Day 0ne. Santa Rosa to Smith River.

The Van.

After I installed the Harmonic Balancer. I reset the timing to about 6° advanced, as the book said.
I didn’t have a chance to test it out before we left on our trip.

Heading Out.

We left Santa Rosa around 11:00. Our plan was to drive north on Highway 101 to the town of Fortuna where we were to stop for the night at the Bear River Casino.

As we drove up the freeway I knew something was wrong with the engine. It was back to its old hesitation problem. I just continued to drive, nursing it up the hills. It wasn’t as bad as it had been but it still had trouble keeping up on the hills.

Lunch

We stopped in Laytonville and had lunch at Boomers Saloon.

Bear River Casino.

Around 4PM we pulled into the Bear River Casino parking lot. We arrived earlier than we expected.
After parking we went into the casino and used their rest rooms.

Back at the van I decided to take a short nap until about 5:30.
When I woke up from my nap I took another walk to the casino rest room. When I got back to the van there was a car parked on each side of us. Each car had a Lap weasel type dog in it and they were both barking at full speed and full volume.

Behind us was a car that’s alarm had been honking for about half an hour.

“Let’s get out of here” I said.

Continuing north.

We decided to try and find a campground further north but every one we came to was full.

We drove through Eureka, CA. and Crescent City and turned east on Hwy 199 toward Grants Pass, OR.
 


We thought we might find a campground along there.
All the campgrounds were full but I remembered a place where I camped off the highway when I drove to Alaska. It was a river access area.
We tried a couple of side roads and eventually found a spot where we could get off the road and spend the night near the river.

We spent a nice quiet night and were on the road early the next morning.

Day Two.

Smith River to Glendale, OR.

The van’s still running bad but it is still running.

We stopped in Cave Junction for breakfast.

A Detour.

As we were getting near Grants Pass we decided that instead of going through Grants Pass we would take a detour through Merlin, Galice and Wolf Creek.

It was a nice scenic drive along the Rogue River

where we crossed this bridge.

Bob and Kathy.

We got to Bob and Kathi’s around noon. It was nice to see them again.
We visited for a while and they suggested we get some lunch.
We went with them to a local café and had lunch.

On the way home we stopped at a neighbors house to borrow a timing light.

Adjusting the Timing.

When we got back home I set out to adjust the timing on the van.
I ended up setting the timing at about 10° BTDC.

Buffett at Seven Feathers.

We decided to go to The Seven Feathers Casino for their Seafood Buffet.
Seven Feathers is 25 miles north of Glendale and there are a couple of steep grades going and coming. I wanted to drive the van there so I could check it out.
The van ran much better this time, going up the hill with little problem although it still trembles a bit. I will see if I can adjust the timing a bit more and see if I can clear that tremble.

The buffet was good and we left the casino ahead and full.

Back at Kathy and Bobs.

We visited and watched television until bed time.

Day three.

Kathy and Bobs.

I got up early and got my shower and breakfast. After breakfast I went out to the van and tried to improve its performance. I would move the timing mark a bit and drive up the road and it would stumble. It took many tries but eventually it appears that I have the timing adjusted as close as I will get.

Around 10:45 to we drove with Kathy and Bob to Grants Pass so Kathy could go to the doctors.

Becky and Dennis

This evening we are going the Valley of the Rogue State Park to visit with Becky and Dennis, who are hosting there.
Around 3:45 we headed down I-5 to the Valley of the Rogue State Park to visit Becky and Dennis.
We visited with them at their spot in the park for a while then we went to a very good Mexican restaurant for supper.

After supper and a lot more visiting inside the restaurant, we said our goodbye's to Becky and Dennis and headed back to Kathy and Bob’s.

Around 10:00 we said goodnight to Kathy and Bob and went to bed.