Day 1984

 We got up at 7:30, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  Then I went outside to hook up the trailer.  I unhooked the water and then got into the truck to hitch it up.  When I started it the check engine light was on.  I restarted it a couple of times, but the light stayed on.

A short aside.  Yesterday we had REALLY bad mileage, 6.5 for most of the trip.  We put it down to a strong headwind.  Also, the soot level kept varying from 85% to 75%.  It never got higher or lower.

Luckily there was a GMC dealership just down the road.  I got the truck there about 8.  They took it and had me sit in the waiting room.  About 9:30 the service manager called me to his deck.  He said the catalytic convertor had been clogged.  They did a manual regen and that cleaned it all out.  He said if it happens again I'll need a new catalytic convertor.  There was no charge.

I went back to the park and we were on the road by 10.  The trip itself was pretty uneventful.  The Oklahoma and Nebraska secondary roads are really bumpy in places.  Twice we had to stop for road construction.  That cost us 20 minutes.  We were also slowed by the many small towns we had to go through.  I even had to stop once to tighten the trailer light connection.  We finally made it to Grand Island just about 5.  So it took 7 hours to go the 365 miles - not even a 55 mph average.

I kept a close watch on the soot level.  It got up to 33%.  Then it went down to 31% just before we stopped.  I hope that it either starts to rise in the usual manner, or does a regen to go back to 0.  Anything else is probably a symptom of something bad.

One good news was that the mileage got up to 11.  There was a small tailwind at times.

When we got to the park it was an easy set up.  I was really tired.  I had a HEB salad for dinner and then watched TV and surfed.

Day 1983

 We got up at 7:30, did the pet stuff, had breakfast, hooked up the trailer, and were on the road by 8:30.  It was raining pretty hard.  In fact, it rained for the first 200+ miles of the trip.  The truck and trailer are covered with guck.

The day was filled with small pains in the ass.  We had a strong headwind all of the way.  The best mileage we got was 7.8.  Most of the way it was about 6.5.  I actually had to stop twice to get fuel.  To make it worse, both times it cost over $3/gal.

At one point Ellen told me to take a short cut.  She didn't tell me whether to turn right or left.  I turned the wrong way on a road with nowhere to turn around.  That resulted in a multi-mile detour followed by driving through traffic in the outskirts of Abilene.  How to add time and miles to a 400 mile day.

The final gotcha was one of the stabilizing bolts on the bike rack coming loose.  I noticed it at a gas station, but forgot to fix it.  By the time I remembered we were on a long stretch of road with zero shoulders.  I drove 25 or 30 miles worrying about it falling off before I came to a place we could stop.  I tightened both bolts and will check them each day from now on.

We got to the campground about 4:15.  There was no sign, just parked trailers.  There was no one at the office and no one answered the phone.  One of the residents came by and told us to pick a place.  So we did.

I was tired.  I forgot to chock the tires when I unhooked and almost pulled the front jacks off their pads.  I had to rehitch and back up to try again.

We left after unhooking to go to Wally World.  We got fuel and some more DEF.  We burned a whole box today.  Then we stopped at Arby's for dinner.  After dinner was surfing.  There's no TV here.

Day 1982

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The club didn't open until noon, so I started getting ready for tomorrow.

I went outside and set up recharging the camera.  That involved stringing an extension cord and then hooking up a charger.  The camera charge port was on the bottom of its base, so I had to unbolt the camera and reposition it.  Then I wrapped both the camera and the charger in plastic bags because it's supposed to rain tonight.

After that there wasn't anything to do except get out the stuff and load the truck.  So it was surfing and videos until noon.  Then we left for the club.  It was about a 20 minute drive.  When we got there we were the only customers.

It's an OK course, but the targets aren't very interesting.  All of the machines are set close to the road and the stand.  That makes for a lot of quartering away pairs.  We ended up shooting almost everything as doubles,, and it still wasn't interesting.  I finally started shooting backwards pairs just to add some fun.

We ate at DQ on the way home.  We also filled up with fuel.  When we got back I emptied the tanks.  That took a while, but it always done.  Back filling the black tank didn't seem to do much, probably because there wasn't that much grey water.

Dinner was leftover pizza.  After that was more videos.

Day 1981

 We go up about 8 the original plan was to do the wash and then go sightseeing.  Ellen went over to do the wash.  There was a lot of it.  I did a couple of small projects in the bathroom.  I glued down the toothbrush holder so that it wouldn't interfere with the towel.  I also installed a couple of cord holders to hold the hair dryer cord.  That way the dryer can be plugged in all of the time.

I got done long before Ellen did.  She actually had to wait to run loads until a machine freed up.  There were pinball machines in the play room, so I played a few games.

The wash was done about noon.  We had sandwiches for lunch.  Then we watched TV for a while.  I'd come to the realization that I just wanted to rest today.

That lasted for about an hour.  Then we decided to go to Petco for cat food.  It's a short drive from the park.  Lowe's was next door, so I ought what I needed to attach a second safety to the steps.  Ace was a short distance away, so we went there for some plexiglass.  The cats have been getting to the plants.

When we got home I got to work (so much for relaxation).  I cut two pieces of plexiglass for the existing enclosure.  One does a better job of blocking the back and the other is a lid.  Hopefully that takes care of the problem.  I also used the wired and ferrules I got at Lowe's to build a wire holder for the second safety pin for the stairs.  Then I bolted it on.  It looks pro if I do say so myself.

By then it was five.  I decided that was enough for the day.  Ellen fixed forxen chicken things for dinner.  After dinner was surfing and some videos.  We have lots left over before the data limit resets.

Day 1980

 We got up a little after Once we got p8.  We only needed to go 220 miles today, and I wanted to avoid the rush hour traffic.  After pet stuff and breakfast wee hooked up.  We left about 8:45.  Traffic was light all the way out of San Antonio.  There was a little bit of drama at the 1604/I10 interchange, mainly because the interchange design sucks.

Once we were north of Boerne the traffic thinned out.  It stayed that way until we got about 10 miles outside of San Angelo.  We had two minor things during the trip.  The one tire sensor still didn't work.  I stopped and replaced the battery, but it didn't help.  Also, I had a gut attack and had to stop a seond time to take a shit in the trailer.

We got to San Angelo a little after 1.  The park is near a place on the lake where Lucy used to swim.  It's made me sad all afternoon thinking about her and what we miss without her.  We unhooked and put DEF in the truck.  Then we went to HEB for bananas and Wally World for more DEF.  Then it was back to the trailer.

I didn't feel like doing anything else, so we surfed and watched TV for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Ellen fixed sausages for dinner.  After dinner was more TV.

Tomorrow we'll find something to do in San Angelo.

Day 1979

 We got up a little before 8, did the pet stuff, but didn't have breakfast.  Instead we drove about 7 miles up 1604 to a self service car wash.  Even though it was 8:30 on a Sunday there were several people washing their cars.  There were open spots though.

Ellen fed quarters into the machine while I washed the car.  Unfortunately we didn't see the brush.  That meant that we spent  more time washing than was necessary.  The truck also didn't get quite as clean.  It looks fine though, almost completely clean.  It'll get dirty tomorrow anyway.  It helped that we had a couple of dog towels to wipe it down with.

When we were done we drove back home.  We were doing to stop at a Jim's for breakfast, but it was packed.  When we got home there wasn't much to do.  We didn't shoot until 3:30.  We spent the time until then surfing.  Lunch was sandwiches.

We got to the club a little late.  We ended up using more time when Ellen needed to shit and I had to pick up a couple of prizes we won for filling out the vendor sheets.  We shot at a station as far from parking as it could be.  That meant a quick walk on a hot afternoon to get there in time.  We made it though.

The course was much easier than the other two.  I still didn't shoot particularly well.  I got hot and tired and lost 6 birds on the next to last station.  We'd been plagued by slow shooters in the two squads ahead of us all tournament.  They were so slow today that we were about the last squad finished on all three courses.

We hurried back to the main area to turn in the prize tickets we'd won.  Then we relaxed a little at the clubhouse before going home.  We didn't get home until 6:30.  I put everything away and aligned the truck for easy connection tomorrow.

We had pizza for dinner and then watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Day 1978

 There wasn't any reason to get up early, so we didn't.  After waking up, games, pet stuff, and breakfast it was a little after 10.  After that time I went outside for a couple of small jobs.  First I rearranged the basement.  It had been loaded in a hurry and needed to be organized.  Once it was there was plenty of room to put stuff if necessary.

The second job was to check for damage caused by the bikes.  There isn't any that I can see.  I even checked it with a level to make sure the mount hadn't been bent.  I'll probably do this a couple of more times in the future.

We shot at 1:00, so we loaded up and left about 12:15.  We got there in plenty of time.  It was sunny, hot (90), and windy.  Thankfully it wasn't humid.  I was actually pretty comfortable.  I sucked at the first two stations, just like yesterday.  After that I shot pretty well except for one station.  Ellen shot the same score she did yesterday.

When we were finished I started towards a car wash on Culebra.  On the way we saw long lines at every car wash we passed.  So we gave up on that before we got to 1604.  We went home and put the stuff away.  Then we went back to the club.  We sat around until their dinner.

Dinner was really good and included a bar.  It was at least as good as the food at nationals.  We ate with a couple of people from Houston.  It was fun talking with them.

They delayed the shooting exhibition, so we went home.  We watched TV and surfed for the evening.  We'll get up early tomorrow and see if we can find an uncrowded car wash.

Day 1977

 We woke up a little after 8.  We played games for a while because we didn't shoot until 10:30.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast followed by some surfing.  We loaded up the truck and left a little before 10.

We got to the club in plenty of time, parked and walked to our station.  Did I mention that it was raining?  It rained about half the time.  Sometimes it was light, and twice it was pretty heavy.  I was pretty wet by the time we were done.  It's a three day shoot, so we only shot 68 targets.  I shot OK except for two stations where I really sucked.  Ellen didn't do very well.

When were were finished we went back to the building area.  We had turn in our vendor signature sheets and a ticket Ellen had won.  We stopped at HEB for the makings of lunch.  Ellen stayed in the truck to guard the contents.  When I got back we decided to go back to Freddie's.  I like that place.  When we were finished we went to Rudy's to buy food for the future.  Then we went home.

By the time we got home it was 80 degrees and the clouds were disappearing.  We spent some time wiping the ammo that got wet, cleaning the guns, and hanging up wet clothes and gun bags.  Then we watched TV.  It kept getting sunnier and warmer.  The afternoon rotation had it great.

The truck is absolutely filthy from driving in the mud today.  I'm going to have to find some place to clean it tomorrow.

The rest of the day was TV and some surfing.  I really miss watching videos.

Day 1976

 We woke up a little after 8, got up and did the pet stuff.  Then I put the stuff in the truck and we went to the club.  The day was cold low 60's, with wind a light rain.

We got there early.  We stopped at the place where Ellen bought her glasses yesterday.  I got one of their glasses cases and a low light lens.  We also stopped at a gunsmith to drop off my Perazzi so it could get a new butt pad.  We got all of that done with about 20 minutes left before the start of the 20 gauge.

Ellen did pretty good.  I sucked.  The floaters were so bad that there were stations where I only hit 2 or 3.  I ran other stations when the floaters went away.  The weather sucked.  It was cold, windy, and misting for most of the time.  Towards the end the mist turned to light rain.

We went to lunch by 1604 after we finished.  We ate at a Freddie's.  I miss them.  We also stopped at a Lowe's to buy some screws to fix the gun cart.  Then it was back to the club.  We stopped at the gun cleaning guy.  He cleaned both 20 gauges.  We bought $200 worth of stuff from him.

Then we went back through the vendors.  We bought light weight gun covers for tomorrow.  It's supposed to rain cats and dogs for the next two days.  The covers will protect the guns in the cart.  We also bought a small case for all of the gun cleaning stuff we purchased.

By then it was time for a small social thing the shoot put on.  It was beer, wine, and some munchies.  It was pretty good.  We sat a while with a couple of the coaches from Hog Heaven.  Then it was home.

I was disappointed when we got home.  One evening of videos used 1.5 GB of data.  That means there won't be any videos until we get back to Austin.  Crap.  I surfed and had a few left overs for a late dinner.  Te rain started in earnest about 8.  Tomorrow is going to suck.

Day 1975

 I woke up about 8.  It was cold, in the 40's, and the wind was blowing hard.  Perfect weather for staying in bed and playing games.  After a while it was get up to do pet stuff and have breakfast.  There was no point in going to practice, so we went out to do errands instead.

The first stop was Petco for cat food.  We now have a two week supply.  There was a Best Buy next door.  They turned out to have the exact dash cam I wanted, so I bought one.  We installed it in the parking lot before we left.  We also needed some groceries, so we stopped at HEB on the way back.  It was almost noon, so we got sandwiches at Fireman's and took them home.

We ate lunch and then I got everything out.  We loaded up the truck and went to the club.  We both shot about 50 rounds.  I shot like I expected.  Pretty good when the floaters weren't there and sucky when they were.  Ellen shot pretty well.

After that we went shopping/fill in the vendor signup sheet.  I bought three Briley chokes for my 20 gauge.  I hate the no slot factory tubes.  I had a hard time removing them before we left.  Ellen bought some Pilla glasses.  She wanted no post wrap around glasses like I have.  They are great once you aren't wearing glasses regularly any more.

We also stopped by a place that has some cool gun cleaning stuff.  We'll probably buy some of it tomorrow.  By the time we were finished we only need one more sign in before we have fully signed entries.  We'll get that tomorrow.

After that we made a short stop at HEB for drinks and dinner stuff.  I got a salad and Ellen got a fruit dish.  We got home about 6.  The cats were hungry.

After dinner I got out Ellen's 20 ga.  It's choke tubes were stuck, too.  I managed to get one off with the factory stuck tube remover.  I couldn't move the other.  I finally had to pound the wrench into the choke and use a lever on the wrench to get the tube out.  That left me with a wrench stuck in the tube.  It took quite awhile, a lot of effort, and some tools to get it out.  It turns out that the tube had rusted in the barrel.

The only cleaning stuff I had was a little oil, two Blu sample cloths, and a small bottle of Seal.  Ellen got the job of using this to clean the chokes and the ends of the barrels.  I had to help her with the barrels.  They were filthy.  We finally got everything clean enough to use tomorrow.  The gun cleaner guy promised to give it a complete bath after we shoot.

After that it was some videos and then to bed.

Day 1974

 We woke up at 7:30, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  After that it was an hour of loading the final stuff into the trailer.  It went pretty well.  They only thing we seemed to have forgotten was some potato chips.

We actually finished early and sat around for a while before going to Ellen's doctor appointment.  While she was at the doctor I called up the cardiologist's office.  I told them we're leaving.  They looked up my test results and said that they were normal.  Unfortunately I'll have to wait until we get to Salem to get the ARA test.  Apparently it's important because it will show if there are blockages in my heart.

When we got home we started the final actions.  Ellen cleaned up the cat box and packaged up the final garbage.  I hooked up the trailer, put the charger on the car, and got everything ready for the pull test.  After that we got the cats, locked the house, turned off the water, and left.  I thought that getting out of the gate might be a problem because  of the bikes, but it wasn't.

The trip was OK.  The bike rack seemed to work well, as did the camera.  The only sticking point was one of the tire monitors didn't work, probably the battery.  We did run into a 6 mile traffic jam north of San Antonio.  It was a long time of stop and go.  We drove through San Antonio instead of 1604.  Traffic wasn't bad and it was a lot quicker.

Setting up the trailer took a while.  I'm really rusty.  I forgot a couple of things, but Ellen reminded me.  When it was done we went to the club.  We stopped at a Jersey Mike's for lunch first.  After that we drove to the club, registered, and purchased some ammo.  The place was basically deserted.

There wasn't anything else to do, so we went back home.  I sat in the recliner and went to sleep.  I woke up for a late dinner - a leftover hot dog.  After that it was some TV, games, and videos.  All in all today went about as well as it could.

Day 1973

 I woke up at 7, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was off to work.

Ellen cleaned the bathroom and shower.  While she was doing that I was loading ammo into the truck and guns into their cases.  That took a lot longer than planned because I found that the chokes in my 20 ga were stuck.  I had to unstick them and then give the gun a bath.  Of course that takes a long time.

When I got done with that there were a whole lot if miscellaneous things to move to the trailer.  Things like gun bags, drugs, underwear, etc.  That involved a lot of trips between the house and the trailer.

Eventually Ellen got done with cleaning and I ran out of things to move.  We went outside to load the bikes on the trailer.  The cable lock I had was a little short.  We needed diesel anyway, so we left for fuel, a bike lock, and lunch.  We got the diesel at the Standard on Brodie, the lock at Academy, and lunch at Craig O's.  The last stop was the post office.

Our property tax bill was in the mailbox.  They now value the property at $635,000.  Och.

When we got home we put the new lock on the bikes and covered them.  That finishes that job.  I'd been messing with the trailer wheel zerk covers all day.  The glue didn't dry.  I finally used a hair dryer on them.  That and more time air drying did the trick.  I put them on the trailer.

I called the cardiologist's off ice about the second set of test they scheduled for next week.  They said forget it.  They also mentioned that I was supposed to get more tests from ARA.  They never called me, and I forgot to follow up.  So those test aren't going to be done.  I'll have to contact them on what they want to do.  I had to go through a whole bunch of rigamarole to logging into a new reporting system to find this out.  

Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  Then we started moving the contents of the refrigerator.  I did that while she cleaned the refrigerator.  We also packed up the garbage.  That's about all we can do for tonight.

Day 1972

 I woke up about 8, played some games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The weather wasn't good - 50 degree and windy.  So I started out by taking some stuff to the trailer.  It was mainly clothes.  I also replenished the batteries and moved the plants.  That involved replacing the door of the cat shied with the one used in the trailer.

The next task was mowing the lawn.  That went a little faster than usual because the grass wasn't really high.  It was still dusty and unpleasant though.  While I was doing that Ellen was washing and waxing the car.  She was still working when I got finished mowing.  I went on to a little landscaping.

I'd noticed a 3.5 foot thistle in the back of the side yard when I was mowing.  In years past I've spent considerable time, effort, and weed killer eradicating them from the yard.  I didn't want this one to spend the summer reproducing, so I dug it up.  I also cut back the wisteria.  It had almost blocked the entrance to the deck.

Then next job was the trailer tires.  I uncovered them, aired them up, torqued the lug nuts, and greased the wheel bearings.  By then I was really tired.  Unfortunately Ellen had the shits, so she hadn't cleaned the car's interior.  So I did.  Luckily she was off the can by the time I was done so she could give me a haircut.

All this work completed the things on today's todo list.  There's still a lot to do tomorrow, but it should be manageable.  I' just hoping that those heart tests come out OK.  My chest is really sore tonight, but it could just be either heartburn or muscle ache.

We went to pick up some drugs at CVS and then came right back home.  We took the truck because the car is now in the garage.

Ellen fixed hamburgers for dinner.  After dinner it was videos.  I was sure glad for the chance to sit down for a while.

Day 1971

 I woke up about 8, did some game playing, and then go up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I want to say that the combination of wall to all doctor appointments and daily get ready to leave activities have just tired me out.

As soon as breakfast was over Ellen and I started moving stuff into the trailer.  This is all of the non-critical stuff like pantry contents, cameras, extra toiletries, extra pet food, etc.  We also took some time to go over the boxes under the bathroom sink.  We got rid of a lot of duplicated and out of date stuff.  By the time we were finished we'd emptied 2 of the boxes.

Ellen started deep cleaning the trailer while I started work on the Ranger.  I put the doors on and connected the battery.  It started right up.  I let it warm up a little and then took it on a ride around the neighborhood.  It seemed to work really well.  When I got back I parked it in the truck spot.

I'd gotten a picture out of the house that Patty had painted.  We decided to put it in the trailer.  When I went back to the trailer Ellen was sitting trying to untangle a huge amount of hair from the vacuum.  I told her to locate the picture while I worked on the vacuum.  I took it to the garage and used scissors, a knife, and wire cutters to cut away all of the hair it was quite a job.

When I brought back the vacuum I hung the picture in the trailer kitchen.  It looks great.  Then we packed up and went back to the house.

We started cleaning the house.  I dusted the kitchen and dining room.  Ellen cleaned the kitchen.  By then it was after 1.  We called a halt and went to Belterra for cat food and lunch at the BBQ place.  It was really good.

When we got back I finished the dusting and Ellen vacuumed.  The house is now all clean except for the master bath.  We might wait until Monday to do that.

After that it was a nap followed by leftovers for dinner.  After dinner was videos.

Day 1970

 I got up at 6:15 today, did the pet stuff, and then left for the doctor.  I made really good time.  There wasn't a lot of traffic that early and what traffic there was was moving fast.  I passed the Slaughter exit doing 80 and I was getting passed.

That meant that I got to the doctor before 7 for my 7:15 appointment.  They didn't unlock the doors until 7:15.  When they did I went in and sat down for a while.  They called me in and I filled out paperwork.  After that it was into the exam room.  I took off my shirt and laid down on a table.  The tech spent about 20 minutes running the ultrasound wand over my chest.  When he was done I wiped off the paste, put on my shirt, and went home.

Ellen was just getting up when I got home.  I took the baskets I'd received yesterday out to the trailer and installed them in the bathroom in the trailer.  It took a little bit of doing, but I think that they are going to work great.

After that I watched videos until it was time to leave for my 12:15 appointment.  Ellen decided to come with me.  Again traffic was fairly light and we arrived a little early.  That meant I got to sit in the lobby until the paperwork lady called me in.  I filled out the paperwork and then got sent back to the lobby.  Eventually they called me back in.  They explained the procedure, put in an IV, and sat me back down in the lobby while the drug was administered.

After more waiting they put me in an imaging machine  The machine was basically an emitter and a receiver mounted on a ring.  There was a chair mounted in the middle of the ring.  I sat in the chair and it rotated through about 90 degrees.  The process took 15 minutes or so.  After that, you guessed it, back to the lobby.

The next step was the treadmill.  They hooked me up to a 12 lead ECG and a BP cuff.  I also got another IV.  They ran me on a treadmill for 5 minutes,  raising my heart rate to about 140.  It wasn't that bad, but my calves got really tired.  When that was finished it was back to the lobby.

One note about my blood pressure.  It was 142 over 70 something.  Obviously I shouldn't let them take my blood pressure when I've just arrived, or when I'm stressed talking to someone.

After another lobby stint it was back to the imaging machine for a repeat of the first test.  When that was done I was free to go.  On the way out I found a $100 bill on the floor of the elevator.  I took it back to the office and told them to put it in the lost and found.

It was 3:30 when we left.  Ellen had gone to Central Market.  We went back there and to the clothing store next door.  For some reason I wasn't very hungry even though I hadn't eaten since yesterday evening.  We stopped at the post office on the way home.  290 was jammed, so we went the back way home.

About the time we left the post office I started to get the urge to piss and shit.  My guts had this weird warm feeling.  I wasn't going to make it home.  I barely made it halfway home to the yogurt shop.  I went inside and purged myself.  Then we went home.

I was 5 when we got home.  I put away the groceries and was feeding the cats when the urge hit again.  I had to stop fixing the cat food and hit the can again.  It was brutal.  Fortunately I started feeling better a little after that.  This was the worst part of the whole test.  I now understand why they kept asking me if I had to go to the can during the test.

We had tuna burgers that we'd got at Central Market for dinner.  They were pretty good.  After dinner was videos.

Tomorrow it's back to getting ready to leave.  It rained again today, so I hope it dries out at least one day so I can mow the lawn.

Day 1969

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  After that it was time to go to the Urologist.  The upshot was that my PSA is essentially unchanged.  It's still above normal though.  One disappointing thing was that my blood pressure was 162.  I was hoping that the drugs were controlling it better than that.

I stopped at the post office on the way home.  One of the letters was from SEI.  The account value has gone up about 600K in the first quarter of the year.

When I got home Ellen was cleaning her shotgun in the garage.  I took the mower battery out of the mower and put it on the charger.  Then I moved the bicycle stuff and some other things into the trailer.  Ellen turned on the refrigerator.

I also cut a bunch of dead branches off the tree by the parking space.  They made it look so ratty.  Now it looks nice.  When that was done I went back inside for videos and lunch.  There wasn't anything else to do until the battery was charged.

When the battery was charged I put it back in the mower.  I also gassed it up and put in some Stabil.  I put the rest of the Stabil in the Audi.  I also put the charger on the Ranger.  I took it off later when its battery was charged.

Cooper got out again.  He jumped from the stools out the door when I only had it opened a crack.  I chased him down easily though.  This does not bode well for our trip.

I'd gotten all the things on my schedule done today as well as some other stuff.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on videos.  Ellen fixed Costco dogs for dinner.

Tomorrow is kind of a write off.  I expect to spend the whole day on doctor visits.

Day 1968

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was get up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast Ellen and I went out to do today's activities.

The first thing we did was a full dress rehearsal of loading the bikes.  We put the bikes on the rack, tied them down, and put the cover over them.  I added one more ratchet strap to one end of the rack.  I think it's ready to go.

When that was done I worked on attaching the camera to the ladder while Ellen worked on getting it to work.  We were both successful.  I used some bolts and mending plates to mount the camera.  Ellen got the new MiFi to talk to both the camera and her phone in the truck.  I think that's ready for the road, too.

By then it was after 1 and lunch time.  I ate the last of the Rudy's.  After lunch I did a little surfing.  Then we left to go to Costco.  We bought water, food, and drugs for the road.  We were both thirsty, so on the way home we stopped for shave ice.  We got there just as they opened.  By the time we finished our shave ice there was a line.

The new sewer connection was at the gate, so I put it on the trailer - a two minute job.  It looks heavy duty.  I hope it works as well as YouTube says it does.  I also put together a new windmill we got at Costco.

Cooper got out when I opened the back door to pick up tools.  I'd kicked him out of the way, but he managed to zoom out.  Luckily he didn't go far and seemed to want to go back inside once we chased him down.  It's the first time he's escaped in a long time.

I was really hot and sweaty, so I took a shower.  After that Ellen fixed a chicken dinner that we'd bought at Costco.

After dinner was videos.

Day 1967

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games for awhile.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  

My main goal for today was to finish with the all-in-one.  I made a second backup of the files on the disk and then wiped the disk.  That took quite a while.  Then I removed the disk from the computer.  When that was done we took the computer to Best Buy for recycling.

The next stop was Verizon.  We changed the small tablet's account over to a 5G MiFi.  It's expensive, but it should work a lot better.  By then it was lunch time, so we went to Doc's backyard.  While we were ther we set up the MiFi and the small tablet to make sure everything was working correctly.

After lunch we stopped at Home Depot so I could get something to attach the flamingo to the side of the trailer basement.  Then it was home.

When we got home I went to the garage and put the attachments on the trailer basement.  They worked great.  I also put away all of the junk that I'd put in the Ranger's cab.  When that was done I finished up the work of retiring the all-in-one.  I switched cases of the two laptops.  Then I mad backups of all of the small USB drives on two large ones.  All of the computers are now ready for the trip.

That's pretty much all of the work for today.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on videos.  Ellen went to Hog Heaven so I had a frozen dinner for dinner.  It wasn't very good.

Day 1966

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast we sat down to do trip planning.  It took the whole morning.

The trip plan was a little complex because we did want to hit some sporting clays places on days they were open.  We also wanted to see two new tourist spots - the Custer national monument and the dinosaur national monument.  Everything worked out well.  There's still a few free days at the end that can always be spent at Richland if necessary.

After lunch I went to see the cardiologist.  The news wasn't good.  My blood pressure was high, probably because I was agitated.  Anyway the doctor said that there is a possibility that the chest tightness is the result of high blood pressure and a partial blockage.  Not good.  He wanted an ultrasound and a stress test.  The problem is we leave in less than 10 days.

When I left I thought the doctor's office was going to make appointments and the imaging place would call me.  However, when I got home there was an email that said call the imaging place.  So I did  The problem was the phone number on the email was the wrong one.  Fortunately the person I got a hold of was great.  She looked me up and moved heaven and earth to get me appointments on Friday.

Friday is going to be fun.  The first appointment is at 7:30 AM.  Apparently it's short.  The second is at 12:30 PM.  It's several hours long.  To top things off I can't eat anything until after the second test is over.  Then I get to wait until probably Monday or Tuesday to see if I need an operation.

After I got off the phone with the scheduler I got two text messages from the imaging place asking me to confirm appointments for the 29th (the day we plan on leaving San Antonio).  I called the inaging place back, but they were closed until tomorrow.  More stress.  Then I checked my email and there were two messages asking me to confirm the Friday appointments.  Of course I did.  I'll have to try to sort things out tomorrow.

I did get the CMOS battery for the all-in-one.  I installed it and now the BIOS boots normally.  Unfortunately it reports that the main battery has failed.  I think I'll junk the computer.  I'll probably pull the drive and shit can it rather than giving it to Goodwill.

Ellen got the rear camera for the trailer working, but the signal from the tablet is weak to unusable.  We'll probably replace it with a puck tomorrow.

Dinner was a HEB salad.  The evening was spent on videos.

Day 1965

 I woke up at 7:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I started working on pictures.  It too several hours, but I finally got through all of the pictures.

Once that was done I started working on the all-in-one.  I deleted some files and archived everything onto a SD card.  I made sure everything was updated and then I turned it off.  It took a while to find a start bit small enough to open up the case.  Then I went looking for the RTC battery.  It wasn't where it was supposed to be.  It had slipped off its mount and glued itself to some chips on a circuit board.  I didn't want to pry it off, so I just put everything back together.  Then I ordered a new battery from Amazon.

It was after one and I was tired of working, so we went to the post office and lunch.  After that was HEB and yogurt.  On of the items in the mail was a form from Mom's life insurance company that I have to fill out and send to Hooch.  I did that when we got home.

I was just too burned out to do any trip planning.  I watched videos instead and fell asleep in front of one.  Ellen woke me up with sausage for dinner.

After dinner I watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Day 1964

 I woke up before 8, but played games for over an hour before getting up.  After breakfast I went outside to work on the bike rack.  I started by cutting the threaded rods to size.  If they were 2 inches shorter I could have used one instead of two.  When I got them installed they definitely made a difference.  I also added reinforcements to the center post.  Now it doesn't wiggle.  That ends my work on the rack.

When I got back inside I spent a lot of time looking for a camera for the back of the trailer.  I didn't find one that I liked.  So I had lunch instead.

When lunch was done I went to the truck and got the CTS2.  I hooked it up to the computer and started an update.  It took a long time.  When it was done I took it back to the truck.  When I turned on the CTS2 it said turn on the truck.  When I did the CTS2 reported a OBDII error and asked if I wanted to continue.  I said yes.  It completed the startup but didn't display many PIDs and wouldn't turn off when I turned off the truck.  I messed around for awhile (including a factory reset) and finally figured out that it meant turn on the ignition, but don't start the truck.  When I did that everything worked normally.  I still had to reenter the PIDs I wanted to look at.  It took a long time because their UI sucks.  I did get some new ones I wanted though.

After that I went back to sorting pictures.  I worked for hours.  I've gone through well over a thousand pictures and cataloged 475 of them.  I have a lot to go.  I just got tired and quit.  I started working on the trip plan instead.  I didn't get very far because I just didn't have much energy for it.  I do have a couple of ideas that I'll expand on tomorrow.

The next thing was to look at the investments.  I couldn't find the right password file, so I turned on the Surface machine.  I'd only given it a password, but it wanted a PIN.  Whatever the PIN was I didn't have it.  To make things more fun the thing kept turning itself off if it hadn't seen a key stroke in 60 seconds.  It took a whole lot of work including signing onto Microsoft (I forgot that password, too), emails from Microsoft, and many reboots to sort everything out.  Now it has a PIN and is updated for the trip.

Ellen fixed pizza for dinner.  After dinner I decided to deal with an old email telling me to set up a health insurance account.  That was another hassle.  The stupid website didn't like the user name I chose.  It just wouldn't tell me that.  It just refused to set up the account.  I finally figured that out.  When I logged on the data the site gives me really isn't useful.

During the Surface fiasco I found the current password file.  I made a copy on the Surface.  That allowed me to look at the financial report, something I'd started to do hours before.

To cap off today's hassle factor on two occasions we couldn't find Cooper.  We couldn't figure out how he would have gotten out.  It turns out that he was on the shelf above the washer and dryer.  The first time he was near the edge.  The second time he was hiding where we couldn't see him.  He's a piece of shit.

I didn't get done with all the BS until after 9.  The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 1963

 I got up at 9, got dressed, and left for the doctor.  I got there at 9:30.  My blood pressure is much better.  They took my blood to check the kidney function.

When that was done I went to Home Depot for caulk.  I also bought a couple of threaded couplers.  I've given up on the ones from Amazon.  They've clearly shipped them USPS, which means there's no telling when they will show up.

I hadn't eaten anything, so I went to Central Market for a couple of pastries.  Then I went to the Urologist.  That was a quick stop, they only needed to do a blood draw.

I got back about noon.  I had lunch and then went out to work.  I used red locktite to attach the couplers to the U bolt halves.  Then I went out to the trailer.  I caulked the shower.  I tried to get the AC vents off the ceiling, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.  Then I opened up the garage and installed hooks so I could stand up the DirecTV dish.

Crawling inside the basement was hard.  It was so hot that by the time I was done there was a puddle of sweat on the floor.  I took a shower when I got back in the house.

After the shower I was tired, but I wanted to get some more accomplished.  I spent over an hour doing pictures.  I got almost done before I ran out of gas.  I need to update the CTS2, but it was just too much work.  There's always tomorrow.

I sat down to read and fell asleep.  Ellen woke me up with steak for dinner.  I'm a little video'd out, so I spent most of the evening watching TV.  I'm sick of hours and hours of chick flicks.

Day 1962

The doctor woke me up at 7:30.  They wanted to reschedule my appointment.  I had to get up to check when my other one was.  When I was finished with them I decided to play games for a while and then get up for breakfast and pet stuff.

After breakfast I spent a couple of hours sorting pictures from the all-in -one.  I went through almost 500.  I have a lot more to do, but I was tired of pictures.  I went outside to work on the trailer instead.

I cleaned all of the old sealer off the bottom of the shower door.  It took a while.  I had to scrape it all off with a tool.  I thought I had some sealer, but I didn't.  I'll have to get some tomorrow.  When that was done I worked a little in the basement.  I put a new tie on the water hose.  I also tied the trailer and DirecTV tripods to the wall.  Finally, I repackaged the shower seals to make them easier to store.

When that was done I went back to the house for lunch, BBQ sandwich.  After lunch I watched videos and surfed until it was time to take Ellen to the doctor.  It was at the Balcone site.  We went up at 3:30 and southbound traffic was already backed up from there to 360.

Ellen's appointment lasted until 5.  Traffic sucked, so we ate dinner at a restaurant near the doctor.  When we were finished traffic still sucked.  So we took 2222 over to 360 and 360 to loop 1.  We stopped at the post office on the way home.

When I got home I texted Lee.   He and his daughter came over.  I gave her $120.  Lee and I had a good conversation while she stood by getting bored.  She's tall now, almost 6 feet.  Lee showed me how he'd pulled the circuit breaker on the apartment AC.  It was the one outside.  I'd misunderstood him.  The AC is definitely dead.  I'll need to get it fixed when we return.

After we were done talking I spent the rest of the evening surfing (not videos).

Day 1961

 I woke up at 8 and played games for about a hour.  Then it was up for breakfast.  After breakfast the first order of business was to plan the remaining time before we leave.  There's not a lot of it.

I made a new file with dates and stuff that needs to be done.  A lot of days have doctor appointments.  Other days have the standard things that we do every year.  Today had some minor stuff to do at home and some stuff that we needed to buy.

I started out doing the stuff at home.  I started by cleaning out the shower drain (it was almost plugged) and putting out the garbage.  The rest involved some work in the garage and some more in the apartment.  Nothing was hard or complicated, but it all took time.  There was more stuff to do in the trailer.  I needed to put some stuff away and also move some stuff into it.

I went back into the house and watched videos for a little while.  It was getting hot (over 90) and I ddin't feel like working outside anymore.  We left to buy stuff about 1.

The first stop was a Chinese place for lunch.  There was enough food that we both took home dinner.  Then we stopped at Lowe's to buy the rest of the hardware I needed to finish the rack.  They didn't have the threaded rod, so we had to go to Home Depot, too.  The last stop was the yogurt place.  It was hot.

It was 4:30 and over 90 degrees when we got home.  It was humid, too.  I went outside anyway and did a little more work on the rack using the parts I'd just bought.  I can't do anything more until the parts from Amazon come.

It was really hot in the house, so I turned on the AC.  It worked fine (Yeah).  Unfortunately my fix for the guest toilet didn't.  I'm not sure what to do there.

Dinner was leftover Chinese.  After dinner was videos and adding things to my day to day work schedule.

Day 1960

 I woke up about 8 and played games for about 45 minutes.  Then it was time to get up for breakfast.  After breakfast it was a little bit of video time before going to the eye doctor.

The visit took two hours.  Half of that was just waiting around.  Apparently my lenses have the same problem as Ellen's - cells growing on them.  I made an appointment to get them fixed in November.  The GMC dealer called while we were driving to the doctor.  That was good timing - we continued up to the dealership to pick up the MAP sensor.

We stopped at Rudy's on the way back from the dealership.  It's just down the block.  We got stopped in a short traffic jam on the way home.  Some asshole was hauling a mattress in his pickup truck.  He hadn't tied it down and it flew out on the road.  All lanes were stopped while they cleaned up the mess.

The last stop was the post office.  When we got home the Bob called.  He wanted to brag about his new car - a 2014 AMG Mercedes.  I've been bugging him about replacing his 25 year old BMW for years.

I played video games until Ellen left for Hog Heaven.  Some parts had come from Amazon.  I went out to the trailer and garage.  I installed some magnetic strips in the trailer.  The I went to the garage and fabricated the brackets for the bicycle rack reinforcement.  I drilled the holes in a pair of angle brackets out larger.   Then I shortened one of the ends on both.

I'll need to buy threaded rods and bolts to finish the project.  Maybe tomorrow.

I took a shower after that because it was 87 degrees and humid.  Ellen fixed sloppy joes for dinner.  After dinner she watched chick flicks and I watched videos.

Day 1959

 I stayed in bed for quite awhile today.  There was nothing to do in terms of projects and we couldn't go anywhere because in the afternoon we had an oil change appointment.  So, after breakfast, that meant videos.  Lots and lots of videos.

The appointment was at 2, so we left a little after 1.  Traffic was OK, and moving really quickly.  That meant we got there about 15 minutes early.

The service guy said it would take a while because there was a software update to do.  While we waited I went over to get a spare MAP sensor for the truck.  The first guy said the truck didn't have one.  Bullshit.  I looked it up on my tablet and found the part number.   I went back and talked to another guy.  He couldn't find that part number, but found the number for the updated part.  They charged me about 50% more than the part should have been.

I have to pick up the part tomorrow.  So I went back and waited with Ellen.  The truck was done about 4.  We hit a little traffic on the way back, but it wasn't horrendous.  Since we hadn't had lunch we stopped at Longhorn on the way back.  When dinner was done there were stops at Petco and HEB.  Going into a pet store makes me sad.  I really miss having Lucy and getting her treats.

It was 6:30 by the time we got home.  The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 1958

I woke up at 8 and fed the cats.  Then I went back to sleep.  Later I woke up and played games.  I didn't get out of bed until a little after 10.  Then it was breakfast.  Talk about the life of the retired.

After breakfast it was a few videos and then we both went outside to load the bikes on the bicycle rack.  We hooked them up like we would to travel with them.  The rack just wasn't as stable as I wanted it to be.  So I decided to exchange the 1/4 inch threaded rod I installed for 1/2 inch rod.  That meant another trip to Lowe's.

Unfortunately Lowe's was closed because it's Easter.  Luckily Home Depot was open and they had what I wanted.  We stopped at the post office and Mickey D's on the way home.

When we got home I got to work on the rack.  I removed the 1/4 rod.  I also removed the brackets and drilled large holes in them.  When I went to install the new rods there was a problem.  One of the brackets wasn't low enough to clear the larger rod.  I spent quite awhile enlarging the holes so everything would fit.  The other rod had a problem attaching the bracket, but it wasn't as big a deal.

Once the new rods were on I reconnected the ratchet straps.  Ellen and I spent quite a while repositioning them looking for the best connection points.  Eventually we settled on a configuration.  It could be improved by replacing two of the straps with rods.  I put away all of the tools, cleaned up, and went back inside to order stuff on Amazon.  I'll have to get more rod from Lowe's.

Ellen said that the flapper valve on the guest toilet was leaking.  I spent a little time thoroughly cleaning the flap and the base it seals to.  They were both covered with crap.  I don't know if it was organic or just stuff from the well.  Hopefully that will fix the problem.

Ellen fixed some frozen chicken and rolls for dinner.  She's starting to empty the freezer.  We'll be leaving in a little over two weeks.

The rest of the evening was videos.  Tomorrow is the first of the "we're leaving" activities.  The truck is getting an oil change.

Day 1957

 I woke up today at 8, to a thunderstorm.  It rained for a couple of hours - a total of .25 inch.  I played games for awhile and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I watched videos and the rain.

It was also cold - under 60.  That put a stop to doing anything outside.  There was a shoot in Marble Falls, but we could see on the weather  map that it was raining up there, too.

Most of the day was videos.  It was enjoyable.  In the afternoon it cleared up enough for me to go out and work on the bicycle rack.  I cut the long threaded rod into two pieces and bolted them in place.  Having the rods anchored at both ends added the stiffness I was looking for.  I'll load the bikes on for a final test, bt I think it's ready for travel.

After that it was back to the house for more videos.  That was it for the rest of the day and evening.

Day 1956

 I stayed in bed until almost 10 playing games. Then it was up for breakfast and a few videos.  I wanted to go bicycle riding, but Ellen refused to go.  She went out to trim bushes and I decided to mount the bike rack on the trailer.  I needed to make sure that it would all work before we left.

From using it on the truck I new that the rack would need to be stabilized.  I thought I  could use ratchet straps to do it.  They improved it, but they weren't the complete solution.  I decided that some threaded rod bolted to the rack would do the job.  I made some brackets to attach it.  That was quite a job, since it involved cutting three pieces of 1/8 inch steel.

When the brackets were done we went to Lowe's for the rod.  I hadn't eaten lunch and it was 5, so we stopped at Cheddar's.  Then it was back home.

I wentl back to the trailer and installed the rod.  Unfortunately it didn't work as well as I thought it would.  I need a plan B.  I just don't know what that is right now.

The rest of the evening was videos and TV.

The first thing I'd done in the morning was check the pressure tank.  It had been empty last evening.  This morning it had water in it.  I'm not sure if it was full, because I don't know what it feels like then.  The pressure was 55 psi instead of the normal 45 psi.  I think that last night it was on the verge of being filled and this morning it was near full.  Everything is working fine, so I guess we're OK.

Day 1955

 I woke up a little after 8, but played games until almost 10.  Then it was breakfast.  After breakfast I tried to get Ellen to go bicycling.  She wouldn't, but she did want to go shooting.  So that's what we did.

It was a perfect day to shoot.  They even gave us a free cart because we bought a bunch of targets.  We now have a couple of year's worth of targets.  We shot OK.  Ellen's really improved.  I had my moments, but I'm really suffering from the combination oaf lack of practice and floaters.

We spent a lot of time at the club.  On the way home we stopped for a really late lunch at Domino's.  We did get home in time for Ellen to go to Hog Heaven.  I sat out on the deck reading.

Dinner wa a leftover hot dog.  After dinner was a bunch of videos.

One good thing.  I texted Lee and he said that his daughter will watch the house.  I was worried that the divorce would put a stop to that.  Apparently they are sharing the daughter.