<VV> Ole Valve Guide Eater : Part 2

[vairologist at juno.com]

Smitty says:  As I continue this story I need you to understand that my
wife Helen is not a mild mannered female without a mind of her own.  She
does not blindly follow me around and do what I wish.  She knew going in
to this thing that we would be on the road at the time of our 50th
anniversary and accepted that as being part of my life.  We had plans to
celebrate later, but driving cross country in 105 degree temperature was
not something she signed on for on the day.
        As we closed in on Portland it was the day of the time trials and
I really wanted to be there.  It was more important for me to get us
settled and into some air conditioning though.  We found our camp ground
a few blocks from the hotel and checked in.  Good gosh, we were
surrounded with Canadians.  I'm here to tell you though, that was not a
bad thing.  I met Joel Rushworth and the rest of the bunch of fun loving
friends.  We had a great time getting to know them while there.
        The axle bearing became very insistent so by the day of the
concours I was forced to take some action.  Also the time had come to
change the fan bearing.  I felt that parking the car in place on display
at the "peoples choice", and working on it during the show would be kind
of like begging votes, so I found a quiet corner and got to work. 
Russell Davis from the Central VA club came along and offered to help so
the work went pretty quickly.  Warren LeVeque loaned his hydraulic jack
for the axle change which made that part a lot safer.  The car began to
sound like viable transportation again.  
        We enjoyed the usual activities at the show and of course Helen
enjoyed being top dog in the valve cover races again.  We had decided
that we would take the dinner cruise and call it our anniversary dinner. 
Seemed to be a kind of romantic (but expensive) thing to do.  So we
boarded up with 300 other folks for a pleasant evening of floating and
dining.  We ended up on the top deck with out a chair in sight and ate
our meal off of the top of a chest high life vest locker.  When Helen
inquired of one of the waters about water or coffee, she was told she
could get it on the first deck.  The boat crew finally scrounged up some
chairs and a few tables but by then not much could be done to repair the
mood of the evening.  To the CORSA person who deliberately over booked
the boat trip I say, thanks a lot Chump.
        We left the convention for Whidbey Island in Washington to visit
the widow of an old Navy buddy.  On the way the fan started making noise.
 At first I thought the shaft was rising up out of the block cover, but
soon realized the hub was rising up on the bearing.  That's a new one on
me.  It took the better part of a day to get that made right and we
continued on.  We spent a couple of days with our friend and headed for
Northern Cal to visit some of my wife's siblings.  Not 20 miles out of
town the ring gear went.  I have heard that sound before and knew what it
was in an instant.  I nursed the thing back to our friends house and
begged some electricity for our camper and the use of some driveway space
for a few days.  Talking to Lon Wall on the phone and explaining that I
had a good differential at home, he told me quite frankly that I could
get mine shipped to me cheaper than he could sell me one.  I asked one of
my daughters to meet Bill Hubble at my house so he could identify what I
needed and then she could ship it.  Bill says, is the one you want the
one that has a tag saying, new bearings, new seals, road tested??  Yeah I
told him.  That will do.  So the diff was in the mail and I pulled the
engine.             More Later