Carve a New Wood Floor for Your Rig

Posted on September 14, 2011 by W&W Mudd

I’m kidding, of course, but that’s what it felt like when we started our project to replace the old, mismatched wood floor in our fifth wheel. In the “Before” pictures you can see that the old floor only covered the main kitchen/dining area, and had aluminum strips screwed down over the transitions to the original vinyl floor in the bedroom and commode. You can also see, under the cats, where we had previously patched the old floor to get rid of the nasty carpet section next to the dining area (we have a separate blog about replacing all that old carpet). The old wood planking was a “floating” floor, and the planks had begun to separate at their ends, allowing all kinds of dirt, dust, and cat litter to collect. It had to go.

Before

The mismatched flooring (between the cats)

The old wood floor, which had been installed in the new unit at the factory, was put in before the cabinetry in the kitchen, and I wasn’t about to remove the cabinets to get the floor out.

Many layers of old flooring, under the cabinets

We had to devise a way, actually several, to cut the old floor even with the edge of the cabinet base so we could install the new floor. We started with a flush-cut hand saw, but that didn’t cut through the composite layers of the old floor very well. We then tried some sharp chisels and a hammer, but that didn’t work so well either, and it was taking forever, and the neighbor was complaining about all the strange “banging”.

Literally carving out the old floor

I tried drilling a line of holes and then chiseling, but that also took forever, and it wasn’t going to work in a few areas that were recessed.

We tried drilling a perforation line

We finally settled on purchasing a new Rockwell SoniCrafter oscillating saw, a tool made for this type of flush cutting. This tool went through the old floor like butter.

Finally! The right tool (wrong manufacturer)

It really performed well right up to the time where I needed to change the blade angle to get at the remaining spots. I discovered the flaw in the saw when the soft allen wrench they supplied to change the lock screw on the blade quickly rounded off at the same time it stripped out the hex cavity on the locking screw, which was also too soft for the job (c’mon Rockwell, get it right!). Luckily, we had finished most of the job, and the few remaining spots weren’t too tough to tackle. The saw went back to Lowe’s for a full refund. Needless to say, I won’t be buying any more Rockwell power tools.

The old flooring also ran under our stairs to the upper level, but rather than cut around them we just disassembled the steps and moved them out of the way (much easier!).

Step dis-assembly was pretty easy

For the new floor we chose Armstrong Exquisite® vinyl plank flooring for a couple of reasons. First, although it only comes in one wood-grain color, it was a good match for the rest of our woodwork. Second, it is very reasonably priced at around $1.80 per sq. ft. at Lowe’s or Home Depot. (Note to travelers: we actually saw this flooring at a Lowe’s in Portland Oregon at $0.99/ft, but unfortunately didn’t buy it at the time, especially with no sales tax!). Third, it is a breeze to install. Since the new floor is also a “floating” one (no glue!) the only prep you need for the existing floor is to clean it of any loose or “bumpy” stuff; smooth is what you want under your vinyl. It comes in 6” x 36” planks that can be trimmed by scoring the top side with a razor knife and “cracking” it from the back. They stick to each other at the ends and the edges, forming a fully sealed vinyl sheet when you are done. The sticky strips have a good work time, so it’s easy to make adjustments while you are installing. If you want other colors or grain patterns, there is a higher end version of this flooring, Velo®, available in 38 other patterns and colors, but the cost goes up to about $3/ft.

Score with a knife, and crack from the back

For the tricky areas Wendy, who is a seamstress and pattern maker, cut out paper patterns to get the fit right before we cut flooring material. The results were well worth the extra few minutes it takes to make the patterns.

Take a few minutes to make paper patterns for those tricky spots

The demolition part of the project took by far the most time, almost 2 days by the time we tried all of our removal solutions. With the proper tools (and good quality ones at that) it would have gone much faster, perhaps 4-6 hours. The installation, which still took us 12 hours, could have gone faster except we were taking our time and trying to stay cooled off in the 95 degree weather. We finished off the flooring with some baseboard. We used a pre-finished synthetic product (Lowe’s or Home Depot) that is a rigid, dense foam covered with a vinyl wood-grain material. It’s easy to work with, cuts like a dream, and installs easily with an electric brad nailer (Arrow ET501 using 5/8” BN1810 brad nails).

Add a baseboard to cover the edges

We are thrilled with the finished project. It gives us one smooth floor from rear to front, so it’s much easier to sweep and clean. It makes the rig look newer and cleaner, and it makes the inside feel longer and more spacious. It’s not a DIY project for the timid, but if you follow the detailed instructions on the new flooring it’s a pretty straightforward thing to do.

The finished product

Oh yeah, here’s Tippy with some advice on buying new tools (something I neglected to do!)

Posted in How To, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Gold Hill Oregon Wildfire Aug 18 2011, Up Close and Personal

Posted on August 21, 2011 by W&W Mudd

We stayed overnight at Valley of the Rogue State Park (southern Oregon) during our transit from Portland to Sacramento, and we not only got a terrific pull-through RV spot without a reservation, we ended up with a front-row seat to a wildfire that broke out in the late afternoon. We had returned from picking wild blackberries along the banks of the Rogue River when we noticed a crowd gathering on the road into the campground. By the way, the berries made a scrumptious blackberry crunch!

About 6 quarts of wild blackberries

The campground is immediately adjacent to I-5, and we heard from the camp host that the fire started alongside the interstate about 2 miles north of us. Although we couldn’t see the flames at the start, that soon changed. Here is a shot of the start.   

At first it was only an impressive column of smoke

It progressed very quickly, climbing the back of the ridge that was behind the ridge in front of us. It was impressive to see the flames roar over the crest of the ridge, especially when a large fir tree would explode as the flames reached it.  

The fire very quickly crested the first (farthest away) ridge

 The locals threw everything they had on hand at the fire since it was immediately next to a major interstate, and also just “across the street” from a heavily populated state park campground (us). They used a large DC-6 Air Tanker to drop water. 

The DC-6 fire fighting tanker came very close overhead

The fire fighting tanker drops below the close ridge

 They also used several helicopters to dip water out of the river and drop onto hot spots. Watch the video here. For all their efforts, however, they couldn’t keep the fire from burning through the canyon and eventually jumping the ridge directly in front of us. 

The fire jumps the second (closest) ridge

I had a front row seat as the fire burned down the slope toward the freeway. 

Warren watching the fire progress down the slope

 As the fire progressed toward the freeway, which thank God formed a natural firebreak for us, the wind shifted and filled the campground with smoke. 

Our smoke-filled campground

At that time we also took on a lot of ash fallout. This picture is of an ash that landed in our campsite. If you look close, it’s a complete burned whole oak leaf. 

A full oak leaf ash from the fire

While the fire burned, the campground was under only a voluntary evacuation, and about half of the campers in the totally full park did exactly that. About an hour after most of them had left, the wind shifted again and completely cleared out the smoke and ash. The fire marshall never did order the evacuation, and we got a very good and quiet night’s sleep. The camp host reported that 6 fires had started at the edge of the interstate and that arson was immediately suspected. It’s a shame what some people will do. We were glad to see that the helicopter water drops were able to save the 3 houses and travel trailer we could see on the slope across the freeway. The only property loss we observed was a car or truck that caught fire and exploded in a spectacular boom when the gas tank blew up.

And, as always, here’s Tippy!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Four Faces of Hood

Posted on August 14, 2011 by W&W Mudd

While visiting our friends Linda and Jim Schrankel at Tollbridge Park near Hood River (they are camp hosts there this summer), we had the opportunity to circumnavigate Mt. Hood, partly on our way there and partly on our way back to Portland. It looks completely different from the North, East, South and West, so we thought we’d bring a little micro-blog presentation!

 Tollbridge Park, a really excellent little gem in the shadow of Mt. Hood, is located about 18 miles south of Hood River Oregon. Making the drive south on Hwy. 35, you first see the full-on view of the mountain as you crest a grade a few miles short of the park. When I was a little kid in Los Angeles, we used to entertain out of town guests with a trip to Disneyland. This was 50 or more years ago and Disneyland was mostly still surrounded by farms then, so when you got near enough, say 10 miles or so, on the freeway you could see the latest attraction, the Matterhorn, poking into the sky and you knew you were close to the happiest place on earth. Today you get your first good look of the Matterhorn from the off ramp, looking through the towering buildings that surround the park. It’s not the same. But coming over that hill on our drive and seeing the North Face for the first time, I was immediately reminded of that view of the Matterhorn that promised the fun was about to begin.

Mt. Hood North Face

 We got a good view of the East Face from Lookout Summit, a rocky promontory that juts out of the foothills east of Hood. We hiked to the top, schlepping cameras, Flip video, and tripod early on a Friday. Lookout Point, just a short hike down from the summit, delivers a broad panorama of the Cascade Mountains from The Three Sisters in the south, near Bend in central Oregon, all the way north to Mt. Rainier, sitting on the southeast flank of Seattle. You get great views of Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens too, and of course Mt. Hood sits center stage looking so close you swear you can reach out and touch it. I was fascinated by the two ash ridges on the East Face (they slant down midway from the summit to your left, the left one is covered in snow, the right sits fully exposed). They keep their ridges sharp by sloughing ash like a Saharan sand dune sloughs sand in the breeze. I think if Hood was to blow (it’s overdue you know), this would be the face that would pop, just like St. Helens did.

Mt. Hood East Face

We got our view of the South Face on the trip back when we decided to drive Hwy 35 south to Hwy 26 where we turned west for the trip back to Portland. If we hadn’t been towing 7 tons of trailer, we would have made the trip up the steep and windy road to the Timberline Lodge so the south face could be the backdrop. The Timberline was used for the exterior shots in the movie The Shining.  Heeeeer’s Johnny!

Mt. Hood South Face

And finally, we got the view that 90% of everyone gets since the West Face is exposed to the population of Portland and Interstate 5. This is the postcard view of Hood that also harbors most of the spots where late fall or early spring mountain climbers get stranded and need rescues. It’s the side most often shrouded in the clouds and fog of the marine layer that makes its way up the Columbia River on many mornings, but not today. 

Mt. Hood West Face

The many faces of Hood were keys to inspire us to also understand something about the surrounding areas that they face. For instance, the north face overlooks the Hood River Valley with its vast fruit orchards and farmlands that produce apples, pears and cherries (yummm!). Logging still dominates the eastern foothills, and the South Face has clusters of ski areas for the Portland metro area. And, of course, the western watershed is host to Sandy, the gateway to Mt. Hood and the edge of the vast Portland metropolitan blanket. All-in-all it was much more than a postcard tour of the mountain; we got acquainted with the different economies and populations of the area. And Hood is a little unique in our experience by providing a fairly easy circumnavigation, something you don’t get from every grand mountain you see!

 Thanks again to Linda and Jim for making our stay at Tollbridge a fun and pleasant one. It’s nice to have some local knowledge of an area you are new to, and also fun to plan our next encounter. Someone mentioned Quartzsite AZ?

Camphosts Jim & Linda Schrankel

Oh yeah, here’s Tippy!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Ketchup Blog. You want mustard with that?

Posted on August 12, 2011 by W&W Mudd

We’ve been very bad bloggers. I don’t mean like bad people, just not great bloggers the last couple of months. So this is a catch-up blog, or a KETCHUP blog as my sister-in-laws calls it. Cute, huh? Makes me hungry for a burger…. 

 We last left you hanging on the Mudd Huts in Arlington, Washington. Just before Arlington, we stayed in Coeur d’Alene Idaho for 5 days over Memorial Day weekend to have a nice visit with one of my best buddies, Tom. He has a very impressive and large house on the Coeur d’Alene lake front.

Tom's modest cabin on Coeur d'Alene Lake

 Tom is a hunter, and spent a good deal of time in Africa hunting big game. And no doubt a much greater amount of money having 50 or more trophies mounted for display in his house. It’s kind of creepy being watched by all these dudes; I swear their eyes follow me as I walk around. And it’s even more unnerving to Wendy. See for yourself!

Just a couple of Tom's dozens of trophies

What the heck do you suppose they're looking at?

We stayed in Arlington for the month of June so we could check it out as a possible landing pad when we graduate from full-timing back to a house with a foundation. We enjoyed meeting some new friends (Hi Jim and Carol!), visiting with our soon-to-be in-laws in nearby Marysville (Hi Naomi, Karalyn, Eli, and the mysterious Baron!), tons of nearby shopping including Costco and (yes!) JoAnn Fabrics (Wendy was delighted).   

Eli, son of the mysterious Baron!

 We hunkered down at a very nice, clean, and inexpensive park, Smokey Point RV. We visited Kayak Point for some shell and beach glass combing.

Kayak Point State Park (near Arlington WA)

We sunned ourselves (on the few sunny days) at Lake Goodwin (where the heck was summer anyway?).  

Our Lake Goodwin tanning parlor (near Arlington WA)

We looked at about 50 properties for sale, and tried to buy one of them (discovering the NEW world of real estate lending). And at the end of June, we hitched up and headed for Orcas Island.

We spent the month of July at my brothers on Orcas. This time there was no Kaboom! for our electrical system, and all went smoothly when we hooked up on our makeshift RV pad next to his shop. Since we were there last February, Jim has retrieved the Gypsy Wagon he and Walter (who married us!) built for Dorothy, Jim’s ex-wife who passed away during our last visit.  

The Gypsy Wagon - a rolling work of art

We were also introduced to Victor’s rooster, who freely roams the neighborhood doing what roosters do, except he does it all day long. Victor unfortunately wrapped his pride and joy, a 2008 Dodge Challenger R/T, around a tree 3 days before our arrival and has gone to meet his maker. Never a dull moment on “The Rock”.  

Victor's f***ing rooster

The weather got a little more cooperative but didn’t exactly warm up to the temperatures we are used to on Orcas in July. We eagerly awaited the opening of crab season on July 15. While we drooled and waited, we got busy building the bamboo chuppah (wedding canopy) for Rachel and Greg’s wedding. It had to be built so it could be taken apart, bundled and transported, then reassembled in the soft sand in front of the beach house they rented for the ceremony in Lincoln Beach, Oregon. When that job was done, I fetched all the crab traps from my sister’s house near Grindstone Harbor (an excellent rental BTW, see it at http://www.vrbo.com/55482), and got busy rebuilding and refitting them. Even though Spot Prawn season was already over (it lasted one day this year), I also fetched my brother-in-law’s new shrimp pot and fitted it to set out by the Westsound public doc for an overnight soak. That didn’t work out well, we got a total of 2 (that’s right, two) dock shrimp about the size of your thumb. We did, however, cook and eat them! Delicious, but not too filling.  

Our massive dock shrimp haul in a bucket

We took some little kids fishing in Cascade Lake with my brother Jim and his canoe, and nailed a nice 14” rainbow trout that sent the kids squealing home like victorious warriors.  

Fishing with the kids at Cascade Lake

We had lots of visits with our niece (Hi Pearl!) and family (Hi Jim, Johnnie, Sharon!) and our extended family out at West Beach Resort (Hi Linda, Dan, Paula, Howie, Kaylee, Mike, Melissa and Brooke!).  

Our extended family at West Beach Resort

Sunset "tanning" at West Beach Resort, Orcas Island

We missed our great friends Roy and Jeanne Stevens, the parents and grandparents of all that extended family. We went hiking (Obstruction Pass State Park, Turtleback Mountain, Cascade Falls), boating (Roche Harbor, Friday Harbor, all around Orcas), and even sunned ourselves at North Beach (while the sun shone anyway).  

We huffed and puffed up Turtleback Mountain

One of the fabulous views from atop Turtleback Mtn. Orcas Island

And on the brisk morning of July 15, we started soaking crab pots at our favorite spots in Massacre Bay. Lots of limits of big, juicy Dungeness crab were taken and most of it got cooked and/or shucked and frozen so we could deliver a feast for the pre-wedding cookout at the end of the month in Oregon.  

Fat Dungies crowding our pots!

We had heard rumors that the Humpies (salmon) were arriving early because of the very wet spring and tried a little “buzz bomb” fishing in Open Bay, but without any luck. We packed it all up and caught the early “red eye” ferry back to the mainland on July 28.

The wedding was set for Sunday, July 31 at the beach house on Lincoln Beach (near Depot Bay) in Oregon that Rachel and Greg has selected for the big event. We had found a great RV park nearby (www.sandandsearvpark.com) that was super nice, clean, and inexpensive for a full hookup site (hint: Good Sam discount!).  

Sand and Sea RV - our campsite

It turned out to be less than a quarter mile door-to-door by walking down the beach, very convenient. To time our arrival properly we killed a couple of days at the Olde Stone Village RV park in McMinnville, OR (www.oldestonevillage.com) which is a very, very well maintained and run park (and inexpensive too!) that is immediately next door to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. We stayed there in case the grandkids (Hi Brandon and Dylan, and Dana and Jeff!) wanted to cool their jets at the new waterpark (Wings and Waves, http://www.evergreenmuseum.org/waterpark) that the museum just opened. You can’t miss it, it has a 747 jetliner parked on top of a building that is an integral part of the waterpark (very cool!). The museum is pretty nice too; they even have an SR71 Blackbird spy plane hanging from the ceiling. If there were any flying today (all have been obsoleted by spy satellites), it would still be the fastest and highest flying aircraft in the world at Mach 3.3 (2,200 mph) and 80,000 feet.

To say that the wedding was fun, lively, and moving is a dramatic understatement. The food rivaled what you would find on a high-end cruise. The guests, Rachel and Greg’s immediate families and close friends, were amazing. Everyone took a part in the preparations, and it all went like clockwork. Nicole and Betty, the neighbor/caterers, strapped the feedbags on everyone all weekend with super-delicious feasts of American and Mexican food. There was enough beer, wine and booze to keep a whole beach town in a party for a weekend (let me hear you shout Maaaaargariiiiita!). I got the opportunity to take Brandon and his new friend MacKay crab fishing in Newport. MacKay’s mom, Bryce, went along for the ride (and fun!) and in addition to the crab and sculpin we netted, we snagged some Tillamook ice cream for the kids (one of my top favorites) and some Mo’s clam chowder for us (my all-time favorite).

The weather cooperated very nicely, and the ceremony was beautiful. The happy couple is, as we write, enjoying a 3 week honeymoon in the South Pacific.  

Rachel and Greg and The Prophet (officiating)

Our favorite photo from the wedding (thanks Reza!)

The beach wedding all set to go!

We took the opportunity to stay on in Lincoln Beach for a few extra days after the wedding. The weather stayed gorgeous and we got in a good sightseeing day at Cannon Beach (as Homer would say, “meh”) and some ice cream from the Tillamook Creamery (as Homer would say, “MMMMM, ice cream”).  

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach Oregon

 We also took in a 5 hour ocean fishing trip where we scored 4 very nice rock fish (Wendy had the largest fish of course, a China Rock bass). Can you say “Mmmmmm, fish tacos”? All in all, a very relaxing 4 days.

Future crab tacos at Newport OR

Wendy with Moby Bass

We split the Lincoln Beach scene on Friday August 4 and cooled our jets for 2 nights at Jantzen Beach RV (www.jantzenbeachrv.com) in Portland. We left there on Sunday morning and met up with our friends Jim and Linda Schrankel who were camp-hosting at Toll Bridge County Park, a great secret find for RVer’s at the base of Mount Hood on the Hood River. What a great place to camp! And what great weather! We have been on 3 hikes and 2 fishing trips so far, and are totally enjoying the great summer temps and the sound of the river splashing past the campground.  

Lost Lake and Mt. Hood

Tamanawas Falls in the shadow of Mt. Hood

Jim Schrabel with us on our Tamanawas Falls hike

As an added bonus we got a full-on view of Mount Hood to the south, and Mt. Adams to the north.  

Mt. Hood from Lost Lake

 On Friday we hiked up the High Prairie Trail to Lookout Point, where we got a panoramic view of all the Cascade peaks from the Three Sisters (near Bend in central Oregon) to Mt. Rainier (near Seattle). Photo opportunity!

Mt. St. Helens from Lookout Point

Mt. Rainier (left) and Mt. Adams from Lookout Point

Wendy continues, of course, baking and crafting, almost nonstop. We sprinkle almost all our neighbors with cookies, cupcakes, and coffee cake. More recently, mostly because we hauled a TON of leftover bread away from the wedding, she added bread pudding to the mix, and I am delighted. She studied up on the internet and made her first rag quilt that we donated for use on the table in the chuppah.

Wendy's first Rag Quilt

We are drifting out of Toll Bridge Park on Sunday August 14 and will spend another 4 days at Jantzen Beach before heading south to dry camp one night at Valley of the Rogue State Park, another of our favorites with the Rogue River at our back door. Then it’s on to Sacramento to see more grandkids (Hi Carly and Shayla, and Jeanine and Trevor!), then finally on to Park Sierra in Coarsegold, the end of our line for the time being. That’s a lot of driving over the next 2 weeks, enough to call for a nap!  

The Boys getting a well deserved nap

 We also want to give a shout out to Jay and Mom. We’re delighted Jay is on the mend and wish him a speedy trip home and recovery! Oh yeah, here’s Tippy!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Swarm of MuddHuts

Posted on June 12, 2011 by W&W Mudd

We’ve done quite a bit of travel in the western states this last winter and spring, and have stumbled across a strange trend. Espresso Huts. You know, the kind where you can drive through for a quick latte on the way to work? We reported last winter on finding one in Edmonds WA that featured very scantily clad girls as the servers. I guess that’s sort of an Edmonds thing, and we wrote it off as a local quirk.

Then, while driving through Kalispell Montana I did a double take and almost crashed into the car in the next lane. An espresso hut. But not just ANY espresso hut, this one had our NAME on it!  

Mountain Mudd Espresso in Kalispell Montana

 
That’s right. Mountain Mudd Espresso. I was suddenly very proud, and felt like going all John Denver or something. My mind started reeling with infringement lawsuits that might be settled with lifetime drive-through latte’s. But then I realized, we don’t LIVE in Kalispell. So we just let it slide.
 

Until we landed in Coeur d’Alene for a few days and found ourselves taking a little drive to Post Falls Idaho. That’s just near the border with Washington, and we were on our way to take a tour of the Buck Knives factory (yes, I bought one). We were quietly tooling our way down I90 and I saw a really cool barn that I wanted a picture of. Too late for the camera, we decided after the tour (did I mention that I bought one?) to take a trip up the frontage road to try and snap a photo or two. I’m recently decided that if we get a small farm, I’m going to have a barn. And a tractor. And a log splitter. And probably a bunch of other power stuff. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the side trip. Again, without warning, my head practically comes unscrewed from my neck as we drive by, you guessed it, another espresso hut! With our name on it! 

Mudd Slingers in Post Falls Idaho

 Mudd Slingers! It has a nice ring, but not so nice of a mental image. Now, I’m not only proud, I’m starting to think we’ve missed a bet here. Not only do this small businesses exist, they are still in business! In this economy! Anyway, after realizing we don’t live in Post Falls Idaho either, I put away the lifetime drive-through latte lawsuit settlement thoughts, and off we went to our next stop in Arlington Washington. Arlington has a very nice airport about a mile from our RV park. I was admiring it as we drove by when my third near-whiplash hits me. Another espresso hut, with OUR NAME ON IT!

Country Mudd Espresso in Arlington Washington

Country Mudd. I just might take the nickname, me with my barn and my tractor and my log splitter. And some overalls. And a straw hat. And a dog. OMG, I’m starting to sound like a country music song title. Well, we haven’t yet decided to settle down in Arlington either, so I’ll just shelve the idea of approaching the Country Mudd owner for my lifetime latte settlement. Oh yeah, did I mention? The server had on a very striking bikini. And maybe by the end of summer, she might actually fit back INTO it. Oy!

If you see any Mudd espresso huts, please take a moment to snap a photo and send it to us at the Muddscape (warrenmudd@gmail.com). And don’t forget to scroll down past the “About W&W Mudd” and “Like” our blog! We still climbing the old Google Search ladder.

But wait! Heeeeeere’s Tippy!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Whitefish Lake and the Secret Indian Fishing Chant

Posted on May 25, 2011 by W&W Mudd

We kept hearing about the fabulous Lake Trout fishing on Whitefish Lake, and decided to dedicate one day of our week taking a shot at them. Not knowing the area, we first set out a strategy to get some local knowledge, where to fish, what to use, when to fish, that sort of stuff. We got lots of opinions, and the trick with local knowledge is to sort out the gold from the garbage. We were well into our knowledge quest when I stumbled upon an ancient Indian in a bait shop. There are lots of Indians around here, mostly from the Flathead Tribe. Anyway, this old leathery guy imparts to me that he’s a Tribal Elder that holds authority over much of the tribal fishing lands. And, just because I’m a real nice guy, he gives me the dirt on how to nail Mackinaws on Whitefish Lake.

“I always use our ancient fish harvesting chant”, says he. “It never fails me”. So, figuring I’ve hit the mother lode I ask him to teach it to me. I was fascinated. Not only do we get to spend a week in this most beautiful of National Parks, we get a personal lesson of Indian Lore to boot!

Whitefish Lake from Les Mason State Park

Well-armed with bait and chant, we set out on our own harvest, anticipating just how wonderful that fresh trout would taste for dinner. Because Whitefish is mostly a high-dollar resort area, access to the lake is pretty limited, but we found our way to Les Mason State Park and set to it. 

Wendy fishing (and chanting) at Whitefish Lake
“Ta keet a’el dag, Ki nah al wat…….”

You can catch some of the live action here at the Whitefish Highlight Reel. Anyway, we got skunked I couldn’t believe it. We had the right bait, were fishing at the right time, and according to the Camp Host we were fishing in a spot that produced lake trout for the past 2 days. And we had the magic chant! At least I thought we had the magic chant. I’m rethinking that chant thing. After a little further study, and some advice from yet another passing Indian in the State Park, we may have mis-interpreted the chant. In the Flathead language it goes like this: 

            “Ta keet a’el dag, Ki nah al wat, Wan’e co’na um kialeh pow’rbate”

 Which, according to Chief Big Heels at the State Park translates as:

“Big fat fish, don’t make me wait, Come and bite my PowerBait”

Does anyone else out there believe this translation? Or do you have a better one? I’m hoping someone can send along a chant that works before we blast out of here, cause this one was as big a turkey as this one we saw outside the bait shop.

This Turkey should be named Indian Chief Fishing Chant
And then there’s Tippy! Don’t forget to scroll down past the “About W&W Mudd” and “Like” our blog!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Armchair Tour of Wells Nevada

Posted on May 17, 2011 by W&W Mudd

When Warren set out our route to get to Glacier National Park he was looking for stopping points that were between 300 and 400 miles apart.  That’s how we ended up in Wells, NV…population around 1,300 at an elevation of 5,600 ft. smack in the middle of nowhere!  There’s even a sign on I-80 that bills it as “halfway to everywhere”. But we’re here for 4 days so we figured we’d make the best of our situation. Angel Lake RV promised big-rig-friendly pull through spots, high speed internet, full 50 amp hook-ups, cable TV, great reviews and a great price. It doesn’t look like much but their services are as good as billed, and check out our view.

Angels Lake RV does a great job at a really great price!

One of many spectacular views from our camp site

Just a few miles short of Wells, we were tickled to see that northern Nevada has their own high rent district. There wasn’t any sign of a town, and we speculated that the local boys were at one point fond of Beverly’s hills and gave her a personal off ramp. 

Notice the bullet holes city slickers!

For those who might think poorly of Wells, we’re here to change your thinking. So, in this installation of the Muddscape we take you on an armchair tour of the garden spot of northeastern Nevada. For starters our accommodations were rugged but very sufficient. 

Not too fancy, but great utilities and internet!

We ran into a bit of bad luck when the wind whipped open the driver’s door on the truck and sprung the hinges. It would close, but it wouldn’t open more than about 2”. So we spent the first morning here fixing that while the weather was reasonably warm. If you even care, you can check out the details at our Unspringing the Chevy Door blog. Once that job was done, we filled the tank ($3.78 a gallon!) and headed off for a 100 mile loop tour around the area. Wells is the jumping off point for Angels Lake, one of the premier fishing lakes in the western states. But at this time of year the road has about 4 feet of snow on it so we settled for some lower elevation driving. 100 miles sounds like a long distance, but at 85 mph it goes pretty quickly. We saw a total of 4 cars for 98 miles of the trip, and only exceeded the posted speed limit by 10 mph. 

The Great Basin is cow country!

The Great Basin surrounded by snow capped mountains

One of many working ranches in The Great Basin

To get your oriented correctly for the city tour, here’s the map they offer up on their website at www.wellsnevada.com. That’s right folks, Wells in on the internet! 

Wells is a rugged, scrappy little city full of people with the pioneer spirit. It has a huge supply of motels on the main drag, which I suspect are fully booked during the deer and elk hunting season. It has dozens of fishing streams, lakes, and reservoirs that yield, we are told, giant brown trout, large rainbow trout, and black bass. We are going to test that theory while we’re here. In 2009 there was a 6.3 earthquake that devastated the main part of the city, and it looks like they started to clean it up but abandoned it due to the economy.  

The old Main Drag on Front Street

Wells is at the junction of I-80, which is the main route between Reno and Salt Lake City, and State Road 93, which runs north and south and is the main route to Idaho Falls and Pocatello. There is a big Flying J truck stop at that intersection which has great people watching because truckers and road-trippers from all over are constantly coming and going. We saw some very interesting vehicles here in just the short time it took to gas up the truck. There were 2 very customized cars with racing numbers on them, a Dodge Viper and a highly modified Porsche that I think were on their way to the dry lake south of town. And there was this little beauty of a trailer custom built for a Harley. 

Check out the caboose on this baby!

And what tour of a northern Nevada cow town would be complete without a stop at the Red Light District? See the city map above for the location, it’s a tiny circle on the outskirts. It’s on the other side of the tracks, of course, and is accessible only via a dirt road.  

It's across the tracks and down a really nice dirt road

When we drove down the road what looked like the mayor and some of the town council boys were out there with a road grader keeping it in good shape. There were 2 “Gentlemen’s Clubs”, Donna’s and Bella’s. We couldn’t make up our mind which was more charming, they both had their qualities. Bella’s clearly had a more modern and polished exterior with a fancy neon sign, but we think Donna has her beat with her 130 plus years of upstanding service to the community.  

You have to love that neon sign!

 

130 Years of Upstanding Service to the Community

This is a major trucking route, and business is apparently good. There are even billboards along I-80 that announce “Truckers Welcome”. While we could clearly see why there was room for more than one bordello, we wondered a little at how Bella’s got her start. Maybe Bella was once one of Donna’s girls but wanted a bigger piece of the action? Why don’t you take a shot at your theory and let us know in the comments section? 

We are enjoying our stay out here “halfway to everywhere”. Although the RV park is between the interstate and the railroad tracks, we don’t really hear either. The weather is on the cold side and windy at times. And we are getting snow as I write this. But when it clears and the sun comes out it’s really pretty. The air is very fresh (and crisp), the water is cold and clean, and the people are very friendly. The owner of the park is a nice lady, and her father (who works here with her) has been fishing and hunting these parts his whole life. We are going to get some local knowledge out of him later and use that to see if we can’t fish up some of those tasty big trout they keep talking about.

Tippy has a word or two also. And don’t forget to scroll down below “About W&W Mudd” and give us a big old click on the “Like” button! We are getting noticed because of all those clicks, so thanks!

Posted in Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Unspringing the Chevy Door

Posted on May 16, 2011 by W&W Mudd

We made our stop in Wells Nevada on a very very windy day. When we pulled into a gas station we were unfortunately headed downwind and the wind grabbed the door out of my hand and whipped it open. Boom! a sprung hinge. I got it closed, but it wouldn’t open. So now what?

Wendy jumped online and quickly found a blog that described what someone did to fix the door of their Chevy Impala. It even had sketches and a few photos. I took the hint and went looking for something more specific to a Chevy Silverado. After consulting several more blog sites, I decided the first thing I would try is the old “jam the hinge and unjamb the door” trick. This is where you open the door (if you can), insert some sort of block into the hinge, and gently slam it a few times to bend back the stuff that got bent when it swung too far out. 

The symptom for my door was that it was popped out about 1/16” away from the centerline of the truck, that is the door got “wider”.

The door sprung out just a tiny bit, enough to jam

When I tried to open the door, the leading edge hung up on the trailing edge of the fender. I didn’t want to scratch or bend either of them, so I decided to try a little persuasion. I applied painters tape to both edges to act as both a protectant and a lubricant when I tried to get them to slide by each other. Painters tape has a waxy surface, so I thought it might help.  I used a screwdriver in the gap and gently pried and pushed until the door slid open. 

Painters tape applied so it wraps into the gap

 

Painters tape and a screwdriver let the door slide by the fender

Once the door was open I could examine the two hinges to see what bent. In this case it looked like both the hinges on the top and bottom pulled a little away from the jamb and door.

Upper hinge at jamb side before the fix

 

Door side Upper hinge before the fix

I needed something that was a little smaller than the open gap in the hinge. I tried a couple of sockets from my wrench kit, but they were either too short or too long. I settled for the head of my mini-crescent wrench. Perfect! I jammed it into the gap of both hinges, first at the top of the top hinge, then the bottom of the bottom hinge, then the bottom of the top, and finally the top of the bottom. A few gentle pulls toward me on each jam did the trick. Pull gently at first, then check the clearance of the door and fender, then pull some more if it needs it. You’ll get the feel of it pretty quickly.   

The head of the wrench goes into the hinge gap

 

Pull gently at first, then more firmly if needed

It went amazingly quick. Before I knew it there was a noticeable improvement in the hinges, mostly from bending back the sheet metal of the jambs. They fit much better. And the door opened and closed smoothly.

 

After the "Unsprong" jamming

This is such an easy fix it’s hard to believe that a body shop might get a few hundred bucks for it and keep your vehicle for a day or two. In fact, two of the online blogs described this procedure as a routine door adjustment on the Toyota assembly line at the NUMMI plant in Fremont California. If it’s good enough for Toyota, it’s good enough for me! The tools needed? Here’s more than what I needed! 

I really only needed the Mini Crescent Wrench

Tippy (remember he has NO opposable thumbs) still has a little to offer here. And don’t forget to scroll down below the “About W&W Mudd” and give us a “Like”! Our page rank has gotten the interest of Woodall’s, one of the best RV organizations around!

Posted in RV Repair | Leave a comment

Ah Memories! The Chilnualna Falls Hike

Posted on May 15, 2011 by W&W Mudd

After spending a day last week hiking shoulder-to-shoulder with a swarm of tourists in Yosemite Valley we were hungry for a beautiful hike “far from the madding crowds”. 

The Yosemite Sardine Can

Of course, all of the falls were incredible as a result of huge snow fall in the area (see the Waterworks blog) but some solitude was what we were craving. 

Huge High Country Snowpack in Yosemite

Luckily, I remembered a hike I had done many times as a child and we wouldn’t have to drive the extra 30 miles to the Valley. Wawona is located just four miles from the South entrance on the way to Yosemite. This is where my family went every year for our 5 day vacation. It had to be in September because the only time dad could close the bakery was during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It meant taking a few days off of school but that wasn’t a problem back then. We stayed in a small two room cabin; all seven of us managed to share the one bathroom.

 
The 5 Day Vacation Cabin at Wawona

Elaine, Robert, Julie and I could go off and explore without a worry. There were swings, the river, lots of pine cones and it was always a thrill to see the first deer show up at our door…usually as dad was tending the barbeque. Before shuttles came to be, we actually drove to Yosemite and all around the valley making many stops to see the waterfalls and check out the water levels. In September the water levels were so low we could wade in the river.  Oops, I seem to have gotten myself back to another time – where was I going with this?  Oh yeah, the hike. I don’t know how he did it but dad managed to talk all of us into going on this very long hike to see a waterfall. Fifty some years ago I just remember being hot, tired and going back and forth on this very steep trail to get to some small pools of water at the very top. When I mentioned the hike to Warren, my thought was that I wanted to see if the hike was every bit as difficult as I remembered. Our spirit was good as we started the steep assent on this beautiful spring day but the ol’ bods took a mighty beating from this very strenuous trail. I didn’t remember the hike as it was but that’s because the beginning was very different with the amount of water we heard, saw and felt as cooling mist… and the granite staircases – so many steps! My sister, Elaine, confirmed that there were no granite stairs when we hiked years ago. We started the 8.2 mile hike at 11:15. 

The start of the Chilnualna Falls Trail
  
The lowest cascade at the trail start

The hike was labeled as strenuous and steep and lived up to all of that. We took our time, catching our breath while taking many photos of numerous falls along the trail. We had to cross over water about 5 or 6 times where side falls were flowing, but it was manageable. 

One of many small and seasonal side waterfalls

There was a lot of evidence of some of the big winter storms. Wendy stands in the gap cut through a big redwood that fell over the trail. The fresh cut redwood smelled great! 

A freshly fallen redwood

She also found a miniature cedar forest growing inside the hollowed out trunk of a much larger cedar felled many years ago.  

A Cedar Forest Diorama

And here’s one of a gnarly old oak that will someday get a gap cut into it after it falls over the trail. 

A very old and gnarly Oak

And a massive Sugar Pine that will probably stand for a few more  hundred years. 

Massive (but not old yet!) Sugar Pine

After a long 2 ½ hours we reached the staircase that leads to the top of the falls, and the climb proved worth it. 

The climb to the top of the falls

Chilnualna Falls

I think the photos say it all! We returned to the truck at 3:20 and almost forgot how much our knees and feet hurt as we ate our lunch reclining on the white Adirondack chairs outside of the historic Wawona Hotel. A perfect ending to our beautiful day. You can see a video highlight reel on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyBMXOgBOkI. And don’t forget to scroll down a little more for Tippy, and then below the “About the Authors” to “Like” our blog!

Wawona Adirondacks

And, of course, even though he doesn’t do TOO much hiking, Tippy has some hiking tips!
 
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

The Ultimate Mother’s Day Treat

Posted on May 8, 2011 by W&W Mudd

I had a real tough time coming up with a clever gift for Wendy on Mother’s Day until I had a real epiphany. What mother wouldn’t just JUMP at the opportunity to recoat the roof of an RV with EPDM liquid rubber! This could explain why Wendy is my third wife, but I still think this is really “the gift that keeps on giving”.

This is really a technical blog, full of tips on roof maintenance for other RVers, so we will understand if you click away now and wait for our next installment. But, you never know if there might be a little gem buried in among the maintenance lessons, do you? And don’t forget to check out Tippy. And if you REALLY like us, skip to the bottom and click the “Like” button. We’re still trying to climb the ladder to the top of the Google search page…

Our roof was in dire shape. The previous owner had coated over it with a cheap paint, and last winter had really torn it up. It was blistered and peeling off in giant sheets. So we bit the bullet and decided it needed to be redone before it started leaking. 

BEFORE: Winter had really taken its toll

The estimate to have it done by someone else was about $3700, so we researched doing it ourselves and found it to be much more affordable. Because it was so much cheaper we decided to use the best stuff we could get, and EPDM Liquid Rubber from Pro Guard Coatings was the same material as our factory rubber roof. Tip: research all of the companies selling this product, we bought from one offering free shipping and saved a bunch of dough. 

You will need this stuff as well as the EPDM material

We gave it a little forethought and made a list of the tools and things we would need to get the job done. And we decided in advance that it was all going to be disposable since the cleanup promised to be a real bear. Two buckets, one with a pour spout, 2 squeegees (12″ and 16″), a pole for the larger squeegee, some painters tape, a paint mixing wand, a couple of 2″ brushes, a 5 pack of disposable gardening gloves (the type with rubber palms, ours cost $5 for 5 pairs), a big box of cloth/paper rags (at Lowe’s, $10 for a box of 200), and DON’T FORGET THE MINERAL SPIRITS. The only stuff that will really get the goo off of you.

Doing the roof is a 3 step process. First we had to strip off the old coating. Luckily it peeled off in big chunks so this whole part only took 2 hours. Next, we had to scrub the roof with a light soapy water solution, and this had to be done the night before. That only took us an hour. And then, because the weather was forecast to be a little cooler, we jumped out of bed on Mother’s Day and got right to it. A final sweep to clear off a few leaves, masking tape on the rain gutters to keep them from getting clogged up, and we then pre-mixed the EPDM with the catalyst. Because it was only about 60 degrees outside, we mixed in the catalyst and let it all sit for about 2 hours before applying. On a day warmer than 70 degrees, one hour of sitting after mixing is sufficient, but make it at least 1 hour.

 The material has a very long working time at 65-75 degrees. We mixed at about 8:30AM and finished about 12:30PM, and the remaining goo still had plenty of work time left in it. The liquid stops setting up below 50 degrees, so if you need to you can immerse cans or buckets of mixed material in an ice bath or your refrigerator to keep it workable for hours, days, even weeks.

We also remembered the rule about not painting yourself into a corner. Start at the front and work back toward the ladder! Wendy used a brush to cut in all of the vents and stuff on the roof, and also to edge the perimeter. I poured the material onto the roof in puddles and used a 16” squeegee attached to a 5’ pole to spread it. The instructions indicate that you can also use a roller, but I found the squeegee to be great at flowing the material onto the flat surfaces. You can push the puddle of goo away from you, and pull it toward you. Slow even strokes with some down pressure keeps the materrial flowing, and it just coveres the bare surface great! Our rig is 36’ long, and has 4 slides that also needed their roofs coated. 2 of the slides are 72” wide and 40” deep, and the other 2 are 72” X 20” deep. We purchased 6 gallons of Liquid Rubber and had well over ½ gallon left when we were done.  By the way, we bought the Liquid Rubber instead of the Liquid Roof. Liquid Roof is advertised specifically for RV roof coating, but the Liquid Rubber is exactly the same material, and without the RV name on the label it’s about $100 cheaper.

Cuttting in the front edge with a brush

Cut in anything going through the roof

Cut in the edges

At last, the finished product

Clean up was pretty easy. All of the stuff we bought for the application got thrown away after the material hardened. Using the disposable gloves kept a lot off of us, and mineral spirits worked like a charm on us and the roof ladder. 

The ladder, of course, bore the brunt of the mess

It took the 2 of us about 3 hours total (not counting the time the mixed material sat) to finish the coating part of the job. The peeling of the old coat was about 2 hours, and the scrub job was 1 hour. So we invested about $450 in materials ($350 for the Liquid Rubber, $100 for squeegees, paint brushes, buckets, painters tape, mineral spirits, disposable gardening gloves, disposable rags, and a mixing wand) and 6 hours of our time, including clean up, to save about $3200.

 There are lots of videos on applying Liquid Rubber on YouTube. And we put up some more of this job at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKNgsZ4LHyM.

Tippy doesn’t have opposable thumbs, so he couldn’t help us with this job. But he sure knows where to get the information to get it done!

Posted in RV Repair | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments