We arose the next morning to the most beautiful day at the lake thus far.
It was the perfect sunny day by the water. We went through our morning steps of coffee and breakfast before deciding that we should celebrate this hot day by playing in the water a bit.
Laura and I tried out some stand up paddle boarding, and after we gained our “lake legs” (where we weren’t shaking and wobbling like crazy) we headed back to shore.
Then I decided to take a run across the lake with Joey to see if I could keep up with an actual paddle boarder.
I think I did alright! We went all the way across the lake into a little cove. The cove became shallower and shallower and eventually cut off at the very end. We carried our boards over the small land bridge, shot back off into the water, and headed back.
It was seriously a perfect day at the lake.
Once we hit shore we all worked together to pack up camp.
The next day we had scheduled the day with Nick Tucker in Anchorage to work with him on The Ohana.
I just need to put a note here, that while we had been at the Lake the top end of the camper entry handle had began to work it’s way loose. So add that to the list of things that needed worked on while we were in Anchorage.
An hour or so later we were back on the road headed North Bound.
That night we decided to stay at a new spot in Anchorage; Cabela’s.
Laura’s dad had told us that Cabela’s were extremely RV friendly locations and we should try one out.
It turns out he was right! We should have made this our go to place years ago when in Anchorage! Surrounded by like-minded discoverers of the road, we snuggled in right at home.
As we happily hung out for the evening, we were bid a good night by a most excellent sunset to cap off our perfect day.
The next day I sent Nick a message, and didn’t hear back from him so we decided to go questing for a fix to our propane solution.
On our way up to Anchorage the day before we had placed a call to Alaska Performance RV & Marine and inquired about buying a 20# horizontal mount propane tank. They sent us to Home Depot and Lowe’s… 😖
I knew this was the wrong answer- but that morning we went and looked anyway. Guess what? All both places carried were 20# vertical mount tanks for barbecues… 😑 So sadly those guys lost points with us for incorrectly referring us. They had been, up to that point, our go to place for RV info.
We decided to try somewhere else, and called Karen’s RV- who actually knew what we were requesting. They referred us to Suburban Propane.
After some hunting we found our way there, and to this:
There was a gentlemen who immediately was excited to chat with us when he saw The Ohana.
We were thrilled to talk with him too because his bus was absolutely beautiful. He had spent years on it. Check out that roof deck alone; it was super heavy duty and has so much storage! The access to the is through the emergency escape hatch in the middle of the deck, and a telescoping ladder drop down right out of the hatch for climbing up.
He had just completed his project and was filling the propane for the first time! As soon as he could he was headed down south to The Lower 48 to travel the country in it.
FYI – We didn’t snap photos of the inside in respect of his personal space, but it was a truly a work of art.
Hickory cabinets, beautiful countertops, fully loaded with appliances; it was amazing. He even built a central air vacuum system in it!
He had made enough space for an office inside as well, so he could work on his photography business. If you ever want to check out his work his site is at https://www.jeffdixonphoto.com
One cool thing he had installed in his cabinets (that I want to show you) was this:
They are magnet latches, so you use this magnet handle, place it on the outside of the cabinet door over where the latch is located inside, and it releases the cabinet door and allows you to open it. Perfect for keeping RV cabinet doors closed while traveling!
Anyway- The Bus was amazing, talking with Jeff about his travels and experience was inspiring, and it was nice to meet a fellow road trip enthusiast!
The whole rig shone quality through and through. We definitely gave his bus the ✨Everything’s Shiny Cap’n✨ award!
After we parted ways with Jeff, we went in to talk with the attendants at Suburban Propane. They were super helpful- and one came out to our rig to take a look at our setup.
First off, our propane regulator was too light duty of a model for the work it needed to do. 🤦 So I would need to buy a 3rd regulator to fix that…
We were definitely going to need the proper tank. Horizontal mount tanks come with a proper float system internally equipped to the OPD valve for them to be stored horizontal. Imagine that….
But Suburban propane did not carry a 20# model… 😬
Back when I had talked to Tim Johnson about removing the tank I hadn’t understood the difference. He was surprised I let it go and now I finally understood why. We had made a slightly expensive mistake getting rid of the original tank instead of having an OPD valve installed in it… 😔 … live and learn.
So we were starting to get worried that we were going to have to order a propane tank and have it shipped up to Alaska, which can be tricky most of the time with companies still often stamping Hazmat on empty tanks as well. Luckily, this gentleman that was advising us had recently been working on his camper- and had great things to say about a store called Cache Camper in Palmer.
We thanked him profusely and immediately gave Cache Camper a call. They had the tanks we needed in stock!
We were about to decide if we were going to head out to Palmer or hold out waiting on Nick to get back to us when Whitney contacted us. We put our trip to Palmer on hold and followed through with our plans to meet up with Nick & Whitney instead. It was time to see our friends and accomplish some exciting tasks!
So what were we up to? I guess I haven’t told you guys yet, huh?
Well, The first item on our list was new LED headlights!
I had ordered a new wiring harness for the lights, so we installed that first.
Once we had everything in place and properly tested it was time to mount the headlights in and make it all shine. (Literally)
And wouldn’t you know, darkness came to greet us just as it was time to test the lights.
Oh Yeah! That is sooo much better.
And with that, all the exterior lighting on our rig was now LED!
The next morning Laura and I woke up a bit earlier to repair the loosening camper entry hand rail. We had purchased more substantial stainless hardware, and I put a support block of wood inside the cabinet directly inside of the wall so the new screws would run firmly into that. By the time we were done the handle was holding nice and solid.
Not much later Nick and Whitney joined us. Today the goal was to install the new backup camera! After my experience with Serenity, as much as I loved her camera, I decided this time I was not going to go with a wireless one. Here is the one I decided on instead:
While Nick dug in to starting to figure out the wiring situation, I decided to open up the driver’s door and pick his brain about the stubborn window issue I had been having.
We checked over everything and he told me the door itself was actually damaged, like it had been crushed slightly. He recommended a new door as the ultimate fix, so for now that was not going to happen.
Some of the mounting bolts for the crank / retaining arm weren’t tightening down properly. Remember Nick is a super fan of hot glue. Well, he warmed up his industrial grade hot glue and we set the bolts into place.
After that we decided to lubricate everything inside and along the window track. That’s when I told Nick about my conversation with Mike Devaney, and how WD-40 was commonly misrepresented as a lubricant.
Nick totally agreed. When I asked him his recommendation, and told him Mike had recommended Kroil, Nick agreed that was a good lubricant. He said he had one better though, and recommended this:
I decided that is what we would try buying first. 😀
Once the door was back together and moving smoothly- Nick was on to dismantling the cab so we could feed cables through the interior. While he was doing that, Laura and I did a tentative run of cable throughout the camper to confirm there would be enough. I had purchased an extension cable so the video feed could reach all the way to the rear. As planned, we had plenty.
So Nick and I set forth to feed and route the cable throughout the cab.
Nick did not like the down-staging of wiring in the adapting wiring kit I had bought to plug the camera into the fuse box. We built and wired in a second cigarette lighter hidden in the dash board to power the camera with the original power supply; which was much beefier.
Laura and Whitney enjoyed most of the day “camping out” in the driveway, warming their feet by a heater buddy and talking about books, conspiracy theories, and whatever else came to mind.
When it was time for Whitney to go to work, Laura asked if she could help, so we discussed it and she opened up the cabinet in the back of the RV. There was this funky faux wall at an angle, and when she opened it up…
…we found it was hiding a vent pipe and wasting a ton of space in that cabinet.
So that wall wasn’t going back in! 😆
Next she drilled all the holes through the walls and cabinets and fed the extension cable through.
Meanwhile, Nick and I had powered up and fed the cable through the cab. I ended up having to route a channel through the back of the rear-view mirror mount to allow the cable to feed out down to the monitor/camera, but it wasn’t too much longer and we were putting it all back together.
Once that was finished I headed back to drill the hole for the rear camera, feed it through, and wire it all together.
Shortly after we were live! 🎥
We were getting a nice wide and clear feed from the rear.
Next I went about mounting the wiring, putting the rear cabinet back together, and sealing up the opening from the outside.
It had been a busy couple of days and I knew Nick had a lot to do of his own chores. So with the mission complete we thanked him a thousand times for all his kindness, asked him to give his regards to Whitney for us, the planned to hopefully meet up with them on our way back down through Anchorage.
We headed over for another night at Cabela’s. Here was Kalcifer’s view that night. 😊🌈
The next morning we were ready to hit the road and head North.
The big goal for this portion of the trip was to check our Thunderbird Falls. But first we had to get our propane situation taken care of, so we were going to begin with the journey to Cache Camper.
Here is where we drove right passed Thunderbird Falls on our quest for propane…
…knowing we would be back there that night.
At Cache Camper we were in for a surprise. We had been all over the state checking out RV part outlets, and this hands down was the most well stocked, professional, and knowledgeable we had ran into thus far. (Sorry everyone else- these guys were just that good!)
They had exactly what we needed, and after a short bit of us gawking at their inventory we were headed out to The Ohana with a 20# horizontal mount propane tank and a proper 2 stage propane regulator!
They had a propane specialist on site, so he talked to us for a bit. He gave us a hanger bolt, and advised we buy a wing nut to secure the tank down as soon as we could. But more importantly, we explained to me the importance of how I position my propane tank regulator.
Here, I’ll share: 🧐
On one side of your 2 stage regulator there is a vent. It is usually easily identified by a fine mesh over the vent opening. In the picture below it is facing towards the camera.
My Bad For Getting Rid Of The Original…
Ultimately, that vent needs to face down and vent out of an enclosed space, positioned so it is protected from water and debris getting in it.
So we learned we needed to mount our regulator in that positioning. Luckily, there was a drain hole in the bottom of the propane compartment, so after explaining he said that would be a perfect vent solution for our needs, and to just get everything mounted soon.
We went back and played some Disc Golf at the course we had been to on our previous big trip since it was nearby.
The plan was to loop through to Wasilla, dump our tanks, refill our water supply, maybe hit a store or two before heading for Thunderbird Falls.
First we looked up the closest dump station, and there was a Chevron in Wasilla at 601 W Parks Hwy.
RV travelers- I am going to give you a piece of advice, don’t go there unless you absolutely have to. Here’s why:
1) The dump station is positioned after the water fill and is tucked in an alley behind the building. This alley will be half filled with parked cars making it a very tight fit as you come in. This alley is also used as a short cut that the locals like to drive through. As you go through the pleasant process of dumping your tanks, you also get to deal with the less than pleasant and angry average citizen of Wasilla glaring at you and blasting their horn.
A picture perfect moment glued in my memories!
2) No water hose to clean your dump hose.
3) If you want to fill your water afterwards you will have to drive all the way around the extremely packed and chaotic building back into the alley. The fill water runs off of coins only.
Wait, no it doesn’t. It actually just says that outside.
We were lucky enough to need change so Laura just found out the easy way you had to pay inside, because she was already inside when they told her.
4) We paid for water and received only a few gallons before the water shut off. We were not happy travelers at this moment. 🤬
Wanting to just get out of there, we looked up another water source. There was a water shack about a minute away, so we decided to take our chances there.
At the water shack, it looked clean and professional, very similar to the one we had found in Fairbanks. This water shack was different though, you had to use your own hose line to hook up to their spigot, and you had to tell it how much water you wanted. For $5.00 you could get something like 100 gallons. It wasn’t a bad deal.
The problem is Wasilla is on a well. Yep, the whole thing. So the city is really worried about water use and their systems are designed to shut off with even the slightest amount of back pressure. Not knowing this I put the hose into the water fill and a few gallons later it shut off.
Laura and I were over it. 😠 We opted to do our shopping and get out of town. Worst case scenario fill up our water in Eagle River where we knew it was a RV friendly situation.
Ready to get what we needed and “blow this pop-stand” town of Wasilla we headed to the highway.
First, we wanted to officially mount our backup camera cable running through the camper. So we were going to get the materials for that job.
The highway was crazy and we luckily were able to get into O’Reillys to buy some cable loom. (I put a picture of loom below in case you don’t know what that is)
O’Reillys did not have the cable mounts we needed though- so we decided to head to the closest hardware store.
Lowes was a little further down the highway. We didn’t expect getting across to the opposite side of the highway to be a stressy 10 minute process, but eventually we made it.
At Lowes we bought cable clamps and went out to the parking lot to install our camera wire properly.
After a good half an hour of intalling the cable loom where the wire needed extra protection and force fitting ourselves into cabinets and closets…
…we had securely and cleanly fastened our video cable.
Next we decided to go by Target. It was right nearby and we (okay I…😏) just wanted to take a look at their board game selection. I almost bought their last copy of Godzilla: Tokyo Clash, but talked myself out of it at the last second. Trying to stay strong! 😤
In the Target parking lot we noticed a slight clunking noise coming from the rear.
Upon inspected underneath the vehicle we found this:
Oil had splayed all around from the back of the passenger side rear tire… 😨
We pulled the vehicle over to the next parking lot and stopped at Carl’s Junior- where we were going to stress eat some dinner and figure out what was going on.
While Laura ran inside I left a message with our Redline Mechanic back home in hopes of getting some advice. Then I started researching online where I found pictures that exactly matched our situation. It appeared to be a rear axle leak.
Shortly after our mechanic called us and I explained the situation to him. It became apparent we were not going to be able to travel much and far, so getting the rig to a shop was now our new priority. I avidly thanked him for calling me and began researching shops.
After reading all of the reviews and analyzing the proximity of nearby auto-shops, I decided on a Midas right by us. The Midas was opening at 8 o’clock the next morning, so we would drive around the lake to the other side and be waiting there first thing when they opened.
So we decided we would move over to the adjacent Fred Meyers parking lot and spend the night there.
FYI- this happened on a Friday night at about 6 PM. When I was researching auto shops we were amazed to find one was open on a Saturday! That does not happen in Homer. I was also super thankful that our Neighborhood Friendly Redline Mechanic had called us back after hours on a Friday. 😄
So first thing the next morning we were anxiously waiting outside the Midas. A mechanic pulled up and was sipping his morning coffee when he laughed and walked over to talk to us.
He said he had saw us over on the other side of the lake, and when we told him why we were there he asked if he could take a look for a second under the rig. Not even 20 seconds later he popped up and said, “We usually only take phone appointments, but you guys are here. I hope we can get you in and get that bearing issue taken care of…” 😔
We thanked him and shortly after were in their office.
The earliest they could get us in was next Tuesday. We thanked them, took some other auto shop references from them, and slowly limped the rig around to all the other available shops.
Everyone else was scheduled even further out. So we went back to Midas and grabbed that Tuesday appointment. 📅
So that meant we were going to be spending (including the day before) 5 days in Wasilla. It looks like we would be getting to know this “pop stand.”
Oh the irony… 😖
… but at least the lake was pretty? 🤔 Right?
Geoff Murphy 10/8/2020