The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #48 in ID,UT,WY,CO,KS,MO,IL,IN,KY,WV,VA,MD
& DE 6/1/00
2,888.34 miles this trip, odometer now 65,438 total, miles this
year 12,984.
From , Delmar, MD, Hi Everyone!
After I sent the last letter out from Boise. I had a nice
visit, Dave & I saw Rita & Mica off on a flight to Spain,
Dave took Erin & me to the movie “U-571” and I was
ready to head east. However, when I arrived in Boise the weather
was unsettled and I figured I would wait for better weather before
going over the divide. The longer I waited the worse the weather
got, they were talking of snow in the valley and the temps were
down in the low 30s at night. Again, I’m 500 miles too far
north about two months too soon. On the morning of 5/11/00 there
was a heavy frost and the mountains east of Boise were snow-covered.
After that things started to get better.
On Friday night “The Kings of Swing” were playing
at the Morrison Center were Dave is an audio engineer. He told
me that Erin (in the eighth grade) had computer designed a logo
for them that would be projected onto what is known as a cyclorama
(a large curtain at the rear of the stage) above & behind
the band, this I had to see. The music was good and the logo
that Erin designed was impressive. These computer kids will
put us all out of business.
After the band concert I would have been ready to head
east if it wasn’t for the chairs. They are antique oak chairs
with loose joints. Dave was calling to get estimates to have them
re-glued before Rita gets back from Spain, after hearing some
estimates, I told him we could do it. I should have kept my mouth
shut. Because they had finishing nails in some of the joints,
it looked like we would not be able to take them apart to re-glue
them. We found some glue called “Chair Doctor” that
can be put into the joints through a small hole with a hypodermic
needle, it saved the day. We got three of them glued OK but two
of them need parts that I will try to fabricate when I get to
MD.
The trip East was perfect, the weather was perfect, had
good tail winds all the way. The old GMC was purring like a kitten.
When I needed fuel I always found the best price, $1.26 in WY
at a Flying J so got a cent off making it $1.25. I crossed the
divide on I-80. Then dropped south on I-25 to I-70 to I-64, saw
a big billboard along I-70 in MO that said “INTERSTATE 70
IS IN TROUBLE, GOT ANY IDEAS”. I had to agree with them,
all the Interstates are in trouble. I have noticed in the past
three years the traffic on all roads & streets is increasing
at a high rate, at least 50% a year. It is impossible to build
roads fast enough to keep up with the increase in traffic. When
I observe the traffic I see most of the cars have only one occupant.
So it looks to me like the solution to the problem is to stop
making more traffic lanes and build a good Mass-transit system
and we will have to learn to live with it. If we don’t, we
will soon run out of real-estate to build roads on, and it would
be a good way to stop using so much oil.
I lost a good hour trying to get through the Hampton Roads
Tunnel to Norfolk, VA on I-64, a good example of the above situation,
just too many cars and not enough tunnels. Got to my sister-in-law’s
for dinner. Her twin 17 year old grand-daughters showed up to
give me a bad time, they have been double trouble since they were
in diapers. They were telling me about going to NC to sing with
a high school choir and they had won all the first prizes. They
are good but I told them there must have been some politics involved
if they won ALL the prizes. They finally admitted that they were
the ONLY high school choir in the competition. Had a nice visit
and the next day had lunch with my son Mark on the Eastern Shore,
and then had dinner with my daughter Jenny. Next day the bad weather
caught up with me and followed me up to MD where I backed the
old GMC into the shed at my son Jeff & Alexis’ where
I’ll get some work done on it.
The weather stayed bad and I started giving the old GMC
the tender loving care that it has earned. Also had some projects
to work on for Jeff and Jenny’s old car (my transportation
while I’m here) needed some attention. The battery had gone
dead and after taking another good battery to put in it Jenny
got it started. I went to see Christian play in a little league
game before I headed back to Delmar and when it got dark on me,
the dimmer switch was messed up and I couldn’t dim the lights
so I ruffled lots of feathers. The brake light that is only supposed
to be on when the parking brake is on, would not go off. So I
had some work cut out for me to get the rusty, trusty old car
ready for a few more weeks of life. I took the dimmer switch apart,
cleaned it and it works again. I found the brake light switch
shorted so disconnected it. If the die hard old car is still running
in August when it’s due for inspection, I’ll have to
put two new tires on it. I wonder if it will ever just give up.
It has over 240,000 miles on it, I think it will soon die of old
age.
I see the old GMC is going to need some new tires &
front brake pads before too long. I ordered a transmission filter
and it should be here soon so I can service the tranny & final
drive. I overhauled the carburetor again and put an electric
choke on it, I have never been able to get it adjusted right since
I had the engine rebuilt. I found where the high oil consumption
was going when I was cleaning the carburetor. The last time I
overhauled the carb. The engine did not have a high volume oil
pump and the carb. was fairly clean, a high volume oil pump was
installed when the engine was rebuilt. This time when I took the
carb. apart I was amazed at the amount of black crud in the compartment
where the vacuum line comes from the
PCV valve on the right side of the engine. Some time ago
I read a report someone had written about high oil consumption
after a high volume oil pump was installed. He put a 1/8th inch
restriction in the PCV line and it solved his problem. I am doing
this and I’ll let you know how it works. If your engine has
a high volume oil pump and you have high oil consumption, remove
the carb. and check the area where the line from the PVC line
goes into the carb. I am supprised that the engine re-builders
are not aware of this problem with the high volume oil pumps on
the 455 engine. I’ll keep you posted after my next trip.
Till next time, Dallas, or Dad if it fits.
Me & My Shadow, with Gertrude, Gus & Keith on the road.
