Well, August marks the start of the blue teams run in Michigan. As such there's always the mad rush of last-minute things to get done. For me one of the big ones was getting my jeep running. Some may remember several years ago I bought a 1976 CJ-7. Well, it hasn't run for about three years. So I finally decided to drop the tranny and transfer case and take a look at the clutch.
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The problem was not clutch slippage, it was the clutch refusing to disengage. From tearing it apart it looks like the throwout fork and possibly throwout bearing were bad. I replaced them both, and the clutch and pressure plate while I was in it. Also looked at the flywheel and starter, some teeth damage there. So I'm gonna order a new flywheel before putting it all back together. Hopefully once that's all done it will finally be drivable again. Granted, then I'll need to get it's registration renewed, etc. Just Empty Every Pocket. So true, so true.
So we started our run. As always one of my brothers picked me up from the airport. Jon draw the short straw the first week. In the car he started giving me the down-low on everything. The campsite, festival grounds, show times and so forth. He also told me about an amazing gas station right next to our campsite. And oh dear god is it. It's a gas station / grocery store / deli / liquor store / beer store. And I have never seen a gas station with such a selection of craft beer and micro-brews. Simply beautiful and amazing.
The cabin that we have is a little small for the three of us and Jimmae's dog. But fortunately for my guys I'm only there on the weekends. So it's not so bad during the week. And his dog, Alaska, is simply adorable. All in all extremely well behaved.
The shows are going great. We're having a blast sharing the stage with Bocca Musica. They're one of the baudy musical groups there. And we're having fun messing with the local cast. Be it dropping into the local parade, or waving as the parade passes by us—five times. Got a lot of beads that day, I'll tell ya.
I know Jon and Jimmae are also getting active in a lot of the local RESCU events. Wish I could help more in that regard, but I'm glad that the guys are representing Tortuga well!
It's gonna be one hell of a busy fall for me. We need to finish up Michigan, then on to Connecticut. After that I get three weekends off, but it won't last, lol.
