John Colter Trail 1807 — 1808

Day 6: August 19th, 2005 Pittsburgh (Car Work)

Before I leave, I cut off a good junk of the plastic covers from my rims at the bottom. It doesn’t look this much to the outside, but it seems to be enough for the tires. Then I drive over to David. First I look at the pressure gauge for the automatic transmission pressure port. But I give up on this one, because there is simply not enough space. So I keep the gauge where it currently is: In the external pressure lines to the oil cooler.

Then I replace the rest of the vacuum hoses. The hoses to the transfer case will stay in place, because first I don’t have enough of them and second it is almost impossible to reach them. But after shutting down the engine I hear a sizzling noise from the actuator of my cruise control! This is where my big vacuum leak is! But there is nothing I can do right now.

Around noon I receive the message, that my driven gear for the speedometer has arrived at my Chevrolet dealer and it is ready for pick up. I drive over to them to get it. Then I am driving back to the garage. Before I install it I count the teeth again — and must realize that I have bought once again the wrong driven gear!

So I have to let my car down without fixing anything. But suddenly some hydraulic oil is spraying out from the lift. Before the lift breaks completely, I am just able to get my car back down to the ground. Seems like I have really had luck. All in all this was the last task on my car, before the big trip will start.

Because I am still good in time, I use it to drive over to the car wash. Finally I have the chance to clean and vacuum the dirt from the last couple of years out of my truck. Then I drive back to Helen and put some conservation agent on my car. But the agent is almost completely dried out and is only enough for half of my car — bad luck for me.

Now I take a shower and get some clean cloths. Then I drive over to Dick’s to buy a small backpack and good hiking shoes. My tennis are pretty much done after five years and a lot of car work.

But the hiking shoes start with a size of 8, while my tennis were 7½. Let’s see, if this works out. At Wal–Mart I buy some vitamins and beta–carotene. I also buy a big tool box to be able to re–tighten my lug nuts. I bought a torque wrench a while ago, but I had no fitting wrench socket for my lug nuts!

Then I quickly drive over to Shop’n’Save to buy some Pepsi, Gatorade and apples together with some granola bars. Then I drive back home. As start of my tour I will have dinner again at the Outback Steakhouse. Helen will be back later, so I must go there by myself.

Around half past eight I drive back home and make myself comfortable in front of the TV. However my digestion is getting upset after being back home like almost every other year after my first steak dinner…