The Rally is Over, We're East-bound

The Gypsy Journal Rally ended yesterday, rolls and coffee this morning and we pulled out at 10 AM, more or less. Before we hit the road, we drove the Saturn over to the Arizona Flea Market (2 miles) and visited a shop that had some magnets. The purpose of the magnets is to hold a sun screen in front of the windshield while we're parked. One of the vendors was selling ready made sunscreens and advertised, "No drilling or holes in your RV." We looked and they have small round magnets in the four corners. So we have 24 small round magnets to install in the sunscreen that Sandy will sew for us.

That chore done, we hit the road. Traffic was a little hectic initially, but shortly it thinned out and we had good driving. Out target stop was a wide spot in the road called Gila Bend. There isn't much here, but a large truck stop, free parking and a free dump station. The other reason was that I needed to do a little rework on my black tank drain valve. (Not a nice job.)

So we arrived at noon, had lunch, dumped and filled with fresh water. We then parked the motorhome on a sloping part of the lot so that any liquids left in the tank would run to the other end. We were working on the sunny side and shortly we had the valves out and disassembled. We used the bottle of Lime-Away that Sandy bought plus the good old putty knife to soften and remove lots of lime.

In case you don't remember, we replaced the seals 4 weeks ago and did not have the cleaner to clean the valves then. It took a while for the lime to slowly soften and we finally had a clean surface So a little silicon lubricant and back together they went. Now they work very smoothly. Our next task is to start using some additive in the tank to dissolve or keep the lime in suspension. (The gray water tank was very clean, probably from the dish water soap and bath soap.)

Tomorrow morning it is on to our RV park in Casa Grande for a few days. We have a building permit to build a shed on our lot, so we will be busy for the next week. Nothing fancy, just a small pre-cut shed about 8 by 10 feet. The floor is already poured so the big task will be drilling the anchors into the concrete.

Today's temperature must have been close to 75 degrees. It sure makes an old farmer start thinking that it might be time to till the fields! So we're headed east slowly!!

Gene