Mountain Views and. short Visit by Chris Z.

 Thursday, February 12

The day started cloudy but cleared up nicely before mid-morning.

The lighting in the morning led to more practice on using the adapter for binos for my phone camera:

Cunningham Mountain and it's telecom towers:

1x zoom with binoculars 

3x zoom with binos

After lunch, I decided to see how close I could get to this nearby unnamed mountain:

Bino shot from campsite from a few days ago

Google maps didn't easily show the smaller trails so I ended up taking Pipeline Road and from there, a power line road and eventually down seeming unmarked trails.  Getting ever closer, going slow due to loose rocks / gravel / dirt that could make things interesting if you did not pay attention.

Using the rock formation as a guide, I eventually got pretty close:

I think the houses in the distance are in La Paz Valley

South of Quartzsite 

I took BLM Road 0061 (yep, found a marked tail junction) all the way back to civilization.  I missed the turnoff for La Posa South LTVA and ended up in La Posa North.  No problem, it's a short ride from it to the right LTVA and my campsite within.

Last views of today's mountain view destination:

Realizing that one can expand the last pic to get what's shown in the one before; which one is more attractive to your eye?

Friday, February 13

Chris Z of Blazeourway showed up in the afternoon to talk to the Bowen Custom folks re his new truck's flatbed that was made by Bowen.

Chris had bought it second hand and wanted to ensure it was installed right by the seller.  Fortunately, the Bowen team checked it out and declared it ready for travels.  The camper, by Alaskan, will be ready in about 3 weeks and Chris and Lori will drive their truck to WA to have Alaskan install the camper.

There's a Truck Camper Rally going on at Quartzsite, which explained Bowens presence in relative proxity to Chris and Lori's home in Meadview 

Here's the Bowen demo rig, quite the campus machine eh?

Chris talking to the Bowen team about the rig and some future work for his own truck 

Inspection completed, it was time for a drink by a small campfire back at camp:

Sunrises, Crystal Hill, Sunsets

 Tuesday, February 10

Not too bad a sunrise for what turned out to be a short ride/hike day.

I rode out on Yagi to the Crystal Hill Collection Area to see what was there.  I'd been there before but hadn't had rock collection on my mind.  Turned out, the area is mainly for the surface collection of white quartz rock.  Meh.

I did walk by several interesting outcroppings of Shale....

The views from the saddle between the two main hills in the area.

It's getting warm around here, it was 67°F at 3AM when I my bladder woke me up.

Wednesday, February 11

An overcast yet nicely warm kind of day.  It got up to 75°F!  I mostly did some reorganizing of misc items in the VRRV and on Yagi.  I did do a grocery run into town with Yagi, using a backpack to carry the food and the rear cargo rack for a case of Brisk Ice Tea cans.

Sunrise:

Sunset:

Thursday, February 12

A pretty good sunrise this morning:

How I Check Tire Pressure on Dually Tires

 My RV has dually tires in the rear to support the weight of the motorhome and its contents. 

I use TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) sensors to keep track of the air pressure on the RVs tires and to alert me if there is a loss of tire pressure such as when a tire blows out or develops a big leak.

This causes access issues when you are trying to get to the TPMS sensor on the inner dually tire. I've tried valve extenders, but as you can find via Google; they tend to not be very effective and tend to come loose or damage the valve stem because of centrifugal forces and such. 

I've tried valve extenders with support brackets but with no luck.

After much trial and error and trying various methods, this is the way I do it today. 

Tools I use for this task:

22mm Tube Wrench/tubular box spanner

You will have to have the correct size for your sensors. 

I used the sensors from EEZtires

Braided air valve extension for

easy access while checking/adding air.

1-1/8" socket to remove mounting caps

from decorative wheel hub covers

First thing I have to do, is to remove the decorative wheel hub cover from the outer dually tire.  This is where the one and 1/8 inch socket comes in.  My RV came with a special wrench for this purpose but I have managed to lose it.

Only two of the caps are involved with securing the hub cover, just tap on each and find the one that sounds different. It's mate will be directly opposite.

Decorative hub cover off

As you can see in the above picture, the TPMS sensor (located at the 10:00 position) for the outer dually is easily accessible. 

The inner dually TPMS sensor however is not so accessible:

Some folks on the internet say you can access this sensor on the inner dually via the gap between the two tires, this does not work for me.  I use the 22mm tube wrench instead.  I guide the wrench onto the sensor until it snugs up around the sensor itself. Then it's just a matter of turning it counterclockwise to loose in the sensor and remove it from the valve stem. 

Next, I attached the valve extender to the valve stem so I can connect the air pump easily to the inner dually's valve stem:

Now I can add or remove air, checking with the TPMS monitor, until I have the right air pressure in the tire.

Once I am satisfied with the tire pressure in the inner dually, I remove the valve extender and use the tube wrench to remount the TPMS sensor.  You basically just put it into the wrench and then gently align the TPMS sensor to the valve stem and screw it in.

I then check the air pressure on the outer dually tire, and then I put the decorative hub cover back on.  Done!

Please comment if you've questions.  YMMV, this procedure works for me.  Not the fastest thing, or most convenient, but it works.

A Ride to Kofa NWR 's Rock Formations

 Two hours of riding, sunny and warm at almost 80°F temperatures.

I rode along US 95 southbound, using the back entrance I had recently noticed for the La Posa South LTVA.

Lots of open camping spots at the Kofa (King OF Arizona) NWR.  King of Arizona being the name of a mine back in the day.  You access them via Palm Canyon Road, a somewhat rough/gravelly road.

This wasn't the first visit to the NWR:  Uraling to the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

The Southwestern Sojourn - Day 18: Kofa National Wildlife Refuge: Palm Canyon and 

Uraling on the Old Yuma Road

Todays riding was to see how full of campers the place was, not very.  It was also to take pics of the two more notable rock formations presented by the small mountain range within the NWR.

No hiking today, a bit warm for that.

I rode back all the way to Quartzsite to fill up Yagi's gas tank.  I returned to the campsite, again using the back entrance, and spent the rest of the afternoon resting in the gazebo.