Another productive day

December 6, 2009
Peoria, AZ

Well, we had another good day. Geri made a great breakfast, with two different kinds of French Toast, sweet and savory. I ran a few errands in the morning and then we all headed over to the coach. For whatever reason, I like having someone else around when I'm planning to spend time crawling around under the coach.

Today's project was to lubricate the chassis on the coach. There are something like 33 different fittings that need to be found, cleaned, and greased. Some are easy and others are complicated. For example, the kingpins on the front end are easy to get to, but you have to take the weight off the axle to get proper lubrication. Think about jacking up each wheel on a car, then remember that we carry over 14,000 pounds on the front axle. Fortunately, a 20 ton hydraulic jack that connects to the air compressor does the job. Next up, other parts of the front end require the wheels to be turned to the side to get at the zerk fittings.

Front done, it's time to move to the rear. Here, there are two basic items. Brake slack adjusters get 2 shots each; you don't want to get grease in the brakes. Then both u-joints, making sure that all four points on the joint yield grease. This time, one of them doesn't want to cooperate, so I'll have some follow-up to do on that one. Then, the hard one: the slip joint on the drive shaft. This is always the toughest one, since it requires three hands. You have to hold a finger on a hole in the end of the yoke, hold the grease gun tip on the zerk, and pull the trigger. Hmmm. Well, you do the best you can, trying to do two things with various fingers. I think I got it; I know I used a lot of grease.

With another one in the "done" column, it was back home to get cleaned up and walk the pups.  When we got home, I found a whole flock (is that the correct term?) of pigeons sitting on the wall in the back.  Maybe they were looking for Uncle Al (birds showed up every afternoon when Al visited a couple of years ago)?  No matter; Merlin and Maya Lynn quickly chased them off.

Then it was time to settle in for some dinner while checking out football on TV. The Giants beat the Cowboys (always a good thing) and now the Cards are leading the Vikings right down the street in Glendale. It was interesting to see the blimp video, since the roof is closed at the stadium. Didn't they know it's cold out? It's 55°F for crying out loud! There's a lot of thin blood out here in the desert.

Dinner was fantastic. Leftover pork from the rotisserie a few nights ago, plus baked sweet potatoes and one of Geri's wonderful asparagus recipes: sautéed with an egg cracked over the top and covered with crispy prosciutto. Oh yeah. With a 2004 Longoria (no relation) Grenache, it made for a fabulous meal. I'm such a lucky guy...