Arrived in Texas, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day…remembering those who paid for our freedom.  A special ‘Thanks’ to a Father-in-law, brother-in-law, our son, and our nieces and nephews.

From Grants we drove to Tucumcari NM for the night.  Stayed in a nice Passport America park called Cactus RV Park for full hookups 50 amp $18.95/night.  Took a nice walk last night to see a glimpse of what life was like when Route 66 ruled.

We parked next to a 5’ tree with these beautiful orchid like blooms, the host called it a desert willow.  What an amazing surprise for me.

Soon we crossed the state border into our home state of Texas.

Tonight's overnight stop is at the Oasis RV Park west of Amarillo.  Since they are about a mile from Cadillac Ranch they had to get into the action.

Here are the Cadillac's at the nearby Ranch.

There were several groups of folks repainting the cars.  It seems to be the ‘thing’ to do.  Also when you are finished painting, you just throw the can down as there were many empty spray paint cans.

You can see the build up of paint, see the drips creating their own form.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Palo Dura Canyon for a few days.

Finishing up 2011, Dec 25-31, 2011

Our Christmas Day was quiet, finally figuring out how to keep the refrigerator running. Just turn it off when the outside temps get to 28 degrees, any lower and it shuts down by itself and blows another 5 amp fuse…and we are running out of those fuses.

On Monday, we ended up heading across the border to the Pink Store in Palomas. Some friends of one of Bob’s blog readers lives part time in Columbus, NM. Through emails we set a lunch date with Lew and Helen. Great lunch and great conversation.

Success, the package was at the Post Office on Tuesday morning. Back at the Coach, we soon ready to leave and drive to Gold Canyon, AZ.

Our scenery varied from nothingness to beautiful canyons.

I love my new throw for the coach of three of my grandkids. They are now with us when we travel. Thanks Jenny!

We weren’t in Gold Canyon very long until Bob called the Mobile RV Tech to talk to him about our Norcold not working in the cold. I hate to say it, but it was as I predicted, unless it gets cold enough for the control board to fail and can be tested at that time, there is no way to prove something is wrong. And the forecast is for wonderful weather, lows in the 40’s for the next two weeks. The tech did say he would stop by in a few days, and he actually did. Still don’t have a definitive answer, but he said in all likelihood, it is the Power Control Board and he suggests only putting in Dinosaur boards. So we have one on order to arrive on the 5th for Bob to install at some point.

Our good friends, John and Judy +Mollie, were on their way east and stopped for the night right next to us. We had a wonderful visit getting caught up on happenings over the last six months.

We enjoyed our margaritas for New Year’s Eve and were in bed shortly after the red ball fell in NYC.

In this special moment in time…enjoy each other…laugh more

The weather is cold, wish our Norcold was also, Dec 22-24, 2011

We have enjoyed two days of waking up to this.  And…

also figuring out how to keep our Norcold cold.  Seems it really doesn’t like to work at colder temps, like below 28-29 degrees.  With the aid of our shop work light and my hairdryer to keep the control board warm, it runs well.  Well as long as it has a new 5 amp fuse.  You see every time it shuts down because of the cold outside temps, it blows the fuse.  It really is sick.

We are waiting for a package to be delivered at the PO on Tuesday, with all the road closures a few days ago, the mail was delayed.  So on Tuesday our plans are to head to Phoenix and try to explain to a service tech that our frig really does not work in cold weather when it is in the 60-70’s with lows in the 40’s.

May we all continue our walk with our Savior.

Another Norcold surprise, Dec 21, 2011

The first words I heard this morning were, “the frig isn’t working again!” Deep breath, now what. The first recall module had just been replaced two days ago back in Hondo, Tx. Soon Bob ventured outside in the 30 degree temps to remove the frig cover to see if the module displayed the red light of death…to his surprise it did not. So that meant there was hope in getting it to work again. His first method of evaluation is shown below.

Then came out the continuity tester (it is yellow). From what he could tell, the frig was getting power, so now what.

A few days ago when we had the safety recall module replaced, the owner, Murphy, of Matthews RV Repair, told Bob if you have any problems, just call, so that is what Bob is doing. Murphy had him check a few more continuity issues, all checked out good, so the next step would be remove the control board cover and check the two fuses in there.

Much easier said than done. The control board cover is about 7” x 5”, It has a white label, under the yellow paper tap and to the right of the top electrical outlet. It is also held in place with three hex screws. At first Bob tried to maneuver his tools past all the parts in front, no direct angle, so he was about to call it quits, when he got his second (tornado like) wind. He started to loosen up the screws holding the front parts in place that were in the way, they moved sideways enough for him to slowly remove the three hex screws securing the control board cover.

Soon the black cover came off revealing the brains of the frig.

He spied the 5 amp fuse, the large type of fuse, used by the Class C we had owned previously. The best part is, we had transferred the box of spare fuses to the coach six years ago, and we had the correct fuse and the fuse worked!!! The refrigerator works!!! (The coach takes a similar but smaller fuse-like the one we replaced a few days ago for our front shade.)

One more call back to Murphy telling him the great news. With his help over the phone, Bob had fixed the frig for the price of a 5 amp fuse.

We left all the parts as they were, will reassemble them after a few days of letting the frig run, making sure it doesn’t blow that fuse again.

In this special moment in life…trust others

P.S. For those who want the full unabridged version, check out Bob's blog at www.because-we-can.net, today's journal.

Ft Stockton Tx to Columbus NM, Dec 20, 2011

Today being a long travel day, I was up by 7 am and lo and behold I got to see the sunrise. I don’t see too many of those.

Today was a day of electronic issues. Since Bob did a great job of describing each in detail, I am just going to link to his site.

We are currently at Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus NM. This is one of our favorite parks and may even get to see snow tomorrow! We also see a few trips to Mexico as this park is only three miles to the border.

In the special moment in life…forget trouble