Sunday was day three on my own while Donna is away. My plans for the day would have bored Donna. I spent the morning watching the coverage of the Formula 1 race in Spa, Belgium. The race was full of surprises – I won’t spoil it in case a reader has it recorded for viewing later.

Before I turned on the race, my neighbor was preparing to pull out of the park. I could see he was checking some wiring looms in a rear compartment. I stepped outside to see if I could help. He said the bedroom slide wouldn’t retract. It was a Power Gear system, which operates the slide via an electric motor. The connection on the circuit board was loose. He wiggled the connector while his wife tried operating the slide. It moved about an inch, then stopped again. He tried to unplug the wiring harness and the connector pulled out of the circuit board! The connector should have been soldered in place as it’s essentially part of the board. I suggested disconnecting the front slide harness from its circuit board, which was next to the board for the bedroom slide. Then we plugged the wiring harness for the rear slide into that board. His wife hit the switch and the slide retracted. He’ll have to replace the bedroom slide circuit board.

While I watched TV, I followed the progress of my friend, Allen Hutchinson, with my laptop. He was competing in the Ironman Triathlon in Louisville, Kentucky. I don’t know anything about the course, but the temperature was reported to be 90 degrees with high humidity. It had to be a tough grind.

I didn’t leave the coach until noon. It was warm out. Our temperature reached the low 80s. I rode the scooter to the store and picked up bottled water and beer.

At 1pm, I tuned in the Charger game. They played against the San Francisco 49ers at the new stadium in Santa Clara, California. Yesterday’s earthquake in the bay area was centered near Napa, north of San Francisco. Santa Clara is south of San Francisco, about 80 miles from Napa and didn’t suffer any damage.

The Chargers played their starters on the first three offensive series. They looked sharp and moved the ball well. Other than getting stopped on a fourth and one, they controlled San Francisco and finished the third possession with a touchdown. The defensive starters forced two turnovers, although the officials blew the call on the first one and San Francisco kept the ball. They tackled well and dominated San Francisco’s first team offense.

The second and third string back-ups didn’t fare as well. At the end, the score was 21-7, San Francisco. The pre-season games are all about getting some action for the starting team and then using the remainder of the game to evaluate the rest of the players. I’m encouraged by what I saw and I’m looking forward to a good season. The roster will be cut down from 90 players to 53 before the first regular season game.

After the game, I went out for a walk through the RV park. I needed to get some exercise. The park is large enough to take a 20-minute walk without retracing your steps.

After I returned, I checked my laptop and saw Allen had finished the race. He was out on the course for 12 and a half hours. He’s a 4-time Ironman finisher now.

Today, the forecast calls for a heat wave. We should hit 90 degrees over the next few days. I have no plans.

I forgot to include this photo in my last post – this is my new ScanGauge D mounted on the dash of our Alpine Coach.

ScanGauge D set to read out oil pressure, coolant temperature, boost, transmission fluid temperature