Lance is Home, Progress (sort of) with the Van…

Lance is home!! His trip went really well and his teeth look amazing. Lance got to do some hiking around the Bullhead City area while he was in Arizona, something I know he really enjoyed being able to do. The little dog (Achilles) got to do a lot of walking around, which means tons of exercise for this super high energy dog. I’m happy they are both home.

Re-introducing the dogs was a bit tense in the beginning and we are still working on all the finer points of it that come along with RV life (extreme close quarters). Enzo, of course, is defending his “That’s MY mom (toy, space, whatever)” status, but, for the most part, is doing fairly well with things. Achilles, on the other hand, has gotten to be an only dog for the last two months so is having a little bit harder time adjusting to having to share space, toys, people. I’m sure we will be back into our old groove with them soon enough. Thankfully, Lance can be home with them while we go through this transition. I, on the other hand, am a busy, busy girl.

I said in my last post that work had pretty much dried up. It had, and I’ve got the feeling that this rush of work is a temporary thing, with the hopes that I am wrong and the well hasn’t completely dried up until Spring. This back and forth with income is quite frustrating – one check leaving me wonder how we are going to eat, the next looking really great but not leaving much to it at all by the time I catch up with bills. Now that Lance is home, he can find a job and that will definitely help even things out a bit, or at least make them not quite as financially stressful.

SO, since the Taurus quit on me, I have been driving the van. It still sputters a bunch, but not quite as badly as it was when we brought it home. I have replaced the spark plugs, plug wires, throttle position sensor, removed the EGR valve and cleaned the gunk that can collect behind it, which can be a contributing factor to the sputtering, did an oil change since the oil was smelling like gas, did a compression test (it passed), and took the van to Midas so they could fix a leak that occurred when they replace the catalytic converter (the people I bought it from had replaced the catalytic converter at Midas. I have the receipt). I am certain that at least one of the intake valves are blown, which means it’s going to need a valve job, soon. I have never done a valve job and after reading the manual, it seems a bit daunting. I’m not sure I’m comfortable doing that one on my own, but I’ll do some pricing, talk with a few friends and decide how to proceed from there. I’m going to replace the throttle position sensor, again, since I cracked it when I put it in (over tightened a bolt. Damnit!).

The van had been getting a little bit better with each thing I did, but, after I changed the plugs and did the oil change, it is running worse, again. Not as bad as it was when we brought it home, but worse than I had gotten it to. It’s becoming a bit frustrating, but, at least I am still capable of getting to work when it comes up. Extremely grateful for that. If I hadn’t picked up the van, knowing I had to do some work to it, when the Taurus gave up, I would have been dead in the water without a way of getting out of it.

Well, I had better get myself put together. I have a clean today. Have a great day, Everyone!!

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