We're Back to the Beginning... Again

We'd planned on spending another ten days or so, into the fall, in Yellowstone...

... and bummer for us, the color down in the Tetons was just hittin' it's stride, when this Ol' Twister made the decision to cut and run for the barn!

The simple fact is, the repair I got done in West Yellowstone - was NO repair. More of a hope-it-holds-together, low end RV Band-aid.  Moral of that story? If ya'll are gonna get welding done in West Yellowstone... DON'T!

I got up in the morning, a couple mornin's back and up and decided we're goin' down where I know the guy on the end of the welding rod... So, we took a run 'cross the state of Wyoming at 45 mph. Ya know what? Runnin' the Cowboy State... at 45 mph, cringin' ever' time the tires thumped across a bridge expansion joint... or the rig humped and bobbed over heaves in the pavement, makes that a Biiiiig state! :)

Decided to cut our Yellowstone stay short, 'cause what I didn't want to experience was makin' the run, with a busted rig... in the middle of an early fall snow storm! ... Nahhhh... that NEVER happens in Wyoming! :)

Spent the night 'fore last in the rest area at Sweetwater Station, got up to leave early, and ended up helping some guy get his dead Lexus started. :)

Got here early last night after a two day run that usually takes us less than one. I went right to work strippin' all the skin off the fiver... again... Miss Krea looked under there and says; "Wow! I showed Jaime your FB post and he said; That's really mean!... I don't think he'll say that, when he sees this!"

 ... when the Welder got home, James looks under the rig and the first words he says are; "Oh My God!"...

Heidi asked him; "Do ya think we're lucky to have got here?"

His reply? "Uh... Yeaaah! Oh My God"... and he starts laughin'... I asked him what he was laughin' at, so he tells me; "Sorry. I was just laughin' that anyone could sell this! (The welding) and call  it welding. It's NOT welding. I don't know what it is... but it ain't welding!"

Now, James is one of those welders that does the sort of welding that passes Xray tests and such, so I guess they do something different than those guys that are certified by R.V.I.A. (The RV mechanic certification outfit) I'd not give their certificate to anyone, for use in that SMALL room in your rig!

Anyhoo... we got here with nuthin' else fallin' off. Over the next week or so, as soon as our Friend can carve out the time, we'll get the Eagle healed up proper, and back on the road. The worry of that several hundred miles is done, and now just the work of fixing the mess of the "Repair" left. :)

We've got some other business to attend to before we cut for the desert and another NASCAR Race :) and as long as I'll be sittin' here for a bit, there's several other maintenance bits and other chores I've been putting off that I'll try to get caught up on...

... As well as, finishing the last of the editing on The Next Great BK Gore Novel! :)

Might even do a Highwayman imitation and knock over a 7-11 or three, so I could afford to do that re-axle job I've wanted to do... one axle is a bit fatigued with the alignment a mite off, wearing tires a lil' quicker than normal... what with wheel bearings, brakes and such, it wouldn't be much costlier to just replace the whole shebang, with an axle of a lil' more heft, that Jayco should have put on there in the first place... but that would mean selling a lot more books! :) so, we'll see, that may just wait a mite longer.

This is kind of an aggravation to be honest... this hitch deal... 'cause the difference, between what Jayco had built, for the trailer frame... and what the RIGHT weight of framing members would have cost, when this rig was built, was maybe a hundred bucks, two hundred tops...

... So they cheaped out... as MOST RV manufacturers do... and saved that piddly lil' bit... and the resulting metal fatigue, caught me hanging...I swear, sometimes I think that the majority of RV builders build 'em to be parked... Not actually towed!

If... I'd NOT been fairly diligent about checking the rig over at stops and unhitching and such... I'd NOT have found those cracks... and the thing would have failed at highway speed somewhere... so one lesson is... when you stop for fuel, when you hitch up, when you unhitch... every once in a while, just for the heck of it... go over your rig, looking for cracks, loose bits, anything that don't look right... it'll keep things from goin' from not good... to really bad! :)

Ah well, I guess if they'd built the thing right, I'd not have a spleen in such great condition... from all its Healthy Venting! :)

The Eagle has Landed in Nunn... Safe and Sound (For a couple weeks)
Brian

Return to the main site of goin' RV Boondocking or Visit my Sister website Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road

Twas a Saturday Morning in West Yellowstone... and the Cowboy Was Starting to Relax...

***this is third in the 'catching up' posts... go back two posts if you want to read in chronological order***

When things seem to be getting better... don't relax too soon!!! That's just when that Murphy bugger is set to jump on you! Ya gotta keep ready to quirt that lil' no good saboteur before he can get to work!

I'd Set the alarm for oh-damn-it's-early, so we could have everything ready to go and make the slow haul to town, and still get there fairly early. Put the flashers on and rolled along, never quite catching up to 30 mph. Tried to make that run as gingerly as possible... knowing that Murphy bugger probably had his hand in this somewhere.

Luckily, the greatest amount of traffic was eastbound, as our lame rig limped west... and we made it all the way to West Yellowstone, without an issue...

... Right up to the point that I started the turn off the Yellowstone road onto Canyon street in town...Heidi made the comment as we got to the intersection that; "Wouldn't it be awful to have got this far and have something happen now?"

KAWHAM!

Oh how I wish she hadn't said that!

So... I'm halfway through the turn when the cable for the breakaway brake, snagged on something, jerking the pin on the brake... and slammed the rig to a halt... right in the middle of the intersection... uh ... Bad Words Dirty Names and Blue Smoke!

Took me a few seconds... while all the pedestrians stood there gawkin'... and some jerk in a car hollered and screamed... for me to figure out how to get the break away back together, and release the brakes.

But... that violent jerking-to-a-halt stop had done damage to the cracked pin box/frame that wasn't there before... What had been small cracks, were now ripped into open splits and a genuine mess... aaaaarrrrrrrrgggghhhhh!

One beam got torn nigh in two, several others got cracked good... ooooffffff. But, it didn't come apart all together, and was in a condition to pull back into place and weld. No long lasting non-repairable damage, so that's good.

How-some-ever... Can I say I was cursing myself for thinking I could limp the rig in ok? You take your chances... and take the bruises that come.

I can't count the thousands of miles I've drug a trailer of every sort... lil' utility to semis... Never, not once... in all those thousands and thousands and thousands of miles... have I EVER... had the breakaway brake engage... until the one day, I'm limping along with a cracked frame... that the dang thing will pull apart when it yanks me to a stop... Murphy! You lousy bum!

Well, once I got that breakaway UN-brokeaway... At five mph. with the flashers a flashin'... we crawled the last mile or so to the repair guys place...

I pulled the skin and everything in the way, out of the way... in preparation for his repairs... We jacked it up, pulled it down with a come-along, clamped it, banged it into place... added a bit of bracing... and with a bit of athletics, generally got it back together...

I can't say I'm happy with the welding...( honestly, with a welder, I could have done better) but it will get me down to the guy I do trust... and with a lil' coaxing, I think I can get him to help me do the job so I've more confidence in the long term...

This morning, we're sitting in a lil' space across the road. I have to replace all the insulation and skin and put the rig back together... With that done We'll haul back out to the paid-for camp we've got... to spend a last couple of days in Yellowstone... and hopefully... (Carefully looking each way for an ambush) do some Yellowstoning, without thinking 'bout broken this or that. :)

It's the price you pay for old equipment I suppose. Just like Old geezers... Old equipment gets fatigued and comes apart. So though you're not payin' the high dollar price of new, or nearly so, you don't get off free and easy. You've got to accept the weight of higher maintenance... and ... uh ... Issues. :)

Like I said in that earlier post... Some will say THE problem is the Fifth wheel to Gooseneck converter I've been using... to which I say, if THAT was the problem... I'd have had a problem a long time before the ten years and 70,000 miles give or take that I've drug this fiver around...

Nope, think what you want, I lay the majority of this problem on three things... One; I've got a LOT of weight (the weight of my solar power battery bank) in that front compartment, with virtually ALL that weight going on the hitch.

Two; I hauled most of those ten years with a badly modified suspension that was virtually rigid... and it took me way too long to find THAT problem. Bad Cowboy!

With the suspension mostly rigid, the concussion of road shocks was transmitted right straight to the hitch... Slamming it with every bump... Little softening by the springs. That slamming, compounded by the extra weight of my big battery bank, caught up with the rig over time.

Which brings us to good Ol' number Three... The metal fatigue of Old Equipment... Bad shop work plus a heavy load, thumping on aging metal = broken parts...

Kind of like Bad mules, pushed too far by cranky cowboys... thumping on their aging butts = broken parts!

And just to say it... I'd have to scold Jayco for building it that way, and me for buying it that way... but I can't say I approve any longer of the "Long Nose" extended hitch design. I'll be staying far from it in any future dealings.

But now, as I work at putting things back together what's to say? Well, I met a couple of really decent people as a result of the ordeal, and they helped me see, it could be worse... A WHOLE LOT worse, and, I might even have some fun at Bonneville next year as a result.

We didn't get left, stranded on a mountain somewhere, with either breakdown. We had the ability to repair the damage... the roof don't leak, and we're looking toward where we roll next... so... frustrating as breakdowns and failures might be... there's worse things... far far worse things...

Like... I could have been born ugly, rather than the good looking Cowboy Biker I are! :)

Or, I could be standing in that hardware aisle... slaving for wages.

Instead, I get to roll my old rig, a few more miles down a Ribbon of Asphalt... in the Freedom of the Rocky Mountain West.

So... putting things into proper perspective... To know that Freedom I have... It ain't Free :) and you gotta put some crap on the garden... to make the flowers grow! :)

Still Kickin' in Yellowstone
Brian

Return to the main site of goin' RV Boondocking or Visit my Sister website Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*North Side of the Pass North of Canyon*

*The Lamar Valley*

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

*Nuthin' like viewing the world through handlebars*

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

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

Return to the main site of goin' RV Boondocking or Visit my Sister website Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road