It's Fixed

Sorry no photo, but I'm typing this on my iPad - no Internet here at Boyd Lake campground in Loveland, Co.

But, there is a lake and a view of the mountains, and there was construction on the main road through Fort Collins, and I didn't have the energy to fight through it twice to get back to the mountains after getting my pump fixed.

Since my tanks were full, and I couldn't dump them, Plan A, which was to stop halfway down the mountain and enjoy the river, had to be scrapped. I'm no good at camping without water. So, I drove on in to Fort Collins instead, and threw myself on the mercy of the mechanics at RV World.

I'd sent an email to the good people at Roadtrek before I left the hinterlands, and they'd replied in record time with a close-enough description of the wiring for my pump. (It wasn't standard on the trucks back in 2003; the dealers added them as an after-market feature, so the information is not in the all-important owner's manual. I'm not blind after all.)  My new best friends at RV World were nice enough to stop what they were doing and fit me in. One guy helped find the fuse in the engine compartment - sure enough, it was blown. A second jacked up the truck, so he could reach beneath it to unstuck the pump. The entire operation took less than 30 minutes. Total charge: $2.49.

God Bless 'em.

 I woke up this morning with a better understanding of why I was so upset with it all last night. It wasn't that the pump was broken, that happens to stuff; it was that I had half a clue how to fix it, but not enough know-how to finish the job. I hate it when I can't fix stuff I think I should be able to fix!

 I needed to avoid the sun today anyhow. After returning from my hike yesterday with a beet-red face that looked like sunburn, but didn't hurt until I put lotion on it (which meant it wasn't sunburn, and I swear I'd put on a ton of sunscreen!), I looked up the side effects of Tamoxifen. (Each morning when I take my pill, I envision a fresh team of little warriors on white horses hunting down and killing stray cancer cells, and yesterday's team fading to nothing, their job well finished.) Sure enough, there in the fine print, it says to avoid sun exposure. Now I know why.

Tomorrow, I'll begin to head for home across Kansas, breaking the marathon drive into two days. This has been a beautiful break. It's ending too soon, as breaks are wont to do, but it's been long enough for me to stop for a bit and breathe. I didn't realize until the other day how badly I needed to do that. I need to figure out a way to take mini-breaks back in real life.... Hmmmm....