I've been wanting to go fishing for a long time and last weekend was to be that time. I took off Thursday evening for what should have been a 3 hour cruise. I got to what I thought was my turn off the highway to the forest service road I wanted. I went about 20 miles in and came to the end of the road that should have gone to my destination but no, it was a dead end.
After stomping my feet on the ground and trying to figure out how I could have done such a thing, I got myself pulled back together, got back in the truck, and drove 2 hours back down the mountain. To add a dash of insult, the road I wanted was only a mile farther down the highway. I decided before heading up into the forest on this road, I'd drive the couple miles to the town of Packwood and fill the fuel tank and get a large coffee. Fortunately, I got there just before closing. Fueled up, coffeed up, and ready to try again, I started up the correct mountain road at the lovely time of 12:15 AM. Not what I wanted to do as I should have been where I wanted to be about 4 hours earlier.
The forest road 21 I was on was nicer than the first road but had a lot of wash boarding the first few miles but got better and eventually became paved road. I rolled into the campground at about 2:30 AM, found myself a nice spot and settled in.
I slept till noon the following day. Got up and went for a walk around the campground and over to the lake. It was sunny and beautiful but blowing at least 20 MPH.so no fishing.
As evening approached, I decided to run the truck a while to charge the house batteries. I went to start the truck and turned the engine over but no ignition. Again and one more time I tried to no avail. I thought, great, all I need is a good break down 30 miles from anywhere and no cell phone or other form of communication available. Fortunately I was going to be joined by a friend Saturday. I had lots of house battery, propane, water, and food. I could easily last a week up there and toyed with the idea that being stuck up here for a week or so might not be all that bad.
As planned, my friend Dave showed up Saturday to meet me for fishing but was quite happy to help repair my truck. I had already diagnosed the problem was the fuel pump inside the fuel tank. We drove back down the mountain toward Hood River and got a replacement pump at NAPA.
I called the store at 4:45 with the cell phone and paid by credit card over the phone. The store closed at 5:00 so they put the parts behind the store in some pallets. My luck seemed to be changing for the better. We swung by Dave's place to pick up some more tools, 5 fuel cans, a rubberized tarp for spill protection, and a couple triple mochas for the drive back up the mountain.
It was dark when we got back to the campground so we quickly fired up the BBQ and made a nice steak and salad dinner. We sat around the camp fire for a bit then hit the hay to get an early start.
We got up and went to it, siphoning 25 gallons out of the fuel tank to make it manageable. Jacked up the truck and camper about 8 inches and started unbolting things. The repair work was moving along much more quickly than expected.
The fuel was transferred and the tank was on the ground in about an hour. 8 bolts, 4 hoses, and 2 fuel lines, and an electrical plug. I opened the tank, removed the old pump and installed the new one.
It's amazing that a pump the size of a D battery supplies the pressure and volume needed to keep the truck running. The tank reinstalled equally as fast and after 3 hours time, the whole project was completed. I think the other campers around us were fairly impressed we did it. It sure felt good when I turned the key and the truck engine fired right up. After an exchange of fives and talking about how good we were, we cleaned up the area. No fuel spilled and the area looked pristine. We moved our trucks over to the day use area and made lunch and watched fish jumping in the lake. We decided it would be worth it to attempt this trip again before the season ends.
The time rolled past 3:00 in the afternoon so decided to head our separate ways. Happily, I made it home about 9:00 with no further surprises.
After stomping my feet on the ground and trying to figure out how I could have done such a thing, I got myself pulled back together, got back in the truck, and drove 2 hours back down the mountain. To add a dash of insult, the road I wanted was only a mile farther down the highway. I decided before heading up into the forest on this road, I'd drive the couple miles to the town of Packwood and fill the fuel tank and get a large coffee. Fortunately, I got there just before closing. Fueled up, coffeed up, and ready to try again, I started up the correct mountain road at the lovely time of 12:15 AM. Not what I wanted to do as I should have been where I wanted to be about 4 hours earlier.
The forest road 21 I was on was nicer than the first road but had a lot of wash boarding the first few miles but got better and eventually became paved road. I rolled into the campground at about 2:30 AM, found myself a nice spot and settled in.
I slept till noon the following day. Got up and went for a walk around the campground and over to the lake. It was sunny and beautiful but blowing at least 20 MPH.so no fishing.
As evening approached, I decided to run the truck a while to charge the house batteries. I went to start the truck and turned the engine over but no ignition. Again and one more time I tried to no avail. I thought, great, all I need is a good break down 30 miles from anywhere and no cell phone or other form of communication available. Fortunately I was going to be joined by a friend Saturday. I had lots of house battery, propane, water, and food. I could easily last a week up there and toyed with the idea that being stuck up here for a week or so might not be all that bad.
As planned, my friend Dave showed up Saturday to meet me for fishing but was quite happy to help repair my truck. I had already diagnosed the problem was the fuel pump inside the fuel tank. We drove back down the mountain toward Hood River and got a replacement pump at NAPA.
I called the store at 4:45 with the cell phone and paid by credit card over the phone. The store closed at 5:00 so they put the parts behind the store in some pallets. My luck seemed to be changing for the better. We swung by Dave's place to pick up some more tools, 5 fuel cans, a rubberized tarp for spill protection, and a couple triple mochas for the drive back up the mountain.
It was dark when we got back to the campground so we quickly fired up the BBQ and made a nice steak and salad dinner. We sat around the camp fire for a bit then hit the hay to get an early start.
We got up and went to it, siphoning 25 gallons out of the fuel tank to make it manageable. Jacked up the truck and camper about 8 inches and started unbolting things. The repair work was moving along much more quickly than expected.
The fuel was transferred and the tank was on the ground in about an hour. 8 bolts, 4 hoses, and 2 fuel lines, and an electrical plug. I opened the tank, removed the old pump and installed the new one.
It's amazing that a pump the size of a D battery supplies the pressure and volume needed to keep the truck running. The tank reinstalled equally as fast and after 3 hours time, the whole project was completed. I think the other campers around us were fairly impressed we did it. It sure felt good when I turned the key and the truck engine fired right up. After an exchange of fives and talking about how good we were, we cleaned up the area. No fuel spilled and the area looked pristine. We moved our trucks over to the day use area and made lunch and watched fish jumping in the lake. We decided it would be worth it to attempt this trip again before the season ends.
The time rolled past 3:00 in the afternoon so decided to head our separate ways. Happily, I made it home about 9:00 with no further surprises.
Bedlam wrote:
Bedlam and Mayhem will be joining him on the next trip. I wonder if he feels lucky?
Of course I feel lucky! That trailer of yours is a cleverly disguised complete Ford dealer service bay with parts cage. I'll be able to fix anything with that baby along.
I am bummed that this event cut deeply into my usual photographic undertakings. I only took a handful of images. We were surrounded by three other truck campers, all very nice folks, and I never did get a picture of them. Here's one more.
