Our RV Adventures

This morning I was back working on my magnetic solar shades, I went ahead and mounted the one on the driver’s, holding the shade up outside, while Jan stuck the magnets on the inside.

They seem to hold just fine, even with all the strong, gusty winds we’ve been having the last few days, so I think the magnets are plenty strong. After looking things over, I think I’ll have a solar screen place in Apache Junction sew the two pieces into one single piece so it will be easier to handle. And I’ll also have them trim off the bottom to the correct length and then hem it so it will look nicer.

Then after I get the solar screen configured like I want it, I will use 3M Trim Tape to permanently fasten the magnets in the correct position on the inside of the windshield.

The stuff is super-strong and is used to fasten trim, moldings, and emblems on to automobiles. It’s the same stuff that the Magne Shade people use to hold their magnets in place.

So far it looks like it will work out fine.

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About 1pm Jan and I headed out on some errands around town, with our first stop at the Pima Air & Space Museum. Not to tour it, which we did back in 2010, but to get a new SR-71 T-Shirt from the gift shop.

I bought one of these shirts when we visited back then, but after 5 years of wear it’s looking a little worn out and faded.

Then it was on up to Bookman’s, the used book store, so Jan could see if they had the last 2 books in the Eragon series, which they didn’t. Guess we’ll just go ahead and get them on the Kindle,

Heading back over to Houghton Rd, we made a stop at the new Dunkin’ Donuts for some more Munchkins (holes) for breakfast. Still don’t know if we got what we ordered, since we got the same surly cashier as the other day, who apparently can’t count, and couldn’t keep our order straight.

Next up was the new Wal-Mart right next door. Turns out that this is one of those ‘Mini’ Super Wal-Marts that we first encountered in Kenedy, TX when we were gate guarding in 2012. It’s a ‘Super’ Wal-Mart because in has a full grocery section, but it doesn’t carry the range of products that the full size stores do. The quickest way to tell the difference is that unlike the big ones, the ‘Mini’s’ only have one entrance, not two.

Getting home a little before 4, we had just enough time to put everything away, and then head back out to meet our friends Al & Adrienne at 5pm for dinner at the Hog Pit Smokehouse, which is right down the road from the new Poco & Mom’s on Tanque Verde

Everyone enjoyed their meal. I even thought it was better than Brushfire BBQ where we ate last week, but Jan was kind of on the fence. She liked some things better here, and some things better at Brushfire.

Finishing up, we went back to their townhome here at Voyager for a couple of hours to keep catching up. As I’ve mentioned before, we first met Al and Adrienne in Fairbanks, AK in 2008, and later have caught up with them in Westport, WA and Cody, WY. They get around almost as much as we do.

Tomorrow they’re talking rain, so we’ll see how much work I get done outside before we leave on Thursday for Apache Junction.

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Thought for the Day:

Life is hard. Its harder if you are lazy, or stupid. And it’s really hard if you’re lazy and stupid. Don’t be lazy and stupid.

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First up, I don’t know if anyone else has had a problem with Google Search, or Google Voice Search on their Android phone or tablet, but a couple of days ago mine quit working. If I did a Voice Search, it would recognize my question, and then display it. It then would beep as normal, but when it came to the point where it should display, or speak the answer, nothing happened. The screen stayed blank. And typing in my search didn’t work either.

I thought it may have been due to the fact that I was half way through the two part upgrade to the new Android OS ‘Lollipop’ or 5.0 on my phone. But I discovered that my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 tablet, which I had not upgraded, had exactly the same problem. Google Search would just not work.

I did remember that Google had updated on my devices a couple of days ago, and I wondered that might be the problem. So I went into the applications manager on my phone and selecting the Google App Info, clicked on ‘Uninstall Updates’ button. Then I rebooted the phone. This fixed the problem.

Repeating the fix on my tablet also took care of the problem there.

Today I noticed another update from Google, which might have fixed the problem anyway. At least it didn’t cause another one.

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After finishing up a couple of other things this morning, I got back on my magnetic shade project. I really liked the idea of the Magne Shade windshield shades, but I didn’t like the $500+ price.

I have a set of the RV Quick Shades that I purchased at a Gypsy Journal Rally a number of years ago, so I wanted to see if I could convert these. The Quick Shades mount inside the windshield and are held in place by suction cups. They work pretty well, but are a pain in the rear to install, especially on the driver’s side. Also, since they’re on the inside, they still let more heat into the coach than if they were on the outside.

Back before we left Houston I ordered a couple of sets of these very strong magnets.

10 Neodymium Magnets 1/2 x 1/4 inch Disc

Today I wanted to do a test run and try adding magnets to one of my Quick Shades They have a fold-over at the top of the shade just the right size to hold the magnets. So I removed the 4 suction cups, and using a long rod, shoved the magnets down inside the fabric, placing them at the position of the removed suction cups.

Then I stood on a step ladder and held the shade against the windshield outside while Jan placed other magnets into position on the inside. Using the step ladder I was only able to reach about halfway up the windshield, but I wanted to see if the shade would hold itself in place. And it did. Later in the afternoon I got my big ladder out of the truck and move the shade all the way to the top of the windshield.

After it had stayed in place for several hours in the gusty winds, I started converting the other shade (my shades are in two pieces). After pushing the magnets in place, I used Liquid Nails to hold the magnets in position in the tube.

I’ll let it set overnight and see how it works.

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A little after 5pm, Jan and I headed over to the Golden Corral on 22nd St to meet Nick, Terry, and Nick’s cousin Bev there for dinner.

And that was about it for today.

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Thought for the Day:

A falling knife has no handle.

wertwret