Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2021/10/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Sorry to hear all this. Car trouble can indeed ruin a trip. But the most important part is your last sentence. Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman photo at frozenlight.eu http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.frozenlight.eu YNWA > On 27 Oct 2021, at 03:59, Aram Langhans via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> > wrote: > > Hello fellow photographers. So, the short story is we are back at my > father-in-law, Bob's house, three days after we left. So, here is the > rest of the story. > > We got to our half way stop in an RV park in Bakersfield on Saturday and > spent the night. Then we headed out for Yosemite. The weather was not too > bad but I knew they were expecting pretty bad rains in Yosemite Sunday > night but we would be already camped. So we are on our way in and past > Oakhurst winding through the trees. It is raining but not bad. The fall > color starts to get really nice so I am anticipating a great trip. We get > to the area where the fire hit a few years ago and it is misty/foggy with > these spindles of trees reaching skyward and a beautiful wet undercover of > reds and yellows of the dogwood. Just spectacular. Of course, Bob is in > his GIANT 5th wheel so we have on place to pull over. A little past that > really nice spot is a place he can fit, so I say lets pull over and he can > get in our rig and go back about 1/4 mile to a few small turnouts. Well, > he is packing up and Margie sees some steam under our van. I though we > just hit some water and it was evaporating from our exhaust but then it > filtered inside and smelled a bit different. I spun around to a asphalt > area, put it up on some leveling blocks and crawled under to see > transmission fluid running out from between the engine and transmission > and it was HOT. I checked the fluid level and it did not seem low, so, we > waited a bit and turned around. It was running just fine. It was mostly > downhill back to Fresno and we were hoping we could make it may that far > or further to a campground and regroup to see what we could do. It was > still running great. Never noticed any problems. Well, on the outskirts > of Fresno it started to shift a bit hard when we took of from a traffic > light but no slipping. Found a campground and I we were about 1 mile from > the exit when a horrible screeching noise started so I pulled over and > just as I stopped it jerked. I checked the fluid level and it seemed to > be fine. I have a hard time reading the tranny fluid levels. I added > fluid anyway and went to get back on the road to get off at the exit but > it would not budge. Locked up. Well, a few phone calls and a tow truck > was suppose to be there in 45 min. The freeway was busy and scary as cars > and trucks went screaming by at a million miles/hour. About 1.5 hours > later still no truck even after a few more calls to AAA. Finally a CHP > officer stopped to see if we needed help. He offered to call AAA and did > as Margie was also talking to an agent. Margie was told there have been > lots of calls due to the rain and flooding and we have been skipped over > three times. Well, I guess the CHP had more weight because when they > called AAA we had someone there in about 15 min while our AAA truck still > was not there. Anyway, we had no idea were to go, so asked and he towed > us to the Dodge dealer since he knew they had a place for a Sunday night > drop-off. A late night sales person said we could sleep in our van and > Bob could leave his 5th wheel along the street for the night. Filled out > the forms and after dealing with street racers and a uncooperative > security guard, left with Bob and spend the night at a Walmart. Next > morning we went back at 7:00 through rain and flooded streets and were > told they will not work on it because it is too old and they can't get > parts anymore. Gave us a few tranny shops to contact so we did and all > said it would be about month before they could get to it. After much > debate we decided to have it towed back to Bob's in SoCal and got that all > arranged. So, skipping that long story, we made it back today after > spending the night in another Walmart in Victorville. > > So, today I looked up Jasper remanufactured trannies for a price and > called a few local places to see how long. We expected to leave the van > here and rent a car to drive home, them come back in the spring to picked > it up, or have it shipped home. Much to my surprise we found a place on > Jasper's preferred list that will get the tranny and install it next > Tuesday. WOW! So, that is what we are doing. A little over $4K. Almost > the price of a Q2, but well worth it. > > So, NO PHOTOS OF YOSEMITE OR THE DRIVE IN! Saw it on the news today. 5+ > inches of rain, beautiful colors and raging falls by autumn levels. But > safe and sound and her to tell this story. > > Aram and Margie > > -- > Aram Langhans > (Semi) Retired Science Teacher > & Unemployed photographer > ?The Human Genome Project has proved Darwin more right than Darwin himself > would ever have dared dream.? > James D. Watson > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information