Heard from the repair shop yesterday (original estimated completion date). Seems it is taking a lot longer than anticipated. May be Friday or early next week, now. Living out of motels is getting very old and very expensive. I miss my tin can home, alot...
Took much longer to remove the inner fender than expected. I suspect they have tried to do it without completely removing the galley cabinets and sink, which would be an enormous waste of time. Then comes the clincher. The long wires that were ripped out were indeed the power supply and neutral to the second double pole-double throw switch that controls the water pump. Seems that when manufactured, Airstream installed that long wiring run before they installed the outer skin. Replacing it would entail removing said outer skin and destruction of the factory watertight seals - not a good thing. Compromise was necessary. Have agreed to abandon the double switch circuit for a small bezel and lighted switch below the hanging locker door that might be reachable while seated on the throne with your toe...
Off to New Orleans, now that all the BCS championship crazies have left town and freed up some motel rooms. We spent the past weekend on the Gulf of Mexico in the Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Shores, area that was so badly devastated by Katrina. It is changed forever. Gone are the honky-tonks, restaurants, souvenir shops, motels, rental houses, and the easy-going, beach culture. It's as though the heart has been torn right out of the region. The US and state governments have been extremely slow releasing disaster recovery funds. Insurance companies have weaseled out of paying for any damage to structures located within 3 or 4 blocks of the beach, claiming it was all wave action, rather than winds, that destroyed the buildings. Thousands have been bankrupted and left homeless as a result. We're not talking about the hoodlums and hoi poloi of the Ninth District in New Orleans that were flooded out when the levees broke. Nope, we're talking whole families, business owners and operators, whole beach communities and the infrastructure along the beach. Here and there, a travel trailer is setup, laying claim to the land that once hosted their home. No water, no sewer, no lights/electricity available yet. Just one small stretch of Gulfport is getting new sidewalks and street lights -- it's costing over 2 million dollars. Bringing back whole communities is going to be very difficult. It is enough to make you cry, a year and a half after the storm.
More when the spirit moves and I have access to wifi.
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3 comments:
No kidding, that really IS sad.
When I was a trucker, I came to the conclusion that things move sooooo much more slowly in the South than us Yoopers (& Yankees) are used to.
My son, his wife, & sometimes their sons have, been with their church group, helping with the Katrina effort in the Gulfport area. STILL SPENDING WEEKS THERE AS POSSIBLE! They are returning there for a week at the end of January.
I've been agonizing with youse guys over your "tin-can" delays ...
Thanks Donna & Lois. I agree. Also, as of today (Tuesday, 1/15/08) the tin can alley house is STILL incomplete. But now they have a legitimate excuse -- the fellow working on it is out sick.
Dang it all! Can't get too mad at them under these conditions, even if it looks like the delay will cost my wife her job and we'll lose our insurance -- in my case, forever. And so it goes.
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