A doubly, foolhardy "shake down" trip

In late December 2008 I met a very nice lady and  we had  conversation that went something like this:  Her, "Are you married?" Me, "No."  Her, "Do you have a girlfriend?"  Me, "No." Her, "Would you like to do something together sometime?"  Me, "Okay."    Wow, I am such a great conversationalist!

In my defense, during previous conversations, some with multi-word sentences, I had already learned much of her life story and she mine.  One important thing that I learned was that she was leaving Southern California is less than two weeks to move cross country to Maryland!  How safe is that?  We had one dinner date and even wound up having burgers and beer (a going away dinner) on New Year's Eve.  Both dates were okay and the New Year's one even ended with a tiny, tiny, tiny New Year's Eve kiss!  She moved a few days later.

Fast forward to Spring, 2010.  She located me on Facebook, emailed a few times and then we progressed to phone conversations.  She had returned to So Cal and made it clear that she wanted to explore the expansion of our friendship.  I really didn't.  During her absence I met another nice lady and we jumped (too quickly) into a full time relationship.  It was full time but temporary.  Within 3 months we decided that what we really needed was friendship and not really romance.

Being single at my age indicates a certain lack of success in relationships and that describes perfectly what my situation was.  I explained this to her each time we talked and her response was always something like: "I don't want a relationship either, just a friend to hang out with."  It was hard to argue with her logic, so I agreed to a couple of casual dates, that due to unavoidable circumstances (some engineered by me), we never kept.

A few more conversations and she wore me down.  I needed a new plan so I came up with a date that I was sure she would refuse.  I told her about Dod; that I was planning a five day, shake down trip to the local mountains; and finally, that she was welcome to join me.  You may have guessed her response: "Okay, sure, that sounds like fun!  When do we leave?"    Foiled again!

I have to leave my computer now and start my daily project so the story continues tomorrow.

Major damage fixed and now some minor stuff

Dod's size saves money!  I figured that after sitting for 5 years Dod could use an oil change.  I drove over to the local quick lube place where I get my SUV's oil changed.  I was able to drive Dod right onto one of the normal oil change stations.  I asked how much and the guy quoted me $49.95 because Dod is a motor home.  I explained that Dod was more like a Dodge van than a motor home and told him I would "pass" at $50.  Business must have been slow because we were able to agree on $29.95 (same as the SUV charge).

Next, I took Dod to a glass shop to get a new windshield installed.   Dod came through again; since this was merely a replacement of a van windshield, it only cost $150. including the install.  I was thinking it would be much more!

After the installation of a few lens covers, two side mirrors and a rear view mirror and I will be ready for the "shakedown" trip. Apparently the little old schoolteacher who last drove Dod had some depth perception problems.

Does anyone out there know of a good glue to attach the rear view mirror to the windshield?  I purchased two of the "peel and stick" mounts but neither one stayed in place for more than a couple of days.

Dod gets repaired

I started writing this post Friday but being a news junkey, I got caught up in the disaster in Japan.  I am amazed at the low death toll with the devastation shown on tv.

Back to Dod's repairs.  I wrote two paragraphs describing how I removed the damaged siding and straightened out the cab over section.  I couldn't re-read my post and make much sense of it so I will not expose volunteer readers to that type of torture.  Suffice it to say that 8 hours of work and about $100. of supplies took care of the damage.  A picture may be worth a thousand words but I failed to take any "before" pictures.  Here are a couple of during and after pix.

Above is with window reinstalled and wood painted.

Below is the 1" thick marine plywood that replaced the damaged area.