HRSaR

[McMurphy]

Ok guys, this chapter is called:
"The decent into Haines"

For those of you who like this sort of stuff, you can plug these coordinates into your fave map app and it should pull up the section of Haines Highway that is going to be discussed here today.
59.454767,-136.366655

Like I said, from Haines Junction we only had to do 150 more miles and we would drive onto the ferry or if need be, I could push the trucks onto the boat if I had to, and I would be just as happy.

It is a bright a beautiful day, about noon-ish when we left with full tanks of gas.
Now, before we had left a friend of mine that I never got to work with but always wanted to told me about this particular part of the drive. He described the road as being very beautiful during the time of year we were going through. How you start at the top of the pass and the valley of Haines just opens up as you decend the grade to the border.
The weather for us provided just such a setting for Trish and I, and man I was looking forward to it !!
It was the last leg of three that would get us home and complete this adventure.

If you zoom in or out enough on your map you will see where the trees start North and West of the location I provided you. This is also where, in my mind the grade began. If they have signs there, like we do in the US saying the grade % and for how long....I surely missed seeing them.
If they are not there, then I have every faith that the Canadian Dept of Trans has them on order.
If you add to that the ever constant mental math of converting kilometers to miles, well you have a pretty full brain.
Simple conversion I use is 70 kph = half of 70 is 35 + 7 move the (assumed) decimal to the left on the original number to get the 7.
Roughly 70 kph = 42 mph.

Well........
I wasnt doing 70 or 42 when I hit that sign at the top of the grade, and it seemed like before I could get it slowed even that far, I was well into the slope down.
Though we were scooting along about 5-10 mph faster than I really wanted to be going, the roads were clear-dry-well maintained and mostly free of any traffic from either direction.
So there were some white knuckle driven miles there, but nothing like what happend next.

Seems like right after the S curves on the road (you can see it on the map) we turned a curve and saw Reduced Speed 30 kph.
We all know what is coming next so, I down shift into 3rd and all hell breaks loose !!!
The engine was doing the usual small pops and bangs it does when riding compression on that poor little 327 of mine with the load we had, but this time it escalated into thunderous booms that scared the snot out of both of us. Like going from a .22 to a .45 pistol kind of booms.

In the time it took you to read that just now, we in the truck came to another bend in the road to see the sign:
Canadian Border 300 Meters
Prepare to Stop

I cannot down shift into 2nd, it just wont go.

I am still doing between 40 and 50 mph when we turn the last bend, and there is the border check point!!
I am standing on the brakes, pulling up with steering wheel the engine is screaming and exploding with conpression, Trish is a pasty smear squished into the p-side corner of the cab, and I think I started to sweat a little too.

There are only 3 lanes.
Two for travelers and a gated access lane.
The one lane next to the guard shack/check point had a car in it.
The center lane was not only clear, but the gate arm was up too.
Simultaneous to seeing this sight the truck lets out a boom like a shotgun under the hood and all things electrical ceased to exist in our little....speeding....run away world.

We shot thru like a rocket sled on rails with no sign or intention of stopping.

150 meters past the check point there is a turn out to some apartments (who lives between countries?) I pull in there and before we ramp up and out of the drive way, I finally get the rig stopped.

Trish is asking me what the hell just happened, I am trying to tell her I know as much as she does at this time, while I am keeping an eye on the rear view mirror. I fully expected to see a posse of RCMPs rushing us with weapons out, ordering us to get out and lie on our faces !!

A few moments later, and nothing.

No angry Canadian Authorities, no response from the ignition switch, Voltsmeter, nothing.
Electrically the truck it dead.

We dismount the vehicle and I start checking stuff; drop to the ground looking for a murder sized pool of fluid = nothing.
Everything up under the truck was dry and the driveline was intact.
Rear brakes are smoking like uncle Bob used to; popped the hood, engine looks fine all pieces and parts are there to include fan belts and hoses. No pistons hanging out the side of the engine like little zombie arms...cool.

Trish asks if we are going to need roadside assistance.
Sadly I admit we may, so she heads up to the border to make the call, poor girl.

We had full coverage on the rig, so a quick call to our provider went like this for my wife:
"We are going to need a tow truck"
The nice lady at the insurance desk asks for our policy #, looks up our account and says "I am sorry but that vehicle is not listed on any policy you have with us."
Trish starts to freak out because she had called and put it on full coverage a week prior to us leaving. With tension, and a few other things creeping into her voice she starts to vent. Until she hears across the phone "Oh here it is, your policy has a page 2."


Then it was all "No problems, where are you?"
"We are on the Haines Highway, between Canada and the US, just past the Canadian Check Point."
"Ok, what city is that in ma'am" (At this point I dont think Trish was prepared for that)
"You dont understand, I am between countries, I just need a tow truck to come up from Haines (40 miles) and get us."

The young lady connects her to a tow service and Trish is somewhat appeased, until she is informed that the insurance provider connected her to a tow back in Haines Junction, 85 miles back the way we just came, and our ferry leaves tomorrow!
Frustrated she ends that call, and the fine folk in the guard shack gave her the number to THE ONLY TOW TRUCK in the township of Haines.

Meanwhile I am going over the truck like a DEA agent.
Nothing, and exactly that, nothing electrical works. No signs of over heated wiring...actually by this time the brakes have stopped smoking, so there are no clue giving signs at all.

Trish returns.
"I got ahold of the only Tow in Haines." she says.
"Cool !!" I chime, trying not to show how worried I am...
"Yeah....he wants $700 to tow us into Haines."

................................................ W T F !?............................................

While stewing over this new information, I plop myself behind the steering wheel, and just for giggles I turn the ignition switch.
The Voltsmeter needle jumped !!
With an epiphiany dawning on me, I pop the hood on the Stepside and yank out the battery. A quick connect to the tow truck, and VROOOOOOOOM !! the old boy fires up just like it always has. ~clue #3~

I hooked it back to its own battery, replaced the one in the stepside, and without a look back we boogied our way through the American Border and on into Haines without incident. The truck started and ran like a champ the rest of the time in Alaska.

We got our hotel room, and a well deserved good nights sleep !!
This is the hotel parking lot:


Haines is such a beautiful little town. If I had to live in Alaska, I think Haines would be it.

[SamsAutoParts73-87]

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little white knuckled just reading that

In spite of the fact, that I already knew you made it home in one piece.

-Sam

[Grizz1963]

Just off to bed.

Perfect end to a pretty mediocre day having read your latest update.

Interestingly, same feeling as Sam above.

[McMurphy]

So far, this has been a telling of the first 24 hours into our trip.

Chapter 3: "The Teacher, the fire, and the Ferry"

Up and at it in time to enjoy a late brunch, early lunch, and take in a bit of the town. Whilst eating our meal, suddenly all the first responder sirens in this tiny village go off in a race to whatever emergency has occured. Having grown up in a small country community I looked at Trish and said "That sucks, in a small town like then when you hear all those sirens going off it usually means someone you know is having a very bad day."
Being the magnanimous natured person she is, she agreed.

Our dastardly plan was to arrive absurdly early, get in our line, and be one of the first vehicles on.
We pull into the massive parking lot, find our lane and pull into it. I then went inside to make sure it was ok if we were here so early. It was 1:00 pm in the afternoon, our ship wasnt due to sail until 8:00 pm.

As I am walking back to my rig, there is a tiny woman standing in the midst of this massive open and mostly empty parking lot, looking at my trucks. As I near her, she notices me and I smile.
"You have a tow truck." she says rather matter-of-factly.
"Yes ma'am, I do" says I, all smiles and thinking she likes old trucks and I am about enter a conversation that will reveal the special place in her past one of these old trucks lived........ahhhhhhh but no.
"But I didnt call you, did I?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"No..." I said slowly.
"They told me there was only one tow truck operator in this town, but yet, here you are."
AHHHHHHHH, she thinks I am in business. So I explain to her that I am not a for hire, that I own the rig and am using it to haul my rebuilt stepside. So then I ask what her need for a tow is.

Every year this retired school teacher, spends half her time in Alaska and the other half in Washington. She has ridden the ferry at least twice a year, sometimes more, since she retired some 12-15 years ago. She drives up a VW Westfalia Van to catch and can salmon which she takes home and gets her through the winters down south in Washington. This particular year, on this particular day, she pulled into the ferry terminal parking lot to discover she was a rolling ball of flame.
The engine compartment was gutted from the fire.

Hence the sirens at lunch.

She was stranded, not much money, no friends close by, and her poor elderly dog Samson with her to boot.

She had called the only tow truck in Haines, like we had, and he quoted her $600 to...... get this...... hook her up and put her on the boat.
Yep.
She would still have to find a tow to get off the boat in Washington.

So I reiterate to her, that I am not an operator.
I had only towed one vehicle prior with this rig in the traditional, mechanical manner of which the vehicle was configured to.
However, if it would help, and if it was Ok with the Ferry Crew, I volunteered to unhook my trailer, reconfigure the tow boom, hook her up and get her on the boat.

A quick chat with the Asst Purser, and the Bosuns Mate, to make sure it was all hunky dorey with them and that is what we did.



During the wait we chatted with our new found friend, and repeatedly had to turn down her offers of compensation, which at one point included 2 cases of her canned salmon...
Later on we found out that a jar of fresh canned salmon can go for $15.

Good thing I wore work clothes...




The ferry crew were amazingly accomodating in helping us get the broke down Wesfalia on the ship. I think her van was the first vehicle loaded. Then I hooked my trailer back up and we waited our turn to be loaded. It was a great experience, and the ship was so cool. It reminded me of railheading in Germany, the teamwork of loading and securing of the vehicles. The compact cars were put on an elevator and sent up a deck to a smaller cargo hold for the ride.
We pulled our parade into the ship amongst the leviathan RVs and Busses into this beauty:

[aggie91]

Great story on these two legs. Awesome that you where able to help her out.

THAT is a nice ferry, much bigger and nicer than anything I have been on for a ferry ride...

[Ta2Don]

Wow!!! That's all I can add...

As for helping the teacher, Very Cool!

[piratexpress1369a]

wow what a ride so far ..towing companies ,well if you are the only one in the area i guess you can charge what you want but to charge that high off price is outrageous ...good on you for helping out with the vw.

[McMurphy]

Chapter 4: "The Cruise"


We started loading the ship at 6:00 pm and were done shortly past the 8:00 sailing time. When it was all said and done, this is what our parade looked like, packed in there.

Now mind you, and all you pet lovers may want to look away for this part, we had our two cats in a large traveling kennel in the back of the 66 Stepside. On ship, they had to remain in the vehicle, but we would get cargo calls every 2 hours or so, to go down and tend them.
However, through all this traveling drama, they were always a consideration. They traveled in a strange condition, on the parts you think would have them scared and nervous, like the blazing down hill, and getting on a ship, but no. It would be the flat, less rough roads that would have them back there barfing up last years cat chow...
At one point our male tabby Zander looked soooooo poorly I actually considered the possiblity he had picked up a case of rabies before we left North Pole.
Let me tell you the jokes that sprung from that lasted many miles and hours too, yet another case of my sense of humor making me not so proud.

Sadly some of the cargo calls were only for 15 minutes, so not a lot of nurse-maiding afforded to the pets on this trip.

Here is what it looked like:


At the time I took these photos we were only 48 hours and some change, out of North Pole and it has already been one of the most wonderous and frightening and confusing trips I have ever taken.


The monster RV next to me belonged to a very nice fellow who had retired out of the auto salvage business by turning it over to his son. He aproached us while we were waiting for the ship to arrive and pick us up, and we talked about old trucks and towing.


While we were all waiting in that monster parking lot another gentleman got into a conversation with us about our trucks and such. He and I seemed to hit it off on some level or another and we ended up spending most of our 4 days on the ship with him or the teacher.


One evening, I ditched the wife and went above decks with some cigars and a bottle of Red Breast, and sought out the fellow from Wisconsin. He and I kicked back for about 5 hours until it was too late to see the clock, and half the bottle was gone.
Now, you may be thinking that I am in the habit of spending romantic cruise nights with strange men I just met, but no.

Although when you happen to hanging out and an awesome sunset like this happens well......I just claim fate is messing with me and deny all allogations.

I can never choose between these two, so you guys pick.

[Grizz1963]

Yes please !!

[McMurphy]

In my lifetime I have been on a week long Carribean cruise, and boats and ships of varying sizes, so I know that I do not suffer from sea sickness.
Trish had no such assurances.
If you ever think you want to spend the money to take a cruise, and are not sure is some one in the party is prone to sea sickness, you may want to consider a cheaper alternative like this prior. I could not imagine spending a vacation cruise locked in my cabin.

Much to our mutual relief, everyone turned out to be immune and an enjoyable voyage was had by all !!

There was plenty of weather during the 4 days aboard, this off the bow of the ship.



Some of the channels we passed were pretty narrow. I have video that shows just how much zig-zagging the ship had to do sometimes to navitage those straits.


I have to admit that I didnt have the patience to absorb all the natural beauty that surrounded us on the ship. I spent a lot of time reading, a simple joy and past time I do not indulge enough these days.

A few things however, did catch my eye.

An Island:


A trio of Orcas:


Some whales:


The whales were hard ones to catch, they would mostly just crest like in my photo, and catching the tails coming out of the water was hard. Especially since we were all going in opposite directions.... LoL

By the second day you could tell who the veterans of this trip were, and there was also a sense of community. That phrase "We are all in the same boat" really comes to life when you are ........ you know, on a boat.
People start looking out for each other almost instantly, and were entirely pleasent to each other; it was uncanny.

One day we had an 8 hour port call in the island town of Sitka. Let me tell you this place in the summer time could steal the dreams from your days and turn them into pure bliss. It was a cute, compact little town, and we enjoyed our time there emmensly.
I would not, ever, live there though.

As we closed in on Juno, I looked off the starboard bow and saw what appeared to be a person standing on a log in a small meadow. When it spread its massive wings and took off I realized I was looking at the biggest bald eagle I could imagine.
You have to understand that we were at least 400 yards from this bird, and with my poor eyesight I was able to spot it on a log.
My spoken "Holy Crap" was quickly followed by, "dang, I dont have a camera !!"

The last thing I think I have to say about the cruise leg of our adventure would be an acknowledgement to the crew of our ship.
Not only were they very pleasent and accomodating, but many times during the trip they would thank me for helping the school teacher. Like I said earlier, she makes the trip a few times a year, so they all know her.
And in case he reads this I wont embarrass him by identifying him, but one of the ship crew asked for a sale price on the 66.
Once I broke down and quoted something close to 30k he stopped asking, but it was flattering none the less.

It was all told an 84 hour journey through narrows and channels 3.5 days of sheer relaxation.
All in all,
Alaska Marine Highway in the summer time..... big thumbs up !!


By the time we got to Bellingham, Washington we were rested, fully initiated to the sounds and quirks of the Tow Truck, and ready to face the one of the most dangerous enviroments known to man..... the I-5 CORRIDOR !!!

Or so we thought...

[McMurphy]

A couple off the stern, because you can only put 5 in a post:

[aggie91]

Its like reading a novel with pictures no less, I really enjoy sitting here reading about your adventures.

[Ta2Don]

I gotta say, Thank You! Thanks for sharing your adventure south to the lower 48!!! …and with pictures...

[joedoh]

haha this thread is like a lesson about things that are outstanding

[clemdaddy]

agree... reading an adventure novel, exactly. can't wait for the next chapter. i'll have to check the computer constantly today, looking for an update.

[duallyjams]

woke up earlier to a good read, I was pushing hard on my foot rest trying to get the truck to stop, the added pics to a story always help to make you feel like I was there.

[Low Elco]

Fantastic story, Murph. Wish I'd have been with you. Eagerly await the next installment!

[piratexpress1369a]

you leave me wanting more ..now i can feel the jonesing for more lol ..happy new year to you and trish

[McMurphy]

Ok, Happy New Years you guys, and here is the next part of this story:

Chapter 5: "To I-5, and beyond !!"

It was a stunningly beautiful morning when the ship pulled up to the Bellingham terminus. The lack of photos can only be blamed on the hustle and bustle that ensued that morning to debark the vessel.
There was a distinct buzz in the air of the ship, as Trish and I along with all the other passengers prepared to land. It was a nice kind of excitement to end the very relaxing and sedentary past few days. A sense of happiness to have the trip over with seemed to be shared by all, and it made for a pleasent experience.
Myself and the fellow who had retired from the auto towing business were among the first to drive off the ship, and so were able to ham it up for a quick shutter click.


As a boy I had always dreamed of being a world traveler, as a man I now enjoy the company of those who have also ventured forth. Those converstions seem to flow easier than some of the miles we talk about.
This fellow was one of those such encounters, and I appreciated his tips and comments on how to rig a vehicle up to tow with my equipment.
I had already unhooked my car hauler with the 66 on it, and was waiting for the ship to empty so I could go in and drag that poor Westfalia out of there.

In an odd stroke of luck, the VW repair shop was literally across the street from the terminus. It was so close that back in the day we would have just pushed it that far LoL.
With the school teacher safely delivered, and assurances that she was going to be able to make it from this point made, I went back to my waiting wife, cats, and stuff.
It was only 9:00 in the morning, and we were back on contiguous US soil with no reason to leave again, and we were pretty happy.

At this point we felt the truck could visit upon us each and every mechanical horror ever brought upon by these trucks..... as long as it didnt kills us..... and we would be just as happy. We knew that no matter what, we were not going to be faced with the issues involved with vehicle recovery, like we had previously encountered.
And that was a great weight off our shoulders.

Getting hooked up and on I-5 south was almost as easy and uneventful as it was for me to describe it to you just now. I was shocked at how courteous people were, and patient... that 64 was pulling a load, and not able to keep 55 to 65 mph. Yet no one ever honked, got on my a$$, flashed their lights or anything.
Then to close the loop with a childhood friend, we called and made lunch plans.
Will we be passing thru Seattle today? -------- Why yes we are, and yes we do love seafood !! ------ Ahhhh what is that you say old friend, the Crap Pot Restaurant in Seattle at 1:00 pm ?? ------- Sure, no problem, see you there !!

Is pretty much how that converstaion went.
Yeah.
I shut down the blue tooth and the wife already had the restaurant location pulled up on the GPS. A few minutes later I heard, "Thats our exit" and I took the appropriate actions to exit the freeway.

Has anyone reading this been to Seattle? How about San Francisco? Downtown Boston maybe?
I cannot describe the place where your brain goes when you realize you are in an extremely ticklish situation and you realize that though not impossible to avoid, danger is highly imminent. But if I could it would start off like that....
We took downtown Seattle, very carefully, and very slowly after realizing that exit 165 A-B probably was not our best choice.
Did we make it down to Fisherman's Warf to the Restaurant without issue?
Yes.
I do believe I aged about 5 years though doing it.

Even though we had to park further south of down town and take a cab back to the restaurant, it turned out to be a great time and a fun addition to this crazy tale.

My wife and I have been traveling together for a long time, she has her parts in this dance and I have mine and they all mesh together to get us out the door and where we want to be. When booking our room in SeaTac (it really is a town now) Trish asked if I had any preferences; usually a moot point as I am easier to please in these things than she is, but this time I said yes.
We need a big parking lot so I dont have to back up or jimmy the rig in some place. With that she started looking and to her credit, even looked each one up on Google Maps to ensure they would meet my parking lot requests.
I have never had reason to question her lodging choices, and hopefully never will, but when we pulled off I-5 and up to our hotel, I could not believe my eyes.
The entire property was on a steep-a$$ hill !!

We almost did not stay there because the desk clerk could not understand why their parking lot would never work for our situation, and would not let me park next to their air port shuttle in the only viable spot for me.
We were starting to walk out when the gal behind the desk went and got the owner, who then came out and immediately saw the problem, invited us to park where we needed to, and then he and I talked about old cars....

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

A quick errand, and it was out to dinner with some other friends at the Cheesecake Factory. They call it that, but it really isn't a "factory"..... I looked.
The weather was great, the re-visiting with old friends was awesome, and we just had a fantastic time.
Funny how that never lasts....

An alarmclock malfunction changed our 6:00 am to an 8:00 am wake up the next morning and we still had a task in SeaTac to do before we could hit the road....

During the drive down the decision was made to unload some of the weight we were carrying. The best place would be SeaTac, so we rented a storage unit for a month and dropped about 500 lbs of car parts, sheet metal, plywood, lumber ect that was all stacked under the 66. The plan was to be on the road by 8:00 or 8:30 and to hopefully slip between the "gotta get to work traffic" and the lunch rush.
At 10:00 a pretty miserable me pulls the parade into a gas station and we top off the tow truck.
It wont start.
I pop the hood and start to get the battery out of the 66 again when the guy in front of me offers a jump.
I barely had to touch the ignition and the truck Vroooooomed into life.

Ok, now this stuff is getting weird.....
But in a weird world, strange begets strange and things got even more weird.

We are sausages cooking on the frying pan that is stop and go traffic on an Interstate in the middle of Summer, in the middle of the day. The only shade that can be had is under the dark cloud which is forming over my head.... It was quickly becoming evident that making it to Bomp's house by lunch was never going happen.
To heap odd atop of it all, the truck backfires every time I step on the brakes; otherwise it was running smooth like we were on a sunday cruise.

To say we suffered our way down I-5 is pretty accurate so I will just say it like that. It was horrible and we were fairly miserable, but the miles did finally roll away and soon we were crossing the Columbia River and into Oregon on the 205 beltway. Everything was fine, we were crusing right along when just as we were coming up on the 205 and 84 interchange the truck started lurching and backfiring like crazy.
Trish and I have no idea what is going on, in the midst of it we end up getting on the 84 without meaning to while trying to get off the freeway. At this point Trish is hanging out the passenger side window trying to flag merging traffic to let us in the right hand lane.
I barely make it over in time to catch the next exit and I am babying the truck trying to coax every yard of distance off the highway that I can get. We make it to a light, and luckily it changes for us so we dont have to stop. After the turn we spy a Chevron station ahead of us on our side of the street so there is where I point the truck.
However as we near, I realize it is just a gas and go with no services at all and crap for parking....
So I took the alley way alongside the station and the truck dies as the alley ends in a T.
To the right is up a bit of a hill, to the left looks like a shopping center of tan buildings and acres of parking so we crank the wheel and push the old boy to get him running again.
I pop the clutch and he fires right up again, just like at the gas station hours earlier, as though nothing was ever wrong....
What. The. Heck ??

We come out of the alley and lo, as though it were the pearly gates themselves parting for us, but what do we see?
A Sears and K-Mart shopping center............ salvation !!
I almost thought my brain would explode when I discovered the Sears was only an outlet... you know with washing machines and lawn mowers, and not much else. Then the fellow who was genuinely trying to help me mentioned they sell car batteries next door at K-Mart, so it was almost a hiccup in the day.
A new battery and we were back on the road, and able to arrive at Bomp's house, albeit late, but without any further incident.

Whew.

[aggie91]

Best part of my day. Enjoyed reading this installment of your travels!

Happy New Year to you and Trish.

[Captainfab]

I've been reading and enjoying hearing about your adventure south.

Happy New Year to you and Trish

[piratexpress1369a]

for some reason i do not think that this problem you are having with the battery is it ...must be more to it

[notsolo]

Also enjoyed reading your adventure, Putting the tow truck to work, helping a stranger, Thanks for sharing....Happy New Year

[CRGRS 66]

Hey Murph! Happy New Year to you and Trish!

I had never seen this thread until the other day, and I have to admit that when I saw the pictures of big red @ Bomps gathering, I felt that I was missing something... sure enough, I was missing something!

I am back at work today, but there is no work to do really, so I have spent the morning reading of "McMurphy's Epic Travels". I am with Pirate, something tells me that there is more to come of the "electrical demon" in this story.

Cheers!

[McMurphy]

If you submit Bompalicious for "Fergalicious" in the song by Black Eyed Peas front, Stacy Ferguson it makes for a mind numbingly catchy tune...

"Listen up you all, cause this is it; the truck that I'm bringing is suspicious"

"Bompalicious defintion make them guys go loco; They want his skils so they get their kicks from his photos; You can see him, you cant squeeze him; He aint easy, The Camaro's in the evies; He's got reasons why he builds them, trucks just come and go like seasons"

"He's Bompalicous..."
**************************************************************************************************** ****************************



Chapter 6: "Bompalicious"


I started calling Bomp somewhere in the Tacoma part of the I-5 parkinglot to let him know we were not going to make our projected lunch time arrival. At that time I let him know what the truck had been doing, and of our difficulties.
As a testament to his character, despite the fact that he was prepping for a large meet at his house, not only did he prepare to come rescue us if needed, but started looking up online what the source of my woes could be.
He is a great friend and a fantastic person, if anyone gets the chance to meet him, I would recommend it.

After we had fought to get the parade off the highway, and after I had installed the new battery, I started checking wires around the engine.
During my days in Air Defense Artillery, the most common reason a cannon would not power up or work properly was loose cable connections. Our weapon system techs would always ask, "Did you check your cables?" before they would even go out on the line and touch the piece of equipment.
I present to you the M-167A1 Vulcan Anti Aircraft Weapon System, the Towed Platform:

Max ammo capacity: 525 rounds of 20mm electrically primed shells in all configurations from armor piercing to short range self destructing rounds.
Max effective range: 4,800 meters approx 2.5 miles.
Cyclic Rate: 3,000 rounds per minute.



When I popped the hood this is pretty much what I was looking at. Center stage in this photo is both my culprit, and my victim....


This truck got a "new engine" at 74k miles (easy to assume it was 174k or 274k miles) but there is no telling what year that may have been. Since owning it I have replaced almost half of the running lights, added the stereo, as well as electric brake controller to haul a 2 axle trailer. During our test runs, loading and hauling the stepside to car shows, we never encountered any troubles with the electrical system. While talking with the retiree fellow on the ferry he suggested I was running too high of an electrical load for the altenator to keep up with.
Some of that conversation made tons of sense, but still did not account for a few things. Like if the alt was being that much overloaded why didnt I catch it sooner, why didnt it fail?
It seemed like that theory was only a part of the puzzle.

For those of us who have gone to the parts store "blind" or with "an Idea" of what they need; know how much it sucks when you replace a water pump and all you needed was a thermostat. I was in this frame of mind during the trip which accounted for a large part of why I did not address it sooner. On top of being excited to be back, on top of being tired, and on top of the fact that I am by nature a pretty lazy person...

So with the hood up in that Sears/K-Mart parking lot, and with a new battery; I discovered the blue wire which runs between the voltage regulator and the back of the altenator to was not making any sort of connection there.
With that quick repair done, the truck started and ran effortlessly the rest of the way to central Oregon that day.
We finally made it to Bomp's house in time for the BBQ, but again the first thing after hand shakes and introductions to the gang, we set about hooking up the battery charger and ampsmeter to once and for all chase down the issue.


During our conversations and mad texting, I determined that no matter what, I was getting a new, higher amp output, altenator as soon as we reached Bomps. I figured that if the problem was even more extensive, I would rather be at his place, with tools and another set of eyes on the issue; than at a rest stop being a nuisance for the Highway Patrol.

Like Bomp said in his thread last August when all this was going on, it was kinda fun pulling up as the spectacle we were and almost immediately popping the hood and getting our hands dirty. After getting the new part installed and the BBQ festivities done, it was time to present to Bomp a gift.

In one of his first videos he happened to mention he liked frogs.
When we saw this fellow, we knew where it was going....even if Bomp really didnt like frogs.