M109 Coast to Coast!

[Delicious Clint]

Howdy all --

I'd read a lot on this forum before jumping into this project and want to relay the story in thanks to all of you who put up such valuable information and take the time to answer questions from those of us who aren't knowledgeable.

I'm in Portland, OR today with my 1965 M109A2 parked happily in front of the house (much to the chagrin of my neighbors, I imagine). My buddy Andy and I picked her up in Raleigh, North Carolina sixteen days ago and after a long day at Delks Surplus Depot in Asheboro, NC spent an amazing fourteen days driving 3500 miles home.

I've got to give props to Triangle Truck Repair in Cary, NC for new brake lines and great hospitality when we arrived -- they also put new rubber on and did a thorough job of inspecting the vehicle, lubricating and prepping her for a big job. She ran the Blue Ridge Parkway like a 15,000 lb sportscar (my apologies to anyone behind us) and crossed the Great Plains with grace. Our slowest moment came in the Tetons of Wyoming (14mph up a 12% grade) while our fastest was 57mph on a steep downhill with the wind in back of us and both of us spitting over our shoulders.

We crossed the Mississippi River on a raft at Modoc, Illinois and discovered the little hamlet of Ste. Genevieve; drank in the Badlands at a biker dive (look for the double wide trailer with a sign in Wanblee SD); woke up in the midst of an endless sage and cactus prairie in Wyoming. An awesome trip and a fantastic start to the project. I'll be looking for help here, I'm sure! Step one, though, is to redo the rotted fittings around the windows in the cab and make it less of a "washing machine" experience to drive in the rain!

Oh, and a quick plug here for the Peltor Bluetooth headsets -- noise-cancelling when you're on the phone and great noise reduction. Also, should anyone try this at home, we found that gel-filled wheelchair seats make a great addition to the stock "padding on steel" approach, outperforming every other effort.

Now if my eyes would just quit vibrating....

Cheers,

 

[ken]

Sounds like a trip of a like time. Welcome to the family. And how about some pics???

 

[ARYankee]

Excellent story. Welcome to the site and the OD Green Obsession.

 

[hndrsonj]

Where's the pictures?

 

[todds112]

I passed you going up Teton Pass in that aweful rain!

Here's the thread I posted:

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/53137-teton-pass-deuce.html

That's my daily commute now. My Pinz used to do 20 MPH max up that stretch.

Congrats. Truck looked aweful nice.

 

[srodocker]

WELCOME ABOARD!!! check out the link in my sig thats for the PNW Convoy/rally/parade!

 

[jcappeljr]

Thats a **** of a trip,your the man..

 

[wildbilly1760]

Welcome aboard. Show those pics...show some pics of them seat cushions. Sounds like a good idea for those long trips. Congrats on the long distance recovery.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Welcome aboard and what an adventure. With that out of the way, tell us more about the peltors. I use Peltor Powercoms as an intercom in the truck. They have built in FRS radios. I'm guessing these Peltor Bluetooths synch right up with bluetooth phones? Can 2 of the peltors synch up and communicate between them? Sounds interesting. Looks like Peltor is getting more of my money.

 

[Delicious Clint]

Funny you should mention that sync'ing idea -- that was what I thought when I ordered them.....but....no. They do not talk to each other but would need a base unit that coordinates them. They did prove exceedingly effective with our phones and if you have a smartphone you can get Pandora or internet radio or iTunes channeled in there pretty well, too. As long as you're in range. I found that using my IEM (in-ear monitoring) headphones (as opposed to the stock iPod headphones) was a comfortable solution -- the IEM's have great fidelity and the Peltor cups sit nicely over them.

And I will have pictures soon -- I deliberately did NOT take a camera due to philosophical differences with my role as cameraman vs being involved in the experience -- but my traveling partner brought a little camera so we've got some video clips and pictures. I'll see him tomorrow and download that stuff and post for y'all's enjoyment. My new neighbors seem pretty cool with having the M109 in their front yard for the moment. Note to self -- they get a bottle of good wine for this! I did mention it was going to Andy's shop next week (and will be out at various music festivals most of the summer including acting as the production HQ for Pickathon in August!).

Pics soon -- it's great to have this trip under my belt and feel like this truck is really MINE. Nothing like playing sportscar on the Blue Ridge Parkway to acquiant yourself with a piece of materiel.

Cheers!

 

[Delicious Clint]

Funny you should mention that sync'ing idea -- that was what I thought when I ordered them.....but....no. They do not talk to each other but would need a base unit that coordinates them. They did prove exceedingly effective with our phones and if you have a smartphone you can get Pandora or internet radio or iTunes channeled in there pretty well, too. As long as you're in range. I found that using my IEM (in-ear monitoring) headphones (as opposed to the stock iPod headphones) was a comfortable solution -- the IEM's have great fidelity and the Peltor cups sit nicely over them.

And I will have pictures soon -- I deliberately did NOT take a camera due to philosophical differences with my role as cameraman vs being involved in the experience -- but my traveling partner brought a little camera so we've got some video clips and pictures. I'll see him tomorrow and download that stuff and post for y'all's enjoyment. My new neighbors seem pretty cool with having the M109 in their front yard for the moment. Note to self -- they get a bottle of good wine for this! I did mention it was going to Andy's shop next week (and will be out at various music festivals most of the summer including acting as the production HQ for Pickathon in August!).

Pics soon -- it's great to have this trip under my belt and feel like this truck is really MINE. Nothing like playing sportscar on the Blue Ridge Parkway to acquiant yourself with a piece of materiel.

Cheers!

 

[wsucougarx]

Awesome story!!! Along with the pics, you'll need to bring your new acquisition upto Napavine, WA on 17JUL for our annual Steelsoldier convoy!!

 

[Delicious Clint]

Let's try this again.....now with pictures!

 

[Josh]

Where at in Portland are ya? Always good to get to know the neighbors with the green iron.

 

[Delicious Clint]

I'm over in Hillsdale, just off Capitol Hwy -- looking at storage out in Parkrose where a friend keeps his Grillzilla (towable BBQ). We're going to try to get some basics done on the truck next week before taking it to the Burning Man Regional party and then out to the coast for the Fourth of July. So many trips, so little time!

I'll have it at my shop down on SE 6th & Oak tomorrow after 5pm (just around the corner from Andy & Bax) -- drop by!

Cheers,

 

[Josh]

I go to Andy & Bax all the time. I'm out in North Portland. I might just have to swing by. My parts distributer for work is on 12th n Hawthorne. Ill just make sure to bring the deuce if I go.

 

[davidkroberts]

man great trip. I have dreams about taking a long slow trip across the US.

 

[Delicious Clint]

Hmmmmm.....something in the attachment process is weird....."slow" is maybe not the right word for this trip -- we hauled ass for ten hours every day and I'll credit the gel seat for saving our tushes! But by the end of the day we were ready to take off the hearing protection, get off our butts and get some walking around time.

 

[wsucougarx]

Hmm, is that a USN or USMC truck? Just going off of the front bumper paperclips

 

[Recovry4x4]

Hmmmmm.....something in the attachment process is weird....."slow" is maybe not the right word for this trip -- we hauled ass for ten hours every day and I'll credit the gel seat for saving our tushes! But by the end of the day we were ready to take off the hearing protection, get off our butts and get some walking around time.

I can relate to this! My backside doesn't bother me so much, but even as comfy as my Peltors are, at the end of the day, I just want the dang things off! If I live long enough to see my kids grown, I want to make this trip. I'm sure there is something to see in Washington State.