Coming out of the shadows for a visit.

[partscounterman]

Hi Kids-It's been a while since I've been posting here and so decided to get back into the washer conversation and say hi to friends old and new.
Decided to go back to my old handle of "partscounterman" even though it has been quite a while since I've sold appliance parts. It's hard to believe but now I am a seasonal National Park Ranger and so is spouse Dennis. We are both Visitor Use Assistants/Fee collectors. We are at Mesa Verde National Park, he works at the entry gate and I am selling tour tix at the Visitor Center. We are the real deal with those awful green pants, flat straw hats and shiny gold badge.
Two years ago we bought a vintage mobile home in Cortez. My home has vintage Kenmore Laundry (1986 60 series washer and matching dryer). I will post pictures of all that soon. (As soon as I figure out Dennis' camera...)

 

[partscounterman]

The current laundry and home

So here is a pic of my current Kenmore Laundry and given the current state of laundry equipment, I am glad to have them. The former owner of the house (God rest his soul!) replaced the washer timer knob with a pull start handle for a lawnmower, a repair which I find to be charming (and effective). I have also replaced the single action agitator with a dual and replaced the temp switch so I can have a warm rinse.

The nearly BOL soft heat Kenmore dryer had it's annoying buzzer disco-neckted by me as I don't need that in a small one level mobile home. Both machines looked like they were really low mileage when we moved in here at Christmas of 2015

my washer is model 110.81863130 ser cb1408228
my dryer is model 110.86863100 ser mb1466441
for the detail oriented

The other pic is of the 1975 Guerdon Longmont Mobile home we have. It is 14x60

 

[tomturbomatic]

Happy New Year David!

Good to hear from you. The last time you posted, you were in a motor home, I believe, traveling all over the west.

Do you still have a cat?

If we were to go to the park website, would we see pictures of you two under the heading, "Our cheerful park staff are eager to help make your visit a success"? What is your season and what do you do when it is not your season? Is your park really busy like others I have heard about? I read that the Wave in Arizona only lets 20 people in per day.

Have fun and be careful.
Tom

 

[appnut]

David, it's so good to hear from you.  I bet you and Dennis are the cutest rangers there!!  What do y'all do during the off season?  Is there room for any kind of dishwasher?  Bob

 

[partscounterman]

The last time I posted...

We were living in a restored 1975 Avion Travel Trailer and yes, the plan was that we were going to gallavant allover the country. We ended up back here at our beloved Mesa Verde (Dennis always says that we are "keepers" for this park) and I guess we ran out of wanderlust and decided to stay put.

We sold the Avion and bought a very vintage mobile home- a 1960 Richardson 10x52. I just refer to that as "Project House". That whole thing wore thin after a while and I dreamed of pulling out project house and rolling in a brand new manufactured home. I refused at that point to even look at the nearby home for sale (it's owner just passed). I sure as Heck did not even want to talk about some ol' 40 year old mobile home.

One day Dennis did talk me into looking into the window and I saw the avocado green sink and the limed oak paneling. I went from "I don't wanna talk about it" to "I MUST OWN THAT TRAILER!!!!!) in like 45 seconds. This mobile was in such nice condition because it had only been lived in by adults and well cared for.

Cats-yes we have two indoor cats and two outdoor cats that live nearby and show up for meals. They are spoiled worse than children...

I don't know that our pictures appear in any park info or social media. Our season runs from April through October. I sell around 70,000 tour tickets in a season and I talk to people from all over the world. (Mesa Verde is a world heritage site) We had around 600,000 visitors last year, so yeah it's a complete madhouse in the summer. Very intense so we just take it easy in the winter. Just got back from a trip to Maui...first visit back since we left there 10 years ago.

Bob, so nice of you to say it but we are way past being the cutest rangers there; ha ha that ship has long sailed. I do however try to be the best ranger/VUA and it has paid off. I have gotten the best review for my work at Park Service , so here I am past 50 and finally found out what I'm supposed to be when I growed up...

A dishwasher? of course Bob, I wouldn't be with out the King of Appliances. Even project house had an 18" garbage slinger. I ordered the Kenmore 24" portable dishwasher. We used it as a portable for a while and then I converted that to a freestanding installation. I will post pics of that and discuss that machine more in another thread.

 

[washerlover]

Hi David,

Thanks for posting pics! My husband and I fix and flipped two 1968 Marlette single-wides a few years ago in Eureka, CA. They were in need of updating but still had the real wood paneling, avocado and harvest gold accents, light fixtures, etc. Never thought I would live in a mobile home (two fags in a trailer park?!!) but it was a nice experience overall. Been in stick-built homes other than that.

Always wanted to see Mesa Verde...if we are ever over your way will certainly look you guys up. “The cutest Rangers there...” Looking forward to it!

 

[bendixmark]

1986 Kenmore pair

Your 1986 Kenmore pair is a 1992 Kenmore pair.Most 1986 pairs were blackface washers and were the last of the beltdrives.