Trip to visit and Upgrades

Sunday, November 20th, 2016

I've been working in Dallas for a customer, so Sunday I was back home to help Tony pack up the Mammoth to head to visit family.

We pulled out about 1:20pm, and I followed in the SUV. The trip was uneventful, thank goodness. We each listened to an exciting Dallas Cowboys football game on the radio.

We got to the park about 4:30, and got set up. Originally, we had planned to depart on Thursday because we anticipated the Cisco Loboes would advance in the football playoffs another week and we would be heading to a game Friday. Well, unfortunately, the Loboes were defeated, and now our Friday was free to stay longer. We talked to the park about extending our stay,  but we couldn't at the moment due to another guest that was having rig problems and could not move on yet. Hopefully, that would change, and they would let us know if it did.

Set up at Bluebonnet Ridge RV Resort, Terrell, TX

After setting up, I had to get back to the place I've been staying so I could get some work done for my freelance customers, so I left (it's about a 45 min drive away from the RV park.)

Monday, Nov. 21st to Wednesday Nov. 23, 2016

These days I was working, so Tony was left to his own devices. 

We bought a Toilet from another Heartlander in Oregon, about a month ago. Why, you ask? Who would buy a used toilet??? Well, it wasn't actually USED. PJ had bought it and tried to install it, only to find out he could not because the flange on the floor was too close to the wall for the new toilet to fit. He tried to sell it for a few months, with no takers. He even hauled it from Oregon to Las Vegas, NV for the Heartland Owners Club Rally, but had no takers. He dropped the price from $225 down to $200, then $175, then $150, to $100... So I decided to take him up on it. Even with shipping, I would definitely come out ahead. However, our trusty Heartland family came through... Nancy and Dave were returning from the rally, and they had room to fit it in. So it came with them back to Texas. Nancy and Dave stopped off in Cisco and dropped it off. We just have not had time to install it yet. 

But why change out a 10-month-old toilet? Well, if you recall, we switched out our toilet on the ElkRidge in July before we sold it in January. This is the same toilet. The Dometic 320, which is a more residential style and shape. Our original toilet in this rig was a Thetford, and they are known for developing leaks or sticking valves that can cause floods. Plus, the plastic seat was already starting to mis-shape . We considered pulling our  Dometic 320 from the ElkRidge and swapping it when we traded, but decided to wait and see if we liked the standard one. We did not!

We brought the toilet along with us from Cisco (we had been storing it in our  storage building), and Tony set out to find parts needed to connect the water line. We wanted to do a flexible hose, since the location of the original toilet connection was different from this one. He went to Home Depot and the local plumbing supply, and thought he had what he needed. However, once dry-fitting the pieces, he felt the connections were not secure. So he opted to reuse the connection from the previous, and use some Sharkbite elbows to reposition the connection. We also added a cut-off valve, for a "just in case" scenario.

Tuesday, Tony spent the day with his dad, so no toilet work this day!

Wednesday, the toilet install was completed.

It fits perfectly! See how close it is to the wall? PJ, who sold us the toilet, was not able to fit the toilet there because the floor flange was too close to the wall in his Bighorn.