After finding summer in southern USA, we had forgotten how wet and cool Oregon was. We returned to our little free campsite nestled behind the dunes just south of Florence and on Monday morning made the drive back to Springfield to see Ike and the boys at Pangolin 4×4. Hayden had spoken to Ike several days earlier but had not informed him of our trip back north, and we were hoping we would make for a pleasant surprise. We made a brief stop in Walmart for Hayden to use the bathroom, and whilst waiting I perused the magazine section. Amongst your usual magazines there was quite the choice of Christian magazines, and just a little further to left, the gun section. Flicking through the first one I put my hands on I came across an advertisement for a handbag-sized pistol for protection, an article on how to find a water source in urban areas should the apocalypse come and an article that will help you distinguish the whether your colleague is suffering workplace stress or if they are, in actual fact, a terrorist planning an attack. I am not even joking.
Just after lunch we knocked on Pangolin’s door. The boys were happy to see us and Hayden explained the work he wanted to do on Maggie before heading down into Mexico and beyond. Ike was more than accommodating and moved a few things around so that Maggie could be driven in to a corner of the workshop. Hayden did not want to get in anybody’s way so it was decided that he would work on Maggie in the evening and we would set up camp in the workshop and sleep there. And so it began. The removal of the gearbox for the second time this trip (there was a niggling concern that something may not have been replaced correctly when we did it in Mongolia). Hayden worked and worked and by midnight the gearbox was out, stripped and clean ready for Ike’s professional opinion in the morning. I had set up our bed in the cleanest corner of the workshop and we drifted off to sleep. It was an early start as we figured it was best to have everything packed away before the boys came into work. Hayden conferred with Ike over the gearbox and it was concluded that one of the bearings needed replacing. Throughout the day it transpired that a spring on the clutch plate had snapped, so that was also replaced. Next job was to check the steering relay (the only last bit of the car manufactured by BritPart – Land Rover owners will understand why this is significant, but let’s just say they haven’t earned the nickname ‘shitpart’ because they make quality) was knackered, so that was also replaced.
I ventured out to the ‘Springfield College of Beauty’ to get myself a $4 haircut. Having heard of many hair disaster stories occurring in settings just like this, I opted for only a basic trim figuring that I have plenty of hair spare in the case of a screw up. The sweet girl washed my hair and then plonked me in a chair, confirming if I wanted layers cut. I didn’t want to tell the honest truth that I was afraid she would hack my hair to pieces, saying instead ‘no thank you, I’m trying to grow it all out’. She let out a massive sigh of relief with a ‘thank goodness, I’m really bad at layers’. Good decision Amy. She set about the task at hand and we had a nice little conversion, mostly consisting of her asking me lots of questions just so she could hear me speak as she loved my accent (she didn’t mind telling me this over and over). She snipped and giggled and I felt like a giant doll she was playing with. About half way through, she had to excuse herself as she had cut her own finger with the scissors, leaving me feeling even more relieved about the ‘no layers’ decision. After a longer than normal timeframe, she was done and was looking pretty pleased with herself as she fetched the teacher to examine her handiwork. Teacher was satisfied with the cut, cue sigh of relief for all involved, and that was that. My poor little hairdresser has lots of learning still to do, but she seems to be enjoying her newfound profession and I wish her well.
The evening came, the gearbox back in (but no seats) and we, in much need of a good shower, walked around the corner to a cheap motel for the evening and ate a late night dinner in a diner served by two buxom middle aged women.
In the morning, Ike picked us up to take us out for breakfast and afterwards another day of Land Rover work was undertaken.
The next morning Hayden and Ike discovered a small patch of oil under the gearbox and came to the conclusion that in the difficult process of putting the gearbox back together, it must have suffered a broken seal. There was simply nothing left to do other than to take it out AGAIN! I can safely say that Hayden is now an expert at gearbox removal and insertion, this time completing the whole process – out, strip, clean, repair, and refit – all in one working day!
By Friday, Hayden was just about done, but wanted to give the car a good test to drive to be sure that there wasn’t anything we had forgotten. We decided to spend the weekend in Springfield in another workshop. One of Ike’s workers/friend had just rented a work space around the corner (complete with hot showers). Matt kindly offered and we accepted, Hayden promising to help him sort out his new space. The first job was obviously to hang fairy lights! Hayden was having a great time on the rented scissor lift. We spent Saturday finally sourcing a gas bottle, our European style one being no good for the Americans, our biggest issue was finding one small enough to fit in its ‘spot’ in the car amongst all the American super sized ones! We managed to find one and also find somewhere to fill it and put it back in its place, finally ready to be used to do our cooking (without need for a fire, caveman style). During the afternoon Ike came around and the boys decided to make further use of the rented forklift and scissor lift, using them to lift an old mini up on to the high ledge, definitely a productive afternoon. On Sunday Hayden went and did what a lot of Americans spend their Sundays doing – shooting. He, Matt and Ike loaded up Ike’s car full of old signs to shoot up and plenty of snacks to keep them going and headed for the hills. I, on the other hand, gathered up our dirty clothes and made the trek to the laundromat where I met one of Springfield’s finest citizens – a middle aged lady who is an ex-drug addict and has spent her life in and out of prison, her most recent stint being ten years for attempted robbery and kidnapping. Hmmmm, I’m not sure I was getting the most truthful tale, but she seemed to enjoy telling me her life story, so I let her. Washing done, I returned to the workshop and the boys weren’t far behind me. Having spent most of the day being extremely unproductive (unless you count blasting bullets through old street signs as productive) they got stuck in helping Matt weld and grind all the pieces to a 16ft spiral staircase he was making for a client. It was an intensive three hour process and I was impressed at the fact that only about two YouTube videos were watched in this time – they were working so hard! Eventually the job was done, a job that probably would have taken Matt days if he was to complete it on his own, and then it was time for a friendly round of mini-golf and pizza!
The weekend ended and it was back to all things ‘work’ and by Tuesday we were on our way again, confident that Maggie was in good shape.
Land Rover Sleepovers
