We had a relaxing catch up day by the camper today.
I had to take the truck to a dealer here for the 50k mile maintenance work, so I got things going after I woke up, did some writing but still have like 3 days to catch up, and was able to leave around 7:30 for my 8am appointment. Before I left I made sure the hotspot internet was working properly, so that was ready for the girls, and I woke Carol up before I left so she could be ready to get the girls going in time.
The dealer is about 30 minutes from here, and I got there right at 8. As the service guy checked me in, and took all the info from the truck, he came back and asked me what we were here for. Weird questions I thought, because I scheduled the appointment as the 50k mile maintenance. I told him that, and he replied with, oh, so just an oil change and tire rotation? And I said I didn’t know, whatever the manufacturer recommends, and for him to look at the records. Long story short, the 50k service is basically just an oil change and tire rotation. I am not going to do the oil change since we’ll be home in 3 weeks and I can take it to the place I bought the truck from, as I’ll get free oil changes there. I have a few more things for them to look at when we get back as well, while it’s under warranty. I told the guy the truck was pulling slightly to the right, so we should do an alignment and tire rotation, and I wanted him to check a click I get in the steering wheel sometimes. I also wanted him to check the XM antenna, but they said they could not replicate the problem to fix it. He told me it’d take about 2.5 hours, so I went to their lobby to do some work. They had a nice area there, with a nice table, chairs, plugs and good free internet. I got myself setup, got the computer going and started working on catching up on writing. I guess I’m happy I got all that time of uninterrupted writing as I was able to get all caught up. I had a bit of extra time yet and did some work on one of the consulting websites. When the truck was ready the guy showed up and showed me the papers from the alignment, which showed how bad the alignment actually was, he even said he was surprised the truck was only pulling a little. Well, now we got all wheels aligned, tires balanced and rotated. It was the cheapest service so far :). I drove back and got to the trailer around 11:15.
The girls were up around 8:30 I think, I could kind of tell as I could see activity from Bia’s new phone, trying to download this or that new thing. She’s still putting in some games and apps she had before, or something new a friend recommended. Her phone has a SIM card, so for now she has her own internet. She told me later in the day that she realized she had her own internet and that she was using it wisely so she would not run out. The girls started school on time. Carol had printed all the material Bella needed as well. I asked mid morning how things were going and carol said it was the usual “Monday frustrations”. Carol did some stuff online, but helped the girls most of the time.
After I got back, I got ready to go for a run, which meant most importantly putting sunscreen on as it was almost noon, and it was already pretty hot. As I left for a run, Carol was making lunch, and the girls were doing school. I had a decent run, it was pretty hot so I took it easy, ran very slow and kept my heart rate kind of at a medium level, in the 130s-140s. When I got back, Carol had finished lunch and was serving the girls. I was sweating a lot, so I just got some water and stayed outside to finish the dripping process and to start getting dry. I eventually got the big black fan we have and that helped a lot. A bit later I got some food, and ate outside, then Carol joined me there too. I guess hearing “mom this”, “mom that” all day was driving her nuts. Carol washed Maggie a bit later, then I took a shower, then got the little washing machine inside and Carol did some laundry. We hung out outside for a long time, at least I was outside most of the afternoon. I tried out some awning hanger hooks Ricardo had given me, which worked out well, and I’ll need to buy some more to hang the screen we have. I did a bunch of stuff online as well. When the girls were done with school, they wanted some phone time, so I had them come outside and stay there with me.
Carol had gone shopping and was out for a while, she was also looking for a new toilet seat as ours broke again. The original brand is obviously not good, we’ve had two of these soft close seats break in the same spot. While I was outside with the girls, Bia was talking to a friend from her old school in Sheboygan and Bella was just playing. I took care of a few things while we were outside, emptying tanks, etc. It looked like the rain was coming at us so I started putting things away. First I got the washing machine out of the bathtub, and there was a little surprise there. As I pulled the machine up, some animal\insect moved right from under it directly to the drain. I could not see what it was, but caught the rear legs I think. I could not tell if it had a tail or anything, just caught a bit of the end as it went in the drain. I put the machine outside quick and came back in to deal with that. I then realized there were tiny droppings on the tub. I decided to flush it all down and cover the drain with the hose with the water running. I left it that way for a while. Then went outside and closed the tank valve, so I let water fill up the tank, then went inside and put a packet of tank cleaner from the tub and continued filling it. I left the water run for about 10 minutes, then opened the valve outside again. I’m hoping whatever was in there was dead and flushed out. We’ll keep an eye on that for a day or two and make sure the grey tank drains are covered for a day or two.
The rain did come, so I got all the clothes that were outside collected, and inside. The rain came harder and harder, so the girls and I moved inside and I closed the awning as the wind picked up too. I was watching the awning from the guy across the street and if the wind was any stronger I think it would have taken it. Carol arrived from the store just as the rain was the most intense, so she waited in the truck a few minutes until the rain let up a bit. When it did, I ran to the truck to help and we unloaded quickly. There was lightning and thunder outside, it was a nice tropical rain. With everyone in the trailer, I had the girls shower and then got a movie going for them. The wanted to watch the new “The Croods”, and they had the DVD, so once they were both showered, we got the movie going. Carol heated up leftovers from lunch, and we ate while watching the movie. I was trying to get some work done, reading some documents from clients, etc but it was too distracting.
The movie was done right around 8:30, so we had the girls get ready for bed and go read. Bella read the book she had for class, and Bia didn’t feel like reading, so she just laid in bed. She said she was just thinking about stuff. Hahaha. Carol did the dishes before we said good night to the girls, and right around 9 we put them to sleep. I laid in bed checking Facebook and what not for a while yet, and Carol showered and read a book. And that was it.
We had a nice day catching up on things and relaxing by our campground.