Back in Town

Back in Benson

Our journey to the northeast is completed.  This will be the last input until next summer when we plan to make a trip to the Pacific coast.  Among other things, we'll be buying tires for the bus in Oregon (to save on tax).

It's been expensive this year, but it all goes with living aboard a moving expanse.  Like, how well would your stix and brix hold up at 65 MPH on highways that should be condemned?   

In preparation for our trip, I had to visit the Cummins dealer who fixed an oil leak, installed a serpentine belt and tensioner, and replaced the exhaust manifold because of warping.  

The Generator quit in Texas, the inverter not long after in Kansas.  Our air bags went out in Virginia, our slide out motor gears were stripped in Alabama.  Total bills:   $6508.

 The total number of miles traveled was 6008 miles, and we used  991 gallons of diesel at prices from $2.79 to $3.75.  (The generator and the Aqua Hot system also used some of those total gallons. We don't track them separately).

I've just discovered hooking up here on Sunday that my water regulator is kaput, and we're heading to Lowe's this afternoon for a replacement.   

On top of all that, now we've  discovered that thieves have stolen the pecans off of our two trees in the front yard of our place here in Benson!  Yep, took all the just-about-ready pecans.

Hmm.  After all this recapping I'm depressed!  

The up side is that we got to see our terrific grandson Sam married to a beautiful twin, in beautiful New Hampshire!  Was that worth the trip hassles?  Yep!  But I am resolved to never drive east past the Mississippi River ever again!!!! 

According to the statistics there weren't very many followers of the blog.  But to those few we say a huge thanks for following our adventures!

Please join us again next year.  We hope you stay well and prosper.

Gary & Eloise

    

The Owl Cafe

Owl Cafe, San Antonio, NM

Our odyssey is close to the finish now.  We left Kirtland AFB, NM last night, and approached the city of San Antonio, NM (Not the Alamo city!).  It was lunch time, so we were happy to stop at the world famous Owl Bar and Cafe.  We've been here several times before and we know how terrific their burgers are!  Their most popular one is made with mild green chiles, 'crusty' patty of beef, onions, lettuce, tomato and pickle chips covered with bright orange cheese that melts down to blanket everything.  $5.95.

The walls of the cafe are plastered with dollar bills, a section has foreign bills, and another section has military and other patches.  They were interesting to peruse.  

The cafe started out as a bar.  The bar was originally from  the Conrad Hilton's first rooming house that operated right there in town! 

It became the hangout for scientists who would later activate the famous Trinity Site explosion, the first test of the atom bomb said to end the war with its devastation of two Japanese cities.  If you're ever within range of this place, make a point to stop.  Closed Sundays.

Across the street is a place that roasts green peppers and has raw peppers and vegetables for sale.  Eloise found some green chilies and a bag of pinto beans to her liking.

 

      






We are staying tonight at Deming, NM.,  at an Escapees park that we have stayed at many times.  It is the last leg before arriving back at Benson, AZ.  Eloise spent the evening playing "hand & foot", a card game similar to canasta.  There were a total of 10 players in the hall tonight.  I had a quiet evening at home.  We have had 4 consecutive travel days.  Tomorrow will be our shortest day but I'm looking forward to a few days in one spot, even though they will be work days at the rental house.  It won't be long until we will be taking off again, heading further west to the Palm Springs area.  We will have 2 weeks there before we move from the Thousand Trails park to the fairgrounds for the annual Square Dance Festival in Indio, CA. 

 

Little Rock AFB, Arkansas

LRAFB, AR Gym

Decided to spend a few days at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas.  Hoping that we could just let the rains pass by.  We stayed 4 days, and the rain let up enough that we decided to press onward.  While we were here, we were able to do a few geocaches between the showers on day one but after that it just kept raining.  Eloise decided we should go over to the gym and do a couple miles of walking in the dry.  When we got there we were simply amazed at the facility.  The best one I'd ever seen!

The walk/run area is suspended around the outside.  Walkers to the left, runners right.  As you see in the top picture, a well used work-out area is very well furnished.  The locker rooms were full service, even had lockers with combination locks.  You just enter a 4 digit code twice and it locks, when you return you enter the 4 digit code and it opens.  No need to carry a lock like some places. 

walkers left, run right below was a coffee/drink bar

Basketball courts

This appeared to be a spin class

                         Racketball courts

another area which happened to be across from the locker rooms

We were able to stock up on groceries at the nearby commissary.  Only one night did the airstrip bother us much with night exercises.  Aside from a little mud from the relentless rains, the sites were nice with full-hook ups.  Always a treat to stay at military installations.

Red Bay, Alabama

Well, so I don't have any pictures at Red Bay, Alabama, so this'll have to do!

We called the factory to see about having them repair our slide out, which I thought was probably the motor gears.  We were told that this summer (July) they changed their policy, and won't work on any Tiffin product that is 10 years old or older.  (Ours was built in 2005).  We were given the name of someone that had worked at Tiffin for 17 years, and now owns his own shop in a nearby town in Mississippi, he is actually co-owner with another former Tiffin employee that worked for them for 14 years.   We called him.  He told me that he was very busy, but if the slide out was our only problem, that he could see us at 8 A.M. the next day.  We pulled into a Mississippi State Park that was only 2 miles down the road from his shop and spent the night there, MS is pretty reasonable, only $17.50 for a senior for 1 night.

When we arrived at the shop, the guy we had talked to wasn't going to be in for a couple hours, but the other fellas in the shop said they would have a look.  Sure enough, the motor was stripped out.  They didn't have a new one on hand, but they had a used one on the shelf.  They assured me it was working when they removed it from another rig, so I said to put it in.  They did.  It works fine.  Once the "real" guy showed up Eloise asked if he could look at our shower surround that had come loose from the wall.  My earlier attempts to attach it had failed.  He did lots of measurements and decided that there was nothing behind where the screws were except the thin wall, and suggested a couple screws at the very top where he knew there was a beam.  Eloise agreed to that, he did it, and it worked great.  

When he totaled up the bill, he only charged us $100 for the used motor, and $112 labor (@$75 hr).  Total bill with tax was $227.38.  I had previously priced new motors on-line and they ranged all the way to $950.  

Right now we're happy with the result and the savings!!  

A sad note; about a half hour before we got to Little Rock we hit rain again, it rained most of the next 3 days.  The slide on the opposite side leaked during the torrential downpours and soaked the carpet inside about a third of the way across the living room.  I don't know how to attempt a repair, so for now we are keeping it retracted.  I've quit saying "well, that's everything, nothing else will go wrong".

Oh, Nuts! Another Maintenance Challenge

 We were trying to leave Stoney Creek campground, near Greenville, VA, on the 4th of October (my birthday, hoo ra) when we noticed that our air bag on the front of the motorhome was not filling properly.  Our air gauges wouldn't come up, the front of the motorhome wasn't raising up. 

Blown out Air Bag

 We had some "Gorilla Duct Tape" and used it around the base where the leak was.  It must have slowed the leak enough to form a little bit of a seal, because the bag filled, but was still leaking.  The engine compressor was keeping up with it though.  We limped into Roanoke, VA to a Freightliner sales and service company.  They ordered in two new bags, because since the leaking one was dry rotted, then the other one would be bad also.  Trouble was, the new bags wouldn't be delivered until the next Monday.  This was Thursday.  They graciously let us stay on their repair lot with an electric hook-up.  

But however, we couldn't stay after 3 PM on Saturday because they were locking the gates from then until 7AM on Monday!  So...on Saturday we went looking for a place for a couple days that wasn't far from the repair facility.  We went to Camping World lot, less than 2 miles.  We had water on board, and there was a dump at Camping World.  So by running our generator a lot, we got by pretty well.
 

New Air Bag

It took two half-days to install the bags because the technician had lots of trouble getting to the bags, and then getting the bolts loose.  The tech said he broke 3 ratchets, and finally with a snatch pipe broke the 3/4 bolt instead of the nut coming off. 

Truck Maintenance Pit

 When it was all over on Tuesday afternoon, we had racked up:  
Labor: $759  (truck rate instead of MH rate, and reduced the number of hours because they quoted less hours)
New Bags:   $715.76
Shop Supplies: $15.00
Tax: $38.73
Total:  $1528.49 

The new bags seem to be working well now.  Thing is, our living room slide went Skagway (as my good buddy Rusty would say) as we were trying to leave Freightliner.  We got it retracted, but I believe the motor gear got stripped.  I've priced them on-line anywhere between $450 to over $900.  So we're going to head to Red Bay Alabama where the Tiffin Motor Home factory is for repair.  We are also heading west in order to stay out of the way of hurricane Michael. 
  
Ahhh, life on the road. So challenging.

Gettysburg, PA

Pennsylvania Memorial (It is possible to walk around the top near the dome)

While camped at Gettysburg Battlefield Resort, we visited the battleground.

After three weeks marching through the Shenandoah Valley, the Union Army reached Gettysburg June 26, 1863.  Union Gen Meade led the Army of the Potomac up from the south.
 
Gen Robert E. Lee had earlier stunning victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, VA and carried the war north and concentrated his scattered forces near Gettysburg.   

On July 1, they collided and started a battle neither side had intended to fight here.  Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, with more than 51,000 casualties, including 7,863 dead. Wounded and dead were crowded into nearly every building.  Most of the dead lay in hastily dug graves, some not buried at all.  The Pennsylvania Governor had land bought for a proper burial ground for the Union dead.  On November 19, 1863 the Soldiers' National Cemetery was dedicated.  President Lincoln was asked to make a few appropriate remarks.  His speech lasted 2 minutes.  (Some of us had to memorize the speech in school, do you still remember it?  Eloise does!)
Contrary to popular belief, Lincoln didn't write it on the back of an envelope, but took great pains with it.  Within a few years over 3500 Union soldiers killed in the battle were re-interred here.  After the war, remains of 3320 Confederate soldiers were removed from the battlefield to cemeteries in the South.

Soldiers National Cemetery

 

Soldiers National Cemetery

 If you want to know more about the battles, I have capsulized it here.  Of course you can skip it!

July 1:
Elements of the two armies collide west of Gettysburg during the early morning hours.  The fighting escalates throughout the day as more Union and Confederate troops reach the field.  By 4 PM the defending Federal troops are defeated and retreat through Gettysburg, where many are captured.  The remnants of the Union force rally on Cemetery and Culps hills.

July 2:
The main strength of both armies has arrived on the field by the morning hours.  General Lee launches attacks against the Union left and right in an attempt to dislodge Meade's army from its strong position.  Longstreet's assault on the Union left,  makes good progress but is eventually checked by Federal reinforcements from the center and right.  On the Union right, Ewell's Confederate troops are able to seize part of Culps Hill; elsewhere they are repulsed.

July 3:
While Ewell renews his efforts to seize Culps Hill, Lee turns his main attention to the Union center.  Following a two-hour artillery bombardment, he sends some 12,000 Confederate infantry to try to break the Federal lines on Cemetery Ridge.  Despite a courageous effort, the attack (subsequently called "Pickett's Charge") is repulsed with heavy losses.  East of Gettysburg, Lee's cavalry is also checked in a large cavalry battle.  Crippled by extremely heavy casualties, Lee can no longer continue the battle, and withdraws to Virginia.

The battlefield site has a self-guiding auto tour, and includes many memorials scattered throughout the fields.

 Eloise is still trying to keep her finger out of the pictures she takes, and is mostly successful.  This was at the battlefield. 

This visit was an adventure and a sad period in our history.  The madness of that war comes clear when you walk around the monuments.  Hope you've enjoyed your history lesson!

Cyrus McCormick Farm

McCormick Mill and Farm

 We were chasing down geocaches, and when we got here we were really surprised to find the farm!!  This is where Cyrus grew up, working for his father in the mill, and on the farm.  Never, ever would have found this if it hadn't been for the caches placed here.

The grist mill was in use before Cyrus was born.  The structure has been carefully and authentically repaired in the last generation by the McCormick family.  It was again restored in the mid-1990s.  As it stands today it is as accurate as the best research and craft can make it.

 This sewing machine was in the museum area.  James Edward Allen Gibbs saw a picture of a sewing machine in a newspaper.  He started thinking about it and since they were very expensive, he decided to try to make one.  He even manufactured his own needles, from wood.  There was a three page article about how he went about the process.  He later was waiting for his father in the tailor shop where he saw a Singer sewing machine and thought it was much too big and heavy which pushed him on to develop this one.  

He sold a 1/2 partnership to a local saw mill owner, in order to have money for a patent application. He went to the patent office in Washington DC and observed patent models as well as some of the machines then on the market.  Gibbs realized he couldn't market this alone so, with his letters of patent in his pocket he went to Philadelphia.  

He patented 2 features, one was the revolving looper which pulled up a definite quantity of needle thread proportionate to the length of stitch and a feeding mechanism which fed the work positively between two corrugated surfaces. 

I was fascinated by the shape and size, would have liked to try it out.  They were having an open house the following weekend, don't know if they would have had it running or not.

Reaper Copy

   This reaper is a very old working reproduction of the machine that was invented on this farm.  Cyrus improved his father's machine including the reciprocating knife, guards, reel, platform, main wheel, side moving cutter and divider at the outer end of the cutter bar.  His invention took much of the drudgery out of a necessary chore, opened the door for a new era in agriculture by finding a way to replace muscle power with mechanical power on a job that had to be done.

These miniatures of farm implements on display were just incredible.  Such detail went into each one:

 

Grist Mill Water Wheel

 The farm had an interpretive trail around the mill pond, where the caches were.  

Mushrooms

Gary is pointing at a huge mushroom we found near the trail.  You can see 2 more in the background.  Wow, they were almost a foot across, looked like a soccer ball.  

Stream to the mill pond

 We were very happy to have accidentally come upon the McCormick farm.  Geocaching is so educational!  There have been so many caches in places that taught us much about the area and we would never have seen if it weren't for geocaching. 

Harrisburg, PA Capitol

Harrisburg, PA Capitol

While camped at Hershey, we took the opportunity to drive up to see the capitol.  I'm happy to report that it has a dome!  Of course the original seat of government was in Philidelphia, it was later temporarily moved to Lancaster.  Harrisburg was ultimately selected because of it industrious spirit.  In 1816 the Commonwealth provided for the erection of a permanent State Capitol on a hill.  The building was completed and occupied in 1822.  Presidents Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Lincoln, Grant and Hayes as well as the Prince of Wales, Daniel Webster and the Marquis de Lafayette had all been within its walls.  On February 2, 1897 it was totally destroyed by fire.

 A new building was erected on the same site, and dedicated on October 4, 1906.  President Theodore Roosevelt said at the dedication "the handsomeness building I ever saw!"

State Senate Chamber

This picture is of the Senate, however in the Representative chamber the chandeliers have a thousand bulbs... they are all changed once a year.  We were unable to take pictures in the Representative chamber since they were in session when we entered. 

We were able to tour the building, however there was a presentation going on in the rotunda that was loud and distracting, and echoed around the open areas.  It was a very impressive building with gold, marble, tile, murals and sculpture, probably the most beautiful capital of any we have seen.  The dome is 272 foot high, modeled after that of Michaelangelo's St Peter's in Rome and the main stairway in the rotunda after the Grand Opera House in Paris.  

Toward the Dome

 

View from the Steps

You can't see it in this shot, but our car is parked just a few cars down on the right side.  We managed to figure out the secret to using the meter and our credit card, and putting our license number into the mix, even though it took a couple of tries to get it to accept our information.  Total cost was only $3.00 for the hour we were there.  Significantly different than the $28.00 they wanted for some of the lots in Albany, we only paid $8 in Albany but had to walk a long way. 

To the Left of Steps

 Our visit to Harrisburg was brief, but very pleasant.  There was very little litter around, and really few run down houses.  If you could see further, in the photo from the capitol steps you would see the river that winds thru town.  We would have liked to spend some time walking along the river but as you can see, clouds were telling us "you better not, I'm going to get you wet if you do." 

Mustang Museum, Hershey, PA

1964 1/2 Mustang Convertible

This Mustang Museum was located near Hershey, PA.  If you're not "car people" you may want to skip this particular lengthy post...

Eloise and I have restored two classic Mustang convertibles.  One we restored while stationed at Hickam AFB in Hawaii from 1976 to 1980.  It was a 6 cylinder, 3 speed, 64 1/2 convertible like this one above.  Ours was Wimbledon White, with red interior.  When I brought it home, Eloise couldn't believe how horrible it looked, and didn't even want it in our compound.  (We lived on base, near to the MAC terminal.)   Pearl Harbor Naval Station next to Hickam had a pretty nice auto hobby shop where most of the restoration took place.  Once finished, it was a beautiful car we were both extremely proud of.  It may sound peculiar to call it a 64 1/2, but there were differences between it and the full production model of 1965.  A couple of the differences were the engine sizes and ours had a generator instead of an alternator.  There was some very minor hood differences.  It's been a long time, but we 'think' it had a 6 volt battery instead of the 12 volt.  Someone at the hobby shop gave it it's gorgeous paint job.

The second one we restored was a 1965, 289 V8, 4 speed.  Red like this one.  It was pretty much trashed also and we restored it in our garage while stationed at Pope AFB, in North Carolina 1983-1986.  We rebuilt the engine, the 4 Speed was pretty bullet proof, so we were lucky there.  We removed every nut and bolt, cleaned and painted them with a clear lacquer to keep them from rusting.  We had a guy in the area that had a reputation for painting classic cars do the paint for $2,000.  He had to 'block' it several times, before giving it it's final beautiful lacquer paint job.  

Now that you know our history with Mustangs, you'll understand our enthusiasm for this museum.  It turned out that it also contained old busses, motorcycles, other car brands and early autos.  All our interests in a single building.  Can't get much better than that.  

Here's a sampling of what was there.  Of course we have many more pictures than appear here, but we'll spare you somewhat:

1963 Concept Oldest Mustang On The Road Today

1963 Concept

 This car was one of 15 that were supposed to be destroyed because they were a prelude to the production.  The person who had it took it upon himself to steal it and hide it.  Seven months later the police found it.  Once it emerged, Aetna Ins was named its owner, and sold it to one of its executives.  It has been displayed at venues across the US.

It was a two seater, storage only behind the front seats.  Did you notice where the gas filler was located?

And in the first photo of it, you can see that the window glass behind the doors is concave.  

1909 Buick Model F

  The owner of this Buick was focused more on preserving the vehicle than in restoring it, which means that steps to keep it from deteriorating take precedent over full-fledged restoration.  I've included it in the blog because it is rare that you see these unrestored beauties.

1928 Zagelmeyer of the Zagelmeyer Auto Camp Company

The Zagelmeyer Auto Camper claimed to be the lightest one manufactured.  Its canvas was permanently attached, making for quick setup and tear-down, and it had a hard top roof.  Zagelmeyer invented the ball-and-socket trailer hitch commonly used still today!

1948 Tucker

I have no doubt that many knew what this car was even before reading the caption.  Yep, it's a Tucker, and you can tell by that center headlight that turned with the steering wheel. That was a Tucker innovation.  I have often wished for such a light when I've turned a corner!  It is just considered too ugly to use in today's cars.  

Rear engine, each cylinder its own exhaust

The front "trunk" looks a little awkward to use

The 1948 Tucker has a six cylinder horizontally opposed engine producing 166 horsepower.  This one is the original Tucker Grey color scheme.  A Tucker was clocked at 131 MPH at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1950.  Pretty impressive for those days.

 It was interesting to me to learn that at the unveiling of the Tucker on June 19, 1947, they used a wooden bumper for it's christening.  In the end, the Tucker Corporation will only produce 51 automobiles due to bad press, even though the SEC trials later cleared him of any misdeeds.

Following is a display of hood ornaments used over the years.  There were separate displays for US cars, and different foreign ones.  If you've been around a lot of cars, you will recognize more than a few of these. 

US Hood Ornament Collection

One of the first auto manufacturers to create a statuette was Rolls-Royce.  As early as 1911, the "Spirit of Ecstasy" featuring a standing or kneeling woman with wings and flowing drapery.  Other auto manufacturers followed suit. Many designs were inspired by the name, such as Pierce-Arrow's Archer, and Pontiac's Indian Chief.  The majority of mascots were made from inexpensive "pot metal", higher end autos chose to produce theirs from silver, bronze and even glass.

 Here's something I found really unique:

1919 Briggs and Straton

Briggs & Stratton Motor Wheel

You probably know the Briggs & Stratton engines used in your lawn mowers.  But, in the early part of the 1900s, they were a manufacturer of automotive accessories that invested half a million dollars in a new building and equipment to diversify into the production of actual vehicles.
The company bought the rights to a buckboard-type vehicle called the Smith Motor Wheel.  They renamed it the Briggs and Stratton Flyer and increased its engine output, and added a flywheel magneto.  The Flyer was made from 1919 to 1923.
Briggs and Stratton is still in business and still based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  They now manufacture small engines, generators, pressure washers and snow blowers.

This building that houses the collection was created to save money and help the environment by using a geothermal heat pump.  Extending hundreds of feet below the ground, where the temperature remains 45 to 55 F year-round, are 200 water filled pipes.  The water within these pipes is in constant motion, circulating from this subterranean labyrinth to a series of heat exchangers within the museum and back again.  As it circulates, it cools the building during the summer months, and warms it in the winter. 

Mustang Museum

Geothermal Explanation for the building

1932 Studebaker St. Regis

  This Studebaker has a special body with extra-long doors.  When it debuted that year it had safety glass, a longer wheelbase, slanting windshields and more rounded corners.  The owner spent 5 1/2 years restoring it.  It's so beautiful!


The lower floor (of three floors) contained more mustangs but also old trucks and buses.  The photo captures only the center part of the room.  A bus like the one to the upper left is a Scenic Cruiser like the one my parents sent me by myself from Calif to Illinois to visit relatives when I was 12.  Terror and joy to me to be on my own for the first time!

Lower Floor

1956 Ford Thunderbird

Ford introduced the Thunderbird in 1955.  For the second year like this one they moved the spare tire from the trunk to the rear bumper as a continental kit.  They gained much more room in the trunk, but it also added too much weight behind the rear axle, and greatly affected handling and steering.  The spare went back into the trunk in 1957!  The '56 saw a new rear bumper configuration with a new dual exhaust system.  This was also the first year for the 'portal window' in the removable hardtop.  Ford put the window there to improve visibility after getting complaints about people not being able to see out of the back of their Thunderbirds.

1930 DuPont Model G Convertible

This 1930 DuPont Roadster is an 8 cyl 130 hp vehicle.  There were 273 Model G's produced between 1929 and the company's demise in 1932.  Douglas Fairbanks, Jack Dempsey and Will Rogers all owned and drove the DuPont.  E. Paul DuPont was a wealthy industrialist who hired the best stylists and engineers in the business, and they earned a reputation for elegant and graceful coachwork.

As if it wasn't enough to have such a variety of vehicles under one roof, there was a room devoted to electric trains.  It was a remarkable set, and we were glad we took the time to have a look.

Click this for video of the trains = 2 mins

So, are you asking why I've showcased so few Mustangs from the Mustang Museum?  It's because I'm really not into any except the classic ones.  I appreciate the newer ones, they're sleek and powerful, but they just don't hold my interest like the early ones.  And also, there were so many other interesting things in this museum!!  If you get the chance, and if you're a car person, don't miss the opportunity to see it.  

Eloise is still doing Sam and Natalie's quilt...

Someday Sam and Natalies Quilt