BLRI day 11

Boone, NC

Well another eventful couple of days here along the Parkway... the smoke that we saw on Thursday turned out to not be the air conditioner, sorry Winston-Salem Ford Dealer!... we were wrong, you were right. Did get to tour Wake Forest University while they were checking things out though.... nice campus.

The voltages were still dropping... so we still had to figure something out. We trouble-shot all afternoon in Winston-Salem. Eventually we figured out that one of our isolators had gone bad. An isolator basically takes current from an alternator and disperses it evenly to multiple batteries. All the while not allowing current back to the alternator.

Enough technical stuff... it's important basically. When it's not working, we're not working. This of course is happening on a Friday afternoon. And you can't just walk into a local Napa and ask for a 250amp isolator.

We started calling places that we found online to get it shipped overnight. However we couldn't call anywhere on the East coast since it was now about 430pm EDT (too late for FedEx or UPS to go out). Tried the Central time zone... thought we had one, but she called back... too late. Started calling California... found one after a couple of tries. Got it shipped overnight, Saturday arrival (not cheap). But we got it 9am EDT Saturday morning, after ordering it at 530pm EDT on Friday. Amazing what those shipping companies can do these days. And thank you Jared at Buchanan Auto electric in Oakland, CA.

Installed the isolator by 10am and started working. Got a lot done yesterday, most we could've hoped for.

Today was another pretty good collection day. We have all the routes through about MP 289 on the Parkway (goes to 461). So we're making our way. Doesn't look like I'll get to finish it off though, kinda sad about that. I'm heading back to Denver on Tuesday for a little vacation and to celebrate Megan's 30th birthday... Feel free to send her a Happy Birthday message on Thursday

♫

(mmcgrew19@gmail.com).

Had to go through a couple of construction areas today. Got to one with a huge rock slide... see below.

You can see the van in the back for scale... crazy. Don't think that section is gonna be open for a while.

We're staying in Boone, NC... nice town. I mostly like it because it's a small college town, home of the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Well ok, the only reason I'm fond of them is because they pulled off the biggest upset in college football history... beating Michigan in the Big House a couple of years back. Still brings a smile to my face... Town really is nice though, would definitely recommend it for anyone thinking of visiting the area.

Ok, good enough for now. Last day of collection for me tomorrow. Don't think I'll have time to post, but maybe is something cool happens.

BLRI day 8

Hillsville, VA

Well it didn't start out too bad... but it ended with another delay. We were having an average day of collection, good amount of errors, couple of computer restarts... then we started smelling smoke. Then we saw smoke... voltages started dropping.

Pulled over, shut everything off. Van was running fine, belts were ok, smell kinda went away. We decided to drive to a Ford dealer to have them check things out.

Got there and per usual, were a little intimidated by the van. So after talking on the phone with our support and describing the situation, they suggested checking the air conditioning or more specifically the auxiliary air conditioning. We did and that was definitely the culprit. Our condenser has likely gone bad and now we need to find a new one.

So not really sure what we breathed in when the condenser conked out, but it wasn't good.

And I'm still sick... have to pack and get up early tomorrow to drive to Winston-Salem and hopefully get this thing fixed ASAP.

BLRI Day ?

Hillsville, VA

Well I haven't put a post up in a while... been too discouraged. Went back to Denver on 7/31, then back out on the road on 8/10. Long day on Monday too... Had to get up at 3:45 to make my 6:15am flight. I cut it way too close at check-in too. Probably had 1 or 2 minutes before they did the 45 min cutoff. Walked to the gate and walked right onto the plane pretty much.

Flew to Dulles and then caught a flight to Richmond an hour later. Got to Richmond about 2pm local time and then drove 4 hours to Hillsville, VA... Here's map.


View Larger Map

Needless to say it was a long day. And it was like a 100 degrees in Richmond again...

Yesterday we started collecting, but then we got an error with our roughness laser system. The same error for which we had driven to Richmond at the end of our last trip. The same error that we were supposed to have gotten fixed. Frustration is pretty much part of the job description for me.

Turned out to be an issue with one of our timing cards in the roughness computer. We had spares but they didn't work with the cable we had. So we had to get a cable overnighted from Canada to Hillsville. Got this afternoon at about 230pm and started working immediately.

Got a good amount done for only working about 4 hours. Low sun glare only stopped us at about 645pm.

Bad news from today is that I've gotten sick. Head cold, sore throat, achy... Speaking of achy... Saw a sweet poster of Mr. Achy Breaky himself at the restaurant we went to. Wasn't this one, but this one is sweet.

Went and bought some meds today for my sickness. Didn't realize I bought Ibuprofen PM until after I had popped 2 of them at noon. It was a sleepy afternoon, hopefully I'll be able to sleep, but that's not usually an issue for me.

Last thing from today... After I got out of the shower this morning, I noticed I have a message on my mirror which only shows up when it's fogged up. "I'm watching you!" I mean I guess it's kinda freaky, but not really... funny more than anything. Tried to take a photo with of it, but the bathroom fogginess didn't work out so well.