Aug 2nd

We drove to Santa Rosa, NM.  The temperature ranged from 70’s to 90’s and the only issue was the cycling fan clutch.  In the morning I had removed the vacuum controlled heater valve and replaced it with a manual shut-off that I had in the coach.  It was old and leaked a little so we stopped a couple of times to see if we could replace it but no dice.  In Albuquerque we removed the passenger side wheel well to see if that would help with air flow and the fan cycling but it made no significant difference.

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August 1st, the first day of our trip to the East Coast and back.  I was a little concerned with the coach because the last thing that happened last night was I spotted a couple of puddles of what appeared to be antifreeze under the coach after our return from filling the gas tanks. I had just gotten an email from Carl Stouffer so I asked him what he thought and he said not to worry and have a good time – I took his advice.

This is actually the shakedown cruise so we have to expect some issues – lots was done since the last trip and there are bound to be some problems.  Problem 1 is the heater or defroster seems to be on.  I had replaced the vacuum controlled valve some time ago and it was working well but now it seems to be constantly on.  I have a manual shutoff valve and I will put that in when everything cools down – meanwhile I unplugged the heater fan motor since it is always on.  Problem 2 is the engine temp is oscillating between 190 and 210 or so via the cooling fan and clutch.  It seems that the engine wants to run a little hotter than the fan clutch wants it to so it keeps coming on and making tons of noise.  I am theorizing that the air flow through and around the radiator – also new this trip – is the issue and not the engine since the fan clutch kicks on at different engine temps.  Some baffeling and some venting seem to be in order.

The drawers under the couch are having a problem.  Problem is they are actually a little overloaded.  A storage drawer under the bed and a storage cabinet under the dinette would really help a lot.  We have temporarily added some catches to keep them from opening on left turns and straps to help us open them when we want.

We stopped for the night at Elephant Butte State Park in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  This place is amazing

Our campsite at Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico

– for single night, with no reservation we paid $8 for a large site with electricity and water.  The $8 included $3 (I think) for our tow car.  There is no internet, of course, but the private campground in town wanted $32 and all they had to add was TV – cable I guess.

Here is a slideshow of our visit.

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