GWA1225

Another eve in Faire Gaffney, as the punch list that developed after the technician went over the A/Bus morphed into a second day's worth of labour for the Mechanical Good.  Nothing awful was found, but a number of items that one would worry about crossing the vast expanses of the West will be ushered out of the anxiety closet. 

Normally I don't cool my heels at repair places, since I don't need them often and have M plus other wheels to help me escape.  But with no tow'd and only my Trek to fall back on, I spent the morning doing e-mail and chatting with several other couples whose RVs were in surgery.  One was a couple who live on an island on the Florida coast en route to a family gathering near Ann Arbor.  Another was a couple new to RVing coming from their home in Georgia to Va Beach for another family gathering.  All of us had worked a Gaffney stop into our travel plans due to its status as the best Freightliner shop in the land. 

Another Gaffney distinctive: the cheapest gas in entire USA today (per MSN.com)  may be found right down the road from me at the Texaco station where I wasted money on the air pump; $3.64/9.

Since I'd had nothing since my MexMeal the night before, at 1pm I decided to put the front wheel back on my bike and head back twds the interstate and the strip of shopping and eating places there.  I was not pleased when I noted my back tyre was half deflated, and wasted two rounds at a 75-cent air station trying to get it pumped back up.  Fortunately I managed to find a WalMart and reached biking maestro Phil Compton (1100 miles in the last month, but who's counting?) who counseled me on the weirdo air stems with which my bike is equipped.  I found a suitable hand pump for the princely sum of $9.97 that pumped up the tire and fits nicely in my little carrier pouch.  I love that store.

I had a nice chat with M this eve, who reports that Holly and Brady 2.0 are doing very well.  His overnite feeding interval is about three hours, not bad for a newborn, and B&H took him out with them for dinner at Outback while M took Jake and Nattabean to see Wall-E.  Hard to believe that when Gay and Lill were born, women were kept in a hospital bed for about a week after giving birth.  Holly went to Target today.

Item: there's a "naked" Freightliner chassis parked out behind the shop, a 2007 model with a 350hp Cummins diesel, that is fascinating to look at, since normally one could only glimpse the underside of these gizzards shrouded in shade, dirt and rust.  Here it all is on plain display, and I had a good time processing the parts and assemblies I've only visualized in the past.

Too bad I don't have wheels and my tourguide M here; Cowpens, the Civil War battle site [correction per Brother D: RevWar. Picky, picky, PICKY], is but ten miles away.  Hopefully I'll be cut loose and on my way tomorrow.  Plans are already underway for a gathering with Caroline and her peeps on the 25th. 

But for now, the overhead a/c's are thrumming and I'm chillin'.  Life is good on the A/Bus.

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