November 6, 2019
Ft. Pierce, FL 
27.28.029 N
80.10.591 W


This morning Dale was finally able to speak with a technician about the faulty icemaker only to learn that the part needed wasn’t sold separately.  No, it was part of an ice cube making assembly which, of course, cost not quite half of the total machine itself.  Dale got a list of the distributors in the area and proceeded to call around to see if or when, the part would be available and could be sent to us, as we intended to leave Ft. Pierce this weekend.  We even went to a local liquidator store to see if they might have one.  The answer was a decided “No”.  So, Plan B was to purchase another.  Gerry had told us about one he had seen at Sam’s Club for less than $100 that “pooped” out ice cubes in less than 10 minutes. 


So off we went to Vero Beach to the local Sam’s.  As long as we were going, might as well pick up a few grocery items we needed as well.  We found what we were looking for, then went and sat in the car for 15 minutes weighing the pros and cons to ordering the part and having it shipped to us in Ft. Pierce and just waiting until it arrived or buying a completely different design that was smaller, only made ice but it didn’t hold it once it was made, but also didn’t use nearly as much electricity storing it.  Among my favorite monikers for Dale besides Tweaker in Chief, is Amp Nazi.  Guess which way we went. 


On our way back to the boat, I started thinking about the decision we made and wondering what we were going to do with the old one.  Its stainless steel and about the same size as the outdoor refrigerator on our patio.  I came up with an idea that I proposed and much to my surprise, Dale went for it.  That’s how I found myself on I-95 North flying low trying to make it to our mail forwarding service before they closed at 5pm; as long as I’m heading home, might as well get an errand run while I’m at it. 


I was doing fine until it started raining and I slowed for a period of time.  Then my MapQuest indicated I was going to be 5 minutes late.  I gave a quick call (I have hands free calling in the car) to the company explaining the situation and asked if they would either leave our mail in an envelope outside their doors or wait for me.  The supervisor said that she would wait as long as it was only 5 minutes.  Bless her heart, I came skidding in 5 minutes after 5 and she was still there with my mail already prepared. 


After that, I made my way back to our old stomping grounds in St. Augustine, dug the ice maker out of the trunk, as well as a few items that I decided I could live without for the next couple of years and certainly didn’t want to mail back from Australia and put them in our storage unit.  Then, it was back to Ft. Pierce.  A little over 6 hours of driving but a better solution to just throwing it away. 


While I was gone, Dale read up on rewiring the wind generator as its putting too much voltage into the batteries.  I would have thought that it was a good thing, but apparently not.  He also rearranged all of my storage in the guest room so that he could open the engine compartment more completely.  This, of course, means that I’ll have to reorganize things once he’s not looking but making sure I don’t block his access again.  He also put the new ice maker in where the old ice maker used to live.  It was truly sad; and a colossal waste of space.