Tripping Along
Aug. 24th, 2022 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeYesterday I was able to get away from Day Jobbe just after 1 PM, which is good because we had a bunch of errands in Reno-Sparks, many of which had to be done before 5 PM.
Among these would be collecting the Astro from the shop, and thus I also needed to consider any convoying we would have to do, and the challenges of negotiating commute-time traffic later in the afternoon. We took the Rolling Stone and made for Sparks.
Lisa needed a new fuel line for the Big Orange Van, so our first stop was NAPA Auto Parts in Sparks. This didn't take too long, and we then set out toward Reno on surface streets. We could have gone to American Auto Air & Repair, but I was putting off collecting the second vehicle. Lisa wanted to get additional SD cards for recording the WSFS Business Meeting, so we went to Best Buy on South Virginia Street, but she did not like the look of the tiny number they had on sale. We miss being able to go to Fry's Electronics, where until they started dying, there was a fine selection.
We'll be driving in Chicagoland, and I'll be the one driving while Lisa navigates, so we needed paper maps. We went south to the AAA office and got the Chicago and Chicago-area maps. As we started pulling out, we determined that the regional map doesn't extend far enough away from Chicago to take in the town where the Illinois Railway Museum is. We were already committed to making the turn out of AAA's lot, so we pulled into the next available parking lot (the Home Depot) and walked back to AAA, which was still just across the street, and got the state map as well.
As we were already parked there, I took advantage of Work World being there, dropped, and bought an additional pair of slacks and a new khaki shirt. I looked for a pair of shorts in my size (waist 44), but they didn't have any.
Now it was time to get the Astro. We drove up Kitzke Lane to Plumb and parked across the street from the auto shop in a half-vacant shopping center. Lisa stayed with the RV and I walked over to pay for the minivan and drive it back to where Lisa was. We were both thirsty, so before we moved on, we walked back across the street to a convenience store to get some drinks.
At this point, it was getting uncomfortably close to 5 PM, and our last time-constrained stop was Grainger, which had received the propane-bottle hand-truck we had ordered. To save time, we left the RV parked at the shopping center and drove the Astro over to Sparks, where we got there with ten minutes to spare. By then, we were in commute time, so rather than immediately retrieving the RV, we drove around McCarran Blvd to the Winco Foods, where we bought a few groceries, including some things we're packing with us for Chicago.
By the time we finished the groceries, enough time had passed that it was less difficult to take the freeway back to the RV; however, I spaced where we going and "auto-piloted from south US-395 to east I-80 rather than continuing south and I'd originally intended. It was not difficult, though, to take the next exit and just take Kitzke back down to the shopping center, where I took the RV and Lisa followed me home to Fernley. Enough time had passed that the peak of the commute has passed and it was an easy drive home, where we arrived around 8 PM.
I wish that we'd paid closer attention to the hand-truck we'd purchased from Grainger. As we removed it from the van, we realized that one of its wheels was bent. And even closer examination showed that it was really flimsy: far more so than we expected, and certainly not something that we'd feel comfortable using for its purpose of moving heavy propane bottled. Maybe on a smooth floor within a warehouse, but not pushing it down the street for the 1 km or so to the place we buy propane. So this afternoon about 12:30, we made another trip to Sparks, this time just to return the cart. The folks at Grainger were very nice about it. They acknowledged that when all you have to go on is the picture on the website, it's hard to tell what the item really is like, and so they processed the return without question.
I had an appointment for a haircut at 3 PM today, so we needed to go home again right away. Fortunately, Grainger is in the Sparks industrial area on the east side of town, so it's much easier than if they were in South Reno or something like that. We got back home at 2:30, and I had plenty of time to walk to my barber's shop and get my hair trimmed.
There are still a bunch of things I need to do, and a rapidly-decreasing amount of time to get them done, but we'll get there in the end.
Among these would be collecting the Astro from the shop, and thus I also needed to consider any convoying we would have to do, and the challenges of negotiating commute-time traffic later in the afternoon. We took the Rolling Stone and made for Sparks.
Lisa needed a new fuel line for the Big Orange Van, so our first stop was NAPA Auto Parts in Sparks. This didn't take too long, and we then set out toward Reno on surface streets. We could have gone to American Auto Air & Repair, but I was putting off collecting the second vehicle. Lisa wanted to get additional SD cards for recording the WSFS Business Meeting, so we went to Best Buy on South Virginia Street, but she did not like the look of the tiny number they had on sale. We miss being able to go to Fry's Electronics, where until they started dying, there was a fine selection.
We'll be driving in Chicagoland, and I'll be the one driving while Lisa navigates, so we needed paper maps. We went south to the AAA office and got the Chicago and Chicago-area maps. As we started pulling out, we determined that the regional map doesn't extend far enough away from Chicago to take in the town where the Illinois Railway Museum is. We were already committed to making the turn out of AAA's lot, so we pulled into the next available parking lot (the Home Depot) and walked back to AAA, which was still just across the street, and got the state map as well.
As we were already parked there, I took advantage of Work World being there, dropped, and bought an additional pair of slacks and a new khaki shirt. I looked for a pair of shorts in my size (waist 44), but they didn't have any.
Now it was time to get the Astro. We drove up Kitzke Lane to Plumb and parked across the street from the auto shop in a half-vacant shopping center. Lisa stayed with the RV and I walked over to pay for the minivan and drive it back to where Lisa was. We were both thirsty, so before we moved on, we walked back across the street to a convenience store to get some drinks.
At this point, it was getting uncomfortably close to 5 PM, and our last time-constrained stop was Grainger, which had received the propane-bottle hand-truck we had ordered. To save time, we left the RV parked at the shopping center and drove the Astro over to Sparks, where we got there with ten minutes to spare. By then, we were in commute time, so rather than immediately retrieving the RV, we drove around McCarran Blvd to the Winco Foods, where we bought a few groceries, including some things we're packing with us for Chicago.
By the time we finished the groceries, enough time had passed that it was less difficult to take the freeway back to the RV; however, I spaced where we going and "auto-piloted from south US-395 to east I-80 rather than continuing south and I'd originally intended. It was not difficult, though, to take the next exit and just take Kitzke back down to the shopping center, where I took the RV and Lisa followed me home to Fernley. Enough time had passed that the peak of the commute has passed and it was an easy drive home, where we arrived around 8 PM.
I wish that we'd paid closer attention to the hand-truck we'd purchased from Grainger. As we removed it from the van, we realized that one of its wheels was bent. And even closer examination showed that it was really flimsy: far more so than we expected, and certainly not something that we'd feel comfortable using for its purpose of moving heavy propane bottled. Maybe on a smooth floor within a warehouse, but not pushing it down the street for the 1 km or so to the place we buy propane. So this afternoon about 12:30, we made another trip to Sparks, this time just to return the cart. The folks at Grainger were very nice about it. They acknowledged that when all you have to go on is the picture on the website, it's hard to tell what the item really is like, and so they processed the return without question.
I had an appointment for a haircut at 3 PM today, so we needed to go home again right away. Fortunately, Grainger is in the Sparks industrial area on the east side of town, so it's much easier than if they were in South Reno or something like that. We got back home at 2:30, and I had plenty of time to walk to my barber's shop and get my hair trimmed.
There are still a bunch of things I need to do, and a rapidly-decreasing amount of time to get them done, but we'll get there in the end.
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Date: 2022-08-25 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2022-08-25 05:11 pm (UTC)