We had the Bus towed over to Bob Meyers in North Little Rock at the advice of two Moonies. Turns out that the generator belt was too loose to charge the alternator but tight enough to keep the alternator light from coming on. Some of the connectors were also corroded and covered in goo so he cleaned them and tightened the connectors and belt, tightened our clutch and gave our Bus a clean bill of health! He said that the engine sounds great and we should be able to get to Cali with no more problems. Coming from a man who specializes in old VWs, drives a Bug and has a yard full of VWs we are feeling a lot more confident. He said that the generator is kind of gerry-rigged in and later on we will need to replace the mounts because they aren't original and will make changing our belt difficult because the alternator doesn't want to budge... Which is good for now: at least we know it won't fall out on the highway! Our belt is also pretty new so he said we won't need to be changing that for a while.
After Telling the Bus "This Could be YOU!" He started right up!
The Landscape is Changing...
Western Arkansas is much prettier and more mountainous
We will be spending the next few days in Fort Smith, Arkansas which is about 5 minutes from Oklahoma. From Little Rock we took AR-10 all the way to Fort Smith which was a very pretty drive and took about 3 1/2 hours going 50-55. We definitely CAN drive a lot faster but we prefer not to, letting the world hurry by...
Great news! Glad to hear you guys are back on the road and enjoying such pretty scenery! Roll slow, I am with you on that! Taj is pretty fast, I have been known to hit mid to upper 80's on the freeway with plenty left, but I usually stick around 55-65 even when the limit is much higher. Lots of things to see out there, definitely take your time, save the fuel and enjoy the ride! We can't wait to see you!
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97 Roadtrek 170P "Taj Ma Trek"
HTTP://WWW.VanTramps.Com
Thanks Mike! We may blow thru and get to Cali so we can fly back to the East Coast for christmas and be back in Cali afterward~ the plans are in the works now, so we shall see! :D
ReplyDeleteIf you have time while you are in Fort Smith I would recommend going to the Fort Smith Historical Site at sunset(when the skies are clear)and stand by the river along the Trail of Tears looking across into Oklahoma. It's rather pretty! Just a suggestion if you are looking for stuff to do.
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