Feb. 18 - Bought groceries with the innocent expectation of a smooth departure on the 21st.
Feb. 19 - Tried to pressurize the Avion water system and found winter had ruptured both the hot and cold water lines under the bathroom sink. A couple of compression unions should have fixed that but the 1964 vintage Avion turns out to have 7/16" O.D. copper tubing. Ten phone calls later indicated that no one in Albuquerque stocks that size. (Our Avion was made at a small factory in Benton Harbor, Michigan. I wonder if they picked an odd size on purpose or what?) While mulling over what to do about the water lines, I decided to remove the cover and check the spare tire to see if it needed air. I found that what it needed was tread. No big problem I thought as I put the spare in the car and drove to the Discount Tire store. Upon arriving however, the clerk told me that I had an old style wheel with a split rim. Over the years, tire repairmen have lost fingers or hands from a split rim not properly seated, flying off during inflation. The general manager of Discount Tire forbade any of their stores from working on this type of wheel. So now I needed a new wheel as well as a new tire.
Feb. 20 - Have new wheel and tire and found 3/8" fuel line hose could be forced onto the ends of my 7/16" copper water line and secured with hose clamps. Tried to pressurize the water system again but found a third rupture. No problem, I now know how to fix these.
Feb. 21 - Departure day. Carol had a bit of last minute shopping and I had some packing to do. No problem, but somehow we didn't get on the road until 2:30PM! We spent the night at Caballo State Park overlooking the lake created by damming the Rio Grande. Lit the propane water heater in anticipation of a hot shower in the AM.
Feb. 22 - Have hot water in the kitchen, but none comes out of the bathroom fixture. Disassembled the bathroom hot water line and fixture and found a loose screw had jammed in the fitting. Finally got that out and discovered after reassembly that the faucet now leaked and I had to repack the stem. We were on the road again at 2:30PM!!