We finally got a chance to do something interesting. There was a model train show in San Antonio, so we attended it. The show was similar to the ones in Portland, but bigger. It was interesting because there was a a large selection of N scale trains. Usually HO is dominate.
There was one whole room dedicated to G scale trains. They need a lot of room. One of the people that was running it said that they set up semi-permanent setups in commercial sites. The last one they did remained there for 6 months.
The workmanship on the layouts was first class. Better than what I'm used to seeing in Portland. The size of the modular setups was bigger, too. There were some interesting details. There were things like fields of corn being harvested, cattle drives, marvelously detailed town scenes and even an amusement park with a working roller coaster.
Of course part of any train show is shopping. I saw several cars that I might have bought, except that they were too expensive. One vendor had two locomotives that I've always wanted. His prices were reasonable, but I just couldn't justify putting $150 - $350 into a couple of toy locomotives. Maybe once I have my layout up and running.
After the show we went over to look at the second choice house. I got a chance to go over the lot. It's one of the best we've ever seen. The house was unlocked (it shouldn't have been) so we also toured the house in detail. The place is a mess. We'll have to have it almost totally repainted. The doors looked like they've been primer-ed only. Whoever last painted it slopped paint all over. They patched the wall in one place and didn't even repaint the patch. Some of the trim in the closets isn't painted at all.
The workmanship on the kitchen counter is nothing short of crap. The best thing that can be done with the shed in back is to tear it down. When I went into the attic I found that a bathroom fan was vented into the attic rather than outside.
On the plus side it has a first class water treatment system. It doesn't seem to have Chinese sheet rock. I found an area that said "made in SA" and had a UL stamp. I may be able to park the trailer in an existing parking space rather than behind. In either case it won't be easy to get it in there.
On the way home we told the realtor to offer $300,000 on the first house, last offer. I don't think that they'll take it, but we have to try. We still have to decide if we'll ask more off for the second house since we now know we'll have to paint the whole thing.
The dog spent the whole day in the trailer - at least 7 or 8 hours. She was woofing with joy when we got home. However, it was sunny and cold (42 degrees) so we didn't take her anywhere.
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