Stormy weather...

If you said, "Etta James, 1960," you get 300 bonus points.  If you said, "Lena Horne, 1942," you get 500 bonus points.  If you said, "The weather in Austin this morning," you are right, but no bonus points.

Yeah, a thunderstorm rolled through this morning, coinciding with the time we need to take the Vespa to AF1 Racing for its 12,000 mile service.  No, I am not riding in the rain intentionally, so we hauled it there in the cargo trailer.  An hour or so before we left, one particularly loud (and close) clap of thunder knocked our power out.  It came back on a few minutes later.  Another even louder (and closer) clap and the power went out and stayed out.

We can run much of the coach on 12 volt, so it wasn't that big of a deal.  The rain brought cooler temperatures, getting down to 71º so we didn't have to worry about Rufus roasting in the coach while we were gone.  I saw the manager getting into his truck across the street, so I asked if the power outage was just the park... "Nope. 40,000 people without power right now, and not expected to be back on until 2:30."

Well, that's fun.  We drove through the rain to AF1 - I was glad to see the lights in their shop were on when we got there.  We unloaded the Vespa close to their shop door (still raining), and I confirmed what I wanted done and signed the paperwork.  The guy I turned my scoot over to wasn't the same as the one who did the paperwork... he asked, "What are we doing with this?"

That inspires confidence.  Not.  "12,000 mile service.  I set up this appointment a month ago.  Called to confirm it one week ago.  I was told you will get on it first thing this morning and have it ready for me this afternoon."

"Oh, OK.  If that's what you were told."

On the bright side, the rain started letting up a bit on the way back to the coach (we left the cargo trailer in AF1's parking lot).  The power was on when we opened the door.  At 10:30.

I did one more flush and sanitize on our fresh water tank, and by the time I was half way into that, the rain had completely stopped.  The sun came out at blazing level, making it immediately hot and humid.  Nothing in between.

So now, we wait for the phone call.  If there wasn't a concern about exposure around other people, I probably would have kept myself entertained looking at bikes in their showroom.  Likely saved myself some money there.  ;-)

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A sigh of relief.  It isn't a secret that I haven't had the best luck getting service done.  It may be because I expect it to be done right... and efficiently.  I know what work I want done and how long it should take.  I don't want whatever I bring in for service to wind up disabled because they don't have the right parts in stock.  I don't want to hear, "It's gonna take a week to get that part in," because I told them more than a week ago what parts I'd need.  Now, granted, this happens to us most often with RVs.

This scooter service with AF1 Racing turned out to be as promised.  They had the necessary maintenance parts, they found two other things that were minor and needed to be addressed.  The time was a bit longer than I expected, but the cost was as expected; the mechanic and I went over things when he brought the scoot out.  He gave me a bag with the parts that were replaced; I appreciate that, so I can see how the scoot is holding up.  The mechanic was smart - he said, "That is a nice GTS - runs smooth and strong.  I have the same year, so I am very familiar with exactly what you have.  Looks like you take good care of it."

Yep, very smart.

After getting any kind of service done, I want to take the vehicle/vessel for a test run to make sure everything is running as it should be.  (I had an airplane that came out of annual once that made me think I was going to have to find a soft spot to put it, but got it back on the runway, landing with a tailwind.)  If you think a scooter is less of an issue if something is wrong, you haven't driven in Austin traffic!  Yes, the Vespa ran great.  To be fair, it was running just fine when I took it in.  I was glad to have another set of eyes give it a good once over.

It was back into the 90s, sunny, and humid when I took the scoot out.  Joan said, "You didn't bring long pants?"  Umm - no.

When I got back from my check ride, Joan had the trailer ramp door ready to load up.  I pulled the scoot into the trailer and we did our usual strap-down routine.  Back to the RV park.

This has been a 5 day trek of mostly "marching in place."  I needed to get out, so we spent a few extra nights in RV parks to cover less than 400 miles from home.  Tomorrow, we start our trek north in earnest.  I am hoping to find some cooler weather and I know there will be some great riding roads.  All three of us are ready.