Our RV Adventures

I think I’ve been ’inventing’ things my entire life, or at least as far back as I can remember.

The first real ‘viable’ invention was when I was about 6 (1954ish) and we were living in Gulf Shores, AL where my parents had a motel on the beach.

We had just gotten a TV, because there was finally something to watch. Or at least more than one station on the air. WALA, channel 10 in Mobile, AL, WKRG channel 5, also in Mobile, and WEAR channel 3 in Pensacola, FL. (For some reason, I remember those call signs and channels. But I can’t remember where I left my glasses.)

But besides the fact that the stations were about 50 miles away, the Mobile and Pensacola stations were in opposite directions from us. So the 50 foot tall antenna had to be turned to point toward Mobile or Pensacola, depending on what we were watching. And guess who got to go outside and turn the antenna pole.

So I decided to try using my Erector Set motor, one just like this one,

to make the antenna turn. Of course, even with the different  gears, it didn’t have the power to make it rotate. So I kept adding gears, including some from a couple of bikes I had around. eventually ending up with a bike chain driving it.

And it worked.

But there was a small problem. The motor was geared down so much that it only took about 90 minutes to make the 180 degree turn.

So after this, I’ve always thought that I invented the antenna rotor. After all, I had never heard of one before, and mine worked fine. I just needed a bigger motor

Of course I guess I’m still inventing things, like my remote-control waste tank dump system. I put it aside when we left on our trip, and I probably won’t get back to it until we’re finished with selling the house.

Readers might remember back in March when I replaced the battery in my 6 year old malfunctioning Garmin Nuvi 1490 LMT GPS. And for $15 my GPS was good to go again.

For about 4 months.

Then it started almost-constantly shutting down and then turning back on, all by itself. Googling said it might be a problem with a bad update downloaded from Garmin. But I hadn’t updated the unit during the time frame when it started acting up. I figured it could be a problem with the 12volt power cord, but shaking it or wiggling it didn’t seem to make any difference.

But before I replace the unit, (I already have one picked out) I decided to risk $6.89 to get a new cord from eBay to be sure it’s not something internal with the circuitry inside the plug.

Luckily I’ll be able to move all my stored locations for the old one to the new one if I replace it. I would hate to lose all 6 years worth of data.

We’ve got a buyer coming tomorrow afternoon to look at the house and make us an offer. So we’ll see how it goes.

Thought for the Day: 

Women and cats will do as they please. Men and dogs should just relax and get used to the idea. – Robert A. Heinlein

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Today was the first day since we got back from our recent trip that we pretty much did nothing.

Really nice!

We both just goofed off, read, and computered until about 2pm when we headed out for lunch, and a couple of other stops.

We had heard good things about a nearby Mexican restaurant, San Lorenzo, so we thought we’d give it a try.

it’s always a good start when you begin with really good chips and salsa, especially the salsa, which was delicious and warm. A really tasty contrast with the chips.

Jan tried a variation on her Cheddar’s favorite, Key West Chicken and Shrimp, with San Lorenzo’s Pollo Margarita with Grilled Veggies.

She said she now has a new favorite.

I got the Combo Fajitas Poblano, with Chicken, Beef, Onions, Grilled Smoked Poblanos, and Bacon, all covered with Monterey Jack Cheese. Really great, and big enough that I had leftovers to take home.

I think we’ve found our new favorite close-by Mexican place. Nice since the Dickinson’s Monterey’s was put out of commission by Hurricane Harvey and still hasn’t come back.

Next up was a Home Depot stop, a WalMart stop, and a quick visit by the house before we finally got home a little before 5pm.

I did successfully order one item during this past Monday’s Amazon Prime Day. Don’t know if I got in early enough, or was just lucky not to get caught up in all the problems they had, but I ordered a new Echo Dot, and received it on Wednesday, right on schedule.

This is the 3rd Dot we’ve bought, along with our original Amazon Echo. One Dot is back in our bedroom to give us Alexa access back there. Another one I have on my desk at work to use when I’m there.

And the new one is to keep in our truck for use on the road. I just hotspot my phone and we’re good to go. We use our full-size Echo when we’re traveling in the rig, but it’s really too big for the truck. So now we have one to just leave in the console ready to go when we are. And at $20 off for Prime Day, $30 instead of $50, it was a great deal.

Readers will remember a while back when I built a 50 amp tester for RV pedestals that lets me test a pedestal’s power for just about any fault.

The reason I only used one voltmeter is that it was too wide to fit side-by-side with a second meter, or the fault tester either. So I have to move mine back and forth.

Now Paul, one of our readers, has one upped me with his version.

For his version, he modified the back of the meter to make it work side-by-side with a fault tester. Nice work, Paul.

Since I reinstalled our Splendide washer/dryer after the repair, we’ve run about 6 loads through it with no problem, and, more importantly, no leaks. Turned out it was nothing serious, just a hose had come loose.

Thought for the Day: 

I once found a needle in a haystack, but unfortunately it wasn’t the one I was looking for.

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