Weekend, more truck problems - Day 945 (Year 3, Day 212)

Bastrop, TX

This past weekend, although uneventful, was pleasant.  Friday was a beautiful weather day - in the high 70s, a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky.  After a nice Shabbat dinner, we wanted to sit outside to enjoy the fresh air.  Turns out that in the row across from us, 2 RVs down, there was a little get-together over a campfire and someone playing the guitar.  When he finished a song (all Texas country music), we applauded.  In return, he yelled over "it sounds better over here."  So we took our chairs and joined the group for a little while (as an aside, it seems there are more long-termers here than overnighters, so many folks seem to know each other, and everyone is very friendly).

Sunday was kind of nice as well.  We were hoping to go into Austin and do some sight-seeing, but money is extremely tight right now so we decided to just do our grocery run and laundry.

Speaking of groceries....  as of last week (after my doctor's visit), I realized how critical it is for me to lose weight.  I had lost about 100 lbs before, but since we've been on the road (2.75 years), I've put back on about 40.  Not good, and the dr. said that although I'm healthy, I'm a walking time bomb.  So I've just started a new food plan, which is completely cutting out all processed foods and high carb items (besides fast food which I don't eat anyway, no bread -- except maybe a very small piece of challah on Friday night -- pasta, grains (including cereal), anything with flour, high sugar fruits, milk, anything in a can.  Also have to give up my daily wine 😢. Basically it's just eggs, tofu, fish and lots of vegetables.  It's pretty much a very low carb, almost keto, diet.  So wish me success!

Now, about the truck... after much training (both at home and at the gas company), Mitch finally got his maps and was ready to start his inspections yesterday (Monday).  He had noticed that the truck was shaking, didn't have pickup, and stalled.  He pulled into a parking lot and checked the coolant level which was low.  He added some, but when he turned the key in the ignition, it wouldn't start.  Had to tow it 40 miles back to Bastrop (he was in Austin).  The initial diagnosis was a bad sensor in the crank shaft (according to the diagnostic codes), which $350 later, was replaced.  Started up fine, so mechanic took it out for a test drive.  It stalled while driving it, so back to the drawing board - obviously it's a different or additional problem.  He actually had the diagnostic meter on while driving and it lost all communication, so there's a good chance it's a computer issue.  Meanwhile, 2 days of lost work (possibly 3 if it's not ready tomorrow) and dipping even more into our savings.  I'd say let's get off the road, but not only would living in a house or apartment cost a lot more than campground rent, but you need to add in utilities.  Most importantly, this is a car, and it doesn't matter where we live -- cars will have problems!  Can't afford to trade it because what we need to pull the CoW (super heavy duty truck) will be way out of our price range and we have no plans to take on any debt via a loan.  Plus we'd need to buy a new hitch.  Makes more sense to just keep repairing it.  It's still a baby engine wise (has about 80K miles and these diesel trucks are designed for at least 500K.  I will, however, keep my eyes out for a great sale but I suspect anything we can afford will be much older and have far more miles.