Awake: 5:55am Temp 54 sleep 6+03 overcast overnight@ Newell
campsite.
1st thing this morning: John (V.P. of customer service) & I have a high
tech discussion about batteries, both the lead acid & the AGM type. It
still bothers me that our AGM batteries (3) out of (6) failed after (2)
yrs of service & I had been very kind to my batteries. I bring up the
issue of using the “power pulse” unit to further give more longevity to
the AGM batteries. Unbeknown to me, Newell has been using these extra
little power pulse units on their AGM batteries ever since they upgraded
to the AGMs a little over 2 yrs ago & seem to be quite pleased with the
longevity results.
Apparently, when this gadget is wired to the batteries, it produces a
pulsing charging current in a manner that slows down & even reverses
sulfation on the battery plates. I hint to John that if I had known about
this power pulse at that time, perhaps my batteries would have lasted for
the average 5 yrs or longer. John suggests that they install the power
pulse system on our coach’s batteries @ their cost to confirm the
potential longevity. I am comfortable with this plan.
Meanwhile, Kathy is busy watching her morning shows on TV; later she makes
a trip to Wal-Mart, one of the more “exciting places” in Miami and
explores more of downtown, including the library.
Next, I call Alpine Electronics in Long Beach. The girl I talk with tells
me our GPS is listed to be repaired today. I am comfortable with this plan
also.
Then I visit Cindy @ the Newell reception office looking for our mail with
the Suzuki renewal tags from the Municipality of Anchorage….. “nothing
from Alaska” Cindy tells me. “What’s going on” I wonder? I sent that
paperwork to Clara @ the M.O.A. over 10 days ago. I even called midweek &
talked with another girl @ the M.O.A. & she reported that our registration
for renewal is sitting in the outbox ready to be mailed. Cindy @ the
Newell reception desk suggests that maybe our letter is in limbo over @
the local post office. Hmmm, ok maybe, I’ll check on that. Using the
Suzuki, 5 min later the post lady informs me our letter would not be @
this office but possibly @ the downtown post office. So 22 min later to
include waiting 7th in line, the downtown postal lady tells me that they
don’t hang onto mail that no one claims; if it was here, they would
already have sent it return mail back to Alaska. Yikes! This is
discouraging. Driving back to our bus, I decide to call the M.O.A. again
to find out where they sent our registration: turns out, Clara sent it to
our forwarding 645 “G” Street address even though I made it quite clear (I
thought) to send that registration to the Newell address; but I am
relieved. Then I call Linda; ask her to check our mailbox & sure enough,
it is there & she will send it out today. cheezes, what a trip!
Late afternoon, K & I walk the suburbs of Commerce, birthplace of Mickey
Mantle, for an hr of exercise.
6:40 dinner: Alaska salmon with green bean casserole using Gary C’s home
grown beans, brown rice with pecans & apple bits, spinach salad + toast.
Evening satellite movie: “Smoke” with William Hurt, Harvey Keitel,
Stockard Channing, Harold Perrineau, Jr., Forest Whitaker, etc. A tapestry
of lives that intertwine around a Brooklyn smoke shop; key figures include
the philosophical manager (Keitel), a burnt-out novelist (Hurt), a worldly
wise teenager (Perrineau) whom Hurt more or less adopts, & the boy’s
actual father (Whitaker), whom he hasn’t seen since infancy. 1995. Not for
everyone but this movie was heartwarming for us.
High temp=64 Lights out: 11:38pm
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