Apr 08, 2016
A variety of events
Wednesday April 6th
I woke up in the middle of the night smelling smoke and went back to sleep wondering who was having a campfire.
Turns out that we were between 2 fires, one was a controlled burn in Parker. You can barely see across the river.
The other was a fire near Topok, Arizona that jumped the Colorado River into California. The smoke was very bad. My eyes were watering and my nose was going crazy. As the day progressed two RV Parks were evacuated. The news about the fire was even on our Kelowna online news along with a photo. If you care to check it out here is the link http://www.castanet.net/news/World/162627/RVers-flee-wildfire Sadly two RV Parks were evacuated.
The Pirate Cove Resort along with another park were evacuated to the Needles area. We were somewhat concerned as Fender’s Resort was out next stop on Thursday. Not only was it smoky because of the fire there was a strong wind blowing.
Wednesday was supposed to be a quiet day for us but it was not to be.
First off we had arranged for a window chip repair guy to show up at 8:30AM He arrived by 9AM and promptly set to work filling our five chips. One of them happened this last winter when we were returning from our hurricane evacuation. We had had the others for a while but just never got around to getting them repaired. He did a great job for $70.00 and you can only see one of them a little bit. Now we don’t have to worry about a cracked windshield.
Next on the list was getting our grey and black holding tanks cleaned. Again we had prearranged this the day before while still in Yuma. The company is All Pro Water Flow and they have many dealers all over the USA. We dealt with Scott and Sherry who work the Lake Havasu area, 928 208 1543. We were to start at 8:30AM but did not arrive until closer to 9AM. As they set up they asked where the sewer was. We only have electric and water hookups at the LHC State Park 😥 There must have been some misunderstanding during the booking procedure. The only way to do this was with a sewer connection as they put about 6 times our tanks water thru in a pressure system at about 4000 PSI. Scott said that we could do it at the Park sani dump. Only problem is that it can take up to 90 minutes. So he called the office and they agreed that we could tie up one of the two dumps. In the end there were only 3 other RV’s that came by to dump. However we had to wait for the chip repair dude to finish first. Meanwhile we had to pack everything up in order to move the RV 👿 Remember this was to be our quiet day. Not.
So we moved to the dump station and they set up. It is a hydro jet cleaning system.
First the black tank then the grey. In the end both of our monitors were reading empty. The grey has never been an issue, usually reading empty but the black never went below 3/4.
Scott complimented Colin on the great condition of our tanks. Every time he dumps he does flush for a full 30 minutes. We were impressed with the service and in another 15 years will do it again 😕
These are struvites, not from our RV but from a 2006 RV they had done yesterday. Struvites are created by a reaction between most tank chemicals and the ammonia from the urine mixing with the gas from the decomposing other sewage. These crystals are what causes sensor failures as well as other problems. The hole on the struvite on the left at the bottom was covering a sensor on the other RV.
As we had only begun just before 10AM I had to call my friend to come visit a tad later as we had to finish off with the tanks, move back to our site and relevel, not an easy task on this most uneven site and then set up once again. However I also had a mishap and tripped on a moving sewer hose. If you look at the photo of the 2 RV’s three photos up you will see the tangle of hoses. I was fine and then suddenly my foot got caught by a moving hose and next thing I knew I was down flat on my back. I had a moment to twist so I did not land on my hip but I did hit my shoulders, back and butt very very hard as well as the back of my head not so hard. I was dazed and could not move for several moments. Finally I got up and went inside where I stayed and ingested 800mg of ibuprofen. I was most upset as I had just spent two weeks with a chiropractor in Mazatlan who had really made a difference, all out of whack now.
The tank cleaning cost $175.00US and was well worth every penny. Of course we asked as to the best chemical to use in the future and the answer is an all natural probiotic tank treatment. For 39.99 you get 67 tank treatments, a great deal. The product is called Tank Techs RX . It works like a pacman, eating up everything in your tank. The microbes keep multiplying and munching until you empty the tank. Pretty neat.
Finally we got settled back in our site just as my longtime friend Libby came to visit. After a few hours she headed off and then we headed off to complete our last task of the day. I was looking for a special pair of flip flops with a high arch support. Found the store alright but they no longer carried those particular shoes. Grrrr. In the end they sold me something that I did like but certainly not the price, $65.00USD 😳 I would never ever spend that much for flip flops but these are special and I can actually wear them. Considering I spend $200.00 for my everyday sandals, the price wasn’t too bad and I will have them for years and years to come.
Later in the day the smoke seemed to dissipate.
So glad we caught the sunset the day before. This one is nice but the one I posted yesterday was special.
My plan was to write about the last two days but this post is long enough. Tomorrow I promise to catch you up to our current situation. Meanwhile don’t fret as my body is doing well enough.
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I used to do windshield repair on the side here in Mexico. Wasn’t a good business though. Here, the insurance will replace the windshield once a year for 10% of the deductible. In fact, we got hit by a rock returning from SMA and ordered the windshield this week. The chip finally ran. Anywho, the cost is 450 pesos or $38 U.S.
Before trying more tank chemicals, you might just try going “au natural.” I’ve not used any tank chemicals at all for over 2 years and my tank sensors have never had a problem (nor have I noticed any difference in smell either)!
Basically, I make sure the black tank never goes dry (unless the RV is being stored and tanks have been flushed/rinsed first). I don’t dump until tanks are at least 1/3 full (I’ll add water to them if I have to). Even if I’m parked for a while with the sewer hose connected, I won’t keep the tank valves open– they only get opened when tanks need dumping.
Give it a try!
Glad to hear your injury was not too severe. Shopping also helps heal any hurts, LOL!!!
Sounds a very busy (relaxing) day.
I know you will have more just like it.
Enjoy.
YIKES, Contessa! So sorry! Hope you are not too sore today. And for those of us with a propensity for “foot issues,” I think you got a bargain. I think I paid at least that much for my Chacos, but they were worth it for the support…and they have lasted forever. Hope you will post a photo. 😉