P-Town wrapup

[greatbear]

Jeff and I (and Kodi) are finally back home from our first real vacation in years. It was fantastic in every sense of the word, with only a couple rocky spots. Since it's late and I am still in the process of getting ready for the return to drudgery this week, I will make do with highlights for now, with multimedia to come later.

Thursday afternoon we headed forst to PA, and Jeff's parent's place. They were to be Kodi's puppysitters for the week. It's also a convenient, bit more than halfway-point to Hillside. We spent the night there, camping in their driveway. It was more fun than it sounds.

Friday morning we made our way up to Hillside. Our good friends, Dave and Will, would be our esteemed houseguests for the weekend. They also brought along "Junior", their 10-month old Pomeranian. Yes, we had a surrogate Kodi for the weekend. We spent the weekend mostly around the campsite, walking around and relaxing. We spotted and socialized with new and old friends, as well as fellow LJers climatebearnj, mondragon and showmeonthedoll. Definitely one of the better Hillside weekends, especially weather-wise.

Sunday morning we pulled up stakes and made our 9+ hour trek to P-Town. The weather for driving was great until we hit Massachusetts, where we were hit on and off with some serious rain. It did not slow us down much to speak of. Still, it was about 8pm that we hit Provincetown and Coastal Acres campgrounds. We checked in and headed over to our initially assigned spot. I mulled over how I was supposed to maneuver the big rig into the tight little spot when the man from the office showed up, replete in rain gear, to move us to a more accommodating spot. Seems he saw what we had brought for equipment and realized it was not gonna fit. So, from Site 2, we were directed onto Site 40T. I uncoupled and set up the trailer in the rain and hordes of mosquitoes and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday was spent riding around town, getting our bearings, sightseeing and relaxing. We discovered that our (cute) neighbors had with them their (you guessed it) Pomeranian. We had another surrogate Pom for the rest of our stay. This one was named "Precious" (cue Gollum quotes).

Tuesday was spent for the first half getting ready for my little LJ get-together. Fail. No one showed up, for various reasons, probably the last minute site move or difficulty in finding the place or whatever, we had lots of food for the rest of the week. After a while, we headed back to Commercial Street, where more bloggers and friends were spotted and/or socialized with, some items for the trailer purchased and fun was had.

Wednesday's highlight was whale-watching on the Dolphin Fleet boats. I've never done this before (nor has Jeff), and it was amazing. Humpback, Minke, Finback and other whales were cavorting, feeding, spouting and doing all those things that whales do, but all around the vessel, and up close. Lots of pictures and some video was taken, and we overstayed our journey because there was so much activity. Awesome. This is definitely on the must-do list of things when we return. To celebrate, we had our big seafood meals at the Lobster Pot, then hit the street some more for shopping, socializing, and looking at all the eye candy.

Thursday we walked the breakwater and beaches, took a dip in the water, did more exploring and whatnot. In the evening, we watched our buddy Troy Rusnack perform while we ate food and watched the bears go by. This was also the first event we attended which was part of the P-Town Bear Week run package we signed up for. Since many of the events were either in conflict with what we wanted to do, or we just were not interested in, we decided that next (and subsequent) years will be done without bothering with the run itself. We will pick and choose and pay the (very reasonable) admissions for the events we actually attend instead.

Friday was spent doing more of the same that we had been doing. It was our last day there, so we hit Bubala's for dinner, ending the day at the Crown and Anchor for their annual Fireman's Ball fundraiser event. It was a mob scene. We soon tired of the sardine-can feel and headed out into the courtyard where we found many of our friends doing the same thing. Maybe I am getting old, or possibly tired of the same old boom-tsss music and overpriced, overiced bar drinks and cramped quarters (even outside!) at the clubs. Still, the fun was had, our last day at P-Town a success and we got back to our site feeling like we had a great week.

Saturday was spent pulling up stakes and driving all the way back to Dornsife PA to Jeff's parental units and our homesick-for-us Kodi. With the stops put in for gas and food breaks, it was over 12 hours of driving. I guess in my zeal to get back 'home' and pushing the 18 year old truck beyond what it was designed for, I blew out second gear in the transmission (for the second time). I limped the trailer back to the parent's house (it was not far at this point), where we unpacked the food, leftovers, etc and called it a night. Kodi was incredibly glad to see us, as you might guess.

This morning I woke up, fiddled with the trans to make use of only first and third gears, packed up our goodies and things along with Kodi and headed home. No problems on the way. It was good to be safe at home, with a mostly successful vacation behind us.

Will we do it again? Youbetcha. Things that will be different? Do any of the 'events' piecemeal. Have any of the personal parties at a public venue/restaurant (if at all). Possibly skip Hillside, or just do the vacation in the off-season instead. And get a new truck.

Comments

[sparkygearhead.livejournal.com]

So the tranny gave up the ghost, huh? If it was an auto, how did it behave when second gear went south? Did it just skip it altogether and go straight to third, or just not want to come out of first? And what did you do to it to make it back home?

I'm glad you're not helpless.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It's a 727 Torqueflite, 3-speed. I rebuilt it in '03, adding some heavy duty internals and a hugeass finned aluminum pan with an extra gallon of capacity, seeing that I turned up the engine power as well. The second gear band shed it's lining the first time. It seems the same thing happened again. Either the thing was slipping and I didnt notice, or it was partially applying when in third and at full throttle under heavy load. Anyway, when it wants to go into second at light load, it does, but any throttle makes it slip. Trying to accelerate briskly makes it feel stuck in first and losing speed. To make it back home without much trouble I left the trailer in PA (though I really could have made it home with it, it was a simple case for leaving it there) and I adjusted the kickdown to be way early. That was I could leave in 1st to it's whopping 2900 redline, ease off the gas, then shift into 3rd. After that, it stayed in third unless I stopped. The Cummins has no problem dragging the truck around at low speeds in third.

I can rebuild a 727 in my sleep in about an hour or less. To fix what went south this time, even less (it would need a front band and front clutch drum). Problem is, the trans is a royal bitch to r&r.

[sparkygearhead.livejournal.com]

I've never done any but the most minor of tranny repairs. I think the valve body is about the most I've screwed with. When I replace the 700R4 in the Z, I might just take apart the old one to see what makes it tick.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Auto trannies are not rocket science, most people get put off by the brain-like appearance of traditional valve bodies. With newer transmissions, most of the favling, shuttles, plugs and pistons have been replaced with computer controlled solenoids, and the transmission interiors are mostly filled with gearsets and clutches.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was a great time, and there is still so much to do. Makes going back an easy decision.

[biggaloot.livejournal.com]

Hey, sorry I didn't make it down there for your Tuesday thing. I didn't get down there at all, actually. Work issues happened earlier in the week, and though it looked like I might get there later in the week, that didn't happen either.

Glad you had a great time! :)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Not a problem. We polished off most of the food during the week, and you were the only one who had made a 'positive' confirmation, so we did not have too much extra. In hindsight, trying to do this at the campground was not the best idea, it was kinda out-of-the-way and not easy to find.

Sorry you could not make it, the week was fantastic in so many ways!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Wish ya coulda been there!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Well, hopefully you can soon bring your 'thang' to P-Town. ;)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

You'd love it. They'd all love you. :D

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I bet you hit your 'target demographic' with a pretty decent-sized missile... ;)

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

ooh sounds like you had a good time. :-D

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

We definitely did!