We meet in Independence in four days, so each of us has been making the most of our final weekend of prep time. Seeing as none of us know what the other has, I instead offer for the record a few excerpts from the group chat, with what context I have been able to gather.
George
Okay, so I think my final score for tonight is 2x “I MENDED SOMETHING” and only one “I MADE SOMETHING ELSE WORSE”
George took the “Fire Truck” to Edmond to work on it with his Dad — and also to hide it from Evan. He’ll be basing his trip from there, so he has, in effect, already left on this journey.
I think I may have found the actual problem with the thing I made worse, in the process of making it worse. So if I can find the right [redacteds] for it I might just be able to mend it.
Overall, for me, there’s a new noise, but I am choosing to believe it’s not important. The main thing is that I solved a GIANT vacuum leak.
Evan
Ok so the trip home with the car was not uneventful. One old problem that I probably need to deal with and one new one.
So that means he got it good enough to leave the garage with it. That’s a good sign, right?
Old problem is I THOUGHT the steering wheel was off center and needed alignment… But turns out it’s off-centerness changes based on which way I turned last. So uhh… That isn’t ideal.
The new one appears to be heat related and I suspect is another bad ground rearing it’s ugly head.
I really cannot wait to hear the full details on this story because he knew this vehicle would require significant work, and he seems to have pulled it off. … Mostly?
Today was a very bad car day for me. I tried to fix a problem with the steering and it took forever and I’m pretty sure I didn’t fix it anyway.
And then there’s me
That “functionally adequate but looks like garbage” fix of mine from the other day failed to inspire sufficient confidence, so I decided to throw some dealer money at my problem to get the actually-correct part. I ran a few trip preparation errands this weekend, including a confidence-building drive in heavy rain, so I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about my upcoming departure on Tuesday.
I have discovered some additional quirks this weekend that I hadn’t noticed before… And a non-critical electrical feature seems to have given up the ghost, but I don’t think I have the time required to fix it. I did receive my vehicle’s title from the DMV. Also, I believe I’ve put together that I paid less than the other two, possibly by a lot.
Oh and I have new waterproofing concerns.
It’s been storming in Tulsa, OKC, and Austin — and each of us have some worries about waterproofing… and how we don’t seem to have it.