Sitting here in Rippon... Sounds like a good first line to a song.

At the truck repair shop (Burns Truck and Trailer Services) that the last truck shop (Righetti) sent me to. The Righetti diagnosis is crap in my fuel tank, We'll see what this place says when they finally get around to taking a look at it. Got her washed while I'm here waiting. I'm sure there's still more deplayafying that will need to be done, I have to get up on the roof and scrub that down and the underside and engine could use a good hosing off. I'll probably stop at a Camping World to return this crapass GPS (Magellan for RV's) and while I'm there I'll get their spa service that is a much more thorough cleaning than this was (And should be for triple the price)... Either that or if I'm heading back he way I came, I'll call one of the places in Reno that specializes in deplayafication now that their business is probably slowing down a bit.


I think I got the SiriusXM radio figured out the other day. Seems to be working pretty good, I even got most of the presets all programmed up. Changing CD's while driving a bus just isn't logistically possible and I think the most times I managed to leave a CD in before trying the radio and then opting for silence was 3½. Silence led to me singing little song snippets (of catchy old timey tunes I don't really know) over and over and over until the next stop when I would hopefully remember to change the CD... Didn't always happen and then it was another few hours before the next stop and oh boy the crap I'd be singing to myself then! On the way to Burning Man there was a lot of Black (Big) Rock Candy Mountain. And thanks to Ros, You Are My Sunshine is one that always ends up on repeat in those situations. The funniest part of the trip was 4 or 5 days in when I put on the O' Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack for the first time in forever and both of those songs were on there. And there's just no way to listen to the radio on the road, sure I can check out local stations when I stop, but with stations often only staying tuned in for a minute or two, five if I'm lucky, it's too annoying to do very long. Sometimes I can get an hour when I'm driving through a major city, but even then there can be issues that make it not worth it. Today is the first day I've really stopped to listen to it for any extended period of time, I'm really liking it. I can't stand commercials (for more than 20 years I have mostly listened to two public radio stations that are commercial free) so that part is great and the selection is pretty cool so far too.


Burns lot; Day II


They never got to me yesterday, as is the way with most of the 'busy shops' it seems. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I'm here for the right thing anymore. I stalled 3 times putting The Beast in reverse trying to pull out of the driveway yesterday morning and two more times on the way here. Those were new behaviors. I have wondered all along why no one seems to be interested in the transmission even after I tell them that it chunks down to 4^th gear and goes even lower going downhill so I can't even get back up to a decent speed after cresting the hill because it wont coast. I guess we'll see what they say when they take a look.


Last night I finally hooked up the cool little USB outlet I bought in June or July to put in where the ashtray and cigarette lighter were. I still have to figure out how I'm going to permanently mount it, but in 20 minutes I got myself accessory power where I most need it, at my fingertips when I'm driving. No more putting my phone in a cabinet to charge it or mounting the GPS on the side window next to my head because that's the only place the cord will reach.

The first guy came to talk to me at 8:30, took a pretty decent history and had me move into position in front of one of their bays. At this point, I have been here 24 hours. Probably should have signed up for a week of wifi with the Love's next door, although if I did, I doubt the USB thing would be hooked up.
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I'm hold up for the night at a hotel around the corner from the shop. A couple of the guys took a look at it, I told them as much as I could remember from other shops and what I've observed. The mechanic ended up calling the guy from the last shop and they talked it out for a little while and he came out agreeing that seeing what's going on inside the tank is the next step. They had me pull it around to a bay with a lift and that's where I left it. He said it will probably take 5 hours to get the tank off. This ain't gonna be cheap. I wonder how many days I'm going to be here. It's all good if this finally fixes it.

Ripon; Day 3


This morning I got a call that my fuel filter was clogged as were my fuel lines and tank. Diesel fuel, when it sits for any length of time, grows algae. The Vogue, as I've come to realize, sat for quite some time. Now I know from the last fuel filter changing that you can't see what the filter looks like so I was wondering how they knew it was crudded up. I went over to take a look and this is what they had found:

THAT is the mystery filter!!! The one that all the other mechanics looked for but couldn't find!
How many mechanics looked and didn't find it? At least 6 that I know of before I got to Burns in Ripon. I wonder if it's the 19 year old original filter?
It's truly a testament to the Cummins B that it was able to make it over 3000 miles, up and down ALL those mountains with the trickle of fuel it must have been getting through this mucky mess and the holey lines.
You have no idea the giant ball of stress that was coaxing her across the Rockies and then again through the Sierra Nevadas. And now this has me sitting here giddily excited at the prospect of trying to climb out of this valley. If I do take 80 back and go through Cheyenne, I will probably stop and show this to the guys there.


Here's Mike, the kid that found the unfindable filter, with my (former) fuel lines.

So I'm having the tank steam cleaned, all new fuel lines run and BOTH of the filters changed. I'm so happy with Burns at this point I gave them 2 more things to fix from the list while I'm here, speedometer and tailpipe. Hopefully, even with the add-ons, they are going to have me back on the road tomorrow!


Before I go, I have to say, it's been weird not sleeping in the Vogue. I really wasn't sure going in how I was going to like the RV bunk size mattress or having the cabinets right there over my head. There's been a learning curve there along with everything else, but it sure has started to feel like home. It needs a cat though.