I am not even supposed to be in Florida. I am supposed to be hunched over the drawing board here .. .. .. :
.. .. .. but I have determined that it is
too unruly to focus in that house. Handed over the keys of my beloved Lexus to my brother and I wished/wish him the best.
I will keep you apprised of my possible move to Pensacola FL to stay at the home of a pilot who flies all over the world all of the time. I will overhaul Chloe's engine at my favorite jackstar garage aka Clint Eastwood Meets Atticus Finch Law Firm, if this option opens up.
Anyways, I threw a bunch of stuff in Naranja, and beat it out of there on January 17th never to return. I was unable to focus for almost a week. Skipped a visit with weisswurst and stuartfrickfoose and endeavored to find peace in the middle of deep fatigue and discouragement. Found it, too.
Ten days after butchering my badly needed restorative hibernation . . . :
I am here in Miami taking a photograph of Jivermo under his bus taking a photograph of his saran wrapped torn ball joint boot:
We played with his drag link and steering wheel to insure that the steering box was perfectly centered at the straight-ahead position with steering wheel spokes horizontal. We disassembled the door enough to remove the vent window frame from the door to re-position the vent window seal "more correctly", because Because:
My God, what a pleasure to be with a nice genuine sane rational human creature who was the epitome of hospitality. I made sure to test it most sorely the very next day . . . by the simple request to replace my poptop canvas:
There were staples, I remember:
There was the on-the-fly lasso the spring-loaded supports at the mid-removal point using the parachute cord normally pressed into service installing windshields. Did it slip up the aluminum support tube and catapult the bracket into the All Important Fuzz lining the inside of the poptop? Why, yes:
Open air bunk:
Though it was a Learn As You Go project, I was expecting to execute a near-perfect replacement. I have attention-to-detail, you see:
Jivermo was embarrassingly helpful and solicitous, going so far as to procure a pneumatic stapler:
I measured midpoints, I measured end points, I measured staple depths, I consulted with Jivermo's wife regarding wrinkle-free techniques, we were on our game:
It was after we had laboriously placed and bolted the fiberglass top back on the bus that it became apparent that the canvas was inside out. The screens, you see, were facing in. One of them, in fact, caught on a little weld slag sticking out of the support and ripped the sh*t out of itself as I opened the top. Jivermo said,
"Let's knock off."
I said, "sure".
(to be continued)