Category: Chris’s Blog

Once again up before the sun, time zones kill me, when I was younger it used to be so much easier, now I just do not adjust so well.

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Today, being Sunday, I only had two HVACi appointments and one StrikeCheck appointment. One in Tuscon and one in Vail. Once I was done with those it was time to leave Arizona and head to California.

Spending the night in Indio, CA, a few miles from my first appointment and then tomorrow I start working my way towards Los Angeles. I am sort of looking forward to getting back to green. The desert is a nice place to visit, but I would not want to live here. Everything is tan, no green.

The area around the hotel is barren, there is a housing development close by, but I am not sure exactly what the industry is, maybe the two casinos that are here. I was able to find the downtown area, and was actually able to get some real food for dinner tonight (real food = healthy).

I then wandered out to what at one time was a lake, now dry, with the exception of another gated housing development that appears to have the only real lake in the area. Look at the difference between the “with water” and the “without water” areas.

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A couple other things I noticed as soon as I crossed over into California. First, gas prices are 4.25 per gallon for the cheap unleaded. Second, masks are the in things unlike the other states I have visited so far. I watched two people get booted out of Walmart for being the only two people in the store without masks on.

And, as a special addition to today’s pictures I decided to get some after dark pics of Indio, CA.

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See you tomorrow evening from Valencia, CA

Second day of travels took me from Mason, to Sugarcreek, Spring Valley, Ohio, and then back to my hotel for the evening in Erlinger, KY. Had two large loss claims (commercial and high dollar value), and one residential claim with geothermal systems. I like geothermal, if I am in the area I will always take geothermal claims.

Along the way I came across this neatest little park in the woods that deserved some attention. Had a replica of an old blacksmith shop and a maple sugar house. Of course we can’t forget about the wasps in the ground that almost got me.

Then headed back to the hotel to find something to go see in the evening. I try to find something every afternoon or evening to see in the area I am traveling to. Today I wanted to find someplace to access the river. Finally found a spot in Giles Conrad Park on the Kentucky side of the river.

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As always if you click on the images below you can do neat things with them. They are panoramic.

Tomorrow I start early, fly to Houston and on to Phoenix. See you there.

Finally arrived for night 1 in Mason, OH. This will be a one night stay before I complete three inspections tomorrow. No daylight pictures of Mason, but here are some nice evening shots I got. I love the lights in the 360 Panoramic views.

That should be “In the air again … almost.” Flying out of Tampa this afternoon for a 10 day trip that will take me to five states in the process. I rarely blog about my trips, but I decided that this time I would have some fun doing this. As many of you know I am a Technical Field Manager for HVACi (HVAC Investigators) which is part of Consolidated Claims Group IQ. We do Cause of Loss investigations for most of the major insurance companies in the country when there is a claim regarding anything HVAC/R, electrical, or electronics. There are four of us who are Technical Field Managers, and during the busy season one of our roles is to go help the local technicians get caught up when they fall behind, provide support and training to our technician base, provide technical support to our processors and report writers, and do loss evaluations on the large commercial claims which require special handling.

So, once this thunderstorm clears and we can leave the gate, I am on my way to Cincinnati to start the work week.