Just got back from Illinois.
Our 2006 Fleetwood Niagara came with an Atwood 7916-II Hydro-Flame forced air heater. I immediately replaced the factory analog thermostat with a LUX-500 digital unit. For 6 years the furnace worked perfectly, except the vent pushed the heat straight out towards the shower door. I had once seen a picture of a directional vent that could be added to the furnace, but was not able to find one anywhere and eventually forgot about it.
Continue reading Atwood Furnace Directional Vent and Vent Door Repair
No, this isn’t about some grand hike or summation of many hiking trips. It is about our 2003 Ford Expedition, which recently turned 200,000 miles on the odometer over its lifetime of 10 years, 1 month.
I am not superstitious, but I hope this article doesn’t bring bad luck on the Expedition. So just in case, I crossed my fingers and knocked on wood.
Joyce is in Motown visiting relatives and she left me at home without supervision.
The two nights before departure she was packing and wrapping gifts – organized and not rushed. She didn’t ask what my plans were in her absence, nor did she assign any tasks to me, verbally or implied. I drove her to the airport for an early morning departure, listening for any hints of expectations for domestic “to do’s.” None were detected. Returning home I checked the refrigerator door and the interior for any notes or instructions regarding household duties, which came up negative.
When I first started backpacking, eating was complicated. I didn’t have a backpacking stove (didn’t know that such a thing existed) and I cooked over a campfire. Simmering over a campfire wasn’t always easy, not to mention the difficulties when it was raining or windy. With a campfire or backpacking stove, food required preparation and oversight.
Until 2008 my method of preparing for backpacking trips was to assemble a checklist, place my gear, water, and fuel into the pack and weigh it. What it weighed, is what it weighed. There was nothing else to do because the gear was what I needed for the specific trip. After playing around with spreadsheets and base weights, I have come back full circle.
The law of the Great Welfare State of California states that a vehicle towing a trailer requires that
“when the trailer or its load affects the driver’s view to the rear, the law requires two rear view mirrors, one on each side of the towing vehicle, to give the driver an unobstructed view of the highway at least 200 feet behind.”