Disneyland

We arrived in Garden Grove California yesterday. We are here to take the Grandson to Disneyland before we drop him off back at his dad’s for school. We spent 14 hours at Disneyland today and are going back tomorrow.

Our daughter is driving up from San Diego tomorrow in the morning to go with us. We bought a 3 day Park Hopper pass that lets go between Disneyland and California Adventure. Our daughter bought the tickets under a Southern California resident discount since we are now Zoners (Arizonians). We are only going 2 days but the 3 day discount passes were cheaper than a regulator 2 day pass.

Strange sighting

Landen and I went to the lake the other day for a day at the beach.

While he was playing in the water with his newfound friend I spotted this strange contraption.

What the heck is it? Looks like a water tractor. It has paddle wheels for propulsion. Turns out it is basically a lawn mower. He was cruising up and down the channel cleaning the grass that grows on the bottom. What a cool job…well not so cool since the temperature is still over 100 everyday. Even though it has been hot the weather has been fairly comfortable since the monsoons have stayed away and the humidity is low. With a breeze, it is tolerable.
We are getting ready to head out on Tuesday. Landen has to get back to California to go back to school. We tried to enroll him in school here but his Father wouldn’t allow it. Since we didn’t go anywhere this summer we are going to head over to Disneyland for a couple of days before dropping him off at his dads.

I knew that would happen

Today since it was about 110 degrees and 30% humidity I decided it was a good day to stay inside and search for the best online quote on Arizona auto insurance. Since they all require an address I know I will be getting tons of junk mail. Also they all required an email address so I was expecting tons of Junk Email. Also some required a phone number. Just after the first online quote I get a phone call from an agent. I politely told him, if I wanted to talk to an agent I would have called for a quote. Then the next call came in and I wasn’t so pleasant with this one. Then the next call, this one I just let go to voice mail. Finally I got smarter and started giving phony phone numbers. Of course my email box filled up real fast but that is OK because I want a record of the quotes anyway. I will either request to unsubscribe later or just block them. I’m not too worried about the junk mail because I got a cure that seems to work well. If they send me a post paid return envelope I write, “Please remove from mail list” on the order form and return it using their postage.

Leaks leaks and more leaks

Found another leak yesterday. I was under the motorhome changing the oil when I looker over at the right front wheel. There was axel oil leaking from the bearing down through the brake disk and onto the tire.

This is the same leak that I have had “fixed” 3 times now. The latest was just before I parked it here on our lot 4 months ago. Right now it is not leaking very bad and we have a 600 mile trip planed in 2 weeks so I will keep an eye on it and get it fixed again when we get back. And of course there was the toilet and gas tank leaks. The toilet seems to be the only one that is fixed.

Didn’t save any money there. I am referring to changing our vehicle registration from California to Arizona. You would think I would save a bundle and that was what I thought, especially when she first told me the cost of the Saturn. For about the same cost as 1 year in California I got 5 years in Arizona. Then she told me the cost of the motorhome. It was double for 1 year. So I saved $50 per year on the Saturn and paid $200 more on the motorhome. Not such a good deal. However I was reading on the California DMV site where they are going to raise the fee on my motorhome to the tune of $520 so I guess it’s all good. At least I don’t have to get a smog test on either anymore.

So why would you pay over $30 for print cartridges when you can get a printer for less than $30? My printer has been acting up lately and I figured it might just be the inexpensive refilled ink cartridges that I bought. They worked for a short while then quit. I don’t use the printer often and they may have plugged with dry ink. I considered buying new cartridges to see if it would work but even though the printer still worked it wasn’t 100% compatible with Windows Vista anymore. So I started looking at new printers. I found a Canon printer for $28, less than the cost of print cartridges. So I think in the future, when I am ready for print cartridges, I will look at new printers. The only problem is what will I do with the stack of old printers.

Failed again

The tank patch failed again. I am getting pretty good at taking the cart apart. As I stated before, in order to remove the gas tank I have to remove the entire rear body. This involves removing 8 bolts to remove the roof, 6 bolts to remove the seat assembly, 2 clamps to remove the motor air intake, 2 bolts to remove the battery, 4 bolts to remove the shifter assembly, and 4 bolts to remove the body. Now I can remove the, 3 bolts securing the gas tank, and now I can finally remove the gas tank. I can actually get all this accomplished in about 20 minutes. I think this tank is hopeless.

Patch #3

I finally got pictures of the gas tank the guy wanted to sell me. It looks worse than mine. Well I guess it doesn’t leak. Today I had another idea. I called all the golf courses in town to see if they had any parts carts that they could pull a tank out of. Nope! I sealed the crack in mine a while back with a soldering iron but it’s just a surface seal so I decided to get some JB Waterweld and attempt to reinforce it. This time I applied it to the inside and outside of the crack.

Since it is only a reinforcement and not necessarily a patch maybe it will hold. At least until I can find a suitable replacement.

Unbelievable search

I just can’t believe that my search for a used gas tank for my golf cart is so difficult. I have checked all the local golf shops, golf cart forums, craigslist, and internet search engines. I found one through a golf cart forums but that seems to have turned into a dead end. I recently found one by searching ebay’s completed auctions that didn’t sell. I emailed the seller and he still had it. I made him an offer and made me a counter offer. I called him today to get more details and after agreeing to purchase he raised the price. So I turned him down.

Laughlin

We took a cruise over to Laughlin Nevada today, just for something to do.

Landen has been bugging us to take him there even though we told him it was a gambling town and there is nothing for him to do there.

Well we were wrong. Every casino has a game room for the kids too.

On the way through Bullhead City AZ I spotted a used golf cart shop and stopped in to see if they might have a gas tank. They did but it had a hole in it. I just can’t believe I can’t find a used gas tank anywhere. The guy in Illinois that said he would sell me one has not gotten back to me in a few days. I’ve just about written him off.

Sprinkler Day

Yesterday was Sprinkler Day in the park. This is the second time they have done this. At 12:00p they turned the sprinklers on for an hour and let everyone play in the water.


Landen had a ball and after that he jumped in the lake for a while. This was refreshing since the temp today was about 106.

We almost didn’t make it to Sprinkler Day though. I was in the bathroom smearing myself with sunscreen when I heard water spraying. I looked down and the bathroom floor was filling with water. The water valve in the toiled decided to crack right then. Good thing I was standing there because otherwise it would have filled the motorhome before someone noticed it. With both roof airs going, you just don’t hear things like that. Well anyway, someone had given me a valve a few years back so I dug it out. Unfortunately that one was about to crack in the same spot so off to the parts store I went.

When I got back it was about ½ hour before sprinkler time so I plugged the water line to the toilet, turned the water back on and told Susan I will put it all back together when we get back. A few months ago I replaced the flush valve so now I got all new parts in the toilet.

Not as easy as it looks

The heat gun thing was not as easy as it looked on TV. I decided to go ahead and buy a heat gun and attempt to melt the crack back together. I started with low heat and nothing was happening so I switched it to high. On high the tank started folding in on itself and the crack not only got wider but new cracks started to open up. They gave me no problem taking the heat gun back and giving me a refund. I finally got out my soldering iron. That worked pretty well but smoothing over the cracks only made a surface patch and I really don’t think it is strong enough to hold. I did put some gas in and it held pretty well. I was thinking about reinforcing it with some JB Weld (Waterweld putty). But then I posted another want ad on a golf cart site for a used tank and this time I got a response. Someone in Illinois has one he is offering to sell me for a good price. I inquired as to year and condition before I make the purchase. Hopefully it will work for me and I can get this job done.

Good thing our friends left plenty of carts and cars for us to use while they are gone for the summer. The only problem with that is, their carts are much nicer than ours and Susan is getting spoiled driving them around. She is going to have a hard time going back to our classic.

Getting kind of tired of this

The second attempt to patch the gas tank has failed. I did an overnight test (like I did the first time) for leaks before putting everything back together. The next morning, it was leaking. I didn’t even get a chance to put it in the cart this time. I have decided that I need to weld it back together. This seems to be the only, and correct way, to fix this thing. I was watching a car show this morning. They were doing a modification on a truck and had to mod the coolant overflow tank. They cut a portion out and welded it back together with a heat gun. Man, they make it look so easy so I decided this is what I will do. Now I found that locating a heat gun is just about as difficult as finding glue that will stick to polypropylene or finding a used gas tank. If I knew for sure I could fix it this way I would spend the $25 for a heat gun. Possibly I will buy the gun and give it a try. If it works, I will keep it and consider it a $25 repair. If it doesn’t work I will take the gun back and get a refund. I would also like to find some filler to add to the joint for added security. I was hoping to use something on hand like a milk jug or plastic water bottle but I found they are made of Polyethylene. It is best to use similar plastics. It’s amazing how much knowledge you can gain on something you will probably never do again.

Second attempt

I pulled the golf cart apart again today in a second attempt to repair the gas tank. I considered getting out my soldering iron and attempting to weld the crack shut but I am afraid of making it worse. I think I will leave that as a last resort. This time I will try Seal-All. This stuff is good for use with gasoline and they say it will repair gas tanks. The problem is gas tanks are made of different materials and mine is polypropylene. There is not much that will stick to polypropylene. I figured since it dries flexible, it has a better chance than the ridged gorilla glue I used the first time.

Fixed that too

For as long as I can remember the heater/ac fan in the Saturn has been a bit noisy, especially on high. I just figured that’s the way they are. Well we went out to dinner tonight and after leaving the restaurant, I jumped in the car, started it up, and it sounded like a card in the bicycle spokes. All the way home I was thinking, this is going to be a pain to get to. When we got home, I lifted the hood…No the fan doesn’t go through the firewall…Must be on the inside. I opened the passenger side door and contorted myself to take a peak under the dash. WOW! There it is! Three screws and it will drop right out. So off to the toolbox I went. I grabbed my nut driver handle and a hand full of metric sockets and headed back to the car. WHAT! Not metric! Back to the toolbox I headed. Finally after lying on my back on the floor I had the fan in my hand. One parking ticked and lots of sticks and leaves. After I put it all back together I switched on the key and thought, I must have forgot to hook something back up…wait, it is running. Man that thing is nice and quiet now.

Earlier today we headed over to Bullhead City with the in-laws to do some shopping at Sam’s club. That storm I took pictures of last night went right through there and there was still small lakes all alongside the roads from the standing water. They got a lot of water out of that storm. After returning home I realized I still had the windows up in the Saturn so I rolled…huh, who “roles” a window down now a days…anyway, I “rolled” them down a bit. A few minutes later I was sitting under the awning enjoying this cooler day then past few when I heard a noise. Took me a minute to realize it was raindrops hitting the awning. So up the windows went again. Five minutes later you wouldn’t even know it ever rained. Everything dried up very quickly. You just don’t know around here.

Not again

I thought it was over. The weather report said we were done with the thunderstorms. So today I spent a couple of hours cleaning up all our patio stuff. I washed and polished the BBQ, cleaned the table and chairs and cleaned the patio set including the cushions. Then this rolled in tonight.

It mostly went around us but we did get some raindrops out of it. Hopefully since I got the dirt and dust off of everything there should be no spotting.

One more time

This should be the last of the thunderstorms and the humidity for a while.

We are surrounded again buy thunderclouds. It is supposed to move out tonight and start drying tomorrow. I am a bit tired of the humidity. I don’t mind sitting in the heat but when I start to sweat just sitting…that’s not good. It’s actually supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow than it has been for the last couple of days. It’s only supposed to get a tad over 100.

Well the cart gas tank has started leaking again. The patch is holding somewhat since the leak is only seepage. Not even enough to drip on the ground before drying up but enough that I can smell gas. I am hoping it will hold long enough to run this tank dry, and then I will pull the tank again. I think this time I will do a little plastic welding with my soldering iron and then go over it with either Seal-All or JB Weld to seal it.

Landen and I tried to go into the pool today but after a minute or so we were driven out by the 90 degree water. We ended up going over to the second pool here at the resort. That one was only about 85. What a difference 5 degrees can make. We missed sprinkler day at the park here in Havasu Friday. I didn’t read about it until Friday night. This is where they turn on all the sprinklers in the park for an hour and let everyone run through them. Landen would have had a ball with that. There will be another one in 2 weeks though.

WOW! Not again

We had another hell of a Monsoon storm last night. It woke me from my sleep around midnight. This one was worse than the one Sunday night. By looking at the clouds all around us last evening I knew we had a good chance of getting something so I secured everything before turning in for the night. The winds were clocked at 70 MPH. Even though I thought I had everything battened down, I didn’t expect that kind of wind. Things started moving around outside so I went out to secure them even more. I could barely get out the door because the wind was blowing it shut. Then the lightning and rain started. Rain hitting me at 70 MPH hurts. It felt like hundreds of needles poking me. I had to make a few trips out to secure stuff because even thought I thought I had it secured I under estimated the wind. Landen was enjoying the show for a while but then started getting a little worried. It was crazy. There were at least 3 trees down in the resort and a few roof shingles missing from some park models. We faired OK this time. There are more to come.

I didn’t want to say anything until I found out for sure but it looks like I may have dodged a bullet for now. About a month ago Susan and I had our blood test done and I had an elevated PSA. An elevated PSA is an indication of the possibility of Prostate Cancer. I made an appointment with a urologist and was thinking the worst. The Dr wanted to rule out all other possibilities before doing a biopsy so he put me on 2 weeks of antibiotics among other things. Then I did what is called a Percent of Free PSA Test. This measures the percent of free PSA (not bound to a protein) in relationship to total PSA. This test indicated I am at a 24% risk of having the cancer. My Dr says he looks at it as a 76% chance I don’t have cancer and feels that this and the fact that my PSA went down that it’s worth waiting and rechecking in another 3 months. He says as long as my PSA doesn’t go back up that I am good. After getting my good news I got an email that a friend lost his battle with cancer on the 4th.

Weather change

The weather has changed around here. The other day the monsoons showed up. It is a bit early in the season but nothing is normal this year. We were sitting inside the motorhome Sunday evening and around 9:30p the motorhome started shaking. Being a California guy I thought it was an earthquake, then I remembered we are in Arizona. I went outside and could hardly stand up. The wind was gusting about 50 MPH. I started securing everything so it won’t blow away then went around and checked on our neighbor’s lots. Then the lightning came, then the rain about midnight. The next morning, I took the golf cart for a ride around the resort to check for damage. Surprising, things were looking pretty good. I think people have learned from the past and are securing their lots more when they leave. The weather is still very humid and with the heat you can’t do much before you are drenched. This is supposed to last through the week with the temp getting hotter and hotter each day.

Hot and muggy

Well as you know it has been hot here. Today the humidity came around due to some early thunderstorms in the area. There really is a difference between dry heat and humid heat. One thing that doesn’t change though, no matter what the weather is, it’s always the same when you are in the pool.

Landen went out today with the bug box he recently built. After a while he came back and said he caught something. He reached inside his bug box and pulled out this guy.

That’s right he is as flat as a piece of paper. I asked where he found him and he said under the leg of the rocking chair. HA! That explains why he is so thin.

Still holding

I went down and got another 2 gallons of gas for the cart today. Seem to be holding so far. While out we picked up a few fireworks. Of course Landen wanted to fire them all off tonight. I let him do a few and we will save the rest for the 4th.

Actually the law in Havasu permits only ground fireworks like fountains, sparklers, and showers of sparks, but nothing that shoot into the air. And the law says they are only to be fired off on the 4th…Oops, we broke the law. We had to take Papa’s Convertible (the half assembled golf cart) and drive outside the resort because they are not allowed here. For cheap fireworks he had a ball. We did saved some for the 4th.

A cool day

Well if you can call 100 degrees cool. We woke this morning and actually turned off all the air conditioners. It was only about 79 degrees. I figured this was a good opportunity to pull the shrouds off the air conditioners and clean them out.

Since the rear air has been running non stop for a couple of days and we tend to use this one more, it was the worse. Everything went well and cleaned up real good. I used my shop-vac with a brush attachment and my air compressor and got all the dust out of the evaporators and condensers and cleaned the fans and filters too. We are good to go on the airs for about another year now.

I added some gas to the golf cart tank last night to see if it would hold over night. This morning it was nice and dry. Looks like the patch is holding so far although I just don’t have too much confidence in the glue I used. I installed the tank in the cart, mounted the body and took it out for a ride. I call it my convertible right now since I haven’t added the roof or seat backs yet.

Looks pretty cool.

After I got back from the test drive I looked under the cart for a gas drips. OH NO! No gas but battery acid was dripping on my drive. I did a real dumb thing and I should know better. I cleaned up the battery and topped it off while it was out of the cart. Well I added too much water and since the cart has a high output generator the water was boiling out of the battery. What a mess, and one that is not fun to clean up since it is acid. I got out the box of baking soda and made up a mixture with water and started washing everything down with a paintbrush. I dumped quite a bit of water out of the battery and cleaned that up too. I then took the convertible out for another test drive and everything was good. I found out one good thing though, Iron Out does a good job of cleaning battery acid off the concrete. I have used it for rust stains and it works pretty good. Well so far no gas leaks. I tested a piece of cured glue and the gas didn’t melt it but I think it might eventually break the bond with the tank.

Glue inside tank

Since I was able to draw some glue inside the tank with vacuum I might be OK. Time will tell.

Ugly

I tore into the cart this morning before it got too hot, however it didn’t take long before the temp climbed to 110 degrees. It actually doesn’t take long to pull the body. I think I had it done within 20 minutes. Landen helped me lift the body off once I got all the bolts our.

Before

After

After pulling the tank I cleaned it up and sure enough… there was the leak, a crack on the bottom about 8 inches long. Actually it was only leaking from about 2 inches of the crack. Last night I tested a dab of some Gorilla Glue I had on the tank and this morning it looked pretty good and seemed to stick to the tank well. So today I smeared Gorilla Glue down the whole length of the crack. Then I got the bright idea to stick my Shop-Vac in the filler hole and draw a vacuum on the tank in hopes to suck the glue into the crack. I know, Shop-Vac and gasoline doesn’t sound too safe but the tank was clean and dry. This actually worked out pretty well because when I vacuumed the tank it collapsed a bit and really opened up the crack so I was able to add more glue inside the crack.

It looks pretty ugly but, hey, if it works who cares. It’s not visible when installed anyway. After doing a little more research I wish I had used Seal-All instead of Gorilla Glue. Seal-All is more for sealing where as Gorilla Glue is for gluing parts together. Seal-All says it is impervious to gasoline and is good for sealing gas tanks. I have used Seal-All for plumbing leaks and it worked well. Well if the Gorilla Glue starts to leak I will give Seal-All a try next time. If that don’t do it I will get out my soldering iron and try my luck at plastic welding.

More things to fix

After going outside this morning I noticed a strong smell of gasoline. What now, I though. Looking under the gold cart I found the source, a puddle of gas. Apparently the gas tank sprung a leak. After finding out a new tank will cost over $200, I started researching a fix. Seems nothing sticks to Polypropylene, which is the material the tank is made of. I did some research online and found a number of people that successfully patched theirs by smearing different types of glues or epoxies on them. I guess you can’t really securely stick anything to polypropylene but maybe a leak can be fixed by adding a layer of glue, at least for a while. I think I will have to give it a try. In order to fix it I have to remove the tank. In order to remove the tank I have to remove the body. Fortunately it really isn’t a major job, but in 100+ degree heat it might be a bit uncomfortable.

And it just gets hotter

After the cool winter we had, and the month of May being just great, I was hoping for a mild summer. Unfortunately it is above average so far. Next time you are watching the news, pay attention to the weather map when they show the temperatures around the country. Arizona is the hottest. With both air conditioners running we manage to keep it comfortable inside the motorhome, except when Susan starts cooking, then it gets a bit warm. We have been trying to do most of the cooking outside.

Couple of new additions, after 7 years I finally had to have a new patio awning installed.

The original was just worn out. We do use it a lot. Also our front windshield cover finally had enough sun.

Before

After

It used to be bright white. I elected to go with gray this time. Next on the list is new upholstery and carpet.

No he really isn’t a big as he looks. There are a couple of these guys that hang around my patio. They are not afraid of us at all. They come running over to me and I can just reach down and pick them up. I guess they know I won’t do them any harm.

Jimmie sighting

I saw Jimmie Johnson (Susan’s favorite NASCAR driver) Fly over the resort here today. I didn’t know at the time who it was however but I heard a jet flying over and looked up to see what it was. This is not too uncommon but it always catches our attention when one goes over. Later this afternoon we heard the roar of a jet take off from the airport. A while later Susan was on the computer and found out that Jimmie was at the Lowe’s just around the corner from us. It must of just been a private appearance for the Lowe’s employees because there was no advertisement and a search on Google comes up with nothing. The way she found out is one of her friends saw his post on Facebook and emailed her about it. Susan and Landen were bummed that they missed him.

I know, it’s been a while

It has been a while since I have posted anything to our Blog. Since we are not traveling this summer, there is not much exciting going on. As you can see in these photos, it is starting to get hot.

Monday

Tuesday


Today

At about 10:00a this morning it was already 100 degrees. I still manage to do my morning walks before the heat climbs but I stopped my evening walks since it doesn’t drop below 100 until about 9:00p. I tried the treadmill in the gym but it aint the same. Last night we had to run the air all through the night, it’s getting to that point.

Landen has been having a good time.

We head for the pool every day to keep cool. Sure is nice having a pool right out our front yard. I bought Landen a project from Lowes the other day. He really enjoyed using Papa’s tools to build his Bug Box, especially the power ones.

Since we really don’t have many bugs here he has been using it for a house for his Legos.

He really has an imagination when playing with his legos.

Just a few million

Ever wonder what a few million dollars looks like?

Well here ya go.


A shot of the Channel at Lake Havasu.

Let the fun begin

Memorial weekend is the big summer kickoff here in Havasu. Today Landen and I headed down to the channel to see the craziness and there was no shortage of it. First of all it took me about an hour to find a place to park. It was one of those, keep driving around the parking lots until someone decides to leaving. We finally got lucky and got a spot close to the action, right next to the Zip Line.

Of course Landen wanted to go for the Zip Line but at $15 a shot I wasn’t too excited about it. It was close to 100 degrees and everyone was partying to the fullest.

Even Wilson was having a good time. Here’s a little more eye candy, Welcome to my world!

Don’t forget, you can click on any photo to enlarge it.

Fun times

Landen is having a great time. How could he not? He is hanging out with Nana and Papa in Lake Havasu City when all the other kids are still in school. We have spent just about every day in the pool