October was a bit boring…I used the newest heat pump extensively to good effect with both heating and cooling working fine. Made sure the venting that exits the output tunnel and heads up the rear than inside of the RV was well sealed without any air leaks. Then I hired some handymen to help move the two salvage heat pumps onto a pallet on the cement pad directly behind my RV. Got permission from the park manager to leave them there until spring when I should be able to part them out and sell the parts online. Winter is when most RVers ‘park’ their RVs at home for the season so I’d not expect to get any buyers. I didn’t do much of anything this month but stay home and watch the start up of the football season.
I did get a potential buyer that saw my ad on Facebook Marketplace and it turned out he only lived a couple blocks from me. Turned out he had a 6537 model, which is an odd duck but he couldn’t buy my 6535 (same as a 46515 model that the salvage units are) because it won’t fit. He did hire me to help get it working properly, which I did and made a bit of pocket money.
November became a travel month…Since I had the heat pump working, installed and buttoned up, had the salvage heat pumps put to bed with a nice blue tarp covering them, it was time to think about heading south for the winter. But first, Ms. Kitty…we had a wind storm come through around 2 weeks before I was planning on heading out and to protect my LR slide awning…which was flapping way too much…I pulled in the LR slide. This is often a warning to Ms. Kitty that we’re going to be traveling. She hates travel in the RV. Or car. So she hid in the BR and didn’t come out until the next day when the weather was sunny and warm. I left the door open for her like I do and she heard that and came zooming out of the BR like a shot and zipped out of the door. She did NOT return for 26 hours! I feared she was gone forever but did the normal posting to social media about her with a picture. Here she is lounging in the BR…when she senses we’re going to be driving, she hides under the bedspread on the floor and then acts freaky whenever I stop, trying her damnedest to escape out of the door when I open it, or sitting in the stairwell yowling at the closed door. Very often on the route I can let her out, but other times, it’s just not allowed or appropriate.
Anyway, when she did come back she would run to the door if she had any thought I was preparing to leave, which since I was preparing, means a lot of times.
Finally, I gave it some thought, and decided that she wanted a divorce from driving in the RV with me and asked my daughter if she would adopter her. Nope. Than I asked my son and he said sure. Which was a relief as after 5 years of dealing with a cat who hated travel I was getting tired of it myself. There were many times when she’d sneak outside when I stopped for fuel and then I’d have to chase her down while in some town I was only passing through. Never took longer than an hour to get her back inside as she’d stay near the RV but…
She’s a good cat, I had her trained well so not a bother really, and I enjoyed her company…but like her, I needed a break from her escape attempts and the litter box messes. She’ll be fine with my apartment dwelling son and he took right to her.
My son picked up Ms. Kitty the day I left, Nov. 12th, and I headed straight south to John Day, Oregon. Outside of John Day it looks like this:
The closer I get, the more forest.
Only takes 3.5 hours and once I get there, I disconnect the car and drive over to Outpost Pizza & Pub for their meatloaf dinner that I’ve gotten very fond of over the years. Always stop there when I’m in John Day. The soup was chicken corn chowder with a hot spicy flavor that was just delicious. So was everything else for that matter. I get two meals out of this but I’d finished the soup so I got another serving to take home.
Next morning, I’m heading up into the mountains outside of John Day and we have snow! None on the roads thankfully.
Eventually I’m back down in the valleys and no worries about slipping on snow.
I stopped the 2nd night at the Model T RV park in Winnemucca. I’d stopped to fuel up before getting to the RV park at around 4:20 PM. Had the left over soup plus a home made toasted cheese sandwich for dinner. Yum.
Next morning in the chill, had to worry the LR slide in as it was hesitant about retracting, I could hear the pump motor running but the slide wouldn’t budge. But after lowering the passenger side of the RV with the jacks, that gave enough gravity assist that I could get it in. That RV park still has the Veterans discount that I took advantage of but it’s still more expensive than last May when I paid $27/nite. This time it’s $32/nite. Stayed one night and didn’t gamble or eat out. And this leg of the trip I researched the shortcut through Austin, Nevada which is very steep and hilly into and out of town, so cold weather and snow possibility is a factor. The road report showed it was clear, and the weather report showed sunshine all day and a high of 50 F. But that afternoon around 4:30 PM, Nov. 13th, the temps were to plunge and Austin was to get heavy snow. I snuck through at 11 AM and it was clear sailing. Got lucky there as that shortcut trims an hour off of the trip saving time and fuel. My backup plan is to head to Fallon instead which isn’t such a mountainous route.
Here’s the historical Austin, NV.
Once past Austin it’s a steep and windy road for several miles, two lane, with no guard rails and very sharp turns. The route is just so convenient though so I grip the steering wheel and pay attention to my driving.
Many hours later, with long straight stretches in warm valleys, I pass through Goldfield, than Beatty, then it’s just an hour to Pahrump…arriving around 5 PM local Mountain time. Still had some daylight so no problems hooking up the RV.
Pahrump would be my first long term stop as I’m a member (time share purchase of 1/2538th of the property) which from my yearly fee guarantees a parking spot at a nice reduced rate of $6.50 per nite. After I’ve used up that portion, then I can stay as long as I want for $15/nite. That along with the $310/year maintenance fee.
Sunday the 17th of November, at the Seahawks halftime, I ran over to the Bounty Hunter Bar & Grill only to find that sometime in Sept. someone had crashed their car right through the exterior wall so it was closed. Back home, did enjoy watching the ‘Hawks win one finally.
So that’s the trip down to the warmer climes of Nevada for a few weeks. Then I’m not sure, maybe over to Tucson to visit my friend John, then down to Mazatlan, or down to Yuma for some medical tourism and then to San Felipe, Baja for the winter. Haven’t decided yet.
Thanks for reading!
You’re all welcome to comment!
Glad you got the a/c working wish you were closer to Florida I would take those 2 off your hands and build a new one for mine. I think that I will just do some part trade outs on mine rather than buy new. I had over 30 years in the hvac business and though I’ve been retired nearly 20 years I think I can still do it. I changed out all hard starts last year and gave it a good cleaning but She’s gonna go at some point. I enjoy reading your blogs and looking at pictures.
Yeah, the heat pump issue was very annoying since the one I bought in 2023 died in less than a year from a frozen up motor shaft bushing. AirXcel tends to not bother lubing them nor does the bushing factory. Then the next one was damaged in shipping, they replaced that one, and finally I got the one that’s installed now, changed the shaft bushing blocks to ball bearing blocks and dressed the wiring. It’s doing good so far. Which leaves me with the two for sale.
I probably won’t make it over to Florida any time soon. I was turned off by the ultra religiousness of the area with church after church and no taverns in the entire area I stayed (outside of Orlando in Apopka). Only place to watch an NFL game, have a beer, and get dinner was 9 miles away from the RV park and back then I only had my RV, just my bike that I road everywhere practically. 9 miles was a bit much though. No Uber would come out that far.
But I digress…I am parting one of them out, and I was able to get the damaged one working so I’m selling that one whole, I’ve replaced the bent case parts. If you need a part from the other unit, let me know. I’ll make you a deal. Fans, motors, control board, year old caps, relays, etc. Maybe consider a trip over to Walla Walla? That would be fun. Walla Walla is upscale these days. Must be 200 wineries around the town.
Jim, my a/c made it through another summer but not without problems. It has a habit of ice forming on the evaporator coil when I’m not around. This is usually caused by air restriction or low refrigeration. The refrigerant is good so it’s either a fan motor slowing/stopping or the board doing some crazy things. I can turn the ac off, then turn the fan on which melts the ice then it works great. Until I leave it. It’s crazy. What do you think you want for the bent one and what do you think shipping would cost to northwest Florida?
You were in the wrong part of the state if they didn’t have any bars, must have been a dry county. I think all the state is wet after the last couple elections. I live about 30 minutes from Panama City Beach, and we have pubs everywhere.
From the sounds of it, you either have a bad sensor, motherboard, or misaligned sensor. Only the motherboard replacement would allow repair without removing the heat pump. Give me some time to mull this over and I’ll try to come up with a test. But, what is the model number of your heat pump?
Jim It is in the shop getting a refrigerator and a front leveling jack replaced. I don’t remember the model number and it will be a week or so before I get it back unless the people get to it sooner. I had it wrote down somewhere but, you know how that is.
Okay. I’ll wait until you can provide the model number.
I did a search yesterday for ‘Sports Bars’ centering on the RV park I stayed at in Apopka and there’s still only a few, and the nearest one is 9 miles away from the park. Back when I stayed there for several months (trapped by strong weather, even had snow up near the Florida border), it was the same problem. Missed several of the games I was interested in because I would have had to drive my RV over to the bar (Uber drivers kept refusing to come to Apopka) and the parking lot wasn’t big enough (didn’t have a towed back then). Bus service would have taken hours to get there.
Jim my MH is still at the repair shop but I found this in some notes, I believe the a/c is a 6535 does that sound Possible? So, Apopka hasn’t grown any, I guess. Sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday I’ve been busy harvesting pecans. We have 3 trees in our yard and this year we had a lot of pecans to pick up. For an 80-year-old it’s not an easy project but my wife cooks a lot of cakes and pies for the 5 kids and 11 grands, so they come in handy.
Yes, 6535 is a good number. And the 46515 units I have are an exact replacement for that model. But, you must be sure because they also made a 6537 model which is wildly different. Having the exact model number is necessary but can wait. It’s in the shop after all, and unless you full time in it, what’s the hurry? Don’t know about you, but when I bought this RV, it came with an accordion file folder with manuals for all the equipment and that’s how I found my heat pump’s model #. If you remember having that folder, I’d bet if you called that shop, someone in the office would be happy to find the model number for you. Also, there’s a big label on the rear end panel of the heat pump where you can crawl under the RV and read it. And of course, if you know the model number of your RV, you can check their website for equipment lists.
I’m not too averse to snowy roads anymore. The Beaver has navigated them at least 4 times and always with surprising and amazing adeptness and stability. The coach was new and I’d driven it from Bend to Elko relatives’ place, and then we continued east toward Missouri. We stayed a night at the top of the I-80 grade near Park City, woke to a few flakes, and outran a storm into Wyoming. Unfortunately, a FedEx/cattle truck wreck stalled us in one spot with hundreds of other vehicles for 4 hours and the blizzard caught us.
That’s one of my worries, being caught in a snowstorm. I don’t mind driving the RV on level roads on a small amount of snow as I’ve done that and know how stable it is plus the excellent traction from 4 driven tires. But up and down steep mountain roads? Nope, no longer. My RV is my only asset any more. I’d be destitute practically if I slipped off the road or met a sliding semi.
The Monterey ran fine in the horrible conditions, and we tried for a Rawlins RV park as dark fell. I missed the turn in town in the blowing snow and the rig negotiated a turnaround in downtown streets of 12” deep snow. I fueled up and got directions up a hill to the park, and the coach went right up it, no problem. Once again in the whiteout I missed the RV park street, and inadvertently got trapped in a trailer park. With icy fingers I finally got the frozen tow bar off the Explorer, and somehow in the pitch black and blizzard got Monty Rae turned around without hitting someone’s mobile home or parked vehicle.
Momma used the 4X4 Explorer to bust through a 5’ snowdrift that had piled up behind us in the only exit between a shed and a fence. Monty Rae plowed through right behind, and we finally got to the RV park. The storm broke overnight and roads were clear enough for us to head east the next afternoon.
She went west of Denver/Aurora over the Rockies a couple months later on the way home, and easily managed snow packed roads then as well. Once again we’d waited out a storm, and left Aurora before things got worse trapping us for the winter. Another time it got dark on us going to Bend from a family Thanksgiving in Idaho, and I headed for the only open park at the casino in Burns, on an road across a high, exposed berm. I stopped and set the anti slip switch and went gently across the icy berm with no issues.
Then the end of April 12 years ago we got caught in a unpredicted blizzard going over Mt. Hood to Bend. One travel height link was broken, the drivers side defrost didn’t work, and that side’s wiper broke off in the wind. I clumsily and unintentionally managed to take the Hwy 35 ramp in the poor visibility, and pulled into a huge, deserted recreational parking lot a short ways up the road. I couldn’t fix the wiper, but under the dash I disconnected the drivers heater ducting and directed it up through a removable dash access port so warm air would at least help clear my windshield. On we went toward Bend with warm glass melting snow on my side and craning my neck occasionally to see out the copilot’s good wiper side. Thankfully few vehicles were on the road that day, and by Madras the weather was clear as was the windshield.
So baptism by fire and you come to trust the sure footedness of our beasts… 16 tons on 6 tires, driven with determination but proper caution, and snow is not a problem. In Burns ice on a raised berm was scary, but the anti slip feature, properly used, provided secure travel. I would rarely opt to plan a deliberate snowy trip, but given no alternate choices in a tricky situation as we’ve sometimes run into, I have confidence in our rig.
Pretty cool stories. I know to drift over to the side of the road where the snow isn’t compacted which does a great job keeping the RV from slipping/sliding. Works great and the deeper the better. But, I choose not to drive in snow so I’m always watching the weather on my chosen route.
Jim it is a 6535.
Well, that’s a good start, and if you know which parts you need, (let me know if you need a exploded view), and I’ll try to run a cross to the parts in the 46515 I’m parting out.
I recently bought a 96 bounder which is actually a 95 with the 5.9 Cummins and Fleetwood chassis . I have been searching for information and just found your post. I am interested in any information you might have such as part numbers for the brake pads, repair Manuel’s, any pdfs such as wiring diagrams, etc.
The CHASSIS is likely a ’95 but the house is the ’96. See this all the time because the manufacturer buys the chassis’ for the upcoming year and they sit in the lot for months until the house is built on them. Only effect of this is your insurance will base the totaling value on the chassis age.
Mine was a ’94 with a ’93 Freightliner chassis so I have the schematic for the ’93 chassis. I’ll send that to you at your email address. I’ll see what I have for the ’94 house and send that too. But…right now the Seahawks game is about to start so I won’t get to this for a few hours…Oh, wait, game isn’t televised here so I sent a bunch of stuff your way.