Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Taking Inventory

Last night I went through my Quicken financial account to determine the age of all the batteries and tires on the motorhome, dolly, Honda and Mazda. everything is OK right now but the motorhome tires will reach five years of age this winter. That means we will have to replace them on the way home through Oregon where there is no sales tax. I will have to make sure I have a couple of thousand dollars left over from the fun we are going to have this winter.

We are towing the Mazda down this year because the air conditioning in the Honda packed it in a couple of weeks ago. I went cheap on repairs in Florida and bought a used compressor instead of a new one. It was a gamble that I lost but how much money do I want to put into a 25 year old Honda? The Mazda is running great. It's battery is five years old so I will replace it at the first sign of trouble. The Honda tires are due for replacement as well but that can wait until next summer. My rule is: tires, five years and batteries, seven years.

Reading George and Suzi's Blog this morning reminded me to check the water levels in the motorhome's two 6 volt house batteries. Like George, I do this twice a year unless we are parked in a hot climate when I usually add one more check to this schedule.

Another project is to replace the Starchoice receiver in the front of the motorhome. I recently bought one of the new smaller non-PVR receivers to replace the older, large receiver that is built into the entertainment center. The old one was awkward to work on because I had to take the front wooden panel off the entertainment center if I wanted to make any changes to the wiring. This new one will slip through the hole in the panel and will also receive a few more channels. Changing it out involves a call to Shaw Direct to make the change in registered receivers. We are allowed six so I will have to take one off the list before they will add this one to it.

The weather is turning here in Campbell River. It is raining almost every night now as well as many days lately. I am getting anxious to leave. Projected date to leave is November 1 (or so).

18 comments:

  1. You sound like things are almost ready to roll!
    DO you know where you are headed this year? Mexico???

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    1. We will be staying in California and/or Arizona this year. The only thing that will change this is weather. If the US has a bad winter, we will probably move south.

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  2. The currently strong and still rising US$ might make an impact to any shopping and traveling decisions we make. Mexico is starting to look cheap again compared to the U.S. when you look at it in Canadian $ terms. We were thinking about spending some time in Arizona and California this coming winter season, but we'll see what the dollar is doing at the time...

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    1. I am watching the dollar as well. It is at 90 cents right now which is survivable. If it goes much lower, it will have an impact. Although having said that, we once faced a much, much lower dollar and managed. We just did not go out for dinner or entertainment much.

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  3. Clearly your mind is on getting on track to head south again. Maintenance stuff is first and foremost on our minds too as we prepare for our departure in mid-November.

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  4. Gotta get those things done.
    Our xar tires wear out after about three years, The coach has truck tires and will do 7 years.
    We find it cheaper to replace ours here in Ontario, have a good connection and the dollar makes sense for us.

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  5. Better get it al ldone as November 1 will be here before you know it...

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  6. Getting new tires regularly is a great safety investment. I have our Kal Tire guy check ours after they've been on 5 years but replace them at 7 regardless. 1 month to go to lift-off!

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  7. Before changing out your sat receiver, you might want to have a read of the, "TV options for Canadians going south," thread on the IRV2 forums. Seems people with new receivers and a receiver that has been hooked to the new LNB(for new Sat) are not getting reception in the south.

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    1. I am aware of this problem Peter and am not going to change over to the new LNB.

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    2. Great. Should have realized that with your telecommunications background. May see you in Arizona or California, if our paths cross.

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    3. I added my thoughts to the discussion on IRV2.
      http://www.irv2.com/forums/f53/tv-options-for-canadians-going-south-205858.html

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  8. Of course we always hope to connect with you somewhere in Mexico, but we follow your fun anywhere. We are enjoying an excellent exchange rate US dollars for pesos - perhaps Canadian dollars is the same?

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