Our RV Adventures

When I got up this morning I saw something I haven’t seen in a while, bright sunshine, finally nice enough for some outside work. But first I had some client web stuff to work on, updating some things and working on a couple of other problems.

A little later I called the client who’s computer I delivered yesterday to see if she was having any problems. She said that she was having a problem with YouTube videos being scrambled. Audio was OK, just a video problem.

After a quick Google, I told her to left-click on the YouTube screen, select Settings, and turn off Hardware Acceleration. She said that fixed the problem. Good!

Then I was on the phone to American Coach to ask about a leaky shower. For a while now I have had water leaking from the shower under the wall into the bedroom and wetting the carpet.

It only happens when the shower is running, and by looking into the access port in the shower base and I can see the water dripping down from the back of the shower enclosure. Which is where the Moen single handle faucet is on our shower as you can see here.

It was obvious that I would have to cut an access hole through from the bedroom to the rear of the faucet since there was no access panel, but first I wanted to double-check with American Coach.

And as it turns out, I’m supposed to have an access panel there. Apparently there is normally a mirror on that wall and the access panel cover is behind it. We don’t have a mirror just a blank wall, with no panel.

So it looks like I will be cutting through the wall. In anticipation of this, when I was at Harbor Freight Tools the other day,, I found a Multipurpose Oscillating Tool on sale so I picked one up with a set of blades.

It should cut right through the thin wall with no trouble, and then I should be able to see what the problem is. If I’m lucky it will be something easy like a loose connection.

As far as outside, I did a few easy chores that were at the top of my list.

First up, I repaired the Charge Wire connection on the truck. I noticed it had come loose a few weeks ago, and wanted to get it fixed before we head out west this year and encounter a lot of hills.

The Charge Wire is part of the electrical hookup between the RV and Truck that syncs the truck taillights with the rig’s. On flat terrain, it’s not really needed, but when we’re going though a lot of hills, the truck’s auxiliary braking system gets a workout. And since the Brake Buddy runs off the truck’s battery, you can sometimes arrive at your destination after a long day of hill climbing and descending and find your battery dead

The Charge Wire takes care of this by connecting the truck battery to the RV battery so that the truck battery is kept charged as we travel.

Next I dumped a batch of Biocide into the fuel tank to take care of any algae growth caused by the high humidity and cold weather we’ve had. I got caught by this in 2009 up in Massachusetts and ended up with a clogged fuel filter. Been using a biocide every since and have not had another problem with it.

Finally, I did my monthly check of the water levels in the house batteries. Not needed for the engine batteries since they’re sealed and maintenance free. I was happy to see that the water levels were fine, especially since I recently install the new power converter.

For dinner Jan fixed up our steak leftovers from last night, really good, and then for dessert, I made Scary Cherry Sundaes.

Scary Cherries were one the ‘hot’ gifts that our son-in-law Lowell gave me for Christmas

Scary Cherries are Maraschino cherries soaked in hot pepper solution, in this case, Carolina Reaper peppers, the hottest in the world. They also have two weaker heat levels, one with Ghost Chiles, and one with Scorpion Chilies. But why mess around with the kiddie stuff?

To make the sundaes, I started with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, and then dusted them with three chopped-up cherries each. Then I chopped up some Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses and sprinkled these on. Last up was a heaping pile of whipped cream, topped off with a whole cherry for me, and a chopped-up one for Jan.

She was kind of worried about eating a whole cherry by itself, so that’s why hers was chopped up.

As it turned out we both really liked the heat from these cherries. Glad I’ve got more ice cream and more cherries.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be even warmer than today, maybe more conducive to spraying water and vinegar on the roof to remove the drilling mud, but we’ll see.

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Thought for the Day:

Remember, here at Microsoft, we’re not happy till you’re not happy.

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Jan and I headed out about 10am with our first stop Katz’s Deli in the Montrose area for lunch around 11:30. We always try to eat here when we’re in this part of town, and it never disappoints.

We always start out with some of their complementary pickles and coleslaw.

The kosher pickles are the kind that you bite into with a big ‘crunch’. Jan doesn’t really like pickles, but she really likes these. And the coleslaw is also unique, as it’s sliced rather than chopped, and has a very spicy , but a little sweet, dressing.

Jan had a Tuna Salad Sandwich with a cup of their Broccoli Cheese Soup, and I had a Rueben on Grilled Rye with a cup of their Corn Chowder.

Leaving Katz’s, our next destination was about 15 minutes away with a stop at iBurn.

Our son-in-law Lowell turned us on to this place, and has given me several items he got there for us,  but this was our first time to actually visit.

The place is ‘Hot Stuff’ heaven with row after row of bottles, bags, and boxes of the hottest concoctions you can imagine. I was like a kid in a candy store, believe me. And I came away with $30 of hot stuff. Yummm!

The next stop was at my client’s in Pasadena to deliver her new computer. But in trying to get it set up, I ran into a problem. She has an older keyboard she likes, and by older, I mean it has the big AT connector, the one that’s about the size of your thumb. But for her last couple of computers, we used a AT to PS2 adapter like this:

But computers these days no longer have PS2 Keyboard/Mouse connectors on them, so I needed another adapter, a PS2 to USB like this one:

But after checking a nearby Office Depot and a Best Buy, with no luck (they didn’t even know what I was talking about) Jan and I headed down to Clear Lake to the Fry’s Electronics, who of course had exactly what I needed.

Finally getting the computer set up and configured to her liking, and after I fixed a couple of problems on her laptop, Jan and I headed for home. We quickly decided to put our El Pollo Loco visit on hold due to how late it was, And after looking at the traffic delays on Sigalert , we decided to have dinner along the way and wait out the traffic. We looked for a Texas Roadhouse, but couldn’t find one along the way so we ended up at a Saltgrass Steakhouse.

Luckily for us, we got there just before the rush and were seated immediately. Our steaks and steak accessories were just as good as our last visit to the one in Conroe, and we had enough leftover to bring some home.

Our last stop was a nearby Kroger’s for a few things as well as gas for $0.79 a gallon (with my $1 a gallon Kroger’s Card discount).

Heading home, we found the traffic was gone, and we were able to do the speed limit all the way, getting home about 8:45.

Tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be sunny, so maybe I can get some stuff done outside. We can only hope.

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Thought for the Day:

‘Then I learned there are troubles
of more than one kind;
Some come from ahead
And some come from behind.’ – Dr. Seuss – “I had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew”

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