Stafford Air and Space Museum

June 5, 2022June 4, 2022 — Travel — 2 min read

This is a fabulous museum just off I-40 west on Oklahoma City in the town of Weatherford. We were here last year and enjoyed it so much we planned our travels so we could visit it again this year. Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford was a native of Weatherford. He was one of the most famous astronauts of all time, but he was much more that that. While the museum has many mementos of his life, the museum is much, much more and is on the cusp of becoming the second best Air and Space museum on the USA. It really should be a must stop for anyone who grew up during the space race or is interested in aircraft or space.

A moon rock. Stafford never set foot on the moon, but he was in the lunar lander that descended to within 50,000 feet of the moon and paved the way for the next Apollo mission that saw Armstrong and Collins set foot on the moon.

It all started with the Wright Brothers. Their wind tunnel incorporated a galvanized wash tube, but it led to the development of the first ever flight at kitty Hawk, N.C.

What could it be?

It’s the cockpit of a MIG 21.

Given the chance to be a kid again, how can anyone pass it up. If your travels take you anywhere near Weatherford, Oklahoma you would do well to stop at the Stafford Air and Space Museum.

We Are in Tornado Country

June 4, 2022June 4, 2022 — Travel — 1 min read

It is the office, laundry, restrooms and shower building at the RV park we are staying at, But is more than just those four things.

Opening this door leads down the steps to the storm shelter that is underneath the office. Having been in one tornado many years ago, we always try to locate the storm shelter when staying at a RV park in tornado country.

Route 66, The Mother Road

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022 — Travel — 2 min read

We call them “Stumble Upons”. Things or places we didn’t plan to do see or visit, yet somehow we “stumbled” upon them. We had decided to travel about 200 miles today from the Dallas Fort Worth area to somewhere in central Oklahoma. We had stayed in this general area during last year’s travels but didn’t want to stay in the same place.. Our search turned up the above RV park, and what a pleasant surprise it was.

That is Sophie and our red Jeep Cherokee dead center in the photo. The RV site cost us only $17.50 a night for the two nights we are staying here for a full hookup site and they even have showers and laundry. But the greatest thing about the RV Park is what is in the foreground. That is the original concrete of the road known as Route 66 which we traveled on to arrive at the park. It simply doesn’t get better than this.

Looking west on Route 66.

Those that know me know that has to be my foot on Route 66. Shoes and I do not get along. If I am absolutely forced to wear shoes to enter someplace or do something I will wear them, which usually is less than six times a year, Otherwise I wear Teva’s or go barefoot. And yes, I did have a skin to concrete moment.

Sophie’s Tire Pressure Monitor System

June 2, 2022June 1, 2022 — Eclectic, Travel — 1 min read

With the new Borg valve stems installed, today we attached the tire pressure monitoring sensors to the valve stems. It is an easy chore, just screw them on the valve stems and the RVI Command Center instantly recognized the sensor and paired with it. I liked that each sensor is labeled for the tire it is monitoring. The downside is that the batteries in the sensors can not be replaced requiring the sensor itself to be replaced at $20 per sensor.

This sensor is labeled for the left rear outside tire.

This sensor is labeled for the left rear inside tire. The system we use is from RVI. We have the braking system, the towed battery charger and the Tire Patrol TPMS. The readout for all of them is shown in the command center tablet mounted between the front seats so we both can easily see it. I probably should do a post in the future on the Ready Brake and also the Battery Charger. I must say I really like the small size of the Ready Brake and how easy it is to install and remove from the Cherokee.

Sophie Gets Borg Valve Stems

June 1, 2022June 1, 2022 — Eclectic, Travel — 2 min read

When we were at Quartzsite in January at the LTV gathering we learned about a much better way to make checking the air pressure and adding tire monitor sending units to the tires on MB Sprinter units which is the chassis Sophie is built on. This is the outside rear dual wheel. Even though there are two wheels, only one valve stem is visible. The one showing comes from the inside tire. The outside wheel valve stem points inward toward the inside wheel making it almost impossible to get to. Also the long unsupported stem from the inside wheel can apparently develop problems when a tire monitor is attached to it.

The stem on the front tire. It is short enough that some folks do not replace them with the Borg stems while others do.

The Borg stems are made for the specific wheels on the Sprinter chassis. Sophie has six Alcoa aluminum wheels so the set we bought was specific to those wheels.

Tires are removed for the installation. Both what we learned at Quartzsite and read on the various LTV and Sprinter groups pointed towards making sure a good tire shop did the installation. Since we were going to be passing near the Fort Worth area during our summer travels, and with both Borg and group posts saying Briscoe Tire in Denton was experienced in installing these stems we decided to stop in and have them do the installation. As luck would have it, there was also a RV park just a mile and a half from their shop making everything much easier.

Front stem being installed.

The rear stems installed and the tires remounted. The bottom stem is from the inside wheel and is mounted with a stabilizer that fits in the handhole, meaning no wobble when the tire monitoring unit is installed.. The top stem comes from this outside wheel.

Closeup of the outside stem. It is “U” shaped making for easy access to add air if needed and also to mount the tire monitoring unit. Now we can mount our tire monitors making us both feel safer during our travels.