Last week I was calculating how much it might cost me to replace all the
seals on Zeno.  The windows rattle around a bit when I hit highway speeds
and most of the door seals are a bit cracked in places and certainly not
perfect.  I grabbed all the part numbers and prices from GoWesty and tossed
these into a spreadsheet and was amazed that this little sub-project might
run so high.  Its only rubber, really that much?  So I parked the
spreadsheet on my laptop and decided to deal with seal replacement when I
had the spare clams enough to complete the project.

This morning on my way over the pass and into work I turned off I-90 at
North Bend and took HWY 202 into the office.  I like to get off the big
Interstate systems when I'm able and the curvy highway to Redmond from North
Bend is actually a joy to drive.  I drove Zeno through the town of
Snoqualmie Falls and then started past the hotel and the damn adjacent to
the Falls when I happened to pass through an invisible cloud of stench.  At
first I thought the septic system of the hotel had backed up or something.
Even though I was getting further away from the hotel the stench persisted.
Nay, it got worse as I drove down the hill.

Just at the bottom of the Snoqualmie grade I discovered why the smell wasn't
dissipating.  A tractor trailer was pulling a side dumper of poop.  Other
than to say that it was really smelly, I'm not sure what kind of dung it
might have been, but it did make my eyes water and the only reason I got out
of that cloud of stink was because I pulled off the road to sneeze for a
while.

Lesson learned, the cost of new rubber seals is not that bad when compared
to the cost of replacing a wardrobe and all the upholstery in the van every
time one finds oneself stuck behind such an oversized load.

Matt Thyer

http://zenoswagen.wordpress.com/