Countdown to reunion

I am still at the Choo Choo Express Garage near Chattanooga. The parts supplier in the U.K. did not have them all together until after the DHL pickup on Thursday, and so they left yesterday. As long as it was no longer possible to get them here in time to get me out by the weekend, I told them to send them second day, to save a few bucks, so I don't expect them here until Tuesday.

It was just as well that the bearings did not come in yesterday, as Joel ended up working well into the evening on Cherie and Chris's 4106. Their replacement air bags did not come in until late Thursday, and Joel ran into a few snags while installing them, including bent mounts from where some tire jockey improperly placed a jack (sounds familiar). He stayed late so that they could get back on the road this morning to Saint Louis. They also had their bearings repacked, fortuitous since one turned out to be loose.

In the meantime, I've had lots of time on my hands since I posted here Wednesday afternoon, and I've been knocking projects off the list. I spent several hours working on readjusting the air door, which has not been closing properly for some time, a maddeningly fussy affair involving operating the door dozens of times, and removing and reinstalling the dogs nearly as many. Every time I thought I had it just right, it would turn out to be leaking air in the closed position, and I'd have to do it again.

I also got into the engine bay to find that the driver heat valve was, indeed, closed. I am hoping that's the only issue with it, but testing will have to wait until I am out of the service bay. Unfortunately, while I was in there I discovered the alternator is leaking oil, something about which we had some concerns when it came back from the rebuild shop with silicone goop on it. Not much we can do about it now, though.



There was also some oil coming out around an exhaust port, which Joel thinks is a cracked ring. Too bad we did not notice that before we put the engine back it, as it would have been fairly easy to replace when it was out on the stand.



I cleaned out the power cord bay, which had gotten into disarray after two Red Cross assignments and a number of cord-related projects. And I cleaned out the sink drain in the bathroom, a nasty project that needs to be done every few years when the sink starts taking a long time to drain. It was good to have an indoor project, as it has been quite cold here this week, and I went over and helped Chris and Cherie with their stuck driver heat valve as well, another indoor project.

When they left this morning I lost my overnight Internet access -- I can only receive the other wireless network when the metal roll-up shop door is open. So yesterday I spent some time running a 100' ethernet cable over to Mike's rig outside so he could plug me right into his DSL router. I've got my end plugged into our WAP so Louise can get on as well when she gets home.

In a few minutes I will head over to the shuttle company to pick her up, and it will be nice to have her back home. We've both been too busy to chat much, so we have lots of catching up to do. We'll also be discussing potential routes and plans for whenever we are done here at the shop, which I hope to be Thursday morning.