Mar 30 - In Hot Water Now

As I sit here this morning, punching keys, Dar is officially unemployed again. She worked yesterday and when there was no phone call summoning her to work today, her status is now "free to explore again". Yes, she may be unemployed, but it's by her choice... so she's not included in any government stats on unemployment and doesn't collect any unemployment compensation either.

The other day I completed a water heater gas valve replacement project. For whatever reason, the valve, that has been working flawlessly for 5 years, just quit a few weeks ago. This unit heats water with either gas or 120v electricity, so we still had hot water as long as we're plugged in. But before we got going on Spring12, and the boondocking opportunities increase, we wanted the gas-side working again.

I could buy the valve locally for $120, but found it online for $75 plus another $10 for shipping. Once it showed up it only took another hour or two to get it installed and functioning again. No glitches or stumbling blocks... it was an ego-soothing straight forward repair. And we're heating with gas again.

A side benefit of taking the practice run with the bus-house last Sunday is that everything is pretty much stowed and ready for travel.  Other than some re-arrangement of a couple stowage areas that Dar still wants to do, we're in good shape in that department. Some things just have to wait until that last day... things like cleaning the windshield, mounting the bikes on the car, and checking tire pressures all around.

Our plan at this point is very short range: get outa' here and to another venue where we can clear our heads and focus on what we'd like to do, where we'd like to go... for the next 6 weeks or so. The ultimate objective of the Spring12 expedition is Portland, OR.