Fixing Willie - again

August 2

Valdez is everything we thought it would be – gorgeous mountains, glaciers, blue skies (though hazy due to the humidity and salt air), rustic.  It has been a wonderfully interesting place to be.

BUT, when one is having car trouble, it can be a terribly frustrating experience.

We noticed as we pulled into Valdez that Willie was beginning to growl like he did in 2013 as we were going to Boise and again in 2017 over Thanksgiving when Daniel was treated to the noisiest ride he had ever been on.  It is like riding in a dump truck.  We were able to get on it early, however, thinking that surely on Friday a car mechanic could help us.

Little did we know there is only one mechanic in town.  And he was busy – too busy for us, anyway.  So Don decided he would fix it.  He had prepped for this issue since we had already had it twice – but he was hoping not to have to do it.

He put on his sweatshirt that he brought for such occasions, gathered a few rugs to lie on underneath the Willie, and crawled under.  He came out from under with good news.  There are three bolts on the offending part, and two of them had fallen out.  But there was still a third one on it, so all he had to do was replace the two.  So back to the NAPA store he went to get the bolts.

He came back and tried whatever he was going to do, but then he had to go back to the NAPA store. He came back and tried what he was going to do.  But then he had to go back to the NAPA store or the hardware store.  Chuck placed a bet that Don would have to return at least 4 times.  Bart did not think it would take him that long.

Chuck won the bet going away.  Every time Don would come back, he either needed a new bolt, a different nut, a metric socket . . . something.  One time I was talking with Katie and Bart and I kept hearing a whistle.  I thought it was coming from the grocery store next door when suddenly I realized Don was under the Willie trying to get my attention.  Yikes!!

Long story short, seven – yes 7 – trips to the store and he finally found the elusive 10 millimeter, standard thread nut.  The NAPA store had exactly one that fit the bill.  And they had to look in a scrap bag to find it.

But, after over 4 hours of crawling under the belly of the Willie, crawling out, going to the store, crawling back under, crawling out . . . he fixed it – we think.  All we have to do is get to Anchorage, where there are plenty of mechanics and dealers with whom we can work!