Day 3781

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for breakfast.  We only had to do 130 miles today, so there was no hurry to leave.  We took our time getting hooked up and was still out of the park by 8:50.

 The first 70 miles or so of the drive was pretty "flat" ground and good pavement.  We only saw a couple of cars.  I say "flat" because it was all a gentle rise.  We actually climbed a couple of thousand feet.  After that we really started to climb.  The road went to a narrow canyon stretch like Richland, but with a much steeper slope.  Then it opened up to straighter sections but still kept climbing.

At the top of the pass (8640 ft) there was a sizeable town.  It looked like a cool tourist town.  There was no way I was going to stop with the trailer though.  Right after the town we started to go down.  The drop in elevation was 4,300 feet in about 19 miles.  The road wasn't bad though and with the exhaust brake I really didn't have to use the brake pedal much at all.  The scenery was fantastic though.  We got a great view of White Sands thousands of feet below us. 

The park was only a couple of miles from the bottom of the pass.  Unfortunately the truck had started a regen before the top.  It did the same thing it did last regen.  There was the usual stedy increase in soot until a little over 60%.  Then it rocketed up to 100% in a few miles and started a regen.  It was at about 40% when we started down.  Of course that made the regen stop.  At the bottom of the hill it started a warmup.  I drove about 10 miles on the highway by the park until it finished.

The park is kind of a dingy place, but it's OK.  The place they had us in was hard to get out of.  I'd parked in it when the manager suggested that I move to another space.  That required me to back the trailer out and make a 45 degree turn while I was doing it.  I did it perfectly.  All that fucking around parking the trailer at home has made a difference.  

We had lunch once we set up.  Then we went into town.  I drove from one end to the other just to see the place.  I stopped at a grocery store to look for protein drinks.  They had them, but not the right flavor.  The prices there were sky high for everything. 

We took Abby to the dog park in town.  She had a good time chasing birds and being chased by other dogs.  I walked 2 miles around the perimeter of the park.  On the way home we stopped at a tourist trap just because I like to go through them.

When we got back to the trailer it was videos.  Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner I watched a movie.  It was fun for a while, but I quit about 3/4 through.  I did a little surfing and then took an early shower.  It's going to get down to 48 tonight.

I think that this was a great day.  The drive was nice and we had fun going through the town.  Tomorrow we're just going to chill out here.  With the cold tomorrow that might be literal. 

Day 3780

 I woke up a little after 7, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Today was a free day - nothing scheduled.  After breakfast I took Abby for a 2 mile walk.  Ellen came along, but stopped after a while because I was walking too fast.  I guess that she didn't realize that I was exercising.

When I got back we decided to go into Carlsbad to get fuel.  Ellen found a dog park there so we added that to the itinerary.  The drive there was nice with no wind.  The EGT's were higher than normal and so was the soot generation.

We got fuel for 4.99/gal, probably the cheapest in Carlsbad.  It took 22 gallons to fill the truck for a grand total of just over 9 mpg.  The dog park was great.  It was large and by the river.  Abby had it to herself at first.  She had fun chasing birds and running from one end of the park to the other.  I walked around the park to get in more steps.  I got in 2,000 while we were there.

After a while two more dogs owners showed up.  Abby tired out both dogs chasing her.  They didn't stand a chance.  There was also a faucet with a large dog bowl.  I refilled it several times while Abby splashed in it.  One of the dog owners told us of a dog wash on the way back to the park.  It got put on the itinerary along with a pet store and an Albertson's that we'd passed. 

I got bananas and OJ at the Albertson's and dog food and a dog treat at the pet store.  Abby got a bath at the dog wash.  The last stop was Arby's for lunch.

I'd planned on running an RC car when we got home.  That didn't happen.  I spent the afternoon watching videos and napping.  We ordered dinner from the park again.

After dinner I took Abby for another walk.  I added another 1,600 steps so that my total for the day was 4 miles.  When I got back I watched videos for a little while and then went shopping.  I looked for SCX30 upgrade parts.  There's a sale on Aliexpress starting 5/1 with some good prices.  I'll probably make an order and send it to Hooch.

 

Day 3779

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we decided to do the wash.

There wasn't any point in hurrying to leave.  The Carlsbad park's check-in time was 2.  Because of the timezone change that was 3 our time.  We had plenty of time to do the wash and put all the clean clothes away when it was done.

After that we hooked up and left.  There was a little delay because Ellen didn't shut the bedroom slide and only partially shut the kitchen slide.  Also I forgot to tighten the wheel nuts.

The trip itself was about 150 miles.  The first half was in Texas.  It was good road and little traffic.  I did the same 65 mph average speed that I would on an interstate.  Things got crappy when we crossed into New Mexico.   The road was OK at first, but they declared it a "safety corridor" and lowered the speed to 55.  I was afraid of a speed trap so I went 55 until a rabbit doing 65 passed me.  Then I followed him.

After 20 miles or so the road started getting crowded with oil trucks and vehicles.  There's a lot of drilling going on in the area.  The road also started going through small towns.  That slowed progress considerably.  We had to drive through beautiful downtown Carlsbad.  The speed limit was 30 and every intersection was an untimed light.  When we got through town it was 15 more miles to the park.

I didn't mention the hellacious head wind that we had throughout the New Mexico part of the drive.  We ended up making 8.5 mpg overall even though the Texas leg was 10 mpg.  There were parts where I had to slow don to keep the ECG's below 1300.  They were above 1250 for much of the time.  We'll have to drive 15 miles back to town to get fuel tomorrow.

The park is really nice, at least for New Mexico.  It's large and even has some trees.  There's also a field (dirt and scrub brush) for Abby to run in.  There isn't much to do around here and the cavern is 40 miles away, back through town.  I plan on running an RC car tomorrow.  There's a good place to do it not far from the trailer.  I need a day of total rest anyway.

The park has a restaurant that delivers to the trailer.  We ordered from it and the food is really good.  We'll probably do it again tomorrow. 

The wind blew all afternoon and until about 8 at night.  Hopefully it won't blow tomorrow. 

Day 3778

 I woke up at 7:30, played games until 8, and then got up for breakfast.  After that it was outside to hook up.  We didn't have any issues and were on the road at 8.

The 1604 improvement is done and it's great.  Getting onto I10 involves a 2+ mile flyover.  TEXAS! The drive itself was uneventful and the traffic was very light.  We even got 10.5 MPG.  We got to Fort Stockton at 2.  We even had all 4 wheels.

We unhitched and fed the pets.  Then we drove into town to fuel up.  31 gallons and $160 later we went back to the park.  It was 93 degrees and eventually got to 95.  We hid out in the trailer and watched videos.  I learned that the Starlink antenna position for south Texas is flat, just like it was searching for satellites.  It works fine that way.

Dinner was leftover brisket.  After dinner it was more videos until 8.  It was down to 90 so I took Abby to the dog park and threw the Frisbee for her.  She had some great catches.  Then I took her back to the trailer and walked 2 miles around the park.

When I got back I took a shower and went to bed. 

Day 3777

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  There was a bunch of stuff to do to get ready to leave so I went outside to work on it.

 I started with draining the tanks.  That went like it always does.  While I was doing it I noticed that the Starlink antenna was in the "looking for satellites" position.  The guy next to us had left, so I put it back where it was before.  I didn't move.  I unplugged the cable and put it back in.  Still nothing.  Ellen tried to reset it.  Still nothing.  Finally I decided to just get the other chores done.

The next task was to rinse off the truck.  It was splashed with mud all the way up to the rear view mirrors.  I got out the collapsible hose.  It has a neat spray attachment on the end that works really well.  I would spray a section of the body, scrub it down with the scrubber, rinse it, and then Ellen would dry it with a dog towel.  When we were finished the truck wasn't perfect, but it looked pretty good.

The third task was lubricating the trailer hitch.  I used PB Blaster on it.  I was going to put on lithium grease, but the PB Blaster seemed to make it a lot better.  We'll see tomorrow when we hitch up.

That was all of the things to do this morning so I went back into the trailer, surfed a little while, and had lunch.  We didn't shoot until 3:30, so we had a lot of time to kill.

I decided on a new project.  There's a company that makes a set of scales that tells the weight distribution of a RC car.  The kit costs $130.  It's really 4 small scales connected to a phone app by Bluetooth.  I found cheap scales on Amazon to use and made a spreadsheet that does the same calculations as the phone app.  I'll probably buy the scales when we get to Oregon.  The whole thing should cost about $35 - $40.

I finished the spreadsheet, did a little surfing, and then it was time to go to the club.  Ellen couldn't read the map and sent us to the wrong parking lot.  Fortunately someone gave us a ride.  The course was one long row and we started at station 10.  That meant we had to walk from 10 to 1.  Fortunately we got another ride.

The course was the easiest of the three.  I shot a little better.  I'd eaten more last night and ate some on the course.  I'm going to have to get used to shooting while starving.  We got lucky again at the end and got another ride back to the truck.

I "won" the auction for a Browning tool set.  I might even be able to use it.  We picked it up and ate at the club.  The menu was 6 different kinds of processed meat.  I ate some of it.  We ate with the English guy we met the other day.

We stopped at HEB on the way home for fuel and potato chips.  When we got home I backed up the truck for hooking up.  Then I put everything away.  After some videos and a nap I went to bed. 

Day 3776

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We didn't shoot until 1, so I went outside to get some pressing chores done.

I opened up the truck bed and rearranged the ammunition.  I ended up filling up all of the waterproof cases and still having 4 20 ga left over.  So much for reducing the load on the truck.

With that done I switched to fixing the trailer tail light.  I opened up the junction box in the pin box.  The broken wire was still there.  I connected the two ends with a crimp junction.  Then I put everything back together.  The whole process was a little harder than it sounds.  I needed a light to see the pin box interior.  One of the wire ends was only an inch long.  Finally I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I feel a lot better with a working turn signal.  Going through the rest of the trip without one didn't sound like a good idea.

After that I went back inside.  I decided to try to get the online notary thing to work.  An hour plus of frustration, two computers, a phone, an AI help desk, and a system reboot later I think I succeeded.  I won't know until Monday.

After that I had a quick lunch, loaded up the truck, and went to the club.  We got there in time and managed to park right at our first station.

I didn't shoot well, but I did shoot better than yesterday.  I have a guess at what's wrong.  I'm starving myself and maybe that impacts my shooting.

We went back to the clubhouse when we finished shooting.  I took Abby for some Frisbee while Ellen turned in the practice card.  Abby didn't do a lot because it was so hot.  She went and laid down under a trailer.  We had drinks at the shaved ice truck and then started home.  We stopped at HEB fo salads and Costco for water on the way.

I was tired when we got home.  I sat down for videos and a nap.

Dinner was frozen something.  After dinner was videos and surfing.

We shoot at 3 tomorrow.  The morning will be getting things ready to leave. 

Day 3775

 The goddamn phone woke me up at 7.  It was droiding continuously.  It took me a while to figure out that the stupid hearing aid had been sending notifications all night while the phone was set to quite.  I turned the notifications off.  The hearing aids are useless anyway.  The left one is dead and the right one has barely any volume.

I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We shot at 10:30, so I had just enough time to assemble an install the shampoo holder for the shower.  It looks good.  I hope it works.  Then I loaded up the truck.  We got to the club a little early and waited around for about half an hour.

The target were a little difficult, but nothing over the top.  I shot like shit.  I had several stations where I only hit one.  I just couldn't connect my eyes and my trigger finger.  Usually I just lock on the bird, swing the gun, and the trigger goes off.  Today I had to think about pulling the trigger.  Also I just couldn't read the speed of the birds.  I was not happy. 

When we were done we went to the club.  We walked through all of the vendors.  Ellen got a cleaning kit and a choke for her new gun.  I got a brass wad in case a shell jammed in the gun.  Then we went to the roach coaches and got brisket sandwiches.  They were really good.  I was tired of cold sandwiches.

We went home after lunch.  I rearranged all of the ammo that we'll need and packed the rest away.  I was going to work on the trailer light but it was hot and humid, and I was tired and disgusted.  I went inside to watch videos and fell asleep.

I had a slightly out of date HEB salad for dinner.  It tasted OK.  Then I took Abby to play Frisbee at the dog park.  She had fun and it was the only exercise she got today.  Ellen was watching Chinese chick flicks when I got back, so I spent the evening surfing.

Hopefully I'll shoot better tomorrow. 

Day 3774

 I woke up about7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We didn't shoot until1, so I decided to take the time to set up the sewer hose.

The single hose length just barely fit.  If the truck had been 2 inches farther away it wouldn't have fit.  I got it all put together without a big hassle though. 

  That pretty much satisfied my need to accomplish something.  We did need to go to the grocery store and Lowe's/Home Depot.  I made up a list for both places.  Then I loaded up the truck and we took off for Home Depot.  I got the things that I needed to complete the shampoo holder for the shower.  I got plastic parts and screws for the feet and strong sticky tape to mount it.  I also needed PB Blaster and lithium grease for the trailer hitch.  I got the Blaster, but they didn't have the grease.  Fortunately there was an Autozone in the same center and they had it.

From there we drove to the club.  There was a Dutch Bros on the way so we stopped for coffee and a pup cup.

We ran Abby for a little while when we got to the club.  Then we ate the lunch that we'd brought with us.  With that done we went to the FITASC course.  We were a little early but that just meant that we didn't have to rush.

The course was pretty challenging.  I shot OK on the first parcour.  It was a little harder than the second.  Unfortunately I shot worse on the second.  Go figure. 

After that we went back to the clubhouse and waited the 2+ hours for the food.  The lawyer buying the farm called.  The notary public screwed up my paperwork.  I have to do some sort of online thing.  I told her I'd do it after the shoot.  We got into a long conversation with a guy from England that was there refereeing.  He was fun to talk to and loved Abby.

The food tonight was pizza.  Yech.  I ate a few pieces of topping but mainly ate the vegetables and fruit.  Abby got some crusts.

We went home then.  I unloaded the truck and switched the guns.  Then I watched videos for a while before I got bored and switched to surfing for the rest of the night.  I miss doing online shopping, but there's no point. 

Day 3773

 I woke up at 7 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We didn't shoot until 1, but we went to the club because we wanted to shoot some practice.  We took Abby along because otherwise she would be in the trailer all day.

Before we shot practice we went to a Pilla dealer and bought Ellen a couple of lenses.  They cost $400 a piece.  So what.  The next item on the agenda was running Abby.  She cruised around for a while and then really got into chasing swallows and dove.  It did take the edge off.

After that we got around to shooting practice.  Ellen shot a box through her new A400.  She did pretty well.  Then we both shot a box of 20 ga.  It was a nice warmup.

Ellen fixed sandwiches for lunch and we ate at the clubhouse.  Then it was time to shoot.  By then the weather was partly cloudy, humid, and getting hot.  It was somewhere in the high 80's when we got to the course.  We shot on station 1 and parked at station 13.

I shot OK, not great, but OK.  Ellen said I shot a 90.  She shot really poorly.  I think part of it was gun mount and part of it was she needs to shoot faster.  The setter had a lot of targets that dropped speed pretty quickly.  She would have the right line but shot so late that the target was dropping.

We finished in 1.5 hours which was great.  We went back to the club and sat on the patio until 5.  They served Chik-fi-la chicken.  It was really good.  Abby had a full meal of chicken.  Then we went home.

A huge motor home was parked in the space next to us.  It blocked the Starlink.  After unloading everything I had to move the antenna. Then I started watching videos.  That turned into a nap.  When I woke up i watched some more videos before going to bed.  I was tired.  I did almost 12,000 steps today.

Day 3772

 I woke up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep.  I gave up and played games instead.  I got up about 7:30 for pet stuff and breakfast.

It was raining steadily so I surfed for an hour or so.  Ellen said that traffic looked slow, but moving, so we left for Austin.  We took Abby with us.  The drive up was almost as stressful as the drive yesterday.  The rain and spray from vehicles cut visibility.  Of course the same idiots were driving.   We got stuck in a jam at the 410/I35 merge.  We also got stuck again farther North because of a truck wreck in the right hand lane.  Fortunately we were in the left hand lane and just had to drive 10 - 15 mph for a couple of miles.  Once we got about 10 miles south of Kyle the rain and traffic eased and we got up to the speed limit.

We almost batted 1,000.  We had to stop at the light at the Kyle exit.  We also had to stop at every light on 1626 except 1.  Two or three times it was for the longest delay possible.  We also had to stop for the two lights on 45.  Crap.

We got to the house and I realized I'd left the keys in San Antonio.  Fortunately Ellen had her's.  We only spent a few minutes there - just enough time to get my mouthpiece and reset a modem.  I really needed that mouth piece.  I woke up 2 or 3 times last night because I bit my tongue.  

The drive back was easier.  The rain had eased, but not stopped.  The traffic was lighter, too.  I even managed to got 80 for stretches.  The truck got 21.5 mpg.  Cool.  We got home about 12:30. 

We ate lunch.  After that I tried to check out the trailer tail light.   Then bulb is OK.  It appears that no voltage is getting to the socket.  I wonder if I killed the wire when I was drilling holes in the wall.  Oh well.  After that we went to the club.  It was still raining, but we had Gortex and waterproof footwear.  Most places weren't open.  We went to Coles and Ellen bought a hopped up A400.  It's a nice gun.  Then we ran the dog in the field.  She put in some miles and it took the edge off.

When we got home I surfed and watched videos.  Three dollar bill called.  He was worried about whether or not he still owned the condo.  I told him to look it up.  He sounds like Yo is taking care of him.  He complains about having a bad memory though.  I told him he should look up the county records on the condo.

I texted Dan about the call.  He called and I gave him a recap of the call.  By then it was time to go to bed. 

Day 3771

 I woke up at 7, played games, and then got up for breakfast.  After that it was moving the last minute stuff to the trailer.  That took several trips.

It rained all day and everywhere.  The rain was constant and varied from light to medium.  It's the first day of continuous rain since we got here last fall.  Crap.

When all of the stuff was moved into the trailer we took the crock pot Ellen ordered to the FedEx place in Sunset Valley.  Traffic was fairly light and all we had to do was hand the box to them.  We went right back home.  That's when things got bad.

Remember that it never stopped raining.  I had trouble backing the trailer in line, but eventually got it lined up perfectly.  Then it wouldn't hitch up.  The jaws wouldn't close.  I had to reopen the garage, get some PB Blaster, and clean the mechanism.  It still wouldn't close.  Eventually I decided to carefully center the hitch before I backed up.  That did it.  Of course this whole thing took an hour and a half in the rain.  This has never happened before.

The cats were the next problem.  They were locked in the cat room.  When I opened the door I grabbed for Devon.  I got him, but he scratched his way free.  Ellen got Cooper and took him out.  Then we l spent 20 minutes or so chasing Devon around.  We had to capture him in a towel in order not to end up bleeding. 

When I started up the truck it said the right tail lights were out.  They were.  I wasn't about to do any more work in the rain so we just left. 

By then the rain was heavier.  It rained hard all the way to San Antonio.  Lots of people were driving 40 miles an hour with their flashers on.  Some of them were in the left lane.  I saw lots of stupidity the whole trip.  I think that the fastest I drove was 67.  Most of the time it was mid 50's or lower.  A lot of it was in the left lane because the other lanes were full of people that shouldn't have been on the road at all.

When we got to the RV park they told me that they didn't accept Amazon packages.  Assholes.  It was still poring rain while we set up.  The Starlink works, but the data rate is unusable.  Ellen says that it will be better tomorrow. 

We went to the club and checked in.  It's going to be a muddy mess.  Then I went to Target to get a shampoo holder for the shower.  They didn't have any.  We stopped at the Cajun place for dinner.  We made a Wally World stop on the way home, but they didn't have shampoo holders either.  Crap.

It's 8 at night and it's still raining hard. 

Day 3770

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out with Abby for the morning walk.  When that was finished I partially unwrapped the Ranger, disconnected its battery, and wrapped it up again.

 After that activity changed to hauling stuff out to the trailer.  I took the guns, valuables, and a bunch of other stuff.  I also replaced the batteries in the overhead bins.  Finally I swept out all of the dirt that had accumulated in the kitchen and living room.

While I was doing that Ellen cleaned the bathrooms, did the wash, and brought out some stuff also.  I suggested that she buy a small rice cooker to replace hauling the large pressure cooker.  She ordered one to come today.

I finished a little before noon.  I walked around the house and couldn't find anything else to do.  I had lunch and surfed most of the afternoon away.  Lee texted and said he'd be OK with a dog play date about 6:30.  I had dinner and then went over when he said he was home.

We had a good time talking while the dogs had a good time playing.  Eventually it was time to say goodbys for the summer.

The "rice cooker" was there when we got back.  It was the same one we already had.  That's a pain in the ass.  I'll have to drive to Sunset Valley tomorrow morning to return it before we leave.  Crap.

The rest of the evening was spent looking for a replacement rice cooker (what Ellen said she wanted).  It turns out she wants a multi cooker.  They don't come small.  I pointed out that she only cooks rice with the one she has.  That didn't go over well, but she couldn't argue because it's true. 

Day 3769

 I woke up at 8, played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I went outside and put fuel and Stabil in the Ranger.

The Ranger started up right away.  It ran pretty well, but I think it could do with a tune it up trip to the dealer.  I ran it around the neighborhood.  When I got back I moved the truck and put the Ranger in the car port.  Ellen helped me cover it.  I'm going to have to unwrap it tomorrow because I forgot to disconnect the battery.

 I'd planned to walk after that, but it had started raining.  I started moving more stuff into the trailer instead.  I made several trips moving plants, clothes, drugs, RC stuff, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff.  Ellen did the same.

When that ran down we put Abby in the car and went to pick up drugs.  We had to stop at both Walgreen's and CVS.  It was still raining and getting into the mid 50's so no circle C.

When we got home it was lunch followed by cleaning.  Ellen cleaned up the kitchen while I put the guns in their cases.  I also got out everything else from the safe that we take with us.  I took the shooting bags to the trailer but left the rest of the stuff in the house.

I joined Ellen in cleaning.  I cleaned off the kitchen table and wiped it down with wood polish. I also dusted the living room and bedroom furniture.

By then it was after 3 and both of us were tired.  We called it a day.  The only things tomorrow are cleaning the bathrooms and moving a few "last" items to the trailer.  I'll also put the car away and back up the truck to the trailer.

The forecast cold front arrived.  It's 48 degrees at 9.  There was a thunderstorm for a little while after dinner.  It didn't rain very much. 

Ellen fixed chicken and rice for dinner.  After dinner I watched videos until I got bored and then switched to surfing.  Neither Abby or I did any walking today.  I hope to get some in tomorrow.

Day 3768

 I woke up at 7:30 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we left for the doctor so Ellen could get a blood test.  From there we went to Circle C and ran the dog.

When we got home I had Ellen cut my hair.  That's another thing of the trip preparation list.  Then I moved some more stuff into the trailer.

A little after 11 we went to Salt Lick to get some BBQ.  I thought it would be good because we were early.  It wasn't.  It was just roast beef with a little smoky flavor.  I'm back to my opinion that the place is very inconsistent.  It can be very good, but also very bad. 

Before we went home I drove to the QT on 290.  I put 3 gallons of ethanol free fuel in the car and another gallon in a gas can.  I added Stabil to the gas tank when I got home.

I sat down to watch some videos and that turned into a long nap.  I woke up while Ellen was fixing bacon and has browns for dinner.

After dinner I walked by myself because Abby had just ate. 

When I got back I surfed for the rest of the evening. 

Day 3767

 I woke up at 7:30,and got up to feed the pets and have breakfast.  Then we took the car to Audi.  We left Abby at home.

They took the car in right away.  I suspect the program didn't take much time.  However Ellen had scratched a wheel and that took 3 hours.  At least we didn't have to pay for it.  While we were there I ran into the manager.  He asked why we were there, so I told him.  I gave him the whole story and was careful to be really nice about it.  He acted concerned and said he'd talk to the service department.  I think he's mainly concerned that he's going to get the car back.  We never got a call from the lawyer referral, so that's something we'll have to take up in the fall.

We got out of the dealership about noon.  The car's working, but who knows how long.  We stopped at the donut place and got donuts and kolaches.  I got 2, one for lunch and one for dinner.  Ellen had a doctor's appointment at 1:30, so we decided to do errands.

We stopped at Lowe's and got salt.  They didn't have the bathroom light bulbs, so we stopped at Home Depot for them.  Then we went to the post office to mail the farm papers.  We made a short stop at HEB for bananas and salads and the the doctor's office.  I waited in the car and played games.

We got home about 3.  I went to the apartment and packed up the ammo that we will need for the trip.  I'll put it and the cart in the truck tomorrow.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on surfing and videos.  I did get a 2+ mile walk in after dinner.  I felt guilty for missing the morning walk. 

Day 3766

 I woke up before 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast Abby and I took the usual walk.  When I got back I called the Audi guy and asked him to call me.

After that I started moving more stuff into the trailer.  I moved in the camera and binocular.  I also moved in all of the stuff from the pantry that we're taking with us.  I moved in the cat food container, but not the dog one.

When that was finished it was time to take out the garbage and recycle.  I put both cans out.  Later in the day I made a couple of trips to move the stuff we produced.  I don't want to haul any more garbage with us than I have to.

I did a little surfing and then had lunch.  After that I had time to do more stuff, but I couldn't think of anything more that needed to be moved.  All of the remaining things will have to be moved just before we leave.  I ended up surfing a little more.

I needed to pick up the Monjaro so we left to do that and the post office.  There were no more warning lights, but I don't think the passing car thing is working.  The farm paperwork was at the post office.  It had at least 15 places for my signature.  Three of them required a notary public.  We went to Wells Cargo nearby, but they wanted me to wait an hour.  I drove to the Circle C one and got in after a short wait.  

Ellen had been trying to get the passing warning to work all the time we were driving.  While I was in the bank she decided to reset the car.  Bad idea.  It wiped the whole car.  That probably includes the error record of what was wrong.  She called Audi and they're going to reprogram it tomorrow.  The guy from Audi called while we were driving to CVS.  I explained things and told him we'd be in tomorrow.  We picked up the Monjaro and went home.

I spent some time when we got home signing papers.  I'll put them in the post office tomorrow. 

The rest of the afternoon was surfing and a nap.

Ellen fixed gumbo and rice for dinner.  Then Abby and I went on the after dinner walk. 

The rest of the afternoon was surfing. 

Day 3765

 I woke up about 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I took Abby for a walk.  When I was done I went back to work on the FCX24.

I basically needed to mount the receiver and dress up the wires.  The difficult y was that there wasn't really a good place to mount the receiver.  I ended up going out to the garage and getting a piece of scrap plastic.  I cut it to size.  Then I mounted it to the top of the servo and the transmission.  That gave me the room to mount the receiver and cable tie up the wires neatly. 

That took most of the morning because I kept stopping to do something else.  I did manage to get the pants that I want put in the trailer.  That was the last "personal" thing that needed to be moved.  I'll probably start moving other stuff tomorrow.

I really had nothing else to do today.  I didn't even have any unfinished projects.  I ended up just wasting the afternoon and evening with videos and surfing.

Ellen fixed HEB clam chowder for dinner.  That stuff is really good.  After dinner I went for the second walk.  The weather was much nicer than in the morning - warmer but less humid.

Day 3764

 I woke up at 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I left for the doctor.  I took Abby, but Ellen stayed home because of her asshole.

When I went out to start the car the dash lit up with a bunch of error messages saying that various system weren't working.  Of course everything went by too fast for me to read.  There was a bunch of icons rotating flashing all the way to the doctor's office.  The car started with no messages when I left the doctor.  However another message showed up briefly saying something about the systems didn't work and the error has been logged.  The only thing that I noticed was that the lights warning of an adjacent car on the mirrors don't work. 

There was a wait, but the actual doctor's visit was short.  My PSA is down to six.  He's happy and I guess I am, too.  I'd like to quit the drug though.

After the doctor I stopped at the pet store to get the rest of the cat food that we need for the trip.  I also made a stop at CVS.  They're going to have next month's Monjaro for me on Thursday.  Yeah.  I also stopped at HEB to get ant traps.  They have invaded the trailer.  The final stop was Circle C.  By then it was getting hot, but Abby still got in a good run.

When I got home I told Ellen to look up the lemon law again.  As near as we can figure we qualify.  She called her lawyer friend who is going to give us a referral to a lawyer that handles lemon law cases. 

 I watched videos and had lunch when I got home.  The videos got boring after a while and I decided to do more RC stuff.  The only thing I could think to do was clean up the wiring on the FCX24.  I rearranged the wiring for the front lights.  That allowed the cab to go on much easier.  Then I decided to replace the receiver with one of the mini ones.

I got out the one that needed soldering and tried to solder it.  I got all 12 pins soldered, but I dropped some solder on the SMT device and ruined it.  Crap.  I got out one of the soldered ones and used it instead.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to get it bound.  It was all operator error. 

Using the new receiver required me to rewire the light connection to the lights.  I decided to put in a magnetic connection at the same time.  As usual rewiring things was a pain in the ass and took a long time.  I got the wiring finished about 9 and left cleanup and final assembly until tomorrow.

Ellen fixed trout and rice for dinner.  It was good.  I did a little surfing after putting some of the RC stuff away and then went to bed. 

Day 3763

 I woke up at 9.  Of course I hadn't gotten to sleep until 2.  I played games for quite a while.  It was after 10 when I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.

It was raining, so no morning walk.  It rained on and off all day including one pretty strong thunderstorm.  There was no evening walk either.  Abby was really disappointed.

Ellen went out to the trailer and covered the recliners with the vinyl patch material.  The original covering was getting pretty ratty in a lot of places.  

I spent what was left of the morning and early afternoon surfing.  I also took all of the accumulated cat and dog treats out to the trailer.  The extra wire box came in handy.  I also took some other small stuff.  That led to us going out for cat food.  I wanted to drive the car, so we went to the post office and then drove to Belterra.  We got the cat food and then stopped at HEB.  We picked up bacon and waffle mix for a mid afternoon meal.

A pretty heavy thunderstorm rolled in as we left HEB.  There was plenty of thunder and lightening on the way home.  It was quite a show.  We got pretty wet moving stuff from the car to the house.

After that Ellen made the waffles with fruit and bacon.  It was great.  After that I spent the rest of the evening watching videos.

 I miss my walks. 

Day 3762

 I woke up at 7:30 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I took Abby out for our morning walk.  When I was done we left to pick up the car.

The car was waiting for us.  We had a short discussion and meat the mechanic.  Then Ellen took the car home.  I went to the donut place to get donuts and lunch.  Unfortunately it was closed.  I stopped at HEB to get milk.  I also got some muffins for Ellen.

I passed Randall's on the way home and stopped in to see if they sold the fiber bars.  They don't.  They fif have cake pieces 5/5$ so I bought 5.  The last stop was Circle C.  Abby didn't run, she just waked around looking for squirrels.  I did get her to retrieve the Frisbee 5 or 6 times.

When I got home I had lunch and surfed.  Eventually I watched some videos.

That got boring so I decided to do some small RC projects.  I put a connector on a battery.  Then I replaced the body/from wire connections on two cars with magnetic ones.

One of the cars is one that I don't really remember.  I don't know when or where I bought it.  I did replace the electronics and have a vague memory of finishing it just before we left for Oregon last year.  It turns out to be a 1/24 basher, and a good one at that.  So much for trying to change the Bronco into one.  I'm going to take it to Oregon with me.  My final RC work was putting running boards on the TRX4.  They look really good and fit perfectly. 

That was it for doing anything useful.  I spent the rest of the day and evening shopping/surfing.  I didn't build anything. 

 Dinner was something frozen.  After dinner I took Abby for the evening walk.

Day 3761

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was the morning walk with Abby.

I really didn't have anything planned for the day.  That was good because two storms came through that dumped .3 inches of rain.  It all soaked into the ground immediately though.

I ended up alternating between videos and surfing all day and evening.  I just couldn't get motivated to do anything.

Just after lunch Audi sent a text that the car was ready for pick up.  We got all the way to the truck before Ellen's asshole threw a tantrum.  When she came back out we made it halfway up the driveway before it threw another one.  I said fuck it, we'll get the car tomorrow.  She's not allowed to eat anything tomorrow until we do.

After dinner (frozen) I did the evening walk with Abby.  For some reason the evening walks seem much easier ans pleasant then the morning ones.  They're the same route and distance and about the same conditions.  It's a mystery. 

Day 3760

 I woke up at 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I took Abby on the morning walk.  After that we loaded up the truck and went to Capitol City.

It was a cool cloudy day, but comfortable.  We had the course to ourselves.  Absolutely no one else was one it.  The targets were left over from a couple of tournaments.  They were tough but fair.  We both shot better than we thought we would considering we hadn't shot in months.  With no one on the course we could shoot extra at targets we wanted extra practice on.

Abby refused to get out of the cart the whole time we were shooting.  Ellen thinks it's because she had ear muffs on.  I think she was lazy and enjoyed riding in the cart.  We threw the Frisbee for her a little bit when were were done.

We stopped at QT for lunch on the way home.  Everything was high calorie but I found a wrap for 650.  It was really good.  We also stopped at the post office and the pet store.  I bought 24 cans of cat food.  I'll need another 16 or so before we leave. 

When we got home I sat down for videos and a nap.  When I woke up I started planning the trip back.  I have an outline, but have to wait until we know about Richland to finalize anything.

Ellen fixed steak on the Traeger for dinner.  It was as good as last time's.  After dinner Abby and I did the evening walk.  I took her back to the house and went to the trailer.  I put the new basket in the overhead cabinets.  I also figured out what pants need to be moved there.  

I finished the evening watching videos.  

Day 3759

 I woke up at 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  We thought about shooting, but Capitol City was having a shoot.  I took Abby with me on the morning walk.  When I was done I started moving stuff into the trailer.

I moved stuff that wouldn't be needed until we were on the road or at Oregon.  That was mainly food and RC stuff.  When that was done I went on a clean out operation.  I sorted through all of my t-shirts and took a whole stack of them to the house.  I also went through the stuff in the overhead compartment and moved some of that out, too.

The whole operation took the morning and part of the afternoon.  When I stopped for lunch there was a text from Audi.  They say that the car should be ready on Friday.  We'll see.

I sat down to videos when I got through with the move operation.  That turned into a nap.  I got bored with that and went back out to the garage.  I sorted out all of the RC electronic stuff, labelled it, and put it in the parts cabinet.  It was sort of relaxing.

Dinner was something frozen.  After that I walked again.  I did over 13,000 steps today.  Then it was videos until I got bored and went to surfing. 

It doesn't sound like much, but it was a full day. 

Day 3758

 I woke up at 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then we left with Abby for Costco. 

We got there just after they opened.  We got Culturelle and water.  I also asked about my hearing aid battery.  Apparently I'll have to send it in.  It's under warranty though.  We also made a quick stop at the pet store and bought w packages of the dried cat food.

We had just enough time to get Ellen to her doctor's appointment.  I sat in the truck with the dog.  I'd brought along my tablet, so I just played games.  When the appointment was done we took Abby to Circle C.  It was in the 60's, so she had a great time.  We walked the whole course again.  The last stop was HEB for a lot of groceries.

When we got home I finished clearing out the bedroom.  There wasn't much to do but sorting the last items took time.  The only thing on the bed now is the stuff I'll take to the trailer.

With the bedroom done I went back to the FCX24.  I took the diff housing apart and tried to fit the axles into the diff.  They wouldn't fit at all.  I took the diff and axles out to the garage and started filing the axles by hand.  This was not a job for the Dremel.  The first axle took some time as I filed very slowly.  The second was a lot faster because I knew how much I had to take off.

I took the parts back to the house and put everything together.  The axles went in fairly easily.  I also had to fix the mounting of one of the shocks.  It had been done wrong.  With that I'd completed all of the axle modifications.  The only other "minor" mod I have left is adding running boards to the TRX4.

I sat down for videos and a nap.  That lasted until dinner time.  Ellen fixed fish and rice.  It was good.  I did 2 miles with Abby after dinner.  Then it was videos for the rest of the evening. 

There was no contact with Audi today.  I'm going to give them one more day and then I'm going over there. 

Day 3757

 I woke up at 7:30, played games,and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The first thing I did was text Audi about the car.  They didn't answer back all day.  After that I surfed until it was time to go to the doctor.

All I had to do at the doctor was give blood, so I wasn't there long.  After that we went to Circle C.  The temperature was cool, so Abby had a great time running.  We walked the usual course.  She didn't point any dove this time, but she did get good shots at a couple of squirrels.  After that we went home.

I continued my work at emptying the bedroom.  I put away some of the stuff in the garage.  Other stuff went into boxes.  Then the boxes went to the trailer.  I took the two wire baskets that came this morning and put them in the cabinets over the seats.  I took that opportunity to get rid of some stuff that was up there that we didn't need.

All that effort left only a little work left to do on the bedroom.  I rewarded myself with working on RC.  I put small washers between the bearings and hexes on the SCX24.  That should protect the bearings.  Then I added a faster set of gears to the front diff on the TRX4-M. 

I was tired of RC at that point and started watching videos.  That turned into a nap.  After a while I got interested in RC gain.  I put new gears in the back axle of the FCX24.  I started working on the front axle.  After changing the gears I ran into a problem getting the axles back into the diff.  By then I was tired of RC again and left it for tomorrow.

Dinner was frozen.  I followed that by walking another 2 miles with the dog.

After the walk I didn't want more videos, so I watched movie.  It was one I'd seen before.  That seems to be the only kind that can keep my interest any more. 

Day 3756

 I woke up at 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I decided to wait for a while before walking the dog.  The internet was crapping out entirely and Ellen was trying to get it to work.

I went to the garage and got out the tree trimming stuff.  I spent the next hour cutting branches off the tree in front of the front door.  It had a lot of dead branches plus some live ones that were either hanging low or hanging over the house.  When I got finished the dead branches were gone and the live ones were trimmed back enough so that they weren't near the roof.  It actually looks pretty nice. 

Ellen was still working on the internet when I got done.  I decided to walk the dog on the property while she wrestled with it.  I walked for a mile before I got really tired.  Remember I'd just spent an hour pruning.

When I went back inside Ellen had the internet up.  It was noon so I had lunch.  I wanted to go to the post office.  It was Easter so there was no way we'd find some place to have lunch.  After lunch we left.

I picked up the last two Chinese packages at the post office.  Then we took Abby to Circle C.  She'd run in the morning, but not enough.  It was 60 degrees and raining intermittently.  Abby had a great time.  We walked around squirrel town, but didn't go any farther afield.  That was fine with Abby.  She was loving the temperature.  She found squirrels and birds to chase.  She also did another wonderful point and hold on a dove on the ground. 

I unpacked the Chinese stuff when we got home.  It had the light I needed to finish the Bronco.  I watched videos for a little while and then went to work on the Bronco.  I built up a mount for the rear light and installed it.  After that there were a lot of wires to strip and solder together.  The result looks pretty neat.

I had leftover steak for dinner.  It's still really good.  After dinner I watched some videos, but got bored.  I cleaned up and put away all of the stuff in the work area.  I also did a little more work on packing up the bedroom.  I ought to be able to complete that tomorrow.  Then I'll tackle getting stuff put in the trailer.

It's been almost 3 weeks since we took the Audi in.  I'm going to send the Audi guy a frustrated text tomorrow morning.  We've got less then two weeks to get it back. 

Day 3755

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I walked the property with Abby.

The next step in clearing out the bedroom was doing some mods to the mini-Kraton and the Slash.  I installed a motor guard on the Slash.  It actually came with instructions, but they were wrong.  I needed to do a little modification, but everything was straight forward.  It was a little time consuming though.

The mini-Kraton mod was to add 15mm  hexes.  That required me to drill out the holes in the wheels to fit the new wheel nuts.  Again the job was straight forward but time consuming.  

I moved the Slash to the garage and left the mini-Kraton there.  Then I had lunch.  After a little surfing (the internet was still crap) I started moving stuff from the bedroom to the garage.  I made sure to put everything that went into the garage in its correct place.  I ended up moving several loads of parts and tires.  It took a long time to get them all filed away in the garage.

I finished up in the garage about 4.  The bedroom isn't completely cleaned, but it's very close.  I spent the time until dinner trying to surf and cursing the internet.

Ellen fixed tacos for dinner.  After dinner Abby was insistent that we go on a walk.  This time she ran around like a crazy dog.

The new router came while I was walking.  I brought it in and Ellen started fighting with it.  It took a while but she got it working.  I've only been using it for a few minutes.  We'll see if it improves things. 

Day 3754

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was supposed to storm later, so after breakfast we took the dog to Circle C.  

Abby had a good time and we got our steps in.  At one point Abby locked on point at two doves on the ground in front of her.  I went over to the fountain and filled up the bottle.  She was still on point when I came back.  She wouldn't even break point when I called.  I had to walk up and flush the birds.

Abby took a shit at the park and we picked it up.  It needed to go to the vet, so after a stop at the post office we drove to Dripping Springs.  The truck went into regen when we got back to Belterra.  I turned back to Dripping Springs on 1826.  That started a 30 mile tour of the area while the regen completed.
  
We stopped at Salt Lick on the way back and got some brisket.  We took it with us and ate at home.  The brisket was actually better than it was the last time we went there.

After lunch I started to work on getting ready to leave.  I moved some RC stuff from the bedroom and filed it away in the garage.  Then I spent a really unpleasant time repairing the wire box that had got torn off the kingpin.  It wasn't a complex job, but everything seemed to got wrong.  I did get it done eventually though.

The kingpin box job soured me on doing much that was useful for the rest of the day.  I rewarded myself by installing the diff gears and steering link in the Bronco.  Then I watched videos and surfed.

I'd sent a text to Audi asking if the part had fixed the car.  The guy replied late in the day that they hadn't gotten around to it.  I'm going to get insistent on Monday. 

Dinner was something frozen.  After dinner I took Abby out for the evening walk.  She mainly hung around me and sniffed for varmints.  

 The internet crapped out badly in the evening.  In fact I wasn't able to complete this entry until the next day.  Ellen ordered a new router as the old one is obsolete.  It's due tomorrow. 

 

Day 3753

 I woke up at 7:30.  I did not feel well.  I was soaked in sweat.  When I got out of bed to pee I almost fell down and had trouble walking because of a severe case of dizziness.  I went back to bed and played games.  Eventually I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.

It rained hard overnight, at least an inch.  That precluded going outside.  Besides we had to wait for the Spectrum tech to show up at 11.  After putting out the garbage and recycle I decided to put in some more time on the Bronco.  One of the remaining tasks was to put leds in the roof light fixture.  It sounds easy, but it was complicated.

 First I had to find leds.  I found 4 with leads, but I had to go out to the well house to get a fifth and a resistor for it.  The next step was to solder leads onto the led and resistor.  After removing the fixture from the roof putting the leds in it was easy.  Unfortunately there wasn't enough clearance for the wires to reinstall it.  I had to take the car out to the garage and use the Dremel to shave some of the roof away.

With the fixture reinstalled I had to remove the interior.  That was easy, only two screws.  Then I stripped the 5 pos and 5 neg wires and twisted each 5 together.  Finally I coated the twists with solder.  I also strung a wire from the receiver to the back of the body.  Later I'll solder all the wires at the back together when I get the last rear light.

All of that took until lunch time.  The tech had come and gone and the internet seems to be working better.  He said something at the pole was producing a bad signal.  Ellen found that our router was wildly obsolete, so she ordered another one.

Ellen spent the entire afternoon and some of the evening watching Korean soap operas.  I watched videos and did a little shopping.  I didn't buy anything.  There's not anything that I think I need right now.  

Dinner was leftover steak.  A package from Amain came.  I picked it up when I walked with Abby on the property.  When I got back it was more videos.  I got bored with that and decided to install the ESC from Amain in the Bronco.  It was a nice way to end the evening.  The diff gears also came, so I'll probably do that tomorrow.  After that the only thing left to do is replace the steering arms when they come.

There's another Chinese package at the post office.  It will have more RC parts for other cars. 

Day 3752

 I woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was supposed to be hot (it got to 90), so after that we left to take Abby to Circle C.

Abby had a great time at the park.  She chased a lot of squirrels and one large covey of dove.  I got my 2 miles in also.

From there we went to Lowe's and home Depot looking for a replacement bulb for the bathroom lights.  We couldn't agree on the color choice, so we didn't buy any.  That turned out to be a good thing because when we got home I discovered we had an extra bulb.

The last stops were for diesel ($5.09 a gallon), the post office (a Chinese package), and HEB for a lot of stuff.   When we got home I ate lunch.  It was miserable outside - hot and humid.  I decided to stay inside rather than work on trailer prep.  I started by tackling the Chinese package.

The package had a lot of stuff in it.  There was some RC parts, a computer case, a storage box, heat shrink, and other stuff.  I got on Aliexpress and marked "confirmed" for all of the items.  Then I put them all away in the various places they belonged.  

With the computer case here I wiped the browser info on the old  computer.  It was still messing up.  I could barely get the actions selected.  The funny thing was went the info was cleared the computer started working.  Also a Intel website appeared with a list of updates.  I decided to do the updates.  The computer worked fine all through the long update process (there were four big updates).  For all I know the thing is working fine now.  Oh well. 

I did the same Intel update on the new computer.  It had five updates to do so it took even longer then the old computer. 

I still didn't feel like going outside so I worked on the Bronco instead.  I took off all 4 shocks and filled them with shock oil.  They were all low.  That was an improvement, but they aren't perfect.  Then I installed the new negative offset bead locks.  They are beautiful pieces of manufacturing.  They also look and work great.  It took a while because each one had little screws to install.  I'm really happy with the result.

Audi sent me a text.  the part for the car is due tomorrow.  They hope that will fix the check engine light.  The WiFi thing was operator error.  The causes of the disappearing clock and the emergency call malfunctions haven't been found.

Ellen fixed steak on the Traeger for dinner.  It was expensive high class meat and VERY good.  After dinner I walked outside with Abby for 2 miles.  Then I watched videos. 

The new modem seems to be working, but the "upgraded" internet sucks.  It's slower than what we had before and drops connections constantly.  Ellen has a tech coming out to look at it tomorrow.