Mechanics and a Random Thought or Two

On Saturday afternoon the "check engine" light came on in the mini-van. Hmm. Well, what do we do about that? A quick check of the dreaded and mostly unread Owner's Manual revealed that we should go about our business for a couple days and see if the light stayed on or, horrors, started to blink. Blinking means tow truck time.

So we went about our business but the light persisted in gleaming on. Down to The Motorcycle Doctor, suddenly morphed into The Mini-Van Doctor. (Hi, Jase!) It was very interesting to watch him go about fixing the van. Who knew that today's cars run self-diagnostics when they are turned off?? I sure didn't. But they do and a swift application of the test equipment ratted out a failed oxygen sensor. (downstream-downstream of what I did not ask, but it was the one downstream)

A replacement was obtained fast, since the parts delivery guys were just sitting there waiting for a call to deliver parts.

All of you who think mechanics are overpaid, they are NOT. That O2 sensor was in the most impossible place you can imagine. Cab forward doesn't make fixing a car any easier. Although it may make for more room inside the car, it just means more stuff is jammed into a smaller space under the hood. I've never seen anything like the specialized tool for wrenching parts in spaces that are impossible to wrench in. Amazing! Bodies must be contorted and correct angles arrived at to work effectively in a place you can't really see. It both was and wasn't an easy fix. I'd have been there all year if I had to do it myself. But Jason did it in about 10 minutes once the part arrived. I am glad it wasn't anything worse than that--could have been the blasted transmission.

And there are leds in the center control console that can't be replaced without replacing the whole heater/ac control module---225 bucks for one burned out light by the heater controller is not going to happen. I can buy a lot of flashlights for the car at that price. But I got to see him take it all apart and put it all back together...there are special tools for prying those center console panels out too. And who knew that those cupholders in the middle come out and you can actually wash them in the sink? Not me, not until today. They come out pretty easy once you know where to poke and pinch. I was lucky I got to watch--the usual fee for watching/schmoozing is $100 an hour. Guess I got the family discount on that!

If you ever think you're being charged too much stop and consider how much knowledge your mechanic has, how many specialized tools he has to buy, how much testing equipment, how many toxic waste disposal fees there are to pay, how hard it is to reach all the places he has to reach. If you've got an honest mechanic, you're not overcharged. And if you don't think you do have an honest mechanic, it's time to find a new one. Consider a small local place, they probably need your business.

On the riding front, I think everyone needs a reminder once in a while that we have to be hyper-aware when we're riding and watch everywhere at once. With riding season fast approaching, it's time to brush up. Here's a video that is posted at Steve William's site, Scooter In The Sticks.

Watch and let me know what you think.

Sunny Beaches, A Ray's Eye View

We got back from a wonderful weekend yesterday. We spent the holiday weekend at Pacific Beach Resort with Brett and Alayne, very good friends of ours.

Pac Beach, as we call it, is a Navy recreation center right on the ocean. We saw the sun everyday all day. It warmed up to over 50 degrees, not that we spend a lot of time outside. We go there to rest up from the holidays and just to do not much of anything, especially things we don't want to do.

We played games pretty late, slept pretty late, ate too much. All in all we had a great time. Found a very good pizza place in Ocean Shores, “Red Something Pizza”. Can't remember what “something” is but it's on the divided street that runs parallel to the beach in front of the big hotels.

There were card games, movies, and we played many games of Settlers of Catan and one of the Seafarers of Catan. The Seafarers expansion adds some interesting twists to the game.

Rains ALL The Time

Or does it?

Despite the fact that some people think this is where rain lives, we had spectacular no-cloud-in-the-sky weather this past weekend. On the coast anyway, which is where we were.

Here's a picture of sunset on Sunday evening. See all the rain?


No, I didn't think you did. There was no rain. Not a drip, not a drop, no clouds anywhere.

Meanwhile, back home in Seattle, it was doing this:


Ha! Nope, that was a couple of Sundays ago. The weather here was also benign over the weekend, no rain, no clouds, some fog in the morning.

It was a beautiful but windy and chilly day on the beach. Here's a view of the Olympic mountains providing scenery for the beach at Ocean Shores.


It was a windy day...see how the waves tops are being blown backward?


Don't know where Norm got to in this pic, he was right there with us and leashed, so he must be in front of me.

This is the far south end of Ocean Shores...not where the poor people live.


Nearly sunset


But all the sunsets weren't like that. Here's a picture from Saturday's sunset.


Here's one of my favorite pics from the weekend:


And then it was time to come home. Back to the Rat Race!

Rumor Has It

I have it on good authority that the Motorcycle Doctor will be attempting surgery on my poor ol' brakeless scoot this very weekend! I hope that fixes the problem once and for all.

The sole purpose of this post is to satisfy the one who complains I don't post often enough.

Here is a picture of the Doctor studying up!


See all the snow outside the window? Do you know if you click on the pictures, they get way bigger?