Bachelorhood

I am still parked on the street near PEDCO in Santa Fe Springs, around the corner from where we were last week (map).

A few minutes ago, I dropped Louise off at the Norwalk Metro station on my scooter; she's heading to LAX for a flight to Monterey. It is her dad's birthday this week (Happy Birthday, Jerry!), and her stepmom is heading into the hospital tomorrow for knee replacement surgery. They asked if she would fly up at their expense for a couple of days, and, since we're really just stuck here waiting on parts and service anyway, it's really not a hardship for me to bach it here for a few days. She'll be back on Thursday, and I am holding positive thoughts for Kay's surgery.

We finally wrapped up here in the shop Thursday afternoon. We got the oil and all the filters changed, a leaking fuel pressure switch replaced, and a full engine inspection, including plugging up about a dozen leaks. Even though it has been over a year since we had the motor in-framed here, PEDCO very generously did not charge us for hunting down and fixing the leaks, which was really the bulk of the labor on this visit. They gave us a clean bill of health -- we still don't know where the silicon in the oil is coming from (we pulled another sample, as well), but there is no abnormal wear evident in the cylinders.

It was late enough in the day that the bill was not going to be ready until Friday, so we just spent the night here on the street. Friday we ended up having lunch with Virgil down at the marina where he keeps his boat, and we had our first look at it since it was on the hard right here at the shop. By the time we got back, paid the bill, and fiddled around figuring out where to go, we decided to just spend the weekend right here -- it's quiet here on the weekend, as it is a completely industral neighborhood, and there's plenty of grass to walk the dog. I toyed with the idea of getting back up to Freightliner yesterday, to get a good spot on the street, but that would have put us another ten miles from the Metro station.

In a few minutes, I will load Chip, pack up, and trundle up to Freightliner. With any luck, our parts should arrive at Raul's place today from England, and that's where he knows to look for us.