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Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Lompoc, Ca.
Posts: 68
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$$$ Adventure
So late July 22, I was supposed to fly out to Phoenix AZ. but due to weather conditions none of the Angle Flight pilots where willing to take the second leg from California. So two days before my appointment at the Mayo Clinic I decided to just load up my dog and some clothes etc. in the van, and just make an adventure out of it.
We drove straight out to Phoenix, found the clinic, decided not to boondock due to the heat and humidity, so we stayed at the hotel on site. Next day went to my appointments, and got the hotel for one more day, then decided to head for the coast. Drove West on 8 and did a drive by at John Woods Auto shop to see if he was around, but he was not. so we continued to Santee to Agile Offroad for their open house. Probably about 40+ vans mostly Sprinters, but still too hot to just be standing around. We continued back on 8 to Ocean Beach where it was much nicer, so no motel reservations and no plan, but I did find a pay to park right in the middle of town, so that's where we spent the night. The next day was Saturday so after exploring the beech I settled at Joe's bar to watch the PPV UFC Fights, I just parked my van right on the street at the bar and after the fights, staggered to my van.
The next morning the van wouldn't start due to weak battery, so I used all four batteries which included the house batteries, still nodda. so I got out my portable battery jumper which I carry just for this occasion and it barely turned over, whow that was a close one. now it's Sunday morning and I need to get my shit tested. So of course nothing is open for hours and I can shut it off, so I drive to Santee for reasons I don't remember now, but after getting fuel I noticed a Firestone Auto Center was right across the street, so I buggied over and asked them to test my alternator and batteries, reluctantly they agreed and told me the two motor batteries where dead and needed to be replaced, so I agreed to have it done, but the second battery was not so easy to get too so it's going to cost another $100.00 for labor, at this point I don't care I just glad I found someone to work on it and wanted to get back on the road.
So now I'm good and back on the road, so now I want to head up Hwy 395 cuz as you know there are many cool places to see and I've never been.
So I take 395 and spend a night in Mono Lakes somewhere, then off to June Lakes, which is very cool, spent the night in a campground right on a nearby lake for a couple nights while we explored during the day.
A friend told me about a really cool hot spring to go to while i'm in the area but he didn't remember the name, so I went south on 395 thinking it was out in the desert and I drove all over Hot Creek area but it was a sad and lonely road, so after wasting hours of my day I decided to get back on 395 and go north. I finally found it, called Buckeye Hot Springs, it was pretty impressive, but over run with tourists, so after soaking my feet for a while we got back on 395. That's where it got interesting, Thunderstorms pounded us for hundreds of miles, severe flash flood warnings were everywhere including Death Valley, but for me it was just more of an adventure. Finally I get to Carson City, Tahoe, Incline Village, now where to camp so I continue on the 431 towards Reno and its getting late so I stop at the top of the grade and find a nice quiet spot north of the rest stop to spend the night.
So Iv'e been aware of what I think is my front tires out of balance for most of the trip, and I figure I might as well see if I can find someone to balance the tire, cus it feels like I lost a weight or something, so I pull into a Les Schwab to have the tires checked out. So the guy comes out and tells me he wants to show me the tires, so they have the tires off the rimes and the tires are coming apart inside, now i'm stuck, I need new tires. These tires are Nitto Grapplers and I'm thinking these are very good tires with only about 30,000 miles on them, mostly highway.So unfortunately I have my choice between crappy tires and less crappy tires to purchase for the rest of my trip, so I go with the less crappy "Open Range Tires" Les stocks. so there's another $2000.00, and by the way you need a new inner pitman arm something or other, but they can't do that today so I head the F*ck out of there with my old jacked up tire stacked on my bed because they wont help me put them on my rack.
So I call my friend Jeff that lives in Penn Valley, in a nice gated residential housing track with a golf course, lake, clubhouse what else do you need. Anyway i'm gonna drop my tires of at his house so I have a place to sleep and I may as well hangout for a couple of day with my life long friend and so we can have some fun as we always seem to do.
So after a few days of boating and drinking and trying to stay out of the 90+ degree heat it's time for me to get back on the road to Oregon and I will pick up my old tires on my way back home. So I head out and i'm out on some two lane highway 99 near Red bluff when I notice my guages are all dead like I blew a fuse or my batteries are dead, what my batteries are dead? how could that be? so in a split second the motor dies, I see a Walmart distribution center on my left so I coast into a parking stall, I step out into 104 degree sun with no shade anywhere and i'm thinking okay it's got to be a loose battery terminal, so I checked the battery under the hood and yep the terminals are loose, so I tighten them up and jump it with my portable jumper and back out, but it starts to dies again, so back in the stall I go. Now it's got to be the alternator, I'm screwed, I can't even find a parts store or mechanic shop within several miles, so I call my buddy Jeff, "hey Jeff I got a little situation here" he says i'm on my way but find a new alternator and we will pick it up on the way, well he is two hours away and it's already close to 4:00 pm. but I do I found a place that was right up the street that claimed they had the part I needed for only $75.00 so I told them I wanted it and could they deliver it to me just down the street, no they would sell it to me but they were closing soon and didn't want to be bothered with a delivery, so I paid for it and have them put it outside the fence so Jeff could pick it up. It turns out that G&R Auto parts is really a scrap yard, so my new alternator is a rebuild, but if it works so be it.
I start taking as much apart under the hood as I can in the deadly heat, but once I get to the alternator I can't break the bolts loose, so that's a good stopping point for me. Jeff arrives beer in hand with another friend and he goes to work. (Jeff used to work at a junk yard for a couple of years while in high school so I know he has this, plus I was with him when he changed his vans alternator in the parts store parking lot one night in the rain.) we managed to get it changed out and that fixed the problem, so I gave Jeff and his buddy my last two beers for their ride home and told Jeff I owe him dinner when I I return to pick up my tires.
so off I go to Oregon.
I'm heading up I5, it's getting late and no campgrounds are available, so I find a road off Sims exit that seems to lead to nowhere, so I drive around a little bit and find a dirt road that appears to be an old logging road, it just keeps going up and and a little creepy and sketchy with no turnouts, so I decided to just stop in the middle of the road and call it a night.
The next morning I'm ready to get an early start, so i pack up and go to load up my dog "Chance",but he has decided he would rather not get back in the van. This is a problem because he just climbed up the hillside and will not come no matter what I do. So I go for a walk to clear my head of thoughts of just shooting the Fer so I can get on with my trip. I see something shiny in the woods and walk over to see what it is, and it's a granite headstone, well I have to say that was totally unexpected, so I'm looking around and there are several Graves mostly marked with just a brick and a name and date, they ranged from 1800s to 1990s, well that was very interesting and got my mind off my situation at hand.
4 hours have passed now and I give up, so I fill his food and water bowl and put it in the shade under a tree at a good landmark, and tell Chance "last chance if you want to go with me" but he still wasn't having it. So I took off on I5 and headed to Oregon. I'll be back in about 5 days to pick him up if he's still there and willing to get back in the van. 2 hours later I get a call from my wife, "how's it going" she says, reluctantly I have to tell her the current situation and of course she flips out and tells me how wrong that is and I need to go back and get him, but I knew that was coming and I tell her, it was all his choice, then come the tears, what can I do, I have no choice but to go back and give him one more "chance".
By the time I get back, it's 9pm and getting dark, but as I approach the tree , there he is and boy is he happy to see me.
Alright so now I feel better, we are complete again. I'll give you 3 guesses why I name this rescue dog Chance, and the first two don't count.
The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, I visited my Buddy Corky and his in Camas Valley, he took me out on his new badass boat, as shown in pics.
Also visited Mom in Coos Bay before heading back south and one last stop at Jeff's to pickup my tires and make plans for our next Adventure out to Catalina island on another friend's boat for 10 days
fishing, diving and pillaging the town on our mountain bikes.
Thanks for reading.
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Running Down a DREAM
#RussB420
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AWOL
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