Sort Of Repaired

Friday afternoon our parts arrived. Saturday morning the engine mount was installed.

We have a new water pump, new serpentine belt and rollers and no obvious coolant leaks. We take a test drive today and make sure. That’s the good news.

The bad news is there seems to be no way to make the inverter low voltage light turn off. I’m half inclined to put a piece of tape over it and move on.

But my wife who is the brains of the outfit thinks we should get it taken care of in case it gets worse and starts shutting down our inverter, source of 110 volt power in our home. She’s right of course so this week we drive back to Uruguay, across flatland Argentina to the cold. Fabulous.

Chris has done everything humanly possible but I fear our brand new $3,000 inverter may be toast. Warranty time is fun time. 

Rudy speaks only German and as he is Austrian he gets made fun of for his accent but really he is an electronic genius and though he cannot speak English or Spanish he built his own batteries in his Mitsubishi box truck home. 

His polyglot girlfriend is spending summer back home in Austria so he hangs out with the German speaking contingent in Caacupé. Even he shook his head in despair with Chris as they tried to make the inverter happy. 

I’ve contacted Adrián in Uruguay and he will prepare the importer for our return. I hate warranty claims as one feels so helpless but let’s hope Victron really is backing their products.

How many men does it take to seat the bead of a tractor tire? Three it turns out, which was a welcome comedy break from the irritation of the inverter. 

The photo above is of a Brazilian 1000cc Suzuki motorcycle packaged for a flight to Spain. A Brazilian RVer we met on the beach earlier this year sent me the picture of his daughter’s motorcycle as she prepares for a five month tour of Europe with her husband which I think is really cool.

There’s more of this kind of travel going on than you might realize and Jean-Chretien’s note was a healthy reminder.

Robert the American (above) is enjoying life in Asunción and the two German women in the big bad expedition truck left last week.

Birgitte is 63 and as she said goodbye for now she also added we were an inspiration as she and Gertraut are wondering how long they can keep traveling as they age. Their adult children are settled and for now they are enjoying South America. We’ve got used to that comment from the younger crowd who compare us to their sedentary grandparents but this one came as a surprise. 

A Brazilian mother and daughter stopped by to see Chris and his campground. 

Caroline and her daughter Maria own a campground in southern Brazil and it gets rave reviews in iOverlander so Layne put it on the list for when we go back to Brazil next year.

They are on a two week vacation traveling in their pick up and they only stopped by for an hour. Claudia and Armin also left. 

They were nice neighbors and we can’t forget easily who they are.

Armin used to be a truck driver and he says that’s what they do in Germany, put their names in the windshield. 

I wonder if the menagerie will miss us when eventually we leave for the cold southern regions.

Rusty is coming with us of course and I think he too is ready for travel. I wondered after he had his stroke but he is very alert and interested in life which is good for my morale.