Repaired

Our cabin heater is installed and working. The distributor put a new igniter in it and cleaned out the carbon and it runs hot once again. 

We have learned our lesson and will run the heater at full blast frequently to burn off the carbon build up. A reader asked if we have a carbon monoxide alarm and we do but frankly I don’t trust that stuff so we only run the heater when we are up and awake. If we need heat at night we can use our 110 volt space heater off our batteries to take the edge off a cold night.

This was Adrián’s first job under his new storage roof which is just the first step in building a whole new storage and workshop area. He needs it too as the weather turned ghastly suddenly with thunder lightning and heavy rain. We ended up inside for the evening warm and dry with rain flooding the yard. We also noticed a hurricane threatening the Florida panhandle so we do feel lucky to be here.

We also went into town to do some last minute shopping; I’d run out of honey for my oatmeal, critical stuff like that  plus Rusty usually likes urban walks while Layne shops.

It was Wednesday so the fish truck was in Colonia Valdense, a town whose routines we have come to know quite well but we expect to cross the border to Argentina today which means we don’t need to risk getting expensive fish confiscated. We have had mixed luck at the Fray Bentos border once getting no inspection at all and once getting every fresh item confiscated…And then there was the lady who came up and asked if we were from Key West:

It was really rather sweet as she remembered her cruise to Key West very clearly, climbing the lighthouse and touring the Hemingway House among other things. She made me nostalgic.

Eagle-eyed Layne spotted a copy shop and we stopped to get our new Florida registration laminated. Our old one was a mess after two years of border crossings and checkpoints so when we got our new registration, good through 2028 we decided to protect it by laminating it for a buck fifty. Rusty waited outside.

Up next: a four day drive to Paraguay and a new cooling system for GANNET2. 

And I took an accidental selfie with my iPhone18.

Me losing control of things as usual.