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Published: February 24th 2011
Well, I guess it had to happen, but today, 20 days into the trip and after 4500 miles run, I finally had to don the coveralls. Groan!!
We were getting ready to leave for the Monterey Bay Aquarium at about 9:30, I checked fluids on the car, as I do every day, and the coolant was a little low. So I added some to the tank and thought we were good to go. As soon as I backed out of our parking place though, I could see we were leaving a line of leaking fluid in the parking lot. Sure enough, it was coolant, so back into our parking space we went.
It took me quite a while to find the leak. At first I thought (hoped?) it was just a loose clamp, so I tightened every one in the general leak area that I could find --- no good --- still leaking. I suspected that it was one of the two small hoses on the back of the water pump, but I just couldn't tell for sure. Then as I examined the hose closely with a flashlight, I saw that there was a loose bolt and washer stuck
between that suspect hose and the engine block. I quickly found where the bolt had come from, it had worked out from the injection pump brace on the alternator bracket. I couldn't see anything, but I could feel a worn spot on the hose where the bolt had been stuck.
So I drained the coolant into a catch pan that I had brought with me for the mid-trip oil change that I STILL haven't done (soon!). Then I removed the damaged hose and replaced it with a piece cut from the spares I had brought with me. Bolted everything back up, refilled the cooling system, fired the little Kraut up and --- no leaky!! Yahoo!
In the meantime, Cathy (never one to let the grass grow under her dainty little feet) had hiked to the laundromat and done our wash. So after taking the mornings second shower to remove the greasy funk I had collected, I picked Cathy up and we headed to the Aquarium.
What a fantastic facility this is, we spent three great hours there and had a grand time. Hard to say what our favorites were, but as fine as the fish, sea otter,
and sea horse displays may have been, I think I liked the jellyfish the best. Certainly nothing like it in our river, that's for sure.
The abundance of species in this area is amazing, so different than our fresh water eco-system at home. Hundreds of different life forms of all kinds. The ability of the amazing engine of evolution to conform life to every conceivable niche in a given system never ceases to astound me. We saw a display of Murre, a member of the Auk family that behaves a bit like a Northern Hemisphere penguin. They breed on rocky islands and shores and they do not make nests. So, in a remarkably ingenuous adaptation, they lay eggs that are nearly pointed on one end -- so if they roll, they roll only in a circle -- I am simply left in awe by that kind of natural engineering brilliance. Charlie Darwin -- thank you for showing us the light, you are THE MAN --
Two cars we saw today we have to mention. First a beautiful early Mini-Cooper. Great, sure, but what really made it for me was the English twist on the ubiquitous little fish sticker,
I hadn't seen it before and I loved it!
And then, as we drove home through Pacific Grove we finally saw one, a brother 356!
Tomorrow it's up north through the redwoods to San Francisco. They're saying it may snow there tomorrow for the first time in 35 years, isn't that special?
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cwa
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McGuiver At It
I knew it had to happen sooner or later- McGuiver in action- we had confidence yo could fix just about anything short of a complete engine rebuild.