http://www.busdriverjim.com
Related to vehicles
A distinctive vehicle visited our driveway yesterday afternoon, an all electric Toyota Rav4. This could be the only one here in the Western States, outside of California.
Truly an amazing car, it’s like a large computer on wheels!
That inter-city sewer sucking truck really thinks he’s hot stuff. I put my sweet little travel truck up against him yesterday and the results were overwhelmingly obvious:
My truck may be dirtier and has a ding near the tire well but she smells much better :-)
Funny story about that ding: some idiots in Kent, WA. tried to steal the tires by jacking it up there on the body, instead of using the frame underneath! Failed…
I’ve had several automotive projects that needed done to my two vehicles but I’m burned out with the hourly rates charged by our local vendors, $85 an hour, and often the charges escalate as they go.
Riley suggested Craigslist so I went there and grabbed the mechanic at the top of the list, a guy named Ron. Turns out I found a man of integrity! He drove up here from Idaho Falls (1.5 hours), plugged in his air compressor and went to work. Two hours later he had replaced the front brake pads on Steph’s vehicle (Lucy), replaced the master clutch cylinder on Jill (my travel truck), and replaced her front and rear shocks.
He charged me $45 an hour for two hours. I paid him $120. Ron expressed an attitude of communal understanding where the cost of labor is real, not inflated. I really liked this guy and plan on using him again!
There’s a few more things I want to do on my sweet little truck. I firmly believe in giving business to our local outfits, but I’ve given them enough work this summer!
My auto-body/mechanic son is coming here for a few days next month so I’m just buying parts. I found Napa Online and I like this site a lot. Create an account, specify your vehicle(s) and then pick the closest Napa dealer to you. Mine is in Rexburg…
You can search for the parts you want and they present all of the available brands which you can then select and compare. When you see what you want, click Reserve and your order is sent to your store. You only pay when you show up. Slick!
I’m getting new headlights, a clutch master cylinder and this morning I added front and rear shocks. The rear shocks indicated Warehouse so I called the store immediately and said “Hi, this is Jim in Driggs and I just reserved some parts”. The guy said “I know, I have the order right in front of me”. Everything will be ready for pickup on Saturday.
I’m also paying Idaho some sales tax as opposed to paying shipping charges :-)
That noise from my truck that caused me to bail on the Oregon Coast has been identified and fixed. It was the catalytic converter which had crumbled apart internally and was impeding the exhaust system. Also, the vehicle has no muffler and the exhaust pipe sort of ended in the middle of the truck.
Took it down to Driggs Tire and they installed a new converter and welded in some spare pipe to extend out the back. It’s really quiet now and my mileage should improve.
SlideShow (Truck Fixed)
Caught this cool jet coming in for a landing…
I have four vehicles that I use regularly, Jack, my 79 lifted Silverado, Lucy, my 87 Mazda 626 with tons of finely aged miles on her, and two buses that I obviously don’t own, but use to accomplish my job.
It all depends on the weather as to which vehicles get used, and when. The commute between the house and base is 2.3 miles and I frequently park my bus and go home for lunch and breaks. Lucy gets 40+ mpg and is the obvious choice here but sometimes a foot of snow on the road requires a four-wheeled drive tank like Jack, at 10 mpg.
My regular bus, #845, is a 12 passenger sweetheart with a great turning radius. For most weather conditions she does fine, but sometimes the weather turns absolutely crazy and then it’s time to crank up the Stud, #801. This is a 16 passenger bus with four brand new Firestone studded snow tires sitting on the rear. The only thing that would stop this thing, is to bottom out.
Vehicle management is my game. Today was a Lucy/845 combo…
Steph is finally finished liquidating the hardwood store, and the mystery Boat is gone. She went there this morning to do some final clean up and found a large horse trailer filled with garbage, where the boat had previously been.
Again, no clue as to who the owner is…
We had a fun dinner with K-Dawg at the Warbirds Cafe last night. Before she arrived I was checking out the old planes in the back hanger. These are all flight ready vehicles.
That little strip hanging off the intake cover says Remove Before Flight. You think?
Steph’s still liquidating hardwood from the Tolberts building. This morning she found a large boat sitting in the bay. It wasn’t there when she left the shop yesterday.
I’m sure there’s a good reason for it being there, but at the moment, it’s a mystery…
Tetonia dairy farmer Ron Hanson has a cool hay hauling vehicle. It’s an old school bus, stripped down to it’s chassis. It’s also used to haul kids around during Homecoming.
I met Ron a few years ago while driving by his farm, north of Hatches Corner. This hay tossing farmer has arms like basketballs, and his handshake was impressive!
Our girl Lucy is 24 years old. She’s been complaining that her rack is sagging, so we’re letting her have some surgery done.
Riley and Jessica Bangert, and their respective fathers, Jim and Ray, went to breakfast today in Sumner, WA at a place called the Buttered Biscuit. Great down home place with huge servings. Stuffed ourselves and had a great time…
As we were leaving, we spotted an old muscle car show and a fire starting up in the neighborhood. Who could resist? So we checked it out:
SlideShow (Sumner, WA)
Videos:
For sale in Victor.
Before I moved to the Rockies, I was a supervisor for a transportation company in Seattle. One of our services was to link up with the Water Taxi, which brought people from Pier 50 in Seattle, to Seacrest Park in West Seattle.
When the boat arrived, our buses would be waiting to take people around Alki point, and then bring them back for the return trip to Seattle.
This was a fun route in the summer and when a driver called off, I got to drive it.
Here’s some photos I took back then, of the Water Taxi coming into Seacrest Park:
