Wilson Price Hunt Trail (‘Astorians’) 1811 — 1812

Day 7: August 19th, 2006 Pittsburgh — Columbus

88 S10 Blazer Inside

First I put my spare gas cans in my car. Then I drive over to the gas station at the corner. At Wal–Mart I buy something to drink and I also plan to get some apples. But due to the construction they currently have no fruits and vegetables. So I drive over to Kuhn’s to get the rest there.

88 S10 Blazer Left Rear

88 S10 Blazer Left Front

Then I put everything in my car and the cooler and try to adjust the standing wave of my CB–antenna. But that try does not really work out, because I have a loose contact on my test cable. Also my car radio has a loose contact. First I hope, that it is just the speaker wire. But after a short investigation, I must realize that it is the car radio itself. To not loose way more time, I pack everything together and finish loading up my car.

Around half past two I eventually leave. At the interstate ramp I suddenly here a noise and it sounds like something is rolling down my roof. But I haven’t seen my antenna flying away. Therefore I assume, something was raised in front of me and flew on my roof — whereas I have no clue, what this could have been.

First I cross the Ohio River on I–79. Then I take I–70 near Washington.

I–70, State Line PA and WV

Soon after that 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 reception of my CB–antenna is almost zero. Only when I am stopped, it is kind of working. First, I still think of a grounding problem. But that is working fine. Because I don’t want to spend too much time at the rest area, I continue my drive without a reception.

At least my repaired cruise control is working again. However, it still shows the same issues as always in the past: On a very long and flat incline, the truck is still loosing vacuum and is getting slower. It seems like there is still a small vacuum leak, which is not located at the cruise control.

Also the weather is some sort of okay. There is only some slight rain every now and then. But on the whole, it is okay for driving. At a quarter to six I arrive in Columbus and even get a room on the first floor of the Motel 6.

First I take a look at my CB antenna and must realize, that I have lost the pinion of the quick release! The antenna was just sitting in the mount all the time without anything holding it down! There I really had a lot of luck, that it is still there!

For dinner I would like to go to an Outback Steakhouse again and ask at the reception. They tell me, that no one is really close to the motel. But when looking at the phone book, I see one at 6000 E Main Street. I must only drive over to Highway 40 and make a left turn there. It is located at the right side in the shopping mall! Around 9pm I pay and drive back to my motel. Because of the short travel distance today I don’t have my usual headaches and I can go to bed very relaxed…