Thursday, October 24, 2013

Parked on the Sidewalk in Denver

I don't know what the neighbors think... when we roll through here 'bout once a year and the rig sits in the street in front of the kids house... with a wheel rolled up on the sidewalk to get it allllmost level. ;)  ... and Bad Cowboy that I am? I can't say that I'm really payin' any attention to that!

We escaped Sidney just as a fresh slew of rain came pourin' out of the sky that shut the last of their picking down for at least a whole day...

It's an easy run down those super slabs from there to here... even if a boring one. And boring to me, because - I just don't care for interstates. You pretty much have to roll too fast to do much if any lookin' around... it's just drone on mile after mile. I strongly prefer, in the rig, puttering along the two lane.

But... this time, with maintenance issues I needed to take care of, and few days to lose if there are problems... I bit the bullet and took the highway.

We pushed the 750 miles, give or take in two days of running... which is the farthest we've rolled in two days in a long long while.

Now... we find ourselves up against another time crunch using up a few days waiting. The tires I need for the truck aren't in stock... supposedly those Hankook tires are so good they're having trouble keeping up with demand. Considering the mileage we've gotten out of our first set of 'em (hard on 70,000 miles) on a hard used dually, totalling in excess of 18,000 lbs GCVW... I'd have to agree with the "GOOD" part.

They won't be in until Monday the 28th at the earliest... We have to be in Avondale the night of Saturday the 2nd... at the latest... that gives only five days to over the 900 miles or so to the track... so... it looks like a few more days of a bit more rapid transit comin' up.

I would have preferred to dawdle 'tween here and there... maybe up on the Mogollon... but I guess not this time. One more week of work (for somebody else) and then I'm cut loose to once again pursue my own plans... 

It'll be Rapid Transit for us anyway... considering our average move is only 175-225 miles or so... and then only one day of rolling between ten or fourteen in a camp. The trickiest day of this run is Likely to be that getting out of Denver and over Raton pass... and of course... there's weather in the offing next week to keep that interesting.

It's probable that pass crossing won't actually occur until day two. We often use either the Walmart in Trinidad or the State rest area just north of town, and then cross the pass the next morning. It seems I routinely run out of ambition on the south run... right about there.

Once this next job is done it'll be a laid back winter of word whittling and warming on the desert... and... replacing the now rapidly aging house battery bank. ;)

Oh yeah... that electrical issue has not reappeared... I'm coming to think it's a combination of possibly a misbehaving "Fuel pre-heat" system... and the short run's (less than two miles) we were making to the Factory Yard. I'm believing that the batteries were being drained by the heavy draw that was drawing for too long... and not nearly enough run time to recharge the lost amp hours in that short run twice a day. So... at this point I'm taking a wait and see attitude and maybe I'll deal with it later, down in the desert... if simply going back to longer "Normal" runs doesn't just eliminate the issue.

Waiting on Fresh Rubber
Brian

3 comments:

Teri said...

I don't like going over the mountain passes early in the morning, this time of year. I figure there may be frost/ice on the roads. I usually plan the passes for late morning or early afternoon after the sun has warmed the roads.

Anonymous said...

Have never heard of the Hankook tires. Will look into them.
Analysis of the electrical problem makes sene, hope that it turns out to be a non issue.

Mike said...

Have you checked for error code P0516 , battery temp sensor. If that code is showing the alternator will not charge at full rate. The sensor is in the bottom of the driver's side battery tray. If you have a digital odometer you can get the codes by turning the key to run (do not start engine) sequence is run, off,run, off,run--leave in run and codes will come up, will show engine codes first if I remember right. Then on a truck with auto trans will show drive train codes after a pause.