20240223 Friday, Twin Harbors State Park. RV Troubles, Bronco Lifeboat

When the sun rose at 7:30am, the solar charger panel was flashing a battery error.  The voltage had dropped enough during the night running the refrigerator and furnace that the BMS shut down the batteries.  The State Parks permit generators from 8am to 9pm, so we waited until 8:10am to jump start the batteries and generator with the portable lithium jump starter.  When the BMS shuts down the batteries, they can be rebooted by applying a jump start voltage.  Fortunately, it all worked, and since the battery box is inside the coach at the top step, it could all be done from inside the coach. With the generator running, both batteries were reporting a charge current of 35A.  We ran the generator while we had coffee, tea and banana bread for breakfast and got things tidied up a bit to prepare for leaving.  

We shut the generator down around 10am and started up the RV to drive it off the leveler blocks and run the slide in.  It didn’t start up with the first push of the ignition button, which was odd.  We put the key in the slot below  in case the battery might be low, and it did start after pushing the button a second or third time.  We drove off the levelers and ran the slide in.  Then putting it back in Park and idled the motor for a while to defog the windshield before shutting the motor off while we secured all the cupboards and countertops for travel.  Then when we were ready to pull the RV out to hitch up the Bronco, the ignition button again acted strangely, not starting the vehicle even with the key in the key detection slot until the 3rd or 4th press.  When it did start up, a message displayed on the dash "SERVICE REQUIRED- DO NOT SHIFT GEARS".  The motor was running smoothly, but the electronic shifter was unresponsive and there was no apparent way to shift gears anyways.  It was stuck in park.  The motor also didn't shut down with pressing the button as it should, but eventually shut down after several presses of varying duration.  

Hoping it was some transient electrical gremlin, Ben disconnected and reconnected the chassis battery a couple times but the error would not clear, so it was apparent that we would need to be towed on a flatbed to a Sprinter service center.  Since the chassis battery is under the floor in front of the driver seat, it's a bit of a chore to get to.  It's a good thing we have a full took kit onboard the RV.

It was discouraging to call all the Sprinter service facilities in WA including Tacoma, Seattle and Lynnwood, and not be able to speak to a service advisor at any of the dealerships, leaving phone numbers for call backs.  Ben then tried to book service online, but the dealership portals were all very poorly designed and primarily for scheduling things like routine maintenance, not emergency repairs.  And the earliest appointments were weeks out in mid March.  

At 11:30am Ben finally got a call back from someone in the service department at Tacoma Mercedes Benz, who said the earliest they could schedule service was March 13.  Worse yet, they said we could not have the RV towed to their facility before March 12.  We accepted the appointment however, hoping to hear back from Lynnwood for an earlier date.  Lynnwood did callback at 11:45 to say we could have the RV towed there, and they could get to it March 6, but while on that call, another came in and went to voice mail.  After accepting the March 6 Lynnwood appt, Ben listened to the voice mail and it was a Liz from Tacoma Mercedes Benz customer service who suggested we call Mercedes Benz Roadside Assistance.  She said we had coverage and that towing to the nearest dealership able to service the RV would be complementary.  What a deal!  Ben was just looking up the Safeco Auto Roadside Assistance number.  It was a little surprising that we still had complementary MB roadside assistance because the RV is now 4 years old and the Chassis is 5 years old, but we were happy to give them a call.  

The people at MB Roadside Assistance were very professional and kind, although some of them had accents that were a little hard to understand at first.  But at any rate, they took our location, arranged for the vehicle to be towed to Tacoma Mercedes Benz (the same place that said we couldn't have it towed there before March 12) and dispatched a flatbed to fetch us at 12:18pm.  

We got a call from Dennis at Affordable Towing, who informed us that he was situated in Shelton, WA, and that it may be 2 hours or so for them to get to us.  According to Google Maps that should have been a 90 minute drive, but we were happy to hear help was now on its way.  However, with nobody on site by 2:30pm, we called back and they said they were stuck in traffic due to construction and would be another hour.  MB Roadside Assistance kept checking back with us periodically to see if the tow had arrived, and Affordable Towing seemed to be impossibly delayed, but they finally arrived at 5pm.  During all this time, Ben had to wait patiently by the RV, and we unpacked perishables and dirty laundry out of the RV, anticipating it may have to spend a week or two in a storage lot without power.  We were testing the Bronco's luggage capacity for sure.  Janet went for walks around the campground and beach hoping to find some agates. As the hour grew later, the tide went back out and Janet enjoyed a beautiful calm sunset as people were digging clams in front of the campground.  If we had known our tow would not show up until 5pm, we could have hit the beach and got another two limits of razor clams easily, but would then have to figure what to do with them without the RV and with the Bronco already filled up with stuff off the RV.  Janet ended up helping other clammer by pointing out clam shows and lending some of her expertise.  Of the days of the week on this trip, this was the nicest day with blue sky, sunshine and calm breezes.  

WIth the sun out, the solar panels on the RV were still in partial shade due to trees at the campsite, but at one point the solar controller was reporting 2.1A charging current, and the batteries were reporting 1.2A charging on solar, so maybe the weather and shade were the main reasons we had to run the generator so much this trip.  During our cross country road trip, we only ran the generator to run our air conditioner because during the day the batteries would charge up to full capacity while we were on the road.

Affordable Towing arrived with a flatbed just long enough to get the RV's axles both on the bed.  With the transmission electronically locked in Park, they had to drag it out of the campsite with the rear axle locked.  It plowed up the gravel as the winch pulled the RV onto the flatbed.  They eventually used scrap wood boards to help skid the read wheels up onto the bed.  It was quite a sight to see our RV up on that flatbed.  It was even more of a sight to watch it rocking and bouncing as they drove through some pot holes near the campground exit.  We were afraid they might pitch the RV off the bed, even though the tires were tied down.  

We followed them in the Bronco as we headed for Tacoma MB, which is in Fife.  They requested a dinner stop since they had missed lunch due to traffic and our call, so we treated them to dinner at the Mazatlan restaurant in Aberdeen.  We finally got to Tacoma MB at about 9:30pm to find it all gated and locked.  Ben walked past the gate and tried to find the building where we were supposed to drop off the RV, and eventually encountered a security patrol driving around.  The security guard, Dimitri, was a fairly young gentleman who was to my surprise dressed in body armor and sporting a Glock in his belt holster.  However, he was very professional and kind, recognizing our stress in having to figure out how to deliver the RV after hours.  He kindly opened the gate so we could get to the drop off location and drop off the keys.  At 9:41PM we bid farewell to our RV in the driveway of their service bay entrance, which was really the only place Affordable Towing could safely off load the RV.  

The drive back home that late was pretty smooth since there was only minor traffic approaching the I-90 interchange and express lanes.  We filled up the Bronco at the River Rocks Tobacco and fuel in Arlington and arrived home at 12:15am.  That was a very long day.  It would have been much longer and more troublesome if we hadn't had the Bronco with us because we would have probably had to spend the night in the RV in the parking lot and find a rental car the next day. 

20240222 Thursday, Twin Harbors State Park Razor Clamming

We have not really seen the sun in 2 days because of all the rain, so our batteries have seen significant drain over that period.  This morning, the batteries were down to 13% capacity with 4 hours to shut down and a voltage of 11V.  So at 8:30am, Ben fired up the generator to recharge the batteries before they got too low.  The lithium Iron Phosphate batteries can discharge much lower than lead acid batteries without damage, but Ben was concerned we might not be able to fire up the generator if the batteries got too low.  The generator did crank and fire up. The RV only has 30 hrs on the generator to date, so it’s probably good to run it for a bit anyways.  The lithium batteries are “smart” and report via bluetooth to an ap.  It is amazing to see they can charge at over 30amps from the generator.  With full sun, the solar panels recharge at a much slower rate.  

The sun did come out later in the day, but it seems the solar panels were only charging at a rate of 1-2 amps, while the batteries were not reporting charging at that rate- reporting zero amps. So that may require some further investigation after the trip.

We did venture in the Bronco up to Westport. We walked around the Westport Light House, and then drove to the jetty where we watched surfers and walked on the beach. 

We didn’t find any agates this time and the tide was fairly high.  We then drove to dock street and walked through a candy store, and had lunch in Merino’s.  We had Rockfish and chips and Clam Chowder poutine, which was French fries smothered in clam chowder and topped with melted cheddar cheese and green onions.  Everything was delicious and hot, although it did take a little time for the order to come out.  There was a bit of a line in the take out window at the street level.  We went upstairs to the indoor seating area, which also serves wine and beer.  

After a nap, we geared up in our waders and coats and headed back to the beach.  We left later, arriving on the beach at 4PM.  There was just a light breeze and no rain this time.  The sky was partly cloudy and on the whole it was very pleasant conditions for clamming.  As we suspected, waiting for the tide to drop below the 1’ level did make it easier and quicker to find our limits.  There did seem to be more smaller clams at this beach than we have harvested at Moclips and Copalis in the past, but we still ended up with two quarts of cleaned razor clam meat when we finished up processing our catch.  

We had Tonkotsu Ramen and Costco rotisserie chicken for dinner and retired by 9pm.  We debated sticking around another day, but the campground is already noticeably more crowded today as the weekend warriors have started to arrive.  We will break camp and head home tomorrow as we had originally planned.  We’ll see if the batteries make it through another night.

20240221 Wednesday, Twin Harbors State Park Razor Clamming, Tokeland Hotel Lunch

It rained pretty much throughout the night, but we stayed comfy in the RV.  The outside temperature was 49ºF.  We had the furnace set at 60ºF, and it only came on briefly twice during the night that Ben noticed.  Once we were out of bed and had the bed put away, we bumped the thermostat up to 67ºF.  It was raining pretty much all morning.  We are in site 229, which is toward the end of the open part of the campground loop, close to one of the bathroom/shower buildings.  There is a sign that says tokens are no longer required for showers, so that is a potential upgrade.  

At 11am, we hopped into the Bronco and drove down to check out the Grayland State Park. We were impressed by how large and modern it is.  It is many times larger than Twin Harbors, and much more modern.  All sites except for 4, have power and water.  There are several loops with full hookups (water, power and sewer), while most of the sites closer to the beach in the newer part of the park have power and water.  Full hook up sites are $45, water and power only are $40, and dry sites are $30.  Our dry site at Twin Harbors State Park is only $20, so we are definitely in the low rent neighborhood.  In the future, we may choose Grayland State Park because it has so many more available hook up sites, even though we are generally fine with dry camping for a couple of days.  

We continued on south to Tokeland, where we saw an unusual high rise structure in a park.  This appears to be a public tsunami refuge for the local residents since there is no high ground nearby.

Continuing, we drove to the end of the road where there is a tiny marina where Willapa Bay oysters grow spat on floating barges, and there is a small public fishing pier with people crabbing.  One guy had just pulled up his pot and it was full of small females- no keeper males, but dungeness.  There is a cute store that sells fresh cooked crab, oysters and clams, as well as gift items called Nelson Crab Inc, which is in a historic cannery building.  We then backtracked a little to the Tokeland Hotel, which was established in 1858.  

It is a very cute and rustic hotel with a large public lobby and restaurant on the first floor filled with antiques and local art.  It was very much a free museum exhibit. 

There is also a very well fed old lab, and an equally well fed old tabby wandering about the public areas. We had lunch, hoping to sample some famous Tokeland Hotel Razor Clam chowder, but were disappointed to hear they had just served the last cup, and it was just 12:30pm when we walked in the door.  Ben has been using a Tokeland Hotel clam chowder recipe as the basis for his razor clam chowder so he was eager to sample it from the original source.  It turns out it wasn’t even on the menu, but everyone asks for it and they opened at 8am to a busy breakfast crowd.  

Rockfish Sandwich

Sawmill Sandwich & Oysters

When we were there, we were the only ones in the dining room until a pair of ladies walked in as we were eating our lunch.  We had some fried Willapa bay oysters which were breaded in a cornbread batter that were very crispy, fresh and delicious.  We also had something called a Sawmill, which is a sandwich featuring an enormous buttery biscuit with gravy, fried chicken, and a fried egg and a fresh Rockfish sandwich with cornmeal breading, Cole slaw and sweet pickles.  Both lunches came with pan fried potatoes on the side.  It was all very fancy and delicious, but expensive.  The tab includes a service charge to ensure a living wage for all the staff, but our lunch with one cappuccino was $95.  That wasn’t even New Zealand dollars either.  But it was fancy, and a very pleasant sanctuary from the wind and rain outside.  

We returned to the RV to take a quick nap before steeling ourselves to hit the beach in the wind and rain to find some razor clams.  

At 2:30pm we suited up in our waders and rain gear and headed out in the Bronco.  It was raining pretty hard and the wind was gusting to 25mph, so it was not pleasant.  We headed about a quarter mile south of the Bonge Road access on the beach just past a very rudimentary bald eagle nest that was constructed atop a pole erected by a property owner to mark his beach access.  The nest was barely big enough for one bird to sit in, but it was determined to sit in it.  

According to the tide tables, the tide was going to be at 2’ at 3pm, and we normally don’t find razor clams until the tide had dropped below 2’, so we parked and watched as other people arrived and began probing with their sticks and eventually clam guns.  We didn’t see anyone stick a clam gun into the sand until about 3:15pm, when the tide was supposedly at 1.5’.  We headed out and got to work.  It was very hard at first to see any evidence of clams, but people were starting to find them.  Ben got to spotting them as the last sheets of water slid back down to the surf line, when you could spot an occasional siphon forming a subtle “V” just before the next wave would erase it.  But as the tide continued down, by about 4:30pm, classic clam shows began to appear, and it got a lot easier to find the clams.  The rain had also stopped so we could drop our hoods and have better vision.  The wind had also dropped a bit so vision of the sheets of water was improved without the wind rippling it everywhere.  We did manage to each get our limit of 15 clams.  Some were pretty decent in size, while others were small, but in the end we donated a few small ones to kids who were with parents for additional limits.  

We got back to the campground with daylight to spare.  Ben was able to steal some water from one of the unoccupied Yurt sites to hose off the clam guns and rack on the back of the Bronco and get some fresh water to clean the clams by giving them enemas with a syringe.  We then had a quick bite for dinner, mostly having leftovers, and then processed the clams in the RV.  We seem to be getting a little more proficient in getting them cleaned and into containers, saving the snipped tips and guts for shrimp bait as well.  Last year’s clam guts really worked well when mixed with some shrimp bait pellets for catching shrimp.  

After the clams were put up, we hit the shower, which no longer requires tokens.  The water was hot enough and long enough for a decent shower, but we wished we had brought along some flip flops or Crocks to wear in the shower because the floor was pretty gritty.  It was certainly roomier than the RV shower, and we didn’t have to worry about running through our fresh water supply.  

We were in bed by 8:45pm.  We’ll see if the weather is any better tomorrow.

20240220 Tuesday, February 20, 2024- Off to Dig Razor Clams with the RV and Bronco

 Ben had brought the RV back home from the barn on Sunday and restocked condiments and basics into the refrigerator after dewinterizing and sanitizing the water system earlier in the week.  We received our Bronco in January 2-1/2 years after ordering it from a dealership in Florida.  It had to be trucked from Florida to Washington, but it was less expensive than flying to Florida and driving it back.  Ben worked furiously for the next few weeks getting it ready for road tripping with the RV.  This included getting it fitted with a trailer hitch and wiring so it can tow trailers like the Pacific Skiff, but more importantly it needed to be fitted with trailering lights and an auxiliary brake system so that it can be towed behind the RV safely and legally.  It also needed mud flaps because it’s huge knobby mud/terrain rated tires love to grab onto hunks of gravel and fling them into the rocker panels.  Then there are other things like all weather floor mats, seat back and cargo floor covers, etc.  Ben was able to generate several YouTube videos in the process, which will help others who are up fitting their Broncos.  

There are lots of online posts of horror tales of people who have blown their Bronco transmissions while flat towing.  It is not entirely clear if these are due to user error, or if there is a problem with Ford’s software/hardware interface that is required to disconnect the driveline from the transmission properly.  But having read many of these horror stories, it was with some trepidation that Ben approached this first real trip flat towing the Bronco behind the RV.  

After installing all the necessary hardware, we did test drive the RV flat towing the Bronco around the neighborhood, and everything seemed to work, including getting the Bronco into Neutral Tow Mode and out of Neutral Tow Mode successfully.  

We had everything loaded and hitched up by 10:15am, and headed out, but several miles down the road we realized we had forgotten the State Parks pass, so we looped back home, grabbed the pass and set off for real at 10:45am.  

Our first stop was to refuel the RV and top off the Bronco’s gas tank at the River Rocks Tobacco and Fuel stop by the Angel of the Winds Casino.  This place is well laid out for long towing rigs to pull through, and is one of the less expensive places to fuel up.  Fortunately, with the RV parked where it needed to fuel up with diesel, the Bronco was also perfectly aligned with the next pump so we could do both vehicles without moving between pumps.  

Even though we didn’t need diesel, we did make our customary stop at the Lacey Costco to buy a pizza and rotisserie chicken to sustain us on this trip, as well as some artisan rolls and coffee cake.  We met a couple of ladies in the food court who were wearing bright red Hurtigruten Antarctica coats so we chatted and exchanged stories comparing our Viking Polaris experience with their Hurtigruten Ronald Amundsen experience.  They sounded pretty comparable, although Viking did seem to provide a little more clothing for use on excursions (insulating coat liner, Gortex landing pants and landing boots) that Hurtigruten didn’t provide. For us that was a real convenience because the boots and landing pants would have filled a suitcase by themselves. 

We arrived at Twin Harbors State Park just before 4pm.  The east side of the park is closed due to seasonal flooding, but there were plenty of open dry camping sites in the west side of the park.  Half of that side of the park is also closed due to flooding, but we arrived a day before the razor clam opening, which will be tomorrow afternoon.  The camp ground may be full when we return tomorrow after digging our clams.  

Ben unhitched the Bronco by the registration kiosk and parked it before taking the RV and backing it into a site to call home for the next 3 nights.  It was overcast but not raining so Janet went for a walk around the campground while Ben took the Bronco and previewed the beach at sunset.  There is miles of sandy beach to the south of the Bonge Road access, but the beach north of the access, which is directly in front of the state park, has large patches of pebbly gravel where a few people were looking for agates.  We may have to check that out.

It got dark by 6pm so we had cold pizza and apple for dinner. There is barely one bar of AT&T cellular service in the campground, so no streaming for us.  We read books and were in bed by 9pm.  It started raining around 8pm.  Hopefully we’ll get a break in the rain tomorrow afternoon when we have to dig for clams.