Blacky the wonder Tundra celebrated an oddometerversary yesterday.
This is new territory for me. I've never had such a high mileage vehicle. I've tried to be good about care and feeding. Blacky's taken great care of me in return. Who knows - maybe we'll reach all threes after several more years together.
Loretta's motorhome was bought used. In 2013 it had only 51k miles on the clock. While in generally good condition overall, its full history (use, care, maintenance, etc) was unknown to us. At least for its last half decade on our watch we took good care of each other. But the last couple trips it started running hot. Last month, leaving our summer gig in WA it severely over heated and died in OR.
Some time ago I found a nifty work light. It's LED and works on either AC or DC.
The only problem was the AC cord was permanently attached. The extra cord was always in the way when plugged into a vehicle. My solution was to replace the AC power cord with a removable cord and outlet harvested from an old computer.
Several years ago we remodeled the RV dinette. Benches on each side of the table were replaced with real chairs. We traded guest twin bed conversion capability (which we never used) for shelving on both sides of the table. Key to making that possible was consolidating all the electrical stuff into a compact cabinet under the table between the shelves. The cabinet hides the wires for all the AC and DC circuits as well as the converter/charger. Its face left access to the power panel with all the breakers and fuses. (Previously, all that electrical stuff wasted most of the space under both benches.)
The dining mod also involved ditching the LP furnace (which didn't work anyway). To stay warm in cold weather electric space heaters work well. We always have shore power at full hookup RV sites in volunteer villages where we serve. To help reduce the trip hazard of a corded heater an outlet was added under the table. This winter I completed a mod to control the heater from our wall thermostat. An outlet was added under the table that only gets power when the thermostat says so. (Eventually, I'd like to replace the space heater with baseboard heaters; meanwhile, at least the wiring is now in place for that mod.)
Earlier this month we had a 5-day block off work to explore. This time we ventured northish to visit more of the Cascades. Starting with Mt. St. Helens. It was hot so we opted to camp with electricity. Running the air conditioning not only made lil' yeti more comfortable. That also eased the thermal strain on a fridge ready for last rites. With that strategy Seaquest State Park fit the bill. We arrived early enough Monday afternoon to leave the A/C going and visited the national park.
Visibility was hazy due to smoke from BC wildfires. Still we enjoyed two different films about the park. Plus a scenic drive up and back WA-504 despite the haze. Sometimes context is everything. Sometimes a visit isn't just about the park. Hoffstadt Bridge is a captivating example.