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Travels with BillyBob Log

WHAT'S NEW is a chronological listing of updates to the BillyBob site.

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

STORE Operating in association with Amazon.com, books, recordings and tools can be purchased.

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

TRAVELS WITH BILLYBOB With apologies to Steinbeck, this area of BillyBob's Garage will be used to log the trips BillyBob and I make together.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS is the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I can accomplish without a garage.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and the time when I started restoration, a piece at a time.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

BILLYBOB MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines specifically developed for BillyBob, including required tools, materials and procedures.

PARTS SHOP The Parts Shop is a repository of How-To articles. Things that I have done over and over enough times to have developed a procedure. This gives me a checklist and saves brain cells.

STEALTH SHOP Urban residence design with large integrated shop and separate living quarters for a relative or renter.

10. Hutchinson Roadtrip Day 1

BillyBob and I tempted fate last year on the Macungie Run and aquitted ourselves well. We're gonna take another run at it this year, this time to Hutchinson, Kansas and back in the space of two weeks. Again, we'll see how it goes. I've added Google Earth and GPS tracking software on my laptop computer "Firefly" to complement the website editing and file transfer software I loaded for last year's trip and the idea is to record the log entries daily. I will upload to the BillyBob website as often as I am in a location where I can get a net connection. The highlight of the roadtrip and the reason for taking it is to attend the 2008 ATHS National Convention and Antique Truck Show where I'll be hangin' with the usual suspects from the OldGMCtrucks.com group.

SITREP

During this past week, I performed monthly and quarterly maintenance and changed the oil and packed the front wheel bearings. Also finished organizing the roadtrip supplies inventory. I also ran the air pressure in the tires up to 35 psi from the 26 psi I usually run with. Freshened up the Rain-X on the windshield.

I've added a SHTF (Spit Hits The Fan) survival bag and a few MRE's to last year's supplies. The ride down the Kelly School Road deer trail still haunts me. I ran out of cigars last year so I'm packin' more of those as well. Got a keyboard and mouse for Firefly too.

Last year, I had a slipping clutch and chattering starter. Those items are fixed. This year's worries are a leaking rear main seal and E10 ethanol fuel.

Saturday, May 17th 2008
Day 1 PRE Check

Again, it will take a day or two to get a traveling routine established. I started off at the Krash Lab this morning by programing my first destination, Sopchoppy, Florida, into "Mother", the Garmin c340 Streetpilot navigator, and reseting the trip counters to zero. I also told Mother to stay away from the interstates and turnpikes. Sopchoppy is more than one day's travel distance but I'm not making hotel lodgings my destinations this year. I'll just find one when I get tired of driving. Checked all BillyBob's fluids (oil, tranny, diffie, brake fluid, coolant). and tire pressure. Loaded up the travel cooler with ice. I think I'm ready to gas up and head out with Dave Dudley's truck song "Rolaids, Doans Pills and Preparation H" in my head as background music.


1.	Date and Time	May 17, 2008 9:30 AM
2.	Odometer	29,202
3.	Comfort Supplies	Cellphone, AAA+ membership, reading glasses, my lucky WWII Army Air Corps mechanics cap, cheap aviator sunglasses, small cooler with water and trail mix
4.	Roadtrip Supplies	Inventory
5.	Prep	fill water can, mount navigator, setup GPS tracker, gas up

Engage

Gassed up at the same station a block from the Krash Lab and started following Mother's directions. She guided me up thru Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach on secondary roads. I had forgotten to put my camera in the cab with me so I stopped in Delray to get it out of the back and check BillyBob's oil leak . . . No drops showing.

Mother took me around the Palm Beach airport, then east. This was when to suspect that Mother had not mended her ways. She was supposed to be taking me to Sopchoppy in the Florida pan handle. I thought she should be taking me in a general northwest direction. Instead, we were heading for downtown Palm Beach.

Concern deepened when we were directed onto I95 north. BillBob could handle it because it was north of the Palm Beach to Miami deathrace segment but I was still concerned because we were headed up the east coast for the next 125 miles according to Mother. In addition, she projected a 6:30 pm arrival time in Sopchoppy which I considered impossible.

After about twenty miles at 60 mph, I pulled into a rest stop to check BillyBob's vitals. Left the engine running. No oil drops under the scatterpan after five minutes. I got in the cab to find that pulling into the rest stop had prompted Mother to calculate a new route. Now, she wanted me to get off at the next exit and go west on a State Road. Alright! That's more like it.

The route took me to Okeechobee and was a nice segment. Mother had added another hour to the arrival time. Stopped for gas. No leaks showing. Opened the hood to cool the engine for the hot restart. Followed CarbKing's suggestion for starting a hot engine on today's fuels and did not pump the pedal at all. BillyBob caught on the first spin of the starter.

When Mother came back online after the gas stop, she had a senior moment and recalculated the route back east again and added another hour to the arrival time. I tried to get her to recalc again but no joy. Again, the ride was nice 'cept we we going east . . . to I95 north a few miles where we had left it! Damnation!

Mother wanted me to go 72 miles on I95. I stopped at the next rest stop to check BillyBob's vitals with the engine running again. DeJa Vu! Mother recalced while I was doing that and wanted me to get off at the next exit! Instead of heading west tho', she took us on US#1 for a hundred odd miles. This is south of Melbourne. I'm behind schedule so there's no time to stop to see my Aunt and Uncle or Stovebolter Don McLendon ("DowntoSea").

Saw some wildfire damage on US#1 but didn't get the camera fired up in time to get a pic. Mother finally turned us west as we hit the outskits of Datona. She shure does like the Ocala National Forest. It was a few small towns (I think this is Deland), then we were in it fer hours.

I'm glad there are a few gas stations in here. BillyBob continued to restart on the first spin with the new procedure. The leaking rear main bearing seal appears to be minimal too. That is good news. I don't much like the E10 ethanol gas that most Florida stations are starting to serve up. It will be required of all stations by the end of the year. This stuff is not approved for airplanes. Why don't I have a choice?

By the time we crossed the Florida Barge canal, we were getting out of the woods. One of the problems with just checking into a random motel is that they are rare out here in the boonies. The first time I asked Mother to check for lodgings, the closest available was a local church that took in travelers. I finally told her to head for a Comfort Inn in Alachua, eighteen miles to the southeast of the last gas station we stopped at.

Day 1 POST Check

Managed to make it to the Comfort Inn before dark but was too tired to write this dispatch up right away. It is now sunday morning and I am behind the eight ball getting going. I think I am close enuf the Sopchoppy tho' that I can still make it to Bartender Dave's place by early afternoon. I'm not gonna take any nonsense from Mother today.