Now I’m running out of time… I have 3 full days before my Christmas holiday starts, before my guest arrives, and I’m NOT READY!! The rest of the battery installation parts are waiting at an Amazon locker in Northwest Vegas, but I forgot to order the fuses. Auto Zone doesn’t even know what I’m talking about when I ask them. NAPA can get them, but I need 2 and they have to be brought in from different stores, so they won’t have them till early afternoon.
On the map, distances look short, but it feels like it takes all day to make my way to the community centre for a shower and back to the NAPA. Parking is hard, one wrong turn and you’re backing out of a dead end because the other end of the parking area is barricaded. Then there are these drainage gutters across some of the streets and in the parking lots that look like normal roadway but act like speedbumps and God help you if you hit them going too fast. AND IT’S SO HOT.
I know, it sounds like I’m complaining. Truly I’m not, but I’ve come to realize that this is what an anxiety attack looks like from the inside. By the end of Wednesday, I have all the parts I need and I’m settled in at the campground at Lake Mead. I was planning to find a boondock out here but they put a end to all the dispersed camping because of the homeless situation. This is probably better anyway. If I run into issues with the battery install, at least there are people near by that might be able to help. I even found a site where nobody will really see that I’m “wrenching my rig” since I think that sort of thing is frowned upon.
Thursday, I complete the battery replacement, buy all the parts to implement my creative fix for the dinette light fixture, research and buy the anode rod that’s supposed to remove the rotten egg smell from the hot water and do 2 loads of laundry. This is also the day I discover that Drifters tires are 13 years old and have deep cracks in the treads. Groan…
Friday, I fix the dinette light, spray paint and reinstall the furnace cover under the fridge, and replace half a dozen 16 year old broken plastic cabinet latches. I get a few groceries, and make sure the tanks that are supposed to be full are full and the tanks that are supposed to be empty are empty. This includes finding a filtered water refill station and replenishing the drinking water since I haven’t sanitized the fresh tank yet and I can’t trust it. These refill stations are so cool. Instead of buying new jugs of water, you just drop in a quarter or two and it dispenses fresh, cold, filtered water into your jug. I’m still hauling around the same 3 jugs I bought at Valu-Mart before I left Ontario.
Now it’s Saturday. Shannon’s plane arrives around 4 and I finally feel like I’m ready to relax. I’ve spent the night way up in the middle of nowhere near Red Rocks and I start the day with a fun little hike up the hill to watch the sun rise. It’s solstice after all.
