New Grill... mount

We went to the local building supply the other day and saw a tailgating grill as above. The only thing I didn't like was the price, $300!

I immediately went to conniving mode and started running the idea through my mind. I took advantage of the first opportunity to visit a local muffler shop (run by friends) and get a little pipe work done.

We, the entire family, are beach engineers. We carry a load of things with us to make the ocean side more comfortable, tents, large coolers, grills and enough food for a small army. All this takes space and it's nice to have it outside and easily available rather than in the bed of a truck or back of a jeep. The answer to the problem is a cargo carrier, that can be used for other things as well. Like fishing, for example. The thing about fishing is the rod, long spindly thing that is easily broken and terribly awkward. The solution is a rod rack or rod holders.

My cargo carrier has long been modified to carry fishing rods.

Now, it has additional duties. I took a little trip down to the pipe bender boys and in short order had a tube bent to a right angle with a piece of tubing welded to the long side perpendicular to the tube. A short piece from the scrap bin that would insert into the welded tube would be the base for the grill. A short drive to Harbor Freight for two PTO pins and a trip to a fab shop for a 1/8 inch steel plate was all I needed to finish the job.

I slid the tube over the top of an existing rod holder and drilled a hole for a pin to hold it in a storage position, rotate it and drill it for a cooking position. Weld the plate to the mounting tube and repeat. Place the grill, one that I already had on the plate and drill the feet to bolt it down, and you have this.

It has had a field test that worked out well, and is about to get another. Cost, a little over $36.

Does it look as cool as the other? Only if you look into your wallet first, then it looks better.

The next question is.... what next?

We went to a flood last night

My son called last night to ask if he could borrow my Jeep or Bronco to haul sand bags(???)

That's the first indication I had that something was going poorly for the stupids.

He told me the water was up to the registers in his old store and the District had called to see if he could help because the new manager was out of reach for some reason.

When he said "up to the registers", silly me, I thought it was creeping in that far. Actually it was covering the floor a couple of inches deep, with the water outside eight inches or so higher than the floor.

Per the news this morning, we erased our rain deficit for the year last night. Seven inches in a couple of hours.

The pictures above are of standing water, very important that is!

I and a couple of very nice young men, redirected traffic and pushed several cars out of the deeper water.

The white Lincoln will be on ebay soon as the man driving it tried to get out the door and then left through the sun (flood roof) roof. He was sitting on the top of the car when we went by.

I have a 4X4 diesel pick up that sits pretty high, and enough sense to turn around if it gets too deep. We plowed through slowly to the store to get money for sand bags. I parked on the side walk and talked to the employees through the door.

Sand bags were not going to help.

At that time I got a few lessons in how stupid some people are. Any one with any type of car that didn't float plowed along through the water, some of them with a wake a couple of feet high.

The drivers of cars we tried to redirect away from the deepest part, would look at you like you were trying to trick them, and then continue on until the water killed the engine or they started to float. Cars with low bumpers, had waves running up across the hood to the windshield.

They were still coming when we were done and finally went home.

The killer is I could see high pavement, and no one went that way.

The cars in the really deep water are in the street. The police actually blocked that road.

I enjoyed being an a$$hole for a little, when every other car on the street was in the center lane to stay out of the water, I got into it, had a clear lane, and thew some really high rooster tails.

I love me some tall truck.

Some things I have seen while traveling

Everyone has Road Stories, but when you drive as much as I have lately, they get compressed enough to get your attention.

My driving record is, as they say,,, colorful.

For the sake of honesty, I was an idiot. Speed filled a need, and my legal paper work would have covered a fair sized wall. Years later I tried to get a print out for my background investigation, and the officer at the PD was laughing at me by the time he got several pages into the PIN check. I used to race sports cars, I have driven firetrucks and ambulances, crash trucks, road tractors and furniture trucks.

However, some things I won't even try.

Frinstance,,,, 0230 on I495 South, I in my Mobile Survival Facility (13K lbs) traveling at 65, look ahead to see brake lights. No problem, then I see back up lights, as I get near enough I realise they are in the travel lane!

PROBLEM!!!

I have a car sitting in the left lane somewhere way too close to the rear of my trailer. At this point I have no choice but to change lanes quickly. As I cleared the back of the box truck I looked back to see the car sitting, stopped, in the left lane. Having a word with the truck driver, or just getting over the shakes. I'll never know.

1000 hours on I40 West, I'm cruising at about seventy mph. I am about to be passed by an over developed and under dressed young woman. So, I naturally look to my left, and see a pair of very long legs, one of which is propped on the seat. That, friends, is too far from the brake pedal. She is doing something a little less than 80 mph, in traffic, reading a book. I would bet any advice about proper driving technique would get you a dramatic eye-roll, a "duh" and something about I haven't hit anything yet. The last time I saw her, she was weaving her way down the road, look down and read, look up and drive. I hope she made it home alive.

There are the blind spot riders, those people who stop passing you in the little place where they can't be seen in the mirrors. People the rule is " if you can't see my EYES, I can't see you"! Not the mirrors, my EYE'S! Even if you can see them, if I have to take evasive action to avoid my immediate demise, and you are sitting there in my blind spot, you will be most unhappy with the result. I have wide angle mirrors and I ensure there is over lap, but you need to be some where else! Nothing says I will have time or the ability to avoid you or the real emergency at the same instant!

The story (confession) related to me by a neighbor is something I wish I could have seen. He and his wife travel together. They drive a crew cab, dually, pickup and pull a 35ft fifth wheel camper, and a car. That land train must be close to seventy feet long! He said he gets 8 mpg loaded! He also said he can get up to about 85 mph! A while back they were on the Interstate doing about 70 mph when the right side wheel came off the car carrier. He didn't even notice! They were trailing sparks like a Shuttle launch and the only reason they knew something was wrong, a driver pulled along side freakin' and pointing and waving fit to dislocate an arm. They pulled over just as another driver pulled up with the errant wheel. Now that's funny, I don't care where you are.

That's just a few of the little entertainments the driving public arranges for the guy in the slow lane, some of them are down right dangerous!

Beachin'

We took the girls and the grand babies to the beach yesterday.

The act of a total idiot.

Memorial day, everyone from hours around and farther, who thinks a 4X4 selector makes them the Rat Patrol, must go to the beach. The park rangers were handing out instructions on how to avoid getting stuck.

Idle hope.

I saw people who were stuck and didn't know it yet. No one was airing down the tires and they were just plowing on until they high centered, no it wasn't high centered, it was worse, they were sitting on the body with all four wheels free wheeling. The beach was really cut up and soft. I can normally pull something out, but yesterday it was an invitation to sink like a rock.

The alternative is the winch. Great toy there. Put it in park, let the hopeless hook up, unless they have tow hooks. Tighten the cable, watch the tires on my truck, push sand and sink until the other vehicle moves or the winch stops pulling. If it stops dig and repeat.

Score for the winch fest, One Grand Cherokee three times (he had his wife and child with him), one Wrangler twice, one Chevy Blazer, and one Tahoe. In case anyone thinks I charge, not this time, probably not ever, unless they are really stupid and make me actually work.

I had a great time, and saved some others fun day, not too bad at all.

The best part of all this was the love of my life driving her new (to us) Wrangler with nary a bobble all the way out and back.

She did great!

Beachin'

We took the grand babies to the beach yesterday, only stayed a little. I thought I had blown a front seal on the Bronco.

Turns out they have temperature issues under heavy load. Puked out seven quarts of fluid, had a wrecker take it home. This morning my transmission guy told me to fill it up with fluid and drive it, if it's good, go with it. I did, and not a drop yet.

Looks like a heavy duty trans cooler is on the way.

I tried to spin the tires deep enough to get stuck, but couldn't. That will give you a good feeling about driving in the sand.