Day 69, 70, 71 - Benson, AZ - TT

Friday (69) - Today was an absolutely beautiful day with clear skies and just a light breeze. I dinked around with a few things on the RV. Since the maintenance staff let me borrow their 10’ step ladder to take a look at the door awning. A few months back, it was left out on a windy evening and a couple of springs popped out. The purpose of the springs is to keep the arms up against the fabric so it clears the door. Apparently, there are a few parts missing as the springs won’t stay in place when the awning is brought in.

I also looked for parts to fix the 12vdc air compressor. The brass fitting is not a standard NPT but a metric brass fitting. M8x1.00 which wasn’t carried by either Ace Hardware or Tractor Supply. I used the Dremel to cut the clamp off and will just cut the hose and clamp it on. We’ll see if it holds up to 120psi, which is the required pressure for the front tires. The rear are 110psi. When leaving Needles, I aired up a couple of low tires using the onboard air compressor.

Not really related to Benson, but I thought it was interesting that Apple had the watch face show sunrise colors at local sunrise.

Saturday (70) - Another beautiful day. It almost hit freezing last night so I did disconnect from water and sewer just in case. It’s supposed to be a little colder tonight. This morning, I tested the electric heater in the wet bay (the compartment with the water and sewer connection) and I’m not sure it works. I’ll test it out later today.

The cactus was right next to the pool gate. It looks like the yellow is the new growth. Other than that, it’s been a slow day.

I had picked up a larger plastic container sold specifically for use with sous vide devices. The lid is hinged to simplify adding or removing the bags without shutting the device off and the lid minimizes evaporation. The 12 quart container is over double the size of the previous container that I picked up in Quartzsite. Today, it was used to reheat leftover rib roast from Christmas. Straight from the freezer to the water. No thawing needed.

Sunday (71) - Yet another beautiful day with a forecasted high of 70°F. I took apart the electric heater in the wet bay and found out that it runs on 12VDC. It’s only 50watts so maybe I didn’t give it enough time to heat up. The heating elements look like a bunch of resisters. I’ll try it out tonight though it isn’t supposed to get even to freezing.

I went to Walmart this morning to pick up groceries and an oil additive specifically for diesel engines with HEUI injection systems. The Cat C7 being one of them. We’ll see if it helps at all with the smoke. Tomorrow’s drive is only a couple of hours to Deming, NM. A new state for the RV. The last time I was here was for an Internet2 Joint Tech meeting where I helped lead a couple of workshops. It’s been a while.