Ongoing Letter - Allan's Place
Allan's journal to the world. (Sounds important, doesn't it?)
I finally have new summer tires for the T&C.
I decided to go with Kirks for new rubber. They corrected an error by K1z Auto and Gary Moe Chrysler (the annoying rattle in the rear end), new brakes all around, new winter tires, and other stuff. They seem to know their stuff.
My last tires were pretty badly worn. Floyd got some service done on his vehicle. They said he needed new tires. I compared his to mine, and he had three times the tread that I did. Oh my.
It seems we have a new rental electric scooter company in town. Anybody hear of Bird?
The last company, Neuron, had bright orange scooters – rattly things that were like a tank version of a scooter. (I’ve never actually rented one, but I heard others talk about them.)
Now we have Birds.
I’m at Starbucks having a tall Pike. I got here by scooter. Yesterday was the first time this year being out on the scooter. It’s still a little cool out – 10
I just cleaned out the leaves stuck in the heater of my 2010 Chrysler Town & Country. A YouTuber called Rivera Autoworx put out a video called 2012 Chrysler Town and Country Blower motor Replacement, so that made it easy(er).
Not good for the back though. It’s been barking for about three weeks. Ouch.
I finally got new snow tires for the Chrysler van. I know it is the middle of February, and I should have done this before, but money is tight.
I got new rims, too, so I wouldn’t have to rely on a garage to change over from summer to winter tires and back again. Unfortunately, it changes the look of the van completely.
Okay, I admit it. Havoc happened. I went out to start the van this morning, and it wouldn’t start. I forgot to plug it in. So I plugged it in and waited. Still, the engine spun around and around, but it didn’t fire up. I used the little Noco Boost Plus battery booster, and it still just spun around but didn’t fire.
Flip! I got a flat. I knew it was low Friday evening. I borrowed FT’s car to go to Milk River for tutoring. But today it’s flat than a pancake (but only on the bottom, so that’s good).
.
I’m at Northside Dodge (now called Gary Moe) having the Chrysler Town and Country diagnosed. The engine light came on a few days ago. So now I have some downtime in the ‘service lounge’. What to do? I should have brought receipts to do finances. At least I have a cup of coffee.
I went to Starbucks today for a Pike Place coffee and brought my own cup. The server poured coffee into a paper cup and then threw the paper cup in the garbage can. I called him on it; he said it was to measure the right amount of coffee. What is the point of bringing my own cup?
It’s snowing again. It started yesterday afternoon while we were working.
I bought new tires for the Chrysler Town & Country. They’re not all season tires like before, like what we’ve all gotten used to. If you look closely at your all season tires, you’ll notice they’re not rated for snow. I now have all weather. They have the little picture of a snowflake on the tire, designating them suitable as a snow tire. I got them at Mo-Tires here in Lethbridge.
Well this is embarrassing!
But these tiny spare tires are supposed to do up to 80km/h. Wow.
Even last winter when A&C were visiting, two tires went flat. Cheap iron rims. They rusted and continually lost their bead. Matt B., a tire guy I know at Elrich, told me these would probably last 3 or 4 years, especially if only used in winter. He knows his stuff, Not using them during hot weather loosens the bead, moisture gets in, and the metal begins to rust.
So I went to Kia to order rims.
What do you think? I know, I know, they’re a lot of money for just a set of rims. The point is a) I hated those winter beater car iron rims, b) I wanted something nicer to match the summer rims, and c) I hated pumping up my tires every few days.