Visitors Don’t Keep Us From Our Projects

Saturday, 23 August 2014
Gulf Waters RV Resort  — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 89F (32C) / LO 81F (27C)

Hot and humid continues to rule the weather in Port Aransas.  Enough said on that topic!

Let’s see, where was I when I last posted on 10 August?  Oh yes; Mui was still overseas, getting ready for his return trip to the US.   And I was stuck in Port Aransas with an electrical problem.  Luckily, a temporary solution was found to keep things going until the ATS (automatic transfer switch) could be replaced.  I was able to share that information with Mui before he boarded the long, long flight back to Houston the next day.

His long travel day ended up being even longer than anticipated.  First it was a one-hour weather delay leaving İstanbul; then it was storm-delays in the Houston area.  As you can see from the above map, the Turkish Airlines flight had to go through some gyrations before a window in the passing storm allowed it to land at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.  The good news — or so we thought initially — was that the storm had delayed his flight to Corpus Christi as well, so he managed to transfer to Hobby Airport in plenty of time.  But then, that flight kept getting pushed back.  Finally, at 10:30p, after having been on the go for 26 hours, he threw in the towel.  He asked Southwest Airlines to transfer him to the first flight the next morning and he went to a nearby Marriott for a good night’s rest.

We’ve been busy since Mui touched down at Corpus Christi International at 10:30a on the 12th.  Yes, planning our New Zealand trip has been part of that busy-ness, but Mui’s not one to sit for long, so he found some “projects” to do as well … overseeing the installation of the new ATS switch; replacing the motor for the windshield’s daytime MCD shade; trimming and pruning some of the overgrown plants around our pad; and keeping the lines with Amazon humming with this, that, and whatever.

Dale from Southern Style RV Service returned on 18 August to install the new ATS Switch.
[Sorry about the size of the photo; Mui’s camera was still set to shoot small jpegs!]

Mui also installed insulation in the cabinets and closet [thanks for the idea, Pam] — we’re already seeing positive results from this … the ice cream bowls aren’t dishwasher-hot and the chocolate bars are no longer gooey ;-)  Oh, and he worked on one more project; but I am going to write about that separately so I can put the post on the Phaeton mods page.

The insulation may not look pretty, but it helps …

… to keep the worst of the heat out.  And we think it will also help with the cold this winter.

Now what about those guests I mentioned in the post title.  Well, it’s not what you think; and no, we weren’t rude to them by continuing to work on our projects ;-)

First came a baby turtle that was no more than 2½ inches (6 cm) long.

The baby turtle sought refuge under our rolling umbrella stand …

… but moved out from under it and headed towards the Yucca plant I
watered hoping to get it moving into the shade and off the concrete.
Eventually, it made its own way back to the pond that fronts our pad.

Next came a green heron … a juvenile by the looks of it.

Unlike the Great Blue Herons that frequent the pond to hunt,
this green heron was just interested in surveying his surroundings.

Oh, and I saw a pair of caracaras on the beach a couple of times.  No photos, though; I leave the camera at home when we go out for our morning exercise walk.

And that’s a wrap for now; I’ll be back with a post about Mui’s latest Phaeton mod soon.

Two More Days … Was it too Much to Ask?

Saturday, 10 August 2014
Gulf Waters RV Resort  — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: Hi 89F (32C) / LO 82F (28C)

Two days — actually, a day and a half — and Mui would have been home to deal with this afternoon’s electrical emer-
gency.  But no, the transfer switch had to short out today, leaving me powerless — in the ways that matter on a Texas summer day … NO A/C.

Before I tell the story of my emer-
gency … let me assure you that all is well now.  The A/C is on and has already cooled the coach down to a comfy temp.

The Automatic Transfer Switch is the open box with all the wires and other geegaws.      

It all started with a power flicker.  It didn’t last long, and the control panel immediately showed the system in inverting mode.  I had a general idea of what to do, but got on the phone with Mui to verify the steps with him first.  Luckily, he was at dinner with his mother, and I was able to reach him … a few more hours and he would have been asleep.

After confirming with the GWRVR office that the power wasn’t off throughout the resort, I set to work.  I shut off the 50A breaker and started the generator to get the A/Cs going.  The system showed inverting.  I waited.  The status did not change.  In the meantime, I asked the campground handyman to change out the 50A breaker.  When that was done, I turned off the generator and plugged into shorepower again.  No go; still not budging from inverting.  OK, let’s try the 30A breaker.  Still no go.  I shut the inverter off, and powered it up again … nope, no change.  I even checked the fuses; no problem there.  I suspected the problem might be with the automatic transfer switch, but since I wouldn’t be able to do anything to resolve it if that was indeed the problem, I didn’t open the box … some things are better left to the professionals.

My big issue was the A/Cs of course.  Can’t live without them in the sweltering August heat here in Texas … not even at the beach.  Both units were clicking on, but that was it … no air.  I called a fellow-Phaetonite to see if he had any thoughts.  He verified the steps I had taken, and came to the same conclusion I had — time to call an electrician … and on a Sunday to boot!

You can clearly see the short in the transfer box in this close-up.

I gathered my laptop and cellphone, and sought refuge at the GWRVR office where I could at least work in air-conditioned comfort.  The first call went to voice mail; I left a message.  The second company didn’t answer at all.  The third one — Southern Style RV Service — answered.  The tech was booked solid, but the lady on the phone asked me to explain the problem and what I had done, and promised to call the tech — who, it turns out, is her husband.  She called back a few minutes later … “Dale considers having no A/C an emergency, but he can’t be there until 4:00p,” she said.  No problem, I can hangout for another two hours at the office.  In the meantime, I started searching for a hotel — plan B in the event I couldn’t remain in the rig overnight.

Dale showed up shortly before 4:00p.  He listened to my description of the issue and the steps I had taken to rectify it; he looked at the inverter; and then — just as I expected — he checked out the transfer switch box.  Yup … there it was — the short that was the cause of my problems.  Since friends had experienced a similar problem earlier this year, I was hopeful that Dale would be able to do a by-pass to get power into the rig to run the A/Cs.  And that’s exactly what he did.  Half an hour later, I was signing my name on the dotted line for today’s work — payment to be made after Dale completes the installation of the new automatic transfer switch I’ll be ordering from Tiffin first thing tomorrow morning.  Expedited shipping should have the switch here in a couple of days, and all should be back to normal soon after that.

The cables Dale disconnected to by-pass the transfer switch are capped
and waiting to be reconnected when the new automatic transfer switch arrives.

Phew!  Could have been worse, I suppose.  But I still would have preferred not having to deal with this little emergency today.  I can’t say enough good things about Southern Style RV Service.  Turns out, Dale and his son — if Dale’s the surgeon, his son is the surgical nurse — were working on some rigs somewhere south of San Antonio when they got my call.  He could have just said he couldn’t make it down to work on the Phaeton.  But no; he drove all the way back to Port Aransas to help me out.  I appreciate it — especially since he’s going to have to return to San Antonio to finish the job up there.

Considering this is my first time alone in the rig, I remained surprisingly calm in the face of today’s little emergency.  Yes, I did utter a few choice words at first, but then I buckled down to getting the problem resolved.  I think I even managed to impress Dale with my succinct summary of the problem and what I’d done to diagnose the issue.  Too bad this blog post isn’t just as concise ;-)

Today’s experience was yet another reason to be glad I am in the familiar surroundings of GWRVR.  Peter, the handyman, had checked on me just yesterday to make sure all was well in Mui’s absence, and he stopped by several times today to make sure things were progressing smoothly towards resolving the electrical issue.

And, knowing that our Texan friends, the Zs, were just a phone call away helped my peace of mind immensely.  I knew they weren’t above hopping in the car and coming down to GWRVR had I asked them to do so.  It’s nice to have people around who sincerely care.

As for Mui — he proved himself to be his usual calm self when I called about the emergency and helped me walk through my diagnostic steps.  Many thanks; but, “get your butt home, Mr Mui” before I have to deal with another emergency — like a full black tank ;-)

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On another note … other than today’s emergency, life alone in the rig hasn’t been bad at all.  Until Friday, I was able to maintain my morning and evening walks, but the humidity has been a bit too much for me to venture out for exercise these past couple of days.  I do get to sit in the breezy shade when I take a break from researching and planning for our New Zealand trip — made good headway with a bare-bones plan for South Island … have plenty to discuss with Mui when he returns.

The resident dragonfly of Site 408 entertains me when I sit outside in the breezy shade.

As for Mui … his brother-in-law was laid to rest on Monday.  Since then, he’s done a couple of handyman type projects for his sister while she is busy accepting condolences from the large circle of friends and associates who have been popping in daily.  He begins his return trek to the US with a flight from Ankara around 1:00a CDT tomorrow morning.  If all goes well, he’ll be home around 10:00p — fingers crossed.

Time to Fess Up

Saturday, 2 August 2014
Gulf Waters RV Resort  — Port Aransas, Texas
Temps: LO 78F (26C) / Hi 83F (28C)

We left the RV park at NAS Corpus Christi and moved to our own site at Gulf Waters RV Resort (GWRVR) on Monday.  We’re back in Port Aransas, Texas … home sweet RV Pad!  It definitely feels like we’re back home now.

The temperature here was cooler this week — it didn’t go above 90F (32F).  And with the breeze, it felt much cooler.  I am on the patio at the moment — in fact, the picture to the right is the view from my chair.  It’s 7:00p and the temp is 82F (28C).  The weather website says it feels like 87F (31F).  Maybe in the sun.  But I’m here to tell you that it sure feels a lot cooler in the shade — I wouldn’t be lying if I said that a light sweater wouldn’t go amiss right about now.

Of course, today’s comfortable weather is due to a cold front that brought rain to the area this morning — much needed rain, I might add.  I’m sure things will warm up soon enough and I won’t be singing such a cheery tune.  Then again, who knows with Mother Nature anymore?  Everyone in Port A told us the winter was unusually cold the first four months we were here.  Maybe summer will follow suit ;-)

Those of you who know me personally — and readers of long standing — know that I can’t abide hot temperatures.  Combine that with humidity, and I’m pretty much hiding indoors round the clock.  If that's the case, why on earth would we be in Texas in the summer?  Several readers suggested in comments left on the previous post that we should turn the Phaeton’s nose north and get out of dodge.  Well, it’s time to fess up and tell you why we’re here and why we’re staying put.

Left: A hibiscus bloom from our overgrown hedge;
it sure went wild while we were gone for a month and a half.

Right: Ring-billed gull with a treat!
(I haven’t been taking photos, so I got a little desperate and dug into the archives.)

We’re here because we need to plan and prepare for our next multi-month vacation!  Yup, another non-Phaeton trip is looming on the horizon.  This one will be a winter trip — some might say a summer trip since we will be heading into the southern hemisphere.  I’ll share the details later, but a big part of this vacation will be a road trip around New Zealand — six weeks to be precise.  Road trips in an unfamiliar country require lots and lots of research and planning — much of it on the computer.  Which is why being in a hot spot in Texas is really not so onerous.

As it turns out, it’s a good thing we’re at our home-pad since I’m here all by myself — at least for the next 9 days.  You see, we got a call yesterday that Mui’s brother-in-law had passed away during the wee hours of the day (Turkey is 8 hours ahead of us).  He woke me up at 5:00a to give me the sad news.  Ergin had been quite ill and bedridden for a while now, so his passing wasn't entirely a surprise — but sad nonetheless.

So, Mui flew out of Houston last night and is at his sister’s house in Eskişehir already — that’s a 50-minute plane ride from Corpus Christi + a 7-hour layover in Houston + an 11-hour plane ride to İstanbul + a 1-hour layover there + a 1-hour plane ride to Ankara + a 3-4 hour layover at the bus station + a 3-hour bus ride to his final destination.  He called me at 4:45p CDT today; 00:45a his time on Sunday — I’ll let you do the math on how long his trip took!  The funeral is Monday, so he made it there in time to offer moral support.

It was bad enough dealing with an emergency that had overseas ramifications without Mui having to worry about me staying behind in the Phaeton in some unfamiliar campground somewhere.  Sometimes the decisions we make turn out to be a good thing for more than the reason for which the decision was made initially.

Time Flies …

Saturday, 26 July
Martin Shields Campground — NAS Corpus Christi, Texas
Temps: LO 80F (27C) / Hi 91F (33C) … Feels like 106F (41C)

Time flies when you’re having fun!  At least that’s how the old adage goes.  I’m here to tell you that time flies whether you’re having fun, or just doing chores and living life.  It sure doesn’t seem like we’ve been here at Martin Shields RV Park aboard NAS Corpus Christi for a week, but the calendar says otherwise.

To say that it’s been hot here would be an understatement.  The temperature gauge itself hasn’t risen above a humid 94F (34C) … and that was just for a couple of hours on one day.  The feels-like temperatures, on the other hand, have been sweltering — ranging from 104F to 107F (40-42C).

The good news — the campground overlooks Corpus Christi Bay.  That means the breeze is constant, making the heat quite bearable.  So, we’ve actually been quite comfortable, managing to get out for our daily walk in the mornings — granted, we do so at 6:30a when the temp is only 80F (27C)!  And when the shade hits our patio in the late afternoon, we can sit outside … that’s a bonus we weren’t expecting!  Since the bulk of our days have been spent doing post-travel chores, being inside during the hottest hours of the day has not been onerous.

Sunset at Shields RV Park aboard NAS Corpus Christi.                

This will be a catch-all post to make the blog whole.  That means I am going to go back to the day we arrived in Houston after our summer vacation overseas and come forward from there.

Thursday, 17 July … Welcome Back to Texas

The timing of the thunderstorms that greeted us in Houston could have been better, but at least the weather cooperated long enough for our plane from Washington DC to land without delays.  We’d arranged for a very special ‘private limo service’ to pick us up from the airport … actually, our friends, the Zs, were kind enough to drive down to Houston to give us a ride from George Bush Intercontinental to the storage facility where the Phaeton was awaiting our return — thanks, guys!

Since we have solar panels to keep the batteries afloat,
we rented an outdoor spot at the storage facility.

The solar panels we had installed a year ago once again kept the batteries afloat and the Phaeton’s engine purred to life on the first try.  Not so lucky with the toad.  As was the case when we left it in storage last year, the batteries of the CR-V were dead!  Mui suspects the small solar panel he installed is simply not sufficient to float the car batteries; he’s going to look at alternative solutions.  Anyway, the Zs came to our rescue and gave the toad the jump it needed — thanks, guys … again. 

While Mui went about getting the coach road-ready, I mapped out our route.  It was at about this time that the worst of the thunderstorms hit the area.  No problem, I switched my ‘navigator hat’ for my ‘weather officer hat’ and checked the local weather radar for a break in the storm for the short drive to Cummins Coach Care in north Houston.  I must have done my job right as nary a drop fell until after we had pulled under the canopy at the service facility ;-)

Since we had towed the car to Cummins instead of driving it after we got a battery boost from the Zs, the CR-V needed another jump before we could get on the road again.  No problem — the Coach Care guys had a portable battery jumper to give us a boost.  With instructions from the tech to drive for an hour, we headed off to the Sheraton North Houston for an overnight stay.  Of course, it didn’t take us an hour to get to the hotel, so Mui waited in the car with the engine running, while I checked us in.  That done, we went for an aimless drive in the area for another half hour.  Actually, the drive wasn’t that aimless — we were looking for a place to have an early dinner.  Though we found some options, nothing really tickled our fancy, so once we’d fulfilled the instructions from the Cummins tech, we returned to the Sheraton and had dinner in the hotel restaurant instead — wasn’t half bad!

We wrap up our “Welcome-back-to-Texas” day in a comfy room at the Sheraton North Houston.

Friday, 18 July … The Phaeton Gets a Check-Up

A good night’s rest … a great breakfast at the hotel … and we were ready to pick up our nomadic lifestyle, even though the Phaeton has been quite stationary this year.

If there was nothing wrong with the coach when we picked it up from the storage facility the day before, why did we take it in for service?  Well, regular readers will recall that the annual maintenance we planned to have done at Cummins Coach Care Houston in May had to take a backseat to resolving an intermittent “water in fuel” code instead (post here).  Better late than never, the service on the engine, chassis, and generator was all completed today — and very satisfactorily, I might add.

I didn’t take any photos at Coach Care today, so this one from May will have to do.

When we arrived around 9:30a, the Phaeton was already in for its ‘check-up’.  There’s no visiting of the service bays here, so Mui had to patiently wait in the customer lounge with me.  But he was kept apprised of what was happening on a regular basis — both the service manager and the service foreman came out several times while we were there to give him updates.  Based on our experience — both times — we would not hesitate to recommend Cummins Coach Care Houston.

Except for the different outfit I’m wearing, this photo could have been taken today!

Given a clean bill of health, we left Coach Care around 3:30p — perfect timing as the afternoon rush hour was not yet underway.  By 4:30p, we were set up in site 802 at Advanced RV Resort, which has become our Houston base.  While I did some light housekeeping, Mui went off to Costco to begin the process of re-filling the Phaeton’s larder.  He loves to shop, so I assure you this was no hardship for him ;-)

The photo doesn’t do Site 802 justice; it is more spacious than it looks here.

Sunday, 20 July … Moving south to Corpus Christi

Didn’t really do anything blog-worthy on Saturday, so I’m skipping on to the next day.  Eagle-eyes might have noticed that the subtitle says Corpus Christi and not Port Aransas, where our home-pad is located.  That’s because our site was rented; hence our week at the Shields RV Park at the naval air station.

We were on the road by 8:30a.  And what a pleasure it was … traffic was non-existent and we made really good time getting out of Houston even though our chosen route to get to US59 took us through several urban neighborhoods.  By 1:15p, the 232-mile (371 km) drive was behind us and we were settled into
site 51 (50 Amp FHU for $18/night).

Site 51 at Shields RV Park aboard NAS Corpus Christi.

After setting up, we headed off to get a bite to eat.  To celebrate being back in Texas, we went to Rudy’s for some BBQ!  If your ears were ringing, Sue and Mo, it was because we were reminiscing about what newbies we were when we went to Rudy’s for the first time with you last February.  Showing none of the ‘we have no idea how this works’ hesitancies that marked that first time, we got in line and placed our order like we were old hands at eating Texas BBQ … in reality, it was only our second time ;-)

Tummies sated, our next stop was at the commissary on base to pick up groceries and whatnot to complete the replenishment of the larder.  Chores … starting on Monday … after all, Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, and that’s what we did once we returned to the coach.

Back to the here and now … and a week past

The first three days of the week were spent unpacking; doing laundry; putting away our Arctic gear — until the next time we find ourselves heading to the polar regions; cleaning the rig and making it habitable after 50 days of being in storage.  Thursday, we took care of appointments, including our bi-annual visit to the dentist.  Have no idea where yesterday went — some accounting work somewhere in there — and here we are at Saturday, which is into the evening hours already.  I told you — time flies.

13-lined ground squirrels run around the campground in a feeding frenzy all day long.

As I mentioned above, it’s been hot here, but the saving grace is the breeze.  Today we have winds strong enough to rock the coach, but for the most part the breezes have been gentle.  They’ve been quite welcome; especially when we go out for our morning walk.  Without a breeze the humid, sticky temps would have kept us from getting our daily dose of exercise.  Or from sitting outside when the patio is in the shade.

From pinks and mauves …

… to golds and oranges … colorful sunrises accompany our morning walks.

An unexpected bonus … we get to sit outside when the patio is in the shade.

Despite the high temps, we’ve been quite comfortable inside the coach.  The MCD shades have been great at keeping the sun and heat at bay.  So much so that our two AC units haven’t had to operate around the clock to keep us cool.

That said, we’ve taken to heart the warnings that the worst of the heat is yet to come in August.  Mui picked up a roll of reflective insulation from Lowe’s and made a windshield shade that we placed on the dash in front of our MCD shade.  He bought the 2-foot wide roll and pieced the shade together, which will allow him to fold it into a smaller roll for storage.  He also used the same stuff to cover the skylight in the bathroom — can’t use the hatch cover since I didn’t want to remove the drip-dry station (post here) from the shower stall; and placed a piece behind the blinds in the window in the bathroom.  That our proactive steps have helped keep us as comfortable as we’ve been goes without saying.

Piecing together pieces of reflective insulation, …

… Mui creates a sun shade for the windshield.  May not be pretty, but it gets the job done.

Now for some thoughts on the campground.  To be frank, I’m torn about this place.

On the positive side, we have a level, concrete pad that is quite wide.  The spacing between the sites is best described as oversized — even if the layout of the sites is ‘odd’.  The laundry has four fairly new washers and dryers … and they’re FREE — I got through a mountain of laundry in record time using just two of the four machines.  Although almost completely full, the campground is quiet.  And critters abound.  Aside from the usual shorebirds near the water, we have long-billed curlews whimbrels poking around the campground looking for tasty morsels; 13-lined ground squirrels running around — the babies are especially cute; and jackrabbits cavorting and playing chase with each other when they aren’t busy munching away.

LONG-BILLED CURLEW
THE CONSENSUS FROM THE TWO BIRDERS I KNOW IS THAT THIS IS A wHIMBREL …
WHO AM I TO QUESTION THE EXPERTS ;-)

“My, what big eyes and ears you have,” said the human to the black-tailed jackrabbit!

On the negative side, the campground is in need of a lot of tender loving care.  I can understand that the grass isn’t lush, and that there are bald spots and weeds … Texas is in a drought after all.  But the roads in and around the campground are cracked and rutted; the washrooms are in sad shape — I’m glad we don’t have to use them; and several of the buildings nearby are in a state of disrepair.  In fact, one would be excused for thinking that the base is slated for BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure).  That’s certainly not the case, but whatever funds are coming in are obviously being directed towards the mission of the base and not towards MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) facilities.

Our Hilarious visitor!  This jackrabbit comes to visit every afternoon.
I don’t know if it is in the ‘family way’ or has just given birth …
haven’t seen any leverets around … but its teats are quite full.

The cons aside, should we be in the area and our site be rented out, we wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again.  In fact, the big, free laundry facilities alone would draw me back here after we return from any long-term off-the-road travels that might be in our future ;-)

We have one more day here before we pack-up and move to our home-pad at Gulf Waters RV Resort down the road a bit.  I’ll be back once we’re settled in.

They’re Baaack!

Sunday, 20 July
Martin Shields Campground — NAS Corpus Christi, Texas
Temps: LO 80F (27C) / Hi 92F (33C) … Feels like 105F (41C)

Yes, we’re back.  In fact, not only are we back in the US, but in the past four days, we flew from DC to Houston … got the Phaeton serviced while there … stayed two nights in the area so Mui could get his Costco fix … and drove 232 miles (371 km) to Corpus Christi today.  We will be staying at the Shields Campground aboard Naval Air Station Corpus Christi until renters vacate our Gulf Waters site at the end of the month.

That we had a terrific vacation goes without saying.  Those of you who might have taken a peek at our Two to Travel blog already know how we spent the past month and a half.  For the rest of you — a summary ... we visited family in Turkey; explored Helsinki, Finland; made a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia; and — drum roll, please — attained the North Pole aboard a Russian nuclear icebreaker!

As you can imagine, we’re exhausted — pleasantly so.  But before the R&R begins — and I get back to blogging — there are chores that require our attention.  And so, we begin to ‘live life’ again ;-)