The Plumber Showed Up - We Got A New Faucet - But No Water From It

I have always maintained that Plumbing and Electrical work are two areas I should stay away from. I'm not too bad with woodworking but as soon metal becomes involved I'm calling for help.

So Plumber Derek from Affordable RV Repairs in Quartzsite came right on time, and he had a new faucet with him. It took him one hour only to install the new faucet, something I would have needed a day for it and probably would have gotten blood flowing from my hands. (not kidding here)

When it was time to test the system, I turned on the water pump. We waited, and waited.....and waited. The only thing coming out of the new faucet were a few droplets.

WHAT?????

Left, the new faucet - right, the tap for filtered water - both fed from the same water line

Now, besides of the new faucet is a little tap from where filtered water was actually running. The basic waterline is the same as to the regular faucet, but it just branches off to the filter. So how could it be that there was water from the little tap, but not from the main faucet?

Plumber Derek didn't know it either and so we checked around for some shut-offs, but found nothing. Now, there was also water in the bathroom faucet, but not from the faucet in the toilet room. The shower, however, showed full pressure! Very mystical!

But at least we could have the water pump running and didn't have to carry water around the rig.

So, this morning we were packing up to take on the last 2.5hrs from Quartzsite to Holtville,CA. Before leaving the area we topped up our water tank.

Had a great morning ride and arrived in Holtville mid-morning local time.

There I started the water pump to wash my hands. As soon as the water was flowing I heard Bea shouting from the kitchen: There is water here!

Ready set up at the Holtville Hot Springs LTVA

WHAT???

Sure enough, the new kitchen faucet had sprung to life and was producing a steady stream of water. However, the faucet in the toilet room is still mute. What in the world is going on???

Now you know why plumbing is not a favorite occupation of mine.

Fixing A Major Problem

Today was one of those Quartzsite days when the wind produces dust devils which eventually turn into local sand storms. The northern wind made the day rather cold and unpleasant. Days like this happen quite often at Quartzsite while they are very rare in Holtville. There is no doubt that we wouldn't be snowbirds if Quartzsite would be the only alternative. Btw, it also blows a lot in Yuma, AZ.

 I believe I mentioned that we have a leaky kitchen faucet and that said faucet was almost non-accessible. It had grieved me to no end that we hadn't been able to use our water pump. And since there was nothing else to do today, I threw myself into this adventure of fighting down that water faucet.

So with the mood and guts of desperation I decided to make another attempt on it. After a research on Google about how to repair a leaky one-handle faucet, I received a few hints.

I began on the top taking the faucet itself apart, which provided me with a feeling of immediate success. However, the thing needed to come out of its seat and for that I had to deal with the nut, which was screwed against the sink from underneath. This item was placed between the two sink bowls and quite far into the cupboard, its door so small that you can't get your body through it.

I wriggled and turned the faucet to losen the nut which eventually worked. I disconnected the water lines in the cupboard and after hours of hard work, I finally got that nut removed and was able to pull the whole thing out of the sink. VICTORY!

After this battle there is no more option of "repairing" the faucet, but rather do a replacement. Luckily, I got the RV-plumber on the phone and he promised to bring a new faucet and install it tomorrow. My removal of the old equiment has probably saved us an hour of work for tomorrow's installation. Once we have the man here, I will ask him to replace an over pressure valve at the hotwater boiler as well.

So if all this goes well, come Tuesday, we will be heading down the valley towards Yuma and Holtville.

And then....we will relax.

Writing down what happened on this daty

Life In Camp

After our arrival in Quartzsite we both fell into a state of laziness, not in mood to do anything substantial, though we had to go to town for laundry, gas and some necessary grocery shopping. The visit at the gas station turned into a huge surprise. The current advertised price of regular gas is 3:19/gal. But I have a "FUEL REWARDS" card which usually nets a 10-15cts. rebate. Not so today! The rebate was ONE DOLLAR/gal. After filling 30 gallons I left that station with a happy saving of 30 bucks! 

Being back in camp, it was mainly relaxing, taking shorter walks with Dixie and simply "hanging out".

Today, we were expecting some friends to stop by. Yves and Louise are folks we once met in Holtville and have been good friends with. This winter, they will not be around much in Holtville as they will go to Mexico. For us this would mean another 1200 miles (return trip) and we just don't feel for it. Besides, we have a big rig now and roadways in Mexico tend to be narrow.

But I went to town today for some donuts, a few tools and to find an ATM, as the host station only takes cash or cheques. So we got our seasonal permit for 180 bucks, which allows us to stay in any BLM area between September 15 and April 15.

On the way back I found our friends and guided them to our site. We had coffee and the donuts and lots to talk about.

In the afternoon I put up my "fixer hat". Fixed the snap function at our screen door (Mickey Moused it), then I looked at the tail lights of the motorhome as passenger side didn't show a brake light.

After removing the red cover, it appeared that there was no bulb. How come? To find out, I also removed the inner part of the lamp, and lo and behold, there I found a totally dusted-in bulb hanging down behind the whole thing. Somehow the thing had worked its way out of the seat and fallen down. After cleaning the bulb and returning it into its seat we found the bulb working perfectly. So I used the opportunity to remove all dust out of the housing and from the red cover. Then I repeated the same operation on the driver side, which wasn't looking any better.

Things to fix  like this can still be found other places on this rig. Re. the fixing of our kitchen faucet we tried to call the RV-Tech, but it turned out we had to wait until Monday when the guy actually starts working. His phone # indicates he is not a local but runs a business here during winter season only. And his winter season starts Monday. I hope we can get him over here Monday.

Bea did some interior photos after "cleaning up all around".

And that's all for now. 

Enjoy life, it's shorter than most people realize.

Ridin' Into Town

Like a bunch of bad boys....we were ridin' into this western town. Full of miners chasing their luck, red Heads along the curb, lookin' for business, some crappy shacks, dealers where ever you'd look - QUARTZSITE, Arizona. 

There were several of us - big rigs, small rigs, crappy rigs - all headin' the same direction, findin' a spot to put oneself for the night.

Yesss, we made it again into this metropole of half crazy outlandish looking, mostly of advanced age travelers and outright bums.

We set up camp, had our supper, walked the dog and were sittin' outside relishing the warm night. Aah, that's life!

But hey, I promised something yesterday: our continued visit to the moon! 

While meeting for the flight to the moon, I met this colleague who had just returned from an extraterrestrial trip.

After seeing the petrified forest, we went to see the famous Barringer Meteor crater. I have read things about the crater ranging from calling it a 'Tourist trap' (oh no!) to the 'most wonderful experience'. (Yess) The truth: You won't find a more moon-like thing anywhere.

The crater, which is 700ft deep, with a diameter of 0.7miles and circumference of 2.4 miles, is a result of a meteroite impact 50,000 years ago. The creation of the crater took about 10 seconds. And here is the thing: You read about it, you say WOW, but you don't really understand reality, until you stand above the rim, letting your gaze go around the whole thing, taking in the sheer size, the depth of the hole before you. And slowly your mind plays a game - - - you are on the moon and there will be many of those craters all over. The surface is pocknarbed and there is nobody else than you.

Looks like the Barringer Crater, but is on the moon

Have a moonish Halloween!