Hydraulic Jack Update

I headed out of Oak Knoll at about 7:30am. I wanted to get home and unload everything and head to Walmart to work on the RV. I wanted to work on the jack system again.

The last three weeks I have been talking with the hydraulic jack company to figure out why the rear jacks are not working. Each one is not working for a different reason. The left rear one extends and retracts, but it does not kick down. The right rear one is stuck in the extended mode but it does kick down. So there were some trouble shooting tips the technical support helped me out with.

The right jack was the technical supports first concern. First step was to remove the pressure of the hydraulic line on the right side to see if the jack retracts. The jack did not retract. Then I checked all the fuses. There are 6 fuses and they are all good. So they suggested for me to send back the right jack. Here is a picture of the right jack removed. As you can see the silver part is the piston that should be retracted into the black tube. It is stuck out, so I am sending this one back for a rebuild.

The left jack was next. Then they had me release the solenoid to see if the jack would kick down. No luck. The evening before I left to go camping I had my neighbor look under the RV, because he used to work on big semi trucks and has some experience with hydraulics. When we got under the RV to inspect it closer he saw that the cable snapped on the left jack. The cable helps the jack kick down. So at Walmart I took the cable off the right jack (since I am sending that one back anyway to get repaired) and installed it on the left jack. Here is a picture of the two cables. The top one is from the broken right jack and the bottom cable is from the left jack.

Low and behold the left jack works!
Here is a close up of the left rear jack extended and working. I will need to bleed the system (which means put more hydraulic fluid in the lines) once I get the other jack returned to me. I am hoping to get the right jack sent out this week.

East Grade Road

After the General Store I headed down East Grade Road to check out how that climb was. When I got to the bottom I turned around and headed back up. It was much hotter at the bottom of this climb. There were much less trees at the bottom and it felt more like a desert compared to the South side. This was a 12 mile climb that had an elevation gain of around 3500 feet with an average of 5% grade.


I was ready for Rick Clemson this time! I knew he was there, so I turned to him and smiled! (even though I was in a lot of pain during this climb) haha
Here is the view for the East Grade road. Lake Henshaw is at the bottom of this climb.

Very beautiful lake.
Another view...

The third day was a repeat of this day, so I do not have any pictures for the next day.

The top of Palomar Mountain

On day two I rode up South Grade road to the very top to the Observatory. The observatory is home to five telescopes that are nightly used for a wide variety of astronomical research programs.



So I walked into the gate and over the trees I caught my eye on the dome. The dome was completed in 1949 and has been used on a regular basis ever since.


I got a nice person to snap my picture.

A close up!

I was told you can go inside and look at it, so I kept walking...

It is so massive when you are up close next to it. The top opens up at night so the telescope can peer out into the sky.

When I walked up the stairs, there is a viewing area to look into the main room.


This is a picture through the glass. The telescope it above this picture.

I found this picture online. It gives you a better idea of the size of the telescope.

Here is a picture I downloaded to show you how the roof opens up at night.

After my education and fascination with the Observatory I was ready to ride again. I headed back down the mountain. Half way down there is a little general store and a vegetarian restaurant. All of the motorcycles like to stop there and chat it up. I stopped there to buy more water.

My reward!

After my first day on the mountain I could not wait to cook up the shrimp I brought. I made veggies that consisted of yellow and green squash and onions with red potatoes and lots of shrimp!

I did a lot of reading while I was hanging out. Loved it!

Here is the view from inside with everything set up.
Here is a picture of my bicycle garage, haha.

South Grade

After I set up camp, I was ready for a ride! I exited my campground and headed out on South Grade Road...

When you are on a road that has the name 'grade' in it, you better be ready to go up or down. This is a road map of what south grade road looks like (south grade is the red line. Oak knoll campground is at the bottom left corner of the map where the red line starts. This is about a 7 mile climb that goes for about 3000 feet with an average grade of 7%. I rode it Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and Monday morning.


Here is an awesome view I had to stop at to take a picture. It was about half way up.
Here is a pic from a little higher up the mountain.

South Grade Road is home to many fast motorcycles. Every weekend many people come out to ride their motorcycles up and down this windy road. So there is a photographer that sets himself up along the route to catch the motorcycles in action. Then he posts the photos on his website and you can buy the pictures from him. He caught a picture of me when I was going up. I didn't buy the picture, so that is why his name is very big through the picture.

Oak Knoll Campground

I arrived at Oak Knoll Campground around 12:30pm on Saturday.



This is a map of the campground. I was in site number 17. I reserved that spot a few weeks ago thinking that it would be very busy for the holiday weekend. I also wanted to be in a spot that had space to breathe so I wasn't right on top of my neighbor. It ended up being very quiet which I was so happy about.


All stretched out! A very spacious spot for the RV to stretch after being stored in a tight space. The RV really enjoyed this site.


Here is a view from farther away to show you that there was no one to either side of me.


Nice trees to shade the RV and I from the 90 degree desert air.

Here is a view from my site facing out to the bath house towards the left and some RV's in the distance to the right.


Here is a view facing the opposite way to a few campers in the distance.


Here is the view straight ahead of my site. Just a few campers there too.

Pack it in!

On the morning of July 2nd I headed off to Palomar mountain for a weekend of relaxation. Of course, that means riding. So I packed in my top 3 bikes and headed for the hills. I brought my mountain bike, commuter bike, and my race bike. I actually only used my race bike because there was so much climbing that I was tired by the time I got home from my ride. I converted the dinette set to a bed and covered the cushions with an old sheet so I had a place for my bikes. It worked great!