February 3, 2006

February 3, 2006

La Feria, Texas

YEAR 2 DAY 231

 

Today was sunny and hot again, high of 95 degrees ! The afternoon was a bit windy, quite common for Texas in the winter.

This morning after doing regular morning chores, I drained all the waste holding tanks, cleaned and polished my shoes, then took Bo for an obedience training walk. I spent the rest of the morning, and half the afternoon trying, unsuccessfully, to install the starter heat shield blanket.

I thought I would have to raise the front of the truck, and hold it up with axle stands while I worked on the starter. First thing I did was crawl underneath the truck to see how high I would have to lift it to work underneath it. I decided I could get it high enough to work underneath it by just driving the front tires up onto some boards, eliminating the need to use the jack and axle stands. Once I got the front up onto boards, I crawled underneath with the heat shield blanket. I tried and tried to force the blanket around the starter, but finally realized it wasn't possible. I would have to remove the starter, wrap the blanket around it, and reinstall it < sigh >. I got 2 of the 3 mounting bolts removed, but was unable to loosen and remove the third bolt < big sigh >. I didn't have the correct size of socket extension, and I couldn't get enough leverage lying on my back underneath the truck, all twisted up in a confined space. I gave up, and took a break for lunch. I was filthy, covered in grease and grime from my fingertips all the way to my shoulders.

I cleaned up my hands, making a horrible greasy mess in the bathroom vanity. I had lunch, then returned outside to put away my tools, return the neighbour's tools that I had borrowed, and figure out whether to wind my watch, take a shit, or steal third base. I put everything away, and showered to clean off all the grime. I realized while showering that I had scraped my back and shoulders quite a bit, squirming in and out underneath the truck, on the concrete pad. Ouch ! I guess I should have worn a shirt to do that work.

I decided to drive over to a nearby small, independent repair shop and get a quote on having them remove the starter, wrap and strap the heat shield around it, and reinstall it. I drove over to the shop, but the owner was out for a couple of hours. I told them I'd return to see him at closing time. Back at the trailer, Iprinted and reconciled January's bank statements. While Joanne went to do another load of laundry, I trimmed my beard. I'm just about due for a haircut, but I think I'll wait until we're at Livingston. I found the elusive Wi-Fi signal, so I got online, did e-mail, and updated my blog. When Joanne returned from doing a load of laundry, I did today’s accounting. I drove back to the repair shop, got an estimate, and made an appointment for Monday morning. The owner of the repair shop says he has experience in installing these starter heat shields. Unbolt the starter, lower it, wrap and strap the heat shield blanket on the starter, bolt the starter back on, no need to even remove the electrical connections on the front of the starter, ... $38. Okay. I want this starter problem solved, and if a $10 part, and $38 worth of labour is what it takes, so be it. And if this heat shield blanket doesn't solve the problem, then it's worth $48 to me to find that out.

Joanne read my series of ongoing e-mail correspondence with FestiVELO in Charleston, South Carolina. We've been offered a WorkCamping job for the one week duration of this huge bicyclists' rally, the first week of December. She's ambivalent, but disinclined to accept this WorkCamping job offer. We'll probably meet with the FestiVELO organizer in a couple of months as we make our way north along the Atlantic coast, and make a decision at that time. Joanne made some phone calls to get some information on some events taking place in The Valley this weekend. We were interested in attending a rodeo at Los Fresnos, near South Padre Island, but decided it’s just too expensive. Maybe we’ll drive to South Padre Island for the kite festival, although that’s a long drive just to watch some kites flying.. I guess we were on South Padre Island on the first weekend of February last year, because the same kite festival and rodeo were taking place while we were on South Padre Island last year.

We were going to barbecue an early supper, so that we could attend Fun Night, but the wind kept blowing out the barbecue. We cooked supper inside, then went to Fun Night, not knowing what it was. It turned out to be the La Feria RV Park's annual talent / variety entertainment show. YUCK ! An hour and a half of old people acting goofy and stupid. Neither of us finds old people acting silly to be particularly amusing or entertaining. It strikes me as somewhat ironic that the senses of humour of old people seems remarkably similar to that of children.

After Fun Night we took Bo and Teddy for a late night walk. It was cooler tonight than it has been the last few evenings. I guess today's wind cooled things down.

DSK