The maintenance continues

Day 80
​Phoenix AZ- Day 24

Problems never stop coming up in an RV. Penny is a 13 years old and she is starting to show her age. The water heater has slowly dripped from the pressure relief valve since we left St. Louis. Mineral deposits and rapid heat/cool cycles lead the seal to stop sealing. A huge benefit of being parked in one spot for this long is the ability to order parts. This special sized water relief valve was delivered for the paltry sum of $12. Nice.

Now it's off for our morning walk. This time we are going to shake it up a little bit more than usual. Eli has really been showing his age lately. Last week he busted out of grandma's house while we were gone and galloped through the neighborhood. He has had a limp that followed him from that day. The old man just can't do that stuff anymore but he doesn't know it. We leave gray face at home and hit the streets for a long walk. Our goal is to rack up 4 miles first thing this morning. 

Our first find of the day is this jug of pee. Maybe it's not pee, but it looks like pee to me.

This is the overpass for Cotton Lane. Get it? Why they felt the need to spend tax payers dollars on frivolous concrete work escapes me. Looks nice though.

We trundle forward and get further into this side of Goodyear. I turn left and take us north through a small park that lines a subdivision.

The little park marked the halfway point of our quest. An abrupt turn back south will take us back home to face the rest of the day. I sit down for about 30 seconds and the boredom swoons over me. Hmmm.... what to do. I know Shirley still has the shakes. I guess I can crawl underneath and start looking at things I can't fix here.

Uh, that's not supposed to do that. A u-joint on a vehicle shouldn't move around. Shirley isn't your typical car. She is a 30 year old design that has been at the foothills of glaciers and pounded through sand drifts outside death valley. The part is an easy fix, but fixing it an the RV park is frowned upon. This is supposed to be a nice place with no garbage. I'd be "that guy" outside beating on his old jeep with a hammer which is not good. That kind of behavior could very likely lead to a polite invitation for us to leave.

I sneak under the jeep as night falls and crack a couple of bolts loose. The driveshaft comes out easily and I get a good look at how difficult this will be to do without any real tools. It looks doable. Katie gets her goodbye kiss and I saddle up on T-Dub for a ride to the parts store. Upon my return the driveshaft gets sprayed down with penetrating oil to sit overnight. We'll beat on it with a hammer tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will be quick and quiet.