San Antonio Recovery

[mkcoen]

Well not quite as epic as the boys going from AL to Seattle but I helped Green_Gator out of Tampa recover a deuce at Camp Bullis here in San Antonio today. I had checked it out last week to make sure it looked fit enought to make it 1200 miles from here to Tampa and everything seemed pretty ship shape.

Picked him up at the airport around noon and headed to Rudy's (Worst BBQ in TX - that's their claim not mine) for a little chow. From there headed to Bullis so he could see the new toy.

After stopping to pay our respects to the First Sgt we got a slave from one of the mechanics and it fired right up. Gator moved it over to the motor pool garage and aired the tires up and then we headed to the parking lot to get her tied down for the trip. Unfortunately at that point we discovered there were no lights. Now the lights worked fine last week so we figured maybe something pulled loose on the short move. After not finding anything for a while we talked to the guys in the motor pool again and they said if the batteries didn't have a certain amount of juice you wouldn't get anything to the lights.

I'll let Gator fill you in on the rest but let's just say the guys at the Camp Bullis motor pool went well above and well beyond and my hat is off to them.

As usual I forgot the camera so only have this shot from my cell phone as Gator was stopping at Wally World to grab a few things then off to the airport to pick up his brother and then East Bound and Down.

He should be checking in sometime in the middle of the night.

 

[Green_gator]

Well, the recovery is successful and finished. Departed San Antonio at 6:30 CST yesterday after picking up my brother for an assistant driver. Seems that Texas has been in a drought but we had rain clear to the Louisiana border. Some of the streets in Houston were starting to flood from the water. The short version is that we drove 1,200 miles in 28 straight hours and the truck never so much as coughed. Now, it did not start out quite so well. As Mark said we get it slaved and find out that both of the batteries are totally shot. The mechanics at Camp Bullis went well above and beyond to help out getting this truck rolling. Plans for the primary use is hauling Cub Scouts for parades and other events. So, once the two new batteries were installed and the mechanics cleared out their cubby holes of deuce parts. We were ready to roll. Will try to think more clearly after sleep but here is how the truck stacks up.

The bad
Needs a new J pipe, rotted out
Needs a paint job and some minor surface rust
No cargo cover
One tire is questionable
Had a small intermitent leak from one hub.
The hard top has the usual dents

The Good
3 of the tires are almost new
2 batteries are brand new
glad hand air hose
fire extinguisher
a bag full of unwanted misc small parts, seals, gaskets and such
A complete, clean copy of the -10 in the binder
2 unmounted 9-20 tires in the bed
2 spare bows
Cost of the truck less the $600

I want to give a well deserved thank you to Mark for all of his help with the preview and pick up of this truck and for leading me to some good BBQ for lunch

 

[mkcoen]

Glad to here she made it home safe and sound. I'll be looking for something in S. FL so you can return the favor

 

[NDT]

Amazing! Just goes to show you how much life is still in these 30 and 40 year old trucks.