Properly detailed wheels...
About 13 minutes and 47 seconds into the trip, Mother Nature determined that the storied Tamiami Trail needed a thorough rinsing. Properly done such a rinsing of the road takes hours. Today, it was done properly.
Upon arrival at Boyd’s Campground in Key West, we were escorted to our site during a brief intermission in the rainfall. It was perfect...a beach front/waterfront arrangement with spectacular views. The lightning made it even more colorful.
The Queen and her follower.
The following days were spent getting the satellite antenna (the in motion one) retuned from DirecTV to Dish Network.
Side story: Newmar, arguably one of the top premium builders of coaches, chooses to ship their coaches with DirecTV. Note, however, that Dish is VERY friendly to boat and RV clients inasmuch as they allow you to pay for only the months you use the service. DirecTV allows no such consideration.
Overcoming the wiring bias for DirecTV, took several days and the purchase of specialized COAX tools, testers, connectors, and COAX cable. In order to purchase these goods, your noble Captain/Satellite installer was required to go to several stores. This being the era of a nearly irrational fear of a virus 🦠all stores had a posted notice...
Your Captain, having just been informed by none other than the CDC that masks would not protect you from this or most any other virus for that matter, did not have in his possession a face cover. (Note that the opinions of the CDC have been many and varied, often shifting daily.)
At any rate, here is the current dilemma...there is a CVS pharmacy next door to the Home Depot I need to enter. EUREKA! I’ll get a face covering there. Not so fast El Capitan, they too have a sign barring the naked face in their establishment. Timidly (not your typical Captain posture), I peep into the store and inquire (from the doorway) if they sell masks. She said yes, but I can’t come in to buy one. I asked if I gave her some money, would she select something manly which would complement my current ensemble. I believe that people do not kid or joke with each other in her country, for in exasperation she said “Oh hell, vy doan you just come in and peek one yourself.” So I did.
The rest is kinda boring, except the Home Depot man telling me he had no 6G or something like that COAX cable in stock. Undeterred, I called a local cable installation dealer. He said he had tons of what I needed. Literally. His smallest roll of the precious cable was in the 1,000 foot size. Unless and until your industrious Captain decides to embark on a new career in the exiting and growing field of cable installation, I will need to find the cable on a more modest quantity.
Back to Home Depot. Spoke with another dude. (Funny how most people wearing a mask look a little like Homer Simpson.). Anyway, I tell my story. He leads me to the place where 100 foot rolls of the cable can be had. (They must have changed inventory managers in the past hour.)
Armed now with all I need to do the job AND a spiffy mask/face cover/bandana, I return to the family covered wagon aka the Queen and set about to make our baby Dish Network compatible. This involves getting on the top of the coach...
Note that your cowardly Captain is deathly afraid of heights! Yeah, I know. How is an experienced pilot and flight instructor afraid of heights? Well he just is...so there.
After hearing the intensely annoying message, “ Your call is very important to us “ on every tech help line in the free world, the Captain decides to wing it. Hours later, we are watching CNN. They are explaining that Trump is the proximate cause of all that is wrong in the free world as well as in a few undeveloped nations. The news is awful, but the picture and sound are great!
My place in the HOTY ( husband of the year) Hall of Fame is secure.
RJ and his Dad relaxing after their heroic deeds.
Night time at Boyd’s
One evening we went to our 32 year favorite restaurant in Key West. It is called the LaTeDa. It is reputed to be run by gay folks, but everybody looks happy there, so your Captain was unable to discern which people were the proprietors.
LaTeDa is also well known for its female impersonators and their routines...
Happy Birthday Mr. President, Happy....
After a brief scare at the entrance where Leslie told the Maitre D’ of our reservations (Always necessary here), and the Maitre D’ informed us that no such reservation existed. After a brief but fruitful discussion we were escorted to our excellent seats where an outstanding meal was served to us. ( While you MUST wear a mask to get in, you are allowed to remove it to eat. Must be some sort of viral courtesy extended to patrons of fine dining.)
As always, we enjoyed our stay in Key West. We will return.
444 miles, round trip. Everything excellent but the weather.
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