[Leica] Not the best trip we have been on.....

[Aram Langhans]

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