We have been back from our 5 months of RV travel for a few days now. The first evening back as we sat out in the coach house streaming some of our shows (does anyone watch actual TV, or cable anymore?) THE WIFE remarked that it was NOT as cool as it should be. Well guess what!
Air conditioner service call and the pink cannister means the coolant was low.
Just not low, but very, very low.
So low that there had to be a leak in the system. Leak found. It is cooling okay right now, but when a new air handler is available, this one will replaced. She wants it replaced to make sure it is cool for her. I want it replaced to make sure our homemade wines don’t get too warm. My suggestion that if she was too warm she could just wear her bikini in the evening went over like a depleted uranium balloon.
It’s hard to believe that in exactly two months we will have lived in an RV for the past 18 years. Home may be where the heart is, but for us it also where the RV is parked.
Returning “home” after a five month long RV trip, there are many tasks that need to be done. We store a number of things that are normally on the back patio inside the workshop when we leave on our extended travel, be they in the RV or our overseas trips. With all the agricultural fields and constant winds, plus the high humidity, it means dirt and algae in abundance. The Pergola covering the patio is especially prone to the latter.
Trust me, although it doesn’t show, there is an a healthy growth of algae on the pergola.
This close up shows what I mean.
The solution is simple, or at least it was when I was younger. I’ve done this many times over the years, so I really should know that when you use the pressure washer above your head there is a constant powerful down force on your arms and shoulders. After five months of travel those arms and shoulders of my ever aging body had definitely lost some of their youthful vigor. (That is a classic example of understatement if there ever was.)
But there was more. The pergola faces the south. Winter in the northern hemisphere means the sun is in the south. Just let me say that putting on sunglasses was a good idea that unfortunately only made a slight improvement. I somehow managed to wash about 2/3rds of the pergola before my arms gave out. You came bet the bank that I will be starting early tomorrow morning to finish this job while the sun is still in the eastern sky. I have been informed by she who had to empty the RV today without my help, that she expects planked salmon for our afternoon meal tomorrow, which can only happen if I finish power washing the pergola. I think it is called pressure washing under pressure.
After another long drive we arrived back at our RV lot in the Rio Grand Valley of Texas. This trip was just over 8,000 miles and lasted nearly 5 months. (Statistics tomorrow, maybe, possibly, hopefully.
Back to the title of this post. First problem was the battery in the Cherokee was dead when we unhitched and I had stopped on the street directly in front of our driveway. Had to turn the RV around and jump the Cherokee to get it started. Problem one solved.
Problem number two. When we hooked up the water to the 5th wheel ( we always disconnect everything when we leave) there was only a trickle of water inside the RV at the water faucets. Turned out the end of the green hose that connects to the 5th wheel was clogged with a grayish hard water deposit. Some scraping with a screwdriver followd by a good flushing og the hose and all was well on the water front.
Problem number 3 was the sewer hose. I had planned on shortening the hose before we left but is often want to happen, it was only a plan and not something that happened. Applying a utility knife and and wire cutting pliers then taking the end off the one piece of hose and moving to the other resulted in a much improved connection. Of course these three things were in addition to the many, many other things that need be done when ever we return from an extended trip. Many of which will wait until tomorrow to be accomplished. Till then…
Not being an arachnologist and after searching the internet, I believe this is a silver garden orb-weaving spider also know as the silver argiope with the scientific name Argiope argentata.
She was on the electric pedestal at our current RV site. It’s a she because of her size. Glad I was very careful to avoid her her when I plugged in the the power cord. Turns out she eats the male just like the Black Widow does.
