Over 800 Miles and a Change of Scenery

We had a few more things on our list in Ennis.  I mentioned way back in the spring that our tag axle pressure valve had broken and was leaking and our travails of getting a new one installed.  This valve determines the amount of air pressure directed to our tag or 3rd axle.  So we have a steer axle, a drive axle, and a tag axle, each with a maximum carrying capacity or rating, in our case the steer can go up to 15,160#, drive 23,000#, and tag 10,000#.  The idea is to set the tag so each axle is carrying an optimum weight, realizing it is kind of a teeter totter.  The more weight you put on the tag the less weight on the drive, BUT it also pushes down on the steer, so it is kind of a balancing act.  When we put the new valve in we set it to match what the old valve was set at 48#, and since we weren't near a scale we called it good.  We did find out it is a very sensitive valve, a very small movement causes quite a change.

Just south of Ennis, 12 miles is a permanently set up DOT scale that is rarely manned.  We have used it a few times over the years to weigh ourselves, and we did a quick weigh when we came into town and found we had a little too much weight on the tag.  I adjusted the valve ever so slightly down and since everything we could do to the generator had been done, we ran down one morning to see how things looked.  We ended up spending almost an hour adjusting and readjusting to get the weights where we wanted them, and then headed back.  When we left town we stopped one more time before we hooked up the truck and readjusted it again, mainly because the valve is so sensitive.

We also found that this gauge needed closer to 55# to make it right

Our direct neighbors left and we found one more thing we could do with the generator.  We had decided with all that we had done, we would do everything.  That one thing was clean the spark arrestor.  It is scheduled to be done every oil change, every 250 hours, but we had never done it before, I had read where most everyone has never found any soot in the muffler.  You have to take the top cover off, something by this time we had become very proficient with:-)  Then reach way down in and remove a brass plug, leave it out, put the top cover back on, run it loaded for 5 minutes, let it cool and replace the plug.  Straightforward.  But I couldn't get the brass plug out at first, it is way down in and I couldn't get leverage on the wrench, so I went to a socket with a PVC extension and finally got it out, I managed to burr it pretty badly so ran down to the hardware store for a new one.  Well we ran it and got maybe a gram of soot out.  Pretty worthless, and then I couldn't get the new plug in, so we ended up putting the old one back in, and I'll tell you I have no intention of pulling it out again, a worthless endeavor.

You can see the hole way down on the muffler where the plug lives

So we were in Ennis a total of 7 days, all but 2 were so smoked filled you could barely see the mountains, so no pictures.  We left a day early even, and went south hoping to get out of the smoke, it got better, but it was still around when we arrived at our first stop in Tremonton, UT to Aspen Grove RV Park.  It is a beautiful park all paved street and concrete sites with patios, BUT, they have a pricing policy that we have never seen before, as their booking go up and you reserve closer to when you would arrive, the prices keep ramping up.  We checked one day and then made up our mind to go the next day and they had raised the prices another $5/night, and it is fairly expensive to begin with, I questioned them on it when I made the reservations and they were completely oblivious to my comments, didn't think they were doing anything wrong or unique.  It's a nice park, but you make up your own mind on this.  

But it was a little less smoky there

We ran the generator 2 1/2 hours on the way there without issues.  

Then on to one of the nicest parks ever, Mountain Valley RV Resort in Heber City, UT.  We would spend 2 nights there.  This is a large park, well taken care of, all paved, sites are huge all concrete at least 80' long and over 30' wide, it has adult only areas to stay and adult only amenities and areas where kids cannot play or ride their bikes, etc.  Don't get the idea that this encroaches them though, the park is huge.  

I do want to get something off my chest, I should say both of our chests, lights at night for no reason. One of Jan and my pet peeves is bright lights, especially the LED's that are so popular these days, left on all night long.  Mountain Valley as I said is a gorgeous park, very quiet and very dark, absolutely wonderful except when you are subjected to these inconsiderate idiots, excuse my language that have to screw it up.  Here is an example of our neighbor's coach that we put up with for 2 nights, and keep in mind all the while they are doing this all their blinds are pulled tight so they never even look at their pathetic light pollution!

And yes these beautiful obnoxious lights are from under his rig.  Okay, I'm done.

We ran the generator 2 hours without issues.

A discussion came up the other day, do you tip your coach when you fuel to get in more fuel?  Our 150 gallon fuel tank goes from one side to the other with a fuel cap on both sides.  With our air leveling, it is very easy, a quick push of a button to lay it over, and yes we do, we can get another 20 or so gallons in and it is very useful when we are trying to get a little farther to take advantage of price, especially this year, since starting out $2.50/gal and now we are seeing it over $4/gal!

Tipped for fuel

Then we took off for Durango, 400 plus miles, and pulled in yesterday, we will be here for 6 nights, getting a few things done.  Then south to Lubbock, TX to see our daughter, and then believe it or not to Buffalo, NY to see our son.  Yup, crazy.

We ran the generator for 4 1/2 hours with no issues, is it fixed?????