The trip home

It was a dark and stormy night...

Actually it was a bright and sunny afternoon when I picked up the FC from it's body shop junkyard home in Paramount CA on Oct. 10. Had to change the tires and cut away some more of the belly pan that was dragging, which took a couple of hours, but all in all it was an uneventful pickup.

You haven't lived until you've pulled a trailer covered in crap down a busy street with the crap flying off it right and left. It was a couple of miles until a car wash that I had spotted earlier would provide safe haven where I could pressure wash most of the 20 years of accumulation of bird poo, leaves and whatever else falls from the heavens. Yuk.

Took it to an RV place that was going to fix up the brakes and pack the wheel bearings when we discovered it had hydraulic brakes, which they could do nothing about. Oh bother. So they put new bearings and seals and grease and $177 later (is that high or about right, guess it doesn't really matter because I had to have it done) and the next day I took it to it's temporary home in Redondo Beach preparing for the Friday excursion home.


See hydraulic pump at left, covered by logging chain












I admit it is not a pretty sight at the moment, and I got a few snickers from passersby and coworkers, but you wait, I said, just you wait, it's a classic.

"Lord, let me get this home safely and I'll never ask for anything else again" was the prayer as we pulled out of the parking lot and prepared to go from the 405 to the 105 to the 605 to the 10 for our trip to Phoenix at noon on Friday.

Remarkably, it went amazingly well. I sucked in my gut a few times as we passed between giant trucks that seemed to be hogging the lines, thinking that might help my trailer avoid being sidewiped, and I guess it did, as we got home in pretty much the same condition as when we started.

Oh, we did lose our temporary tag in a gully washer near Quartzite and somewhere along the line the left rear tail light came unglued and was just hanging by a wire, but all in all the trip went well. It took NINE HOURS, because I didn't drive more than 60 mph, but it went relatively well and I thank you Lord, in all sincerity, and hope you won't hold me to that never asking for anything else thingamabob.

Spent a few hours yesterday and today with the deconstruction. it will be a process that I hope goes half as well as others I've seen. Here's some more pics. Stay tuned for the adventure.