Getting gas in Reedsport, the clutch went out. I have to turn off the engine to get it into first and reverse but once rolling I can shift it by matching the speed of the engine to the transmission.
The three shops in Reedsport are booked out for at least a week; Tuesday is the soonest anyone could look at her.
Thinking I could über around or rent a car while waiting, I decided to see wha'sup in Coos Bay. Brenda at the Bay Bridge Motel in North Bend, up the street from Coos Bay, said they could put me up for $81.00 a night with a kitchette...and her brother's a mechanic. After a couple of calls we agreed to meet at the Dollar General in Lakeside, a town about halfway between Reedsport and Coos Bay where he'll take a look at it.
2:36 pm Saturday
No sign of Brenda's brother, the mechanic. Über doesn't rent in Coos Bay.
The cashier at Dollar General suggested Far West Auto & Tire in Coos Bay. Further!
The Toyota dealership's reviews of their rental cars are all top-drawer.
I only took four iso this morning. It's hard to know if yesterday's excitement was the cause of the tiredness or if I really need 5. But it was all I could do to take care of "morning bidness" and walk a ways in the other direction to empty my pee bottle. The memory of how tired I was from the effort a few days when I adjusted the clutch set me to cogitating on offering someone a hundred bucks to let me use their lift. Eventually though, I threw the tarp down & managed to see it's not the adjustment; something gave out...the genesis of today's post.
Shifting with no clutch - it's all about those RPMs.
ReplyDeleteDollar General is indicative of much wrong about the U.S., corporate America,economics, increasing poverty, etc. That's not to say I've never gone to one but a mechanic in the parking lot does seem sketchy. Back in the VW ('66) days there was always something broken (heater controls, throttle cable, master brake cylinder, etc.) and I did master the 'no clutch' shift. Hopefully you'll find repair options and remain able to shift again...shifting one day at a time.
ReplyDeleteArt!
ReplyDeleteBy Jove, you're Prescient!
He never showed. I left several mesages for Brenda telling her I'd be there at 2 pm. I waited 'til 3:15 then returned to Reedsort where there's better signal. Brenda texted at 5:15 with an apology and an excuse and offered to bring her brother to Reedsport today. I declined her offer and thinking of going to Coos Bay for repairs and, it being Saturday and all the repair shops closed, I began casting about for accomodation.
Rents in Coos Bay run around $240 per night and are all full up. There're cheaper ones, but the reviews ranged from so-so to THE WORST EVER and the so-so ones were $150-$180 per night. The cheapee through Airbnb is a sofa bed with a roommate in a 27' RV for $70 a night.
Eventually, a kindly motel owner (female) directed me to a shop in Florence, 25 miles to the north, with good reviews. There's a U-haul truck rental place and it's Sunday so it remains to be seen what the morrow will bring but my current plan is to rent a 10 x 10 box truck to live in until Phoebe's back on her feet. The truck'd cost about $300 for 5 days and the climbers I met a few posts back told of some dispersed camping not too far from Florence.
The box truck would be a step up from "...living in a van down by the river..." and it would be roomy. In the upper midwest the mosquitos (I recommend "Mosquito Coast) would make that unbearable w/o screening. Weekends are depressing in general when it comes to vehicle breakdowns. Breakdowns combined with habitat/shelter issues combined w/ you health challenge(s) could be overwhelming. Monday s/b better...and as I write this the Orange Blob is being charged with election interference in GA and that makes it a good day.
DeleteArt!
DeleteAs usual, you nailed it.
The van will be the topic of my next post, but I'm on the verge of over-whelmedness. (I'm trying to keep my insatiable curtiosity up about what "overwhelmed" is gonna be like.)
Taheerah from Quest in Portland just called to set up my chart and schedule a ZOOM appointment with Dr. Lusijah Marx for Thursday, day after tomorrow.
See: https://quest-center.org/lusijah-marx
I saw Dr. Marx in a Youtube video of a tv story from early in 2022 after Oregon approved psilocybin-assisted therapy. Thinking there might be others at the organization, I contacted Quest through their online form.
Dr. Marx's specialty is end-of-life anxiety. I may have hit the jackpot. The weirdest part is remembering how the 2020 infarction came out of nowhere. Every minute has that foreboding. It's a fascinatingly bizarre way to live.
I returned to Florence to retrieve a few things from Phoebe and have signal to talk with Taheerah.