The DisFort's Chit Chat Cafe

[tiggerdad]

Dewey says happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

[jbrostek]

He looks shocked. Are you already drinking the green beer?

 

[FtW Mike]

Randy's fault! He drove it last!

Randy, with friends like Michael who needs Hemorrhoids! Just a thunkering.

 

[tiggerdad]

He looks shocked. Are you already drinking the green beer?

DW sent me the pic. Likely she was holding the cat treats to get his attention.

 

[friendofeeyore]

Yes, it is so hard to say good-bye to our fur babies. But when they are in pain with no relief, you made the right hard decision. Prayers for your strength.

 

[friendofeeyore]

Happy St. Patrick Day to all of you!!

 

[Teamubr]

It has been in the 70s here the last few days and we head to Gulf Shores in 4 weeks, so I figured I'd get a little trailer maintenance done. I replaced the brake magnets last year, but I didn't think the the brakes were working much.
E-trailer has complete assemblies that aren't much more than the shoes and magnets, so I'm swapping everything. These are self adjusting so I don't have to mess with that either.
They should work now. I'm pretty sure at least one side of the old ones were froze up.


j

 

[jbrostek]

@Teamubr Crazy right? I think for the last 20 years we been running that way. We been just buying complete backing plate assemblies for just only a small bit more than parts to rebuild them, and then the metal recycler pays for the scrap.

So yesterday I finally got the new wheels and tires from the tire shop. These Hercules tires make the westlake G rates look like they are E rated tires. They look more commercial than the Sailun G637 trailer tires and I think they will do well for me. I have their inflation guide downloaded too but I can't find my weight ticket. Guess I should do that again sometime soon.

This weekend is "drivers school" for the next round of licensed racers. For the first time in about 8 years the rosters are pretty full and one group is wait listed. I leave after work for the weekend and looking forward to it.

 

[Teamubr]

These Hercules tires make the westlake G rates look like they are E rated tires. They look more commercial than the Sailun G637 trailer tires and I think they will do well for me. I have their inflation guide downloaded too but I can't find my weight ticket. Guess I should do that again sometime soon.

Let us know how they work out. I loved the Sailuns I had on my old 5er. I'm not in that market anymore, but am in a lot of groups that are. I hadn't heard anyone mention Hercules before.

This weekend is "drivers school" for the next round of licensed racers. For the first time in about 8 years the rosters are pretty full and one group is wait listed. I leave after work for the weekend and looking forward to it.

It's that time of year! There is a new road course in Mid-Missouri (Ozarks something Raceway). It was built by a Pro team that runs Grand/Trans Am. Looks nice. Lots of elevation change. They are having corner worker school and Comp School soon. The track backs up to property my dad owned until 2 years ago. My dad still lives at the lake, but he moved into his new wife's house and sold his house and property in Gravois Mills.

j

 

[jbrostek]

Will do. I have seen some grand design posts about them. https://www.herculestire.com/about/our-story/ Currently they are owned by American Tire Distributors. I will definitely let people know as I tow some miles on them.

Ozarks International Raceway. I heard about it as a coming in 2022, but did not see any SCCA events scheduled there yet.

 

[Teamubr]

Ozarks International Raceway. I heard about it as a coming in 2022, but did not see any SCCA events scheduled there yet.

The Pesek's (PF Racing) built the track. Their web site doesn't show anything on the calendar, but NASA Central has an event there April 8-9 and again in June. A bunch of guys I ran with were there a few weeks ago for a test and tune. Here's a video of the track. Some blind corners and blind uphills. Should be a fun track. The motorcycle guys are complaining about the elevation(a GT4/GS Mustang, like our AI Mustangs apparently caught some air) and the walls. There are some tight straights, but no worse than Mid-O or Road America.

j

 

[Sjm9911]

Getting closer to laying down some track on the railroad. I stripped the old tables, and made new legs for them. Just fooling around with track ideas now. Unfortunately, I put stuff in front of my reserve track , so I can't get to it. I need to see what I have and what I need to buy. This is getting expensive. First I needed to sister up the beems, then added another electrical circuit and some new lights. 4x4s and casters for the tables. I built the tables too high, so I got some bar stools from the thrift store. Lol. Still need to conect the tables and add a wooden corner. Bought 500 foot of wiring for all the electrical conections I need to make on the tables. Will be compleated by 2025.......stay tuned.

 

[Sjm9911]

The legs and casters and bar stools.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Dropped the rig off at the shop today . Trying to get a fender fixed from a blow out damage and some other fun stuff, like a slide wiper seal that was never installed and the manufacturer was making me jump through hoops to fix on their dime (had to take it to their shops...both of which they suggest lost my business from previous interactions), so I just did it on my own and the shop I prefer.

Hoping to get it back before my next trip scheduled in about 5 weeks.

 

[garneska]

Something about us flying to Canton seems to be a problem. Supposed to fly out on Friday to Ohio but severe weather in Atlanta on Friday afternoon pushed the flight later and later. We decided to go out B & E on Saturday morning and changed the flight. Good call because shortly after that Delta canceled the flight.

On Saturday we rearranged and setup the new beds in the guest (our) bedroom and at dinner i started the taxes for FIL. That is the reason we are here. Worked on them most of the weekend but last night we filed them. My work here is done. We fly back home on Saturday night.

Weather well it is cold here so i am running at lunch and trying to avoid the rain.

Forgot to add, i am getting some dog time with Lucy. She is not a puppy anymore but high energy loves to play and when tired will sleep in your lap. She did chew my slipper

 

[2goofycampers]

I was looking up values today. Our TT is about what I thought. The truck value is coming up above what we paid. I did it by VIN. Then I looked up used ones around us. Holy cow. Now is the time to sell but not to buy.

 

[PaHunter]

I was looking up values today. Our TT is about what I thought. The truck value is coming up above what we paid. I did it by VIN. Then I looked up used ones around us. Holy cow. Now is the time to sell but not to buy.

Sure is the time to sell for sure, just crazy prices.

 

[bama_ed]

My beloved Chromebook recently reached the end of its life (where Google will continue to provide updates).

This is the machine that I take camping with me to hotspot with - so I want to continue using it in a secure, supported manner.

This Windows user flashed a new firmware and installed Linux Mint 20.3 in the MATE version this afternoon (after much research and step-by-step review).

It's up and running.



I barely know what I'm doing but it was fun. And I had to remember some old IBM DOS behavior from the early 1980s to get the commands to work. Because it was a Chromebook, I used it for web browsing primarily and a little Gmail. Looking forward to seeing what else I can do given my limited hardware and resources.

The new me today.

Ed

PS - nothing wrong with its hardware. However, I also installed a (much) larger SSD than the 16Gb it came with.

 

[jbrostek]

Ed you will find that Linux does not need the same resources as a windows machine for the light duty work you are planning. I have found that Firefox is a better browser on the Linux platforms.


In a related topic I have recently started to think about better ways to simplify my network setup in the RV. If I intend to leverage WFH abilities to extend trips, I been thinking there has to be a better way to latch onto park Wi-Fi or my phone hotspot/tethering. So I been thinking of a OpenWRT based router dedicated to the RV that I can create a local dedicated SSID. The router I am looking is from GL.iNet and their GL-X750V2 router. It can do several things including join a park Wi-Fi as a client and repeat it to the RV, or be a LTE modem, or even USB tether off my iPhone and use its 60G of hotspot bandwidth. I could even go as far as to add a data only sim to it with a data plan (one I am looking at is about 10 a month for 5 gigs) to use a always on feature since you can tell this router to fall back to the internal LTE modem.

I will post what I do as I decide as I dig more into these ideas.

 

[bama_ed]

That router sounds very flexible, @jbrostek, and would likely have one option that could meet your needs wherever you are with the rv.

I managed this morning to connect to my home wireless printer which I hear can sometimes be a problem for Linux Mint users. However, I am struggling with the keyboard shortcuts still. The Chromebook had dedicated keys at the top for browser functions like back, forward, refresh that I would like to map but can't figure it out.

Besides the default Mozilla Firefox browser, I also added google's open source Chromium browser because I see that it has a "Cast" command which I find convenient (or did on my old Chrome OS) and so will play with that to see if it will cast up to my 70" tv.

I have as much connectivity/usefulness now as I had before with the old Chrome OS and still haven't tried the sound and video apps, LibreOffice apps, and such. So it's coming along.