wsucougarx
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Just got home with my 1988 M35A2C. The day was pretty much uneventful and it appears Mr. Murphy missed me My day started out at 0330 hrs. I awoke to the thought of double checking my gear and supplies. I scurried out into the garage to recheck and double check everything. Everything was good to go, then of course the excitement of a deuce recovery hit, so going back to sleep was not an issue at this point. I just sat in front of the computer doing the SS thing and my father in law showed up to provide chase. We departed my home at 0630 hours, our destination was Kleiver Armoy in Portland, OR. The drive down gave some insight to the weather I was going to face on the trip back...rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, and yes even more rain. By the time we made it to Portland, blue skies were within view but short lived. However, I was able to get the majority of my 1 hour pre-flight done before the next wave of wind/rain moved in. The truck was a bit low on gear oil in two differentials. Got those filled up, checked off the tire pressure. The cold start thing was dripping diesel on the turbo, I put some RTV and duct tamp over it for a temp fix....it worked. Went in to start her up and....nothing. Luckily I brought an extra set of batteries. She immediately came to life and didn't smoke one bit. She only has 13k on the clock w/the original engine. Brand new cargo cover, somewhat new tires on the entire truck (about 90% plus tread), new seat cloth, new rear tail lights. There was absolutley very little rust if any on this truck. The brakes were outstanding and the nice air-assisted steering definatley made it easy to drive. I did end up having about 12 winged yellow/black friends before we started out. Our friendship quickly ended with a rag smashing them to the roof of the truck. We departed Kleiver Armoy and made it home in pretty good time. She did 50 MPH the whole way and didn't need to stop for fuel as the truck had a full tank of fresh diesel We did make two safety stops to check for leaks and hubs. No issues. There were some spoils in the truck, the most curious thing are the two 12 ft wooden structures in the back of the truck...bookshelves? not sure. Anyways the truck is a previous Air Nat'l Guard truck that was recently transferred to the Oregon Nat'l Guard. The soldier checking me out told me I got one of the best truck they have ever let go. Then his parting comment made me think. He said "You're military, you should know better than to buy a military truck." w/a sheepish smile. Anyway as you will notice, she was affectionally or I mean he was affectionally known as "Forest Gump". Not sure if I'm going to keep it there but for now it stays
She had about the cleanest engine I have ever seen on a deuce. She must have been stored in a hangar or something. Hard to believe this is a PNW truck. There is an Air Nat'l Guard within a few feet of the army as it is on the western border of Portland Airport (PDX). We got to hear the deafening roar of F-15's the entire time we were there, and they did get quite annoying after and hour and a half of continued flybys at very low levels. I guess the roar got me adjusted to the deuce roar at 50 MPH. So much so, I forgot to put in my ear plugs. Needless to say, when I got home, it sounded like I was in a tunnel. Luckily it has a springer seat.
On another note: On my way home I saw and waved at a 5 ton tractor heading in the opposite direction going South on I-5 near Napavine. Wondering if this was a SS? It wasn't an 818 but an earlier model.
Notes on Kleiver Armory
Great bunch of soldiers, busy soldiers. If you do recover from here in the future be ready to have initiative to get things done. If you lack initiative, well you're going to be there for awhile. I was going to get delayed 1-2 hours and told them that was unacceptable. I told them that I would go and do my pre-flight safety checks and just drive the truck up to check out. They just simply said OK. Everything was good to go and had no problems what so ever.
She had about the cleanest engine I have ever seen on a deuce. She must have been stored in a hangar or something. Hard to believe this is a PNW truck. There is an Air Nat'l Guard within a few feet of the army as it is on the western border of Portland Airport (PDX). We got to hear the deafening roar of F-15's the entire time we were there, and they did get quite annoying after and hour and a half of continued flybys at very low levels. I guess the roar got me adjusted to the deuce roar at 50 MPH. So much so, I forgot to put in my ear plugs. Needless to say, when I got home, it sounded like I was in a tunnel. Luckily it has a springer seat.
On another note: On my way home I saw and waved at a 5 ton tractor heading in the opposite direction going South on I-5 near Napavine. Wondering if this was a SS? It wasn't an 818 but an earlier model.
Notes on Kleiver Armory
Great bunch of soldiers, busy soldiers. If you do recover from here in the future be ready to have initiative to get things done. If you lack initiative, well you're going to be there for awhile. I was going to get delayed 1-2 hours and told them that was unacceptable. I told them that I would go and do my pre-flight safety checks and just drive the truck up to check out. They just simply said OK. Everything was good to go and had no problems what so ever.
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