Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late. Hmm, wait, I' ve heard that somewhere before... I headed out Sunday, and headed east over Hwy 2. Saw Amtrak at Monroe and not another train until Winton. And not another after that until minutes before sundown at Trinidad. But Monday had more traffic, and I found several angles I hadn't photographed before. Photo from the weekend are here: http://www.pbase.com/railvan/trinidad_210 The roads around Trinidad are clay and rocks. One location required me to drive down a moderate slope, and I had to climb it again to get out. The clay was so slippery that at one point while turning to follow the road, on level ground, on a broad curve, at slow speed, the front of the van slid off the road into the brush. I turned sharply and kept the speed steady and made it back onto the two track OK. I noticed earlier when I fired up the ARB air compressor to charge the air line for the lockers, that the compressor would quit and then come back on a few seconds later. I suspected an air leak. When I got the bottom of the hill, I ran the compressor with the van engine off so I could hear the air better. By turning the rear locker on and off a few times, I was able to locate the general area of the leak, which was right near the rear diff. Knowing I had to get back up the same hill I had just came down, I was not happy to know the line was leaking. Since the compressoer did at least shut off sometimes, I figured the leak was not huge. On the way out, up the hill, I locked both front and rear axles, and figured at least the front was locked for sure. I don't know if the back locked but I made it up the hill. I was thinking, I have lockers, and a winch, and a PullPal, and four tires chains, a cell phone, and a Spot... And I want a photos at this location. Yeah, I'm gonna try it... |