25 February 2011

Trip to South Brewster Co.


















Bigfoot typing...


Nephew Joe and I arrived late Friday afternoon. My son drove in from College Station for his first visit and arrived around 10:30PM Friday night.


Caren decided to arrange a sub for her classes early the following week and headed out for a "surprise" visit. It was about 20 miles north of Alpine that the little Jap car tranny finally crapped out after 185k miles.(maybe too many prior trips pulling a small trailer to Terlingua?) The car is sitting at a mech shop in Alpine while we try to locate another tranny at a reasonable price...looks like $1800-2000 is best for rebuilt unit plus shipping. (still cheaper than another used 10 yr old Lexus)


With me supervising and the 2 "kids" on the scaffold and ladders the ceiling is now insulated and most OSB panels in place too. Couldn't have done it w/o them.!!


Did some lead slinging, boys took a couple of area hikes, Caren did alot of painting ( see pic.."can I get some more tartar sauce with my fish sticks please lunch-lady?"), and we even got another cabinet hung on the wall. Countertops all hauled down this time too.


Budget rental pickup did wonderfully, even got 15-16MPG pulling a long 18' trailer with the big 5.4 v8....sure wish I owned one. Less than $300 for a 7 day unlimited miles rental...(but you are NOT supposed to pull a trailer with it..hush, now)


Weather was great..coolish nights and daytime highs around 84. Real foggy a few mornings too.


Tffnguy and Ring invited us over for some delicious brisket our last evening there...sure was a nice time sitting around outside in the shade, but got chilly around sundown. Not enough time to visit with other friends and neighbors, but did see JustMe for a bit at the Legion friday night.


Headed back down around spring break...but need to do some coolant system leak repairs on the old Towncar first....can't afford to rent a truck again. Hopefully the Jap car will be ready to go then.

9 comments:

tffnguy said...

Bigfoot, bummer about the Lexus. Hope they can get a replacement pretty cheap, but from reading the posts on my forums I hear those trannys are basically throw aways. Most can't be rebuilt.

Guess we need to come up with a reason to have another party when you'll get back next time.

Anonymous said...

Hey tffguy....found a match rebuilt from AZ on Ebay with an 18 mo /warrantee....for $1800 plus shipping. Some of this year/model Lexus had a toyota camry tranny but ours has the rare and much more pricey 18 bolt pan model. I "used" one from a high mileage Lexus would still cost $1500...so a rebuilt with a half-assed warrantee for a tad more +shipping sounds like a good deal.


I'm gonna go for it and buy it on Monday...and have it shipped to Alpine,,,maybe it;ll be ready by the time we get there in a couple weeks.

Take care, dude.

Anonymous said...

Every time you visit you work so hard! When do you get a vacation..

Anonymous said...

hmmm...after being laid off for 2 yrs...I hardly ever work. But I'm a fantastic supervisor.!!

Bigfoot

Anonymous said...

UPDATE: Found a rebuilt Lexus tranny on Ebay. Ordered it today along with a rebuilt torque converter....being shipped to Alpine Mech shop from AZ...total for parts $2100....and remove/reinstall should run about $500-600 labor. Still cheaper than another decent used car of any value.

AND had to order a new aftermarket Town Car intake manifold for the Lincoln. My '98 car is too old to be included in the Ford 4.6 PLASTIC intake recall...another $200 plus labor to fix.

Ain't cars fun?

Bigfoot

Anonymous said...

you guys are moving right along, when do u expect to move full time?

tffnguy said...

Glad you found a tranny, but sounds like you need to take out a couple of bank loans for all that stuff. What a BUMMER!

Anonymous said...

OGT....making a stab at getting down there full time this fall.

Tffnguy...between the Lexus tranny and the TC intake manifold...grand total of $3000...but still no car pymts.

Bigfoot

Anonymous said...

what gives? no new posts? I know my posts are kind of lame, but at least I make one once a week. lol