Travels with BillyBob Log

WHAT'S NEW is a chronological listing of updates to the BillyBob site.

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

STORE Operating in association with Amazon.com, books, recordings and tools can be purchased.

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

TRAVELS WITH BILLYBOB With apologies to Steinbeck, this area of BillyBob's Garage will be used to log the trips BillyBob and I make together.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS is the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I can accomplish without a garage.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and the time when I started restoration, a piece at a time.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

BILLYBOB MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines specifically developed for BillyBob, including required tools, materials and procedures.

PARTS SHOP The Parts Shop is a repository of How-To articles. Things that I have done over and over enough times to have developed a procedure. This gives me a checklist and saves brain cells.

STEALTH SHOP Urban residence design with large integrated shop and separate living quarters for a relative or renter.

10. Hutchinson Roadtrip Day 2

SITREP

After posting the first day dispatch to the website and notifying interested parties, I went to the continental breakfast. The term "continental breakfast" only works in this situation if you think USSR just before the collapse. Pickings were thin. I got away with a bannana and a cup of coffee. Back at the room, I setup my cooler. Refilled my water bottles with tap water and got my two "Keep it Kool" reusable gel packs out of the in-room refrig/freezer. A lot easier and less messy than dealing with ice. These gel packs were given to me by JR. No, not my brother, JR. This JR of the "Just Us Motor Club"

JR of the Just Us Motor Club

Sunday, May 18th 2008
Day 2 PRE Check

Started by changing Mother's parameters. I set the navigator to calculate based on the "shortest distance" instead of the default "fastest time". Mother told me it would take over nine hours to go less than 200 miles between Alachua and Sopchoppy. I then told her she could use highways and that cut the time down to less than three hours. Checked all BillyBob's fluids (oil, tranny, diffie, brake fluid, coolant, steering gear and battery). and tire pressure. The diffie had a puddle under it but I didn't lose much out of the rear main bearing overnite because the truck was parked in a sloping space with the rear end of the truck higher than the front end. BillyBob didn't lose enuf gear oil to put any in yet. The only thing I topped off was the steering gear box with STP.


1.	Date and Time	May 18, 2008 11:00 AM
2.	Odometer	29,635
3.	Comfort Supplies	Cellphone, AAA+ membership, reading glasses, my lucky WWII Army Air Corps mechanics cap, cheap aviator sunglasses, small cooler with water and trail mix
4.	Roadtrip Supplies	Inventory
5.	Prep	Mount navigator, setup GPS tracker

Engage

Finally got underway thru the town of Alachua at eleven in the morning. Today was cooler and more comfortable in BillyBob's cab than yesterday. I was afraid that Mother would head straight for the Interstate, but she stuck with US routes, state and county roads. Maybe I've found the sweet spot. Too early to tell.

The route took us thru some Florida farm counrty. In these areas, farm smells filled the air. Smells I remember from my youth on my Paternal grandparents' farm. Smells that I didn't have to worry about coming from a BillyBob malfunction.

A lot of the rest of the ride was thru Florida Panhandle forest. This was a pleasant segment. I hope there are more of these. BillyBob and I arrived in Sopchoppy right on time at 1:45 in the afternoon. Bartender Dave has a chebby bowtie sign out by the road in front of his house so there was no mistaking it.

Day 2 Google Earth Track

Day 2 Google Map Track


1.	Date and Time	May 18, 2008 1:45 PM
2.	Odometer	29,777
3.	Mileage	142
4.	Elapsed Time	2 hrs, 45 min

Hangin' with
Bartender Dave and Lady Jenny

David Earle has been reading BillyBob's logs for a few years now. He's been writing his own car stories but doesn't have a blog setup yet so a select few on his e-mail list get to enjoy them. I'm one of those lucky people.

Dave has been restoring his '55 Chebby shoebox, a sweet car that has been in his family a long time. This is what he has been writing about recently but he also has a great series on the last two Hotrod Power Tours in which he and a friend, Airport Steve, drove a '62 Chevy station wagon beater with a flying pig hood ornament (I may have some of the details wrong here. Dave's writtings are stored on my other computer, Buc Nekid, back at the Krash Lab).

We gave the car a tech review first and Dave introduced me to another fella that plays prominently in his stories, Papa Don. I don't know why I missed getting a pic of Papa Don. Curses! Papa Don is a wealth of information and he told me that Lucas gear oil would work better in BillyBob's leaking steering box than the STP I'm now using. I'm gonna give it a try. Dave's in a pretty good mood even tho' it doesn't look like he's gonna have the car ready in time for this year's Power Tour.

Up until I got to the Earle compound, I thought Dave was working out of his garage. Well, he is but he also has a fenced lot next door to the house that is big enuf to park forty vehicles, if need be. There are four Task Force Chevy project trucks there as well as a trailer made out of a Task Force bed. There are also two well-equiped parts and shop sheds and a lift from a gas station demolition that he hasn't had the time to set up yet. I was droolin' so much, I forgot to take pics. But I did manage to take the obligatory pic of Bartender Dave and beautiful Lady Jenny with BillyBob.

We messed around in the garage for awhile then we jumped in BillyBob and Dave gave me a tour of Sopchoppy. It is a neat little town that the developers haven't turned their attention to yet. Dave and Jenny had offered me the "Mechanics Suite", a bedroom and powder room off the garage to stay overnite. I had offered to take them to dinner in return but it turns out that Sopchoppy's one restaurant is closed on Sunday. I'm going to have to live a long time to return all the favors that have been extended me.

Jenny fixed us some good grub and Dave had a couple of different beer brews on hand because he knows from the BillyBob logs that I am a beer commonsewer. We had cigars on the porch and worked on the car a bit (Dave doin' most of the work, that is. I held the troublelight once). We watched the CMT Awards with Jenny, her daughter Casey, and Casey's boyfriend Kevin . . . and Oke, their fierce attack daschund. I slept very well. Quiet here. No sirens, no sporadic gunshots and I didn't worry about BillyBob being vandalized. It's a good thing for Dave that we live almost 500 miles apart. I'd be tempted to move into the mechanic's suite when he's looking the other way.