the road to Google continues

statico on 2006-05-26T14:31:50

Before our house in New Hampshire exploded, my dad and I maintained a large, O-gauge train set in one of the barns. The walls of the large room were the edges of the set, and on these walls was a kind of scenic wallpaper -- basically, large paintings of the horizon and desert and mountains and clouds and the like. It's now obvious that those were paintings of Wyoming, for the skies and scenery were a close match to what I remember.

The check engine light came on again and we have no way of knowing exactly what's wrong. (Thanks a million, Toyota... HALUGHALUGH) The car had a full check-up and inspection right before the trip. It's been driving terrifically and there's no obvious weirdness under the hood, so we're going to assume it's something minor.

Note: One of the Napa guys suggested that we stay away from Ethanol-enriched gas. He claimed that it vaporizes at 82 degrees Fahrenheit (a government-suppressed fact, no less), which causes the engine to do all sorts of weird things. He kept repeating the phrase "vapor-lock."

Today we explore the extent Yellowstone. Yesterday we got up to the lake in the mountains, but it was too late in the evening. We had to turn around before the gate closed at 8:00 pm.

Still no pictures. My little Pismo is six-years strong, but the processor is finally beginning to show its age. It's annoyingly slow when trying to organize photos with gthumb. Soon, I promise.


It's now obvious that...

Mr. Muskrat on 2006-05-26T15:17:34

It's now obvious that what?

Re:It's now obvious that...

statico on 2006-05-27T04:30:18

Oops! Finished.

Trains and CHECK ENGINE lights

n1vux on 2006-05-26T15:36:57

Sometimes "Check Engine" means "I think you need a 30,000 mile check ... and don't know you had one just before the trip" and sometimes it means "I'm broken but you don't know it yet".

If the car is new enough, you can buy a "code reader" at NAPA, WalMart, etc to plug into the engine computer, which will display the current status #'s which you can look up in the handy booklet supplied with the cheap code reader, or will scroll on the semi-pro model.

Even the Iowa Corn lobby admits that fuel filter clogs are possible (when ethanol is first used on older cars) and vapor lock on hot days, but they claim it's "mostly eliminated".

Re Trains, please finish paragraph ...

I had an O-gauge Lionel many decades ago. (I must admit my layout was ugly -- it was operational not modelling.) Since then I've done some modelling for gaming purposes, lots of fun. I read both model train and railfan magazines, but am otherwise currently in remission. I remember the Rocky Mountains with fondness, and would love to take a train ride through them.

Good luck!

Re:Trains and CHECK ENGINE lights

statico on 2006-05-27T04:30:06

Thanks for the tips, Bill. I finished the thought in that first paragraph.