Wonder if Scout's given name was Jean Louise?

Mike

On 10/4/04 11:43 AM, "Joy Hecht" <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU> wrote:

> Naah, it's not all solved yet.  But I figured I'd send you all a nice story.
>
>
> After I sent my email I figured there was no point sitting around Custer SD
> watching my van in the parking lot on a Sunday, so I got on my bike to ride
> off to the Buffalo Arts Festival at Custer State Park, some 15 miles away.
> I took my computer and cellphone with me, 'cause I figured somewhere along
> the way I'd have cellphone access, which I didn't have in Custer, and I
> could check the emails.
>
> So on top of a big hill a few miles out of Custer I try the cellphone, and
> lo and behold it works great.  Just imagine it, bike leaning on a post, me
> cross-legged on the far edge of the shoulder on a 55 mph road, clicking away
> on my laptop with my cellphone attached by a cord.  I must have gotten some
> pretty funny looks - definitely got a funny one from the one bicycle that
> rode by.
>
> Well I had a grand ride to the arts festival - after the first few miles of
> hills it turned out to be one 10-mile-long 30 mph coast downhill all the way
> there.  Had a fun time there and all that, looked at crafts, sampled the
> products of the chili cook-off, talked to nice folks, listened to music.
> Then on the way back I decided there was NO WAY I could ride up a steep
> ten-mile hill.  Fortunately there's a lot of pickups around here, so
> hitching a ride with my bike didn't seem that improbable.  Well the big
> empty pickups with lots of space and Republican bumper stickers didn't stop,
> but then a Westy goes by!  So I waved and stuck out my thumb and of course
> they stopped, not even knowing about Matilda back in Custer.  They were from
> the southern corner of the Black Hills, they had a '87 which they had bought
> new way back when, and they were very nice.  Drove me back to my van,
> discussed what the problem might be, etc.  Not on the list, I don't think -
> last name was Gamble and I'm afraid the first names went in one ear and out
> the other, except for the little girl, who was named Scout - how could I
> forget that?
>
> Then I head for the public bathroom near where I was parked and see another
> Westy.  At first I thought it was the same folks, but no!  So I walked up to
> ask if they knew of any repair folks nearby, but the fellow wasn't local.
> However, he offered to have a look.  First we went for a drive, and she was
> as bad as ever.  Started okay for the first few blocks, then got worse and
> worse.  I had her up in 3rd gear, but not for long, she was bucking and
> wheezing and generally feeble.  Heading back to where we'd started, she
> pretty much died in first gear.  But I got her back in to the parking lot.
>
> So he pulled out his voltage meter, I pulled out my Bentley, and we started
> poking around.  Disconnected the air flow meter, tested that and the
> readings were normal, put it back together, whacked the fuel pump, looked
> for any other obvious loose connections.  After poking and prodding and
> reattaching the air flow meter, he suggested I try driving again.  So I
> headed out for a drive, and all was great!  For a couple of miles, anyway.
> I tore up a Black Hill (Custer is in the Black Hills of SD) at 60 mph in
> fourth gear, it was wonderful.  I had dreams of getting to the buffalo
> round-up in the state park Monday after all.  Then she started bucking again
> - misfiring, I guess I should say - and I turned around to go back.  Had to
> stop and turn off the engine three times en route and start her up again
> (that helps, for some reason) to get back.
>
> So we poked and prodded some more.  My new Westy acquaintance, whose name I
> still didn't know, opened up the distributor, said it could be that I need a
> new distributor rotor because it looked old to him, suggested I replace it.
> He poked at the spark plugs but nothing was obviously disconnected or loose,
> and he didn't want to try taking one off, lest he break something.  Oh, and
> if I turned off the engine and then started again, it would idle smoothly at
> first, and then we could see the engine start to rock back and forth and the
> exhaust getting black as it started to misfire.  Smelled nasty, too.
>
> We discussed the symptoms at length, decided it wasn't dust clogging the
> fuel system, because that would have come on more gradually, not suddenly
> overnight.  He didn't think watered gas was likely - neither did the guys
> who gave me the lift earlier on, who said they go to the local gas stations
> all the time and they are fine.  My gas came from a big chain around here,
> not some fly-by-night station.  And it had been a while since I'd bought
> ethanol-gas, so that didn't seem likely.  He was confident, based on having
> tested it, that it wasn't the air flow meter.  (I hope he's right, they are
> expensive!)  It seemed to me like an intermittent loose connection, which
> would explain why it worked great for a few minutes there and then went bad
> again.  Though it might not explain why when just sitting parked the engine
> would start by idling smoothly and then get worse as we watched.
>
> After a while we observed it was getting on towards dusk, and he wanted to
> head back into the national forest where he had been backpacking for a week,
> and he didn't think he could help more.  So we introduced ourselves and
> exchanged emails and he went on his way.  (His name was Shannon Cimarron,
> and he's from New Mexico - but not on the Vanagon list, though he seemed
> interested in correcting that egregious error!)
>
> Meanwhile, after this range of possible diagnoses, I'm planning to have AAA
> tow me to Rocky and Mike in Rapid City tomorrow, since the odds of finding a
> mechanic who can do much in Custer, pop. 1,500, is not so great, and there
> seem to be enough variables that I might as well get my money's worth out of
> AAA and go to the experts.
>
> Of course now I'm back in Custer where I have no cellphone access, so this
> email will have to sit until I'm connected again.  Sigh!  And the local
> motels are all full due to the buffalo round-up tomorrow, and Matilda isn't
> going to make it on an excursion to find an open campground.  So I'm
> refining my stealth camping skills, this time right in the middle of town.
> There are signs all over saying that camping in public parking areas is not
> allowed - I think I'll put a polite note on my windshield explaining that my
> engine isn't working and I'm getting towed in the morning and couldn't go
> off to stay anywhere else.  Kind of small, though, so they'd have to come
> looking to find it.
>
> And may you all meet with two different Westy good Samaritans on your route
> when you need a lift with your bicycle and some mechanical help!
>
>
>
> Joy
>
>
> ****************************************************************
> Joy Hecht
> and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
>
> For musings about life and the vanadventures:
> http://users.rcn.com/jhecht/gypsy
>
> ****************************************************************:::-----
>
>