[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by lower50's

I'm loving your adventure with no agenda, That's the way we love traveling as well. The scenery is just amazing you don't need to blaa blaa the pics I enjoy looking at new places. 13 years ago I drove through Ceder city on my way home from Santa Monica driving a 1986 Nissan pre runner I bought. 2500mi trip.

Any time someone, during conversation, mentions that they have to schedule things out in order to travel, I ask them how long the schedule works before adjustments have to be made?? The answer is almost always two days or less. So with that, I say why bother and just shoot from the hip and see what happens. I/we often have a general idea of things we want to do/see, but once the truck is in motion adjustments are made almost constantly.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I like the rear A/C label. Is that OEM? I've seen a few burbs with the rear air in junkyards but never looked at the dash to find that.

It is a plastic tab that fits behind the chrome nut like the factory in-dash throttle tabs. It is indeed factory and if you ever see one in a wrecking yard, grab it AND the switch and knob. None of it is reproduced and is never available when you need it.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I could see the climber, which helps give perspective to how high that was. Incredible.

It was crazy looking up and just barely being able to see the guy. That pic is zoomed in with the camera.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

That tunnel is so cool. That climber is out of his mind.

I agree--on both counts.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Thanks for posting these pics. Those are some amazing views. I bet the ol burb was singing right along at 80.

Thanks. Yeah, this was before I put the new GSK in it, so there wasn't much left at this point. Plenty to keep it there, but engine speed beyond was not so available.

Originally Posted by Average Joe

Once again thank you for sharing your journey with us. It brought back lots of good memories of a similar trip I did in '93. After visiting my brother in SoCal, we headed across the Mojave desert and camped in the Hualapai? mountains before heading into the Grand Canyon via the south rim. From there we went on to Zion and Bryce Canyon before breaking a ball joint in Capitol Reef NP.

Fortunatly for us, me and a couple buddies from high school, we got a tow into the mighty town of Loa, Utah. Parts were three days out so the shop owner, who was also the tow truck driver as well as the local deacon, put us up on his backyard trampoline. Three days later our ball joint came in and the shop owner was kind enough to press it in the control arm of my VW bug for us. We assembled the car, eyeballing the alighnment, and got the heck outta Utah. Long haired fellers with Grateful Dead stickers on a beat up VW kinda put the locals on edge I think. Lol.

We ended up going through CO, WY, MT, and ID before making it home on three cylinders. Shot a cross threaded plug out 150 miles from home and limped on into town, Klamath Falls at the time. Good stuff!

These days I take maintenance issues much more seriously. I also got a haircut and parted ways with the VW.

Sounds like a great time!! Has some eerie similarities to Charlie Daniels Uneasy Rider LOL.

Originally Posted by Average Joe

I always do a walk around before leaving each morning as well as an under hood check. I also drive much more cautiously knowing what can happen. Your picture and words about the wreck and some others driving habits were spot on. Well said sir!

Thank you. It's not something that is always top of mind when hitting the road and sometimes a reality refresher can help prevent problems and/or catastrophes. A familiar vehicle that is driven daily reacts totally different when loaded and/or towing. We run some desolate roads, and even with SPOT tracking, a seemingly small problem can turn into a huge problem very quickly. Complacency breeds catastrophes.