broke down

What would a cross-country road trip with two loaded vehicles be without at least one mechanical mishap? Current location is the Best Western hotel parking lot in Abilene, Kansas.

Day one went smoothly, traversed parts of six states and spent the night in Graham Cave State Park, somewhere in the middle of Missouri. There were some big pulls through West Virginia and Kentucky, and some serious headwinds across Indiana and Illinois, but we logged about 750 miles on Thursday.

Friday started good, but we were still encountering some strong crosswinds that made driving difficult, both for the trailer on Sylvan's VW and the canoe strapped to the top of my car. We stopped for gas and had lunch at a little diner called Stacy's in Juction City, Kansas, and Sylvan's car was making a whining, squeaking noise somewhere in the engine. He vowed to check it out thoroughly when we reached Denver, and we got back on the road. About ten miles up the interstate, something flew off under the hood of the Jetta. Sylvan said he thought the serpentine belt broke, because the battery light came on immediately. We limped in to Abilene, Kansas, and stopped in the parking lot of an Auto Zone store to check it out. The belt was still intact, but there was a pulley missing from the alternator. Since the car has a belly pan, Sylvan and the Auto Zone dude were able to recover the pulley that had fallen off, but were mistified as to the design of the pulley, and if it could have really come off of the alternator. Apparently, alternator pulleys don't normally have needle bearings inside, as this one did. Strange. Auto Zone didn't have the alternator in stock, but the store 20 miles back in Juction City did. So, we hopped in the Honda and took off to Junction City. However, upon arrival, it was discovered that the alternator they had, that the computer showed, was not the correct part. Was this in fact the alternator pulley? Or did this mystery piece ALSO come off, in addition to the real alternator pulley that wasn't discovered? We were sent to consult with Donny, the local foreign car guru. Since he wasn't in the office, we made yet another visit to the local O'Reilly autoparts, and found a knowledgable and friendly associate who pulled out lots of manuals, made lots of phone calls, and managed (with Donny's phone consultation) to help us prove that this part WAS INDEED the alternator pulley. Some brilliant and foresighted German engineer had designed this alternator pulley with needle bearings inside so that it could pull in one direction and coast in the other, something that had to do with the load on the electrical system and prolonging the life of the alternator. Good news: dealership in Kansas City has the pulley, and they're open on Saturday. The alternator itself is still good. Bad news: Kansas City is 150 miles away, back to the east.

The 105-degree heat led us to rule out the possibility of camping again. Went back to Abilene and scored a room at the local Best Western. Dude at the Auto Zone and his chain smoker girlfriend advised us to come here if we wanted hot water, more than five TV channels, and no bugs. All the things I look for in a hotel room. So Sylvan got the alternator jerked off and we just laid ourselves up for the night with a twelve-pack of Natural Light. There ain't much here but a few gas stations and fast food restaurants, a Russel Stover outlet, the Greyhound Hall of Fame (as in the dogs) and the Museum of Independent Telephony. Put that on your next vacation itinerary.

Made it to KC and back this morning to get our parts, and Sylvan's under the car gettin'er ready to go. Hope to make Denver late tonight. 450 miles. If the injuns don't get us first.