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- Dec 10, 2008
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- 7,253
Here is my accout of this years Lumby trip.
Yes everything was pricey in Canada. About 50% higher for food, pop, beer and gas. And of course my credit card
would not work in Canada even though I was assured by my bank that it would a couple days before we
left.
The trip started out kind of sketchy when we discovered we didn't have our passports so we double
parked in the street in front of my house with the flashers on for an hour while we tore up the house
looking. By the time we found them the van battery was dead and I had to jump start it.
Things went downhill quick as we topped a little rise just south of Denver on the interstate at 75mph
and realized the highway was a parking lot. I panicked and locked up the brakes [22 ft van with a 25 ft trailer] for a couple seconds before I backed off and got things straighted out and pointed through a narrow hole between a car and the bridge railing and down edge of the pavement along side a half dozen parked cars. After I cleaned my shorts and realized I didn't touch anything I pulled back onto the highway with my newly modified front tires. 90% tread on all but about a 10 inch section which was bald made for a nice smooth ride.
At least they smoothed out some over 60 so we continued on. After a few hard pulls across Wyoming the
exhaust heat got to another exhaust manifold and things got noisier but no big deal. Then about noon
the next day in the middle of traffic in Ponderay Idaho as we were pulling away from a stoplight all
hell broke loose as the front driveshaft yoke broke and the driveshaft whipped to the side and broke a
big fitting off the air tank. So there we sat halfway across a major intersection with cars all
around. I got out and dodged traffic across the street to a body shop where people had gathered out
front to see what the commotion was and asked if anyone had a truck to get me out off traffic. The
owner [a really cool guy] got his pickup while I got out the tow chain and he pulled me over to the
side of the body shop. I called my brother Ernie who was a few miles ahead of me and he came back and
we spent the next couple hours locating a yoke to fit my custom van. We found one a couple hours away
in Post Falls and headed out in Ernie's Suburban to pick it up along with the various small parts that
were damaged. Hammered it back together and still had enough time to drive into Canada and find a
campground for the night. Drove on to the rally the next day with the exhaust noise slowly getting
louder and the turbo power going away. Mountain passes in Canada with their 12% grades made our little
Colorado passes look pretty tame. Looked at the van at the rally and decided it must be leaking enough
from the manifold crack to affect the turbo but shouldn't become a serious problem.
Had a great time at the rally. Met all those people I only get to see once a year. My daughter got there before me on her Triumph and got the long distance female rider award. George nailed me the first morning and begged me to do a tech session. [in an hour or so!] I got the first place custom Commando for the 3rd time in a row. [time to quit while I am ahead] And the rally food was incredible. And two live bands.
Headed out of Canada on Sunday morning before we ran out of money and on to Salt Lake city to see the
grandkids. By the time we got to Salt Lake the van had no turbo at all and was starting to miss under
load and the fuel mileage was down to around 5 mpg. Once we got to Jess's place I pulled the covers
off for a look and found the wastgate was just kind of hanging there and the hot exhaust had burned
through a couple plug wires. Two of the studs for the wastgate were broken off flush and the other
two had lost there nuts, so a couple new nuts and then loosen up the exhaust pipe so it wouldn't put
any pressure on the remaining studs and new spark plug wires from my toolbox and we were ready to hit
the gas station again. At least the power was back. As we pulled into the gas station I heard the
hissing sound of a tire with a hole and got to change a trailer tire in the parking lot. [beats the
side of the interstate]. Nice cut through the sidewall. Continued on home with just a bit of extra
exhaust noise and fuel mileage back up to the normal 8 or so at interstate speed.
So back to work wishing I was still stuck somewhere between here and Canada. And looking forward to
next year. Jim
Here are a few pictures
And if you want to see all my trip pictures they are here: http://s658.photobucket.com/albums/uu31 ... /?start=40
Yes everything was pricey in Canada. About 50% higher for food, pop, beer and gas. And of course my credit card
would not work in Canada even though I was assured by my bank that it would a couple days before we
left.
The trip started out kind of sketchy when we discovered we didn't have our passports so we double
parked in the street in front of my house with the flashers on for an hour while we tore up the house
looking. By the time we found them the van battery was dead and I had to jump start it.
Things went downhill quick as we topped a little rise just south of Denver on the interstate at 75mph
and realized the highway was a parking lot. I panicked and locked up the brakes [22 ft van with a 25 ft trailer] for a couple seconds before I backed off and got things straighted out and pointed through a narrow hole between a car and the bridge railing and down edge of the pavement along side a half dozen parked cars. After I cleaned my shorts and realized I didn't touch anything I pulled back onto the highway with my newly modified front tires. 90% tread on all but about a 10 inch section which was bald made for a nice smooth ride.
At least they smoothed out some over 60 so we continued on. After a few hard pulls across Wyoming the
exhaust heat got to another exhaust manifold and things got noisier but no big deal. Then about noon
the next day in the middle of traffic in Ponderay Idaho as we were pulling away from a stoplight all
hell broke loose as the front driveshaft yoke broke and the driveshaft whipped to the side and broke a
big fitting off the air tank. So there we sat halfway across a major intersection with cars all
around. I got out and dodged traffic across the street to a body shop where people had gathered out
front to see what the commotion was and asked if anyone had a truck to get me out off traffic. The
owner [a really cool guy] got his pickup while I got out the tow chain and he pulled me over to the
side of the body shop. I called my brother Ernie who was a few miles ahead of me and he came back and
we spent the next couple hours locating a yoke to fit my custom van. We found one a couple hours away
in Post Falls and headed out in Ernie's Suburban to pick it up along with the various small parts that
were damaged. Hammered it back together and still had enough time to drive into Canada and find a
campground for the night. Drove on to the rally the next day with the exhaust noise slowly getting
louder and the turbo power going away. Mountain passes in Canada with their 12% grades made our little
Colorado passes look pretty tame. Looked at the van at the rally and decided it must be leaking enough
from the manifold crack to affect the turbo but shouldn't become a serious problem.
Had a great time at the rally. Met all those people I only get to see once a year. My daughter got there before me on her Triumph and got the long distance female rider award. George nailed me the first morning and begged me to do a tech session. [in an hour or so!] I got the first place custom Commando for the 3rd time in a row. [time to quit while I am ahead] And the rally food was incredible. And two live bands.
Headed out of Canada on Sunday morning before we ran out of money and on to Salt Lake city to see the
grandkids. By the time we got to Salt Lake the van had no turbo at all and was starting to miss under
load and the fuel mileage was down to around 5 mpg. Once we got to Jess's place I pulled the covers
off for a look and found the wastgate was just kind of hanging there and the hot exhaust had burned
through a couple plug wires. Two of the studs for the wastgate were broken off flush and the other
two had lost there nuts, so a couple new nuts and then loosen up the exhaust pipe so it wouldn't put
any pressure on the remaining studs and new spark plug wires from my toolbox and we were ready to hit
the gas station again. At least the power was back. As we pulled into the gas station I heard the
hissing sound of a tire with a hole and got to change a trailer tire in the parking lot. [beats the
side of the interstate]. Nice cut through the sidewall. Continued on home with just a bit of extra
exhaust noise and fuel mileage back up to the normal 8 or so at interstate speed.
So back to work wishing I was still stuck somewhere between here and Canada. And looking forward to
next year. Jim
Here are a few pictures
And if you want to see all my trip pictures they are here: http://s658.photobucket.com/albums/uu31 ... /?start=40
