Up nice and early, it was time to get Booger Mobile's front end inspected for damage from yesterday's trip...
First stop, get Reg from OKA to have a look - he didn't see anything too untoward... While he was doing that, a man appeared from the house beside Booger Mobile who was wearing a Good Year Auto Care shirt... He said to come down to the workshop and they would sort it out!!
Reg had plenty of other cars to look at, so he was pleased that Damian had a lead to get it sorted.
At Good Year Auto Care Broken Hill...
Up onto the wheel alignment hoist...
Looking pretty good underneath...
Turns out that there's not anything noticeable that is broken or bent, and that a wheel alignment was in order.
The camber of the wheels wasn't able to be adjusted - it would appear that the strut towers have been bent slightly inward in the impact, but this doesn't impact anything at this stage... For next year, a brace between the strut towers is a good option!!
The nicest part? They did the wheel alignment as a donation to the cause!!
Damian took the opportunity to remove the steering wheel and re-attach it in the correct position (it was rotated quite a lot to the right).
On to the bitumen to head to Yunta Public School for lunch.
Heading up the highway...
And on...
And on...
How long is this highway?
Over a bridge over the train line...
Nothing but the boys, the road, and the horizon!!
Booger Mobile was going well, the damage from the day before wasn't as bad as it could have been, the boys were happy and looking forward to an incident free run from here on in...
Down the highway...
Yawn...
It was all too much for Angus, who had a bit of a kip.
Driving...
Driving...
Selfie while driving...
Such amazing scenery!!
And a clothesline... of course!!
Back to the scenery...
On...
And on...
Past another dry creek bed...
Vroom...
Oh look, some mountains!!
And a big tractor...
Back to the road and the trees...
And more trees and road...
Road, trees and sky!!
Add a few clouds!!
Finally, the boys arrived at Yunta Rural School!! One of the officials needed a safety vest... secretly the boys think she just wants to be part of Team Booger Mobile!!
Parked at Yunta Rural School, with an astounding FOUR students!!
1074 arrived on the back of OKA... Apparently their distributor had packed it in...
Damian discovered the latest addition to Booger Mobile - a sticker with an altered BP logo and the text bp Leafs others for dead. (A tribute to the leaf in the fuel tank saga from 2013.) Hilarious!!
All good!!
Leaving quite late from lunch, Damian and Angus decided that being on the bitumen for the afternoon might be a good option... It would turn out to be a great decision!!
Heading down the highway, with a goods train breaking the boredom!!
Wow, it's long!!
And back to the road, clouds, trees and horizon!!
Woohoo!! A bend in the road...
By this stage, Booger Mobile had started playing up a bit - as if there was some bad fuel...
Stopping at the fruit quarantine checkpoint...
And off again!!
How much further?
Oh look, a railway crossing!! Thank goodness the train wasn't going past!!
Onward and upward!!
An old stone house, or what was left of it!!
A random stand of pine trees or similar lining a short section of road...
Peterborough!! Damian and Angus decided to find some shade, park Booger Mobile and let it cool down, to drop the fuel from the filter and carby to check for impurities...
While waiting, they headed across to the café across the street, only to enter to find an impressive converted theatre!!
Kicking back with a cappuccino!!
Damian saw a poster on the wall that was clearly about him!!
There were also some awesome esCarpade cars in waiting!!
Maybe not this one!!
These two might also be a little awkward...
The view towards the back of the theatre...
Angus decided the chair was very comfy and promptly had a snooze!!
Refreshed, it was time to check out Booger Mobile...
Meanwhile, another train went past...
So, a couple of esCarpade teams stopped to lend a hand, and the diagnosis was that it was the distributor, not the fuel. While this conversation was taking place, a local wandered past and advised that he knew someone "just around the corner" who would have a distributor... Directing the boys to the local Bridgestone Service Centre.
The boys did manage to track down the bloke (via the staff at the centre calling the father, who in turn said he didn't have a distributor but his son might), but all to no avail. Damian and Angus were grateful for the effort they went to in order to help out, but in the end, there wasn't a distributor to be had.
The boys ended up leaving at 5:30pm, with 130km to travel to Port Augusta. Back on the road, with Booger Mobile getting progressively worse - particularly when driving up hills!!
Downhill wasn't too bad...
Making progress...
The sun was starting to get low in the sky... it was going to start being a bad time to be on the road (kangaroos). It also seemed to be blue-tongue-strolling-across-the-road-time!! Dozens were seen...
Downhill in the 110km/hr zone...
Getting closer!!
A nice, long, straight, slightly downhill section...
Reaching around 90 km/hr... Going great guns!!
Then there was a shudder, a sway and the smell of burning rubber...
A tyre had blown out!! The boys really couldn't take a trick!!
Unpacking the boot to dig out the spare tyre...
Up on the jack, ready to remove the rim and the remainder of the tyre!!
Yep... it's gooooooooooone!!
New tyre on, and back on the road with 77km to go...
Scenery getting a little more interesting...
Still going progressively worse uphill, but not too bad coasting downhill...
This nice downhill section...
Was pretty amazing...
Great road...
Great scenery!!
Wheeeeeeeeeee!!
55 snakes ahead!!
Couldn't be too much further, surely?
Downhill from here!!
Water and sunset...
Sunset and water...
Finally the boys had arrived in Port Augusta!!
Parked at the hotel...
And dinner!!
Great entertainment...
All in all, it was a day of ups and downs... The dinner was awesome - best steak ever on an esCarpade!! The blowout was one of those "you must be kidding me" moments... The distributor failing was ironic given 1074 had the same issue!! The relatively minor damage to the front end from yesterday was dodging a bullet!!
Tomorrow, the boys have a few leads to follow up to find a new distributor, will hopefully attend the school visit before getting the distributor issue sorted out, and with any luck, will actually get onto the track at some point!!
esCarpade... it's an adventure!!
You didn't do it for the fame though... just the adventure. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness. What a run of annoying luck! Thankfully you made it to port Augusta in time for steak though. Btw what wad with that clothesline in the middle of nowhere?
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