The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #50 in VA,MD, DE &
WV 7/25/00
1,298 miles this trip, odometer now 66,736 total, miles this year
14,282.
From , Delmar, MD, Hi Everyone!
I made another trip to Virginia Beach with Jenny’s
car to work on some of Virginia’s Honey Do list items. I
got a lot of them done and while I was there Virginia had an appointment
with a Doctor at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. My first son was
born there in 1950 and my last son was born there in 1960 and
I spent about a week there in the 1950s with a collapsed lung.
They now have a new hospital and I thought I would go along and
check it out. It is a very big and very up to date hospital. I
went to the Cardiology department to see if I could make an appointment
to have my defibrillator checked. The gal asked me if I wanted
it checked right now, I said why not and the next thing I know
she has me all wired up and the computer said it hadn’t fired
since Doc. Olson put me on those high priced pills. I then asked
her if I could get these high priced pills at the pharmacy here
in the hospital. She checked and told me I could if I would have
a prescription mailed to me and bring it in, it could not be faxed
to them. It didn’t take me long to call Sioux Falls and tell
them to send me a prescription for Coreg and another for Cozaar.
I soon had me about $600.00 worth of pills for free and I can
get three re-fills. The last time I tried to get Cozaar at the
Air Force base in Omaha, they told me they didn’t stock it
and I never tried again. Now I should be able to get some of that
high priced fuel and put some more miles on the old GMC.
Jenny’s old car is due for inspection next month, as
I am the only one that drives it, I figured it was up to me to
get it ready. I took it to Sam’s Club and had four new tires
put on it, now the rear view mirror doesn’t vibrate any more,
besides being worn out they were out of balance. The guy that
was working on the front wheels pointed out to me that the front
brake pads were shot so I went by Pep Boys and picked up a set.
The gal that took my money told me to be sure to hang onto the
receipt, that there was a life time warranty on them. I informed
her that I wasn’t going to worry about it, the car is fifteen
years old, has 250,000 miles on it, is all rusted out and is probably
just waiting for me to get it to pass inspection before it craps
out. The best part about the old car is, it goes a long way on
a gallon of gas and it just won’t quit running. Jenny has
taken good care of it.
I got the old GMC inspected so it’s legal for another
year. My Nebraska drivers license was to expire in Feb. and I
didn’t want to make a trip up here then so I went down to
VA and got my VA drivers license, now I’m legal till Feb.,
2005.
I cranked up the old GMC and Me and My Shadow headed to
the GMC Tidewater Crabs rally at G.R. Freeman campground at Sutton
Lake in WV. It sure felt good to get on the road again, those
long steep grades on I-68 were a good test for the modifications
I had done. The restrictions I put in the PCV hose on the engine
worked better than expected. I would be a little richer if I had
done it when I first got the coach. I may be able to come up with
some figures after the trip to the West Coast this fall, I don’t
have enough miles on it yet. It definitely cut oil consumption
and improved engine performance with a drop in fuel consumption.
So far I have found no adverse effects. After more testing I’ll
write it up and submit it to GMCMM.
The Tidewater Crabs rally was great, the campground is nice,
there were several SOBs and tents and a whole lot of happy campers
including more kids than I expected, all having a lot of fun.
I had some nice visits with old friends, ate too much good chow
and enjoyed the dinner boat cruise on the lake. I plan to do some
more work on the coach and I hope it will be ready for the rally
next month in PA. I sure hope the price of fuel comes down.
Till next time, Dallas or Dad if it fits.
Me & My Shadow, with Gertrude, Gus & Keith on the road.