Second Jedediah Smith Trail 1824 — 1826

Day 3: August 24th, 2010 Pittsburgh

Today, I already wake up at four in the morning, but I stay in bed until half past five. Then I repack my stuff that my trolley is empty and I can lay it to the side. However, I am wondering where all the splinters of wood are coming from which are laying in there. Also the reinforcement is broken. This time, they must have really throwing my trolley around.

Around half past six I have finished everything and think about on how get the problem with my radiator and mobile phone solved the best. When I hear that Helen is up, I also get up. Today, I don’t take a shower. There was not really much sweating yesterday. I prepare again three eggs and toast for breakfast like yesterday.

Then I check my emails. Indeed, my parents have been able to find the paperwork. But there is no PIN! Therefore I must now drive over to the shop. There is nothing I can do by phone. So I can take care of the next issue now, my radiator. I take a look at the data and, indeed, there has been definitely the wrong one delivered. So I call them and I am really lucky — the guy is an S10 specialist. He enters my data really fast and after a short waiting he figures out that, indeed, they have definitely delivered the wrong radiator. A new one will take around two weeks, because they are build for each customer on request. Great!

So I ask him, what they would have in stock. He searches around and finds one from Summit Racing, which is usually designed for a V8 swap. He checks everything and also talks to the technicians that this one will work for my truck. Only the lower outlet is a little bit smaller. But this should usually work with the clamp to get it sealed — let’s hope the best!

The delivery only takes one to two days and I will receive a credit about the price difference. Then we can only hope, that everything will work out. Now I must wait for my Chevrolet dealer until they call me. I use the time to continue writing my diary of the last couple of days. And also the first bookkeeping task is overdue.

Then it is time to rearrange my trip. All in all, I must not drive via Detroit this time. Instead, I drive now via Columbus, Iowa City, Chamberlain and on to Billings. From there, I am back in my old plan. I also email the change to my parents. Then I take another look at my Summit Racing account. There, they have already added my new order. Hopefully, everything will work out with the new delivery!

In the meantime, it is half past two and Helen is already back from working at her Mom’s house. There was still no call from my Chevrolet dealer. This should be usually a good sign. Hopefully, they have done inspection in the morning. Then it would mean that everything is fine. But we will see…

Around 5pm it is getting too late and I decide to call them. As already suspected, the car is not ready. Sometime tomorrow morning the car should be ready. Great, and why they don’t call me?!

Helen prepares dinner in the meantime, it’s pork steak with potatoes, broccoli and salad. This tastes again great. Then I search on the Internet once more on how to exchange my car radio. Around ten, I am going to bed. All in all, I am still fighting with the change in time zones…

The next day is in preparation…