First Jedediah Smith Trail 1822 — 1824

Day 5: August 20th, 2009 Pittsburgh (Car Work)

Also today I already wake up at six in the morning and lay in my bed awake. Just past seven Helen gets up and then I also make myself slowly ready. Helen searches everything for my car pod. But it stays lost. We are completely clueless where it could be. So I have no other choice than to order a new one at Amazon.

After searching for a while I find it again. Then I look for a suitable video head. This one I find again pretty fast. As I am already ordering I use the opportunity and order a universal arm for $50. Maybe I find a possibility to mount my camera somewhere more solid. All in all I have now an order of around $300. On top of that are $50 for an express delivery service that it will arrive tomorrow for sure. Of course, they don’t deliver on Saturdays!

After I have ordered everything I drive over to Home Depot and buy a mesh which I plan to mount in front of my fans. Also I take with me a perforated rail and a tilted one to mount something. Then I buy a small assortment of screws and a whole set of 1/4" screws. These are universal and you need them always somewhere…

Now I am driving over to David. There I start to sort my stuff and think about how I can remount everything, also the electrical stuff. In the end I leave again to buy some wires and accessories at Pep Boys. There I ask for 3/8" adapters for my oil project. But they have nothing. Instead, they give me the advice to look at Home Depot. I also buy a radiator cap, then I drive again over to Home Depot. There I really find everything what I need! They have a whole assortment! I buy everything I could need to build the splitter for my oil temperature sensor. Then I drive back.

Around half past two the big rework can start. I move the switch for my second battery to the front now and put in a second one for my laptop power connector. The offroad lights are moved to the four switch console. Then I must run the new laptop power wire through the firewall. There I remember that I still have silicone spray. Now things are getting way more easily!

In the meantime David arrives and tells me that a package from Summit Racing has arrived. Perfect, also this worked out! I immediately get it and check if all the adapters will fit. On a first glance I should have now everything, hopefully.

Then the rework of my fuse block starts. I finally decide to put it on the passenger side and fix it on a cable harness. There is the least chance of causing any shorts. The wire from the alternator receives an additional plastic cover. This should also be fine now.

Around a quarter to nine I am finished and my second battery is also installed. Now I can drive outside. But just in this moment a heavy shower starts like being the end of the world. I run to get everything shut. With this bad weather I do not stop at David’s house and immediately drive on. You almost see nothing, so heavy is the rain!

Just past David I have the next disaster. Because of this heavy rain I put my wiper to high speed that I have a better view. That also worked for around 20 seconds. After this I had no wipers at all. The wiper motor will not turn anymore! Great, driving back home in this heavy rain in the night without wipers!

Everywhere on the road is standing water and if there is oncoming traffic you almost see nothing. I even have an accident and barely avoid to drive my truck in the ditch. I am more than glad when I am back home. Such a drive is nothing what I need again!

Accordingly, having dinner out of the house will not happen. But Helen had made meat loaf where there is still enough left over. This tastes great and outweighs this horrible drive back home. But before dinner I took a shower. All in all, I have worked pretty hard on my car. But tomorrow things are really getting tough. Then I have to start working on my oil drain plug. Hopefully I will have some good ideas by then…