On our way to Yosemite we stopped in Bartow and visited with our friend Deborah's mom who is 92 and just lovely, taking some time boondocked in her driveway to address a few of the systems on the trailer that were in need of attention.
We had long wanted to upgrade the cheap faucet on the kitchen sink, so with a few extra days on our hands we shopped around for some better options and found a nice one at Home Depot. Since it had a wider base we had to drill new supply line holes in the Formica counter. We did this with the help of a high speed drill that we tried out and eventually returned to the store, and Datta managed to reinstall the plumbing free of leaks.
Barstow being a trucker town, we also managed to find a source for a vintage fitting that we hadn't been able to find elsewhere to reconnect our main propane tank supply line. And we got the wheels aligned on the Audi which were starting to show some wear from the added weight of the trailer.
We also tracked down a hose supplier to fabricate a longer line to run to the outdoor Magma grill that we have been using in place of the oven in the trailer which had been knocked out of commission by some pots during transport. This way we could move the grill back to where we set up for our meals under the awning instead of having to run up to the front of the trailer every time we wanted to check in on our food in progress.
And it was during a run for supplies at the Barstow Walmart that the magnitude of the pandemic started to really sink in as we passed aisle after empty aisle that looked like the place had been ravaged by some desperate horde. It's in times like these that you start to realize that a struggle for survival isn't really all that far away on any given day...
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