On The Road for Christmas

[Jerry Winchester]

My first day out on the Christmas road trip began with a 15 degrees Oklahoma morning. And I know a lot more about the Marathon heating system that I did yesterday.

This morning I also had an inverter fault - high battery voltage, whatever that means. I reset the inverter and it went away but it had effected the bathroom heater and would only supply power to two of the three Cruisairs (making it think it was inverting power while it was tied up to 50 amp). After I reset it, everything worked as it should.

The Webasto ran like a champ cycling off and on all night long with the rear and center heaters working as needed.

When I got to McAlester this afternoon, I was able to set the galley SMX controller to run the electric heat in there and set the bathroom heater up to come on (hopefully) when it chills down some.

One thing I didn't plan for in the sub freezing temp was that I inadvertantly dropped the end of the sewer hose that connects to the coach and even though it only fell a little more than a foot, it snapped the ear right off the plastic coupler. Evidently that plastic doesn't like cold weather. So a trip to the local Wal Mart fixed that issue and the tanks took a steamy dump.

I was surprised that the bay temperature never got below 65. I also found a cold water leak on the lower radiator hose, so that will need tightening when it warms up some. At this point, I am thinking that my trip to Arizona may be via El Paso as the weather across Northern New Mexico is supposed to be way cold right after Christmas (single digits with snow).

We also had a near miss at the Flying J when my daughter's Jack Russell terrier came upon a man walking a ferret in the grass by the dump station.

I also realized the Hummer doesn't have the right washer fluid as it is now a block of ice......

[ajhaig]

JDUB,

Have you decided where you are going to stay in the Phoenix area? We will be at Eagle View RV Resort (Fort McDowell) until December 27th.

AJ

[jello_jeep]

Yeah Jerry, we will be in Lake Havasu City from the day after Christmas, until New Years Eve!

If you are nearby, give us a shout!

[Jeff Bayley]

Jerry-

Is this the trip where you asked about places to stay in Tombstone or did you already make that trip ?

If you already went, tell where you stayed and how you found the town. We stayed 3 weeks. I don't like the sour pus that runs the Wells Fargo RV park but that one is within walking distance to the shops and wattering holes.

South of Albequrque on the main Hwy leading to El Paso, there is a state park called Elephant Butte which is on a lake and there are hook ups but if you boon dock it, there's a killer spot right up against a cliff overlooking the lake. It's right off the Hwy. in case you go what way.

[truk4u]

Jdub,

Keep the saga coming, we need a good replacement for Christmas Vacation for those of us at home with cold bus engines..

OK, Sparky.

[MangoMike]

Although the Anderson tribe is not having half the fun of the Winchesters, we are on the road heading to Myrtle Beach then possibly on to Florida for some warmer weather.

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First stop Richmond to check out the lights and grab some grub. Couldn't find a decent taco anywhere.

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Merry Christmas


mm

[MangoMike]

NORAD's tracking santa again this year.

Picture 54.jpg

Here's your chance to follow the big fella. (Santa not JDUB).

http://www.noradsanta.org/

[phorner]

Mike,

Don't know if this will influence your decision to head for Florida, but as I'm writing this, it's 80 degrees and sunny....

Oh, and did I mention that yesterday afternoon was spent in the pool...??

Happy travels.

[MangoMike]

Paul,

Your negotiating skills are finely honed.

One more notch in the FLorida bound decision factor.

mm


BTW Lew says you were skinny dippin' in the pool.

[Just Plain Jeff]

I'm not gonna suck up to Jon because I have told him everything I know about campers.

Just went out and shot this in Lew Land: