REALLY cool "On The Way Home from the Nall" Story

[KrisW]

Okay, we all have the stories, the cool things we did, the low passes, the dumb thumb moves. . . .

Just wanted to share this one


The Scene: Friday night at Joe Nall, JUST pranged the Frenzy being stupid and doing foolish things. . TOTALLY PO'd at myself and just disgusted, got one plane disabled cause I had to borrow an ignition, another that needs a receiver swap, the donor for the receiver is not gong to fly till I get the receiver back from repair, and now I broke my Frenzy!!!

Guess what .. I'M GOIN HOME!!!!!
Gonna sleep in MY bed tonight . .in Air Conditioning, just 2 hours away. . it's 10:30.

Soooo. . .. start packing and getting things put away .. this takes a lot longer than you think. . about 12:30 everything is packed. . I get Jeeum to guide me back to hook up the trailer. Hook up lights. . smack the ground cable bolt on the trailer to get a better connection and the lights are now bright and working. . ease out of the space. . head over the hill. . stop at the gate to check all the connections one last time. . .and point the nose of the Van home.

About 5 miles onto I-85 North the stereo suddenly glitches at me. . like glitches to the point of turning OFF. . . HUH??? It's 1 a.m. . . . it's raining . . . wipers are not moving too fast. . .hmmm. . this cannot be good. Shut off the wipers and the lights get brighter. . . . . . . . . .

Rut roh!!!!!

Pull over and shut her down to check under the hood. . yup. . everything is connected but there's a funny "lost the electrons" smell. . .this is looking worse folks. Get back in and hit the key. . . . click click click click click goes the starter!!!

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!

I am NOT going to sit here all freaking nite long. . . .I am NOT going to call a tow truck .. I am NOT going to call for help.

NO NO NO NO NO NO ! ! ! ! ! ! !!

So I sits. . and I thinks a bit. . Hmm. . Got a 350 amp Lawn Mower battery in the trailer that I use for my flightline electric fuel pump. . maybe it can jump this thing off. So I open the back of the trailer, cut the battery loose from the straps holding it to the fuel bottle, grab the jumper cables. . . VROOM ! ! ! ! ! ! she starts. Quick slam the hood and put the battery and cables in the van and I'm OFF!!!!! No stereo. . .no wipers. . .killed the auxilury cooling fan for the radiator. . just marker lights and the engines electric fuel pump and ignition (carb motor. . KISS I say).

Hello Mr. Semi Tractor trailer. . I'll just follow you. . .you have NICE headlight and marker lights. . easy to follow in the rain and dark.

So there I am, at Zero feet, 70 mph, headed North at 2 a.m. in the rain and dark. The faceplate for the stereo is my voltage indicator. I figure when it goes dark I'm about down to 10 volts in the battery. I make it about 30 miles and OOPS. . the faceplate starts to flicker. . then goes dead ..

DAMMIT!!! . . .Sigh . .pull over at an exit 5 miles later. . .what to do?? do NOT shut off engine. . . .

It's about 40 miles to the Exit where I work (Pep Boys, Exit 21) in Gastonia . .it's about 60 miles to another Pep Boys in Charlotte (Exit 41), and 70 miles to home (Exit 49). . . DAMMIT. .i am NOT giving UP!!!!! I grab the lawn tractor battery, set it on the dashboard, run the jumper cables out the door and to the main battery. . hook up (electrical sparks. . .damned thing was DOWN). Slam the hood and door .. turn off ALL the lights .. and get back on the road. . .Hello again. . another Semi to follow. I tuck in about 40 feet off his bumper and lock in place. . getting buffeted but people can see me (I hope).

There I am. .watching that stereo faceplate again .. just waiting for it to blink. I make it to Exit 21. . still going strong. .Cool. . let's rock. . 5 miles later RUTROH. . stereo is flashing at me. Dilemma. . do I turn around while I can. . or press on?

Damn the torpedos. . Full speed ahead!!!!

I make it to Exit 41. . . still going strong. . people are honking at me and pointing to the lights. . I just smile and wave back. Get passed by a COP!!!!! Whew. . he's a local guy from 70 miles away. . he doesn't bother me. Make it to Exit 49. . 2 miles from home ! !

YAY!!! . .. oops .. engine is starting to lose power. . electric fuel pump is probably barely pumping now. EASY on the gas .. just kinda roll along and take it easy.. Last corner before the home stretch . .I'm stuck at a light for what seems like forever. It turns green, barely touch the gas. . the engine stumbles, catches. . and we are moving .. slowly. . then it goes downhill and I coast. Pull in and ease to the back and roll into the trailers parking spot and shut er down!!!!

PHEW!!!!!!!!!! Talk about nerve wracking!!!!

Unhook the trailer. . put the van in Neutral and coast down to the front door. . hook up the battery charger. . I SWEAR I could hear the van sigh with relief (I know I did). Man. .this is way too much Drama. .I gotta get some sleep. . It's 4 a.m.


Post Mortem: Next morning everything is charged up. . and I start to look for the source of all my woes. This is what happened:

About 10 months ago I swapped in a late model 360 with 105 amp alternator .. the fusible link for the OLD alternator was only 70 amps (DOH!!!!!!!) Since I had been charging planes for 4 days off the battery, the alternator was charging it. . but also running all the lights, trailer lights, wipers, stereo, auxilury cooling fan and Defroster fan at the same time, and was probably pulling 90-95 amps from the alternator. Poor lil fuse link gave up the ghost.

It has since been rewired with a 120 amp inline fuse direct to the battery.

Now. . pass me a beer. . I need one after reliving THAT story.

[Cracky]

lucky that ya made it home

[pitviper51]

man that sucks,, atleast ya made it
mike

[jongurley]

Last year leaving JOENALL 2005 my WHITE 1998 Tahoe lost the fuel pump, in ENOREE, 1mile away from the NALL, I live near Fayetteville NC< I still had a 5 hour drive,, I would have burnt it if I didn't have so much stuff in it, ,,,,,,

[Big J]

Great story, Kris. Sounds like quite an adventure.

[GremlinX]

I love those " made it home" stories....thanks

[wizard]

Kris, after reading this, I think you might have been walking the wrong side of the line again. Glad you made it home safe.

[Wring It Out]

Hey Kris,

That story was exhausting to read. It was nice to meet you this year at the Nall. Mike, Fred, and I woke up Sat morning and wondered where you had run off too. I'm glad to hear you made it home and I am looking forward to see the next version on the Frenzy. The plane looks very odd but it flies well. You might try to lower the horizonal stab a little to help on the knife edge coupling.

Catch you later,

David "Wring It Out" James

[Badge]

Story had me on the edge of my seat wondering if you were going to make it!!

[KrisW]

	Quote: Originally Posted by wizard
	Kris, after reading this, I think you might have been walking the wrong side of the line again. Glad you made it home safe.

If you don't live on the edge, Wiz . .you'll never know how much fun it is to fall off ! ! !

Whats that olde saying . .Mechanics drive old POS cars and never work on them much . .because we KNOW how far we can push them ! ! !