I Knew It Was Going Too Smoothly
Sep. 5th, 2011 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeGood news first: We got to Fernley about 5 PM, and by dint of working like mad until after sundown, managed to get the rental truck unloaded completely. We got under way from Klamath Falls this morning in good time, and stopped for lunch (and refueling) in Alturas, where Lisa bought some lunch meat to go with the loaf of bread we bought last night and we ate sandwiches at an overlook on the Modoc wildlife refuge, and the drive went pretty smoothly.
The bad news is that as of tonight, neither of Lisa's vehicles are roadable, and one of the reasons for rushing to get the truck unloaded is so we can use the rental truck tomorrow for running around to try and get at least one of the two vehicles running.
When we got to Fernley, I stopped across from the RV park and let Lisa out, then drove on to the house. What I didn't realize was that Lisa wanted me to wait for her to make sure that the Big Orange Van was running, and I didn't notice her yelling and waving at me to stop. I went over to the house and waited for Lisa. 45 minutes later, I started walking back toward the RV park (it's only about a kilometer away). I met Lisa coming the other way, hot, sweaty, and angry at me for having driven off. Unfortunately, while the BOV started, it moved about a car length and then stalled and couldn't be restarted, and she had to leave it blocking one of the driveways at the RV Park.
We went to the house, disconnected the small pickup from the rental truck and drove both vehicles back to the RV park, leaving the rental van parked out on the road because there's not enough room for the rental truck in the park. Lisa attached her pickup to the BOV with a long tow strap and I steered it as she dragged it back into the parking space in front of the trailer.
With the immediate problem of blocking the driveway solved (and fortunately there had been no new tenants for the park in this area during this time), Lisa started to drive back to the house. She had me examine the running lights. More trouble. The turn signals work, but the marker and brake lights do not. And yes, these are the same lights that did work when it was being towed by the rental van. Well, the vehicle is technically illegal now with no working brake/marker lights, but it's only a short trip over to the house. I turned the rental truck around and followed her there.
We parked the small pickup in the RV parking space on the property, backed the truck to the garage, and as the sun began to set over the Sierras, frantically set to getting everything out of the rental truck. It was tiring, but we managed to unload in about 2 1/2 hours or so. Many things are only in temporary locations, but the truck is empty and the garage/workshop/back shop are full of boxes, tools, auto parts, and sundry equipment.
We returned to the RV park (again, parking on the road outside and walking in), went to the trailer and cleaned up, and walked back downtown (things aren't that far apart) to the Wigwam restaurant, which is open 24 hours and is apt to become a haunt of ours. After a dinner of hamburger steak and eggs, we both felt much better, and also better for the walk back to the trailer.
Our plans for Tuesday originally focused on finishing unloading (not necessary now) and driving the rental truck to Reno and rescuing the stuff from the storage locker and closing it out. Now, however, we need to focus on getting at least one of the two vehicles running and legal. Lisa will need me to take her to get parts for the pickup to fix the wiring. We may or may not have to try and use the pickup (if it's fixed) or the rental van (if we can squeeze it into the RV park) to tow the Big Orange Van to the nearest mechanic, which is in fact just around the corner from the Fernley house.
As you can probably understand, this is most frustrating. I have no time off days left. I really need to be back at work on Thursday, and my train to the Bay Area is supposed to leave Reno about about 8:30 Wednesday morning. We must get her moving again tomorrow. This is sufficiently important that if it means we have to leave the storage locker rescue for a future trip, even if we have to pay another month's rent, we'll do it.
So now I'm sitting at the picnic table next to the RV space because it's so much cooler outside than in. I had no problem connecting to the RV park's wi-fi, but Lisa's machine (remember that we couldn't get the wireless bridge to connect, so Lisa reluctantly reinstalled a wireless card) is getting continuously stuck at the "acquiring network address" message, and none of the things we've tried is properly resetting it. This same machine worked just find on the same wi-fi network last week, and nothing on the network has changed, which is why I was able to access it from my machine.
This is really frustrating. The equipment should just work. The cars should just work. We cannot get some very critical things done if we keep getting bedeviled by computer and car failures like this.
The bad news is that as of tonight, neither of Lisa's vehicles are roadable, and one of the reasons for rushing to get the truck unloaded is so we can use the rental truck tomorrow for running around to try and get at least one of the two vehicles running.
When we got to Fernley, I stopped across from the RV park and let Lisa out, then drove on to the house. What I didn't realize was that Lisa wanted me to wait for her to make sure that the Big Orange Van was running, and I didn't notice her yelling and waving at me to stop. I went over to the house and waited for Lisa. 45 minutes later, I started walking back toward the RV park (it's only about a kilometer away). I met Lisa coming the other way, hot, sweaty, and angry at me for having driven off. Unfortunately, while the BOV started, it moved about a car length and then stalled and couldn't be restarted, and she had to leave it blocking one of the driveways at the RV Park.
We went to the house, disconnected the small pickup from the rental truck and drove both vehicles back to the RV park, leaving the rental van parked out on the road because there's not enough room for the rental truck in the park. Lisa attached her pickup to the BOV with a long tow strap and I steered it as she dragged it back into the parking space in front of the trailer.
With the immediate problem of blocking the driveway solved (and fortunately there had been no new tenants for the park in this area during this time), Lisa started to drive back to the house. She had me examine the running lights. More trouble. The turn signals work, but the marker and brake lights do not. And yes, these are the same lights that did work when it was being towed by the rental van. Well, the vehicle is technically illegal now with no working brake/marker lights, but it's only a short trip over to the house. I turned the rental truck around and followed her there.
We parked the small pickup in the RV parking space on the property, backed the truck to the garage, and as the sun began to set over the Sierras, frantically set to getting everything out of the rental truck. It was tiring, but we managed to unload in about 2 1/2 hours or so. Many things are only in temporary locations, but the truck is empty and the garage/workshop/back shop are full of boxes, tools, auto parts, and sundry equipment.
We returned to the RV park (again, parking on the road outside and walking in), went to the trailer and cleaned up, and walked back downtown (things aren't that far apart) to the Wigwam restaurant, which is open 24 hours and is apt to become a haunt of ours. After a dinner of hamburger steak and eggs, we both felt much better, and also better for the walk back to the trailer.
Our plans for Tuesday originally focused on finishing unloading (not necessary now) and driving the rental truck to Reno and rescuing the stuff from the storage locker and closing it out. Now, however, we need to focus on getting at least one of the two vehicles running and legal. Lisa will need me to take her to get parts for the pickup to fix the wiring. We may or may not have to try and use the pickup (if it's fixed) or the rental van (if we can squeeze it into the RV park) to tow the Big Orange Van to the nearest mechanic, which is in fact just around the corner from the Fernley house.
As you can probably understand, this is most frustrating. I have no time off days left. I really need to be back at work on Thursday, and my train to the Bay Area is supposed to leave Reno about about 8:30 Wednesday morning. We must get her moving again tomorrow. This is sufficiently important that if it means we have to leave the storage locker rescue for a future trip, even if we have to pay another month's rent, we'll do it.
So now I'm sitting at the picnic table next to the RV space because it's so much cooler outside than in. I had no problem connecting to the RV park's wi-fi, but Lisa's machine (remember that we couldn't get the wireless bridge to connect, so Lisa reluctantly reinstalled a wireless card) is getting continuously stuck at the "acquiring network address" message, and none of the things we've tried is properly resetting it. This same machine worked just find on the same wi-fi network last week, and nothing on the network has changed, which is why I was able to access it from my machine.
This is really frustrating. The equipment should just work. The cars should just work. We cannot get some very critical things done if we keep getting bedeviled by computer and car failures like this.
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Date: 2011-09-06 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 10:37 am (UTC)Give Lisa and Kuma a hug.
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Date: 2011-09-06 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-09-09 01:19 am (UTC)