4-6-15 FINALLY GOT WHEELS AGAIN !!!

4-6-15, Monday--been a few weeks of checking out cars on Craigslist . Saw some good, some bad and some ugly in the area. Last Saturday I noticed a new listing and called up on it. Since we only have the motorhome I told the guy I'd borrow a car on Monday and come look at it. On Monday he said he'd drive over to us. How cool !! Early afternoon he was here. Nice, well kept 1997 Cadillac Deville, garage kept and it had service records. It has 91K miles on it which is low milage for the year. I checked it out stem to stearn and this is “ THE ONE” !! He did warn me that it had an issue with the security system. Since I work on cars and do electrical work I decided it was worth the hassle.

It's been a few years without a car since we went fulltime. We're staying in S.E USA this summer so it'll be nice to have wheels for running around. If we weren't towing a trailer with tools and the Honda motorcycle behind the rig we'd have a car dolly. Ms. Heather will be running our chase car.

I've been analyzing and chasing the car's security system. Seems that the alarm triggers for no apparent reason. It's started blaring at midnight and it triggered once while we were driving it. So, after much internet research and youTube videos and Cadillac forums, I'm disconnecting one switch per day til I find the culprit. If that doesn't work I'll try a replacement ECM ( electronic control module ). I fix stuff, ya know !! ( like Billy Bob)

     I had a lot of forms, copied off the internet, to send to Michigan, our home state, and I used 2 day UPS mail service to expedite our new title, registration and plate. I'm just glad Michigan will do all this and send the stuff to an out of stater's address. They also will let us renew our licenses, one time, via internet. Michigan gave up the stupid inspections years ago so we havent got to go thru that nonsense either. We should have the plates in a week or so.

       Luckily, a Cadillac mechanic lives in our Resort so he's been coaching me on this alarm issue. How lucky is that? I figure in a few days I'll either have this problem fixed or I'll have the whole security thing removed. I don't see the sense in alarms. If someone wants to break in or steal something they already know the workarounds and can be done with the crime in 5 minutes or less before any law enforcement gets there. The only thing a blaring horn accomplishes is get your neighbors ticked off. We've all experienced the alarms in the shopping mall parking lots to a point where we don't even pay attention to them. Have ya ever been walking past a car and had the begeezers scared out of you with a horn?? I carry good insurance to protect me, that's all I need.

       Jeff, the mechanic, brought an analyzer over and found a bad driver's door security switch. He pulled it in 10 minutes.

That would have taken me 4 hours to do. Gonna order and install a replacement this week.

    Gotta/gonna start fishing more. The water is getting warm so the fishing is picking up. I've learned to wait for this over the last few years. I'm not saying there's no fish in the winter but it's much better now. We need to have a fish fry soon.

   As is usual every year, we've had all the park's cats visiting us. Every morning, “ Mama Cat “, is scratching at the door begging food. We also have “ Buddy “ and “ Blackie” visiting all day. Gotta love it ! And every year, when we leave, they all wonder where the big box went !! Of course “ Puppy Cat “ can't be left out ! I'm sure we put weight on them all.

    We notice that the island traffic is slowing down and we see a lot of RV's leaving. End of “ season “ is in full swing and I'm sure the locals will be glad to regain their island. Our hometown in Michigan, Houghton Lake, goes thru the same thing all summer. I wonder how those areas would survive without the influx of “season” money? From what the locals have said, “ You could throw a bowling ball down the street in the summer “.

    REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

   Charlie & Heather.