Day Seven….Hampton hotel in princeton.

We’ve been sitting in an air conditioned hotel room for the last day waiting for napa to deliver a head gasket for evan’s motor, they say it will be in early tomorrow. so day seven may be the most uneventful one of our trip. although we did see another willys jeep today and talked to the owner who offered to let us use his barn for repairs, although i don’t think we will take him up on it.

btw here is the link for the editorial from the parkersburg chronical.

http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/507320.html

so hopefully day eight will see some more action as well as a couple new states under our belt. i calculated our time left vs the amount of miles we need to cover and at this rate we will need to do a minimum of 250 miles per day to get back 2 days early, with the remaining time we have left.  which is not unobtainable. we just need a little more luck, but i think we are due for some.

-Paul

Day 5-6 maysville, ky- georgetown,ky-princeton, In

got the videos to work, here’s an array of the last 6 days. we are currently in Princeton Indiana. with most of our mechanical issues solved, save the knock in evan’s engine which we are going to remedy tomorrow once the parts stores open again…chances they’ll have an Go devil gasket in stock?…

special thanks goes to in general the people of Georgetown, Kentucky. that was the most welcoming town we’ve been to yet. Thanks to Doug Smith, a local resident, for ferrying us around town and bringing us food and water while we rebuilt my transmission on the side of the road.

also thanks to the couple who own the bed and breakfast right there in town, they were a huge help in the process.

the trans and the overdrive both blew up in Georgetown, but we managed to get in touch with Novak in utah with enough time for the last guy on staff to grab a T90 rebuild kit and ride it across down to UPS to overnight it guranteed by 12 noon the next day.

also another friend from the site heard our plight and did legwork to find a free trans/Tcase over in Louisville,ky. we got the trans  back to the jeep at 4am sat. morning and got some sleep. i woke up at 8am and went to the fire dept (where i addressed the rebuild kit to arrive) and it arrived by 9.

…unfortunatly the kit was missing three synchromesh keys that allow you to shift, yeah that’s right missing. so it was a good thing we paid for that overnight shipping. plus the trans we picked up was missing the same keys from it so we seemed to be out of luck.

NO we weren’t out of luck! Herm picked up his phone and helped us get the job done by scrapping the toasted overdrive to rebuild the trans thanks to the innovative Willys designed trans/overdrive combo. it runs better than it ever did.

so we made it out of the state, but we think in the late night effort to get the trans from Louisville, the head gasket blew on evan’s motor so we are waiting for parts here in Princeton In. knock on wood i think after this we will be running easier.

-Paul

Day One Pinion bearings go, we end up in Oakland, MD

 

Day Two bearings fixed, and on the way to Nelsonville,Oh

 

Day Three Washington Courthouse, Oh and Maysville, Ky

 

Day Four Georgetown, Ky trans blows up, overdrive fries. flatfender tour previals.

 

Day Five Georgetown, Ky to Patoka Lake, In

 

Day Five outside Louisville, Ky.

video/media update!!

well it seems we’ve finially mastered the concept if putting videos/picture on the computer machine.

it seems we truely are living in the past if we can’t even operate a laptop. anyway here are some of the pictures and stuff we’ve been taking in over the last 4 days.

-Paul

 P.S. thanks to the Lock and Key coffee house for tolerating us making this post for the last two hours.

Speedo Cable KIA in Oakland, Md

 

Paul’s jeep sans rear driveshaft Gordania WV

 

Tim Tayler Rules, thanks for putting us up for the night and the donation!

 

Amish guy ON A CELL PHONE! gotcha.

 

Erwin, WV day 2

 

picture taken over the hood of a 1948 Jeepster facing our 48’s. Salem, WV

 

Maysville, Ky at Doug Henderickson’s Farm. thanks again Doug

 

Maysville, Ky

 

Doug’s 48′ 2a

 

All three 48’s at the campground.

 

that’s it for now. we are getting back on the road toward Louisville, Ky hoping to camp in Illinios near the Missouri boarder.

Day 3 – Nelsonville, OH to Mayville, KY

after getting up early at our friend Will’s place in Nelsonville, OH we headed southwest to Washington Courthouse, OH where we met up with Mike Meyers and John Waddle, both fellow Willys owners. nothing much to speak of with the drive from Nelsonville to Washington Courthouse, the jeeps are driving fine and we’re finally starting to make good time as things start to flatten out.

when we arrived at Mike’s place in Washington Courthouse, he showed us the restoration hes got going on an early 1945 CJ-2A. his attention to detail is amazing. he’s using all originial and NOS parts right down to having all the original bolts cad-plated. it’s a beautiful jeep and is going to be stunning when it’s finished.

Mike’s 1945 CJ-2A

At the same time we met up with John Waddle, who is the owner of Waddle’s Garage as well as a beautifully restored CJ-3A. They let us pull our jeeps up and go over them to make sure everything’s still tight and all the fluids topped-off. we also got loaded up with many useful spare parts. Mike and John, can’t thank you guys enough for the support!

John Waddle’s CJ-3A

after we got everything back together and ready to go, John and Mike led us out in John’s 3A and road with us through Leesburg, OH. from there we headed southwest across the Ohio river and into Maysville, KY. Once in Maysville, we met up with Doug Henderickson who has a real nice 400+ acre horse farm up in the hills outside of town. Doug has a beautifully restored ‘48 CJ-2A painted in the original Luzon Red. it’s probably the most shiney CJ I’ve ever seen. it turned out to be a great place to stay, right on his lake where we fished and grilled up some steaks–not to mention being able to use the shower in his barn.

that’s all for now. we are finally able to get the video camera to hook up with the computer so there’s going to be some videos up shortly.

- evan

Day 2 yes that’s right. Oakland,Md to Nelsonville, Oh

So we got up early and knocked out the rear end. we lucked out and the bearings and gears survived 30 miles of loose pinion somehow. go figure 60 year old hardware working better than the stuff on my 98 jeep.

anyway all we replaced was the pinion seal and torqued the yoke correct and it’s been driving well ever since.

once we got through the hills of west virginia we made great time on route 50. route 50 dies out after winchester and doesn’t come back until Clarksburg, Wv. but the jeeps have been sound for all of today and have been running continually ever since we sorted out the rear in mine.

Also we linked up with a reporter for the Parkersburg News & Sentinel, a local newspaper in Parkersburg, Wv. he did an interview and snapped some pictures, he says we’ll be in tomorrows paper, and their online edition as well. i’ll check into it as far as posting a link for the story. and i’ll order some backissues from the editor too.

we’re shacked out at will’s place tonight and hope to make kentucky by tomorrow night to keep the pace up. will is sending us in the direction of a military museum which is on our way anyway so i’ll grab some picture there as well.

as far as pictures and videos go, i’ve taken plenty but for some reason the camera and computer won’t talk to eachother. i might be able to get a memory card for it that will do the trick, but i don’t have it yet. so one of these posts will finially contain all the visuals.

well on to tomorrow. sorry to whoever bet on WV and Md, we didn’t break down for a full 24hours so i’d say we are all still in the running. keep your fingers crossed, we have to come back home too.

-Paul

Day One Leesburg, Va to Oakland, Md

day one is at an end, and yes we were suppose to make it to ohio tonight, but things don’t always go as planned…

we got the first 130miles of driving put away pretty well. rolled straight through winchester and into west va. then my jeep (the orange one) ran out of gas. no matter because i have the jerry can. but i noticed the gears were whining just a little too much. we pulled into Gordania, WV and started checking out if it was the trans or Tcase making the noise. only to find out that the rear axle pinion bearings took a dive.

there was alot of play in the pinion and we knew the bearings were no good. so after pulling the driveshaft and locating the nearest advance auto (15 miles away in Oakland, Md) we ordered the bearings and headed that way. the parts are on order and should arrive in tomorow. then we started scouting around for a campsite with no luck. the nearest KOA was over 120miles away.

somehow we ended up in an older residential section of town and found an open grassy lot between about a dozen homes. there was a guy in his garage that sat facing the lot so it looked like he owned some of the land. we barely got out the word that we were looking for a place to set up tents and he immediatly volunteered to let us stay on his plot.

Tim “the toolman” Taylor was his name and he was really cool about letting us stay the night and even let us use his house to shower and his wireless internet to make this update. thanks again to Tim for helping out with everything today. you’ll find your name in our sponsor section.

so tomorrow we’ll get the parts installed and get moving toward Ohio. i’ll post the videos and pictures from today soon as well, we are having issues hooking up the camera right now.

Paul

7/14 1:45am 31hours 15minutes left..

not much time left..i just got done organizing about half the jeep and installing a power inverter. we had a sendoff party at evan’s parents place, thanks to everyone who donated. both jeeps are in good form, thanks to those new overdrives, and also thanks to Butch for rebuilding my carb. just get it tuned tomorrow and i think i’ll be ready.

our first stop is in Nelsonville, Ohio. out at our friend Will’s place. with 10 hours of driving ahead of us laying the foundation for the rest of this trip i think we’ll really see if we’re up to the challenge just based off the first day. we’ll be departing Leesburg at about 7am so if you’re and early morning commuter keep an eye out for two colorful relics making their way down route seven. HEADED WEST! yehaw.

THE MARKER LIGHTS ARE IN!!

at long last my marker lights arrived off an ebay auction, thanks to the ebayer who mailed them quickly. they are in and looking good. without two empty holes in the grill it really feels complete from and asthetic standpoint.

also a picture of the dogs in the back of the 2a. notice the salt and pepper in the bottom of the shot. oh man! it’s symbology

 

Detective Dolly: So what’s the symbology there?
Paul Smecker: Symbology? Now that Duffy has relinquished his “King Bonehead” crown, I see we have an heir to the throne! I’m sure the word you were looking for was “symbolism.” What is the ssss-himbolism there?

no? nobody? nevermind. tomorrow we’re going to california

OVERDRIVES ARRIVE!

as the title states the overdrives have apparently arrived…we now only need to fetch them from the shipping depo just outside baltimore, md. they were overnighted from Herm theoverdrive guy out in Washington state. thanks again Herm for giving us a break and expediting the shipping.

I’ll update again with some pictures of these things once we get back.

Paul

just got back in. check out the goods. still in the shrink wrap! i had to keep myself from opening it up til tomorrow so it can get installed. but there’s a teaser of the 4th shifter..one more shifter is never a bad thing.

One week… (update with video)

hey guys i’ve been trying to update the site now and then, the website’s hits spiked the other day and i figure i’ll give you more stuff to read.

first of all thanks to everyone who has donated anything they can. if each person who visited the site in the last few days donated just a dollar we would be almost completely funded for gas. any donors to the cause have their name posted in the sponsors section. i’ll update it as quickly as possible. if you do decide to do a paypal donation be sure to type in any additional information in the comments section so we can know who you are and if you’re a leesburg local or someone off the route.

anyway as the title states we’ve got a week…we are still waiting on some UPS items, the overdrives are the main priority and we should be able to get those thursday, and some other small items are on the way. we did get a chance to test our equipment at a local campsite and i think we had all the essentials. we even got the fire started in the light rain that never really stopped the whole time. the tents also proved to be quite waterproof.

that’s it for now, i’ll update with more pictures when the fabled overdrive do finially make a showing.

Paul

also here’s a video from some backroads in loudoun. check it out.

Leesburg parade a big success.

the Leesburg independance day parade was a big success, marking the first time the Jeeps have been out in public since the restorations.