Day at the Beach

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, was a shakedown cruise to test some recently upgraded systems, and a learning experience, overall.

After hooking up at o-dark-thirty in the dimly lit storage facility, I made the very short drive to the beach and started the process of getting squared away. That's when I noticed my half-hearted attempt to connect the cord which goes from tow vehicle to trailer (controls brakes/lights/power). I didn't do a very good job at all, because the cord dragged on the ground and rubbed through the outer coating, and completely through one of the wires inside. Luckily, the lights/brakes still worked, but if the trip had been a few miles longer, it would have severed these lines and possibly caused all manner of catastrophe.

And it's all my fault, too. I knew about this potential problem for months, and have always been wanting to get around to rigging up some sort of spring device to keep the cord up off the ground, yet pay out whatever is needed for turns. Well, I got around to it now, after the fact. A bungee cord is all that I needed. Duh.

But that's what these shakedown cruises are for, to test all the systems. In this case I learned that the geometry is different between the new tow vehicle (Tundra) and old one (FJ Cruiser) which changes how much of the control cord is needed. Less on the Tundra, that's why it dragged.

All the other stuff worked great. The solar panel kept me with electricity all day, as did the extra battery. The new propane tanks worked flawlessly. And the new touchless lid trash bin was excellent.

Good friends Peter and Joey & Carolina stopped by around noon and we had a great time.

The only negative was the beach! There was no sand -- victim of the recent storms. And where sand should have been was all stones. So I didn't get the chance to ride my beach cruiser, or play any Frisbee. But the sand situation is only temporary. It has been doing this for probably billions of years. The sand will be back again soon enough.

And so will I...