For our Anniversary weekend, we took to the mountains in the '49 GMC, trailing a mix of hot rods and modern vehicles. The car club had decided to go to Pinehurst Days to check out a new show and support a club that came to our show last year. The drive was beautiful as ever.
This drive through the Palouse hills, past the stunning Coeur d'Alene lake, and up into the tree-covered mountains of the Silver Valley was my first tour of northern Idaho as I moved from Moscow to Kellogg for the summer. I was sure then that I'd never seen a more beautiful corner of the world. Even after seeing more of this big world, I'm still convinced it's at the top.
The drive was smooth and uneventful - almost unheard of for this group! We pulled into the campsite not long after dark and had a tent-pitching, trailer-leveling party before calling it a night.
We were greeted by a very sunny, clear-sky morning and headed down the street to park at the show.
A full day in the sun, checking out the cars, doing the really long poker walk, and standing in long lines for lunch left us exhausted. Sean's car was about to lose the harmonic balancer, so we set up a porta-shop in the campsite to do a temporary fix so he could avoid another AAA rescue. The scene was typical - A couple of people hard at work with a close swarm of...moral support :)
Once the overbearing sun disappeared, the chilly mountain air was perfect for a roaring campfire complete with a circle of laughing, chatting friends.
We were slow-moving the next morning. The trip there had gone so well, and it was only a 2.5 hour drive home. And, the campground was just so relaxing!
Late morning, we decided to take a detour into Spokane to visit a junkyard and meet a transmission guy who had just the knowledge and parts Cory needed to get his truck on the road. The junkyard visit was successful for at least one club member and we were headed up the hills to Mr. Tranny Man's shop when our nightmare returned. The ol' GMC decided to stop properly drinking the fuel. It was a flashback of the Bonneville trip. The temperatures were rising, and we were stuck limping from parking lot to parking lot with a truck that acted like it was running out of gas again, and again, and again....
Another club member was having trouble getting his car to restart after each of our breaks, and all the others were starting to overheat as they were meant to cruise, not stop-and-go. We finally made it to the guy's shop and cooled off there with lunch and chatting out of the sunshine. Back on the freeway, the trouble returned. We limped it off an exit and to the Dairy Queen to consider our fix-it options. The pavement was blistering hot and the sun inescapable. Marc had a patio umbrella we could shade the working folks with and everyone else found a little shade next to an empty office building.
Monte was the parts runner, and we all managed to duck inside DQ for cold drinks and ice cream as the hours went by. They installed a new electric fuel pump and ran the fuel lines as needed. When we thought we were close to done, some of the others went to find a gas station to prepare for the rest of the trip home. Not long after they left, we got the calls. Sean's fuel pump had died and Joe's car had died in the middle of a big intersection and wouldn't restart. Other members fanned out to provide support to them and we worked to finish fixing our mess. Joe got situated in a parking lot elsewhere and headed home to western WA. Sean installed a new fuel pump at the gas station parking lot and met us back at DQ. We lined up the caravan once again and off we went!
We made it 2 blocks. The new fuel pump wasn't able to keep up with the motor!
This time, in front of a deserted church, we undid all the work of installing the new fuel pump and went back to the moody mechanical one. At least this way we knew what to expect and how to treat it. We tried to send all the club members on ahead as we slowly limped our way home, but a few stuck with us just in case. (Seriously awesome support from this group!)
The sun was finally sinking enough to create some great shady spots along the highway to wait in, between the driving we could do. We were taking one of many breaks as we worked our way up one of the bigger grades when a familiar truck pulled up. Some good friends from Moscow were on their way home, and offered to pull our trailer behind them!! That was just what we needed. With the extra load off the motor, the ol' GMC cruised right along, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the scenic drive home without the stress of listening for a hiccuping motor.
Believe it or not, we'll do it again. These roadtrips are such great times!
