From Veeduber@aol.com  Thu Sep  7 11:07:40 1995
msgnum: msg15267
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 12:07:34 -0400
From: Veeduber_at_aol_dot_com
Subject: Hair-Ball Run, D-plus-1


To All:

D-Day was... interesting.  I learned how to replace the thermostat on a car
I'd never worked on before.

It was the long grades up Tejon Pass that done me in.  Or the heat, which was
hot.  Or the fact the car, a 1990 Oldsmobile, was so heavily loaded it looks
like a low-rider.  Or perhaps it was the damn fool behind the wheel that was
so delighted with the air-conditioning that he kept it turned up to 'Arctic'
while motoring through the 100 degree heat.  Or mebbe the fact the car hadn't
been driven very much in recent years, and then only around town.  One of
those.  I kinda like the nut idea, myself.

Pulled over, let it blow.  Ever tried to work on a hot engine?  A hot,
STRANGE engine?  Boy, is there a lot of plumbing under there!  And they've
got that poor engine installed SIDEWAYS.  (I didn't have time to take it out,
put it in right.)   Ummm... funny flat fan belt... and no fan!  Oh!  There it
is... electric?  Ummm.   I couldn't tell if it was the water pump, the fan
belt or because I was smoking my pipe, but something was making that puppy
over-heat.

Shutting everything off and running the heater on high allowed me to make
about 35 mph without melting the thing down.  The next down-grade cooled her
off.  But the next up-grade...  aagghh!  Pulled over, let her cool.  Takes a
while when the temperature is a 100.  Tried it again.  Waited it out.  And
again.  And again. It was late evening before I topped the pass, headed down
the Grapevine into the long valley. 

There's something obscene about poking along in 100 degree heat with the
heater set on Sahara while you're wearing levis, a heavy shirt and boots.  I
did a clumsy strip-tease as I rolled along, much to the delight of the
bus-load of Japanese tourists who ranged alongside for nearly a mile to give
all hands a photo-opp as I struggled out of my clothes.  I smiled & waved.
 The clack of shutters drowned out the roar of the heater.  Good heater.  

I had gotten underway about 1430 intending to make a quick run to Modesto.
 But with the needle of the temperature gauge hovering near 280 my quick run
 turned into a slow crawl toward Bakersfield, where I eventually arrived
wearing only my Speedo and socks.  Bakersfield being what it is, no one
noticed.  I found some shade, parked the thing to cool off and went looking
for an auto-parts store.

You can guess where my tool box was packed, and what had to be un-packed to
get at it.  Unloaded, drained the coolant, did the repair.  Thermostat had
failed-closed.  Bad design.  But the heater worked good.    

Forgot to buy coolant.  But then, I also forgot to pack about half the cables
needed to make my recently acquired lap-top speak to strange wall-plugs and
alien telephone systems.  Rigged a smoke generator.  This is coming to you
via the local tribe.

Hope to make it to Redding today, about 400 miles north of Bakersfield.
 Wonder what will break this time?

-Bob