Our RV Adventures

Jan and I were up and  out the rig door by 8 this morning, and after a quick stop for a breakfast  sandwich at the Conroe Jack in the Box, we were on our way down to the Clear Lake area for two of Jan’s doctor appointments.

Since by the time we got into Houston proper, it was pushing 9, so we were at the tail end of the morning rush and only encountered a couple of mild slowdowns, and no real problems.

Jan’s first appointment was just for a blood draw for the lab work before she sees her oncologist next Friday. Then it was off to the Breast Center for her yearly mammogram/ultrasound, which usually takes a couple of hours or so. My part in all this was to go visit a client, browse through Harbor Freight for a couple of things, and take a short nap. And worry.

Finally Jan called about 12:30 with the All Clear Signal. There was no sign of any return of her past breast cancer. So she’s good to go for another year.

Since it was just right down the street, we had a delicious lunch at King Food, one of our all time favorites, Then was over to our son Chris’ to spend the afternoon before our dinner get-together about 6 with friends.

Although Miss Piper was asleep when we got there, we did get to see her before she headed off to the UTMB hospital in Galveston where she works in the ER, and loves it. Earlier we also got to seen Chris and Linda before they headed out too.

About 5:30 on our way to our friends, we made a stop at Spec’s Liquors for a bottle of Cupcake Moscato d’Asti, Jan’s new favorite wine. Since we were going straight there, we were hoping they had some in the cooler, but no luck.

But they did have this.

It’s water-based cooling system running at 34°, so it will cool a bottle down in about 5 minutes. Neat and really does the trick.

We got to Barbara and Tom’s to find Barbara in the middle of fixing a delicious meal for us, like she always does.

This time is was Lasagna with Italian Sausage, Roasted Butternut Squash, Green Beans, and French Bread. Along with a salad, and then Randall’s wonderful Coconut Cream Pie for dessert, we were stuffed.

But it was a happy stuffed.

After a great time we were finally on our way home by a little before 10. Along the way we started seeing signs that the Interstate was closed northbound at Cypresswood. So after a pit stop at the Flying J in north Houston we cut over to the Hardy Toll Road and took it around the stoppage with no problem, finally getting home about 11:30pm

Tomorrow it’s back to washer repair. Oh boy.

Thought for the Day:

You know that tingly little feeling you get when you really like someone you’ve just met? That’s common sense leaving your body.

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We didn’t walk this morning because I was in repair mode – Splendide washer repair. A couple of days ago our washer went wonky and stopped pumping the water out when it goes into spin mode. The drum starts to turn but I don’t even hear the pump try to pump.

Since we had a washer full of wet clothes, we loaded them into a plastic garbage bag and took them down to Brandi’s yesterday to finish up.

So this morning, after looking over the Splendide service manual, I was hoping it was the pressure switch (cheap to buy and easy to replace), I ruled out a clogged drain line (another easy fix) since the pump would at least try to start pumping in that case.

But a call to Westland Sales disavowed me of that easy fix. The tech reminded me that the pressure switch also governs the amount of water that fills the tub at the beginning of the wash cycle. So if the switch wasn’t working, the tub would overfill. And it wasn’t.

Then he gave me the bad news. It was probably the pump itself.

Then he gave me the badder news. The pumps are no longer available.

So if it is the pump is bad, I’m out of luck. At least as far as buying a new one. But looking at a photo of a pump, there might be another way.

There’s really only two things that can go wrong with a pump like this. Either the pump rotor is jammed, or the motor has died.

The motor can be repaired, even if I have to rewind it. There are no brushes in this type of motor, so that’s not a problem either.  Actually  the most likely motor problem is a broken wire leading to the windings.

As far as the pump itself, unless the pump rotor broke, it’s probably the bearings. And they can probably be kludged also.

So we’ll see.

But even with all this, I have a possible backup plan. When my friend Nick Russell replaced his Splendide a couple of years ago, I stripped it for parts, but I don’t know if the pump was one of them.

The next step is to pull the washer out, turn it upside down and check out the pump situation. I didn’t start today since we’ll be down in the Clear Lake area all day tomorrow with two doctor checkup appointments for Jan, and then dinner with friends. So I’ll tackle it starting Thursday morning.

Blog reader Judy Hughes reminded me I didn’t give ya’ll a Traveling with Karma update since we moved over to Lake Conroe from Colorado River this past Sunday.

All in all, she took it pretty well for a first time. Especially  if ‘pretty well’, means hiding as soon as we pulled out and not coming out until we were parked. But she didn’t seem to care when I started up the diesel, didn’t really seem to notice at all. I guess she didn’t like the floor moving under her feet though.

The newest thing she does is to get up on the dashboard and look out through the curtains, just watching what’s going on. She does this several times day, over and over. But she still shows no inclination to go outside though, so that’s good

The biggest change, though, is how she’s bulked up. We’ve had her for two weeks now, and when we first got her, I measured her for a harness so we could take her outside on a leash. But by the time we got it from Amazon yesterday, it almost too tight.

Thinking I might have mis-measured, or they sent me the wrong size, I checked her again. And she’s definitely filled out in the body. 

Our little girl is growing up.

Thought for the Day:

There are few problems so bad that the intrusion of government can’t make worse.

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