On the road.

Well it's been a rocky road right off the start.  My bed and all the loading was completed sometime Tuesday afternoon.  Later I payed a visit to Cap'n Loogie who sent me off with a brand new set of steer horns to facilitate getting traffic out of my way.  By Wednesday I believe I had been up for about 48 hours getting things ready and having one last late night hoorah.  That evening I pulled into the Flying J truck stop in Port St. Lucie.  Here I take a side note.  If anyone is ever concerned about hygiene on the road truck stops are a great place to stop.  For $10 you get a shower, soap, and towels.  Some stops also have laundry rooms, TV rooms, barber shops, private phone rooms, and wireless internet access which costs $4.99 for 24 hours.  Most of the large chains such as Petro, Pilot, and TA have some or all of these facilities.  When I took the camera out to take a picture of the shower room, I dropped my Cannon A250 and broke the battery compartment.  Needless to say taking pictures with it is a little uncomfortable now.  I'll post the pictures of the showers later since I'm actually typing this up in a Flying J.

That evening I didn't even set my alarm so I could catch up on some sleep.  When I finally woke up around noon I started driving right away.  Gainsville was approaching when my car started sputtering and trembling violently.  Half a day must have gone by trying to get someone to look at my truck.  A Midas took a look and said that a spark plug wire had come loose.  Feeling a little embarrased at not having noticed I drove off.  My embarrasement faded about 3 miles later when the problem arose again.  Now furious, I fought the absurd Gainsville traffic back to the shop to have them fix it or give me my money back.  Since it was now closed it would not be until Friday for the repairs to be carried out.  A tune up was performed about a month before hitting the road.  While I was waiting for morning to come around I decided to have a look for myself.  What I found was a fouled plug.  It is my suspicion that I have to replace the piston oil ring or valve seals.  It only took asking on the CB one time for the nearest Walmart before getting a response.  Thankfully Walmart is everywhere, so a new plug later I'm back on the road and with spares.  A CB is an invaluable tool when driving on a long trip.  It's the Google of the highway.  Night had fallen and my energy was quickly fading.  News of a road closure was being passed along so I found it to be a good time to pull over.  I spent the night at a stop just south of I-475 in GA.

Friday started off much better.  A beautiful day to be on the road.  At some point in GA, the flatbed truck pictured above went by with his undersized load.  Classic trucker humor.  Traffic was terrible due to the Easter holiday.  Everyone was on the road.  There were tremendous backups in Nashville and Louisville.  In the pictures above there is a picture of the Tennesee river and bridge.  Kentucky was gorgeous.  There are farmland scenes to rival some of Bob Ross' paintings.  Above is an attempt to capture two of these scenes.

A few hours later the Indiana border was traversed.  About 15 miles in I blew a tire.  Not too bad.  I'll drop the spare from under the truck and put it on.  Nope, I'm missing the flat ended pole to drop the spare tire retainer.  As I walk to the cab a little concerned that I'm already having so many problems, a white van pulls up in front of me.  Assuming he's coming to help out, I strole over to let him know I'm ok and was going to call AAA.  He seemed to completely ignore me and pulled out his air compressor asking if the tire would hold air.  "I don't believe so, the tread came off".  He asks if I have everything I need and I explain the situation.  Next thing I know he has some piping and a hammer and is banging it into a flat shape to fit in the retention socket.  Here is where I go off on a side rant.  This man got involved not knowing who I was, on Easter weekend, knowing I have AAA, after probably having been working all day, and not only provided me a part but helped to actually drop the spare and change my tire with me.  This is exactly one of the reasons the city needed to be left behind for a while.  When one's faith in man has faded, take a trip through this amazing country and let it's residents show you that southern hospitality, humility, and kindness are still VERY much alive and well.  This has an effect of making me strive to be a better person and return the same kind of humanitarianism.  And it's not just one person's kindness, but everyone's.  A genuine sounding hello and courteous driving may not sound like much, but it goes a long way.  End of rant.  When all was done he offered me a tire iron, gave me the make shift retention pipe, and provided me directions to the next Walmart.  He refused any kind of compensation.  I even offered a drink or dinner since I thought maybe accepting money was the problem and he refused even that.  The least I can do is pass on that if anyone is ever near New Albany, IN and you need insulation work,  give William Baumann of Insulation Solutions a call at 812-941-0425.

There is a picture above of my truck in a lot with some big trucks in the background.  Across the street is a reasonably priced tire shop which provided me two new rears so that I have a spare again.  This is where I spent the night and where I'm leaving from now.  It's 12:34 EST and I'm way behind due to my mishaps.  Arriving in AK on Monday is probably not possible.  Especially given the rain today which means there may be snow a little further into my trip.  Regards from Indiana.

Stability in mobile life.

Today my father and I secured the supports to the bed platform.  We also found a place that sells carpet scraps pretty cheaply.  Tomorrow I should have the divider for the underside of the bed platform cut to size.  If there is enough time the curtain rails should also be in place by then.  UPS came by with my CB radio mount, but no one was home.

I'm getting pretty anxious at this point.  If nothing else works out this should be an amazing trip across the continent.   The only concern is finding work.  Many applications have been filled and sent but there are no responses.  Alaska definitely gives it's residents priority when it comes to employment, so maybe once I arrive something will pop up.

Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!

     Although nothing is secured, the bed platform is already pretty comfortable.  I've thought out pretty thoughroughly where to place the platform and decided it's best to keep it in the center.  Each space between the 2x4 supports will be used for some sort of storage.  Two of them should be able to provide a place to mount my bicycle and the others can provide easy access to frequently used items such as food, water, and warm clothes.   The details of what will be stored where are still being worked out.  All of the recesses in the liner are sized perfectly for the suppports.  If this is not the intended use it should be advertised as such.

     A pleasant coincidence of all this is that my tool box is the perfect height.  It just fits under the bed platoform but not under the first support.  When the truck stops the support should keep it from sliding to the back.  To open the toolbox it just needs to be slid onto the tailgate about an inch.  Since the tailgate needs to be down to get to the box anyways it all works out.

     Water marks can be seen under the windows where the leaks were.  One image dipicts where there were two very large holes.  They have now been sealed with silicone.

     Still left on the agenda is to secure everything down,  add supports for curtain rails,   carpet the platform,  create dividers,  and add a mount of some sort to hang my pack from.  I'll be keeping my pack close since that will also be my water container due to the built in hydration pocket.  More to come.

And so it begins ...

There are only a couple of weeks left before I start my 5,000 mile drive to Alaska.  For the most part I'm done purchasing gear and am ready to make my truck liveable for the ride up. It will need to be a comfortable place to stay while I find work and an apartment.  My inspiration for this project was Branden Johnson's site and http://www.bajataco.com/Camper1.html.  Due to my time constraints I'm keeping things simple and will modify them later as time permits and ideas arise.  For example there probably won't be any opening panels in my version or as many dividers underneath to start.

So far I cleaned the outside of the truck so the windows are ready to be waterproofed with silicone.  Unfortunately the skull stayed on the grill and took a beating at the automatic car wash, but it survived!  It should make the entire trip.  I've purchased most of the supplies to make the frame and bed platform.  My total cost for the truck modifications are about $10 on the silicone and caulk gun; and about $55 on the cut to order wood, screws, and L brackets for a grand total of about $65.  All four 2x4's are in place with the bed platform on top.  Nothing's been screwed down since I'm still drawing and planning.  Pictures will be up within the next day.