Like death and taxes, some things are unavoidable. One of those things is the Inspection required to register your vehicle in the place where you live. Harv has been sitting in the driveway on “Taxation without Representation” plates (DC) since we got here last August; a kind of poke in the eye at the state where that slogan gained some traction back in the late seventeen hundreds. But there was to be no Massachusetts insurance without Massachusetts plates so eventually I had to go down to the RMV and learn to say “Motah-home”. And that brings us to the picture on the left; Harv suffering the indignity of being poked about at Jim’s Heavy Duty Inc in Somerville to get his inspection sticker. Well all was fine, er apart from some play in the front end which was enough to get Harv branded with the scarlet R of rejection. This is good news to whoever eventually buys Harv because now I have to make sure that his front end is rippling and beefy like an Olympic weightlifter so he can get his inspection sticker. But where to go for such attention? To GMCnet, that’s where! After a quick inquiry about where to take our pride and joy I get a reminder about the Black List which contains all the information you need about GMC Mechanics Near You. Sure enough, just forty five minutes up the road, Mike at New England RV Service has been working on GMCs since they were new and has one himself. Brilliant. I arrange to drive up and in the meantime the sun is out, the temperature has risen into the high sixties and I can have a proper look at Harv for the first time since the snow melted. The two batteries at the front were on their last legs when I got Harv last February so I fit two new ones (one is a backup) along with a new clamp. The generator was still dusty from when we finished our big trip so I clean it up and find a loose wire. After fitting a new connector, the generator starts at the first click of the starter rather than the usual two or three seconds so I feel unfeasibly pleased with myself. I have also worked out what extra connection I need to wire in the digital TV receiver more neatly and I wire brushed the hob back to its original gleaming stainless steel. There would be pictures of all this, but yesterday I drove up to New Hampshire and left Harvey with Mike the Mechanic to have his front end sorted out. Mike is on vacation next week so it will be ten days or so before I can go back up to collect Harv, and in the meantime I am having tinkering withdrawal…