Historic Silver City, New Mexico…
April 4, 2012
Yesterday I departed Silver City, New Mexico after a nice 13 day visit. Okay…I could have done nicely without having to rebuild my 1986 Ford Bronco II transmission. But…if you have to breakdown…Silver City is a good place to do it. Thank you again Moose Lodge #1718 for your hospitality.
Historic downtown Silver City. New Mexico is very clean and has lots of nice old buildings including the Silver City Museum detailing the Big Ditch.
I was so busy while there…I didn’t have a chance to show you some photos of the historic downtown area. So here they are…
As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...
To see the other 32 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/SilverCityNewMexico
To read all about Silver City, click this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_City,_New_Mexico
I arrived at Lake Caballa State Park…about 75 miles east of Silver City. I’ll show you those photos tomorrow.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark, New Mexico
April 3, 2012
A few days ago while my Ford Bronco II was in the shop for a transmission rebuild, I drove the motorhome the about seven miles east from Silver City, New Mexico to Fort Bayard.
The fort site was chosen in 1863 for its springs and outstanding view of the Apache war trails. The fort was established in 1866. In 1899, the Army deactivated Fort Bayard and established it as a tuberculosis hospital and research center. In 1922, the hospital was transferred to the Veterans Bureau, which became part the new Veterans Administration in 1930. The last patient was transferred to another hospital in November, 2010.
The first known internment in the cemetery was Sergeant David H.Boyd of the 3rd U.S. Calvary, buried in 1866. The cemetery was designated a National Cemetery in 1973.
To read the complete history of Fort Bayard…click this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bayard_Historic_District
To read the history of the Fort Bayard National Cemetery…click this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bayard_National_Cemetery
Here are some photos I took at Fort Bayard…
As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...
To see the other 26 photos that I took…click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/FortBayardNewMexico
Visiting old military installations is another of my enjoyments as a full-time RVer!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
The Real Culprit…
March 30, 2012
Note…I’m currently hanging out in the motorhome at the Moose Lodge in Silver City, New Mexico waiting on the completion of a transmission rebuild for my 1986 Ford Bronco II. I’m expecting the work to be finished today.
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Two days ago I wrote about the dis-assembly of the transmission…
http://wp.me/pDCku-44h
Yesterday morning I went to the garage to see how they were progressing. The replacement parts they had to order arrived and they were in the process of the re-assembly of the transmission. Nacho, the shop owner and my mechanic, told me that they had finally come across the real culprit… a mutilated planetary carrier assembly…three inches in diameter. Here are some photos…
As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...
First a top view. Look closely…there are supposed to be three gears…one each at 12-4 and 8 o’clock positions. If you look closely you will see 12 o’clock gear is missing…
Here are some other views of the damaged area…
The mechanics were busy so I did not get into a long-winded discussion of why this part failed. Being an ex-engineer my guess is metal-fatigue. 26 years of internal heat and stress on this aluminum part finally took its toll. As I said in earlier Blog entry…the transmissions in these older Ford Bronco II’s were known to be problem-childs.
The exploded parts view shows 158 individual pieces in the transmission…
Hopefully the transmission will once again be in good running order and I’ll soon be back on the road again!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
La Capilla Overlooks Silver City, New Mexico…
March 29, 2012
Note…I’m currently hanging out in the motorhome at the Moose Lodge in Silver City, New Mexico waiting on the completion of a transmission rebuild for my 1986 Ford Bronco II.
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Last Friday I explored the historic downtown of Silver City, New Mexico. Atop Chihuahua Hill at the south end of the city sits La Capilla…which in Spanish Means “small chapel” It was during the climb of this rather short, but steep, climb that the Bronco transmission revealed it was having problems. Because of these problems, my visit to La Capilla was distracted. While waiting a few minutes for the transmission to cool down a little, I did manage to take these three photos of the nice view of Silver City…
As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...
La Capilla is a small chapel. It was securely locked…I presume to protect it from vandalism…
A 180 degree panorama of the Silver City area…
A closer view of downtown Silver City…
To read the complete history of La Capilla, click this link…
http://www.silvercity.org/dest_la_capilla.php
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
I Meet A Fellow Blogger…A Dog With A Blog!
March 27, 2012
Note…I’m currently hanging out in the motorhome at the Moose Lodge in Silver City, New Mexico waiting on the completion of a transmission rebuild for my 1986 Ford Bronco II
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The other day while I was wandering around in historic downtown Silver City, New Mexico…I had a chance encounter with a celebrity very famous here in New Mexico.
What’s so unique about Travelin’ Jack?
Here’s his photo…
As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view...
I was most fortunate to meet Travelin’ Jack accompanied by his travel companion Jill Lane…
Travelin’ Jack is a very active personality. He’s even running for Governor. Click this link to see his political pitch…
http://www.travlinjack.com/index.html
Among other things, Travelin’ Jack is a TV personality, travel expert and travel writer among other things. Here’s his resume’…
http://travelinjacksdog-blog.blogspot.com/2011/11/dogs-resumetravelin-jacknew-mexicos-dog.html
Click this link to see Travelin’ Jack’s Blog…
http://www.travelinjacksdog-blog.blogspot.com/
Travelin’ Jack even has his own Facebook page…
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Travelin-Jack-Roving-Bulldog-Reporter/246702159090
To prove just how famous Travelin’ Jack is here in New Mexico…click these following links…
http://dogfriendly.com/dognews/?p=508
http://www.kasa.com/dpp/nm_style/pets/travelin-jack
That’s just one more thing I love about being a full-time RVer…I get to meet so many interesting people…err…personalities!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
I’ve Been Kind Of Expecting This To Happen…
March 24, 2012
And yesterday…while exploring the historic downtown of Silver City, New Mexico…it finally happened. My 1986 Ford Bronco II transmission finally quit.
I bought the vehicle back in July, 2009…almost three years ago.
It runs as good as it looks. Last August while summering in Washington State, the transmission overheated while climbing Mt. Constitution on San Juan Island in Puget Sound…leaking a steady stream of transmission fluid. Shortly thereafter I had my good friend and trusted mechanic Mike pull the transmission to install new seals and install a rear main engine seal while he was at it. He did not open the transmission case itself during that function.
Last January the shifting started acting up and I had the modulator valve replaced while in Apache Junction, Arizona. Once again the thought popped into my mind…one of these days the transmission is going to quit.
No problems since then…until yesterday.
While climbing a rather short yet rather steep hill…I barely made it to the top. It felt like a slipping clutch. Once at the top…then it did not want to go forward or backward at all. I let it cool down for a few minutes then checked the transmission fluid level…which was fine.
Since it decided to move once again…I curtailed my exploration activities and managed to get it back to the Moose Lodge where the motorhome is parked about three miles distant. Once there…it once again refused to go forward or backwards. What to do now?
I placed a call to Mike in Washington to get his diagnosis of my problem. It did not come as a surprise. He concluded that the time had come to have the transmission rebuilt. The next question became by whom and where…it’s a Friday afternoon.
I went into the Moose Lodge where the head guy provided me with a local referral. There’s only three places that do transmission rebuilds in this small town of about 10,000 population. The other potential solution was to hook the Bronco II to the motorhome and tow it to the nearest national franchise transmission rebuilders in Las Cruces, New Mexico…125 miles distant. In another call to Mike…I asked him about his opinion on this option and he said…”I wouldn’t let them work on my lawnmower!”
So the decision was made. I managed to drive it to the local transmission rebuild shop about two miles away. I’m hoping to get the Bronco II back by next Friday at a cost not to exceed $2,000. Transmission rebuilds are expensive!
Now for the good news. I could have broken down out in the middle of the toolies where I frequently go. Then I would have had to deal with a tow truck to get me back to civilization. The motorhome is parked at a very friendly Moose Lodge where the head guy says…”No problem…stay as long as you need to!” The Ford Bronco II’s of the 1980′s have a bad reputation for transmission problems. I guess I can’t complain about a transmission rebuild with 150,000 miles on the odometer. A little time and a few $’s and hopefully all will be well once again with my 1986 Ford Bronco II.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
5,844 Days Ago…
December 23, 2011
was December 22, 1995…the day I departed Olympia, Washington to begin my full-time RVing lifestyle. Today therefore marks the beginning of my 17th year.
Back in 1995 I was driving a Chevy Suburban and towing an 18 foot travel trailer. Here’s a photo taken while in Baja, California, Mexico in 1998. The film was developed in Mexico hence the spotty photo. As always you may click upon the photos to see an enlarged view…
In 1999 I bought a 1983, 23 foot Class A Suncrest Motorhome and a 1984 Ford Bronco II specifically to take to Central America. This photo was taken in 2004 during that trip…
I met Mary in 2008 and in 2009 we acquired our current motorhome and Ford Bronco II…
The last 16 years have been delightful. Here’s hoping I’ve got another 16 years of full-time RVing. It’s a lousy job,,,but someone’s got to do it! 
Now…you may be wondering how I came up with the number of days. Did I find an old bunch of calendars and count them all? Nope. If you want to know the number of days between two events, all you have to do is click this link…
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html
Isn’t the Internet wonderful?
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
The Idea Didn’t Work Out…
November 27, 2011
I’ve been hauling around a bicycle on the back of my motorhome or towed Ford Bronco II for about ten years and I have never been happy with the storage arrangements. It’s such a hassle….the taking off and putting back-on process. It ends up being more work than enjoyment. And now that I have Mary in my life…I have two bicycles to deal with. Oh Joy!!!
Since I was so unhappy with the previous storage arrangement…I thought I’d try a new idea. When we were in Mendocino a couple of months ago, we parked behind a van than had a bicycle on a fold-down hitch. The owner seemed happy with the arrangement. Hmmm…so I decided to give the idea a try and ordered the parts.
Over the last several days I attempted to get the arrangement to work in a way that I could be happy with. This photo shows the fold-down hitch on the back of the Bronco with one bicycle attached…
That didn’t seem too bad.
Then I moved on to putting the two bikes on the rack…
In the photo all appears okay…but appearances are deceiving. In this mode the bikes are too close to one another and they didn’t mount properly. So I added the extension to be used in the four bike mounting mode. That set the bikes apart and they were mounted properly. The I put the cover over everything and evaluated the situation. The cover ended up big and awkward to handle…plus it blocked my rear vision from the drivers seat in addition to blocking the the rear tail and brake lights from behind. That’s not good…so the cover had to go.
With the two bikes on the four bike extension it put the outer bike way out there…so much so that when I tried to pull the rack back into the upright position and insert the holding pin by myself…it required a much too strenuous effort to accomplish. Realizing that sometimes when we are out and about shopping we sometimes open the rear lift door on the Bronco several times a day…I then knew this was not a good idea. So after several hours of messing around with this idea…I knew the fold-down hitch also had to go.
So now both bikes are now mounted on the back out the motorhome…the lesser all all evils…
I’d just as soon get rid of both bicycles for the little that we use them…but…Mary still insists she wants to ride a bicycle…so they remain.
So now I start the fun process of returning the items. The cover we bought from Amazon…no problem. In five minutes I had a prepaid return label and UPS will pickup the package at Mary’s doorstep on Monday.
The 26 pound bike rack was purchased from a different vendor and will prove to be somewhat more difficult to return. First of all…they are not open on the weekend…so I couldn’t communicate with them yesterday…got to wait until Monday. Then they charge a 20% re-stocking fee…we have to pay for the return shipping…about $20…got to get a return authorization number and arrange to get UPS to pick it up…yadda, yadda, yadda!!! This company needs to study how Amazon handles returns. I’ll never buy another item from the bike-rack vendor ever again. ‘Nuf said…the idea didn’t work out!
I was scheduled to depart for the south land Monday morning. Since I now have to wait until Monday to communicate with the bike-rack vendor and there’s a weather forecast for dense fog on Monday morning…I’ve been forced to delay my departure until Tuesday morning. Such is life!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Setting Up The New Bike Rack…
November 25, 2011
It’s the day after Thanksgiving. Mary and I spent the night at her youngest daughter’s home. I had planned to show some photos of our Thanksgiving in today’s Blog entry, but I forgot to bring my photo download cord. So instead I’ll present the Blog entry I had planned for tomorrow.
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Last Wednesday I temporarily attached the new bike rack to our Ford Bronco II. I attached one bike for this activity…
In the above photo the old bike rack is still attached as we had to bring back Mary’s bike from her youngest daughter’s home after Thanksgiving.
The whole purpose of this activity was to adjust the fold-down set bolt which locks in the angle that the fold-down arm is allowed to travel. This bolt is adjusted to allow the rear-mounted spare tire and rear door which lifts upward to just clear touching the closest bicycle in the fold-down position…
In this position we have access to the rear storage area of the Bronco without the bicycles laying on the ground. In preparation for my Monday morning departure, tomorrow I’ll mount both bicycles and cover them with our new bike-on-the-rack cover to keep them clean. Almost time to go!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
Our New Bike Rack And Cover Arrived…
November 23, 2011
late yesterday afternoon.
Both Mary and I have bicycles. I’ve long been dissatisfied with the bring-along storage arrangements. One was a hook-like hanger which attached to a rung on the ladder on the back of the motorhome. In general…it was a real pain in the butt both attaching and removing the bikes. Primarily because of the difficult-to-use securing device meant to keep the bikes from jumping off of the hanger on bumpy roads. That it did…but it also made it a pain to take the bike off for use in a timely manner. it was a real hassle!
The other bike rack we have attaches to the spare tire hanging off the back of our towed Ford Bronco II. This rack had trouble with the weight of the two bikes and wasn’t terribly stable.
So…we decided to try something new. A fold-down rack that attaches to the hitch receiver of the Bronco. Here’s the box it came in…
My primary concern with this rack is that it would work on the Bronco because of the rear-mounted spare tire. So…because it was cold outside…I used Mary’s living room to do a basic-assemble. That is…fit the pieces together without tightening the bolts.
I then took it out to the Bronco for a test fit. It’s going to fit…just missing the rear-mounted spare tire. If it wasn’t going to fit…that meant boxing the thing back up and returning it to the vendor. But…since it did fit…I brought the rack back into the house and tightened all the bolts. The fold-down action works by pulling the pin with the round finger-hole attachment. Today I’ll put it back on the Bronco with a bike attached and adjust the fold-down adjustment bolt which sets the degree of fold-down so that the bikes do not lay on the ground when you pull the pin.
As I have mentioned in numerous previous Blog entries…the road of life is a dusty and dirty one. The bicycles hanging on the back of either the motorhome or Bronco get very dirty. So to counter that element…we also bought a cover to put over the bikes. Here’s the box…
Hopefully this cover will help keep the bicycles cleaner. We’ll soon know if this new arrangement is going to work.
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
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