Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

I did not hurry at all back from the Bay Area. I managed almost eight hours sleep (thus probably four hours with the CPAP running), and took my time about getting going in the morning before setting forth. I also stopped and had a relatively leisurely breakfast in Tracy, and as usual refueled at Lodi Junction, then make an electronics stop at Fry's to make sure I have a VGA cable and an audio cable for (I hope) connecting my computer to SpikeCon's AV equipment for the Tonopah bid presentation that will happen on the first day of the convention. (And if you all vote for us, for our winning presentation!) Then it was on to the nursing home where I spent an hour or so sitting with my sister and discussing plans for my mother's remembrance gathering, which is now scheduled for Saturday, June 22 in Brownsville, California.

( Up the Hill... and a Wildlife Encounter )

After my wildlife encounter, I made only one more stop, where the snow was still high.

( Kingvale )

Lisa helped me unload the Rolling Stone, after which she then wanted to immediately look into the electrical issue with the hotel power on the RV. In one of those "it figures" moments, the lights were back on in back, but moving stuff around on the RV caused the lights to flicker. Lisa latest theory is that it might be a loose ground connection. She congratulated me on having done all of the things she would have done, as I did them over the phone by her direction.

We did fix at least for now the problem with opening the hood. After unlatching it together, she suggested that maybe it was the latch rather than the spring and sprayed silicone lubricant liberally into the mechanism. It works properly again and you can open the hood without assistance. That's a very good thing, as I've been in a situation (when the Astro's alternator seized up) where I was on my own and if I hadn't been able to open the hood and douse the fire, the whole vehicle could have gone up in flames.

It will be a while before I need to use the RV again, so we'll have some time to work on isolating and repairing the electrical wiring fault. I was certainly glad to get home.

We checked out of the Fernley RV Park this morning, a day earlier than we absolutely had to do so, but it was convenient to do it while Lisa had me around. As it happens, the $50 advance deposit for the electricity was almost perfect, with less than fifty cents left. There was no need for a refund, though, as we also had to refill one of the propane bottles and we could just apply the small balance against that. Good thing I went to the front desk when I did, however, as the only person there who knew how to operate the propane tanks was about to leave for the day. He was considerate enough to loan me their hand truck to move the bottle. Seven-gallon propane bottles are easy enough to carry when empty, but they weigh quite a bit when they are full and I wasn't looking forward to trying to carry it the length of the RV park; fortunately, I didn't have to do so.

After checking out, Lisa moved the trailer over to the Fernley House. She's decided to not park the trailer on the RV space just yet, in case the electrician (who is supposed to be there Monday) needs room to work in the space. The trailer can (more or less) work off-grid for a day or so, although there are certain annoyances (such as not being able to run the A/C fan) with which she can live.

On a whim while heading back west, I got off of I-80 and took Donner Pass Road (old US-40), which isn't the route to take if you're in a hurry, but is certainly scenic. I want to go up there again sometime (in good weather; never in winter) and spend the day poking around the sights. Those of you who have driven I-80 over Donner have seen the concrete snowsheds on the opposite side of the lake from where the Interstate runs. Donner Pass Road snakes up to those snowsheds, which formerly sheltered one of the two tracks of the railroad through the mountains here but that are now abandoned after Southern Pacific (now part of Union Pacific) tore up one of the two tracks in what I think was a pretty shortsighted attempt to save money. (It was tantamount to burning the furniture for winter heat or eating the seed corn.) But anyway, I'm glad I made the trip.

I went first to Sutter to see my mother, who is looking tremendously better, particularly considering that her doctor was suggesting that she was going to die at any minute back in July. She's made some significant lifestyle adjustments that are helping a whole lot. She made a very nice dinner that we enjoyed while we talked over things for a couple of hours before I continued on to the Bay Area, getting back to Fremont about 10 PM.

There's already a nip in the air going over Donner Pass. I think I'd better put the snow chains back in the van when I go to Fernley next week.