Don't Throw Your Life Away - Battling Marine Debris from Alaska to Panama

[Voyager3]

This next chapter has nothing to do with trash. It is however, about life. It's been an odd week chasing the rear end issues, and somehow I've ended up in Vancouver. Not BC.....Washington. The wrong end of the state.

As I mentioned before the rear end in the jeep was making awful noises as I arrived in Port Angeles, and after much checking, double checking, and even some more, it was determined that the pinion bearing had failed, I was losing tolerances and some large parts were unwell and getting worse. Most places couldn't get me in for weeks. The one that did priced out a full rebuild which was rising fast and it was decided that a reasonable course of action was to put another rear end in it pulled from another vehicle. Provided of course it was checked and deemed to be in good shape. I asked around for anyone that might have other leads or ways to get it done cheaper than at a shop, but that's really what I had to work with, and I didn't want to spend a ton.

The particulars of where and when I had this issue meant that I wasn't likely to make Seattle without doing much more serious damage to the old one, so it was starting to look like Plan A was the way to go. I waited to see the new replacement and it needed a pinion seal, but otherwise seemed okay. (was that foreshadowing?)

While we waited to find out what this would cost, we wanted to at least remember to enjoy ourselves, so we explored Port Angeles on foot and by bike.





It it time to get a deuce and a half and carry the XJ on the back? Maybe.















Little Wolf here doesn't seem to care where we are. He's been with me through living in an apartment, on the road camping out of a BMW 330i, my mom's temporary condo some of her friends' houses in Florida, my dad's house in Colorado, another apartment, a converted barn, a converted bus in Utah and Oregon, and now just out of the Jeep with a smattering of visits to friends in all kinds of cities, and who knows how many campsites and the occasional motel room. No matter what else is going on, he always makes me laugh.



I left them to it on Tuesday evening and rented a car into Seattle to visit an old friend/roommate from Colorado. It's great to get to see people who you've spent so much time with and see what their new lives are like. We did some city stuff like see where he works at The Roastery in Seattle which is the flagship Starbucks store, visited and got some goodies at the Pike Place Market where we bought a 10 pound tuna for dinner, had fancy grilled cheese sandwiches, ice cream. You know, when in Rome.

















So I came back to Port Angeles on Friday and picked up the Jeep. So, you're asking, was it fixed? Did spending $1000 on a used rear end and labor fix the problem?

 

[Voyager3]

No. It was still noisy. Not as catastrophic sounding, but constant, at all speeds, bit of vibration. I should have turned right around and told them, but they were adamant that they listened to the bearings with a scope, and there was some “tire noise” but that it was good to go. That should have been a clue because these tires are actually not that loud. However, I was so mentally exhausted and it was basically closing time that I figured I would use it over the weekend to go to another nearby town. I had slept in fire station or hospital parking lots in Port Angeles or on a couch in a city apartment for 4 nights and I needed to see something new and think. What is one of the ways I cheer myself up? Yes, pizza. The Strait Slice in Port Angeles is a little bit of east coast way out here owned and operated by a long time board-sports photographer who has great shots from all his previous adventures on the walls and plays vinyl records while he makes pizza like this.



Or if you're more into burritos (pizza vs burrito can be a tough call sometimes), head to Little Devil's Lunchbox and get a burrito made with house smoked brisket.



At this point we're both starting to feel it. But we'll push on until we figure it out.





This is how my life had been feeling.



But we're here to NOT throw our life away. And the best way to not have a bad time is to have a good time. No matter where. Remember those three words, "No Matter Where", there's a small story about why I repeat them to myself later.











The couple that owned this Jeep truck camper of course were wonderful, because how could you not be with a rig like this?

 

[Voyager3]

Port Townsend was close, and if the rear end exploded, I'd have a better reason to call them back and explain that something was amiss. As a town, I much prefer Port Townsend over Port Angles which has a much heavier, less humorous feel. It has some interesting shops, but a lot of big shipping. It feels like it's just now starting to become a visiting destination, not just a ferry terminal. it could also be that's where I've been stuck, and I'm being unfair. Port Townsend on the other hand has a much more historic, off beat vibe. There are old book shops, more restaurants, all the buildings downtown have kept their old charm, there's almost no trash on the streets and sidewalks, and more private boating going on. It also has a cool old car store, and even some shops are underground. I really enjoyed it.







Ok, so I'm realizing now that often when I'm not talking about trash, it's food. And I've only recently discovered I like sushi. Took me ages to figure it out because I've always liked all fish, I think as a kid it was just so different and I wouldn't touch it. But Albacore, lightly killed, wrapped up with cucumber and other such sushi things then deep fried and covered in sweet gooey sauce. I get it now. If you too want this and you're visiting Port Townsend, head to Hanazono Asian Noodle downtown.





















Even clothing stores around town spice things up with old BMW motorcycles as window dressing.



Rare and out of print, but I'm still searching for a copy of Eothen by A.W. Kinglake, the years long search continues, and I need no excuse to poke around old bookstores.

 

[Voyager3]

So Monday rolls around am I ready to go back to Port Angeles and talk to the shop about why this new rear end is howling? No because I'm weird. I'll try to make you understand my thought process. I've spent a bit of money to have it fixed and it's not. I'm not making much progress towards Alaska, I'm only one state from where I started. The little things are getting to me, is this even the right truck? What if i had a pickup I could put a camper on. Should I stay practical or take this opportunity to find something fun? Why am I even considering now of all times, here of all places to buy something new and sell the Jeep.....again. I should really get over these feelings. But Monday I did not. Through a series of coin flips I decided to do more testing of the rear end but not north into the Canadian boonies, if they in fact call their boonies boonies. Someday I'll find out. Instead of pushing into Vancouver BC like I've been wanting, I found a square body Chevy for sale outside Vancouver Washington. The wrong way by a whole state. What is wrong with me? Good question, and I think if figured it out myself when I saw the truck in person. What I liked was all the drivetrain had been rebuilt. That seemed to be it really. It was huge, the tires were huge, and it was going to mean I would have to get a camper basically because having a standard cab pickup really wasn't going to do me any good. I never even knocked on the door to tell the gentleman I had arrived. After 4 hours of driving across Washington with a failing replacement rear end in the Jeep to check this thing out, I left within a couple minutes. I went into town, got an oil change done on the Jeep and decided the correct decision was to just have a big reputable shop take a look at the noise. The independent shop in Port Angeles had said if anything happened that I should take it to a reputable shop, "not your buddy" and they would stand behind it and reimburse for repairs. So what did I have to lose? I'll get it fixed and carry on with lessons learned.

If nothing else, I also realized that though the problems have been pretty constant, they've been happening here. And I like being here.





May I just say now that Aamco has been superb. The techs and manager I've had the pleasure to work with have been so transparent and helpful. They fit me in for a diagnostic and at each step had me come look and feel what the problems were. We found that the axles were in great shape. That's good. The ring and pinion were as well. So we isolate the pinion. It's notchy, hardly spins at all, that's where the noise was coming from. It was almost like spinning a ratchet. I must give credit to the previous shop though for one thing in particular. I explained that a few hundred miles later the pinion is screwed. The thing I came to them to fix, and while the owner couldn't understand why or how it happened, he refunded the cost of the parts and half the labor. I know it's a hit for him as well, but the second time around, any help I can get is worth asking for. The Aamco manager here in Vancouver even went so far as to chat with him about the process because he found the pinion bearing apart from scoring on the rollers seemed okay, and through some detective work it seemed that when the Port Angeles shop replaced that seal (remember?) they overtightened the nut on the pinion and the bearing never had a chance. It could very well have been quiet when they checked it, but it slipped by and I paid the price for it. So now it's being finished up today and we'll be on our way with all new bits in the rear end except the ring and pinion which they let me help wipe every tooth off and with a light go over it together to make sure.



To finish off my week going any way but the right way, I visited the Final Draft Taphouse just near my motel and had a fantastically funny evening. Be prepared for bar talk.

It starts with food, no big surprise there. My first hint that this place was worth the stop was they spelled the Italian ford for a single sandwich correctly. The American usage of panini has long bothered me because it's plural. If you want one sandwich you want un panino. Stop saying basically "I would like a sandwiches." Anyway, this one was great.





The beers on tap are all from Oregon or Washington. There are two bartenders and late on a Tuesday only 3 patrons still left, all spaced exactly two seats apart at the bar.

The one closest to me asked the bartender for some ibuprofen. He explained that he vacated his place to escape the train wreck of a hookup that's going on at his place right now. Apparently his roommate is having a lady over and he said he would probably even smell it. "They're both very large people" and he was trying not to think about "the geometry or how they get their parts together" and he "felt so strongly about it that he got a hotel room". While we continue to eat and drink, the bartender tells about how one of his coworkers at an old job would dress all in black until casual Friday when he would notice how he wasn't wearing black shoes it was sandals all along, and for Friday he wore white socks instead of black socks. It's possible as we discuss, that by noticing this change in attire the bartender might have had just enough of an interaction with him to avoid a Milton type scenario of burning down the office, at least not that day. Of the 3 men at the bar one has been on his phone scrolling the whole time and has said hardly anything, the other chimes in with a laugh every now and then, and the one evading fat sex just introduced himself but remembered who they both were by name and turns out they are here at the same time often but they all seemed like strangers at first. Familiar strangers.

He is getting texts now, apparently some lady is sending him bikini pics, and his divorce isn't even final but explains that women of this age "just don't have time to wait." I said it's good you're not getting a halftime report from his apartment. He laughed about how the phone was probably lost in a fat fold and I said it's probably ringing and they don't want to answer it anyway. "No just let it go to voicemail."

The bartender brought me a chocolate stout for after the sandwich and IPA and real quietly as he set it down he said "schwing" and i caught it and called him out on it. "Did you just say schwing?" he looks back and smiles, "Did I?" And the fat sex evader laughed again. Bartender said "I guess i did schwing you your beer." and that he notices he makes noises when he does it other times and the other guy said "and now you've got her (the other bartender) doing it too. It's under her breath and I'm not sure she knows she's doing it." A couple more times as the night winds down pouring something he makes some kind of noise and laughs.

Our hero then as quietly as his phone will pick it up is serenading some other lady with what I suppose is the rise of soft core speech to sext (what a time we live in) with phrases like "crumb covered torso" and "the tastiest of morsels from my navel region." Not quiet enough, and he ends up reading it for us anyway.

Also, they can can any beer you want to go right at the counter.

It's been a weird week, but as entertaining as it has been frustrating. I've learned some lessons and will carry on. This afternoon the Jeep will hopefully be back, I'll point this circus back north and the next update will be from Canada. If anyone here forms a band in the future, you have my permission to call yourselves the Fat Sex Evaders.

 

[Voyager3]

Glad to hear you sold your bus, that's huge! Also, congrats on freedom and making a difference! Maybe we will run into you at Expo East

Yeah, it was a long time coming. Funny how something that game me the freedom I felt in the last few years in a sense had become an anchor. Thanks, I'll definitely be at East!

Hey Travis,you have a good partner!
Beautiful scenery,Thanks for your cleaning job!

Thank you, not sure what I would do without him, thanks for the kind words, I'll keep it up!

Nice job kid.

Thanks, I'm doing what I can. I'm itching to get back to a beach that needs the help after all this.

 

[Voyager3]

Small update, the diff saga continues. The parts did in fact arrive today, but they were all wrong. I'm just having that kind of luck. I used to work in parts, and I've made mistakes, so I get it. One more night here hopefully. There aren't that many ways this can go sideways.

 

[Riversdad]

With all your problems and you still have a great attitude. After this trip maybe think about writing a book on maintaining Zen for those of us who would have lost it by now.

 

[Voyager3]

With all your problems and you still have a great attitude. After this trip maybe think about writing a book on maintaining Zen for those of us who would have lost it by now.

Maybe, a bit of mindfulness goes a long way. I was starting to lose a bit of mental stability, but I just have to focus on what's important now. The moment you are in right now is all you have.

Sometimes it's good. Sometimes not. You will feel pain and then it will go away. You will also feel joy, and it too will only last so long at a time.

The phrase "This too shall pass" works both ways.

Either I'm getting better at acknowledging this, or having 10 days and 2300 dollars of nonsense after just 4 days of my trip was making me numb to every next piece of bad news.

 

[Voyager3]

An supplemental post to this morning. Here's a lesson in good storytelling. Create characters people will care about, and then make bad things happen to them constantly.

Yesterday I was finally heading north again with the Jeep fixed. I stopped in to see my friend in Seattle again and was feeling pretty good. Mentally exhausted, but good. Glad this last bit was behind me. This afternoon, shortly after the last post I went back outside to the Jeep to head out for Canada to find this.



Keen viewers will notice something is missing.

It's easy to seem more graceful in writing, and I could write that my great attitude won over and I have a new Zen tip for you. But I was incandescent. I put my stuff down, and after a few choice words just walked up and down the block, not touching anything for fear of setting fire to it. That only lasted a short while before the resigned slumping on the sidewalk and looking up the number to report it. Will anything come of it? I doubt it. But it's all I can do.

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” - Kurt Vonnegut

I'm sure you're thinking at least NOW, it's over and nothing more will happen. And I'm going to let you think that by not mentioning that today, the muffler has decided it has become bored with being completely attached to the pipe going into it. It sounds funky, and who knows, maybe it'll fall off before I can deal with it.

 

[SOAZ]

I see a country song writing career in your future if things keep going like this! That looks like a beefy cable too. Motherf@ckers and that was a new bike. Will auto ins cover the bike? ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/435825336587559/about/ )
Get the hell into Canada!!

 

[Neuner]

Hope your luck improves! Great job on trash removal as you progress. My family frequents various bodies of water and we always collect the trash of others anytime we find it. Would be nice to see others do the same instead of swimming/walking right past it.

Can't believe the trouble you're having with the Cherokee. I loved my old XJ and wish I had it back. I took that thing everywhere including serious trails in Colorado, Missouri and Tennessee and never had issues. Pit fall is the weak automatic transmission. After being near the ocean, remember to wash down the underside some how with fresh water if you're able to. I usually just took mine through a creek.

 

[Voyager3]

Hope your luck improves! Great job on trash removal as you progress. My family frequents various bodies of water and we always collect the trash of others anytime we find it. Would be nice to see others do the same instead of swimming/walking right past it.

Can't believe the trouble you're having with the Cherokee. I loved my old XJ and wish I had it back. I took that thing everywhere including serious trails in Colorado, Missouri and Tennessee and never had issues. Pit fall is the weak automatic transmission. After being near the ocean, remember to wash down the underside some how with fresh water if you're able to. I usually just took mine through a creek.

Thanks for that, it's really just recently it's been having any issues of note. But it does have 330k now on it, so i have to excuse some of it. It's been great. Update coming presently

 

[Voyager3]

We made it into Canada. We crossed at Vancouver, which is a lot more of a pain than the last time I crossed from Montana heading towards Jasper. Taking one of the smaller crossings still took a couple hours, but I was in, and I was elated. Just like I promised, Expedition Don't Throw Your Life Away has gone international. Even if the biggest difference right away was the green turn arrows here blink.

A couple things struck me about Vancouver straight away. It's a much more multicultural city than Seattle was, and there's a lot of wealth on display especially here in West Vancouver. Keeping up with the Jonses is a lot of work, but I suppose if all of your friends drive new black Range Rovers, so should you. As my father pointed out, and I noticed as well, a lot of this money coming in is foreign, and the city is trying to impose some rules to keep it at bay.



As you know, we are not city folk. On our way out towards Whistler I saw the sign for the ferry to Vancouver Island from Horseshoe Bay, and since I missed the chance back in Port Angeles to visit the island first, I took the exit and drove straight on. Well, straight into line for an hour and a half or so, but under the shade of the structure. The ride was great, the scenery on the BC coast is certainly very pretty. Some jet skiers came by to play briefly in our wake, the wind was fierce, and pretty soon we were in Nanaimo. Bit of grocery shopping, couple maps, and found a quiet end of a street here to get some shuteye before moving on. We had made it, despite everything. And the only annoyance was that muffler falling off.








Any idea what this started out as?



Our first order of business was to get back to the beach. Here on the island it seems most of the beaches are rocky, so maybe not good for running around as much, but at first glance they are at least pretty trash free. I think the few people that do live here care about keeping it nice. They have the advantage of the smaller population and, on this eastern coast at least, fairly protected waterways. Here I only found a water bottle, couple of tennis balls and various food wrappers. There was looked like a Lion's Mane Jelly h, good for some up close inspection.





Here's a challenge for you, find a smaller crab. Pinky finger for reference.















It also seemed that on this day there was a sand sculpture competition, all I had to do was wait 30 minutes for it to open. I'm good at that. So I sat on a log, shut my eyes and focused on my breathing. Not for the full 30 because I'm not disciplined yet, but the rest of the time I watched this gentleman fly a kite. That's pretty much the same thing.



Funnily enough, many of the sculptures were about trash and the problems it causes and the legacy we're creating. This confirmed my thought that at the very least, people around here are thinking about it. I cast my vote for the turtle since it was the one that caught my eye in the first place to go in and see the show, and it spoke to me more clearly. I think you know which side I've chosen.

 

[Voyager3]

Also, when was the last time you saw a drop top Dakota? Oddball vehicles are the best.









At the end of the day we cruised out to a recreation center by a dam so Crazy Bones could have a little swim, but he overdid it swimming with this big stick. It was hard for him to turn with it so, he was swimming sideways. I found this out at 3am when he cried out just shifting positions while laying down. A couple more times throughout the night he would have trouble, and my less than calm mind was so worried about him I wasted the whole morning from 6 to 11 wondering if I should take him in. Eventually thanks to talking to my Veterinarian sister, I decided that paying someone to tell me to get him some rest was unnecessary.







So determined to have a good afternoon instead of worrying, we pressed on further north into steadily less populated areas like this quiet corner of the world.



A little harbor, a campground and not much else at Sayward. Again, the older Canadian gentleman shows what fun can be had with string.









A lot of the breakwaters around here are made from old WWII era ships.

 

[pelfreybilt]

What a great trip and a great mission. Thank for you the awesome read, we do quite often in SD clean up when we are out on the beach and of course out on the trails as well. We do plan to take a trip up to AK and will definitely keep this in mind while by the waterways!