(CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM LARGER)
8:16 am - PST - Wednesday - 59º F, humidity 37%, wind 1 mph from the west......blue skies from horizon to horizon. The humidity is as low as it has been for over a month. We do have rain in the forecast for Saturday (80% chance), but good weather between now and then.
Towards the end of Monday TLE advised me that our MOEN® single lever kitchen faucet was leaking, and it sure was. Can't complain too much.....that valve is as old as our coach (35 years), so it wasn't too much of a surprise. This kind of stuff happens whether you live in a sticks and bricks home, or in an RV as we do......just as you would if you lived in a sticks and bricks home you make a trip to the local hardware store and get the stuff to fix it. Fortunately there is a TruValue Hardware store a short distance away in Borrego Springs, so first thing Tuesday I drove into town to buy a new valve, and rebuild kit replete with 'O'rings, clips, etc. Now I had done some research on YouTube about how to remove and replace that valve, and all of the valve options. The least expensive replacement valve is the plastic one at about $20, but there is a solid brass option which will last longer than I have left on this earth, and it costs about $63.....I went for the brass one. Now I was not able to remove the old valve as it was stuck and I needed a special tool (included in the rebuild kit) to break it loose, so I didn't know if what I had was brass, or plastic until I returned home from my quick trip into town. Before leaving I took a picture of the underside of the chrome cap on top of faucet where the part number for my particular MOEN® faucet is.......
.......easier than writing it on a piece of paper. I secured the brass replacement version of the valve and the 'O'ring kit and returned home to begin the R&R process. Using the plastic tool provided I was able to break the old valve loose and found it was the plastic version......hmmmmm.....that less expensive part lasted a long time......oh well........
The all brass $63 version of the plastic one
......as good as new!
After finishing my home improvement project for the day I thought I should treat myself to a 17 mile round trip ride back east on S-22 (towards the Salton Sea). I wanted to ride 8.5 mile out climbing from our (according to my Garmin cyclo computer) 694' elevation to the highest point between here and the Salton Sea of 988' elevation.....that ended up being right at the emergency call box #346.......
......I took a couple of 'panos' of the surrounding area, then turned around to begin the 8.5 mile descent back to base camp.....
Now it's time for the reward....the downhill!
.........in all I covered 17.2 miles in one hour 21 minutes, burned 1108 calories, and averaged 12.7 mph for the entire 17.2 miles.
After putting my bike away, and changing back into my tshirt, shorts and flip flops I settled into the lounge chair outside and read.....there were a couple of naps interspersed along the way, of course.
The sun begins to dip behind the local mountains around 5 pm and you never know what kind of a sunset you will get.....I thought Tuesday's sunset was unique......
.......thanks for stopping by!
That would have benn a great workout , and repairing the taps a bonus as well. Back home in Ontario Canada Moen supplies the cartridges free, too bad they don't do it here.
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