Our RV Adventures

I was out at the crack of noon to take a look at the rear brakes on our truck. But first I raised both front wheels to check for a dragging  sound.

Along with the grinding sound coming from the rear brakes I can also hear a dragging noise when the truck is moving slowly. But I wasn’t sure if it was coming from the front or the rear. But when I spun both front wheels I got no noise, so it’s all coming from the rear.

So after cooling off inside the rig and hydrating some, I went back outside to take a crack at the rears. But I didn’t get very far.

When I tried to loosen the first lug nut with the wrench, it wouldn’t budge, even when I stood and jumped on it. So I pulled out my cheater piper and tried it. And after jumping on it. I got it loose, and well as all the others.

Except one.

When I tried that one, the wrench would slip, because the lug nut was slightly rounded off. I even tried a 3/8” drive socket of the correct size, but it slipped too.

WTH?

I lay this directly on Discount Tires, since they’re the last ones that worked on this when they sold me the tire last year.

There was no need for them to tighten the lug nuts like this. If I was at the side of the road and didn’t have my cheater pipe, I couldn’t change the tire, regardless of the rounded off nut.

Somebody needs to have their impact driver confiscated.

I’ll go by Discount Tire this weekend and get them to get it off. And also pre-loosen the lug nuts on the other side, just in case.

After getting cleaned up, Jan and I headed up to the Clear Lake area so I could first get a hair cut. But that didn’t work out either.

My usual barber shop, Esthela’s, was closed, with no reason why. Just the Closed sign. I started using this place about 30 years ago when it was Lou’s, but he retired a couple of years ago, and one of his barber’s, Esthela, bought him out.

So I hope there’s not a problem. It’s hell to break in a new barber.

So we decided to head back down to our area to eat at Chili’s. But since I was low on gas, we detoured into the Costco to fill up. And it was nice to see a price of $2.16 on the pump.

Before we parked at Chili’s, we drove by the nearby location of the new Black Bear Diner to check it out. We were surprised to see how big it’s going to be, and it will be needed due to how busy they will be.

At Chili’s we went with our usual favs, a bowl of their Chicken Enchilada Soup for both us,

and a Grilled Chicken Caribbean Salad to go with.

Tomorrow night we’re going to Alvin to first have dinner at Monterey’s and then attending the Alvin Opry to see a long time favorite, John Mark Davis.

Really looking forward to it.

Thought for the Day: 

Digital data doesn’t really exist unless you have at least two copies of it – Murphy’s First Law of Computing

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Right after 9am this morning, I put in a call to Cummins to order my oil filter gasket, but while I was on hold I was also checking out another Cummins part house, Diesel Parts Direct, to see if they had the gasket. And they did.

It was $8.59 with $14 UPS Ground shipping.

And when I heard from Cummins, there’s was $17.12 with $9 shipping.

So I ordered it from Diesel Parts Direct.  Hey, $3.53 is $3.53, right?

Much of work today consisted of ordering parts for a lot of machines that came in lately. My client buys a lot of used electrolysis machines, mostly on eBay, and then I get the ‘fun’ of reconditioning them, cleaning them up, checking them out, and then putting them up for sale on our website and in our paper catalog.

I put ‘fun’ in quotes, but I actually enjoy it. Every machine is different – broken knobs and switches, damaged cabinets, and of course, dead ones.

Normally, I wait until I get about 10 machines in and then I sort through them logging the problems. Then I’ll start ordering  parts, usually from Amazon, or Allied Electronics if it’s something really specialized. Then once all the parts are in, I’ll set aside a couple of days and start working my way through them.

Fun Times!

I left work early today, about 1:45, for a appointment with my ophthalmologist for my 6 month checkup to monitor the progression of my Fuch’s Dystrophy in my left eye.

He said that my condition had worsen somewhat and that I should consider having the corneal transplant to fix the problem since it was only going to get worse. He said that I should also take care of a couple of small cataracts there too.

Kind of like when you’ve got your engine torn apart, you go ahead and replace the oil pump, I guess.

And then before I could blink, I was in another room and they were trying to schedule the operation.

WHOA!

First off I can see fine. Yes, my left eye is blurrier than my right eye, which is 20/20 corrected. So when I finally got them slowed down from trying to schedule the procedure, I asked 3 questions.

1. How much is this going to cost me out-of-pocket?

$500-$600.  OK, no problem.

2. What will be my recovery/downtime?

1 week with no heavy lifting.  OK, no problem.

3. Since I can see fine right now, with no problem seeing distant signs, etc., is there any downside to waiting until I feel I need the operation?

    And the answer, after some hesitation, was NO.

And since I had to go through and initial this long form listing all the possible problems and complications from having the surgery, i.e. everything from blindness in both eyes, to death, I decided to just let it ride until I actually notice a problem.

Tomorrow, if the weather holds, I’m going to take a look at the rear brakes on the truck, but I may have waited too long. Between a lot of bad weather, my simultaneous attacks of sciatica and BPPV,  and just life in general, I may be at the point where I’ll have to also replace the rotors as well as the disc pads.

So I’ll pull a wheel, take a look, and then decide what I need to do.

Thought for the Day: 

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. -— Justice Louis Brandeis (1928)

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