ejs262's Suburban(s?)!
- Thread starter ejs262
- Start date
well, life happens, and I haven't updated anyone on whats really been going on.
crummy pics, sorry...
on the night of the morning of June 26th(morning being 2:00 am...) I was on the way home from picking my dad up at the airport for the Alaska trip, and then disaster. I looked into my side view mirror, just in time to see rapidly approaching headlights with just about enough time to say holy ******K before a drunk nailed the rear bumper and began pushing his way up the entire side of the truck, no driver's side panel was spared from damage. cops came, arrested the POS drunk, and dad and I finally got home around 4 am, tired, angry, and a bit frustrated, I downed a beer called my insurance company, and went to bed. about 2 hours later, the adjuster calls and asks if he can swing by that day, which worked out better for my dad and I because we were planning on leaving one way or another, for Alaska the following day. the adjuster showed up, started looking at the truck and kept saying he thought it was in excellent shape, but, would almost definitely be totaled. this was not at all unexpected, but still, hearing it was a major bummer.
at this point, dad and I have 3 options,
1: take my 06 2500hd to Alaska instead, I needed to put the shell back on, and do a ton of last minute maintenance, I've neglected it a bit in favor of fixing the Pig Rig for the trip.
2: don't go to Alaska, there are bunches of cool places to go closer to home. but, I already spent a ton of money on a ferry.
3: ******k it, take the Pig Rig to Alaska anyways.
after about 45 minutes of debate, and attempting to beat the bumper back to at least halfway straight. we chose option 3! we loaded the truck, with gear, and took off!
the first leg of the trip, we had to cannonball a bit, I had the a ferry booked, that left Port Hardy on the 29th, and the booking slip says be there two hours early, so, 5 am... we hauled all the way up to Port Angels, WA, and picked up a ferry to Victoria, BC. We then drove the length of Vancouver Island, all the way to Port Hardy for the ferry.
in Port Angels/ferry
Pig on a ferry
into Canada
the sign at the Bear Cove Ferry terminal
The next Ferry
crummy pics, sorry...
on the night of the morning of June 26th(morning being 2:00 am...) I was on the way home from picking my dad up at the airport for the Alaska trip, and then disaster. I looked into my side view mirror, just in time to see rapidly approaching headlights with just about enough time to say holy ******K before a drunk nailed the rear bumper and began pushing his way up the entire side of the truck, no driver's side panel was spared from damage. cops came, arrested the POS drunk, and dad and I finally got home around 4 am, tired, angry, and a bit frustrated, I downed a beer called my insurance company, and went to bed. about 2 hours later, the adjuster calls and asks if he can swing by that day, which worked out better for my dad and I because we were planning on leaving one way or another, for Alaska the following day. the adjuster showed up, started looking at the truck and kept saying he thought it was in excellent shape, but, would almost definitely be totaled. this was not at all unexpected, but still, hearing it was a major bummer.
at this point, dad and I have 3 options,
1: take my 06 2500hd to Alaska instead, I needed to put the shell back on, and do a ton of last minute maintenance, I've neglected it a bit in favor of fixing the Pig Rig for the trip.
2: don't go to Alaska, there are bunches of cool places to go closer to home. but, I already spent a ton of money on a ferry.
3: ******k it, take the Pig Rig to Alaska anyways.
after about 45 minutes of debate, and attempting to beat the bumper back to at least halfway straight. we chose option 3! we loaded the truck, with gear, and took off!
the first leg of the trip, we had to cannonball a bit, I had the a ferry booked, that left Port Hardy on the 29th, and the booking slip says be there two hours early, so, 5 am... we hauled all the way up to Port Angels, WA, and picked up a ferry to Victoria, BC. We then drove the length of Vancouver Island, all the way to Port Hardy for the ferry.
in Port Angels/ferry
Pig on a ferry
into Canada
the sign at the Bear Cove Ferry terminal
The next Ferry
Overlandtowater
Well-known member
what a trip!
Well the good thing is since he was drunk and hit you his insurance has to make you whole and you dont have to agree to total the vehicle. They may say this is our offer take it or go to court but you dont have to give up the vehicle. Make sure you keep track of all the improvements done to the vehicle including parts and labor (your time is not free) and inform them that those costs need to be included in the valuation of the vehicle. Hopefully the amount theyre willing to pony up without wanting to claim the truck will be more than enough to fix or live (pound out to a reasonable amount) with the damage.
Looks like a good trip. That ferry is pretty wild.
Looks like a good trip. That ferry is pretty wild.
The insurance company sent me an offer that was significantly higher than I expected, but, that was with them taking the truck. I haven't had a chance to call them back and talk about how much difference it would be if I keep it. at this point, the plan is to keep the truck, and find another one in better shape to put my suspension and running gear into. The truck took a pretty bad hit, and I don't think it was the first one, but now, even the interior panels on that side don't even line up. honestly, I was planning on doing a body swap eventually anyways, this one looked good until you started working on it, that's when you notice the numerous deficiencies.
rayra
Expedition Leader
What terrible timing. Just had an acquaintance's missus write the last payment on her car and have it immediately hammered in a hail storm. Maybe figure a way to keep it so you can strip most everything over to a replacement? Find one down south with no rust. Bonus points if you trailer it home using the battered Sub.
My sister made us this awesome dehydrated chili!, add some water and/or beer, let it soak for about 30 mins, heat and eat! Super good, and very hardy! the stuffed pigs "piggles and wiggles" had their picture taken all over the place for my 3 nieces.
next morning, we saw our first (and only) Grizzly bear. I actually drove past him, turned around, and came back to get these pictures. he didn't have a care in the world about us being anywhere near him, but I wasn't going to get out of the truck and try my luck...
some on the road shots near destruction bay IIRC.
The next day, we again crossed the border, this time into Alaska, the crossing was cool, marked as far as the eye can see.
the next day we checked out Eklutna lake and Thunderbird falls
next morning, we saw our first (and only) Grizzly bear. I actually drove past him, turned around, and came back to get these pictures. he didn't have a care in the world about us being anywhere near him, but I wasn't going to get out of the truck and try my luck...
some on the road shots near destruction bay IIRC.
The next day, we again crossed the border, this time into Alaska, the crossing was cool, marked as far as the eye can see.
the next day we checked out Eklutna lake and Thunderbird falls
I'm keeping my eyes out. I've seen several more or less rust free trucks up here in Washington, whatever the replacement is, it has to be one of 4 vehicles.
1987-1991 Suburban: all of my stuff bolts in.
The RIGHT 1987-1991 K30 crew cab: has a dana 60, but isn't as cool as a Suburban.
The RIGHT 67-72 GMC 4x4: I used to have one, and I really miss it...
or
a 67-72 GMC Suburban. I'd take the RIGHT 2wd, but for the most part I only want 4x4.
We drove down to Homer Spit, which looked really cool in the pictures, and it was a pretty awesome drive, but when we got there, it was absolutely packed with people, so we rolled on. it's a shame, because the ongoing forest fires greatly reduced visibility.
I thought these were kinda cool for bridge railing. they were somewhere in Anchorage
Road pics on the way to Homer
you can see a little snow still clinging to life...
it's a real shame how poorly the depth and color shows in the pictures...
on Homer Spit, we didn't end up with a ton of pictures, it was a nightmare trying to navigate the place because there were so many people around. I'm hoping the go-pro I had on the dash caught some good shots.
I thought these were kinda cool for bridge railing. they were somewhere in Anchorage
Road pics on the way to Homer
you can see a little snow still clinging to life...
it's a real shame how poorly the depth and color shows in the pictures...
on Homer Spit, we didn't end up with a ton of pictures, it was a nightmare trying to navigate the place because there were so many people around. I'm hoping the go-pro I had on the dash caught some good shots.
We left the Spit, kinda disappointed, but on the way back north, I saw a small trail with a sign that said "Daytime use only" (like there's any other kind of time in Alaska in the summer!) I pulled over to check it out, and there was a neat foot trail that led to a rocky beach.
driving up from homer, I saw my oil pressure gauge go to zero pulling up to a stop, I immediately turned the truck off an pulled over, I popped the hood, and check the oil level, and it was about 1/4 of a quart low, but nowhere near low enough to cause issue. I looked around very carefully, and noticed an oil drip near the oil pressure sending unit. I restarted the truck, and it dripped a little bit quicker, but nothing insanely crazy and it wasn't making any of the typical SBC without oil noises, I gave it some thought, and decided to roll on it until I could get a new sender. about an hour or two later I was able to get a new sender at the parts store, and decided I would change it after camping for the night so I didn't burn myself on the exhaust. little did I know, the fitting is metric, and my metric wrenched somehow didn't make it into the truck with us... DOH! of course an adjustable doesn't fit, and the sender is not wanting to come free at all for some reason. after an hour or two of laying under the truck on gravel, I decided to just deal with it when I had all the right tools to fix it if my attempts broke it worse.
on the road north that's all smoke, no rain...
Campsite:
driving up from homer, I saw my oil pressure gauge go to zero pulling up to a stop, I immediately turned the truck off an pulled over, I popped the hood, and check the oil level, and it was about 1/4 of a quart low, but nowhere near low enough to cause issue. I looked around very carefully, and noticed an oil drip near the oil pressure sending unit. I restarted the truck, and it dripped a little bit quicker, but nothing insanely crazy and it wasn't making any of the typical SBC without oil noises, I gave it some thought, and decided to roll on it until I could get a new sender. about an hour or two later I was able to get a new sender at the parts store, and decided I would change it after camping for the night so I didn't burn myself on the exhaust. little did I know, the fitting is metric, and my metric wrenched somehow didn't make it into the truck with us... DOH! of course an adjustable doesn't fit, and the sender is not wanting to come free at all for some reason. after an hour or two of laying under the truck on gravel, I decided to just deal with it when I had all the right tools to fix it if my attempts broke it worse.
on the road north that's all smoke, no rain...
Campsite:
our campsite was somewhere north of Cooper Landing, and south of Anchorage, there was really only one way to go from there, and that was to continue north. we blasted through anchorage, and headed towards Palmer. anytime I plan a trip like this, I like to use paper road maps instead of google maps, they tend to show you things you wouldn't otherwise see, like Willow-Fishhook rd through hatcher pass.
Eventually, we found ourselves back on pavement near Willow, AK.
we continued north, and could see Mount Denali in the distance.
Eventually, we found ourselves back on pavement near Willow, AK.
we continued north, and could see Mount Denali in the distance.
continuing, still north, we headed towards Fairbanks.
both of us (Dad and I) were getting hungry and looking for a good spot to pull over and make lunch, while crossing over a river, I could see cars, trucks, and RV's on the bank and though it would be as good a place as any, so we pulled in.
Fire Department is well funded...
Continuing north, drove through fairbanks(yawn...) and kept going north, we had out sights set on a grand adventure!
finally, crossing the Yukon River.
but we weren't done yet! onward Pig!
and then we made our goal!
we took some times to stretch our legs before climbing back into the truck, there were several people there, bunches of guys on dual sport motorcycles, one of whom claimed it was his first trip on a bike and would have about 9000 miles in the seat at the conclusion! that's commitment!
There was also a very nice lady from Alaska Department of Natural Resources there, she gave us some "certificates" to prove we made it, it was pretty cool! If I end up back in Alaska I'll do it again for sure!
both of us (Dad and I) were getting hungry and looking for a good spot to pull over and make lunch, while crossing over a river, I could see cars, trucks, and RV's on the bank and though it would be as good a place as any, so we pulled in.
Fire Department is well funded...
Continuing north, drove through fairbanks(yawn...) and kept going north, we had out sights set on a grand adventure!
finally, crossing the Yukon River.
but we weren't done yet! onward Pig!
and then we made our goal!
we took some times to stretch our legs before climbing back into the truck, there were several people there, bunches of guys on dual sport motorcycles, one of whom claimed it was his first trip on a bike and would have about 9000 miles in the seat at the conclusion! that's commitment!
There was also a very nice lady from Alaska Department of Natural Resources there, she gave us some "certificates" to prove we made it, it was pretty cool! If I end up back in Alaska I'll do it again for sure!