The truck ran well and for a 1962 109" Dormie with a 2.25l 4 cylinder engine, it was actually quite a good cruiser so I made good time down through Washington State and then Oregon. The speedometer didn't work so I had to guess my speed but it seemed like I was doing 55mmph or thereabouts. I wasn't up to sleeping in my newly-acquired mobile accommodation so stayed Saturday night in a motel and made an early start on Sunday. The scenery south from Oregon is pretty awesome so the journey passed quickly. Arriving north of San Francisco, I became surrounded by a group of Hell's Angels on Harley Davidson motorcycles which was a little scary until they took a side exit. As I looked across, the leader gave me a little tip of the helmet in farewell. Pretty cool.
Sunday night south of San Francisco was a night to forget. Motel 6 is the cheapest motel chain in America. For a reason. Don't go there unless you really have to. On the Monday morning, the Dormie was a little reluctant to start but it fired up eventually and I headed down south. Just 450 miles to go. I got as far as Santa Barbara when disaster struck. Just 200 miles to home. I had stopped to fill up with petrol when the starter disintegrated. The bendix spring, the nut and washer fell inside the bellhousing and I didn't have a starting handle. Bummer. I called AAA and a tow truck arrived - one of those flat bed things where they haul you up on the bed at 45 degrees then tilt it so you are horizontal. Sneaky idea - I got him to haul me up the bed, let off the tow rope and I used it as a launch pad to jump start the engine. It almost worked - it started but the spring got caught in the flywheel and it jammed up solid. Double bummer. So I took advantage of the flatbed and had the Dormie driven the rest of the way home, arriving Monday night at 8pm. It took me a while but eventually I extracted all the bits from the bellhousing which left me free to go on my next adventure. More of that soon.........
Cheers,
Ian
