It was 12°F (-11°C) when we got out of bed around 8:00. The water pump sounded better this morning. The little bit of an air bubble I created in the hot water heater is helping. I had my normal breakfast then looked for a 12VDC clock with red LEDs with an always-on display. I want a new clock that I can see at night so I no longer have to reach up to turn on the backlight for the clock we have with an LCD display. The best clock that I could find was on eBay by a seller from New Zealand! It's a nice small unit (2.5x1.0x0.6 inches or 64x26x14mm) and draws less than 100mA. I bought it using a Buy-It-Now option, and I can't wait to get the clock! Then I bought two 6' Impact Light Stands from B&H. Then I bought three 2.2-lb bags of LavAzza Gran Filtro Dark Roast Whole Bean coffee from The Sovrana Store. They have the best price I've been able to find. We prepped the RV to move, and left at 11:30 with me in the RV to go dump and J in the Jeep to go babysit the grandkids.

I went to the Town of Castle Rock Public Works building around noon and the dump was covered by a pile of snow that had been plowed off of the parking lot. :( Because that's the best place to dump near Parker, I decided to dig out the dump station using a folding shovel that the previous owner of the RV threw in with the RV. I dug straight down through the three feet of snow with layers of ice and ended up hitting the dirt — I missed my target. Then I started digging near the pole with a water hose at the top, and quickly found the edge of the dump area. :) It didn't take too much longer to reach the drain. I dumped using our long hose because I couldn't get the RV close enough to the drain to use our short, and much more convenient, hose. I left around 12:35 and ...

Ate some Clif Bars for lunch on the drive back.

I went to SJ&DilK's (J's Son J and Daughter-in-law K's) to meet up with J and provide reinforcements — she was pooped from watching the kids! When I arrived, GA (grandson A, age 8) was playing his new Wii Sports Resort game, GJ (grandson J, age 4) was sitting in a chair watching GA, and GS (granddaughter S, age 2.5) was sitting on J's lap watching GA. After a while, GS came and sat on my lap and we had some quality time together. Then GJ and I played a game of Battleship, The Tactical Combat Game using a set of unique GJ rules. :) After we finished, GA and I played a game of Battleship, The Tactical Combat Game using the regular rules. DilK returned from her retail-therapy trip, and J and I went out to the RV around 3:10. J went online through the fast Wi-Fi network and I started working on the RV water system.

Air Bubble in the Hot Water Tank — Take Two

I tried to create an air bubble in the top of our hot water heater using a second method. (You may read about the first method I tried yesterday that wasn't too successful.) Today I turned off the water pump, opened up the hot water valve of the kitchen faucet (any faucet would work), then connected a hose to the city water connection of the RV (it feeds the pressurized side of the RV water system), then turned on the water to the hose. The air that was in the hose was forced into the pressurized side of the RV water system through the hot water tank. I turned off the water to the hose after water started entering the RV, then I closed the kitchen sink faucet, then turned the water pump back on. Then I disconnected the hose from the city water connection and started to fill the fresh water tank of the RV. While the tank filled, I ran some water through the kitchen sink to work out any air that might be in the pipes. The water pump sounded much better. :)

After I finished with the water, I picked up a package that UPS had delivered for me — the new power converter. :) I went online through the fast Wi-Fi network. We left around 4:30 with me in the RV and J in the Jeep.

We returned to K's and quickly settled in. The water pump sounded much better than it has in a long time — I think we have a decent air bubble in the water heater — whoopee! We left not too long afterwards in the Jeep.

We went to The Warhorse Inn in Parker at 5:00 to take SJ (J's Son J) and his family out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. I got a pint of Deschutes Black Butte Porter to go with an Enchilada Plate (one steak, one chicken, and one cheese enchilada), and J got Chile Rellenos. We enjoyed the food and company.

We returned to the RV around 6:30, and I installed the new Inteli-Power PD9160A power converter (converts 110VAC to 12VDC). I started working on a blog entry, then did some research on Wikipedia. The Space Shuttle came up as a topic at dinner, and I confirmed that the first completely-atmospheric test flights (of Enterprise) were in 1977, and the first space flight (of Columbia) was in 1981. Then I looked up the Voyager Program and confirmed that the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacefraft carried the Voyager Golden Record as an introduction by the human race to any intellegent extraterestrial life forms who find it. Voyager 1 is the furthest man-made object from the solar system. As of August 28, 2009, Voyager 1 was about 110.94 AU (16.596 billion km, or 10.312 billion miles) from the Sun. Voyager came up because J has her signature on the Cassini Signature Disk which is attached to the Cassini Saturn probe.