"gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
05/05/2015 at 16:12 • Filed to: None
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"gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
05/05/2015 at 16:12 • Filed to: None | 4
| 9 |
Although !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I got kinja’d HARD this morning trying to post.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
But BIG NEWS!!!
Why no back seat?
Why MAAAAD stance?
Because RaceNiva?
Hah. No.
Because moving truck.
For those wondering where I went, (like maybe a couple of you) in the last couple months I’ve been very busy with life.
I found a new job, quit my old job, and moved myself 400 miles for my new job. It’s just a crappy summer job, but it’s in a National Park and will pay a lot more than my old one (delivery driver/shelf stocker at a chain auto-parts store), which hopefully will mean I can go back to school in the fall.
I’ve also driven to Ottawa and back, about 3000 miles round trip, to move my brother back home after the school year. Although we used my Dad’s Envoy instead of the Niva because it was more likely to make it all the way there and back, (and it’s got about the same amount of cargo space as the Niva has interior space) but ironically it needed a new transmission about 600 miles into the trip... the 4L60E’s sun gear failed, taking out reverse and most of the forward gears as well. I guess it’s a reasonably common problem at around 100,000 miles, my Dad’s has around 120k miles.
Oh, and I had a really bad scare with the Niva and a B-train on an overpass, during the second week of April which left me a bit shell-shocked for a bit, part of the reason I wandered away from social media for a while, on top of the other stresses of changing jobs. For those wondering, this is a B-train:
On Circle Drive in Saskatoon, the speed limit is 90km/hr (55mph) The B-train was in the right lane, at around 85km/hr. I had just merged onto the four-lane divided highway, but couldn’t pass it because there was a white Lexus sitting beside me, maybe doing 87 in the left lane. Once the Lexus passed me, I pulled in behind it. I didn’t want to tailgate the Lexus, and was a couple lengths car lenghts behind it, close enough though that it was obvious I wanted to actually do the speed limit.
After slowly working our way past the truck, the Lexus driver pegs the brakes and dives across in front of the truck to make an exit right after the overpass. This leaves the truck with two options: 1. Hit the Lexus, or 2. Change lanes and hope there wasn’t anyone in his blind spot.
There was someone in his blindspot. Me. On an overpass. With about a foot of shoulder between my lane and a concrete wall, with a 40’ drop on the other side of it. I stood on the brakes, and got as close to the wall as I dared, but it wasn’t quite enough. So many wheels, coming right at me. I got hit right as the barrier ended at the end of the overpass, and slid down into the ditch in the median. I was still rolling in a reasonably straight line, so I pulled back onto the pavement to try to chase him down to get a plate number or something, (he didn’t even slow down, not sure he knew I was even there) but the violent shaking of the steering wheel told me there was something seriously wrong and I couldn’t keep going at that speed. So I stopped, and got out to check out the damage, and got another surprise:
The shaking was just a very flat tire. His rim slashed up my sidewall pretty good. Otherwise, there’s a big NASCAR rub on the lip of the fender, which was pushed in a hair, and of course the broken mirror glass. The Niva’s a tough little bugger. That or a very light one. I’m guessing I just got bounced out of the way, which is why I didn’t sustain more damage. I was getting new tires the next week anyhow, so I had the tire place check the alignment, and they said they didn’t see any problems. The rim was also fine, which is awesome because my wheels are awesome.
Mandatory new rubber shot:
So yeah. Life. But hopefully I’m back for a while now.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
05/05/2015 at 16:18 |
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I used to know someone who ended up with a Ford Excursion between two semis, and things got *friendly*. There was a scythed line cut out along the plastic running board cover from the semi’s lugs.
CB
> gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
05/05/2015 at 16:18 |
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Shit, glad to hear you’re alright! And does this mean you’re done with the Crappy Tire life?
CalzoneGolem
> gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
05/05/2015 at 16:19 |
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Life ... Don’t talk me about life.
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> CalzoneGolem
05/05/2015 at 16:23 |
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I was just thinking to myself about five minutes ago that some idiots blocking an intersection belonged on the Golgafrinchan B Ark.
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CalzoneGolem
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
05/05/2015 at 16:26 |
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Hairstylist, phone sanitizer or bathtub resident?
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> CalzoneGolem
05/05/2015 at 16:29 |
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Engager in unarmed battle of wits re: right of way by virtue of stopping in the middle of the intersection. Job? Well, driving around at 4:00, possibly none/net drain on society. Then again, E-series van... camp counselor? Not quite on the phone sanitizing level, but I’d argue not far off.
Baeromez
> gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
05/05/2015 at 16:42 |
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+1 for Mighty Mods reference.
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gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
> CB
05/05/2015 at 16:42 |
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For now, yeah. I may end up back there in the fall, though. Only I didn’t actually work for CT, per se. I was working at a PartSource... CT was just signing my checks. If I do make it back into school, they’ll be happy to see me back as a part-timer, although at this point it’s only a plan B.
desertdog5051
> gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
05/05/2015 at 18:32 |
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Had a scary close encounter with on of these years ago. 11 axles, 164,000 pounds.
