The Manic Mechanic

Tonight after work I wanted some fresh air as well as to tinker with my rides. The weather tonight could not decide if it wanted to rain or not, so doing yard work or anything major was out. When last at Carlisle, I picked up a billet aluminum grille for my truck. Bingo. Nice, less-than-half-hour project.

Before


After


Smooooth. Hides the unpainted intercoolers, wiring and such that's way too visible under the eggcrate grille, and protects those very expensive pieces from being damaged by thrown debris. Plus it looks better IMO. And it was only a 20 minute project. Woot.

I started making more use of my Flickr page, as you probably can tell. I upgraded to a Pro account to have video and more groups. This is why you'll probably see more link-portals to my endless gawdawful photography cropping up. I try my best though.

I've been rather busy lately here, along with Jeff and Kodi, so not much time to formulate coherent posts and multimedia to describe it all. A brief summary: The weekend was a back-to-basics camping trip to Hillside. By back-to-basics, I mean we camped in our tent rather than the uber-trailer. Two reasons, primarily the spot we were assigned was along a road that would not easily accommodate the rig, and the truck is still parked in front of the garage waiting for me to rip out the transmission and fix it. The tent camping was fun as usual, despite three nasty electrical storms that rolled through Friday afternoon and into the night. Things cleared up nicely by Saturday morning though.

In all the themed weekends that Hillside puts on throughout the summer months, we've discovered a gem among them for the past several years. It's "Wrestling, Car Show and Talent Contest" weekend. Seemingly a kind of catch-all grouping of unrelated activities, the weekend has continuous wrestling activities (everything from collegiate to pro styles, on large, expansive mats and a pro-style ring), a chance for car enthusiasts to bring their rides to show and shine, and a talent show that raises money for the local ambulance/rescue squad. Those who have permanent sites in the lower section (the "Village") get together and host a "Village People" party, this year had tons of incredible food, a DJ and various beverages with and without alcohol, free for everyone there. This also ends up being a sightseeing party as well, with wrestly wrestlers, big muscly muscleguys with lots of muscles, bears, car enthusiasts and their prides and joys, and everyone else hanging around and socializing. It's very relaxing, fun, and seems like everyone there is friendly and outgoing.

This was also Kodi's first trip to Hillside. He had a blast. He's also a babe magnet, and plays the part well. He also discovered the creek next to our site and eventually started bounding and splashing around in the water. I dont think I ever saw this dog have so much fun. He behaved well for the most part, and seems to finally gotten over his car sickness and only needs a stop every hour or two to relieve himself.

Today marked my first trip to a couple dealers to check out new trucks. My old Dodge, which has served me very well through 18+ years of hard use, is due for semi-retirement. I had an expected bout of sticker shock as I looked at the new rides that would suit my needs/wants. Looking at Dodges (natch) and the new Chevys, with diesel engines, four doors, long beds, trailer prep, four wheel drive and a modicum of 'luxury' appointments to make travel nice, I'm looking at around fifty grand for what I want. Yikes. It's a lot of money for a truck. I knew this going in, but still, seeing the prices in black-and-white on those window stickers is a bit off-putting. It's not that I cant afford it, I just dont feel it's quite worth it.

Lots of pics and some videos from the weekend. I hope to get some posted soon.

Cheers!

This morning, Jeff and I brought home our new toy:




The ol' Dodge grunted the thing home with no drama. There is no doubt that there is some serious weight being bandied around behind the bed. This is the biggest 'toad' I have hauled with the truck to date. Prior to that the largest had been car trailers. 18 years ago I bought the truck knowing full well I would beat the hell out of it. To this day it's still doing it's thing, albeit quite a bit more bashed and crusty than the day I brought it home. We'll see how things go. Sadly, it would appear that if I plan on doing serious traveling with this trailer, a new truck is in order. In the nearly two decades since the '89 Dodge shattered the status quo on diesel pickup power, durability and efficiency with the Cummins engine, things have only gotten better on all the aforementioned counts. As well as more expensive. I might have to treat myself next year.

I was supposed to be up in Pennsylvania right now. To finally take a bit of time off to get away from my dismal life here as of late and unwind, Jeff and I were heading up for one of the more unusual yet friendly and laid-back weekends at Hillside (Wrestling/Car Show/Talent Show weekend). Alas, it must not have been meant to be, as I had a nasty blowout of the rear tire on my truck that nearly sent me into a bridge abutment. I managed to collect the truck and pull off the road safely to assess the damage. Tread ripped from the tire, trim torn off the bed side, bent-up wheelwell. Great. The tire itself was still fully inflated, but appeared ready to blow off the rim. I let out most of the pressure and put on the spare. With all my enthusiasm ripped to shreds and resembling that tire, I called Jeff, cancelled yet another of our vacation trips and skulked home. I'm not about to drive over 500 miles on a 16 year old spare tire and three other potential timebombs.

When will this end? How much more hell am I supposed to endure? It seems never ending at this point. Yeah, I guess it's all in how you look at things. I didnt wreck the truck, the trailer was not attached yet (that would have definitely been a disaster), there was no one in the adjoining lanes, etc. Still, I cannot help but feel that my life is somehow stuck in a downward spiral. Everything somehow feels 'wrong' at this point. I had a premonition of sorts regarding tires on the trailer, and brought along the small floor jack just in case. It came in handy.

Saturday marks one month since Mom died. One month already. I miss her terribly, and I am constantly falling into those moods where I just start crying. Does not matter where I am, it just happens. It's to be expected I guess, and I dont see those ending anytime soon, if ever. I still got a ton of business to tend to in this respect, and really doubt if I can ultimately be at any sort of ease until I deal with it. I still cant help but feel something else extremely bad is going to happen.

I am beyond exhausted. I am going to bed, and shutting off the alarm for once.