First Jedediah Smith Trail 1822 — 1824

Day 39: September 23rd, 2009 Columbus — Pittsburgh

Map Columbus to Warrendale

For sure, I sleep in again. During the night was quite a lot of noise from the neighbors. And to avoid waking up a couple of times again, I have put in my ear plugs. I pack my stuff together and check the engine oil level again. It is still a bit above the minimum marker on the dipstick. This should be fine for these last couple of miles. Currently, it is not raining and even a bit warm with 70 degrees.

I drive over to checking out and continue over the Interstate to my Cracker Barrel. But I am not able to see it. Instead, there is a Bob Evans just at the corner. Because I am already running late, I take this one. The service is pretty good and the hostess seems to be interested in my historic trails. Whereas, I have the impression, that it is more politely and superficial.

Just past ten I pay and recommend the National Geographic book about the Lewis and Clark Trail. Then I drive over to the Marathon gas station at the corner.

I–70, OH

I–270, OH

I–270, OH

I–70, OH

I–70, OH

Around half past ten I hit the road in direction of Pittsburgh. Now, the last couple miles Interstate are laying in front of me. But somehow, something seems to pull me to the west, because I hit the Interstate in the wrong direction. Therefore I take the next exit to turn around. Now I am really driving in direction of Pittsburgh and take I–270 around the southern side of Columbus.

I–70, OH

I–470, Ohio River, OH

I–470, State Line OH and WV

I make good miles, in spite of all the traffic. So I reach the state line to West Virginia on I–470 south of Wheeling and also cross the Ohio River once again.

I–70, PA

Soon after, I reach the state line to Pennsylvania — and with this also the end of my video tapes. But because of these remaining couple of minutes of video, it would not have been worth to buy another set of tapes. That’s why there are now only pictures for the rest of my trip.

I–79, Ohio River, PA

After reaching Washington, PA, the traffic dramatically increases on I–79. The construction zones along the Interstate doesn’t make things better. But I reach the exit to Wexford and Highway 910 without any issues. Also there is a lot of traffic and it takes me a while, until I reach my Chevrolet dealer in Wexford. Unfortunately, Jay is in a meeting and he will not be back before two hours. Mike directly ignores me. Indeed, he currently has a customer. But when this guy left, he immediately drives the car away instead of saying a brief hello. This guy seems to have something against me, whereas I have no clue why…

Another guy takes care of me and he also tells me, that Jay is in a meeting. When I drive away, I remember, that I also wanted to say Hi to the guys in the part store. Therefore I quickly stop there and tell them, that I am back from my trail. They are really happy to see me again! Indeed, they are very busy. But they still take the time for a brief chat with me. They have seen my truck in the shop and were wondering, why I haven’t shown up — at least, you can read this between the lines. I explain to them, that I was extremely busy. And I am also still busy due to my breakdown in South Dakota.

88 S10 Blazer, PA

I say good–bye and drive on to Helen. There, they are working on the road. But I am still able to enter her property without any issues. Of course, she is out of house. But I still have the keys. First, I empty out my truck, which takes a while. Then I put on my working clothes and immediately drive over to David. Also there, I have the keys and he has put down my tires directly on the lift. Sure, this way I cannot miss them…

First, I move the tires out of my way. Then I check the transmission oil level. Also this is okay. But this will also be changed next year. Then I drive on the lift and made it the first time to be right in the middle of the lift. Usually, I am always entering a bit too much to the right.

First, I remove the radiator grille and take care of my oil lines. A lot of them can be retighten. But why some of them are sealed while others are not is really a miracle. Maybe, I have put on the Teflon tape on some of them in the wrong direction. I also retighten all hose clamps and hope, that everything is now sealed. Then I screw back on the radiator grille again.

In the meantime, David arrives and asks how everything was going. I tell him about my last breakdown. Then he walks back to his house and I hurry up to get finished. But the front lift is causing trouble. I am able to roll it for a short distance. But then it gets totally stuck. I pull as much as I can until the water is really running down on my body. But it will not move an inch. Also this muggy weather is really killing me.

After almost an hour I am fed up to the back teeth and drive my car in the correct position. Then I must use a bit more wood to put under the axle, if I am not parking in the sinking. But this will work somehow. After searching for a while, I find some suitable pieces of wood and start my job.

Changing the tires is done really fast. Before I started, I pumped up the old ones to 35psi. The new ones will be pumped up to 37psi before I store them away. Whereas I am not sure, if I should drive them for another year. There is not too much tread left.

I rearrange my stuff from the rear to the front. But this time, I must only move my Hi–Lift Jack to the front. Then I am able to close my trunk! This means, that the treads are pretty much down. Then the tires fit in without any issues.

Finally, I take a close look at the undercarriage of my truck. But there is really no rusting through to see. Therefore, the water must be from my water canister! It seems that I will need a new one next year. Let’s see, if I will be able to find something better. Currently, everything is wet again. But maybe it was because I have put too much pressure on it. Beside of this, everything looks pretty well.

While checking everything from underneath, I realize, that I would also be able to reach the front connections of my oil lines from below — at least the hose clamps. But now, I have already removed everything including the mounts. At least, I was able to get all the insects out this way.

At the front, I have lost one screw on a lower cover. I search for a replacement, but this one turns endless. And there is no chance to reach the other side from above. There is not really much that I can do here. But the screw on my skid plate can be fixed with a nut from above. This works out. At least, this screw is now fixed. When looking at my skid plate I realize, that I have really used it this year. There are a bunch of scratches to see.

Also for a deeper oil pan for my transmission, I take a thorough look. This should also work, because the skid is holding up at the transfer case. Only the exhaust lines or the crossmember could be in the way. But this is something I can take a chance of. Let’s see, how expensive this part is. For my radiator replacement I see, that the fan seems to be only mounted by four screws. Maybe, the fan can be removed by itself. But maybe, the radiator replacement can also be done by my Chevrolet dealer, we will see.

It is already a quarter past eight and I must now hurry up to be able to get something for dinner. I can see, that the television is running at David’s house. Therefore I briefly stop there. Lisa is there and I say good–bye until tomorrow. Then I drive back to Helen. There, I quickly take a shower and drive on to Lone Star.

Around a quarter past nine, I arrive there and somehow being greeted and treated much nicer than before I left for my trip. Also the steak is better than back then. As dressing, I choose Bacon Ranch, which is a house dressing. In the meantime, I always ask for a house dressing to be able to try something new.

Just past ten I pay and drive back “Home”. Helen already went to bed. Therefore, I also immediately get ready. It’s long ago that I was in bed already around eleven. But I don’t sleep very well, because I always wake up from the noise of the dog collar. The last time is around four in the morning and I am absolutely not able to fall asleep anymore. There is too much running through my head right now…

The next day is in preparation…