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I remember February, 27,

Dad had Auburn cars parked on the street, in the driveway, and at least one in the garage taken apart.  There were always parts; parts on the workbench; parts stacked on the floor.

Today I hold this part in my hand, and it takes me right back.

If anything ever looked like a part for an antique or classic automobile, this is it!

It could be from a Model T!  (It’s also busted.)

Believe it or not, this is a resistor that helps control the dash air in our modern motorhome.  When motorhomes are designed, it’s all about the main concepts.  They design the rig to fit on a standard chassis; sometimes they build their own, but most just pick an existing proven design.  The motorhome will run a Caterpillar engine, or a Cummins.  As far as I know, every big motorhome uses an Allison transmission.  All the big stuff, that’s standard.

For all the little parts that make the whole thing work, the motorhome designers don’t build all their own parts, and they aren’t tied to any particular brand.  The pieces don’t even have to be located in a normal place.  They grab whatever works and fits in the space allowed, wherever that space happens to be.  In the case of the resistor for our dash air switch, it was not behind the dashboard anywhere near the dash air controls.  It was found from the outside front, behind and beside the generator cabinet.  It is not an antique, or a classic.  It’s not from a 1938 Studebaker.  It’s from a 1980s series Ford F-100 pickup truck.  Who knew?

The replacement part should be here tomorrow, and our dash air fan should work again.

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It was awful February, 25,

We’re driving down the highway at 65 mph, and I see the mirror part of the right outside mirror just go away.  It fell out.  No point in pulling over to go back and get it; there won’t be anything usable there.  The rest of the mirror assembly is still in place though.

The problem now is, that looking at that gaping hole, I can imagine an eyeball that’s fallen out and I’m looking into the guts behind it.

Not that big a problem though.  We’re at Texas Custom Coach in Pipe Creek between Bandera and Boerne (pronounced “Bernie”) now, getting a few things squared away before our trip to Alaska in May, so we just added that mirror piece to our list.

Texas Custom Coach

Here the bus is, parked next to all its cousins.

That’s our camping spot for the next several days.  50 amp service and we’ve got plenty of water.

Later today, standing outside, a giant bird came screaming past.  I don’t mean screaming fast, I mean literally screaming his head off.

It was the Bandera Macaw.  Someone down the road has a parrot and lets it out to exercise.  It swoops around and yells for a while (didn’t quite get the focus on the flying picture).

…then flies back home.

Life on the road.