The Itinerant Traverse II

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Amskeptic
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The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:37 pm

It is all so vague, so long ago, I think I remember the sun or something:
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It was Wyoming and it was beautiful and warm and here is my afternoon shadow in the rear view mirror:
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I was happy then, young and full of the sunny day, I could let the sun go down, safe in the knowledge that it would come back up in the morning:
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Chloe (other than a mild scraping on right hand corners) was driving beautifully, sure and slow:
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Where was I going? Oh yeah, Montana, to visit whc03grady. Hit the Montana border at dusk, drove a while further and the very next day had sunshine and snow-capped mountains:
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Chloe just trundled along through this amazing scenery:
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. . . and I thought, Summer Is Here!
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I was so very very glad to have driven out of that infernal Atlantic Moisture Pump . . . . and I sloughed off the rain in Anaconda MT as just a little pop-up thunderstorm, I ain't gonna let the Grady Family think I am that much of a wimp! and I sloughed off the rain that threatened in Missoula MT when mtcamper and I discovered that leaning the mixture at speed on the highway dropped the CHTs just as much as richening the mixture on his FI Westy.

No, it was a beautiful drive west on US 12 to Idaho to visit stnkgt in Boise. Summer is here!
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What an amazing land. What were these horizontal stripes along the hillsides? An old lake shore that changed levels at each ancient ice-dam-up, like the glacial lake in Missoula did some fifteen times during the retreat of the ice sheets?
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Chloe just drove and drove as the left rear brake drum protested just a little bit more on those sweeping right hand bends:
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It was like a transcontinental rail trip, this smooth steady winding traverse of US-12 through Idaho, generator telling me that 57 mph was just right:
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But each right hand bend was doing something to the left rear wheel bearings, the drum scrape was beginning to show up even in apparent straight line driving. The bearings looked pretty nasty when I did the brake spring re-fashion in South Dakota and peeked under the punched seal by removing the spacer. I had promised Chloe that I would deal with it when I got to Portland, but this scraping was precious german metallurgy getting upset:
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Boise was looking further and further away. I had 133 miles of Route 12 then another couple of hundred miles south on US-95 South and I-84 to Boise, then head back north to Maupin the next day?
I finally bailed the Boise visit in Grangeville ID:
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Gingerly drove up 95 north to maybe find wheel bearings or at least seals in Lewiston ID. A disappointed stnkgt offered to help me find parts sources in Lewiston, but none was able to come up with anything I could use before I was due in Maupin. I spent the day outside of Lewiston making a drum anti-scrape spacer out of a generator shim and hopelessly packing moly grease into a lithium greased outer bearing through the "window" afforded by removing the spacer ring that serves as a seal riding surface. Newly almost quiet, I had a lovely trip to Maupin:
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I exult in this landscape, but only if it is under sunny skies, of course:
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Outside of Wallawalla, I finally got the sense that we, Chloe and I, had actually just driven across the country. Not twenty days earlier had I left Pensacola FL, driving slowly down the main street to hit US 29 north, wondering if the little engine could do all of this driving in such short order. This car is craftily deceptive, it is slow but somehow dispatches the miles and state borders and gravel paths with total wheezy ease.
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There're more photographs of more miles, more rain, it is raining as I write on Biggest Perigee Full Moon Night, hidden by the equally annoying Pacific Ocean Moisture Machine cranked up here in Portland. All exceptionally beautiful, you understand, but please, I live in it. Summer could not quite hold on as I arrived in Portland and drove up to Bellingham WA.
No, that little trip gets its own post. I await with bated breath two sunny days in a row.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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drober23
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by drober23 » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:23 am

Thanks for the update Colin! I also am sad that we could not meet up in South Dakota.

My 5,000 mile trip in 17 days had me thinking I understand your travels a bit better. Although my bus has a bigger engine, driving it is still an exercise in understanding the capabilities/limitations of your vehicle and working with it instead of trying to hammer it into doing what you think it should be doing.

Hopefully, summer will start for you soon! I hope Maupin went well for you.
DJ

'75 Westfalia, '79 Deluxe
(plus more busses than sense)

In a time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

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Bleyseng
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:55 am

Thanks for the tip on driving Hi-12 into Missoula from Maupin as it was really nice with all those curves going as you say about 57 mph. I drove alot of it at night (1-2AM) and got to see 6 deer and one Mountain Lion standing on the two lane road. Walla Walla is pretty in its own way as is the road into Lewiston, ID. My new pistons slowly worked their way in as oil temps slowly got better as the miles added up and the gas mileage improved too from 14 to 18 in the final leg on I90 back to Seattle going 70mph. The engine finally is feeling "peppy" again and not straining to rev.
Best news was the ice box started to work again on the trip keeping the beer ice cold along with the bottles of water. Must be the 70 amp alt I put back in this time.
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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SlowLane
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by SlowLane » Mon Jun 24, 2013 7:06 am

Colin, just be thankful you're not in Calgary.
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

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Bleyseng
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:01 am

Shoot, that's really bad! Glad I'm not there or in Bulgaria with all the demonstrations.
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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RSorak 71Westy
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by RSorak 71Westy » Mon Jun 24, 2013 4:38 pm

Yea Finally I will get to learn about the rear wheel bearings. Please take lots of pics when you fix this the proper way.
Take care,
Rick
Stock 1600 w/dual Solex 34's and header. mildly ported heads and EMPI elephant's feet. SVDA W/pertronix. 73 Thing has been sold. BTW I am a pro wrench have been fixing cars for living for over 30 yrs.

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Amskeptic
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jun 25, 2013 7:51 am

RSorak 71Westy wrote:Yea Finally I will get to learn about the rear wheel bearings. Please take lots of pics when you fix this the proper way.
I will take photographs. But, first . . . . the rain must stop.
ColinRainingInSalem
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hambone
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by hambone » Tue Jun 25, 2013 4:18 pm

Oh you and the rain. Geesh.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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Amskeptic
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Re: The Itinerant Traverse II

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jun 25, 2013 10:18 pm

hambone wrote:Oh you and the rain. Geesh.
I will NOT allow passers-by to erroneously assume that I have broken a sweat whilst removing my rear wheel bearings.

I was PELTED with sprinkles today when I handed my credit card to the Oregon-mandated gas jockey. You do not know how I suffer.

I had to turn on the windshield wipers twice! My wrist is very fatigued now.

Ya want more? Hah? Keep geeshing me, PAL.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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