Month: October 2016

After a long search for the perfect RV, making an offer sight unseen, and flying to Oregon to bring her home, Harmony, our 2001 Chinook Concourse XL sat proudly in our driveway.  She was a bit of a guilty pleasure.  It is common knowledge that an RV spends most of its time sitting in a driveway or in storage, so it hardly seems like a wise investment.  With those thoughts, I was pretty money conscious about putting a lot of money into my new hobby.  (For the record, now that we have enjoyed our Chinook for some wonderful trips, I think the purchase was actually a fantastic investment.)

At any rate, I had the winter ahead and six more weeks of work before we could plan for another trip, so I set my focus on restoring the Chinook to her former glory.  Fortunately, the Chinooks were top of the line in their day and the 2001 was in the golden age of the Chinook brand.  The quality of the vehicle and the interior cabinetry was excellent, although the condition had deteriorated during the years of light use and storage.  In other words, the Chinook had “good bones” as one might describe a fixer-upper house.  There were also some significant technology improvements since 2001 that could be integrated to make the RV better than new.

We were fortunate that the previous owners had not made any major modifications, so we started with a configuration pretty close to what left the factory.  The woodwork finish, especially the wine cabinet/dining table were in dire need of refinishing.  Fortunately I had considerable experience refinishing furniture, and the “golden oak” woodwork is my favorite.

However, my first purchase was a replacement for the brass Coca Cola bottle opener that had been removed for some reason.  The bottle opener was almost a trademark Chinook feature.  Perhaps the original owner kept it as a memento of his Chinook experience.  At any rate, an authentic bottle opener was found on eBay, and I got it for about $15.

It sounds silly, but the bottle opener has been a very useful appliance and I have used it many days on the road, usually for opening a cold imported beer following a long day of driving.  Its utilitarian value and the convenience of its location right across from the refrigerator is just one example of the amazing attention to detail Trail Wagons put into their product.  At any rate after seeing it prominently displayed in so many Chinook interior photos, I was disappointed to see it missing and happy to see it replaced.

Our brief experience driving the Chinook home to Santa Barbara identified some immediate needs for improvement.  First was a better console for the cab.  One of the coolest advertised features of Chinooks in our vintage included heated and cooled cup holders in the front console.  The usefulness of the hot and cold was diminished by the fact that you needed “special” metal travel cups to take advantage.

I think soda cans would work but I never found out.  Unfortunately, the console was a modified version of an already tiny console, with some venting required to keep the cup holders from overheating.  In our case one of the vents was damaged.  But the biggest problem was that we could not put anything on the console (e.g. cell phone, GPS) without having it slide off onto the floor (or more likely, dangling from the charge cord).  There are two 12V charging ports available on the dashboard, but both are on the driver’s side, so the cords are draped across the console getting in the way.  I wouldn’t have thought of replacing the console, except I had seen in my Chinook research that many owners had found cheap and better replacements on the Internet (thank you eBay).  It turns out that Ford has stuck to the same console mounting brackets in their E-350 from the late 90s to the present, so several different styles had been produced during those years.

It was also common for shops to replace the factory console with a customized version, especially in RVs, so the factory “takeoffs” were generally available for (at the time) about $50.  I was lucky to find just such a deal, a 2014 version on eBay for about $50.  It was one of the last ones I have seen for sale, and the price for consoles now has risen to more like $150 or more, due to the declining use of the E350 platform for RVs (thanks to Sprinter and the like).

 

The new console was a huge improvement, providing three fully functional cup holders, and numerous bins and cubbies to hold all of our paraphernalia.

The third item to be addressed was the need for additional convenient charging ports in the cab.  The new console and the original wiring for the drink heater/coolers provided a perfect opportunity to add charging ports to the console.

I found a nifty Charging Port device on Amazon, which took a 12V input and provided two USB charging ports as well as two more conventional 12V (think cigarette lighter) ports.  Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PB8CQI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  I mounted the device inside the new console, which had a nifty shelf inside the main compartment, and connected the input wires to the 12V wires behind the console which used to feed the cup holders, and our charging port and wiring problems were solved.  All the cords would now originate inside the console, and stay mostly out-of-the-way.  I found some electric travel cups that have built-in heating elements that plug into the 12V sockets, so I could get back at least half of the hot and cold cup holder feature.  I have found that the heater is pretty unnecessary. since an insulated cup holds heat longer than it takes to drink a cup of coffee.  The cooling function could have been valuable in a more desirable housing, because the E-350 transmission gets HOT especially when mountain climbing, and the console rides right on top of the transmission.  Cold drinks warm up quickly in the cab.  Often, I will put some bottles of water in the freezer, and let them thaw out in the cup holders while driving, to provide some cold water in the cab on hot drives.

 

Our first night in the Chinook was also our first boon docking experience and our first night of “stealth” camping, as we parked in a parking lot off the highway in Madras, Oregon.  We weren’t familiar with using the light-blocking curtain we found in the cabinet, but simply draped it as best we could across the rear of the cab, and turned out the lights early.

Not surprisingly, we woke up early, around 530am.  More surprising was the cold, and the temperature had fallen to the high 20’s overnight!  Shivering a little in our fair-weather sleeping bag, we decided to get up and on the road right away.  Soon we found ourselves back on Highway 97 headed to Bend and points south.  We stopped to visit the High Desert Museum south of Bend, but it was so early the museum didn’t open for hours.  We had taken a car trip through the area in 2004, and were very impressed with the museum, which offered an amazing exhibit with baby owls in the nest.

The temperature had climbed to the 30’s but that was plenty cold outside.  We encountered patches of fog in the hills, and were astounded to see a large buck on the side of the road in the fog ahead of us.  It was like a scene from a fantasy novel, the deer in the fog, looking at us then loping away.  Something we will always remember from this trip.

As we came through the gap to Klamath Falls, we took a side trip to see the Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.

We hoped to see some eagles and other birds, but were a little disappointed.  The marshes were expansive, but there were no trees to speak of, and the grass was brown, with some canal-like creeks meandering through.   We saw a few ducks, but that was it.  We drove on a gravel road through the refuge, which was so bumpy it rattled our teeth.  The road had become like a corduroy log road, and the Chinook seemed to bounce with every rotation of the wheels.  (We later found out our shocks were completely worn out which added to or might have been the cause of the poor ride.)

Back on the highway, we passed into California and drove through Weed, which had recently suffered a huge forest fire.

We passed through a lot of burn area, and then came upon the majestic views of Mount Shasta, one of a chain of volcanos ranging from Mount Ranier in Washington  to Mount Lassen, just to the southwest in California.

We stopped at a lookout point for Mount Shasta and took some pictures, some of our most memorable of the trip.  The day had warmed up considerably, and we were enjoying the drive.

 

At our next gas stop, we switched drivers, as Beth wanted to get some experience driving the Chinook.  She did fine, but was a little nervous about turns and lane changes, as was I.  She has left the driving to me since then, mainly because I enjoy it more.  She could certainly drive the Chinook if she had to, and since we learned to adjust the mirrors and installed a backup camera, a lot of the uncertainties are mitigated.

We passed up an opportunity to visit Mount Lassen, but we did make a side trip to visit the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, near Anderson, California.  The hatchery is located along a tributary of the Sacramento River, and its purpose is to expand fish populations of several species, to the tune of over 13 million hatchlings per year.  Our favorite species was the Chinook!  The Chinook fish is a type of Salmon, the King Salmon.  Other Chinooks include a wind and one or more towns, including a harbor town of Chinook in Oregon.

 

Since we had a taste of “free” camping, we were now reluctant to pay for a place to park.  As dark approached, we pulled into a rest stop off of Interstate 5, hoping to stay for a few hours of sleep.  After we parked and used the facilities, a car with a small trailer pulled in next to us, carrying along a smell of marijuana with its inhabitants.  A rest stop attendant asked us if we knew these people, which of course we did not.  It seemed a little creepy to stay there after that, so we started up again and headed down the highway.  It turned out that rest stops were sparse after that, and we drove considerably further that evening than we anticipated.  As we queried Google maps “Find Rest Stop”, we were finally rewarded with the “Hunter Hill Safety Rest Area” in Vallejo, CA.  The driving had become quite hectic and stressful by the time we arrived at the rest area, since we were now in the North Bay area freeway system.  It was relief that we stopped finally for the night.

I had a revelation during the day regarding our privacy drape, and realized there were button snaps on it and there were corresponding snap locations in the ceiling and walls of the cab area of the Chinook.  It turned out the drape was in fact designed for the purpose we had crudely attempted the night before.  Once snapped in place, along with a tiny counterpart snapped over the rear window of the camper door, we were snuggled in stealthy privacy.

The next morning provided some urban freeway driving experience as we crossed the northwest tipoff the bay toward Oakland.  Hungry for breakfast, we were rewarded by our “Find Black Bear Diner” request with a convenient location in Emeryville.   After a hearty breakfast, we continued south.

We had some extra time to get home, so we decided to head for the coast for a more interesting drive.  We turned west at Salinas and drove toward Monterey and California Highway 1.  We decided to travel the famous 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach, since it had been many years since we visited that coast.

Our first photo stop in the 17 Mile Drive was at Point Joe, a particularly turbulent piece of the Pacific.

While we were enjoying the break, we stumbled across some odd pellets under the passenger seat of the Chinook, which turned out to be rat poison!  This evidence of a past rodent infestation was later corroborated by some nesting materials found later.

Disgusting as it sounds, the rats probably helped save us quite a bit of money on our purchase price, so we probably owe them a favor.  At any rate, there were no current specimens on board, so we disposed of the poison pellets and continued the 17-Mile drive.

Once we returned to the highway in Carmel, we drove the fabulous Big Sur coastal drive toward San Simeon and Morro Bay.  Driving the Chinook on the twisty road down the coast was surprisingly easy.  The steering was very responsive and the powerful engine had no trouble with the mountain climbing.  There were a number of turnouts to day use areas and campgrounds that did not look inviting to an RV,  but we could see many bigger campers on the road and at some of the turnouts.

Just north of San Simeon (home of Hearst’s Castle), we stopped at a beach full of elephant seals, basking.  Some of the males were strutting their stuff, along with some amazing bellows.  We watched for a while, fascinated, and continued toward home.

The rest of the drive was pretty, and uneventful, and we arrived home in Santa Barbara in the late afternoon.  We are blessed to live in one of the most beautiful seaside locations around, so any drive to or from the north is a scenic delight.

All in all, we were very pleased with our purchase and our pleasant first trip driving back home in the Chinook.  We knew we had made the right decision in our quest for an RV.  Now it was back to my last two months of work, and making plans for the future.

 

I obtained some “free” airplane tickets to Pasco Washington using miles, and we flew up the night before our purchase appointment at Smiley RV in Milton-Freewater Oregon.

 

We picked up a rental car and spent a nice night at the Clover Island Inn on an island on the Columbia River.  We got up and made the one hour drive to the dealer the next morning.

We arrived at the Smiley RV with feelings of eager anticipation and potential dread at the same time.  However, our fears were unwarranted.  The Chinook was in good shape and the dealer had done a good job preparing the unit for sale.  They replaced the kitchen faucet, and installed brand new house batteries.  Our technician Kirk gave us a pretty good tour, and gave us some tips about operating the various appliances and utilities.  After an hour or so of instruction and completing the paperwork, we were ready to travel.

It was with some nervousness that I took to the road in the Chinook, with my wife following in the rental car, headed back to Pasco to turn in the rental.  The GPS was quite confused in that rural location, and led through a winding back-road route, which eventually got us to Pasco.  The good news was that I had a chance to get some driving experience on rural roads with little traffic.  The Chinook is basically a small truck, so driving it is similar to driving a U-Haul type vehicle.  It’s not too difficult, but visibility is much more limited than when driving a car.  Mirror adjustment is critical, but that is something we learned later.  For this trip every turn and lane change was a bit of an adventure.  The Chinook is very powerful, given it’s big V-10 engine, but it still takes some effort to get going and to stop, so you need to give yourself as much room as possible to avoid any white-knuckle experiences.

We stopped at a gas station in Pasco to fill up the rental car and top off the Chinook. Our first gas stop! I was a little apprehensive about pulling the “truck” into a gas station, but it turns out to be no big deal.  The shorter turning radius of the Concourse is a big benefit for maneuverability, so that driving is more car-like.  It is easy however to forget the rear overhang which is still easy to bottom out on driveway entrances or other, even minor, gullies.  The trick, we learned a very hard way (to be discussed in a future blog) is to approach any dip at a 45 degree angle, rather than 90 degrees.  This allows the Chinook to straddle the dip one wheel at a time, and there is no dramatic down and up to snag the trailing rear end.

We stopped at a Walmart to buy some pillows (we had packed sleeping bags for the return trip).  Another quick driving lesson: Don’t try any fast moves in and out of the parking lot (or any other turns for that matter).  With every hard turn, everything on the shelves and counters in the back would get a jolt, creating a pretty scary bunch of rattles.  Patience is the key, and wait for an opening where you can get out with slow acceleration (which is all the Chinook is capable of when starting to move.)   We learned later that our suspension was not up to snuff (bad shocks), so driveways and bumps were much more dramatic than they are now with everything repaired.  At any rate, we took care of our domestic needs and returned to the highway.

We drove down the Columbia River using Interstates 82 and 84 towards Portland.  It was a pretty drive, but there was a terrific crosswind, which made the drive a little more noisy and bumpy than normal.  This part of the Columbia Basin is close to a Windsurfing mecca, which was explained by the strong steady wind.  Rather than head all the way to Portland and the coast, we turned off on Highway 97 to the south, through central Oregon.  This became a typical scenario for us, to avoid the Interstates and travel on secondary highways, which generally are more scenic with less traffic.  The powerful Chinook engine allows us to keep up with almost all traffic in most conditions, or we can drive at a more leisurely pace, when the road is clear.

We had planned to stop near Bend, OR for the night, but we got off to a little bit of a late start, so we stopped for dinner in Madras, a few miles north.  We found a Black Bear Diner on the highway through Madras, and parked in a residential parking lot next to the diner.  What a great restaurant!  After this first experience, we have sought out Black Bear Diners in may locations on our trips.  Wherever we are in the west and looking for a good breakfast or dinner spot, we open Google maps and say “Go To Black Bear Diner” and the search list will identify the nearest location, if any.

We finished dinner about 530pm and it was starting to get dark, since it was mid-November.  We got in the camper, looked at the time, and thought, “Why don’t we just stay here for the night?”  So we did.  Our first night in the Chinook turned out to be our first night of “stealth camping”.  We put down the shades and left all the lights off.  We went to bed at 630pm, because we didn’t want anyone to know we were there!

I was concerned about the sleeping conditions, since I had foregone the dinette floor plan which allowed the dining benches to combine with the jack-knife sofa to make a king sized bed.  I was hoping the jack-knife was big enough for the two of us to be comfortable, and thankfully, for us it was great.  I was so happy with the decision, since the club chairs were more comfortable than benches, and the coach was much more roomy, especially at night with the bed opened.  In fact, the bed was surprisingly comfortable, and we went to sleep even at that early hour without incident.

All in all, it was a great day.  We loved the Chinook, and all of our purchasing fears were assuaged.  The engine was solid, the coach was very comfortable, and even as rookies, we had managed several hundred miles of progress without any problems.