Friday, August 25, 2023

Road Trip 2023 Day 1

But first...

Couple days ago noticed the old barn at Ennis' fell down :(



Happy with the packing -- not interfering my vision out the rear. Can't see in the pics three grocery bag/totes on the rear seat with food and clothes, but I'm pretty sure (especially if I put the gas can outside) would all fit in the back. Gas can is just inside for now to reduce temptation for theft.






Drive by of the fair on my way out of town. Left my house at 8:07.



11:37 in Pennsylvania



Google Maps showed a big backup on I-81 in Scranton so I took Route 202 through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to I-80.







Got to my hotel room in Richfield, OH at 7:00pm.

It has a function hall that I think is hosting a wedding tonight, so the parking lot was packed! One of the farthest walks I've had to the front desk, though they had gotten me a room near the front desk at least.

Monday, August 21, 2023

Sunday Jeeps and Monday Chickens

Out of curiousity, pulled the other slide pin -- I had to use an electric ratchet to rotate it while applying pressure with a small pry tool.



Step to get to the rack.



Put the ham radio stickers on. They're home made magnetic ones, couldn't find a magnetic sticker I liked so bought some magnetic backing and attached the stickers. They had a lot of "memory" so I ended up needing a heat gun to get them to sit flat, but since they've been doing well.



Labeled the ammo cans.



5th ammo can, this has ATF-4 (power steering, DOT3, and 5w20.



Vacuumed.



Surprising amount of shit fits under the back seat. I'll fill up the drivers side rear since I don't slide it forward to sleep in the back; the seats go down as they move forward so I can't fit as much on the passenger side.




Stuffed the sleeping box...pillow, two flannel sleeping bag liners, woobie, and finally the camping quilt in case it gets really cold.



Test Fit...still need:
-- Toilet Kit
-- Big Chair
-- Food
-- Clothes
-- 2 computer backpacks and camera backpack




More shit on the dash...CB added to the grab handle; actually works well there as long as I don't have a passenger to be impaled by an airbag deployment :)



Monday after work, went over to Eric's farm for some alcoholic beverages...






Food packed for the trip...

I still get the feeling I'm overpacking, especially now that I know of curbside delivery at Walmart to help resupply :)

I'll be adding some granola bars and mixed nuts, but I think this is a good selection for now. Lots of fruit for snacks while driving.

I also set up a small bag that will go in the duffle bag I carry into hotels.

Total is like 1-1/2 reusable grocery bags.









Saturday, August 19, 2023

Brakes Done...and other stuff

Monday...put the National Park Pass in the Jeep when I left in the morning.




Drove the Jeep to the office, yep the rack whistles at highway speeds. I'll try slapping some duct tape over the Barricade cut out, hoping that's the whistle. I can live with it if not.



Lordy what a week. Only went to the office Monday. Here I'm testing stuff to make sure only particular IPs are allowed access to one our sites, rest get a Sorry Page.

Tue-Wed I really just felt fatigued; work was fine but no energy for Jeep things. Thursday used the 25" bar and got the caliper bolt loosened.


Saturday Morning, OK time to get serious.



Holy Fucknuckles...

The guide pin was so seized it broke before rotating -- these aren't threaded, they're smooth sided pins that should be lubed!

AND THIS WAS THE GOOD SIDE!!!

Had pads from NAPA, but off to O'Reilly since they had rebuilt calipers in stock. Buying the entire thing was just as cheap as buying the bracket, slide pins, and boots individually (without the main body either!).

Of course I'm a bit time pressed, really didn't want to get into bleeding brakes...so I just put on the brackets for today.

It'll be a good cool weather job to replace the caliper body and give the brakes a good flush this fall.




No photo, but I adjusted both parking brakes out to the point you kind of had to give the rotor a good push to seat on, instead of freely sliding.



My bag of goodies for the project...





Took it out for a test drive, finding some really steep roads to test the parking brake.

...and it sucked.

Was able to find some directions for holding back a tab by the lever while pulling on it which definitely helped but didn't make it 100%. Consensus online seems to be they just suck. I may try a new lever mechanism when I get home -- relatively cheap ($85) to give it a try. There is a clutch mechanism that is supposed to help improve leverage / keep cable taught or something like that. Maybe mine is just particularly weak?

While out and about, saw they put up a new sign at the CL&P land along Day Street:



Daylilles were late this year, but a lot of them. The Deer eating them last year probably helped -- Mother Nature's version of dead-heading. This one is particularly late!



Normally by this point I think I'm down to just these late yellow daylillies by the mailbox. I think the orange striped ones are usually done.