I did my New Year backup and cleanup and moved my pictures to a 2012 directory not realizing that web albums in Picasa sync with your local files and moving it back doesn’t seem to help.  Now I am missing 60 images from the blog.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do about this, I use Picasa albums to keep my pictures organized and now I need to paw through hundreds of photos to fix it.  I might need  a new system. Off to sulk….

I’m having a hard time breaking out of my funk after losing our good friend and family member, Fred the dalmatian (14 yo). He was my white-trash trailer dog.  A very special guy who worked his way into my heart and left me with a hole in it.  I’m hoping I can come up with a good way to honor him somewhere or somehow in Rosie the trailer.  Craig wrote a wonderful tribute: Remembering Fred (4/8/2012).

My recent trip to Plattsburgh to visit Mr. Airstream, Colin Hyde, was fraught with inaccurate weather forecasts.  The hills of Schoharie hate me.  The good news is I was able to make the trip safely while towing the trailer.  Gives me experience and more confidence if I get stuck driving in bad weather in the future.

I am annoyed with myself that I didn’t take any photos at Colin’s shop, but you can see a few pics from Reinergirl’s blog post (sans snow piles). I need to tell Shelly that I saw Moonraker waiting patiently.  I went to the shop for a leak test and to get a custom VTS dead bolt installed.  Colin is adapting the deadbolt Steve sells so it works with trailers like mine.  See the new dead bolt on the body of the trailer below the handle by the door.  I think he’s going to send photos of the install to Steve, so I’ll link to those when they are available.  He also fixed my door lock while he was at it.  What a man!

His crew (Reed, Dave, and Anthony) also bucked more rivets to secure Rosie’s rear end (no comments from the peanut gallery please) and reinforced the cracked and separating wheel well black plastic.

The best part of my trip was getting to see Malcolm after he got out of school.  I really enjoy talking with that young man.

Then that night, I again missed a photo op of my truck and trailer parallel parked on a downtown Albany street in front of daughter and sil’s house.  C&N were very helpful directing my poor backup attempts in the freezing rain late at night. I felt much better knowing it was locked up, but they let me sleep in the front bedroom where I could peak at the trailer during the night.

I am very mixed on whether to reuse the original control panel, rebuild one, or just forget about it.  The circuit board is alot like an Arduino bread board.  I am capable of creating a new one.  I could also just replace the yellow faded plastic face cover that is falling off, but the clock and thermometer may not make it back either.  I could reinstall it as is and call it vintage seventies.

The professional fiberglass guy called me back, he won’t touch the ABS plastic repair of the shower seat, he said it won’t take.  I guess I was only guilty of ignorance, not incompetence that my repair efforts failed.  The other bad news is that I can’t find a used one anywhere online or via email.  I’ve tried VTS, RV Revive, InlandRV, Airforums classified, and of course a massive Google search.  I guess I’ll need to start going door-to-door.

I ran the speaker wires last week, so it seems I’ve decided to house the 12V car stereo in the cabinet over the frig, in the wall facing the office (note to self: upload a floor plan).  I did a little research on car stereos and of course I want all the bells and whistles.  If I were buying now which I am not, I would do something like this Pioneer or Clarion (4-5 stars, 6 channels, bluetooth, aux, remote control, etc).

Still trying to figure out the best way to do the 12V wall outlets.  I found some large wall plates that have an oversized phone jack round hole that may work to insert the smaller 12V sockets I bought.  The regular 12V wall sockets are too long for the space between the interior and exterior walls.  It’s too bad the plastic is broken on the original ones, but even then I would need more of them since I have more places than originally.  I’ll want to paint the wall plates to match the ivory/almond 110 plates.

I have AAA and thought it would be good to add RV Plus to my account before the rally season, but the first problem I found is that the cost gets added to all the primary and associate members. Secondly, in talking to the local AAA office, they said they won’t tow the trailer if I have a break down.  They’ll fix a tire on the trailer and tow the tow vehicle, but the trailer stays where it is.

In looking at the reviews, Coach-net sounded good.  I talked to them today and the gold plan will tow a trailer to a safe spot – campground or travel center, but they won’t cover trailers over 40 years old.  Rosie turns 40 next year so she would be covered until December 31st this year. Many of Rosie’s friends are much older than 40 so this would not be a good option for vintage trailers in general. Agists

Next up, Good Sam Club.  Their standard ERS covers all the vehicles you own and one RV which can be a trailer or a 5th wheel.  It is cheaper than Coach-net and AAA.  It also has a GPS-enabled mobile app for the iphone, android, and blackberry.

Good Sam Roadside Assistance includes the cost to tow both vehicles to the nearest professional service center that can repair your vehicle. If the repairs on your truck are serious enough that they will take several days to complete, Good Sam Roadside Assistance will pay to have your travel trailer taken to a safe location, such as the nearest campground while you wait.
http://www.goodsamers.com/benefits/faq.cfm#8

Note: Please verify policies before getting a membership as the info could change or I was given the wrong info.

I know spring has arrived – the peepers are peeping!  Better weather means I can work on a few exterior issues – more window sealing and leak patrol.  For my birthday present to myself, I took Rosie to Fletch’s to order parts for the awning repair – glad to know ZipDee is still in business.  I have the 110 wiring (12/2+ground) planned out and working on the 12V fine tuning.  The Progressive Inteli-Power 4060 converter has arrived along with the circuit breakers (30 amp main with 4-20 amp circuits) and a 30′ shore power cable/plug.

I picked up Mom in Endicott late yesterday afternoon and we drove down and stayed over night in Hunt Valley.  This morning we drove over and met Frank to pick up Rosie. It was great to talk with Frank and get the tour in person:  new plywood floor, axles, and belly pan; re-welded, POR’d, and painted frame; fabricated wheel wells, new hot water heater, and more.  He did a great job and is a great guy to work with!

Frank took pics of Rosie leaving - click pic for his post

It was a grey, rainy, and foggy ride home, but she towed straight and easy. With the old axles, I felt like I was towing a sled. She rides MUCH higher and feels very solid. Welcome home pics: