New Year's Eve
Teri and I hope everyone has a good New Year. We pray for all of those traveling on the highways to have a safe trip.
You can see what we got done this morning. Cut the backsplash off of the counter, then cut a foot off of the length, and fitted it to the counter. Things are starting to look good. You can even see that I had to work today. I don't like to brag but I can cut a pretty straight line. My dad would never let me plant the crops as he did not feel I could hold a straight row. I think he should have at least let me have tried it once, ha. I can hold the saw straight on the line so surely I could have held the tractor straight.
We worked til about 1 pm and ran out of parts. We took a ride over to Safford and picked up what we need to finish this project before Thursday when we head west to the motorhome rally. Took some pictures on our way over to Safford as we were coming down out of the mountains. Only one really halfway turned out well enough to post. We were coming down from 4400 feet when Teri shot it. The other picture was taken as we returned with the sun just showing on the top of one of the mountains. As I have said many times the camera just can not show what the human eye can see. Did the best we could today though. Will have some better shots as we head toward Phoenix on Thursday.
Well, tomorrow is a new year. Wish me luck as I must cut the hole for the sink in the counter top. Can not make any mistakes and will only have one shot at it. Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you next year.
Dan
New Year's Eve, Eve
If you look close you will see some progress on the kitchen today. Maybe Monday will bring much more. Teri worked on it a little today boxing in some areas. We are trying to maximize space. We plan to use every little pocket. When you live in a 26 ft. motorhome for 4 months, or more, you have to maximize space. I polished on the coach and studied some on the solar system. I want to make sure I have the best solar setup I can have. 300 watts of solar is plenty for us as long as I have everything done right.
I have mentioned that we plan to use portable burners in the kitchen. Here I have included pictures. If we are hooked to electricity we can use electric. If not, we will use propane burners. Electricity can be free at some places.
We hope to get the counter top installed before we head west on Thursday. Also will get the oven set so it does not move. We are not sure on the drawers yet but the kitchen will be functioning again before we leave.
Was a very nice winter day here. Warmed up finally. Supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. I will take advantage of that to finish polishing the coach and do some other things to it that I need to get done.
Hope everyone is gearing up for the new year. Our 3 grandkids stay up and bang pans so we will enjoy that and then go to bed.
Last night I heard a coyote before I went to sleep. This morning Cody was shooting at one out in the front yard.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you one more time this year. Dan
5th Day on Kitchen
You can see our 5th day of progress on the kitchen. Of course we take out time and don't over work ourselves. I put up a couple fotos of the boss at work. She was busy today. I helped when she called.
We took the coach to the gas station early this morning, 11 am, and filled lp tank. Then we went to a local car/truck wash and cleaned on the motorhome. It was really dirty from the trip through Dallas in the rain. Maybe I can catch a warm day and polish it up before we leave Thursday for the motorhome rally over near Phoenix.
It did warm up into the 50's for a little while today but it was down to 20 last night. Water did not freeze as we put a light bulb, 40 watt, over the water pump. They are calling for the 70's to return next week. I sure do hope they are right. I could have stayed in Missouri and been warmer this past week.
Oh, got the mascerator pumping again today. That was quite a relief. I better close as it is time to vacuum up the coach and then grab a bite to eat. Tomorrow is Sunday so I will need to get in bed a bit earlier tonite.
Thanks for stopping by. Sam says to tell everyone hello. Dan
Progress
Teri worked most of today on the kitchen. Here is a photo showing what will look like little progress but actually we accomplished a lot. As I have said before there is nothing square in a GMC motorhome so we have to figure things out as we go. Re-routed one of the heater hoses to give Teri more room for the oven. We worked til dark. It got too cold for us to safely operate the saw.
Cold and extremely windy today. It was so cold that our mascerator froze and would not operate intil 4 pm. For you non rvers that is the sewage pump. We do not use the gravity flow 3 inch hose. This is much easier and safer. Three minutes to pump the tank dry, unless you are froze up, ha. Don't even need gloves with this system and makes rving a lot nicer for me.
Ran the lp tank dry last night. That may be why the mascerator froze up, no heat on the floor. We didn't have time Wednesday to make a trip to the lp source since Teri made the trip to Safford with Stasha. Today it was too cold and windy so we are hooked to a bbq tank. That will last us a few days. We also have 2 trailer lp tanks available to us from our son in law, Cody. It is supposed to warm up next week so we will wait for better weather to get this coach out on the road. I did fire the engine today for a few minutes.
Thanks for the note Rick. I enjoy knowing that folks take a look at the blog. We enjoy sharing our days with friends and relatives. Only one more day until the weekend, for you working folks. I may re join you in the work force next year just to pay my taxes. Will look for you to stop by again later. Dan
Work Day
I know that you are not interested in seeing this picture but it is what we worked on most of the day. Just now stopped for supper, 9 pm Mountain time. We are starting to see some real progress. We hope to have this finished by next Wednesday as Thursday we are heading over between Tucson and Phoenix for a GMC rally that we have been invited to. We need to at least have a working kitchen before we leave. Not all of our appliances have arrived yet but should start showing up this week.
We did not get to fill the coach with lp and wash it today. Stasha needed to go to the doctor so Teri took her to Safford, 45 miles. She has strep throat. I hope she gets to feeling better soon. IT came on her last night. We will run out of lp tonight or in the morning. Using the electric heat right now. Our water pump froze again last night so I need to keep the heat a bit higher so it will flow to the pump area. The vent going to it is off and we will need to take bed out to get to it. Been putting that off but may not be able to put it off much longer.
Well, hope everyone had a good day entertaining themselves with the xmas gifts received. The kids got me a real nice Mark Martin t shirt and cap to wear to the race in Talledaga.
Thanks for stopping. We should have some real nice photos when we travel to the rally and I will put them up. Also hope to visit our full time motorhome friends that we met in Oregon back in July. They are staying on their property close by where the rally is being held. Dan
Christmas Day in Arizona
Does this look like a happy 53 year old man? Well, it is. My sister in law, Barbara, got my brother and me tickets to the Talladega Nascar Race in April. Includes pit passes. How lucky can two brothers be? We must have done something right this year. Even paid for our motel room in Birmingham. Now, that is one sweet deal. What a present. I hope my brother Matt treats her really good for the next 4 months because she is holding the tickets.
Teri and I got up early, 730 am was early for me, and watched 3 grandkids tear open their presents and a frustrated dad trying to get the Wii thing to operate on the tv for them. I was watching them box on that thing. Shoot, they have nothing on me and my brother and sister. Our dad bought us real boxing gloves for xmas one year. When we would start arguing he would "strap us up" and we would go to boxing each other. This toy manufacturer must have known my dad.
Hope everyone had as much fun this morning as Teri and I did. Now it is time to begin making ourselves sick by over eating. I hope I can hold back.
Oh, called our daughter, Melanie,this morning who also has three kids. Colsyn, the oldest, 4, got up 3 times during the night looking for Santa Claus. They finally put him in bed and held him til he went back to sleep. That kid was anxious to get under that tree.
Merry Christmas to all and thanks for stopping by. Dan and Teri, Sam is snoring thru it all.
Christmas Eve
If you look real close at this mountain you will see a copper color. That is becasue it is being mined for copper and the waste is what is showing. This mountain will be completely gone when they finish mining it. The price of copper is way up and the mining is going very stong in this area of Az. It is bring much money into the local economy. It is unbelievable at the number of RV parks and new motels going in here, just since we were here in May.
Please keep in mind that these photos are up backwards. I can not change the order. This one was taken on our way home from the xmas eve shopping trip today.
Teri, Sam, and I wish everyone a very merry Christmas. Hope you have lots of family with more food than you can eat. Dan
We took a few minutes from our shopping and did a quick wash job on Teri's car. It really needed after being towed out here from Missouri.
These two beauties were my dates today. We had a great time shopping.
Mt. Graham on Christmas Eve. Look at the parking lots. Walmart and Home Depot were very busy. I just love shopping on Chrismas Eve.
Merry Christmas
Teri and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and get to visit with family. Our kids are scattered so we can only be with one. This time it is Stasha and her family here in Duncan, Az.
I took a few photos around our place this afternoon to share with you. One is the dirty motorhome. Hope to wash it tomorrow at a local truck wash. One is of the mountain just over the horse corral. One is the sun set this afternoon, and the other is the moon coming up in the east. Very pretty out here in the evenings.
We did not do any work on the kitchen today. Teri was busy inside the house making cookies and I cleaned out one of my tool drawers and began building a solar connection box for the roof of the motorhome.
We just got home from evening worship services and had supper. Now its time to kick back and see what might be on tv. I let our water pump freeze last nite. Not bad but it had ice in the line. Won't let that happen again. Was preventable. Just glad the temperature, in the teens, did not freeze it hard enough to damage it. Come back when you can. Dan
Kitchen
Take a look at what Teri and I have been doing for the last two afternoons. I would say we have 8 hours in this so far. Sure did not take this much time to rip out the old Kitchen. I will not do this for hire, so don't ask. This is some kind of job. Nothing is square in a motorhome. In a GMC the walls are curved. The floor curves at the edges also. So, we do what will make it look the best and be as sturdy as possible. The cabinet we took out looked good but it was not sturdy. It was built back in 81, about 4 owners back. The story was that they pulled this motorhome out of a young couple's chicken yard where chickens roosted in it. Well, guess what? Today Teri found a clump of chicken feathers under some stuff we were cleaning out. Now, the story has credibility with us, if it didn't before. This cabinet will be solid. If I want to set my fat butt on it I don't have to worry about it falling. The shelves will be solid and won't dump our things should we hit a bump in the road. The new microwave/convection oven is smaller than the old one so we will gain some room. I guess that will be our next undertaking. Trying to sit the oven in and framing that area. This is not a built in model so we will leave lots of air room for circulation and we want to be able to pull it out easily. I re routed the heating hoses to make more drawer room and still will move one of them some more when we get to town and get some more hose. We have chosen to not build in the burners. We purchased portable gas and electric that we will put out when we need. This way we have our choice of gas or electric, depending on whether we are using full hookups or not. This will give Teri much more counter top space.
So, there you have what we did today. Tomorrow is Sunday and we are looking forward to it. If you have suggestions for us on our rebuild, keep them to yourself. This is a do it as you go thing. Just kidding. Let us know what you think. This is about more room and making the interior more suitable for us. We are living in a 26 foot space and want to maximize our comfort. Hope everyone has a good Sunday. Dan
Surrounding Mountains
I wanted to share the mountains with you. We took these yesterday when we went to town for the parts and wood for the kitchen. The first three are of Mt. Graham, closer up. The other three are of the mountains just to the north and east. Those white things in the fields are cotton bales. Randy, in Seatle, asks what is our elevation here at our daughter's. It is about 3600 ft. Mt. Graham is 11,000 so it is about 7,000 ft higher than we are.
It is getting pretty chilli out again tonight. Tried to rain today but went south of us. It warms up in a hurry here once the sun comes up and is not unusual to see 75 or higher. About 70 has been the highest in the week that we have been here.
Teri and I worked on the kitchen all afternoon. We almost got the framework finished. It takes a lot of thinking and measuring. Then rethinking and measuring again to work inside a motorhome like our's. The walls are all curved so we have nothing to "square up" with. Teri is doing a great job. I just do what she tells me. This will look very nice when she finishes. The kitchen is the first thing visitors see when they enter our door so we want it to look nice. In fact, we want the entire inside of our coach to look better than new when we finish, that is our goal.
If you come back tomorrow evening you may see some shots of the kitchen work.
I appreciate you stopping and hope that you return soon. Dan
Life is Good Again
We have a working commode again. I truly know now what a commode hugging experience is. The back bolt on this thing is all but impossible to get to. Had to hug the commode and feel for the thing. I got it out but was too fat to get it back in. Teri came to my rescue. 48 dollars for a little part. They get you when you need something like that out in the middle of the desert. Twice the going price. I just smiled and paid it. 100 mile round trip to the place. While we were in town we stopped at Home Depot and grabbed some lumber. Hoping to get started on the kitchen Friday. Located a saw so we should be ready to go. Will have pictures. I got a couple up close photos of Mt. Graham today while we were in town. Will post them Friday when I get a chance.
One day closer to the big holiday. Hope everyone has a good Christmas and gets to visit with lots of family. We will celebrate with our oldest daughter and family this year.
Had a call from my friend John who lives in Paragould, Ar. He has Sam's sister as a pet. He said she is still going strong at 12 also. Teri fixed Sam a new sleeping place today and she has not moved from it since 5 pm. I guess she likes it. Teri is bad to spoil Sammy.
Have a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by.
Dan
Thursday Before Christmas
If you blow up this photo and look in the center, just left of the trucks, you can see the snow covered Mt. Graham. That mountain is 40 miles west of where we have the motorhome parked. I know the photo did not turn out as good as I wanted but it is an awesome sight in person. Approximately 11,000 feet above sea level. I have good memories of that mountain. When I first met Teri she took me up there and we played in the snow. It was there that I decided to do the best I could to make Teri my mate for life. I guess it worked.
Most of our time, so far, has been visiting and staying close to family that we have not seen since May. teri has done some measuring to make sure we get what we need when we head back into town for the kitchen counter. I will have pictures up when we get started. Have not worked on the bathroom problem yet either. We have lots of time for those projects.
It gets a bit nippy out here at night. In 6 nights we have burned half of our propane and it is 5 miles to the refill tank. Will try to not use so much in the future. We can wear jackets in the evening til we go to bed. Also we have a little electric heater and used it some last evening. Once we fall asleep it is no problem except for Sam. She has grown used to lying in front of one of the furnace vents and soaking up the heat. Teri said she was cold this morning. I guess we can cover her with a blanket before we hit the sack.
I had a note from my cousin in Norman, Ok. this morning. She told me that they were without electicity for 5 days because of the ice. I have not been keeping up with the weather since we arrived here and did not realize so many in such a wide area were touched by the storm. As a kid, on the farm, it was normal for us to be without electricity for a few days in the winter but today we have grown more dependant on the stuff. I have two generators that we can use but it would still be tough to do without the power company for a week. I hope everyone has their power back now.
That is about it. Nothing big thus far. We did renew old friendships last night at church. Was good to see folks again but we already miss our family and frinds back home. Hope everyone is doing well and we will catch back up with you later. I hope to get some good pictures to share soon.
Dan
Necessary Items
What do we take for granted everyday? I suspect you can name several things, especially if you have had any break lately. Saturday morning I awoke to a cry from Teri that "there is water in the bathroom floor an inch deep". We were parked in a Flying J parking lot in Abilene, Tx. and it was cold. I tried to go back to sleep but that would not do for Teri as she had stored some things in the floor and they were wet. She was not a happy camper. I knew it was not sewage as that tank was empty. Hmm, wonder why I kept hearing the water pump kick on last night? So, I got up and looked. Sure nuff, clean water in the floor. I turned the water pump off, as it was supposed to have been already. We cleaned up the water and I did not worry about it anymore Saturday as we were up and going, trying to make a few miles before dark.
Well, Saturday evening it was time to be concerned about that leak. It was also time to have a functioning bathroom. I turned the water pump back on and in no time I found water in the floor again. Hmmm. Reached down and shut the water valve off to the commode and wiped up the water. Turned it back on and guess what, water is coming from between the commode and the floor. Shut water back off.
So, a broke commode. The thing sits there forever and does its thing. Then one day, while staying 40 miles from town, it is giving up. Oh well, we can use it by turning water valve off and on, for now. Spent the day bugging friends on the internet about what might be wrong and trying to figure out how to get the commode up from the floor. This is one of those things that is needed so I will have to get busy and get it fixed. But, not today.
Today was another rest day. Did not get any pictures. I wanted to get a picture of the mountain with snow on it but it was not visable enough for a good picture. Will work on that tomorrow.
Did have some good fortune today though. Our folding step lost one of two pins on our trip making it un usable. I wrote to Ragusa, the company, and they sent me a note today telling me that a new pin is on the way, free. Now, that made my day.
Everyone have a good evening and come on back when you can. I will get more interesting stuff to tell about soon.
Dan
Last of the Photos of Our Trip
The first post is 4 down. Then our trip fotos are from three posts down back up to this post. The blog does not allow me to arrange things once I have them up so, today, things are just backwards. We had a blast traveling through Arkansas and Texas. Was in New Mexico for only a little over an hour then we hit Arizona. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Look for more to come. Dan
Trip Photos
A Few shots along the way. Got more to add.
Teri and I hope everyone has a good New Year. We pray for all of those traveling on the highways to have a safe trip.
