Current Location: Washington State Fairgrounds Campground, Puyallup, Washington

This morning we got up, gathered our laundry and eventually headed up to Elizabeth’s house to visit her and the grandchildren. She was also sitting for a friend’s two children, so she had a house full. We dropped by the Dollar Tree to pick up a couple items for her and tried to stop by Papa Murphy’s to pick up some pizzas for lunch, but they weren’t open for another 20 minutes, so we went on to the house.

At the house, Elizabeth called Papa Murphy’s and ordered pizzas. Malcolm and David drove back over and picked them up. If you haven’t seen a Papa Murphy’s, they can make you pizzas to order and wrap them. You then take them home and cook them at your convenience. When Malcolm and David returned with the pizzas, we threw a couple in the oven to cook. Eventually, we all got some pizza.

Elizabeth’s friend came over to pick up her children shortly after we ate. Then, as we were approaching nap time, the UPS truck drove up and dropped off two of the three packages Malcolm was expecting. Shortly thereafter, the FedEx truck drove up and dropped off the last package. Since the girls were both down for naps (or heading that way), Malcolm and David headed to the trailer while Val stayed at the house to do laundry.

The first task was to fix the frayed cable on the kitchen slide. It was literally down to the last couple of strands. Pulling the rubber seal away from the frame, it was evident how the cable was getting frayed as there was a deep groove cut into the frame from the cable, indicating it was mounted too low on the slide.

The first step was to remove the bracket from the side of the slide, then cut off the frayed end of the cable.

The next step was to slide the end of the existing cable into a sleeve provided in the kit. You then slide the end of the new cable in the other end. If you pull on both cables, the sleeve tightens up. To be safe, though, Malcolm taped the sleeve up and overlapped onto the cables, per directions.

Once the two cables were connected, it was a matter of pulling the cable inside above the half-closed slide and pulling the old through and the new inside. Once the cable was taut outside, it was time to work inside.

The end of the cable is cut to length and looped through an eye bolt and a swage is placed around the cable and the end. Malcolm found a swaging tool at Lowe’s for about $25. The swage is crimped onto the cables, the eye bolt is placed in the adjuster over the slide and the new cable is complete.

The cable was adjusted inside and then checked outside for proper alignment by running the slide in and out. Malcolm ended up mounting the bracket about 1/4″ higher. The screws are self-tapping.

With the slide repaired, it was time to move on to the other project – the rear bike carrier. Here are the ingredients:

Assembly was straightforward and the mount is sturdy. Here it is with both our bikes mounted to it. The wheels block the taillights to some extent. We’ll ponder that issue for a bit.

With the bikes removed, the center bar can be swung down to allow access to our rear storage door.

With the repairs and modifications complete, Malcolm headed back to the house to pick up Val, most of the laundry and the evening’s dinner – Lasagna. It had to cook in the oven for quite a while. We had Cole’s aunt and uncle over for dinner so that they could see the trailer and sit and chat for a bit. Cole had to work late and missed the event, but Elizabeth and the girls came over.

After dinner and cleanup, everyone went home. We went up to Elizabeth and Cole’s house to say goodbyes and pick up our remaining laundry. We headed back to the trailer and started preparing it for hooking up and rolling tomorrow morning early. We’ll be heading down I-5 and will probably stop for an overnight somewhere in Oregon.