Author: David

Coach to NIRVC and a second stay in an Airbnb apartment

We had an appointment with the National Indoor RV Center in Phoenix, Arizona to fix the driver chair issue, a slide-out glide issue, and a bunch of other stuff. So we drove the short 22 miles (half an hour) from the nearby Buckeye campground to NIRVC to drop off the coach. Here’s the route (going left to right):

Map route

The colorful front of the NIRVC building:

NIRVC

In the reception area:

NIRVC

The waiting room:

NIRVC

We had the option of sleeping in our coach on-site (with a power hookup), and hanging out in that waiting room while it was being worked on, but that wouldn’t really work with a cat, and we’d be more comfortable staying somewhere else.

So again, we rented an Airbnb apartment; see that listing for more information. Here are a few pictures:

Airbnb apartment

Airbnb apartment

Airbnb apartment

Airbnb apartment

Airbnb apartment

Airbnb apartment

Airbnb apartment

The carport was a bit tight for our truck. The apartment was upstairs:

Carport and stairs to apartment

Pool, grill, table:

Pool, grill, table

Pool (we didn’t use it, but it seemed popular):

Pool

We’ve recently booked a third Airbnb for another visit to NIRVC in March, to (hopefully) finish off the items on the list.

Travel from Lake Havasu City to Buckeye, AZ

We departed the Xscapers Annual Bash near Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and headed to a one-night stay at Leaf Verde RV Resort near Buckeye, Arizona.

Here’s the route map (top to right); 165 miles, about four hours drive in our coach (including a lunch break):

Map route

A fairly familiar route, having been along I-10 a few times this winter.

But the trip had a bumpy start; we couldn’t bring in our front driver-side slide-out, or move the driver chair, due to a disconnected wire underneath the chair:

Disconnected wire

Disconnected wire

This stop was the first time we had rotated that chair around to face the living area, so we guess the wire didn’t have as much slack as it should, and got pulled out.

Obviously this is a big problem; we can’t drive with the slide out. The reason the slide was affected is the switch to extend or retract it is on the side of the chair, to help ensure the chair is forward enough to not get hit.

Fortunately there is an emergency retraction button in the fuse bay in the basement, so I was able to use that to bring in the slide:

Emergency rectraction

Also fortunately we had an appointment at the National Indoor RV Center in Phoenix the next day, so we only had to live with this issue for one day.

That issue worked around, we moved the coach to a clear space at the Xscapers Bash grounds to hook up our toad (tow vehicle); you can see our truck and the neighboring coach (nice folks, that we enjoyed meeting and chatting with):

Xscapers General section

Our coach, ready to hook up the truck:

RV

We’re on our way; a bridge over wetland:

Bridge over wetland

Wetland

Colorado River:

Colorado River

Colorado River

Hilly highway:

Hilly highway

Hilly highway

Our coach has an RV-safe GPS, that knows the height and other info about our rig, so it doesn’t route us places we can’t go (we also have a label above the GPS as a reminder for low bridges):

GPS

A fun and handy feature of the GPS is the ability to mirror the output to the (otherwise pretty useless) TV above the windshield — useful so I can see the GPS more easily (it just displays grayscale for some reason):

GPS on TV

TV and windscreen

In Parker, Arizona we encountered several VW buses, probably leaving a recent gathering of them at London Bridge in Lake Havasu City:

WV buses

Highway:

Highway

Quartzsite sign:

Quartzsite sign

I-10 freeway:

Highway

Mountains:

Mountains

Cacti:

Cacti

We would have liked to stop at the first rest area on the I-10 portion of the route, but it’s been closed for a while for renovations:

Closed rest area

So we continued to the next one, half an hour later:

Open rest area

Crackers, summer sausage, and cheeses for lunch:

Lunch

Paladin wasn’t thrilled when we started going, but settled down in one of his nests during lunch:

Paladin

When we got underway again, he was a little happier than earlier. We do hope he gets more used to travel days eventually:

Paladin

Our exit:

Exit

We had a one-night stay at Leaf Verde RV Resort; I won’t bother doing a separate post about it, since we basically just stopped there to dump our tanks after dry camping for over a week during the Bash, to catch up on laundry, and as a location fairly close to the National Indoor RV Center:

Leaf Verde RV Resort

The map:

Map

From the little we’ve seen of it, I wouldn’t call it a resort; while the transient campsites are mostly pull-through, they are fairly tight “buddy” sites, where pairs of RVs face opposite directions, and thus their doors face each other. Not very nice:

Campsite

Notice that we didn’t extend the front driver-side slide-out, since the switch wasn’t working:

Campsite

We didn’t bother unhooking our truck, since it’s just an overnight pitstop (an advantage of a pull-through site):

Campsite

A timelapse of this travel is coming tomorrow. Please subscribe to the Sinclair Trails YouTube channel; I need a bunch more subscribers to be able to get a nicer URL.

Palm Canyon in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Yuma, AZ

While staying at Black Rock RV Village over the holidays, we didn’t do a lot of exploring (there isn’t much in the area, and we wanted some quiet time before the excitement of the Xscapers Annual Bash), but one day we did take a drive past Quartzsite to Palm Canyon in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1939 for the protection of desert bighorn sheep and other native wildlife.

One reason for this destination was to scout a possible boondocking site for the future. In March we will be in this area again, and may want to try some boondocking or dispersed camping, instead of our usual RV parks. Quartzsite is famous for boondocking, and there are a lot of people doing so.

The first half of the seven mile Palm Canyon Road is through public BLM land, available for boondocking or dispersed camping: camping pretty much anywhere, without any hookups or designated sites. The second half is in the refuge, and only allows camping in designated spots within 100 feet of the road, marked by a sign and fire pit. We liked the look of the latter more, being closer to the mountains, though of course they are more limited.

Driving our 40-foot rig along a long unpaved road could be a challenge, but the road seemed passable enough, and there were several sites that should be easy enough to get in and out of. So it could be something fun to try.

Here’s driving our truck through the BLM portion of the road:

Palm Canyon Road

A gathering of vanlifers:

Van-lifers

The entrance of Kofa National Wildlife Refuge:

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

Info signs:

Info sign

Info sign

Info sign

Kofa mountains:

Palm Canyon mountain

Palm Canyon mountain

Dispersed camping:

Dispersed camping

Dispersed camping

Parking area at the end of the road:

Parking area

Info signs:

Info sign

Info sign

Info sign

Palm Canyon

Palm Canyon mountain

Looking downhill:

Looking downhill

Looking downhill

Driving downhill

Spyder control panel and shades issue

Our coach has a multiplex wiring system, where several control panels and features are networked together, so control panels in various places can operate things like shades, lights, TV lift, fans, and more.

Which is great when things work, but a truism of RVs is things are always breaking. One particularly vexing issue was that a control panel and two shades on our front passenger slide-out stopped working after moving the coach one time.

Here’s the control panel, with buttons for lights, shades, and TV lift — it should’ve been illuminated, but it wasn’t, and the buttons didn’t work:

Control panel

The day and night shades in the living area are electric, so they can all go up or down at a touch of a button. Which again is nice if it works, frustrating if it doesn’t.

I contacted the manufacturer of the multiplex wiring, Spyder Controls, and their very friendly support staff spent lots of time helping me diagnose the issue, including trying different panels in different places, which proved that the control panel itself was not the fault. They got me to try squeezing the connectors, since apparently they can get loose. And even got me to order replacement connectors, and (once they arrived), talked me through replacing them on the control panel and shade controller.

Speaking of, here’s the shade controller (called the G5 shade module); a circuit board that takes the network connection and operates the day and night shades for the two shades on that slide. The green light was blinking, indicating that it had power but no network connection:

Shade controller

We also looked at the wiring in the house network panel (called G6), a rather complicated rats nest of wiring:

Wiring

Wiring

Meanwhile, since we couldn’t close the shades, we got some temporary curtains:

Curtains

We lived like that for quite a while, and had an appointment with a service place, where fixing those issues would’ve been a top priority, since I hadn’t been able to solve them.

However, I recently looked through some pictures of the construction of the same model coach as ours that a kind person sent me, and noticed another connector — which made sense, since the wiring of the chassis and slide-out would be separate, but connected when the slide was installed. I wasn’t sure where it was, but looked inside an exterior panel behind the fridge:

Behind fridge

Sure enough, I found a wire from the G6 panel, a couple of wires going to the control panel and shade module, and a hub-like connector between them (G4 common drop tap). Wouldn’t you know it, the cable from the G6 panel was disconnected, as the latch that held it in was missing. Here’s a crop of that pic, showing the bottom orange cable not fully seated:

Wires behind fridge

Here I pushed it back in place:

Wiring

And just like that, the shades started working again!

Blind

Blind

That didn’t fix the control panel. So I bought some more replacement connectors from Tiffin, and pulled off the panel again:

Spyder control panel

I noticed that I hadn’t done a very good job of (unnecessarily, as it turned out) replacing the connector, as I was rushing a bit, since the tech was on the phone. One of the wires was loose:

Spyder connector

So I pulled off that connector and installed a new one:

Spyder connector

And hey, it works!

Spyder control panel

Re-mounted:

Spyder control panel

Next, I replaced the broken connector behind the fridge, so it wouldn’t pop out again:

Spyder connector

All better:

Spyder connector

I’m really glad and relieved to have solved the shades and control panel issues at last. And very satisfying to have done the fixes myself. Not that I’m at all averse to paying someone to fix things for me, but it’s nice to be able to do it.

London Bridge

Contrary to the traditional English nursery rhyme, London Bridge isn’t falling down; it’s in Arizona. Lake Havasu City, to be precise. Quoting from the Wikipedia article:

London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was originally built in the 1830s and formerly spanned the River Thames in London, England. In 1968, the bridge was purchased from the City of London by Robert P. McCulloch. McCulloch had exterior granite blocks from the original bridge cut and transported to the United States for use in the construction of a new bridge in Lake Havasu City, a planned community he established in 1964 on the shore of Lake Havasu. The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the 1830s bridge. The bridge was completed in 1971 (along with a canal), and links an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City. The “rededication” of the London Bridge took place on October 10, 1971.

There’s more info (including a video of inside the hollow bridge) on the visitor information site.

We visited London Bridge while staying nearby for the Xscapers Annual Bash:

London Bridge sign

London Bridge

London Bridge

London Bridge

Lots of locks:

Locks

Driving over the bridge wasn’t anything special; it’s just like any other bridge from the top, other than the UK flags:

Driving over the bridge

Driving over the bridge

London Bridge Beach

We walked by and below it:

London Bridge

London Bridge

London Bridge

London Bridge

London Bridge

London Bridge

London Bridge

The historic London Bridge with palm trees made for an interesting juxtaposition.

Xscapers Bash: aerial photos

It’s been months since I last flew my drone, in part due to not being permitted in some locations, or just not thinking of it. But at the Xscapers Bash seemed like a good opportunity, so I had a quick flight. Actually two: the first was just vertically above my coach, the second was a little further.

Let’s head up:

Aerial

Aerial

Looking towards the main event area; all the Bash events were held in the structures beyond the arena:

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Looking towards the entrance, and the mountains beyond:

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Back down:

Aerial

I think our solar panels may be a bit dusty:

Aerial

My second flight, the next day, I flew from one end of the Xscapers Bash site to the other. But first, a closer look at the dusty solar panels:

Aerial

The nearby mountain:

Mountain

A view of the rodeo grounds from the entrance, and flying towards the back, looking in various directions:

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Nearby BMX course:

BMX

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Stay tuned for a video flyby tomorrow!

Xscapers Bash: swap, BBQ

On the last full day of the Xscapers Annual Bash for 2022, we dropped off some stuff we no longer wanted at the buy/sell/trade tables; letting our junk become other people’s junk:

Buy/sell/trade stuff

Some people were selling things, but most of the items were free to whoever wanted them. We got rid of a mop and bucket (quite nice, but too big), a couple of solar-powered keyboards, an Apple TV device (actually taken by our neighbor before we left our site), a power extension cord, shelving, and other things. All fine stuff, but there’s no point lugging around anything we don’t use, with our limited space.

That evening, we attended the farewell BBQ:

BBQ prep

BBQ

Eating

Jenn had a beer:

Jenn with a beer

The evening’s entertainment was a highlight of the event, neon night with performances by Lyte Bryte and Boom Bandits. But we’re such old fogies, not into loud music and dancing; we just went back to our coach (and could hear it just fine from there):

Boom Bandits vehicle

Boom Bandits rave rocket