A couple of months ago I sold my Jeep; a couple of weeks ago, my Ford decided it needed a new transmission valve body. This is an ideal time of year for living on the back of your motorcycle, which I mostly do anyway, but there are a few chores that it’s helpful to have a truck to do. I have been working around the issue using modified pack animal techniques.
For groceries, I lashed a Duffel bag across the back. That plus the saddle bags allowed me to carry everything I needed.
The trash situation after two weeks was approaching Alice’s Restaurant territory. So, today:
Zero points for guessing what I used to create the lashing points on the bag. You can see one of them here.
Grocery run.
The shop just finished rebuilding the front end on Mom's 92 ForeRunner. She got it for those times when a car-car just wouldn't do it. Now most of those tasks get delegated to me "so we don't get the ForeRunner dirty." That the beast has 0 computer anything is one reason why Mom still drives it.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
She's wise to keep it. As expensive as it is, I don't mind paying for a valve body because it's essentially an all-analog hydraulic computer. What I resent paying for are the digital things they insist on putting onto what already worked without them, but which you can never seem to replace without great expense and difficulty because they lose interest in maintaining stocks of them.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Say what you want about the older aviation engines* that I used to work on, but they had nothing that was not mechanical or basic hydraulics (engine oil to drive the propeller.) Yes, the wiring harnesses could be a challenge, but no way existed to add a computerized anything. Likewise the older cars, pickups, and SUVs. If it works and is safe, it should not be "updated and improved."
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
*We did say things, or rather the gentlemen did after I stepped out of the shop "to check on something." They preferred not to verbally vent their frustrations with a lady present.
Especially regarding aviation, I worry about all of our fly-by-wire and computer-dependent combat aircraft being disabled in mid-mission by an EMP burst among them. Tube-based, hydraulics, and other mechanical systems are much harder to disable.
ReplyDeleteI similarly worry about our naval and ground force equipment that are just as dependent on their computers and their "fly"-by-wire controls.
Eric Hines