January 20, 2007 at 12:11 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
OK, this entry was supposed to be entitled “Maintenance Day 3” but it got eclipsed by other events…
That’s not to say the guys at Roger Williams Airstream didn’t do great work yesterday. They did. They re-assembled the Hensley hitch with the new parts, and it looks great. Note it is now metallic pewter rather than orange.
They also installed a pair of SilenX computer fans in the refrigerator vent. These will help greatly with the refrigerator cooling when we get back into warm weather. Last summer we had several days when, in temperatures over 90 degrees, our refrigerator was unable to stay at proper temperature. In Death Valley, the interior of the compartment went up to 58 degrees and we lost all the perishables.
The problem was that the refrigerator cooling depends on a draft of air rising up the chimney and out a roof vent. The chimney is partially obstructed by design, and in very warm temperatures the draft is weak. So the two fans, which are on a switch, were mounted at the top to pull air up and out of the roof vent. In the picture, the vent cap has been removed to allow installation of the two fans. They are mounted on silicone feet to reduce vibration.
But the big event of the day was an invitation by fellow Airstreamer and blog reader Dwight to come see his workplace. Dwight happens to be a helicopter flight instructor at FlightSafety in Hurst TX. They are the factory-authorized Bell helicopter training facility. Dwight — realizing I have a fixed-wing pilot’s license — emailed me to offer me a tour of the facility and some time in one of their simulators.
Now, if you’re not a pilot or interested in aviation, this may not mean much to you, but for me it was like being invited to Willy Wonka’s factory and given a lifetime supply of chocolate. FlightSafety is the premiere flight training company. If you want a professional pilot to be very well trained, that’s where you send ’em. Transition classes to get an existing helicopter pilot into a new Bell turbine helicopter run about $20,000 — and that includes about six hours in a really incredible simulator like this one.
The Bell 430 flight simulator
So obviously I dropped everything and drove 40 miles over to Hurst to fly the big sim. I had zero helicopter experience, but Dwight made it easy. With his touch-screen instructor’s panel, he can put the simulator at any airport in the world, in any weather, and it all seems perfectly real, full motion and sound included.
The instructor’s control panel
What can I tell you … it was amazing. Everything from the initial engine-start procedures right through the landing is exactly like the real thing. We took a Bell 430, which is a beautiful aircraft that can carry up to 10 people, around the countryside. At one point I crashed it, which was interesting. The jolt you get when hitting the “ground” is pretty considerable.
The Bell 212 helicopter simulator by FlightSafety
Then we switched to another room with the Bell 212 sim and flew it around New York City. I orbited the Chrysler building, flew down the Hudson River, and then came around to the Wall Street heliport. Dwight demonstrated a couple of wingovers, which were serious fun too. The things you can do with a helicopter are just amazing. I could really get into flying one for real.
It was interesting to fly both simulators, since the Bell 430 has FADEC controls and the 212 doesn’t. What a sweet ride in both, though!
Wall of patches of pilots who have trained at FlightSafety
Upon my departure Dwight awarded me a certificate from FlightSafety International, which reads “future aviator Rich Luhr piloted the Bell model 430 simulator as sole manipulator of all flight controls.” That’s a souvenir I’ll treasure.
We spent last night inside the service bay, which is always a peculiar experience. When we wanted the “sun” to set last night, we had to step out into the shop and snap off the overhead lights. Then this morning, we woke up in pitch black thinking it was still early morning … until David and Bret came in and turned the lights back on.
(In case you are wondering, while we are in the enclosed shop we don’t run the propane appliances, for safety.)
Today we are pulling out of Roger Williams Airstream and heading south to the hill country west of Austin. We’ll be there for at least a few days.
Sign of the week!
January 19, 2007 at 9:01 pm · Filed under Maintenance
So far the maintenance stop is working out fine. We’ve found some problems and fixed them. The latest little bug found was on the front. Some small diagonal cracks have started in the aluminum near both of the bottom corners of the front compartment.
Since the cracks are minor and a complete fix would be extensive, we decided to try stop-drilling the cracks and sealing them against rain with caulk. They aren’t structural cracks. We’ll keep an eye on them to see if they go further.
The guys also did some tweaking on the front compartment door to eliminate the persistent leak we’ve had there when towing in the rain. The gasket wasn’t sealing well on the left side, and with some “persuading” of the interior frame they seem to have gotten the gasket to seal evenly all around.
The hitch parts were completely sanded down and repainted, with primer and multiple top coats. I expect the new paint job will last longer than the original.
Last night we chanced the weather (which remains cold and rainy here) and went out for dinner at our friends Paul and Anne’s home in Paradise. Yes, Paradise is only 30 miles up the road from here. Paul and I grilled a few steaks, and Eleanor made two puff pastries for dessert. One was filled with the peach jam we got in Ruston (superb), and the other was filled with lingonberry jam. In the photo above, Emma is lamenting the fact that Eleanor won’t let her have a second serving of dessert.
Tonight I had a special adventure, but I’ll save that for tomorrow’s blog, along with the accomplishments of today (day #3)…
January 18, 2007 at 8:18 am · Filed under Maintenance
We’ve been towed into the service bay for our maintenance review. The trailer was covered in snow and icicles, so it immediately began melting, which gave Emma some ideas. She spent the morning playing with the ice and then making snowballs and snowmen outside in the fast-melting snow.
(See, we really are prepared for cold weather if we find some. It didn’t take much trailer space to include these clothes. I’ll be posting on this subject in greater detail soon.)
I had earlier emailed a list of some of the things I wanted done, but in the morning I reviewed them with Robert and Denver, since David was stuck at home by the snow. Our list includes a safety check of several major systems (propane, electrical, running gear/brakes, hitch), a wheel bearing re-pack, installation of a refrigerator cooling kit, fix the leak in the front compartment, and maybe install an inverter. We’ll also throw in a few upgrades while we’re at it.
The original plastic vent sitting atop some new stainless ones
The first upgrade was one of David’s new & very cool stainless stove vents. The original vent was gray plastic, and it had two disadvantages. First, it was not a great cosmetic match for the Airstream. Second, it had little plastic tabs on the outside which needed to be secured for every trip, and then removed so the vent could be used. Inevitably we would forget to either lock it or unlock it.
The new vent is all stainless steel, so it matches the upgraded furnace and water heater covers we installed last May when we were here. The stainless flap is heavy enough that it doesn’t need tabs to secure it for travel, and yet it doesn’t come open during towing. Very cool-looking too.
The next item was a routine wheel bearing re-packing. It has been probably 18,000 miles since our last re-pack in May. No problems were found. While they were at it, the guys cleaned and checked the brakes, which they report look perfect. The new semi-metallic brake pads are wearing reasonably well (they’ve been on for about 2,000 miles) but I’ll still switch to ceramic when these are worn out. These will need to be checked very 5,000 miles, judging from the current wear.
20,000 miles of towing since install
Now to the Hensley. The hitch has been working perfectly, but I felt it was time to take a look inside and see if there was any wear. At the very least, it needs a repaint.
Nubs worn off the zerk fittings
Inside we found some significant wear in three places. The zerk (grease) fittings have an inner spring-loaded nub that is supposed to ride in a groove on the weight distribution bars. You can’t see this in normal operation. If the zerks are screwed in too tightly, the nub will wear off, and that seems to be what happened here. Compare the new and old zerk fittings above.
The internal bushings of the Hensley were worn too. We’ve kept our hitch well lubricated, so I would guess that this is not unusual wear. Another high-mileage owner has told me his bushings wore the same way, and that with wear the weight distribution on the tow vehicle changes. Obviously we’ll be replacing these as well — fairly easy to do.
Finally, note the stretched metal on the first hole in the picture above. This is a direct result of the struts on the Hensley not being tight. Properly adjusted, the strut bar (not pictured) should be under tension and pressing forward (left in this picture) in the hole. If the strut is loose, it will stretch the metal as has happened here. This probably occurred last summer when for a while I accidentally mis-adjusted the strut bars. When I realized my mistake, I re-adjusted them but the damage was probably already done. Fortunately, this is not a big deal to fix either.
The full Hensley repaint takes a while, so I don’t expect to have the hitch back on until Friday. But it’s a good thing we took it apart to examine it. With the miles we have put on, extra preventative maintenance is really important.
January 17, 2007 at 10:45 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Now all you northern readers don’t have to feel bad about our fun in the sun and warm weather down here in the south — because there isn’t any of either in Texas! We woke up this morning to an inch of fresh snow and more coming down. The guys here at the dealership say they haven’t seen snow here in years, and certainly not two back-to-back storms like the area has had this week.
Of course we were completely comfortable in the trailer last night. I mention this only because a lot of people ask us if our trailer is insulated. Of course it is. Temperatures in the 20s are no big deal. So if you want to go camping in sub-freezing weather, go right ahead. Your Airstream is built to take it. All the water tanks are heated by the furnace, and there’s no need to “dry camp” as long as you can find an open dump station in the winter.
Today, technician Denver Russell has towed our trailer into the shop for our systems check, and a few upgrades. I’ll be documenting everything we do over the next couple of days … because we aren’t going anywhere while the roads slippery.
January 16, 2007 at 9:52 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Oh man, it’s cold. Cold cold cold. I’m talking icicles on the trailer this morning. Frozen sewer cap. Hats and gloves while hitching up. We could be in Vermont this week and the only difference would be a few inches of snow.
Last night it was too cold to run the heat pump, and cold enough that the holding tanks had the potential to freeze, so we switched over to the furnace and started burning propane instead. The furnace blows hot air onto the holding tanks, so we really aren’t in danger of a freeze-up. It would have to be much colder (probably around zero Fahrenheit) before there would be any concern.
We finally got a break in the weather today, long enough to drive on ice-free I-20 for three hundred miles to Weatherford TX. The warmest we saw all day was 30 degrees, and it’s 25 now. With this funky weather pattern, it doesn’t look like we’ll catch a break for at least a week, and we might get more freezing rain in the next few days.
But at least we are here, parked at Roger Williams Airstream for service over the next three days. Freezing rain won’t be a big concern since we have nowhere to go, and the service center has a heated bay that they’ll tow us into every day. Quite a contrast however from our last visit — it hit 100 degrees when we were here last May.
We’ve got a full slate of stuff to have done on the trailer, both maintenance and upgrades, so watch carefully for the next few days. We’ll also be catching up with some friends. So even though it’s cold, it should be interesting and fun.
Sorry no pics today. But yesterday I uploaded a lot of photos from our recent adventures, to our photo album. Check ’em out!
January 15, 2007 at 1:42 pm · Filed under Eleanor's posts, FAQs
We received this email from blog reader Larry Ko:
I love to cook Chinese, Cajun, Mexican, and Italian, making do with ingredients on hand. My kitchen is stocked with lots of infrequently used kitchen tools. What tools and appliances do you feel are a functional must for your AS kitchen? What basic items do you keep stocked in your pantry?
Hi Larry!
Good to hear from you. Lots of people ask the same questions you just asked, so I think this time I’ll “blog” the answers.
We don’t eat out a lot, but we are full-timers that travel around a lot. So, as we travel, I like to pick up local food items and cook with what I purchased. We always try to go to farmers markets and those little roadside stops that offer unusual local fare, like smoked fish, tangerines from 7th generation trees, garlic fried peanuts, or mutton tacos with a pickled serrano.
If you plan to camp some place remote, and want to have the “local fare” for your meals, pick up what you need along the way instead of packing it ahead of time. But, if you plan to be in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and think you may want Thai or Cajun, then make plenty of room and pack it with you. My philosophy is “I can always hand-wash t-shirts and undies but I can’t purchase gumbo filé in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.”
What basic items do you keep stocked in your pantry?
Fresh is best, so our refrigerator is always full. However, we gravitate toward out of the way places where diverse food items are not readily available. As a professional cook, there are certain things I refuse to do without. I love to cook many different cuisines, so I have way too much stuff in the “pantry”. Even though each thing is in small/single quantity, I still manage to fill four rubbermaid tubs, two overheads, and one cabinet. Rich complains that we have a trailer full of ingredients, but nothing to eat. 😉
My staple ingredients are:
rice: Basmati or Jasmine, Arborio (for risotto), wild, brown, and dried rice paper rounds (Vietnamese salad wrappers)
pasta: long, short, pearl, couscous
barley, lentils, flour (all-purpose & whole wheat), oatmeal, cornmeal, white grits, biscuit mix, baking powder & baking soda, white cake mix
raw honey, molasses, pure Vermont maple syrup and sugar: granulated, raw, dark brown, confectioners
tea: black, green, white, red, herbal (We don’t just drink it, I cook with it too.)
coffee: drip, perk, espresso
peanut butter, cashew or almond butter, white & black sesame seeds, unsweetened dry coconut
various dried fruits & assorted raw nuts (good for snacking & cooking), unsweetened chocolate, chocolate chips
oils: olive (reg. & Extra-virgin), soybean, macadamia, cooking spray
vinegar: balsamic (white & red), cider
salt: kosher, sea, iodized
pepper: whole black peppercorns, coarse & fine grind, white fine grind
canned/jarred: red & green chilies, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, black beans, mushrooms, coconut milk, coconut water, evaporated milk, olives, artichoke hearts, pineapple, pickles, salsa, garlic, ginger, basil, tamari, mirin, fish sauce, hoisin, nori, red & green curry paste
broth: chicken, beef, vegetable Progresso soups (for when I’m too tired to cook or we are very short on time)
wine: 2 dry reds & 1 white
dried herbs & spices: whole green cardamom, cumin, coriander, fennel, paprika, bay leaf, saffron threads, orange peel, lemon grass, sage, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, ancho chilies, chili powder, ground & stick cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, red pepper flakes, gumbo filé, curry powder, and my own mixes for dry rubs, bbq, & Indian masala
What tools and appliances do you feel are a functional must for your AS kitchen?
Now I need to be able to prepare and serve all those ingredients. As you know, storage space and weight are an issue, so I try to make sure that the things I have can serve more than one purpose. For example, the carafe of my 4-cup coffee maker is also used as a teapot, a pitcher, and a gravy boat.
I didn’t bring my “best” cookware — too heavy and too large. But I don’t like “non-stick” aluminum pans, so I purchased a standard 7 pc. set of mid-weight, durable, stainless steel pans (by Wearever) with the sandwiched-disk style bottom. To this, I added my favorite “risotto” pan, and an 8″ fry pan with sloped sides. Our friend Brad brings his favorite cast iron skillet for “blackened” cajun dishes he loves to prepare.
I also have:
-small roasting pan with a collapsable rack that multi-tasks as a cooling rack and trivet
-broiling pan (purchased as an extra from the oven manufacturer)
-4 qt. crock pot with removable “crock” – multi tasks as a “deep” casserole dish w/ lid, and a great way to slowly reheat or keep foods warm
-4 cup auto-drip coffee maker and a 6-cup stove top percolator (when there’s no electric and I still want coffee)
-2 cup stove top espresso pot (what can I say… I like coffee)
-hand blender (not mixer) and a 2-slice toaster
-3 pc. stainless steel mixing bowl set (multi-tasks as salad/serving/storage bowls)
-small metal colander and a small fine mesh strainer
-four culinary knives: 1 each – paring, 8″ serrated, 8″ chef’s, 6″ slicing
-small bamboo cutting board (doubles as a cheese board) and a medium one for use with my larger knives
-two serving spoons, 1 serving fork, metal tongs (multi tasks as salad/cooking/bbq tongs)
-two metal spatulas, 3 rubber spatulas and 3 wooden spoons of various sizes/shapes
-manual can opener, cork screw/bottle opener, citrus zester, instant read thermometer, pastry brush, small “box” grater, vegetable peeler, egg slicer, and kitchen scissors
-six metal skewers, a 2 oz. ladle, ice cream scoop, 1 cup measure and measuring spoon set
– metal serving platter, two metal pie plates, a bread basket and a fruit basket
– four oven mitts that double as hot plates
– disposable plastic containers of various sizes/shapes
– 4 bottle wall-mounted stainless steel wine rack (from IKEA)
– under-cabinet mounted paper towel holder
– wireless remote digital thermometer for the refrigerator (ambient temperature affects the refrigerator’s performance so I adjust the setting accordingly)
– “Corelle” dinnerware, four each: dinner, salad/sandwich, & dessert plates, soup & dessert bowls
– 4 stackable coffee mugs (from IKEA), a 5 pc. flatware set for four, and 4 steak knives (Man can only eat off paper and plastic for so long.)
We also have a small “disposable” (good for about 12 uses) charcoal grill that we store in the outer compartment, and a step stool so Emma can operate at a proper counter height and I can see what’s in the back of the overhead compartments. 😉
I didn’t start our trip with all this stuff aboard. It is a 15-month culmination of things I decided I wanted to have along in my kitchen for comfort as well as function. To help you determine what should be in you kitchen, I can suggest this technique: Put what you consider your kitchen necessities out onto your counter, review each piece and see if any can be used for more than one purpose. Those are the “keepers”.
Other items that are favorites or “must haves” are next, and so forth. You can cut a lot out with this type of process. Then find a place in your kitchen for everything you picked out – in order of importance. Make sure that the most frequently used or favored items are easy to access. Then cook a few meals in it. You will find that you missed some items, but also that you packed ones you didn’t use. Swap them out. I know there are things in my kitchen I could do without, but it would make cooking less fun, and I want to enjoy my kitchen — small as it may be.
January 14, 2007 at 9:41 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We’re still waiting for the Dallas / Ft Worth area to get out from under that ice storm. The word from our on-the-spot reporters is not great: continued rain and ice expected into Monday at least.
We got a taste of it, but nothing serious. It rained all night. The rain stopped this morning and while we were in the matinee watching “Charlotte’s Web,” the skies parted to give us a reasonably nice 72 degree day. The lake flooded a little from all the rain last night, covering some of the bike path and all of the docks, but since all the campsites are located about 20 feet above the lake level, we’re in no danger. I can’t say the same for the people of the D/FW area, where patchy ice and frozen bridges are undoubtedly wreaking havoc.
While were at the theater today ordering a gigantic bucket of popcorn, the staff came up to us waving today’s Ruston Daily Leader. “You’re the family in the newspaper!” Yep, there we are on page 8A (Business Section), under the headline “Taking your business on the road”. Another small-town Ruston moment.
Click here to download the
article as PDF (612 kb)
Will we be on the road in the morning? It’s anyone’s guess, but I wouldn’t be surprised to be here another day.
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