April 30, 2006

April 30, 2006

Kingston, Ontario

YEAR 2 DAY 317

 

Today was sunny and warm.

This morning I tested the smoke alarm, which I do monthly. I did Sunday's regular preventive maintenance, then removed an empty propane tank for refilling. We drove to a nearby service station that had an air hose, and I adjusted the air pressure in Lanoire's front and spare tires. I can't adjust the air pressure in the rear tires until I install the dually valve extenders. I'm a bit concerned about towing Harvey to Ottawa with underinflated rear tires on the truck. We drove across the street to another service station, and refilled the propane tank. One station had air, the other had propane. We returned to Rideau Acres, and paid for 1 more night. I connected Lanoire to Harvey, to check something on the trailer brake controller. Right ... it doesn't work ! I played around with the truck radio for awhile. How can a truck radio be that complicated ? ! ?

We had lunch. I napped. When I got up, we went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries and supplies. When we returned to Rideau Acres, I installed the new floor mats I bought, and discarded the factory floor mats. If the floor in your vehicle is carpet, and you want floor mats to protect the carpet, why would you make the floor mats out of carpet ? ! ? I bought rubber floor mats, appropriate for a big truck. Joanne helped me hitch Lanoire to Harvey for the first time. I had a lot of difficulty. I don't have the reference points that I had on Dee-Dee's fifth wheel tailgate. When I lower Lanoire's factory tailgate, I'm backing up blindly towards Harvey's hitch king pin. I'm going to have to figure out some reference points and markings. For now, I put a piece of duct tape on the Rubbermaid tote to help me line up Lanoire's hitch with Harvey's hitch king pin.

Just before supper, we took Bo for an obedience training walk. He started out so badly, I walked away in disgust, leaving Joanne to continue. She had him "stop" and "sit" frequently, and repeatedly, until he got focused. Once focused, he did well. I'll have to take Joanne's word for it. I did today's accounting. We had supper. We went for a walk. I'm stressed from too many weeks of truck troubles. My anxiety level is too high. We talked as we walked, and Joanne helped me get my anxiety level down a bit, and formulate a strategy for tomorrow. Wiring a trailer brake controller is well within my capability. I've done it before. Wiring a 7 pin trailer electrical connector is well within my capability. I've done it before. If Van & Truck World can't solve the problem within an hour, we're leaving. I'd rather do the work myself, properly, than let some 20 year old moron start cutting the factory wiring in the truck.

Joyce Malley phoned, to thank us for the gift we left for her and Brian at their store. We gave them a cookbook authored by 2 women who are full time RV travellers. They wrote a cookbook that is one travel story and recipe per page. They are members of the Escapees RV Club, like us, and have travelled to many of the same places that we have been to in the last 2 years. When we were having dinner at the Malley's on Thursday, Joyce commented that "you can never have too many cookbooks". That comment inspired the choice of gift. We hope the "travelling ladies" cookbook will remind them of us.

Joanne gave me a manicure. Thank you, my love. We read for awhile before going to bed early.

DSK