Tag Archives: Adventures In Truckdom

Adventures In Truckdom

Adventures In Truckdom – Free Canopy Edition

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…or…

Adventures in Truck Canopydom

I’ve intended to get a canopy for my truck. These of course add more storage space along with at least a modicum of security. In the Pacific Northwest they also help to preserve the truck bed from rusting. For my uses, getting one additionally provides a quick if basic set-up for camping — and it would help with the SCUBA dive work I’ve been doing this summer.

This is the style of canopy I’ve been dreaming of …

For me, the timing of getting a canopy has been funny… I could-make use of one now, but I also need to conserve money. From my research local Craig’s List advertisements, at the low-end these run $50-200 and often are in the same condition — usually needing work. A few weeks ago I got lucky — got a canopy for my truck for free! I was alerted there was one at a neighborhood garage sale, so I got over there as quick as I could. As it turned out it had a lot of things going for it. The canopy was a similar colour to my truck, it was the right length, and it needed about as much work as the ones I had seen online. Not to mention that the price was definitely right! On the other hand, it was a little wider than the rim of my truck bed. The folks giving it away apparently had the same issue and had already attached some boards to adapt its width. I could go ahead and clamp it on my truck …. after paying $10 to their garage sale for a set of canopy clamps.

And this is more of the style of canopy I received.
(Brunette not included … which is good because that wouldn’t work with me on account of my new and awesome girlfriend.)

As soon as I could I took to cleaning the canopy. It appeared to have been sitting on the ground for some time. Using dish soap, a gentle brush, and the garden hose I cleaned off dirt, grass, UFOs, and any number of bugs — alive or dead. In pretty short order I began to have a decent canopy and I was better able to assess the repairs.

Long/Short…

It needs some work which I’ve already started. One of the windows doesn’t open, one of the windows doesn’t close. My plan is to make both of these so they’re permanently closed. I’ve removed the adapter boards to give them a better cut, so everything fits and seals between the canopy and rim of my truck bed — I’m also painting them. After getting the canopy I purchased a whole whopping $25 worth of supplies to help make everything else work well together. My new-to-me canopy ought to be in fine shape with a little more time and ingenuity.

… now I just need to learn to drive on mirrors.

Oh well … Always Learning!

PS — Get My Book & Support My Truck!

That’s right — I’m a published author! My first book has been available since October 2018 on Amazon. Through July 2019 the e-book version is available on Smashwords for a SCREAM of a price!!! (In fact, it should be less than what you see in the widget below…) Selling my book is part of how I make my income, and part of my income goes to making my truck happy. Keep an eye out — my next book will be published soon — a book of military and patriotic bagpipe tunes and their histories. I’m excited about how this upcoming book is turning out!

 

Adventures In Truckdom

Back On The Snowy Sidewalks

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And now, a snowy episode of …

ADVENTURES IN TRUCKDOM!

Jingle Trucks
Not quite this fancy, but you get the idea….

I’ve had my truck off the road during the past number of weeks to complete a few work items on my repair & improve list.  There have been a number of delays due to schedule and a major appliance going out at home, and yet my dad & I have chipped away at the work when and where we can.  Last night my truck reached a point where it’s ready to go back on the road for a while.  This accomplishments with this round of work feels good — it looks like I’m starting to get on top of my to-do list.

Frosty weather, snowy weather, when the wind blows we all go together ...Today I plan to get the front bumper back on my truck — to get my truck in our garage I had to start with taking off both bumpers.  Lately our temperatures have been as low as the upper teens and as high as the mid-30s — and we (finally) had our first round of snow.  Right now we’re getting our second round of snow.  For the next few days it looks like we’re supposed to get more of the teen temps to lower-30s and snow.  Snow began to fall again this morning, and so far it’s sticking however it is our warmer wet-snow … and now I’m going outside to work on my truck.

Did someone put their truck in a ditch ... in the snow?
Not actually my truck … same brand and product line however

At this juncture I will skip how our western Washington snow IS in fact different than many other parts of the country, how we DO know how to drive in the snow VRS the southern transplants to Washington State that have no freakin’ clue (including how to drive in snow, rain, sun, etc), and how our wet-cement snow turns to ice along with being on hills that have more or less the same slope as parts of San Francisco.

SO — the remaining work to get my truck back on the sidewalks …. er, I mean, back on the road…
  1. Reinstall the front bumper and other MANLY metal bits along with the grill.  There is also a jerry-rig repair I want to finally complete on the grill.
  2. Reinstall a few interior bits now that that the defrost and dash-board lights are operating again.
  3. Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on — minor things, but necessary nonetheless.
  4. Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, get the paint adequately dry, rebuild the bumper (license plate lights and etc-bits), and bolt the bumper back on Sunday.

Yeah, I think that’s it.  The first step though is to get my winter clothing located following my move this past summer.  I’m and old-school Pacific Northwest boy — up to a point I tend to shake off the rain and snow … but over and around this weekend we’re supposed to get hit with enough snow and cold AND since I’ll be laying on the ground to get bumpers back on … yeah, something a little more serious in the way of clothing is called for.

Oh … PS!

the snowmobile's red haired step child
When I grow up I wanna be a snowmobile!

This time last year my truck was off the road, in a garage,  with my dad and I doing work on it.  The winter before that I didn’t drive it because I didn’t need to.  This is the first time in snow that I might actually get to drive my truck and see how it handles, how I do with it.  I was starting to wonder if it was going to notoriously be ‘off the road‘ every winter and I was never going to drive it in the snow.  I’ve been all ready for this year — sandbags in the back along with snow tires!

P-PS!

Make Your Darn Good Cookies book coverWhen it comes to inclement weather are you an in-door person? Do you prefer to curl up at home on the couch in a blanket, sipping a favourite hot beverage with a book?  If so, grab your preferred online device and order a book — and not just any book but my book — “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book.  Over 50 proven recipes including cookies, biscotti, coffee, coffee cake and apple sauce, along with a number of main-course comfort foods you and your friends are sure to enjoy!

Did that sound like an advertisement?  If so, good — because I need to sell these things!

Adventures In Truckdom, Book

AIT – The Next Big Push

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AIT? = Adventures In Truckdom

I’ve been a busy bloke lately …
… I’ve restarted my day-job search
… I’ve been working on my truck to get ready for my commute
… I’ve been promoting my book, AND
… I’ve been getting a few book presentations scheduled

Yeah, you read that bit about how I’m working on getting a day-job and getting my truck ready for my commute?  Here’s the thing … I need to kill the rust on the cab floor of my truck and paint it.  I’ve had some modern Naval Jelly stuff and paint along with other supplies, I just haven’t had time.  My preference has been to do this outside during the summer, yet the past few summers have been too busy.  This is +/- a 1-week project …. and now I’m trying to do it done before a job starts AND in winter?!?

Here’s The Deal …

The work ahead is more or less like this — bearing in mind that I have to make some accommodations to do the work at this time of year …

  • Remove the bumpers from my truck to get it to narrowly fit in the garage at my new place — DONE
  • Remove the bench seat and flooring — Partly DONE
  • Carefully pull my truck into the garage where there is little space (Note that previously I thought I was going to have to remove the doors, too — but I’ve figured out how to accomplish the work without pulling these off.)

  • Not a post like this.

    Heat the cab in an otherwise cold garage so the rust-killer stuff I have will work right and then allow it to sit for about 24 hours

  • Paint the floor and heat the cab in the previously mentioned cold garage so the paint will dry right and allow that to sit for about 3 days
  • Reinstall everything in the cab, put the bumpers back on, and return to driving on the sidewalks (<– yes, that last one is a joke — if you can’t deal with it then stop reading now)
  • There are other tasks I aim to complete while the truck is off the road and the paint is curing, however that is aside the focus of this post …

Progress so far …

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on getting this project going — but things keep coming up.  You make plans and then there’s what happens — plans (often) don’t always work out as projected, the important part is that you do your best.  I have the bumpers off, the seat-belts and the bench-seat unbolted.  Yesterday I thought I was going to get the truck in, however a problem presented with the garage door — so a decision was made to put the work off until next week after the door is fixed.

There is a bright-spot in all of this …

I have plenty to do in the meantime — including working on my job search.  As for my truck, one of the smaller tasks is that I’ve wanted to kill the rust on the rear bumper and paint it.  I had planned to do this concurrently while working on the floor — now I get to try out my Naval Jelly product first and get familiar with it before working on the more-critical floor.  This also gives me time to work on other things that have needed attention.

OH… and one more thing… There is an online bagpipe school called Dojo University — I’ve known about them for years and heard nothing but good things and their prices are quite affordable.  If I could I would like to give their school a go, however I haven’t had an adequate net connection since finding out about them.  In the mean time I’ve read articles that they put out and uses some of their free services.  Lately I’ve been taking part in the “Dojo U 100 Day Bagpipe Challenge“.  The primary part of the challenge is for pipers, in their individual practice, to assemble their pipes and practice one tune — any tune — a day for 100 consecutive days …. and if you miss a day, you have to start over.  I see the object of this as not so much to work on one’s playing ability as it is to develop discipline.  Today will be Day 012 — it’s going well — and if I can … between now and when I can get started on my truck next week … I aim to do two practices a day.

Adventures In Truckdom

Truck Doors … Done?

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Adventures In Truckdom
Doors … Done?  Anything … Done?

I set out to do a number of little tasks on my truck today — all of which I thought I was going to be able to knock out and then be done working on my truck for the coming week.  Best laid plans …

After starting in on my truck I found I needed to spend some time addressing the storage of one of my cars along with some spare body parts I have for my truck.  All of this needed immediate attention and it sucked up a bunch of time!  Frustrating, but stuff like that happens.

My plans today were to finish the work on both of my truck doors — seal the gutter rubber, transfer a seal from the bottom of my old passenger door to the new one, pull the windshield washer bottle and change the pump, restocked cab, and install a seat cover.

What did I get done?  … Restocked the cab a bit, half finished the doors, and pulled the windshield washer bottle.  I also had to re-work the passenger door because I screwed up a bit when I built it.  Nothings broken, I just put some stuff on backwards — which I kind of need to take it apart again tomorrow and check the other bits.

Oh, I also got some sandbags into my bed today for winter traction.

What else did I accomplish?  I’m tired and sore.  Going on 3 years ago I was in a car accident and got whiplash; I think I’m mostly healed now and back to normal, but sometimes I wonder that I’m still recovering some of my strength and stamina.  Some of it too could be that I’ve also gotten older in the mean time.  Poo.  But, I’m not one to give up, not one to stop pushing or trying — NOPE!

Here’s the thing… I have plans to leave for the weekend — plans that are important to me — and I need my truck a bit more ready than it has been.  I think I can get everything else done tomorrow.

I’m not sure if I forgot something above.  I’m not sure if this is written at all well.  I’m sore and tired … I mentioned that, right?