The Silver Lining or Being Grateful
Looking for the silver lining or being grateful as we make our final preparations for life on the road has become a daily routine for me. It helps me stay positive each time I discover something else that needs attention and repair. Many of which would not be needed if earlier repairs had been done correctly the first time.
Behind Every Dark Cloud
One of the areas that I have been spending some time on in the last week is the tyres and brakes. I had decided that I would need new tyres on the front wheels before we set off. With no power steering a blow out on the front could see us in a lot of trouble. So the front tyres would be moved to the back and two of the rear tyres would be replaced and put on the front.
This was all good in theory. Reality turned out a little different though. When I tried to remove the first tyre from the front the wheel nuts would not budge. No matter what I tried (pipe on the end of the tyre wrench, heat, Penetrating oil etc) I could not get them to move until we received some help in the form of a longer pipe and some extra muscle from some friends. We soon had the nuts loose and when I removed the front wheels It was obvious that some of them had been done up too tight as the threads were striped on a couple of the studs.
Where is the silver lining or something to be grateful in that? You might think. The silver lining was obvious to me even before I had the first wheel nut off. Thank goodness I did not have to deal with this somewhere on the road when I get a flat tyre.
Grateful for bad repairs
One of the other areas that I have had to work on is the buses electrical system. After 40 years of service as a bus and motorhome the wiring was more mixed up than a bowl of spaghetti.
My first task was to identify where each wire went and to remove any that were no longer connected. After removing 60 metres or so of disconnected wire I discovered that I had a problem. My brake lights were no longer working. Had I removed the wrong wire? I didn’t think so but it was quite a coincidence that they had stopped working when I pulled all the extra wire out.
After several hours of applying various methods to trace the fault I found the problem hidden in the wiring loom under the tape covering. Someone had connected new wires from the brake light switch (which is on the air lines under the bus) into the wiring loom with crimp terminals using wire cutters. They had cut almost all of the way through the wire when they had done it. I had bumped it when I pulled the excess cable out, but did not discover it at first because it was hidden under the tape.
The silver lining to that was that I now know the wiring system inside out after tracing the fault for several hours and I also found a couple of other faults that could have shut down the entire electrical system at any time If I had not found them.
So if sometimes you are feeling like you are having a bit of a hard time then turn your outlook around and look for the silver lining. Being grateful makes my days a whole lot happier.
Do You Find The Silver Lining In Every Situation?
Cheers,
Dave
New Life On The Road
Just goes to show everything has to be checked and every safety precaution taken to make sure you will be traveling under the silver lining and not the black clouds
Rita
There is a huge silver lining with finding everything that needs to be done now, and its really good to double check everything!
Cheers
David
As the old saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining and I certainly am happy that you found those problems with the bus before you were on the road as things could have been very tricky when you are in the middle of nowhere.
So very true Jackie – It sure is good to find the repairs now as its much easier to fix while still here, instead of when we are on the road!
Cheers
David
Yes there is always a silver lining! I am glad to hear you found the problems early!
Hi Willem,
Sure is a silver lining. Trying to find many of the repairs before we head off, as I can easily fix them while I have all of my tools, but once we are on the Road full time it wont always be possible to fix them straight away.
Cheers
David
Thanks for the post David,
It reminds us all to keep in mind that there is actually the silver lining to any situation if we just think about it a bit.
Hi Bev,
Happy to have found all of the repairs that need doing – finding the silver lining to everything makes life more enjoyable!
cheers
David
Gosh Lisa, you have been busy. Everything happens for a reason, and I guess it’s great that you are dealing with these things before you start your new life on the road.
There is always a silver lining, and the time will soon be here when you will be on your adventure!
Thanks Hilary – it has been crazy here! David is pushing himself to get it all finished so that we can be on the Road asap! Looking forward to sharing our first night at a new town 🙂
So grateful that David has discovered these things now, instead of when we head off down the road!
Cheers
Lisa