Just a couple days after my last post the weather broke and the Sun dried up all the rain. It did on the surface anyways. I have been VERY busy with few breaks between anything. As crazy as it gets I'd take this over being rained out any day.
Funny how things get very busy and a lot of things end up happening. My truck broke down for starters. I have always said "If nothing is breaking down then nothing is happening." I only paid $500 for it a year and a half ago. It did good. Besides all that, it is a rear wheel bearing that went out. I have a friend with scads of truck parts that center on this model of GMC/Chevy trucks. With us both being busy it has been tough getting a new heavier axle swapped out. In the meantime I found another truck. The state of Nevada, Division of Forestry, was retiring an '86 Chevy 1-ton dually 4x4 diesel truck with a service bed on it and only 66,000 miles. The price they had on it would've only bought the service bed out of a salvage yard. It is just exactly what I have forever and always looked for though I realize it needs a little updating. I flew to Las Vegas with one of my helpers at 10:00pm, got off the plane, walked out to the parking deck, checked out the truck, signed paper work, got in a left for home by 11:30pm. I felt like Lot leaving Sodom and Gomorrah as the light of Las Vegas disappeared in the mirrors. About 20 minutes later we were crossing the Hoover Dam. Wish it was daylight then. By the way, they are building a new bridge over the dam that must be another 500+ feet higher. Anyways the trip home took us down to Kingman, AZ and across I-40 all the way to Memphis, TN. I took the guy with me so we could get the truck and not stop for any reason other than food and fuel. He'd never seen that part of the world so his eyes were bugged out the whole next day. In the morning we stopped for food at Grants, NM. We met up with a friend of mine out there who is an old soul. He is extremely knowledgeable on old war rifles and current trends on such collectibles. We had a good breakfast and off we went. I wish we could have stopped in Albuquerque to take in the tram and see a few folks I know out there but time just didn't allow for it. Sandia sure is a sight to see from the interstate but even more so from the top. The difference in climate a few feet can make is amazing.
We broke down just east of Tucumcari, NM which is about 100 miles west of Amarillo, TX. It was the fuel pump. For some strange reason, the pump would leak if the left side tank was on, but if we switched it to the right side it did not leak. So, off we went, hitting Amarillo just exactly at dinner time. How convenient! It just so happens to be the home of The Big Texan Steakhouse. You know, the one with the 72oz steak. Yep, we ate good that night! If you ever are in Amarillo you must stop there. It is just off the interstate on the north side.
We made our way through Oklahoma. I have made this trip across I-40 numerous times. For the most part it seemed like Arkansas always had the roughest roads. I got to tell you folks, Oklahoma roads are not OK!They are by far worse than Arkansas now. The stiff suspension in the truck made us airborne more than once. It made the slow trip across the 300 or so miles too miserable to ever get any shuteye. Right about the time we got ready to cross into AR the road smoothed out enough for me to get a little sleep. Wouldn't you know though, the suspicious folks at the Arkansas DoT would be sitting there watching for ex-forestry trucks from Nevada going through without a regular tag. Yeah, at 63mph we were driving it like we stole it. We got pulled over and hassled. After the uniform let us go at 1 or 2am we switched up and I drove a while. Of course by this time we started switching up every couple hours. Somewhere before Little Rock I was back in the passenger seat and by Memphis I was driving again. I finished the trip from there.
I sure do like this truck!
