Back to normal - and off to the races

November 5, 2008
Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale, AZ

Life is getting back to normal after Merlin's health scare, and we've completed a couple of projects prior to heading for PIR ("Phoenix International Raceway") for this coming weekend's NASCAR races.

Merlin is much better, and getting stronger each day. He's still a little unsteady on his feet at times, and has taken to "slow walking", but he's cleared a stronger, slimmer (he lost about 2 pounds, we think) dog than he was 10 days ago. He's having a bit of trouble with the 5 steps up into the motorhome, but we can help him with that if needed.

Over the weekend, I finished up the installation of the water softener and whole house filter. First, I put in a true bypass, which allows the water to the house to be on, even if the filter/softener loop is being serviced. This should have been done when the prior installation was completed, but they clearly didn't care about future maintenance. I had to re-solder a couple of connections (note to self: don't sweat water pipes when you're distracted by a sick dog), but everything worked out fine. When I put in the filter/softener (putting a whole house water filter in line before the softener helps extend the life of the charge by reducing sediment and other impurities), I had a couple of additional points of seepage where the copper tubing connected to the nylon fittings of the softener (you just don't want to over-tighten these things), but they were easily resolved. I could notice the difference in the water right away; you actually get suds in the shower now. Our next step will be to take a cleaner (like "CLR") to the shower heads and the inside of the dishwasher.

We'd originally planned to head for the race track on Sunday, but realized it would make a bit more sense to wait until Tuesday since that's when Geri had an early morning dentist appointment. This was to remove the stitches (well, the ones that hadn't already fallen out on their own) from the "uncovering" (removing little flaps of gum that had healed over the metal implants over the summer). As always, she was a model patient, and the healing process is going extremely well. She has one more appointment with this dentist (the periodontist) before the other one (the prostodontist) does the impressions and has the crowns made. With the holidays coming up, that whole process will take 8 weeks instead of the normal 6, starting December 1st and wrapping up in late-January. In the meantime, though, she's back to soft, non-spicy foods for a few weeks.

Before we left with the coach, I wanted to work on one last small project. Over time, we've learned that being in close quarters with other RVs can lead to problems with generator exhaust. Our generator is in the front of the coach, and the exhaust is right under the driver's seat. Depending on location and wind, it can definitely make being outside a challenge. When we're "dry camping" (aka "boondocking" - staying in the coach without benefits of electrical service), we usually run the generator about 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening. This supports the coffeemaker and microwave, and charges up the battery bank. for the rest of the time, we a) conserve and b) use the 3,000 watt inverter to supply AC power. Well, when we were at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, my friend Wayne and I started to fabricate vertical exhaust extensions for our generators. We had each invested about $25 but didn't have workable units - yet. We both had ideas, though, and neither of us was interested in paying the $150 that Camping World wants for their exhaust stack. So, I made up a bunch of "s" brackets and extended the pipe I'd bought in New Mexico. We'll test it out this week!

After Geri's dental appointment, we headed over to the storage yard and brought the coach home. We were done loading it by Noon (we don't need a lot of stuff since we're only "out" a few days and we're only 15 miles from home). We found a spot and parked relatively easily. I'll pick up the tale, and hopefully have some pictures in my next post.