We are up in small-town country Texas now. Driving through places with names like Paducah. Tonight we settled in at Caprock Canyons State Park in the overflow camper parking. Apparently it’s finally the time of year that people actually need reservations for these types of things. We are very very bad at making reservations. Knowing our destination and then calling there ahead of time would require the type of preplanning that we just do not possess. It kind of erases all meaning from the words road trip, for us anyway.
Not to mention that it would require a phone.
A few days ago I picked up a foot pedal switch for the brake lights. It’s such a simple idea that I figured nothing could go wrong. It was made even easier by the fact that this is what was on the bus originally and there is still a mounting bracket with accompanying hole on the steering column and brake pedal.
So I hooked it up, plugged the wires which I already had run to the cockpit for my handheld toggle switch brakes into the new switch, and pressed the brakes. Nothing. The lights just stayed on all the time. I adjusted the switch a bit with no luck. I took the switch back off, twisted and turned the cheap piece of crap and eventually got it to start turning on and off as it should. By the time I got it back on the pedal it wasn’t working again. I twisted the pieces around until it was just right and it worked again. Then it stopped working. Basically, this is about the worst, most cheaply produced piece of crap I have ever purchased for an automobile. Thanks again NAPA. Every time I go there now I feel like I’m shopping in the $1 toy rack at Target. The quality of the products is exactly equal.
For now I’m back to flicking a toggle switch every time I hit the brakes.
We got out of the bus in Matador, a town claiming some 700 residents, all of whom seemed to be having a Saturday sidewalk sale of some sort, but before we could even begin to wander the couple of blocks of town the kids had begun playing in the abandoned grocery store. The two of them were soon buying and selling rusty nails, bottle tops, and hunks of chain from each other for two cents each. They are becoming best friends and bitter enemies at the same time. The switch can happen at any moment.
34 Comments on “Still Somewhere in Texas”
If I recall correctly, my brake light switch worked off hydraulic pressure. I may still have one in my toolbox. Next time I am out by the motorhome, I will check. Good Luck
Yeah, I’ve had two of those fail now, and one not work at all. Thought I’d give the foolproof method a shot, but it turned out not to be so foolproof either.
Pat,
I still had it in my toolbox. Borg Warner S195 Stop Light Switch
The box says “Made in USA”
I am on Lake Chapala, 30 miles south of Guadalajara.
Let me know if you might want it. I could meet you somewhere close by. I will be out of the area until around mid-June.
I hope that the pictures come through. I may try a direct e-mail, if this does not work.
http://travcotravels.com/wp-content/gallery/s195-stop-light-switch/dsc04188.jpg?i=1593837615
http://travcotravels.com/wp-content/gallery/s195-stop-light-switch/dsc04189.jpg?i=235643615
http://travcotravels.com/wp-content/gallery/s195-stop-light-switch/dsc04190.jpg?i=259850242
This looks the same, but it may be a Chinese copy. I bought mine 10 -15 years ago. Back then, when something needed replacing, and it was inexpensive, I always bought two or more of them.
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Duralast-Stoplight-Switch/_/N-9cias?CJPID=6150341&itemIdentifier=762989_0_0_
Thanks George, that’s the same part I’ve got already. I’ll pick up another and give it a try. For now I’ve hooked up a foot pedal switch.
I think it’s time to cut your losses on that warranty from NAPA and try a different auto parts store.
NAPA is the only one who can ever come up with the parts I need. I’ve tried them all.
I’ll bet the stars are amazing out there without any light pollution, have you ever tried taking long night exposure shots or star time lapses?
There is a free open source program called Magic Lantern-it’ll work on Rebels, which is what I have- that enables time lapse or “intervalometer” from the camera itself instead of an extra remote, which would otherwise be required.
The program installs and runs from the SD card, so it doesn’t alter the camera firmware, and you can just format the SD card if you want to erase the program. There are some risks to using it, but it’s worth it to me, I can’t wait to get out to the desert and try it out.
Also, an unrelated but infinitely more important question, have you guys tried breakfast taquitos or biscuits from Whataburger while you’re in TX?
Thanks Austin, I’ll check it out. It’s always bugged me that I’ve had to use the GoPro for time-lapse stuff. Be nice to use the good camera.
I will be interested to see how not making reservations plays out during the summer when kids are out of school and campgrounds get busy — especially on weekends. I am a reservations/planning person, while my husband would rather wing it, like you guys. We checked a lot of campgrounds sites to see how busy they were on summer weekends, and, well, a lot of them are all booked up. I hope you have good luck or go to fairly out of the way places — or to Mexico. Anywhere in the US near a body of water is going to be tough on summer weekends. And forget holidays. Boondocking is definitely the way to go then!
It was funny to read about it being the time of year for reservations. I’ve been hitting a few RV parks in northern Mexico and southern AZ as well as Organ Pipe National Forest the past week. Every place we hit was virtually empty. Well, except for the little RV park in Magdalena Kino, Sonora, Mexico. It was about full but that’s because it’s very small and there were a dozen Euro-trekkers on a Pan-American road tour that just happened to hit it the same night we did.
NAPA = Not All Part Actify
Save travels,
Mark and Cindy
NAPA = Not All Parts Actify (sorry ~ fat fingers)
This switch will solve your problem, there are many other variations.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-XZ7-166-NO-NC-Contact-Micro-Limit-Switch-SPDT-Spring-Rocker-Type-10A-250VAC/271206871266?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.RVI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D21021%26meid%3D6687017540028722429%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D9336%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D111342242287
or the Honeywell equivalent:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONEYWELL-MICRO-SWITCH-GLDA01E7B-Limit-Switch-Wobble-Coil-Spring-SPDT-/321338914692?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad14ab784
Sorry to eat up so much of your comment space, I am can only imagine how much of a pain the current switch will become…or not 🙁
http://www.alliedelec.com/images/products/datasheets/bm/HONEYWELL_ELECTROCORP/70118641.pdf
the switch is rated at 5 million actuations, they are often used to activate back-up alarms on heavy dozers etc.
I was saying to the guy at NAPA today that I wish they’d just build quality stuff out of metal for $25 instead of these $4 plastic pieces of junk.
Stayed at Caprock Canyons couple of nights, “Home to the Official Bison Herd of the State of Texas!” BTW, I bought a copy of ‘Live on the Margin’ and just wanted to say thank you. Learning some really valuable stuff.
Only Texas would have an official bison herd.
We have to have an official herd so we can keep them all in the same place, otherwise people would be driving all over the state for weeks on end looking for them. And it’s a REALLY big state!
The only trouble is those unofficial herds owned by my big city loser-neighbors…
Good neighbors know a fence out that way must be bull-strong and pig-tight. Or, in this guy’s case, even more than that.
What a loser.
We here in the city loathe these suburban almost-rich folk for different reasons. But with roots out the way of this story, I can claim to loathe them doubly so.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124890977
Regarding the driving in Texas… It’s actually quite civilized. When someone comes up behind you, you slide over and drive on the shoulder without slowing down any. They’ll pass you and wave their thanks. You wave back and everyone is happy.
I agree that those big roads with the full lane width shoulders are great. I learned about those passing rules on a previous trip. It’s the smaller roads with no shoulders that it gets to be a pain in the butt always looking back and having a pickup on my bumper.
Same thing in our 4-cylinder Dolphin. I mostly pull over when I can and avoid looking behind me the rest of the time.
I have heard of people having better luck with the metal bodied switches used on the 50’s Chevy’s, NAPA SL128 or SL129.
Thanks, I’ll ask about it.
Your tour through the dusty little towns of west Texas brings to mind the 1971 Peter Bogdanovich film “The Last Picture Show.” It makes me want to watch it again to see how well it’s held up over the intervening 43 years, though it’s hard to imagine a coming-of-age period piece suffering too badly from the march of time.
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-last-picture-show-1971
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067328/
On kids becoming best of friends one minute and enemies the next; I was one of six growing up and we were the same. That’s just typical social development. When adults don’t grow out of this instant allegiance switching we call them politicians.
I worked in Amarillo for a while. When there, took in Palo Duro Canyon…the second largest canyon in the US. It was pretty cool. You folks aren’t far away.
We know. It’s the only reason we are in Amarillo actually. 🙂
And, then there is Pantex. Nothing like driving by that creepy place.
Hi Pat & Ali, I have been reading your blog since you were stocking and fitting the Wildcat in Florida. Just wanted to tell Pat there is no ‘cockpit’ on your land yacht as referenced in this entry by you. Keep doin’ what you are doin’ you impact more people than you know.
A blow boater in Canada
Not a comment about the current discussion, but I thought I’d send you a link to a site that lists free camping for RVs in all states. You may already have it, or a better one, but I don’t know it. John
http://www.freecampgrounds.com/
People have sent me this link a lot, but frankly, I can’t use it. It has to be about the worst website design imaginable. It would take me hours to troll through the listings to find even one decent spot. Someone needs to come up with a better website for this premise.
PS Rat Rodders swear by them 🙂