Big Blue spa week
The past week or so has been a bit of a blur. So much needed to be completed before we could begin our Northern migration, and we hoped to not have to hang around a second week to do it all. Not that we mind hanging out with family, but we are nomads at heart. Movement is nearly as necessary as oxygen. But first, some things needed to be done…
First, we popped in for a few days to visit with my family before rolling back up to Grass Valley to reunite with Kerri’s truck. We needed the truck to pickup the Airstream from the repair shop and haul it all the way to Bodega Bay where it has been parked on a ranch to be rented out as an Air B&B. With the weekdays came the work week for Kerri, so we settled in for another few days with Kerri’s parents (they have had to put up with us a lot this year already).
While Kerri worked at the desk in the van I started on five days of Big Blue fixes that have been long coming. It has always dripped oil (he’s old, we drip as we age, right?) to the loss of about 1 quart for every 1000 miles. I’ve been threatening to fix it for some years, but the huge task was always put on the back burner to… everything. After spending a total of 9 hours over two days in a pool of motor oil under the van, the rear-main-seal finally got replaced. And since I was in there anyway, I went ahead and replaced the oil pump as well, giving Big Blue a new “high volume” pump to bring some new life into the old motor. And, hey! I’m already covered head to toe in oil and grease – why not drop the transmission oil and filter and replace them too? So I did. Then on day-3 Big Blue had an appointment to have his tires rotated (I should have just done it myself, but I was tired). Then another minor building project; some small wooden cubbys mounted to the bottom of the side doors to fill in the empty space of the side-step when the doors close. Poor Byron kept falling into that 4 inch slot during the nights. Not only did these little boxes resolve that issue, it provides precious more storage space inside the van – nice! And finally, with one last day before we drove off, I went ahead and gave Big Blue a whole new set of ceramic brake pads and new wheel bearings, just to get a step ahead on the brake pads.
Finally, we are ready to get back on the road after a whole 10-days or so (!!!) stationary.
