It being the Feast of St. George, I rose with the sun, got everything squared away, said Morning Prayer, walked the dog and put some rods in the back of the rig; the plan being to go fishing. Good plan, eh? Simple, clear, realistic, doable. But you know what they say, as soon as you make contact the plan goes all to hell. That's what happened to me.
Everything was fine until I got to Whitney and picked up some bait. Then, as I pulled away from the bait shop filling station, the dash pinged me with a check radiator warning and the gauge went into the red like a voracious Bass on a juicy worm.
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| The Plan |
Sure enough, the radiator was leaking coolant like a good 'un and the reservoir was empty. I filled it up and drove home, hoping that, as if by magic, the leak would stop when I got back to the compound. It hadn't, and I resisted the temptation to get a quick fix with Stop Leak and folk remedies like black pepper, eggs etc.
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| St. George Makes Contact. Note: Princess, Humpback Hill, Your 9 O' Clock. |
It can go to the shop on Monday, and in the meanwhile I console myself with the thought that the fish will still be there when we get back in the fight.
All for Texas and St. George,
LSP
14 comments:
I wonder if you had Blue Luck Charm with you when the radiator went kablooey?
Look at it this way, you aren't stranded in Austin, or San Francisco, or downtown Los Angeles. (Neither are you stranded in Bora Bora but I'm not going to take it in that direction)
Loyal steeds are hard to come by. I'd almost suggest a Toyota pickup instead, with the bonus that it'd likely be built here in Texas.
You need a Ford Raptor.
Aren't Toyota pickup is a wee bit Jihadi for West Texas? Mind you the Dshk or
B60 option could take Wilderness Wednesday in a whole new direction.
Why try 2nd hand from US Military? Personally, I covet one of these:
http://www.army.mil/e2/c/images/2015/12/15/418904/size0.jpg
Or you could go seriously old school
http://www.rrec.de/uploads/pics/ADMIRALT.JPG
Changing a radiator in a Ford truck is fairly simple, Reverend. Other than a few odds and ends connected to it, just disconnecting the upper and lower radiator hoses, yank it out, slap a new one in, done. (are you sure that it's the radiator, and not a hose?)
A shop manual can guide you through the process, and if you have any kind of mechanical aptitude at all, this is within your skill set.
The shop will charge you for the radiator, and perhaps twice the cost of the radiator in labor. I bet you can pick up a radiator for around $150 or less, new. The shop will probably nail you for maybe $600 or more.
Just a thought.
It could have been much worse, LL, and Blue Fortune was at home dreaming of tasty unicorn steaks, and for sure, a Raptor would be good.
All donations to the Raptor Fund gratefully received.
Toyotas are pretty popular, Mattexian, that's for sure. Mind you, my F150's hardly given me any trouble, so I can't complain. I would like a 4x4, however...
I think there's a lot to said for having a Technical, Anonymous. But I have to admit, I like the first of your two linked options.
LL should be sorting one of those out fairly soon. As a "humanitarian relief vehicle."
I've been pondering exactly that, Fredd...
I know that you can't wait for two weeks, but I'll likely be visiting the Dallas area in that timeframe - or maybe a we bit longer. I'm always willing to help work on the "Popemobile" with you and Blue Fixit.
There's nothing like something going wrong with the car to ruin a perfectly planned out day. Tell Blue Roundup to rustle you up a mechanic and get that thing fixed for the next great fishing massacre.
Looking forward to the visit, LL -- you can advise me on 4x4 strategies...
That's for sure, Euripides. I'll get the Blue Defender on the case ASAP.
I agree with Fredd on this one, easy peasy,
I changed out the radiator on my Explorer with minimal oversight by the Cowman. If I can do it, pretty darn sure you can, Padre.
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