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

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.

Video

Video: timelapse of coach driving from Lake Havasu City, AZ to Buckeye, AZ

A timelapse of driving the coach 165 miles from the Xscapers Annual Bash near Lake Havasu City, Arizona to Buckeye, Arizona.

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

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:

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

Bridge over wetland

Wetland

Colorado River:

Colorado River

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Aerial

Looking towards the entrance, and the mountains beyond:

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

Nearby BMX course:

BMX

Aerial

Stay tuned for a video flyby tomorrow!

Xscapers Bash: Every Little Detail Mobile Detailing

One of the sponsors of the Xscapers Annual Bash is a local business, Every Little Detail Mobile Detailing. We saw them washing neighboring rigs, and decided to get them to wash and wax ours, too, since it needed it — we haven’t had a chance to wash it since we bought it a few months ago. Washing an RV is a bit more complicated than a car.

They had a team of four working on it:

Washing our coach

View from inside:

View from inside

Drying:

Cleaning

Hand waxing:

Hand waxing

It’s so nice to have a clean coach; so shiny!

Clean coach

Xscapers Bash: quiet before the storm

We arrived a couple of days before the Xscapers Annual Bash kicked off, as Jenn is volunteering in the “FeMail” room (the mail room is apparently always staffed by women).

The bash is held each year at the Lake Havasu Rodeo grounds in Arizona.

I wandered around while things were still being set up, and took a few pictures of the rodeo grounds:

Rodeo grounds

Bar:

Bar

Some structures; the small one in the middle is the “FeMail” room where Jenn is volunteering:

Buildings

Seating area:

Seating area

Inside:

Inside

Tent:

Tent

Registration:

Registration

Games:

Games

Dusk:

Dusk

Stands:

Stands

Rodeo grounds:

Rodeo grounds

Bleachers:

Stands

Games and stuff:

Games and stuff

Fire pit:

Fire pit

Rave rocket:

Rave rocket

That first night was a volunteer dinner, ending with a beer puppet, valiantly but inexpertly demonstrated by the outgoing convergence coordinator:

Beer puppet

The next day, Saturday, was early arrival day for non-volunteers. Here’s a map of the bash grounds (from a screenshot of the bash app):

Map

Still lots of empty space in the solar section (for people who use solar power, with very restricted generator use):

Solar section

The general section was also mostly empty:

General section

As was the party section (closer to the noisy music etc):

Party section

A ferris wheel being set up:

Ferris wheel

Our coach:

Our coach

The following day, Saturday, was the regular arrival day; the remaining 300ish RVs turned up:

More RVs

Solar section:

Solar section

Party section:

More RVs

Ferris wheel ready to go:

Ferris wheel

Our coach again, this time with the awning out, and Jenn knitting outside:

Our coach

Video

Video: timelapse of coach driving from Salome, AZ to Lake Havasu City, AZ

A timelapse of driving the coach 83 miles from Salome, Arizona to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for the Xscapers Annual Bash, with a stop at Love’s for fuel. (I forgot to start the camera until we exited the RV park, but didn’t miss much.)

https://youtu.be/O021hsOdx60

Travel from Salome to Lake Havasu City, AZ

We departed Salome, Arizona and headed to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for the Xscapers Annual Bash. Our first coach drive of 2022.

Here’s the route map; just 83 miles, a couple of hours drive north in our coach:

Map route

Heading down the highway to Quartzsite:

Highway

Love’s fuel stop:

Love's fuel stop

We weighed our coach and truck again at a CAT Scale at Love’s:

CAT Scale

The weight was up a bit, in part due to adding more stuff, in part due to having a full tank of water, in preparation for dry camping at the Xscapers Bash. But still within acceptable tolerances:

CAT Scale report

Paladin wasn’t enjoying the trip, as usual:

Paladin

Heading north on the highway:

Highway

Road to park

Entrance to the bash:

Bash entrance

Sold out:

Entrance

Another Tiffin:

Another Tiffin

Paladin settled down:

Paladin

Backing in to our spot:

Backing in

We arrived a few days early, as Jenn is volunteering in the mail room. So there’s lots of empty space now, which will be filling in as everyone else arrives today:

Empty space

Our truck and coach in our spot:

Truck and RV

If you’re at the Xscapers Bash and see us, feel free to say hi. We’re introverts, and this is our first time at a rally, but we’re looking forward to it:

Xscapers stickers and badges

Stay tuned tomorrow for the timelapse video of our journey.

Black Rock RV Village

We spent the holidays at Black Rock RV Village in Salome, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

I thought I’d start adding some extra information about our stay, for future reference:

Dates: 2021-12-18 to 2022-01-06. Yes, I prefer to post about a campsite after we’ve left it.

Weather: sunny, a little drizzle, windy at times (gusts up to 30 mph), high temps around averaging 60°F, lows around 40°F, dipped just below freezing a couple times.

Noise: a bunch of side-by-side vehicle traffic, but no trains, negligible road noise.

Site: back-in, gravel, full hookups (50 amp power, water, sewer), large, about 80 feet long by 30 feet wide, with a hedge on the passenger side. No table or fire pit.

Internet: no Wi-Fi; AT&T okay, about 1 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up; T-Mobile unreliable, about 1 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, when it works.

Amenities: mailboxes and mail room, cafe, pool, rec room, park, various outdoor games.

Here’s the (very much not-to-scale) map:

Map

A satellite view shows the layout better, especially over where we were staying. As you can see, a lot of the sites have park models or other long-term structures (park models are like tiny homes that can be moved, but generally aren’t, and aren’t self-contained, requiring hookups):

Black Rock RV Village satellite view

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Our campsite was quite large:

Campsite

Electrical and water hookups; the ground is damp as I always run the water for a bit before hooking up, to flush any contaminants. I also had to use a short hose connector, as the tap was so low to the ground:

Electrical and water hookups

Campsite:

Campsite

“The first RV”:

The first RV

This park is a popular place for side-by-side vehicles, being next to public lands:

Side-by-side

Office:

Office

This park is unusual in that it has a public cafe on-site:

Cafe

It also has mailboxes:

Mail

The mail room; we used it a lot, with packages from Amazon pretty much every day. Receiving mail is complicated when traveling the country; I should do a blog post about that sometime (if anyone’s interested):

Mail room