Belated...

 

Joan's birthday was Thursday; the reason for our get-away to California.  I had a board meeting (via Zoom) on Thursday evening, so it wasn't much of a celebration that evening.  We made up for it last night...

With my phone (above) - with Dan's new iPhone (below)...

 

Instead of a cake, Steph and Dan went to a French bakery and got us fancy croissants (our new favorites, after my first chocolate croissant on this trip) and individual cake slices for them.  A nice evening.

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Ceramics...

"You going to start making mugs, Jim?" 

No, but thanks for asking.  We drove through rain on the way to California, and got rained on one day while we were there... the van was in need of a clean-up.  While I worked on the outside, Joan went after getting the interior spic & span.  Yes, that's an old person term.  "Spic & Span" is a cleaning product by Proctor & Gamble, but it is also an idiom meaning perfectly clean.

We were both very thorough in our cleaning today; and once done with all washing and drying, I decided to apply a ceramic coating to all the black panels on the van.  There are plenty.  This one is RoadTrek's "Blackout Edition."  Besides the cladding around the wheel wells and on the sides, the van has a blacked out grille (most have chrome grille trim).

Rather than applying Armor-All to all that black trim, I researched and ordered a ceramic coating product made for the job.  It is supposed to "withstand 200 washes."  We'll see how it does with the Arizona sun.

Knowing that my aging back would be feeling it, Joan brought me out a rolling stool.  The right tool for the job.  This product comes in sealed pouches, each one holding a treated cloth - you wipe it on.  Sounds easy enough.  It is - on the side panels.  The grill has a bunch of detail, and you have to get that cloth in between all of that...

 My aging hands are hurting as much as my aging back.  I told Joan she may not get any guitar entertainment for a couple days.  She told me there might not be any cooking for that same time period.  Touche'.

The company that makes this ceramic coating product gives detailed instructions on how to apply it.  They also recommend that you get a "before" photo of the wheel well cladding before you start.  No doubt, that is good for their reviews when people post "before and after" images.  I didn't do that, but here is a photo showing one section done (on the right) and the before (on the left)...

 I can see the difference.  Not including the washing and wiping, that ceramic coating application took about an hour.  It needs to dry/set for a couple hours.

There is enough of the ceramic coating stuff to do the Equinox... which has the "Midnight Edition," which also has a blacked out grille.  I guess we have a type.  ;-)  I'll think about that another day.