FIRST DAY WITH TRUCK - Osoyoos to Golden
After we woke up, coffee, food, gas and then, bam….there I am standing in front of Truck on a dirt road with the JF Kustoms shop behind us. Keys on the seat, ready to go. We immediately jumped in and started to drive it. Don had the Camera and I found myself trying to drive something pretty alien to me. I mean, I understand how to drive things but the gearshift felt like rowing a boat. I put it in reverse when trying to reach 3rd. There is no power steering or power brakes. Whatever, no time- we had to go. It was Penticton first with Don chasing me in the rental to the return shop. Then on to Kelowna headed for Calgary. Its 1:30pm.
Picking up the truck in Osoyoos
So what do you do? I have to learn how this Truck drives- how fast will 4 drum breaks stop a 3400 pound vehicle? 3rd gear is right next to reverse, so look out. You take all that knowledge you have gathered from driving different shit and you freak out a little bit and then you do it. But you drive it knowing you will learn how and that it’s going to get better regardless of how spooky it is at first. This heightened awareness, it keeps you safe. Truth is, Truck was a Billy Goat in the mountains. It was me, who was a little shaky. At one point Truck stalled at the top of a pass, but we could roll off and restart it. Maybe the altitude, or more likely I, had messed with the idle adjustment because it was idling really high after it was on the highway for a few hours.
Gas stop in the mountains
The mountains are beautiful. There are a ton of descriptions of them but nothing is really going to show them to you but you going there. Run through valleys and climb over ridges blasted through the granite. Use caution. Use your mirrors to look at those mountains as much as your windshield. The guard rails around every corner are beat to hell so when it got dark we stopped in Golden at a motel for the night. Don’t drive the mountains in the dark if you don’t have to. It's dangerous. We saw it all over the side of the road.
Trans Canada hwy on the way to Golden
When we got into Calgary we went to see Perry who we met on the FTE Forum. Perry had been driving across Canada since the 70’s in all sizes of truck. He had a 1978 F250 dump bed for his daily driver and a couple projects out back. Including He looked over the truck with me and showed me a bunch of stuff I need to know. Biggest learning was that the Truck doesn’t like to go over 60/65mph tops. Its not hard to hear, the engine is starting to scream when you get to 70mph. She will do it but not for long. Anyway, thank you Perry you woke me up to how this truck works.
