We arrived back on The Mountain shortly after 8pm last night. As we crept up the road, I heard the radiator fan running — odd, considering that it was neither hot outside nor was the truck working hard. I pulled up next to the RV and turned off the engine.
The fan kept running. I had to trick it into shutting down or it would’ve drained the battery.
It took me a minute to remember that this had happened once before, back in May. At the time we bought a coolant-temp sensor to effect repairs, but the symptoms went away before we installed it and we hadn’t seen the problem since.
Until last night, that is. When I finished my other chores this morning, the fan still was misbehaving, so I had a job to do.
What I didn’t have was a 3/4-inch deep socket and an extension, which (along with some advice) I borrowed from Deb’s cousin. It took a couple of tries to get it right (including disconnecting the battery for a while to convince the system to reset), but the fan seems to be operating normally now.
While I was working on the Silverado over by the shed, at the other end of the homesite our backhoe guy showed up with a truckload of gravel. He got started closing the trench in the driveway — first laying down a layer of that gravel to cushion the PVC pipe from damage, then pulling clay and rock back into the ditch.
Up near the hydrant, the water line runs under the north end of the cabin. That’s close quarters for the front-end loader he was using, so I grabbed his shovel and filled the last six or eight feet by hand. He put the remaining gravel on the surface of the driveway and back-dragged it as smooth as he could.
The process took him three hours. And we have a driveway again.
He climbed down from his backhoe, we set out a chair and he joined us under the awning for another of those now-familiar after-the-job-is-done conversations. Two of our neighbors had rolled up on their quads earlier, and everyone was acquainted.
It was a good time.
So, eight months after it began, the well work is done. Though we may top the driveway with a final layer of gravel once the septic line is in and the fifth-wheel is gone, the dirt work is done.
The homesite now is fully functional. And that’s a big deal.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB