From our family to yours... Merry Christmas.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas..
We start our traveling tomorrow. More time in the coach. We get to see if all that work we did over the past few weeks was worth it or not. I was able to finally, after 3 months, able to get the driver's side windshield wiper installed. I found the part I needed from a fantastic place. http://waltsrvsurplus.com/ Not only did they have the part available, they over-nighted it to me and I got it repaired before the trip. Just in case the weather turns foul.
From our family to yours... Merry Christmas.
From our family to yours... Merry Christmas.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Getting the rig road ready...
I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon working on the old Dolphin while in storage. We have a pretty good trip planned for most of the Christmas / New Year's holiday. There will be a lot of driving involved.
So, in order to prepare and feel safe about actually making this trip, there were some things that needed to be taken care of.
My father in law, who is currently an unemployed mechanic was the perfect candidate to take with me out there. We loaded up his truck with the essentials we might need and headed off to storage to begin the transformation.
The Dolphin got her first oil change since the drive home from Idaho. I have been trying to find time to take care of this but had just been too busy. It is now done and I feel much better about driving her now. While we were at it, we did the oil and filter in the generator as well.
A couple of months ago, I had to do a pretty hard stop for a light while we were headed out of town. I learned a couple of things at that light. One, always go ahead and start slowing down for a light, even if it is green. Two, I don't care about pissing anyone off out there while I am driving. They are driving much smaller, lighter vehicles. If they are unhappy about having to slow down for a green light, they can go around. Three...if you have to stop like that, it pretty much ruins the brakes for the remainder of the trip. The past month driving it has been kinda scary.
So, that being said, we emptied out the old, black, nasty brake fluid and exchanged it for some nice, clean, new brake fluid. Then we bled all the wheels and hopefully fixed the problem that was created by the old stuff. They felt great yesterday while still in the parking lot. I am hoping that fixed the issue.
Then we moved on to what I was expecting to be the simplest repair of all. It ended up being the hardest and the most expensive. Go figure. The filler hose for the fuel tank had begun leaking on our way home from Idaho. During filling, gasoline would pour from the holes in the hose and spill all over the ground. Filling on the lowest setting would keep it from happening, but it added a LOT of minutes on to fill time. The hose was $35 PER FOOT and I needed the entire 3 foot length. Ouch. Muscling this thing into position was much more of chore than I had ever anticipated. Luckily, Paul was able to get under the coach and put his weight behind it to get it on. I would say we spent a good hour just doing that repair.
The final fix, while not in the order of how we actually did them, was more of a trivial repair since it wasn't safety related at all. We had noticed an exhaust leak before we bought the Dolphin. I knew it would eventually get on my nerves and I would have to fix it. That time had come. I bought a new exhaust manifold gasket and got settled in for what was going to be a major repair. However, as is RARELY the case for me, it turned out to be a leak in a much easier to repair location. The riser tube for the EGR valve had a nice cut in it and that is what was causing all the ruckus. Unfortunately, the new tube is an "order only" item so we ended up using some ingenuity and a bit of JB Weld to remedy the problem for the trip. We'll fix it properly when we get back home, but the order time on the part is seven days. Oh well.
So, all that being done, I think the old girl will be much more road worthy for the upcoming trip.
So, in order to prepare and feel safe about actually making this trip, there were some things that needed to be taken care of.
My father in law, who is currently an unemployed mechanic was the perfect candidate to take with me out there. We loaded up his truck with the essentials we might need and headed off to storage to begin the transformation.
The Dolphin got her first oil change since the drive home from Idaho. I have been trying to find time to take care of this but had just been too busy. It is now done and I feel much better about driving her now. While we were at it, we did the oil and filter in the generator as well.
A couple of months ago, I had to do a pretty hard stop for a light while we were headed out of town. I learned a couple of things at that light. One, always go ahead and start slowing down for a light, even if it is green. Two, I don't care about pissing anyone off out there while I am driving. They are driving much smaller, lighter vehicles. If they are unhappy about having to slow down for a green light, they can go around. Three...if you have to stop like that, it pretty much ruins the brakes for the remainder of the trip. The past month driving it has been kinda scary.
So, that being said, we emptied out the old, black, nasty brake fluid and exchanged it for some nice, clean, new brake fluid. Then we bled all the wheels and hopefully fixed the problem that was created by the old stuff. They felt great yesterday while still in the parking lot. I am hoping that fixed the issue.
Then we moved on to what I was expecting to be the simplest repair of all. It ended up being the hardest and the most expensive. Go figure. The filler hose for the fuel tank had begun leaking on our way home from Idaho. During filling, gasoline would pour from the holes in the hose and spill all over the ground. Filling on the lowest setting would keep it from happening, but it added a LOT of minutes on to fill time. The hose was $35 PER FOOT and I needed the entire 3 foot length. Ouch. Muscling this thing into position was much more of chore than I had ever anticipated. Luckily, Paul was able to get under the coach and put his weight behind it to get it on. I would say we spent a good hour just doing that repair.
The final fix, while not in the order of how we actually did them, was more of a trivial repair since it wasn't safety related at all. We had noticed an exhaust leak before we bought the Dolphin. I knew it would eventually get on my nerves and I would have to fix it. That time had come. I bought a new exhaust manifold gasket and got settled in for what was going to be a major repair. However, as is RARELY the case for me, it turned out to be a leak in a much easier to repair location. The riser tube for the EGR valve had a nice cut in it and that is what was causing all the ruckus. Unfortunately, the new tube is an "order only" item so we ended up using some ingenuity and a bit of JB Weld to remedy the problem for the trip. We'll fix it properly when we get back home, but the order time on the part is seven days. Oh well.
So, all that being done, I think the old girl will be much more road worthy for the upcoming trip.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
More photoshoots...
This past weekend netted me some additional work with my photography. I seem to have this love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes I love it and I get excited about possibly capturing something that I might really like...then there is all the stuff you have to do AFTER you release the shutter. I don't really like that part. So, I try my absolute very best to get the shot I want in camera, so I don't have to photoshop anything. I despise that part. The best part is going to different people's houses and trying to figure out what would be the optimal place to photograph them. I find that photographing people in their own comfort zone makes things turn out much more beautifully. That is why I love going to their homes.
So, that being said, I had four different shoots with four different locations last weekend. My beautiful wife, who is the best assistant ever, went along with me to help out with all the important stuff like posing and keeping the kids smiling. She is so awesome.
First was a maternity shoot for some great friends of ours. I've known Henry since he was about 12 years old. He is going to be a father now. Scary stuff. Man, getting old sucks.
If you so desire, the rest of this shoot can be seen HERE.
Then we moved on to do some shots of Serenna. I've personally known Serenna since she was about two years old. She is Henry's sister. She is quite the beautiful girl now. *sniffle*
Then we moved on to some family photos. I do enjoy Christmas card photos. They always turn out so elegant and everyone is always excited to do them. Well, almost everyone. I think the kids would still rather doing something else... This is a family friend. Sara, the blond on the left is a beautiful girl that I have taken photos of before. She was a LOT of fun to work with last time. I hope to do a shoot with her again sometime in the future. The previous shoot I did with her can be seen HERE.
More of these can be seen HERE.
Last but not at all least was the Nowaski family. This was an amazingly fun shoot mostly because of the kids involved. They were a LOT of fun to shoot with. It was pure chaos and I got some good stuff with them. This one was my favorite.
All the rest of these can be seen HERE.
So, that being said, I had four different shoots with four different locations last weekend. My beautiful wife, who is the best assistant ever, went along with me to help out with all the important stuff like posing and keeping the kids smiling. She is so awesome.
First was a maternity shoot for some great friends of ours. I've known Henry since he was about 12 years old. He is going to be a father now. Scary stuff. Man, getting old sucks.
If you so desire, the rest of this shoot can be seen HERE.
Then we moved on to do some shots of Serenna. I've personally known Serenna since she was about two years old. She is Henry's sister. She is quite the beautiful girl now. *sniffle*
Then we moved on to some family photos. I do enjoy Christmas card photos. They always turn out so elegant and everyone is always excited to do them. Well, almost everyone. I think the kids would still rather doing something else... This is a family friend. Sara, the blond on the left is a beautiful girl that I have taken photos of before. She was a LOT of fun to work with last time. I hope to do a shoot with her again sometime in the future. The previous shoot I did with her can be seen HERE.
More of these can be seen HERE.
Last but not at all least was the Nowaski family. This was an amazingly fun shoot mostly because of the kids involved. They were a LOT of fun to shoot with. It was pure chaos and I got some good stuff with them. This one was my favorite.
All the rest of these can be seen HERE.
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