RIP Asus Transformer Book; I surely enjoyed using you, your bright red color and small form factor, perfect for traveling to Mexico and using as my only computer there. I cannot tell a lie: I killed my little tablet/laptop in a valiant attempt to change the failing battery (NOTE: Do not try this at home.) I followed instructions I found on a web page (not by Asus, just a user who did successfuly change out his battery) but still managed to crack the touchscreen in one place opening up the tablet. Ouch! That was probably reason enough to stop while I was ahead (er...behind), but I was determined to look under the hood anyway to see if I could salvage it for a little longer; after all, I'd already bought a replacement battery. Once I finally pried the screen off the brains of the system, I discovered that my battery was not the easy drop and replace model as in the online instructions but glued to a metal backing plate. Asus must have changed this at some point. To replace the battery would have involved unscrewing lots of tiny, delicate computer components and putting them all back onto the battery assembly I'd purchased on ebay. Uh...no. So I wanted to recycle both batteries. I also had an older full-size HP laptop with a large 12-cell battery that was dead, so I could take that one to recycle at the same time. Checking online for a recycling spot, I found that a rural electricity co-op in the county seat of Jackson, MN would take laptop batteries. Jackson was about 15 miles from our campground in the county, so we decided to ride over to recycle! It was a pretty ride on lightly traveled rural roads but very windy. No wonder there are wind farms in the area! These windmills were putting out some serious energy on this day. Jackson is a small, pretty city with nice paved bike paths. The Des Moines River runs right through town. We took a wrong turn on a bike path (my fault) and ended up at the end of the path due to a construction zone. A friendly construction worker came over and told us how to get across the river on the road via a detour and pick up the trail on the other side. We followed his instructions and continued heading north until we got to Highway 71, where the electric co-op was about 1/2 mile north, according to Google maps.
All in all, it was a very successful recycling ride. So far we're doing just fine without the extra expense and inconvenience of having to tow a car behind Pearl. I guess that's because we're willing to ride our bikes just about anywhere!
2 Comments
Emily
7/31/2016 09:06:55 pm
Yes, it's been a real joy visiting the midwest and finding so many cycling friendly communities and just lower traffic roads in general, Allison. You should try this part of the US one of these days. :-)
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
February 2018
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