Really not a lot going on here in Milton Freewater since I arrived on May 8th. Visited with the kids of course, my sister finally answered my email about my arrival, today, over a month later. Then there is the RV park management, Pacific Star Management out of California, who bought this property last year or the year before. I sent them an email about my arrival 2 days after arriving. A week later, no response so I called their number and left a voice mail. No response. Then I contacted the onsite managers who were supposed to bring or email the rental agreement to me. I asked them for it 3 times. Nothing. So I’ve been staying here free for nearly two months until 2 days ago when they finally sent me the documents, I e-signed them and sent them back, they showed what I owned (no late fee because my tardiness was all on them), but their web site was broken and wouldn’t send me a password change page, didn’t work until today. Just this AM, I finally paid them the $1400 I owed. Damn. I was hoping they’d forget all about me parking here.
The other thing of note is the heat pump…it was less than a year old back in April when it went bonkers and I am dealing with Airxcel on it. They are nice enough, even allowing me to become an authorized Airxcel repair guy which allows me to bill them for my labor too. I did have to dig out my EIN which is my old business taxing number. They are sending me some parts I need free eventually but they’re 3 weeks late at this point. So the heat pump is sitting outside of it’s compartment while I wait. I have to have those parts in order to run tests on the compressors again because right now, it appears that the #2 compressor isn’t cooling…like they forgot to put Freon in it, or it’s leaked away. Here’s a link to that story…it’s for my Coleman Mach, Airxcel 46515-611 heat pump that cost me $4,000 in May of ’23. I did find the problem right off, it was the cheap shaft pillow block bearing on the outdoor blower motor. It wasn’t lubed by anyone like it’s supposed to be and it overheated, then seized up. I’ve replaced it with a ball bearing type. Here’s the link to the story: 3: Heat Pump…
So now, with this weekend showing projected temps over 100℉ I’ll have to rely on the two interim window ACs I bought a few weeks back to tide me over. I was able to buy a nearly new Toshiba 12,000 BTU AC that a guy had listed at $250 (half the new price) after I talked him down to $170. He’d bought it for his tiny office where a 6,000 BTU AC would have been sufficient. Stuck the Toshiba into my LR window and it’s purring along. Does a pretty good job keeping the main living area cool even in 105℉ temps. And I got a 6,000 BTU for the bedroom too. Both of them have an ECO setting that makes the AC run weird so I leave those off. Power loss resets them to ECO On so it’s kinda annoying, but workable.
One of the things that happened here was one morning Ms. Kitty was taking a sun bath on the rug inside the open door of my RV when the neighbors kid let his dog out of the car as he arrived, the dog saw my cat and made a mad dash to get her. I heard the ruckus while I was in the back taking a leak and when I came out, the kid had just grabbed his dog by the neck fur and was dragging him out of my RV! Ms. Kitty had dodged the dog behind the drivers seat and when she could made a bee line for the back of the RV. I yelled at the kid, “Where’s that dog’s leash!” He never visited again without that dog on a leash. Anyway, when I collared Ms. Kitty, I couldn’t find a mark on her, but she’d been slimed with dog spit. No missing fur, no puncture wounds, no sore spots on her. Huh. So that cooled my anger. I wiped her down and kept the door closed for a few hours while the kid was visiting his dad/uncle/grandpa. They kept that dog inside their trailer from then on too.
Then, a couple weeks later, saw an ad for a comedy show at Gesa Power House Theater that looked interesting. Bought two tickets and invited my daughter, then my son to join me for the show. They both had other things to do. Good thing too, as it was stupid. More for a 5-13 yo crowd. But I wasn’t the only grey hair in the audience. I was able to enjoy some of it like the juggling. The jokes were too dumb to laugh at mostly. Anyway, here’s some pictures of the theater. I do love live theater though. In fact I’ve bought a $50 ticket for an Edgar Allen Poe cocktail night here at the Gesa on July 18th. At 10 PM.
Got there a little early so I spent a few minutes admiring the old bridge built in the ’30’s.
That’s the Walla Walla river that is pretty much contained all the way through Walla Walla. Used to flood the town every year.
And then it was time to go inside, grab a beer, and enjoy some cheese in the upstairs lounge before the show…
Yes, it used to be a General Electric power house generating power from the river. Flow got too low and inconsistent for that so it was abandoned and left vacant for decades before it was purchased and repurposed as a theater. Looking out of the window in the lounge you can see the Whitman hotel. Historic!
Yes, they did juggle while riding unicycles. And while balancing on top of 3 stacked chairs.
I sat down in the 2nd row center. No one on either side. As I said, I did enjoy some of the show, but it was basically a waste of money. Still, I’m supporting the arts I suppose. Like the other older people that came.
And that’s all that’s been going on since I got back to Milton Freewater. I did get notified that the new owners of this property I’m parked at will soon be closing the RV portion of the grounds. When I mentioned I was thinking of staying the winter, the rep thought that would not be a problem. We’ll see if and when they want to kick me out of here. I think I’ve found a nearby trailer park that will allow me to settle at their place as they have 3 trailer sites I’ve looked at over that last 4 years that are always empty. Doesn’t take much work to convert to RV. Just a hole in the power panel or an attached sub panel for a 50 amp, 240 Vac outlet and I’m good to stay. I hope, haven’t talked to management yet. The other nearby RV park is up on a hill overlooking the M-F town and I suppose I could park there, but it’s not all that inviting, to my eyes. I’m sure it would be fine though as I’ve happily stayed at much less attractive RV parks over the years, it just seems too exposed to the weather up there on the hill. And it’s right next to a 4 lane highway.
Oh, I went and gave blood yesterday. Free juice, sandwiches, coffee and COOKIES! The only reasons I donate.
Well, thanks for reading. And check out the link above to the heat pump story.
–Jim