Our RV Adventures

First, a Jeep update.

When I went by our mechanic’s shop Thursday afternoon after he had closed, I was happy to see our Jeep in his lot where the tow truck driver had dropped it off. I left Joe a note telling him about the starter problem, and also asking him to take a look at a pesky oil leak around the engine that I’d known about since we bought the Jeep from our friend’s Debi and Ed Hurlburt last November. Well, when Joe called me back about 10:30 Friday morning, I found out the two problems were connected.

Turns out that the oil had been leaking down into the starter and had fried it. Now, since the starter is down on the bottom side of the engine, and is presumably waterproof, you would think it would be oil-proof too. But apparently not.

And it also turns out that both the leaking valve cover gaskets, source of the oil leak, and the starter are known problems with the 6 cylinder version of this engine, but not the 8 cylinder version we have in Ole Smokey.

Joe also said that there is a aftermarket fix for the leaking gaskets that’s better than the ones from the dealer. So that’s what we went with.

He said he’d try to get it all down by that afternoon, but probably not, just because of the time it would take to get the parts delivered. I told him to take his time, and that we had Old Smokey as a backup. So it should be ready Monday afternoon.

Several readers have asked about Uber and how it works. Well, it works great and it’s easy to use.

Just download the Uber app on your phone, create an account, and enter your credit card info. BTW supposedly this info stays on your phone and is only sent to Uber when needed, just as if you entered it manually.

Then when you need a ride, just open the app, and enter the address where you want to go. In this case, since the app saves recent addresses, our RV Park address was already entered. And when I selected it, told me how much the ride would be, and how long it would take. Then once I gave it the OK, it told me our ride was 8 minutes away, and gave a map tracking our driver as he came to pick us up.

For safety purposes, the app also gives you the driver’s name, the type and color of his car, and the tag number. And since we were inside Costco when I booked the ride, it told us we had to meet him outside at the entrance. The app also told us that we would arrive at our destination at 5pm. It was wrong.

Our driver dropped us off at our rig at 4:59pm.

At that point the app asks you to rate your ride, 1 to 5 stars, and then asks if you’d like to leave a tip, all strictly voluntary.

So no cash is necessary, just click and go. Very nice!

On the TV front, you fans of Murdoch Mysteries will be happy to know that season 15 kicks off tomorrow night on Acorn TV. The first one of a full 24 episode season, a big jump from last year’s abbreviated 11 episode season.

Really looking forward to it starting up again.

Jan and I are also looking forward to “Only Murders In The Building”, a new series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selma Gomez. The first 3 episodes showed up on Hulu August 31st, with the other 7 episodes in the series showing up every week afterwards.

We don’t have Hulu, so what we’ll probably do is to wait until the last episode drops and binge-watch all ten episodes during the 30 day free trial they offer.

And with Steve Martin and Martin Short it should be hilarious. And seems so from the trailer below.

Apparently even the Cloud is a place Where Everyone Knows Your Name, even Alexa. At least she now knows my name.

Often, before I get out of bed in the morning, I’ll ask Alexa what the weather is. She always starts off with, “The temperature in Santa Fe is . . .” and moves on, and since last week, ending up with “Have a nice day, GREG.”, instead of just “Have a nice day.”

So sometime in the last week, Alexa had cross-referenced my accounts and now has a name for my account. Not sure if I sure be proud or scared.

Or both.
  

Thought For The Day:

“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.” ― Yogi Berra

Jan and I were in Smokey The Truck and on our way to Katy about 9:30, really looking forward to getting together at our daughter Brandi’s for post and pre birthday celebrations, and getting all the family together again.

We did make a quick gas stop along the way before hitting the Interstate where Ole Smokey easily kept up with the 70mph traffic with no problem. Maybe we should call her Ole Reliable instead.

She’s got almost 310,000 miles on her, and is only running on 7 of 8 cylinders, but she’s always ready to go in a pinch and get us where we need to go. And save us having to rent a car while the Jeeps in the shop.

Good girl!

We got to Brandi’s a little before 11 and found everyone in the pool.

Well, everyone except Landon. He and his BFF Sophie stayed up all night playing video games, and, though Sophie was up, Landon was still sleeping in.

Jan and I said how good it smelled when we were walking up to the front door. And this is why.

They got a new pellet grill and there was a brisket slow-smoking it in it.

And as soon as Piper and Derek showed up, we all dug in.

Really, really good, as well as the pan of Burnt Ends she did too.

And of course all the fixin’s were on hand also.

It was interesting to watch the interaction between all the dogs, big and little. Brandi and Lowell have two, Jack and Baxter, both big, and Chris and Linda brought their two, both small, and then Piper and Derek brought their two, one big and one small.

There was no real fighting, but a lot of ‘arguing’ for a while. In fact, Baxter just went over and hid in one of the bushes to wait it out.

But eventually it all settled down.

Then it was all back in the pool, this time including Piper and Derek.

This was Jan and my first time to meet Derek, and he seems like a really nice guy. He’s an electrician, working for a company doing electrical work for places like Tesla and Dell, and he has his own company on the side. And he and Piper are remodeling a house together.

He said he’s hoping to have his Master Electrician license next year, and then wants to go out on his own. He’s also a big SpaceX fan, so we had a good time talking about that.

This was our first time to have the whole family together since this past January, and it really felt good. And even better, it looks like everyone (including Derek) will be coming to our big family reunion in Gulf Shores, AL next June.

Can’t wait.

Thought For The Day:

I’m not superstitious, but sometimes I am a little stitious.

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