Cutest Hood Ornament Ever

I stopped to fuel at the TA in Milldale, CT when I saw this little guy on the hood next to me.  I know you all have seen the more common hood ornaments out there like the flying pig, ducks and ladies.  But this is only the second one I would actually like to have.  The first one was a chrome husky.  Now with this bear I just don't think I could decide.  But since I can't find either of them, I don't have to.  I had Randy ask the guy when he came back out where he had gotten it (I was on the phone).  He said he had got it in LA about 7 years ago.  It was a special order back then and took him over 6 months to get it.  So I am still out of luck.

Installing New Shifternob

OK anyone who has ever changed one of these knows about all the little parts (2 springs, rubber gasket, plastic molded pieces, ball bearing, etc) that can and do go flying if you aren't really careful when you take the top off.  We of course did great the first time, but we didn't add any extra petroleum and so had to take it apart a second time.  That time both of those stupid little springs went flying as the air blew them to who knew where along with the rubber gasket.  The rubber gasket and the first spring I found almost immediately right next to the gas peddle.  The second one took us over an hour to find.  It had landed and rolled just far enough under the base of the brake peddle that unless you lifted it you didn't see it.  Can you imagine calling dispatch and telling them the truck can't make the pickup because we lost a tiny little spring less than 1/4" long x 1/8" wide?  And all because I wanted to replace a scratched shifter knob.

Unless you are unlucky like we were, it really is a simple job to change

 one of these out (I have changed many throughout the years 

without incident).  Remove the top access panel and the two screws.

Lift off the knob and the side gear splitter switch.  This is where it 

gets tricky.  See those two very small holes at the right side that are

 sort of outlined?  Those are air outlets and are highly pressurized.  

Once you loosen and lift off the cover they blow air hard, fast and loud!

This air blowing is how you loose those little parts.

Since we didn't have any petroleum jelly handy and didn't want to spray

 white lithium here, we used just a dab of Carmex.  It holds those tiny

 little parts in place as you flip the selector switch upside down to put it

 back in place, lubes and helps seal the air gasket.

Now that the air has drained off for the second time, 

I flip and very carefully set the selector switch in place.

Now all we have to do is put the new knob on top...

and screw it back down.

The last step is to place the access cover in the top of the knob.

Viola.  New fancy carved wooden shifter knob.

We started the truck and reaired the system to test it.  It 

worked better than before!  I guess that Carmex was just the ticket.

POP

Randy was driving across 40 this week, while I was cooking Gumbriot, when we both heard a really loud POP!  He pulled off at the upcoming exit so we could take a look at the tires.  It was so loud that we both thought we had blown a tire off a rim or something.  We crawled over and under the truck and trailer.  We couldn't find anything wrong, so we chalked it up to another passing truck as the source of the pop.

You can sorta see in this photo we weren't stopped in the best spot.  We were twisted on a sharp right lean pointed uphill.

Of course when you are in a hurry to find a place to stop you can't be choosy, but when we stopped looking at the truck and looked at where we were at, oops.  The pot holes in front of us were plentiful, deep and of course going to be hard to miss when we left.  The pot hole Randy is standing in is about 8-10" deep by 6' across and you can kinda see how sharply slopped the area is.

While looking at the pot holes I spotted this vertical windmill in the back ground.  I was so excited at seeing it up close, because I have been reading a lot about them recently.

What a WHEEL HOG.  While I was sidetracked by the windmill, he thought he would jump back behind the wheel.  He had already done 700 miles on the nose at this point.  Even though he could technically (as he was arguing) drive for a while longer, I put my foot down.  Supper was ready for him to eat and this was as good a place to switch as any.  He only had 30 minutes left on his log for that day anyway.  Then he tried arguing that it was going to be hard to get out of the spot we were in and the next fuel stop was only a little ways away.  I won.  Of course I made it back on the highway with no problems AND managed to miss ALL of those nasty pot holes to boot!!! :-P

The culprit is found!  We have a small basket next to the driver's seat where we keep the essentials (ie: pliers, screw driver, tape measure, gloves, etc).  We had a small plastic bottle of aluminum polish here that the seat apparently came down on.  HARD.

Hard enough to smash the top down and blow a hole in the side of the bottle! That's where the pop came from.  We found this when we were getting the truck polished the next day and wanted to rub down the CB antennae while standing around waiting.  From now on we will keep the touch up polish with the rest of the detail products in one of the trailer boxes.

Train Airline

On our way to and back from the chrome shop we have to cross a set of train tracks.  

It was then that Randy saw it...

grabbed it up...

fell in love...

carried it back to the trailer...

and he is taking it home.

And he teases me about my rocks? ;-D

Chrome Shop

We finally located the new light surrounds we have been searching for. They are for the turtleback style lights on the side of the sleeper.  Since we needed over 40 of them we had to have them ordered.  I can't wait to get home and get them on the truck!

I also finally found the correct shifter-nob in the matching wood to our wood/chrome steering wheel.  We installed the new nob this evening.  It looks so much better than the chrome one.  I never thought I would say this, but I think that the chrome one just blended in with the rest of the chrome in the cab and never really looked that good.  The wood one seems just right.

This is Denis who has helped us on many occasions, but today was the first time we really talked.  The shop is usually to busy to even get help easily, but today things slowed down as we finished our order and we talked for a while.  He has lived in SoCal since the late '60s, but he is a Canadian from Ontario.  Two of his brothers moved to SoCal in the early '60s and it took him a few years to finally convince his wife it was a good idea.  As soon as she gave him the OK, he said he sold everything (the boat, apartment, cottage, etc) in less than 3 months.  They made the move with no job arranged for either of them.  He said it was hard at first, but with some help from his brothers they made it.  When we asked if there was anything he would have done differently, he quickly answered that the only thing he regretted was not doing it sooner!  He said it has been hard being so far away from his wife's family in Ontario, but they make the trip in their RV every 2-3 years.

Around the bend and over the next hill...

When we decided to stop at a small road side rest area in Veil, CO we had no idea what was literally just over the hill.  We had been twisting our way thru the canyons with some new friends of ours for hours and we all needed a rest so we could stretch our legs.  It didn't look like much, just a gravel parking area with outhouses, but then I found what looked like a path going down the side of the hill (well actually small mountain) thru the trees.  It was pretty steep and rough, but after going down a little ways I could see what looked like water down below.  I finally talked my husband into trying it.  So we all put on tennis shoes, got our cameras and off we went ready for some fresh air and a little adventure!

The climb down kept getting steeper and steeper.  Then about half way down the path disappeared!  But we could see the water clearer and were not about to be deterred at this point.  So we weaved our way back and forth looking for dry foot holds.  When we finally got to the bottom, to our surprise, there was a paved access road in front of us!  All we had to do was cross a deep ditch and we were there.  It was so beautiful and I was in a hurry to get down.  My husband of course was worried about me the whole way down and kept telling me to "take it slow" and "easy."  I just had to say, since I was home free after all, that I was fine.  I had made it down the whole way without any problems so far right?  So down into the slippery wet, grass lined ditch I went.  Without his helping hand of course.  WHAM, down I went onto my butt and slid a good 8' or more before I came to a stop.  I was so shocked I forgot to tell him I was OK fast enough, and before I knew it he was right beside me, beside himself!  Other than a sore bum and bruised ego, I was fine.  I, of course, had to suffer being felt all over so he could satisfy himself I wasn't telling a fib.  I wanted get on with my investigating and he knows me to well I am telling you ;-D  After he was satisfied I was OK, he helped me out of the ditch and we were off....



It didn't take long for me to find something else to climb to get a better view and try to find some more of those pretty sparkling rocks we saw at the water's edge.

 Who knew my new friend liked to collect rocks from around the country like I did.  She even managed to talk her husband into carting them all over the country till they got home and she could put them in her garden just like me (I always knew I wasn't as crazy as people kept telling me).



It was absolutely gorgeous down there.  We were the only four people around and it seemed like our own little world while we were down there.  There was so much to see.  A small water fall, fish, sparkling rocks with the prettiest flowers (nature's own natural rock garden), a pier out over the water and down at the end a small camping area.



Yes, I wanted to climb up to the top of the little waterfall. I lost that "discussion" though. If only I hadn't already fallen, I know I could have won.  It was such a beautiful site.  Whatever those rocks were with the silver/goldtone flecks in them (fools gold maybe?), they were amazing scattered all along the waterfall's path with the sun shining as it was.




It was an absolutely amazing afternoon we spent down there.  So much so that none of us wanted to leave, which had nothing to do with the steep pathless climb we had ahead of us, I am sure.  When we did decide it was time to head back to the trucks we debating following the access road back to the highway, but decided against it and headed back up the same way we came down.  "Was it really this steep on the way down," we kept gasping at the numerous rest stops on our way up.

When we finally made it back to the top, we all plopped down and just sat there for about 10 minutes to catch our breath.  Then, just as we were getting back into the trucks I made another find!  MARBLE!!!  Someone had thrown several large pieces (24" x 8') of cracked polished marble counter top material off of a truck.  The find of the century to two rock collectors such as ourselves.  So after a CONSIDERABLE amount of conjolling (I think I forgot to mention that both husbands had carted several must have rocks up the mountain for us already) we got the guys to "rescue" the precious material and put it in the trailer boxes for us.  Boy did we ever owe them after that afternoon outing!  Which I might add I have been reminded of a time or two since :-)  Like everytime we had to move "your rocks" (as they were dubbed) to get to the packing blankets and finally when we got home and had to unpack them.  Now I just know I am going to hear it all over again when I tell him I want to repack and move all these when we move this year!!!!  What do you think?

Our Home Away from Home

This is our home away from home, where I will be spending my time blogging from as we work our way around the country. It is a 140"/12' Indiana Custom Sleeper on a Kenworth T-600. There is a door in the rear of the sleeper that makes it so much easier to get in and out of the truck. Not to mention all our stuff and groceries! If you have ever been RV'ing then you know what it's like. We just RV most of the time and vacation at our home! We have our favorite places to haunt all around the country and are continuing to find more all the time.

Our Little Helper

This little guy decided after some consideration that we really needed his help. After all who better than a squirel from LA to show us how to put chrome on a vehicle.



We were so delighted when he showed up at the fence and started watching us. How cute is he standing there gripping the fence like that. He shocked us even further when he started to come over.



Before we knew it he was right under my husband's feet as he worked on installing my new chrome pedals.



We only felt it right that he be paid for all of his help. He really loved our sprouted grain bread!! So much so that he took this piece and ran back to his borough, then was right back for another and another and another. We weren't stingy, he had helped us out after all. We figured he was stocking up for a family get together or a rainy day.