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

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

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

Sometimes Thanksgiving... Takes Some Effort -or- Broken Transmissions Test Your Metal

It's hard to not get down sometimes. It's hard to keep on keepin' on when it seems like every step you take you get hit with that startling punch in the guts.

And then... you take another step and... WHAM... the hits just keep on comin'.

Laying there you look up and think... why the hell bother. Why not just lay here and watch the clouds float by and say to hell with it...

Buuuuuut... after layin' there for a bit you start thinkin'. Yeah I know I should quit that crap... it's only ever got me a belly ache and in trouble... but it's an addiction I just can't shake...

So there I am... layin' in the ditch, starin' up at the sky... wonderin' what to do about a blown transmission... and I get to thinkin': "Self? You got bruises and scars, dents and dislocated parts... your teeth are bad and your attitude worse. This sucks mightily... But... BUT... two months ago the money wasn't in the bank to make the fix. So even if this consumes the last of that...the worst is... you're only back where you were... before you got to where you're at."

The old saw is true; There's others that have it worse... so Cowboy Up and ride boy.

There's Some are in the hospital with grievous illness. Some have lost their son's or lovers in a sorry, hopeless struggle in a useless pit beyond redemption... others have lost homes, jobs, friends and hope. My lil' difficulty don't measure up to theirs.

So... one more time... pick up my marbles... Cowboy Up, and get on down the road.

*** Made what was planned to be a quick run to Cottonwood for a meal with friends from the Nascar race... and rustling some jugs of water at the cemetery...

The trip had already started off a bit lame, literally, when the truck wouldn't start. The Montana electrical gremlin has returned... but with the help of the generator, the battery charger I got in Sydney and hadn't had to use, and enough cords to reach the truck where it was parked... I got the thing fired up after a bit.

Ran on to town. Did our visiting, enjoyed the light meal with them and then rolled in the dark to the cemetery for our water... wrong holiday for that ain't it? It's ok... the water tastes a lil' odd...  but we've never found anything floating in it... so all's well...

Then... we turned for home and ran out to Camp Verde, caught the interstate and ran up the ramp... headed south for Dugas.

Had made but a few miles when there was an odd... metalic sort of a sound and the tach suddenly zoomed nearly a thousand RPM... though the truck was slowin' down...

"That's odd" I thought. I disengaged the speed control and went to manual throtttle... ZOOM went the tach... After checking the stick and knowing the thing was in gear I'm thinking... "Damn... the clutch just let go!"

Well, I kicked her into neutral and looking up ahead I calculated that what with rolling along a slight down hill, I should be able to mexican overdrive it to where Hwy 169 cut off toward Prescott. Figured off the main road on the off ramp would be the best place to wait for a tow truck.

I hadn't yet come to a stop and I was already wondering; "How are we gonna get back to the rig, way out there in the high desert... once they haul the Dodge off?"

Pulled to a stop a ways back from the stop sign. As is my habit... before surrendering to defeat I kinda gave it a quick once over. I ran it through the gears. Well Damn! It weren't the clutch. 1st gear fine! 2nd gear, 3rd gear, even 4th gear rolled the truck. Hadn't crapped the clutch. But 5th gear for sure and for certain had snapped and cratered.

So... with the flashers flashin' and down to four out of five gears... I rolled the wounded Ol' Dodge back to camp. I'll tell you what... 50 mph on an Arizona Interstate is just a lil' bit of a risky proposition. Though I'll bet that diamond plate bed behind me would be less the worse for wear than them in their thin skinned sedans who wiggled on past in such an all fired hurry.

The next couple days will be spent figurin' out how to consume the last of the benefit we got from stackin' beets and haulin' NASCAR butts.

Easy come... easy go... Between The IRS, Tire shops, Battery barns and now... Tranny fixin's... we'll be back to the normal situation of eatin' this month... what we made last month. That's ok... didn't have a couple of months expenses in the bank long enough to get used to it.

Just Another Day of Duckin' and Runnin'
Brian

Loading Again...

The new tires are on. 66,900 miles on the old set of Hankook tires. I could have squeezed out a full 70,000 and more if my ambition was sufficient. Not too shabby for a hard used, not diligently maintained set on a dually weighing out at 18,000 lbs gcvw with the rig on give or take.

When you consider the heavy duty four wheeling that was included in those miles, it's pretty amazing really.

I fully believe, had I taken better care of 'em, those tires rated for 50,000 would have gone 80,000 reliably. 

Kind of tells you the benefit of "upgrading" to the 10 ply rated tires don't it.

The electric issue has gone "dormant"... so what I can't find I can't fix... and I've got little interest in throwing what few dollars we've got at problems... hoping to hit the right part. Soooo... I guess that gets left alone until it decides to show it's face again.

I tried the suggestion of bringing a code up with the odometer routine... except the odometer I've got ain't the correct sort. I believe Mike means that black letter digital sort...and this'un here is the lil' green "neon light" kind... High tech mechanical terminology there you know?

But, the batteries are holding their voltage, so I just can't see replacing them when they still get the job done, and me not Knowing for sure and for certain that they're even where the problem lives.

Anyhoo... I'll put the bike back on the truck this afternoon and start getting ready to pull the fiver off of Northglenn's sidewalk and begin the trek south to Avondale.

Looks like Wednesday or so we'll fire up the Cummins and start moving on farther south.

Trinidad, Raton Pass, Santa Fe and then we'll have to start making a decision... on down to Soccorro and cut west again through Springerville and across the Mogollon?

or... West at Albuquerque to Flagstaff and then turn south to Avondale... keeping to the big road...  I kinda lean toward Soccoro... but only time can tell.

Movin' On
Brian

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

Last of the Easy Days... Tomorrow It's Time to Jump Some Gullies!

Finished up the early "training" bit with the "research" beets from the USDA Friday evening... and then had the weekend "off"... to be ready to Rock and Roll the 12 hour days, seven days a week... starting Monday morning!

I have a bit of a sneaky suspicion that Monday is gonna get a mite western. The past three nights we'd had a bit of an "escapade" with co-ordination  'tween all the moving parts. Uh huh.. getting juuuuust a touch out of the proper rhythm ~ As in the bovine processed vegetable matter was coming into opposition with the air recirculation device. Uh Huh... can you spell SPLATTER?

Ha ha... yeah... each tub of beets to be tested has a ticket... specific to it... and they can't be allowed to get crossed up with some other bucket... and... yup... they did... DEFCON 5! DIVE DIVE DIVE!!! HONNNNK HONNNNNK HONNNNNNK!!! INCOMING INCOMING!!! MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!!! :)

WHOOOOOEE! Kind of a grinner to see ever'body scramblin' 'round with a look on their face like Mother Theresa just got caught at the Motel 6 with a schoolboy.

Soooo... Monday we hit the pilers in the stackyard for six hours or so... then an hour break and crank up the "tare lab" come sundown and work that till the work is done... Hopefully not much after ten or so... then...

Get up the next morning for the next 18 or 23 days and do it all over again!

Yesterday afternoon we had a bit of a camp/crew potluck here at the fairgrounds for all the folks camped here working the harvest.

Had a bit of a downer this week as well. A long time reader of this blog turned up here unexpectedly to work the harvest.

John Davidson walked up our first day here and introduced himself. I'd no idea he was going to be here. I've "known" John for five or six years, though I'd never seen his face, only his truck! ;)

He sent me the confidence that my idea to "retard" the hitch on the truck so I could carry my motorcycle behind the cab would work just fine; contrary to all the nay sayers warning me of catastrophe. His old truck has been a part of the main website for several years! (yeah... I know... in finding the page his rig was posted on... I discovered yet another page requiring rebuilding ~ no rest for the wicked huh?)

Well, his wife Colleen got sick the very first night of work in the lab. The next thing we knew she was in Intensive care in the local hospital. They turned her loose yesterday and this morning they hitched up their toad and headed for home over in Washington with a weeks worth of medication to get 'em there.

We're all wishin' 'em well, safe travels and a quick mending from the infection she suffered. They had a nice sunrise this morning to send 'em off on their journey west...

*Sunrise over the sugar beet harvest*

'Course... red sky in the morning, sailor's warning... kinda says they might be drivin' into a bit of weather 'tween here and home.

In amongst all the things goin' on I got my latest volume of the Ben Jensen Series published and up live at Amazon where it's selling modestly well. Considering all the competition a guy has, that's a pretty pleasant place to be.

Mary left this review today on the first story of the series ~ A Pair of Second Chances~ ;  "I could not get Sam Elliott out of my head! Love to read westerns and love stories. So add suspense and real life adventure -I'm hooked! Usually not interested in a love story written by a guy. This one is different. Not sourly sweet. Could not put this down. Love me some cowboy and this just proves old cowboys never die. Highly recommended."

Wow... There's a lady who knows how to make a writer feel damn Fine! I'm gonna have to exercise some extra care to keep my ego under control! ;)

If you haven't got your copy or have never read the first volume, follow that link and you can get Your copy of ~ A Pair of Second Chances ~ FREE at Amazon! Then you'll be in great shape for the continuing story in ~ Shadow on the Mountain~. ... "A Pair" is also available free at Barnes & Noble for those of you with NOOKS. "Shadow" will be coming up Live in the NOOK store shortly as well. It just hasn't worked it's way through the distribution channels yet.

Be sure to pass on the links for the FREE series Starters and the next books to your mystery and suspense with a bit of action and romance loving friends. This Ol' Buster will be forever grateful! ...

If you read the stories, please, Remember to travel back to the store where you bought it and leave a review. Many many people make their purchases based on those. So authors are Very Grateful for the ones you leave... But, Be Honest with 'em too!

Well... It's what we used to call "Ruck Time" in the army... gotta check my gear bag to make sure I'm set up for whatever weather comes down on us tomorrow when we get to Pilin' sugar beets!

Writin' and Pilin' and Weighin' and Grinnin'
Brian

We Done Busted the Rules

Etiquette says... One Night At Walmart. Uh huh. And for all the times we've been patrons of the Night Stoppers of Walmart society... that's 'zactly what we done.

'Till now.

This night shall be our Third night, courtesy of Walmart. Parked it with a lame truck Saturday afternoon and received the clearance that we'd have no trouble, so we could get into the shop Monday morning.

Monday morning rolled around, right on schedule... the truck rolled into the Dealers yard, right on schedule... and right on schedule that @#%$ Murphy showed up.

Now, in amongst all the wires and hoses and confabulationary plumbing and hardware that constitutes the guts and structure of a modern diesel truck lives a thing called the ECM. That's engineer speak for engine control module.

Fabulous lil' boxes. They tell the engine how to run and when to do it in a fashion that makes these late model rigs run the old thumpers of my youth to gasping wrecks trying to keep up.

Uh Huh... right up until they don't. Now, in the old days when the side of your carburetor blew out, you could look in there under the hood and say; "Aw Hell! The side of the carburetor blew out!" The fix was simple. Bolt on a fresh one.

Now, you have to ask that ECM and it's lil' recording devices; "What ail's you son?" and 99.9% of the time it pops up a CODE that tells you 'zactly what's ailing. Uh HUH. Not 100% I said 99.9%

Any of you still wonderin' what % I stumble around in? You thought YOU were special? HA! I live with the sure and certain knowledge that I ain't no 1%er... I am a .1 %er... you see that lil' bitty POINT there in front of the 1 right?

Yup... that fancy ee-lek-trawnic whizbangin' gizmo under the seat... or wherever they hide it... refuses to tell anybody which part is the right part... to replace... It didn't record a dang thing.

The consequence being; "If it ain't broke... we can't fix it!"  arrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh!  ... and I'm not willing to roll out into the far flung wilds with a lame rig.

So we ride into our THIRD Walmart night...

Well Hell, at least they have craft beer for sale inside and no shortage of TP...

Life is a Beer... Goes down easy and frequently leaves you sitting on the porch looking stupid.
Brian

An Unnecessary Education on the Value of Maintenance

Or at least, it SHOULD be unnecessary at this late stage of The Game.

So... when you get poor... and repairs eat up the money you've not yet made faster than you can make it... those things that can be postponed.... Guess What? They get... Post - Poned!

Uh huh. Maintenance falls pretty low on the priority scale.. Now generally... that doesn't really get your shorts in a quiver... unless of course you're sitting on an airplane... owned by a company in financial distress!

So, there you are, rich in visions... but poor in assets. As in... the truck your ass sets in.

Now... you're rolling into a lil' burg... and the truck goes BURP! WHEEZZZZEEEE UPUCKFLURPEEWHUMP! .... all over the space of 'bout 3 seconds...

It stumbles... and then... the CHECK ENGINE light illuminates and you say; awwwww CuuuuuuuRRRAPPPPPP!

Buuuuuuuut there's no place to pull off, so for a mile or three you keep movin, your eyes jumpin' all over the dash, trying to find something wrong...

It rolls on down the road until you can find a spot along the narrow way to pull over and check, all the while your liver is doin' a tap dance on your kidneys...

You look, and hunt and search only to find nothing wrong... or at least, nothing you can find with a look and a wish with the hood up on the side of the road waiting for some yuppie in a duramax to holler; GET A CHEVY!

Soooooo... you can holler back; So I can park the lump of GM fertilizer  LIKE A ROCK? 

Well, frustrated in your recon under the hood...  you roll on the 15 miles to your next camp... with the CHECK ENGINE light! making your shorts a bio waste hazard...

Buuuuuuuuut everything runs just like it should... alternator, fuel pressure, oil pressure, engine temp... outside air temp... the ONLY thing wrong is your pulse, that nasty smell spreading through the cab annnnnnd... the twisting squirming lump in your gut.

... and you park...

... you get camp set up... while thinking all the while about all the myriad of things that could trigger the EVIL CHECK ENGINE light...and how many zero's are gonna follow along behind the part number of that lil' jewel.

sooooo... you sit in your fading but not yet failed folding chair trying to find a shuttle to take herself to the Airport, 80 something miles away tomorrow afternoon so you can spend the next two weeks figuring your way out of the most recent hole that's opened up under your beer bottle...

... and then you think... well... maybe it could have been... The FUEL FILTER! That's overdue!... and you hunt up an Oil Can Henry's just down the road... 'cause changing the oil in camp is a nasty, greasy, menial job best left to those without the masculine beauty and sensual adonis traits of ethiopian bellied, bald headed onetime Cowboy, Bikers.

Now... you rob that poor motherless son Peter to pay Paul... one more time... only this time he had to take out a loan 'cause you already robbed him of the next two years tax returns... 

... and you go on down there to change the oil and the fuel filter... which... due to that pri-ohr-uh-ti-za-shun scandal mentioned above... hasn't been done since... oh well... never mind that...

So... you're sitting there in the cab and you hear this noise. It's the sound a minimum wage Oil Can Henry em-ploy-eeee makes when they find something some uncaring, useless Dodge mutilator has done to a fine machine.

He was uttering one of those Poh-Lit-I-cully impolite uses of a fellas name. Uh HUH... THAT fella. The one that some are terribly fearful of...

uh HUH... He'd found the AIR FILTER!

I didn't know they had a button for such things at just another variety of a lube shop. But they do. The echoes in that lil' building still have my ears ringin' from when he hit the EMERGENCY EVACUATION button...

***AHHHHHOOOOOOOGAAAA !!!

Alert! RED ALERT! 

This machine is about to BLOW!

 Do not walk. Do not hesitate! Run for the exits.  

RUN NOW! 

AHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOGAAAAA !!!

 

RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!  

RRRRRRRRRRR---- UNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN !!!  NOOOOWWWWWWWWWW !!!! 

AHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOGAAAAA***

I would have taken a picture of  said Air Filter... but it was seized by armed  FEMA agents and passed on to Homeland Security to be investigated as a Home grown weapon of mass destruction.

To give you an idea of it's appearance... think of the sourest prude of a celibate old puckered up, double dipped, triple rectified Victorian 89 year old virginal Librarian you can think of; and take a picture of her the instant she bites into the most bitterest lemon you can find while flashing her a picture of a gangbanger with his jeans hanging half down his butt...

Uh Huh... that air filter was... uh... bad... :'( to put it into one word... Plumb Shameful. Well sue me! You can't PUT it in one word!

Well, now that abused, tortured and maligned GOOD TRUCK from DODGE is sitting out there in this new camp with clean oil, a fresh fuel filter... and no longer crying... aiiiirrrrrrrr.... i neeeeeeed aiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The moral of this story is... Take care of your machinery, one way or the other... 'cause you just can't count on it having the guts to keep moving you like I wrung out of this'un.

Chastised and Hew-Milly-eighted
Brian

What Are You Gonna do When Your "Plans" Hit a Wall?

Been here before... I expect to be here again... and Here is where I am right now.

Before you decide to sell out everything and  hit the road RV Boondocking full time... you need to think about something; What are you gonna do, not if... but When...

When we pulled out of Glass Creek up near Mammoth lakes on Wednesday, our tentative plan was to move mostly north to Gardnerville; resupply at the New Walmart there and then continue North past Susanville.

Heidi was inside securing our supplies. I was sitting outside studying the map when that lil' voice of mine started whispering. Something wasn't right... but I wasn't hearing clear... I only knew I was uneasy.

I've learned over the last five decades to NOT ignore that lil' voice, so the only thing I could do different was turn west. I don't know that it mattered but it all fits together in my way of "looking" at things.

It was coming down out of the mountains that we started to hear a steady, tinny, rattle from the front end, that stopped at the lightest touch of the brake.

So...  the next morning, yesterday morning, after making sure it was OK with the Casino to unhook, I detached from the fiver and rolled the truck over to Les Schwab to have it checked out... thinking it was just a simple broken clip that was letting something rattle about...

Don't I wish... the rattle turned out to be a failed caliper that kept one side of the brake against the rotor... which ATE the rotor. That sound concealed the disintegration of the opposite wheel bearing and distracted from a tie rod going bad... ooooooffffff...

The consequence of it all coming down together was a repair bill of $1500 smackers... Which to be honest... was about 1498 more than we truly had... We scrambled it up... by, like I said yesterday, robbing Peter to pay Paul. An increasingly dicey balancing trick... cuz when you "borrow" from that which produces your meager income... the "production" can be expected to decline...

Yeah... that lil' store we still own back in Colorado, that is half or so of our sustenance got squeezed... 

arrrrrggggggghhhhhh...

The upshot really is... what are you gonna do when such things happen? Like I've said before, this deal wouldn't be an issue for a financially blessed wanderer... but... there are things that even those lucky buggers are gonna stumble across that'll take the wind outa their sails...

So the question remains; What Are You Going to Do? When the Bovine processed vegetable matter is horizontally accelerated by direct contact with the atmosphere agitation device... What are you gonna do?

Are you going to throw it in and quit? are you going to give up your dreams...whatever that dream is? or... are you gonna dig in and PUSH?

Back on the ranches it's been said; That man, or that horse "Has sand." For those unknowing of the term, it means; They possess the "grit" to keep on going. No matter what, they keep on going. They refuse to quit.

Maybe it's arrogant of me, maybe it's blowing my own horn to make the claim; BK Gore has sand. If it is, so be it ~ I'm arrogant ~ I'll accept the criticism. But, I believe in my life I've pushed ahead enough times that I can claim it's an accurate assertion... arrogant or not.

And now... one more time... I got to choose; and that's the real deal. When that "Stuff" is hitting the fan you're left with but two choices;

Bow your head and surrender to the winds of fate... or ... Cowboy Up!

This Ol' Buster picks number two. Always has, always will. I choose to grab that no good scythe swingin' "Reaper" along with his distant cousin Murphy and shake their stinkin' hides until their bones rattle. I'll convert their sorry behinds to chew toys.

Most I guess when confronted by the disappearance of more than what they could claim to actually have had would pull in their horns and curtail their planned summer circle. They'd tuck their tails and limp for "home".

Me? awwww... you already know the answer to that don't you?

Not a miserable damned chance! I'm goin' and seein' what my heart had itself set on showin' my eyes... and I'm taking herself with me!

Those that wish to sleep careful and "secure"... do that! I don't criticize or malign your choices, I truly don't. But that don't float my boat. I speak only for myself.

Though you might have believed you perceived otherwise, I don't presume to tell you how to live. I really only speak of how I must, and what I cannot endure. Some will identify the same feelings in their own hearts... some will think otherwise.

My way to me is clear. I simply cannot tolerate another moment of my life being consumed by allowing,what others see as "reasonable security", and I perceive as soul eating fable... to be permitted to command my future.

I know not what others may choose... But I shall follow my own path. (stealing a lil' founding father's thunder there!)

If the wind should blow against me, and I fully expect that it will, I'll lower my head and drive on. Either it will turn off from me... or I will split it clean in two!

If the wind wants to blow against my ambitions I say... Bring It On! because we're not turning back... We set our sail for the northwest coast... and that's where this cowboy caravan is goin'.

The sun is shining and the road is open. I love it so. A few broken parts, or a lot of broken parts won't pull me off it. Today we're poorer... but hope is strong and life stretches out in front of us. Of one thing you can be sure, when it comes along... I'll be there for every day of it. ;)

Just a Battle of Wind ;) ...some will claim I'm well armed! :)
Brian 

Murphy Won The International Championship

Started hearing a small noise...

Sooo... Detached in the Thunder Valley Casino Parking lot and took the old '99 dodge mouse farm to a tire shop to check things out...

Small noise was a bad caliper that came apart... Which, while it was eating the rotor on the left side, hid the sound of a bad bearing disintegrating on the other side at the same time... which all together masked the vibration of a failing tie rod end... Ooooofffff...

Bottom line... We're robbing Peter to pay Paul... And rolling one poor old drunk who made the mistake of stumbling past the Les Schwab shop at the wrong time.

Older, thinner and juuuust a bit poorer.
Brian

Repairing the Truck and the last of Bodie

The alternator smoked a short ways from camp... so we ended up making the day on the Bike. What we should have done to start with. Except for the fact that the alternator likely wouldn't have croaked until we're making our camp move in another couple of days... so we'd be ON the road with the whole dang rig.

Soooo... that it turned up its toes before we'd got far from camp was a good thing considering the lack of on the road tribulation we had to endure... made better by the fact that that Napa Auto Parts warrantied the year and a half old thing 100% yesterday afternoon.

$180 alternator zero dollars. Suh-Wheet!

And of course, me being me, the one receipt that's vanished from the truck parts file envelope... was the one for the alternator... But the West Yellowstone NAPA came through for us. They found the sale on their computer and faxed a copy down to Mammoth Lakes so I could get the warranty! :)

That's an example of why I deal with NAPA and Discount Tire... Just about anywhere we are I can find one to take care of any gremlins that crawl into our camp.

Which lets me finish up our Bodie trip.

*Bodie Cemetery*

The Bodie cemetery rests on a low rise overlooking the town. We look in quite a few of the old cemeteries. They are a window into the past... if you look.

Stop for a bit and contemplate on what you see in these old burial grounds... you can learn a lot more about the people who lived there... and a bit of the struggles they endured. You can get a subconscious feeling for who they were...

It helps a person gain some perspective on their own difficulties.

 Something that jumped out at me in Bodie was a truly sorrowful thing. I vow, it seemed like half the monuments were for children.

A thing that really cut deep was how many of the memorials revealed that mothers had lost multiple children...

... often within days of each other.

I didn't see it spoken of in any of the papers I saw...

But Bodie seemed a hard place for young folks to grow up...

The thought of losing not a single child but pairs of daughters...
That's just a thing I don't even want to think about.

But that happened here.

From what the cemetery reveals... an all too common thing.

The dates of their loss seem to cluster in a few rather narrow time periods. It appeared to me that there was an impact in Bodie of the great flu epidemic of the 1918 period...

It seemed like another couple of time periods saw a big spike.

Those gravestones would seem to show a great sorrow...

But that's Not the feeling I got walking around the remains of the town.

The words are hard for me to line up.

In a town where so many parents lost their children I didn't get the feeling of lost hope and crushed spirits.

The newest and youngest of the markers was for a man who passed in 2003!

His family apparently honored his wishes and placed his remains in Bodie.

The thing you feel here... if you've opened up that part of you to pick up on it... is that even though the people have gone... moved on... this place holds a sense of community... a piece of them still survives.

I've walked through other ghost towns and could only feel the rough and tumble of a mining camp. Saloons, brothels, jails...

Here, you see school houses, churches, fire stations... layers of flooring and wall coverings... they show an intention to last. It's a completely different feel than the rough and bawdy camps... You get the feeling that the people who lived here, despite the sorrows that occasionally fell on them... saw this place as Home...

I've read where many people, many cultures feel a spiritual connection with a certain place... that no matter where they go... where they live... there is one place, one piece of ground that is their Spiritual home ground.

I believe that for many... Bodie is their Family Home...

Generations are buried here. They show a bond to this place. It gives a man pause and something to measure himself against.

In another couple of days this old gypsy will be blowing in the wind once more...

Toward the Far Horizon
Brian

Long Views Can Illuminate the Chores That Need to Be Done...

Back in Colorado... where we hailed from... they're getting pummeled by a late winter storm.

I can't say I miss it. Chopping ice and pushin' critters to places they don't want to go in ten degree weather ~ or less ~ or riding my two wheeled sled to a hardware store, through the same, to squeeze another days subsistence out of a soul draining system... don't toot my whistle at all!

We've been riding out a lil' bit of weather here. The wind came up the other night and the clouds lowered over the Sierras to our West and whatever Mountains those are that fringe the west side of Death Valley to our East...

Two days of rig rattling wind makes a guy grateful that he's not yet minimized his possessions to either a tiny trailer or canvas. ;)

But, getting up in the morning after the "Storm" isn't that awful difficult in any of those scenarios...

*Mt Whitney and the Sierras to the west*

... When this is the view that greets your eyes when you roll out and drop the blind...

Laid up lazy in bed until after sunrise and the snow had already receded from its full advance. At one time it had nearly reached the base of the slopes... but that dusting was already gone by the time the sun came up strong...

Even the dry mountains over east, that cradle Death Valley and Panamint Springs got a dusting.

A fella has little to complain of when his Home sits between these two views, with all the space in between, and all he's got to do is turn around in it!

His only trouble is being pushed inside by a cold wind for a couple of days... at a time when his wandering urges haven't fully wrestled loose from the confines of winter...

Our camp here is rapidly becoming a hurry-up-and-wait scenario. Waiting for the country north of here to warm up enough to permit an itchy drifter to start moving that way.

In spite of the wait imposed on the scattered brain of that itchy drifter, things are still moving around here... if slowly.

Thrown in to complicate things is the fool bureaucracy of Colorado. The plates on the truck expire THIS month... as well as the plate on the Raider.

That's only a problem for us because Colorado still has parts of the state which require the emissions inspection for "Some" vehicles... (I've found the emissions inspection system to be nothing but an environmentally phony "profit center" on several occasions both in Colorado and Arizona. But it is how it is and politicos have their fingers inextricably in the till so I won't get in to that)

... It becomes a problem for us because our "Address", where we DON'T live... is inside one of those lines...

Then, the state has recently enacted a few laws that any person who can read and understand rudimentary American english can see... Those new "laws" are blatant, bald faced violations of the founding laws of the country that were SUPPOSED to regulate all subsequent laws... But then, ignoring inconvenient "Law" is how our "Rulers" do their jobs isn't it? ... and we all just let it happen... arrrrrggggghhhhh....

So... in trying to work around the manure within their system I got frustrated... I got Mad... and I got... well... that's gonna have to wait to tell until its complete... Let's just say to Colorado Bureaucracy; "You lose."

The only thing a fella can do is what he can to deprive the parasite of its host. ;)

*Mt Whitney Shadows on its Eastern Cousins*

Looking out at the long views at the end of day... and taking its portrait through the window... one of us said; "We really need to clean the windows!" :)

So... with that unspoken "progress" ... in progress... One mountain shadowed the other... and closed out another day on the road.

Still, distilling out the baloney and the useless...
Brian

Fine Rigs, Good Friends and Shining Times

This area may become known to us as Rendezvous park. ;)

It's had Judy and Cisco, my sister and brother-in-law, a couple of Jerry's and a Dan ;) There's been a cavalcade of folks visiting us here.

Yesterday afternoon my good friends Kerry from British Columbia with his Lady Terry and Darryl along with Lady Marion rolled into camp for an afternoon and evening of Shining Times.

They brought with 'em steaks, stuffed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad and a bottle of wine... All we had to provide was the desert!  Awesome! ;)

Kerry and Darryl and I have put our scooters in the wind together for a couple of thousand miles... and somewhere in the future, at least Darryl and I maintain the fuzzy ambition of another ride through the Yukon. ;) Kerry wants to be the housing operator on that long ride, hauling his RV for us to put up in at night! ;)

We had several hours of a great visit. Heidi's favorite part of the conversation was Marion mentioning that; "I don't get you guys... You guys DROP it, You FALL DOWN, You LOWSIDE... What's that about? Say what it is; YOU CRASH!" :) She's still giggling 'bout that one.

Well after dark we reluctantly bid them all good bye as they left our fire; Kerry and Terry to roll their truck back to Yuma, and Darryl and Marion on his wing riding to the Casino in Parker.

A fine end to a good day. We'd started out with a quick run into Quartzsite for what was supposed to be a hobby/craft fair/show... uh... that was nowhere to be found. Plenty of folks in the big tent selling knife sets, steam cleaners and assorted candy... No hobbies or crafts to be seen... There were how-some-ever, quite a few fine hot rods and juuuust a few lil' custom RV's.

How'd you like to pull into camp with one of these as your RV Toad or even your Tow vehicle? How fun would that be?

Then there was this lil' outfit. A "Tracker T"... a suzuki sidekick/chevy tracker is a rig I'd really like to find a way to add to our camp. A high MPG runabout would be a fine improvement for backroading and foul weather. The Raider is pretty iffy on gravel roads! ;)

Yup, that's a Tracker! ;) the guy took a Suzuki Tracker/Sidekick and remodeled it as a Model T.  Kinda fun don't you think?

Outside the Big Tent was the collection that grabbed our attention... a collection of customized Vintage Ford and Chevrolet trucks...

... all pulling equally Vintage and Custom Tear Drop Campers...

There were some sweet lil' rigs there and Oh Lordy... talk about stirring up an old scheming busters imagination! haha... That's a surprise ain't it?

This morning as I struggle to maintain enough patience to get posted in spite of the intermittent and weak signal Mark wrote about the other day an unexpected drizzle is falling on the roof. I'm hopeful it will move off so I can stay dry as I load up camp.

We'll likely be moving tomorrow or the next day to get on down to Tucson and prepare for the Gem and Mineral show.

Yeah, I stew on occasion over things that need stewin' over... Freedom ain't free... You have to WORK to protect it...

But still... the greatest majority of the time... Life is Good. Life is Damn Good.

We Rattle On
Brian

The Answer is BOTH!

The question was; Are the UN-repentant gypsies such as me running away from something... or running toward?

And just to say it... running away is not always cowardice. When a big ugly nasty is slobbering after your liver... and all you got is a slingshot, running is not such a bad idea.

When you look at the world at large and our own cities up closer... the growing insanity of humanity is to my thinking... about as close as you can get to a big ugly nasty!

I don't need to remind you of the lunacy that's occurred in the past few years let alone the past few days... within our own people. We don't have to go to Syria to find it. Neither you nor I are going to change any of that... except within that bit of life We Can Control. Our OWN lives.

I am running away... from what I cannot change... and toward that which I can.

I thought I'd run for the mountains one more time... but that Murphy must have read my map and was waitin' in ambush. For a time... I was an un-pleasant yonderer... and unknowing of events in other places.

But... you and I can't let that crap win. When it comes around you have to grab that beast by the throat and shake it till it quits squeekin'. I'm serious. There is no understanding pure evil... and it there is no compassion for it... just squeeze till the squeekin' stops.

Then go to the high up and lonesome... and when those dark clouds begin to gatherin'...

*A bit of weather in our new camp*

 Grab a cool one and enjoy the show. The Boss's light show is 'bout to begin!

We got the truck back to the stranded trailer a lot faster than I'd expected... Hitched up in a rushin' hurry 'cause just up that "badder Chunk of road" that had stopped me the day before... there was a pretty nice spot for a camp...

I was fearful with the weekend comin' on... some other devil would ace us out... but we beat 'em all to it, and we got the camp!

Then we ran on back down that 12 miles or so to Steamboat to get the Bike that was waitin' on me and rode it back up to the new camp.

Used up the last of the afternoon taking a nice hike up the mountain slope behind us and toward a coming storm...

*Storm over the Rockies*

The thing is... when it's getting ugly. When the crazies are trying to break your heart and your soul... you have to deliberately reach out for two opposing things...

The big stick to mercilessly beat the Evil into unrecognizable pulp with... and the soft and soul filling beauty that gives you the strength to endure the psychotic spasms of the world around us...

Heidi climbed a big Ol' rock, and found where someone long past had built a Throne to survey the mountains from.

 

*The Throne*

Even the Younger Bikers... flailin' up the mountain... makes me smile if I let it... They were havin' a ball... and hurtin' no one... they all slowed down respectful when another vehicle or a pedal biker was near...

*Dirt Bikers playin' in the dirt*

Respect and Beauty... It's something we have to deliberately, consciously seek out... when the brutal and psychotic world strikes too close and too hard... We can't let it win... We have to seek out the things of beauty and nurture respect among those that are worthy of it.

So... We take our "walks in the park"... and put our Knees in the Wind on two wheels... and at the end of the day... we find our way back to camp...

And most of the time...to a camp that the psychos of the world stay far from... For Their Own Good...

*Coming Home to a safe and quiet camp*

It seems the world is going insane. Out here, when I succeed in forcing myself to turn off the news... the pundits and the fear mongers... I can't see that lunacy. What I can't change doesn't touch me. Out here is the peace and beauty created for us to treasure. I let the world soak in its own stupidity... and I live, ignoring that which I can... and I... Gather up as much of this Antidote that I can.

When I walk in somewhere and folks ask; "How are you doing?" I give 'em one of two replies...

Stayin' Alive! ... or ... Still Breathin'!
Brian

Some Days I'm Startin' to Feel Like Ricochet Rabbit!

I don't know how other folks maintain when they're multi-tasking... it starts makin' me feel like a circus ride... one of those deals where you're spinnin' and swingin' and can't get your bearings for which way is up!

I've been repairing and re-repairing water heaters, cleaning up, modifying and repainting truck beds, changing motorcycle exhaust pipes, carving baby albums... swapping motorcycle saddle bags, replacing door knobs at the store, finishing and editing novels... starting two more books! :) chasing coons and zapping rattle snakes...

... baby sitting grandkids... I'm betting Heidi will claim the heavy lifting there! :) ... and giving some "Leather work lessons" to a very good friend... and I'm sure I've missed a thing or three...

I've been commuting back and forth twixt here and Denver the past few days cuz we've had to be in both places at once a time or two... and I've still got a chore or four to get done here before I can load my customized scooter and haul for Wyoming! :) but... I've got another circle or two to make to Denver!

Good thing I don't have any hair left... the wind drag would kill my fuel mileage runnin' around like a crazy townie!

*Duplicolor Bed Armor coated*

Not a very sexy pic... but you almost couldn't see most of those "Diamonds" before with all the spilt stucco...

Stripping that crud off there in 90 something weather with a wire wheel on an angle grinder was a fun deal...

Several times my belly looked like an imitation porcupine from all the wires pokin' out of it that broke off the wheel...

*getting cleaned*

*All Shined up and Painted*

When I'd gotten the bed all stripped I recoated it with some bed coating from an outfit called Duplicolor... They make a thing called "Bed Amour"... It's a rubberized coating material... So far it's working pretty good... seals up nice and leaves a pretty good traction surface so you're not slippin' and sliding when you walk around on it.

The thing is it's $11 bucks and change an aerosol can... I used three cans... to tell the truth I should have used six... My coating is a lil' thin I think. They make a whole kit that you roll on for about $85... in hindsight... the kit was probably the better deal... ;) I'll likely add another coat when I get paid again :)

*The RV Tow rig bed cleaned up*

I reworked the tie downs and how the chock is bolted on too... cleaning up all that. Looks pretty decent without that headache rack on their and freshly coated and rustless! :)

Now... it's back to Denver to continue the mods on the scooter so I can get gone from the Front Range... Productive or not!

*Raider work in progress*

A couple more days... I think... and then I can sit in a quiet camp and get my word whittling work done while completing the Baby Album...

Whew! I'm gettin' dizzy again...

Racin' the Sun
Brian