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ROBERTSUNRUS · 07-17-2022, 10:30 PM

Hi, my convertor finally arrived and since it was cool this morning, I decided to install it. Doing something for the first time always makes me nervous. But from what I learned from working as a new car dealer mechanic, once you actually see the new part, you have a better understanding of what you are going to do.

To change out the convertor, you need to shut off all electrical, 120 volts and 12 volts. I have stuff in my refrigerator, so this job has to be done in one day. Preferably in a few hours. With that said, I will have no lights, no air cconditioner, and no fans. Good thing that I have a big collection of flash lights and lanterns.

I didn't time it, but my best guess is that it took my about 3 hours. Reason being thta the 12 volt positive and negative wires were too short, and I wasn't sure how to fix this. What I had to do was to take my queen bed apart and remove the short panel by the foot of my bed. There I had access to adjusting the wires to fit. These huge and very stiff wires were hard to work with. I didn't want to break the new fuse panel by forcing it back in place, so I had to shape the wires as I tried to get in back in place without damage.

I got it done and all back together again, just as it was starting to get hot in there. Now I got lights and air conditioning again. I also was able to remove my Battery Tender, in my garage, and remove the wires going to my battery box, as I will no longer need it to maintain my batteries.

I hope other people on this forum had an easier time doing this job than I did.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-24-2022, 04:48 PM

Hi, we have been getting things ready to go somewhere. I bought four new tires for my truck and a tank of gas. That's all that it needed. Now for our trailer, fairly recently; I bought a new tongue jack, a refrigerator module, a new convertor charger, five new tires, two new propane tanks, and I just replaced both of the batteries yesterday. All set to go??????

Lee was thinking about maybe going to Canada. We also renewed our passports. I talked to a neighbor who just went on a cruise to Alaska and had to stop at Canadian ports. We have new passports and I can print new shot records, so we should be good to go right????? Hold your horses. Our one-shot Johnson and Johnson turned out to be two, or a booster. Our printout says we are past due for a third shot, WHAT?????? On line, Canada wants passports, shot records, a recent Covid test, and an App down loaded to our phones. Just forget it, we will spend our money in the USA.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-24-2022, 05:04 PM

Hi, all hitched up and ready to go. We decided on going back to the Oregon coast. We would start by going to the Tillamook Cheese factory for lunch and ice cream. Nice start. From there, we decided to go North into Washington. We have been to Cape Disapointment State Park camp ground before, so lets check it out. On the last turn to Cape Disappointment we saw a sign stating that the camp ground was full. [those of you who follow this blog know that we don't make reservations, and that's part of what makes it random] I drove in anyway and to see if we could get in. Of course they asked if we had a reservation, and the answer was no. Well, they found us a full hook up site for the first night. I asked if we could stay there for two nights. Well, yes, if I move to a non-hook-up site. Yes, we will take those spots and be happy for two nights in Cape Disappointment.

We highly recommend Cape Disappointment; You won't be Disappointed.

Last time that we stayed here they were expanding the Jetty. We watched big rigs coming in with only one rock per load. Sometimes there were a few trucks that had two smaller rocks on the trailer, but for the most part, they only were able to carry one. We noticed that most of the huge rocks had numbers on them. Some of the numbers looked to be in a sequence and the other numbers might have been for the size or weight of each rock. Of course, Lee had to climb of the rocks and walk on the top of the jetty for a short distance.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-24-2022, 05:29 PM

Hi, part of staying at Cape Disappointment is hiking; And part of that is hiking to the two light houses. You can also hike to the Jetty or the beach. We did it all. We went to both light houses. One of them was recently cleaned up and repainted. It looked nice. The other one still, badly, needs some attention. We saw a ship nearby and I think it was an empty container ship, or was it a tanker? I don't know. I saw a cable for something, but I don't know what it was for either. Tie down for something. They have light keeper's houses too. I think they rent them out. Very nice looking. They have a gift shop too. It's hours are from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. It was never open when we were there [bad timing] so we don't know if we missed anything.

The ship is the "Mamma Mia" a bulk carrier.

The light house door has huge hinges and latch mechanism.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 12:35 AM

Hi, today we will be heading to Long Beach; Not Long Beach, California where I was born and lived there for about 60+ years, but Long Beach, Washington. Long Beach is a short drive from our camp site at Cape Disappointment. We found a close parking lot for $3.00 right on the beach. We were told that Long Beach was having a Kite Festival. Funny how we accidentally run into things like this on our random trips. We have never been to a Kite Festival before. I have a kite, but it doesn't fly, so it is a decoration on my garage wall.

First picture is of the Long Beach Fire & Rescue vehicle.

Lots of different kinds and styles of kites; Almost felt like the Balloon Fiesta, on a smaller scale.

Picture #10 was being set-up as we walked by. i don't think it will fly, not sure what it is. Looks like a tube used for dog obstacle courses.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 12:50 AM

Hi, This is the hike to one of the Light Houses. There was a hidden beach down there. "Don't Deface The Bunker" sign. Last time we were here I believe that we saw three or four bunkers. This time there was only one. We must have taken a different path because I don't think that they removed these bunkers. This one was quite clean inside with fresh paint to cover all of the marking that people have done over the years, hense the sign.

This Light House needs to be cleaned up and repainted like the other ones that we visited.

The tree in the last picture looks like it's dead, but if you look closer you will see that the lower branches are full and green.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 01:48 AM

Hi, we traveled farther North in Washington around Aberdeen. We have visited many car, plane, and train museums. We also visited the famous Corn Museum and the Alaskan Hammer museum. But today we found a Mermaid Museum. We met another couple there traveling with their Airstream trailer. This place has a winery and a restaurant there too. We had lunch there before goint to see the Mermaids. They also have a huge garden to walk through.

The Mermaid museum cost $3.00 per person. Some of the mermaids were kind-of freaky.

For lunch I ordered Fish tacos. They were very good. Lee ordered some kind of Nachos. They used french fries instead of tortilla chips. Left overs ended up being our dinner.

Our camp ground was at Copalis Beach Resort. I did not take any pictures there.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 02:05 AM

Hi, have you seen enough mermaids? Well here's some more. And I only took three pictures in the garden.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 02:27 AM

Hi, I did not take pictures of Copalis Beach Resort, but I did take two pictures there. The first one is of my shore power connection box. My 30 amp connection was good, but the box was so rusted out that when you pushed on it, it would move because the whole back side of the box was almost rusted completely off.

The second picture was of how an SOB runs their sewer hoses.

This was in the morning before heading back to the Oregon coast. Our goal was to make it back to Tillamook. Gas is cheaper in Oregon so we figuered that we could make it to the Sinclair gas station in Tillamook. My truck has a 36 gallon tank and we were running dangerously low. We bought about 32 gallons of Regular costing $166.25 American dollars. WOW, a new record for me. Since we are right up the street from the Tillamook Cheese factory, you guessed it, another round of ice cream for us. Now we need a place to spend the night. We found that the airport / airplane museum has a no hook ups camp ground for $20.00 per night. And that is how we spent our fourth day.

**moosetags** · 08-25-2022, 07:49 AM

Hi Bob. Great trip. We are really enjoying your pictures. Thanks for the info on travel to Canada.

Brian

wbrisett · 08-25-2022, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

On line, Canada wants passports, shot records, a recent Covid test, and an App down loaded to our phones. Just forget it, we will spend our money in the USA.

I spent the entire month of June in Canada on my motorcycle (New Brunswick -> Nova Scotia -> Newfoundland -> Labrador -> Québec -> Ontario, before heading back to Texas for a total of 8,000 miles).

It's really not that bad. Yes, you have to put your data into ArriveCAN, but once you do that you're pretty much done. Despite what they tell you online, when they scan your passport, all the data is there for customs and you don't have to fiddle trying to find the app on your phone. Typical questions about how long you're staying and what you're doing, but otherwise, no big deal.

I think online they are making a bigger deal out of it than it really is...

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moosetags

Hi Bob. Great trip. We are really enjoying your pictures. Thanks for the info on travel to Canada.

Brian

Hi, Thank You Brian. At our age, we don't want any problems at the border. We just want to have a good time, randomly.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbrisett

I spent the entire month of June in Canada on my motorcycle (New Brunswick -> Nova Scotia -> Newfoundland -> Labrador -> Québec -> Ontario, before heading back to Texas for a total of 8,000 miles).

It's really not that bad. Yes, you have to put your data into ArriveCAN, but once you do that you're pretty much done. Despite what they tell you online, when they scan your passport, all the data is there for customs and you don't have to fiddle trying to find the app on your phone. Typical questions about how long you're staying and what you're doing, but otherwise, no big deal.

I think online they are making a bigger deal out of it than it really is...

Hi, wbrisett. Several years ago, on our cross country trip, we planned to randomly explore all of the places in Canada that you just mentioned. We were stopped and harrassed for about two hours. Also my truck and trailer were strip searched. This kind-of takes the fun out of a trip. We made a U-turn and didn't spend a Dime in Canada.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 10:48 PM

Hi, today we went back to a previous RV park that we like. We pulled into Coyote Rock RV in Lincoln City, Oregon. I asked for a full hook-up site for two days and got it. [no reservation] So we will be staying here for days 5 & 6. It's off of HWY 101 a mile or two and in a good location for taking our truck out, exploring.

We found a little town called Neskowin. Here we first drove through the little town, but it's really tight, so later we walked through it. We parked the truck and headed for the beach. Now in the pictures you will see a blue streak, horizontally. I have never seen anything like this before. Also there were a few fishermen. I don't know what you could catch on a beach, but they were there.

Neskowin had some cute little beach houses and the theme of the town was to drive slow. Lots of flowers at theses little houses. This is the second time that we saw an antique bridge railing on private property. Lee wants one too.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 10:56 PM

Hi, More pictures of Neskowin houses. The last picture is of a double ended Volkswagon Van / trailer ice cream store. Unfortunately I didn't get to buy an ice cream there.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 11:25 PM

Hi, now somewhere between Lincoln City and Tillamook, Lee saw a water fall sign. Lee likes water falls and I like covered bridges. So we drove back up North towards Tillamook, looking for a water fall sign. We found it! Turn East off of HWY 101 to Munson Creek Falls State park. This was very close to Tillamook. The road to the falls is 1 1/2 miles long and is a narrow one lane, two way street, through a forest. Most of the visiters were driving little cars, but there were other pick-up trucks there too. The turn outs were about three feet wide and there weren't very many of them. Folding in my mirror and carefully passing was succcessful. No-one hit. There is a small parking lot at the end of the road, but it was enough for those daring to go there. Once there it is a 1/4 mile hike to see the falls. The falls is 319 feet tall and we were told that it is the tallest in Oregon. We walked to a road block, which I called the chicken stop. We went a short distance past the the chicken stop and turned around; Too dangerous looking for us.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-25-2022, 11:40 PM

Hi, just a note from my experience. I recently bought five brand new Goodyear Endurance ST tires for my trailer. They do not come in load range "D". I had to buy them in my size in load range "E". At 80 lbs. pressure they would ride too hard so I set them at 65 lbs. which is what I run my load range "D" tires at since my trailer was new. Load range "E" tires and load range "D" tires have the same Load capacity at 65 lbs. pressure, so that is what I set them at. There were some rough roads on this trip, but things shook loose that never did before. Lee has a Budda statue that stes on a ledge in the bedroom and has never fallen off. This trip, Lee's Budda fell. Being "E" rated tires, they are still going to be stiffer even at the lower tire pressure. So I lowered my tire pressures to 55 lbs. and all is well again.

So this might help those who have switched to Goodyear Endurance tires.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-26-2022, 12:57 AM

Hi, today we were out and about and visiting places that we almost always stop at. Our first stop is at Boiler Bay State Wayside. It is very close to Depoe Bay and that is what we, incorrectly, called it. But you get the point. This is our favorite spot for Whale watching. And today was no different. Whales are hard to see, and even harder to get a picture of them. Would you believe me if I told you that I saw a few whales today and didn't have any pictures to back it up? Also in Depoe Bay there is a little gift shop that is always closed when we are there, but today it was open. [we didn't buy anything] Next it was a trip to the Yaquina Bay Light House. It has been recently cleaned up and painted. Somewhere off of HWY 101 is a Bi-Plane ride / airport. I keep thinking about going for a ride in a Bi-Plane, but haven't yet. Lee spotted a Bi-Plane flying near the Light House. A picture of an Ocean view and a picture of a rock formation.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-26-2022, 01:26 AM

Hi, this was a great trip that we enjoyed. We spent six nights, in four different camp grounds, with no reservations. We got into Cape Disappointment for two nights even though their sign said it was full. We got to see the Kite Festival in Long Beach, Washington. We got to see some Whales along the Oregon coast. The truck worked great as always. Finding the right tire pressure for the trailer tires took care of our only concern with the trailer. I did take my hitch apart and grease it properly in Coyote Creek camp ground. And we made it back home safe; What more could you ask for?

Note: for the most part there was no WIFI at any of the camp grounds and no cell phone service either. We had a whole week of peace with no way to hear all of the bad news on TV.

We certainly hope that you enjoyed our Random Trip.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 08-26-2022, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, now somewhere between Lincoln City and Tillamook, Lee saw a water fall sign. Lee likes water falls and I like covered bridges. So we drove back up North towards Tillamook, looking for a water fall sign. We found it! Turn East off of HWY 101 to Munson Creek Falls State park. This was very close to Tillamook. The road to the falls is 1 1/2 miles long and is a narrow one lane, two way street, through a forest. Most of the visiters were driving little cars, but there were other pick-up trucks there too. The turn outs were about three feet wide and there weren't very many of them. Folding in my mirror and carefully passing was succcessful. No-one hit. There is a small parking lot at the end of the road, but it was enough for those daring to go there. Once there it is a 1/4 mile hike to see the falls. The falls is 319 feet tall and we were told that it is the tallest in Oregon. We walked to a road block, which I called the chicken stop. We went a short distance past the the chicken stop and turned around; Too dangerous looking for us.

Hi, Pictures.