We spent a night in Indio before traveling south along the Salton Sea. There isn’t much happening out there, that’s for sure. It was a nice drive, beautiful in its starkness. When we turned west the desert enveloped us, and for miles and miles all we saw was perfectly groomed dirt shoulders. It didn’t occur to me why these giant soft sand shoulders existed until I spotted the Border Patrol officer dragging the big chain link fence behind his car so they can see if anybody snuck across the road.
Every time I see these guys at work I am reminded of how everything I have in life is because of  one simple thing—I was born in the United States of America. Not because I’m smarter or worked harder. No, I won a genetic lottery ticket that hit all five numbers. In a couple of weeks I’ll drive my home right over the Mexico/U.S. border and be welcomed like an old friend for no other reason than I was born on the north side of a line.
Halloween morning—costumes on—ready for action.
We arrived at our friend’s friend’s house in San Diego and let the kids get reacquainted or at least introduce themselves, and then we all set out to canvas the neighborhood.
The kids had a blast. We knew Ouest would, but thought Lowe would be a little more standoffish. But not at all. He tore right up to the doors with the rest of the kids, and just as quickly ran back holding his piece of candy out to us saying, “Look at this.” He’d hand it off to us and run off to the next house.
Good fun. While we stood at the end of a driveway my friend, Eric said, “Can you believe we’re this guy?” But not in a poor schmuck kind of way—more like, aren’t we a couple of lucky bastards.
We pulled into the driveway yesterday and found it was on a pretty big hill, so while Ali and the kids went inside to say hi to everyone and begin the festivities I stayed outside to try and level us off a bit.
I put a couple of two-by-sixes under the rear tires and then gunned it to try and climb both up the hill and up and over the wood. When I thought I had it I put the bus in park and went outside to have a look only to discover that I’d rolled backwards off the wood. Back inside I tried to put the bus in gear but it wouldn’t go.
This has been a problem for quite a while whenever we park on big hills, which I try to avoid doing as much as I possibly can. On hills I have to really crank down on the shifter to get it to finally pop into gear, and while I’m doing that it feels like something could snap at any second.
Well today was that day—in the driveway of friends we had yet to even meet. That’s embarrassing.
The shifter suddenly went slack, sliding up and down through the gears on the panel with no resistance. I was sure the cable had snapped. There was nothing to do at the moment so I went inside and we all enjoyed Halloween together.
This morning my friend Eric and I got straight to work. We removed the cable with a little finagling, but it generally came off pretty easily. With it off we could see that the cable/metal rod hadn’t snapped, the problem had actually started back in the broken exhaust manifold days. Back when that was broken there was a lot of heat being spit out right at the manifold instead of being carried away by the exhaust pipes themselves. The shift cable runs right along the manifold.
Over time the hard plastic cover had melted away leaving exposed metal. The cable is actually a small rod enveloped in wire sheathing. The wire sheathing was rusted and a couple strands had actually snapped. So now when I had to pull hard on the shifter the whole contraption actually buckled up instead of staying firm. So now there was no pull on the shifter arm itself.
I can get a shift cable made easily enough—but that takes days, and this was the weekend. We had reservations at an RV park just down the road, so this fix needed to be about getting the bus out of the driveway and four miles down the road.
What I eventually came up with, was hose clamps. Lots and lots of hose clamps. When we couldn’t find hose clamps small enough for the cable, Eric came up with the simple solution of widening the cable by using metal tape. And this is how we went about repairing the broken shift cable.
I wrapped tape around the exposed metal and tightened the hose clamps all along the length—sixteen in total. I then reinstalled that and got to work on the next problem.
That next problem rested on the fact that we were still parked on a hill. The two pieces of wood that I had tried to put under the wheels were actually jammed under the forward side of the wheels so that there was total pressure on the transmission.
We had one small bottle jack and two jackstands. We also happened to have a huge assortment of two-by-eights, thanks to the project being built in the backyard. Combining all of these things we were just able to get the rear wheels off the ground and knock the wood out from underneath. But just barely. Nothing we had was big enough to get all the rear wheels in the air, which is what I really wanted to do in order to try slipping the bus back into gear. I figured with all the pressure off it would shift easily.
Anyway, we tried every combination to lift us off the ground, but eventually gave up. In my frustration I finally decided just to crank down on the shifter again and see what would happen. Eric watched underneath at our hose clamp cable monstrosity while I applied more and more pressure until, bang, we were back in gear. Success.
I drove up the street to find a flat place to park, gathered up the family, gave many thanks to our wonderful friends, and drove off.
And yes, we did make it all the way to the campground.
I love repairs like this. It’s always frustrating at the time, but even so, I love the challenge of finding a solution to what at first seems an insurmountable problem. There is always a way.
Lowe, dirt streaked, road rash on his forehead, day after Halloween. He never even asked about his bucket of candy.
34 Comments on “Halloween”
I Must have had 30 or so kids at my door, many dressed just exactly like your kids.
Nice camping area.
Trent.
My 72 Dodge based RV (winnebago) used a mopar shift cable that was part number 03641309. It was the same cable used on Dodge cars and vans in the later 60’s, so might be the correct p.n. for yours. Its overall length, from the eyelet center at the top, to the end of the threads at the bottom end was 101.5″. The length of the outer sheath from end to end (the ferrules are swaged onto the sheath) was about 94.5″. I got it from a gent who sold mopar OEM stuff online, and it cost me $108. in 1994.
The bad thing about putting it in ‘Park’ on a steep surface is that the load on the parking pawl inside the transmission can be extreme. The better solution is to have the parking brake working, or to use copious wheel chocks. If your Travco has the small drum for the parking brake mounted on the transmission tailshaft, it can be fixed up – though I think you would need to get its original little brake shoes relined. If thats the arrangement you have, the handbrake cable is probably stuck from corrosion – since folks always used the “Park” position instead of the parking brake. The handbrake cable I got for mine was Chrysler Motors part number 1-04167460. I got this cable from the same online seller in Minneapolis as the other cable, and it cost about the same amount. Both cables were labelled ‘made in Canada’.
Another way the shifter cables fail is when you want to move it from D up into R or Park, and due to the lower part of the cable being stiffened with age, the cable gets a kink in it at the top end, behind the dashboard. So the shift lever may be in Park, but the trans may be in D or N or R.
Good Luck, Dave D.
Ha! This is much different than your rant about Halloween last year! 😉
Oops! Or a few years ago. You’ll have to excuse the error. I haven’t slept in at least two years. The twins are one now. My head is spinning!
You have a talent for finding great campos.
We camped the same spot in Joshua the first night we got our trailer. 2. The lake secret spot is our favorite after the Julian Blues Bash. 3. Home turf is a few blocks from the hillside photo (undoubtedly the best Halloween handouts in the city). Can’t wait to see the Mexico campos!
Thx for the ride. -Rand
you’re going back to mexico in a couple week? we are heading down to baja after thanksgiving. this is our first foray doing the panam with our two boys. we have read your blog for so long. really hope to run into you guys. we will be in a old ford diesel van camper.
Well if we’re both in Baja at the same time it’s pretty much a can’t miss. Looking forward to meeting you all!
Hey Pat & Ali,
Are you headed to Baja or Sonora? We are in San Carlos right now and would be headed for Mazatlan except for the hurricane. Deja vu… PV in October 2011….
Stephen & Angela
Baja. And yes, it’s been quite the year for storms.
A PAY PHONE!!!!!!
Haven’t seen one of those in a while.
Mark and Cindy
And with a discarded pack of Marlboros to boot. Our grandchildren will probably wonder what both of those things are.
Ouest made the perfect Stevie Nicks!
I thought the same thing. 🙂
Poor Lowe – I thought that spot on his head was part of his Halloween costume! The kids looked so cute dressed up, and Ouest looks beautiful in her dress.
Hi guys,
Long time reader, first comment.
We’ve been following your adventures online after reading your book about circumnavigating the globe. I just have a quick question about your photos, I think you use lightroom. What settings are you using to display your photos? They look awesome? Thanks guys. Best of luck in Mexico, we’ll be reading.
josh
So nice to see you share Halloween with fellow travelers. The kids all looked healthy and happy. Was wondering what stopped the two princesses and dragon in their tracks with mouths gaping? Also, good job dads, great jury rigging!
What a delight to see Cora and Lyra, happy and healthy! One shudders to think just how narrowly tragedy was averted. God bless the PJs who put their lives on the line for the Kaufmans and others in dire straits. (I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall as Charlotte and Eric recounted the last days of Rebel Heart.)
TJ
Yeah, those that have formed opinions based only on what they’ve read really have no idea.
Great attitude about the fix! Ill store this one away in case I ever need something like it (Hope not).
I also thought that bailing wire would have definitely gotten the job done too. 🙂
Pat, you only have to look at the bottom of your bare feet, repairing the shifter cable to see where Lowe gets his attraction to dirt! Like father, like son, lol.
Funny! I give the kids a hard time about being filthy all the time, but obviously the apples don’t fall far from the tree.
My two favorite blogging families in one post – AWESOME!
For those that haven’t already figured it out, those are our friends from http://rebelheart.squarespace.com/charlottes-blog/ It’s been great catching up with them.
Hi Guys, the kids are getting so big! What city is this? Beautiful pictures as usual!
San Diego!
Thanks! I just noticed you stated it in the post, I’m an idiot!
Over the last 50 years I have often thought about your observation. That lotto ticket hit not just 5 but all six numbers, not only born in the USA but born into a white, middle class, educated, stable and loving family. Yes, it’s pure luck but we really should also credit our parents for putting us in this fortuitous situation. Now you pass it on to your own lucky kids comfortable in the knowledge that you had a hand in their good fortune.
Using “Park” instead of a parking brake is risky business. You were lucky you got it out of park & back in gear. Some/all? automatics use a “Sprague” clutch in park. The more torque on it, the harder it holds.
You were lucky, again. 🙂
Paul Thomas
Correction, the Sprag clutch is used in the shifting mechanism. “Park” is a gear or pawl engagement. Bottom line is the more stress or torque on it the harder it is to dis-engage. Park is to keep engine torque from reaching the drive line, and it also keeps the vehicle from moving.
Paul T
The cable from my wheel to the rudder did exactly the same thing when I went to pick up my (new to me) yacht. 41′ Irwin. I took a piece of pvc and split it lengthwise and wrapped a few cable clamps around the whole thing. It worked like a charm.
Jim.
We thought about doing that as well. Only problem was that the section that was bad was on a curve.
This post made me smile a lot. *hugs*
Wow, your comment about being born in America and winning the generic lottery was a real Déjà vu for me. I posted almost the exact same comment a few years ago. One thing I am totally sure of is that, how hard you work, is not necessarily the reason for success. There are so many people who work day in and day out like donkeys just to feed there families. We really have been blessed by birth and birth place.