Not exactly last week but (Nov 20-26) ... I recovered my M923A2 from Texas to Florida, a beautiful 1200 mile trip, great weather and great support from SS members Fuzzy Toaster and Jeepskinner. The adventure started from across the globe, I arranged to buy the truck from fuzzy toaster via email and had a friend in the USA send the check. I was at work in the eastern med during all the negotiations, then I had a little side trip to Thailand before returning to the USA, departed Thailand on Nov 19 direct to MIA, repacked my bags and got on a flight to Texas on the 20th. After meeting fuzzy toaster (great guy) I went shopping, bought oil and filters. On the morning of the 21st I hit harbor freight to stock up on tools for the trip back to FL and to tinker with the big girl (M923A2) before the trip. The morning of the 21 was cold and windy so instead of changing the oil as planned I deferred to working in the cab as much as possible, got my 24 to 12 volt converter installed, cab cleaned up some more, did a few other little things that I have forgotten, and by then it was dark, so checked all the lights and called it a day. Nov 22nd, brought a great day, very little wind and lots of sun, got the engine oil changed, lube filters changed, air filter changed, installed the Ram Air scoop from TMG, crawled around under the truck and all looked great...It is amazing how fast time goes by when you outside doing something fun, before I knew it it was dark again and back to the hotel. The 23rd was again great weather, got started tinkering early and at 1300 picked up a friend at the airport who would ride back with me. After picking her up it was back to the truck and getting 2 tires fixed, the o-rings had started leaking but fuzzy toaster came to my rescue with new o-rings and lead me to the truck tire shop to get them fixed (tires have not lost a pound since), then it was time to start cleaning up and getting ready to install the hard top that fuzzy had hooked me up with, the install was a breeze using the wrecker fuzzy had in his yard to sit the top in it's place, the only hard part was getting the bolts in place and tightened down. Nov 24th was to be an early departure but as you all have encountered things don't often go as planned, I checked/serviced all fluids, loaded up the truck (I thought...forgot 1 of the items I had shipped to the hotel so it was turn around and go back) it was around noon by the time the long drive started again... After about 2 hours of driving I pulled into a gas station to get a splash and look the truck over, to my horror there was antifreeze pooling up under the engine, after a quick check I realized I had over serviced the system and it was just finding it level, then back on the road for another 2 hours and and another quick stop, this time to my horror...oil leaking down front left side of engine, another quick check and I found I had not properly secured the power steering cap, so 2 for 2 and both my fault, got off easy... Made it to LA the first night. Nov 25th did get started early, nice long drive down I10 into north central FL for the night, truck had been running great until some where in northern FL/eastern AL where the voltage regulator committed suicide and fried itself, oh well, batteries were new so gave them a work out...Spent the night in north central FL a bit exhausted but happy to be so close to my destination. The final push started early on Thanksgiving day, as planned/hopped the truck started and aside from a little lingering burned wire smell ran great. Rolled into a service plaza on I75 to check her over and had a great chat with a FL State Trooper, no ticket nothing like that...really just a nice chat, he helped me out with some question I had about getting her tagged and registered. After dropping my travel companion off in Orlando I did the final push to home, I had advised the ex that I bought an former military truck, she did not know what size and I did not tell her, only told her that I needed the driveway clear when I arrived, after I pulled into the driveway she came out side and instead of the ration of S#$T I expected she said "wow that's cool", guess it was the Thanksgiving spirit, even the dog liked my truck... Over all it was a great adventure, great weather, a good running truck and a lot of fun driving that beast seeing people smile, wave, even got a salute made me proud to join the FMV club. Special thanks to Fuzzy Toaster and Jeepskinner for their patients and words of wisdom. Look forward to getting behind the wheel again soon...
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