Our RV Adventures

I was up early this morning hoping to get my new washer drain pump configured and installed. Or at least configured. Thanks to Jan’s bright idea about rolling the washer into the bedroom when we travel tomorrow, I don’t have to get it re-installed today.

As I stood there staring at the pile of parts I bought at Home Depot yesterday, I tried to remember what I had worked out in my head, but when I did, I didn’t like it anymore. So I started holding parts together until I came up with a new way to do it, and one that was actually better.

Starting with the old pump input/output manifold,

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I cut off the input end to use,

along with the original drain hose.

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By cutting the hose down, and then inserting the plastic piece into the hose end,

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it gives me something to clamp down on. Then after soaking it in boiling water, I slipped a ring of heavy vinyl hose over the end to bulk it up,

so that it would closely fit into the rubber hose coupling shown before.

This finished up the input part of the pump.

Next I cut off the small end of the I/O manifold and inserted it into the end of the drain hose that exits the washer.

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This let me use another piece of the black rubber hose to make a new coupling for that also. Then I placed it into the washer to check it out. There will be clamps on the smaller coupling as well.

Then to check out the placement, I temporarily mounted the pump in place to the angle stock and hooked up all the hoses. At this point I couldn’t go any further because the screws I had to mount the bar stock with weren’t big enough so I planned to pick some more up this afternoon while we’re out to dinner.

But right now it looks like it will work, but I was out of time.

While I was working on this, Jan was outside bailing out the backset floorboards in the truck. On our trip home last night we both remarked how fresh the newly washed laundry in the backseat smelled.

But as it turns out, it wasn’t the laundry, but the laundry soap, liquid Tide to be exact, that had leaked out onto the floor. So Jan was trying to scrape up as much as she could and funnel it back into the jug. I’m still not sure how we’re going to get it all out of the carpet. But I know when I do, it will be really, really clean.

About 4:15 we left the park, followed by Brett and Frankie O’Neal, all heading into Conroe to have dinner at El Bosque Mexican Restaurant.

Finally I was able to get my Fajitas Fix with an order of their delicious Fajitas Poblanas.

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And it was $4 cheaper than my Fajitas at La Brisa the other day, for a lot more meat.

And this time we had a big group, the infamous El Bosque Nine shown below.

Left to right: Rick and Janice Binns, my empty chair, Brett and Frankie O’Neal, Debi and Ed Hurlburt, and Randy Lazarine.

After our great meal together, Jan and I drove over to the nearby Wal-Mart to pick up some prescriptions, and a couple of other things, including the new bolts I need for the washer repair.

Karma the cat doesn’t know she’s Karma the cat. She has no recognition of any name, Karma, Emma, the name on her second hand tag, Hey You, or anything else. This, even though we use her name every time we talk to her, or feed her.

She does respond when she sees me making coffee, because she knows that creamer is in her immediate future. Or if she hears the “Squuaakk” noise of whipped cream, but that’s about it.

Well, she does understand “NO!”, mostly I guess because when she starts to scratch on our leather captain’s chairs, I yell “NO!” and squirt her with a spray bottle.

Tomorrow we’re heading back to the Colorado River Thousand Trails for another two weeks. Looking forward to it. Of course I’ve still got my on-going washer repair to finish up, but I’m actually looking forward to that too.

Thought for the Day:

No husband was ever shot while doing the dishes!

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Once again up way too early, we left out about 9am this morning,  making the 70 mile trip down to the Clear Lake area for one more of Jan’s doctor’s appointments, this time a yearly checkup with her oncologist.

But our first stop was right down the road in Conroe at the Jack in the Box for a couple of breakfast sandwiches. Then I walked next door and got a Venti Smoked Butterscotch Latte, my new favorite flavor. Though I’m not sure what the ‘Smoked’ part is all about.

Is that like salmon, or what?

Although we kept hearing about wrecks and closed lanes ahead of us as we traveled south, they were always clear by the time we got there so the trip was pretty smooth.

Getting down to the area, and having some extra time, we stopped by Chris’ and started a load of laundry. Thinking we might have time, we bought our stuff with us just in case. They had an LG washer and dryer, and they’re HUGE. Our load only filled it up about half way, and it would have been maybe five loads in our Splendide combo.

This is one reason we’ve thought about, that if we do have to replace ours at some point, we might put in a stackable until. The cost is actually a little cheaper, and we could be washing another load while drying the first one. The only downside is that Jan would lose her storage cabinet over the washer that she has now. So we’ll see when the time comes.

Then it was off to the doctor’s for Jan’s 11:40 appointment which only took about a hour and  then we were back at Chris’, just in time to move our clothes from the washer to the dryer and start the second small load of towels.

About this time, Chris, Linda, and Miss Piper showed up from their outing, and we all headed out to the nearby Cheddar’s for a late lunch. We always enjoy the food here, and this time was no exception.

At this point we split up with Jan and Miss Piper heading out for Mani-Pedi’s while I checked in with a client or two.

We finally all met up back at Chris’ and hung out until Jan and I finally started home about 6pm. We wanted to get a somewhat head start on the traffic since they’re closing down both lanes of 1-45 from Dixie Farm to NASA Rd 1 all weekend starting at 9pm tonight. And they’re closing down Bay Area Blvd over I-45 starting tonight for 5 months while they tear it all down and built a completely new overpass/underpass there.

So stay far, far away.

Coming home, we stopped off for gas at the north Houston Flying J, and found the price had jumped 10 cents, from $1.39 to $1.49 in TWO days. So maybe there’s hope for gate guarding this year, after all.

Tomorrow, I going to get an early start . . . well, early for me, anyway, and try to get the new washer drain pump installed and hooked up. So we’ll see how that goes.

We did catch a little breathing room by doing laundry today at Chris’, and also by my beautiful, brilliant wife seeing something I didn’t,  and suggesting that, if need be, we can just wheel the washer through the bathroom and then up against the bed and out of the way. Then just tie it down and we’re ready to go.

But I’m still hoping to get it done and in tomorrow. But a little less pressure now.

Thought for the Day:

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street . . . with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

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