Off and on rain... |
...and the real deal. |
Burrell Park. |
So we spent a fair amount of time considering changing our route. One option would have been to drive back to Missouri and head west from Jefferson City or Rolla with the intent of getting to the Rockies and the cooler temperatures at higher elevations (not to mention the more arid environment). If we did that, we would want to swing through Boise to see friends and get caught back up on doctor visits, etc. But that is far enough that it could put us in the mountains in mid-October, when early snow is a real possibility. It also would mean that we would need to be in a big hurry to head south for the winter.
We looked at some other options, but they would have us hovering some place near the Rockies while we waited for the deserts of the Southwest to cool down. And they would completely bypass Texas.
So our hope now is to stick to our planned route and to keep our pace slow enough that we reach El Paso, TX just before mid-October. From there our forty mile per day pace would put us in San Diego about three weeks later (longer if we linger anywhere for a while, though we are concerned about the snowbirds filling up all the campgrounds at that time of year).
With our best option appearing to be soldiering on, we went into survival mode; as in trying to find a way to survive the heat and humidity, which will likely only get worse as we start heading toward the Gulf Coast in a week or so. So we bought ourselves a high-volume 20" garage fan, something we had seen a lot of people using while we were camping in Missouri. In addition to providing us with a much needed breeze, it works great at blowing most of the bugs away. Lana wasn't too sure of it at first, but now she hogs a spot front and center.
Our new high volume garage fan. |
Mold was trying to colonize our new air conditioner diffuser. |
And we had some good news the other day. We contacted the factory about the problem we were having with our water pump, and they suggested to rap on the water pump with a screwdriver handle before ordering a new pump. And sure enough, that did it. Our problem was caused by a stuck pressure valve and rapping on the pump housing got it unstuck. That saved us about $70 in parts and untold frustration removing and replacing the pump.
Our drive to Carmi on Wednesday was in some fairly heavy rain, so it was no surprise to learn that, once again, some water had gotten in through the condensation drains of the camper's streetside door window. We've worked with the factory on this issue for a while now, and as a result the situation has improved considerably from when we first became aware of it. My suspicion is that what got in is water thrown up from passing vehicles combined with the slipstream created by our particular vehicle. We were able to quickly mop up the water that got inside the cabin, so it was not a big deal.
Anyway, when Alea went into town to do laundry the other day I took it upon myself to remove the bed from the cabin, so that I could clean the cabin floor and make certain that we had no other water issues. In doing so I found the front streetside corner of the cabin floor to be damp - much too damp to be explained by the recent rain storm. Upon inspecting outside, I found the bungee that secures our Alcan cover (a vinyl cover that protects the camper's aluminum skin from rock dings) was sopping wet. And a large area of the cabin floor had very significant condensation and was very damp. I also found where the Alcan cover had prevented one of the drains of the front pass-thru from draining properly, causing a minor amount of wood staining there.
Excessive moisture in an area under our Alcan cover. |
Ours was no way near that far gone, so we put our ceramic heater to work inside to dry things out, and stuffed wads of paper towels under the Alcan cover to wick away as much moisture from the bottom of the floor as possible. That seems to have worked very well.
It appears that our issue is being caused by excessive exterior condensation on the camper's skin, which is the result of our need to run the air conditioner so much in this high humidity. At present the camper is tilted slightly to the streetside and slightly nose down, so a lot of that condensation eventually finds its way to the front streetside corner, where it is held against the cabin floor by the Alcan cover. My solution was to buy some extruded aluminum U-channel to keep the Alcan cover away from the cabin floor, thus allowing things to drain properly.
The new U-channel assures that the Alcan cover stays away from the bottom of the cabin floor. |
The U-channel with the Alcan cover in place. |
But, out of the blue, I received a call from a slightly more distant Malone cousin, James Lumpkins (he is a third cousin, once removed). Our common ancestor was Abs' father, James Malone, Senior. James Lumpkins descends from Abs' youngest brother, Elijah. I returned his call and we tried having a conversation, but the poor cell reception here made that next to impossible. But it sounds as though he may have been researching the family history well before I started, and he may have known a man by the name of Bill Hunter, who was someone who had attempted a Malone family history about 8 or 10 years before I came along. I'll call him again later, once we are camped somewhere with better cell reception.
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