D-day minus one.
The huge "baked potato", as called by some of the neighborhood kids who were drawn to it like a bug to a bug zapper last night, that is parked in our driveway was the focus of my efforts in preparation for our trip to San Antonio. A vintage 1974 Airstream International travel trailer! The real deal, original electrical, plumbing and all! After replacing a FEW lights, addressing a FEW water leaks and a FEW issues with the electrical system I decided that this was going to be a very interesting trip to blog. The 30 year old valves in the water system aren't what they used to be, and the fuse block and central control panel looks like the reject parts from Apollo 8. I started the evening in good spirits and ended it at 2:30am kinda delerious. Wal-mart at 12:30am is no place for a person to be. I went through the checkout line with various plumbing and electrical tapes, putties, seal, gaskets, wires, screws, washers, got strange looks from the register clerk and I was thinking I bet I have a friend that's got all of these things in his garage. In any case, what was this for?? Let me tell you. After fixing all the leaks (and being the engineer I am) I was told the bathtub didn't work, BUT they did not tell me WHY, OK. So of course I just go over and turn the knob slightly.. very slightly.. and there was water coming out of the spout, sorta, not a good flow, something was wrong but I can probably fix...whooosh...then the valve that the knob was attached to come shooting out of the pipe and water was spraying everywhere, just so happened that my son "smokestack" (as he's decided to be called) was there and rushed to turn the water off as I was being drowned in my attempt to push the valve back into the pipe against the water pressure with one hand while trying to open the sink faucet (which was the the one leak free plumbing device) beside me with my other elbow to relieve pressure. We did manage to get the water off and I very quickly engineered a fix by tying wire over the valve so it can't fly out. So far it looks to be not working just fine.. So, it is indeed broke and I'm not going to fix it even though it goes against all engineering thought processes. Oh and the electrical.. I have to remove the battery and charge it from my truck if were going to use it, it doesn't want to charge in the trailer as it's supposed to, luckily the 120v electrical system works fine which controls air and plug ins. The fridge - it will not work and I don't have a clue why. Looks like we'll be taking the coolers. I did manage to light the 30 year old gas stove (brave huh). It works fine. Oh the toilet, it works, just make sure you know where that little hand held wash hose is before stepping on that pedal under the seat, because if you don't you might get sprayed right in the face.. What fun! Lord PLEASE watch over us on this trip!
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful to be able to use the "Airscream" (air is the key) and I eagerly look forward to the trip. I'm ready to spend some time together with my loving wife and the children God has blessed me with. I'll work on pics for you the next chance I get. I've been a little tied up so far.
1 comment:
Great post! Hilarious! We are on the edge of our seats waiting for more!!
You are so right. You do indeed have a friend with every one of those things in his garage... and then some!
And, you said the Martins were the ones with the stories! Ha!
Have a great trip!
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