Well, its been a while since I worked on the old blog. A lot has happened with my vanning situation since I last took the time to write.
Firstly, I had to bid farewell to my trusty work van "Working Class Zero". During the last big snow of the year, some klutz in a big SUV was going far too fast for conditions and slammed into me totalling my van. Even though it wasn't my fault, I ended up with the short end of the stick since the insurance company decided the vehicle that I counted on for my livelihood was only worth about 600 bucks. I was in a pretty tight spot and had to bum a lot of rides and borrow a few different vehicles to get where I needed to be for a while.
I had long standing plans to get down to S.C. and rescue my GMC van from storage at my aunt's place and now was the time. My mother arranged for the van to be taken to a shop down there to have the electrical problems fixed. When we got word that the repairs had been completed, we piled the family into my wife's Volvo, left from Pittsburgh and headed south. Only after the shop had been payed, the van picked up and we headed back home did I come to realize that the mechanics had done only the bare minimum of work possible to fix a handful of visible problems but totally ignored my requests to fix the bulk of the problems. In addition, the work that they actually did do was very shoddy. Their craptastic workmanship ended up causing a lengthy breakdown on my return trip and, after returning home, necessitated my having to redo some of the work I had payed them to do including replacing the junk alternator that they they had installed. The moral of the story is if you have car problems in Charleston SC, avoid Eagle Automotive in West Ashley at all costs.
Anyways, the Casual Turtle 5 has made its return to driving status. It ended up needing a transmission rebuild and some other adjustments but its driving better than ever. It's still a ways off from being where I want it but at least its drivable and fairly sturdy. Many improvements lay ahead for the ol girl including some much needed body work, a new interior and a healthy dose of tuning and tweaking.
My original enthusiasm for using the big Vandura as both my daily driver for work and also as my road-trip vehicle has dwindled. Life as a contractors work truck is a tough one. In only a few months of driving my van to work I have had to load lumber and pipe across my couch, plop my dusty, sooty butt down on my tan captain's chairs, and haul pails of scrap metal and recycling on my "living room" carpet. Making this van work for a living will be quite hard on the interior, especially considering my future remodeling plans. Single digit gas mileage in stop and go Pittsburgh city driving isn't doing much to endear the hulking van to me as a daily driver either. It will do for now, but near future plans include a small pickup for work and returning the van to cruising/traveling status.
At any rate, I am happy to have my beloved van back from its slumber and back on the blacktop. In a few weeks we set off for Asheville NC for a very special occasion, my son's very first vanning road trip. It's something I have looked forward to since shortly after I learned he was on the way. Never am I more at home than when I am on the road. Being on the highway with my wife and my dogs is as happy as I get and the opportunity to introduce my child into this wonderful adventure is as good as it gets. Things are moving forward and the future is looking bright.
