November 14 No rest for the old

I have been lazy about getting to this blog/diary/mostly contemporaneous record keeping for the last ten days. However, we did get some terrible, time-consuming chores done.

The task that required the most repetitive shopping nightmares was fixing our recently broken black tank washer in our trailer. I think the tank washer broke and started inundating our water heater and furnace back in early October and we have been obliged to resort to hoses and nozzles crammed down the terlet to ascertain the vile stuff in the tank has been delivered to the parks’ sewer system. Our odyssey began with a trip to the kids’ house followed by some time on the internet to find that replacement parts that look like the defective parts on the trailer do not exist. Many other options were found but all required some adaptive plumbing, a trade at which I am talent-free. I ordered parts that looked like we would have to drill the least amount of new holes and requiring the fewest re-plumbing adventures. When the parts arrived, it was plain there would be more headaches than planned so two days of driving to the hardware store in nearby Jamul and to an RV supplies store further away in El Cajon began. Much later, all the parts were assembled so Peggy and I began the job of removing a plywood bulkhead in our trailer’s pass-through storage bay. We found all the carpet-covered screws and got them to back out of the fuzzy plywood without breaking off but found the bulkhead, which was installed apparently using a hydraulic press, was reluctant to budge. After considerable grunting and profanity, coupled with some sturdy pry-bar manipulation, we managed to force the bulkhead open such that we had some access to the tank washer plumbing. Unfortunately, because the plumbing is behind a bulkhead squashed into a storage locker, it took a certain amount of contortionism to affect repairs. It was nearly dark by the time we got all the new stuff to work without catastrophic leaks.

The other major chore we have been pursuing is removal of the faded, potato chip appearing decals on our fifth wheel. In the factory, a decal adhesive is applied that must be made of constituents that are illegal in most progressive states. Parts might fall off trailers but to prevent re-occurrence, this adhesive should be used because it absolutely, positively will not come off. We have used heat guns, acetone, Goo Gone, a couple of rubber decal-stripping wheels spun by a drill, Scotch-Brites and considerable elbow grease to get the intransigent and tenacious decal adhesive off the trailer. It was uglier but we now have one side, the back and the front of the trailer free of the horrible but durable scum. There is little work on the remaining side. We will probably win the battle right before we sell the trailer.

Today we went to Harbor Freight to get some cheap consumable grinding wheels and tools to use at our real residence in San Diego to remove and replace our front door security screen. Much grinding to remove the old door is anticipated, along with cursing and skinned knuckles. A steel security door sounds like a good idea until you need to replace it. By nature, they resist destruction. We will start the fun tomorrow.

It seems my labor estimates are wildly inaccurate. I figured the decals would come off much easier – five hours instead of five years. I figured the tank washer repair should be done by a competent individual in two hours but two days when performed by me. The security screen remove and replace should not take more than a couple hours, if somebody else does it.

November 4 Loafing, Inc

The new WiFi provider at the park is making rapid progress with the new system and our access to the ‘net gets better every day. The current bonus is that until they get the system up to 100%, access is free. We enjoyed this wonderful condition and hung around the trailer all day, checking out our now-accessible e-mail, blogs, reports and absolute hooey. We also spent quite some time watching the birds and portly squirrels raid our bird feeders and chum piles. Considering fuel costs in CA, it is nice not to drive anywhere once in a while.

November 3 Kiddos

Our son doesn’t have formal school on Sundays so we dropped in at our real house, where our kids live. Unfortunately, Sam has enrolled in courses that are quite challenging and he was still obliged to study for part of the time we were there. That was a perfectly acceptable condition because Kate, our favorite daughter-in-law, and Dana, our daughter and, of course, Lily the dog, were there and lively hobnobbing, ball fetching, clandestine dog treating and chit-chat ensued. Dana surfing crony, Neil, showed up for a bit and got in on the blathering before both of them went out to be disappointed by the flat surf.

We came back in the dark, partly on account of the recent geezer-confusing daylight time shift and poor scheduling. We try to avoid night driving when we can. Just a couple nights ago, an insane lunatic passed us on a short, narrow two-lane curved bridge while another car was about 30 feet away in the oncoming lame. Panic stops by both the normal drivers saved the idiot’s life although I’ll bet some poo came out.

November 1 Day of the Dead

We moseyed over to the Pio Pico entrance station to attempt another crossover into the South Pio Pico campground, across the highway from the not-as-spiffy North Side. The spaces are larger, there is more shade and there are sewer connections on the South Side so we were sitting in the shade outside the park entrance shortly before Jan and Lily, the two gatehouse ladies, announced that the daily distribution of available RV spaces was about to begin. Amazingly, we were #2 on the list, lucked out and received assignment to our preferred location. It was a miracle.

We drove into the South Side, posted the crossover chit on the space 44 electrical box and quickly shot back over to the now-icky North Side. There, we squeezed in the slide-outs, disconnected the water, picked up the stabilizers, disconnected and stowed the electrical umbilical, hitched up to the trailer, hooked up the trailer wiring and zipped over the anti-bad guy tiger teeth exiting the North, all in about ten minutes. That may be a record.

About 400 feet later, we pulled into the South Side and backed into our new location. It has full hookups, some rudimentary WiFi, excellent satellite TV reception and nobody but critters out the rear window. It is very quiet except when Homeland Security buzzes the campground with decidedly unstealthy helicopters or the guys come to dump the nearby dumpsters. The dumpster guys only come a couple times a week but there seems to be no end to the talent and fuel for the HSA choppers that are so noisy that they sound like they actually chop.

There is a park-wide change-over in progress between the old and hated StreamWiFi to Jabba, a provider we have had success with in the past. I hope the service isn’t too good or we’ll never get another space on the South Side without murderous looks from the unsuccessful.

Today is Dia de Los Muertos which, translated into English, is the Day After Halloween. Not really.