Day 2346

 We woke up at 8, had breakfast (no pet stuff), hooked up the trailer and left for Midland.

The whole 250 mile trip was on Interstate 20.  We had a partial to full headwind all the way.  It didn't help the mileage, 8 mpg.  When we got to Midland I only had 6 gallons left in the tank.  Other than that it was an uneventful trip.  Perfect. 

We parked the trailer about 1.  It was 97 degrees.  We immediately went fuel and go to HEB.  The cheapest fuel we could find was $4.99.  Most of it was $5.29.  Fuck Biden.

When we got out of the HEB the soot level was 99%.  I got on the freeway and drove up and down it until the regen was over.  It took about 25 miles and two gallons of diesel.  Fuck Biden.  Then we went home.

We spent the rest of the afternoon surfing.  Ellen fixed steak for dinner.  After dinner it was more surfing and some TV.

The club doesn't open up until 10 tomorrow, so we won't have to get up early.

Day 2345

 We woke up at 7:30, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  It was a little early to go to the shoot, so we killed time surfing.  We left just about 8:30 and got there in 5 minutes.

We signed in and had a donut.  Then we went down to watch them teach the newbies.  It was kind of fun.  Bobby is a card when he's working with them.

About 9:45 mark started is safety speech.  Then they passed out the clipboards and we went to the starting station.  I'm glad we had a cart.  I'd taken Tylenol, but it wasn't helping a lot.

Our squad had 5 people.  Two of them were new shooters.  The other had shot some and was maybe a B shooter.  The day was cloudy with a little wind.  That made it comfortable.  The course was pretty easy except for 2 or three challenging stations.  One good thing was that we got to shoot the flurry twice.  It was a team event.  I wish we'd had more good shooters.

Lunch after the shoot was pretty good - brisket, potato salad, and banana pudding.  After that was the usual drawing.  We won this big Yeti style ice chest.  Fortunately they're going to ship it to us.  There's no way we could fit it in the trailer.

I topped off the truck tank on the way home, 2.5 gallons.  That should give me plenty to get to Midland tomorrow with no stop and no worries.  When we got home I drained the tanks.  The gray tanks had a lot more water in them than I expected.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was surfing.  Ellen fixed pork chops for dinner.  I'm not planning on getting up really early tomorrow.  It's only 250 miles to Midland.

Day 2344

 I woke up about 8 and played games until after 9.  I was just waiting for it to warm up enough to go shooting.  After getting up, pet stuff, breakfast, and loading the truck we went to the club.

We stopped and talked with the shoot for the cure people for awhile.  Mark has a whole lot of people doing this one.  Then we went up to the castle to sign in to shoot.

The place is really impressive.  It's at the top of a hill with panoramic views.  We got a card and a cart and went shooting.  We didn't buy ammo - it was $15/box.  The course was hilly so the cart was mandatory.  It was somewhat challenging, but nothing compared to San Antonio.  My back was improved, but it was still painful, especially when I was getting in and out of the cart.

When we got back we said hi to Mark, he was busy earlier.  He promised us a cart tomorrow.  Yeah.  It was about 1 when we were done, so we went to the restaurant next door.  It was really good - down home Texas food.

The last stop was a museum that covered the history of the town that used to be there.  It was named Thurber and at its height had 10,000 people.  It was a company town based on coal mining and brick laying.  When they closed down the company sold all the buildings in town.  All that,s left are about 3 buildings and a 140 foot brick chimney.  It's impressive.

The museum was really good.  It covered the whole 50 year history of the town.  We spent over an hour there.

When we got home it was surfing.  Ellen didn't want to cook, so I had a frozen dinner.  After dinner was all surfing.

Day 2343

 I woke up about 8.  It was another bad night.  I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I hurt really bad.  Standing hurt, walking hurt, and bending over was right out.  I decided that I would do nothing today in hopes that my back would get better.

So I did nothing.  Ellen did the wash.  It took all morning because there was only one washing machine and one dryer.  Apparently the washer didn't work very well.

I spent the day surfing.  The only times I left the trailer was to go to the can.  Ellen helped a litte with the pain.  She put on CBD and later lidocaine.  They helped a little.  I'm not sure if it was drugs or not, but there was a slight improvement over the day.  It still hurts a lot though.

The only thing I really accomplished was finishing going through the will.  I wrote up the changes I wanted and sent them to Ellen to give to the lawyer.

The day is kind of a blur.  I can't even remember what I had for lunch.  Ellen fixed chicken tenders for dinner.  

After dinner I was totally sick of surfing.  I put on a couple of DVD's and watched them.

Day 2342

 I woke up at 7:30.  I had a terrible night.  My back woke me up in pain any time I moved.  At 7:30 I just gave up trying to sleep.  I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I didn't want to leave until 9 to escape traffic.  We killed some time surfing and started to pack up at 8:30.

We were on the road a little after 9.  Traffic out of San Antonio wasn't bad.  There was a wait for the construction on 281, but it wasn't as long as when we came in last week.  Once we were past that it was clear sailing.  Most of the time the road was either 4 lanes, or two lanes with frequent passing lanes.

The route has a lot of little towns on it.  Of course we had to slow down for those.  They didn't slow us down much.  We arrived 6 minutes later than Google's estimate.

One thing happened that had never happened before.  The cats shit and pissed in the truck.  One of them shit on the console right beside me.  I road for 100 miles before I noticed.

Mileage was low - 8.7.  Part of that was a regen and part was a head wind.  At least the regen did well.  It reduced the ash to 9%.

We got to the park about 1:30.  We set up and then went out to explore and get fuel.  We drove through some small (pop < 500) towns just to look at them.  It's sad to see that they were once bustling places.  We filled up ($150 for 30 gallons).  Fuck Biden.  We also found a couple of interesting restaurants and a museum to go to.

We went back home and did some surfing.  My back continues to cause me great pain.  I ended up in the recliner.  Of course I went to sleep.

We were going to eat out, but my back was too painful.  Ellen fixed sausage and pancakes instead.

I'm going to hit the pain pills tonight.  I need to get a good night's sleep.

Day 2341

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for a while.  then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Hurray, I'm actually getting breakfast before shooting.  We surfed for a while and then went to the club.  The start time was 10:30.  It was really cloudy with some wind, but it was warm.

Jason set the targets.  They were really good.  He had a double rabbit station that was fantastic.  I enjoyed myself, but again I shot like shit.  I did see a little improvement though.  We were done about 12:15.

We stopped at the clubhouse to turn in the practice card.  Then we went home.  I put everything away including the extra ammo.  I wanted to get that done before the drugs wore off.  Even then I was pretty sore by the time I was done.

When that was done we left to get fuel.  We also stopped at HEB to get some food.  Apparently we'll be spending the next 4 days in a town of 250 people.  The drive won't be a lot of fun either.  It's up 281 with it's construction, and later 290.  There's a lot of little towns to drive through.

By the time we got home I was very tired and sore.  I could barely walk.  I did a little surfing and then sat down in the recliner.  Of course I went to sleep.  At least I didn't hurt when I was asleep.  

I woke up before dinner.  Getting out of the chair was painful.  I've really damaged myself.  

Ellen fixed chicken tenders for dinner.  They were good.  After dinner we watched movies.  The cable here sucks, but we have to watch the data usage.

Day 2340

 We woke up at 6:30 and did the pet stuff.  It was too early to have breakfast.  We got everything together, put it in the truck, and went to the club.  Because we got up a little early there was no rush.

We got to the club in plenty of time.  We also got a ride to the far station, which was nice.  It was windy and very cloudy.  It was dark enough to use the light lenses.

The course was very good.  It was more technical than yesterday.  I shot about the same as yesterday - I sucked.  However I did start to improve on the last stations, which was encouraging.

My watch died, so I'm not sure when we finished, but it was well before noon.  We went back to the club and turned in a drawing ticket that Ellen won.  Then we took the guns home.  After that we went to Longhorn for lunch.  Then we did a little other shopping and went home.

When we got home we surfed and watched TV until it was time to go back to the club for dinner.  It was good, Mexican.  Then we watched the US/England shootoff.  It was fun, but we were disappointed that neither Digweed or Faulds shot.

The shootoff was done by a little after 8.  We went home.  I took a shower and then went to bed early.  My back was killing me all last night and all of today.  The only time it didn't hurt was when I was shooting.  That was because I was using drugs while I was shooting.

We shoot at 10:30 tomorrow.   When we're done I'll have to decide whether or not I'll drain the tanks.   I may wait until we've gone north.

Day 2339

 We woke up about 8:30, played games,and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We didn't shoot, so after breakfast we just surfed.

A little before noon the Amazon packages came.  Ellen managed to order a watch stand, not a charger.  She got the job of returning it.  Allegedly the right thing will show up tomorrow.  The other package contained a replacement for the time/temp display that died.  It looks nice.  Better yet, it talks to the existing transmitter, so I didn't have to install a new one.

I was after noon when the display was installed.  We drove to Portranco to turn in the Amazon purchase.  On the way we stopped at Mickey D's for lunch and HEB so I could get drinks, drugs, and a Baby Yoda figurine.  Then it was off to the club.

We stopped at CG and Ellen got instructions on how to remove her forearm.  Then we went to a Pilla store and got her a lens.  I got a lens case.  Then we went to Briley to get some choke tube boxes.  We went to the temp vendor area.  There were lots of Pilla vendors there.  I bought a couple of more lenses.  Then it was time to go shoot.

I was pissed about our station assignment.  We are at the far end of two of the courses.  That means we'll walk them twice.  Shit.

Ellen shot pretty good today.  I sucked worse than I have in years.  I hit less than 50% of the targets.  On one pair of stations I hit one bird over 7 pairs.  Fuck Fuck Fuck.  I almost quit.

We came up on one station that had 6 squads ahead of us.  We waited there for over half an hour.  Luckily that was the only one.  It still took over two hours to shoot 66 birds.  At least the weather was OK, partly cloudy but with a gusty wind.

We went back to the clubhouse for dinner.  It was really good.  There was an open bar and BBQ.  We started eating at an empty table, but some other people joined us.  They were fun.  One lady grew up in Spokane.

We went home about 7.  We surfed a little and then took showers.  We have to shoot at 8 tomorrow, so we'll have to get up before 7.

Day 2338

 I woke up about 8, played a few games and then got up.  Ellen did the pet stuff while I went out to get the ammo for today out of the truck.  That's when I found that most of it had gotten wet.  I brought in 3 cases of 12 ga and 1 of 20.  They were all soaked.  Worse, we needed the 20 to shoot at 10:30.

So much for breakfast.  We spent the time until leaving drying 20 ga with towels and spreading all of the other shells on towels on the bed.  We just got enough done before it was time to leave.

Shooting wasn't much fun.  The targets were good, but fairly stout.  I'm still not shooting like I should.  I only scored 70.  It didn't help that it rained off and on.  At least we were shooting under cover when the worst went by.

The course covered at least half a mile, maybe more.  We started on station 5.  The walk from 13 to 1 was LONG.  When we got to 5 we got in the truck so the other people wouldn't have to wait so long.

When we were finished we went to Best Buy.  I brought the wrong watch charger.  They were sold out "at all stores".  Fuck Biden.  Ellen ordered one from Amazon.  Then we went home.  We didn't stay long.  I figured out what we needed to clean the guns.  Then we went to HEB for some garbage bags to put the ammo in.  Then we stopped at Academy for the gun cleaning stuff.

When we got home I cleaned the guns while Ellen dried out boxes so we could put ammo in them.  We did that until 5.  Then we went back to the club.

I wanted to see the silent auction items, but they had put those away.  We had their snacks, really dinner, there.  It was pretty good.  We left fairly soon to get back to ammo.  I stopped at CVS for SalonPas.  We worked for 2 hours cleaning up the remaining 3 cases of 12 ga and a half case of 20.

All of the humping of ammo, hiking the course, and standing while cleaning ammo has really hurt my back.  I can't bend over without a lot of pain.

We didn't get done until 9.  I spent about an hour surfing and then took a shower and went to bed.

All in all today sucked.

Day 2337

 We got up at 7.  We immediately started moving the last stuff to the trailer.  When that was done we started to hook up.  We were ready to go by about 8:30.

Our first stop was the Kwik Kar where we got a safety certificate for the trailer.  It really didn't take very long.  Then it was off to the county office to get the trailer license.  That didn't take very long either.  We were on the road out of Dripping Springs a little after 9.

We drove 290 to 281.  It might not have been the quickest way, but I wanted to see what had changed.  The area around Bulverde where we stayed was built up a little more.  The closer we got to San Antonio the more new building we saw.

About 8 miles from 1604 we hit construction.  Eventually it will all be freeway.  Right now it's frontage road with lights at each intersection.  We waited multiple cycles at each of them.  Eventually we go on the part that's been completed.  The last 3 miles to 1604 was a piece of cake.

1604 was crowded, but it was still going pretty fast.  We made it to the park by 11:30.  We parked, set up, and fed the cats.  We stopped to get diesel - $4.69/gal.  It cost over $125 to fill the tank.  Fuck Biden.  We were at the club by 12:30.

We signed up and then went over to get ammo.  We bought all we could.  The cheapest we bought was over $9/box.  The most expensive was almost $12.  Fuck Biden.

We walked down vendor's row.  We didn't find anything we wanted until the last place - Cole's.  I bought a new shooting bag that's smaller than my current one.  It still holds everything I need.

The restaurant at the clubhouse has gone tits up.  We went to the Freddies hamburgers by 1604.  Then we went home.

On the way home we stopped at Academy just to see what they wanted for shells. The cheapest shells, Estates, were $9/box.  Fusk Biden.  We got home after 3.  Both of us were pretty tired.  We spent the rest of the evening reading and surfing.  I'm going to miss YouTube, but it eats up too much bandwith.  The WiFi at the park is unusable.

Day 2336

 I woke up about 8:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast. It was a late start, but we didn't have a lot to do.

Most of the day involved moving stuff to the trailer.  The only hitch was we didn't have proof of insurance for the trailer.  Apparently Ellen paid it, but the insurance company didn't send us anything.  She spent quite a while on the phone working this out.  We did end up with proof though.

Most of the morning and the first part of the afternoon was trips to the trailer.  We'd collect a load in the house, take it to the trailer, put it away, and repeat.  

I did find time to hang a picture that's been on the kitchen counter for many years.

By mid afternoon we'd run out of things to move.  I surfed and Ellen watched TV until Dinner time.  Ellen fixed hamburgers.  Then we moved everything out of the refrigerator and turned it off.

We spent the rest of the evening watching TV.  We turned it off a little after 9.  Then we gathered all the last bits that need to go to the trailer and piled them on the bathroom counter and by the door.  Tomorrow we'll move them, eat breakfast in the trailer, and leave.

We went to bed early.  The alarm goes off at 7 tomorrow.

Day 2335

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I'd planed on starting with washing the car, but Ellen had a doctor's appointment.  She left and I went out to wash the truck.

The truck didn't need washing and waxing, but it was coated with pollen.  It was more green than blue.  I got out the brush washer from the trailer and used it to clean off the truck.  Then I wiped it down so there wouldn't be water spots.

When that was done I started the Polaris.  I let it idle for a while to make sure it was warmed up.  Then I drove it around the neighborhood.  It was running pretty well by the time I got back.  I parked the Ranger in the truck spot and put the cover back on it.

I was a little tired after that, so I went back inside for a brief surfing session.  Ellen came home while I was fixing lunch.  After lunch she went out to wash the car.  I started to pack the guns.  That operation took a while.  I had to drag out the guns and the cases.  Then I had to make sure the cases had the right stuff in them.  Finally I hauled them and the shooting gear to the trailer.  

I was finished just in time to help Ellen take the wax off the car.  Then I put the car in the garage and hooked up the battery charger.

I alternated surfing and taking things to the trailer for a while.  Then I took the Ryft out.  It ran pretty good for about 5 minutes.  Then I crashed it.  After that the motor wouldn't run.  I took it back inside and went back to surfing.  After some time I tested the Ryft.  It ran fine.  Maybe it was a thermal shutdown.

That was pretty much it for the afternoon.  Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was surfing and TV.

Day 2334

 I woke up at 8:30 and played games for a while.  I only had a couple of things on the to do list.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I went outside to do tires.

It was 72 degrees, and 95% humidity.  In other words it was miserable.  I got out the old compressor and filled up the truck tires.  Then I got out the new Dremel compressor to fill up the trailer tires.  It isn't worth shit.  It might fill up beach balls and air mattresses, but it's worthless for tires.  I got out the old compressor and filled up the trailer tires.  I also torqued the lug nuts.

By the time that was done I was soaked in sweat and very tired.  I hooked the trailer camera to a charger and went inside to recuperate.  I spent the next couple of hours surfing and eating lunch.  Eventually I went back outside to work on the Ranger.

I took the cover off the Ranger and looked at the battery.  The positive terminal was covered with corrosion.  It was also low on water.  I filled the battery with distilled water and then put the trickle charger on it.

Everything else for tomorrow needs to be done tomorrow (today is Easter), so I spent most of the rest of the afternoon surfing.  I went out a couple of times to check the charger - still charging.

Ellen fixed sloppy joes for dinner.  After dinner I watched a movie.  About halfway through I went out and checked.  The battery was charged.  It was tool late to move the Ranger though.  Instead I got Ellen and we made sure that the trailer camera was working.  It is.

Then it was back to finish the movie.  Tomorrow is going to be a little busy.  I wish I could have gotten the Ranger done.  Oh well.

Day 2333

 I woke up a little before 8, briefly played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went outside to mow the lawn.

Before I mowed the lawn I had to clear a dead tree.  The sawsall made pretty quick work of it.  Then I got out the mower.  I mowed the two front lawns, the side yard, the back yard, and the area in front of the play house.  Then I put it away.  Mowing take a lot less time when the grass isn't 3 feet high.  Ellen cleaned the house while I was mowing.

I went back inside, checked the email, and then had Ellen cut my hair.  That way I'll be pretty during the trip.  Actually it was getting long.  It would have to be cut soon anyway.  All of this was done by 11.

I went back outside to work.  I got out 7 cases of 12 ga and one of 20 ga and put them in the truck wrapped in a tarp.  I used the garden cart to move them.  Then I took the cart to the deck and loaded the water and pop into it.  All of that went into the truck, too.  Next was the gun cart.  Finally I used the garden cart to move 3 boxes of DEF to the truck.  The whole operation took an hour.  I was hot and tired after that.

I went back inside and had lunch.  I surfed while it was being cooked.  When it was done we went to Belterra.  On the way we drove down the road to where the proposed condos would be built.  There's a lot of building there already.  We could expect a lot more traffic then just the condos.

We stopped at Tomlinson's and bought 24 cans of cat food and some cat litter.  We also stopped for ice cream.  When we got home I started to move things into the trailer.  I moved in the RC stuff, some extra drugs and toiletries, and the bike stuff.  The trailer is getting pretty full.

After that was done I went inside and surfed until dinner - frozen pizza.  After dinner I got a big black garbage bag and put the current garbage into it.  The bag went into the garage for now.

The evening was a mix of surfing and TV.

Day 2332

 I woke up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  After breakfast I immediately started to work on the Ryft.

I got out all of the tools and the Ryft.  I used the 13 pt pinion because that was the smallest I had.  I lucked out on the pinion.  I didn't have to move the motor at all.  The new pinion fit perfectly.  I did have some trouble with the motor sleeve, but it wasn't anything major.  I put the case back together and it seemed to work OK.  Time will tell.

I started to put the Ryft back together.  I got the cage back on.  Then I had to go to the doctor.

While I was doing that Ellen was outside cleaning the car interior.  She didn't get done before we left either.

The doctor visit was OK.  He was happy that my blood pressure was way down and I'd lost 8 lbs.  He didn't have the latest PSA, but when I described what I remembered he was happy with that also.  He is concerned that my A1C makes me almost a diabetic.  I talked to him about a CPAP and hearing aids.  He gave me people to contact.

After that we went to HEB because we were out of milk.  Then it was Home Depot to get some DEF.  I drove down Brodie to find some place to eat.  We ended up getting donuts and sandwiches at the donut place.  We also stopped at Sonic for drinks and french fries.  That was a mistake.  It must have taken almost half an hour to order and get them.

We ate lunch when we got home.  Ellen went out to finish the car.  I went back to work on the Ryft.  Attaching the anti-sway bar and front shocks was fairly easy.  The rear shocks were not.  I had to remove them and the top mount.  Then I had to use a tool I made out of a screw and two nuts to expand the shock mounts to get the shocks inside.  Then I had to reassemble everything.  It took about an hour just to do two shocks.  After that I put on the wheels and the Ryft was done.

I went outside and finished tying down the bicycles.  We won't get a chance to use them before we leave.  Then I put the mower battery on a charger.  Finally I went back into the house and boxed up all of the RC stuff.  By then it was time to go to the HOA meeting.

Ellen started cleaning the house while I finished all of that.

The HOA meeting was informative.  We decided to hire a lawyer.  I think I also got them to focus on just the issue of the development.  Unfortunately we're leaving next week.  I told them that if I could help remotely I would.

When I got home I called a halt to work.  I surfed while Ellen fixed fish burgers for dinner.  It took a while because her asshole was giving her trouble.

After dinner was more surfing.  We also finalized the trip planning.  That's subject to getting park reservations.  Tomorrow is mowing the lawn, finishing the house cleaning, and final cat/human food buying.  If I get a chance I'll try out the Ryft.

Day 2331

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then I got out all of the stuff for shooting and loaded it into the car.  We waited a while and then left for Capitol City.

We got there in good time, traffic was light.  The day was bright and not too warm.  We got a cart and shot the blue course and the white course.  It was fun, but it also showed that I have a long way to go before I'm back to shooting like I used to.  I used the 12 ga.  It's certainly not as nimble as the 20, but it does reach out a little better.

We were finished a little after noon.  We drove back home.  We stopped at the post office along the way and also Mickey D's.  I had a craving for dog meat.

We got home about 2.  We spent the next two hours moving stuff to the trailer.  We moved a lot of food as well as some things like the cameras.  We still have a lot to do.  At 4 Ellen went to teach the kids.  I went to the garage to clean the gun.

I have never seen a gun half as dirty as my gun was.  5 boxes of Mexican shells had mad it a disaster.  I ran patches through, then gun cleaner, the a brush on a drill, and it was still filthy.  I repeated the whole process with another cleaner and it finally came clean.  The whole operation took about 2 hours.  I will never shoot those shells again.  Unfortunately it appears that there is a little corrosion on the top barrel.  I can't blame the shells, but I wouldn't be surprised if they caused it.

I went inside intending to eat dinner (leftovers) and then working on the Ryft.  After dinner I was just too tired.  I ended up watching TV all evening instead.  Unfortunately that makes me behind on the todo list.  I'll have to work harder tomorrow.

Day 2330

 I woke up at 8:15 and got up to do pet stuff and have breakfast.  I'd planned on going shooting, but Ellen had a 10:00 hair appointment that she hadn't told me about.  We'll go tomorrow.  That will be three days straight of shooting for Ellen.  She had a lesson yesterday and another today.

I got an email from the board today.  Apparently the meeting about the adjacent condo development got a lot of people's interest.  I've got a HOA meeting Friday on the subject.  Oh joy.

After dealing with that I went to work on the servo winch.  I had to wire the switch up - 6 wires.  It was slow work.  The good thing was when I was done it worked.  I put everything back together and wound up the cable.  The cheap ass servo heated up and quit with only half the cable wound.  I let it cool off and then finished winding it.  Clearly the winch will be for show.

Ellen came home.  I asked and she said that she was done painting.  We removed the protective wrap.  That was a mistake, I'll have trouble positioning the mounting magnets.  The body looks really nice though.  Ellen took the bed out to the garage to touch up the bed paint.  I put all of the stickers on the front.  When Ellen brought the bed back I put the stickers on it and bolted the two parts together.  It really looks very nice.

Ellen went off for her lesson.  I was left with nothing much to do, so I surfed.  After some of that I went out to look for packages.  There was one at the gate.  It was the hub hexes for the Power Wagon.  I installed them.  They made a big difference.  The wheels no longer wobble.  I put the Power Wagon away.  I won't be doing anything more with it until we get back.

I went back to surfing.  Ellen got home about 6.  She had a package with the Ryft gears I'd been waiting for.  Unfortunately the 12 pt one I was planning to use wasn't Mod 1.  I'd screwed up.  I'll use the 13T on instead tomorrow when I put the Ryft back together.

Ellen fixed a leftover dinner - chicken parmigiana, spaghetti, and salad.  It was a lot of food.  I didn't get to the salad.

After dinner was TV.  I'd have enough of surfing.  I came across a Chelsea game.  At the moment they are losing.

Day 2329

 I woke up at 8:30 and played games for a little while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I decided to tackle the servo winch problem.

I started by trying to resurrect a Spectrum micro servo that I'd killed when I was building the Ryft.  I took it all apart and managed to get it to work.  While it was apart I decided to try to get it to run using the Flysky transmitter.  I couldn't.  Some viewing of YouTube videos taught me two things.  First, the transmitter didn't have the capability to control a modified servo winch.  Second, I'd have to further modify the servo and control it with a switch rather than the transmitter.

I put the Spectrum servo back together and set it aside.  It was time for lunch.  After lunch Ellen went to the club early and I went to the garage.  I got a switch from the old train stuff and mounted it on the winch housing.  That's sounds simple, but it involved building a mount and attaching it to the housing.  Then I went back to the house and took a shower.  It was over 90 today and hot in the garage.

I was a little tired after the shower, so I did some planning for the days until we leaved.  I also tried to add to the travel plan.  I ran into some problems finding places to shoot, so I had dinner - leftovers.  After that I was revitalized.  I took apart the Axial servo and took out the control board.  I soldered the power wires directly to the motor and put everything back together.  The soldering wasn't easy.  The wires were VERY small.  I tested the result and it worked fine.

I soldered some extensions onto the end of the servo wires (that wasn't easy either) and reassembled the winch.  I also cleaned up the new switch connections.  It had been used before and had a lot of leftover solder on the connectors.  At that point I ran out of gas and quit for the night.  I should be able to get it done tomorrow.

Ellen was watching TV, not chick flicks thankfully.  I sat down and watched with her for the rest of the evening.

Day 2328

 I woke up about 8, played games for a few minutes and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was just surfing until 11:30 when I went to lunch with Lee.

We ate at the Mexican place that moved into the old Pieous place.  We were going to the BBQ place at Belterra, but it wasn't open.  That turned out to be OK.  The Mexican place was good.  We had a good talk about a lot of things.  Lee is very excited because he just bought a new zero turn motor.  He says he'll mow our lawn just to have more to mow.

When we got back I did a little surfing while Ellen ate.  Then we went to Lowe's to get some marker flags for the sewer stuff.  I want to put them up if Lee is going to mow.  We also stopped at the post office and NAPA.  I needed wiper blades.  The counter guy offered to put them on.  I'm glad I said yes.  The blades came with two mounts and three adapters.  It took him a while to figure out the right combination.

The last stop was HEB.  We didn't really need anything, but we managed to spend $40 anyway.

Some parts for the Power Wagon were here when we got back.  I got the truck out and installed them.  Unfortunately they didn't solve the problem. After a fair amount of debugging I discovered that the problem was how the servo was mounted.  I changed it and things worked.  Then I calibrated the steering.

While I was doing all of that the winch servo broke.  I worked on it until dinner.  Ellen fixed stir fry.  After dinner I worked on the servo some more.  Lee and his daughter came over.  I gave her $200.  They brought their dog over.  It was really excited.  It's a puppy.  Lee, Ellen, and I talked for more than half an hour.  Reagan got bored and took the dog outside.

When Lee left I went back to the winch servo.  I replaced it and put everything back together.  The replacement servo crapped out while I was winding the wire back on the drum.  I decided to bag it and put everything away.

While I was doing this I noticed that the wheel hexes are really loose.  I got on Amazon and ordered better ones.  They will be here in a couple of days.

By then it was 10.  I surfed for a while and went to bed.

Day 2327

 I woke up about 8:30, played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After I was done I did a little surfing.

Eventually I took the Ryft out for its maiden run.  It worked pretty good.  It's really fast though.  I had to keep it in low gear.  It also does a good job jumping rocks and the green lights look really neat.  I only had a small battery in it though, so the run lasted maybe 5 minutes.

I went inside and surfed while I waited for a large battery to charge.  When it did I hooked it up and went out to play.  The motor only spun.  The pinion gear was stripped.  Crap.

I took the body off the Ryft and opened up the gear box.  Inside was a lot of metal filings and a mangled pinion gear.  The spur gear appeared undamaged.  I cleaned everything up.  I was going to put in the 17T gear that came in the kit when I decided to look up both the pinion and spur gear on the Axial site.  The website said that the spur gear had a mod 1 pitch and the pinion gear had a 32p pitch.  The pinion gear isn't 32p, it's mod1.  Fucking Axial.

I spent maybe $40 or more on 32p pinion gears.  Of course none of them fit.  I spent a lot of time on Amazon finding quality mod1 gears.  I got 12, 13, and 14 tooth gears because the 14 that was in the Ryft was plenty fast enough.  That was another $25.  The gears won't be here until Wed at the earliest.  I put everything away in disgust.

While I was messing with the Ryft Ellen was painting the second TRX-4 body.  The paint has to dry out before the last coat is applied.

After that I surfed.  When Ellen came in we had a late lunch and then went to HEB and the post office.  The last stop was the restaurant at loop1 and Slaughter.  I felt a lot better after sitting out there and having a daiquiri.

When we got back I turned on the TV.  I watched a TV show and then 2 movies.

Day 2326

 I woke up about 8 and played games for almost an hour.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  When breakfast was over I got out the Ryft and its transmitter.

I set the throttle parameters on the Ryft.  Then I centered the steering.  I had to move the servo saver a little to get it straight.  Then I set the throttle endpoints.  That finished the programming.  Just testing it in the kitchen while I was programming it showed that this thing is scary fast, even in low gear.

I put the Ryft away and got out the Double Dare.  I did the same thing to it - set the throttle parameters, centered the steering, and set the endpoints.  The steering took more time because it's 4 wheel steering.

I was on a roll, so I got out the Power Wagon.  I set the throttle parameters, but that was all.  When I tried to do the steering one of the steering links fell off.  I knew it was loose, but this was unusable.  I put it away and got on Amazon to order another link.  I also ordered some replacement lights to fix the one I broke on the TRX-4.

That was the end of the RC work for today.  I spent aout an hour looking for places to go and things to do once we leave Midland.  I think we'll end up going on I10 to Tucson and then north.  After that I spent the rest of the day surfing.  Ellen spent most of it in the garage.  She finished masking the second TRX-4 body and painted the body color.  It looks really good.

Ellen fixed chicken parmigiana for dinner.  After dinner I watched a couple of movies.  One was really good.  I stopped the other about halfway through because it was boring.

Day 2325

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I got out the TRX-4 and it's transmitter.  It was program time, something I'd been avoiding.

I started by installing the control app on the phone and the blutooth module in the transmitter.  Then I put on a YouTube video on how to do the setup.  The first step was firmware updates for both the transmitter and the receiver.  It wasn't hard to do, but took a fair amount of time.  When they were done I set the throttle control (easy).  Then I set the steering.  That wasn't hard, but it did take some time.  

After that I spent quite a while learning what other items in the control app did.  Traxxas was no help.  Like always their documentation was either unhelpful or nonexistent.  Thankfully a couiple of youTube videos supplied me with the information I needed.

By then it was time for lunch (a sandwich).  After that I did a little surfing.  Eventually I went out to play with the TRX-4.  It was a lot of fun.  I quickly learned that I suck as a driver.  I continually rolled it over.  When the battery ran out I went back inside to charge it.  While it was charging I changed the steering sensitivity.  That made a big difference when I went back outside.

By the time the second battery was done I'd learned how to jump the gravel pile.  I'd also gone through some really rough terrain.  That's what the TRX-4 was designed for and it does it well.  Unfortunately I lost a headlight lens to a rollover along the way.  I put everything away when the battery ran out.

After that it was a little surfing and a lot of TV until dinner (chili dogs).  After that I went out to the mailbox to get a package.  I met Lee on the way.  I met his new dog and we talked for a while.  When we were done I went back inside and opened the package.  I contained the wheel nuts I needed for the Ryft.  I got it out and installed the wheels.  

Tomorrow I'll program it. It uses completely different electronics than the TRX-4, so I expect another steep learning curve.  I bet there's more YouTube videos in my future.

The rest of the evening was TV.

Day 2324

 I woke p a little before 8 and played games for 45 minutes or so.  then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I assembled the solar light pink flamingo I bought yesterday and put it out on the deck to charge.  Then I went out to the back shed.

I wanted to finish up the work in the shed.  We'd forgotten the old bed cover from the Mobil Suites, so I got that out.  I also went through all of the memorabilia that Ellen had left for me.  I sorted it into put it back in the box.  Then I sealed the box and put it on the shelf.  I sorted everything else we left out into take to the garage, take to Oregon (to give away), take it to the house, and a small amount of garbage.

When I was finished I transported the stuff that was left to their assigned places.  Ellen was working on masking the second TRX-4 body.  I helped her look on the web for some pictures of original trucks.  When she got to a stopping place we left.  We took the bed cover to Goodwill and got another $50 for Lee's daughter at Wells Cargo.  The next stops were the post office and Kerby's for lunch.  It was good, we should go there more often.

When lunch was finished we stopped at the pet store to buy cat food, $130 worth.  Then off to the most pressing item.  I needed to get the plastic thing in my hearing aid replaced.  We stopped at Costco and got that done.  I had them replace both.

We went home after that.  Ellen did more masking work until she left for Hog Heaven.  I surfed until dinner - frozen spring rolls.

After dinner we both worked on the travel plan.  We got the first 10 days done.  We'll shoot at San Antonio and then drive up to Mingus where the Shoot for the Cure is held.  We'll shot that course the day before for fun.  After that we'll go to Midland and shoot at Windwalker.  I'm not sure what we'll do after that, but there's plenty of time to decide.

Day 2323

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games for about an hour.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  I also got Ellen out of bed.  Once breakfast was done we went to the shed.

We spent 3 to 4 hours going through stuff.  Some of the boxes were packed 14 years ago and never opened.  We found a lot of stuff we didn't need anymore and won't need in the future.  We also sound some cool old stuff like yearbooks that brought back memories.

Ellen had several boxes of art stuff.  Some of it went to Goodwill, some to the nieces, and some to the garbage.  She did keep a significant amount of stuff.  I bet she never uses it.  We got rid of two boxes of books.  One was filled with cat books and the other with gun books.  The cat books date from the 80's.  now days you get the information they contain on the internet.

It was after noon when we finished sorting everything.  I wanted to get rid of stuff, so some of the "keeper" stuff got left on shelves.  I loaded everything I'd moved to the truck yesterday onto the truck.  We spent some time looking for the key for the bike rack, but didn't find it.  Then I drove the truck to the shed and loaded what we had sorted today.  It included 2 big boxes of garbage.

We drove to Goodwill.  They wouldn't take the bike rack or the 5-wheel tripod.  They said go to Salvation Army or ReStore.  I drove to Salvation Army.  They took both.  The guy running the pick up was really nice.  Of course we went inside, but didn't find anything we wanted.

We also stopped at ReStore because we were nearby and had the truck.  It was successful.  I got a USB power brick and some bungee cords which I needed.  I also got a solar powered pink flamingo, which I wanted.

It was late and Ellen was hungry so we stopped at Doc's for lunch.  The next stop was Lowe's to get more keys made for the Ranger's trailer.  The last stops were HEB for bread and Wells Cargo for $150 for Lee's daughter.  Ellen wants to give her $200, so I'll be going back.

When we got home I took out the garbage and the recycle.  It wasn't hot like yesterday, but I was tired.  I went back inside and surfed.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner I sat down and watched whatever Ellen was watching.  At least it wasn't chick flicks.

Day 2322

 I woke up before 8 and played games until almost 8:30.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We had some errands to run, but I just couldn't get started.  We both surfed instead.  Eventually we got in the car and went to Lowe's.  I needed to get a trailer key made for Lee.  After that it was the post office and HEB for some much needed groceries.  We also got 690 lbs of bird seed.  It was on sale.

When we got home I checked the keys we had made.  They didn't work.  After some confusion I discovered that I'd had the wrong key copied.  I'll probably be back at Lowe's tomorrow.

It was hot - 97 degrees.  We hid out in the house and surfed.  Ellen did a little work pinstriping the new TRX-4 body.  I should have programmed the TRX-4, but I just didn't feel like it.

Ellen has been having a persistent belly ache and white shit.  She called the doctor in the morning and got an appointment.  When she left I started feeling ambitious.  I went to the back shed and moved a bunch of stuff for Goodwill to the basketball court.  It was hot outside and hotter inside the shed.  I got done just as Ellen got home.  I'll move more tomorrow when she decides what should go.

I took a much needed, and desired, shower.  After that I surfed.  I was surprised.  My back felt better than it has in many days.  It still hurts, but not nearly as much as it has been.

Ellen fixed chili dogs for dinner.  After dinner I watched a couple of movies.

Day 2321

 I woke up a little after 7 and played games in bed until a little after 8.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  When that was done I went out to the garage.

I had two tasks.  The first was to finished repairing the gun cart.  It didn't take long and the fix looks really good.  The second was to fix the front fence where the deer had bent it all up.  It took a while to find wire to repair the fence.  I knew I had some, but I couldn't remember where.  Eventually I found it and took it out to the front.  I straightened out the fencing as well as I could.  Then I wove some support wire through the top of it and tightened it up.  It looks OK and should stand up.

I went back to the house feeling pretty pleased with myself.  Two tasks down in a short amount of time.  I brought the TRX-4 body with me and started to wire it up.  That took some time, but it went smoothly.  Hooking it up to the car didn't.

The TRX-4 receiver has 5 channels, and I'm using them all.  So getting voltage to the lights was a problem.  The ESC had a 2 wire red/black connection coming out of it.  The instructions didn't mention it.  Neither did any of the online documentation.  I spent lots of time on the web looking.  Eventually I started a chat on the Traxxas website.  The guy said the connector "was for lights".  Great.

The ESC connector was female, so I went out to the well house and got a couple of pins.  I used them to connect to the light connectors.  That's when I discovered that the power is unswitched.  The lights are on whenever a battery is connected.  Crap.  I decided to piggy back one of the servo connectors.  I opened up the receiver box.  That's when I discovered that the receiver has 2 CH1 inputs.  Yeah.  I just connected the lights to the second connector.  I did have to remove the connectors from their housing, fish them into the box, and then reinstall the housing.  It was too tight to do it any other way.

Finally I fished the light wires and secured them.  The whole process took between 2 and 3 hours.  I was no longer feeling proud of accomplishments.  I looked for a timer for the display box online.  Ace, McCoys, and Home Depot didn't have anything appropriate.  Lowe's had one.  I looked on Amazon.  They had one for $6 less, delivered tomorrow.  I didn't feel like driving to Lowe's, so I ordered it.  Counting gas I probably saved $9 or more that way.

Lunch was a salad.  After lunch was surfing.  Lee called while I was surfing.  We set a time for Sunday afternoon to meet.  We're also going to lunch on Monday.  I wish I'd tried to contact him earlier.  He also wants to borrow the trailer.  I told him I'd give him a key.

Time is getting short, so I went out to do some more work.  I got out the pruner and trimmed all of the trees along the driveway.  It should be fairly easy to pull the trailer out.

Ellen worked a little on the new TRX-4 body.  She hand painted some of the bed and masked the side stripes and the tailgate.  She's really getting into it.  After that she watched chick flicks and made chicken and rice for dinner.

I surfed for a while after dinner while Ellen watched more chick flicks.  Eventually the movie was over and we switched to YouTube videos on the TV.

Day 2320

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games until almost 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I did a little surfing.  It was just a slow start morning.  It wasn't long before I went out to the garage and put a coat of paint on the new gun cart panel.  That got me started.

I went back inside and got the new TRX-4 body out.  I unscrewed the two parts and took them out to the deck with some steel wool.  I spent some time scratching up both pieces.  I paid special attention to making sure I removed all of the glue I mistakenly put on the inside of the hood.

When that was done I took the pieces inside and washed them.  There was quite a bit of steel wool stuff to get off them.  I rinsed them with osmosis water to get them as clean as possible.  While I was working on that body Ellen was in the garage putting the last paint on the first TRX-4 body.  It's a little rough, but it looks much better than the original.

I went back to the house and did some surfing.  When Ellen came back I suggested we got to Goodwill and find lunch. I wanted a USB wall wart at Goodwill.  They used to have a lot.  Today they had none.  Ellen wanted a plastic box for her paints.  We found a perfect one at the Home Store, but no top.  We stopped at Target and found both the box and a wall wart.

I wanted to go to Doc's, but Ellen couldn't pull her head out of her phone long enough to help me find the right turn off.  I decided to go to the place at loop 1 and Slaughter.  It was a nice day and I wanted to eat outside.  They have a large outdoor area and there were only two tables occupied.  They told us it would be a 30 minute wait.  I left.  

We ended up at the BBQ place at Belterra.  It was semi-outside.  I had breakfast which is only available on Sunday.  It was good.  I was going to buy some brisket to take home, but $33/lb was a little too expensive.  After lunch we stopped for ice cream and Tomlinson's for cat food.

I finished painting the gun cart panel when we got home.  I also finished gluing the details to the bed for the first TRX-4 body.  Tomorrow I'll attach them and wire up the body.  That will finish the TRX-4.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening surfing.  Dinner was frozen pizza.  Elle spent it all watching chick flicks.

Day 2319

I woke up a little before 8, got up and did the pet stuff.  Then I started moving stuff to the truck so we could go to the match.  That all went well and we were on the road by 9.

The trip up was nice and uneventful.  The weather was perfect, very sunny.  Eventually it got up to the mid 80's.  About the only down side is that we had to walk a long way.  They had two courses, set up along the road.  We were shooting the second.  By the time we got to the last station it was half a mile or more back to the parking area.

I shot the 20 ga and had fun.  I shot some of the stations well, and sucked at others.  I need to get back in the mode of paying attentions to every shot.  I also got a little tired.  I missed a lot of targets on the last stations because I stopped holding the gun tight to my shoulder.  My score really sucked - 71.  Oh well.

We got finished and left the club about 1:30.  We stopped at the Dairy Queen in Marble Falls for lunch.  The drive home wasn't as nice as the drive up.  The truck went into a regen.  That wasn't really bad, but it killed the mileage.  When we got to the long one lane section we got stuck behind some asshole doing 45 in the 65.  When we finally got back to four lane we passed her.  She was leading a group of 3 cars full of bicycle assholes.  That's why no one could pass her.  There must have been 20 or more cars backed up behind them.

The second incident was just before RR12.  Another asshole pulled out in front of me.  I had to slam on the brakes to avoid him.  I was prepared, because I watched him sit on the side of the road until the last minute before pulling out.  Oh, and he went about a 100 feet before slamming on his brakes and turning right.

We did manage to get home OK.  I immediately went to the garage.  Some of the ancient 20 ga shells I shot were rusty.  I had to clean the rust out of the barrel and receiver.  I also had to fix the gun cart.  Somewhere along the way one of the plastic side panels had broken.  I noticed it when I unloaded the cart at the club.  I removed the broken panel and cut a new one.  I painted one side of it.  I'll have to wait until tomorrow to paint the other side and install it.

After that I went inside and took a shower.  I was hot and dusty.  After that it was surfing.  Dinner was leftovers and after dinner was more surfing.

Day 2318

 I woke up at 7, played games and got up about 8 to do the pet stuff and have breakfast.  After breakfast I did a little surfing before doing anything useful.

I started by gluing the Ryft tires.  That's when I discovered that I'd misplaced or lost the tire nuts.  I ignored that and went into the spare bedroom to start packing up the RC stuff.  The bed was completely covered.

I got a couple of plastic containers from the apartment and started sorting things.  I ended up with a whole collection of containers.  There was a large one for all of the stuff I'm not sure I'll ever need.  Then there were medium sized containers for the spare parts and the miscellaneous parts.  Finally there were three small containers for the hardware and one for the instructions and tools.

That whole process took hours.  Afterwards I surfed while I ate lunch.  Most of the surfing was looking for wheel nuts.  I couldn't find any place that could get them to me in less than a week.  I ordered them anyway.

We needed some groceries, so we went to HEB.  After that we went to the new restaurant on slaughter and Loop 1.  It was after 3 so it was open.  It was expensive, but it was happy hour.  We just ordered appetizers because it was so soon after lunch.  We also stopped at the yogurt shop before going home.

When we got home I put everything away and then took out the garbage.  For some reason a lot had accumulated.  The display case I'd ordered yesterday came and I assembled it.  I was a little disappointed.  The picture on Amazon showed it had a power supply.  It doesn't.  I'll have to get one at Goodwill.

We decided to go to the shoot at Marble Falls tomorrow.  It has a late start so we won't have to get up too early.

We didn't have dinner, just some snacks.  Ellen spent the evening watching TV.  I spent it surfing and listening in.