On the way back to San Antonio, I took a little sidetrip.
I think this would have made a great B&W photo, but I didn’t have any film along today.
Tag Archives: Texas
Enchanted Rock
I drove up to Enchanted Rock today using 2 lane ranch roads much of the way. A very nice drive, with quite a few vinyards, and a whole posse of motorcyclists “sharing” the road.
Enchanted Rock is a 425 foot pink granite batholith north of Fredericksburg, TX. It’s beautiful country, and there is a nice series of trails surrounding the area in the park. I chose not to summit The Rock, because that trail was packed, and I could hear screaming children from down by the creek. Instead, I struck out on Turkey Pass Trail, and then circled Enchanted Rock. I didn’t see a dozen people doing these trails. It was wonderful.
Shout Out
When I was out on the run to Lost Maples, I felt a vibration at over 55mph that traveled though the entire truck and right up the steering column. It seemed to increase as I made the return trip. We checked out the propeller shaft this morning, and found a little play in the far, rear, u-joint.
Dropping the shaft, we took it in to “Driveshafts Unlimited” in San Antonio. Walking through the door, with the propeller shaft over my shoulder, the guy behind the counter says, “Land Rover?”. Talk about really impressing the two guys walking in through the door.
When I asked about lead time, he says, “Go grab some lunch, and it’ll be done”.
We grabbed some lunch, and sure enough, we hadn’t been driving for 5 minutes when Mac received a call saying the driveshaft was ready. What a great shop.
I’m still trying to figure out how to make use of the combo unit toolbox/auxillary 40 gallon fuel tank they were selling.
It does rain in Texas…
After 88 degrees one day, the front came in, temps dropped and rain fell from the sky here in San Antonio. 1.1 inches overnight, in a windy, thunder & lightning filled show. We just don’t get many good thunderstorms in Alaska, so at least it was something different to wake up to.
I took the Rover out to Lost Maples Natural Area today, for a little run. A beautiful drive through the hill country and a nice hike along the Sabinal River. I should say that the drive back was beautiful, since I couldn’t see anything on the drive out due to the pouring rain and thumping hail. That little wiper on the Rover was having a hard time keeping up.
The pic above is “Monkey Head”, which is just a short side trail trek off the East Trail in Lost Maples. Above were some golden eagles soaring the thermals, but that photo didn’t do them justice.
The picture I took of the 20 vultures on the javelina carcass was quite vivid, however. So stay tuned!
Test Run 1 & 2
After installing the patched gas tank up into the Rover’s frame, and giving the truck a much needed bath of 1/2 water & 1/2 degreaser, I took The Rover out for it’s initial test drive. First off, I noticed I didn’t have a working speedometer, but the truck was running extremely well, and I headed for a frontage road where I could test the adjusted and thoroughly cleaned Fairey Overdrive. All worked well, and I returned to the shop to check out the speedo cable.
Mac arrived to see the hood open, and said, “I don’t like the look of that.” We quickly found that the cable had been pulled out of the speedo’s socket, so that repair went just fine, although those tiny little screws holding the cable to the transfer case were a bit of a challenge to work with, especially behind the emergency brake housing.
Of course, pulling the cable from the dash caused further issues. The definition of Pandora’s Box can be found behind my dash plate. One lead had been disconnected, that was followed by a faulty connection and a blown fuse, but eventually the wiring issues were solved and the Rover made the trip north from the shop for the night.
I didn’t push the motor in the 88 degree Texas heat, but she purred along at 55 mph just fine.
All in all, another very successful day of Rover repair.
It is Alive
San Antonio, Texas
A long day, but a very productive day. The Turner Engine was installed, wires hooked up, overdrive reinstalled, fluids added and we ran the engine long enough to open up the thermostat.
Considering the severity of the surgery, the process has gone extremely well.
Tonight is just a beautiful night in San Antonio to sit outside, with a scotch and a celebratory buzz, watching the fire take hold in the brick oven. Temps are near 70 with a light breeze.
Life is good.
The Turner Arrives
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the new, rebuilt Turner Engine. We picked it up from the freight company this morning and proceeded to transfer items from the old motor to the new. I’d say we have about 90% transferred, and the rest will be done tomorrow after procuring some new bolts that had to be replaced for various reasons.
Overall, the work today went incredibly well. I can only hope that the install will go even close to as problem free.
Right now, I am extremely impressed with the Turner. Everything was together and ready for us to run with it. Obviously, the test will be when The Rover gets back on the road, but for the moment, Five Stars to Turner Engineering, and Seven Stars to Mac and his shop.
Open Heart Surgery
Back in Texas performing major surgery on the Rover with the help of my Sponsor as well as his crew.
The bulkhead was removed and the engine pulled out in slightly less than 2 hours.
Everything was marked & pictures taken, so I’m hoping the install will go as smoothly.
In honor of Alaska Day:
…which was 18 October, but I was out celebrating. I saw this factoid recently, which for some reason I thoroughly enjoyed:
Alaska is 2½ times bigger than Texas. At low tide, Alaska is three times bigger.
Alaska Day. On 18 October 1867, “ownership” of Alaska was officially transferred from Russia to the United States. The day is an official State holiday, not to be confused with “Seward’s Day”, but the real party is in Sitka.
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