Arise Yellow Knight, Part 4

 

The story continues from here.

After a three year slumber, being rudely woken up by having it's old heart ripped, replaced with another and a splash of life giving fluids, the "Yellow Beast" was ready to go.

Although sounding a bit on the dramatic side, that's in essence how that part happened.

 

The only thing that would have come close to being an issue for departure was a seized brake on the driver's rear. After all that time, the emergency brake didn't want to just let go and after a few attempts of rocking the car (clutch, forward, brake, clutch, reverse, brake, etc), freedom was negotiated.

I don't recall if I have ever had General Tires on anything I owned in the past, so this was going to be a rapid introduction to the brand (albeit on aged tires).

Ah yes, the gear stick of motion.

 

It has been well over a decade since I owned a vehicle that had a manual transmission, the last one was a used, bought over the internet 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser, back in 2008.

The last time I attempted to drive a manual equipped vehicle was on an aborted test drive for a 2016 Kia Soul in June of 2018. I wound up buying a Mitsubishi RVR with a CVT instead.

The drive from Chetwynd (okay, just outside and to the East of the town) to Fort St. John was a forgettable experience really. No fuss, no muss, the car operated as designed and manufactured. I had both the passenger and driver's door windows  rolled about halfway down to allow fresh air to circulate in the stale interior and to listen to the engine and exhaust, for any surprise problems. After about 20 minutes of that and hearing nothing of concern, I tuned in a local Country music station on the FM dial and listened to that for the remained of the trip.

10 days had past before I would drive the Cavalier for the trip home.

Oddly enough, there was one important piece of equipment I didn't check, the windshield-wipers. Now, the first thought that some people might have would be "After all that time, they have to be ruined!" Well, it turned out they weren't and I can't explain it. 

Part of the time on the voyage South was to take an inventory of what didn't work on the car, which was a pretty short list. The CD player in the factory AM/FM stereo failed, inserting a disc created a "Err" display on the clock readout and the disc would be promptly ejected. The passenger door mirror was multi-cracked in the middle, but I could still see if something was coming up behind me. The final non-working item was the burnt out  reverse lights (I would discover those much later).

It was a late start that day (around 4:30 pm), so when I finally rolled into Williams Lake (about 10:45 pm), I was exhausted and noticed the Cavalier was a bit low on gas. I would get a good night's sleep and deal with that in the morning.

Just outside and to the South of Fort St. John is a small village called Taylor and it was there I gassed up and reset the tripmeter for the first time since the Cavalier was resurrected. This picture was taken right before I reset the tripmeter again, after fueling up in Williams Lake. A 17 year old car, sitting 3 years without running and having oil of questionable vintage (but at a full level on the dipstick) produced that kind of mileage?

There is much to tell about the journey from Williams Lake to Home, no problems or even minor issues to report. Even after a few days of sitting around, the Cavalier was given a much needed oil change, air filter replacement and a really good wash, still nothing bad has happened yet.

In fact, I just made a video about the car, with me driving it....

Arise Yellow Knight, Part 3

Although it has now been three years since I traded a 1974 Security motorhome for a 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier (read more about that here), the final adventure to get the yellow coupe home actually started back in April 2020.

For history's sake, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020.

 

Needless to say, I stopped using company booked flights as a means of travel between the city I live in and the town I would be working nearby. With the onset of Spring and clearer roads to drive, that was the option I was going to use, until the time comes where flying is safer to my health (I doubt that) or I am no longer sufficiently compensated for "wear and tear" on my own property (more than likely to happen) as a mode of conveyance.

 

 

That property just happened to be a 2017 Kia Sportage that I acquired in March 2020.

 

As a traveling machine, the Sportage has proven to be very comfortable and accommodating, with all the options an owner could want (heated and cooled leather seats, panoramic sunroof, satellite navigation, adaptive cruise control, the list goes on). The only real complaint I have about it is the fuel mileage, but I do believe my heavy foot and the Turbocharged engine are major factors in those results.

Even on the first 1140 kilometer (or 708 miles for you other folks) trip, I would pass by the property, either late in the day going up, early in the morning on the way down, where the Cavalier was sitting....almost waiting for something to happen to it. April became May, then June rolled by and into July, that's when I made the decision to bring the Cavalier home.

 

 

First thing's first, would it even come back to life?

 

The inlaws who were....curating the machine for me plugged in and hooked up a battery charger, but I had made arrangements to buy a new battery. Something told me that three years of just sitting, let alone enduring -40°C (the same as -40°F) winters, the battery in it would be worse the unresectable.

 

So, out with the old....

....and in with the new.

Getting a new battery was the right call, once a connection was made, the dash lit up and the radio roared loudly to life. Turns out the ignition has a trick to releasing the key and being off (I have since discovered by watching the clock readout on the factory stereo will indicate if I have performed the procedure properly. If it stays on after I open the driver's door, I did it wrong and have to fiddle to fix it).

One saving grace was the fact the Cavalier was parked on a concrete pad, which saved the tires from sucking up moisture from the ground, slowing their decay. A quick check of the fluids after the battery was installed and I turned the key. Vroom, fired up first try and no pumping of the gas pedal (which would have happened if it didn't start).

Yes, you are reading that correctly (or for you other folks, that's 165026 miles).

I was sitting behind the wheel in shock, listening to smoothest running four cylinder engine I have heard in a very long time (recent vehicles I have owned like my Dodge Dart, Mitsubishi RVR and Kia Sportage all produced a ticking while idling, I attribute this to the variable timing technology they all share).

A little hard to tell from this picture, but the interior a bit dusty, but everything was there and serviceable (and much to my surprise, the factory AM/FM/CD Player). However, quite a few "creature comforts" were missing such as no power windows, no air conditioning, no tilt steering, no power seats, no cruise control and so on. In other words, "Old School."

The next chapter of this adventure will be looking through this cracked glass to work, then home....

Arise Yellow Knight, Part 2

 

A recap of the story so far. In September 2014, me and the family bought an antique motorhome, took a single long, round trip for leisure, only to discover this wasn't a good lifestyle choice for us. A few months later, it turned into a temporary home while I took some out-of-town training for a new job and parked it on an in-law's property, awaiting a final fate.

Or, you could read the detail rich experience here.

 

 

From about May 2015 through July 2017, thoughts and discussions about what to do about the motorhome would popup occasionally at the dinning room table. First, we ran calculations on just how much it would cost to bring up under it's own power, but ran into an issue of storage. Leaving it where it was at turned out to be the best idea at the time.

I would walk off my job at the Site C Dam Project in November 2015 (thanks to some management compatibility issues) and as a family, decided to return to Kelowna, a 14 hour and nearly 1,200 kilometer (or almost 746 miles for you other folks) move south from our then current location. Based on the even longer distance to travel and more extreme changes in road grades and elevations, thoughts of bringing the motor-home down turned into "could we sell it?"

 

 

For almost two years the motorhome sat and through word of mouth and other media, family and friends would try to sell or trade it on our behalf. Sadly, no cash sale but odd offers were made on it. A dirt bike, a gas powered go-kart and other items that would require somebody to bring whatever it was down to us, or us to go up and get it. I had given up any hope of recouping even a small portion of what we spent on it and motor-home started to fade from conscious thought.

Near the end of July 2017, my mother-in-law was willing to broker a deal.

There was a guy who was interested in a trade, a high mileage 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier for our motorhome, which required a lot more to get back on the road than before it was parked. Pictured above was his attempt to boost the motorhome and hear it run (after nearly two years, the battery wouldn't have a charge to start).

While that was taking place, my mother-in-law took a few more pictures of the Cavalier.

Granted, they weren't the best pictures, but it was enough to make the deal happen. I had high hopes this car might be either an easier sale, or was going to be more reliable and cheaper to bring down to Kelowna.

Once again, discussion on what to do with the Cavalier began in earnest and slowly tapered off, replaced with the turning of the calendar for another three years....

Arise Yellow Knight, Part 1

The story of what is pictured above starts six years ago with what is pictured directly below. Confused? No problem, just get comfortable in your chair and ready yourself for a long, but interesting tale....

In September 2014, while my family and I were living in this northern Canadian town called Fort Nelson, British Columbia, the decision was made to buy a motorhome for "camping out." Now, this particular machine was old (the same year I was born) and very well used, but had enough charm and character to make $1,800.00 changes hands (on my birthday no less).

The grand theory behind this transaction was to get away from complicated, cumbersome and highly vulnerable tents....

....and have a portable structure that would put of more resistance to bears and other wildlife than what fabric could not provide. We also thought we would be saving money by not having to rent cabins or hotel/motel rooms, when they were available.

The first major road adventure with the old/new motor-home was within a week after the purchase and involved a long drive to the south. 5 hours and 15 minutes (not including bathroom breaks, stopping for fuel and other stuff) and a distance of about 481 kilometers (closer to 299 miles) from Fort Nelson to a tranquil place called Moberly Lake. Camp Emile to be more specific.

The trip down was uneventful, the family was comfortable, playing cards, reading or even napping away while I drove. However, a few noteworthy issues came to light. The engine was a small block Chevy 350 (5.7 litre for you modern folks) that was grossly under powered for the vehicle. On flat, level ground, the motor-home could cruise along pretty good. Add a few steep grades to the road and nearly all power was lost in the attempt to climb them.

Fuel expenses hurt (over $200.00, but considering the age of the machine, I shouldn't have been so surprised) and not having a "tow behind" vehicle, to use after the motorhome was parked were a few more lessons to learn. But after we arrived, we spent three days lakeside and visited with family, the return trip home was just as uneventful as the journey down.

Winter came and went, bringing news that I got a job at the controversial Site C Dam Project, just out of Fort St. John. However, I had to come down for an orientation and First Aid training in Dawson Creek. That meant another long drive in the motor-home, but this time, without the family to keep me company.

For two weeks in May 2015, the motor-home would be my residence and main source of transportation.

Thanks to a family friend, I had a place to park after spending 8 hours on my hands and knees, learning how to band, splint and package critically injured patients for medical transport. Then, I would leave the training facility, go and get a dinner of some kind (using a drive thru was out of the question) and finally park and plug in for the night at the friend's property. Throw in a couple of hours of study time, the remainder made up with a some sleep and be up by 6 AM the next day, just to repeat the cycle.

After the First Aid training had concluded, it was time to find a less mobile place to live. An apartment was secured in Fort St. John and the family would join me later, but the motor-home would be stored on a rural property outside of Chetwynd. The original plan was to keep it there, just in case we wanted to try the whole "motorized camping thing" in the future.

Needless to say, I would never drive the motorhome again....