NWBRU/Rest of the trip.

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

First, the easy stuff.

I left home with (1)41185.1 miles on the '77 Scout II, and returned 
tonight with the ODO reading (1)44603.8 for a total trip length of 
3,418.7 miles (yep, time to change the oil again.. I could swear I 
changed it just last week!  *grin*).

I burned.. 284.1 gallons of gas!!  (wow... ) at a mean price of roughly 
$1.20 a gallon, that works out to $340.92 of gas, for an overall MPG of 
12mpg.  That's with a 196-4cyl, 4.09s, 33s.  Yuck.  My 304/3.73/31s would 
get 14-15mpg regularly..  add in those 2nd and 3rd gear (30mph/50mph 
respectively) hill climbs through 
Montana/Wyoming/Colorado/Utah/Oregon/Washington/Idaho, and you could end 
up with a very frustrated driver... ;)

To the 4cyl credit, when Bill Thebert led me over Weston Pass to 
Leadville, I hit 20mpg.. I haven't bothered to do the #s for each 
individual leg to see what the best and worst was (Hey, it's almost 1am, 
I got home at 11:30...)

I went 63" up the 25deg ramp in Denver... but I did better in Monroe..

Joel Brodsky noticed I had installed my front anti-sway bar upside down 
(I knew I did this.. it wouldn't "fit" the right way when I was putting 
my springs in for the first time.. I had it on jack stands, and the 
stabilizer wouldn't twist far enough back (hit the frame) to put the 
shackles on.. so I inverted it and never thought about it again).  Joel's 
line of thought was that since the bar was now on the *bottom* of the 
shackles, I had MORE leverage to keep the axle from twisting...

So, Saturday in Monroe, I was beating the shackle bolts out, and turned 
the stabilizer right-side-up.  It now seems to have less of that 
Tigger-bounce.. but I'm not sure that highspeed highway handling has 
improved or not...

In any manner, we also disconnected the anti-sway bar on one side, and I 
ran the RTI ramp... 81", on a 20-deg, 100" Scout II = 810RTI.  I used 
Bill Thebert's trick.. I drove up the ramp too far, and needed to back 
up.  Well, just letting go of the clutch and brakes didn't work since I 
had a few tire lugs jammed into the fender.. shut 'er down, Reverse, blip 
the starter.. of course, for some odd reason the 196 actually fired up, 
and I had to repeat this procedure to get back *up* the ramp.. but 
810RTI.  This is an overall improvement over last year's score of 730RTI 
with the stock springs, 31s, and the stabilizer installed.  For the first 
time, I saw my 33s stuffed into the fender *up front*... it had never 
moved more than 1/2" either way previously.

I did the tractor pull on Saturday since, like in Fairplay, they shut 
down all of the events just as I was getting ready to run 'em (RTI'd on 
Sunday).

I ran right after a 4Runner... I didn't do as well, but I didn't do 
badly... 4cyl Binder Power pulled over 160 feet.  I started in 4-lo 1st 
(4:1 x 2:1 x 4.09 diffs) and just ran 1st the whole way... it picked up 
speed in the middle and the 196 was screaming.. but as I reached the end, 
I started smelling burnt clutch (and it was fully engaged).. as it slowed 
and slowed, I turned to Joel and said, "It's gonna just *stall*".. though 
I backed off the throttle at the very end, and the Scout sprang several 
inches taller when I released the clutch..

I had a blast at NWBRU as well.. sorry I missed a few people.. and I 
*had* my digest "print-out" sticker on my windshield the first day.. 
thanks to John Landry for the use of the tent.. and that reminds me that 
I left my flashlight/lantern in Darrel Kline's tent at RMIHR... ;)

I didn't take as many pictures this year... I burned all but about 10 
exposures of my film at RMIHR and the Holy Cross run... so I took just a 
few shots at NWBRU... however, after pouring through my email, it seems 
Seattle Filmworks is having a "free 2nd print" sale... must be my lucky 
day.  I also get a discount if I send in more than 10-rolls... but that 
looks like it'll still have me in the $130 range for all this dratted 
film!  

Then there's the new hard drive to put all the pictures onto.... ;)

*sigh*!

I'll blabber more tomorrow I'm sure... but at the moment, it's time for 
an overdue shower (no wise cracks, OK?  RMIHR had shower facilities 
available.. NWBRU didn't!), take a first whack at a week & a half's 
beard, and then get some shut-eye in my nice comfy waterbed... I think 
I'll eat the few remaining sandwiches I'd packed in the cooler for lunch 
tomorrow... since I'm not doing any unpacking tonight!

What fun!

-Tom Mandera, Home at last, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'72 and '77 Scout IIs