Deflection

Galveston, oh Galveston
I still hear your sea winds crashing

I just looked up the lyrics to this song, and I remember them fairly well, of course it was a big hit back in 1969. It was played over and over again on the radio, as most hits were then. Glen Campbell was also on is way to the top of the music charts, and staring in True Git did help with his popularity. The songs that I remember the best from Glen Campbell was Galveston and I am a Linemen for the County.

This afternoon I did walk on Galveston beach, with the yellow flag out. It means: Medium Hazard – Moderate surf and/or currents are present. With this type of surf, I was hearing the waves crashing. The beach is fairly flat and the soil is ground up sea shell. The means that the soil is small round spheres that is typically hard to move. But, with this type of surf, the water is moving the soil around. When the waves come in, it drags the soil back out with it. In most cases, the water dragging the soil back out to the sea it cuts trenches. It is in these trenches that the soil is really moving. By looking out to the sea, the weather was making large waves over half a mile from the shore, due to the beach being so flat. The waves were really crashing.

I walked along the beach barefoot for about 30 minutes. This gave me a chance to walk up and down the trenches and feel the sand move under my feet. It was truly an experience that I enjoyed. I have learned how to enjoy walking on the beach.

When I got here, I know the I had a brake problem on my truck, since there was a problem on the left front brake (including having the truck pull to the right when the brakes were applied). They took from Tuesday of last week to 10:00 on Saturday to fix the brakes, including the front rotors and the left front calipers. Since I have driven the truck in snow over the last seven years, I felt that the rod that the calipers slide on was probably rusted and causing the calipers not to open after each time the brakes were applied, so the problem had to be fixed. But, after driving the truck, the left front brake was smelling and it was hot, and the truck would not free wheel. So, I took it back to them and they found that the brake line to the caliper was plugged, and they replaced the brake line free of charge. The service manager stated that the brake lines plug more often than one might think. I asked him that I remembered that the brake lines are to be flushed every so often, and he stated that they are to be flushed every 40,000 miles, so I do not understand why the service managers do not ask if a vehicle owner wants it done every 40,000 when the truck is serviced. The dealership in Cedar Rapids was good, and they did go over these type of maintenance items that should be done each time the truck is serviced.

When bring a vehicle in with a brake issues, it seems logical that they would flush the brakes to determine if a plugged brake line was causing the problem. It is a good thing that they replace the brake line for free, since it looks like they were not doing their job last seek.

Colder weather is coming in tomorrow and is to stay around through next week (my trailer is getting blown around tonight). Since my trailer rent runs out tomorrow night, it seems like it is time to move on, since it will not be very pleasant walking on the beach barefoot when it is cold.

Roger