Archives for June 2015

Are you tired of hearing about the TV yet?

June 26, 2015 By drpaddle 2 Comments

Because here we go again. We have finally made some progress on the TV front. I know, I know, we shouldn’t even want to be watching TV instead of exploring whatever wilderness we’ve parked in. And we don’t have a TV problem — we can stop anytime we want. We just don’t want.

We head off to the wilds of Vancouver Island quite soon, and the specific wilderness locations we’ll visit include Crystal Cove Beach Resort (this is wilderness with a coffee bar and a DVD library). It’s a real vacation, movies sound good, and so… could we finally settle on a TV setup so we can borrow those DVDs?

Here is where we want to install the TV — in the Toto Lounge, on the wall that backs up to the fridge. Note the 12-volt outlet just above the bully table. That’s going to be handy.

We looked at combination TV / DVD units — 12-volt ones. But to get quality you have to spend too many dollars, and the quality ones aren’t available from companies that have a decent return policy.

So I figured something else out. I found a 24 inch (huge!) Samsung TV at Costco that runs on… 14 volts of DC power.

Samsung TV resting on Toto Lounge cushions.

It’s a Samsung. It’s last year’s model, probably. I got it at Costco for a song. Yeah, it just looks like a TV.

A good strong 12-volt feed, I have read, should be enough to power it, especially if Toto is plugged into a current bush and the power converter is charging the batteries all along.

Just down and across that same Costco aisle I found a Sony Blu-Ray player — a really small, light one. And it runs on… 12 volts.

(Note that both of these appliances are sold as 120-volt AC units. But in both cases, the external power cord includes a “brick” — a transformer, that converts the electrons from AC into DC and squeezes them down to 14- and 12-volts, respectively.)

So all I had to do (in theory) is find a way to tap into Toto’s 12-volt system. And I did. I found an adapter that lets me plug the TV into a 12-volt outlet we had installed in the Toto Lounge. And I tapped into an underutilized LED light circuit to hard-wire the Blu-Ray player, which is now mounted underneath a Toto Lounge cabinet, held in place by Very High Bonding (VHB) tape. Wow that stuff is strong.

Sony Blu-Ray player installed beneath Toto Lounge overhead cabinet.

This gadget weighs all of 1.8 pounds, so I mounted it with 3M VHB tape. I had to use filler boards, of a sort, so that the top of the player wouldn’t be stuck behind a 1/4″ lip at the bottom of the cabinet face. I found some plastic baseboard molding at Home Depot that works great as a filler board (and weighs nothing).

I tapped into a nearby LED light circuit to get the 12-volt DC power this player needs. Much of the wiring in Escape trailers runs beneath false floors in the overhead cabinets, so I had to “fish” the wire I added through that false floor. It worked out okay. Radio Shack sold me an adapter that let me plug my circuit extension into the back of the player. Only 1 hole drilled, and I finished it off with a rubber grommet to prevent the wire from rubbing on any sharp edges.

The bottom of the player is meant to be sitting on a shelf, so it’s not purty. I’m going to find a small piece of polycarbonate (or something) to give it a more finished look. Any day now.

We have also acquired an articulating mount for the TV, and an adapter that lets us take the TV off the mount for travel. I marked the mounting location, but I can’t install it yet — the wall (next to the fridge) needs reinforcement. Right now the center part of the wall is just a flimsy panel.

The articulating mount will go up on the wall above the location it occupies in this photo. My good friends at Escape will install it, and I got a quick-disconnect gadget that will let me quickly and easily pull the TV off the mount for travel.

Hole in TV mount allows access to DC power jack.

This always happens! The mount blocks something important — in this case, the jack where the 12-volt power needs to plug in. So I drilled a half-inch hole. If this looks slightly out of focus, you may need to get your eyes checked. But probably not.

So, about our trip. First stop: Chilliwack, BC, Toto’s birthplace. The Escape Trailer Industries factory has offered to swap our refrigerator for a newer model — almost for free — after having convinced its manufacturer, Dometic, that the old fridge was underpowered for many North American locations.

We can get into Escape Trailer’s unparalleled level of service to its customers at another time — we could go on and on about that. But for now… since they’re going to have the refrigerator out of the way, they have agreed to reinforce that wall and install the TV mount.

And while they’re at it they’re going to reinforce the attachment of the solar panel on the roof. We’ve had no problems with it, but one or two other trailer owners (out of hundreds) have, and the Escape folk, as is their wont, are taking care of it, at no charge, just to make sure it won’t become a problem later.

Wow.

So with the Blu-Ray player we’ll have Netflix and Amazon Prime and all that other streaming stuff. And we’ll be able to play discs. And we’ll be able to watch shows and movies. If we happen to be at an RV park with TV hookups, we can run a coax cable (temporarily) over to the nightstand where it comes into the trailer. And I can permanently (and neatly) extend that coax if I want by running it through cabinets. Not sure I’ll bother.

Of course we don’t have to watch TV. We choose to. When it’s sleeting outside, or when we just have to know what happens next on The Walking Dead.

And hey, maybe, while we’re tucked into the Toto Lounge with the boys, we can watch some Wilderness Shows.

One final note: Sooz is thrilled to have two new remotes in the family. Well, maybe not thrilled.

Remote controls for TV and Blu-Ray player.

Wonder how long it will take me to lose track of these. I see Velcro attachment in their future.

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Team Toto’s other player

June 22, 2015 By drpaddle 1 Comment

The poor fellow has been taking something of a back seat over the last year, but he’s an important member of the team.

He is Oscar Diggs. This is his second name: originally he was The Nutmeg of Consolation. But to join the team, he needed a more totoesque name, and so.

He is a kayak, built in our garage, from a kit provided by Pygmy Kayaks of Port Townsend, Washington. I got the kit for almost nothing because my parents bought it for me as a gift. Under construction he looked like this:

Oscar Diggs in one of his formative stages.

Eventually we completed the Oscar Diggs build. On launch day in Gig Harbor, we learned that Tyler doesn’t really approve of paddlesports.

Tyler, on the dock, urges Doug to forget paddline.

“Dad, this is wrong. You do not go past the edge of the dock. You really want to get out of that thing and take me back onto dry land.”

“Will this thing really float? Are you sure you should be doing this?”

Finally, we convinced him to let me paddle around briefly.

Oscar Diggs on his maiden voyage — Gig Harbor Bay, Washington

And now we’ve rigged a way to take Oscar Diggs with us on camping trips to nearby bodies of water. Oscar puts up too much wind resistance (along with Toto) to take him on long trips.

When Oscar Diggs travels with TinMan, he gets the best view. Also, gas mileage plummets.

Speaking of long trips… we’re about to take one, into British Columbia for a couple of weeks. There will, we hope, be lots to show and tell.

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Taidnapam Park, Washington: Are there fish in here?

June 10, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

Continuing with Team Toto’s stroll around Taidnapam Park: the thing is, this part of the lake is narrow. If you stack about 80 fisherfolk elbow to elbow it spans the whole lake. I did not count the fishers, but this is my estimate. I heard a fellow say that they line both sides of the bridge, from shore to shore, sometimes. Those trout don’t stand a chance.

Fishing Bridge at Taidnapam Park, Washington

This is a good place to watch people reel in 8-inch-long fishes.

Did I mention this visit to the park was part of a rally? It was. This is only our second rally, and we are still getting the hang of things. Let’s see, what have we learned?

A rally is not a time for peaceful reflection — at least not for long. If you’re in your campsite but outside your trailer, friendly people who have never seen you before may approach with questions or comments about your trailer, your terrier, or portion(s) thereof. You may end up discussing just about anything except religion and politics.
The discussion may go on for some time; no one is in a hurry to be somewhere else or get something done. After all, what could be more important, or more rewarding, than discussing the finer points of trailer leveling, or campsite selection, or optional equipment installations and modifications? Nothing.
Similarly, you can approach other parties at their campsites. They will be friendly, and if they are judging you, they will do a good job of hiding it.
Some of your fellow rallyists will not know anything about a thespian Cairn terrier and her role in a 1930’s movie about a Kansas tornado and a whopper of a nightmare (dream?). They may even mistake your trailer’s name for a ballet costume.
Others will nod sagely and point out that none of us is in Kansas anymore.
You do know that the character Toto was played by a female Cairn terrier named Terry, right? Sure you do.
Pot luck contributions don’t have to be fabulous, but it doesn’t hurt.
People come from a long way to some of these events. We met a couple who had driven from their Chattanooga, Tennessee area home to attend. Their trailer was the same model as ours. We traded accessory ideas; Sooz is on a mission for a new towel rack.

Also, things can get confusing. That fiberglass camper back there behind our campsite was NOT there for the rally. We spoke briefly to its inhabitants, who live near where we live. Huh.

Toto's campsite, with an Escape 5th wheel in the background at another site.

Back there behind our campsite, in the trees, as it were, there’s an Escape 5.0 TA fifth wheel. See it? It was only there for one night. We met the owners, who live very near us, in Tacoma, near a very cool minor league baseball stadium. We meant to chat ’em up but they disappeared early the next morning before I got presentable enough to head over there.

And now let’s get back to that stroll. Just past the Fishing Bridge, we peered toward the upper reaches of the lake. The Cowlitz River feeds into the lake just around the corner to the left.

If only you would walk out by the fishing bridge at Taidnapam Park, you could see this view of the easternmost reaches of Riffe Lake, where the Cowlitz River feeds it. (If only!) Yeah, it looks like a pond here. It gets bigger elsewhere.

And then back toward the larger portion of the lake…

The weather was just hideous, as you can see in this Riffe Lake shot.

… and returning to the campsite.

On the right: Wally’s stroller. Yes. He has a stroller. He doesn’t walk so well, as we have discussed, so sometimes we bring it along.

If you look closely you’ll see a few dark spots on the underside of the awning. I have to clean it. I have researched methods, and I believe it will be a walk in the park. We’ll see.

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Lake. Campground. Rally. Heat. Bugs. Fun!

June 9, 2015 By drpaddle 6 Comments

Nine months ago we reserved a campsite at Taidnapam Park in central Washington. The park is owned and operated by Tacoma Public Utilities, and this is on account of back in the 1950s they built a big dam on the Cowlitz River to generate electricity for all those people in Tacoma, and after the dam was complete the water backed up to form a lake bigger than most small countries.

I forgot to take a picture of the dam, so I found this one, taken by a fellow named Robert Ashworth and used under Creative Commons 2.0 licensing, which you can read about here.

Riffe Lake. You have to paddle your canoe a long way from that dam before you find the Cowlitz River again, way up at the east end around some corners, amidst Cascade Range foothills, countless trees and an awful lot of turkey vultures.

So here was this lake, and the utilities people decided to make a park so people could enjoy it. Taidnapam is the name of a tribe of native Americans who lived around the upper reaches of the Cowlitz River. I expect the area was even more beautiful back then. No lake, but more river.

Taidnapam has a large campground, and it’s a really appealing one. Large sites, many trees, spotless everything, and ready access to the aforementioned lake. It was popular last weekend — not completely full but pretty close. A lot of fifth wheels roughly the size of Cleveland come there, probably to fish, and to drink brewskies and trade fish stories.

Except this weekend was different, because this weekend there was a Rally of Molded Fiberglass Trailers (and their people).

Assorted molded fiberglass trailers at Taidnapam Park campground

No, all the fiberglass trailers weren’t radioactive, even if this picture makes them look that way. But they did get warm. Come to think of it, a lot of them are shaped a little like toasters.

Note that the tall conifers in this campground appear to have been limbed a good way up — whether by nature or by human beings (a branch of nature, I suppose), we’re not sure. It’s like being in the woods, but the woods are… airy. All very tidy-looking (taidy?).

We took a “back road” — Washington state route 7 — to get to Taidnapam. It’s scenic, winding, pleasant, and makes Wally carsick. Even Tyler was panting a little. As has been his custom, TinMan handled the hills and curves well.

A “haul road” (something to do with logging, I think) takes you from Washington route 12 to Taidnapam Park, skirting around the lake’s east end. Looking westward, you can see about 15 percent of the lake here. I’ll bet the birding is good around here, too, but I didn’t try it. I was busy.

We had reserved a pull-through site for this trip, because it was one of the first reservations I made, well before Toto was hatched, and I wasn’t sure how adept I would be at backing the trailer. The way the site was laid out, it made sense to pull forward a bit, so we ended up parking TinMan behind Toto. This may have confused both of them.

Toto and TinMan resting comfortably at Taidnapam site 237

Taidnapam Park has a two-part campground, consisting of the old part and the new part. Our little rally was held in the new part. It’s quite appealing. Although most of the campsites are good-sized, some (including ours) aren’t very private. At a rally, though, privacy isn’t really the goal. We give Taidnapam five stars for aesthetics, cleanliness, friendly staff and value.

See, you can see another egg-trailer on the right up above. That one belongs to a very nice couple from Port Townsend who have a Casita trailer. They also have built wooden kayaks (me, too), and they used to live on a boat. We learned that we had mutual friends, after a fashion. When these folks cruised down to Mexico in their boat, a few years ago, they knew some friends of ours who also cruised down to Mexico (and kept going). It’s a compact world.

We did some walking around with Tyler and Wally, checking out the sights.

Here you could launch a boat. I figure I could bring my kayak, and its little wheelie cart, and roll it from my campsite to this ramp in no time. Bringing the boat next time!

So. There is more to show you, and a considerable amount of Rally Angst to discuss. Bugs, too. Also heat. But let’s save it for later. I hafta work for a while or my clients are going to yell at me.

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Washing Toto and TinMan

June 3, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

This will get your tail waggin’. I washed Toto and TinMan on Saturday, using a new AUTOSPA SUDSnWASH <TM> Wash & Rinse Cleaning Set from Costco. You will want to run out and get one of these right away if you have something to wash. Exception: these are not good for washing dogs. But they work great on trailers and pickup trucks.

Here’s a general idea of what went on around here on Saturday. Just look how clean Toto is!

See that aluminum-looking pole with the blue handle on one end and the brush on the other? That’s most of the SUDSnWASH. There’s a shut-off valve where the pole attaches to the hose, so you don’t waste water, which is expensive in our town. Water, I mean. It costs a lot.

At the other end, the brush head features a smallish reservoir into which you can pour liquid car-washing soap of some kind.

See, here’s the reservoir. You fill it up with soap.

Years ago, when my parents thought I had the energy for such things, they gave me a Car Washing Kit. I used it for a while, but I can’t find it now. I did have this left over, though:

Gallon container of car wash gel, about 1/4 full.

I have no idea how long this has been in the garage (and the other garage in the house before this one. Or the one before that).

At first I thought Tyler was going to be helpful.

Tyler sitting expectantly in the driveway.

Or at least watchful.

But no.

I think he likes the feeling of warm concrete on his chest.

So, here’s the thing about he Suds n Go. You start out with the blue control dial set to Rinse, and you get all the big dirt chunks off. The brush is really soft, and you can hold it off the surface and get a pretty strong stream of water without otherwise touching the vehicle, so there’s no worry about scratching the gel coat or clear coat.

While you’re doing this, you notice that you have not been spending time with weights like the doctor suggested. Your arms are going to be sore later. Heck, they’re sore now. Why is this? The Suds n Go isn’t heavy — but the water is, and our garden hose is pretty heavy-duty and therefore heavy, too. So it feels like you’re moving a bowling ball around as you work, and this gets a little tiring. I may try a lighter-weight hose next time.

After the rinsing there is cleaning. Twist the dial on the brush head and presto, soapy water instead of clear. This is good for about 10 minutes. The Suds n Go may not be a precision-engineered device, because somehow, gradually, the soap in the reservoir gets diluted with water, and after a while there’s just water in there.

It’s not a problem. The soap seems to last a reasonable amount of time. The reservoir doesn’t hold much and I only had to fill it four times, total, for washing all of Toto. And while you might think Toto isn’t a very large trailer, he sure seems large when you’re washing the whole thing.

After soapy brushing, more rinsing. Toto gets really clean. And the Suds n Go kit from Costco even includes a nice, easy-to-grip squeegee. If you use a light touch, the squeegee works fine and gets most of the water off, so no need to get all the garage towels wet.

Toto, gleaming in the sun on the driveway.

It gleams.

I give the Suds n Go 8 stars out of 10. It doesn’t seem durable. The dial, which doubles as the cap for the soap-filling hole, is a little fussy, and I had to loosen a screw under the cap to make it work right. But I’d have to say the gadget did help me get the job done more quickly and with a little less effort.

I was tired, though. I stopped for lunch, then gave TinMan the same treatment.

Note: there were a few stubborn bug carcasses on the front of Toto and TinMan after the wash job. I used to have something called Bug and Tar Remover — in fact I still did have it on the day in question, but it had Gone Bad. So I used Goof Off II and a soft cloth to take the bugs off.

Also note: see how sunny it was? That has been happening a lot around here, in western Washington, and we’re not used to it. When I started the job — cleaning Toto’s astoundingly white roof — I didn’t have sunglasses on, and I needed something from inside, but when I got to the kitchen I noticed everything had turned dark red. Snow blindness! Yikes. When I went back out I took sunglasses and saved myself from a life of listening to audio books.

If I ever have energy again I’ll clean the awning. But first… more camping, please.

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Deception Pass: Other Bits

June 2, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

There were other hikes to be scouted. Would any others be Wally-friendly (stroller-able)? The team did some reading and Sudokuing while I checked out one of them.

Lawn, bay, picnic tables, trees, not necessarily in that order.

All the Bowman Bay area hikes start right around here. Tempted to just sit and stare at the water. That structure in the background was built in the 1980s or 90s — an interpretive center for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Too bad it was closed (off-season, I guess) while we were here.

On my way to the trail, I stopped to watch these boats in action. Their “skippers” were up on the pier, running back and forth, gesturing with their remote control units. Looks like fun!

Radio-controlled model yachts as a hobby? Why not? I think it would be fun.

The trail map and guide promised close-up views of Deception Pass and its bridges, at the cost of a mere 100 feet in elevation change. It was about a two-mile walk, much of it vertical. I think I went up and down the same 100 feet about 40 times. Much too steep for Wally and his stroller.

So where are my pix of the view? I saw it, I guess. It was highly filtered by trees and brush, and I was certain I wasn’t “there yet.” By the time I realized that must have been “it,” I had gone up and downhill a few more times and didn’t want to backtrack.

So I stopped at a high point and grabbed this shot instead.

On my way back, a pod of kayakers prepared to head out into the bay. They did stop to ogle the model yachts for a while.

It was, for your reference, the Lottie Point Trail. I liked it. It passes a lagoon in which a few harbor seals frolicked. Those pictures don’t look so good either, so I’ll spare you.

On our last morning before breaking camp, we made our way to the Rosario Beach area for another look at scenery and a short but unsettling hike for me.

Rocks and water far below the top of Rosario Head.

This was the unsettling part. I went up 150 feet on this short trail, past signs warning of high cliffs. They weren’t kidding! I was on my hands and knees to make this picture. My sense of balance and my proximity to ledges enjoy an inverse relationship.

Coming back down the trail I checked out this lovely maiden. It’s a carved “story pole,” created by an artist to capture a Samish Tribe legend about a young woman who, eventually, went to live with a handsome prince of the deep — underwater. Her parents were against the union, but the prince arranged for lousy weather and famine in order to change his mind. I was going to say, again, that you can’t make this stuff up, but in this case I think someone did.

The Maiden of Deception Pass story pole.

And next I saw…

Wally greeted me as I rejoined the Team. As always, he made me smile.

Deception Pass State Park… 5 stars. Every time I return to this part of Washington — around the San Juans — I am newly impressed with its natural beauty. I still haven’t had enough, and the Team seems to agree. We’ll be back.

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