I remember when we first bought the camper - probably close to ten years ago now. Dad said "You can pay for a whole lot of hotel rooms for the cost of that thing." That's certainly true but we've had a lot of fun with it and all in all, I think it was a good purchase. As you know though, those things aren't really built to the highest of standards and the punishment they take going down the highway and sitting still for long periods of time really takes its toll and ours is starting to show its age. Actually, it's been showing its age. It's now starting to drool and act crotchety.
A few weeks ago, we were getting ready to go up to Vermont in the annual trek to the Vermont Quilt Show. We've been going every year for the past several so Deb and the other ladies can browse the Mecca of quilts and I and the other guys can sit back at the campsite and sleep. Deb had gotten a quilt accepted to boot so it was a special trip. It was just Deb and me this time - no kids and no other couples. I plugged in the camper the night before to charge the battery and cool down the fridge in prep for loading up groceries and heading off on Friday. On Friday, we loaded up and got ready to go but when we unplugged from power, the fridge wouldn't light. It usually takes a few tries on the first trip of the season because the gas has bled from the line and it takes a while to fill back up. This time however, nothing was happening. Hmm.
The other thing that was happening was that the battery disconnect switch was acting flaky. It's a momentary rocker switch that "kicks" on when you press it but it was refusing to stay on. All indications were that the battery was not giving enough juice. In order to determine if it was the battery, I pulled the Camry over to the door of the camper and used jumper cables to connect the Camry battery to the RV power cables. Once I did that, everything seemed to work fine. Great - dead battery. OK, so we'll hit Wal-Mart on the way up the road and get a new one.
Went to Wal-Mart, got battery, powered it up, no fridge. Crap! Hmm, I can hear the fridge trying to light but it doesn't catch. I end up using the butane grill lighter outside in the fridge panel to get it to light. I actually had no idea where the flame really was supposed to be but I just kind of waved the burning lighter around an area that looked like it might be a burner and yelled to Deb to "Hit it!". The burner lit, we closed it up, and headed North.
A few miles down the road there is a stoplight and as we come to a stop, we smell burning something. Hmm, is that smoke coming from the hood area? We pull into a gas station, get out and see that the left front wheel is smoking. I can't even touch the hubcap it's so hot. Great! We turn around and pull into a auto/RV shop to see if they can take a look. They said that it looks like the brake is seized up but there's nothing they can do. OK, well, there's nothing for it so we head home. At this point, I can feel a tug to the left as we are going down the road. The section of rt. 146 just before our exit is really torn up and we are getting rattled to bits and, after one particularly hard jolt, I feel the tug to the left go away and the whole truck feels normal again. We get off at our exit for home, look at each other, say "Screw it", and get back on the highway and head North once again.
We didn't have any more problems with the wheel but all throughout the trip, the electrical system kept kicking in and out. There are various beeps when the disconnect is doing it's thing normally so now, as we are driving, we get random disconnect beeps. Deb and I just look at each other - "Did you hear something? Nope, I didn't hear anything."
Another thing that we have been struggling with for years is the side mirrors. They are on long arms in order to see past the sides of the camper and these arms are designed to fold in if needed. Well, they decide to fold in ALL THE TIME! The wind blast on them, coupled with the violence of all the potholes and rough patches just swings them in rendering them useless. The one on Deb's side is the worst. She is constantly having to roll her window down and push it back out so that I can see what's to the right of me. She has tried all manner of friction inducing wedges to try and keep it from folding and she uses everything at her disposal - drinking straws, toll booth tickets, camping maps, anything. Nothing works. I've tried tightening the bolt that is supposed to give it some resistance but it never lasts for long. In a display of wondrous engineering, you have to fold the mirror back to get access to the bolt that you have to tighten to keep it from folding. Yes, you have to fold the mirror, tighten the bolt, and then try to unfold the mirror, overcoming all the friction you just put on the bolt to keep it from folding. Huh? I'm sure some design engineer got a bonus for that one.
Anyway, we made it the 4 1/2 hours up to the top of Vermont with no further problems. It was forecast to rain all weekend and it rained pretty much the whole way up there but when we got there, it was clear and beautiful. We cooked dinner and tried to light a campfire but the mosquitoes drove us indoors so we played cards inside. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the microwave. Last year, during the last camping trip, when we plugged in the power at a campsite, the microwave, which normally just dings and waits for you to set the clock, actually seemed to come on and "cook" for a few seconds. Deb noticed it when I was outside connecting the power so I came in to look. Hmm. None of the buttons on the control panel were working. I flipped off the breaker to remove power to it and then flipped it back on. Sure enough, it came on and "cooked" for 3 or 4 seconds, shut off, and was unresponsive to the buttons. I repeated the power cycle and this time noticed that when it powered up, the display said, in cryptic LED characters "2.5 oz Baby Food", ran for 5 seconds, and turned off. Yes, the microwave has decided that it needs to warm up 2.5 oz of phantom baby food when it gets power and then lapse into a coma until shocked into another round of baby food cooking the next time. So that's another thing that's broken.
The next day, we got ready to head to the quilt show which means disconnecting from power and using the battery to keep the fridge cold. Sure enough, when I disconnected from power, the fridge wouldn't work. I opened the battery compartment to find the wingnut on the battery hold down "bolt" gone and the battery jostled about in the compartment - cool! I grabbed some zip-ties and made a "chain" from them to fashion a hold down strap and we headed over to a Lowes to look for something to use as a hold down. I finally found a turnbuckle with hooks on both ends that did the trick. Unfortunately, the fridge would not run and the battery disconnect was acting flaky again. I dropped Deb off at the quilt show and headed back to the campsite. As much as I would have loved to join her and browse the hundreds of quilts, I felt like I should get the camper back on AC power so the food in the fridge didn't spoil. It's a scarafice I felt I had to make.
Anyway, long story a little shorter, we drove home with no fridge and various CO2 and gas sensors going on and off as they intermittently got and lost power, mirrors folding in, and the "Service Engine Soon" light on. Did I mention that the camper was up for inspection in June? Did I mention that that service engine light will cause an automatic "fail" of the inspection?
I took it in to get the service done and the inspection completed this past week. When the guy called me to tell me the story, he actually chuckled when he started the conversation which, of course, means "this is not good". That's exactly what it meant.
We do really like camping...
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Monday, June 08, 2009
Graduation Day
Preliminary launch number two was completed this weekend. It was great having Mom & Dad come up for the grand event and it was a beautiful day as you can see. Lots of inspirational words and wishes and just an all around great day.
Later that day was the Safe Graduation party which Deb masterminded decoration-wise so we worked on that all evening until the kids got back from a trip to Boston.
Pretty good stuff.
Later that day was the Safe Graduation party which Deb masterminded decoration-wise so we worked on that all evening until the kids got back from a trip to Boston.
Pretty good stuff.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Coming Century
I did it. I signed us up for TFCE - The Flattest Century in the East. Yes, normally it's Deb who gets us into these things but it was me this time. A Century is, of course, a 100 mile bike ride and is roughly equivalent to a Marathon for runners in terms of goals and relative difficulty.
I did one once before, back in California, a little over 20 years ago...Hmm.
I had heard about this one last year and wanted to do it but they only allow a limited number of signups and I missed the cutoff. This year, I marked the signup day on my calendar and got in. I signed up both Deb and I so that we could ride the tandem but kind of neglected to tell Deb that I was going to do this. When I told her we were signed up, well, let's just say she did not jump for joy. The draw for this ride is spelled out in the name - Flat. As I think I've mentioned before, tandems don't do hills very well. Actually, they do downhills very well. It's the uphills that they struggle with. OK, it's the riders who struggle with the uphills. The bike doesn't give a crap.
Anyway, tandem riders really like flat rides so I figured this should be easy. Right?
Yeah, except that I happened to mention my plan to another guy who had ridden this ride. He said that "yeah, it's flat. But it's along the coast and it's rather windy." Great.
Whatever, we're signed up and we'll give it a try.
In order to do this, we've got to start riding - the ride is on September 13 - so I got the bike down and enlisted Kyle to help me do some clean up. We removed the chains and cleaned them and the gears and generally spruced things up a bit. I don't know if I've ever posted a picture of this bike so I found a stock photo of our bike. If you click on the picture of the bike at the top, you can get a larger picture of it. It's got fancy "aero" wheels with minimal spokes that are "just as safe as regular wheels". Notice the rear seatpost. It's got a little shock absorber for the Stoker's (the rider in back) bum. On a tandem, the Captain (the guy in front) is suspended between the wheels and gets a pretty smooth ride. The Stoker on the other hand, sits right over the rear wheel and takes the brunt of rough roads. The road shock is made worse by the fact that the Stoker can't see approaching potholes and therefore can't "brace" for the impact. The seatpost shock helps to lessen some of the punishment. You can't really see it but the brake levers on the front handlebars double as gear shifters as well. You squeeze them like normal to apply the brakes and push them side to side to shift gears. It's pretty much the coolest invention for bikes ever.
Speaking of gears, this bike has ten sprockets on the rear wheel and three on the pedal for a total of 30 gears. Some gear combinations aren't useful but it's still a huge range, and it's needed for the extremes the tandem faces - very low gears for grinding up steep hills and very high gears for bombing down the other side.
It's a really nice bike and we really enjoy it (but check back again on September 14th...).
Monday, May 25, 2009
Do the Zoo
As you may know, Carly was "laid off" from the Whitin Community Center early in the year. She had been working in the Fitness Room cleaning equipment, washing towels, and giving tours to prospective members. The Center is struggling so they had to let a bunch of people go and Carly got the ax.
This was not good given the current economic situation and the fact that she needed to build up some cash for next year's college expenses. I was anticipating an agonizing job search process but one day she came home and said she got a job at the Zoo (or at least had an interview lined up). The Zoo, is the Southwick Zoo, located in the next town over - Mendon. It's just about the most unlikely place to have a zoo but it's actually quite well known and very large and well done. Carly had her interview and they hired her on the spot!
She mostly works in admissions and the gift shop and regales us with tales of kids who pull all the plush toys down from the shelves and the people who spend 15 minutes trying to figure out if they should get the "All Access Pass" or buy individual tickets for the various attractions (or some such calculation). One time she was working in the "Build an Animal"-type area where the kid picks out an animal to make and they fill it with stuffing and decorate it. I guess it's like "Build a Bear" at the Mall (I've never been there). Anyway, she said she was getting ready to fill the animal with stuffing which involves holding the empty animal "skin" over a nozzle that spews (apparently at a rather high velocity) stuffing into said animal. She told the girl to WAIT until she got the animal completley over the nozzle before she (the girl) pressed the "Fill" button. Of course, the girl hits the switch BEFORE Carly has the skin on the nozzle and Carly ends up being blasted in the face by animal stuffing as the girl shrieks with laughter. The girl does it one more time before Carly thinks to turn off the master switch to disable the "Inject" switch so she can get the animal lined up properly.
She seems to enjoy the job however and is happy to be making some money again. She said tonight that her little stint in unemployment has taught her to be a little more frugal than she had been so I think that's a good thing.
This was not good given the current economic situation and the fact that she needed to build up some cash for next year's college expenses. I was anticipating an agonizing job search process but one day she came home and said she got a job at the Zoo (or at least had an interview lined up). The Zoo, is the Southwick Zoo, located in the next town over - Mendon. It's just about the most unlikely place to have a zoo but it's actually quite well known and very large and well done. Carly had her interview and they hired her on the spot!
She mostly works in admissions and the gift shop and regales us with tales of kids who pull all the plush toys down from the shelves and the people who spend 15 minutes trying to figure out if they should get the "All Access Pass" or buy individual tickets for the various attractions (or some such calculation). One time she was working in the "Build an Animal"-type area where the kid picks out an animal to make and they fill it with stuffing and decorate it. I guess it's like "Build a Bear" at the Mall (I've never been there). Anyway, she said she was getting ready to fill the animal with stuffing which involves holding the empty animal "skin" over a nozzle that spews (apparently at a rather high velocity) stuffing into said animal. She told the girl to WAIT until she got the animal completley over the nozzle before she (the girl) pressed the "Fill" button. Of course, the girl hits the switch BEFORE Carly has the skin on the nozzle and Carly ends up being blasted in the face by animal stuffing as the girl shrieks with laughter. The girl does it one more time before Carly thinks to turn off the master switch to disable the "Inject" switch so she can get the animal lined up properly.
She seems to enjoy the job however and is happy to be making some money again. She said tonight that her little stint in unemployment has taught her to be a little more frugal than she had been so I think that's a good thing.
Mass Historia
One of the cool things about Kyle's Scholarship is the stipend that he can access to support a summer as an unpaid intern at some company, presumably to get experience related to his major. Basically, they will give him $4,000 so that he doesn't have to work at Wal-Mart or some such place to make spending money for the upcoming school year. This being "technically" his last summer off from school, he had to access it or lose it. Back in January, we started to periodically ask him what he needed to do to set that up. Of course the answer was always "I've got plenty of time".
Well, it turns out that there was a deadline to getting all the paperwork turned in - including finding the place that you were going to work at - back in April. He actually realized it about a week beforehand and tried to meet with his advisor and people at the career center but with tennis matches and practice, he didn't make it.
I was none too pleased with his procrastination and I sure as heck didn't want to leave $4,000 on the table so I called the career people to see what we could do. Well, after explaining that most kids get their summer internships lined up in February, the lady said that the deadline wasn't that critical and he could still access his stipend. He just needed to find something - quick. He got a list of potential places and sent his resume around to them. I also contacted some people that I knew to see if they needed anyone. It wouldn't have anything to do with History but the lady said it didn't have to be directly related so I figured what the heck. Kyle even asked me if maybe EMC might "hire" him so I checked there too. My other sources didn't need anyone and EMC doesn't do unpaid internships. He hadn't heard back from anyone either so it was looking pretty bad.
One of the things our group at EMC does each year is volunteer in some community project. Last year, we worked on houses for the Habitat for Humanity and this year, we planted crops at the Community Harvest Project farm that feeds many hundreds of people in central Mass. They are always looking for volunteer coordinators - people to manage the volunteer planters and workers that they have come in and help - so I mentioned it to Kyle. He was interested and, since it was the only game in town, called them up and arranged to meet with them. A couple of days before he was to head to the farm, he said that he got an email from the Massachusetts Historical Society saying that they could use an intern! After a few negotiations back and forth he was in (and told the farmers to pound sand).
Well, the Mass Historical Society is conveniently located in downtown Boston so Kyle had to figure out how to get there... We found their website and got directions (which say, by the way, that parking is horendous and you really should take public transit). We plugged the location into the GPS and it says it will take about an hour to get there. We figure he should leave at 7:00 am to get there for his 9:00 appointment.
The next day, at 6:50 am, not hearing Kyle stirring, I went into his room to find him fast asleep. "What's up" he says. "It's 6:50." "Crap. My alarm didn't go off." So, he ambles out of bed and proceeds to leisurly get ready. I'm practically helping him put his clothes on and he's just casual as can be. He finally says "Would you just relax. I've got plenty of time." He finally rolls out of the driveway at about 7:20.
I head in to work and Deb calls me at about 8:30 asking if I've heard anything from him yet. Nope. I send him a text message asking if he found it OK. At about 9:13 I get a reply "Just finished parking." It took him another five minutes to walk from the parking garage to the building so he was about 20 minutes late. Hmmm. Luckily, it was not a big deal (he is unpaid afterall). He said they are very laid back and very accomodating. His first day was spent unfolding letters (bills) and placing them in other folders. He was a tad bored but he wasn't complaining - much.
After navigating the Mass Pike and Boston traffic he figured he really should find another option so we plotted his trip via the commuter rail system. The next day, he rode the train in to the Back Bay Station for a short walk to work. I got a call a few minutes after his train was due to arrive - "I'm not sure where I am". Great! I quickly pulled up Google maps and we figured out where he was and I got him going in the right direction. That day he did more unfolding and some transcribing. At the end of the day, they happened to get a shipment of old books from 1812 or something, written by a French speaking guy and they wondered how they would translate it. Kyle said "Um, I speak French." So the next day he was researching the information in these letters trying to figure out where this guy was and what he was doing. Based on Kyle's translation and research, he figured out that this guy was in the Dominican Replublic and logging the cargos of incoming ships from around the world. Pretty cool for his third day.
We still haven't gotten the stipend payment sorted out so I hope we actually see this money. I'm racking up the commuter rail bills so I sure hope this works. I think Kyle's actually going to see about $100 of this $4000 by the time all the expenses are accounted for.
Well, it turns out that there was a deadline to getting all the paperwork turned in - including finding the place that you were going to work at - back in April. He actually realized it about a week beforehand and tried to meet with his advisor and people at the career center but with tennis matches and practice, he didn't make it.
I was none too pleased with his procrastination and I sure as heck didn't want to leave $4,000 on the table so I called the career people to see what we could do. Well, after explaining that most kids get their summer internships lined up in February, the lady said that the deadline wasn't that critical and he could still access his stipend. He just needed to find something - quick. He got a list of potential places and sent his resume around to them. I also contacted some people that I knew to see if they needed anyone. It wouldn't have anything to do with History but the lady said it didn't have to be directly related so I figured what the heck. Kyle even asked me if maybe EMC might "hire" him so I checked there too. My other sources didn't need anyone and EMC doesn't do unpaid internships. He hadn't heard back from anyone either so it was looking pretty bad.
One of the things our group at EMC does each year is volunteer in some community project. Last year, we worked on houses for the Habitat for Humanity and this year, we planted crops at the Community Harvest Project farm that feeds many hundreds of people in central Mass. They are always looking for volunteer coordinators - people to manage the volunteer planters and workers that they have come in and help - so I mentioned it to Kyle. He was interested and, since it was the only game in town, called them up and arranged to meet with them. A couple of days before he was to head to the farm, he said that he got an email from the Massachusetts Historical Society saying that they could use an intern! After a few negotiations back and forth he was in (and told the farmers to pound sand).
Well, the Mass Historical Society is conveniently located in downtown Boston so Kyle had to figure out how to get there... We found their website and got directions (which say, by the way, that parking is horendous and you really should take public transit). We plugged the location into the GPS and it says it will take about an hour to get there. We figure he should leave at 7:00 am to get there for his 9:00 appointment.
The next day, at 6:50 am, not hearing Kyle stirring, I went into his room to find him fast asleep. "What's up" he says. "It's 6:50." "Crap. My alarm didn't go off." So, he ambles out of bed and proceeds to leisurly get ready. I'm practically helping him put his clothes on and he's just casual as can be. He finally says "Would you just relax. I've got plenty of time." He finally rolls out of the driveway at about 7:20.
I head in to work and Deb calls me at about 8:30 asking if I've heard anything from him yet. Nope. I send him a text message asking if he found it OK. At about 9:13 I get a reply "Just finished parking." It took him another five minutes to walk from the parking garage to the building so he was about 20 minutes late. Hmmm. Luckily, it was not a big deal (he is unpaid afterall). He said they are very laid back and very accomodating. His first day was spent unfolding letters (bills) and placing them in other folders. He was a tad bored but he wasn't complaining - much.
After navigating the Mass Pike and Boston traffic he figured he really should find another option so we plotted his trip via the commuter rail system. The next day, he rode the train in to the Back Bay Station for a short walk to work. I got a call a few minutes after his train was due to arrive - "I'm not sure where I am". Great! I quickly pulled up Google maps and we figured out where he was and I got him going in the right direction. That day he did more unfolding and some transcribing. At the end of the day, they happened to get a shipment of old books from 1812 or something, written by a French speaking guy and they wondered how they would translate it. Kyle said "Um, I speak French." So the next day he was researching the information in these letters trying to figure out where this guy was and what he was doing. Based on Kyle's translation and research, he figured out that this guy was in the Dominican Replublic and logging the cargos of incoming ships from around the world. Pretty cool for his third day.
We still haven't gotten the stipend payment sorted out so I hope we actually see this money. I'm racking up the commuter rail bills so I sure hope this works. I think Kyle's actually going to see about $100 of this $4000 by the time all the expenses are accounted for.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Last Prom
It doesn't seem possible but we are almost done with High School. Carly went to the prom the other night so about the only thing left is Graduation.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Another Season Done
It's amazing how fast the time is flying by now. Wheaton Tennis finished another season which means there are only about two weeks of school left for Kyle this year.
They lost in the semi-finals to Babson but overall had a pretty good year. It's really more about the team and the relationships than the wins and losses in the end and this is one tight team.
They lost in the semi-finals to Babson but overall had a pretty good year. It's really more about the team and the relationships than the wins and losses in the end and this is one tight team.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
ARTn't you thrilled with these?
You know that Carly has been dabbling with drawing and painting for awhile now of course. She's recently done a couple of small paintings and when I saw them, I thought that you would get a kick out of seeing them.
I'll post the small versions here but you can click any of them and view the full version on Flickr.
I'll post the small versions here but you can click any of them and view the full version on Flickr.
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