A Few More Days
As I said in an earlier post, seems like things are progressing, but at a bit of a snail’s pace. We think that all of the issues with the sale of the house are finally finished to everyone’s satisfaction. We’ve dealt with the inspection issues. We’ve replaced the A/C system which couldn’t seem to hold on through this whole lengthy process (ouch!). And we have a closing date set up for next Thursday. Keeping our fingers crossed that this will finally come off and we can stop maintaining a house we haven’t lived in for over a year. Looking back, we made some mistakes but, in the end, we will be able to look forward rather than back.
And I added up the days I need to work to finish out my working career. It’s down to 16, including today. Ironically, that’s just shy of a 50 year career in the electronics business where I’ve been privileged to participate in the design of things used everywhere from manned spacecraft to consumer microwave ovens. And now we have products in low earth orbit applications as well as on unmanned “drones”. Lots of long days (and more than a few nights) getting the bugs out, but, all in all, a fulfilling career.
More importantly, our kids are all doing well and into their own satisfying careers. Nothing makes me prouder than knowing they are on their own and leading productive lives in their own chosen fields of endeavor.
So, the next month is going to be spent on getting the last few additions and updates done to the motor home. So far, we’ve installed a bunch of radio stuff (for my ham radio addiction), More underneath storage in an additional slide out tray and organization into lots of Sterilite boxes to keep things straight. I really do need to get the camera and create a visual index of what is in which box, though. Mostly I can remember, but not always. We’ve replaced slide topper awnings all around. Added a battery system monitor that tells the amount of energy in the batteries and how much we are using if not on shore power or generator. Then there’s the automatic generator start (AGS) system that is installed and working. I still need to add the sensor for the internal temperature of the coach in case the power fails and we need to start the generator to run the air conditioning if we’re not there. That’s to make sure we don’t cook the dogs if we aren’t home and shore power goes out. And we’ve had the roof stripped and sealed. I hope that is done, but we havne’t had rain to tell after the last visit here to work on a leak.
Still to do before we take off: new rear tires, get the mount for the big ham antenna welded up so it is usable, create storage space for the big antenna, and mount the solar panels for that upgrade. July and early August will be busy times. And then there’s the refrigerator (see the earlier post on this). They replaced the ice maker and that let’s it add what seems to be the right amount of water, but it doesn’t freeze. Testing the temperature in the freezer shows -8 on the display, 4 in the bottom of the compartment but 20 degrees at the top. The repair technician tells me it has to get to 14 degrees for the icemaker to work. He thinks the fan is bad and will order that to replace next. Otherwise it’s a really nice “ice box”, except we have to buy the ice to put in the freezer.
And our actual launch date is set: August 15 we hit the road. We’ve already planned stops for family visits and a major family birthday is coming up so that drives our first stop. Then there’s a rally we want to attend in early October so that is driving a couple of stops along the way. The next planned event is to be back in Central Texas by mid-November to get ready for the year end holidays. Lots to look forward to.
Somewhere in Texas
June 27, 2016
