Learning to fix the big boy toys
CALIFORNIA/NEVADA BORDER _ You know the old saying the older the boys, the more expensive their toys. That jingle had a parallel today. More elaborate toys also require more knowledge on how to fix them. The curvy, mountainous roads leaving Lake Tahoe today were tough on the F-150. Pulling a 3-ton travel trailer puts a lot of stress on the tow vehicle, not to mention the driver. Thank goodness my brother had my back. His knowledge about Ford's braking system, tire integrity, and the ABS and tire pressure sensor systems got me through a harrowing day of towing.
My truck's computer modules were giving me some false warnings indicating a breach with a tire or the truck's braking system. You can imagine my nervousness with my family along. We pulled over several times for Carl to look things over and process the different scenarios from symptoms I was reporting to him. His truck is very similar and he's hauling enough gadgetry and tools to make any roadside repair.
It all got me thinking, he's always been the mechanical wizard. Even on our cross country bike trip, it was little brother who fixed things that went wrong. I was the self-appointed navigator charged with studying the maps to navigate us across the country. Carl was very savvy at figuring out how to fix things, even at age 15. Mechanical breakdowns were plenty on the U.S. tour, partly from all the weight we were carrying: flat tires, broken spokes, stripped shift levers, bent derailleurs, snapped cables, broken brake shoes, ripped pack. He was great at improvising when we didn't have the right tool or spare part. He used a crushed can, for instance, to fix a stripped quick release adjuster on a hub. He laboriously used a crescent wrench to tighten some replaced spokes after we'd lost our spoke wrench. He even fashioned a crude tool to bypass the coin box at do-it-yourself car washes, That got us a summer of free showers on our bike trip when conventional showers were not available. Our dad taught us a lot of these fix-it-skills. I'm grateful for his patience in teaching us. Carl just took the time to learn more from him. One peculiar thing happened today. We were directed through an agricultural inspection station where ag inspectors went through our camper looking for produce. They were particularly interested in any fruit we might be transporting in California. We had some lemons, apples, oranges, and bananas. The only thing they confiscated were the apples after we reported buying them in Alabama. Carl and Lisa had to give up some cherries. It seemed a little overboard. But after driving past some of the vast farmland today in the Golden state, I can see why California wants to protect its crops. We finally made it to Eureka, our starting point on the 1976 bike journey. We look forward to getting on the bikes and pedaling up to Clam Beach where we dipped our back wheels in the Pacific to begin the long ride to the Atlantic. I still have the shipping receipt for sending two bikes by freight truck from Alabama. Would you believe $27.66? The crates weight a combined 84 pounds and included some gear.,
