical power. We also have a DTE EnergyBridge device, which monitors and reports our electrical energy usage in real time, via our smart meter, but also gives us access to historical data.)

Significant progress was made today towards having upgraded power to the house and, eventually, to the barn. I e-mailed the planning consultant and included a couple of photos.

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Special Blog Post for 20230119 – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ There are 6 photos in this post. ]

THURSDAY 19 January

The DTE crew that was here yesterday and did, in fact, return today and got a lot accomplished. Not everything, of course, but based on what had previously been explained to me, I did not expect them to complete the job today. DTE has crews (and/or contractors) that do “overhead work,” crews/contractors that do “underground work,” and (apparently) crews/contractors that do “fusing work.” Which is fine; each of those kinds of work requires different equipment, knowledge, and skills. Our project required all three types of crews (or at least overhead and underground ones).

The new, 45’, utility pole in the driveway near the existing pole and the new hole that was dug yesterday.

The new pole is lowered onto a cradle, allowing the top (narrower) end to be off the ground high enough to attach various things to it.

The work today was fascinating. They started by pulling the new pole out of the drainage ditch (where it had been for a while), down the street, and then up the driveway. They positioned it in the yard close to where they needed it, but off of the driveway where they could work on it without being in the way of the trucks. Crew members drilled holes for the mounting of the new crossbar, transformer, and the rack and attached a bare copper ground wire along the full length of the pole.

The new pole resting on the cradle. The cradle is hinged, and folds flat for storage.

One of the crew attaches an insulated stand-off to the crossarm near the top of the new pole. The insulated standoff and disconnect switch for the hot line are already installed.

A new crossbar was attached near the top of the pole and new insulated standoffs and a disconnect switch for the distribution lines were mounted. The crane truck was used to hoist the pole up with the crossbar parallel to the distribution lines so it would pass between them. The pole was then lowered down into the new hole (dug yesterday) and then turned 90 degrees so the crossbar was above, and perpendicular to, the power lines. They sighted the pole for plumb from two directions, about 90 degrees apart. When they were satisfied that it was vertical, a 2-part epoxy was mixed and poured into the hole. After a suitable amount of time, they then partially back-filled the hole with 1”-size gravel to secure it in position.

The crane truck has lifted the new pole between the distribution wires with the crossarm parallel to the wires and going up between them. Ground crew have then turned the pole 90 degrees so the crossarm is perpendicular to the wires. The crane has set the pole into the new hole. The crew member nearest the camera is checking the pole for plumb.

The new pole was 45’ long, compared to the old one at just 40’. They were both in the ground to about the same depth, and the top of the new pole was now a comfortable 5’ above the top of the old one. This added height was one of the main reasons for the new pole. The other reason was the condition of the existing pole, which had been there since the early 1970’s (best estimate).

All of this work was done without disconnect the existing transformer primary taps from the distribution lines. The crew obviously knew what they were doing, and had all of the necessary personal protective equipment (clothing) to be working with energized, un-fused, high-voltage wires, but it was still impressive to watch.

The new pole, secured in the new hole, with the primary taps on the existing transformer reconnected to the distribution wires. The service conductors for the house are still attached to the old pole, as is the AT&T cable.

With new pole secured in the new hole, the disconnect switch was closed, restoring utility power to our house. The power was only disconnected for about an hour, but the house was never without power as the whole house generator started up and ran flawlessly the whole time.

Again, I e-mailed our planning consultant to let him know what had been accomplished today and included a couple of photos. Again, he seemed surprised. I thought that was odd, but I was just pleased that crews were at our house and the work was getting done.

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Special Blog Post for 20230118 – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ There are 6 photos in this post. ]

WEDNESAY 18 January

Without any notification, a 4-person DTE crew showed up around 9 AM with three huge trucks and a pick-up truck. I presumed they were here to start replacing the existing utility pole and transformer that feeds our house with a new, taller, pole and a new, (much larger), transformer, as this new transformer will now also supply power to the new barn. I bundled up and went out to introduce myself. I would hang with them for the duration of their visit, chatting with them about the work and taking photos.

The vacuum excavator (hydrovac) truck arrives.

The hydrovac truck in position by the existing utility pole. Some of the DTE trucks are also visible.

One of the trucks was a crane with an auger, but they did not use it. They had to dig a hole for the new pole close to the existing pole, which meant it would also be close to the existing underground service conductors from the house. In this situation, they prefer to dig the hole with a “hydrovac” (water jet / vacuum) truck. Even though the location of the underground wires had been marked by MISS DIG, the DTE crew said the marker flags can be off by several feet from the actual cable location. Ditto for the underground AT&T cable. DTE uses a contractor for the hydrovac work, and a truck was on the way from Roseville on far east side of the Detroit Metro Area. (We are on the far west side of the Detroit Metro Area).

Operating the hydrovac truck is a 2-person job; one of them controls the high-pressure sprayer and vacuum tube, while the other one controls the equipment at the truck.

The first 12” of the vacuum tube (orangish color) is a hard metal collar with a fairly keen edge, allowing it to “cut” into the ground while retaining its circular shape as the dirt is loosened by the high-pressure water spray.

The hydrovac truck eventually arrived, got positioned to do the work, and proceeded to dig a 6.5-foot-deep hole some 12” – 16” in diameter, about 30 inches to the west of the existing pole. As the dirt was blasted loose, the vacuum hose sucked it up, along with anything/everything that came loose, including some larger rocks.

It took at least 90 minutes to dig this hole, which surprised me, but the operators worked carefully to get it right. There wasn’t much for the DTE crew to do while they waited for this hole to be dug. One of the bucket trucks, however, had the new 50 KVA transformer, and that crew member went ahead and prepared/attached the small conductors that would go from the primary taps to the distribution wires and the large conductors that would go from the secondary taps to the “rack” below the transformer on the new pole.

[ As an aside, we have two main load centers in our house, a 200 Amp panel in the basement and a 100 Amp panel in the garage. Although we would never draw the maximum combined amperage of 300 Amps, even at an 80% derated current of 240 Amps these panels represent the possibility of a 57,600 VA (Watt) load on the transformer. The barn has a 200 Amp main load center, which at an 80% derated current of 160 Amps, represents the possibility of another 38,400 VA of load. Combined with the house, that would be a possible 96 KVA load. The existing transformer is a 10 KVA unit, and is being replaced with a 50KVA unit. This will be a good size, in my opinion, but not overkill. ]

(The distribution voltage is 13,200 Volts (13.2 KV), but the current through the primary coil of the transformer is relatively low, so the wires do not have to be very large. If the transformer was operating at its maximum rating of 50,000 Volt-Amps (50 KVA), the current in the primary wires would be about 3.8 Amps. By comparison, the voltage between the two “hot” secondary taps is 240 Volts. If the secondary was supplying the full rated capacity of 50 KVA, the current in the secondary conductors would be about 208 Amps. That amount of current requires really big wires.)

Conductors attached to the secondary taps of the new transformer.

In what was the first of several “comical” events (from our point of view), the crew was scheduled to be at a required training session in Pontiac at noon, at least a 30 to 40-minute drive from our house. They left sometime after noon and headed there. Things got done, but far less than if they had been able to stay and work. As they prepared to leave, they said they would be back the next day.

The hole for the new utility pole covered and marked for safety.

I was pleased and excited that the work had finally begun. I e-mailed our planning consultant, as he had indicated early on that I should let him know as things happened and send a few photos. The reply I got was, essentially “what?”

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Special Blog Post for 202301(06-17) – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ There are no photos with this post. ]

As described in a regular blog post, we left for the long drive to Florida on Monday, December 26, picking up our middle grand-daughter on the way. We stopped for the night in Chattanooga, Tennessee and arrived at our destination in Orlando the evening of the 27^th. We started the return drive home on Tuesday, January 3 (2023) and spent that evening in Macon, Georgia, with a stop the next evening in Covington, Kentucky just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. We arrived home the afternoon of the 5^th, after first returning our grand-daughter to her parental units and younger sister. The barn project was not on our minds (much) during this time, as we were visiting “the happiest place on earth” with our 10-year grand-daughter while hanging out with our friends, and Eastern/Atlantic travel companions, Nancy and Paul, and their family. No progress was made on the barn project during this time, nor was any expected. We knew before we left that the roll-up doors had been delayed until (at least) the end of the month.

FRIDAY 6 January – TUESDAY 17 January

This was mostly a waiting period, but I did stay in touch with our DTE planning consultant. No pressure, though; winter had settled in and I would not be doing any electrical work on the barn until spring. Also, my copy of the 2023 NEC Handbook had arrived just before Christmas, so I spent a lot of time reading this 1339-page book.

The NEC is incredibly comprehensive, covering residential, commercial, and industrial electrical installation. I paid particular attention to the residential requirements, of course, but read much of the other material as a matter of curiosity. In spite of two degrees in Electrical Engineering, my exposure to power engineering is limited, and I am certainly not an electrician (which is a primary audience for the NEC). As I would be doing the final wiring of the barn, I was glad to have the time to study the CODE. The Handbook version is longer than the basic CODE book, and especially nice as it contains a lot of additional commentary, drawings, and photos, to clarify and illustrate much of the CODE text.

During this window, we received a generic customer satisfaction survey from DTE. We have been pleased with the quality of power we receive, the response to outages when they have occurred, and the attention to preventative maintenance, such as tree trimming, so I filled out the survey to reflect our general satisfaction with the company. There was a box at the end asking if there was anything other feedback we wanted to provide. Well … since you asked. While my interactions with our DTE planning consultant have been positive, and I said so, I was disappointed that the company was “quick to take our money, but slow to do the work, and that I had no idea when the work would actually be done.” I clicked “SUBMIT,” figuring nothing would come of it.

Well … I got an e-mail acknowledging receipt of the survey and thanking me for taking the time to submit it. An automated response, I presumed, so again, I did not expect anything to come of it. I then got an e-mail indicating that my comments had been reviewed and that someone would be contacting me. “OK, sure” I thought. But someone did call. We had a nice chat, which I appreciated as I had a chance to explain more clearly the feedback I was trying to provide. Again, I figured that would be the end of it. Not long after, however, the project took a decided turn, and I will cover that in the next five (5) special blog posts on this project.

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Special Blog Post for 202212(01-31) – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ There are 3 photos for this post. ]

As November gave way to December, it became clear that we had reached the stage in this project where sayings such as “the last 10% of a project takes 50% of the time” always seem to come into play. Not labor hours, of course, but calendar time, and visible milestones, for sure. The building is constructed; the electrical service entrance (meter enclosure, main panel, and outlet/receptacle) is installed, inspected, and approved; and the driveway is finished (for now). Separate from the building contract, the 2” Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit has been trenched in from the meter enclosure to near the existing utility pole. Other than wiring the building, which is on me to do, it looks/feels like we are very near completion of the builder’s portion of the project, but big things remain to be done.

FRIDAY 02 December

Chuck, the builder, let me know that he had finally gotten an estimated availability date from the vendor for the two large roll-up doors … December 28^th (of this year). There is always a list of a few minor things that need to be done or corrected, but these doors are one of the two remaining major components of the actual building construction, the other being the gutters. At this point, I presumed that they would not be installed until early in the New Year. Work on this project started in the second half of June, not long after we left for our 4-month journey through Eastern/Atlantic Canada, so mid-January would mark the seven (7) months point.

TUESDAY 06 December

Today was a big day; we finally received the costs to have the electric power on our property upgraded and extended to the new accessory building (RV barn, workshop, storeroom). Also, sometime today (or yesterday) the gutter sub-contractor was apparently here and installed the gutters and downspouts on the two long sides of the barn.

WEDNESDAY 07 December

Today was, perhaps, an even bigger day than yesterday, as I finally received the actual contract for the electric utility work. All that remained to do was read it carefully, sign it, scan the pages, and e-mail them back to a special e-mail address at DTE Energy. I looked the contract over, especially the costs. The language used throughout the documents was specialized for DTE’s purposes, but I had a sense of what was what, and everything appeared to be in order. I was missing a diagram that the cover letter said I was supposed to have, and had a few other procedural questions, so I e-mailed our DTE planning consultant back.

The most expeditious way to move things along was to scan the signed documents and e-mail them back. This would trigger a reply e-mail with a link to a special payment website. I decided to hold off submitting everything until tomorrow so I could read all of the boilerplate contract language.

The way the project was now moving, and with real winter just around the corner, it appeared that I might not get any wiring done in the barn until spring. Since I would have time between now and then, I had been considering purchasing the 2023 version of the NFPA 70 / NEC (National Electric Code) Handbook, which will be available on December 15, 2022. It’s a bit spendy, but the Handbook contains the complete text of the CODE along with extensive inline commentary, diagrams, and photos that “explain/illustrate” what the CODE language means, and how it is applied in practice. That sounded like some interesting and meaningful “home study” over the early winter months.

The builder was here today to see what was wrong with the shop and storeroom doors, and fix them if possible. Before looking at the doors, we were both surprised to see that the gutters had been installed (on the long sides of the building).

Both doors are very difficult to open, and both of them have dead-bolts that will not slip into their strike plates, even with jiggy-jogging them. Chuck determined that the difficulty in opening was due to bottom sweeps that were a bit too thick, although they might become a bit more compliant with use and age. The sweeps snap in and out fairly easily, and he will try to get slightly thinner replacements for both of them.

The storeroom door appeared to be installed correctly, with an even reveal between the door and the frame on the inside and with everything square. The solution for the dead-bolt will be to grind the strike plate, which is OK with me. (It’s what I would have done if I was fixing it.) He would have to come back to do that.

The Shop door, however, was not installed correctly, being slightly out of square and not having an even reveal between the door and the frame from the inside. Chuck said he would be out in the next few days to remove it and reinstall it, or have one of his carpenters do it. It’s already trimmed out, so I don’t know if that means removing and reinstalling all of the trim, but he said it was the only correct way to fix the problem.

THURSDAY 08 December

Linda had to go into the bakery today, so during the first part of the morning I read over the entire DTE contract package. I then signed it in the two places that I needed to, and scanned those two sheets, saving them as PDFs and renaming them for clarity of content. One was the “Line Extension Agreement” and the other was the “Secondary Services Agreement.” I attached both PDFs to an e-mail and provided additional contact information per the information from my DTE planning consultant, and sent the e-mail off to the special DTE e-mail address. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for DTE to respond, so I left to run some errands.

While I was out, I got a text message with the payment link. So far, so good. When I got home, I also had an e-mail with the payment amount. But I had a second e-mail indicating that I had not submitted all of the required documentation. I spent the second half of the afternoon scanning the rest of the pages into PDFs, renaming them, attaching them to an e-mail (along with some additional information), and sending it off to the special DTE e-mail address. By then, it was late enough in the day that I was tired of dealing with this and ready to sit on the sofa and work a puzzle or watch a Youtube video while I waited for Linda to get home.

After an easy dinner of salad and pizza, Linda used the payment link and paid the invoice. Correct documents or not, they were more than happy to accept our money (CC).

I will check e-mail tomorrow morning to see if I got it right on the 2^nd try.

FRIDAY 09 December – WEDNESDAY 14 December

Well, the contract was accepted as complete and we received verification that our payment had been received. I contacted our DTE planning consultant to let him know. He replied back that it might take a couple of days for him to receive official/internal confirmation, at which point he would generate the work orders needed for the project. That internal communication eventually took place, at which point I was notified that the work would “probably” be completed by the end of January, but not later than 17 February (2023). That was discouraging to hear, but this was the first time I had dealt with DTE on a project like this, so I was not familiar with all of the steps or the timelines involved. Regardless, it was out of my control.

The free end of the conduit near the utility pole with the 7/16″ rope passed through the hole in the end cap and everything taped to prevent dirt and water intrusion.

Sometime prior to the 14^th, the DTE planning consultant made another site visit to have a second look at the utility pole replacement and the conduit we had installed from the pole to the barn. Because the conduit runs downhill from the pole location to the meter location, he suggested I try to seal up the open end by the conduit as best I could to prevent water/dirt from getting in. Given the time of year, if water got into the conduit and froze it would prevent the cables from being pulled through and we would have to wait until the spring thaw to get the service conductors installed from the pole to the barn. He also marked the location for the ground pedestal (junction box), but indicated that the crew(s) that did the work might place it in a slightly different location.

A view of part of the trench, filled in and raked out.

Marty and I had placed a 7/16” rope in the conduit after we assembled it and put it in the trench. One end was tied around the lugs in the meter can, and the other end came out the open end of the conduit and up a wooden stake marking the end of the conduit, as we planned to bury it, where it was tied at the top so the end could be easily located later. I had tried to seal the open end with a rag, but this was not adequate. I had a cap with a domed end, so I drilled a 1/2” hole in the end of it, fed the rope through the hole, and slid the cap over the end of the conduit. Although not glued, it was a snug fit. I taped around the rope at the hole, and around the cap and conduit with Gorilla tape. I retired the rope to the wooden stake, and then buried everything.

The trench beyond the free end of the conduit has been back filled and marked with a stake that secures the rope. Plywood has been put down and covered with plastic and dirt to keep as much water out as possible.

THURSDAY 15 December – SATURDAY 31 December

With the holidays coming, and a trip planned between Christmas and early January, not much else happened on this project the rest of the month. The builder was notified that the roll-up doors were now delayed until the end of January, 2023. Oh well. Again; out of our (and his) control.

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Special Blog Post for 202211(15-30) – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ Note: This post mainly consists of 26 photos with captions. All of them were taken on a Google Pixel 6 Pro smartphone and processed using Faststone Image Viewer. ]

TUESDAY 15 November – WEDNESDAY 30 November

As previously noted, the electrical service entrance was prepared on Thursday, November 10. By this time, the weather was changing, becoming cold enough that I could no longer paint. Any painting that remained to be done, such as the outside of the two interior shop/storeroom walls, and the sides of the staircase, would have to wait until spring 2023. With my painting activities curtailed for the winter, and with the electrical service entrance work done, I turned my time and attention to designing the electrical plan for the building using QCAD. Indeed, I started with the building floor plan, turned off details that were not relevant, and added new layers for all of the electrical stuff. Outlets, switches, a sub-panel for the shop/storeroom, and wiring would be fairly straight forward; it was just a matter of how many devices, where they would be placed, and how/where the wires would be run. Lighting, on the other hand, lead me down something of a rabbit hole researching lighting requirements and fixtures.

With a 16’ clearance to the bottom of the roof trusses, I need to use “high bay” light fixtures for the RV bays. These fixtures are much brighter (8,000 to 35,000 lumens) than the typical “shop/utility” tube lights used in many residential garages and workshops (2,000 to 4,500 lumens). Selecting fixtures that will work the way I need them to, required me to jump back into lighting parameters such as illumination (in lumens), color temperature (in degrees Kelvin), Color Rendition Index (CRI), beam patterns and coverage (as a function of height above the working surface), mounting/wiring methods, suitability for use in unconditioned spaces (the RV bays), and energy efficiency. The last one was easy, as all of the lighting that I install will be LED, which has a 10:1 energy advantage over tungsten filament bulbs. (LEDs use ~1/10 the energy of a tungsten light source for the same amount of illumination, or provide 10x the amount of illumination for a given energy consumption.) LEDs also have a lifespan that is 10 to 50 times that of tungsten bulbs, and come in a variety of color temperatures, specifically 5,000 K (Daylight) which is appropriate for areas where work is being done. A comparison to fluorescent lighting would probably be more appropriate, but LEDs still come our way ahead on all of these parameters. I will have more to say on this subject once I have actually selected light sources.

The electrical service work (meter box, load center, and one duplex outlet) was inspected and approved on Wednesday, November 16. This was a critical milestone in the project, as DTE Energy won’t do anything relative to getting power to the building unless/until this work is completed, inspected, and approved. I e-mailed the DTE planning consultant (John B.) late in the evening to let him know this work was done. Following this approval, I purchased the 2” Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit and couplers from City Electric Supply in Waterford, Michigan. They did not have the sweeps I needed, or the 22.5-degree elbows. I found the sweeps at Lowe’s and/or Home Depot, but had to order the 22.5-degree elbows online (Amazon).

MONDAY 21 November

In spite of the cold weather, and 4” – 5” of snow on the ground, there was work that had to be done. On the couple of occasions when it had snowed prior to today, I used a gasoline powered backpack leaf-blower to remove the snow from the electrical cable paths from the existing utility pole to the house (which had been marked by MISS DIG 811) and the area from the pole to the barn where I intended to dig a trench and install the conduit for the electric service entrance cable.

I had a few errands to run today, and when I returned I found two DTE subcontractor trucks parked in the street in front of our house, with one of them blocking the first driveway entrance. That wasn’t a problem, as the bus is currently parked in front of the house and I had no immediate use for the first entrance. Still, I was curious why they were there so I walked over and talked to the guy in the lead truck.

They had spent the morning working at our neighbor’s house across the street. Our neighbors are the third owners of the first house built in this subdivision. Built in the late 1960’s, the house still had its original 240/120V, 100A electrical service. They are upgrading it to 200A, and that meant a new main panel, a new meter/box, a new transformer, and new cable from the pole to meter. Their existing service was overhead wires from the pole to the house, but DTE will not upgrade those wires. As with new construction (like our barn), they will only run cable underground from the pole/transformer to the meter on the side of building. They also install a terminal strip on the pole a few feet below the transformer and connect the wires from the house and the transformer together at the terminal strip. These particular sub-contractors where an “underground” crew and had spent the morning digging a trench from the pole to the meter location, installing direct-burial cable, leaving enough of it coiled up on a hangar on the pole to reach the terminal strip, and then back-filling the trench. A DTE crew will come out and remove the old overhead cable and transformer, mount the new transformer and terminal strip, route the new cable up the pole, and make all of the connections.

The sub-contractors were on a break, and I asked if the guy would be willing to take a few minutes to look at my situation. The thing that has been a source of confusion for me was where to end the trench/conduit, and what direction it should be pointed. My DTE planning consultant had simply indicated “about 10’ from the existing pole.” But that lacked the specificity that I wanted as we were (apparently) also getting a new/taller utility pole that would (probably) be installed “about 5’ to either side of the existing pole.” It would, of course, be in line with the existing overhead cables (power, broadband, and phone). I knew that DTE would also install a ground mounted junction box/pedestal and that the wires from the house, barn, and transformer would be joined in this box. But it was not clear exactly where the pedestal would be placed relative to the existing pole, much less the new pole in an as yet undetermined location. My confusion/concern was also partly fueled by not having ever dealt with this before and not understanding exactly what was actually going to happen.

The sub-contractor looked at my proposed path and filled in a few critical pieces of missing information. I learned that the junction box would (likely) be installed about 3’ from the new pole, directly away from the edge of the driveway. If I located the end of the conduit in-line with a line offset from the existing pole by 3’, and stopped a few feet short of the possible closer junction box location, it would be a perfect setup for a crew (like his) to do what they need to do. I also learned that they will NOT install additional conduit from my conduit to the junction box; all the cable they use is rated for “direct-burial” and does not actually require conduit. (Conduit is nice, however, especially in rocky soil or other situations where it might be subject to damage.) They will simply trench from the end of my conduit to the junction box/pedestal location, as well as from the pedestal location to the new pole location. Finally, he assured me that I would not have any difficult bending the 2” Schedule 40 conduit along my indicated path. Based on what I learned, I staked out the actual path for the trench/conduit from the barn to near the existing utility pole, using landscape flags.

TUESDAY 22 November

Today was spent digging a trench and installing approximately 90 feet of 2” Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit, including a 36” radius sweep (quarter circle) and a 12” long 22.5 deg elbow. The conduit will house the service entrance cables that the power company will run from the pole to the building.

My friend and fellow converted bus owner, Marty, who is a licensed electrician, agreed to come over and help with this task. I was glad to have the help. The work proved to be quite physical, and often required coordinated effort; I doubt that I could have accomplished it by myself. Linda also helped, off and on throughout the day, taking breaks from her accounting work to take photos, fetch things that we needed from the garage, fixing a light lunch, and taking on the task of cleaning the rented trencher with our power washer once we were done digging. (We had chosen this day to do the work because the high temperature was going to be well up in to the 40’s.)

But before that happened, I used yellow marker paint (spray can designed to work when inverted) and “painted” the path that I had marked with flags yesterday. I then unloaded the 36” trencher from the trailer as I wanted to be ready to work as soon as Marty arrived around 9 AM.

On Monday evening, November 21, I rented a 36” trencher from the local Home Depot for 24 hours. This would allow us to use the machine all day and still be able to clean it and return it on time. (The 24-hour rental was only 22% more than the 4-hour rental.) This particular machine digs a trench approximately 5-1/2” wide. This photo is from 8:30 in the morning as I prepare to back the trencher off of the tilt-bed trailer, which was part of the rental. The machine was chained down to the trailer for transport. The only issue I had was releasing the tension on the front chain, but I eventually figured out how to loosen it. (Photo by Linda.)

I had never operated a piece of equipment like this, but last night I studied the directions that came with it, and it seemed straight forward enough. In this photo, I have backed the trencher up enough to cause the trailer bed to tilt down and touch the ground so I could back the trencher off onto the driveway. (Photo by Linda.)

Marty and I decided to dig the trench for the conduit starting at the meter and working towards the utility pole. In this photo, I am driving the trencher over to the meter box location. Although not obvious from these photos, the overnight low temperature was in the low 20s (F) and the ground was initial quite firm. It was not deeply frozen, however, and was easily dug. By late morning the temperature had risen above freezing and we had a clear sky with a bright sun. All of the areas of bare dirt (not grass) within a 15-foot radius of the meter box turned to mud, which only got worse as the day went on, with a high temperature in the low 40s (F). (Photo by Linda.)

When digging, the trencher is driven backwards. The operator stands on the platform at the rear and can see the digging chain when it is raised, but cannot see it when it is lowered. I’ve just dug a short section of trench coming out from the riser conduit into the meter box, and have lifted the chain out of the ground. Where the chain meets the body of the trencher (yellow) a horizontal auger is just visible. When digging, the auger moves all of the dirt off to the left (when facing forward). Visible on the safety bar above the blade is a piece of white tape. It was already there when I picked up the machine, but turned out to correspond to an ~27’ trench depth, which is what we were aiming for. DTE Energy requires the top of the conduit to be at least 24” below grade. (Photo by Linda.)

I did not get a photo of the control panel, but it consisted of a choke and throttle for the engine, a control lever to lower/raise the blade, two drive controls for the left and right drive treads (like a bulldozer), and a lever to engage/disengage the chain. The engagement lever moved sideways, and had to be pulled over with my right hand and held there while also operating the right drive tread. It was actually easier than it sounds, and I got the hang of operating this beast fairly quickly.

Marty spots me to get the tip of the blade as close as possible to the riser conduit into the meter box, and let me know when the blade was at the correct depth. (When the blade was lowered and digging, I could not see any of it, including the piece of white tape that served as our depth gauge.) Because the trencher is driven backwards while digging, I was able to see the yellow stripe (about 2” wide) through the operator platform, which was perforated and ridged for good traction. (Photo by Linda.)

Conduit assembly started at the meter box end. I held a 36” radius sweep against the riser conduit into the meter box with the other end at the bottom of the trench while Marty marked the point where we needed to cut the riser so we could join it to the sweep. The upper portion of the riser had a threaded fitting already installed into the meter box. A nut inside the meter box threaded onto the fitting to secure the riser to the box. (We set the lower portion of the riser aside after cutting it, and eventually used it as the last piece of conduit at the pole end.) In this photo, we are adding a 22.5 deg elbow to the end of the sweep. I held one end of the sweep against the side of the barn so that it was parallel (vertical) while the other end rested on the concrete apron (horizontal) and Marty loosely fit them together and marked them at the position where the elbow was flat on the concrete and bending in the correct direction. We then lay the pieces down on the apron for assembly. We could not trench in a direct line from the meter box to the pole because of several trees, but the combination of the sweep and the elbow got the conduit pointed in the direction of the straight portion of the trench. Part of the trench is visible behind Marty.

This is a view of the trench from near the existing utility pole. (This pole will be replaced with a taller one located within 5 feet either side of the existing one.) The end of the conduit is propped up above the trench so we can add an additional piece to it. The first 30’ (approx.) after the sweep/elbow is straight and angled away from the trees. It then curves around the trees in a broad sweep. At the pole end, the conduit is running approximately parallel to the edge of the driveway and about 3 feet farther away than the pole.

DTE requires a minimum depth of 24” from grade to the top of the conduit. This photo shows that we are at 27” (the trench depth varied from 27” to 30”). A single piece of this 2” Schedule 40 PVC conduit does not appear to be at all bendable. However, the DTE contractor that was here yesterday assured me that a longer run would bend just fine for the curve I had marked out. We added two 10’ pieces (“sticks”) at a time, and then pulled it around into the trench with no difficulty, keeping the free end out of the trench and resting it on a shovel handle set across the ditch so we could install the next piece(s).

This is the utility pole end of the trench/conduit. The stake marks the end of the conduit. We used a 125’ steel “fish tape” to pull a 100 foot, 7/16” rope through the conduit from the pole end and into the meter box. (This rope has a 300 lb. pull strength.) Marty handled the meter box end while I fed the rope into the conduit. There was approximately 4 feet of rope at the meter box, which Marty wrapped around the meter socket before putting the cover back on. I had about 6 feet of rope at the pole end, which is just visible in the lower right corner of the photo. The white object in the trench is a cotton rag that I stuffed into the end of the conduit to keep dirt out. The end of the conduit is about 6 feet from the existing utility pole (5’ to the west and 3’ to the north. Everything after this will be done by DTE or their sub-contractors.

WEDNESDAY 23 November to MONDAY 28 November

I was sick with an upper respiratory viral infection during this time (and beyond), and nothing else much was accomplished on the barn. I did learn on Monday that the ETA for the two large roll-up doors is now December 28 (of this year). I also emailed our DTE planning consultant to let him know the conduit was installed in the trench and included pictures, as requested. He indicated that he would (finally) do our plan/quote on Monday, November 28. On Monday, I also heard from Phil at Precision Grading that he would have the 21aa stone delivered tomorrow and be on site to finish the west pull-through driveway extension to the barn.

TUESDAY 29 November

Phil arrived around 10 AM. He got his front-loader and bulldozer unloaded from his equipment trailer and then unloaded a large roll of road/construction fabric from the box of his dump truck using forks on the front-loader. I made myself available to help with placing the road/construction fabric, but otherwise spent most of the day cleaning up the dirt along both sides of the conduit trench. This included gathering up medium-to-large rocks and using them as fill for the somewhat larger hole near the meter and along the first 5’ of the trench. I took occasional breaks to take photos of the driveway work. We both finished up around 4:30 PM. It was a long, hard day, but a lot got accomplished.

This is a view looking SW from the SE corner of the bar showing the first pieces of road fabric in place on the “1×3” stone and crushed concrete base layer. Phil is standing in front of the front loader at the left of the photo. His dump truck and equipment trailer are in the street. The bulldozer is barely visible at the far corner of the barn.

This is a view looking W from near the existing utility pole at the edge of the existing west pull-through driveway. The area covered by the road fabric is the new driveway extension/approach for the barn. This is where most of the new gravel will be placed. This new area will slope down to the SW, away from the barn and from the yard to the right in this photo. (Note that the yard to the right will drain to the NW and surface water will flow N along the east side of the barn and then flow W past the rear of the barn. Phil had previously graded the area around the barn, but will return at some point to add soil and regrade this area to ensure proper drainage.)

This is a view looking NE from the SW corner of the existing pull-through driveway. The curved edge of the new area to the left is to accommodate the left steer tire of the bus when swinging around from the pull-through driveway to pull into the left RV bay.

This is a view looking SE from the SW corner of the barn. The pull-through driveway slopes down from just before the existing utility pole all the way to the street. The yard on the other side of the new driveway extension slopes towards the camera and to the left. The new driveway extension slopes away from the barn and away from the yard to the right and down towards the street.

This is a view looking SW as the gravel train prepares to back into the driveway and dump the gravel from the rear trailer. Phil will help the driver get it positioned so that the gravel pile is mostly on the road fabric.

The first load of stone has been dumped and the truck is pulling out while lowering the trailer box. The driver pulled to the far side of the street and then unhooked the rear trailer so he could back in and dump the main truck box.

This is the second load of stone and is being dumped from the actual dump truck. The two piles of gravel visible here contain a lot more gravel that it might appear (approximately 20 cubic yards, or about 60,000 pounds).

In this photo, Phil is using the front loader to scoop up the gravel and move it to various locations on the road fabric.

Here, Phil is using the front-loader to deposit/spread the 21aa stone.

Phil needed more stone to finish the job. He had some at his shop, which isn’t too far from our property, so he dropped his equipment trailer and took his dump truck to get it. His stone is darker than what was delivered earlier, due to being a bit wet.

Once all of the gravel was placed and spread somewhat evenly, Phil switched to the bulldozer to grade it.

Besides getting a relatively flat surface and consistent thickness, Phil used the bulldozer to carefully grade the stone along the edges. The bulldozer is very heavy, so it also created some compaction of the stone.

Buy the end of the day, the new driveway extension was a surface that could be driven on comfortably, but was not as compacted as I wanted it to be. In the next few days, I would use the F-150 to drive back and worth over the gravel from a variety of directions to pack the surface, but that’s for a future post.

WEDNESDAY 30 November

One of the carpenters from Patriot Builders was here today to install the locking door knobs and deadbolts for the entry, shop, and storeroom doors. The three door knobs and two deadbolts (shop and storeroom) were all keyed alike.

Exterior view of the shop door with the locking door knob and deadbolt installed.

Exterior view of the storeroom door with the locking door knob and deadbolt installed.

Interior side of the entry door with the locking door knob installed. Besides the window, this door has deeper jams to match the thickness of the wall, protruding 1/2” into the interior to accommodate drywall or plywood, should we wish to add that in the future.

The exterior side of the entry door with the locking door knob installed. This slightly broader view shows the panel detailing on the lower portion of the door and a bit more of the window.

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Special Blog Post for 202211(01-14) – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ Note: This post consists of 13 photographs with captions. All photos were taken on a Google Pixel 6 Pro smartphone and post-processed with Faststone Image Viewer. ]

TUESDAY 01 – MONDAY 14 November

A view of the shop looking toward the NE corner from the door in the SW corner. The ceiling/joists and walls have been primed with Killz-2 using an airless sprayer and then painted with Valspar Pro Storm Coat Exterior semi-gloss acrylic white paint. The spray nozzle clogged frequently and the whole process was messy and inefficient. Still, it was probably better than doing the joists and the OSB on the ceiling with a brush and roller.

The stairs to the storeroom. The risers have been primed and painted white. The treads have been primed and painted light gray using Valspar Pro Deck, Floor, & Porch anti-skid paint. The stair walls and the spaces at either end of each step have been trimmed in 1x pine but have not yet been primed/painted. The doors for the shop and storeroom have been installed.

The extension of the west pull-through driveway to the front of the barn. Phil (Precision-Grading) was here most of the day on the 5th, initially redistributing the 1×3 crushed concrete based, and then finish grading the dirt on the other three sides of the barn.

The view of the accessory building from the NW after the finish grading. The grades on the E, N, and S sides were sloped away from the building a bit more and tapered gradually into the existing terrain. That created some extra dirt in addition to the large and small piles that were already there. Phil had me designate low areas to fill in, and I selected ones that were both obviously in need of some fill and not too far from the building to make it efficient for him.

The main/permanent entry door for the barn. The carpenters removed the temporary one and replaced it with this one. Besides the class window, this door has extra deep jams which will allow it to be properly finished off if I ever decide to install paneling/drywall and trim.

Looking straight up the stairs to the storeroom, the risers and trim have been primed/painted white and the treads have been primed/painted light gray with anti-slip floor paint. Although not visible, the landing at the top of the stairs and the floor of the storeroom have also been primed and painted with the light gray anti-slip paint. Everything will have two coats of paint when the job is done, although some of that might not happen until spring 2023.

The carpenters trimmed between the OSB and the stairs, under the trim on the top and front of the walls, and along the floor. I was able to get all of this primed and painted (one coat) before the weather turned too cold. The Valspar Pro Storm Coat paint can be applied down to 35 degrees (F), but the weekend after these photos were taken, the lows started dropping into the mid-to-low 20s (F) at night and only rising into the 30s during the day. That signaled the end of the painting until spring. As is obvious in these photos, the larger walls that enclose the shop and storeroom have not been primed and painted yet, a big job that will have to wait until next year.

The electrician (Bill) was finally able to fit our barn into his extensive commitments and install the service entrance. Seen here is the meter can and riser conduit on the SE corner of the building.

The meter can with the cover removed. The black and red wires are the two ‘hot’ leads (L1 and L2) and the bare aluminum wire is the neutral, all going to the load center on the other side of the wall. The conduit lower/left is where the wires from DTE will come into the meter can and attach to the lugs at the top of the box. The meter blades will plug into the four vertical spring-slots and then the cover will go back on and be secured by DTE.

The electricians had to chisel out part of the foundation to allow the riser conduit descend vertically (more or less) below ground level. I will install the 2” Schedule 40 PVC Conduit that connects to this pipe and runs through the yard to junction box by the utility pole (once it is installed). I will rent a trencher from The Home Depot in Howell for this work. The horizontal white device is just a clamp for the ground wire. The wire coming up from this device goes through the wall and into the bottom of the load center; it does not go through the meter can. It leaves the clamp through the bottom and then runs to the right where it attaches to two, 8’ long copper ground rods driven into the ground next to the foundation.

The top few inches of both ground rods are visible, as is the bare copper ground wire that connects them to the ground bus (and case) of the load center.

Shown here is the Siemen’s 240/120V – 200A Load Center. The service entrance cable and ground wire come through the wall and up into the bottom of the load center. Just visible at the top/right is a yellow 12-2+G Romex cable that feeds a duplex outlet out of sight to the left of the photo.

I put in a request for the Miss Dig 811 service late last week with a work start date of November 10. I had to create an account and do the whole thing online, but it was otherwise a fairly smooth process. The only caveat was that I could not draw the work area polygon using the pencil on my iPad Pro and ended up having to do the whole thing on my laptop computer. The confirmation said the site would be marked not later than 12:57 PM on November 10. The utility location service showed up around noon on that date, and was done before one o’clock. The flags and paint for the DTE electric (magenta) and the AT&T phone (orange) cables to the house are marked. (The AT&T cable is no longer in use.) We have natural gas and broadband cable on the property as well, but they are on the other end of the house, well away from the work area, and did not need to be marked.

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Blog Post for 202210(18-31) – Accessory Building Project Update

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[ Note: This post covers updates on the accessory building (barn) project for the 14 days from Tuesday, October 18 through Monday, October 31, 2022. There are three photos with captions. ]

TUESDAY 18 October

The accessory building (barn) is so close to being done that I am getting a bit impatient for it to actually be finished. Which is to say, to have all of the stuff the builder is taking care taken care of. Once he is done, there will still be a lot for us to do, but most of it cannot be started until all the permitted details are complete and he has gotten the final inspections. Top of the list, for me, is all of the electrical work that I still have to do, and the first step is arranging for our electric utility, DTE Energy, to run power to the building. I put in my service request with them on Wednesday, October 12, and expected to hear back from a planning consultant not later than tomorrow. I now have to design the electrical plan, which I will do in QCAD (the same software I used to design the building).

In the meantime, the one thing I can do is prime and paint the walls in the shop and storeroom, as well as the risers on the stairs, and then prime and paint the floor in the storeroom and the treads on the stairs.

WEDNESDAY 19 October

I spent most of the day at my desk working on the final post for our trip and a parallel post for the activities this past week related to the accessory building (barn) project. I knew that the electrician might be here sometime this week, and by mid-afternoon I had it in the back of my mind that I should check to see if he was on site. I went outside around 2:45 PM and saw several vehicles down by the barn, so I walked down to check it out. I could hear the unmistakable sound of a circular saw, so figured it was probably not the electrician. I was right.

What I found instead were three vehicles and three carpenters. The crew chief was Rob, who is Patriot Builders lead finish carpenter. (Chuck, the owner, is a framing carpenter, and Garrett, who I met last week, does both framing and finish work.) A bit to my surprise, they were installing OSB on the inside of the studs for the sides of the staircase, and also installing OSB on the interior of the shop and storeroom walls. I had not realized they were going to finish off the stairs, and had (apparently) forgotten that they were going to finish off the walls. All of which was great. I had a brief, but very nice, chat with Rob and then left them to work in peace without any more interference from me. I texted Chuck to let him know the guys were here and that I met them briefly.

THURSDAY 20 October

Sometime around this date the DTE planning consultant assigned to our work order showed up on site (unannounced). I was in the middle of painting, but obviously stopped to give him whatever time he needed. We had a very nice chat about what I was trying to accomplish. By the time he left, it was clear that he wanted to have DTE run power to the barn from the same transformer that powers the house. It also appeared that he had determined that we needed a larger transformer, but also needed a new utility pole, possibly taller than the current one, located within ~5 feet of the current one. As best he could tell from the ground, he thought our current transformer was 10KVA and said something about switching it to a 25KVA. He indicated that wire from the junction box to the barn would be $10/foot (I would need close to 100 feet) and there would be a charge for the new/larger transformer, but probably not more than $1,500.

I pointed out that the house already has a 240V/200A main load center and 240V/100A, secondary load center (not a subpanel), and that the barn would have a 240V/200A load center as well. I noted that 24KVA is only 100A at 240V (or 200A at 120V), so a 25KVA transformer would still be far below the capacity of my three load centers, and that my total existing loads exceed the load center capacities. This is actually typical, as load centers never draw their full rating, and probably rarely draw half of their full rating for more than a short period of time. Still, as long as we are going to the trouble and expense of doing this work, I wanted to make sure the new transformer was adequately sized. (My research later revealed that the next size up from DTE is 50KVA.)

As I understood the order of events, it would go something like this: 0) Get confirmation that the meter can, load center, and an outlet have been installed in the barn by a licensed electrician and the installation has been inspected and approved by the permitting authority (Livingston County Building Department, in this case). 1) Deliver new pole to the site. 2) Install the new pole, transformer, and terminal strip. 3) Install a junction box in the ground about 5 feet from the new pole. 4) Disable the power to the existing transformer. 5) Move the existing wires to the new pole. 6) Run wires from the new transformer to the terminal strip. 6) Run new/large wires down the pole from the terminal strip to the junction box. 7) Connect the existing wires from the house to the junction box. 8) Pull the new wires for the barn from the meter box to the junction box. (I will have the 2” PVC conduit already installed in a trench.) 9) Install the new meter for the barn. 10) Energize the new transformer.

He indicated that it would likely be a month before this got done, but to get the process moving along, and provide me with the cost estimate, he needed the LOAD SHEET, asap. He also ‘suggested’ that I include any/every thing I thought I ‘might’ possible ever want to power. I got the sense that this LOAD SHEET was part of a justification/approval process for the cost of whatever work has to be done, determining what our share of that initial cost will be, and what payback the utility company can expect.

I already had the LOAD SHEET pdf, and it indicated that most of it has to be filled out and signed by a licensed electrician. I explained that the meter can and load center were being handled by the builder’s electrician, but that I did not have my own electrician for the job. I explained that I have an EE background, but am not an electrician, and asked it would suffice for me to fill it out myself? He didn’t say ‘no,’ which I took to mean ‘yes,’ or at least ‘okay, not great, but I’ll work with that.’ He also made it clear he needed it sooner rather than later.

From this meeting forward, I continued painting during the day when it was warm enough and I had some daylight to work with. In the evenings, I worked on determining the loads I would need to power and filling in the LOAD SHEET.

FRIDAY 21 October

The floor joists for the storeroom floor are exposed on the underside in the shop, and I do not plan to install a flat ceiling onto them. With that in mind, I thought it might be easier to prime/paint the joists and the underside of the OSB storeroom floor with a paint sprayer. I don’t own one and have never used one. Thinking this might be a one-time use, not wanting to spend a fortune, and not having an air-compressor with adequate CFM or an oil/water separator/filter, I got a Wagner Control Pro 130 airless sprayer at the local Lowe’s. I chose Killz-2 for the latex primer and Valspar Pro Storm Coat semi-gloss acrylic latex for the paint. Even though I will be using the paint inside, this exterior paint is formulated to deal with outdoor temperatures with cracking. It can also be applied down to 35 degrees (F), so well suited to what I needed to accomplish given the time of year.

FRIDAY 28 October

Towards the end of the afternoon, I finally uploaded the LOAD SHEET to my DTE planning consultant, along with an Excel Spreadsheet I had created to catalog my current and future loads, both for the house and for the barn.

MONDAY 31 October

For the balance of this post, I am going to just include a few photos.

The south/interior wall of the shop with a view through the door to the area under the storeroom stairs. Closed-cell spray-foam insulation is visible between the floor joists for the storeroom above. The walls have been spray-foamed and then covered with OSB.

The stairs leading up to the storeroom as seen from the large/west bay door opening. The side paneling and studs have been removed under the high end of the stairs. The area under the landing has never enclosed as the door the to shop is there.

The storeroom looking SW from the NE corner. The floor has been masked off at the base of the walls for painting. Likewise, the Velox sun-tunnel diffuser in the center of the ceiling has been masked off. The transparent painter’s plastic had the unexpected benefit of spreading the light out more towards the walls. The step ladder is a 6-foot model. The ceiling height is ~7 feet.

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Blog Post for 202210(18-31) – Back to Normal (for now)

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[ Note: There are no photos for this post. ]

TUESDAY 18 October

Life is gradually returning to normal, which is to say, we are moving back into the rhythm of our normal, daily routines, local activities, and commitments. Not completely, of course. Adapting back to home life after an extended trip takes time, and we are not necessarily in a hurry to complete the transition.

Linda placed an order last night with one of our local Panera’s for a baker’s dozen bagels, to be picked up this morning, so she fetched those first thing.

A technician from Schutz Heating & Cooling was supposed to be here this morning between 8 and 10 AM. Sometime between 8 and 8:30 I got a phone call from the company. The technician had called in sick and they needed to reschedule. No problem, the appointment was routine maintenance, and was easily rescheduled for Tuesday, October 25 at 10 AM.

Around lunch time we drove over to the Oceola Township Hall and picked up our absentee ballots for the November 8 general election. It turned out that our new voter ID cards had been returned to the Township as they were mailed while we were away but could not be forwarded to our daughter’s house. The reason they could not be forwarded, and that we could not pick them up in person, was that they constitute a confirmation of address. We confirmed that our mail was, once again, being delivered to our house, and the clerk said she would re-post them.

As part of the transition, bridging our travel adventures with our home routines, we met our friend, and my former co-worker, Kate, for an evening out at the Corner Brewery (Arbor Brewing Company) in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Kate and Brian live in Ypsi, and she still works at Wayne RESA, so we typically drive in her direction about once a month and get together for food and beverages (usually beer) someplace relatively convenient for her.

We left around 4:45 PM in a light drizzle and drove through mist and rain of varying intensity all the way. We got to the pub around 5:30 PM and Kate joined us a little before 6 PM. We always try to arrive early enough to get a booth (we didn’t) and get our first glasses of beer at happy hour prices (we did). Linda selected a table near the booths. A booth opened up before Kate arrived, so we snagged it.

It’s always a wonderful evening when we get together with Kate, and this was no exception. She is an intrepid traveler, and has been following our trip blog with genuine interest (which I very much appreciate). And we are always interested in where she has been recently, or plans to go next, as well as the goings on of her (very talented) nieces and nephews. She had birthday presents for Linda, a couple of books, wrapped in paper that she had designed and printed herself (she’s a graphic artist) with a repeated pattern of an F-150 pulling an Airstream trailer. Linda removed the paper carefully, treating it like a treasured object. We had a couple of gifts for her as well from our travels.

We finally returned to our vehicles around 10:15 and headed home.

WEDNESDAY 19 October

The HVAC technician (Mike) from Lakeside Services (Lakeside Heating and Cooling) arrived around 1 PM today to service the Bosch hot-water baseboard heating system for the house, and the heating portion of the Bryant HVAC unit for the library. When he tried to flush out any debris from the hot-water tank, he discovered that the floor drain in the furnace room appeared to be almost fully clogged. That’s not a good thing, as the furnace is a high efficiency natural gas fired condensing unit, and the condensate drain line discharges into this floor drain. The water from the floor drains (this one and the one in the laundry room) flow to the sump in the NE corner of the basement. I could hear water dripping into the sump, but removed the lid to get visual confirmation as well. We waited a while and the water level in the floor drain slowly dropped. Obviously the rate at which the furnace puts condensate into this floor drain is slower that the rate at which it flows out to the sump, but not by much, and certainly not by enough.

Lakeside Service doesn’t not deal with drains, but Mike gave me the name and phone number of a company that does (Clog Busters). He was here until about 3:30 PM. The library furnace filter was fairly clean (last changed on May 24, 2022), but Mike suggested I get a MERV 11 filter element instead of a MERV 13, which he felt was too restrictive, and reminded me to replace the batteries in all of the thermostats. We also talked about CO detectors, making sure we had ones that were sensitive enough to actually matter, and that we had them installed in the right places. I will call the company Mike recommended to deal with the slow drain. I could run a long hose out the downstairs doorwall to drain/flush the hot-water tank, but I will probably wait for the drain to be opened up.

I got a text message from Lakeside Service not long after Mike left asking me to provide feedback. It was a positive experience, and I responded accordingly.

THURSDAY 20 October

We got our seasonal Flu shots and bi-variant CoVID-19 boosters at a local CVS this morning.

Sometime during the day, a Boondockers Welcome guest arrived. It was someone we have hosted before, and we were glad to have her return.

I called Clog Busters, the company I was referred to by Lakeside Service, and set up an appointment for Monday morning.

In the afternoon, Linda met with Dave, the Controller from Metropolitan Baking Co., to pick up work and discuss a major upcoming software project.

Yup, we were returning to our normal routines. Except for the barn, of course; having a building that size constructed on our property is not a routine occurrence, and there is nothing about the experience that is routine.

FRIDAY 21 October

According to our calendar, Linda met up with Diane to go for a walk today. I am writing this post weeks later, and have no idea what else we did today.

SATURDAY 22 October

The two youngest grand-daughters arrived today for a sleepover. Paul and Nancy also came over for dinner as they were in the area staying with their son and daughter-in-law in Ann Arbor.

The weather was also warm enough to paint, and looked like it would stay that way for the next few weeks, so I started acquiring the materials I would need to prime and paint the inside of the shop and storeroom, as well as the stairs, in the barn. More on all of that in a separate barn update post.

SUNDAY 23 October

The morning after the sleepover night, Paul and Nancy returned to have breakfast and visit. They enjoy interacting with our grand-daughters. They eventually returned to Ann Arbor in the early afternoon. We then gathered up the munchkins, drove them back to their house in Ann Arbor, and stayed with them for a bit before returning home. On the drive back, the system information screen in the center of the dashboard (navigation, entertainment, information) went completely dark.

MONDAY 24 October

Today was a slightly less routine day. First up was dropping off the F-150 at Brighton Ford for a service appointment. The appointment was originally to do a LOF, check the brakes, make sure the SYNC 3 and navigation MAPS were up-to-date, and investigate the slight hesitation when going from 3^rd to 4^th gear while driving slowly with the powertrain not yet warmed up. Since the info screen had apparently died last night on the way home, I added that to the list. The drop off was a bit less smooth than usual, however. When I made the appointment I was told to check in with a specific service advisor, the same person I have worked with exclusively for two years. I arrived on time, and asked for that person. He was busy, but that was fine, I wasn’t in any hurry. When he finally got to me, he didn’t think he was my service advisor, and that I was supposed to work with someone else that I had never worked with before. He agreed to do the write-up, however, but seemed pressed for time. Whatever, I described the issues, signed the paperwork, and rejoined Linda, who was waiting for me in her car. I should have read carefully what he actually wrote down, but I didn’t.

Clog Busters was scheduled to arrive as early as 10 AM, which they did. The technician started by adding water to the floor drain in the furnace room, and confirmed that it was mostly clogged and draining very slowly. He could see a lot of loose material at the bottom of the drain/trap, so he started by removing it, picking out the larger pieces and vacuuming out the rest. He then ran a drain snake through the drain, and was able to feel a T-intersection, which I presumed was the drain running from the laundry room to the sump in the NE corner of the basement. The snake opened things up a bit, but not that much. He then ran the snake through the floor drain in laundry room, thinking it would emerge in the sump. (It was my job to watch for it coming into the sump.) At one point he had 100’ of snake in the drain tiles, but was never able to get it to emerge into the sump, even though I thought I could hear it. In any event, by the time he was done the drains were emptying and flowing into the sump much better than they had been; probably for a long time.

We had in-home health assessments scheduled for 1:15 PM, and Clog Busters was done and gone before that. The health assessments were a no-added-cost benefit of our health insurance plan/provider. Having them done in-home was one of the options, so we gave that a try. They were conducted by a P.A. and took about an hour for the two of us combined. It was a very easy process.

Tuesday is garbage pick-up day, and the company (Granger) that bought out our service provider (Alchin’s) does our street in the first half of the morning. That means the container gets wheeled to the edge of the street on Monday at 5 PM, so as not to forget it in the morning.

TUESDAY 25 October

Schutz Heating and Cooling arrived around 10 AM, as scheduled, to service the Mitsubishi-Trane heat pump they installed in October 2021. Everything was OK with the unit in heating mode. They will return in the spring to check/service it in cooling mode.

Nothing else of special note occurred today.

WEDNESDAY 26 October

We were notified by Xfinity (via e-mail, IIRC) that they were increasing our broadband speed, apparently at no extra cost to us. Of course, our 1^st year special pricing ended in July 2022, so we are now paying more for the service. The notification said I had to restart the gateway to activate the higher speeds, so I did. That’s always a bit of work, as I like to shut down all of the devices in the house, including the network switches, and then restart them in order: gateway first, then the switches, then all of the devices. The notification wasn’t completely clear if the speed boost would be immediate, or perhaps take place by “sometime in November.” I ran a speed test anyway, and did not see any change from what we normally have. I will try again in mid-late November.

I had not heard anything about the service work on the F-150, so I called the dealership later in the afternoon and spoke to my service advisor. He didn’t have a current status, but said he would check on it and call me in the morning. He did indicate that the reason he thought another service advisor was going to handle it was because of the transmission issue. OK. I wasn’t necessarily in a hurry to get the truck back, but it was unusual for them to have it for this long for relatively routine service.

THURSDAY 27 October

Linda has been doing a lot of work for the bakery and I have been working on whatever I can do in the barn. I called the Ford dealership back to see what the status was on the F-150, only to find that my service advisor had not made it into work today due to a “family emergency.” OK. That happens. I was directed to service manager, so I called him and left a message. What unfolded from there was a text message conversation rather than return phone calls, which I thought was rather odd. What I was told was that they had not been able to duplicate the “hard, delayed shifting from 3^rd to 4^th gear.” I communicated back that this was not the problem I had reported. Apparently, however, it’s what the service advisor had written down. So, they had apparently spent time trying to replicate and chase down the wrong thing.

FRIDAY 28 October

Linda spent the day in Ann Arbor babysitting. She took Halloween treats for the girls as we would not see them again until after that. I worked on the painting projects in the barn.

At some point I was notified that the F-150 was done and ready for pickup. Linda was home in time to drive me to the dealership. All I had to pay for was the LOF service. We bought the truck from this dealership, and have had all of the service done here except for the LOF and tire rotation in St. John’s Newfoundland back in August. My interactions with the staff have always been pleasant, and the work has always been performed correctly and in a timely manner, the events of this week notwithstanding.

SATURDAY 29 October

We got together with neighbors this evening. Marta was back temporarily from her contract assignment in San Francisco, so Gail arranged for a 6:30 PM get-together at their house with the usual suspects (Gail/Mike, Marta/Gary, Rose/Jerry, and us). Mike already had a really nice campfire going when we arrived, and kept it well-tended all evening. Everyone brought snacks to share and came bundled up against the impending cold. It was great to re-connect, and catch up, with our neighborhood friends.

SUNDAY 30 October

Just another day in paradise, apparently.

MONDAY 31 October

Boo! We have never had trick-or-treaters since moving to our current house, but to avoid any misunderstanding, we made sure the outside lights, and all of the lights on the main floor, were off and that the shades were closed. We then retired to basement and watched TV.

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202210(11-17) – Accessory Building Update

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[ Note: This is an update post on the accessory building (barn) we had built while we were traveling in Eastern/Atlantic Canada and New England. It is long, and contains 12 photos with captions. ]

TUESDAY 11 October

Our barn builder (Chuck) was due to come by today to meet with his insulation sub-contractor (Mike), and then meet with us. He texted me mid-morning to let me know that he and Mike would be here at 11:30 AM. Mike got here first, so I walked down to the barn and introduced myself. Chuck showed up a few minutes later. The three of us looked at the insulation part of the job, and discussed a few options. When it sounded like we were all on the same page, I left them to discuss business.

The view of the SE corner of the barn, on a cloudy fall day, looking towards the NW from the existing driveway near the utility pole.

We were not insulating the entire barn (that would be a big/expensive job), but we were insulating the shop room on the main floor and the storage room above it. The original plan was to spray foam the walls of both rooms with closed cell foam, and use blown-in insulation above the ceiling of the storeroom. After talking it through, Chuck and Mike agreed that it made more sense to go ahead and spray foam the top side of the storeroom ceiling, which would have a layer of OSB on the underside anyway. That would make the entire envelope for the two rooms really tight against air infiltration or leakage, so I was OK with that change. (Note that the floor of the shop is concrete with 4” of foam insulation underneath. The floor of the storeroom is plywood, and the joists are exposed and will not be insulated.)

Once Chuck and Mike were done, and Mike took off, Chuck, Linda and I walked the barn. It was the first time since we left on our trip that we were able to talk to him face-to-face, and in the barn. We had a few questions, which he answered, and there were a few details to discuss, which we did, and he gave us an approximate timeline to finish the job.

A closer view of the SE corner of the barn looking towards the NW. The stairs to the storeroom are just visible through the large door for the smaller bay on the right. The tall, narrow green trim on the side near the front of the building is the location of the electrical service entrance.

There was a modest list of smaller things that needed to be done, including removal of some of the OSB that currently enclosed part of the underside of the stairs to the storeroom (which my plans indicated should be open on both sides). Most of the tasks should be completed by the end of October, but the job won’t be completely finished until the two large roll-up bay doors are installed sometime in November, the driveway and finish grading are completed, and the final inspections have taken place. The driveway and grading work will happen as soon as Phil (Precision Grading) is available and the weather allows the work to be done properly.

Chuck indicated that the next building inspection might happen as soon as this coming Friday, but the storeroom ceiling had to be installed before the insulation could be installed. The insulation will likely be installed early next week (if the storeroom ceiling is in), followed not too long after that by the electrician, who has to install the meter can, the 200A distribution panel, and one electrical outlet (per code). The tunnels and diffusers for the four sun tunnels still have to be installed, along with three insulated entry doors: The main entrance (between the two big bay doors) and the doors for the shop and storeroom.

WEDNESDAY 12 October

This view is of the entrance to the shop (main level) and the staircase going up to the storeroom, as seen from the east side (smaller RV bay). The OSB enclosing the space under the stairs has been partially removed at my request.

The lead carpenter (Garrett, I think) and his two assistants were here today, so I walked down and introduced myself. By the time I got to the barn, they had already installed the OSB ceiling in the storeroom, including the sun-tunnel and diffuser, and were working on cutting out the portion of the OSB on the sides below the staircase that I wanted removed. I spite of having just the door opening (no windows) there was enough light to see clearly. Artificially lighting will be needed, of course, but I was pleased with the effectiveness of the sun-tunnel/diffuser. I only stayed a few minutes as they were clearly busy. I texted Chuck to let him know they were here and that I had met them briefly.

THURSDAY 13 October

This view is of the entrance to the shop (main level) and the staircase going up to the storeroom, as seen from the west side (larger RV bay). The OSB enclosing the space under the stairs has been partially removed at my request. A small portion of the shop room is just visible through the door opening.

Yesterday, I finally managed to get on the DTE website and locate the information I needed on the process/procedure for getting electrical power to the barn. I had printed off the instructions and called one of the indicated numbers, but it was already after hours, so I had to wait until today to pursue this further.

After breakfast I made the call to DTE. Actually, there were two phone numbers, one for commercial and one for residential. I called the commercial number first, as that’s what the instructions seemed to indicate I needed to do. The voice menu made it fairly obvious that this number was for builders and I needed to call the residential number, so I did.

I spent about 15 – 20 minutes with Jennifer, the customer service representative, at the end of which time I had a work order number and a phone number for the service center. She said to give them four business days to contact me, but to call them if I had not heard from them by then. She reiterated the information in the website instructions: I will have an initial phone call with a planning consultant and then do whatever I need to do as a result of that. There will then be a site visit, after which we will have costs and then make decisions and service commitments. Getting power to the barn is a big deal, and doing it in the best, but also most economical, way is important to the overall project, both in terms of capability and cost. There are really only two main options: 1) Have DTE run a cable to the barn from a transformer, or 2) Pull a cable from the house to the barn. This second option does not involve DTE directly, unless we would need to upgrade the power to the house, which is likely.

This is a view of the 2nd story storeroom as seen through the door opening from the landing at the top of the stairs. The two walls that are visible are the exterior walls of the barn. Not obvious in this photo is that there is space between the wall studs and the exterior wall, eliminating any thermal bridging. The white material on the walls is house wrap, and it extends around the two interior walls as well. Besides providing a vapor barrier, the house wrap will prevent the spray foam insulation from contacting and adhering to the exterior siding. The OSB ceiling has been installed along with the sun-tunnel and diffuser, which are nicely lighting the windowless space.

I think the most straight-forward approach would be to run power directly to the barn from the existing pole that feeds the house. (This pole is actually closer to the barn connection point, at 88.5 feet, than it is to the house service entrance, at 95.5 feet.) DTE might be able to piggyback off the existing transformer, install a larger transformer as a replacement for the current one and then piggyback the two feeds, or install a second transformer just for the barn.

Regardless of those options, which would be determined by DTE, we would end with a second meter. Our neighbor has this exact setup, and the readings from the two meters are combined into a single residential rate bill. The main disadvantage is that we would not have any backup power to the barn, at least initially, if the grid goes down. That would be a major issue in terms of a heating system for the shop and storeroom, and more minor issue for the chargers that maintain the batteries in the bus and travel trailer.

The main advantage to pulling power from the house is that we have a 20 KW Kohler whole-house backup generator with grid-monitoring and an automatic-transfer switch. One of the downsides, however, is that the closest straight-line distance between the house (garage) and barn is ~155 feet, and the required wire run could be 30 to 40 feet longer than that. That’s a long run, and would require really large size wires in order to properly support the 240V/200A main distribution panel in the barn. The other downside, which relates to the first, is that we already have a 240V/200A main distribution panel (for the house) and 240V/125A main distribution panel (for the garage and library). I doubt that the existing service entrance cable from the transformer to the house is adequate for that total (525A) potential load. Of course, some of the loads will be shifting location as I relocate the shop from the garage to the barn, and the reality is that we never draw anything close to 325A now. And we never will, but everything has to be sized correctly to work safely as a system. It’s going to be an interesting process, regardless of the final solution.

FRIDAY 14 October

This is the view from the landing at the top of the stairs to the storeroom, looking south toward the inside of the front of the barn. The entry door is visible between the two larger bay door openings. (The doors will not be available for installation until sometime in November, 2022). The wall structure and headers over the large door openings are visible as are some of the roof trusses. The trusses are set on a 24” spacing, and the bottom members of are 38’ long, spanning the 36’ width of the building with a 1’ overhang/soffit on each side.

Around breakfast time, I got a call back from Sharon in the DTE Northwest Planning office. She confirmed that the work order for my service request had been created, and verified my information. She followed that up with an e-mail giving me the name and contact information for the planning consultant (John) who will work with me. She requested that I send/e-mail him a site plan and that it identify the location of the current electrical service (pole/transformer) and distances to the house (existing) and barn (new).

We were outside working on the trailer when a vehicle pulled in the driveway by the barn. I suspected from the lettering on the doors that it was the Livingston County building inspector, who Chuck had indicated might be here this week, so I walked down and introduced myself. He needed the approved plans for the building, which I did not have, but then he spotted the 2’ long piece of 4” plastic pipe with the rubber end caps, and surmised that the plans were probably in there. I had picked up this tube on Monday when I saw it, but it was very light and I don’t recall opening it to see what was inside. It was, indeed, the plans for the project, which were required to be on site at all times.

This is the view of the space under the stairs after some of the OSB has been removed from both sides. Opening this up will allow me to keep rolling tool and parts carts here that I can easily move to the bus, trailer, or anything else I might have in the barn to work on.

I was helpful, to the extent I could be, but was careful not to say too much as I was not the builder and the permits were not issued to me. The inspector was confused initially by a notation about a 12×42 something, until I explained that the building was sitting on 12”W x 42”D trenched concrete footing. He then had a moments hesitation when he realized the 16’ tall 6×6 engineered posts did not extend below the surface of the concrete. (I think he was expecting this to be a pole barn.) Again, based on my conversation with Chuck on Tuesday, I was able to explain the anchoring system used to secure the posts. The only thing he found, and wrote up as a “deficiency,” was the lack of proper handrails on the stairs going up to the storeroom. Deficiencies do not halt the project, but have to be taken care of before the final inspection.

I texted Chuck to let him know the inspector had been there and what he had cited. Chuck called me back to discuss handrail options and we agreed on a straight wooden handrail with a gripable profile that could be applied to the top of the 2×4 cap that is already in place.

SATURDAY 15 October

Here’s another view of the space under the stairs as seen from the smaller/east RV bay near the shop and looking ~WSW. A small portion of the low end of the staircase is still enclosed down to the floor to provide additional vertical strength (to prevent sagging and bouncing) and prevent any side-to-side motion. The OSB on the sides is attached to 2×4 studs sitting on base plates that are anchored to the concrete floor. I have been up and down this staircase several times, and it is very solid under foot.

My existing site plan for the barn project did not include the existing utility pole location, or distances to the house and barn service entrance points, that DTE needed, so I spent part of the day modifying my QCAD drawing to include those features. Although I had determined the location and this pole, and the approximate distances involved, on more than one occasion, I was unable to immediately put my hands on that information. It was thus easier, and less time consuming, at that point to get my 100’ tape measure and a stake, and just measure it again.

The distance to the service entrance point near the southeast corner of the barn was ~88’6” and the distance to the house service entrance point (southwest corner of the garage) was ~95’6”. I had previously told DTE the distance to the barn was less than 100’, so I was relieved that this was actually the case. Also, as the service entrance points were now both known locations, knowing the distances from each of them to the pole allowed me to draw auxiliary circles centered on each point with the corresponding radii, and thus accurately locate the pole on the drawing. (I was pleased that the pole ended up adjacent to the north side of the west driveway, where it is actually located.) While I was at it, I marked the (approximate) location of the other three utility poles on our property, as well as the pole just off our property near the northwest corner, and added notations for some of the other things on the drawing. (The distribution line was already shown, as was the location of the Consumers Energy gas line.) Once I was satisfied with the revised drawing, I saved it as a QCAD dwg file, and then again as an 11×17 PDF. I then e-mailed the PDF to John, the DTE planning consultant.

SUNDAY 16 October

Here’s another view of the space under the stairs as seen from the larger/west RV bay and looking ~ESE. A small portion of the low end of the staircase is still enclosed down to the floor to provide additional vertical strength (to prevent sagging and bouncing) and prevent any side-to-side motion. The OSB on the sides is attached to 2×4 studs sitting on base plates that are anchored to the concrete floor. I have been up and down this staircase several times, and it is very solid under foot. There is still a small space enclosed on both sides where I could store something, but I have no idea at this point in time what it would make sense to keep there.

Today was Sadie’s 4^th birthday party for family at her parents’ house in Ann Arbor. (Her “Buddies party” was last weekend at Domino Farms). On the drive home in the afternoon (Linda was driving) I texted Phil at Precision Grading, to let him know we were home and to check on the completion of the driveway and finish grading for the barn, as well as the possible timing for redoing our French Drain in the valley behind the house. Phil has done all of our driveway and septic tank work since we bought the house, and built a French Drain for the west portion of our property that works really well. But he is also the sub-contractor for the excavating, grading, and driveway work on the accessory building. Indeed, Phil referred us to Chuck (the builder).

MONDAY 17 October

This is a view from the staircase landing by the storeroom door looking down towards the large west bay door opening. The trailer that is visible through the door opening holds the spray foam insulation equipment and materials. There is a large air-compressor at the front of the trailer along with an air dryer. The mixing unit in the center of the trailer draws the two chemicals out of 55-gallon drums (one is visible to right towards the rear) that weigh ~500 pounds when full. The two chemicals are mixed in the spray nozzle at 1,200 PSI at the end of a heated hose bundle that keeps the materials at 110 degrees (F). The Westinghouse portable generator sitting on the floor in the barn is rated at 28,000 Peak Watts and was used to run the equipment as we did not yet have power to the barn. For comparison, our Kohler whole-house natural gas generator is rated at 20,000 Watts (continuous) and the genset in our bus, powered by a Yanmar 4-cylinder/4-stroke turbo-diesel engine rated at 28 HP, can produce 17,500 Watts (continuous). Mike said the portable generator weighs between 500 – 600 pounds, and burns a bit gasoline when in use.

I had to drop-off the Airstream at the dealership in Grand Rapids today. When I got home at 3 PM, there were two trucks and a trailer in the driveway by the accessory building (barn). I suspected it was the insulation sub-contractor, as Chuck (the builder) had said last week that they would probably be here early this week. I walked down to see, and that was, indeed, the case. They were in the middle of spraying closed-cell foam in the shop, however, so I did not linger or talk to anyone.

From left to right, the west (interior), north (exterior), and part of the east (exterior) walls of the storeroom after being spray foam insulated on the inside with two inches of closed cell foam. Mike’s assistant is scraping off any foam that got on the interior face of the wall studs, or other surfaces that would prevent the OSB wall panels from being installed properly.

I went back down later when it appeared they were finished spraying, and got to see the finished result of their work. I was also able to chat with Mike (the owner) and his assistant for bit while they were cleaning up the site and packing up their equipment. Per his agreement with Chuck (the builder), Mike had foamed the walls to ~2” thick and the space above the storeroom ceiling to ~3” thick. He had actually sprayed the exterior walls (two for each room) slightly thicker and the interior walls (two for each room) slightly thinner to maintain an ~2” average use of material.

Although I would have liked a thicker application of the spray foam everywhere, it would have cost more and wasn’t really necessary for the intended use of these spaces. For much of the winter they will be maintained at 40 – 45 degrees (F) except when I want/need to work out there, and the amount of spray foam that is there will allow me to do that fairly economically.

This is the view looking NE from the shop door opening showing the spray foam insulation on the inside of the north and east exterior walls.

Phil (Precision Grading) called me around dinner time and we had a nice, long chat. We don’t talk too often, as Phil is a very busy one-man business and works long hours, but we always have a good conversation when we speak. Phil has done all of our driveway and septic tank work since we bought the house in February 2013. He recommended Chuck (Patriot Builders) for our accessory building project, and is the sub-contractor for all of the excavating, grading, and driveway construction. I also have him lined up to replace the failing drain in the valley behind the house with a properly constructed French Drain to get the water away from that part of the yard and out to the wetland at the northeast corner of our property and then into the pond to our east. That was one of the reasons I had texted him yesterday.

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20221011-17 – Post Trip Tasks (It’s Not Over ‘til It’s Over)

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[ Note: This is a long post without any photographs. There will be a separate update post, with photos and captions, about the accessory building (barn) project. ]

TUESDAY 11 October

The driving portion of our grand tour of Eastern/Atlantic Canada and New England ended yesterday, but the trip itself wasn’t really over until all of the post-trip tasks had been completed. This post covers the seven (7) days following our arrival back home. A big part of returning home, of course, was the accessory building (barn) we were having built in our absence, but I will cover things related to that in separate, ongoing posts.

Top of the list was emptying out the trailer and moving back into the house, much of which we did as soon as we got home, and some of which I described in the post for October 10. But there was a great deal more to do than I described there, and today we continued with the “things that must be done.”

Foremost for us was washing and Walbernizing the Airstream, as the weather forecast was for a dry, partly sunny day with an afternoon high temperature in the 70s (F). But it wasn’t the only thing on the list; high on my list was laundry. After coffee and bagels for breakfast, I sorted the soiled laundry into the requisite categories (white-hot, white-cold, dark-warm, dark-cold, bedding/linens-warm, and blankets/bedspreads-cold), and put the white-hot load in the washing machine.

Washing the Airstream wasn’t a matter of simply turning on the outside water. I had to get the tall (8’) step ladder out of the shed, along with the 100’ hose/reel and one of the wheelbarrows (to use for moving stuff between the trailer and the garage). We have a 2-tank water deionizing system, so I had to get that out of the library. Other items included: McGuire’s Automotive soap; the spray nozzle for the hose; the long-handle brush; the bucket for soap; and the medium (6’) step ladder, all of which had to be moved from the garage to the wash area in the driveway in front of the house (where the water faucet is located, and the gravel drains well). And, I still needed to empty the three outside storage bays in the trailer, and empty out the back of the F-150. Linda helped with many of these tasks, of course.

On top of all that, our barn builder (Chuck) was due to come by today to meet with his insulation sub-contractor (Mike), and then meet with us. He texted me mid-morning to let me know that he and Mike would be here at 11:30 AM. Tuesday was also grass mowing day, so our lawn care guy (Keith) would be showing up sometime around noon. We have not seen him since the Tuesday just before we left in June, so we knew there would be some catching-up conversation. Besides maintaining the yard, Keith had sent occasional photos of the progress on the barn. At a minimum, he had already mowed more times than we prepaid, so we owed him payment for services rendered.

But I digress. We wrapped up our conversation with Chuck, as described in the separate post on the barn project, and he went on to his next appointment. By then, it was lunch time, so we had grilled cheese sandwiches. Very tasty. I transferred the laundry from the washing machine to the clothes dryer, and then we turned our full attention to washing the trailer.

While not as big as the bus, it was still a lot of work. I started with the roof (of course), which required me to work from the 8’ ladder. Even then, it was sometimes an uncomfortable reach to get to some of the areas, and almost impossible to reach others. For as streamlined as the Airstream trailer is, the roof is littered with stuff that is not very aerodynamic, and is hard to clean. Too make matters more difficult, walking on the roof is ill-advised, and you have to be very careful where you step.

Linda stayed on the ground (she doesn’t like ladders) and managed the soap bucket, brush, and hose. The procedure was as follows: climb the ladder, get the hose from Linda, spray an area, give the hose back to her, get the soapy brush from her, scrub the rinsed area, give the brush back to her, get the hose from her, rinse the area I just washed, and give the hose back to her. Climb down the ladder, move it to the next location, and repeat; at least a dozen times, probably more.

(Once we have the bus and the trailer in the barn, I will be buying a taller step-ladder, probably 14 feet, and some sort of adjustable platform that can go between two ladders to provide a stable work surface. Alternatively, I might but some scaffolding with wheels.)

Once the roof and the end caps were done, I could reach the rest of the body from the ground. Working from the top down, I did the upper half and then the lower half. (This is not true for the bus, as the upper half still requires a ladder or work platform.)

We were busy enough all day that I wasn’t keeping a close watch on the time. I think we actually started washing the trailer around 1 PM and finished sometime around 5 PM, but that included an extended time-out to chat with Keith. It was probably 5:30 PM or later by the time we had cleaned up our equipment and put everything away. But the trailer was clean and ready for the Walbernize One-Step Cleaner & Sealer.

AMAZON was having their 2-day pre-something-or-other event today and tomorrow, so Linda put some things in our cart. Among them was a new 2-slice toaster with openings wide enough to toast bagels. It also had a bagel setting, so it would only toast on one side, essential for proper bagel toasting. She also ordered a new frying pan, some baking sheets, and a pair of adjustable carbon-fiber walking/trekking poles. I had been keeping an eye on a propane tank level monitoring kit. It was still available, and still on sale for the same price I had seen previously, so I investigated a bit further into how it actually worked. It turned out to use sonar, and was made by a company that makes various products using this technology for industrial applications, so I put it in the cart as well.

As I did not finish the post for this day until a week later, I no longer recall what we had for dinner, but whatever it was, I’m sure it was delicious, as always. Being Tuesday, after dinner we watched the FBI shows on CBS.

WEDNESDAY 12 October

The forecast for today was for intermittent rain with cooler temperatures and overcast skies. We had planned to treat the exterior aluminum on the trailer today with the Walbernize One-Step RV Cleaner & Sealer, but the weather was not conducive, either to the task or to our mood for doing it. We were both a bit tired after the last two days, and decided to take it easier today. Besides, I still had laundry to do, and wanted to work at my desk for a while to wrap up my blog post for Monday (October 10^th).

I needed to get the F-150 in for service, specifically to have the brakes checked/repaired, so I called Brighton Ford and made that appointment for Monday 24 October. We also needed to pick up Linda’s car, and our mail, from our daughter’s house, and drop off some gifts we had picked up in our travels. Linda contacted her to check on timing and the reply was “any time after noon.” It’s a nice, 45-minute, drive in the country to get to her house, so we timed our departure to arrive around 12:30 PM.

Before we left, however, I noticed a blue car in the driveway by the barn, so I walked down to see who was there. There was at least one other vehicle there, and it was the lead carpenter and his two assistants. I introduced myself and we chatted for a few minutes and then I left them to their work, which I will describe in separate posts about the barn project.

We visited with our daughter for a bit, but did not overstay our welcome as she was in the middle of a project. She is redoing floors (wood and tile) and bathrooms (vanities, fixtures, wallpaper, etc.) and has already redone most of the lighting and installed smart switches and dimmers throughout the house. She also put in remote controlled window shades, and has done a lot of painting. She’s incredibly handy, has excellent taste and color sense, and is meticulous in her work.

On the way home, I ran some errands while Linda did some grocery shopping. I topped up the fuel in the F-150 ($4.49 for regular / 87 octane) and then got the truck washed. I used the same drive-through car wash I have used for a long time, but this time the final overhead brush in the drying area bent my antenna in two places. That had never happened before, so something had obviously changed with their equipment. But it won’t happen again, at least not there. I did not even bring it to their attention (there would have been no point) and instead drove directly to Brighton Ford to see if I needed to add this to my service list for the 24^th. It turned out to be an easy, user-serviceable, job to replace the antenna, so I went to the parts department to get one. They were on back-order (of course), so I ordered (and paid for) one. I picked up a pair of replacement windshield wiper blades while I was there, and replaced them as soon as I got home.

Back at my desk, I finally managed to get on the DTE website and located the information I needed on the process/procedure for getting electrical power to the barn. I printed off the instructions and called one of the indicated numbers, but it was already after hours, so this had to wait until tomorrow. I will cover the details of this in my accessory building project update post, as all of this has to do with the barn project.

I did contact our friend, and fellow bus owner, Chuck (not-the-builder) to arrange a dinner get-together so we could catch up with him and Barb. Saturday, 5 PM was agreed upon at the La Marsa in Brighton. I also contacted our friend, and my former co-worker, Kate about getting together. Tuesday the 18^th was agreed to, with the place TBD. Part of being gone for so long is that we were eager to reconnect with friends and family in person and (hopefully) they with us.

For dinner, we had breaded chicken cutlets, brown rice, and corn, with turkey gravy. All vegan, of course, and all very tasty and satisfying.

After dinner, we had a ZOOM call with Paul and Nancy. They had finally taken delivery of their 2022 Alliance Paradigm 370FB 5^th wheel trailer (RV) and had it delivered to the RV park in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where they plan to keep it, and will have it moved in/out of storage seasonally for their use. They had been busy getting the things they needed for it, and getting it set up to live in. It was great to chat again, and get a real-time video tour of the interior. It was very nice, of course.

Wednesday is not one of our regular TV nights, but this past Sunday we missed the 3^rd/final episode of Van Der Valk (for the season), so we streamed that. It was followed by an episode of NOVA on Computers and Crime, so we watched that as well, and then went to bed.

THURSDAY 13 October

Today was someone’s 4^th birthday; Happy birthday, Sadie Rose! She was in pre-school all day, of course, so a happy birthday Facetime call had to wait until after dinner.

The weather forecast still had a possibility of rain today, so we deferred the Walbernizing of the trailer for another day. Our main focus instead became finishing the job of completely emptying the inside of the Airstream and then thoroughly cleaning the inside as well as everything that had been stored in it, especially items that had to do with food (storage, preparation, consumption, cleaning, etc.). That also included laundry, of course, which I continued to work on. Before that happened, however, I was able to chat with Erich, the Service Manager at Woodland Airstream, about our upcoming appointment and list of issues, most notably the furnace and the transverse hump/bulge/ridge in the kitchen floor.

Breakfast was waffles with some of the Maple Butter we got at Domaine Acer in the Gaspé Peninsula. It was just as delicious as we remembered, and brought us back briefly to the wonderful discovery of that place and its products.

After breakfast, I called the DTE phone number in the instructions. Actually, there were two phone numbers, one for commercial and one for residential. I called the commercial number first. The voice menu made it fairly obvious that it was for builders, and that I needed to call the residential number, which I did. I will cover the details of the conversation, and follow-up actions in my accessory building update post, as all of this had to do with the barn project.

As long as we were on a roll, we both logged in to our MyChart app on our iPads and set up our Annual Medicare Wellness Visits with the HFHS Columbus Medical Center Internal Medicine Department in Novi. Our primary care physician retired in July, so we will both be seeing new, and different, doctors now. I then used the CVS app on my iPad Pro to schedule both of us for our seasonal flu shots and the newest bi-valent CoVID-19 booster next week.

We also did a partial winterization of the fresh water system and the drain traps in the Airstream, which went something like this: Drained the fresh water tank; Opened the hot and cold low point drain valves; Removed the drain plug from the water heater; Used an air-compressor to blow out the fresh water lines and water heater as best we could; Drained the little bit of water in the gray tank (onto the ground); Filled the two sink traps and the shower trap with enough potable antifreeze to make sure some of it ended up in the gray tank; Added potable antifreeze to the toilet flushed it into the black tank, and left some on top of the valve to keep the seal moist. (The reason for the antifreeze in the waste tanks was to keep the knife valves from freezing if there was any residual water left in the tanks.)

Lunch was leftovers (chicken cutlet with gravy, rice, and corn). Yum.

We were done working on the trailer by 5 PM, and ready to quite for the day. We continued to be amazed by how much stuff we had brought into the house and garage as a result of emptying out the trailer and truck. Linda continued to sort and separate stuff, setting aside things she does not intend to put back on board, and ran several loads through the dishwasher. We wanted everything to be clean before we packed/stored it until the next time we use the tailer. And at this point, we do not yet know when that will be, exactly or even approximately.

I was still working on this post the following week, and no longer recall what we had for dinner. Whatever it was, it was undoubtedly good, after which we Facetimed with her Sadie, and sang happy birthday to her.

We didn’t have any Thursday evening TV programs we were watching at this point, so we streamed Masters of the Universe – Dr. Strange: The Multiverse of Madness.

FRIDAY 14 October

Around breakfast time, I got a call back from Sharon in the DTE Northwest Planning office, regarding the service request I had initiated yesterday. More details about this call will be in the separate update post about the accessory building project.

Late morning, we finally got around to putting the Walbernize One-Step RV Cleaner & Sealer on the exterior of the Airstream. It was cooler than we would have liked, and a bit breezy, which wasn’t great. But it was also cloudy, which was good, as the product is not supposed to be applied in direct sunlight. I worked on the upper half of the body, using a ladder, while Linda worked on the lower half from the ground. It was an easy enough product to use: wipe on, let dry to a haze (doesn’t take very long), and wipe off, always working with the grain of the aluminum. The results are always very nice, and the body is slick to the touch afterwards, it’s just a lot of surface area and takes a while.

I was still working this post on Tuesday, the 18^th, so I no longer recalled details of what we had to eat today, or other such minor considerations. I do recall that after dinner we watched an episode of Star Wars: ANDOR and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and then the latest episode of The Great British Baking Show. Our tastes in TV and movies are, if nothing else, eclectic.

SATURDAY 15 October

We were finally getting back into our normal “at-home” routine, starting the morning with coffee and our iPads. Saturday mornings are also the weekly breakfast gatherings of members of the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club (SLAARC). We did not go today, but I am looking forward to resuming our attendance at these gatherings.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs (Just Egg) with bacon, two slices of toast (expertly toasted in our new toaster), and an orange, split equally between us. There might have been orange juice involved as well, but I don’t recall at this point.

We had enough recyclables to warrant a trip to Recycle Livingston. Our membership had expired last month, so Linda made out a check for the renewal before we left.

My existing site plan for the barn project did not include a few pieces of information that DTE needed. I spent part of the day modifying my QCAD drawing to include those features and e-mailed it to the DTE planning consultant (John). Further details about this will be in the accessory building project update post.

The final task in cleaning the Airstream was to apply 303 Aerospace Protectant for the window and door seals, and adjust one of the window latches. It was chilly outside, so this was a less-than-completely-comfortable task, but I got it done. Except for the seals for the three bay doors; I forgot to do those, and just let it pass for now. The window seals tend to stick, but the bay seals do not, so it was merely for preventative maintenance and could wait until spring.

We both got showers and left around 4:40PM to join our friends, Chuck and Barb, for dinner at La Marsa. It was great to see them again. We were glad we could all fit in dinner as quickly as we did, as they have an early November departure planned for their winter RV resort in Naples, Florida. They plan to be back, however, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, so we should have another opportunity to get together with them yet this year. The meal (food), however, was a disappointment.

We both had Koshary, a dish we have had many times at this, and other La Marsa locations, and it was not as good as normal. The caramelized onions they put on top had been burnt to a crisp and were not tasty. The dish has always included some amount of capellini (angel hair or fine pasta) but this time seemed to be made with spaghetti, which was too thick, and there was too much of it. Linda also thought it had too much tomato paste, so both the taste and texture were “off.” We didn’t complain, but I doubt that we will order it again any time soon. They have other things on the menu that we can eat, and like, so we have not given up on the restaurant. We were reminded, however, of how quickly a restaurant can lose their regular customers if someone is not paying attention to the consistency and quality of the dishes, especially ones (like Koshary) that are both signature items for this chain, and a dish we have never seen on a menu anywhere else.

Back home we watched Father Brown and Midsummer Murders on PBS. Death in Paradise had been moved ahead of Father Brown and Broadchurch, which we had already seen, was put in the 10 PM time slot. It was fabulous (another great Nicola Walker role), but we had no desire to see it a second time. We might have streamed something else instead, but I no longer recall what we did.

SUNDAY 16 October

Today was our grand-daughter Sadie’s family birthday party and brunch. She turned 4-years-old this past Thursday, and it was the first time we were able to see her, and big sister Madeline, (and son, Brendan and daughter-in-law Shawna) in person since we got home. Our daughter (Meghan) and son-in-law (Chris) were there, along with Shawna’s brother, Rob, and his family (Becky, Jack, and Juniper). It was nice to see everyone, the food was wonderful, and the kids made sure it was an energy-filled gathering.

On the drive home (Linda was driving) I texted Phil at Precision Grading, to let him know we were home. Phil has done all of our driveway and septic tank work since we bought the house, and installed a French Drain in the west portion of our property that works really well. But he is also the sub-contractor for the excavating, grading, and driveway work on the accessory building. We are on his future project list to replace the drain in the valley behind the house with a proper French Drain, so I needed to check on that as much as anything else.

At home, I went ahead and put the stinger for the Propride 3P Hitch into the receiver of the F-150 and lined it up with the hitch on the Airstream. Linda then came out and assisted with the actual hitching up process, following the procedure we had now used for almost four months. With the trailer secured to the truck, we removed and stowed the chocks and the tongue jack stand, and the combo was ready to go in the morning. I was going to finally need to use the Lot Bar, which we bought at the same time as the hitch in October 2019, so I made sure I had the necessary tools in the truck to install it once I got to the Airstream dealer tomorrow.

For dinner, Linda prepared home-made Raman from scratch (except for the noodles, of course). It was amazing (naturally), and I suggested it be added to some regular menu rotation for the coming winter months.

Sunday evening is one of our two PBS nights, featuring Masterpiece Theater. Tonight, was the first episode of the new season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke, followed by the premier of the Magpie Murders and then the US premier of Annika, staring Nicola Walker, whose work we have come to really enjoy and respect.

Tomorrow would be an early/busy day for both of us, so I set an alarm on my phone for 7 AM before turning in for the night.

MONDAY 17 October

I took today as the final day of our post trip tasks, as well as the resumption of some of our “at home” routines. My me that meant taking the travel trailer to Woodland Airstream in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the scheduled appointment to take care of our list of service items before the factory warranty expired on November 8, 2022. For Linda, that meant the first trip (of probably many) to Ann Arbor to provide child care for one or both of the younger grand-daughters while their parents worked. Today, that meant watching (playing with) Sadie, as her Montessori pre-school was closed today. She also had to hang around long enough to also spend time with Madeline after she got home from school while dad took Sadie to her ballet class.

I was scheduled to arrive at Woodland Airstream between 10 and 11 AM, and Erich (the service manager) had me on his calendar for around 10:30 AM to go over the repair list. I pulled out of the driveway at 8:15 AM for the approximately 1-hour and 45-minute drive to the northeast side of Grand Rapids, Michigan. There was a light mist as I pulled out, and I drove in and out of rain of varying intensity for the entire trip. I missed the morning rush hour traffic in and around the Lansing, Michigan area, and the trip went smoothly even with occasional construction zones.

I arrived right around 10 AM to a very light-to-intermittent rain, and parked the truck-trailer combo in a convenient spot that was not blocking traffic or parked vehicles. I checked in with Joyce, the service writer, and then checked in with Erich to see if they had chocks and blocks I could use to secure the trailer while I unhooked it. (I did not want to leave my personal chocks or jack stand, if possible.)

It was probably 10:30, or a bit later, by the time I had the truck unhooked and the Lot Bar installed. The Lot Bar is an accessory for the Propride 3P Hitch that allows the trailer to be moved around (at low speed) by a tow vehicle with a conventional trailer ball, such as on an RV dealer’s parking lot (thus the name of the device). Woodland Airstream has several of these devices, but they now charge $50 to install and uninstall them. Which is fair, as it involves some amount of time of their labor to do this if the customer doesn’t take care of it themselves. I didn’t mind doing it, even in the very light rain, as I have had this accessory since we bought the hitch, and had yet to use it. I knew exactly how it had to be installed, but had never actually done it. It was very easy. We never leave home without. In the event that we had to have unexpected repairs attended to while traveling, it is highly unlikely that most RV service facilities would have one.

Erich met with me around 10:45 AM and I walked him through a few of the items on our list that I thought would make more sense if I could just have him look at something while I pointed to the problem area. He was very attentive and, in spite of always being very busy, took the time and gave me his undivided attention. I then met with Joyce to go over the paperwork, sign it, and give her the keys. The estimated time to turn the trailer around was 3 to 4 weeks, but I told her we had no plans to use it again until spring, and it was fine with me if they took the time they needed to address everything correctly. Most of the items were already identified as warranty, but I anticipate there will be things we have to pay for, beyond the winterization. At a minimum, I want to get a couple of spare “sail switches” for the propane furnace and a spare fresh-water pump to carry as spare parts.

I had hoped to chat with Steve, our salesman, but he was tied up with a customer. I was standing near the front door, waiting to see if Steve was going to have a break, but perhaps looking a bit lost, when a gentleman standing there asked if he could help me in any way. Long story short, it was John, the CEO of Woodland Airstream, and the GM of the Grand Rapids location. We had a really nice chat, but since he asked, I shared my concerns about the bulge in the floor. He was confident they would be able to take care of it. I made sure he knew how pleased we were with all of the employees we have interacted with, starting with our very first contact with Steve in August 2019.

Woodland Airstream recently opened a location in Indianapolis, Indiana and John said it was doing very well. I also learned that they are about to break ground on a location in Clarkston, Michigan (much closer to our house) that will allow them to conveniently serve the whole southeast Michigan market, and possibly take in northwest Ohio.

While I am not completely happy with Airstream at the moment, as I think there are way too many items on our list for a 3-year-old trailer with no more than 10,000 miles on it, Woodland Airstream has been an absolutely top-notch, first-class group of people to deal with. Woodland Airstream is an Airstream exclusive dealership, as a result of which they have a great relationship with Airstream and their customers ultimately benefit from that.

It was 11:45 AM by the time I was done at the dealership. I texted Linda that I was about to head for home, but then decided to drive the short distance in the opposite direction on Plainfield Avenue NE to Anna’s House. So, I texted my change in plans. Anna’s House is local chain of restaurants that is well known for their breakfast offerings, including vegan ones. I was in the mood for lunch, however, and ordered their vegan hamburger with French fries. I should have ordered breakfast, as the burger was very disappointing. I texted Linda again when I was ready to leave the restaurant, and again when I got home around 3 PM. It’s been a long-standing practice of ours, ever since we finally had cell phones with text messaging, to let each other know when we are on the road and have reached our destinations.

Back at the house, there were trucks and a trailer down by the barn, so I figured the insulation crew was there, and walked down there to check on things. There will be more details on that in the separate accessory building project update post.

Phil (Precision Grading) called me around dinner time and we had a nice, long chat. We don’t talk too often, as Phil is very busy and works long hours, but we always have a great conversation when the opportunity presents itself.

For dinner, Linda made sandwiches of vegan deli slices and cheese with lettuce and vegan mayo on toast. We had a few Fritos and orange slices on the side.

Monday is one of our two CBS nights, so we watched our usual programs and then went to bed.

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20220825 – Barn Project Update

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THURSDAY 25 August – Special Blog Post

As I mentioned in my regular blog post for this date, I checked my phone before going to bed and had a text message from our builder with four photos of the barn. The windows were in and the siding was almost done. It looked good, and should be a nice addition to our property and lives. Here are the photos with a little additional information in the captions.

This is the view looking north at south/front elevation of the building, which faces the street. The two large openings are for the 12’ wide by 14’ high RV bay roll-up doors. The small opening in-between them is the entry door. I tried to adjust the image so some of the interior detail might be visible. The back, right corner of the building has interior walls from the floor to the bottom of the roof trusses, which are 16’ above the concrete floor. The ground floor will be a shop, and the floor above it will be a storeroom. The door into the shop is mostly in line with entry door and the door to storeroom is directly above it. A staircase will go up the center of the barn to storeroom. (Photo by Chuck-the-builder.)

This is the view looking SE at the NW corner of the building. The narrow vertical features are fixed pane windows. The three on the west (right) side and the one on the back will provide light to the full-depth (~46’) RV bay on the west half of the building. The bottoms of these windows are 6’ above finished grade. The small opening, lower left, is one of two double-hung windows for the shop. (Photo by Chuck-the-builder.)

This is the view looking SW at the NE corner of the building. Again, the narrow vertical features are fixed pane windows. The two on the east (left) side will provide light to the (~30’) RV bay on the east half of the building. The bottoms of these windows are also 6’ above finished grade. Both of the double-hung shop windows are visible. (Photo by Chuck-the-builder.)

Just for completeness, this is the view looking south at the north/rear elevation. The windows are as previously described. (Photo by Chuck-the-builder.)

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20220803 – Barn Project Update

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Special Blog Post for

WEDNESDAY 03 August

Here are some additional photos of the barn project from yesterday and today. The first photo was taken by Keith, our lawn care guy. The others were taken by Chuck, the builder. The project appears to be moving along nicely. While I would have loved to be on site to watch all of this happen, we are very confident that we chose the right builder for this project.

The trusses are up and the roof decking plywood is being moved up using a SkyTrack. (Photo by KK.)

The trusses from underneath, with the roof sheathing in place. I love the framing stage of a building. The plywood stops short of the ridge beam for the continuous ridge vent that will be installed. (Photo by CS.)

There is a lot to see in this photo. Two large RV doors with entry door between them on the south face. Window framing on the right/east wall. The general site and driveway preparation. I put a lot of advanced design work into figuring out the location of the barn and the sweeps on the driveway extension to be able to get the bus and the trailer in/out of the barn easily. (Photo by CS.)

The vertical metal siding will attach to the horizontal stringers. The framing for the rear window is visible. (Photo by CS.)

The SkyTrack on the west side of the barn. The framing for the three windows on this side are visible. (Photo by CS.)

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June 19 – 21, 2022 – Cardinal / Ottawa, ON

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SUNDAY, June 19, 2022

As much as we would have liked to spend a bit more time in the area, especially to visit the city of Kingston, the Kingston KOA was just a planned overnight stop for us. (We learned later, while visiting Ottawa, that Kingston was originally planned to be the National Capitol.)

So today was another relocation day. Our next destination was only 75 miles away, again mostly driving on the 401. Check-out time was 11 AM and check-in time was 1 PM. A phone call determined that we could arrive early, so we arranged our morning to pull out just before 11 AM. Paul and Nancy determined that they could delay their departure, and planned to leave around noon.

We arrived at the Cardinal/Ottawa South KOA around noon to a small traffic jam. The sites here do not have a sewer hookup, so there is a dump station at the exit. A number of rigs were lined up to dump and the campground was using their “honey wagon” to speed up the process. Unfortunately, the honey wagon was parked in the entrance lane. I pulled to the side to park while Linda checked us in, but then RVers who did not need to dump wanted to get out through the entrance. I was able to pull in and get out they way, just allow traffic to flow.

We had a nice site (W3W=bristled.likes.taxman) near the front of the campground, far enough from the office and activity area to not be noisy but close enough to make the bathroom/shower facilities convenient. We used our newly crafted setup list and the process went much more smoothly. About the time we were done, Paul and Nancy pulled in and their site was right next to ours. By mid-afternoon the park was essentially empty and the mostly of the rigs that were still here were unattended and appeared to be seasonal or annual. Almost all of them were in good shape, however, as was the campground generally. There seems to be a lot staff here, especially younger folks, and all of them were pleasant and helpful. Here are two pictures of our sites/rigs.

Paul & Nancy’s American Eagle

Our Airstream Flying Cloud 27 FBT

MONDAY, 2022 June 20

Today was a big day for the four us, with a planned visit to Ottawa. We decided that, as first-time visitors, we would book a 10 AM hop-on/hop-off bus tour with Lady Dive Tours. We had an hour’s drive, plus needed time to find parking, and left the campground at 8:30 AM.

The weather was absolutely perfect, so we sat on the upper/open deck of the bus. It was a great choice. We stayed onboard for the entire loop, which took about 2 hours. The bus driver and tour guide were both fabulous, with the tour guide perfectly fluent in both English and French. She used both languages to explain everything we were seeing, and we saw a lot. We especially liked the contrast between the old/stately architecture and the very new/modern architecture, and how well they coexisted.

On the double decker open top bus tour, Parliament building behind

Just the two of us

Being a Monday, most of the museums along the route were closed, but we hadn’t planned to do museums on this visit anyway. As nice as the hop-on/hop-off idea is, we decided not to take advantage of it on this visit. Besides, it was lunch time. Linda had found a vegan restaurant online that was not far from the bus stop and parking garage, and we set off on foot to find the Copper Branch.

The Copper Branch was a small place with a couple of tables, mostly doing carryout and delivery, but we were able to snag a table and enjoyed really good meals. The portions were generous, and we ended up taking the left-overs home for dinner.

Ottawa architecture is a fascinating mix of old and new

Our main reason for visiting Ottawa was sight-seeing, but a secondary reason was to visit a Whole Foods Market to stock up on things we could not find at the Real Canadian Superstore in Milton. The WFM was small compared to the RCS, but it had the organic and specialty items we wanted. It was also next door to an LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) location, which was fortuitous as Paul wanted to buy a bottle of Single Malt Scotch and the WFM did not sell wine. Suitably stocked, we headed back to camp to relax, have our left-overs for dinner, and enjoy a little wine around a campfire.

Canada’s Parliament building (under renovation)

TUESDAY, 2022 June 21

Today was the Summer Solstice, but the sun did smile upon us. Into every camping expedition some rain will fall, and today was our day. It was overcast all day, with rain off and on and heavy at times. Not a problem. While we are on an epic adventure (for us), we intend to pace ourselves and make time to relax, do research, and take care of housekeeping chores, like shopping and laundry. Today was a great day for Bruce to start working this blog again, as was suggested to him at the recent GLAMAAMA rally by fellow GLCC/CCO busnut Vicky. The plan going forward is do a blog post for each place we overnight, with a few pictures and not too much text.

2016/04/26–30 (T–S) Home Stuff

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[Note: There are no photos for this post compilation.]

2016/04/26 (T) Amazing Amazon

We had lightning and thunder last night starting around 9 PM but the rain held off until bedtime. When it did start it was not heavy and did not last for long, or we were asleep and unaware of it. The Lightning was intense for a while but the storms must have been a good distance to our north as the thunder was never very loud. By morning the cold front had moved well east of us and left thick fog in its wake. We were both finally ready to get up at 8:45 AM, which is a bit later than usual. I made a smaller pot of coffee while Linda showered and got dressed. We usually enjoy our first cup of coffee before having breakfast but she toasted bagels for our breakfast right away. She had an 11 AM dental appointment in Dearborn and needed to be on the road by 9:30 due to road construction projects on I-96 and I-275.

I spent the morning working at my computer. I updated my address book, sent an e-mail to some old friends in Ann Arbor (Mitch and Barb Goodkin), and wrote a draft of a letter to our old friend, Wayne Hopkins, who lives in Maryland just north of Washington D.C. Wayne does not use a computer so he does not do e-mail, which means we have to use vintage methods to communicate with him. I used to write a lot of letters, and in some ways I miss it.

Linda got back from her dental appointment much later than I expected. I thought she was having a crown installed but she was actually getting the tooth prepped and was in the chair for over two hours. She goes back on May 18 to get the crown.

We had vegan hotdogs for lunch. After lunch Linda made a southwestern bean soup in the Instant Pot and then spent a couple of hours studying the question pool for the Amateur Extra Class (ham radio) license exam.

I returned to my desk to research color laser printers. I came to the conclusion that we need to move the HP LaserJet 3600 back to my office and get a smaller/lighter printer with built-in wireless networking capabilities to use in the bus. Smaller/lighter is always good in the bus and the wireless feature will remove constraints on where the other networking technology can be located relative to the printer.

I also researched print server/adapters for connecting our HP LaserJet 4200 to our Ethernet network. The 4200 is a fabulous, 1200 dpi, 28 page per minute, monochrome laser printer but it is old enough that it only has a Centronics parallel printer port. I have had it connected to our network for years through an old LinkSys SCBX3 3-port print-server that is (apparently) too old to work with computers running Windows 10. Or perhaps it just finally failed. Whichever, it no longer works. I found a device on Amazon, made by StarTech, which claimed to do what I need so I ordered one. It remains to be seen if I can find Windows 10 compatible drivers for this printer, but I think it uses PCL6 (like many HP printers) so I am optimistic about my chances. While it is amazing what can be bought through Amazon, and how easy it is to buy it, I also find it discouraging how much time it can take to find and purchase even simple things. And it has certainly been the case that I cannot always find what I am looking for.

I had an exchange of text messages with Chuck Spera about axle seals and brake parts for our Prevost tag axles while Linda prepared dinner. She started with a nice salad of mixed greens and included dried cranberries and walnuts on mine but left them off hers as she has to avoid chewy, sticky, and crunchy things until she gets her permanent crown.

Purple Heart called to let us know they are going to be on our street on Wednesday next week and wanted to see if we might have anything to donate. Linda figured it was a good opportunity to get rid of most of my suits and sports coats and I reluctantly agreed. Not that we need the closet space they occupy for something else, but even I recognize that at some point I need to divest myself of things I no longer use and probably never will again. That prompted her to pull several countertop appliances out of storage for possible donation.

The old Kitchen Aid mixer no longer works but is mostly made of metal so we think it is recyclable. The four-cup coffee maker I had in my office for years works fine but is no longer needed so it will get donated. She also pulled out a tea maker we haven’t used in years but we decided to see if it was still functional by making a pot of tea. It worked, so we will probably keep it, at least for now. Hey, two out of three is pretty good for us (me).

NCIS and NCISNOLA were both repeats but Limitless was a new episode and also the season finale. It was a good one, with a good setup for next season. We watched the weather and then headed to bed where Linda read for few minutes while I watched some more TV and worked on this post before going to sleep.

2016/04/27 (W) A New Mixer

I went to bed last night knowing that I had to get up early this morning and move the trash can to the street. Even without setting an alarm I was suddenly awake just after 7 AM. I put on my sweats, gathered up some last minute trash, put it in the container, and rolled it to the end of the concrete driveway. The morning air was very brisk, the sun was low but very bright, and the grass, which looked like it had grown six inches as a result of the recent rain, was covered in dew. It was a lovely spring morning in the country. I took the mailbox key and retrieved yesterday’s mail.

I started to prepare our morning coffee but took a few minutes to first clean the coffee maker. I then ground up six scoops of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans (half caffe) and brewed seven cups of coffee. Linda was up by the time it was ready and we enjoyed our first cup in the living room with Juniper (the cat) on my lap and Jasper (the other cat) next to Linda.

Linda arranged to meet Diane at Kensington Metropark this morning to restart their weekly walks. We were expecting delivery of the new Kitchen Aid mixer today, so I was confined to quarters while she was away. That was fine; I like being here, and I have plenty of computer/Internet based work to keep me occupied.

I wanted to upgrade the WordPress version and plugins on the four websites I manage but decided I should do backups first. All four sites are incrementally backed up automatically every week using the WordPress Backup to Dropbox (WPB2D) plugin but I wanted to do complete backups before initiating these particular upgrades. I have never done a complete manual backup so I started reading about how to do it and quickly realized that it was more complicated than I wanted to deal with at that very moment. The cPanel has backup features so I tried to explore using those but their use wasn’t any clearer. I finally e-mailed support@qth.com for advice/assistance.

I also needed to upgrade the hosting plan for the SLAARC account so I logged in to try and do that. This is not something I do very often so I stumbled around until I finally found what I thought was the right place to be, but again it wasn’t clear exactly what to do. I logged out and e-mailed sales@qth.com for assistance.

I spent more time researching color laser printers on BestBuy.com and found a Samsung SL-C1820W that looked like it would meet our needs in the bus. It’s smaller and lighter than the HP Color LaserJet 3600 but still prints 19 pages per minute at good resolution. Of equal importance, however, were the several different built in wireless networking capabilities along with a USB 2.0 interface and a wired Ethernet network port.

One of the other things I have been researching is a replacement for the three Fan-tastic Vent Fans in the bus. I have pretty much settled on the Airxcel MaxxFan Deluxe 7000K (white dome). I will probably order one initially to replace the one in the bedroom and see how the installation goes. If it goes smoothly, and I like the fan the fan works, I will probably order two more, one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen.

Late yesterday I got the Word doc version of the latest CCO newsletter from Ed Roelle with a request to convert it to PDF. I did that and sent it back with a suggestion that he pick up the info on Donn Barnes’ Bluebird from the recent GLCC Newsletter.

Linda stopped at the Meijer’s supermarket in Brighton on the way home from her walk. When she got home we had vegan hotdogs for lunch and split a very nice pear. Recycle Livingston is open on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings so Linda gathered up our recyclables and drove them over. By the time she returned UPS had delivered her new Kitchen Aid mixer so I helped get it out of the (three) boxes in which it was packed and set in on the kitchen counter. Apparently Alchin’s had also picked up our trash so Linda rolled the empty container back to the garage.

I had a reply from AJ at WiFiRanger (BlueMesh Networks) so I tried once again to get our WiFiRanger Mobile Ti to work. I was able to connect my iPad2 to the WFR, and I was also able to connect the WFR to a couple of different external Wi-Fi (WAN) signals and establish a connection to the Internet, but neither the LAN or WAN connections would stay connected. AJ provided RMA instructions and as soon as I can get on the roof and remove the WFR-MTi from its mount I will mail it back to see if they can figure out what is wrong and repair it, if possible.

I exchanged several e-mails with Gaye Young and Daniel Ball from FMCA regarding the data from the Education Survey. I then got a call from Curtis Coleman of RVillage with an update on his meeting today with the FMCA Executive Board. He said it went well and he was very upbeat about it and the future of RVillage. As minor investors in the project, that is the sort of news we like to hear.

For dinner, Linda made vegan burgers using the leftover mixture that Meghan gave us on Sunday. She grilled them on our outdoor gas grill and served them open-faced on a bed of lettuce. She also sliced 3/4″ thick cross-sections of cauliflower, applied a complex mix of seasonings, and grilled them. What appeared to be a simple meal was actually a subtle but wonderfully complex culinary experience.

I chatted for a while on the phone with Butch about bringing our bus to their place in the second week of May to work on the brakes of both buses, make some repairs to our water bay, and help with other projects. I then called Mike to see if he knew when Sloan’s might have his lawn tractor ready for pickup. He had just found out that it should be ready to pick up tomorrow or Friday. Linda will be at the bakery all day tomorrow and I have to take the cats to a 2:20 PM appointment at Plaza Veterinary Hospital in Farmington. We also have eye exams on Friday at 10 AM, again in Farmington, so my best window for going with him is Friday afternoon, and I shared that information with him via e-mail. I had an e-mail back from Ed regarding Donn’s e-mail address so I called Donn in Alvarado, Texas to confirm his contact information and catch up on things. I then e-mailed Ed and cc:d Scott Bruner, the GLCC newsletter editor, to give him the updated contact info for Donn.

Wednesday night is PBS nature and science night for us. Nature had a wonderful program on owls which was followed by an equally wonderful episode of Ken Burn’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. It was PBS at its best.

2016/04/28 (W) P.V.H.

I got up at 7:30 AM, showered, got dressed, and made a pot of Costa Rican Terrazu coffee, noting that there were widely scattered raindrops on our deck. I checked my e-mail for a reply from Mike relative to going to Sloan’s but did not have one. I did have an e-mail from Ed with a revised CCO newsletter, however, so I converted that to PDF and sent it back to him so he could distribute it to the members without further delay. Linda was showered and dressed by 8 AM and toasted bagels for our breakfast. She wanted to be at the bakery by 10 AM, so she packed up her computer and was out the door 8:45 AM. She wanted to go in later as she arranged to have dinner with Kathi Slater after work and didn’t think she had more than 6 – 7 hours of work to do.

I get tired of spinning my wheels, going around in circles without actually accomplishing anything, so I logged in to Amazon.com and ordered the Airxcel MaxxFan Deluxe 7000K White vent fan and the Samsung Xpress C1810W color laser printer along with a 3-year protection plan. The printer is list priced at $300 but Amazon Prime had it for $150 with free shipping. The protection plan was $10. Farmington Vision Clinic called to confirm our appointments for tomorrow morning and get our vision insurance information. I then played a few iPad games while I finished my coffee.

In my office I connected the old Sony Vaio (Windows XP) workstation to the network switch and then downloaded and installed updates for various things, including MS Office and ES|ET NOD32 Anti-Virus. While that was going on I opened the Prevost CatBase Viewer database and started looking up the wheel hub and brake parts I might need to service/repair the other three Meritor Air Disc Brakes on the bus. As I found the parts on different drawings and parts lists I created my own spreadsheet so I could send it to Butch and have him forward it to ABC Bus Arts in Muncie, Indiana to check availability.

I stopped working at 12:30 PM to have lunch. I heated a can of Amy’s lentil vegetable soup and had some sourdough pretzel nibblers dipped in Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. It was easy but also very good.

The cats had 2:20 PM appointments with Dr. David Carron at Plaza Veterinary Hospital (P.V.H.) in Farmington. I got them in their carriers at 1:10 PM and left at 1:20 for the 30+ mile drive. Traffic was moderate but flowing and we arrived just before 2 PM. I took the cats in and put each one on the scale (in their carriers): 12.3 pounds for Juniper and 13.6 pounds for Jasper (after subtracting the weights of their respective carriers). Molly took us back to an open exam room ahead of our appointment time and got some of the preliminary information from me. After she left the exam room I opened both carriers. Juniper was out of her carrier immediately but Jasper did not come out of his voluntarily. Juniper explored the entire room before settling in a corner behind a rolling stool. That’s pretty typical of these two cats.

When Dr. Carron came in we discussed Jasper’s health issues and treatments during the late winter. He seemed to focus on the sneezing of blood as potentially troubling and indicated that a C.A.T. scan was the only way to definitively determine if there was a problem in the sinuses, but did not recommend one at this time. He also said that it’s a bad sign if blood initially comes out of only one nostril but then starts to come out of both at a later time. Jasper’s wellness exam was otherwise normal, as was his full blood analysis, and Dr. Carron did not recommend any other procedures at this time.

Juniper’s checkup was also good except that she has some minor gum irritation and needs to have her teeth cleaned. She needs a Wednesday morning appointment, which I did not make as I might be out of town and Linda would have to handle it. Juniper got her rabies booster shot but we deferred blood work until the teeth cleaning appointment. I paid the bill and was out the door at 3:15 PM.

Traffic was much heavier on the way home and the rain, while light, was now persistent. On westbound I-96 just before Beck Road there was a loud bang on my roof. I immediately assumed my Diamond SG7900 antenna had come loose but I did not see it in my mirrors so I presumed it was still on top of the car. I exited at Wixom Road, headed north, and then pulled into the Menard’s parking lot to see what was going on. Going around the last turn I heard another noise. The antenna was not on top of my car and I was about to walk back towards Wixom Road to look for it when someone pulled up in their car and handed it to me. Apparently it dislodged from the roof on the last turn into the parking lot and he saw fall off.

The SG7900 is a $100 antenna, so I was glad to have it back. It also appeared to be undamaged so I screwed it back into the four magnet Motorola mount. But mostly I was just glad it had not fallen off the car on the highway and caused damage to a vehicle behind me or triggered an accident from someone trying to avoid it. My concern now is that the threads on the mount and/or antenna may be worn to the point that it will not screw on tight enough to stay. Unless/until I replace one/both I obviously need to secure the antenna with some safety lines, such as monofilament fishing line. That would also reduce substantially the flexing forces at the base threads, which may be at least partly responsible for the fitting working loose (which it has done before). This antenna used to be so tight that I carry an offset slip pliers in the car in case I need to remove it. I recently added a small amount of anti-seize compound to the threads, so it is also possible that the compound reduced the friction enough for it to wiggle lose from bouncing and flexing.

I was still home by 4:15 PM and got the cats inside and out of their carriers. In the course of the day I discovered that both carriers have broken fittings and need to be replaced. Linda called at 4:30 PM to let me know she was leaving the bakery and headed to Kathi’s and then to dinner. I washed some grapes and then turned on the fireplace and settled on the couch to doodle on my iPad. I had a notification from Amazon that the StarTech Ethernet to Centronics parallel print-server/adapter had been delivered. I checked and it wasn’t on the front porch. Since it was a USPS delivery I thought it might be in the mailbox. It was, although I was surprised that a box that size was able to drop into the secure lower portion of the box. I opened it to check the parts and glanced at the installation instructions. I then set it aside for later and returned to the living room sofa where Juniper curled up on my lap and went to sleep.

By 6 PM I was ready for a bite of dinner, and nothing says bachelor dinner like popcorn! I also had some dried fruit. Linda called at 7 PM to say she was heading home. I worked on installing the print server on our HP LaserJet 4200 while she was in transit. Not surprisingly I could not install the software on my ASUS Windows 10 laptop so I installed it on the Sony Vaio workstation instead and then used it to reconfigure the IP settings to use DHCP. Even with that I was not able to install the printer on the ASUS, or even see it on the network.

Linda got home at 7:40 PM so I set aside trying to access the printer through the Sony workstation. Thursday night is CBS comedy night so we watched The Big Bang Theory, Moms, The Odd Couple, Two Broke Girls, and Rush Hour. Somewhere in there we enjoyed small glasses of Moscato wine.

2016/04/29 (F) Eye Can See Clearly Now

We awoke at 7:30 AM to overcast skies and intermittent light drizzle. We were up by 7:45 and after feeding the cats I made a small pot of coffee. We had appointments at the Farmington Vision Clinic this morning at 10 AM so we gathered up all of our glasses (seven pairs) and left around 9:20 for the 30 mile, 30 minute trip. Like the veterinary clinic visit yesterday, the vision clinic is only a little over a mile from our old house, but is now quite a drive for us. We have seen Dr. McGrath for so many years, however, that we have not been inclined to find a new service provider closer to where we now live, especially given that we are only here approximately once every other year.

I had not taken the time to secure the ham radio antenna on my car yet so we took Linda’s car. She drove, so I called Mike to check on the status of our pending trip to Sloan’s in Linden. He expected his lawn tractor to be ready tomorrow but had not heard back from them yet. He was going to be tied up most of today but thought he could go up late this afternoon if they called in time. I said that would work for me if needed.

We were at the vision clinic until noon. Besides thorough checkups, which resulted in clean bills of eye health for both of us, we each ordered a new pair of glasses: reading glasses for me and daily use progressive lenses for Linda. Since we were already in Farmington we headed downtown to Chive restaurant for lunch. Linda had dinner there last night with Kathi Slater and wanted me to try it. We ordered a Jalapeño Burger and a Reuben sandwich, both of which came with seasoned French fries, and split them. I also had a root beer float, a rare treat. Everything was excellent, including our waitress Jennifer; and it was all vegan, naturally.

After lunch we returned home. By the time we got there we were both tired and took naps. I was awakened by a knock at the front door, which is unusual here. The man introduced himself as Larry Jones. He and his wife Sue bought the house just east of ours last fall. They moved in just before we left for the winter so we did not get to meet them at that time. Our mail got delivered to their house today, so someone was obviously substituting for our usual mail carrier, Michelle, and not paying attention to addresses on mailboxes. We had a nice chat with Larry and exchanged phone numbers with him. He and Sue have two children that live in Ypsilanti and a third moving back here from Kansas. Sue is a teacher, and they are recreational boaters, so they tend to be out on the water during the summer.

For dinner, Linda reheated some of the southwestern soup she made the other day and served it with saltine crackers and fruit preserves. I got a call from Mike to let me know his lawn tractor was ready. We decided to go pick it up tomorrow after our ham radio club breakfast. He is going to bring his trailer to our house so we can load our broken lawn tractor on it and take it to Sloan’s.

After dinner I worked for a while at my desk. I had replies from Scott at QTH.com and digested his suggestions relative to backing up my WordPress sites. I managed to connect the Sony Vaio workstation to the HP LaserJet 4200 printer and print a test page but was still not able to connect to the printer from my ASUS (Windows 10) laptop through our network. I shared the printer from the Sony workstation and was subsequently able to find and install drivers that allowed the ASUS to connect to it and print a test page. I then printed a draft of a letter to our friend Wayne and had Linda proofread it. I dealt with an e-mail and then joined Linda in the rec room to watch a PBS program on America’s Top 10 Urban Parks, followed by Episode 5 of Ken Burn’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

2016/04/30 (S) Lawn Tractors

I was up at 6:30 AM, Linda was up by 7, and we were on our way to our weekly ham radio breakfast in South Lyon at 7:20. We took Linda’s car as I have not yet had a chance to secure the ham radio antenna on mine. I took my Kenwood TH-F6 handheld and was able to get into the South Lyon 2m repeater on 5 Watts from inside the car. Not bad.

There were 14 people at breakfast and we had a good chat. I took a few minutes at the end to talk to Larry (K8UT) about how to manually back up the WordPress sites. He said a complete backup could be done in four easy steps: 1) Use the cPanel File Manager to create a compressed zip file; 2) Install FileZilla on my computer (free), 3) FTP the zipped file to my computer; and, 4) Use the cPanel Backup Wizard to export the appropriate databases from the web server to my local computer. Larry always makes things sound easy, so I hope it is as easy as described.

We left the restaurant at 9:15 AM and returned home where we uncovered the lawn tractor and rolled it over to the concrete driveway to await Mike’s arrival with his trailer. The left front tractor tire was low on air so I pressurized the small Porter-Cable pancake air-compressor and refilled the tire. It seemed to hold, so hopefully it is OK.

Mike had to stop at the field day site (Lyon Township Atchison Memorial Park) before going home to get his flatbed trailer. When he arrived at our house at 10:45 AM I had him pull into the middle driveway entrance and swing into the new west driveway extension. That allowed us to roll the lawn tractor onto the trailer and allowed him to pull out going forward without having to back up.

The 21 mile drive to Sloan’s in Linden took about 30 minutes. Jeff waited on us and then we unloaded my Cub Cadet 1024 and loaded Mike’s Cub Cadet 1552. Based on my description Jeff thought it probably needed a crankshaft seal, an oil pan gasket, valve adjustment, and perhaps a new voltage regulator. The cost for diagnosis was $37.50 (1/2 their hourly service labor rate of $75). We were there for about 40 minutes and back at my house by 12:30 PM.

Mike stuck around and helped me figure out how to install the HP LaserJet 4200 monochrome printer as a network printer. After scanning our home network with Advanced IP Scanner from my ASUS laptop computer we queried the AT&T gateway/router. This Netgear device serves as the DHCP server for the network and we were able to determine that the range of addresses it generates are from 192.168.1.64 through 192.168.1.250 with the gateway address at 192.168.1.254. We used the current address of the print server, 192.168.1.247, to access the print server administration interface and changed the IP address to 192.168.1.50 (static). We were then able to install the printer and print a test page.

While we were working, Linda heated some leftover western bean soup and made vegan grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches on whole grain bread. She served them with orange segments on the side and a small bowl of loose grapes. Mike and I then installed the printer on Linda’s Samsung laptop computer. Rain was forecast to move into our area starting around 4 PM, and Mike wanted to mow his lawn before it started, so he took off. Linda left at the same time for Meijer’s to get a few grocery items and I took care of several chores. First up was starting a load of laundry.

We had a trash can stored in the small dump trailer all winter to act as a filler under the tarp. It got removed this morning when we uncovered the lawn tractor and trailer, and was sitting in the front yard, so I moved it into the garage. After folding the tarp and recovering the trailer I checked the mail. All of the mail in our box was for our neighbors, so I called Larry to see if they had gotten our mail again. They were away from the house, but he suggested that I walk down and check their mailbox. I did, and they did not have any mail, so the mail in our box was probably from yesterday.

With the outside chores done I returned to my office and checked e-mail. Scott at QTH had looked at our personal account and discovered a 1.9 GB error log file! He deleted it and let me know that it appeared to be coming from a defective backup plugin. We had this same problem a couple of months ago with the SLAARC.com website so WPB2D (WordPress Backup to Dropbox) had to be the culprit. I logged in to all four WordPress installations and deactivated the plugin. That was a shame, as I have counted on this plugin for a long time to keep these sites backed up without my intervention. I will have to find a different one or just do it manually (ugh). I e-mailed Scott back and thanked him for the ‘heads up’ but indicated that I still wanted to upgrade both accounts to his BEST VALUE PLAN.

While I was logged in to our personal site I deleted 276 spam e-mails and marked two others as SPAM that had somehow slipped past the Akismet filter and were being held for moderation. I also discovered that two of the four sites (personal and GLCC) had automatically updated even though I really wanted to do the backups first.

Linda got home at 2:30 PM and the USPS truck showed up about 15 minutes later. Amazon is committed to Prime customers getting their merchandise in two days regardless of when they order. The USPS currently has the contract for weekend delivery, so anything ordered on Thursday or Friday gets delivered on Saturday or Sunday, respectively, by the Post Office. The carrier had both our MaxxFan Deluxe RV vent/fan and our Samsung C1810W color laser printer. I got them inside but did not open them right away.

For dinner, Linda made a very nice salad and an angel hair pasta dish with mushrooms, onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and arugula. The arugula was an especially nice touch. After dinner we watched TV, catching another episode of Ken Burn’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Linda read and I wrote for a while afterwards before going to sleep.

2016/04/21-25 (R–M) Bad Brakes & More

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2016/04/21 (R) More Bad Brakes

[NOTE: There are no photos for these posts.]

We were up before 8 AM, had coffee in the living room by the warmth and glow of the fireplace, and had fruit for breakfast around 8:45 AM. We left at 9:40 to take my car to Brighton Honda for its 110,000 mile service appointment at 10 AM. Linda followed me in the Civic to drive me back to the house but as long as we were that close to Brighton we decided to go to the Verizon corporate store. To our surprise, the store was permanently closed. We were pretty sure there was still an “authorized retailer” a little farther down on Grand River Avenue (which never made any sense to me) but after the authorized retailer in Arcadia, Florida was unaware of the Mi-Fi device I was interested in (AC791L) I really wanted to talk to someone in a corporate store.

We did not investigate further as to whether the store had been moved and, not having any other business in Brighton, we headed home. On the way I got a phone call from our State Farm insurance agent’s office about a long-term care premium that was due last month. Apparently one of our children did not recognize it was a bill when they checked our mail and did not alert us to its presence. It wasn’t a big deal, and Linda took care of it when we got home.

I started a load of laundry and settled in to work at my desk. I did not have a reply yet to my support ticket for our WiFiRanger. I checked-in to RVillage and saw that our member status had been upgraded to GOLD. I did a search for used tractors and was researching a portable water deionizing system at AutoGeek.com when I got a call from Curtis Coleman of RVillage. While Curtis and I were talking I got a call from Gary at Brighton Honda. He left a message and I called him back. The rear brake rotors and pads on my Element needed to be replaced. It seems we have not been able catch a brake break in the last six weeks.

Linda made a haircut appointment with Renee for tomorrow at 10 AM but got a call back from Renee that she was not working tomorrow. Renee had an opening at 1:15 PM today so Linda took that instead. It was already noon so Linda heated a can of Amy’s Chili and we split that for lunch along with some fresh black grapes. We left at 12:40 PM for the drive to Twelve Oaks Mall. I went along because I wanted to stop at the corporate Verizon store in Novi.

I don’t usually go along with Linda to her haircut appointments since she now cuts my hair at home, but it was good to see Renee again. She did a nice job with Linda’s hair and we were out of there in under 30 minutes. For many years the Verizon store was located on the Twelve Oaks Mall property near Twelve Mile Road but it recently moved, so we put the address in the GPS unit. The new location was nearby on Novi Road just the other side of I-96 from Twelve Oaks and West Oaks Malls.

We were assisted by Christina, who was both knowledgeable and helpful. We went in thinking we might upgrade both of our phones and our Mi-Fi device and increase our data plan. I was interested in the AC791L Mi-Fi device. They did not have one in stock but she knew what it was and said we could have one delivered to our house on Monday via FedEx. We then looked at phones and Christina steered us towards the latest offerings from Motorola. We selected one for pricing purposes and she worked up the costs, including a higher data plan.

The new phones would have each cost $26 a month for 24 months, and the extended warranties would have been another $11 each per month for as long as we cared to pay it. The phones had some nice features—specifically a shatterproof screen, wireless charging, and a screen-facing flash (for those all-important selfies)—but $74/month ($37 x 2) for two years seemed like a lot of money to us, especially given that our Samsung Galaxy S3 phones still work just fine. Another negative for us is that the new phones are also bigger and we like the size of our S3’s. Besides, I have a belt clip flip-top soft case for mine that fits nicely and works well.

Offsetting the increased phone costs was the fact that the line charges for our phones would drop from $40 per month per line to $20 per month per line. Also, the $80 we currently pay for 10 GB of shared data per billing cycle would now buy us 12 GB of data for the same time period. Finally, upgrading the phones would get us an additional 2 GB of data per phone per billing cycle for “life”, so our 12 GB plan would actually be 16 GB. We would lose the bonus data, however, if we ever reduced the monthly gigabytes on our plan.

In looking at the cost worksheet I noticed that for $100 per billing cycle we could get 18 GB of shared data and bump that up or down at will without losing anything. In the end we bought the AC791L Mi-Fi device for $90 ($100 with a $50 rebate and a $40 activation fee), changed the data plan to 18 GB for $100 (per billing cycle), and decided to keep our current phones. Ignoring the one-time charges connected with the new Mi-Fi device we increased our monthly data from 10 GB to 18 GB, got a new/better Mi-Fi device, dropped our monthly cost from $180 to $160 (before taxes), and were not locked in to anything. Christina also said to keep our eyes open for special deals on phones, especially around Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Roger that, and will do.

By the time we got back to I-96 and Grand River Avenue (GRA) in Brighton it was 3 PM so we stopped at Brighton Honda to check on my car. While waiting for parts the technician got shifted to another job so my car was not ready yet. Making a left out of the dealership onto GRA is always difficult and can be impossible in heavy traffic. Our solution is often to turn right and go to Panera on GRA just south side of I-96, which is exactly what we did. They did not have any decaf brewed but were happy to make some for us. It had been cool and overcast all day so we sat by the gas fireplace and enjoyed several cups of coffee.

While we were sitting there I took a minute to call Philip Jarrell and let him know we were back in town. We discussed the French drain he installed at the west end of property last fall, which seemed to be working well, and the trenching on the other side of the road, where the culvert empties, which had become a small pond. I mentioned that the new driveway and RV pad looked nice, and that I really wanted to get the ham radio tower erected this year. That project would require his services for a morning. By 4:15 PM I had not heard anything further from Gary at Brighton Honda so we drove home.

Gary called at 5 PM to let me know the car was done and the technician was test driving it to make sure everything was correct. The dealership was open until 8 PM, and we did not want to fight rush hour traffic, so Linda fixed dinner. We had a salad of arugula and Italian kale with slivered almonds and dried cranberries, microwaved sweet potatoes, and vegan Italian sausage. Everything was very tasty and I particularly liked the spices in the mock sausage. Linda tries to make our diet primarily plant-based whole foods, but not having been vegans for most of our lives we find a certain satisfaction (comfort) in the occasional veggie burger, soy hotdog, seitan stroganoff, or other “mock” dish.

After dinner I hung up some laundry and started another load in the washer. I checked e-mail and had one from my niece Amanda. She and Ryan were looking at Wednesday, September 27, 2017 as a wedding date and wanted to know if all of us could make it to Hermann, Missouri for the event. I replied that it would not be a problem for Linda and me and cc:d Brendan and Meghan. I then texted both of them to alert them to the e-mail. I also had an e-mail from Kate de Fuccio wanting to know when we expected to be back in Michigan. I let her know we were back and had gotten preoccupied with opening the house and unloading the bus, but I felt bad that I forgot to text her as soon as we were home.

I also had a reply to my WiFiRanger support ticket requesting that I send screen shots of three of the tabs in the control panel. I replied that I would try but did not mention that I really wasn’t sure how to do that. Linda (the Google Queen) suggested that I “Google that” so I did. It turns out that “alt+prtsc” captures the current window as an image and copies it to the clipboard. From there you can do what you want with it. Easy breezy. (I subsequently ended up with something called “Easy Capture Manager” on my computer that just requires me to push the “prt sc” key and then lets me select what I what to capture.)

By 6:545 PM we were headed back to Brighton Honda to retrieve my car. Linda dropped me off and returned home. I paid the bill and returned home a few minutes later. Thursday night is CBS comedy night and by 8 PM we were ready to just sit and laugh. But first I had to transfer some of the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer. I worked on blog posts while being entertained and hung up the dry laundry before going to bed.

2016/04/22 (F) Networking

I was up a little later than usual last night and would have slept in this morning but the cats had other ideas; they always do. We were up by 8 AM and I made a pot of the Costa Rican Terrazu half-caff coffee that we bought yesterday at Teeko’s Coffee and Teas. We were both still a little tired, and the thick fog further subdued our moods. We countered that by treating ourselves to an easy start to our day enjoying our coffee in the living room to the warm glow of the fireplace.

We eventually got dressed, had breakfast, and got on with our day. Linda got a call from Bill, who handles computer and networking technology for the bakery, and he walked her through the VPN setup for the bakery’s upgraded server. She then made a grocery list and went shopping. When she returned I discovered two boxes on the front porch. UPS had obviously been here without my being aware of it. The large box was the Instant Pot Linda ordered the other day and the small box was my prescriptions, which I was not expecting to see for another week.

My main focus for the afternoon was dealing with networking issues. I uncoiled a long Cat 7 Ethernet cable that I found in the ham shack yesterday. I unplugged the network cable for Linda’s computer from our AT&T gateway/router and plugged in one end of the Cat 7 cable in its place. I took the other end of the cable into the bus, plugged it in to the HP Color LaserJet 3600 printer, and turned the printer on. I brought my laptop computer upstairs, connected it wirelessly to the gateway, and tried printing a simple Word document without success. I checked the printer settings and the TCP/IP addressing mode was configured for a manual address that did not match the address range of our home network. I reconfigured it for DHCP and it acquired a new IP address in the correct range. I tried printing again but it still did not work. I reconfigured the address in the printer device properties on my computer and was finally able to print. That was a relief as we would really like to leave this printer on the bus and have it networked rather than operating from a USB cable.

I then turned my attention to the WiFiRanger Mobile Ti (WFR-MTi). I took my computer to the bus so I could use it to control the WFR and capture screen shots. I was able to connect it to the WFR without difficulty but the WFR could not “see” (detect) any external Wi-Fi signals even though it is on the roof outside the bus and my computer could see them from inside the bus. Back in the house I plugged in the Amped|Wireless SR20000G Range Extender / Router and configured it to repeat the AT&T gateway which does not broadcast a very strong signal. Back in the bus my computer could see the strong signals from the Range Extender but the WFR still could not detect any external Wi-Fi signals. I captured the screen shots for the MAIN, WIFI, and SETUP tabs, as requested by technical support at WiFiRanger, and pasted them into Word documents for uploading to their support system.

I took my computer back to my basement office and cabled it in to the network switch. I wrote a reply to the WiFiRanger tech support thread, attached the screen shots, and posted it. Clearly the WFR is not working and I am certain I will end up requesting an RMA and returning it for service, probably sooner than later, but I wanted to start with the online tech support system in case they had any good ideas that had not occurred to me.

Linda spent the afternoon getting acquainted with the Instant Pot and running it through its test procedure. It checked out as fully functional so she used it to prepare seitan stroganoff for dinner. I laid down at 5 PM and napped for an hour, finally getting up at 6 PM when Linda put our dinner salads on the table. She served the stroganoff over brown rice with a side of steamed broccoli and the whole meal was wonderful.

We sat in the living room until 8 PM and then decided to watch Sleepless in Seattle on PBS. I had forgotten what a good movie it is and enjoyed seeing it again. Linda fell asleep right after the movie ended and I watched Episode 6 of Ken Burn’s JAZZ before calling it a night. Like all of Ken Burn’s documentaries, JAZZ is a masterpiece of historical storytelling. At some point I would like to watch all 10 episodes back-to-back.

2016/04/23 (S) Ham & Eggs

Today was our first Saturday back home, and that meant it was also our first opportunity to have breakfast with our fellow amateur radio operators (hams) from the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club (SLAARC). Before going to sleep last night I set wake-up alarms for 7 AM this morning, but I was awake before then and had time to grab a quick shower before getting dressed. I also took a few minutes to reattach the ham radio antenna to the magnetic mount on my car and reinstall the ICOM IC-2820 radio control head and microphone. Even so, we were still on our way by 7:30 AM and arrived at George’s Senate Coney Island on the north edge of South Lyon around 7:50 AM. During the drive I was part of a group chat with Steve (N8AR), Mike (W8XH), and Bill (W8NN), who was on an HT while riding with Larry (K8UT). The Yaesu Fusion repeater sounded good and it was good to be on the air again with friends.

Besides our coffee, dry toast, and dry English muffin, Linda and I split a fresh fruit plate. It was OK at best, but we don’t go for the food. It was good to see and talk to folks in person and to be back into this part of our “at home” routine. Today was testing day so a few people left to run the testing session, but most of the group, which numbered 19 people, stayed until 10 AM.

There was an accident this morning on westbound I-96 just east of the US-23 interchange. It was still being cleared when we drove home so we got stuck in a traffic backup that could easily have been avoided. Fortunately we did not have to be any particular place by any particular time and worked our way slowly through the congestion.

Back at the house I worked at my desk while Linda started cooking black beans in her new Instant Pot as she wanted to use some on a salad for our lunch. Normally she would have to soak dry beans overnight and then cook them for quite a while, but the Instant Pot, which can function as a pressure cooker, took them from bag-to-plate in 45 minutes, during which time Linda went for a walk. Pressure cookers can be very useful.

Once we got back to our house my initial task was to proofread and markup corrections to my article in the latest draft of the June 2016 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine. Once that was done I uploaded the PDF to a folder in my Dropbox and e-mailed Gary and Jorge that it was there. Next I checked my WiFiRanger support ticket and discovered that my reply yesterday, with screen shots attached, did not post correctly. I replied again and this time it posted correctly, or at least appeared to. With that task taken care of I copied a few images from the Sony a99v camera to my computer. I then started transferring files from my computer to the NAS that we had with us in the bus. I was about to start copying files for from that NAS to the older one we left at home when Linda called me up to lunch.

She made a large salad for each of us with tomatoes, blueberries, sliced strawberries, black beans, slivered almonds, and dried cranberries with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. She also made some hot tea after lunch which we took to the living room. Both of us were tired and by 2 PM laid down and took naps. It was 68 degrees F in the house but it felt very cool. I think winters in Florida and Arizona have reset my comfort zone from 70 degrees F, plus or minus, to 78 degrees to 80 degrees F. Jasper found a sunny spot on the floor by one of the living room windows and Juniper curled up with me. I got up at 3:15 PM and took my iPad out on the deck to work in the crisp air and warm sun. Linda came out around 3:45 PM but decided it was too cool and went back inside; I did the same around 4 PM.

Linda arranged for us to meet John and Diane Rauch at Camelia’s Mexican Restaurant at 6 PM. Camelia’s is walking distance from our old house, but we never walked there because the route was not pedestrian friendly. It’s a half hour drive from where we live now. I reinstalled the cellular booster in my car and we left at 5:20 PM to leave a little extra time in case we encountered traffic problems. And sure enough, we did. The right lane of eastbound I-96 was closed where it ties in to southbound I-275 as the right lane continued to be closed for a construction project.

Our children’s grade school vocal music teacher, Jennifer Davidson, (who moved here from Tennessee) once remarked that Michigan only has two seasons “winter and road construction.” Truer words were never said. We stayed to the left, because that’s what we had to do to get onto eastbound I-696. Although traffic was slow it was moving, unlike the right hand lanes trying to stay on I-96/I-275. Vehicle speeds returned to “normal” once we got past the split, which around here is 5-to-10 MPH over the maximum posted limit, and a few minutes later we exited the freeway at Orchard Lake Road. This is the same exit we used for 35 years to get to our house, and I have undoubtedly used this exit more than any other Interstate highway exit in country. It was familiar, yet strange, as we rarely get back here anymore except to visit with John and Diane, meet someone at Camelia’s (or one of the other many restaurants that can be accessed from the Orchard Lake Road exit), or go to our optometrist or veterinarian, both of whom are two to three miles south of this exit.

We had our fill of chips and salsa and split an order of vegetarian fajitas. They were OK, and much better than the ones we had a week ago at Mi Camino Real in Logansport, Indiana. After dinner we went to John and Diane’s house, which is very close to the restaurant, and continued a nice conversation in a quieter setting. By 9:30 PM we were all tired and started wrapping up our visit. We left a little before 10 PM, got home at 10:30 PM, and went right to bed on stomachs that were still very full. WTVS (Detroit PBS) was fundraising around an early Rolling Stones performance that did not grab my interest so I watched Lidia’s Kitchen and the beginning of Martha Stewart’s Cooking school. She was filleting fish so I turned the TV off and went to sleep.

2016/04/24 (N) Family

We went to bed on full stomachs last night and I did not sleep well, suffering from indigestion for much of the night. I should have used a second pillow and tried sleeping on my back with my head elevated, but that is not a natural sleeping position for me and I doubt that would have slept any better. To compensate for the poor sleep I stayed in bed and kept falling back to sleep. Linda was up way before me, having apparently slept better than I did, and I finally got up to stay at 9 AM. That was unusually late for me, but at least I felt somewhat rested.

As soon as I got up Linda sliced oranges for our breakfast and prepared to toast bagels while I prepared our morning coffee. We were not quite done with our preparations when I got a phone call. It was from Chuck Spera so I answered it.

Chuck and I talk frequently but not usually at 9:30 AM on a Sunday morning. He and Barbara were on the road and had just crossed into Kentucky on I-75 having left Sevierville, Tennessee early this morning. Before pulling out this morning Chuck had noticed a little oil by the driver side tag axle during his walkaround, specifically in the holes of the Alcoa aluminum wheels. He had removed the decorative hub cap and found an oil film there as well, but did not see any pooling. He assumed that an axle seal was leaking a little but was not sure how to check the oil level in the hub or add oil if needed. Because of both past and recent experiences, Chuck figured I would know the answers to both questions. While that was probably unjustified optimism, in this case I did, and gladly shared what I knew about the sight glass and rubber plug in the wheel hub for the oil reservoir.

We had just finished our bagels and orange slices when Brendan texted Linda to see about plans for today. We had all planned on getting together at Meghan and Chris’ house this afternoon to visit and have dinner but Madeline had come down with Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease (a virus) earlier in the week and Brendan thought he might be getting it too. Given that Linda had not yet fully recovered her hearing we agreed that it would be best to avoid contact until we knew that no one was contagious.

Madeline was understandably disappointed that she would not see us today and, in lieu of that, requested a FaceTime session. We were equally disappointed that we would not get to see her (and her parents) but an hour of FaceTime made up for it a bit. After our FaceTime session we lingered in the living room by the fireplace enjoying our coffee and doodling on our iPads. We finally got dressed at noon and left for Meghan and Chris’ house at 12:30 PM.

We arrived around 1:15 PM and were greeted by our daughter with a paper grocery bag full of some of our mail. We had a long, relaxed afternoon to visit and catch up. Meghan made vegan burgers from scratch and a salad with beans, corn, red bell pepper, and avocado with a lime-based dressing. We brought a bottle of Barefoot Red Moscato and I found it very much to my taste (sweet).

We departed just after 7 PM and stopped at the new Gas 2 Go station at the northwest corner of I-96 and Latson Road. The station was still under construction when we left in November. I was pleased to see that it is a Shell Oil Company station with a Tim Horton’s. I have had a preference for Shell gasoline for most of my adult life and Tim Horton’s has coffee on a par with Dunkin Donuts, although I do not like the lids they use. There is also a traffic signal on Latson at the side road for the station, no doubt because this is also the access road for the Livingston County Road Commission complex. (Leave it to them to take care of themselves while the rest of rest life and limb to get out of the Lowe’s/Walmart center just south of there.) Whatever the reason, it will slow down traffic exiting I-96 and heading south on Latson Road, making it easier to get out of the Lowe’s/Walmart parking lots.

We were home a little after 8 PM and turned on the TV to watch Grantchester on PBS and Elementary on CBS. Around 8:40 PM I realized I had missed the SLAARC Information Net which started at 8 PM. I need to reestablish the habit of tuning in on Sunday evenings, but that time slot competes with some of our favorite programming on PBS.

2016/04/25 (M) Pick Up Sticks

We had a typical start to our day. After catching the weather on channel 10.2 we were up by 8 AM, had coffee and granola with blueberries and bananas, and used our iPads in the living room with the fireplace turned on. Our Kitchen Aid mixer broke last year and today Linda was finally ready to replace it. She decided to get the slightly larger and more powerful model with the crank up mixing bowl as she wants enough power to mix bread dough. She also wanted it in white to match most of the other kitchen appliances. To our surprise the white color was more expensive than red or blue but less expensive than some other colors including copper bronze. She was trying to convince herself that red or blue would be OK but I convinced her to order white. All of our appliances (and cabinet knobs) are white. With Amazon Prime it will be here on Wednesday.

The weather forecast was calling for a cold front to move through our area triggering rain, and possibly thunderstorms, starting late in the afternoon and extending through the evening and into the overnight hours. The grass in most of the yard is not very tall yet, except right in front of the house by the concrete driveway. The yard is also moist, but not soggy, and we do not expect Keith to be here to cut the grass for the first time this season until sometime next week at the earliest. The temperature mid-morning was in the low 60’s and was forecast to reach a high of 72. All-in-all it was an excellent day to pick up sticks around the yard in advance of Keith’s first visit and get the Honda self-propelled lawn mower out and cut the grass in front of the house.

I started my yard cleanup with area around the front berms, raking small branches out of the grass and stacking larger ones on existing brush piles. While I was working out front a UPS truck showed up with our Max Burton Induction Cooktop and our new Verizon Mi-Fi unit. I signed for the Mi-Fi and took the packages inside. Linda used the induction cooker to make some nectar for our hummingbird feeder and also prepared a batch of homemade granola. She eventually came outside and helped me pick up some of the downed tree limbs in the back yard. We got the easternmost two acres (2/5ths of our yard) picked fairly well. We will work on the westernmost three acres another day.

I got the Honda lawnmower out and topped up the tank with fresh fuel. Small engine Honda equipment is known for starting on the first pull, but my experience is that this is only true when they are new. No doubt our lawnmower needs to be cleaned up and tuned up, and would start more easily if it was, but I eventually got it started and once it warmed up it ran fine. I mowed the little bit of the lawn near the house/driveway that looked like it was overdue for a cut. This is also one of the only parts of the yard anyone really sees if they pull into the driveway.

I had just shut the lawnmower off and was putting it in the garage when the U. S. Mail truck pulled into the driveway. It was our mail carrier, Michelle, and she had a very large box for us, along with our typical bundle of Monday junk mail. The box was not very heavy and Linda informed me that it was the 48 rolls of toilet paper she recently ordered. Well, alrighty then.

It was approaching 1 PM so Linda made salads for our lunch with the leftover bean-corn-tomato salad (that Meghan made yesterday) on top of a bed of mixed greens. After lunch Linda took her Amateur Extra flash cards outside to study and I focused on getting the new Verizon Jetpack Mi-Fi (Netgear AC791L) assembled and activated. Assembly consisted of installing the Lithium Ion battery and back cover. I decided to charge it for a bit while I read the user guide and activation procedure.

When I was fairly certain I had all of the information I needed at my fingertips I called the 877 activation number and keyed in the requested information. It took a couple of tries to get it right but I finally did. With the activation completed I turned the device on, looked up the SSID and Password, and connected my iPad to it. I then entered the relevant information in a new entry in Passwords Plus.

I got a phone call from Gaye Young and chatted with her at some length about RVillage and its relevance to FMCA. (Gaye is the FMCA National Secretary and chairperson of the National Education Committee.). She and husband Jerry are at the Rally in the Pasture at FMCA National President Charlie Adcock’s place in Arkansas (or maybe it’s Alabama?) and I knew from talking to Curtis Coleman last week that he was on his way there too. A year and a half ago the NEC researched and recommended that FMCA partner with RVillage and a year ago the FMCA executive board accepted and endorsed that proposal but then nothing happened. The FMCA Executive Director was recently let go and Charlie is now trying to get the RVillage train back on the tracks, along with lots of other things as FMCA continues to loose members at an alarming rate.

I suspect that the loss of members is a combination of several factors. For one, the median age of FMCA members has been in the upper 60’s for quite some time. That means a certain number of members are “aging out” almost daily. For another, the downturn in the economy in 2007 was particular hard on the RV industry. Not only was the industry slow to recover, when it did it was building mostly towables, not motorhomes. In the past many RV dealers basically “included” an FMCA membership with the purchase of a motorhome, or at least provided information about the Association and an application form. Another possible factor is that RVers under 50, including Gen-Xers and Millennials, don’t tend to join things. FMCA is not the only organization suffering membership decline and having difficulty attracting new members, especially younger ones.

Chuck and Barbara got home yesterday and were settled enough for Chuck to call me at 5 PM and update me on their hub oil leak. Linda made salads for dinner and reheated the brown rice and seitan stroganoff. After dinner I replied to an e-mail from Gaye and then settled in to watch TV with Linda. And so it goes.

2016/4/16-20 (S–W) From Ham to Home (Again)

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2016/04/16 (S) A Local Hamfest

I heard Butch and Fonda get in their car a little before 6 AM this morning and leave for the quad-county hamfest at the fairgrounds between Peru and Mexico (in North Central Indiana, not Central America). I got up quietly at 7:30 AM, got dressed, put my camera in the car, and walked over to Small Town Brew to say “good morning” to proprietor Lisa Paul and fill my coffee thermos before driving to the hamfest. As I approached the coffee shop I sensed that something was amiss. The lights were off and something about the appearance looked different. A closer view revealed that the interior had been redone and the name Small Town Brew was nowhere to be seen. “The Branded Bean” was written on the window instead, but regardless of the name it clearly was not open for business. I walked back to my car and drove to the hamfest about 10 miles away, slightly disappointed at not starting my morning with a nice cup of coffee and a cheery chat with Lisa.

There were quite a few cars parked around the venue when I arrived. I’m not sure why, but hamfests and swap meets always seem to begin at sunrise and end by early afternoon. Perhaps it’s a certain residual military influence or because it just leaves the rest of the day open to go home and play with new found treasurers. Whatever the reason, I paid my $5 admission, got my door prize ticket, found Butch to say “good morning,” and then got some coffee. Fonda was already taking her Amateur Radio Operator General Class license examination and Butch was busy with potential buyers so I walked the aisles in search of ham radio or other treasurers I could not live without, but did not find any.

Hamfests and swap meets are mostly cash only affairs unless there are larger commercial vendors there, in which case they might take credit cards. I do not carry much cash, which is a good way to make sure I don’t spend much money buying junk I don’t need. I did find a placemat size laminated grid square map of the United States for $5 and a laminated letter size sheet with the U.S. Amateur Radio frequency allocations for $1 and bought those. Butch liked them so I went back and got a set for him too. I also found some relays mounted to substantial heat sinks. The seller had four of them for $1 each so I bought one without any specific purpose in mind. The heat sink alone was worth more than $1 and Butch bought two of them later.

I eventually sat down at Butch’s tables and chatted with him (when he wasn’t busy) while we waited for Fonda to emerge from the testing room. When she did she had a big grin on her face and we knew she had passed the test. She only missed one question out of 35, which was an excellent performance. Butch immediately got their W5YI / Gordon West General Class Study Guide and CDs out of a storage tub and put them out for sale.

Although Fonda had not studied for the Amateur Extra Class license exam she decided to take it since there was no additional testing fee beyond the $15 she had already paid to take the General Class test. I decided to stick around and keep Butch company (not that he needed me to do that) until Fonda finished the Extra exam. She got 19 items correct out of 50, not enough to pass but not bad for not having prepared, and it gave her a sense of what the test is like. She wants to get her Amateur Extra license before the end of June as a new question pool goes into effect on July 1, 2016, and is very different from the current item pool.

I spent a few minutes talking to a soldier from the Indiana Army National Guard about the Hum-V they brought to the event and then returned to our rig in Twelve Mile. I told Linda that Fonda had earned her General Class license (which Linda already has) and that Fonda was determined to get her Amateur Extra Class license by the end of June. Not that Linda typically responds to a challenge, but this seems to have rekindled her interest in doing the same.

I had not eaten breakfast so we had vegan hot dogs and fresh fruit for lunch around noon. I worked on blog posts until 1:30 PM when Butch and Fonda returned from the hamfest and I helped them unload their truck. We all sat around chatting for a while but we were all very tired and Butch/Fonda needed to eat, so we returned to our motorhome to take naps.

Butch and Fonda had not reappeared by 5 PM so Linda checked to see if they were up as we wanted to go see the progress on their “new” house in Metea. They were up so that is what we did. We were at the house for over an hour looking at the interior reconstruction and discussing the plans for what was still to be done. The house will not be ready to occupy this year and their hope/plan is to have it ready in 2017 before they leave again for the winter.

The property was seriously distressed but they got it for a good price. Besides the house, which they are gutting and rebuilding inside, there is a 40′ W x 48′ L building with a concrete floor and two 12′ W x 16′ H overhead doors. They could not build a new building like that for what they paid for the entire property. We know, because we have been trying to figure out how to put up a similar building on our property. Still, they bought themselves a big project and it is going to take some time and money to make it habitable and useable, or saleable if that is what they choose to do.

Fortunately they are now “retired” and still have the place in Twelve Mile to live as well as the converted bus. Indeed, they still have an enormous amount of work to do to get the Twelve Mile property ready to sell. It is an unusual property, having started life as a GM dealership in the 1930’s and only closing in 1981. It then housed an electrical harness manufacturing operation before Butch and Fonda acquired it more than 20 years ago. They turned the old showroom area into living quarters, retained the two bay auto service area for that use, as it has a functioning in-ground lift, and repurposed the rest of the space as a parts room, machine shop, wood shop, and warehouse for their business.

All told they have about 12,000 square feet under roof on two acres in the center of town on a state highway within very short walking distance of a bank and Post Office. All-in-all, it has served their business and personal needs quite well over the last two decades but is now much more building than they need having sold off much of their business inventory in 2014 and closed Service Motors as an active supplier of parts for Crosley automobiles. It will make an excellent building for someone, but it is going to have to be a buyer with specific and appropriate needs.

By the time we left it was 7:30 PM so we drove to the Mi Camino Real Mexican restaurant in Logansport for dinner. Linda and I split a taco salad (no meat or dairy) and an order of vegetarian fajitas (no dairy). We sat a long time after we were done eating just chatting before returning to Twelve Mile. It was 9:45 PM by the time we got back so we called it a night and went our separate ways.

Back in our rig I checked my e-mail. I had several from Gary at BCM, one of which had the first draft of the June 2016 issue. My article on servicing the Webasto DBW2010.75 Diesel Burner is in that issue and needed to be proofread and corrections noted. I made a first pass at that, replied to a couple of e-mails, and went to bed. It had been a long but satisfying day and tomorrow was the first morning since this past Tuesday that we did not have to set an alarm and/or get up early.

2016/04/17 (N) Parts Shuffle

Fonda goes to church on Sundays. She typically leaves around 9 AM and gets home between noon and 1 PM. Butch is often up very early but not necessarily ready to interact with the world except through his computer so I tend to not bother him first thing in the morning. We had a leisurely morning sitting around in our sweats (pants and shirts), enjoying our coffee, and eventually having breakfast.

When I finally got dressed and was in the humor to work, I unloaded the old tag axle caliper, old-old brake pads (not the ones I burned up), and the old torque plate, along with the new left-hand caliper rebuild kit, and moved them into Butch’s machine shop. I also moved the old/broken Shur-Flo 4048 12 VDC water pump to his shop as he wants to see if he can figure out what failed and why. With all of that stuff out of the car I repacked it to try and evenly distribute the weight of the remaining cargo.

Late morning I texted Jarel Beatty in Logansport to let him know we were here and invite him to come out and see the cabinetry he built for us last year as it was finally installed in the bus. He had a shooting competition at 1 PM at the gun club/range near Twelve Mile and said he would try to stop by afterwards.

I had finally located the 24VDC regulator yesterday and showed Butch where it was located on our bus at the outside rear corner of the storage bay over the DS drive axle. It was a very convenient location except that Royale Coach installed the slide out storage tray tight against the cover, making it impossible to remove without first removing the tray, which did not look easy to do. Butch suggested that I unplug the chassis battery maintenance chargers, connect the batteries, and leave some of the bay lights on to draw off the surface charge so we could get a more accurate reading of the battery voltage later. He also wanted to draw down the battery voltage a bit so that the alternator would have some work to do after starting the engine.

We were discussing how to deal with the failure of the regulator or alternator on the road and Butch suggested that I could always maintain the chassis battery voltage with a battery charger powered from the onboard genset. I mentioned that besides the sophisticated, but low current, maintenance chargers that I have installed the coach came with a 24V emergency charger hardwired to the chassis batteries and powered from a 120 VAC outlet in the electrical bay. The instructions for that charger, however, clearly indicate that it is for short time emergency charging to get the engine started and not for continuous use. It given its age it is clearly not an “intelligent” multi-stage charger and would boil the electrolyte if left connected for too long. Butch suggested that I remove the emergency charger and replace it with a modern, high amperage one that could be used to run the batteries and not just top them up for starting. That seemed like a good idea to me so I added it to my (mental) project list.

Butch has been redoing the solar battery charging system on their bus and had one solar panel still to install. Since it was loose he had me photograph the mounting rails he devised and attached to the long edges of the panel flanges. The photos were for a future BCM article.

Jarel showed up sometime after 3 PM. We showed him how we had installed all of the cabinetry and woodworking he had done for us based on my design drawings. He had been in the bus several times before to discuss the project, so he had a good idea of what we were trying to accomplish, but visualizing it was one thing and seeing it quite another. He really enjoyed seeing how the project turned out and took some photos with his phone to show his wife.

Linda started preparing dinner around 4:30 PM. Jarel stayed and chatted until 5 PM and then went into Butch and Fonda’s house to visit with them and their dogs, Rascal (a Jack Russell Terrier), and Daffy (some kind of wire-haired Terrier mix thing).

While Jarel was visiting I borrowed a set of jumper cables from Butch and some sandpaper. I used the sandpaper to clean the two terminals in the passenger side engine bay that are used to jump start the engine. I then attached the jumper cables in such a way that the free ends could not touch, or the positive lead short to the chassis, by clamping the ground lead to a rail in the bay and setting the positive lead on a piece of cardboard on the ground. I then clamped my VOM leads in the two jumper cable clamps so we would not have to hold them.

After Jarel left we checked the voltage on the battery bank. It was 24.95 VDC. A fully charged lead-acid battery bank at rest would be 25.2 VDC, so the voltage was reasonable given that I had the maintenance chargers off and there were some small loads on the system. Butch had me start the bus motor, let the oil pressure come up, and then shut it off. He had me start it a second time and then shut it off, and then start it a third time and leave it running, switching it to high idle. While I was doing all of that he was monitoring the voltage on the VOM.

The voltage was showing just over 28 VDC, which is what we expected from a properly adjusted, correctly operating voltage regulator. The voltage rose slightly when I switched the engine to low idle, but the batteries were probably fully charged by then and the current draw was probably minimal. In any event it did not rise above 28.5 VDC, nowhere near the 30 VDC that would trigger a “high battery voltage” warning light on the dashboard. There was also no indication of the alternator/regulator not producing adequate voltage as the “low battery voltage” warning light (the same light, actually) is triggered by a voltage below +24 VDC.

While the engine was running I made a mental note of the position of the needles on the two analog battery voltage gauges in the dashboard. The “24V” gauge was higher than the 28V mark by a full needle width, i.e., there was a needle width gap between the 28V position and the left edge of the needle. The gauge is only marked every 4 volts so it looked to me like it was reading around +29V. The “12V” gauge was sitting right on the 14V mark. The “24V” gauge should read 28 VDC and the “12V” gauge should read exactly 1/2 of that if the Vanner equalizers are working correctly.

Our simple test did not preclude intermittent problems with the alternator and/or voltage regulator that might occur after they were warmed up, and/or vibrating with the engine rotation at full RPM, and/or bouncing down the road. It also did not rule out problems with the Vanner battery monitoring system, which is what controls the warning lights on the dashboard. We also did not check the voltage at the battery bank center tap to see how closely it matched the gauge on the dashboard or how closely it was tracking 1/2 of the overall voltage as a check on the operation of the two Vanner Battery Equalizers. Still, it appeared that the alternator and regulator were functioning correctly.

Linda made black beans and rice for our dinner and Fonda made baked squash and pork chops for their meal. We also had carrots, grapes, strawberries, and pickled vegetables, including okra, to share around the table. After dinner we got out our lawn chairs and sat outside for a while, pretending we were “camping.” The air temperature dropped as the sun set and we finally put the chairs away and went inside the house to continue visiting as we had no way to make a campfire in their driveway.

By 10 PM we were all tired. I asked Butch if I could use his big auto shop air-compressor in the morning to adjust our tires and he said he would turn it on and put the hose out first thing. We returned to our coach and were fairly quickly off to bed.

2016/04/18 (M) Twelve Mile To Turkeyville

I was awake at 6 AM and finally got up at 6:30. I put on my sweats, fed the cats, and prepared our morning coffee. I noticed that Butch had already put the air hose out where I could use it so I checked/adjusted all of the tire pressures while the coffee brewed. I also turned on the TireTraker TT-400 receiver/monitor and plugged in the repeater in the PS rear closet of the bus. The outside air temperature was in the low 50’s F and all of the tire pressures were slightly below the cold pressures I like to run so I adjusted them.

After all of the tires were adjusted, and the air hose and tools were put away, I went inside the bus and used the monitor to check all of the tire pressures/temperatures and make a chart showing the actual and indicated values for each tire. All of the sensors indicated pressures higher than the ones I had just set, using a known good digital tire gauge, by 1.0 to 4.5 PSI. While this was within the specified “precision” of +/- 4% for the sensors, it was not as accurate as I think it should be.

Linda was up by this time but waited for me to have coffee and cereal (homemade granola) for breakfast at 9 AM. Today is a travel day for us, and we would not normally have coffee or breakfast on a travel day, but we were not planning on leaving until around noon for the 3-1/2 hour drive to the Camp Turkeyville RV Resort near Marshall, Michigan. We will also pass the Michigan Welcome Center / Rest Area and stop for fuel at the M-60 exit, so we will have opportunities to use facilities if needed.

After thinking about it overnight I decided that it did not make any sense for us to take the three new/rebuilt brake calipers home to Michigan only to have to haul them back to Indiana in a few weeks to have our mobile mechanic, Joe Cannarozzi, install them. I borrowed one of Butch and Fonda’s hand trucks and move them from the car to the machine shop one at a time. I then repacked the back of the car, which was now 300 to 350 pounds lighter than when we arrived in Twelve Mile.

Sometime between 9 and 10 AM I called Camp Turkeyville to make a reservation for today. Angela was not in the office but a woman took our name and request. The park was far from full and the reservation not really necessary, but we wanted to make sure we got a full-hookup pull-through site. We visited for a while with Butch and Fonda before making our final departure preparations. By 11:30 AM we were ready for the final steps in the departure process. Linda moved the car from in front of the bus and battened down the inside of the bus while I got the shorepower disconnected. I started the motor, let the chassis air up, and pulled it straight across the street into the grain elevator driveway where Linda pulled the car up behind it. With the car connected and prepared for towing I restarted the bus engine and we did our light check. Butch and Fonda walked over for one last, quick conversation and then it was time to go. They never chat with us while we are hooking up as they know it can create a dangerous distraction.

We knew the exact route we planned to follow but entered the destination into the Rand-McNally GPS anyway. Ever since I did the update at Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort the unit has been very sluggish in its response to screen taps but appears to still work.

I looped around through the grain elevator driveway back to IN-16 and headed east out of town. At US-31 we headed north. The GPS unit kept trying to get me to head east on county roads but I stayed on US-31 all the way to US-20. At US-20 we headed east and stayed with that route all the way to I-69 in spite of the GPS unit’s repeated attempts to get me to turn north and head up into Michigan, presumably to pick up US-12. At I-69 we headed north and soon enough we were back in our home state, the first time since November 27th last year.

About 12 miles into Michigan we stopped at the Welcome Center / Rest Area briefly and then continued or trip. We exited again at Tekonsha / M-60 (exit 36?) and stopped at the Travel America for fuel. The pump would not accept our Chase VISA card and we assumed that Chase Bank, ever vigilant with regards to its use as we cross state borders, had rejected it. It turned out that the truck pumps were only set up to accept corporate/fleet cards so Linda had to go inside anyway and used one of our other cards to pay for the fuel. All of this caused a bit of a delay but I eventually put 50 gallons in the tank. I did not fill it because I did not want to put in the additives at this fuel stop. I wanted to do that at the Mobil Truck Stop near our house and top it up just before getting home.

On our way once again we exited I-69 at N Drive North and a half mile to the west pulled into the entrance to Camp Turkeyville. It was just before 4 PM and Angela was in the office and expecting us. The site she planned to put us on had a car parked in it, without the owner around, so she moved us to a different one a few sites down. It was a difference without a distinction and was an easy in, easy out, relatively level pull-through full-hookup site, which was all we cared about. I adjusted the level and then shut off the motor. The only hookup we needed for the rest of the day and evening was electricity so I took care of that and shut off the chassis batteries and air supply for the engine accessories.

Since we would only be here for one night we did not set up the interior the way we would if we were sticking around for even a few days. We were parked facing south and the afternoon sun was bright and warm so I put out the awnings on the passenger side of the coach. Gary, a fellow camper from a few sites down, stopped to chat and compliment us on our motorcoach. After we wrapped up our chat we went inside and had an easy dinner.

One of our routines (traditions, rituals?) is to walk an RV park when we arrive unless the weather is very disagreeable. The weather was near perfect this afternoon, and it was still plenty light at 7 PM, so we walked over to the Cornwall’s Turkeyville building to see if it was still open. The building houses a restaurant, ice cream parlor, and general store. They were open until 8 PM so we meandered through the store but did not buy anything as neither of us brought our wallets. We strolled back to the campground and walked the outer loop before returning to our coach.

We had access to quite a few OTA TV signals and tuned in one of the CBS affiliates with a strong signal. We watched our usual Monday evening TV programs and turned in for the night without setting an alarm.

2016/04/19 (T) Home Again

With the overnight low outside air temperature forecast to be in the upper 40’s we left the bathroom roof vent and bedroom windows open as we knew the outside conditions would make for wonderful sleeping conditions inside the coach. We were tired, and did not have to be up at any particular time, all of which made for good sleeping snuggled under a thin blanket. I got up at 8 AM, tended to the cats’ needs, and made 7 cups of coffee. A little after 9 AM we had toast and preserves for breakfast. We don’t usually have breakfast and coffee on a travel day, but today was the final leg of our winter 2015-16 snowbird season, and the trip from Camp Turkeyville to our home was only 80 miles, with rest stop opportunities along the way if needed.

Checkout time at Camp Turkeyville RV Resort is noon and our target was to pull out between 11:30 AM and noon. Part of the reason for stopping here for one night before going home was to empty our waste tanks. Another reason was to give us a short, easy drive at a time of day that avoided the rush hour traffic at the beginning and end of the work day. This was the third year in a row that we have done this and it works very well.

We started tending to our departure tasks around 10 AM and would have been ready to go by 11 AM except for a very nice, but very talkative, neighbor. Still, we were on schedule and not in any particular hurry. We pulled out of our site at 11:30 AM and made the long, slow trip around the outer road of the campground to get back to the exit. Once we were on I-69 N I set the cruise control at 63 MPH and let the bus roll. I-69 between I-94 and I-96 is a concrete road made of small, discrete slabs, and you feel every joint between them. But hey, it’s Michigan; we expect the roads to be in bad shape and we like it that way (not). Well, apparently the majority of our fellow citizens like it that way, OR at least prefer it to paying taxes and enforcing weight limits and speeds. If that wasn’t the case, our elected officials would do something about it.

There was rain headed our way but it was not expected until tomorrow or later. Still, the sky was overcast and we had not traveled very far up I-69 when we started getting a light, intermittent drizzle. It stayed with us all the way to Lansing where we picked up I-96 E. By the time we got to exit 122 (M-52), where we stopped at the Mobil Truck Stop for fuel, we had driven out from under the rain.

Since the bus would be sitting for at least a couple of weeks I added Stanadyne Performance and Lubricity Formulas, and Racor Biocide before filling the tank. It’s always better to have fresh diesel fuel but it is also good to store the bus with a full tank to prevent condensation from moist air in the tank. My solution has been to use the Biocide and store the bus with a full tank. If it is going to sit for any length of time I run the Parker Fuel Polishing Module to slowly filter it and remove residual moisture.

From the Mobil Truck Stop it was only 11 miles to exit 133 (M-59), another 10 miles to Hacker Road, and about 2-1/2 miles (on dirt roads) to our house. This stretch of Hacker is scheduled for paving this year and we knew from the Livingston County Road Commission that work had already begun. Indeed, the surveyors were working in the fall before we left for Florida.

The initial work this spring was the removal of trees along both sides of the road and as soon as we turned off of M-59 onto Hacker it was immediately obvious that this had occurred. It was also obvious that the road had been very recently graded and that there had not been any rain since then. We still took our time, keeping our speed to about 25 MPH, but it was one of the smoothest trips we have ever had in the bus along this stretch of Hacker. To our delight, the grader had also obviously done our street recently and we noticed that a few of our neighbor’s had apparently trimmed or removed a lot of trees and bushes near the road. Yeah!

As we got to the first of our three driveway entrances I stopped the coach and lifted the tag axle while Linda got out. She always spots for clearance to obstructions and guides me into the final parking position. There were a few larger tree limbs in the driveway so she picked those up before I pulled in. Once I was positioned on the level parking pad area of the driveway I put the tag axle down. The coach was close enough to level that I did not bother adjusting the suspension. After letting it idle for a couple of minutes I shut off the motor and we started our arrival routine with one notable difference; Linda’s first task was to get the cats in their carriers, unlock the house, take them inside, and let them out of their carriers. Coming home us a big deal for them, too.

I turned off the engine accessories air supply and the chassis batteries and connected the shorepower cord. The circuit breaker for this electrical service is in the sub-panel in my office. I turned on the wrong breaker the first time so it took a second trip to the basement of the house to get power to the coach. We had no intention of unloading everything today but there were a few things we wanted to get into the house right away, such as wallets and keys. At the top of my list was all of our computer, networking, and photography technology while Linda’s focus was on clothing and food.

Once we had our highest priority items moved into the house I texted the small circle of friends who we have been keeping in touch with about Linda’s illness and our bus problems to let them know we were home safe and sound with no further problems. I then went to the garage, found our good battery charger, and connected it to the 12V starting battery in the Honda Civic Hybrid. Brendan had told us a week or so ago that the battery was dead and when I connected the charger it would only accept about 2.5 Amps of current and quickly tapered off to less than one Amp. That wasn’t much current for a depleted battery but I left it and went back into the house.

I checked a little while later and the charger had given up and displayed an “F01” error code. I did not even bother looking it up as the car is a 2007 model and this was probably the original battery. I decided to go ahead and get a new battery from O’Reilly’s in Howell, but first we had to unhook the Honda Element from the bus. The car was filthy, having been towed at least 1,500 miles since it was last washed, but I stopped and got the new battery first and then went to the car wash just down the street on the same side of Grand River Avenue. I then went to the Meijer’s supermarket at Grand River Avenue and Latson Road and picked up a few things.

Linda started preparing dinner at 5:30 PM and was just about to put the pizza in the oven when Butch called. We chatted for about 15 minutes and he updated me on the removal of the radiator blowers and T-drive from their MCI MC-9 NJT bus. This assembly is above the engine and almost the width of the bus but they were able to get it out using their forklift. (It really is nice to have the right tools for the job.) Butch noticed last weekend that a lot of the oil had leaked out of the T-drive and figured it needed new shaft seals, at a minimum, and might need new bearings. With the assembly out of the bus Butch can conveniently do all of the needed work on a bench and repair/rebuild some other things while he is at it.

Our first dinner course was a nice salad with arugula and Italian kale. The pizza was one of our favorites, an Amy’s Roasted Vegetables with Caramelized Onions. By the time we were done eating it was almost time for our Tuesday evening CBS TV shows and I decided to replace the car battery tomorrow morning. I did, however, move the NAS and my computer to my office and connect them to power and the Netgear switch. To my great relief, the network interfaces on both devices still worked just fine. Clearly, the Amped|Wireles SR20000G wired network ports had failed although I still do not know why and probably never will.

The 2015-16 TV season is coming to an end so the season finales are now airing and they are all cliffhangers, of course. We went to bed at 11 PM, watched a rerun of Two and a Half Men, and a few minutes of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert before going to sleep.

2016/04/20 (W) Core Return

We love our bus, love being in the bus, and love the lifestyle the bus affords us. But we are not true gypsies at heart, and we also love our house and property. We like the anticipation of travel and the promise of new experiences, but we also like the comfort and stability of finally landing at home after a long voyage.

We slept in this morning and finally got up at 8 AM. Some things are the same regardless of whether we are at home or in the bus, and morning coffee is one of them. We were enjoying our morning brew when our son texted Linda to see if we were available to FaceTime. Of course we were! A short time later we were “face-to-face” with grand-daughter Madeline (and her parents).

Another constant is Linda’s homemade granola. She managed to make enough of it, and/or we managed to limit our consumption of it sufficiently over the winter, that we still had some left for breakfast this morning. We might have one or two more servings beyond today, but she will be shopping for ingredients and making a new batch very soon. She will also be making sure we have the necessary ingredients on hand to make vegan pancakes and vegan cupcakes as we anticipate an overnight visit with Madeline in the very near future.

After breakfast we got dressed and got to work. Linda called Alchin’s to restart our weekly trash pickup while I made a service appointment for the Honda Element. We checked our home phone messages. Only a handful of the 42 messages contained any actionable information. I made note of those details and then deleted all of them. I called Catamaran Home Delivery and ordered refills for two prescriptions. I then called Keith at Kish Lawn Care to see when he was planning on starting our mowing this season. Keith’s wife just had major surgery, and the grass has not grown much yet this spring, so the first cutting is probably still a couple of weeks away.

With our calls taken care of we turned our attention to replacing the 12V battery in Linda’s Honda Civic Hybrid. The nuts on the two threaded hold down rods were badly rusted and did not want to come loose so I sprayed them with WD-40 and let them sit for a while. I eventually got the nuts broken loose and backed off enough to remove the rods, but bent the retaining brackets in the process. I put the rods in my bench vise, and finished removing the nuts. We removed the old battery, transferred the anti-corrosion pads to the new battery, set it in place, and reinstalled the protective plastic 2-piece cover. We connected the vehicle cables and then connected the good battery charger to it to bring it to full charge before trying to start the car.

Back in the house Linda unloaded containers of water from the house refrigerator and then wiped it out. She then unloaded a few more things from the bus, including clothes and food. I texted Jim and Kristine Gullen to let them know we were back and then started researching small tractors and mobile Wi-Fi devices. Linda was getting ready to order an Instant Pot and a couple of 12VDC power adapters for our Rand-McNally GPS unit through Amazon and I suggested she look for the Burton portable induction cooker that we saw at Butch and Fonda’s place. The Suntunpen unit we have now works fine but the Burton unit has two advantages over it; a completely flat/smooth top and higher maximum power setting. She found it, added it to the cart, and placed the order.

Linda heated a can of Amy’s vegetable soup and we split it for lunch. I checked the battery charger and it said the battery was full so I put the old battery on the back seat floor and had Linda start the car. It started on the second try and she backed it out of the garage so I could get in. The hybrid battery was depleted and there was a red battery symbol illuminated on the instrument panel that we had never seen before so we got the Owner’s Manual out and looked it up. It either meant that the 12V battery was not charging or that the hybrid battery was drained below some threshold, or possibly both. We could see the charge level coming up on the hybrid battery so we waited and the battery warning light eventually turned off. Linda also noticed that the in-dash navigation system, having completely lost power, was requesting a security code to reactivity it. I found the code on a sticker inside the glove box and after Linda entered it the system returned to normal operation. When the hybrid battery charge indicator was above 50% she backed out of the driveway and we went on our errand run.

I was on Golf Club Road last night when I went to O’Reilly’s to get the new battery so I knew it was in rougher shape than usual. We took Hacker Road south instead which kept us on pavement. We headed back west on Grand River Avenue to O’Reilly’s to return the old battery and get the core charge refund. We then drove back east a short way to the drive-through car wash. Linda had not used it before and was unclear about its location. With the car all cleaned off we headed west again to Teeko’s Coffee and Tea to order some fresh roasted coffee beans. Jeff was there and roasted the beans while waited and enjoyed a cup of Sumatra Manhelding coffee. We got our usual Ethiopian Yirgacheffe half-caffe blend and decided to try a Costa Rican Terrazzu half-caffe blend.

We took the long way home, going back east on Grand River Avenue and then north on Hacker. The extra driving around gave the hybrid battery plenty of time to recharge and cycle up and down and kept our just-cleaned car mostly on paved roads.

Back at the house I backed my car up to the large garage door and unloaded everything inside in preparation for my 10 AM service appointment tomorrow at Brighton Honda. While I did that Linda unloaded a few more things from the bus. We had quite a few rocks on the concrete driveway, as a result of Kerry Fear plowing snow this past winter, so I swept them off with a push broom. We also had 6″ high ‘curbs’ at our three driveway entrances as a result of recent road grading, so I graded them out using a metal toothed rake.

By the time we finished those tasks we were ready to be done with physical work for the day. Linda decided to spend an hour or so studying the item pool for the ham radio Amateur Extra class license exam. I gathered up the laundry, took it to the laundry room, sorted it, and started a load. I then joined her on the back deck to work on blog posts for a while. By 4:30 PM it was a little chilly and we went inside. I took up my usual spot on one of the living room sofas and almost immediately Juniper (our female cat) was in my lap.

For dinner Linda made a nice salad with arugula, Italian kale, strawberries, and slivered almonds. The main course was pan-seared tofu with caramelized onions and barbecue sauce, served with a side of corn kernels. Yum. After dinner Linda wanted to go for a walk so we patrolled our street from one end to the other, which took about an hour.

Wednesday night is usually PBS night for TV but neither of us were in a TV watching mood. I went to my office for a while, checked in to RVillage, and changed our location. I then went to the WiFi Ranger website, downloaded some manuals, and opened a support ticket. Back upstairs I texted Joe Cannarozzi, our mobile mechanic, to arrange a time to call him and discuss brake work. I then called Mike (W8XH) to catch up on ham radio and SLAARC stuff and check on borrowing his trailer to transport our non-functional Cub Cadet Lawn tractor to Sloan’s for repair. By the time I wrapped up my conversation with Mike, Linda had gone to bed and was watching a program on PBS about a previous live broadcast from the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary called The Best of Big Blue Live. Linda fell asleep but I stayed up long enough to watch a rerun of Two and a Half Men and the first half hour of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert while working on this post. With the stroke of midnight came sleep.

2016/04/11–15 (M–F) Water Pumps on the Road Again

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2016/04/11 (M) Parts Run

I was up at 7:30 AM, so I slept over seven hours last night, and felt like I had slept well enough to take on the day I had ahead of me. I fed the cars, put fresh water in their bowl, and cleaned their litter tray. I also cleaned part of the shower as one of them has developed loose stools in the last couple of days and has not always made it to the tray in time. I moved the SunPass transponder, Garmin GPS, and my sunglasses to the car in preparation for my trip today. By the time I had done all those chores Linda was up and both used our iPads for a while. I was not going to make coffee this morning since I had a long drive ahead of me sometime today, but Linda wanted some so I made it and had some myself. We eventually had bagels for breakfast.

I called Action Mobile around 9 AM and talked to Service Manager John Provo. He expected my three brake calipers to be delivered between 10 AM and noon but that was just a guess on his part. Rather than make an issue of getting a more accurate ETA I decided I would leave at 10 AM for the two hour drive from Williston to Orlando. I went out after breakfast and unloaded most of the stuff in the back of the car and stored it on the picnic table. I then walked to the resort office to let them know we were expecting a package from Amazon today.

Just before 10 AM I wrote out a short grocery list as I planned to stop on my way back from Orlando at The Publix supermarket on US-27 by the Ocala exit (#354) of I-75. I took my iPad in case I needed to kill some time at Action Mobile, and actually left a little after 10 AM.

The trip down was smooth, with no traffic issues, and it was uneventful except for a text message from my sister asking me to call our broker and transfer funds for our dad. Based on when I received it the best I could do was pull into one the Florida Turnpike Service Areas closest to Orlando’s northwest corner and call the brokerage. The person I needed to speak to (Maggie) was on another call and I did not want to deal with a return call while driving so I left a message that I would call again when I got to my destination, which was still 20 minutes away barring any unforeseen traffic problems.

Traffic was thicker and a little slower as I neared Orlando but it moved along well enough and I reached Action Mobile just after noon. I called Maggie again and got her this time as she is in the Central Time Zone. Maggie is our broker’s office manager and is also a registered agent. We have an extremely good relationship with her and our broker, John, so we chatted briefly before I gave her the transaction details. I then texted my sister back to let her know I had taken care of her request.

I went inside and found John P. (the Service Manager). The parts were not there yet so he called Rex at Rush Trucking to check on them. Rex said they should have been there and made a call. Not too long after that a white can showed up and the driver unloaded three Meritor boxes of the right size, shape, and apparent weight, and took off.

It occurred to me that I should check the parts before paying the balance and taking off myself so I opened all three boxes. I was expecting one of the castings to have an “L” in the casting number and the other two to have an “R” in the casting number, but all three had “L”s and that caused me some concern. I also noticed that one of the calipers had both grease fittings broken. John P. called Rex back and Rex explained the Left and Right calipers used the same (“L”) casting. The difference was in the helical drive shaft and gear inside, and difference was reflected in the part number on the box label. The left side caliper part number began with “A 1” while the right side caliper began with “A 2.” (The shaft for the calipers on the left side of the bus rotate clockwise, as viewed from the end where the slack adjuster attaches, while the calipers for the right side rotate counterclockwise.)

Rather than have Action Mobile remove and replace the damaged grease fittings Rex had a different left caliper sent over as he did not want to risk a small piece of debris falling inside the mechanism. When the driver dropped it off I checked the label and the grease fittings. There were OK, so he put the damaged one in his van and left.

While I was waiting I called Butch and gave him the information on how the left and right calipers were labeled. He is working with someone at ABC Bus in Muncie, Indiana, who is working with someone at Rockwell-Meritor, who says we can still get these parts with a 45 to 60 day lead time. I’m guessing that these are also rebuilt/remanufactured calipers, not new ones, but at this point in time we don’t really know. He was quoted a price that was $200 less per caliper than I paid, but I have mine now, not two months from now; if in fact I could get them.

Bill, the mechanic who fixed our left tag axle brake last week, was taking his lunch break so we got to chat a bit. John D. (the owner) was also around so we also got to chat for a little while. I was running behind the schedule I had hoped to keep, so I loaded the three boxes into my car and went inside to pay the balance of the bill. A quick chat with the billing clerk, Lisa, and I was on my way back to Williston. It was 1:30 PM and I figured I would be back by 4 PM, including my stop at Publix.

I stopped at the Florida’s Turnpike Turkey Lake Service Area for some lunch but just ended up getting a frozen coffee thing at Dunkin Donuts. Traffic moved along nicely all the way onto northbound I-75. I had just passed exit 341 and was just 13 miles short of exit 354, when traffic came to a complete standstill. The backup stretched as far as I could see in front of me and the flurry of emergency response vehicles driving up both shoulders meant there had been a serious accident somewhere up ahead.

It took at least an hour to reach the accident scene, where police had closed all three lanes of the highway. All of that of traffic, which included two lanes of nose-to-tail tractor-trailers, had to funnel onto the right shoulder to get around the blockage. The accident looked really bad and appeared to have involved at least a motorcycle, a large Suburban-like vehicle, and a utility trailer. There may have been other vehicles involved that I did not see as I drove past or that had already been moved, although I doubted that. There was no sign of the people involved and I presume they had already been transported from the scene by ambulances or helicopters.

Once I was past the accident I had clear sailing the rest of the way, but from the accident scene north the southbound lanes of I-75 were also completely stopped. There were also emergency vehicles on the southbound side of the highway, but it did not appear that any of the accident was over there. I exited I-75 at exit 354 (Ocala, Williston), made a left onto US-27, and pulled into the strip mall on the right where the Publix supermarket is located.

I took my short list of grocery items and went in. In an unusual move for me I found everything on my list except for one item and did not buy anything that wasn’t on my list. The only thing I could not get was fresh blueberries, which is odd because just today I had seen billboards advertising the Florida Blueberry Festival as running from April 11 – 16 in a town nearby. Maybe all of the available blueberries were being routed to the festival?

I was back at our rig around 5:10 PM. After getting the groceries inside, I turned my attention to reloading the car. My first task was to transfer the new (to me) A1/Left caliper to the box the DS tag axle caliper came in last week as the box the new caliper came in was in very bad condition. Linda found our roll of bubble wrap under the bed and I used pieces to protect the grease fittings on the top of each of the three new (to me) calipers. (I say “new (to me)” because I believe the four calipers I have purchased are all rebuilt, and possibly even remanufactured.)

With that taken care of, I moved a couple of low boxes from the picnic table to the car and put them on the floor behind the two calipers that were behind the driver’s seat. I then moved the tire covers from the front passenger seat and put them on top of the boxes. The covers are a soft nylon mesh material which I figured would provide additional protection for the grease fittings.

We disassembled the damaged box to get flat cardboard pieces to use as a cushioning layer on top of the two caliper boxes that I had put inside the wooden storage structure. The reason for all of this was that I had to store other boxes on top of the caliper boxes and, having received one that had damaged grease fittings, wanted to make sure I was not responsible for causing similar damage. I had already taken the precaution yesterday of moving heavier items to the front bay of the bus, leaving lighter items for the car.

With the car repacked I opened the box from Amazon, which Linda said arrived around 10:30 AM, to verify that it was the correct Shur-Flo 4048 fresh water pump. It was the correct box so I left it at that and we went for a long, slow walk around the resort. When we concluded our walk we sat outside for a while and doodled on our iPads. John and Ali returned around 6:30 PM. As we suspected, they had gone out to dinner. We presumed they had gone to The Blue Highway, but they had gone to The Olive Garden in Gainesville instead.

For dinner Linda made sandwiches with vegan deli slices and lots of greens, kind of like a salad on a bun, and sliced up a Honey Crisp apple. It was a simple, easy meal, but it was all good. As the hour approached 8 PM and the light faded we went next door to visit with John and Ali. Earlier in the day John had taken one of his propane tanks over to be refilled but the person responsible for that task had not taken care of it. When he tried to light the propane firepit it would not ignite. We could smell the gas, and hear the spark, but if the tank was near empty it probably did not have enough pressure to make it work. No problem; the conversation, if not the “mood,” was just as good without the fire.

It was a warm, still evening and there were more bugs out than the last few nights. Everyone was tired by 10 PM and we all retired to our own rigs. We watched the end of NCIS-LA and the beginning of the news and then went to bed. I watched the beginning of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to see Steve Martin and Edie Brickel, and then went to sleep. Although I had not really done very much it had been another long, and somewhat stressful, day.

2016/04/12 (T) Water Pump Up

I got up at 7:30 AM and quietly took care of the cats’ food, water, and litter tray. I measured out the beans for our morning coffee but waited to grind them until Linda was up. I updated my spreadsheet for GLCC parking at the upcoming FMCA GLAMARAMA16 rally in June and then continued working on my blog post for yesterday. When Linda got up at 8 AM I finished making the coffee. We then spent a couple of hours engaged in our usual morning routine of using our iPads while enjoying our coffee and having granola with fresh strawberries for breakfast.

By 10 AM we were dressed and I got to work replacing the fresh water pump. The pump is a Shur-Flo 4048-153-E75. It is a 4 GPM (max), 55 PSI (max), self-priming, 12 VDC pump with thermal overload protection and the ability to run dry without damage (although our friends, Butch and Fonda, discovered that it cannot do this for an extended period of time). Shurflo also makes this pump in 24 VDC and 120 VAC versions. I am seriously considering adding a 120 VAC pump to the water system when I redo the utility bay, but I would like something a bit more robust. I seem to recall that Chuck has a Paragon AC powered pump in their Liberty conversion and it impressed me as a very serious piece of equipment.

Since the new water pump was an exact replacement for the failed one installation was very straightforward. I shut off the incoming fresh water line as a precaution and had Linda make sure the pump power was switched off. I then disconnected the two power leads which I had wired using mating insulated spade connectors. There are two fresh water supply lines, each of which gas a 1/4 turn shutoff valve, so I closed those. (The conversion had two domestic water pumps plumbed in parallel when we first bought it. I replaced them with a single 4048 and removed the surge tank at that time as Shur-Flo recommended not using one with the 4048 pump.) The threaded water line connections to the pump are plastic and only hand tightened, so were dealt with easily. Before removing them I got a towel to absorb the water that was inevitably going to drain out of the lines. Once the lines were off I removed the four screws that secured the unit to the floor through the rubber shock mounts. The unit was now completely disconnected and I was able to remove it.

The new and old water pumps along with tool boxes and other stuff needed to make the repair.

Installing the new unit was basically a matter of reversing the steps just described, more or less. I needed to attach the proper insulated spade connectors to the power wires on the new pump. I found my spade lug kit and even though I had a variety of connectors I did not have the ones I needed. Fortunately there is a NAPA Auto Parts Store very close to Williston Crossings RV Resort and auto parts stores are an excellent place to find a large variety of spade connectors. It’s walking distance to the store, but I drove there to save time. I bought several different packs to make sure I had what I needed.

Back at the bus I prepared the power leads and set the new unit in place. I connected the water lines first as it was easier with the unit loose. I connected the power leads and then screwed the unit to the floor. The new pump came with a strainer and adapter fittings. I used the new strainer bowl to replace the old one, in which I found little curly queues of plastic. I opened the two shutoff valves and then had Linda turn on the power to the pump and open the kitchen faucet so that both the hot and cold lines were open. The unit came to life and water flowed, albeit with a sputter until all of the air was out of the lines. With that, the water pump problem was fixed and I cleaned up the work area and put my tools away.

Next on my task list was checking tire pressures. I really did not want to check all 12 tires with the digital gauge so I turned on the TireTraker TT-400 TPMS and waited 20 minutes for the readings to update. Although the sensors are not “dead on” accurate they are close enough to let me know if a tire has lost enough air to require topping up. They all appeared to be OK so I did not have to get out the air-compressor and air hose.

Barring any further unforeseen circumstances this was our last planned night in Florida for the 2015-16 winter season. We wanted to go to Satchel’s in Gainesville for pizza one last time. We decided to have an early dinner and take care of a couple of errands so we left at 2 PM. Our first stop was at the Kangaroo filling station for gasoline. Our next stop was Pet Supplies Plus in the Archer Road mega strip mall shopping complex. We also stopped at the CVS pharmacy in the same complex and then drove to Satchel’s on the east side of town.

Although it was a lovely afternoon, weather wise, we chose to sit inside. At Satchel’s we had our usual meal; an excellent salad and a pizza with mushroom, onion, sun-dried tomato, and Daiya non-dairy cheese. It is, quite simply, one of the three or four best pizzas we have ever had, and it is vegan! We got their largest pie and brought most of it home.

When we got back to Williston Crossings John and Ali were not around and we figured they had gone out to dinner again. Happy hour usually takes place at Jeff and Kathy’s 5th wheel so we walked down there to visit for a while. John and Ali eventually returned and as evening fell over the resort we went next door to sit around their propane campfire and visit. Smitty made a large bowl of popcorn popped in peanut oil and lightly salted with Hawaiian sea salt. Yum. Note for T 20160412 blog post. Jim and Janet Rawley came over to John and Ali’s site to visit and John played his guitar and sang for a while. Jim’s professional name is “Sonny Fox” and he was a big time rock ‘n roll D. J. during the ear when radio stations started playing “album rock.” Jim quizzed me about my musical background and the first record (45 or LP) that I bought but I had no recollection of that.

We returned to our rig just before 10 PM and were in bed, with the lights out, by 10:30 as we planned to pull out of our site around 7 AM in the morning. Tomorrow we head north and leave Florida.

2016/04/13 (W) Unbalanced Travel

I set an alarm for 6:20 AM and we got up at 6:30 and got dressed. Today was a travel day so we did not have coffee or breakfast. While we prepared the interior of the coach for travel I encountered a problem with the 12 VDC charging plug for the Rand McNally TripMaker RVND 7710 GPS unit. A small threaded plastic insert, which holds the spring-loaded +12V center contact, had broken and could not be repaired on short notice (if at all). The two lower 12 VDC “cigarette lighter” outlets were dead again and it occurred to me that the failed plug might have been responsible for shorting the outlet and blowing the supply fuse last Wednesday. Not realizing this at the time, and desperate to get the GPS back into service, I vaguely recall having plugged it into one of the upper outlets and probably shorted it out too. I replaced all of the blown fuses last Wednesday but did not realize at that time what the root cause was and was rather perplexed by the failure, which reoccurred on the lower pair of outlets.

I removed the R-M GPS from its usual mounting position (on the driver side lower windshield next to the center pillar and resting on the top of the dashboard cover) and set it aside and I installed the Garmin 465T GPS unit in its place. I took care of the remaining outside tasks of disconnecting/storing the shorepower cord, connecting the chassis batteries, and opening the auxiliary air supply valve for the engine accessories. Linda moved the car to another site so it was out of the way as I started the bus motor and aired up the chassis (brakes and suspension). She then spotted for clearance from obstructions as I slowly and carefully pulled out of our site.

We wanted to be on the road at 7 AM but it was about 10 minutes past the hour when I finally pulled out of the site. Our friend and neighbor, John (Smitty) Smith, was up and outside to wave goodbye, which was nice. I proceeded north through the resort on Covered Bridge Road and Linda followed in the car. We drove through the covered bridge, for which the road is named, and stopped just short of the north bath/laundry building to hook up the car for towing. There are no park model trailers or RV sites close to this location, so we knew we could hookup here without bothering anyone. With the car attached we double checked the settings and then did our light check. Everything was OK so Linda got into the coach and we set our destination in the Garmin GPS unit.

We finished our slow roll through the RV resort, out the back/northwest gate, and pulled out onto FL-121 headed northeast towards Gainesville. About two miles from I-75 we encountered stop-n-go traffic. The morning rush hour in Gainesville was underway and was something we had not previously experienced.

Linda kept a close eye on our tire pressures and temperatures, especially the driver side tag axle, as we rolled along. We stopped at the Pilot station at Exit 460 and took on 60 gallons of diesel fuel. That was our last stop until we got to the end of our trip for the day. I would have liked to note here that the trip was uneventful but, alas, that was not the case.

The drive up I-75 through northern Florida and southern Georgia is generally an easy one, without any serious grades to climb or descend, attractive enough scenery, and reasonable traffic volumes except during the April 1st northward snowboard migration. As we got to the Macon, Georgia area and then on up to Atlanta, traffic was heavier but moved along. Somewhere along the way the Battery Balance (BAL) light came on, flickering at first but then staying on. Not good.

The Battery Balance light is controlled by a Vanner Battery Monitor Module and is supposed to indicate that the “12V” center tap on the battery bank is not within +/- 0.75 VDC of 1/2 of the voltage between the “24V” terminal and ground. The relationship of these voltages is supposed to be regulated by a pair of Vanner Voltmaster Battery Equalizers. It is normal for this light to come on occasionally, especially when starting the motor, but it is not normal for it to come on and stay on. Assuming the monitor module is not defective, it means the 12V center tap is out of tolerance with respect to the 24V terminal and implies that the Vanner equalizers are not doing their job. Ugh.

Having the yellow Battery Balance (caution) light come on immediately added stress to the trip but when the red Hi/Low Battery (warning) light came on the stress level went way up. This light is also controlled by the Vanner Battery Monitor Module and is (supposed to be) activated if the voltage at the “24V” terminal (relative to ground) is less than 24V or more than 30V. Voltages outside the 24 – 30 VDC range could indicate a malfunction of the voltage regulator and/or engine-mounted alternator. Either one would be a problem that could put the bus on the side of the road as the engine is controlled by a computer that is powered by the chassis battery 12 V center tap.

The normal full-charge resting voltage of a “24V” lead-acid battery is 25.2 VDC (12 cells in series at 2.1 volts per cell) and the normal voltage at the 24V terminal with the motor running is around 28 VDC, so the 24 – 30 VDC range is a reasonable one. I also have 24V and 12V analog battery voltage gauges in the dashboard that are connected to the batteries independent of the Vanner Battery Voltage Monitor Module. While they would also show high or low voltage conditions, and, by comparison, a battery imbalance condition, it is appropriate to have warning lights to get your immediate attention as you might not notice the gauges for a while. What was odd about this situation was that the 24V gauge was sitting at about the 29V position and the 12V gauge was sitting at about the 14V position. I knew these gauges worked because they do not always show these readings, but I did not know if the readings were accurate. They are, however, close to what I normally see, and they do not usually result in caution or warning lights.

We left I-75 (GA) at exit 296, Cassville-White Road, drove 0.2 miles east to the Pilot truck stop, and got in a long to wait for a pump. When it was finally our turn I added 92 gallons of diesel fuel. From the truck stop we drove west back towards I-75 and continued 0.5 miles on the other side of the highway before turning left into the Cartersville Castle-White KOA. Linda was hearing and speaking well enough by now to be able to register us, which is normally her job. We were escorted to a water/electric pull-through site in the center of the park with less than ideal access but I was able to get in and park the bus. We leveled as best we could, shut off the engine, batteries, and air and then plugged in the shorepower and turned it on.

Linda made a really good salad for dinner and we each had a piece of leftover pizza, slightly warmed. Yum. After dinner I made calls to Joe Cannarozzi, Ed Roelle, and Butch Williams and sent a text to Pat and Vickie Lintner. Joe was working on a coach in Williamston, Michigan and was looking for a local facility that could service the over-the-road air-conditioning system. Ed has been around converted buses in Michigan for a long time so I contacted him to see if he had any suggestions for Joe. We went for a long walk around the campground during which I had a long chat with my sister. When we got back to our coach I exchanged text messages with Smitty back at Willison Crossings RV Resort.

Our TV options were limited but we were able to get PBS, so we watched whatever was on. We planned to pullout out of our site at 7 AM, which meant we had to be up around 6:15. Not that we have that much to do, but we do not like to rush through our morning routine. We were in bed with the lights out by 11 PM.

2016/04/14 (R) A Relatively Smooth Run

There was a possibility of rain last night so we closed all of the roof vents and narrowed the window openings before we went to bed. I set the alarm on my phone last night for 6:15 AM this morning, but I was aware of the rain, and woke up around 4 AM when I heard one of the cats making a strange noise. I wanted to turn on the electric engine block heater anyway so I got up and did that, checked on the cats (they were fine), and went back to bed. I tried to go back to sleep without complete success.

We finally got up to stay at 6:30 AM and got dressed. I had an e-mail from Gary at BCM that needed a reply and cc:d Dave Aungier. I also texted Dave as he was who Gary needed to contact. I shut down all of the technology and packed up my computer while Linda cleaned off counters and secured windows. The car was already connected for towing so we just had to go through the towing procedure and double check it. I disconnected and stowed the shorepower cable, connected the chassis batteries, and opened the air valves in the engine bay. I started the engine and we did the light check while the chassis aired up. Since it was 7 AM we tried to avoid idling any longer than necessary before pulling out.

We were in an angled water/electric site in the middle of the campground with fairly tight ingress and egress. I raised the tag axle so shorten the turning radius and pulled out while Linda kept an eye on the driver side front corner. I had to get the driver side nose of our coach fairly close the passenger side rear corner of the 5th wheel trailer directly in front of our site in order to get our passenger side rear end and toad to clear a tree on our site and a post near the road on the next site to our passenger side. I also had to avoid the rear end of the next 5th wheel trailer and the picnic table in-between them. Fun.

Without being over-confident, I think I have gotten a lot better at maneuvering the bus in tight situations. That skill has come with some good teaching, some practice, and at the expense of two mistakes that caused some damage, but it certainly paid off this morning. Once I was cleanly out of our site and into the road I stopped and put the tag axle down. Linda got on board and we rolled slowly out of the center of the campground and headed for the exit. We stopped before exiting so Linda could find Juniper. We knew she was onboard, but we wanted visual confirmation before pulling out. Linda found her under one of the living room captain’s chairs, and we were on our way.

We recharged the Rand-McNally GPS last night using a 12 V car outlet splitter with USB ports and a compatible USB cable that I borrowed from the Sony a99v DSLT camera. Linda turned it on and entered the address of today’s destination to verify that the unit was working. It was, so I set it up on the dashboard by the windshield center pillar so it was ready to go this morning.

Our route took us north on the final 70 miles of I-75 in Georgia to Chattanooga, Tennessee where we headed northwest on I-24. I-24 was mostly in Tennessee, but dipped back into Georgia briefly as it swung around the southern side of a mountain. Unless you head far to the west on I-10 before turning north, there isn’t a practical way to get back to Michigan from Florida without crossing mountains.

As you head north from Florida on I-75 the ground rises steadily. As you approach Atlanta it starts to get hilly, and that continues north of town all the way to Tennessee. As soon as you head west on I-24 you are perpendicular to mountain ridges running SW to NE. The highway winds around these ranges, sticking to valleys as much as possible, but inevitably there comes a point where it simply has to go over the top. And so it did. I think the grade was at least five miles long, perhaps seven, with lots of turns but nothing I would call a switchback. The road surface was excellent with wide lanes and truck lanes. The grade was just steep enough that I had to climb it in 4th gear doing around 50 MPH at 2000 RPM with 14 to 15 PSI of turbo boost. With cool outside air the engine coolant temperature never rose above 195 degrees F, which is its normal operating temperature (on the gauge) and I was very pleased with the way the bus ran. Replacing the turbo boost sensor tube last year was no doubt partly responsible for this performance.

The temperature was in the low 50’s when we left the Cartersville Castle-White KOA around 7:15 AM and we ran through cool temperatures under overcast skies, with intermittent drizzle and fog, all the way over the mountains in southwest Tennessee. Once we were on the northwest side of the mountains the cloud cover started to break up and reveal patches of blue sky. Somewhere southeast of Nashville we encountered our last raindrops and by the time we merged onto northbound I-65 we had clear, blue skies. Traveling “north” from late morning to early afternoon we had the sun at our backs, making for a comfortable cockpit without using the air-conditioning.

I was concerned about the issue we had yesterday with the Battery Balance (BAL) telltale caution light and the Hi/Low Battery (Voltage) telltale warning light and presumed it would reoccur today. In order to reduce the chance of that happening again today I tried to minimize the power draw from the +12 VDC center tap of the chassis batteries and perhaps cause an imbalance between the upper and lower halves of the battery bank. To that end I did not use the cockpit HVAC fan and kept the headlights off as much as possible.

We had a pretty smooth run all the way to and through Nashville. Pat and Vickie had alerted us to “construction on I-65” but were not more specific. North of Nashville we encountered a major construction project that lasted for at least 20 miles. Traffic flow, however, was very smooth if a bit slower than normal posted speeds. As we approached Louisville we saw signs announcing major construction ahead and advising I-283W as an alternate route. We were less than 15 miles from our destination and needed to take the second exit just after the bridge so we rejected the alternate route suggestion and stayed on I-65. The construction was, indeed, major—the reconstruction of a bridge over the Ohio River—but we made it through without having to stop. The campground website had very specific and detailed directions on how to exit I-65 and we followed them instead of the GPS. We were momentarily confused after exiting, never a good thing when driving a bus in an urban area, but we were in the right place and made the last couple of turns to get to the Clarksville KOA campground without difficulty.

Linda checked in at the office and the woman at the desk lead us to a pull-through site that was very easy to get into but might be challenging to exit in the morning. We were sitting level without having to adjust anything so I shut off the engine and we went through our usual arrival routines. Linda then walked over to the office and finished registering us.

We walked the park, which was not large, and scoped out our departure route and any possible problems. The sites here are closely spaced, the roads are a little narrow, and some campers are parked with their vehicles sticking part way out into the road. Some of the people camped here appeared to be younger men who were itinerant workers. As such, we suspected they might be gone in their cars before we pulled out in the morning. If so, we will probably get out OK without having to unhook the car, but I doubt that we will ever return here. While the location is convenient to I-65 and Louisville, the park itself is not worth the $50 a night they charge. If not for the location, it wouldn’t be worth half of that.

We did not plan to unhook the car to explore the area and there did not appear to be anywhere to walk although Vickie had texted us that we were only a half mile from the river and there was, in fact, a nice walk down to there. Even so, we were tired and perfectly content to retire to our coach, have dinner, and watch our favorite Thursday evening CBS comedy shows. We went to bed at 11 PM as we planned to be on the road at 7 AM so we could be at Butch and Fonda’s home in Twelve Mile, Indiana before noon.

2016/04/15 (F) Back In Twelve Mile Again

I set the alarm on my smartphone last night for 6:30 AM this morning. Like last night, I woke up around 4 AM, turned on the engine block heater (electrical), and tried to go back to sleep. I was awake again before 6:30 and the alarm was just my signal to actually get out of bed and get dressed. Linda woke up with the alarm and was also up and dressed fairly quickly.

As usual for a travel day, we did not make coffee or have breakfast and instead set about preparing the coach for travel. I had turned off my computer last night so all I had to do was pack it up. We also left the car and bus connected together, so all we had do was check the connections and go through the towing procedure. I turned the block heater and Aqua-Hot electric heating element off, disconnected the shorepower cord and stowed it, opened the auxiliary air supply valves, and started the main engine. We did a light check while the chassis aired up and then Linda climbed aboard.

I was concerned about getting our rig out of the small, tight site and through the narrow interior gravel roads of the campground, but our neighbor’s to the left moved their truck before they went to bed last night and the guy directly in front of us on the other side of the street left in his car just before 7 AM, presumably to go to work. That meant I had plenty of space to pull forward and to turn to the left, which is the direction the site was angled. By 7:25 AM we were exiting the park and on our way to Twelve Mile, Indiana.

Although we had less than 200 miles to travel today, I-65 continued to be one long construction zone with lots of very rough surfaces which made for more difficult and tiring driving. In-between Clarksville and Twelve Mile was Indianapolis, so that meant major urban traffic. “Indy” is a major shipping hub with a good, but extensive highway system. I-465 circles the metro area while I-65, I-69, I-70, and I-74 all tie into it, along with several U.S. highways. The speed limit is 55 MPH and most drivers seemed to obey it, which made for easier urban driving, but there was still a LOT of traffic.

As we got on the north side of town headed west we were looking to exit onto US-31 north. The GPS told me to exit at Keystone Avenue and turn right onto the relatively new Keystone Parkway, which bypasses the initial stretch of US-31 before joining it some miles farther north. Fortunately I spotted a sign before exiting the highway that said vehicles over 19,000 pounds GVW were not allowed on the Parkway. Also fortunate was that I knew the exit for US-31 was only a couple of more miles ahead and was a perfectly acceptable place for us to get off of I-465. I had not been this way in a while and discovered, to our pleasant surprise, that it is a completely new, limited-access highway heading northbound. Sweet.

We handled the situation smoothly and without too much consternation, but it was concerning that our GPS tried to direct us onto a road for which we were too heavy by more than double. That had us wondering if the RV characteristics parameters were not set correctly, and perhaps got reset when I updated the unit while we were at Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort, but now was not the time to check all of that. This is a relatively recently rebuilt roadway, and it was been my experience with both GPS units that the map updates do not include these newer roads.

Another possibility was that the Indiana Highway Department has not updated the state road database as that is where Rand-McNally (and other mapping companies) get the information for their road maps. I encountered this a while back when traveling US-24 from Peru, Indiana to Defiance, Ohio. Even though my GPS database was up to date, it had no knowledge of the new construction between Ft. Wayne, Indiana and Defiance. The same us still true of the new stretch of US-31 running south from US-20 for many miles even though it has been open for quite a while. The State highway departments are responsible for updating the database that the GPS/mapping companies use. If they do not update the database there isn’t much the GPS/mapping companies can do.

Indiana has made major improvements to US-31 over the last 3 to 4 years, building whole new limited access sections. Besides the section coming south from US-20 and the section going north out of Indianapolis, there is one that now bypasses Kokomo. The older sections are four lane divided but have grade crossings and occasional traffic signals. They are posted at 60 MPH and traffic is usually light and moves along well.

All-in-all we had an easy final leg from Indy up to State Road 16 and west into Twelve Mile. At 11 AM, just 3-1/2 hours after we pulled out of the Clarksville KOA we were back in Twelve Mile again. We pulled into the gravel driveway for the grain elevator, which is not in use this time of year, to unhook the car. The driveway is exactly opposite where I park the bus when it is here and positions me to basically back across SR-16 into our spot next to Butch and Fonda’s bus. Linda spotted for me as I backed across SR-16 and into our spot. I leveled the coach, shut off the engine, and took care of the exterior arrival tasks while Linda took care of the interior ones.

Butch and Fonda did not come out of the house and we were not sure they were home. We usually have a very poor Verizon signal when the bus is parked in this spot, and today was no exception, but I was able to get our Verizon Mi-Fi online. About that time Butch and Fonda came out to check on us and we visited for a while. We had not knocked on the door because we knew there was a possibility they might not be home when we arrived.

Butch needed to be at a local county fairgrounds at 5 PM to help set up a large room for a hamfest tomorrow. Fonda was reviewing for the General Class license exam, so Linda studied her Amateur Extra Class flash cards with Fonda while Butch and I went to the do the set up. The hamfest was an annual joint event put on by four county amateur radio clubs. After the tables were all set I helped Butch carry in all of the stuff from his truck and arrange it on three adjacent tables. When we were done, and there was nothing else to do, we returned to Twelve Mile.

It was 6:30 PM by the time we got back and we decided to go out for dinner even though the options for us are very limited. We drove to Rochester hoping to eat at a Mexican restaurant but it was closed (permanently). We ended up at Tweedle Dee’s instead, mostly because they have a salad bar. We were the last diners to leave and only then because they needed to run the vacuum cleaner which cut off any chance of Linda hearing any further conversation. We stopped at Butch and Fonda’s new (to them) house on IN-25 in Metea but Butch did not have the key with him so we did not get to go inside.

By the time we got back to Twelve Mile we were all tired. Butch and Fonda had to be up very early to go to the hamfest so they signed their tax returns, got them ready to mail, and brought them to our bus for Linda to mail in the morning. I planned to go to the hamfest too, but not first thing in the morning. I also wanted to take our car so I could come back to Twelve Mile before the hamfest ended at 1 PM.

Our series of equipment failures seems to be continuing as I was unable to get the Amped|Wireless SR20000G router/network-extender to recognize any hard wired devices. I tried plugging in both my computer and our NAS to all five of the ports but none of them responded to either device. It’s unlikely that the wired networking had failed on both the computer and the NAS so the failure of the SR20000G is the more likely cause. The SR20000G’s wireless networks are still working but the loss of the wired ports means I cannot access the NAS. Fortunately we will be home in a few days and I can try to sort this out in the comfort of my office.

Being tired, and with no TV reception, we were in bed by 10:30 PM and I was asleep by 11 with no alarm set for the morning.

2016/04/01-05 (F-T) J-P-Shuffle CCAFS Farewell Celebration

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2016/04/01 (F) The J. P. Shuffle

Linda was up before me and got to see one of the cruise ships come in at 6:20 AM. She said it was all lit up and quite a sight. I got out of bed at 8:20 AM and made coffee. Linda prepared toast and jam for breakfast and gave each of us half of an orange.

I finished up my post for yesterday, worked on this one, and then noticed that an iOS 9.3.1 update was available for the Apple iOS 9.3 update that I installed Wednesday evening and Linda installed last night. It was only 18 MB but still took a long time to download and install.

Today was April Fool’s Day and time for us to once again do “the Jetty Park shuffle.” I have checked at least once, and often twice, each day to see if an appropriate full hookup site had become available through cancellation for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, but it had not. Around 10 AM I walked to the office to check one last time. Scott Ward was the JP staff person on duty and was very helpful but a site was just not available. He was able, however, to put us on site #357 for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night’s. I shortened our stay on site #3 to two nights and paid the balance for the one night.

Site #3 is a water only site, no electricity and no sewer connection, and the rules say that NO pets are allowed in that section, which is right along the channel and outside the regular fenced campground. The staff was aware, however, that we have two cats onboard and let us have the site anyway. We do not ever want them to escape, but especially here.

Our generator can produce more power than we can get from a “50 Amp” RV electrical connection, so not having electricity is not really a problem. The only real downsides, other than having to move, are that we can feel, hear, and sometimes smell the generator. We also had a problem with a circuit breaker for its cooling fan last winter. I made a temporary fix to it but have never fixed it permanently. We also do not like to leave the genset running when we are away from the coach, such as will be the case on Saturday morning.

I selected/processed three photos of the manatees we saw on Tuesday at Merritt Island National Wildlife a Refuge and e-mailed them to Pat and Vickie. I then replied to a couple of e-mails from Gary at Bus Conversion Magazine. By this time it was 11 AM so we prepared the bus, inside and out, to be moved. With all of the Windows and roof vents closed it warmed up quickly inside even with a lot of the coach in the shade. When I turned the ignition key the engine turned over but would not catch and my heart just sank.

I really like this bus, but I have grown weary of the uncertainty of whether things will work when needed. I turned the ignition key off and rechecked the transmission selector and parking brake settings. I also switched the suspension out of Level Low to drive mode although that should not have mattered. With the ignition key turned to the ‘ON’ position the 12 V chassis battery seemed a little low and a red light flashed a few times on the transmission selector, so I turned the key off, went to the outside battery disconnect switches, and turned both the 12V and 24V disconnects off and then back on.

Back in the driver’s seat I tried again. Normally the engine only turns over a few times before it fires. This time I let it turn for four or five seconds and it finally started. If I had any sense I would have driven it to the W. W. Williams Detroit Diesel service center in Orlando, but I moved it to site #3 at J. P. instead.

Our coach in Site #3 at Jetty Park & Campground, Cape Canaveral, FL. This is the “water only” camping by the shipping channel. All of these rigs are parked facing north towards the channel. It’s a great spot to watch the ships come and go.

To get from site #358 to site #3 I had to exit the fenced campground and drive around the east end of the park past the beach parking, concession building, and playground and then west along the edge of the shipping channel and around to the back row of the water only sites, all of which face the shipping channel. As such it was a long drive to get to a site we could see from the one we just vacated.

We left the car at site #358 temporarily and Linda rode along in the bus. I made the whole trip in 1st gear, to keep the RPMs up, and turned on the OTR A-C, both to cool the interior of the coach and to put more load on the engine and help get it up temperature. I did not pull the tag axle up as we had walked the park/campground enough to know that I did not need to make any really tight turns. When I was mostly into position on site #3 Linda got out and spotted the final position of the rear end. These channel-side sites slope down towards the channel (facing north) and the back row sites get steeper the farther off the back off the site you go. I wanted to pull forward just enough to get our tow bar clear of the access road behind the site and Linda accomplished that with an inch or two to spare.

I left the engine running and switched it to high idle to run the OTR air-conditioning. While Linda went back to get our car I got out the step stool and awning pole and deployed all four awnings. I then started the Genset to make sure it was going to run and produce electricity. I also thought we might run the residential air-conditioners. When Linda returned with our car she wanted to open up the coach so I shut off the OTR bus A-C, dropped the engine idle to low, and let it idle for a couple of minutes before shutting off the engine. I left the genset on for the time being.

Both of our systems had been reacting to what we had eaten the last few days so we passed on lunch and just hung around our new site which was, in fact, very pleasant with a view of the water in the channel and the high ground of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the opposite bank.

Our driver side neighbors stopped to chat on their way to the beach and let us know that they had just spotted dolphins in the channel. I walked over and caught a glimpse of several arching repeatedly out of the water but by the time Linda got there they had submerged and not resurfaced. Given where we are parked we should have a good chance to see dolphins and view cruise ships coming and going from the Port.

Linda made a cold garbanzo bean salad for dinner last night. After dinner I was trying to get us connected to the park Wi-Fi system but could not maintain the connection or get us logged in. I tried using our Verizon Mi-Fi but could not get the WiFi Ranger to work with it. I tried to reconfigure the Amped|Wireless router to work directly with the Mi-Fi but there were problems with that as well. At one point my ASUS notebook computer decided that it could not detect any Wi-Fi networks even thought it had two of them sitting within a couple feet of it. I got disgusted with the whole situation, shut everything off, and we went for a walk.

Linda waves to the Disney “Magic” cruise ship as it heads out to sea from Port Canaveral, FL. There is always a crowd along the channel to wave the cruise ships in and out.

We walked over to Pat and Vickie’s coach and Vickie joined us. We headed to the beach where we enjoyed a very brisk breeze until lightning to the southwest signaled that it was time to return to the safety of our rigs or one of the park buildings. We headed back past the playground area towards our coach and Vickie split off for the gate in the campground fence that provided the most direct access to her site.

Back at our site we closed up the coach against the humidity and coming storm. I then started the auxiliary powerplant (genset) and turned on the air conditioners. Not long after that it started to rain, lightly at first, but it eventually became very heavy for a while before finally moving offshore.

With the A-C’s running I was reminded that I need to change some of the AC circuits in the main panel. The front and middle air-conditioners are on different legs of the AC power system, front on L1 and middle on L2. That makes sense as we would normally want to run both of them at the same time to cool the front half of the bus (living, cooking, office space) when we are awake and using the bus. The 3rd/bedroom A-C has to go on one of the two legs and either one could create load balancing issues. Unfortunately, the middle A-C unit is not currently producing any cooling.

To make matters worse, the charger section of our Magnum 4024 inverter/charger also draws its power from L1. Again, it had to go somewhere, but the current configuration tends to put too much load on L1 and not enough on L2. Even though the genset is oversized for our electrical needs an imbalance between L1 and L2 is still a problem because it is set up as a 240 VAC unit with a 240 VAC voltage regulator. Although it has an active neutral, allowing it to supply 120 VAC to both L1 and L2 (180 degrees out of phase) the regulator is only concerned with maintaining the 240 VAC between the two legs, not the 120 VAC between each leg to neutral.

If the loads on the two legs are not reasonably balanced, the 240 VAC will “drift” off center from neutral with the voltage on the high load leg dropping and the voltage on the low load leg rising. That, in turn, can/does cause havoc with some of the devices onboard, especially the microwave oven, APC uninterruptible power supply that powers the Amped|Wireless router, and the APC line voltage stabilizer that powers the laser printer.

We were, however, able to watch TV and found Ken Burns’ JAZZ documentary on channel 24.1. By 11 PM we needed to get to bed as we had to be up and ready to go by 7:45 AM tomorrow morning. I turned the genset off around 11:30 PM and let the house electrical system switch to the inverter. I tried to watch the end of JAZZ on the TV in the bedroom but the TV and antenna controller kept losing power. That, in turn, caused the TV to shut off and the controller to reset to position 8. My phone and iPad chargers, both of which were plugged into AC outlets, also kept cutting in and out.

I encountered this same issue when we were boondocking at John Palmer’s place in Mayo, Florida at the end of November 2015. At that time I turned off the SEARCH WATTS feature thinking that it was causing the problem. Apparently that was not the problem. My best guess is that under very low load conditions the inverter is either: a) not inverting at all, or b) producing a voltage and/or current that is not well regulated. In either case, it would play havoc with our entertainment and communications electronics.

Rather than screw around with this anymore tonight I gave up , turned off the TV, unplugged the antenna controller, resolved to ignore the device chargers, figuring they would work when the refrigerator or air compressor ran, and tried to fall asleep. I could have turned on the AC lights in the living room, or our small portable fan, to draw enough AC current to keep the inverter working, but that’s really contrary to the whole notion of minimizing your energy usage to only those things that are absolutely necessary when running on batteries.

2016/04/02 (S) Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Tour

I was awake at 6 AM and we were both up and dressed by 7 AM. I did not make coffee or have breakfast and Linda just had a piece of bread as making toast would have required me to start the genset. The batteries were at roughly 24.6 VDC (and showing 72% SOC) with no load being drawn by the inverter so there was no need to recharge them this morning. We were due at Pat and Vickie’s coach at 8 AM so I gathered up my camera, holster, and extra batteries. We left at 7:40 and took our time walking over to their site.

Pat and Vickie have seating for four in their Jeep Grand Cherokee and have been providing transportation for our group outings. We left just after 8 AM for the short drive to the Exploration Tower at the west end of Port Canaveral. We signed up for a tour of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse that departed from the Tower at 8:30 AM and included admission to the Tower when we returned.

There were only twelve of us on the small tour bus plus a driver (Mike) and two tour guides. The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse is located on the grounds of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). One of the tour guides (Jim) had worked at the Station and was our main guide for information about the Station and the various launch sites we visited; and we visited a number of them. One of the things we learned was that CCAFS is a Station rather than a Base because no one lives there. All of the Air Force personnel working at CCAFS are from Patrick Air Force Base, which is located south of Cocoa Beach. The U. S. Navy also has a presence here with facilities that service ICBM and attack submarines.

The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse located within the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.

The Lighthouse had its own cadre of docents, and was very interesting to see and learn about, but only accounted for a little less than an hour of a 3-1/2 hour tour. The other tour guide was Ron and he provided most of the information about Port Canaveral. Just after exiting CCAFS we visited a small museum devoted to the history of the Station. It was located next to the building that now houses the launch control facility for SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight venture of Elon Musk of PayPal. There are other private/commercial companies operating at CCAFS besides SpaceX . One of the largest is United Launch Alliance (ULA), an independent company that was formed by merging the space operations of Boeing (which absorbed McDonnell-Douglass years ago) and Lockheed-Martin.

All that remains of one of the launch pads at CCAFS, FL.

We did not really understand ahead of time what we were going to see and we were surprised by the dilapidated condition of the old launch sites. All that remains at most of them are concrete and brick works. Metal superstructures that were subject to rusting were long ago removed and control centers that were once stuffed full of equipment are now “abandoned in place” or used for storage. It was like visiting an ancient historic site, which in fact it is; the first rocket launched from this site was a German V-2 in 1950 and the Mercury missions occurred in the early 1960’s over 50 years ago.

A continuation of the previous image, this is the command bunker and tunnel. CCAFS, FL.

Back at the Exploration Tower, which is owned and operated by the Canaveral Port Authority (CPA), we got wrist bands good for admission through closing time today. The weather had been overcast all day and a check of the radar on our smartphones showed heavy rain moving our way. Even though we were hungry we decided to experience the Tower before the rain moved in.

This is all that is left of what was once a heavily reinforced HVAC building at the launch pad. The superstructure in the distance is in active use by SpaceX and ULA. CCAFS, FL.

The Exploration Tower has seven floors plus additional structure at the top. We took the elevator to the top floor which features an outdoor observation platform oriented to give a commanding view of Port Canaveral, CCAFS, and the John F. Kennedy Space Center to the north, as well as the Banana River to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. There are also views to the south of the cities of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. We took the stairs down to each floor in turn. Each floor has a theme with related exhibits and we stopped at each one. The 3rd floor is a small theater that shows a 20 minute film about Port Canaveral and the surrounding area; past, present, and future. The film starts on the hour and half hour so we caught the 1 PM show. The second floor is a balcony that affords a view of art hanging above the 1st floor lobby and gift shop.

The Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral, FL. The top floor includes an outdoor observation deck.

Back on the 1st floor I bought two coffees while Linda and Vickie shopped for gifts. Linda found a stuffed toy of a manatee for our grand-daughter Madeline. When we finally got back to Jetty Park at 2 PM Linda made sandwiches for lunch and I washed off some grapes. I checked the house battery bank voltage and it was still OK. The temperature had cooled off under cloudy skies with a strong southerly breeze, so I did not need to run the air-conditioners.

I took a nap for an hour. Not long after I got up we noticed activity in the shipping channel so I took the camera and we went out to see what was going on. We set up two chairs in front of the bus to watch the action. The blue tug boat was hanging around the entrance to the Trident Turning Basin, which we had not seen it do before. The Brevard County Sheriff boat came out along with one of the harbor pilot boats. A U. S. Coast Guard boat, with a large caliper machine gun on the bow that was manned, headed out the channel towards the ocean at high speed. We thought perhaps we were going to get to see a submarine arrival, which are always unannounced, but the reason for all this activity turned out to be the Carnival Cruise Ship “Valor” coming into port. It was delayed from its scheduled arrival by almost 12 hours but that worked to my advantage as the cloud cover had thinned and provided nice lighting on the bow of the ship as it traveled west into the channel.

A 180 degree panorama, from west through north to east, from the observation deck of the Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral, FL.

A little while later the Norwegian Cruise Line “Spirit” left its dock and headed for the Atlantic Ocean accompanied by the police, Coast Guard, and harbor pilot boats. About 20 minutes behind the NCL Spirit, the Disney “Fantasy” left its dock and started its slow trip down the channel. Vickie showed up before it got to our position and had her iPad with her. As the boat came abreast of our position, Vickie spotted dolphins swimming just in front of the bow.

I got out another chair and we sat in front of the bus and chatted for a while. Vickie eventually returned to her coach to fix dinner and we went inside. I transferred today’s photos to my computer and selected two to process and send to Vickie.

A dolphin swims in front of one of the Disney cruise ships as it heads down the channel from Port Canaveral, FL. towards the sea.

For dinner Linda improvised a potato and broccoli dish with onion, garlic, and couscous. It was light and very tasty. After we were done eating I texted Vickie. They were also done with dinner so we met her at the office and went for a walk. Back at our coach Linda checked online and found a news story about the Carnival Valor. The Valor was delayed due to a medical situation that required them to return to the Turks and Cacos. According to CruiseTimeTables.com, passengers were being advised to embark starting at 9 PM and to be onboard by 11 PM, with departure shortly thereafter.

Back at our coach we watched some TV and waited up for the Carnival Valor to leave as the nighttime departures are rather something to see with the ships all lit up. Linda waited until midnight and then turned in for the night. I stayed up until 1:30 AM but it was still docked at the west end of the port so I gave up and went to bed.

2016/04/03 (N) Bon Voyage

I was waiting for the Carnival Valor to leave Port Canaveral last night but by 1:30 AM it was still at its terminal. It was all lit up but going nowhere, so I finally went to bed. By midnight the skies had begun to clear and the wind, which had been steady all day, became stronger and started shifting around to the northwest and becoming noticeably cooler.

The cruise ships are particularly magical at night and I had hoped to capture some images of them, having set my camera to SCeNe selection mode (SCN) and selected “Night.” In spite of being up late I did not sleep soundly and was aware of headlights around 5 AM. Someone had apparently driven over from the campground to watch ships, or perhaps driven into the park, which opens at 5 AM, for this purpose. I then noticed a ship in the shipping lane heading for the mouth of the channel. Around 5:30 AM another cruise ship came in. I got up, put on my robe, and tried to photograph it from the cockpit of the bus.

The nighttime arrival of the Carnival “Victory” cruise ship at Port Canaveral, FL.

I got up to stay a little after 8 AM and started the genset so I could make coffee and heat water. Linda got up shortly thereafter and prepared our breakfast cereal. We could see cruise ships docked at the west end of Port Canaveral so Linda checked the CruiseTimeTables.com website, and found that there were four cruise ships scheduled to depart today; three at 4 PM (the Carnival Sunshine and Victory, and the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas) and one at 4:30 PM (the Disney Magic).

The Magnum ME-ARC indicated the house battery bank was at 24.6 VDC and 69% SOC. I turned on the genset and the charger started in Bulk Charging mode drawing 110A at 24VDC, or just over 2,600 Watts, on L1. I turned on the Aqua-Hot electric heating element, which is on L2, to balance the load on the genset a bit. When the battery charger had backed off a bit and switched to Absorption mode I turned on the block heater for the main engine, which is currently on the same leg (L1) as the charger. Balanced loads lead to balanced voltages, but it is also better for the genset mechanically to run under a somewhat heavier load than a light one.

Around 10 AM I walked over to check site #357. It was already vacant so I went to the office to confirm that we still had it reserved for tonight through Tuesday night. We did, so I told the office clerk that I was going to go ahead and move, if I could get the engine started, and would then come in and register. If I couldn’t get it started I would extend our stay on site #3 until we could get the problem resolved or get it towed. The clerk was not particularly sympathetic, but then he was the one who would have to deal with an irate customer who could not have their reserved site, and the people who camp here have very particular preferences about their sites. Fortunately, site #3 was open so we could have stayed there until we needed to dump our holding tanks. We could minimize water usage by using the campground bathrooms, so we could have stretched our dry camping if needed.

Back at our rig we started preparing to move it. I moved the car over near the pedestrian gate that is very close to site #357 and walked back to the coach. Linda had secured the inside enough for the short, slow trip. I checked the maintenance chargers for the chassis batteries and they indicated 100% charge levels. I opened the air supply valve for the engine accessories, engaged the 12 and 24 volt chassis battery disconnect switches, pulled the wheel chocks, and put the entry step stool away. I put the Level Low system in Drive mode, just in case that mattered, and turned the ignition key. The bus motor cranked quickly and fired right up! That was a relief.

The Centurion Battalion of the United States Navy Sea Cadet Corps had arrived at the picnic area sometime before 8 AM with a large contingent of cadets and their adult leaders/chaperones. And they had arrived in a large number of cars that filled the available parking spaces just on the other side of the road that ran behind the back row of RV sites where we were parked. There was still plenty of room to back out, but Linda positioned herself outside to keep an eye on the back end of the rig.

The motorhome on our passenger side was also ready to leave and backed out before I did. I don’t think he would have presented an obstacle, but having him gone was one less thing to have to keep an eye on. I pulled up the tag axle and then pulled forward to the right to position the coach at an angle to the road behind it. I then backed up and cut the steer tires hard left to swing the nose around to the passenger side and guide the rear end cleanly into the road well clear of any other vehicles. Linda climbed on board and I turned on the OTR A-C, partly for comfort and partly to put more load on the engine.

We made the 5 MPH trip around the east end of the park and campground back to the campground entrance on the south side where Linda got out to open the gate. Once I was clear of the gate she got back onboard. We wound our way through the campground, familiar now with the road system. When I got to the 2nd to last turn I saw that the last turn was blocked by a pickup truck pulling a 5th wheel trailer out of its site so I continued straight ahead and went clockwise around Red Knot Circle. By the time I got back to the same intersection the pickup truck and 5th wheel were out of the way and I was able to proceed to site #357.

Linda hopped out to act as spotter. Using what I learned two years ago from Big Bill while getting parked at Suncoast Designers in Hudson, Florida I moved to the right edge of the road as the back-in site was on that side. As I pulled past the site and the rear wheels were by the front of the site I cut the steer tires to the left, positioning the coach at an angle to the site, all the while avoiding trees, RVs, cars, and other obstacles. I backed straight, keeping an eye on Linda in the driver side rear view mirror, and started swinging the nose to the driver side while keeping an eye on the car parked on the other side of the road.

As soon as I was clear of that car I swung the nose hard to the driver side. We were well clear of the Sea Grape trees on the passenger side so I straightened the steer tires and pulled forward until I had a good view of the concrete pad on one side. I backed in following Linda’s hand signals until I could see the pad on both sides, got the rig straight and centered, and backed up until Linda gave me the stop signal (arms crossed at the wrist above her head). We ended up parking with the front tires just off the front edge of the concrete pad as the coach was close to level and we wanted to avoid lower branches at the rear of the site. As it was, I still had to lower the front slightly, but at least the Level Low system worked this time. I also had to adjust the rear on one side, which worked a lot better after I lowered the tag axle.

With the coach neatly tucked in to its site and sitting level Linda walked the short distance back to where the car was parked and drove it around to our site. Once the car was parked I walked to the office and took care of the registration. When I got back I tried to get our network up and running but encountered all sorts of problems. I wasted most of the rest of the afternoon trying to resolve them, to no avail.

While we were camped on site #3 I had to reconfigure the Amped|Wireless router/range-extender to work directly with our Verizon Mi-Fi. That configuration worked OK out there, but was not working here. The Wi-Fi ranger was seeing a number of campground Wi-Fi signals with adequate to very good signal strength, but was having a very difficult time connecting to them. When it did, the connection would drop after a very short time. The Amped|Wireless router/range-extender was having an equally difficult time connecting to the Wi-Fi Ranger and staying connected when it did. I tried connecting the Wi-Ranger to our Verizon Mi-Fi but that did seem to work either. I also noticed that the cellular signal was not as strong as usual. Linda commented that her phone was having trouble connecting. I finally got disgusted with the whole thing and set it aside. Sometimes the best solution is to “just walk away.”

There were four cruise ships starting down the shipping channel roughly on time and in the order specified and Vickie joined us for the ship parade. We were out there waiting for them, camera at the ready, and by the time the last ship was headed out to sea I had shot about 200 images. Vickie had already eaten, and we were not ready for dinner yet, so we walked the campground and park, including the pier.

It was chilly all day yesterday with a high temperature in the low 70’s and a steady breeze from the north that resulted in a hazardous conditions warning for the beach. As the light faded it got colder and we returned to our motorhomes.

Dinner was a nice salad and Amy’s enchiladas. Simple, easy, tasty. It turned colder after sunset under clear skies and a stiff northerly breeze. It was very refreshing, initially, but eventually the coach was a bit too cool so I closed the roof vents and Linda narrowed the window openings to just an inch. We were a little tired, not particularly captivated by what was on TV, and had to be up earlier than usual in the morning, so we were in bed before 11 PM.

2016/04/04 (M) Farewell For Now

It turned chilly after sunset last night under clear skies and a stiff northerly breeze. It was very refreshing, actually, but eventually the coach felt chilly and we closed it up, mostly, and were in bed a bit earlier than usual.

We were up at 7 AM this morning and got dressed right away. I made coffee, which used up our supply of Sweet Seattle Dreams beans, and we headed over to site #303 at 7:30 to see Pat and Vickie off. They have been here since mid-February and today was departure day. The bus motor was already running when we got there and we just watched while they got ready to pull out. We learned long ago not to “chat” with RVers during their final departure preparations. They drove around by the office to hook up their car and we walked over to watch. I took a couple of pictures with my phone and used the “dawn” setting for the first time. Soon enough they were ready to go, so we said our final “farewells for now,” and, just like that, they drove off and were gone. Assuming no mechanical or weather issues they will be home in northern Indiana Wednesday evening.

A group of five brown pelicans coming up the channel just above the water. Jetty Park at Port Canaveral, FL.

We always find that leaving an encampment after we have been there for an extended period of time has a strange feeling and we experienced that vicariously as Pat and Vickie drove away. The strangeness, as best I can describe it, is a combination of a sense of loss—the giving up of a familiar place and the people there—and anticipation of the journey ahead, both positive and negative. The anticipation is positive in the sense of the possibilities of new experiences that come with the adventure of the road while the negative anticipation stems from the potential for mechanical, weather, traffic, or health problems.

With Pat and Vickie out of sight we returned to our coach and had a light breakfast of toast and jam and finished our coffee. Linda then worked on a grocery list while I tackled out networking problems. I gave up in disgust around 10 AM and we drove to Cocoa Beach to do some grocery shopping. We went to the Publix supermarket first and found most of what we needed there. A quick stop at Sunseed Food CO-OP filled in our list with blueberries, coffee, and vegan mayonnaise. I stopped at one of the Shell stations on the way back to J. P. and topped off the fuel in the car so we would not have to deal with that tomorrow morning.

Back at our coach we got the groceries unloaded and put away. Linda then heated some leftovers for lunch and washed some grapes. After lunch I put in a call to Chris Yust, our National General Insurance Agent, to ask her about the letter/form we received regarding Coordination of Medical benefits. She called back a short time later and we discussed it. She logged into her agent support system but there was no indication of the letter/form. Normally she can see anything the insurance company has sent to her customers. She confirmed that we really did need to send the form in with the requested documentation.

Linda had already photographed the fronts and backs of our MPSERS/BCBS cards. When she tried to print them the printer was “offline”. We had this same problem at the beginning of our winter travels and it turned out to be NETWORK related. The fix back then was to use the Advanced IP Scanner to determine what IP address was assigned to the printer and then manually reconfigure the printer to that address. That was under Windows 8.1. Under Windows 10 the IP Scanner didn’t work the same way and the manual reconfiguration didn’t work either. What is particularly puzzling and annoying is that the printer does not appear to be responding correctly when set as a DHCP client. If it was, we would not be having a problem communicating with it.

I seem to have spent a lot of time this past week dealing with network and wireless communications malfunctions, so I did what I often do and we went for a walk at 2:30 PM. We went out on the pier and were just starting back when someone spotted a manatee between the pier and the jetty swimming towards the ocean. The water was clear and we got a good look at it for quite a while. It was large and presumably a full-size adult. They really are gentle giants and it was a thrill to see it.

We walked back to the office for coffee before returning to our rig. As soon as we went in Scott Ward handed Linda a card. She has not been in the office that much but I have, and have often interacted with Scott while checking on, or registering for, sites. Still, I was impressed that he remembered my last name and made the connection to the card. The card was from our younger grand-daughter, Madeline. It was a ‘thank you’ card for Linda for all of the custom photo postcards she has created using the PhotoPostCard app and had printed and mailed to Madeline by the PhotoPostCard service out of San Diego, California. Linda took a picture of the card, texted it to our son, and asked him to tell Madeline “thanks” in return. He texted back a photo of Madeline looking at the most recent postcard, which was a photo of Linda by the channel with one of the Disney cruise ships heading out to sea.

The Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas was due to sail at 3:45 PM followed closely by the Disney Dream at 4 PM. We walked over to the shipping channel at 3:40 PM and by the time we got there the Enchantment was starting to move away from its dock. Something did not look right and then I realized we were looking at the stern of the ship. The cruise ships usually dock facing the ocean, so it needed to turn around to get out of Port Canaveral.

One of the amazing things about these amazing machines is their ability to maneuver in close quarters. When in port, they can independently push the bow and stern to either side, which means they can move sideways or turn the ship around its center (or any other point). In this case they pushed the stern out from the dock on the south side of the channel and into the opening of the middle turning basin on the north side of the channel opposite the dock. They then backed it up slightly into the turning basin, brought the bow around into the channel, pushed the stern out into the channel, and then started moving forward down the channel towards the ocean. It was quite a skillful maneuver and the first time we have seen this in the two weeks we have been here.

Not long after the Enchantment cleared the Jetty and turned southeast to stay in the channel, the Disney Dream started moving slowly forward and away from its dock. The Disney terminal/dock is in an alcove (basin) on the north side of the west end of the Port so it has to turn into the straight portion of the channel. Of all the cruise ships we have seen come and go the Disney ships appear to be in the best condition, not that any of them look bad.

We returned to our coach and I transferred photos to my computer from the camera and from my cell phone while Linda started preparing dinner. Dinner consisted of a kale salad followed by a brown rice and kale dish with sautéed carrots, onions, and garlic. Linda has not had any wine in a couple of weeks because of the medications she’s been taking, but I had a glass of the Arbor Mist Raspberry. I find “flavored” wines a questionable choice, although I like Sangria and hot mulled or spiced wine.

We went for a walk after dinner that included some time on the beach. The park and beach were a beehive of activity yesterday but things were quiet all day today and there were only a handful of people on the beach this evening. Both conditions are nice, in their own way. There was, however, some activity in the Trident submarine turning basin today. The big crane was moving and a Coast Guard cutter was in and out of the basin. An attack helicopter from Patrick AFB also made repeated passes over the area and up/down the beach. Our friends told us that when things start getting active around the basin it usually means a submarine is coming in but that did not happen while we were watching.

Back at our coach we turned on the TV but all of the CBS programs were repeats because the NCAA Basketball final game was on cable. I reconfigured the Amped|Wireless router to work directly with our Verizon Mi-Fi and was able to get my computer connected to the Internet and to our NAS, which is critical for backing up photos and documents. I did not, however, mess around further with the printer. My plan is to move it back into my office at home and leave it there. I will find a newer one, with better networking functionality, to put in the bus.

We planned to be on the road in the morning between 8 and 8:30 AM so we went to bed before 11 PM. Linda fell asleep before NCIS-LA ended but I watched the channel 6 news/weather before turning out the lights. The Cleveland Indians baseball home opener was postponed because of snow on the field and the TV weatherman reported that the average last date for snow in Cleveland is April 18, and for Detroit, April 22. In spite of a mild winter and early spring, I knew there was a reason we were not in a hurry to return home. The low at our house was forecast to be 18 degrees F overnight.

2016/04/05 (M) Celebration

We were up at 7 AM, showered, and got dressed. We tended to our cats and prepared the motorcoach for them to be comfortable while we were away for part of the day. We each had a banana, and a little orange juice to wash down our vitamins, but did not have a full breakfast or our usual morning coffee. We gathered up all of the things Linda needed for her doctor’s appointment and were in the car and on our way at 8:10 AM.

Our destination was the office of Dr. Michael Seidman in Celebration, Florida, a trip of 60 to 65 miles from Jetty Park that would take about as many minutes. Most of the route was Toll Road (FL-528 and FL-417) and we did not have to slow down for the toll booths because we have a Florida SunPass transponder that we can move between the bus and the car. We put the address of the clinic, which is attached to Florida Hospital, into the GPS. It accepted Celebration as the city, but the routing showed the destination as Kissimmee. I didn’t care what it called the place as long as it got us to the correct location.

We left earlier than needed in order to arrive earlier than required and allow for traffic and navigational contingencies. Less than a mile from the medical center we spotted a Panera Bread Company store and stopped to have bagels and coffee. While we were there we made use of the free Wi-Fi to update apps on our iPads and smartphones. We left at 10:15 and finished the short trip to the Florida Hospital complex. We found a parking spot, found the clinic building, and found the suite for the Head & Neck Surgery Center of Florida (H&NSCF). Linda had already completed much of the required new patient paperwork so we were there with time to spare.

Sheila, one of the office assistants, got Linda checked in and wanted to know if we had brought copies of her records from Henry Ford Health System, where Dr. Seidman worked for 30 years and treated Linda for the last 20 of those. I had e-mailed Sheila the day after she asked me to get those records to let her know that HFHS would not send them to another hospital or clinic at Linda’s request and that the H&NSCF would have to request them. Sheila said she did not receive that e-mail, even though I replied to one she sent Linda. Oh well, there was nothing to be done at that point.

It was a great relief to Linda to be able to get in to see Dr. Seidman. Dr. S and his PA, Katherine, carefully went over the history of Linda’s illness and treatment of the last three weeks. He indicated that the treatment was what he would have prescribed, which was comforting to know. His routine ENT examination did not reveal any indication of infection or fluid in her “good” (right) ear, which was also good to know. He really wanted to compare the recent audiological results with her last tests from HFHS so he made a call to someone at the HFHS ENT clinic and was able to get them to fax the test results. He chaired the ENT department for much of his time at Henry Ford, and that was apparently still worth something with former colleagues.

Dr. S also inserted a scope through Linda’s right nostril and into her throat to exam the areas that cannot be seen any other way. The scope is a thin, flexible cable with a camera and LED light source at the tip. The image is fed to a monitor, where I got to see it in real time, but was also recorded so Linda got to see it afterwards. Her vocal cords did not close completely and were slightly bowed, which Dr. S thought probably accounted for her weak, slightly horse, voice but there was no sign of infection or other pathology, such as tumors. He noticed that the Eustachian tube opening was “bubbling” which he thought was a good sign. He also examined the left nostril and did not see anything unusual there either.

All of that was good news, of course, but we were both a bit let down that there wasn’t any additional treatment he could provide at this time. Direct injection of steroids into the middle ear was still a possibility but he wanted Linda to wait at least four weeks to see if she improved on her own before going down that path. Equally frustrating was that her hearing, while marginal, was too good for a cochlear implant. Not that she is eager to have one of those, of course, what she wants is the hearing in her right ear restored to what it was before she got sick a month ago.

Our friend, Mara, was moving her motorhome today from Clermont to Winter Haven and her friend, Michael, was driving to Orlando International Airport to drop off a rental car and fly back to Phoenix, Arizona. They had hoped to do all of that by way of Celebration and have lunch, with or without us, at Ari, a Japanese sushi restaurant. We had indicated that it was very doubtful we would make it to lunch, given the timing of Linda’s appointment, but called Mara when we got back to our car to update her. It turned out that when she got ready to leave her motorhome slideout would not slide in. (I think that’s why they are called slide “outs.”) Michael returned home as planned while Mara arranged for a technician to fix her non-sliding slideout.

We needed to fax a few documents to National General Insurance Company, so we went in search of a Staples with a copy center. Having taken care of that we wanted to have lunch before heading back to Cape Canaveral so as not to be eating dinner too late in the day. We found another Panera near FL-417 and Orange Blossom Trail and ate there. The kale-romaine-couscous-almond salad was excellent and the black bean soup was as good as usual. Well fed, we got on the FL-417 Toll Road and headed back towards the FL-528 Toll Road, which we took back to Cape Canaveral.

We were back at Jetty Park before 2:30 PM and just relaxed for a while. Around 4 PM we went outside to take care of a few things in preparation for our departure tomorrow. I got out the waste drain hoses and connected two of them together to reach from the utility bay connection to the sewer connection, which was inconveniently located directly behind the RV pad. We drained the waste tanks, rinsed out the hoses, and returned everything to their storage tub. Using the 3-step stool, I retracted the two awnings on the driver side, which I had previously deployed to shade the Windows from the mid-afternoon sun.

We then emptied out the back of the car so I could add air to the temporary spare, which gave us a low pressure alarm on the drive from Webster to Cape Canaveral. I had turned on the TireTraker TPMS earlier and most of the readings looked OK, but as long as I had the portable air compressor, hose, air chuck, and pressure gauge out I checked the front right (curb, PS) tire as a check on the TPMS. The tire gauge pressure was several pounds lower than the TPMS indicated pressure and was fairly close to where I wanted it so I left it alone.

Our destination tomorrow was Williston Crossings RV Resort in Williston, Florida, a trip of about 140 miles. We had about a half tank of fresh water so I did not get out the softener and add any. Somewhere in the middle of all this work we chatted with several neighbors, but eventually we got the car and bus repacked, including the patio mat and the two bag chairs. At that point we only had the entry mat, entry stool, and power cord to deal with and the outside would be ready for travel.

Before dinner we went for a walk out by the shipping channel, the pier, and the beach. There were people out and about but the park did not feel crowded and was quiet and calm, unlike the festive energy of the weekend with its day visitors, picnickers, and family campers with younger children. It’s as if J. P. has moods, and one has to spend enough time here and experience them to begin to get a sense of the place. We could understand why Pat and Vickie like to come here every year, even if that is not what we would choose to do.

I could not recall what Linda made for dinner because I am trying to finish this post a week later. What I do recall is that the Norwegian Breakaway was scheduled to set sail at 9 PM, well after sunset. It had been a pleasantly cool day with clear skies but turned chilly with the setting of the sun and a noticeable breeze, especially outside the campground by the water. Linda was tired and a little chilled and chose not to walk out and watch the ship leave. At 8:45 PM I got my camera, walked over to the channel, and positioned myself by the “Minimum Wake” sign. I had a good view of the Port to the west and could lean on one of the posts for support if needed. I put my camera in SCN (scene selection) mode, selected the “Night” setting, and waited.

I had not noticed that the ship was docked with its stern facing the ocean until it started to move. Its position at the dock meant it would have to do a 180 degree turn before moving down the channel and into the ocean. And that meant it was going to take longer to exit the port and give me more opportunity to photograph it.

The Norwegian Cruise Lines “Breakaway” doing a 180 degree maneuver in the turning basin. Port Canaveral, FL.

The cruise ships are always brightly illuminated when coming and going in the dark and are quite pretty to see as they glide almost silently by. They are also challenging to photograph as they are often very high contrast (high dynamic range) subjects, especially at night. Ideally I would shoot multiple bracket exposures and combine them using HDR software, but I would have to get the camera on a tripod and even then the exposures would be just long enough that the ship would change position slightly between frames. I did the best I could with single frame, hand-held exposures braced against the sign post. By the time the Breakaway was in open water I was getting chilled and headed back to the warmth of our bus. I transferred the images to my computer and took a quick look at them before settling in to watch a few minutes of TV and then go to bed.

The Phase Place

Welcome to the next phase (hosted by QTH.com)

Category Archives: Family-Friends-Home

202304(16-30) – More barn work; painting, conduit, and wires, oh my!

202304(01-15) – Barn Project and General Update

202303(13-31) – Back Home & Back to Work

20230220 – Accessory Building Project Update

202302(16-18) – Accessory Building Project Update

20230215 – Accessory Building Project Update

202302(07-10) – Accessory Building Project Update

202302(01-21) – General Update (not the barn project)

Special Blog Post for 20230131 – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 20230130 – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 202301(24-29) – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 20230123 – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 20230121 – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 20230119 – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 20230118 – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 202301(06-17) – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 202212(01-31) – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 202211(15-30) – Accessory Building Project Update

Special Blog Post for 202211(01-14) – Accessory Building Project Update

Blog Post for 202210(18-31) – Accessory Building Project Update

Blog Post for 202210(18-31) – Back to Normal (for now)

202210(11-17) – Accessory Building Update

20221011-17 – Post Trip Tasks (It’s Not Over ‘til It’s Over)

20220825 – Barn Project Update

20220803 – Barn Project Update

June 19 – 21, 2022 – Cardinal / Ottawa, ON

2016/04/21-25 (R–M) Bad Brakes & More

2016/4/16-20 (S–W) From Ham to Home (Again)

2016/04/11–15 (M–F) Water Pumps on the Road Again

2016/04/01-05 (F-T) J-P-Shuffle CCAFS Farewell Celebration