Postcard from New Mexico

Las Cruces, NM

We hunkered down at the KOA in Las Cruces waiting for the wind to ease so we could get to Santa Fe. The KOA has a wonderful view (I've said that before) which at the moment is non-existent: everything is obliterated by dust. Not only are the Organ Pipe Mountains lost from view, so too are the cultivated fields at the bottom of the hill where the park is situated... yikes!

This dust storm puts me in mind of childhood days in Stockton. They had dust storms too... peat dust. The afternoon wind would howl and the bottom land in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta would become airborne. Gave us something to chew as we struggled head-down into the blast. Not to mention what it did to the interior of a house!

The dogs could give a damn, of course. They were excited about new smells and new people to bark at till they got the required scratches behind the ears. So they're pretty much happy campers.

I had planned on 2 nites in order to let the wind die down, but the forecast for Santa Fe said there was a chance of rain then snow along with headwinds on the way there. So we stayed 3 nites in Las Cruces.

We had cross winds getting here from Benson, AZ. The rig did reasonably well and I didn't have a single surprise lane-change. Our MOR/Ryde pin box and suspension parts are amazing!

Santa Fe, NM

We rolled into Santa Fe Skies RV Park on Monday afternoon and had our choice of sites (we're ahead of the summer crowd I guess). We chose site Y-9 for our stay here.

We used to have a a fence about 10-20 yards behind the rig, then a view across the mesa toward the prison (3 miles away?) and the Ortiz Mountains on the horizon. Now the fence has been moved and the space between the rig and the new fence is filled with a solar array. The park has finished the installation of 810 solar panels, each capable of 238 Watts. At full output he solar array will generate 192 kW. Amazing stuff for a small privately owned RV park (125 spaces?).

There was no time to rest as I had the first of my regular doctor appointments starting at 10:00 the next morning. Along with doctors confirming we're still alive, we'll start getting the house ready to go on the market. So this is going to be a busy stay if we're to get on our way to Maine to see grand kids!

And that is a segue to fuel costs.

Saving $$$

Banks Power Shop

It's amazing what it costs to save money. Last January I had Banks Engineering in Azusa, CA install everything they offer for our 2008 Ford F-350. We skipped the Banks SpeedBrake since the Ford tow/haul mode seems to work OK. Since Banks doesn't remove the diesel particulate filter (the infamous DPF), we can't expect miraculous improvement in fuel economy like friends Dan & Betty got on their 2006 Dodge truck. Still we hoped for some gains to try and offset the rising cost of diesel... $4.36/gal (!) when we filled up in Santa Fe.

Banks showroom at the Power Shop

The bottom line has been a net gain. The last time we made this trip we ended up at 9.4 mpg as calculated by the built-in computer (Ford claims it's more accurate than odometer/fuel pump readings). This time the computer said 10.9 mpg which is a gain of about 16%. By my reckoning that means roughly every 7th tank will be free and is applied as a credit to the $4,500 investment in Banks gear. Each fill-up currently costs on the order of $150, so it's going to take a long while to recap the cost: 30 "free" tanks out of about 210 tanks altogether. At 250 miles/day that means we'll have to go almost 53,000 miles to break even. That's not an unreasonable distance for us since we've already put 32,000 on the truck since October 2009.

In the service bay at Banks

If you're gathering info on what Banks can do for your Ford 6.4 liter Power Stroke pulling over 15,000# (a 5th wheel) and you're not familiar with the region, here's a little geography lesson. The trip from Benson, AZ starts at about 3,600' elevation, goes thru a lot of +/- grade changes till it reaches Albuquerque, NM at about 5,300', then the last 50 miles is mostly up-hill to Santa Fe, NM. We're at 6,800' here at the park. The computed distance is at least 515 miles (Yahoo! maps), but we added about 45 miles running around Las Cruces and another 15 in Santa Fe before filling the tank. This means the truck's built-in computer, which maintains a 400-mile rolling average, had only current-trip data when we stopped with 576 miles on the odometer. We had some gusty crosswinds from Benson to Las Cruces, then relatively still air from Las Cruces to Santa Fe. If I had to venture a guess it would be that we saw about average mileage for this trip... crosswinds & no headwinds and a substantial elevation change.

Postcard from Arizona- 5

Benson, AZ

Mike & Susan

A dance at the Saguaro SKP park club house

Life in the slow lane of southeast Arizona kept us busy with tacos on Monday night, fish fry on Friday nights, dances most Saturday nites and Celia's line dance classes 3 mornings each week. And there was a pet show as part of the park's Spring Fling. The competition was fierce with awards for tallest dog, shortest dog, oldest dog, youngest dog and the dog that came the greatest distance. Annie lost out on the tallest dog award by a hair, but she took losing very well and didn't pout at all. Mike and I, however, think she was cheated. And we're pouting!


We made a trip to Sierra Vista with Mike & Susan plus 4 of their visiting relatives. We went to the Golden Corral for the buffet dinner. I'm not a fan of buffets but the mountain of food for $10 was actually very good. We did nearly get trampled: we learned it's not a good idea to get in the way of hungry Minnesotans when it's feeding time! :)

The fire pit... a recycled washing machine tub!

And Mike organized a campfire to celebrate Susan's birthday. It wasn't too cold initially, but by 8:30 everyone was ready to go stand in front of a heater! The SKP park has a group area for these events which includes a fire ring made of an old washing machine tub. Worked great to cook hot dogs and roast some marshmallows. Celia put together a S'more for me which I mostly ended up wearing so I stuck with just marshmallows.

Broken water filter (new bowl in place)

We've made a couple trips to Santa Fe, NM since we first arrived in AZ. I had to have follow-up visits with the ophthalmologist. Each of those trips involved yet another semi-emergency with the water system. What a money pit the house has become! Day-to-day living on the premises would probably have prevented the problems becoming big as they would have been spotted early. But we like RV-living too much for that silliness, so we pay the piper. For instance I think I whined about the $1,700 water bill last entry. Since I posted that whine we were granted some relief by the water company and we now have a $1,300 credit on our account.

Which is a good thing since, just prior to our most recent visit, we learned there was yet another water leak. Again we don't know how long the leak was there but there it was anyway. We called Chris Blea immediately and he had it resolved the same day. It was a bad solder joint that started to leak for whatever reason. No broken copper pipes this time. At least we would have water when we arrived. Yeah, sure...

We had water alright, but there was no heat. We got to the house at about 11:00 pm on a Sunday and wondered why we didn't hear the boiler fire up when we turned up thermostats. I could make out the sound of what I thought might be water in the boiler turning to steam, so I assumed we had air in the lines associated with the water leak. Time to call Chris again. We were (again!) very thankful for our fireplace insert in the living room. Did a great job taking the chill off as the temps dropped in the evening.

Chris is now working for the golf course during the day so we had to wait till he was off. He bled the system several times but couldn't get rid of the problem. Eventually he found the circulation pump had failed and oh-by-the-way 2 of the several ball valves were leaking and needed replacement. He was back the next day with a new pump and 2 new ball valves. He had everything back in order quick enough. So now the heating system is working again and we'll not have that to deal with that when we return to Santa Fe in early April. But I can't help but wonder what other problem awaits our discovery!

So from the preceding you can anticipate we're getting ready to move the rig. Finally. We'll head back to Santa Fe and get busy getting the house on the market. We have a lot of stuff to find a home for (anybody need want a 60" loom?) and even more to just dump. We'll be keeping the truck busy hauling 'stuff'!

If my eye issues continue on the current track (things look decent at this point) we should be able to head for the northeast in July.

Postcard from Arizona- 4

Benson, AZ

We're still camped in SKP Saguaro Co-op RV park here in Benson. It's proven to be a great home base and we continue to enjoy the many activities the park offers like entertainment & dances. And Celia has been going to the line dance classes 3 days/week (it's been almost 11 years and I still feel burned out, so I've declined to go along).

That's not to say we haven't been outside the park. Tombstone, just off AZ-80, is about 25 miles away, so we've been there several times taking friends or just for lunch. Bisbee is another 25 miles past Tombstone on AZ-80 and we've been there for lunch and to roam the shops in the old town. Sierra Vista, the civilian town outside the US Army's Fort Huachuca (wa-CHU-ka), is about 30 miles away on AZ-90 and is an alternate to shopping in Tucson. You can find restaurants, doctors... whatever. And Sierra Vista has possibly the biggest dog park I've ever seen. The only thing they don't have is a Trader Joe's!

A nice surprise has been that we've found several restaurants in Benson that are pretty darn good. We like  the pasta over at Irene's. And the chicken-fried-chicken at Palatianos' is to die for, plus the carrot cake and red velvet cake at Palatianos' is addictive... you've been warned! The Horseshoe Cafe has been great each time we've eaten there. And the Apple Farm serves an enormous multi-course meal for $9.95. The portion size at all 4 is overwhelming, so we eat half and take home the rest for lunch or dinner the next day.

The food at the SKP park is a winner as well: taco nite at SKP is a must-go event and the fish fry is great as well. It's not that the prices are exceptional, but the food is very good. While the prices aren't rock-bottom, all extra $$$ goes to fund park events, and for the park's Cactus Wrens organization which uses their $$$ to fund their charitable work. One of the big food events is the annual food auction which brought in $4,000 this year.

A nice surprise has been G&F Pizza on 5th Ave. They have several very good but curiously named pizzas on the menu (we had the Zearing Pizza which uses feta... excellent!), plus I saw an Irby Pizza on the menu. I had to ask the source of the name since I went to high school with someone named Irby in Stockton. Our waitress told us that G&F has been around for 38 years and has always had the same name thru 2 or 3 owners. The founders had named some pizzas after businesses in town, hence the Zearing and Irby pizzas.  Plus the current owner, Benson born & raised, remembers how much he enjoyed going to G&F when he was in high school, so he does occasional (?) 50%-off nites for the local high school students. I didn't know anybody did that sort of thing anymore! Way-tuh go G&F!

Something unique to Benson has been the home made soup the restaurants here serve. Apparently locals or maybe the snow birds demand good soup, so there restaurants seem to all have something worth trying. I had the best green chili soup (green chili stew) I've ever had at Irene's, and some soups I've never heard of at the the others. Not a loser in the bunch.

If there's a down-side to Benson it's that they have great donuts (or doughnuts if you prefer). Celia claims they beat Krispy Kreme. It's unfortunate cuz we're trying desperately to break our donut habit. If we don't, neither of us are going to fit in the truck anymore.

Btw, the worlds best donuts are homemade by our friends Doug & Pat Bartman from Ontario!

Santa Fe, NM


A couple weeks ago we drove the truck back to Santa Fe. I had another follow-up to see how the pressure in my left eye is doing. Sadly it's not so good and has hit an all-time high of 31. So I now have an additional eye-drop to use once per day plus yet another appointment for the end of March to see if the pressure has started down to a safe range (below 22). That is near the time we've scheduled other medical appointments so we'll take care of all the doctor/dentist things at the same time.

We were pleased to see that the compartment that houses the water heater (rear of the house) hasn't given any more problem. Didn't freeze and there seems to be no more leaks. We filed for some relief on the super-sized water bill (about $1,700) but haven't heard anything so far.

The trip was also a chance to see how the new Banks equipment does on a different power setting. This time I upped the setting to #4. Things were looking really good with even better mileage till we got about 150 miles into the trip back to Benson. At that point the mileage suddenly started falling like the proverbial rock and I was getting a little panicky ("Damn! Is this thing broken already?!"). When I stopped at a rest stop I was greeted with about 25 mph wind in the face. At 65 mph over the ground that gave us a wind speed of about 90 mph. Apparently the #4 setting does pretty well on the straight & level with no wind. When the load goes up, though, the tuner cranks up the power (each higher setting has greater power up thru #6) which means more fuel. So I set it back to #3 and we soldiered on. Still managed to beat our old fuel economy even with the strong wind. So, with strong headwinds (but without the trailer) we're still doing significantly better on fuel consumption. We ought to recap our investment in about 25 years!

While our F350's mileage is improved by about 20%, it's still nowhere near as good as our Toyota Highlander. We use the Highlander for our daily ride which not only saves fuel, it lets us use 87 octane regular which is cheaper. Diesel prices are going over the top hitting $4/gal last Saturday, but regular gas was $3.30/gal. So having the Highlander for everyday driving is a help. Not to mention it's a pretty plush ride compared to the truck!

Benson, AZ


I've found I can do a pretty good job imitating an ostrich. But, like the ostrich, keeping your head buried in the sand leaves a great opportunity to get bit in the ass. And that's what happened with the RV toilet. I'd been ignoring the fact the toilet bowl seemed to shift a little from time-to-time. It didn't leak and the seal was still good, so I followed my old axiom of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  Well, I didn't know it but it really was 'broke' and I should have fixed it sooner. On the Saturday nite before the Oscars, Celia noticed a wet area on the floor and it was clear I needed to get my butt in gear.

Turns out the toilet had not been reassembled correctly when some pre-delivery warranty work had been done at Lazy Days, the dealer in Florida where we bought the rig. One of the 2 bolts which hold the porcelain bowl to the plastic base (the plastic base has the ball valve and the seals)  had not been run home in the threads. Instead the bolt threads were pressing against the side of the boss that contains the threaded hole.

After a lot of swearing and gnashing of teeth I managed to get things reassembled (I like to think it was done correctly this time) and there seems to be no more leak. In fairness to the tech who did the repair, the assembly has to be done blind: line things up as best you can and hope the bolt is going into the threads and not to the side of the boss.

And just where exactly is it written that toilets are supposed to crap out (pardon the pun) on a Sunday?! And was it really necessary to have snow in the forecast?

And yes- it did snow. Not more than an inch, but it was snow. And cold. The snow was gone a few hours later so no biggy. It made for a cold nite but we're supposed to get back into the high 70s as the week goes by. Hard to beat southeastern AZ in the winter!

When we take the dogs with us in our Highlander, they really have to struggle. Celia tracked down a seat-extension (my description... don't recall the mfr's) for the back seat. It bridges the space between the front edge of the rear seat and the back of the front seat without blocking the vents for the batteries under the rear seat. We had one before but the dogs are so big they broke it. Unfortunately we pitched it when it broke which was a mistake... if I'd kept it I could have replaced the thin plastic sheet with plywood and all would have been well again. Now the replacement is in place and the dogs are happy.

Which brings up another thing. We'd understood that hybrids needed new batteries every 5 years. Our 2006 Highlander Hybrid is now at least 5 years old and the batteries still seem to be OK. To be safe, though, I asked our mechanic (Steve Inouye, owner & head mechanic of ToyAuto Man in Santa Fe) about it and he said he's never needed to replace a battery pack on any hybrid he services. Apparently batteries last much longer than originally estimated... ??? I believe our battery pack recharges much faster than it used to which makes me believe it has less capacity, but I'm not anxious to spend the $4,000 it would take to find out if the battery pack really needs replacing. I think I'll just stick my head back in the sand!

Tombstone, AZ

Btw, we watched the latest Tombstone movie the other nite. It's the one with Kurt Russell & Val Kilmer. It was released in 1993, so it's not that new anymore. The movie had a lot more meaning now that we've been to the town of Tombstone several times. The movie wasn't filmed in Tombstone. Instead they created a set in Mescal, AZ (just a few miles from Benson on Mescal Rd) and tried to replicate the original store fronts, colors, signage, whatever. They even built a replica of Tombstone's boot hill cemetery ("Here lies Les Mor, 4 slugs from a .44. No Les, no More."). The actors were all required to read the newspaper report of the inquest after the gun fight at the OK Corral (it was actually in a lot behind the corral) so they understood their character's part in the fight. The film is by no means a documentary, but they did try to get the characters right before embellishing with the usual Hollywood glitz. For instance, Doc Holiday's girl friend is still Kate, but the beautiful actress that plays the part doesn't conjure the right image of someone that would later name her saloon Big Nose Kate's. The saloon is still there and serves a decent lunch. And it's worth a trip to the men's room where you'll find the urinal trough filled with ice with a sign above: "This ice is rarely used to make our drinks."

And before you ask why they put ice in the urinal, it's because as the ice melts it 'flushes' the urinal.

You can tell spring is getting close cuz friends Betty & Dan, who bought a new Montana 3400RL this past December, have left Tucson and are working their way slowly back toward the Canadian border. Come the first of May they plan to make the jump across the border and head back home to Alaska. Bon voyage, guys! See you next year.

Postcard from Arizona- 3

Main road looking across the dry camp area

Benson, AZ

We're still hanging out at the SKP Saguaro Co-op RV Park in Benson, AZ. We were enjoying the stay so much that we even got on their hot list for getting a lease. We enjoy the park a lot because of the people and the activities available during the season (winter). But there's a lot to be said economically for making this home base. Renting a site on a monthly basis is about $11/day and a lease (currently under $8,900 plus the cost of improvements) is a lifetime lease... no additional rent though there are maintenance fees and occasional assessments like road repairs or whatever. So we got on the Hot List and, after signing an annual rental agreement, moved to site #306 on the southern edge of the park where we will probably not have to move while we're visiting this park.

Santa Fe, NM

We made a trip to Santa Fe for me to see the ophthalmologist. Santa Fe is also the location of what has become the money pit... our as yet unsold house. The day before leaving we got a call from the person watching our house. Seems we had water pouring out the back of the house. Oh joy.

Replacement bowl installed

Onyx was able to shut off the water and saw that the water filter we installed ahead of the on-demand water heater had burst. That could only have happened if we lost power to the electric space heater or if the heater (brand new before we left) had died. So our return was both timely and necessary.

While the repair of the water leak was a simple $39 fix, the cost of the water will be about $1,700. The leak amounted to nearly 100,000 gallons. I received a call from the Santa Fe City office that handles water billing and among other things was told there's an appeal process available that will probably get us some relief, but we're still going to have a very large bill.

News from the eye doctor was not so hot either as the pressure was up again... now at 27. I have to go back in 30 days (yet another trip to Santa Fe) to see if this was just a transient or if a change in medication is necessary. Bummer. In hind sight it was a good that we had already decided to not head for Clewiston, FL as we had been planning for the last year... it would have been even more disappointing to find out at the last minute we couldn't go.

Dealing with diesel fuel cost

[ This part's for me. I want to be able to remember in a couple years why I spent a lot of $$$ at Banks Engineering! ]

Another troubling development (you'd have to be dead from the neck up to not think fuel costs were going to rise) is the painful cost of diesel fuel. I did some digging on the internet looking for alternatives and, with a friend Dan Weigman doing the same thing for his 6.7L Cummins-powered Dodge, we shared what we learned.

It quickly became clear that the evil culprit is the diesel particulate filter- the DPF. There are options for improving fuel economy on the current crop of diesel engines- like replacement air intake & filter, larger exhaust piping, more efficient inter-cooler, and re-mapping the fuel injection will all offer some measure of economy. Until you remove the DPF, however, large gains in fuel economy are going to be unlikely.

As I understand the DPF that we have on our 2008 Ford (it has a 6.4L International engine), the process works by collecting unburned fuel (diesel particulate) on the exposed surfaces of the DPF, i.e. the DPF collects soot that would otherwise be dumped out the exhaust pipe. The thing about this soot is that (compared to a gas) it's a solid and it's heavy. Being heavier than air, it will eventually drop to the ground or collect on trees or whatever.

The capacity of the DPF isn't endless, so something has to be done to clean the filter and that happens by periodically raising the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) in order to burn the soot. That high temperature is close to 1,300 deg F which causes the soot to turn into ash which apparently is carried out the exhaust instead of the soot. So, take your pick: either soot or ash plus CO & CO2).

The way they raise EGT to clean the filter is to inject raw diesel into the exhaust ahead of the DPF. When these super-high temperature gases hit the soot, the soot (incompletely burned fuel in the form of carbon) is turned into the ash I mentioned (I don't know the chemical composition of the ash) plus CO + CO2. If I have this right, it means cleaning the DPF is increasing the amount of greenhouse gases over the amount otherwise in the exhaust as well as increasing fuel consumption in order to reduce particulate-carbon fallout. Other nasties like sulfuric acid have already been greatly reduced with the new low-sulfur diesel fuel diesel engines must use.

In any case, the cleaning process uses a lot of fuel. In our case, every time cleaning occurs, mileage drops by 0.1-0.2 mpg. And cleaning happens every 75-150 miles. The result is that previously more-efficient diesel engines offered today have been made to be less efficient than some gas engines when the truck is driven solo (not towing or not carrying a load). The modern diesel engine still produces huge amounts of torque under heavy load, so there's really no reason to think about using a gas engine for towing/pushing a large RV. Put the fuel economies of the good ol' days are gone.

The fixes available on the street amount to a pick-and-choose combination of 1 or more of 4 approaches:

1. improve engine breathing (air filter, bigger exhaust)
2. improve turbo-charger efficiency thru additional cooling of the compressed air to the intake
3. improve fuel mapping of the mfrs engine management firmware (this mostly increases torque)
4. get rid of the DPF and change the engine management firmware to stop cleaning the filter

The 4th option will probably cause a problem with the manufacturer if you're still under warranty as we are. And, if vehicle inspections become a reality for small diesel trucks, the owner might have to pay a $1,700 fine for having modified the DOT/EPA (?) approved exhaust system plus have to restore the original design. It's unclear what happens if you do any or all the other 3 changes (breathing, inter-cooling and fuel mapping), but we decided that was the route we would try.

I ended up choosing Banks Engineering as the supplier for exhaust system, air intake & filter, turbo inter-cooler, and fuel injection module. It's not going to be a spectacular improvement since we still have the DPF, but we need to do something if we are to continue traveling with the dog house.

Show room at Banks Power House.

So, with neighbor & friend Mike Phelps as co-pilot, we drove to Azusa, CA to have Banks' Big Hoss kit installed. Banks is a pretty large operation (something like 700 people working in 7 buildings) with a division dedicated to installation and repair (Banks Powerhouse). Check-in was at 6:00 AM and the shop closes at 3:00 PM, so we were there when they opened. Apparently we would have been out of there by 11:00-11:30 AM but for one small problem. Oue truck has a factory installed option of a roll-over ball gooseneck hitch. It's made by B&W in Kansas and is a perfect match for our B&W Companion (5th wheel) hitch. Since it was a factory option, Banks had to get their Tube Shop involved (they manufacture the exhaust systems and the headers). banks hadn't previously had a truck available to them to be able to make the necessary measurements, so our truck became a Beta test site. Almost 2 hours later we saw someone walking across the street with about 4' of bent 4" exhaust tubing over his shoulder. Another 2 hours and the truck pulled out for a test ride.

On the hoist at Banks Power Shop in Azusa, CA

We got a walk-thru on pushing buttons on the Banks iQ controller. The iQ is basically a PDA with a built-in GPS which monitors & controls the 6-Gun tuner, keeps track of data during operation and testing, computes fuel usage, and, with the right option + maps, will navigate. 

10-minutes later we were on our way to dinner and ready to watch the State of the Union Address. Next morning we headed back to Benson and watched the mileage computer like a hungry hawk looking for lunch. The #1 setting is Stock and sure enough it had about the same uninspiring mileage as before. #2 was the Economy mode and it was anything but economical.

The Customer Support Mgr. that did the run-thru had said to try all the modes because each truck is different and sometimes other modes work better. So up the setting went to #3 which is the first of the high power modes. As soon as I reset the mileage computer the display jumped to 27 mpg. The euphoria was over in an instant when I realized we were on a slight down-grade. Still, the mileage seemed to hang at around 20-25 mpg as we headed out of town.

After an especially steep grade (sign at the start of the grade: "TURN OFF AC TO PREVENT OVERHEATING") I reset the mileage computer and left it untouched the rest of the way to Benson. That was about 400 miles of very gradual uphill driving from 500' at the top of the pass to 4,200' at the Benson turnoff. We were showing 18.2 mpg as we got to the park and shut off the engine. A similar trip with the stock setup had ended at 15.2 mpg, a net mileage improvement of 20%. I think we can live with that till the day comes we are pushed into getting a DPF-Delete kit.

Btw, Mike told me that he learned that letting EGT drop to under 400 deg F before shutting off the engine was supposed to be a good safety practice. That's easy enough to add to routine-driving practice. Also, turning on the head lights (turns on the amber clearance lights) is supposed to drop the chance of an accident by 17%. Yet another cost-free improvement. Nice to have someone with a CDL riding shotgun!

A word of caution to the weary traveler... some sections of I-10 were miserable as we got close to LA. It appears that the concrete wasn't set up correctly which leaves the surface with a near-washboard face. The suspension of our F-350 is pretty stiff which was enough to make many miles of the trip a trial!

That's it for now. More later

Postcard from Arizona-2

Benson, AZ

We stayed a week at the KOA in Benson, AZ. It was a good stop and we enjoyed the rural setting including the yowling coyotes. We were surrounded by mountains (Dragoons et al) with desert brush & cactus everywhere outside the park. Sunsets were spectacular and, thanks to getting rousted by the dogs at 7:30 every day, we are able to see the sunrise. I think I prefer watching the sun set to watching it rise before morning coffee! They even had a Thanksgiving dinner for the guests which was pretty cool.

Part of the display area at Davis-Monthan in Tucson, AZ

We made it to Davis-Monthan AFB for a visit with Dan & Betty to see their new 2011 Montana. Looks to be substantially the same as ours, so we don't have to be envious of a newer model! :) Montana works small changes into production throughout a model year, but outside shape changes or major changes to the interior seem to be reserved for a new model year (July? August?). While there we wandered thru a static display at the base, some of which are active aircraft at the base, then lunch before heading back to rescue the dogs.

We've known about the local SKP park in Benson but had never been there. It's not owned by Escapees RV Club, but it is affiliated hence the phonetically similar name. RVing friends we'd met in Santa Fe were really enthused about SKP Saguaro and had gotten on the 'hot list' to lease a site (currently an 8 year wait). So we decided to drive over and take a look. Wow! What a place! Huge sites on the order of 2,500 +/- sq ft; wide, paved roads; 50A/30A power with full hookup; giant club house with activities scheduled all day. Something for everyone it seemed.

Our assigned site at SKP Saguaro in Benson, AZ

Lease holder sites are available to rent by visitors when the lease holder is absent. While they don't receive income from the rental, they do get credit against their annual fees so there's incentive. The park is very popular with Escapees members and this is the busiest time of year here, so I never expected to find a place for the remaining 6-weeks we'll be in Arizona. But I asked anyway and- tah-dah! -they had room for us. May have to move at some point if the lease holder returns unexpectedly, but I believe we're covered one way or another till it's time for my mid-January appt. So we hitched up on Saturday AM, trundled across town and checked in at SKP Saguaro. We ended up in a site which has a casita (not available for use by a renter). But the site has a large *level* pad and the it's landscaped. Pretty nice digs.

And check the size of the streets and lots. Even I finally managed to get parked here.

To cap it all off we learned that Mike & Susan, the folks who told us about SKP Saguaro while we were in Santa Fe, have decided to leave Seattle and are headed to Benson. How cool is that?!

Postcard from Arizona

We're finally out of Santa Fe! You'd almost think we didn't want to leave. Which is close. But temps were dropping and we even had some snow. Clearly we'd over-stayed our welcome and it was time to move on.

Plus the solar power system being installed at Santa Fe Skies RV Park is in the early construction phase which means they're moving dirt. And moving dirt means dust. Yuk! Everything would get a fine layer in a matter of a few hours. We are actually very excited that a small RV park would tackle the largest private photovoltaic installation in the state. Way to go guys! Maybe when we return in April to check on the house they'll have some of the 1,100+ panels installed and working.

Las Cruces, NM


We drove from Santa Fe to Las Cruces for the first stop. Nearly 300 miles which is over our informal limit. Unfortunately, unless you want to stop in ABQ- only 50 miles away- there's nowhere to stop except Socorro and they were rebuilding their water system.

The Las Cruces KOA is a nice park. Yeah, it's dusty from the gravel base, but the view is spectacular and the park is very well maintained. In fact the were in the midst of replacing the decking around the pool while we were there.

I'd been haunting the propane crossover valve/empty tank gauge since Santa Fe. One tank had stopped delivering propane even though it was nearly full. And of course it had to happen on a cold nite when the furnace was cycling a lot. I went to Ferrell Gas before leaving Santa Fe to see about repairing or replacing the tank. One of the staff said the tank was probably fine and that I just needed to change my habits. Seems there's an additional valve inside the Overfill Protection Device which will cause flow to stop if the main valve is opened too quickly. Sounded like BS to me, but what the hell... I'll give it a try. I reinstalled the tank and opened the tank as I always do. Sure enough, the flow stopped and the crossover valve indicated the tank was empty. So I closed the valve, removed the hose then re-installed it. This time I very slowly bled the valve open. Then for 2 days I checked to see if crossover valve still indicated it hadn't switched tanks. So there we were in Las Cruces and... I'll be damned: it's still OK! He was right on the money. So far the tank has been operating just fine and hasn't switched unnecessarily. So here's Lesson #3,417:

Thou shalt always open the valve on a re-filled tank of propane very slowly.  

Thank you Ferrell Gas of Santa Fe!

While in Las Cruces we made an emergency trip to Starbucks for coffee beans. Don't want to run low else the Admiral gets nasty in the morning!

Mesilla, AZ

We also took a short drive to Mesilla. It's a small town adjacent to Las Cruces that has had the foresight to preserve it's old plaza area. We spent a little time wandering the area and shops and enjoyed the change of pace from busy traveller to casual tourist. Unfortunately we couldn't try the usual touristy things like fudge and ice cream (yeah, it was that warm!) but we still managed to have a good time not eating.

Loved the look of this small walled compound. Great colors and interesting xeriscape plantings. You see a lot of low water-need plantings in the southwest.

One mishap... a protective filter attached to my favorite Canon lens went for a walk and crashed on the sidewalk. Bummer. Thankfully there was not other damage.


Lordsburg, NM


We were faced with another 300-miler going from Las Cruces to the Tucson area, so this time we broke it up with a midway-stop in Lordsburg. Not much here except a decent restaurant. We didn't eat at Kranberry's this trip, but it's a worthwhile eating place if you pass Lordsburg at mealtime. And Kranberry's has a fair sized parking lot in the back so a motorhome or smaller trailer could make a food stop here before moving on. I believe you would have to approach it from the back street.

The Lordsburg KOA reminded me of Van Horn, TX in a way, but without the corrals, rodeo ring and great on-site restaurant. Not a garden spot but the park is fine and we were well off I-10 so it was quiet.

Benson, AZ 

Fred the Gnome in thermal distress!

We ended up in Benson even though I'd hoped to stop at Beaudry RV Resort in Tucson. We knew Beaudry RV sales had gone bankrupt (the Montana dealership is now with Orangewood RV of Phoenix which gives them a presence in Tucson), but since the phone still worked at the resort I thought the park might still be operating. After 8 or more calls I finally gave up (the park is indeed kaput). Then I tried South Forty RV Park which didn't want dogs larger than 20# (maybe they prefer small dogs that bite instead of big dogs that lick?), so that was out. Then several reads on various web sites left me with more questions than answers. So I gave up and opted for KOA again. The Benson KOA isn't a high end park by any stretch (though you wouldn't know it from the price), but the scenery is wonderful, it's a long way from I-10, and since we'd been here before, we knew what to expect. Got a little chiily while we were there. A little frost on the pumpkin... and on Fred the Gnome.

In the roughly 1 year since we were last here, the park seems to have become busier. We pulled in to find perhaps 15 rigs already parked. Last time we were here there was more than one nite when ours was the only rig here (not counting the 10 or more permanent residents at the back of the park). After we arrived we learned the park is providing dinner on Thanksgiving Day (as well as another planned on Christmas). Pretty nice for travelers that are probably not expecting anything!

High Desert Mkt & Deli

Bisbee, AZ

We took a side trip to Bisbee, AZ just to see what it was about. The old town was a great place to explore and we managed to find a primo lunch stop. Hi Desert Market & Cafe has a deli to die for! The food was excellent and compared to Santa Fe it was inexpensive. Well... it's inexpensive if you stay away from dessert! Unfortunately it was more temptation than we could bare so we split a piece of carrot cake. Which was no hardship since each slice is about double the size of anything I've been served before. And their carrot cake recipe adds some apple which was excellent! It's only 40 miles from Benson, so if you're in the area do yourself a favor and head over here for lunch or dinner.

Lavender Pit in Bisbee, AZ

I'd assumed Bisbee was yet another gold or silver mining town. I was only 1/2 right. It's a mining town alright, but it's copper that they were after while gold, silver and turquoise (an oxide of copper) were byproducts from of copper mining. A large open pit mine (Lavender Pit, named after the person who conceived the project) is visible from the side of AZ-80 and there's a pull-off so you can see down into the mine. Open pit mines were tried first in Utah in an attempt to make low-grade ore profitable and it worked here as well. The name "Lavender" has nothing to do with color. The pit is named after Harrison Lavender who was a VP for Phelps Dodge and was in charge of operations when they started mining, You can get a tour of an open pit mine ( Copper Queen Mine) if you're inclined, but the Lavender Pit has been closed since 1974 (to the extent that an open 900 foot deep pit can be called "closed"!).

F-100... I passed these being assembled daily on my first job

Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ

We had hoped to connect with internet acquaintances from Alaska who were staying in the Family Camping facility at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson. The base is right beside the Pima Air & Space Museum which we wanted to see, so access would have been very easy. Unfortunately (thanks to the extra problems we encountered at the house) we weren't able to arrive in time to be brought onto the base for a couple nites as their guests. And since Benson is about 40 miles from Tucson it makes the logistics impossible to get between the Pima museum and Benson to be able to get the dogs out for a walk mid-way thru the visit (Pima has in/out gate privileges). So unless we find another RV park nearby, we'll have to save the air museum for another trip.

At least we were able to meet and visit with Dan and Betty for awhile and see their new (2-days old!) 2011 Montana 3400RL. We thought it was gorgeous but then we should since it seemed to be identical to our own 2010-3400RL which we bought last March. They're on their way to Phoenix next and we'll stay in Benson a little longer since the weather is decent and we want to see more of the area.

SKP Saguaro Co-op

One of our stops here will be at the SKP Saquaro park. This co-op park is affiliated with Escapees RV Club and we want to see what their facility is like. Friends Mike & Susan who we met in Santa Fe are on the waiting list for a long term lease on an available site so we want to see what grabbed them. From the web site it appears the sites are huge... on the order of 2,000 sq. ft. or more.

More coming...

Postcard from New Mexico

7 August - 3 November 2010
(Santa Fe, NM)

We had an easy drive back to Santa Fe. Unlike the trip North, it's pretty much all down hill getting to Raton, NM. That probably made the truck happier, but it's a real test for trailer and engine brakes. So it was nice to get back to level land again. We pulled into Santa Fe Skies RV Park and were given the space adjacent to where we were before we left for Canada. Great site and it's easy to get into.

Once we were settled in we took a look at the house and confirmed that things are what folks said they are... a mess. There was definitely an electrical problem, so I went back to look at the power drop from PNM (our utility supplier). I couldn't see anything obvious but I did see that the roof in the shop had leaked and the shop smelled like mold. It was really bad!

I called Johnny Bowles who came over. Within 15 minutes he told us that we had no power inside the house cuz we had no power coming from PNM. He gave me a number to call at PNM and said if we still needed him after they got things fixed to call him back. PNM took a couple days, but they repaired what proved to be a broken line. They first had to trim a tree at the rear of the property. Our tree had grown up thru the wires and a wire was rubbing against a branch. The branch won and the wire broke... the wire was literally worn thru. Not just the insulation, but the metal as well.

After that was fixed we got Johnny back to the house and after 2 days of nasty trouble shooting (I've come to hate old adobe houses!) he had us up and running. Seems we had a couple shorts in buried wires that weren't shorted when we left town. Odd, but the problem is fix and the previously shorted wires were re-routed in conduit over the roof. Plus we had him sort out what had become a mess in the conduit after the new roof was installed on the main house in 2006.

The blackened area is the mold

The shop was not so easy. We had our favorite builder (Daniel Tellez) take a look and he cut a hole in the ceiling to confirm that there was mold damage. Once more wallboard on the ceiling was cut away I could see what was causing the problem. It turned out to be coming from a poorly sealed area at the canale (the troughs that allow the roof to drain). The roofer who installed the foam roof said it was a bunch of holes caused by bees and sent a bill for repairs. Some warranty, but both the warranty and the leaks are about what I've been told to expect. Welcome to the real world, Bruce!

Same area after remediation

We got an well known mold repair company (Paul Davis Inc., a Canadian company) to clean up the mold. Took several days, but when they were done it looked like new wood.

Then Daniel took over and installed new insulation & wallboard in the damaged areas, painted the walls and installed a new TPO roof. The material is white and seems nearly bullet proof so I have high hopes. We'll see.

The north wall; south wall had even more

Not only is the odor from the mold gone, the shop looks like new again. Especially after new epoxy paint was applied to the floor. Plus Daniel did some repairs to the outside stucco which made everything look right again. Almost looks good enough to live in! :) (We're not living in the house... we prefer the Montana.) With more time we would have been able to get the house on the market, but we're running into the limit of days we're permitted to be in the state without reverting to NM residency.

As I was saying goodbye to Daniel in the car port, he casually asked "Do you want me to do anything about these posts?" Turns out the 10" diameter posts which support the car port were hollow. Yikes! Because of a combination of building errors (6" beam on top of a 4" corbel on top of a 10" post), water could collect on the top of the posts and rot started in the end-grain. It had been going on for years and no one could see it. It was only because Daniel knew what could happen with that combination that we were saved from having the carport collapse on the car while we were gone. So Daniel replaced the posts (square 6" this time) and the corbels (also 6") plus he repaired the posts and corbels of the front portal (the 'porch' at the front door). Thank you Daniel for once again saving our butts!

While still in Santa Fe, they had their annual Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. We'd planned on visiting one night, but as often happens they had excessive winds and had to cancel the evening's 'balloon glow' or 'glow-deo'. But at least we got to see some of the crowd. Santa Fe Skies gets overflow from Albuquerque and the park was full every night starting a week ahead and continuing till the week after Balloon Fiesta. They have 98 sites and one night they had 105 guests. It was chaos. Orderly chaos if there is such a thing, but chaos. Then one night the temps dropped to freezing and within 3 days they were all gone. Poof! Now we're seeing mostly Canadians heading south.

We'll leave for Arizona soon. We have an invite to join a USAF retiree at Davis-Monthan AFB (near Tucson, AZ) for a couple days and we'd like to take him up on the offer. As I understand it, Davis-Monthan is where the USAF 'bone yard' is located. I've been hearing about it for decades (as early as 1957 when I was a student at Northrop Aero Institute in Inglewood, CA) so I'd love to have a look-see.

Our truck will be serviced tomorrow and the car shortly thereafter; we've seen doctors and dentists while here; gotten prescriptions refilled; we'll get hair cuts tomorrow; and we're pretty much ready to head West. That's assuming we can still figure out how to connect to the truck!