Second Jedediah Smith Trail 1824 — 1826

Day 10: August 31st, 2010 Pittsburgh — Columbus

Map Pittsburgh to Columbus

Also today I wake up around seven in the morning. Unfortunately, Helen had already made some coffee for me. So I must have breakfast at home. Originally, I planned to go out for breakfast this morning. Again, I have my three eggs with toast. Then I eventually continue writing my diary. Around ten I have finished this and start working on my emails.

Then I drive over to Pep Boys and return my oil and coolant water. Next is to buy my supplies for the trip and drive back home.

I pack everything together and put my stuff into the car — which is not really fun with temperatures by more than 90 degrees! Sweat is pouring down my body. Getting everything in my truck keeps me busy until half past four. Not before this late, I have everything stored in my truck.

88 S10 Blazer Left Front, PA

88 S10 Blazer Side, PA

Before I leave, I take a couple of pictures of my truck. Then I hit the road. For the first time, I switch on my video camera! And immediately I have the first problem: It is impossible to turn the camera off and on, while the display is turned around. But it turns off automatically after a certain time. Maybe that is the way to do it. Let’s go.

I–79 Ramp, PA

On my way to the Interstate, I see Helen in her car. But she hasn’t seen me. Then I am on the Interstate.

I–79, Ohio River, PA

On I–79 is a lot of traffic and driving is pretty stressful.

It also doesn’t get better on I–70 at Washington.

I–70, State Line PA and WV

Not before the clock shows almost six in the evening, the traffic decreases. I cross the state line to West Virginia.

I–470, State Line WV and OH

On I–470, I cross the state line to Ohio. The cruise control is annoying me as always. This is something, I must take a closer look someday. Maybe it is a problem with the vacuum reservoir underneath the battery?!

I–70, OH

I–70, OH

Sunset I–270, OH

Sunset I–270, OH

With plenty of sunshine — or let’s better say sunset — I arrive in Columbus, Ohio. Again, my navigation software fools me, because the Motel 6 is placed at the wrong spot there! But I remember, that it was exactly the other direction to go.

Therefore I turn around and indeed, I see the sign! And they still have a room, even again to the rear. Last year, I was also in this last row. When I arrive at my motel room, I first take a look at the level of my transmission oil. The transmission started to shift weird just before I arrived here. And indeed, almost one quart is missing!

Then I remember: I had removed the radiator and also the lower transmission lines, which means, in none of my radiators was oil left! And the thermostat opens not before the transmission has reached its working temperature! That’s why so much oil is missing! Beside this, everything looks perfectly with my new radiator and electric fan!

While I was looking for my motel I have not realized that my truck was running warm. Suddenly, I hear the noise of my fan and then I see it. Also when filling up the transmission oil, the truck runs really hot. But I manually turn the fan on and within a very short amount of time, the truck cools down during idling. This gives me hope for my offroading plans!

Then I quickly put my stuff into the room and check again, where the restaurants are. Somewhere around here was an Outback Steakhouse or Lone Star and indeed, just around the corner is an Outback. Unfortunately, all my batteries are empty. So I cannot program the GPS coordinates in my handheld GPS. But well, it is so easy to find. This should work without GPS.

Nearly immediately, I find it. Whereas, I have almost taken one turn too early. But the sign can already be seen from far away. There, I have a 9oz Outback Special with this special tomato sauce on my salad. The service is absolutely perfect and so I give a good tip.

Around a quarter to ten I drive back and finish my bookkeeping. Then I write my diary and finally check my first video taping! The recordings are really great! I must only find a solution for the shaking. Let’s see, maybe I can put a weight on the tripod handle and solve it this way. However, I am not able to find a solution for that my camera does not remember the zoom setting. This is really annoying!

Instead, copying everything works really easy now. Whereas I am not sure whether the camera uses a proprietary file format. Hopefully, I will be able to open this video with another program in the future. Also the backup to my second hard drive works really well. The only thing I will change is, that I will start copying while I leave for dinner. Until I have finished now all my tasks, it is already half past eleven. Until I am in bed, it is already midnight. This is a great beginning again. It seems, that I will skip two days sightseeing. Otherwise, things will turn out to be too stressful…

The next day is in preparation…