Can’t use the cool weather as an excuse

February 10, 2008
Peoria, AZ

We’ve had a productive streak for the last few days, and have knocked quite a few things off the collective to-do lists.

Tuesday, Geri had the stitches removed from her tooth extraction. Things went very well and she’s definitely on the mend. On the other hand, the periodontist seems to want to find other places where he can suggest more implants. Down, boy!

Geri had physical therapy on Wednesday, so I used the time to get organized in the study. I need to catch up on some filing, etc. to make room for the next batch on incoming mail. I purposely waited until after the beginning of February to have our mail service ship accumulated items, so I could catch all the tax forms. I’m planning to get the taxes done before we head out to California on the 16th.

Thursday was the beginning of a warm up in the weather department, so I got to some of the other things around the house. It was mostly mundane stuff like spraying the weeds; it’s weed season here and things are sprouting all over the place. Next year, I’ll make sure that the pre-emergent weed killer is deployed in the fall.

I also reworked the propane lines for the outside grill/stove we use when we travel. I’d made the attachment to the low-pressure side of the coach system while we were with Wayne in Indio (I wanted the expert help on hand). Once it was set up, it worked fine but I realized that a) I needed to be able to disconnect the long hose from the coach to the primary grill for storage and b) I needed to add another port for the small propane-fueled fire ring we bought from Canadian Tire last year. I had ordered the quick disconnects from Northern Tool, and I had picked up the fittings at the local Ace Hardware, so I was able to reconfigure the fittings without too much difficulty. I probably still need a piece or two, but things should be in working order and I can make changes as we go along.

Friday was “coach day”. We got it out of storage in the morning, and I spend most of the day knocking maintenance items off the list. The biggest was a lube job, which should be done semi-annually. It sounds simple, but is actually quite time-consuming. There are 33 +/- specific fittings that need to be lubricated, and each one needs to be tracked down and checked off. Several of the ones in the front require the wheels to be turned to a specific point to be able to get at the fittings. The kingpins (part of the front end) require that the axle be raised to take the weight off the assembly. It all went well, so we should be OK until the “annual service” during the summer.

Yesterday was another project day, this time with the car. I’ve wanted to rework the wiring from the coach to the car for towing for a long time. I’ve been using magnetically mounted temporary lights for some time because the people who installed the towing package didn’t quite get it done right. I replaced the connection box on the front and adjusted how the wiring interface from the coach connects into the car, so I’ll test that out the next time we have the coach at the house. If I have the time before we leave, I may try to test it out by hooking up a 12 volt source in the garage; we’ll see.

The food and wine front has been relatively tame. We had a chance to get together with Paul and Dorna, friends who have a coach very similar to ours, for pizza and beer at Nino’s (a local place) on Thursday. On Friday, Geri picked up some Mahi-Mahi and we made it with a macadamia nut crust, accompanied by curried couscous. We had an Australian Shiraz, the 2003 “Bad Impersonator” Barossa Valley from Two Hands – exceptional!

Other than all this, it’s been nice and quiet. I’m about 20% done in converting to the new email address scheme I set up, so I’ll continue with that after I get the taxes done. We’ll continue to stage stuff for our California trip, and look forward to hitting the road next Saturday.