Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Campground WiFi Speed Record

I’ve never seen these kinds of WiFi download speeds in a RV campground . . . so I measured twice . . .

Speedof.me

SpeedTest

Fixing Things: UV Filter

We filter the bejeezus out of our water (see Water Filtration System). I think it’s because we were living in Milwaukee, WI during the 1993 cryptosporidium outbreak, the largest documented waterborne disease outbreak in US history.

Our UV (Ultra Violet) filter is a key part of our RV’s water purification setup. Not only does our UV filter disinfect water, it also stops water system algae outbreaks (see The Green Stuff under Fixin’ Stuff).

Our UV Filter (click on drawing to enlarge)

UV Light Bulb

The “heart” of a UV filter is the UV light itself. The ultraviolet radiation from a UV light effectively sterilizes water.

However, since the UV bulb gradually dims over time, it must be replaced. In our case that’s once a year. Our Sterilight UV system has a Controller that notifies us when the UV light is failing by flashing “A3”.

So when our Controller started flashing “A3” recently, I replaced the UV bulb and the glass sleeve that surrounds the bulb. Easy peasy, right?

Not this time.

This time our Controller kept flashing “A3” and other error codes. Bad mojo.

I knew what this meant — the Controller had gone south. Since we first installed our UV system, the Controller had failed once before about 3 years ago.

Because a new Controller costs over $300, replacing it was not high on my list of things to buy.

Blue Screen of Death

So I played a hunch.

What if the Controller was still sending power to the UV light? However, since the UV light is sealed up, how could I tell if it’s working?

Does it feel warm?

Because we weren’t running water, a functioning UV bulb will warm up its enclosure. So I just “laid hands” on the enclosure — it was warm. Pretty complex test methodology, eh?

I’ll be saving some money for a while and just keep feeling up our UV tank.

Roseanna’s Cafe in Oceanside

Fred and Marian, a couple we met six years ago at Crazy Horse Campground, paid us a visit at our Netarts campground. The couple live in Salem, OR. They were both born in Liverpool, England and emigrated to the US about 40 years ago.

Fred and Marian in front of the Pacific

We all had a late lunch at Roseanna’s Cafe which we picked out of a Yelp list. It was a great pick.

Oceanside

Some photos from the nearby beach . . .

Coffee, Canines, and Cameras

We are hunkered down in Netarts, OR taking a “day off” — cleaning and grocery shopping.

COFFEE

Our Bella K-cup (ie, Keurig) coffee maker arrived today. The Bella allows you to use regular old coffee grounds as well as the ubiquitous K-cups. We’ve been hesitant to make the change from grinding our own coffee beans to using a Keurig coffee maker. It’s not because we were overly concerned about K-cup pollution, but more about the ready availability of K-cup coffee.

Our Bella

However, we found it more and more difficult to buy Whole Bean coffee and more and more easy to purchase K-cup coffee. So we caved.

So you just bought a Keurig?

Our decision to switch was fully confirmed when we tasted our first K-cup coffee. Outstanding! I could actually tell the difference between different coffee types.

My First K-cup Coffee and the K-cup is actually biodegradable

CANINES (aka Flirt)

After our experience with our dog Flirt at Emigrant Lake and burrs, we decided to get our girl some protective dog shoes.

At Emigrant Lake, OR, we found several of these in just one paw

They’ll also come in handy during the hot weather in Arizona when the ground can become painfully hot to dogs.

And they’re red

Not exactly love at first wear . . . (Google “dog shoes” for some funny videos) . . .

CAMERAS

Noticed a Wall ‘o Video Cameras at our current campground. Almost 30 cameras, and no “You Are Under Video Surveillance” signs to be seen. This is getting to be far too common. Creepy.

It also begs the question . . . Why so many cameras? Has there been that much theft and/or vandalism? Or . . . ?

Wall ‘o Cameras

Bandon & Beyond

Bandon to Netarts (click on map to enlarge)

After spending a few days in Bandon, OR, we traveled north along the Oregon Coast Highway (aka Hwy 101) to Netarts/Tillamook, OR.

The beaches around Bandon were expansive!

China Beach (click on photo to enlarge)

Coquille Lighthouse

However, the “high point” of the trip was the Cape Creek Tunnel outside of Florence, OR. At first we couldn’t figure out why our GPS was routing us away from Highway 101 — look at the gray routes on the map above. These GPS routes added 100 miles to our trip. Why?

The Cape Creek Tunnel. It seems that this arched tunnel is 14′ high in its middle, but drops to under 12′ at the tunnel’s sides. Apparently, a GPS uses this lower height when calculating routes, and most RVs, including ours, are over 12′ tall.

After checking a couple of RV forums, we discovered that lots of people had driven through this tunnel. So we took the short route through the tunnel with our GPS attempting to turn us around until the very end . . .