slowly but sutely moving forward.

We loaded up a 16' rental truck from Budget, and after a load bumpy drive we pulled into the driveway in Greensbori NC, spent a day and a half emptying it all into the new rental house (new to us anyway) and dropped off the rental truck to a nearby Budget lot.

making progress

bracket for attaching the tow bar is welded up, front brakes are done, title is switched and the temp tags are on the Tracker.  Today or tomorrow, I'll get the emission tested so I can get regular plates in the next two weeks.. (before the temps expire - since they're now charging LATE fees if you don't do it within a week of the expiration date)

I don't have any work until tonight, so I'm hoping to get holes drilled in the bracket so I can attach it to the Tracker and the mounts for the tow bar attached to it.  Once the Tracker is ready to roll, I can move on to the RV, which I'm way behind schedual on and hope to have ready before the 21st

We might hook up the Tracker to the RV, drive the RV to NC, droping at my cousins farm, unhook the Tracker and drive it on to just South of Myrtle Beach, SC for a week on the beach with my sister.

I've been driving the Tracker around a little, just getting used to driving a car with stick...  really the first one in the last 30 years.....  and I didn't drive one much before that, just my sisters on a few occassions and her husband gave me his Jetta, which I let sit too long and ended up have the motor lock up (or maybe just the alternator or something or something)

Lack of progress?

  After assembling the tow bar, I went to attach the brackets to the front bumper and found that the "metal" under the plastic bumper cover, was nearly non existant, rusted nearly completely away, so now looking for a replacement bumper in decent shape or a custom new one, which was on the wish list for some time in the future, but I wasn't looking to spend that much at this time.....  

I'll stop by a local welding shop here in Cleveland, and get an estimate for what I need and take it from there, I've found some on line for $400 - $900 and considering the Tracker was basiclly the cost of a van I was going to scrap.... I guess I can afford to spend some money on it...  but hoping the local shop can do it for under $200

more progress

Tow bar for the Tracker, found online, ebay for $55 plus shipping...   A new (in the box) Reese 5000lb model, hopefully I'll get it installed this weekend, but I guess, no real rush, as until the RV is ready to drive, the hitch is pretty much useless, but nice to know - one more piece of the puzzle is in place.

I'm trying to have the Tracker and the RV ready to travel by the weekend after the fourth, as well as have the shipping container from Pack Rat complete filled and shipped to NC.  With any luck, I will be living in the RV in NC by the end of July.  Looking for carpet cleaning jobs, a house or double wide trailer to rent, so I can empty the container and put that $200 towards rent, instead of paying it to store our stuff in the pod.

When not cleaning carpets and looking for a place to rent, I hope to get a little gold prospecting in and maybe a couple hikes on the AT.

more for the Tracker

I returned to Pull a Part and retrieved the radio with cassette and cd player and a piece of plastic trim from the rear, that the soft top slips into.  Two days after it was put in the yard, the grill, windshield, front wheels were already gone, the front seats were unbolted and laying in the back and the panel that covers the radio was ripped off...  so at least they made it easier for me to get at the radio.  four bolts, un plug the connection from the back and pull the antenna wire out... and ready to go.... I hope it goes in as easy as it came out...

I'm still looking for a tow bar to attach to the front, so I can tow it behind the RV and the carpet cleaning van, along with a hitch for the Caravan itself...

Silver Tracker

Just got in the mood, and picked up a couple cans of silver (metalic) spray paint and gave the Tracker a good first coat.  it actually took three cans because of the way the metalic paint sprays...  no nice fan pattern, its just shoots all directions and the little pieces of metal flake were floating all over the place...

Lighter, shinny color made the larger rust holes, spots stand out a lot more, but I just figure, I'll replace the fender with the rusted hole.  but the holes along the kick board on the sides, looked terrible in silver, so I gave them a shot of black primer and they all but disappeared...  later on, I'll give it a light wet sanding maybe fill and sand the rust holes and give the whole car either another coat and/or clear coat.

I took I ride with Larry to drop off a junk car at Pull-A-Part and someone had just brought a tracker in (with a soft top in great condition) the fender I need was better than the one I had, but not sure I want to exchange a rusty one for a NOT as rusty one...  but I stopped in Monday morning to see if they had processed it and put it out in the yard yet, and they hadn't, yet...

I dropped my son off for a job interview and made another stop at Pull-A-Part and they had just moved it out into the yard, so before anyone else could take the top or damage it, I unsnapped, unzipped and unvelcroed it off - ($29.00 + tax and their "enviromental"charge, for a total of $34 and change) better than I thought, I was expecting $50 - $75, so happy I caught it when I did....  going back in the next couple days for the CD player and a couple little bits and pieces that I can use....  and if someone gets them before I do... OH well...   I'll make do with what I have.

It already looks much better silver than purple and pick (at least in my opinion) and with the newer top, it looks like a different vehicle already.... eventually, I'll clean and paint the rims and put some kind of trim/pinstripe or something? on the car to finish it off to MY taste.  I also saw a jeep Rubicon with a soft top and it had the plastic windows tinted, so I think I'll look into that, whether it was made that way or just a film on the windows like I've done on glass ones before.

tow vehicle found

From the same buddy, Larry, that helped me fix the RV, and had actually found the RV in the first place, I picked up a little Geo Tracker, that will be the RV's "dingy" tow vehicle, it needs a little work itself, but nothing major, a rusty fender that I'll replace or repair, the top needs replaced because the zippered plastic windows, are cloudy, almost impossible and I WANT to paint it, as it is purple (grape colored he calles it) with a pink hood that he put on it, to replace the rusted out hood.

I think, either gold, silver or gray for the color, but not quite sure yet, that decision can wait until after the RVs ready and the repairs are done to the Tracker

It's has a standard shift, 4 speed transmission, so I won't need to use a dolly or trailer to tow it, just need to pick up a tow bar and a hitch ball for the RV.  I spotted one at the Flea market for $80, but thought I'ld look around before buying one, although that was probably a pretty good price.