To Missouri and Back

Returned to the front range a few days ago from a fast circle to Missouri. I had to deliver the Jayco to the land where the kids are preparing to start building their new home, just a little NW of Springfield.

The eagle arriving in Missouri

The Eagle has landed...

The trip going was a bit of an ordeal... Arlo got "something" that had him spewing noxious hazardous waste all over the cab...

Hard to drive with your head out the window...

Finally got off the road and swamped the seats out with gas station windshield cleaning water followed by multiple scrubbings with general cleaning spray.

Still reeked like an outhouse.

Ten miles down the road... the second wave hit...

THAT terminated the effort to make any more miles that day.

The next couple hours were spent scrubbing and spraying pet odor eliminator in a walmart parking lot a bit south of Kansas City...

He didn't eat for a day and a half after that... just water, until I could see the change in his eyes and outlook. Then it was just small little feedings until I could build up to full.

That was sort of like pulling the pin on a grenade, dropping it by your foot and watching... to see if it would go off...

I've been here long enough I think... that restless soul syndrome is flaring up again... there's difficulties that have to be dealt with before I can pull out. Maybe next week. I'm hoping.

Brian

Bing Bing Binginging! Ricochet Rabbit!

Remember him? That's how I feel lately... bouncing from one task to the next... most times the first isn't done yet, just obstructed by some lack of parts or timing, so I move on and will come back later.

Been working on getting that generator up, and  finally, for the time being got that finished up yesterday. It was a piece of work. The carb was bad varnished after sitting unused for a couple of years, so that took some TLC. (Luckily I've a good friend that knows the inside of a carburetor/generator like a book)

Annnnd... the charging circuit for its own battery isn't functioning... so I'm having to "work around" and use my lil' charger to juice the generator battery while the generator is juicing the rig...

Found that out when I Plugged the rig in and ran the air conditioner for two hours to run in the brushes well and give it all a shakedown...

... it's not perfect. Not especially satisfied with the wiring... but it'll do for now. There's also a lil' more conflict 'tween the trailer and the generator than I was hoping for, on right turns... less than with the bike and the fiver, so I can deal... but I'll be looking at solutions to that as time rolls by.

Then... other projects I've been working on as I ricochet around... One being getting things a bit organized...

As ever'body knows... living in "Tight" quarters requires ever'thing having a place... and ever'thing IN its place... otherwise frustration puts a twist in your skivies.

I'm still working that out on this new rig... annnnd... making a little progress...

buuuuuut... I really really need to line out that setup where I can offload all this leather shop cargo... so this rig can haul horses! ;) Currently, the horse compartment remains full__and getting fuller__ of all that leather shop tools and "furniture"...

...As if it weren't full enough... I keep adding to the stack!

 Yeah... I built that stand this week  for some projects I've had "working" in my head for a while... that need the help of some proper equipment...

Well... all that is loaded and wedged into the back of the rig now... that generator is up and running... bins and buckets are getting squared away and today I'm packing up my warbag cuz  leave Sunday morning for Missouri again. This time I'm finally hauling that old Jayco to near Springfield where my daughter and her family are to be building a house.

Come the evening and it's time to stop and tune up the stereo... and chill for an hour... so I can recharge to start it all again in the morning...

Duckin' and Runnin'
Brian

When You're Stuck... Just Get Moving

I mean it. There is no such thing as "Writers Block" or any other such thing where you just can't "think"... Where you can't make a "choice".

The problem is not in your head. It is NOT sorting out the choices. It's Inertia. Once you get stuck you tend to stay that way, in Any.Thing. It's all physics. So the answer is Physics. Literally!!!

If you don't know WHAT to do... Do something. Anything. Just get moving. It's far far easier to change the direction of something that's moving, than it is to get that wagon with its wheels settled deep into the sand__Moving in the first place.

So, if your confusion (Inertia) keeps you from picking a direction just pick your foot up and go__any damn where__ just go. You can adjust your navigation once you get that mired wagon rolling.

Which is all the lead in for the last week or so...

Backing up a mite... here's the "Writing Shed" in Development. I set it just temporary all the way in back just to see how it'd work...

 The planned place is all the way forward in the horse compartment. But that spot was blocked by all my junk.

You can see the balance of my worldly possessions and precious junk showing over the divider where it's piled up beyond my "desk".

How-some-ever, with my story board hanging, the table and chair set... I could see it is going to work fine...

Just have to do something with all that "Stuff".

Yeah, so... There I am trying to get some work done in the Mountains above Gunnison... It was real pleasant sitting under the awning, stereo working easy... words flowing, breeze in the trees, sun shining... right up until...

 Arlo decided it was his job was to make writing impossible out by Gunnision...

Keep him inside and he's bouncing off the walls... put him outside and he goes to barking to come keep him company...

Then the sun goes away so I move all that "Junk" shown above so I can put the "writing shed" in its "Planned" place.

Sitting at the "desk" while the rain falls... with all that noise going on and a million other things (inertia) rattling in my head I was just spinning my wheels...
 

*A Little cozy with my junk piled against the back door... but it'll work for now*

So... working in circles and getting nowhere, jammed up on the story line... can't work on the generator for lack of "materials" and the rain... yadda yadda yadda... I hitched and hauled...

Yup... I got MOVING... right back to the front range where  I could at least have my good friends garage to work out of the rain and maybe get the gen set up.

Using the Truck as an 8500 lb diesel generator to keep the batteries juiced was just kind of a noisy hassle...

Hassles are to me like one of those tiny lil' stickers in your sock that you can't find...


They make me friggin' Crazy! I. Hate. Hassles.

So it motivated me to get where I could do what I need to do to get that generator "up".

First night back here was not looking good. I pulled in right in the middle of another colorado summer storm... that sent the Poudre and the Platte out of their banks... I thought the Lakota would float away.

But that finally passed and I could gather some bits and pieces to cobble a generator mount together.

The first problem was that being a "motorhome takeout"... the exhaust system comes out the bottom. So I had to create a stand or a pedestal to clear that exhaust.

That'll be OK too actually because it gives me the space under to arrange a starting battery and a fuel tank... as soon as I can find one that'll work... but, the genny itself is bolted down solid and functional. Though I still need to fabricate the "Cover" that'll finish that mounting off, and a few other odds and ends.

The configuration of that Onan is a little odd. Everything slopes to the left. Called Cummins/Onan to ask about it... and their "Tech" hadn't any sort of an idea what I was talking about... great. (My opinion of "Experts" is NSFW... um that's Not Safe For Work!)

I'll likely shim up that left side of the mount, to bring the crankcase level... it loses about 3/4 of an inch the way it is... and considering that the oil drain is on the right side of the crank case, draining the oil would be a lil' problematical...

I suppose I could just jack up the left side of the truck when I change generator oil. bwahahahaha.

Well... the "Movement" did as hoped. As it always does. Just as soon as that last bolt got tightened up mounting the generator, the log jam in my head broke loose and the Finish of the book I'm working on came spilling out.

Taking my mind OFF that for a bit let the pieces and parts simmer and work...

And then CLICK! It came to me how to get 'em off the mountain. ;)

Didn't even take the time to fire up the lap top. Grabbed paper and pencil and spent the next hour drinking beer and scribbling down the ideas and words and recording the pictures in my head before they went away and were lost... so I can complete that work.

Yep... if you're stuck... just get moving. Get in the truck, walk out the door... do the dishes, just put random words down on paper. Something. ANYthing... just get moving.

The rest will all come together, once you break that inertia.

Random and as Scattered as Ever
Brian

Too Much With Too Little

Stuff has been rolling along... but I'm stuck in bad signal. There's too little of that that to let me post from the lap top... and this email posting usually stops me from putting up more than one photo... maybe I'll get lucky...

So... I finished the shower rebuild and delivered the eagle to Denver to get their stuff loaded in it.

I'll haul that to Missouri later in the month...

Then... on the way out of town I swapped the 20# bottles for 40 pounders. The little ones are ok for weekenders__a bit short for full time... and I had one already stored at the kids. Only had to add the 2nd. Fit just fine with a new rod in place.

Hauled over to a camp by Gunnison. Two reasons... it should be a good place to write... and I was offered a cheap generator... as in FREE... So yesterday I ran down to get it...