Close To Getting Back On The Road... I'm Going Home.

A fresh set of tires went on before I started the heater core. HanKook at discount tire as always. 60,000 plus on the tires and the best customer service available at discount. And that's proven out all over the country... They've even spread up into Montana and the Northwest the last couple years so I'm covered now Where ever I wander.

I finished replacing the bad heater core the other day... no thanks to Chrysler. That has got to be the poorest design and placement for a heater core I've ever had to deal with. Had to cut it into pieces to get it out... and modify the replacement - to get it in!

Cut off most of the hard tubes and ran longer hoses inside the firewall. After three hours and a bit of pushing, shoving, torquing and cursing I'd decided the B@$&@*D was not gonna go in... so I cowboyed the sucker, triple clamped the hoses and put that job to bed.

So far... no apparent leaks... I was some afeared that We'd torqued on those swivel tubes too much trying to fight it into place... buuuut so far it seems healthy.

The Truck is now at the welder to rebuild the failing "factory" hitch on the bed... gonna take a mite longer than he'd planned (life gets in his way too!) but I should have it back  by Tuesday.

There's a couple of last jobs to do on the truck before I head west... and then I'm bound for what I'm looking at for the next part of this Journey.

Things are happening, choices made__which I will share as they come to pass...

As it stands now I'm looking to maybe hit the road late in the week... all depends on the welder and how the last lil' chores I need to do on the truck shake out.

A few scenes from the past several weeks;

*The last sunset over my Missouri river camp in September*

*The Moon that night over the Missouri River*

*Missouri River Moonrise*

*The view out my door at my Harvest camp in Sidney*

*Harvest Camp*

*Missouri Sunrise*

*Misty Missouri Sunrise from my door*

*The Coop finally got it's Gable siding last week*

I'll be rolling west on the interstate. As much as prefer rolling slow on the two lane, after the ordeal of struggling through the twisting and narrowing two lanes of east Kansas and west Missouri just getting here... I'm gonna take the super slab to get outa here and get where I'm going! ... Home...

Ready to start making another circle...

- Brian

I've Heard It All Before...

I've heard all the cliches and seen all the memes... keep smiling, stay positive... think positive thoughts, maintain a proper attitude, keep you chin up, it's going to get better, look on the bright side... yadda yadda yadda...

Yeah... I won't run down the litany of the past__I don't know how many years. I can only tell you this; This old buster is used up, wore out, drained dry.

Layin' out here in the desert with a bum arm, thought I'd worked around the latest slap down one more time. The wing is healing if slowly. Cancelled the MRI due to research and the feeling it's healing well enough surgery can't be justified so cut out the expensive procedure. My research shows conservative treatment has outcomes pretty much equal to surgical anyway so I'm not going through that ordeal for questionable gain.

So... all's good and and moving along... right?

Not so fast. Got in the truck two afternoons ago and quickly found out__one__more__time__

It's a bad idea to start hanging an optimistic pretend smile on your face thinking it will "catch on"... It can always get worse.

WHAM! I was right. It just got worse.

December 2013 blew the transmission. Lost 5th gear. $2500 later it had a new transmission and clutch as well. So... having been built with parts that were redesigned to eliminate the "issue" and that "Have never failed yet"...  So that's one part we don't have to fret on! it's all good right?

Nope. Fifth gear blew out__Again.

This time of course I've no bike for transport while the truck is down... on top of nada left in the bank after multiple equipment failures, huge vet bills... yadda yadda yadda... So... working out the choreography to do a repair on borrowed money from a hundred miles out into far country... Maybe by this time next week THIS will be a bad memory... assuming that choreography is worked out...

A semi-plan is also working that should see the horses leave around the middle of the month... soon as they're gone I'll hitch up a hopefully successfully repaired old truck, and drift.

My daughter has a small place in/near the Ozarks that she's prodding me to come visit while I mend.

This chapter of my journey has caved in on me. With no useful alternatives in mind I'm thinking I just may do that into the early summer at least... see if things won't stabilize a mite. Maybe a fresh road will open up to me if I shut off the imagination for a while and just let it all ride.

Beyond that I won't plan... don't have the emotional energy to watch another plan get ground into dust.

There's an old joke; The Boss only hits you with what you can stand... so... either I'm one tough old bastard... or the Boss has really misjudged what he's working with. Either way, I'd appreciate it if he tested on somebody else for a bit.

The only other option that comes to mind is karma... The idea that karma, good or bad always catches up with you. Yeah well... if that's true it's not saying anything nice about this worn down gypsy.

- Brian

Rebuilding the 5er's Shower...

So they can take it to Missouri for construction Housing...

It's been kind of a nightmare little job... one of those deals where every problem you come across and fix... you expose two more.

Nearing the finish line though.

And for cost, just a little more than the price of ONLY a factory shower pan.

That includes the reframing and decking to give the proper support for the shower pan that Jayco didnt...

Built a shower pan from sheet ABS and put 4" sides on it... the pic shows it lacking the front side... which was missing... 

The plastics guy couldn't count to five... so we had him bring his kid to work with him one day so I could get all my parts.

Putting the galvanized in was easy... right up until the last small piece... and discovered a 3/4 inch bulge in the lower half of the wall... in that back corner.

Took a few licks with an angle grinder and a few threats to convince it that it wanted to live there.

But it's almost done. Some trim, resetting the faucet and a little caulking and I'll call it finished.

I should have redone this shower a long time ago... for ME! 

It'll actually be bigger now then the one they've been using in their house for the last several years! ;)

It's what's called. RV Industrial Redneck style.

Just about as soon as I get this RV Redo done I've got to haul the rig to Missouri for them... then I don't know... if things aren't moving pretty quick on their house build... I'm likely to roll on back to Arizona and brave the summer to get a head start on my winter camp setup...

... or... maybe just go horse hunting! ;)

Too many chores and not enough brain pan for it all!

Brian

Tearing Things Up While I Wait... So What Else is New?

Thought as soon as I got back to Colorado from my last run to Missouri and on to Alabama... I would be hauling the 5er to Missouri...

Yeah... You'd think I'd learn to not plan on the planning of others.

So... that date remains a moving target. It's shifting from late in June to the day after tomorrow and back again...

Welllll... I have gotten real poor at waiting on anything... and two pieces in the bath of the 5er just don't measure up, so I've kinda thrown stuff in everyone else's way while I got left waiting. ;)

Karma is fun ain't it?

#1 - the toilet seal is bad so it doesn't hold water very well in the bowl... which allows a sweet aroma to permeate the rig. :)
   - The plan there is to just find a cheap "takeout" that looks good from some other rig and replace the whole dang thing... so far... those running ads for their units don't see a need to reply to prospective buyers... grrrrrrrrrrr...

#2 - is the shower... it started cracking some years ago, which I've been chasing with epoxies of various sorts, silicone and various failed efforts.
    - The plan there is IN PROCESS... it's called; If thine shower offends thee... RIP THE SUCKER OUT!

... and that's just what I done!

The tub section cracked all around the drain... and defied any repair... so... Shred it!

And that, totally revealed the pathetic performance of RV Builders when they construct these rigs.

Now, Jayco has the "Rep" of being sort of... mid-grade in quality...

Um... NO... Their construction SUCKS.

Once that tub was out it revealed for sure and for certain what I pretty much already knew... and it was THE majority reason the thing cracked up in the first place.

They chose to cheap out and not put any sort of proper support under the tub... so it flexed every time you stepped in...

Flex PVC enough... and Yup! It Cracks!.

Hard to see by the pic, but that chipboard is sitting on 2x4 blocks. so the back, the front and both sides of the tub/shower floor were hanging in the air. How frigging Stupid is that???

They put one small chunk of waferboard on blocks in the center of the space. NO support anywhere around the outside of the tub... and it's all cut out around the drain too!

Right where it Needs to be solid... they just left it all hanging... not just poor work, it's plain stupid.

So... I'm framing in for some proper decking...

... and then a rock solid piece of 3/4 ply to deck for the new shower pan...

Got the holes chopped for the heater vent and the plumbing access... Getting the nice, tight hole located that will secure the drain is going to be a mite tricky... but it will happen and then there won't be any new breakage because the floor was flexing around a fixed pipe.

Still have to move the water lines they hung out in the way of everything. Which is also "funny"... since those lines not only supply the shower and vanity...

... they go on to the "low point" drains... and of course, there's a great big "belly" in both lines... which would drain really well, don't you think?

Now, what's going back in?

THAT is in process too. The "Factory"/Commercial parts are ridiculous. Well over $220 for just a plastic shower pan? Um... No.

I'm getting some "custom" ABS sheet cut to fit. I'll build my own damn shower pan and recover the walls for less than what they want for just the pan... maybe about half. Thinking some Redneck rustic to boot! ;)

And THIS one won't crack.

The engineers and "Pro" RV builders can't do it right, not because of cost, because they're too lazy and careless to.

So, a puss gut mountain cowboy with a bad attitude will show 'em up__One.More.Time. and correct their pathetic effort...

... on a side note... The construction of my New Lakota Charger LQ trailer is head and shoulders above what I've seen in most Standard RV's (If not higher)... and as far as "Rep" is concerned, Lakota is in that "Mid-Range" for quality, kinda just like Jayco... ha ha ha... only Lakota's "Mid" measures up with "Premier" in the "RV" world.

Better Axles, Better frame, better fit and finish of Cabinetry. Better materials from what I've seen so far, after living in it for two weeks or so... Better everything.

Point being, it can be done... if the builders wanted to.

Fixing What should have been done right in the first place
Brian

BUSTED! When You Get Lazy Bad Things Happen...

... and usually at bad times__ Like late in the afternoon, on Sunday, when you're out in the middle of Nowhere  in New Mexico...

*On the road to Chaco Canyon*

Two or three years ago I cracked the outside leg of the rear spring hanger on the right rear spring. Got it somewhere a welder could get to me and got it repaired before it had a chance to fail.

I caught it because I've always been in the habit of running my eyes over the rig just about any time I stop. Fuel. Camp. Groceries... if I'm walking around the rig I'm kinda checkin' her out, looking for such as will cause trouble if I don't fix it up quick.

Well... it's painfully obvious now, that habit has apparently faded a mite...

*Broken RV Spring Hanger/Mounts*

I say obvious because you can see on that broken hanger that it had been cracked half way across for long enough to rust the cracked edge of the hanger...

I'd planned to just have the left side boxed in advance to prevent the same failure... it's priority just kept getting pushed back... bad choice.

Worse... this failure is right beside the dump pipe for the tanks... so I've been by there right regular... UGH! Just no decent excuses.

Yeah... so it's Sunday in the middle of nowhere and nightfall is comin' on fast. What would your expectation of finding a savior be? yup. Me too. My expectation was Nada. Honestly? I just knew I was looking forward to a night sitting in the middle of the road hoping I didn't get blasted by some sleepy driver who failed to see my hazard triangles and flashin' lights.

I tried tow outfits to get me off the road, nobody had a trailer big enough. Even if they had, it would have been cheaper to just light it up in place and let it burn...

On my third call (Luckily I had good signal!!!) I was talking to a tow guy and had an Idea. "Would you know of a mobile welder that might be around?"

"Well" says he; "There's Marvin up by Broomfield. You could call Marvin's truck and trailer repair. If he doesn't have the gear he might know a fella that does."

Well damn if Marvin doesn't have everything he needed and he'd come out straight away... of course he's an hour and a bit away. Ugh... I'm seeing $$$ flying away fast... Service call. The work it'self. Surcharge 'cause it's Sunday. EXTRA surcharge 'cause "You is in a real tight and I can put it to you hard!"

Yeah... I was feeling low__at the same time a lot of relief because somebody was a comin' to pull my sizzling bacon out of the fire.

Well... by the time Marvin got there the sun had long since set. It was dark, with the wind blowin' pretty stiff... and he set to work.

As soon as he started to work I was breathing easy. It was plain that the Chief stud duck of Marvin's truck and equipment repair knew what he was about. (There have been repairs in the past where this ol' buster got raped purty good and with no alternative options!)

We (He) jacked it up. Then he got some chain and boomers and pulled that axle back where it should be and got the separated pieces clamped together...

*RV Suspension repair ON the road*

With them in pretty good position he could tack them in place and then burn them together.

In a shop with all the materials and tools ready to go and lots of light (That pic above is with camera flash) Not, laying in the dirt, in the dark, in the wind, with cars passing around us in the ditch, a fella might make a prettier repair...

... but the welding, with the plating boxing the back side and over each break seam... it's stronger now than when it left the factory so I'm happy.

*Repaired hanger plated both sides and  boxed*

But then came that time when you figure you might's well just bend over...

"So Marvin... what do I owe you?" I asked... knowing I'd taken better than five hours counting the travel time out of the man's Sunday...

"Well..." he kinda mumbled a little bit..."I get $105 an hour for road repairs... but that's for big trucking companies... how about we call it $300? Does that work for you?"

"Oh HELL YES!" I told the man. I was expecting to hear a lot more than double that! I raced to gather the cash before he changed his mind! :-))

All things considered, I weighed the price of his job out to be a bargain. Would have been a lot cheaper if I'd have paid attention and happened to notice those cracks... long before they became breaks in the dark on a lonesome back road on the Reservation!

Lesson to take away... check your rigs over regularly. I mean check close for cracks in the hitches, suspension parts... frayed belts and hoses... wiring faults...

... and every once in a while... give that nut behind the wheel a good tightening!

So... I decided to blow off Chaco Canyon. Took that night as a bit of an omen. I turned around and spent the night in a wide spot back by the main road. In the morning I resupplied in Farmington figuring to just go spend a couple of weeks chillin' and writing at the Goosenecks in Utah...

Got here... to the Goosenecks late in the afternoon... to find that it was effectively GONE.

The State of Utah has somehow now taken over control of this BLM land. Where it had been Free Boondocking since your grandaddy was pestering HIS grandaddy... it will now cost you $10 a night to park amongst the dirt and rocks.

I don't mind 'em charging a fella when they've put in facilities... but there's Nada. And ya'll can't tell me there's a "Cost" for parking in the dirt, in the desert... a few hundred miles from pretty much any damn thing.

It's just another case of; "There's people out there in the world who aren't PAYING! That's immoral! That's not Patriotic! They can't just live! We got to make them PAY to breathe. Pay to exist. If they don't pay__They got no Right!"

grrrrrr...

I'd have just turned away, but I was too tired and too cooked so I paid the tariff for a couple nights. Tomorrow I expect I'll move on and find a place where a man can still be; Just a man, free on the earth.

Still goin' down the road...

... Got a warm dry camp. Cold brew in the fridge.... and some worked for changes brewing in the future... so all's good.

Brian

Yeah I know... been a while...

It's an out of the box world. You can plan and wish... and it works out how it works out.

Like last winter... Heidi has decided to stay close to the store in Fort Collins and continue working it to a better condition... and me... being me... just can't tolerate a Colorado winter... so I rolled south day before yesterday, bound for my Arizona.

Had to make a stop in Denver at a suspension shop to get the springs replaced on the front axle of the rig... one had fatigued and bent a couple inches. I almost only replaced the one spring...then looking at the opposite end, and seeing the "camel hump" it was developing, thought it might be more sensible to do both... next morning I continued the migration south along I-25...

But... anybody who's read here for long knows that interstates don't tickle my whistle any...

So, on a spur of the moment sort of thing I dropped off the interstate at Walsenburg and cut southwest. I dropped anchor for the night just across the border a bit and just west of a place called Tres Piedras, New Mexico.

Just a wide spot along the road, maybe four cars passed in the early evening... and then it was as silent as any spot down on the desert... and a spot where the Verizon guy asking "can you hear me now?" ... gets no answer.

New Mexico is a lot like Arizona. Most eastern folks think it to be desert and rocks... but a goodly chunk of that northern part... and parts of the south and west are some honest to god beautiful mountain country.

I believe I admire it, along with Arizona, some degree more than the good parts of Colorado.

It's the kind of country that a man lost in the wrong damned century and culture... can breathe in.

Just now I'm boondocked in the Oak Brush just a mite east of Mancos. Another spur of the moment lead me to drop here rather than continue on down to the desert. It's still fairly warm there and can tolerate my absence for a bit more.

In the mean time I've gone back to work on the next book which remains unfinished in my laptop. This'll be a good place to brush up for a few days and get deeply back into that project. The quiet in this brush and the long view out the window should provide the necessary inspiration.

Might could be I'll take a turn through Mesa Verde for the same purpose... get the confusion of soh-sigh-uh-tee knocked off my boots and some creative juices flowing... and maybe so, recorded on the page.

Plan is, just lay up here, immersed in that work and that book... and then move on when the voices start urging.

Brian

Making Solid Progress With the Bearing and Brake Rebuild...

I suppose a guy could just pay somebody to do the work... but there's a confidence that is a good feeling to have when you remind yourself every now and again that you're not at the mercy of mechanics...

But, it's been a while since the last brakes and bearings I replaced. The first wheel went fairly slow while I figured out what I was doin'... while trying to avoid doin' something that shouldn't get done! It's still a fairly simple task.

... Even when you do it dodging the weather. Yup... surest way I know to make it rain, and have six other things jump up all demanding attention is to dive into something that really needs finishing before you can move on to anything else! ;)

Well... There's but five bolts on the backing plate and only two wires really to deal with... well... if you discount changing out the bearing races with a couple of hammers, a screwdriver, a piece of PVC, a chunk of 2X4... because you're doin' this job without a press ;)

Now the quickest way is to jack up both axles and pop both wheels on a side at the same time... I thought about trying that... and then chose to be juuuust a mite more conservative and do one at a time. That-a-way if Murphy come around and knocked a jack out, I'd still have one wheel holding up the rig! ;)

First thing right off I realized I wasn't gonna be able to use a jack stand under that lifted axle. They're just too tall. I'd have to jack the trailer up way too dang high. So, I opted to use two jacks. One hydraulic floor jack and a screw type. I figured that if one failed I'd still have one under there.

I also set the jacks on heavy wood plates to keep them from sinking into the soft ground...

With the tire lifted off the ground I quickly found the next weak spot in my system... My compressor. That lil' compressor I have on the truck is great for keep tires on the rig and the bike aired up out in far country... buuuuut... good as it is... she just don't make enough air to operate an impact wrench much :)

*Truck Mounted Compressor Compartment*

So... I had to use the old fashioned lug wrench and cowboy muscle a little more than I'd hoped. Yeah, it's a rough life. But that went quick and I had the axle stripped to replace the backing plate with the new brakes in no time...

For as old as they are, with as many miles... things really didn't look to bad. The pads are pretty cracked and glazed from... ahem... getting warm a time or two :) but otherwise... in amazingly decent shape... needful of replacement... but not OH MY GOD! bad.

*Ready to swap backing plates*

 Splicing the wires isn't/wasn't a big deal... I didn't go run down any special waterproof connectors. I just tightly wire nutted the splice. Then tightly electrical taped it...

... and then coated the whole splice with "Liquid Tape" to seal it up well and strong. I'll be surprised if there's any issues with the connections.

The other task was to knock out the old bearing races and set the new ones in place. Again, the old ones looked to be in fine shape for something approaching 75,000 miles, less than stellar maintenance and carrying a close to max load...

But, it's better on deals like this to just replace 'em rather than have a failure on the road... and have to do this job sitting in a roadside rest... or worse... the shoulder of a highway!

*First Bearing Races knocked out*

One benefit of having a flat bed on the truck is... you've always got a workbench with you!

*New Race started... still a half inch or so to go...*

I had to improvise for drivers. A piece of PVC plumbing fit the outer race perfectly... the inner, larger bearing race was a little problematical... but a combination of a chunk of 2X4 and a couple big hammers actually worked out quick and fine...

The second wheel went about twice as fast as the first... what with my memory being warmed up about what had to be done when.

Working between spurts of rain and other chores I've done one a day. Yup...really pushing hard ;)

Was gonna see if I couldn't get the thing buttoned up and do two today... but it turns out a run to Denver is in the offing... the kid has a surgery that came up pretty quick... so I'll take the day off and try and finish up tomorrow.

 I've just better than two weeks to finish it up... so it's lookin' like I'll be in good shape... but it won't pay to go and get cocky ;)

Brian

How Can Time That Seems to Drag So Slowly... Race By So Fast?

I got here at the end of March... Been the longest period of time I've set in one place for... five years now I believe... and honestly? Sitting in one place don't fit me.

It never has, but that dis-fit has been polished to a high shine these past few years.

So... it seems such a long time  but yet now the end of this time is racing up hard and fast. Gonna have to haul out sometime mid September to get up to Sydney to repeat the beet piling job...

and there's PLENTY that has to get done before then. and plenty has been getting done...

Number one now... or two... depending on how my Itch works out... will be getting the roof coated. I say maybe number two, because I may just have to take a week or ten days and put the bike in the wind to straighten out a few kinks in my brain...

That roof coating as I'm sure you know got brought to a halt by the swarm of wasps that wouldn't let me be... My bug tent seems to have solved that problem... until the night before last anyway... the buggers came back with a vengeance.

I was trying to sit under the awning and enjoy a cool brew when I noticed a straggler paper wasp heading into the furnace vent. Shortly there were two... and as the afternoon wore on more and more...

I tried running the furnace to chase them out... but when it's 85 or so... having the heater blasting at 90 makes things a mite unpleasant inside... and all that seemed to do is stir 'em up...

So... I did what any self respecting drifting biker cowboy would do when harassed AGAIN by the noxious bowlegged varmints... I went inside and sipped another brew while I waited in ambush for darkness...

When that arrived I broke out my lil' roll of plastic and some flashy duct tape and trapped the suckers.

It seems to have worked... I've not seen a single buzzer in more than a day... I think they're all IN there. Ha Ha Ha Ha... pester me ya yellow butted bug eating galoots! Come heater time up north... or along the road somewhere I'll pull that trap door off so the furnace can run again. :)

While all that was goin on... or just before, I dis-remember... I finally got my scooter back together... and honestly I've not a single idea how. The second tube of the forks, with a special pro tool, refused to go together.

I struggled and strove with help and without... and Nada... So the other morning just after dawn I walked over to the garage to make one last solo effort before nuking it with an impact wrench... and once again failed... arrrrrrgggghhhhh!

I stood for a moment scratching my head and then picked up a wrench to "Check" how easy a part turned (for no particular reason)... and it wouldn't turn... but it should have... What the Hell?

I grabbed the torque wrench and CLICK! when it SHOULDN'T have... WHAT THE HELL?

I checked this and that and all seemed Right. It wasn't together... and then it WAS and no explanation how or why or any durn thing... I took advantage of the weirdness and filled the oil, put all back together and then over the next two days put 400+ miles on her "testing"... and all is right... so... OK... I'll take it!

*along a 300 mile circle testing the bike over the Snowies yesterday in Wyoming*

So now... back to the jobs... I also need to R&R the brakes and bearings on the fiver... and the rear brakes on the truck... and the crack in the windshield is starting to look more like a canyon, and really needs replacing... then there's a few other odd bits and pieces that need doing... looks like my skills at stretching green paper are gonna get a work out ;)

...and I still have a few sprinkler heads on Evin's farm to move... no rest for the wicked...

...and just to pester me... the road, and Sonja, keep calling for several days of my knees in the wind... so the next six or eight weeks, if my count is right, should be busy...

A lazy man trying to be ambitious
Brian

Well Damn... Look on the Bright Side...

And, as soon as I can find it... I will...

The refrigerator vent cap that I built a few years back, because I couldn't locate a new plastic one that would fit, was deteriorating... so while I was waiting on Motorcycle parts to do the forks repair on my scooter... I climbed up on the roof to remove it and build a new one...

That right there is when I discovered as I took it loose, that there was a big ol' ACTIVE wasp nest under it...

Yup... Puss gut cowboy nearly learned to fly...

Well rain wasn't threatening... so I left that refrigerator vent uncapped for a day while I built a new cap... I scouted around when I was ready to put the new one on...and not a damned bug to be seen.

I climbed the ladder back up to set the new vent cap... and within 45 seconds the wasps were swarming all over again... KER-RAP!

Well... I'd made this cap black. My idea was that it'd get too hot for the bugs and those wasps would go elsewhere... maybe even make a better convection current for the refrigerator cooling...

Nope. Didn't seem to slow them damn stingin' bastards down a bit... kinda like politicians...  the more you interfere with their mess... the more they get stirred up.

So... bright Idea... spray 'em down with Wasp Spray...

Now... are you girls paying attention??? DO NOT SPRAY WASP SPRAY AROUND THE ROOF OF YOUR RV...

Honestly, the thought hadn't crossed my mind that the insecticide would eat the EPDM roof.... buuuuuut... it did. arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I'd been about to coat the roof with a Liquid rubber EPDM RV roof coating in the next few weeks. It's getting a lil' shabby in genereal... buuuuuuuut now... I'm looking at having to replace an 8' or 10' section at the least... where that spray ran down over the rubber and blistered it as it went...

So, what I figured to be $400 give or take to coat the roof with good stuff before it starts to leak... is going UP like a tax cut (every time they do me the favor of a tax cut mine have always gone up)... :-/  If I took a SWAG... (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) I'd say I'm probably looking at double that now... and that's if I can conjure a decent way to mickey mouse a repair of the blistered section.

A whole new roof is something in excess of $4500... Not Gonna Happen... I don't know that this old rig is even worth that... best I can hope for is that I can cut in the damaged section and squeeze out a few more miles...

If you have wasps I don't know what to tell you to do... maybe if you're real good with a BB gun... all I know is that I've discovered insecticide and RV Roofs don't mix...

They say; "If you come to the end of your rope tie a knot in it and hang on"... 

The clouds just keep stackin' up... the knot is gettin' slippery and this Old Biker Cowboy is close to raising some smoke...

Brian

Some People's Kids...and Other Stuff...

Got loaded and packed... I still remember how after sitting on the farm for too long...

The only issue with going to a "summer cabin" area near to the front range is that, even in the middle of the week... it's pretty busy.

The first camp I'd been instructed to find was full up... so down the road a few more miles to another forest camp... run by the dreaded "corporation"... where you pay for electric whether you use it or not... yup... I'm a dedicated boondocker...

... buuuuut... with the lil' ones it was figured that having an outhouse and such might be a benefit on their first "outing"...

So... I got a "nice" spot... lashed down the awning in case a wind come up and even collected a few pics... and then went to work sitting in some ease under the awning... sippin a brew...

hmmm... THAT was a foolish thing to do... I shoulda been payin' a bit more attention... ever heard the phrase; "Calm before the storm"?

Yeah... So my daughter and her little ones finally arrived after some trouble getting out of Denver... and we went to setting up their tent. That took all of 15 minutes.

At that point she went to hauling food and such into the trailer that needed to go in the fridge... now... there's this thing called ~ boys ~.They're little critters designed to torture test anything and everything within their ability to reach, touch, drag, push, pull or poke...

Those critters could jack up the proverbial Concrete Slab with a rubber hammer... And I believe are genetically predisposed to do just that...

So... with the momma in the rig putting food away... and the keys laying in her Yukon...

Can you see it coming???

Uh Huh... CLICK!!!

Yeah... There we are, 70 miles from a lock smith... an OnStar system to which they aren't subscribed... and MOST of their food and ever'thing else locked up in the car. There was a time I could get into a car/truck faster with a piece of wire or a pocket knife than I could with a key.

These "newer" cars have been worked over to just about make that impossible... so the next 45 minutes were spent organizing rendezvous between people in Denver with People who have not yet left Fort Collins to meet part way between to pass spare keys along...

Well... that's taken care of... and no sparks or smoke... so all's good... right?

Oh Hell... YOU KNOW BETTER! :)

Keriann and I were sitting there... waiting on her key to show up with her mother when she asked... "is that the wind in the trees?"

I looked off toward the sound of the "wind" and said... "hmmm... there's not that many trees left around here to make much of the sound of wind in the trees..."

"Is that rain coming?" she asked...

"Hmmm... could be..." It sounded a little like a freight train coming across the mountain... then it came over the ridge behind us and... WHAM!

Yeah... not so much rain as...

 She said that's big hail! I said; Nah... just pea size... she snooped around for a bit and said; BIG PEAS DAD!!!

Yeah... so... frozen peas on steroids are sorta hard on equipment...

*RV Roof vents blown out... again*

 Both of the fifth wheels' roof vents... that we just replaced a year or two ago... from a hail storm got blown out again...

*An RV Awning modified to let the light in*

And the awning got turned into to a rather poor skylight... :-/

I knew the awning was aging... but hoped it would last a few more months... I've got higher priority things than multi-hundred dollar RV awnings... what can I say?

I know... We'll live without an awning for a bit! ;)

So... the key showed up... hyper powered midget humans got put to bed... finally...

...and the sun rose this morning on a camp that survived...

*Sunrise after the storm*

Today... while they all play... I'm thinking seriously of taking the little car... and running on back down to the flat lands... and collecting up another pair of roof vents. I'm not real sure how well those garbage bags I wrapped up the shattered vents with will hold up over time...

Just Duckin' and Runnin'
Brian

Truck Repairs, Improvised Tools and Slick Lil' Gadgets

Been busy for a lazy guy. Not sure where I left off... bein' sick as a mutt for four or five days kinda scrambled my perception of when stuff happened. :)

First thing I can think of is that I split my time between tryin' to mow the grass around this farm... and sittin' in the shade wheezin' and dizzy from bein' beat up with that flu bug.

So then I'd go work for a bit on wiring and such on the bike getting her all finished up.

Well... one afternoon I was wobblin' past the front of the truck... and saw one of those green puddles you really don't want to see. Took me some little time to figure out for sure and for certain it was the water pump. Now everything I've ever replaced or fixed on this Ol' Dodge Cummins seems to always tally up in the hundreds; so I might could say I was not looking forward to another repair.

I've heard tales that you've got to pull the entire radiator to get to the damned thing, so I came razor close to just droppin' it into a local shop for somebody else to fix it... but... that threatened to tally up to dollars in the excessive digits range...

... and since my budget no longer contains anything that can include excessive digits... I concluded that doin' the job myself was the order of the day.

A lil' online scouting revealed that while a dealership might charge you $300 bucks for the pump... you can get 'em at NAPA for a lot less... The one I bought cost me $52 and less than an hour of wrenching to replace.

$52 bucks for a lifetime warranty brand new pump at NAPA... and a whole lot more from a dealer... hmmmm... NEVER buy parts at the dealers!!!

I don't know who came up with the radiator story either... but that fool was lyin'.

I pulled the truck up into Evin's shop and set to work...

*Gettin' ready to put a fresh water pump on a cummins*

There's only two bolts to deal with... nice lil' short ones... but before you can really wrench on them you need to get the serpentine belt out of the way...

To torque that tensioner pulley over to release the belt you need a tool...

Now... there's a handy dandy special tool you can buy that costs something north of a hundred bucks the last time I checked... or... you can do it the cowboy way...

*Serpentine belt Tensioner tool*

In that tensioner is a 3/8 square hole. That fancy tool plugs right in there... and of course your wallet is a whole lot lighter.

or... just pick up a length of pipe at Home Depot or Loews that's long enough to reach up above the radiator...

Stick the drive of your 3/8 drive ratchet or breaker bar in the hole, slip the pipe over the ratchet handle and wa la!

A $6 or maybe $8 handy dandy tensioner pulley tool!

Of course you need to drain out a bunch of the coolant before you break that pump loose...

And they don't set that to drain out nice either... so you're likely to have coolant on the floor of where ever you're swappin' your pump... so don't have the pups around when you're workin'.

That stuff is deadly to 'em.

I drained what I could catch into a five gallon pail. Planned on putting it right back in, and then running the truck 'bout 7 miles to another shop to do an oil change and coolant system flush.

Had the pump out in no time... was nice and clean for 203,000 miles.

It was just leakin' out it's weep hole for whatever reason...

There's another lil gizmo in this pic of interest too... See that lil' blue light above the new pump?

I got my first one as a gift from a reader of this blog! I just picked up a couple more for use as camp lights when I'm on the bike. Found 'em at Harbor Freight for like $4.

An LED light that has a hook and a magnet (for multiple ways of stickin' it where you need it)... for a sweet lil' trouble light that'll give a goodly amount of light where you need it.

working in the dim light of that garage that lil' light let me see down in the engine compartment so I could see what in the hell I was tryin' so hard to screw up! :)

It was actually a lot darker in there than the camera flash and the light from the light shows in this pic!

Now... a competent mechanic could probably have the bad pump out, the good one in and be done up and sittin' in the shade in under a half hour.

I... am NOT a competent mechanic... I just get the job done... eventually... I was done before lunch!

I took quite a while with a scrubbing pad and even some 320 grit paper making sure the mating surface where the new pump's O-ring would seal was as clean and proper as I could make it. Didn't want to have to redo things 'cause I got in a hurry.

But bottom line is anybody with a bit of common sense and some ambition can swap the water pump on his old diesel truck and save himself (or herself) a goodly number of dollars in the process.

With the truck repair done... I've been tinkering the past couple of days getting the bike ready for a run... Got invited to a "mini" rally down in Flagstaff... Can't say I've the dinero to get there and back... but what the hell...

... I've been setting here in this place for nigh on two months and that's too long... Time to roll somehow... some way... some where!

So... next week... I'm straddlin' the saddle of that polished up Yamaha Raider and rolling South West for Northern Arizona for a few days...

Brian

Working Out Working Through the Winter...

Finally dealt with the electrical gremlin in the truck... I hope... and it didn't cost a dime. With nothing changed, and no total failures to reveal the bad parts I made another small search for phantom loads and found zilch. The alternator continues to produce volts and amps... just like it should... So... I finally surrendered to the simplest fix and replaced the pair of batteries.

Should have just done that passing through back in October. The good thing about buying good batteries or batteries from a good place, I guess, is if they do go bad there's a good warranty. Costco warrantied the batts 100%. All it cost was the time and diesel to run over there.

With the fresh batteries in place the only remaining "symptom"... just an oddly long runtime of the fuel pre-heat grid just stopped. So, apparently, procrastination paid off this time... sort of.

On the "future" front... still whittling on that. The next few months are going to be a task. We're here in Denver and the rig lays in a yard down in Wickenburg. Lots of different bits in play. If it were simple, it'd been long settled.

Our lil' store in Fort Collins is still in the black but lame and requiring some dedicated effort.  If it turns up its toes... game over. So, Heidi is staying here while I run back to the rig.

The possibility of draggin' the rig back here early to spend the summer is there... but... wintering in Colorado... in a worn old rig...

I've spent winters in rigs in this north country... It only works for winter lovers. This buster... is NOT... a winter lover. Been there done that. I've chopped ice to water cows and horses at 15 below. I've fought the drifts to get to the highway...  after fighting hours in the cold to get machinery started.

I've fought the biting cold to feed and pushed herds through near blizzards. Winter holds no mystery or attraction.

All the chores of summer take on a special "patina"... when you're sloggin' through snow drifts, cold and cabin fever after a week of storm...

Pile on there the beating "normal" living inflicts on wandering souls and I'm in deep kimchi. The thought of goin' back to sellin' hardware to the scuttling serfs of soh-sigh-uh-tee... rots my liver.

It's always been a problem. I don't fit normal. Never have. Goin' along to get along in a world that has an active distaste for "different", bunch quitters like me is a bloody chore. It's been a full time job with plenty of overtime since I was big enough to pull on my own boots. Truth is it has always turned my stomach and turns it now.

I used to be able, to some degree, to bow my head, smile and nod... and just move along. Kinda Cowboy Up and get it done. Oh, I kicked and rebelled... but in the end... toed the line like a good lil' cowboy.

That was a stupid thing to do. Might's well just buckled a collar 'round my neck and barked like a dog.

Thing is, the bucket that held that ability to smile and nod and toe that line has been drained. No telling where that boot toe is goin'... if somebody grabs my collar and starts pointin' at some damned line.

I'll brush up in some desert hole until March I guess, bangin' on the keyboard. I've plenty of my own work to get done, and that seems to have promise...

Just Get back to the rig. Pull my belt up another notch. Drop expenses and mileage to just about nuthin'... and work. Get through the skinny time of winter with two or three months of sleepin' and workin'... and see what the spring holds.

The road ain't run and it's a new year comin'.

Just workin' along
Brian

The Days Roll On...

The shop finished up the truck just as promised. Picked it up Friday noon. So... Three steps forward and a couple back. Poor as we were in September... but now with a fresh transmission and clutch... which they said that clutch was about nineteen feet from coming apart itself. ;)

One lil' future warning that came out of it... there was some "Color" in the transfer case oil when they changed it. Such color generally means there's metal bits floating around in it... which means wear... so... I haven't yet run out of bits and parts to repair and replace. I don't believe you ever are.

You kinda have a choice... Huge dollars up front... to have a rig with enough fresh miles in it to keep you out of repair shops for a while (unless you get one of those occasional duds) ... or...

... no dollars in between repairs... either way a rig costs dollars. Kinda like living. There's no way to eat without working so wasting time grousing on it is just that. Wasted time.

Now... for work I'm about halfway through a big leather project that I can't publish or the wrong person might could see it. ;) but between it and the previous small project it's bringin' my tooling back up to speed.

It's an odd thing... Maybe not. I've wandered a lot of miles. Clear to Alaska... and even places far beyond the shores of these United States. But, when it's all said and done when I think the word "Home"... Arizona Far Country is the picture that floats through my head.

Home on the Range
Brian

On Broken Gears I Wander Along to Escape the Coming Snows...

With another storm brewing that threatened our camp under the Mogollon, herself leaving for Colorado Wednesday, and repairs on the truck still up in the air... I loaded the Raider early Sunday to be ready to haul out Monday. The idea being, that if the transmission failed to get worse... I'd be 60 miles closer to get the repairs done and down out of the predicted snow level for the coming storm.

It it did get worse... the gamble didn't pay off. ;)

A reader led me to some information about the Transmission in our old Dodge.(that had me believing it was a decent gamble) Being a 1999 it's got what's called an NV4500 five speed. It's a real good transmission with one fault... apparently. I've put seventy thousand miles on this tranny of it's 195,000 and something over a hundred thousand on a '98 with the same tranny before that and hadn't run across this particular issue.

Fifth gear some times goes away. One second you've got a five speed... and the next it's a four speed!  The deal is, when things wear to a point... there's some sort of a retention nut that holds the gear in place on the shaft... and the nut loosens up and lets the gear slide out of place... and you no longer have five speeds.

4th gear don't work so good on the highway. Counting the 5er, it pretty much converts the rig into a 19,000+- pound rolling road block. Now if it was a Prius... a fella might have a problem... but with something well over 8000 pounds of truck and more than 11,000 of trailer... and a fella with a less than stellar attitude sunk down in the drivers chair... makes it a lil' tough to bully or run over. :)

So... I got the scooter on the truck ready to go... in plenty of time to gather in the last sunset up there.

... and come mornin'... We finished loading after a ten day + stay here, and limped back on down to the valley with the flashers flashin'... and our big Ol' selfs roadblockin' along at 48 mph. Settled into a camp I've used before east of Wickenburg a ways. There's space, good sun, beer in Wickenburg just 15 miles or so... and It lets me be close enough for to make the repair situation a lil' more convenient...

.. while keepin' me out of town as much as possible in the process!

*In a Closer Camp Safe and Sound*

After some time tracking down shop referrals and installers, I found the guy in town that's rebuilding the NV4500 Transmission the right way. He does his rebuilds with redesigned parts that have eliminated the gear issue in question. Then, since all that will be torn down anyway, it kinda made no sense to be into that deep into it with labor and not just go ahead and replace the clutch.

What with that damned Murphy doggin' my heels... It only seemed reasonable, since there's enough of the beet money still in the bank to cover it to go ahead and swap out those parts now too.

I'm guessing that could let go any time... so now is the right time to just suck it up and do that too.

Some might say why don't you save the coin and just stick a used transmission in there? ... and I thought of that too. My own searches found trannys from 900 up, with most being north of a thousand. A friend in California found one quick for $675. The 900 and up ones are kinda nuts... the total rebuild is $950! Even my bald head can do the math on this one.

There'd still be freight on those used outfits, and the swapping labor costs of a few hundred bucks (my ambition for THAT sort of labor is weak)... and with no warranty and the same transmission "issue" lurking... I could have the thing let go 12 miles down the road... So... this is I decided, one of those penny wise and pound foolish sorts of deals.

Anyhoo... I'm on the schedule to get the truck to 'em Wednesday morning some time. I'll run on down there and offload the Raider to get home on and let 'em have at it. They claim with a lil' luck and the sky don't fall they could be done by Friday...

In the mean time... We got several pieces displayed in the Gypsies in the Wind Gallery over the past weekend. I've also been working on another leather project, a photo album, as I continue to retool my tooling skills and work to bring things back up to speed.

I'm hoping to be sufficiently satisfied with the rekindling of my work by late winter that I can add a couple of more galleries to the Main Store... A Journal Gallery and one for Albums... as well as adding some designs to the Buckle gallery that's already up.

Till then... As soon as the truck gets dropped off I'll ride the bike back here to the desert, get the coffee pot fired up... and immerse myself in the task of continuing to spin the story of the next Novel in the Jensen series that's in the works.

So... though we took it in the shorts... one more time... there's work waiting. Time to Cowboy Up and get after it.

Plumb out of words...
 Brian