It Starts Downhill... Struggling for Traction... On a Slippery Slope...

***I did two posts Saturday night... go to the previous post first... if you want to read the catchin' up in chronological order... and as soon as I crawl out, Sunday Morning, I'll do my best to get it all caught up***

So... We're unhitching and I do my customary lookaround at things as I'm unhooking... and there, I find three cracks, where there weren't cracks before... and shouldn't be cracks at all... aw shucks... :(

Now, cracks in a window, or a tire sidewall, or some other such place is nothing catastrophic... when you find 'em in a pin box... you start sweatin'.

And right here is where the risk of eatin' more crow comes along... 'cause I'm knowin' for sure and for certain that there's folks out there that are gonna claim the culprit is the gooseneck converter I've been using since 2001... the hitch that's pulled that fiver without an issue for better than 10 years and nigh on to 70,000 miles.

Now... I can't say... considerin' I broke the the trailer, that it didn't have a part... but it's still my feelin' that whatever part it might have played is way down in the minority.

How-some-ever... the responsibility still resides with the nut behind the steering wheel... 'cause the issues that I believe DID do the deed are largely the fault of that bald headed word whittler I have to endure in the mirror every morning.

The main issues are these... first, Jayco built the rig with too long a hitch box... too long a lever... That'd been fine, mostly... until a redneck, cowboy engineer flipped the axles and hung 550+ lbs of batteries and equipment in that front compartment...

Try to bust a 2X4 over your knee, you can't do it... but... hang it out there 8' and you can snap that sucker with a good hit...

So... When I flipped the axles almost ten years ago, and Didn't catch the poor job they did, leaving the rig with just about a rigid suspension (From horrendously bad shock mounting)... it had me hauling it for the next many thousands of miles with all that road shock getting pounded straight through the hitch... WHAM!

Every bridge joint, every hump in the pavement, every pot hole... WHAM! Until, from a bit too heavy load with my batteries up front? and bad suspension, all hung on that long nosed pin box... metal fatigue took it down..

Ah well... life goes on... you make your best guesses at the time... some pay off... some knock you down...

Well, with a bad feeling in my gut, we decided to try and salvage the rest of the day... and took a drive with the truck, up toward Norris and the geyser basins and such up that-a-way...

We took a lil' stroll, in the late afternoon to the Artist Paint pots... Now, I've no idea... likely a lil' boy thing... throwin' rocks into mud to watch it splatter and such... but... the mud pots there, kinds make me giggle...

Must be a guy thing... I didn't see no women types takin' much notice... :)

Along in there somewhere, we were walking along, on that trail to the Artist Paint Pots... and we heard 'em coming...

so... Heidi took one of the Pedestrian Turnouts the Park Service has so considerately provided, along the way...

The perfect thing for slow walkers to clear the trail... for the Fast Movers! :)

After they passed... we kept moving... and found another Yellowstone resident... without all the surrounding crowds and hullabaloo...


We were just enjoying the scenery in the Virginia cascades area... soft views in this wild country...

When this guy come walkin' along the treeline... kept comin' closer and closer... a couple of other picture grabbers... grabbed their cameras and retreated to their cars... I'm thinkin'; "Aw,he's clean over on the other bank... Not a problem!"

But, I come to find out... problem there was... I was standing right at the point of the creek he wanted to ford... uh... guess who won that lil' discussion?

Caught me a bit off guard... One second he was on the other side of the stream, gettin' a drink... and the next... Kersplash! He popped into the water and was comin' across... which at that point... all he saw was hip pockets for a bit!

 Like in all the places we go... there's grand views... but as always... there's closer up things to see as well...

So... I made an appointment for Saturday morning with the only game in town... I guess... and then got up the next morning, which was Thursday... and climbed in the truck to go do some sight seein' in the park...

Right... woulda done it too... if not for the electrical smoke in the cab!

Jumped out, and popped the hood... and found... a crispy, smokin' Alternator... Suh-Wheet! The hits just keep on comin'! :)

So... the next several hours were spent on parts and tool runs to NAPA in West Yellowstone... replacing the cooked alternator and the serpentine belt...

But all these repairs have been an opportunity to meet a couple of really fine fellow travelers...

One helped me get that belt on... That chore is kinda like threading a 2000 lb sewing machine! :) but with good help and the right tool, we got 'er done.

The other helped me with some pretty good suggestions on the hitch... and I might end up "pittin'" for him at the Bonneville salt flats next year... how cool would that be?

In an effort to turn that day around, we rode in together on the Raider for the second of the two parts runs... Figured we'd walk the town a bit... and get some West Yellowstone Ice cream, a fairly successful effort...

Now... it's Friday... and the rig can't go to West Yellowstone till Saturday... so... We climbed back on the Raider and took a run up to Lamar Valley and back... Nice ride... No sparks, no flats, no missing oil, no cracks... didn't even get run down by a crazy tourist, gawkin' at a rock chuck! :)

*North Side of the Pass North of Canyon*

*The Lamar Valley*

It's hard to explain... in fact... it can't be explained... but when things are the worst... for some guys... just the simple act of putting two wheels... on a Ribbon of Asphalt... makes all the difference... it's in our blood, it's in our soul... and it makes all the rest... somehow... endurable...

*Nuthin' like viewing the world through handlebars*

Came home tired and ready to take on the rig repairs... Saturday morning... or... so I thought...

The rest of the story... Sunday morning...
Brian

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