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View Full Version : Crossing Over. Part VI. .. A Whole lot'a Asph



Formula Jr
02-24-2003, 09:20 AM
Crossing Over Part VI.
A Whole Lotta Asphalt.

Its usual on day two or day three, to feel the vastness of the land that lay before one on a cross country trip. I almost always forget just how far it is to Maryland from the Pacific Northwest. Fortunately all these interior places are now familiar. My second home isn't a place, its a passage through place.

Once I've climbed up and on to the Arizona Wash Plains, the van developes a bad miss in the engine firing. Its an obvious cross fire so its some where in the ignition system, most likely the plug harness. So I hightail it to Kingston to get to a parts store before they all close. With minutes to spare, I find a parts store and buy a wiring set, rotor, cap and some fancy Platinum plugs.

Because the van is a 454, there's damn little room for any sort of work, so I have to find some sort of camp ground to lay over for the repairs. Just simple routine maintanance on this van can quicky turn into a day long project. I drive most of the night to the Petrified Forest, outside of Holbrook only to discover its a day use only area. Tired already, I push on to a rest area on the border of Arizona and New Mexico at around 5am.

I crash to sleep in the van and wake up around 2pm.

I start the delicate surgery of swapping out the plug harness and discover that I had not brought the good plug socket- the one with the rubber insert to keep the socket straight on the plug. . And I need that one if I'm not going to be breaking the insulators off the plugs.

Plug wire One goes badly. The rubber boot over the plug will not spin or budge. Its welded itself to the plug. It was so attached that I pulled the wire right out of the terminal boot leaving the boot firmly entrenched in the spark plug well. Then, I remeber that I had had some work done on the engine whereby the garage had replaced the plugs last year. I'll bet anything they didn't bother with coating the plug terminals with dielectric grease. A half- hour later, I was able to cut away the stubborn boot, piece by piece with a razor knife. Most of the skin on the top of my knuckles is gone. I'm not going to try removing the plug cause odds are high that I'll strip something with the plug socket I have. I replace the wire with a generious dollop of grease.

The exact same thing happens when I replace plug wire two. These are the two easiest plugs to get to, and its taken me almost two hours.

Its decision time. Well, there's a one in four chance that I got the right wires. And I can easily make it to Albuqueque and let some union mechanic deal with this idiotic design.

I get it all back together and she purrs like a cat. Maybe I SHOULD have spent more time in Vegas!!!!

Over the access bridge there's a round though familiar shaped bulding done up in Navajo motifs, so I drive on into the parking lot.. I still have many more gifts to get for the other relatives. So here I am at "Ortega's Authentic Indian Village Outlet." I'm going to have to re-examine everythihng I thought I knew about American indigenous cultures. For instance, I'd never read anywhere that the plains indians made totum poles or that they had discovered the formula to concrete in which to make them, much less the ability to forge re-bar. And then there's the tee-pees created out of sheets of triangular plywood on braced two by four frames. But most astounding is the fact that they had invented the complex construction technigues used in Geodesic Domes. This was truely going to be a learning experience into a distant and miss-understood culture.

With a sense of awe, I entered the sacred interior of the "gift hodge."

I went immediately to the young and beautiful Navajo Priestess standing behind the alter of the Gift Hodge. "I am Owen of the Clan Saffell. I have traveled over many hills in hopes of establishing trade with your peoples." - I announced.

"We accept both Visa and Master Charge, Owen of Clan Saffell. May I show you our offerings?"

"Yes, this would please me, Greatly...."

The Priestess, led me through the vast stores of the gift hodge: Blankets, three for $7.99; "Chi-chin-ga Dolls" , varying in price depending on size, complexity and international exchange rates. Beautiful, light green, turguoise belts and necklaces set in a special "India Silver" that never tarnishes. And large pronged knives from a distant tribe called the "Klingon."

After much negotiation, I settle on a half dozen blankets and a stunning Thunderbird Chi-chin-ga doll. All of which The Priestess meticulouisly bundles in a special fiber sack bearing the ancient Navajo glyph, "wal-mart."

I'm back on the road, there are distances to be covered. And I fall into the meditation that is the 800 mile legg. Velocity is something that goes thru you. The dots and markers fly past. You are the vehicle. You become the travel.... The traveler...........

Terry0341
02-25-2003, 07:36 AM
As always, great chapter! looking forward to the next... I set the money aside for the book and my wife is really enjoying the story also.

ToonaFish
02-25-2003, 10:41 AM
Most excellent!