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Old 05-23-2020, 12:31 PM   #1061
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Which piece are we talking about?
The four foot long un-painted ram?
Hmmmm... I think I understand. The lifting "finger" of the jack turns upward at the tip, which you may be able to see in the photo below. This peg fit into the tubing. Thus, the tubing could not readily slip off the jack. This what you mean?




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Old 05-23-2020, 03:03 PM   #1062
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The part the arrow is pointing at
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Old 05-23-2020, 03:07 PM   #1063
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Oh ok I see it lol. I answered before I read your whole reply. Thanks for clearing that up
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Old 12-03-2020, 09:54 PM   #1064
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Life-sign check-in.
Everyone OK? I sure hope so.
"May you live in interesting times." --Ancient Chinese curse.

On that note.... Recently, I read a history of Genghis Khan and his empire-building strategies and tactics.

For starters, the boy who was to take the name Genghis and make himself Khan of half-the-World... studiously planned and assassinated his six-months-older half-brother to make himself head of the household -- at age ten.
And that was perhaps the least offensive act of his rise to rule half-the-World.

But guess what was a key tool he used to maintain the (relative) peace and keep the camel express running on time once he was in charge?...
Freedom of religion!

Many despots use one particular flavor of religion to control the masses they rule over.
But Genghis was what-we-would-call an animist -- his "super-natural forces" were Nature Herself -- mountains, animals, rivers, the wind, the seasons, etc.

So when he encountered people who obsessed over various artificial gods, he simply said "knock yourselves out -- just don't knock each other on the head over your silly gods while you are working for me". And the silk and the tea and all the other goods kept flowing along the trade routes. Yes, even the mail -- I was not kidding about the pon... camel express.

Nothing new about Millicent since our last visit. With no events being held, there is no hurry.
But I have an idea.... (Yes, always worrisome. )
Millicent is a regular TC2000, with flat windshields, including those ridiculous narrow corner windshields -- for a total of four windshield panes.
Wonder if I can convert to the curved All American windshields -- grand total of two panes?
The frame is likely different, but I have never looked at this detail of an All American.
Anybody?
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Old 12-03-2020, 10:26 PM   #1065
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Back from the dead, are we? As am I. Long time no see...
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Old 12-03-2020, 11:18 PM   #1066
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Boy, do I look forward to the day when I have nothing to report.
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Old 12-04-2020, 12:09 AM   #1067
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Quote:
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Boy, do I look forward to the day when I have nothing to report.
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Old 12-04-2020, 01:39 AM   #1068
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[clck... bzzz...hmmmmmmmmmmm... scrch scrch... hmmmmmmmm.... ]

Strains of piano music waft across the higher strata of ether and consciousness – then mercifully fade just in time as the vacuum tubes reach full operating temperature and audio volume.




ANNOUNCER
You heard "Ingrid's Lament" from "Peer Gynt", composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875 -- performed by Eva Knardahl with the Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester... somewhat more recently.

And now, we interrupt this program to take you to our studio on the shores of beautiful downtown Clearlake...



...as Silent Radio Theater presents – live and direct for your listening pleasure...

[fanfare]

...Revenge Of The Bicycles!...

[sound effects of mechanical noises clanking and grinding, and numerous bicycle-bells a-ringing]

...starring Millicent...





...a 1992 Blue Bird TC2000...

[drum roll...]

...and...

[the drum is still rolling...]

...Our Hero!...

[ba-da-bing-clash! and trumpets blaring. The crowd goes wild]

Yes, Our Hero, Bicycle Repairman!



[studio technician turns hand-crank on applause-generator]

NARRATOR:
We meet Our Hero as he begins loading up The Stuff for The Event at the Camp International Off-Season HeadQuarters Little Red Barn:



Only afterward... does he realize it would be easier to put wheels on the barn and simply bring the whole little red thing to the Playa. Well, next year.


Eventually, though, he arrives at his chosen location to set up the shop, and...



...the faithful crew goes eagerly to work, building camp.




Camp Foreman Rick snaps his fingers, and appropriate equipment duly appears...






...and the camp is soon complete.



Though, even before all the shade is installed, Our Hero responds promptly to a desperate call for Bicycle Repairman! – which is why he is called Our Hero, duh.


photo by Maurice Tierney, Habitat For Insanity


Even so...



...nothing happens in this camp unless under the watchful eyes of The Supervisory Team, Maryanimal and Unjonharley.

Well... almost nothing....

Stay tuned for the next exiting episode of As The Wheels Do Not Always Turn! on most of this station [because this station is not always all here – but you smart folks out there in radio-land knew this already].

[jingle plays]


ANNOUNCER:
The preceding Silent Radio Theater program was a rebroadcast from the ePlaya forum, related to the Burning Man event. We apologize for any offense you may have chosen to take, but this is the best we can do at what you pay us.
[clck]

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Old 12-04-2020, 01:47 AM   #1069
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Look! Up in the sky!

Faster than a speeding bus!
Stronger than a stubborn rivet!

Able to leap roof-raised cheese wagons with a single bound!

It's... it's....BICYCLE REPAIRMAN!
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Old 12-04-2020, 02:07 AM   #1070
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You are the seventh caller, and you are on the air! What is your answer, please?
Quote:
Originally Posted by CHEESE_WAGON View Post
Look! Up in the sky!

Faster than a speeding bus!
Stronger than a stubborn rivet!

Able to leap roof-raised cheese wagons with a single bound!

It's... it's....BICYCLE REPAIRMAN!
We have a winner! Your answer is correct!


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Old 12-04-2020, 03:30 AM   #1071
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Found it. In case memories need refreshing. I had not seen it myself in decades.
https://www.velovid.com/bicycle-repa...flying-circus/
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Old 12-07-2020, 09:20 PM   #1072
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Wow! That was a journey, just read the entire thread. Thank you for bringing us along on your wonderful adventure. I also appreciate your outlook on life, its been refreshing.
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Old 12-07-2020, 09:47 PM   #1073
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Yeah, that's funny! Though aren't we all who grinds on buses not a bicycle repairperson too.
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Old 12-07-2020, 10:52 PM   #1074
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Talking Millicent The Bus

Love the story for years...good stuff on Lost Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race & BM.
True craftsman and artist,what a project and well done.
You go Elliot Naess
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Old 12-08-2020, 09:05 PM   #1075
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Old 12-15-2020, 03:29 PM   #1076
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Most people prefer to try and make a curved windshield into flat windshields because the cost of replacing on of the curved glass panels is not cheap.

The opening is the same but the framing is different. I don't know how exactly different because we stopped purchasing curved glass windshields with a Carpenter with the Vistaramic windshield.

You don't really gain anything with the curved glass. Distortion can be a problem particularly if you are like me and have prisms in your prescription glasses.
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Old 12-15-2020, 04:09 PM   #1077
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Elliot Naess View Post
Life-sign check-in.
Nothing new about Millicent since our last visit. With no events being held, there is no hurry.
But I have an idea.... (Yes, always worrisome. )
Millicent is a regular TC2000, with flat windshields, including those ridiculous narrow corner windshields -- for a total of four windshield panes.
Wonder if I can convert to the curved All American windshields -- grand total of two panes?
The frame is likely different, but I have never looked at this detail of an All American.
Anybody?
I was looking at the prisoner transport bus the other day at work and realized the windshield is flat, but angled back at the top. I started wondering if it would be possible to remove the two small side windshield pieces and lean the big pieces back at the top during my roof raise. It might help a little with the flat brick aerodynamics of the nose as well. I have driven large curved windshield and didn't like the distortion in the sides of the glass.
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Old 12-15-2020, 04:20 PM   #1078
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Cowlitzcoach, you are right, of course. My concern is simply the awkwardness of the tiny corner "windshields".
A new rubber molding costs about the same as the pair of flat panes.
What I will probably do... is spring for the molding (because the old one is rather hard by now) and install the panes from the Albatross bus (since those are in good condition and will become surplus).

Jack, there are a number of angles and whatnot to take into consideration. For one thing... have you noticed our main windshields are wider at the top than at the bottom? As for streamlining a "barn"... my gut tells me it would not be worth the trouble.
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Old 12-25-2020, 03:54 AM   #1079
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Christmas 1983.

I was about ten months into my wasted years driving 18-wheelers, and I had left Northern California with a load going to the North-East – I-80 all the way.

Truck number 82 was a well-worn 1978-ish Kenworth cab-over with 3406 Caterpillar, 13-speed, air ride, and manual steering.
Manual steering is perfectly fine – you simply turn the steering wheel 'round-n-'round a lot more than with new-fangled power steering.

Until Iowa.
The steering became so hard it was difficult to change lanes on the freeway, and I barely made it down an offramp and into a parking lot, pulling on the steering wheel with both hands and both feet.
Safely stopped, I looked at the front of the truck.

Like all cab-overs, the cab was hinged at the front for access to the engine, and there was a gap of a few inches across the front of the truck, between the top of the bumper and the bottom of the cab.
And sure enough... the steering gear was right behind that gap, receiving the full blast of the bitterly cold winter air. The grease inside was probably close to solid from the cold – at least, that is how it felt.

I found a cardboard box behind a store, flattened it, and I probably used bailing wire, and I covered that darn gap.
By then, engine heat had thawed the steering gear, and the cardboard kept it from freezing up again. But I now had "a pretty good idea" this was a cold winter.

In Pennsylvania, at night, I was asleep in a truck-stop, engine humming steadily at high-idle, when I was awakened by a loud bang, followed by an ominous hiss.
To this day... I feel "I must live right", because the problem was inside the cab, in the instrument panel which opens easily.

An air hose had blown out of its fitting. I reassembled it, restarted the engine and watched the gauge – which headed straight off the scale.
The air compressor governor had frozen, and the compressor kept pumping until the weakest link blew. Again, "...must live right", for the weakest link to have been right in my nice warm lap.

I sure as shooting-match wasn't about to leave the engine off for more than a few minutes – and not be found until April -- so I might as well put it in gear and continue east.

To regulate the air pressure, I pinched the loose hose with vice-grip pliers, adjusting the leak to keep the pressure in vicinity of the normal range. Basically, I was steering with my left hand and managing the air pressure with my right – up to my elbow inside the instrument panel.

Come mid-morning, I found a truck-stop which let me park inside the shop until the governor thawed out.
They had little other business, since precious few trucks were trying to go anywhere. For one thing, the weather was the coldest they had known in "human memory". And Christmas was approaching.

Hopefully, no-one noticed the frazzled look on my face when I delivered the load. It may have been in New Jersey -- I do not remember exactly.

Dispatch then sent me to pick up a load of aluminum in the same general area – I want to say Baltimore, but it might have been Pittsburgh. The destination was a company called Rockwell in Southern California.

Rockwell... turned out to the airplane company, and this was the year they started their second production run of the B-1 bomber.
The load consisted of a handful massive aluminum extrusions in the approximate shape of I-beams.

And there were many trucks picking up the same aluminum beams going to the same Rockwell plant.
And we were all given strict delivery deadlines...

...At the same time as the newspaper-headlines screamed about the whole freezkin' North Pole blowing into the mid-west and beyond. Christmas – only a few days away – was being cancelled left-right-and-even-south.

And all these trucks needed to high-tail it right thru the Stuff, which was worsening by the hour – from the level of winter I have already described on my way east. Now it was "go west, young man, and quickly!"

So, I headed south.
Down I-95 all... the... way... down... to... Jacksonville, Florida, before I turned west on I-10.

My most distinct memory is of passing thru Houston, Texas, on Christmas morning. The temperature in Houston, Texas, on 25 December 1983 was 16 Fahrenheit.

I remember Houston specifically, because that morning I picked up my only hitch-hiker in 27 years of trucking – a man who was near tears, trying to make it home for Christmas. Not kidding. With practically no cars on the roads. So, truck 82 was it.

The radio told of Dallas/Ft. Worth and I-20 being a thick-and-solid sheet of ice and no humans going anywhere whatsoever up there.

Somehow, I gave no thought to the other trucks headed for Rockwell, presumably even further north on I-40. (They were found in April. Kidding. But only a little.)

My load of very-fancy aluminum beams arrived in Los Angeles on time.
A cheerful gentleman told me I was the first truck to arrive, and all the others were reported severely delayed. I told him the route I had chosen.

For the next hour or so, the gent gave me a royal tour of the plant, and especially the humongously long mill on which my massive extrusions would be machined down to "wafer" thickness, to serve inside the wings of the B-1.
To maintain the required precision, the bed of the mill had to be re-leveled several times a day as the temperature rose.
(I could tell you more, but you do not have high enough security clearance.)

When I telephoned and told my boss, George -- the owner of the truck and the man who paid for all that extra fuel for my detour to Florida -- of said detour, he only grunted, very much to my relief.

At home base a few weeks later, George walked up to me and handed me a letter. The letter was from Rockwell, and it was a commendation to truck 82 for service above and beyond the call of duty. It mentioned "professionalism" and that sort of thing.

Along with the letter, George handed me a hundred dollar bill – which was "real money" in 1983 -- and the keys to an almost new truck with power steering.

To this day, there are plenty of articles online about "the coldest Christmas ever" in 1983. One mentions 14 F in Galveston, which confirms my memory of 16 F in Houston.
Alas, I no longer have the letter from Rockwell.
But I can still "see" that entire trip in my mind.

It does not matter what kind of work you do.
What matters is that you bother to do your best at it.

And that you always carry bailing wire and vice-grips.


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Old 12-25-2020, 09:31 AM   #1080
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Great story!!
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