They say writing is therapudic ... I guess it might be. Generally when the tribulations of life stike, its good to have a sounding board, and what better board than the one that can't respond. I should write more often in the Quest blog, but too many other things find a way to consume my time. Like this ...
I continue to have issues with the Quest mobile, now in its 241,000th mile, there's all types of really severe issues that continue to creep up. We spent the winter tearing into the engine and replacing parts as we worked our way out of a timing chain issue ... and I'm talking blisteringly cold winter ... out in the driveway chasing nuts and
bolts and the wind blows them away. It was miserable experience, but it's done. Now it appears the latest issue with the Quest-mobile is the rear axle. This one we've decided not to tackle on our own, which bears its own financial burdens in the form of a $1000 repair bill. I keep telling myself that it's just this issue or that issue that separates me from full functionality. The Quest-mobile is like an old dog, it's like part of the family, it's been with me throughout my Quest for 31 journey, racking up mega-miles as I criss-crossed the country visiting stadium after stadium. It's been dependable, its been a part of the journey, it's been a vehicle I really enjoy driving. The question is, just like the dilema that Timmy faced when looking at old yeller, when exactly is it really time to shoot the bastard in the head? I guess for now, I'll continue to follow my mantra and figure that this is the last major repair and then it will be good to go for a while. We'll see...
So after a $1200.00 repair bill, I decided that the trip down to Charlotte, NC for my bachelor party would be the perfect lithmus test to see if the repair took. After shelling out a cool G to have the rear axle rebuilt by a place called Ring & Pinion in Mt. Clemens, MI, I took the truck for a test drive and found that the original problem I took it in for (a strange clunk coming from the rear of the vehicle) was still there. I returned to the shop, they gave me the run around, but we settled on having the transfer case rebuilt for an additonal $200.00. I'm not sure about Ring & Pinion, but I don't think I'll be taking another one of my vehicles there. After they rebuilt the transfer case, I pulled it out of the lot and everything appeared OK. No mysteriouos clunk to be heard ... which brings us to the 13-hour Charlotte road trip. Fours hours into the trip, my AC quit ... it was 90-degrees. Midway through the trip the clunk began to return. I was pretty damned furious.
I drove that stupid thing around Charlotte for a week in the blistering heat with no air and the back end clunking around like the rear axle would break off at any minute. It was miserable, but I made up my mind that this would unfortunately be the last road trip for the Questmobile. IF it would make it back to Detroit, it would be unceremoniously replaced as soon as I could find something else. I feel like I wasted a lot of money trying to keep my beloved companion road worthy for the last leg of our journey, but once the air quit, that was the last straw. The Questmobile actually did make it all the way back to Michigan, so I had one last road trip with an old friend, but now I seek a successor.
