The AATREC’s Ready - and some rattlesnake sex too…

August 9 2009 by Darrin.

Fridge Problem - Solved!   The new Nova Kool is nearly silent, thanks to the German Danfoss compressor.  In fact, all you hear is a small muffin fan running.  It is Kool.  And it freezes 20 oz. of water in a few hours, at 4/7th of its coldest setting.  The Norcold is a smidge larger, and the food storage on the door is more functional, but we’ll gladly compromise for the lack of noise.  In all fairness, the Norcold is a good fridge when functioning properly.  Their current level of customer support, however, sent us packin’.

Cushion Problem - Solded!  Our new upholsterer in Loveland came through and did a great job.  The cushions are a little brighter than we expected in full light.  They aren’t really “navy blue” under flash, as you can see in the shots below.  (LED lighting vs. flash.)

Today, it was pre-trip truck maintenance.  I changed the two-year-old “nearly-new” oil for fully synthetic Shell Rotella 5W-40.  It should be good for the entire 7500 mile journey.  And new oil for the generator too, as it’s been sitting since the summer of 2007, just like the chassis.  There was just 1.5 hours on the little Kubota diesel, and I doubt we’ll use it much on this trip, but I won’t have to worry about acidic oil if it’s been replaced.

The last little projects completed today were:

• the support legs for the sofa extensions (they turn the couches into bunks)
• the back-up ladder mount (the ladder’s for getting into the camper when there’s no room to deploy the stairs)
• power to the amateur radio gear
• an extra cushion behind the seats, for Puppy, or Anna if I’m snoring like a buzz-saw

Here are some random shots of that stuff…

 Mechanically, the vehicle is ready.  I even had a chance to pack up a bunch of tools, and load the rear box with maintenance fluids…

 So what’s this about rattlesnake sex?  Well, full moons like this one a few nights back…

…must put romantic ideas into little reptilian brains!  Anna, her dad Frits, and I were heading to Casper Thursday for the final parts-run.  I don’t know how Anna saw these in the grass next to the road - at 35 mph - but she did.  This is how the Prairie Rattler gets it on…

 Three days to go here.  There’s lots of packing to do, and we have to refresh the planning we did months ago.  See you on the road, or just before.

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