Friday turned out to be a bit of an expensive day. After the van wouldn’t start on Thursday afternoon, we attempted to jump it with our Escape. There was an issue with corrosion on the battery connectors, so it required a bit of trickery. We finally got it running and drove it right to Advance Auto Parts to have the battery & alternator diagnosed. The verdict was the battery was not only not powerful enough for the van, but the alternator was out too. We went ahead and replaced both and are waiting for the alternator to arrive next Monday. We are desperately hoping this solves the electric issue when the headlights are turned on. While at Autozone I also decided to get the last bit of electrical connectors needed to hook up the fresh water pump for the sink, toilet, shower. Allie grabbed us a new air filter too. When we got home I went right to work on getting the electrical set up for the water pump. I decided to replace the hose as well, so I took a late night trip to Lowe’s to get a few feet of new hose and new clamps. Once it was all hooked up I turned the sink on and didn’t hear the pump kick on, which was a bummer. It was about 10pm at this point so I called it a night. On Saturday morning I went to a trail work day with SORBA at Winged Deer park. Before I headed out to that, I snapped a photo of the water pump and sent it to the previous owner asking if there was anything else I needed to do it make it work. My phone doesn’t work off of WiFi anymore, so I’d have to wait until I got home to see his response. The trail work day went great! Dig Days are my favorite way to get out and give back to the trails we ride all summer and meet other local riders. The weather was about perfect for January, but with temperatures getting below freezing at night, the ground is frozen in the morning and mud by early afternoon. We made the best we could of the short 3 hour window and worked on a few new sections of trail. This was also the first time I really got to test my new Mountain Khaki Alpine Utility pants. I’ve had them for about a week now, but today was the first day I got to use them for what they’re made for, working outside. What I love about Mountain Khaki pants is you can wear them around town, or on work days. I’ve gotta say, I’m usually a Levi’s guy, but these are probably my new favorite pants. Trail work wrapped up about 1:30 and we enjoyed pizza and drinks in the parking lot before I headed back home to help Allie on the van. By the time I got home, she already had the engine cover almost all of the way off. I hopped in the shower real quick and when I got out she told me of her great discovery, the chairs swivel! We pulled the engine cover the rest of the way off together and checked the air filter. Not only was is almost brand new, but the one we purchased the day before was the wrong size. We propped the cover back over the engine, but decided not to bolt it down for now. I checked my phone real quick and saw that the previous owner had replied to me, and left a message telling how to get the water pump on. It worked like a champ! That was a huge relief for the two of us. The next thing we wanted to do was check the grounds for the battery & headlight. We pulled all of the corroded bolts out and headed back up to Advance Auto parts. With how many times we’ve been up there in the last week, we’ve made a friend in an employee who also has a few campers, Edwin. He returned the filter for us and got us the new ground bolt we needed. By the time we got home it was dark, so we called it a night and ate Pot Roast while watching That 70’s Show. Super Bowl Sunday is forecasted to be a cold, rainy day, so we’re unfortunately probably not going to be able to work on anything else this weekend. We might try to bolt the engine cover back on if we get a break in the rain, otherwise we’ll continue to work through the week. We got a few major goals completed by reattaching the water line, replacing the battery, and ordering the alternator. Hopefully this will solve our electrical issue!
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