August 2020

 August 1st (17-year wedding anniversary) weekend – 

Friday – I had to work late which was a bummer since the plan was to camp at the track again, I didn’t get off until after 7:30 which had us finally leaving the house after dark, arrived at the track after 9:00 to find all of the paddock blocked off for the weekend’s activities, this was worrisome as we hadn’t reserved a spot, we drove around and off into the grass to find an area big enough, parked along a fence and set up camp, watched a movie and took pictures before going to bed 

Saturday – woke up to take care of the dogs to find that we’d lucked into a fantastic camping spot as we had a great view of the track, we went back to bed for a few hours before getting up again to have our coffee, we then sat outside under our large awning to watch the cars race around, Susan took pictures and Pebbles joined us to soak up some sunshine, got to watch a scary crash where a formula-style car flipped on its roof, the driver was fortunately ok, we ate chicken salad for lunch, installed LED strip lighting in place of the florescent bulbs throughout the RV, walked around and fed the dogs before rain rolled in, cooked chicken and beef burger on the stove, found that we had forgotten condiments but luckily had artichoke dip that worked well in its place, watched movies before venturing outside to take more nighttime pictures which was fun

Sunday – we all slept in before getting up to feed the puppers, we drank our coffee outside while we watched racing, brought Bella outside for a few minutes, started packing up, walked around again and planned our exodus, luckily some race teams had left as the way we’d entered was blocked by spectators, had to use a hammer to convince one of the jacks to retract but otherwise had no issues, stopped for fuel on our way to KOA to dump our gross tanks and fill the propane, the oil pressure sensor was acting up by saying there was no oil pressure, we checked and confirmed the motor had plenty of oil, discovered the radiator cap was askew though we couldn’t do anything about it at the moment since the motor was hot, oil sensor figured itself out by the time we got back inside and we got on our way, arrived home just fine, backed the RV into its spot, touched the gutter on the garage which was a bad thing, not terrible damage but not good, unloaded our stuffs and released Oliver, we BBQ’d on the grill and reminisced on our fun trip, Susan took a nap and we spent the rest of the weekend on the couch with the pups

August 8th weekend – 

Saturday – plans to be productive so we got up early to drink our coffee, I loaded up the two RV TVs we’d removed (we had taken out the bedroom TV the night before), I tried to start the lawn mower but the grass stuck around the blades held them fast, took some effort to clear it all away and then I was able to mow for the first time in quite a while (our RV trips have cut into my weekend chores), Susan soon left to recycle the TVs at an annual electronics recycling event down in Parker (yes, the timing was exquisite), the grass has had a rough year in 2020 and hadn’t grown a whole lot with the exception of over the leach field so mowing went pretty quick, in fact it went fast enough that I was done before Susan finished up with the old TVs (there was a long wait time), I then whacked the weeds and used the hedge trimmers for the thicker stuff, Susan came home around this time and helped by gathering up some of the larger trimmings in the garbage can, I wanted to install the new headlights in Scrappy so removed the old units, bent leftover metal, discovered we did not have enough, so we went to Home Depot for metal, then Walmart for miscellaneous stuff, came home, it was soooo hot, decided to stop working on car, showered, loaded up RV, drove to track (there was a WRL race we didn’t realize was happening until the night before), parked close to where we had the previous week, set up RV, so hot, RV stayed hot inside as we’d not run the AC before we’d left the house long enough, water pump wasn’t working, Susan figured out a fuse had blown, still didn’t work with new fuse but eventually inexplicably did, WRL race ended, we walked over and hung out with friends, talked, back to the RV for suds, stopped and talked with a few teams about their cars, hung out more, had a great time, eventually back to RV which had cooled off inside, watched a couple of movies with the pups

Sunday – up early to watch WRL race, set up large awning and sat under it, watched racing for a few hours, really enjoyed time, it eventually got too hot for us, had trouble with large awning not wanting to retract, it did eventually, not sure what happened (high wind?), packed up and drove home in early afternoon, on couch relaxing in our jammies for a bit before deciding to go out to look at Scrappy, wanted to explore installing a canvas top, got dressed again in day clothes, went to Harbor Freight (canvas drop cloth), Home Depot (canvas drop cloth, tools), Harbor Freight (looked for large mallet they didn’t have), Walmart (dye), home again, decided to not use any of what we’d bought as canvas is not flame resistant (whoops), worked on finishing headlight install instead, finished up, went inside and hung out for rest of weekend 

August 12th weekend – 

Wednesday – Susan got someone to pick up RV recliner, took him a long time to load up, we pulled up RV, attached trailer, had radiator problem with plug popping out, I filled up gas jugs, lots of packing, late night

Thursday – we got home from work as soon as we could and finished packing up the RV, headed out later than we wanted and arrived at the track too late to take any laps, instead we tried a new parking layout which entailed backing the trailer into the open area next to our reserved RV spot and then disconnecting and parking the RV, really was a great idea of Susan’s, set up and watched a movie before bed

Friday – up early for open lapping, took care of the pups and checked to drive, drank our coffee, unloaded Scrappy, I got in to drive and went out for a couple of laps, clutch was slipping badly and I felt the car was running poorly, went back to find that the alternator wasn’t charging and the exhaust was leaking, nothing to do about the exhaust but we messed around to try to figure out the alternator issue, ended up checking a lot of things before lunch but found nothing wrong, Ian came by around lunch to drive Scrappy, helped look at car, we ate a creamy mushroom chicken thing we made in the slow cooker, ended up charging battery with RV which seemed to fix that problem, Ian went out for a couple of laps and came in due to vibration, turned out that two wheels studs were broken, this ended our day driving Scrappy, a crew offered to help us fix the lugs right there but it wasn’t worth it as there were other problems needing fixing, ate chicken salad for dinner, walked around, I went on top of RV to see if anything was visually wrong with rear AC unit, I removed the cover to find things looking ok, Susan turned off and then back on the AC and it magically started working again (I have magic hands), I showered in the RV for my first time (not bad), we drove around the paddock when it got dark and adjusted the new headlights, watched movies and went to bed

Saturday – woke up early to take care of pups before going back to bed for a few hours, up and at-em around 11:00, had our coffee while watching the weekend’s NASA racing, puttered about before venturing outside to BBQ a late lunch, took a long time again but the food was tasty, walked around a bit looking at the cars, didn’t do a whole lot but had a nice time, watched movies before bed

Sunday – up a little earlier to unable ourselves to watch Spec Miata racing, drank our coffee, made Susan a hamburger on the stove in RV, stayed watching racing until around 3:00 when we packed up and left, stopped at KOA to dump our dirty tanks, got diesel at large truck stop, Susan had idea to leave trailer on side road by house so I could back the RV into the drive like normal and then pick up the trailer with the Suburban to back that in the drive like normal (this worked great and is likely how we’ll do things going forward), let cat out for a bit while we unpacked, we hung out on couch for the remainder of the weekend

August 21st weekend – 

Thursday – the plan for the weekend was to drive to the track on Thursday and camp then to do open lapping on Friday after which we’d camp and watch racing all weekend, a blown suspension airbag in the rear cancelled all of this, we loaded up on Thursday night after work but found that the RV wasn’t rising to its normal level after startup, using the leveling jacks we managed to get the air bags pumped up but after moving the RV to hook up the trailer we found it sitting low again, not to be deterred we attempted to drive out anyway but the RV made unhappy noises and we didn’t get off our street before turning back, we unloaded most everything and went to bed very disappointed

Friday – we were up very early to go to the track, luckily we got up at all as I had messed up setting my alarm, we arrived at the track around 8:30 and checked in, I had to install some hub rings which only took a few minutes and Susan went out, she made it a few laps before coming back because of the clutch slipping, I decided to give it a go myself and luckily the clutch stopped slipping after a few laps and I had a blast flogging the car, Susan went out again but only got a few laps before coming back with charging issues, basically the alternator wasn’t charging the battery or the battery wasn’t accepting charge, this was a bummer but we made the best of the situation and walked around and talked to other Lemons teams who were there (six other Lemons cars were at the track which is more than we’d ever seen before on a non-Lemons-race weekend), it was fun walking around and chatting, we hung out for a bit longer and then push-started Scrappy and loaded up for the drive home, on the way back I called several businesses that were certified with the Spartan chassis (the chassis that our RV was built upon) in hopes they might have suspension airbags in stock, we had no luck but continued calling once we were home and unpacked, Susan called Spartan directly and was able to order the correct airbags (we’re going to replace both rears at the same time) which will arrive in three or four days, we were hoping that I could fix the RV on Friday night and we could still get some camping but this ended that, instead we decided to be productive, we went to a parts store to buy a new alternator and Home Depot to buy wood to make jack pads for the RV, after this it was late enough that we just BBQ’d and spend the evening on the couch

Saturday – I was up early to work on Scrappy, I installed the new alternator and then decided to go to the store in search of some bolts, after getting back from Lowes I continued doing my thing before getting Susan up in the late morning, the new alternator apparently wasn’t working still so I reached out to the company that supplied me with the kit for the engine swap, they were helpful in showing me the error in my ways and we figured out the problem, basically the old alternator was indeed bad and the new one good but I was just checking the wrong wire for power, in my efforts to figure out the issues I had literally installed the old and new alternators multiple times (at least I was now fast at swapping out alternators), frustrating but at least the car seemed ok in that regard, we decided to look at junk yards for a used alternator so left for our favorite one, didn’t find an alternator but a tail light for the suburban (it’s been broken for at least five years), drove up to northern Denver to look at another junk yard, no luck but found air vents for the Miatas, stopped at Walmart for food stuffs on the way home, hung out for the evening

Sunday – I was up early to work on installing scissor jacks on the car trailer (these will allow us to load/unload the car without being hooked up to a tow vehicle), woke Susan up after a bit, install was difficult because of the thick steel and awkward angles, had issues with two heavy screws, went to Lowes and Home Depot for replacements and tools, got home but new screws messed up again, decided it was good enough for now, Susan reorganized and cleaned up the trailer while I worked on Scrappy, I had to make another trip out to pick up exhaust leak sealant, got a lot done, happy with our productivity, cooked slow cooker casserole for lunch and BBQ’d for dinner, relaxed on the couch to end the weekend

Wednesday – On Sunday I got a face full of exhaust dust when I was disconnecting the lower pipe.  Some got in my eyes and what was in my right eye didn’t seem to completely clear out despite repeated rinsing and flushing out with saline.  I went to our eye doctor on Wednesday and finally had it looked at.  Sure enough they found a spec of metal imbedded in my eye.  They had to scrape it out which was unpleasant.  There was rust from the metal that they left in my eye as it was away from my vision.  I got some drops to stave off infection and swelling and will try to remember to wear eye protection more often.  

After work I found new airbags for the RV on our doorstep.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to swap them in right away as it was raining pretty hard but changed my mind when the weather cleared and Susan got home.  It took me a bit of time and some finagling with the height of the RV jacks but eventually I had the new airbags installed.  It would give the job a 2/10 in terms of difficulty.  Mostly it was just dirty and the space cramped.  

Oliver came back after being gone for two days.  We were pretty worried.  I was just finished installing the airbags when he startled me by slinking up beside by head while I was still under the RV.  We were very happy to see him and Susan soon scooped Oliver up to go back into his shed.  

August 28th weekend – 

Friday – after work I decided to tackle installing a new racing clutch in Scrappy.  The old (but still very new) clutch was slipping badly and I didn’t want my laziness to be a reason for the upcoming race to not go well.  I was worried it’d be more difficult than a normal clutch change with the new non-Mazda engine but the process was still pretty standard.  I actually found it a bit easier since the new engine’s bellhousing bolts were much easier to access than a stock Miata motor.  By the time I called it quits in the garage that night I had the new clutch in and the transmission mounted up enough to support its own weight.  

Saturday – I woke up early to take advantage of the cooler morning to finish the clutch install.  I had done most of the hard work the night before so took my time hooking everything back up correctly.  By the time I woke Susan up at 10:00 I was essentially done.  She made us coffee and tested the clutch out while it was still in the air.  It worked as expected and I took some time to grease the brake pistons before reattaching the wheels and lowering the car.  

It had been some time since the last time we’d cleaned Scrappy so we pulled the car out of the garage so we could do some washing.  We started with the outside before wiping down the interior.  Susan did most of the work as I fussed about with this and that.  This is the first time the inside has been cleaned since we first painted a year and a half ago.  I don’t think the interiors generally get so dirty but ours has been through a rainy event and we’re 100% sure the exhaust guy left the car out in the rain for the three weeks it took him to do a poor job.  By the time we were done the car looked fantastic and I reversed it back into its spot.  

Susan being able to work from home with her boss’ MiFi device inspired me to see if there were better 4G options for our home.  Amazingly there were several available.  Some Googling later and I reached out and signed up for Wahoo’s service.  They are a third-party that sells home equipment and service to T-Mobile’s network.  Not exactly cheap but likely a few times better than our current service. 

The modem arrived while we were washing Scrappy and as soon as we were finished we went inside to try it out.  Cell service isn’t stellar at our home but the initial tests were promising and generally two to three times faster than our DSL.  I searched and found a 4G booster available locally so we left to pick it up and do some other shopping.  The only Best Buy in town with the device was up in Denver West so we hit Costco and Walmart down in Southwest Plaza on the way back.  

It was while walking up to the entrance at Walmart when things good sketchy.  

An older white SUV with Minnesota license plates didn’t yield as we were almost across the road.  It came so close that I reached out and smacked the rear panel as we walked by.  We proceeded inside to grab a cart do our shopping.  It was a few minutes later and we were several aisles into our trip when a guy appeared behind us.  He was vocally upset about me slapping his SUV and literally wanted to fight me – like his words were “let’s take this outside”.  I was not interested and told him so.  There was no damage done to his SUV and if he wanted to take this further his only option was to call the police or assault me in the store and I would call the police.  Eventually Susan and I walked away as nothing was progressing and he was just being insulting.  He said he would be waiting in the parking lot and to watch myself on my drive home.  Hilariously (to me at least) he popped around another aisle a few minutes later to reiterate that he would wait for me.  I waived him off and told him again to call the police if he wanted more and we didn’t see him again while we shopped.  Of course no one was waiting outside when we left and no one followed us home.  

Somehow I didn’t lose my cool the entire time although it was a jarring experience.  Susan was hot-to-the-touch mad by the time we walked away after the initial confrontation but luckily the guy was directing his ire at me and as I think he would have received a can of cream of soup to the head if he was insulting Susan.  If I had been stupid enough to go outside to fight what would I have possibly “won”?  If I physically beat him up I could have been arrested, gained a record, lost my job, gotten sued, etcetera.  What if the guy really got hurt?  Could have fallen and hit his head and died.  He was a fair bit smaller than me but what if he beat me up?  Same potential results but reversed.  He might not have had much to lose but I have a pretty life going and through the entire experience that’s all I could think about.  

Once we were safely home and unpacked and I got up on the roof to install the 4G booster antenna.  While up there I unbolted to old TV antenna and tossed it down onto the lawn.  I was done soon and we were testing the system.  We could tell it worked though not great.  I went back up with a radio and we chatted back and forth as I turned the cell antenna this way and that and Susan kept running speed checks.  Eventually we settled on particularly good direction and called it good enough for now.  I may go up again soon to try moving the antenna to the roof of the garage to gain a bit of height.  

In celebration of our better internet we streamed video for the remainder of the evening.  

Sunday – I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep so just stayed up and played games.  This behavior basically dictated the day as we were mostly unproductive.  It was our first lazy Sunday in many weeks and I felt it was not completely undeserved.  We hung out on the couch for most of the day and made our slow cooker casserole (on the stove this time) for a late lunch.  It was pleasant way to end a somewhat turbulent weekend.  

August was a pretty good month for us overall.  The RV-stuff has been mostly fun but has presented some challenges.  The airbag failing caused a missed weekend of fun but the fix was pretty easy.  It’s been raining in the afternoons lately and we found that the RV has a pretty massive leak somewhere that soaked the carpet and likely ruined the wood floor in the kitchen.  We’re pretty sure the leak is from the large slide-out but haven’t completely narrowed it down.  Susan has put in a lot of effort refreshing the carpet but it’s looking like we may need to replace it along with the wood floor at some point.  

The pups have been good this month.  Mel went under to have many teeth pulled and her odd dew claw removed.  At the end of the month she still sports a cone much of the time and her little foot is bandaged.  Bella has started wandering off to be by herself when we’re sitting on the couch.  We’re not sure why but I suspect she is having a harder time sleeping next to us while we are awake and animated.  Pebbles gave us a scare earlier in the month when she felt hot to the touch.  Susan figured out that Pebbles had a fever and the vet told Susan that it was due to a UTI.  An antibiotic shot did the trick and Pebbles soon was on the mend and back to her usual shivery self.  

In September we finally get to drive Scrappy in a full 24 hour race.  I’m hopeful that it will go well and the car will run the entire time.  We’ve spent a lot of time preparing and still have more to do.  You try to think of everything that could go wrong and counter the most likely stuff but you can only do so much before just building a spare race car.  We’ll see how it goes.