Our RV Adventures

I was on the road and heading for B/CS by 11:30 to pick up our new TV at Wal-Mart. Their website said that they had the one I wanted in stock, so I was expecting a quick trip.

Well, maybe not so much.

The Samsung I was wanted was not mounted on the display, nor did they have a box out there either. When I ask about it, the lady said they didn’t have that one. And when I showed them that their computer said they had them in stock, she said, “Oh, that thing lies all the time.”

But then another lady came over and looked, and then said, “I think I know where it is.” And about 10 minutes later, here she comes out with one.

When I checked out, I did something I normally don’t do. I bought the 3 year extended warranty. I’ve never been a big fan of these, but for $29, I thought I’d give it a try.

My next stop was the Chick-fil-A right out in front of the Wal-Mart parking lot to pick up lunch. When I first came into the lot it was about noon, and the drive-thru line wrapped around Chick-fil-A parking lot, out into Wal-Mart’s lot, up the entrance road, and then out onto the right lane on Briarcrest, the main road. So they were actually blocking the lane that turns into Wal-Mart’s lot.

Since there were about 10 cars out on the street, I was kind of surprised that the police were letting this happen. But then I saw two police cars in the line, so it made more sense.

And this is not the first time I’ve seen lines like this at Chick-fil-A’s. And the only other place I’ve seen it like this is In-And-Out Burgers.

But by the time I got there the line wasn’t quite as long, but then I went inside anyway. Seems like inside is always faster.

Jan got the Chicken Strips while I got the Deluxe Spicy Chicken Sandwich with Bacon. We both got Waffle Fries and the Kale/Broccolini Salad, along with Lemonade to drink.

Getting back to the rig about 1:15 and chowing down, we both quickly decided no more Waffle Fries. I had mentioned before about how Whataburger fries end up cold and chewy after the 30 minute drive back to the rig, so we were hoping the Waffle Fries being thicker would travel better.

Not so much.

But everything else was delicious.

After lunch it took me about an hour to set up the new TV, mostly due to the installation of the feet. I was hoping that it would come with the center pedestal, but that wasn’t the case. So I’ll have to figure out a way to make the feet work.

One thing that quickly struck me was how much lighter and smaller the new TV is, even though they’re the same screen size.

Our old RCA 32” weighs 26.6 pounds, while the new one weighs only 8.5 pounds, a big difference. And side by side, you can see why.

The old one has a 3” bezel around the top and sides, and about 6” on the bottom, while the new one only has about 1/2” on all four sides. The upshot of this is that it gives you the optical illusion that the new screen is actually smaller than the old one. Even though you can actually measure it to see they’re both the same.

Kind of like this.

Since Jan says it bothers her, and it looks like I can get the 40” version to fit, back it goes tomorrow for a bigger one.

It’s supposedly moving day for the rig. They’ve pulled the pipe loader down, but so far it doesn’t look like they’re moving yet. But soon, probably.

Thought for the Day:

The worst time to have a heart 
attack is probably during a game of charades.

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They’ve started completion on this well, the first of three, so our vehicle count really jumped up. In fact, at 68, it was our 2nd highest day so far.

The temperature made it all the way up to 90 before an unscheduled rainstorm blew through around 3pm. It was only heavy for a few minutes before it settled down to a light drizzle, with two good results.

It was just enough to settle the dust on the road without making things muddy, and it dropped the temperature down to the high 70’s, then stayed in the mid-80’s the rest of the afternoon. Nice.

After thinking about it overnight, I had decided to not wait until Thursday to get the new TV, but to go over this morning and pick one up at Wal-Mart. Between getting the groceries, picking out a TV, and then getting lunch to bring back, I’d have to either go over early, cutting way into my 4 hour sleep window, or I’d get back late, meaning Jan has to work a longer shift.

So I was going to get the TV today (and lunch), and then get groceries on Thursday (and lunch) as usual.

But then that all changed with an early morning comment from blog reader Rob Nixon. He clued me in to a website called ShopJimmy.com that sells boards and parts for hundreds of TV’s, and will even rebuild your boards for you.

So I decided to put off my BCS trip until I could check out ShopJimmy. But as it turns out, they no longer have parts for my 8 year old RCA, and when I called them, I found out that they not longer rebuild boards for it either, due to the fact that parts are no longer available. I did talk with the tech for a few minutes, and he at first thought that I might have a backlight problem.

Most people don’t realize that an LCD TV is actually kind of a slide or movie projector. The TV video is displayed on the LCD screen, but you can’t see it until it is lit from behind, as I said, just like a projector. So if your light source goes out, then you can’t see the video. But you can shine a flashlight on the screen at a 45 degree angle and see that the video is still there.

Up until recently , most backlights were actually small fluorescent tubes just like in your light fixtures, so they do burn out. But now more and more TV’s and computer monitors are using LED’s as a backlight source, giving you longer life and better colors. Over the years I’ve had the backlight go out on both a laptop and a monitor, so it does happen.

But I know a bad backlight is not my problem because my screen lights up, but there’s just no video getting to it.

So as it stands now I’m going into BCS tomorrow, Wednesday, to pick up a new one. And I’m looking at this one.

Samsung 32” Smart TV

It’s Full HD at 1080p, a step up from the 720p model we have now, and it has LED backlighting. It also has built in Wi-Fi so we can stream Amazon Prime movies directly to it. And it’s only $228, which is less than half what our RCA cost us 8 years ago. And for a lot more features.

Whatever we get it needs to have a single pedestal base like the photo above, and not the two legs version like this one.

Where we set the TV on the dashboard is only about 20” wide so I doubt the two small feet will work for us.

Wal-Mart’s computer says that they them in stock, so we’ll see. I think as far as Jan’s concerned, I’d better not come home without a new TV.

After calling yesterday, today I heard back from American Coach about my broken screen door latch.

And as I found out earlier this year when I tried buy new hinges for my screen door, no parts are available. That’s apparently considered part of the entire main door, and that company went out of business years ago.

So my next step is try Colaw’s RV Salvage in Missouri. And if they don’t have it, I’ll have to try and make something up from some aluminum strips.

It’s always something.

At what age do you think it’s appropriate to tell a highway it’s adopted?

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