Day 3603

 I woke up at 7 and couldn't get back to sleep.  I played games and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I went outside and started putting the rest of the stuff in the new car.

 I filled up the glove compartment with paperwork and the center console with glasses and USB cords.  The door pockets got a hat and some rags.  The trunk got some tools and the second license plate.  The new car doesn't have a front license plate bracket.  Finally I put the dog blanket in the back seat.  I installed three hooks near the floor to attach it.  There were floor carpets in the trunk and I put them in the apartment attic.

After that I  moved all of the guns from the trailer to the house.  That was work enough.  When I tried to put them all in the safe I couldn't get them to fit until I remembered that the A400 doesn't go in the safe.  It's still a very tight fit.  The last chore was to put the cases away.

After that I was tired and did some surfing to recover.  Ellen had been working on insurance, credit stuff, and bills.  I wasn't going to miss lunch again today, some we went to the Italian place.  When that was done we went to Wells Cargo and transferred money from three of the accounts into a CD.  After that we needed to go to Dripping Springs to get drugs for Cooper.

I made a big tactical error.  I tried to get through the Y going westbound.  Eastbound was great, we did it the other day.  Westbound is a miles long traffic jam.  I should have take 1826.  Eventually we got there and got the drugs.  There was a crash on eastbound 290, so we went back on 150.  It was my first time to drive the car a little hard.  It was fun.

When we got home I sat down to watch videos.  I fell asleep quickly.  Ellen woke me when it was time for trick or treating.  We waited for a little more than an hour for them to come by.  It was cool.  There was a pickup pulling a trailer loaded with kids and parents in costume.  The pickup had a huge dinosaur in its bed.  I gave them all the candy that we'd purchased. 

I had ramen for dinner.  I didn't want anything else.  After dinner I watched videos for a while before getting bored and switching to videos. 

Day 3602

 I woke up a little after 7, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that handled the call from the Medicare people.  The bottom line is that I won't have to do any changes.

Then I started working on the stuff that I'd removed from the Audi.  There was 2 1/2 boxes of stuff.  I sorted things into piles.  One pile was interior stuff, one was for the stuff in the trunk box, one was for things that needed to be kept outside the car, and the last was for throw away.  I kept most of the interior stuff, but a lot of the trunk box contents got removed.

While I was doing that Ellen was messing with Medicare.  It took her a lot longer because she had to make some changes.  It was about 10:30 when she was finished I called Audi and told them we were coming to buy the car.

The rest of the day was spent buying the car.  They were busy.  It took a while to get to talk to the finance guy.  We had to sign a couple of dozen papers at least.  That's when we discovered that we hadn't gotten the title.  We had to drive back home, get the box key, drive to the bank, get the title, and then drive back to Audi.  We made a short stop at Wendy's to get lunch. 

On the way back we almost got hit by and asshole from Michigan that ran a VERY red light.  Fortunately we didn't collide. 

When we got back we waited a little while until the tech guy could program the car.  Then we waited some more until the finance guy was available to sign off the title.  Finally we got in the car with the tech guy for an orientation.  That was good.  We already had a half dozen questions

After that we stopped at HEB on the way home for some stuff.  When we got back in the car the radio didn't work.  The web says that it's a common problem.  CRAP.

Ellen went in to sit on the can and put the groceries away.  I took out the trunk box and installed it in the car.  I made sure that it's more secure than it was in the old car.  I also moved a couple of other things to the trunk.

By then it was almost 7.  We ate a pizza that we'd picked up at HEB.  I watched videos for a while.  I got bored and switched to surfing.  I looked for a couple of items on Amazon as well as looking up how to do the PPQ transfer and debug the backup lights.  I'm not sure that I can do that.  I'll probably throw money at the problem and take it to the place in Dripping Springs. 

 

Day 3602

 I woke up about 7, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went outside to put up the Halloween lights on the gate.  They're spiders and bats.  I think that they'll look good.

When that was done I went back to house to put the two guns that I got from the trailer away.  Then I went to the apartment and got the case for the Tempio.  That's when I decided to put away all of the ammo.  I moved the stuff in the garage and the stuff in the truck cab to the apartment bedroom.  

Ellen had been working in the trailer.  She cleared out the pantry and did a lot more cleaning.  The trailer is looking pretty good.  By the time all of that was done it was after 10 and time to go car shopping.

We picked up Ellen's drugs at Walgreen's first and then went to Audi.  We had a salesman show us all of the car's features.  Then we took a test drive.  The car runs nicer than our car, but it doesn't have the same zip.  We got a price for the car and our tradein.  

Then we went to BMW.  We looked at the 330i.  The saleswoman went over the features and then we took a test drive.  The BMW has more bells and whistles than the Audi and is a lot more driver oriented.  I also liked the interior design better.  It's louder than the Audi though.  The trunk is harder to access, too.  We got a price for it, too.  The price is about $4K more, because Audi gave us a returning customer discount.

 We went back to Audi and took another short test drive.  We talked about it for a while and decided on the Audi.  The main reasons were it was quieter, had AC seats, and had the hatch back.  Also the $4k less was nice.

It kind of fell apart when we tried to buy the car.  Our credit is locked and we couldn't get the credit companies to unlock it.  The dealer and Ellen tried for almost 2 hours.  The problem was that the credit companies' crappy phone based systems just didn't work.  I finally said forget it.  We told them that we'd try using the websites and home and left a little after 5.  That should allow us to buy the car tomorrow.

We got home in a little less than 30 minutes, which was totally amazing.  Ellen spent the next hour on the web and on the phone getting the three asshole credit companies to unlock the credit long enough to get the loan approved.  Then we called the dealership and told them that we'd be in tomorrow once they've got the loan approved. 

By then I was tired and disgusted.  Ellen fixed hot dogs for dinner (we didn't have lunch).  Than I sat down for some videos and a movie.  For once I watched the whole movie.  It was this campy wolfman movie. 

I'm putting off telling the BMW lady that we're buying the Audi until tomorrow. 

Day 3601

 I woke up a little before 7.  I couldn't get back to sleep, so I played games for a while.  Eventually it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I did a little reading on the gate opener, but had to stop because it was time to take Cooper to the vet.

The vet basically said that they didn't know what was wrong.  However, they want to start him on some other drugs and do a biopsy.  So that's another $1,000.  We left Cooper there and went back home.

Reading the manual didn't help.  The audio alert I was getting wasn't listed.  So I went to work on the gate opener blind.  I took the control box apart, checked the power supply, and tried opening it several times looking for error LEDs.  Nothing.  I gave up and called tech support.

After going through a long phone tree and waiting for a while on hold I actually got to talk to a human.  He even spoke English.  He took me down a debug tree without finding anything.  Finally he told me it must be the batteries.  I took the housing apart to get to the batteries.  One of them was obviously bad.  

He said replace them and see what happens.  I would have checked the batteries first if the manual had said to.

Grant called just before we left for batteries.  We had a good talk.  He's going to invest the cash and wants to use one of his programs to determine how much Intel stock to sell.  Cool.

We bought the batteries ($90) and came back home.  It took some time and effort to install them.  The good news is that the gate now works.  I finished up just as the vet called for us to get Cooper.  We took Abby.  She hasn't run in three days and is going nuts.  We stopped at Tomlinson's on the way back just so she could get a treat.

When we got home I was really tired.  I tried to watch some videos, but got bored.  I switched to a movie, but got bored again.  Finally I decided to buy the double gun case that I found on sale.  It will make a small improvement in the amount of effort I have to go through getting guns out and putting them back in the trailer.

Ellen spent the day moving the rest of the contents of the trailer refrigerator to the house.  Then she cleaned the inside of the refrigerator.  In the evening she carved the pumpkin we bought.  It's cool.

Day 3600

 I woke up at 7 and couldn't get back to sleep.  I played games for a while and then got up for breakfast.  When that was done I went outside to dump the tanks.  While that was going on I did some of the normal hooking up activities.

Dumping the tanks and lining up the truck added some time to the what it usually takes to hook up.  That was OK, we didn't have far to go.  We left at 9.

Traffic was great all the way up to Kyle.  There were no slow downs, pain in the ass trucks, etc.  1626 was slow.  It wasn't the traffic, it was because there were stoplights every half mile and all of them were red.  We got home about 11.

Sure enough the gate doesn't work.  It beeps, but doesn't move.  I'll have to RTFM.  Parking the trailer went smoother than usual.  It was still hard, but I tried backing and filling this time and it made things easier.  The water pump worked, YEAH.  The garage door went up, but didn't go down later.  I traced that to a blown circuit breaker.  The car started and ran without problems.  All in all there won't be much in things to fix.

We moved the pets into the house and I unloaded the truck bed.  I'd placed the hunting ammo in a plastic bag.  The bag leaked and all of the ammo is ruined.  CRAP.  I moved some stuff from the basement to the house and Ellen put it away.  The entryway had tons of leaves in it, so I used the blower to remove them.  I hate having them get tracked into the house.

After that we left for errands.  We filled up the car and drove halfway to Dripping Springs to vote.  Then we drove back on 290 to get the mail.  Traffic was amazingly light.  The trip to the post office took 20 minutes or so.  There's been big changes at the Y, but they have a long way to go.  I don't think that they will be done for another year.

We ate lunch at Cheddar's and then went home.  I was too tired to do anything and set down for a video and nap session.  When I woke up I started moving stuff from the trailer.  I got all of my personal stuff moved along with some of the food.

Ellen spent most of the evening on the can.  She did manage to do some of the laundry, log on and get the truck license, and move the frozen stuff to the house.  I think that was pretty good.

Tomorrow I'll try to fix the gate.  Cooper has a vet appointment in the morning and I have a call with Grant in the afternoon. 

Day 3599

 I woke up about 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then we both started cleaning the trailer.  That will reduce the workload when we get home.  There's already one thing on the todo list, Lee says that the gate doesn't work.

The first thing I did was two things that had been hanging.  I ordered CPAP stuff.  I also emailed Grant about what to do with the cash account.  Hopefully he'll answer. 

I did a little of the vacuuming while Ellen did the bathroom counter.  Then we switched.  Ellen took over vacuuming and mopping the living room while I finished the bathroom and did the bedroom.  I also cleaned all of the mats that we had under the pet feeding areas and put them out to dry.  About the only thing left to do is dust the living room.  I just ran out of ambition. 

When that was done we both sat down to watch videos.  Eventually it was lunch time.  We took Abby and walked to What-a-burger.  It's about 2 miles round trip.  That was just about right and I didn't want to drive anywhere.

It was really warm when we got back, so we just watched more videos until dinner (leftover BBQ).  After dinner I switched to surfing.

All in all it was just the type of relaxing day that I wanted to have.  I suspect that this week is going to be a lot of work. 

Day 3598

 A thunderstorm woke both of us up at 6.  There was no chance of going back to sleep with all of the racket it was making.  We played games for a long while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The club sent a text saying that all times had been delayed by 45 minutes.  That meant that Ellen's women's eventwouldn't happen until after 11.

I went out to the truck to see if any of the ammo in the back had been damaged.  One case was damp, but the water hadn't gotten to the boxes inside.  I put the boxes in one of the waterproof cases.  Eventually we left for the club.  By then the storm had passed and it was just cloudy.

Ellen shot the same score in the women's event as she had in the FITASC.  She keeps making the same mistakes.  She's always missing shots that I know she could make.

We had an hour before the K-cup.  That wasn't enough time to eat, so we just sat in the truck and surfed.  At least it wasn't hot today.

The K-cup wasn't as muddy as we expected it to be.  The targets were like usual, a nice mix of easy, medium, and a few hard ones.  I managed to suck on three stations.  Ellen continued to not shoot as well as she could.  Part of it might have been using the new gun.

We decided to eat by 1604 on the way home.  We turned off to look at a new place on the way, but it wasn't open.  Unfortunately the only exit led us to Culebra.  It was a mess.  There was a 1/4 to 1/2 mile traffic jam before getting to 1604.  I got pissed and drove through some parking lots to get around it.  Then I just drove home.

When we got home I put all of the shooting stuff away.  With the new gun it barely fit under the bed.  The pets got fed and then we ate BBQ for dinner.  It was good.  After that we sat down to videos.  That turned into long naps for both of us.

When we woke up I watched videos for a little while longer and then went to bed. 

Day 3597

 I woke up about 7, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We shot FITASC at 11:20, so we took Abby with us to the club.

The first stop was running Abby.  After she was tired we bought some more ammo because they were having a 15% off sale.  Then we took Ellen's gun to Wooley's to have him check the fit.  He found that the stock was loose.  He also found that there were a couple of wrenches missing from the case and put them in.  Finally he gave her a new visor because her old one was so worn.

I asked about the chokes for her new gun.  It turns out that they are titanium.  That means that we bought a $100 choke for her gun that we didn't need.  Oh well.

After that we had to get to the match.  Both of us shot mediocre.  Then good news is that we got the number for a contact that can help us get Abby on birds.  The name of the place is Top Flight.  I'll call him once I get settled at home.

After we shot we stopped at the whirley bird place.  We each shot 5 practice - $3 a bird.  Elle shot her new gun for thee first time and hit 3 of 5.  I was shooting the 20ga with IC and LT Mod chokes.  I didn't break any.

We went back to the clubhouse and had lunch.  Abby lucked out.  She got a lot of chicken tenders from use, then another shooter gave her a whole one.  Then we went to vendor's row to look for a Negrini 2 gun case.  The CG case for Ellen's gun doesn't fit it once the gun was modified.  No one had one.  Oh well.

We went back to the clubhouse and surfed on our phones until it was time for dinner.  Abby made out again as she got a lot of our chicken from dinner.  Then we surfed for a while and then went to the stadium.

We got really good seats.  When they started throwing things I made out.  I got 3 t-shirts and a fold up fan.  One of the shirts fits Ellen and I gave the other 2 away.  The fan is cool, so I kept it.  The shooting contest was entertaining and we watched it until the end before going home. 

When we got home I discovered that the backup lights don't work.  It's either a fuse or Joe didn't repair them when he fixed the tailight I broke.  Oh well.

We fed the cats, did a little surfing, and went to bed. 

Day 3596

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I did a little surfing and then loaded up the truck.  We were shooting at 10, so then it was off to the club.

It was a steam bath day - 80's with 90's humidity.  Fortunately it was mainly cloudy.  We also got lucky with the starting station.  We could park right at it and it was at the turnaround.  The course was a little on the easy side and shot better than I usually do.  Not good enough to win anything though.

After we shot we stopped to see if Ellen's gun was done.  It was.  We also talked to a guy about some gun cleaning stuff and Bearpelt bout some extra shooter number clips.

We didn't take the dog today, so after that we left.  We stopped at HEB on the way to the shopping center by 1604.  We ate lunch at the Cajun place.  It was great.  Then we stopped at the pet store and got dog food.  We'll probably run out tomorrow.  The last stop was the Sketcher's outlet store.  It was having a sale and my shoes are almost worn out from a summer of walking the dog.  We both got a new pair.  

The truck has been trying to regen since we got to San Antonio.  I decided to drive on 1604 until it finished a "good" regen.  That involved driving down to 410, going East to 514, and then back to Military Drive.  By then it was finished and we went home.

We watched videos for a while with both of us taking naps.  We hadn't had lunch until 3, so dinner was some snacks.  The rest of the evening was Ellen watching chick flicks and me surfing. 

Day 3595

 I woke up about 8 and played games.  Eventually Ellen got up to feed the animals.  I got up shortly after and had breakfast.  After that I loaded the shooting stuff into the truck and we went to the club.

The first stop was the field by the parking lot so we could run the dog.  It was much cooler today and she ran a lot. At one point another dog showed up that could run as fast as she could.  Abby was tired when we were done.

Today's trip was expensive.  The first stop was the Pilla place.  I bought another set of frames.  The ones I was using caused my hearing aids to make strange noises.  I think that they cost about $150.  The second stop was the hearing protector place.  Ellen bought a new pair for about $2,500.  After that we shot about 50 rounds of practice.  That was about the cheapest thing today.

We had lunch after practice.  I'd used my shooting vest for the first time.  It was nice, but two layers of clothing was too much.   I wanted to get a light material t-shirt.  We ran Abby a little bit more first, this time with the Frisbee.

I got a t-shirt for $20 and we kept walking.  We stopped at Briley and each of us bought a $100 titanium choke.  Ellen wanted to stop at Wooley's to talk about the new CG women's gun.  She spent a lot of time talking with the owner.  He had her current stock measured and determined that the standard stock could be cut to almost her current gun's length.  She ended up buying it, $12,000.  The we took it to Mark to be cut.  That's probably another $500.

By then it was almost time for today's snacks.  We put everything in the truck and went to the clubhouse.  It was OK food again, but nothing to write home about.  Then we went home.

The evening was mainly videos with a little surfing. 

Day 3594

 I woke up about 7, played games for a while, and then took the clothes to the laundry.  Ellen took the dog to the park and I took her back to the trailer.  Then I fed the pets, had breakfast, and surfed until the laundry was done.

When the laundry was done we put Abby in the truck and went to the club.  It was hot and muggy - 96% humidity.  We signed in and bought some competition ammo at the ammo barn.  Then we took Abby for a run.  She ran around the field for a little while and played a little Frisbee.  It was just too hot for her though and she didn't get anywhere near a full run.

After that we did the walk up and down the vendors thing.  Ellen ended up buying $1,400 worth of new Pilla glasses.  She's also going to get new ear plugs tomorrow.  I told her to buy whatever she wants.  I may get a new set of frames tomorrow.  We had lunch at the roach coaches and then did some more shopping.  It's like Dewalt tools.  I already have all that I need.

We didn't want to go sit in the trailer, so we sat at the clubhouse and waited for their snacks at 5.  At least it had gotten cooler by then.  Of course the snacks were enough for dinner.  After that we went home. 

We fed the animals and then I watched videos until it was time for a shower and bed. 

Day 3593

 

We woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for breakfast before going out to hook up.  We only had 200 miles to go to San Angelo, so there was no hurry.  We left about 9:30.

Just like yesterday the trip seemed longer than it was. The first half was on state highways and the second on I10.  The only downside was there was a really strong west wind.  This held mileage to about 8.4 for the whole trip.  We stopped at Junction to get BBQ at Cooper's BBQ.  I've always wanted to stop there.  It wasn't busy, so we made a quick and out.  There was even lots of convenient parking.

Everything was going well until we got about 3 miles north of Welfare.  The tire alarm went off.  One of the tires was losing air fast.  Fortunately we were half a mile from an exit.  Unfortunately it seem like there wasn't any civilization there.

It turned out that there was exactly one business, a farm trailer rental place.  I went inside and asked the one guy working there if he could help.  He said he would.  It took him about half an hour to change the tire.  I asked how much he wanted and he said no charge.  I didn't like that answer and gave him $100. 

While the tire was being changed Ellen found a Discount Tire (?) in Boerne that had a replacement.  We drove there.  It took about an hour to get the new tire installed.  I got another 14 ply tire.  The cost was only $56 because they'd sold us the tire that leaked.  We ate Cooper's BBQ while we waited. 

I think the reason that the tire leaked was because it was on the same side as the tire that blew in St. George.  It looked to me like the tire was about to come apart.  We were lucky all around, pulling off and finding someone to fix it and then driving 15 miles down the road and getting a new tire.

We got back on the road at 2:30.  We got lucky with the San Antonio traffic and had no problems getting to the park.  When we got there we set up and then recovered from doing it in the 95 degree heat. 

When we recovered we went to What a Burger again.  This time because I wanted a Dr. Pepper shake.  When we got back I watched videos for a while and then took the dog out.  Ellen went to the bedroom and refused to do anything.

It was another early bedtime.  I'm tired. 

Day 3592

 We woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for breakfast and a little surfing before going out to hook up.  We only had 200 miles to go to San Angelo, so there was no hurry.  We left about 10:30.

The trip seemed longer than it was.  One good thing was that it was mainly on secondary roads.  None of them had been torn up by trucks, so they were actually much smoother.  Ellen was looking on the web and found that one state highway the GPS had us on was closed.  She found a secondary road that cut the mileage.  It turned out to be a good choice.

We got to the park somewhere around 3.  It was one that we had stayed at before.  We set up and then went for fuel and bananas.  It was nice to be back at a HEB.  We had an early dinner at What a Burger because they had a prickly pear drink.  It was really good.

When we got back to the trailer we hid out in the trailer from the heat until a little before sundown.  Then we took Abby for a walk at the park across the street.  She had fun, but the park limited it because of goat heads.  She went into the "woods" once, and came out with a cactus spine in her leg. 

After that we went back to the trailer for some surfing and an early bed time. 

 

Day 3591

 I woke up about 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then it was surfing until it was time to load the stuff into the truck and got to the club.

The club was about 12 miles away, but Google took us on a long scenic route.  Even then the last couple of roads were dirt county roads.  The club itself is big and flat.  There are three courses.  They sent us to a former charity course.  That was OK, because the wind was blowing hard.  They even gave us a cart for free.

The targets were actually fun due to the wind.  Abby had fun running between the stations although there were a few goatheads that she took care of herself.  Then we got to station 5.  They were so thick there that I had to carry her to the cart with a bunch of them attached to her legs.  She rode the rest of the way.

At that point I had a diarrhea attack and shit myself.  We drove back to an outhouse and I cleaned myself up while Ellen ran Abby in a goathead free field.  Abby went a long way, but came back without being called.  We went back to shooting until a had another attack.  This time I got back to the outhouse in time.  Abby got another run.

After that we managed to complete the course.  We stopped on the way back to the clubhouse and Abby had another long run.  After that we went back to the trailer.  We stopped on the way for fuel and lunch.  We ate at a hamburger/ice cream place that we'd never heard of.  It was good and inexpensive.  The ice cream was great.

I didn't bother to line up when we got back.  We have to leave late tomorrow.  Instead I took a shower and Ellen washed my pants and underwear.  After that it was videos and a nap.

Dinner was hamburgers from the lunch place .  They cost $1.30 a piece and were really good.  After that it was some more videos followed by surfing and an early bedtime.

Day 3590

 We woke up at 7.  I got up, had breakfast, and went out to hook up.  Ellen got up, walked the dog, and then started work on the inside of the trailer.  The hookup proceeded as normal and we left the park at 8:05.

We had one traffic slowdown getting through Albuquerque going east.  It wasn't a big one though and we really never stopped moving.  After that it was smooth sailing.

We got under 10 mpg climbing out of Albuquerque.  However after we got to the top it was generally down hill and we had a slight tailwind.  We ended up doing a little over 12 for the first 100 miles.  We fueled up then because it was the last cheap ($3.09) fuel we were going to see until Lubbock.  We continued with the 12+ mpg for the rest of the trip including a regen.

Overall we mad pretty good time except for Clovis and a couple of other small towns.  We had to stop for a train in one of them.  We ended up making it to the park in Lubbock in a few minutes over 6 hours.

We set up and then went looking for a CVS.  I'd gotten a text that some drugs were waiting.  They filled my prescription immediately.  We walked around Target a little and then headed home.  There was a Cracker Barrel along the way, so we stopped in.  It was good food and not expensive.  We really enjoyed ourselves.

When we got home it was time to sit in the recliner and watch videos.  It's Friday night so we get to listen to the local football stadium.

We went to bed early because we're still a little sick.  We plan on getting up tomorrow so that we can get to the range when it opens at 10. 

Day 3589

 I woke up a little after 7 and played games.  Then I got up for dog walk, pet stuff, and breakfast.  After that I surfed for a while while we waited for it to warm up.

The stuff to see list was empty.  The dinosaur museum is closed for repair and the shutdown means that a lot of the interesting things at the petraglyph park are closed.  We ended up taking Abby to a dog park.  It was actually a great choice.  It was a fairly big park, about a city block.  The trees were full of birds and Abby ran miles chasing them.  She also did a lot of Frisbee retrieves.  She's a tired dog tonight.

I didn't feel like doing a lot more, so we filled up the truck, ate lunch at Sonic, and went home.  I started watching videos which quickly turned int a nap.  I needed one.  When I woke up I continued watching videos.  That morphed into looking for RC kits on YouTube and then researching them on my phone.  I found a couple of interesting ones that I'd never heard of before.

Dinner was leftovers.  I continued with the videos and went to bed early. 

Day 3588

 The times are screwed up again due to timezone stuff.  I woke up about 7:30 AZ time, got up, had breakfast, and went outside to hookup.  That went as usual except I tightened the lug nuts because we had a new tire installed.  We were on the road somewhere around 8:30.

Amazingly there wasn't much wind, and what there was varied between quartering behind and a tail wind.  For most of the first 250 miles we were getting over 12 mpg.  That ended when we met a strong headwind that cut that down to 11.  I'd planned on skipping a fuel stop, but the wind caused me to stop at a Maverick.  The $3.15 price made that OK.

We got into Albuquerque about 2:30 their time.  As well as I can figure the trip took about 6 hours.  We set up, fed the pets, and then went looking for DEF and paper towels.  We found both at a local Home Depot.  Then we went back home.

I watched videos until I got bored and then switched to a movie.  When that was over I surfed for a little while, took a shower, and went to bed. 

Day 3587

 I'm not sure when I woke up due to the screwy time zone stuff.  I'm pretty sure it was early though.  I played games for a while and then got up to feed the pets while Ellen took the dog out and checked the laundry.  It was open, so I took over the washing stuff.

I had breakfast and surfed while Ellen did the wash.  When she was done we took Abby to a field next to the RV park and let her run.  It was a very windy and not very warm day.  Abby had a great time running all over the several acre field.  She cover miles.  She also found some mud to run in, so when we were done we took her to the park's dog wash. 

The dog was was a small building with a real life professional dog wash setup.  Abby got a good washing.

It was only 11 when we had all of that done.  We left to go see downtown Williams.  We walked around all three blocks of the downtown stopping at a lot of tourist trap stores.  We also had lunch at a cafe and coffee at a coffee place.  It was less windy in town because the buildings blocked the winds.  It was just what I wanted to do today.

When we were finished playing tourist we stopped at Safeway for OJ and bananas.  Then we fueled up at Maverick.  The 3.24/gal we paid was the least I've paid for fuel in at least 6 or 7 months.  Unfortunately I thing the wind tomorrow is going to really hurt mileage.

When we got back to the trailer I lined up the truck to hook up.  Then we went inside for videos and short naps.  We're both still fighting our colds, Ellen more then me. 

Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  After dinner was more videos before an early bed time.  Tomorrow is another 350 mile day.  Hopefully it will be better than yesterday's trip. 

Day 3586

 We got up at 7, had breakfast, hooked up, and were on the road by 8.  It looked like a good day until we got about 10 miles down the road.  Then one of the trailer tires blew.  

We got off at the next exit.  The good news was that there was a Les Schwab at the exit.  The bad news was it was a new store that wasn't open yet.  Fortunately a Les Schwab employee offered to put the spare on for me.  It took a while because I don't have the tool to get the spare lowered.

Ellen had called around and found a tire store about 10 miles away with a replacement.  We drove there and they replaced the tire and put the spare back right away.  It only cost $200.  We were on the road again in a little less than 2 hours.

The next 150+ miles were typical boring driving until we got out of the Colorado canyon and up on the flats.  We hit one of the heaviest headwinds I've ever encountered.  When we stopped for fuel it was hard to walk across the parking lot.  We got the 7 mpg from there to Kingman.  Oh, and did I mention that the road surface from the dam to Kingman was a disaster.  It wasn't any better coning out of Kingman either.

Kingman had another attraction for us.  There was a multi-mile traffic jam due to construction on the 93/I40 connection and its approaches.  We were stuck there for at least half an hour.

I figured that the last 150 miles to Williams would be relatively smooth sailing.  WRONG.  I40 was closed 20 Miles outside of Williams.  Apparently some asshole in a truck had driven off the road and down an embankment.  They sent us South to Prescott.  We were making all sorts of alternate plans on the way.  When we got about 10 miles from Prescott the highway website said that I40 was open again.  We turned around, got fuel, and went back North.  All in all it was about a 60 mile useless detour.

To top it all off Ellen decided to use her map reading skills to have me take the wrong exit to the park.  We ended up driving through back roads in  Williams to get to it.

When we got to the park and set up I went inside, turned on videos, and had a beer.  The only good thing today was that we got to  watch SpaceX do another entirely successful launch of Starship.

Day 3585

 I woke up about 8, played games, and then got up for breakfast.  It was a really nice day, so I loaded the shooting stuff into the truck.  Ellen fed the cats and then we left for the range.

When we got to the range there was a lot of damage from the last two days of storms.  There was mud all over the roads and some new ditches everywhere.  Ellen is suffering from the same crud I have and didn't want to shoot. 

We were the only people on the course.  We let Abby run between the stations.  She had a great time.  She was also a fantastic dog.  She caught on quick and came back to the cart each time we got to a new station.

When we were done we went into town and had lunch.  I filled up the truck on the way back and lined it up to connect tomorrow.  The it was preparation time.  

I put the heavy ammo box back in the truck and drained all of the tanks.  The floor repair seems to have worked out well.  After that I was fairly tired because I'm not over the crud yet myself.  I sat down for videos and a little nap.

I got tired of the videos and spent a lot of time looking at Slash stuff.  I've pretty much worked out what I'll do with it.  I'll order some stuff from Aliexpress in a couple of weeks. 

Dinner was leftovers.  After that I surfed some more and went for a shower at the bath house.  It's a fairly long walk.  When that was done I went to bed. 

Day 3584

 I woke up at 8, played games, and then woke up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I did a couple of minor chores and then tackled the major one.  It had been warm for the last 24 hours, so it was time to fix the trailer floor.

The adhesive and floor both had to be above 65 degrees for 24 hours.  That hadn't happened until we got to St. George.  I got one of the ammo boxes out of the truck and brought it into the trailer.  I also got the sewer wrench to use as a flat surface under the box.  I cleaned out the area under the flooring with a small screwdriver and used a big one to shove adhesive under the flooring.  Then I wiped away the excess and put the wrench/ammo box combination over the area.  We'll see how it all worked out tomorrow.

I'm still feeling much better, but I'm not 100%.  Lugging that heavy ammo box around took a lot out of me.  It had rained cats and dogs last night, so we didn't feel like going to the club and shooting in the mud.  Instead I spent a lot of the early afternoon surfing and watching videos about Slash RC cars.  About three Abby was driving us nuts, so we decided to take her to the dog park.

The truck went into a regen as soon as we left the park.  We drove to a bypass road on the north side of Hurricane.  It's several miles long and has no stop signs or lights.  We drove about 20 miles back and forth on it until the regen was over.  I wanted a "clean" regen after the interrupted one in Provo.  I think we got it.

We stopped at Wally World on the way home for milk, TP, and Halloween candy.  The kids were coming around tonight and we wanted to pass some out.  We also bought some firewood from the park so we could have a fire.

After dinner we dressed Abby in her costume and sat outside to pass out candy.  Quite a few kids came buy.  We still had some left, so we took it to their nightly hay ride to get rid of it.  Ellen rode the ride while I took Abby home.

The rest of the evening was videos and surfing.

Tomorrow I have to dump the tanks and get ready to leave on Monday.  It's going to be 353 miles to Williams, probably the hardest leg of the trip. 

Day 3583

 I woke up a little before 8, played games, and then got up.  I was sick when I went to bed and I was still sick when I got up.  At least I felt a little better.  I started removing Ellen's hair from the bathroom sink drain.  There was a lot of it.  Ellen announced that we only had half an hour to get to the vet, so there was no breakfast - only a banana.

We got to the vet in time.  They gave us some antibiotics for Cooper and charged us $200.  I was too sick to really do anything, so I decided to go to a nearby RC store.

The store was great.  It wasn't very big, but it was jammed with really good stuff.  Ellen decided that she wanted a micro-b.  I decided on a Slash kit.  We bought them and went to the other RC store in town.  I bought some sale things there.  

We also stopped at Ace to look for a long nose pliers  They didn't have any.  The last stops were Smith's for some OJ and a hamburger joint for lunch.  By then I was wasted and really needed to go home. 

I unpackaged Ellen's micro-b and put it on the charger.  Then I sat down for videos and a much needed rest.  Most of the videos were about modding the Slash I just bought.  After 2 or 3 hours I felt better.  I took Ellen out so that she could run the micro-b.  She did pretty well at half speed.  We got Abby and walked around the park while Ellen drove the micro-b.  We took Abby to the agility thing again, but she wasn't interested.

When we got back Ellen fixed sausages for dinner.   After dinner I switched from videos to looking up Slash parts.  This is going to be fun.

 

Day 3582

 I got up a little before 7.  I didn't feel very good, so I only had a banana for breakfast.  Then it was outside to hook up.  At least the temp was in the low 50's.

We were on the road in an hour. Traffic through the rest of the SLC metro area was light.  After that it was smooth sailing.  The only two issues were the continual up/down (climbing to 6,000 ft at least twice) and how sick I felt.  I was continually coughing and sneezing.

It took about 4 hours to get to the park.  That was almost a 65 mph average and we did 10.5 mpg.  Pretty good considering there was a quartering headwind.  The park is new and a "resort".  It has a water park, tennis and pickle courts, and even two basketball courts.  The spots are all just gravel though.

The worse thing is that there are only two shower houses in the large park.  Neither of the are close to out site.  We went into on and it wasn't very nice  It's a combination shower/ toilet with no shower curtain and a institutional shower head.  We both prefer the trailer shower.  I have to hook up the sewer anyway, so that's not a problem. 

After setting up a rested for a little while and then we took the dog to explore the park.  There really isn't a dog park, just some small grass areas.  They do have a small fenced "dog agility" area.  Abby had a little fun in it.

After that we went into Hurricane.  We got some snacks at ACE and drove around to see what had changed.  Then we went home.

I sat down for videos and lasted about 10 minutes before a long nap.  I didn't really have a dinner because I felt like shit.  That feeling continued until I went to bed. 

Day 3581

 I had a bad night.  I've developed a cold.  The worst symptom is a voluminous nasal discharge.  For some reason it felt like battery acid last night.  I was continually waking up to pain.  So much for a good sleep.  Eventually I gave up trying about 7 and started playing games.  The painful drip continued.  It had also produced a really sore throat.

I got up, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  It was low 40's out, so we just surfed the first part of the morning away.  I also got a hold of the Medicare people and set up an appointment to talk with them at the end of the month.  Ellen got one, too.

Eventually the temp got up to 52 and we decided to go up Provo Canyon to a dog park.  The park turned out to be attached to the same park that we visited last Spring.  It was about 1/2 acre and had plenty of scrub and trees for Abby to explore.  We played Frisbee and just let her run around doing whatever she wanted.

When we were finished we drove up the canyon to Heber City.  I hadn't been there since I left SLC as a kid.  The small town is now big.  It also has a lot of houses dotting the surrounding mountains.  I suspect a lot of them are vacation homes.  There was the best dog wash we've ever seen there.  We gave Abby a bath and she came out sweet smelling and soft.

I kept feeling more run down and sick all day.  The nasal drip didn't stop either.  Every time I sneezed a big string of snot came out.

When we got home I sat down to videos.  That lasted for about 10 minutes before a I took an hours long nap.  Unfortunately I didn't feel any better when I woke up.  I didn't feel like dinner, so I had a bowl of cereal and some bread. 

I watched videos for a little while longer and then went to bed.  I hope the fire snot doesn't affect me tonight, too. 

Day 3580

 I woke up about 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then I took the laundry over to the laundry room.  When I got back I drained the shower tank.

With that done I surfed for a while and then tried to choose Medicare stuff for next year.  Signing onto the website was very confusing and took me quite a while.  When I did get on I couldn't find what  was looking for.  Ellen finished the wash, so I bagged it and we went to ACE instead.

It took a while for me to find the right screw to replace the one I lost changing the door batteries.  For the record it was a M3x8mm screw.  I bought three.  We also bought several small items from their bargain bins.

We stopped at the grocery store for a few things and Sonic for lunch.  Then we went home to get ready to shoot.

We left an hour early even though Google said the trip would take 30 minutes.  It turned out to take an hour because of all the heavy traffic on the road from I15 to the club.

The weather was perfect for shooting.  There were only two other people on the course.  That meant Abby could run between the stations.  She had a great time.  We both shot pretty well.

The trip back to I5 was much better than the one over.  There were only a few backups at lights.  There was a three mile traffic jam on I5 though.  We got through pretty easily since we could use the HOV lane.

I filled up the truck before going home because I thought that we were leaving tomorrow.  We're not.  However, wherever we go tomorrow has to involve finishing the regen that started just as we got to the RV park.

The evening was videos and a frozen dinner.  After dinner was more videos. 

Day 3579

 I woke up at 7, got up and had breakfast, and then went outside to hook up.  It was 41 degrees and there was ice on the truck windshield.  The hookup proceeded normally and we were on the road by 8.  However, the dash had a "low coolant" warning on it when I started the truck.

We stopped at the closest GMC dealer, who was in Burley 25 miles a way.  I kept a close eye on the coolant temperature the whole way.  It didn't seem to be adversely affected.

We got lucky at the dealership.  There was a great place to park on a side street with an easy escape route.  Unfortunately the parts dept. girl didn't really know anything.  The head service guy walked by and heard me asking if she was sure that what she was showing me was correct.  He said it was and asked me if I knew I needed to mix it with water.  Of course I didn't.  Then he asked me what was wrong and walked out to the truck to take a look himself.  Then he had their "lubricant guy" come out with mixed coolant and add a small amount to the reservoir.  No charge.  We were back on the road in half an hour at most.

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  I put 5 gallons of fuel in the truck at Brigham City, but didn't really need it.  At that point we were getting 10.3 mpg.  By the time we got to Provo we were up to 11.4.  That's pretty good with no wind and all the up/down until we got to Tremonton.

 After setting up I decided to go for lunch.  The door lock batteries were dead, so I started to replace them.  I dropped one of the screws and spent a fruitless 1/2 hour looking for it.  The battery compartment is now taped shut.  We ended up eating at DQ because that was the only place in the area.

When we got back I sat down for a short video session and a long nap.  When I got up I had leftover pizza for dinner and went back to videos.

I decided to have a shower in the trailer again because I'll have to dump the tanks tomorrow anyway. 

Day 3578

 I woke up a little before 7 and got up to have breakfast.  After that I went outside to hook up.  It was in the low 40's.

 I did part of the hookup and then took the Bronco over to the storage and put it away.  I unhooked the battery, too.  I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the storage is the other Bronco key, but I sure can't find it.  I went back to the trailer and finished the hookup.  We left the park at 8:10.

I had digestive problems again and had to stop at the rest area on the way to Baker and again when we filled up in Baker.

Leaving Baker we got great fuel mileage for most of the trip.  We were getting up to 14.5 mpg at times.  Then we had a 30 mile long regen.  That cut the overall mileage for the day to 11.9.  That's still pretty good for a day where the road is constantly going up a long grade so that it can go back down again on the other side.

We got to the park sometime after 1 our time.  The park sucks.  It has no showers and outhouses for toilets.  It's also down  in a hole with a river running through it.  It it rains upstream we'll drown.  It does have great places for Abby though.  She had fun doing Frisbee and running through the woods.  She fell into the river at one point, but got herself out easily.

We fueled up the truck and lined it up to hook up.  The site is so short that I have to back the truck up to the pin box for it to fit.  Even then the truck sticks out a little.

Ellen fixed steaks for dinner.  They were good.  Then we watched videos.  I got tired of that and switched to surfing while Ellen watched Korean chick flicks.  I went to bed really early. 

 

 

Day 3577

 I woke up at 7, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we drove to Halfway to attend the farmer's market.  

There were only 3 or 4 booths at the market, but we managed to find stuff at two of them to buy.  Then we walked through the town (all 2 blocks) before going back to Richland.  We probably would have stayed longer, but Ellen was meeting Dan to go singing. 

I went back to the trailer to see if I could figure out the tire mount on the Bronco.  It took a while of analysis and partial disassembly, but I got it sorted out.  There were 2 problems.  First, the mount is designed for 75 or 95 series tires, not 225.  The 225's only fit if the tire is reversed.  I had to take the tire off and reverse it.  Second the "wings" on the tire bolt had been squeezed together.  The prevented the lock from engaging.  I had to bend them apart with pliers.  After that everything fit like a champ.

I surfed for awhile until the singing was done and then went to Dan and Patsy's to watch football.  When the game was over we went to Holcomb to run the dogs.  Abby needed it.  She was crazy.  We ran her twice around the field.

After that we had 45 minutes to feed the cats and ourselves before leaving for the grange for Bingo.  It was fun.  Ellen even won enough money for us to be even for the night.  When Bingo was over we said our goodbyes.  I was going to put the Bronco away, but the garage keys were locked up.  I'll have to do it tomorrow morning. 

When we got home we fed Abby, did a little cleanup, and then took showers and went to bed. 

Day 3576

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff.  I called the locksmith and set an appointment at 9.  We left for Baker shortly after.

When we got to the locksmith he said that I already had the key.  When I tried it it only went halfway into the lock.  He sprayed oil in the lock and free it up.  It still took a lot of effort from both of us to remove it.  At least it was off.

The tire guy hadn't called, so we went to the truck stop for breakfast.  It was really good.  We killed time there until we got bored enough to want to go to BiMart.  The tire guy called just as we were getting up.

We drove to the tire guy and they took us in immediately.  It did take over an hour for them to change the tires.  The new ones look really good.  We stopped at Mormon burger for a hamburger and Maverick for fuel before going home.  The Bronco was quieter, steered better, and handled better on the way back.  The upgrade was well worth it.  I'd noticed that gas mileage seemed lower that it was in the Spring.  Right now it seems to be about 24.  That's OK with me, the vehicle is almost civilized now. 

When we got back we went to the grange to help Dan put a TV stand together and mount a TV on it.  The stand is really cool.  The TV height is extendable and it's on wheels.  It even has a shelf for a player.

With that done we all went to Holcomb to run the dogs.  I tried to get the lock to go back on the tire mount, but couldn't.  When we got back to the trailer I spent another half hour on it with no luck.  Crap.

We fed the pets and then went to the restaurant for dinner with Dan and Patsy.  Then we went home, watched some videos, and went to bed.  I was really sleepy.

Day 3575

 I woke up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep.  I played games for quite a while instead.  I finally got up and fed the pets.  Then we went to the breakfast place to eat.  The new owner has changed it all around.  There was only one guy having coffee when we arrived, but by the time we left there were at least 8 or more.

The lady was very talkative when we first got there.  I think that she told us her whole live story.  It was OK.  I just used the time to look for tires on my phone.  When breakfast was done we left for Baker.

The Bronco definitely runs better than it ever has before, and that's not just the steering.  The steering is still a little vague, but that's probably the way it was new.  The Bronco also has more power and torque.  It can hold speed on hills that it couldn't do in the Spring.  Overall it's still gutless though.  It gets a little less mileage, too.

Les Schwab didn't have any tires available that I wanted.  Continental had several.  I gave the counter guy some choices and eventually he came up with one choice that he could have tomorrow.  Of course that was a lot more expensive than any of my choices.  I just said "OK".

We went to the farm store to get DEF.  We met Dan there and made a date for Chinese at lunch.  Then we went to BiMart and got Ellen some more pants.  Her asshole was giving her trouble.  Mine was, too.

We had lunch with Dan and some of his friends at the Chinese place.  After that we went home.  When we got there I spent about an hour on a fruitless search for the key to unlock the spare tire on the Bronco.  I'll probably take it to a locksmith tomorrow before I get the tires.

Ellen wanted to sit on the toilet, so I went to see Dan and Patsy.  We talked for a while and then Dan and I took the dogs to run.  Abby had a great time again.  I followed Dan back to his place and we talked for a while before he went to a singing session.

I went to taco night with Dan and Patsy after Dan got back.  When that was done I went home and watched some videos until bed time. 

Day 3574

 I woke up at 6:30, played games for 15 minutes, and then got up to have breakfast.  After that I started to get ready to leave.

There were several extra things to be done.  I drained the shower tank and brought the clothes in from the shed.  Then I took down the pin box tripod and put it in the shed.  I also put the dog wash in the shed along with the hose used to drain the tank.  After that it was mainly the usual stuff.  The final extra item was disconnecting the water hose, winding it up, and putting it in the shed.

We left the club about 8:30.  Traffic getting out of town was OK except for s relatively short traffic jam on 205 by Foster.  We were passing Troutdale at 9:30.  From there it was the usual long boring drive.  The only 2 things of note were that we used "3 bars" of DEF in 200 miles.  We had to stop at a rest area to refill.  The second was mistakenly stopping at Boardman for fuel.  They only have biodiesel.

We stopped at the Maverick in Baker so I could take a shit and get some coffee.  The coffee made the 40 mile drive to Richland enjoyable.  When we got there we parked and set up.  I went to put a charger on the Bronco, but it started without one.

The Bronco is much improved.  The steering is great, at least for its time.  They also tuned it up or something because it no longer stumbles at low revs and seems to have a little more power.

We went to see Dan and Patsy and we all took the dogs to Holcomb.  After that they went to friends for dinner and we watched videos and ate leftovers at home. 

After dinner I switched to surfing and Ellen watched a chick flick.