Lisa put up the mast and wiring for the amateur radio antenna yesterday.

( Mount Up )

...but only a few meters.

We have a planned project to work on the carport for which the concrete laying last fall was the first stage. In order to do this, we need to have the travel trailer off the slab for a few days.

( Moving Day )

Last week Lisa discovered that one of the tires on the Big Orange Van was flat. She put on the spare and took the van to Hanneman's down the way to get the tire patched. Turns out that the sidewall had failed, which is not repairable. On Monday, we called Big O Tires in Sparks (these were Big O tires) and, as Lisa expected, they had to special- ( Read more... )

I was able to make it back to Fremont via transit (shuttle bus, light rail, Amtrak, shank's mare). My mechanic called me to tell me he was finishing up just as I turned the corner a block from his shop. Besides fixing the broken tilt-wheel mechanism, he also did the front brakes, which were down to minimum safe spec. Another $650 spent, but it's a ( Read more... )

Today was our final morning in Spokane. After breakfast, we packed out of the room and left for the first stage of our four-day/three-night trip back to Fernley.

( Final View from a Hotel Window )

I checked out of the motel this morning in a fairly leisurely manner and headed homeward. The minivan continues to be a bit hesitant to start, so every time I stop is an adventure. And after a few minutes on the road, the Service Engine Soon light comes on. It was a pretty mild day, and it wasn't until after I refueled at Lodi Junction that I felt ( Read more... )

Thanks to getting the minivan back this morning, I was actually able to get down to BayCon today. However, because I also needed to get an oil change, by the time I got there, the only panel I really was deeply interested in attending (discussing the current Hugo Controversy) was mostly ending. I spent most of the day behind the Sasquan table, ( Read more... )

My mechanic tells me that he thinks he'll be able to get my minivan running again (air-idle control valve or something like that; I was driving and couldn't write it down), but I can't get it back until late on Friday. This sort of scrambles up a bunch of my travel logistics, and on top of it all I have a bunch of extra auto expenses to pay ( Read more... )

I was too tired after getting back from last night's BASFA meeting to fire up the computer and post anything, but there wasn't much to say from me anyway. I got down to the Bay Area on Sunday night, and Sunday morning nursed my minivan to my mechanic's shop and walked over to Enterprise rent-a-car, collected my rental, and drove to my dentist for a ( Read more... )

Lisa is able to walk without crutches again. Her ankle still hurts, and the other foot hurts from her having to favor it for several days, but she can walk again. That freed us up to drive to Big R, where she gingerly made her way around to buy a replacement bolt and other hardware, then to the auto-parts store to get some replacement hoses and ( Read more... )