Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2021/10/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Aram & Margie, I read every word. Your future was sounding so grim. Getting worse with each twist and turn! And then ?Shazam?! Saved by a miracle. A business that stays alive keeping old vehicles running! So happy that you have a silver lining behind all of the rain clouds! Have a safe trip home! All the best to y?all! Wayne and Lisa On Tue, Oct 26, 2021 at 10:00 PM 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