In Iowa, in Wet Cool Weather,

I will post the events of the past week in a day or so.

It is spring time in the midwest

Repair almost done

Yesterday, I finished the cabinet work on the repair,  all that  really needs to be done is some staining to match the wood color.

The new tire is installed, brake wiring done, made a new filler piece for the front of the well,

Today I am doing a temporary repair on the plastic well trim.

Someday...   maybe Jayco will let me know when I could purchase a new one....................

I will save the Jayco rent for later .....

Let the repairs begin

I contacted our local Jayco dealer to order parts to repair the damage from the blown tire.

Well I guess with the current shape of the economy, Jayco MAY respond to their emails about the parts needed sometime ???

I cannot wait forever, as I need to go to the Midwest SOON..

So, it is time to repair the damage ourselves.

The above image shows the damage from the blown tire, splitting the inner fender well in half

The above images show the repair of the plastic fender well, on both sides I applied adhesive pond liner tape, on the inside I added sheet aluminum, sealed the underside with silicone sealer, screwed the panel with screws through to the plywood on the other side. This will keep the housing waterproof and the plywood gives it rigidity.

 Tires removed, electric brake wiring needing repair, filler panels between the fender well and the lower aluminum panels need to constructed, Pretty ugly?

Hope to be finished tomorrow...........

What happens when you blow a tire

Monday Morning: the trip to return home.

The trip started out normal, cruise across Neb, into Colorado, stop in Sterling to empty holding tanks.

Left Sterling traveling southwest on I-76, about 25 miles down the road, all of the sudden a micro-burst hits the rig and almost went sideways. whew that was close...

I stopped at the next exit and walked around the trailer to check things out. Everything seems to be good.

I exit the hwy 52 exit and start west on a  the 2 lane road, slow down for a turning truck and hear a loud pop noise, I assumed it was the truck backfiring.

Well, it was not.
Dee noticed the tire while I was at the store.

Oh, well just replace the tire, I figured, easy enough..







But,

When you go inside of the trailer this is what I found.

The wheel well is made of light plastic and split in two sending rubber parts of the tire into the cabin,

breaking the shelf, the front panel of the seat, tire rubber everywhere.

Another project is needed,

I think a little Armour plating around the wheel well is going to be done ...

I travel with the trailer quite a bit during the course of a year.
 This is the 3rd set of tires since purchasing the trailer. The current set of tires were purchased July of last year.

Watching Turkeys & Wild Weather

Getting up at 4:15am is just wrong, (if you ask me getting early in the morning is OVER rated) but, if you are trying to get a turkey that is what has to be done.

Saturday Morning:
Watching the sunrise, waiting for the turkeys to leave their roost.

They make alot of racket so there is no doubt  where they are when they are in the trees.

When they leave the trees that is another matter, this year they decided to fly away from where I was and hang out out of shotgun range all morning, no matter how hard I tried to lure them to me with female calls & decoys.
The weather that evening:  tornado warnings, and large marble sized hail.

The Clouds are a indication of what is about to come weather wise.
When the alarm went off at 4:15 
Sunday morning, we were also awakened by lightning, thunder, rain, 50mph winds... Not good hunting conditions..  shotguns can act like lightning rods..Our solution... go back to sleep :)
 After getting sleep, Gary my hunting partner, left to get some coffee,  returned and informed me of a small blat he had heard was for sale. It is never a good thing to have too much time on your hands.

After a few phone calls we went and looked at the boat for sale..

Well................ there it is ...................................... a 1969 SeaNymph ..........ain't she beautiful?

She measures 13 ft long,  aluminum construction, originally from Minnesoooooota.

Comes with the trailer, and motor.

Evenrude 6 hp 2 cycle motor.

Since it was crummy weather Jeff (our friend) told  to bring it into the shop
and check it out, after a trip to the gas station for 3/4 gallon of gas.

Put the prop in a bucket of water, cranked it over about 3 times and she was purring like a water kitten.

Can't wait to get her on the water in Colorado fishing for trout :) on the high mountain lakes

So, now the plan is to return to Jeff's place soon and pickup the boat with our utility trailer,  bring her home.
Get her ready for the road
I could not bring her home now, because I needed to take the travel trailer home .. Which turned out to be another adventure.. Stay tuned.........

In Nebraska when they want to close a road they use big stuff

Spring Turkey Time

On the road to Sidney Neb. doing a semi annual pilgrimage to Cabela's to check out new stuff for hunting and BBQ'ing,
the rainbow is pretty faint, but, do not let the pretty, fool you it was rainy, and places east on I-80 were getting some pretty serious hail storms.

As always you can click on the picture for a larger view :)

Arrived on Thursday about 3:30 pm, took this picture to show how empty the parking lot was in the middle of the afternoon 2 days before the opening day of spring turkey hunting in Neb. (3 vehicles) Boy have things changed, I can remember this lot being full EVERY time I stopped in the past.

Very windy day on Friday,

For those that have never been to Cabela's in Sidney Ne.

This is a photo of the mountain scene in the center back of the store

A close up of the Rocky Mountain Goats on the Mountain..

After a little shopping, next stop was to Wauneta Ne for spring turkey..

A little camper maintenance

Since replacing the electric jack last year, I had do an emergency install of the new jack, and not having circuit protection for the wiring.
So, awhile back I ordered a circuit breaker for the jack, I finally got around to installing the new circuit breaker . It is nice to use circuit breakers instead of fuses, (never seem to have the fuse handy when you need one)

Some of you know how much I like to BBQ.

Last winter the LP hook up for the gas grille wore out :) I tried to find a now one at a LP supply store, and Camping World ( waste of time)

Ended up ordering a new quick disconnect online, and using a nice brass ball valve I use regularly with the stuff we sell, repaired the connection as shown.



Should be good to go for a long time (hope, hope)

Ayo & Yair

These young adults are a very nice couple I met this last winter during the snowbird season.

It is fun to meet younger folks enjoying an alternative lifestyle

I bet Ayo is in the market for a lighted hoop, and is still practicing with the hoop...

This is our favorite pic of 

Ayo with Rocky

 Rocky says: where did those golf balls come from?

Part 3. Power distribution

Now, that we have a way to charge a deep cycle battery using solar power, we need to convert the power stored into useful forms we can use.

The most common power we use is 110 volt household current.
A power inverter is a device that will take 12 volt battery power and convert it to 110 volts. AC

I have installed a modified sine wave 1000 watt inverter.
Mounting the inverter to the plastic interior panel was accomplish with velcro, making it easy to remove and un-plug, so it can be used in other locations, or systems if needed.

The inverter has an on/off switch, 3 - 110volt plugs and is internally protected with fuses (ask me how I know? :)

You may notice that I have a chord plugged into the bottom outlet, it is nice to have 110volt power at the front of the cab, for running accessories at the console.

Under the radio, on the lower part of the console, there is a compartment that is there to house cd's, I do not play cd's. ................ Satellite Radio baby !!

 So, I removed the door of the compartment and installed 2 - 110volt outlets and added another panel voltmeter to know what the battery voltage is.
The plug at the bottom of the inverter runs from the inverter to the cd compartment and wired to the panel, the small screw is to keep the door closed, the small red light is wired so that I am reminded when the inverter  power  is on.

In addition to 110 volt we still have 12 volt accessories. I decided to make use of the ash tray,(who uses them anymore?)

At the rear of the truck above the inverter I also added a 12 volt round plug and a small 12 volt Anderson connector .

That's it pretty much, Solar Charged aux.power system in a Suburban..