Into Week Three in San Antonio

Still hanging on in San Antonio.

One thing taken care of; the antenna for Art's shortwave ham radio was an easy fix. A connector from the antenna tuner had broken off due to the vibration and bouncing down the road. Cut back and strip a bit from the end of the wire and crimp on a new connector (he always carries a selection) and its good to go.

Monday, 9 November we got through to the satellite dish company—they actually returned Art's call. After some questions from Robert and answers from Art, the problem was diagnosed—the controller needed a software update.

We had known that and had thought that it had been done when the new LNB was installed before leaving home. Should have tested it completely. We had a good signal after the new LNB was installed, the receiver worked fine. BUT we hadn't tested the controller from the beginning, with the dish down.

We had a good signal because the dish had already been locked onto the satellite's position before the LNB was changed and hadn't been moved. With the old firmware the controller didn't recognise the new LNB.

Then we decided to chase down the windshield problem. Call to Trans America Class but the agent wasn't available. We then called Lightning Glass, the shop that was to do the work. They had been waiting for Trans America to order the glass. Trans America had contacted them and told them to order the glass and they would be reimbursed, including shipping. Art was told that the glass had been ordered and would be shipped Tuesday. Lightning Glass then dug up the paperwork and checked with Art to make sure all the details were correct. Passenger side glass? NO! Driver's side!

At least Art had remembered that today is Gillian's birthday! She wanted to see the Natural Bridge Caverns northwest of San Antonio.

Art's bike still wasn't shifting properly so since we would be here another week we decided to take it in to the shop on the way out to see the Caverns to get the shifter replaced. They confirmed that the problem was in the shifter, couldn't find the exact one in their reference books to they called Pedago

and ordered one from them. It should be in in . three days.

We arrived at the Caverns about 1:00 PM and had a little look around then asked what the walk was like and how far. 75 minutes, steep and wet surface. Art decided that even with the side stix it was probably better to stay back with his book. (He always has a book!) At the ticket counter Gillian was told that the tour would start in 10 minutes. She said we needed lunch first and was told to come back after lunch.

Much to our surprise there was no restaurant in the place. The nearest miles away. We opted for the snack bar. Chili Nachos and a beer for Gillian and Chicken and Chips and a root beer (an occasional treat) for Art.

Poor Gillian, not a happy birthday lunch, the nachos were exceptionally terrible. Disgusting. A few soggy thin “tortilla chips” round and very thin crackers of some kind—not real tortilla chips-- a little chili sauce drizzled on and a load of disgusting orange semi liquid stuff that was supposed to be cheese. Cheese Whiz from a jar would have been a huge improvement, and neither of us like Cheese Whiz!Art willingly shared his very nice chicken and chips with her.

Then it was time for her Cavern Tour while Art settled down with his book for a while. . . and popped back to the snack bar for a hot dog and another root beer. 

After a bit he returned to the Jeep to take Tia out for a little stroll then relaxed in the Jeep with his book until Gillian returned. Happily, she much enjoyed the tour and walk through the caverns.

We were back at the park about 5:00 PM. Once Tia was fed we changed and drove downtown for Gillian's birthday dinner. We found a place to park in a hotel parkade and walked out to the street. Art asked “Which way do you want to go?” Well right there in front of us, directly across from the parkade exit, was ZINK Bar and Bistro.

We had an excellent dinner and a nice chat with the waiter who was pleased and surprise to find that we knew of and had even driven through the small town in Jalisco Mexico that he was originally from. We had no room for desert but cheese plate and wine item caught Gillian's attention. We'll be back for that some evening.

Tuesday Lightning Glass called to ask again details about the motorhome, make, model and to ask if it was the passenger side windshield. A little late! It was supposed to have already been ordered! And NO, NO, NO! Its' the driver's side windshield. They (Lightning Glass) had been to the rig, had taken details from there registration and photos of the windshield damage. And they asked this yesterday. Windshield should be here for Saturday. Yeah, Right. Somehow we are not brimming over with confidence.

The internet was very intermittent today, but eventually it came back and later in the day we downloaded the firmware fore the satellite controller. Now, where did we put that USB-Serial adaptor? Or did we bring it? We do have one. We had located it at home when we first knew that the controller would need an up date. Ah. Then we decided to let Jim do it when he changed the LNB. It's at home.

Oh well, back to town. There was a Radio Shack and a Best Buy near the HEB grocery store and we could use a few more things from there too. Of course then it was time for lunch, so we tried out the nearby Cracker Barrel.

Food was reasonably good, no real complaints. Art ordered the chicken livers. He is quite fond of liver and Gillian is not so it's not usually cooked at home. (Though when Trekker was ill and not eating she used to cook liver for him. Art would always sneak some for himself!) A surprise though, the livers were battered and deep fried. Quite good, just barely over done. The side salad he had with them was excellent.

Back home, lets try to update the controller. If it all goes well we should be in time for the 5 O''clock news at 7:00 PM.. Let's just say Art is barely computer literate. Connected everything up, followed the “read me first” doc which we had printed out, line by line. No luck at all. As soon as we turned the controller on to start the up load everything stopped. Tried several times. Frustration. Have to call Robert in the morning. We watched local TV on the park's cable.

Today had been a very warm day mostly sunny and very little wind. Quite pleasant outside, very warm inside (86F) We thought about turning the air conditioning on to at least reduce the humidity but were reluctant to since the forecast was for much cooler temperatures. Later in the afternoon the breeze came up, blowing through the motor home from left to right, and with the extractor fans on the temperature began to drop. By dinner time we closed the windward windows and by bed time it was very comfortable.

Wednesday morning Art called Robert again and explained what had happened. On had not happened. His suggestion? Download and use the firmware upgrade for serial to serial connection rather than USB to serial connection even though the laptop has no serial port.

Again the internet was being difficult but eventually we had the desired download. Plugged the computer into the controller. Clicked the .exe file, selected the desired port (previously decided upon after much frustration) and turned the controller on. ZOOOOOOM it was done.

Now to select the various parameters such as what language, what type of LNB (given that by Robert) and the type of dish mount. Gillian climbed up on the roof to find that, only to later find it printed on the Controller manual! When the last item was selected (dish mount) the controller began it calibration routine, moving the dish through its limits then shut down.

Now the test: Turn the controller on. Up down and around for a while then several minutes later: Locked on! Turn the receiver on. TA DAAAA! Lots of time to spare before watching the 5 O'Clock CHEK 6 News and various Remembrance Day ceremonies. At 7:00 PM of course, thanks to being on Central Time.

Thursday morning came verrrry early (twoish) Tia waking us up with a bark, then later a few grumbles. She has been doing this on and off for a while. At home it was every night for weeks. At first we thought that she needed out but later realised that was not the case. She was just upset or worried about something. Now she settles with a bit of attention, a bit of stroking and goes back to sleep.

We are pretty sure that she has somewhat from dementia and wakes up lost and confused. At home, if she lost sight of us she would stand and bark twice—two sharp barks. She is also very deaf so calling her or talking to here is not very effective.

At 3:00 AM Art woke up again, a very cool breeze blowing through the bedroom window and across the bed. 1^St, close the window, then turn the ceiling fan down to low (Gillian might want it on) then close all the other windows and turn the kitchen ceiling vent thermostat down 'till the fan turns off.

The forecast as right. It was much cooler today. In fact for much of the day Art wore a T shirt, a thin light weight sweatshirt and until late afternoon, a light denim shirt over that.

After watching local (San Antonio) news and weather and, at long last, Global TV Morning News we spent the rest of the day catching up with the blog, reading, visiting with neighours and a doing a couple of loads of laundry.

Now as 7:00 PM approaches it's time to post this and get ready for the 5 O'Clock CHEK news!