Finally that Ahhhhhhh Moment

Well we made it just in time to see a few friends and family and catch my flight back to New Orleans.  The trip was not too welcome since I was next to a crying 1yr old the entire way who's mom couldn't figure out to turn the kids kicking legs towards the isle. But on the way back I had the pleasure of sitting with a celebrity and that was pretty cool.

We're just getting in the swing of things and getting settled. Visiting old friends, family, and taking trips down memory lane. Michelle is happy with our new digs and the Beauty of the North West. I think we're going to be very happy here.

I'm making big plans to get the bus in the spring so the trip will continue soon. Until then look for Michelle's blogs leading up to the trip and the First half before we broke down.

Short but Sweet

We drove 11hrs today from Evanston Wyoming to Kennewick Washington. We've gone 1020 miles since we left the Bus at in Laramie at 7pm on wednesday. We went back in time one hour and almost ran out of gas in the Hills of Oregon, but we made it, and found out my car can go at least 24.6 miles past the blinking empty light. I'm very happy to have learned this interesting bit of information and to not have to knowledge of how long it would have taken to walk it.

Only 3.4 hrs of driving left in this cross country trip and if all goes well I'll  be able to see Raven and still make it to Seattle  one day before having to ride a Jet back NOLA. One month to Get here and One Day to get Back! Life is Funny...

I can't wait for someone else to do the Flying, it should be relaxing.

We Live in a Car Dot Com.................................. (Pics and Video up Tomorrow)

So Marty the Owner of Ben's Diesel in Fort Collins Colorado shows up yesterday at around 3PM with the fixed turbo unit. We're ecstatic and can't wait to get on the road. While Marty is working we're cleaning, picking up, securing the Bus for travel, and making arrangments to pick up the Uhaul trailer that the Scion will ride on. Marty gets done, we take it for a Drive with him to make sure it sounds fine this time. I asked Mr. Marty what he thinks could have caused the 2 blown turbos and how we could prevent it happening again. He says it was probably a bad part we received. I said, and I Quote, "Do you think the turbo blowing out 2 times could be a symptom of a bigger problem and we're just putting a bandaid on an open wound?" Marty says No. He's the expert.....

Michelle, Duffy, and I take off on the newly fixed Bus with Big plans to make it to  Bosie ID but just  happy to be on the road again. We stop at a Tree Growing out of solid rock and found out it's been there since 1867. They built the railroad to intentionally go by it and the Train would stop there so the Fireman could water it with their water buckets.

We were not up to normal speed at this point but I figured slow and steady wins the race and at least were making forward progress. Well that lasted till about 5 miles outside of Laramie Wyoming when the Damn Turbo did it's now all too familiar trick it's now an Expert at performing. It said Wheeeeeee, POOF, crunch, crunch crumble crunch. And I just laughed and thanked GOD that this time we made it over the Crest of the mountain and were now heading down hill for as far as the eye could see.

We coasted to the next exit which had to be 8-9 miles down the highway and What happened to be Right there on that Exit? A Walmart of course! The one place we know we can spend the night with out problems for free. So we made a plan. Sleep the night, unpack the Bus into the car with the essentials, Find outside storage for the Bruised, Broken, and Battered Behemoth, empty the fridge, turn everything off and drive to Seattle in the Scion.

Good News! were now getting 36 miles to the gallon instead of 8 miles to the fried Chicken.

Bad News... Everything we own is in Chyeyenne Wyoming and our Home is in Laramie Wyoming broken.

First we Limped the Bus to the storage at about 20mph on I-80 with Michelle following, flashers on. Again All Down Hill. We spent over 5 hrs packing the car, securing the bus, putting tarps over the AC, fridge vents, and generator. We secured the tire covers with zip ties, cleaned out the fridge and freezer, blocked the wheels, and then Drove 6 hours  to Evanston Wyoming about 1hr 20min from Salt Lake City.

Then I treated my baby to a nice Steak Dinner and a night at the Best Western. After being on the Road over a month and living on the bus for the last 3 months this place feels like a palace. We'll be on the road again tomorrow trying to make it to Seattle by this weekend so I can Get on a Jet to fly back to NEW ORLEANS. LOL

Life is an adventure and we're living it to it's fullest, and if you hang out with us you'll get a taste of it too. I may not have made it across the country in the Bus with the 30ft trailer but at least I tried. I'm sure I'm not done with this trip either. I'll pick it up again in the spring. Until then we might have to change the name of this blog to "We Live in a Car." I asked Duffy what he thinks and he said he's cool with it.

We'd get there faster on bicycles

Today was the day we were going to be fixed and back on the Road. I called Marty who told me the part he ordered on Thurs. got mixed up by the shipper but came in Today Monday at 10:30AM and he would be up here just after lunch to put the turbo back on. Great! now I need to call Uhaul and set everything up to pick up the trailer again.

I called Uhaul and found out that I was charged for the one day we had the trailer and a refund was issued which would take between 3-5 business days to get back to my card. The problem was that If we were ready to roll out today, we'd be waiting for the refund before we could get the trailer so I called Uhaul corporate to see if they could put a stop to the refund an just keep the money. No Dice. They couldn't stop the refund since it already went through on their end, but what they could do was 10x better. They issued me $300 dollars worth of corporate coupons that I could use to pay for the trailer just because we were in a pickle. Wow, I've never had any company do anything like that for me. I'm beside myself. In essence Uhaul just gave us a free one way trailer for the car from Cheyenne to Seattle.

So 2PM.... No Marty.........3PM... No Marty.......4PM.....No Marty......... I figure he decided to just come up after work so I call him. He says he's running behind, I ask if he's still coming today and he says the truck isn't packed yet. I tell him that we can't stay in this Parking lot much longer without water or a toilet and he agrees with me and understands, but sounds preoccupied so I ask him to call me after work to let me know either way if he's coming to put the turbo back on and he agrees.

Well here it is almost 2AM and no Marty, no call, no show. Now this is getting old to be honest. I guess we're not a priority and I'm going to have to push a little bit to get things done.

Looking at the Bright Side

Good News!
Marty the Diesel Mechanic jumped right on it first thing in the morning after he received my message that we had broke down.  He already had the new turbo cartridge ordered when he called me at 9AM, and he said he would drive the 45 minutes to take off the turbo and bring it back to his shop, and if need be have us towed somewhere safe.

First thing after getting off the phone with Marty, I unloaded the car off the trailer, Backed the Bus up, unhooked it, and moved it forward again. She can still limp along a little bit if need be. Then I found the Scion's Ball hitch and put the trailer on it. Tow-ee became tow-er since I had the for thought to put a hitch on the little car a few months earlier. I needed to get the Rented trailer back to Uhaul ASAP and try to get them to cut me a break since I only drove it 2 miles.

Bad News...

In my haste to get everything done in a timely manner I neglected the fact that my 50 amp power cable was hanging down from the night before. I drove over and ripped it in half! "There's a wasted two hundred and fifty bucks you Maltoid" I thought. But it's really not so bad. I have an extra 30amp chord and a 50 to 30 amp adapter for now. Also I can go get some huge butt connectors, rubber tape, rubber cement, and electrical tape to splice it all together and waterproof it good as new for under twenty bucks when I get the time. Not a total loss.

More Good News!
Uhaul said they would give me a full refund on the trailer and I could pick it up again when the bus was fixed and still have the same 6 day contract at the same price. After a quick bite at Shari's (Michelle's first time) and about 2hrs of running around trying to find the cheapest weekly RV spot to park the bus, we came to the decision to sell my Ibanez Exotic Explorer Hollow Body Guitar to pay for it. I hardly play it anyway and I figure the less stuff the better.

When we got back to the bus however we found that someone had Stolen the broken turbo unit! At least they were kind enough to leave a card, Ben's Diesel. It was Marty the Ninja Diesel Mechanic who was already back at his shop with the misappropriated mangled metal migraine. Now that's service! I called Marty who told me that the cartridge should be in tomorrow morning and he should have us back on the road, with any luck, by Friday Night. So much for the RV park since I can't move the bus now.  It's only one more night in a "Grease and Gravel Pit," as Michelle calls it, behind Floyd's Truck Repair. The best part about it is that we're parked in a spot that happened to have a power outlet so we have electricity. That alone is a blessing.

It's Groundhog Day

It was our last day in the AB camping RV park and I couldn't get the damn trailer to let go of the ball so we could go collect Veggie oil. We already found 2 places to collect but both of them would be impossible if the trailer was attached. I had to spend over 2 hours trying to beat the Coupler's locking plate back to no avail. The trailer was Stuck. Michelle stayed home while I went out to find a new Bolt on 25Klb Coupler for the trailer hoping it wouldn't be too expensive. 5 RV places down and "Jolly Roger's RV" sent me to Welding and Machine who told me they could probably fix the one I already had so I made an appointment to bring it in the next day. 

When I returned home Michelle and I cleaned the bus from top to bottom, had Pizza watched a movie, and made action plans for a successful tomorrow. 

Well Today came and mostly everything was going well. We brought the trailer in to Welding and Machine and the guys got right to work, freed the bus and Michelle and I took off to the auto parts store without the trailer to see if the Main water separator filter was the cause of our Bus's Tortoise Crawl. $35 later and Good News! after a 5min hiccup on the side of the road while I re-primed the fuel line the Bus was running good and strong as ever. The turbo was winding up fine and we had all the power we originally had before the Turbo going Kaput. 

We made it back to Welding and Machine in time for them to finish. It was a bent Ball Hitch. That's why I couldn't get it off. Also the gussets on my hitch were smashing the Coupler when I turned causing the locking plate to get stuck. That's something they couldn't fix unless we bought a new $250 coupler. Instead Michelle and I decided to find Storage for the trailer and come back for it later with a truck or have a Shipping company bring it up after us. 

We stored the trailer at Jolly Rodgers RV, rented a U-haul to bring the car with us, and wen't back to Welding and Machine to get a 2 inch  ball hitch. After a bit of fabrication they hooked us up with a modified 2in ball with a 1 3/4 shaft to fit our Rig. 

While at Jolly Rodgers  picking up the car I took the opportunity to take apart the Rear Veggie Pump and clean out all the junk. With it working as good as New Michelle and I hit the road again with big plans to make it all the way to Boise Idaho before stopping. 

I got on I-80 West, got her up to speed, switched over to Veggie oil, settled in for a 10hr run and POOF! Turbo unit stopped Whining, Big Cloud of White Smoke out the Rear, and that same Crunching noise we heard while climbing the last hill in Colorado the first time the Turbo went out. 

I laughed and said "You've got to be kidding me" as I hit the next exit and limped into the all to convenient Truck Repair shop right in front of us. 

The Bad News....... The Turbo blew up again and I only have 6 days on the u-haul car trailer. 

The Good News....   We're Safe...... The truck place said we could park the Rig in back and there happened to be a power plug so we don't have to run the generator all night. 

We'll find out tomorrow morning if Ben's Diesel will honor the Warranty on their work. We are only 45min away from their shop after all and drove under 100 miles since the $1200 repair. I'm sure it'll all work out Tomorrow. 

The Tortoise Crawl

Well,  yesterday Marty the Diesel Mechanic finished the turbo unit and Michelle and I headed North on I-25 out  of Fort Collins. You wouldn't believe the Smoke Screen behind us as as the oil burned off out of the Intake side of the fixed turbo and the residual oil left in the Exhaust dissipated. It was like Q from James Bond hooked up our bus with some gadgetry. I was sure we'd get pulled over if a cop saw us, but 20 miles later it burned off and as we flew under the radar and up the freeway.

Now that we polished, cleaned, and de-watered the 1/4 tank of veggie oil we had left I thought it do the trick.  I thought all I needed was a good run to heat up the oil system and it would work again but but apparently that wasn't the case,  because when I tried to switch from Diesel to SVO (straight veggie oil) nothing happened save for that annoying loss of power that I'm  all too familiar with. I pulled over to change the Veggie filter and try to purge the line of "bad oil" to fix the problem but nothing would come through. After about 30-45min on the side of an exit I came to the conclusion the line was clogged. Not something I choose to fix on the side of the road.

The other thing that bothered me was that it seems that when Marty the Diesel Mechanic adjusted the bus's governor he must have moved it the wrong way because top speed downhill is now 53mph and up hill we're down in the 30's. we're averaging 45mph on a level surface and that's not right at all. We had a top speed of 60 prior to the repair. I watched a few youtube videos and attempted to fix it myself, but I think the governor is topped out and the problem is the turbo not winding up enough. I'm getting 3000rpm out of the engine, but not a good top speed, so I need another Diesel Mechanic to fix the problem.

The Good News is we found an RV park that can handle all 70ft of this train, the bad news is it's Labor Day Weekend and nothing will be open till Tuesday. It's nice to have power, water, sewer, showers, and laundry again,  and I can fix the veggie problem here. So it's 3 days of rest, cleaning, fixing and laundry until we hit the road again on Tuesday to find a diesel mechanic and a full tank of veggie oil.

It's only 8hrs (10hrs for us) to Twin Falls, Idaho and another 8 to Kennewick to hang out with Raven. I haven't seen her since last summer so I can't wait! 2 more long legs of this journey and we'll be in Kennewick WA with only a 4hr drive to Seattle. The end is near and we're past the point of no return so It's all down hill from here... Well we are at over 6000 ft above sea level so it truly is downhill.

Still Waiting

Well yesterday was a Sad day. After an iHop breakfast we came back to find that Buster, once again, went Mental on the Bus. He ate through the baby gate, tore up the Garbage all over the place and destroyed a number of things. Crocs, Sunglasses, My Subwoofer, flip flops, ect. This has been an ongoing struggle and yesterday was the last straw. We've talked about finding him a better home for awhile and yesterday we went through with it. He's in an adoption program at the local shelter now and we already miss Him like crazy, but  we know it's best for all of us. Maybe we were brought into his life to bring him from Central Texas to Colorado where his future family was waiting.

On the up side Thai Pepper's in Fort Collins was very good. The pad thai was a little sweet for me but the Curry was awesome.

Today has been the most productive day since we left Louisiana. We took Duffy to a Self Serve Doggy wash, which was fun, and then to the Vet. He had a yeast infection in his ear but looks like he'll survive. Then after a short nap, Michelle and I took all the Veggie oil out of the Holding tank, heated it, Cleaned it with the centrifuge, purged the tank of "bad oil," and then put it back in. All the while we were cleaning the bus, charging the batteries, cooking dinner,  and rearranging the Trailer for better weight distribution.
The trailer is a big job that's for sure. We have gotten rid of so much dead weight, trash and things we didn't need, and it feels good to purge your life of stuff. Very Cleansing.

Now that all the music Gear, washer dryer, and other various Heavy stuff is over the wheels of the trailer instead of up front,  the force on the hitch is much less and I'll bet the trailer pulls better too. Usually I need 90psi in the Air Hitch just to take the weight of the trailer and now with just 60psi in it sits a lot higher than before. Feels Good to get things situated the right way. Gives piece of mind when traveling down the freeway.

Speaking of traveling down the freeway... Marty the Diesel Mechanic told me that If the Turbo Core is delivered on time we'll be all done Sat. Morning. Guess I better Get some sleep so I can get up before noon. I't's 2:14 AM here and I'm beat.

Tomorrow we only have about 30-45 min of work left on the trailer before we're ready to roll out and find some good WVO to fill the tank. Then we're off again.

Oh yah, one more thing. Duffy found a muddy Grease filled puddle to lay down in just before we all went to bed. So much for him being all clean and sleeping at the foot of the bed tonight. That's Duffy for ya.