Three Amigos, A truck, 11 States and 6 Days

[Paveltolz]

Sunshine arrived in Seattle from his home in Norway last week where 635 collected him up and they drove down the coast to San Francisco and then up I-80 over Donner Pass to Reno. They linked up with a friend of Turbine Doc there for some 6.5 talk, dinner, more 6.5 talk and then continued on towards Bonneville for a few days at the Salt Flats with Bill Heath and company.
Monday night they linked up at my place, ate a steak dinner, talked trucks and everything else we could fit in to the limited time there at the house.
After a good sleep the three of us headed out for a 6 day/11 state sojourn.
Goal: Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Aztec Ruins, Taos, Chimney Rock, Sturgis, Devil’s Tower, Custer’s Memorial, Yellow Stone, Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, Walking J, Heath’s and back to Seattle by the 24th to drop an exhausted and corrupted “Sunshine” at SEATAC in time to catch his plane back to Oslo.
Today we made from Salt Lake to Winslow Arizona with an altitude high of 9995’ between Cedar City and the East entrance to Zion’s National Park. With a short stop to admire the incongruity of Pink Coral Sand Dunes at 6000’ we continued on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Tomorrow we’ll get the “standing on the corner in Winslow AZ” photos and make our way east and north through New Mexico and into Colorado.
Pictures: High altitude and propane don’t guarantee a clean burn. 635 sends an environmentally unfriendly “How ya doin'” with smoke signals from his dual exhaust.
Dinner in Valle AZ across from “Flintstone Land”

 

[btfarm]

Excellent!:thumbsup: Hope you guys have a great (and safe) trip! Keep the pics coming...:agreed:

 

[NVW]

Sounds like fun, keep us updated.

 

[buddy]

Thats the ATT smoke I see too, even at sea level! Its just really crazy at high altitude, and impossible with the cat/soot trap on there. Sounds like a great trip

 

[Paveltolz]

The trip is great and thanks for the well wishes. We are mostly on back roads and out of cell phone contact so we'll keep the coal rollin capability to send for help if needed.
I noticed last night at the end of the day a loss of OOMPF that we ascertained was from the lack of water in the 23 gallon tank (may be larger so I'll post a correction tomorrow).
Once we were full up on that substance we were good to go.
Today's Stops: Meteor Crater and Painted Desert AZ. Ship Rock NM, Four Corners (CO, NM, AZ & UT), Aztec to see ruins but got there too late, impromptu firing range NM, Deer Strike NM (not us but a White SUV just met mr Mahem with horns) and we ended up stopping short of Pueblo Colorado by about 4 hours. Tired.
Pictures:
635 trying to tow away the "Flat bed Ford." "I don't care if it does make the song rhyme, that thing has got to go!"
Winslow driving away from the Route 66 "Sidewalk Museum"
Painted Desert
Four Corners
"No Officer, that's not our speed, that's the outside temperature!”
Not sure what is up with the new picture posting format on the forum but I need to figure out what is going on and how to post these things in order. Please understand and muddle through.

635 Quotes of the trip:
How you doing back there Limey? Who cares? (Repeated often just to ensure Sunshine knows he’s not forgotten or unloved).
How much time does it take to stare at hole in the ground? (at the Grand Canyon after one hour)
How long do you need to stare at a hole in the ground? (at the Meteor Crater after 20 minutes)
How long do you need to stare at an over hyped rock quarry? (at the overlook for the Painted Desert)
How long do you need to stare at a plaque on the ground? (at Four Corners [Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico)

 

[Paveltolz]

Thats the ATT smoke I see too, even at sea level! Its just really crazy at high altitude, and impossible with the cat/soot trap on there. Sounds like a great trip

Air Dog, GM8, Snow WMI, Propane and, if needed but not yet, Zex Nitrous.
Sing along with me, "I like Candy...." Now try to get the melody out of your head. No need to thank me....

 

[btfarm]

I'm not real sure you guys should be trusted all together in public...:nonod:

 

[Slim Shady]

Has to be some crime for the three of them to be in the same truck.

 

[NVW]

:iagree:

 

[gmccrewcabdually]

Sounds like a FUN trip!! wish my truck was up and running! i would love to make a trip like that!! LOL!! and the starting point of the hole thing is right hear in my back yard!! and i have a crew cab to boot!!

i wish you all safe driving and lots of good times!!

Pete

 

[Paveltolz]

People. I owe pictures so here are shots of Chimeny Rock, Crazy Horse Memorial, Devil's Tower and Battle of Little Big Horn. I didn't get shots of the truck at Sturgis or Rushmore as Sturgis was a T-shirt only stop and the view of the monument from where we parked was blocked by two stories of concrete. As it turns out, neither did we get one at Crazy horse. Oh well. Then there is the shot of us running down an F250 Harley Davidson Special that went around us at almost 100 just inside of Montana. We caught him and pushed him up hill for as long as common sense would allow. No, we didn't need the Nitrous to catch or keep him wondering what just happened. By the by, Montana Girls like to flip off other's while they talk on their cell phones and block the left lane....no pictures of that either, not worth the digits, so to speak.

Chimney Rock
Crazy Horse Memorial
Devil's Tower
One can run but they can't seem to get away, even up hill with us loaded at 8500#

From our blog:
"We arrived at the [Little Big Horn] Memorial were the park rangers had already closed for the night so we were able to get in with about 45 minutes of viewing available. I had prepared some pithy little comments for your entertainment but have erased them all. We arrived as the sun was setting and headed up the battlefield tour road. Grave markers dot the landscape with many in clusters of five to 30 but the ones that seem most poignant are the pairs. Soldiers fight, ultimately, to preserve the life of their comrades in arms. It is natural to gravitate to another in battle out of a sense of safety and duty. Soldiers will fight to the death to preserve their buddy’s life and it is evident in the scenes from around those grounds. No comments made to denigrate. No sense of urgency to leave despite the lateness. Even the Park Rangers were in no hurry to push the lingering visitors out. Ted commented on his first visit many years ago, early morning, foggy, the sense of a presence that has stayed with him all these years and he still felt. Interesting, the first contact of MAJ Reno with the Indian camp was early morning with fog or mist in the bottom of the valleys. Paul commented on the feeling of reverence that permeated the area and sense that something important, ominous and purpose had happened there.
Thanks guys, this has been a fun day and the shared experience at the Last Stand will, I believe, Stand with us all for the rest of our lives."
Sunset at Little Big Horn

 

[buddy]

So Ted had the GM8 on there, or the ATT? Ive had both high altitudes and the GM4 actually didnt smoke like that, but the ATT did on every go from a stop. I dont think the altitude programming works in the OBD1 trucks, because I didnt notice any less fueling or different shifting.

 

[635]

Yep, put the GM-8 back on. Better mileage a the slower speeds of 62 where I do like to drive!

Paveltoz is now the proud owner of the "A" Team Turbo.

Never mind the pictures we were on a distance time crunch and had to make time when possible. This big heavy truck will get down the road if pushed hard enough.

I could of turned on the nitrous and got rid of the black diesel smoke but that would just put blue tire smoke down in the same area.

Used about the same amount of water to diesel at every fuel up and the higher speeds and about half as much propane.

People get out and see the sites.

 

[Paveltolz]

Sorry for the long post yesterday. Inadvertently posted the whole diary instead of just the update. Here's the cleaned up and correct post for 21 and 22 AUG 10

22 AUG 10
Saturday, 21 AUG 10. We rolled through Yellow Stone and Jackson Hole decending into the park from the north. Too much to see to try to expound upon the views. You simply have to see it for yourselves.
The trip is winding down with our run today from Idaho Falls to Ellensburg WA. We're all pretty wired from the seemingly endless driving but the trip has been an absolute riot and, as was hoped, an experience of a life time.
Performance observations for general consumption. Note, these are observation by a confessed Diesel/6.5 neophyte. The truck is a 98 3500 4x4 dually with a 23 gal propane tank mounted atop a 32 gal water tank that when fully fueled and watered it weighs in at approximately 8500 pounds.
Normally the truck runs around 62 mph but we’ve been running 80+ (++ sometimes) and while it normally lives below 1000 feet ASL, we’ve been above 4000 and up to 10000 on this trip. The usual 23+ MPGs Ted (635) experiences have been but a distant memory on this trip. Big smiles despite the high 14s and low 15s temporarily replaced that.
It has been commented that the truck is smoking more than normal. The high altitudes with the reduced density of the air that was causing it are also a thing of the past with the return to below 1000’ altitudes. Power braking still produces plenty of smoke but not as black or as thick as we saw at say, 6000 and the puffs observed under light acceleration are gone as well. MPG’s are up with a return to ‘normal’ speeds and by doing so the motor will continue to perform as expected.
We ran up the final climb out of Yakima WA, 5% for over 6 miles and ran down an F-350 dually doing 80 and desperately trying to hang on to the left lane. We gave him the lane but took his pride with us as we blew past and continued to pull away. Boost- 18+, EGT- 1000, water temp <200. Proof positive that the adage, “diesels need to breath” is as true today as when the engines were first produced.
23 AUG will find us at Heath’s talking shop and assembling the parts purchased there and abroad for flights home to Oslo and Utah.
Ted quote: To Paul R when passed a sandwich, “He can’t eat that without a fork and knife!”
General answer to any question: “Who $%^& cares!”
Thanks to all for the support the support and well wishes expressed here or in thought.
Thanks Ted and Paul, it has indeed been a once in a life time experience.

 

[Paveltolz]

23 AUG 10
Spent the night in Ellensburg WA and ate breakfast with Bill. Prior to the visit, the truck got its first bath in about 2 weeks. Some of the bugs will require a little more convincing to leave though.
The visit with Bill was, as usual, refreshing and enlightening. He’s recharged after a week on the Salt taking a break from work. Todd suffered though our road tired tirades as we called now and again to keep him entertained while we ran ragged across the western USA.
Paul got photos of himself inside the Salt Flats racer and with the Heath Diesel staff. Thanks all for a great day.
With more pictures and memories to hang on to we rolled west towards Seattle where we will meet with Nick at Turbo Tech in Tacoma to get some parts prepared for use in building clones of Ted’s intake. Hey, it’s working for him and Matt at Peninsular, Nick at Turbo Tech, Jamie and Bennie Avant of Diesel Depot and Avant Salvage made it all happen to get the parts to us in time for mock up. Paul has an ATT and I have Ted’s now. I don’t want to cut up my other upper intake as I want to be able to compare both the GM5 I have and the ATT before deciding which one to hang on too. I trust the ATT owners out there but I’m still trying to ascertain the “how and the why” things work the way they do since I’m not intuitive and the written word will often escape me. Hands on and head banging works best for me.

Picture of "Paul on the Range" was from our impromtu shooting range in New Mexico last Wednesday which, in hind sight, seems like such a long time ago.

People, like Ted said above, Get out and see this great world upon which we live. One state/county or country at a time. Just take a little more time to do it if you can. If you can't, get your truck together, gather up people you care about and go on a windshield tour. :agreed:

 

[Sunshine]

Returning to Norway, exhausted and corrupted, but then a more knowledgeable and a wiser 56 year old.
with the though that different cultures as strangers can be in each others face 24/7 without rocking the boat.

And that the TSA at the airport though my baggage would have put "Mary Poppins" handbag to shame.

We on this road trip was mostly "Shaking the Trees" an occasionally sitting in the "Rocking Chair" & "Racking the Leaves" there were times it was close but not close enough to go home with a "Driving Award" so it looks like some day I shall have to return.

Ted & Paul, thank you, for these memories.

 

[Paveltolz]

Returning to Norway, exhausted and corrupted....

That credit goes to Ted.

Paul, it was fantastic and I look forward to your return.
Ted, Thanks for use of your truck and for letting me drive for, what, 400 of the 4000 we covered together?

Total time on the road for Ted and Paul was almost 6000 miles. Only hickup was the truck started to develop a strange idle fluctuation that we eventually figured out was associated with the vibes given off by the Dairy Queens we'd come across. Paul is now a certified Blizzard junkie and will have to start riding his bike again.

 

[Paveltolz]

Trip's Done

Emails from Ted and Paul R indicate all are home safe as am I.:hihi:

It was a once in a life time experience and as much fun as it was, that's as many times as I want to try it.:thumbsup:

Short video compilation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1BF-JC6Ts

 

[btfarm]

Very nice compilation!:thumbsup:
Wish I could have been a part of it in person...

 

[Chief915]

Great write up, it sounds like a great trip.