aaronredbaron
08-09-2009, 12:36 PM
In 2005 I had my first opportunity to go to the IRCHA Jamboree, and it was a crazy experience I will never forget! Although it seems like a ludicrous notion looking back on it, I hopped in an RV with two other RC heli dorks and we drove from Olympia Washington to Muncie Indiana. With the dash of our class A motor home lined with helis, and a trailer full of everything from a turbine Jetcat to Esky Honey Bees in tow, we headed east. My friend had just purchased the nearly 15 year old vehicle and had it worked on before we left. As we crossed the Cascade mountain range, we began to experience the first of many mechanical problems which would plague our trip.
As we pulled into a gas station on the eastern side of the mountain range, we discovered we were dragging the trailer hitch on the ground; we would have to spend the night and find a welder in town in the morning. After wasting half the next day but finally getting a satisfactory repair, we hit the road again. With all of the problems we experienced during the course of our trip, its mostly a blur from there. We ended up blowing all of the tires we left with. Our exhaust system rattled apart half a dozen times. While waiting for the tow truck (one of the times) we met the nicest police officer I have ever heard of. He spent over an hour with us on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota and told us stories about his work. He even pulled the cop car off the road and let us take pictures with our helis on his car! When the tow truck did arrive, we found out the failed tire had taken out all the wiring to the lights on the right front corner, so we ended up spending the night in Humbolt, South Dakota.
Other than the mechanic and water tower, the only defining feature in this town of about 200 people was the municipal pub. That's right folks, this tiny town owns a pub, and every night people congregate there to party. We were the center of attention and had a blast entertaining the townsfolk. By the time we made it to Indiana, we were ready to relax and enjoy our hobby. Unfortunately, we were treated to a severe thunderstorm on each day. By severe I mean the porter potties were all knocked over, and the slight low spot we had parked in became a lake from the torrential downpour. It was the one time during our trip we we not towed because of a mechanical problem, but it still made us feel all the more drained.
Our trip home began with more exhaust problems, and we limped back across the midwest, rolling into Humbolt South Dakota again for some beer, friends and a good mechanic. It wasn't until we got to Grand Rapids South Dakota the next day that we had more exhaust problems which led us to an answer. Another mechanic sporting a santa clause beard (it must be a prerequisite for being a mechanic in South Dakota) got up under the doghouse and pulled out a pair of mechanical dial indicators. He measured here, he measured there, and then he scrunched his face together in disgust as he asked "who the hell did your exhaust system?" of course, he wasn't talking about the more recent repairs, but rather the original work, which had been done back home. He quickly deduced they had attempted to fit a 1 3/4" header onto a 2" exhaust port, which was the primary reason we had blown several header gaskets throughout the trip. "And another thing.... " he said "Why in the world did they put headers on an RV in the first place? Those are for performance cars and they must be tightened every 1500 miles or so..." At that point we were forced to wait for the correct manifold system to be shipped for installation. I resorted to renting a Dodge Caravan to jet home so I wouldn't loose my job at the hobby shop. I left Grand Rapid South Dakota at 3 PM on a Thursday afternoon, and rolled into the Seattle airport at 11 am the next morning to return the car. It was a nice little 1k drive through the night. By the time I picked up my car at my friends house and drove back to Portland I was a complete zombie. I made it to work the next day and didn't loose my job. IRCHA will always be a destiny for me, but I will never jump in an unknown vehicle for a 2500 mile trip across the country again. This year, I got airfare at the last second from Expedia for a reasonable rate, and I won't miss that 5 day road trip one bit! I'll never do it like that again, if I can help it, but I had a blast and learned a lot of patience. I don't know what we would have done without AAA!
(Photo by Mark Fadely)
As we pulled into a gas station on the eastern side of the mountain range, we discovered we were dragging the trailer hitch on the ground; we would have to spend the night and find a welder in town in the morning. After wasting half the next day but finally getting a satisfactory repair, we hit the road again. With all of the problems we experienced during the course of our trip, its mostly a blur from there. We ended up blowing all of the tires we left with. Our exhaust system rattled apart half a dozen times. While waiting for the tow truck (one of the times) we met the nicest police officer I have ever heard of. He spent over an hour with us on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota and told us stories about his work. He even pulled the cop car off the road and let us take pictures with our helis on his car! When the tow truck did arrive, we found out the failed tire had taken out all the wiring to the lights on the right front corner, so we ended up spending the night in Humbolt, South Dakota.
Other than the mechanic and water tower, the only defining feature in this town of about 200 people was the municipal pub. That's right folks, this tiny town owns a pub, and every night people congregate there to party. We were the center of attention and had a blast entertaining the townsfolk. By the time we made it to Indiana, we were ready to relax and enjoy our hobby. Unfortunately, we were treated to a severe thunderstorm on each day. By severe I mean the porter potties were all knocked over, and the slight low spot we had parked in became a lake from the torrential downpour. It was the one time during our trip we we not towed because of a mechanical problem, but it still made us feel all the more drained.
Our trip home began with more exhaust problems, and we limped back across the midwest, rolling into Humbolt South Dakota again for some beer, friends and a good mechanic. It wasn't until we got to Grand Rapids South Dakota the next day that we had more exhaust problems which led us to an answer. Another mechanic sporting a santa clause beard (it must be a prerequisite for being a mechanic in South Dakota) got up under the doghouse and pulled out a pair of mechanical dial indicators. He measured here, he measured there, and then he scrunched his face together in disgust as he asked "who the hell did your exhaust system?" of course, he wasn't talking about the more recent repairs, but rather the original work, which had been done back home. He quickly deduced they had attempted to fit a 1 3/4" header onto a 2" exhaust port, which was the primary reason we had blown several header gaskets throughout the trip. "And another thing.... " he said "Why in the world did they put headers on an RV in the first place? Those are for performance cars and they must be tightened every 1500 miles or so..." At that point we were forced to wait for the correct manifold system to be shipped for installation. I resorted to renting a Dodge Caravan to jet home so I wouldn't loose my job at the hobby shop. I left Grand Rapid South Dakota at 3 PM on a Thursday afternoon, and rolled into the Seattle airport at 11 am the next morning to return the car. It was a nice little 1k drive through the night. By the time I picked up my car at my friends house and drove back to Portland I was a complete zombie. I made it to work the next day and didn't loose my job. IRCHA will always be a destiny for me, but I will never jump in an unknown vehicle for a 2500 mile trip across the country again. This year, I got airfare at the last second from Expedia for a reasonable rate, and I won't miss that 5 day road trip one bit! I'll never do it like that again, if I can help it, but I had a blast and learned a lot of patience. I don't know what we would have done without AAA!
(Photo by Mark Fadely)