Naturally then, it poured rain last night, and now is overcast, cool, and rainy.

We were a little concerned because we’ve never towed the Airstream with the new Suburban, but it did well. (in fact, it may give a bit TOO much information; I watched the trans temp the whole drive out. )

I apparently can’t make long posts from my Droid, so I’ll check in later.

I packed up the air compressor onto the pull-behind trailer, and after a stop at Lowes for tubing and O-rings, and another stop at the Tractor Supply Store for a battery box and some other wiring stuff, headed over to the In-Laws, where my mother-in-law volunteered to babysit Avery. (Thanks, Nora!)

All the tires were low, of course, so I got them all back up to 60psi. No signs of dry rot.

After plugging in the airstream to allow the battery to charge, I went to install the new pump. One problem I ran into was that since I was going to be doing plumbing, not electrical, I didn’t bring my electrical tools. Unfortunately, the water pump, in addition to having pipe, also has wires. Red and black, of course, but also of course, the Airstream wiring didn’t use such mundane colors.

Contrary to how things usually go when I try repairs (of any kind), it turned out that I had stashed a voltmeter away in one of the drawers, so I was able to figure out which wire was positive (which I assume is important to the pump.)

Pump installed, I went on to replace the O-rings in the faucet. This time I was truer to form, and the packet of assorted O-rings I bought only had one of the two sizes I needed. I replaced the rings of the size I had, and reinstalled the old faucet cartridge. (See the previous post of why I didn’t just install a new faucet cartridge.)

[At this point, I get a text from Alec saying that Kaley fell off her top bunk, and hurt her arm. I direct him to give her some Tylenol, and take it easy, and see how it felt in a half-hour.]

After filling the “fresh” water tank (everything is relative in a camper that old) with several gallons of water, I switched on the pump, and it started (2010 pump technology is much quieter than 1977 pump technology, and smaller as well.) After the pumped primed, I started getting water through the kitchen faucet! yay!

Then I closed the faucet, and the water decreased to a trickle. A worse trickle than I originally had. (Boo…)

[Another text from Alec at this point. Kaley’s arm is still not better. Pause narrative for three hours as I go visit the ER, and then Lowes again.]

[PS, it will serve you well to not believe everything Lowe’s Associates. The first two guys in the plumbing aisle swore that they didn’t have the type of Moen cartridge that I needed. After picking out a completely new faucet, and all the new hardware that I’d need, a third associate pointed out that, no, here’s the cartridge you need. : / ]

Well, along with the new cartridge, I got a Moen Cartridge Extractor in a pretty-beat package. Associate 3 pointed out that, as long as the device was in the same condition as it was when I bought it, it was returnable, and that may have already happened in the past. Repeatedly.)

Unfortunately, the extractor only managed to pull out the core of the cartridge. Ugh. Some more wiggling with pliers and screwdrivers, and I got out the shell of the cartridge. As one last parting shot, the old cartridge ripped a hole in the pad of my thumb the size of a pencil eraser. Thanks to my wife’s preparedness though, there was a first aid kit handy.

Another test, and the sink actually holds back the water when it’s supposed to. Whew!

At this point, I think the best plan is to tow it to my house tomorrow, and clean it an pack it in the alley.

No rain, please!

(holy crap, that’s a long post about not much stuff. Oh, and Kaley’s arm was OK. Just a deep bruise.)

Things appeared to be in not-too-bad of shape; The battery could use a charging, some mouse droppings (but not too many, and no signs of nests),  the tires were all in various stages of deflation, and no obvious major leaks in the ceiling.

The real test, of course, is to hook up the city water and see if I spring any leaks.

I’m excited to use the camper this summer, but at the same time a bit apprehensive about getting it ready, and the Suburban being still able to tow it is always a consideration.

As we use the airstream, it becomes apparent what needs to be repaired, and how critical each thing is.

Major stuff

• Suspension. The cabinetry in the camper is getting shaken apart from the rough rides.
• Two rusted-out outriggers. This affects the stairs, and the other outrigger is behind the streetside wheel well.

Big stuff

• Water pump. This needs to get fixed in order to go boondocking. Whisper King, about $99.
• New inverter/charger. This will help with the battery charging. 9200 9245 Amp Progressive Dynamics Inteli-Power Converter $162.99
• Second battery and cables/wiring. If we can get an AGM battery, we can install this in the cabin, otherwise we'll have to get a battery box and store it on the trailer tongue.
• Fuse and breaker. Have this already (somewhere), just need some time to install it.

little stuff

• Kitchen faucet seal repair kit. This is apparently a Moen faucet, and on the forums they say that they have lifetime warranties. Either I can call Moen to see if I can get a new cartridge, or buy one from Lowes.
• LED lighting to replace or update the incandescent lights.
• Replace the wall plates, finally.

future stuff

• Solar charger kit. This will really help for boondocking, as it recharges the battery without a generator or plugging the inverter in.
• Flooring installed. 
• New cabinetry and countertop. The refrigerator side cabinetry is falling apart anyway. The galley side needs to be remade with the new countertop, and ideally the oven removed and a stovetop only installed.
• New bunk. We'll need this in another year or two. It may make sense to rebuild as a consolidated wall/bunk unit if the kitchen/bunk walls need to be removed.
• Furnace. This needs to be repaired, or replaced, according to the Airstream guys. although, I've never tried to run it, but DID see that there's a valve underneath the airstream that's currently in the OFF position, going to the furnace, so I wonder if the Airstream guys knew about that.
• New Refrigerator. The one we have now is a standard electric-only model that's just kinda poorly bolted into place. We really need a electric/propane model.

We started early, with Avery getting up around 6, but with a feeding and a change, we were able to stretch out getting up until 8.

We watched some TV, ate breakfast and lunch, played Scrabble, and in the evening after dinner, we went to the communal campfire with the makings for s’mores. It was Avery’s first campfire; everyone was impressed how quiet and well-behaved she was. (She seemed to be mesmerized by the fire.) Camden and Kaley were excited to ride around on the golf cart, telling the seasonal residents that the campfire was on.

The evening ended, of course, by Camden getting hurt (on the swingset, in the dark, so go figure.)

Tomorrow is pack-up-and-go day. we hope to get out right after breakfast, but that will never happen. there’s a lot of tear-down, even with a camper. Things inside it have to be secured, the fridge emptied (it’s only electric), and the tanks dumped and flushed.

So, no pictures today. Nothing is not very photogenic.

As promised, we took him to Applebee’s for lunch, and he got his song and sundae.

On the way back, we were driving by a geocache that showed up next to a “road” that was two dirt tracks that led up into the  trees on the side of a hill. It turns out that the geocache is placed off to the side of a cemetery that had headstones (and some footstones, which we’ve never seen before) for graves dating back to 1802. In fact, there was one headstone for a man that lived to 101, and fought (at age 27) in the revolutionary war. Not WWI, not the Civil War, but the one in 1776. (sadly, all our children failed to provide that date when quizzed. Well, Avery was asleep in her carseat, so I guess she gets a pass.) Anyway, this was the most interesting aspect of the cache. In fact, several of the headstones had revolutionary war placards.

We came back, waded in the stream for a bit (where we found out our puppy can swim,) had a hamburger dinner, and had more birthday cake.

In the evenings, we all play games together as a family. Tonight it was Uno Attack, but we play other games as well.

The ironic thing is that as much fun as we have playing these games when we’re camping, we never think to play these games at home. It must be because the kids hole up in their rooms, and we have a TiVo… Hmm.