Our RV Adventures

Work was about the same as usual today, as I slogged through the server tracking down stuff and taking a lot of notes as I stumble across things I’ll need down the road.

Coming home I stopped off at  the Rudy’s BBQ in Webster to pick up dinner for Jan and I. Jan got her favorite Jumbo Smoked Potato with Chopped Lean Brisket, as well as a side of their Creamed Corn.

I took the simple path and just got 8oz of their Moist Brisket,

as well as a container of pickles, onions, with some pickled jalapenos and carrots. Really good, and Jan has enough left over another meal.

Tomorrow the first payment for this next year’s rig/truck insurance with National General is due. But when I went to pay it today, I found that rather than the $10-15 yearly jump I was expecting, it jumped $64 per month. OUCH!

Right now, we have a $500 deductible that I’ll probably up to $1000, since in 8 years with them we’ve only had one claim in that time. And that was our blowout in Arizona in May 2015.

I’ve been trying to locate a replacement glass for the light on my side of the bed without much luck. I checked with PPL, CW, and online but came up empty. So I thought I throw it out to our readers.

There’s no manufacturer name on the base or the glass, so that’s no help. The glass is about 7†wide and shaped like you took a soup bowl and cut it in half,

So has anyone out there seen something like this?

Recently my Garmin 1490LMT has been intermittently showing a Low Battery indication even though it’s plugged in and getting power. At first I though it might be bad connection, or even a flakey power cable, but a little Googling told me different.

It seems that the built-in battery starts to age and then won’t hold a charge. I guess I’ve gotten my money’s worth on it since it’s going on 7 years old. Since the battery is not considered to be user replaceable, the conventional fix for this is to send it back to Garmin, and for $125 they’ll send you a refurbished one with a new battery. OR . . .

you can order a kit like this for $15,

complete with the tools needed to open the case. You can get the battery alone for about $7, but since it’s not Prime, it has $5 shipping. So for a few bucks more, I get new tools to play with. Yay!

I did look into just getting a new one,  but I was looking at $100-$200 with no real step in new features. So $15 it is.

While I was at it, I ordered a new set of toilet seals for the Sealand toilet in our RV.

It stopped holding water recently, and I’ve tried cleaning several times with no luck. So since the seals are about 3 years old, it’s probably time to swap them out.

Tomorrow looks to be a little busy with lunch up in Webster, dropping off some clothes at the Salvation Army in Nassau Bay, picking up our last new window awning for the rig in Kemah, and then some groceries at the Victory Lakes HEB.

Busy, busy, busy!

Thought for the Day: 

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I did plan to get some outside chores done today, but the overcast skies and occasionally spitting rain dissuaded me of that. Though I will say that I didn’t take too much convincing.

The whole ‘Spring Forward’ thing went off OK this morning, with everything resetting like it was supposed to. That’s the computer, two phones, my Galaxy Tab, our bedroom projection clock, our DirecTV DVR, the La Crosse Weather Display, and our big living room clock.

Everything is connected to the Internet except this clock. It actually receives the WWV time signal via radio and is always correct to the second. The only two clocks I have to manually set is the battery-powered clock in the bathroom, and my old school analog watch.

Like yesterday, I spent a good while researching moving the websites at work, but I’m still not sure which way I’ll go.

For you Alexa/Echo Dot owners, Amazon has added something a little new. Previously if you want to ask Alexa multiple questions, you had to start over each time by saying ‘Alexa’.

But if you go into your Amazon Alexa app, go to Settings, pick your device, and scroll down, you’ll find a control called Follow Up. Turn it on and you’re good to go.

And if you have more than one Alexa device, you have to do each separately.

Now if you make your 2nd, 3rd, etc., request within 5 seconds after the previous request is done, Alexa will continue answering you. Neat.

SpaceX is at it again, planning 5 Falcon 9 launches next month. In addition they hope to do the first test launch of their BFR Mars rocket later this year. If all goes well, they plan on the first unmanned launch to Mars in early 2019.

The BFR, much larger than the recently launched Falcon Heavy, can boost 150 tons of cargo into orbit, vs. the 50 ton capacity of the Falcon Heavy, and the 25 tons of the Falcon 9. And unlike early rockets, the BFR will be fully reusable, with all lower stages landing back on earth,  and can be refueled in space. Really revolutionary.

Here’s a really neat look back at the recent Falcon Heavy launch and landing, including the only released footage of the center stage crashing back into the ocean due to running out of ignition fluid.

And this is a fun look at the many failures along the way.

Only Elon Musk would compile all his failures into a video and set it to music.

Thought for the Day: 

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