SolWest Salvage Operation

Tuesday, July 31st. The better part of the morning was spent trying to figure out what I was going to do to recover the EV and Pusher. After looking in the phone book, a few calls to automobile transport companies revealed that it would be very expensive to have a car-hauler pick up my vehicles. One independent operator quoted me $600 to show up in Mitchell, plus a $50 "winch fee" for each vehicle on and then off the trailer, plus any overtime that the trip entailed. Obviously, I was going to have to find a less costly method of bringing back the hardware.

Several more calls to associates who might have access to a large truck that I might borrow were also fruitless. My own internal combustion pickup is way too underpowered to haul much of a load up any hill, much less two mountain passes. Added to this was the necessity of making two trips over and back, no matter whose truck I used, one to bring back the EV and another to get the Pusher.

Next were calls to local rental yards. Eventually, I found a one-ton flatbed truck for $65/day plus 50¢/mile. They only had heavy-duty equipment trailers, so I located a 20 foot car trailer at another yard for $40/day. The equipment trailer would have worked, but I was pretty sure that I would have to use a "come along" to winch the car and Pusher onto the trailer, and I wanted a low a deck as possible for this reason.

After making the appropriate arrangements with my insurance carrier, I went late in the day to pick up the truck, then the trailer. The truck turned out to have two fuel tanks (this would be important later) and a high performance engine (which also proved useful, but expensive to feed).

At the second rental yard, the crew had a lot of trouble making the trailer lights work, until I found that the cable had been severed under the trailer's tongue. After they patched up the damage, I was on the road to home, and early to bed so I could begin the day early tomorrow to return to Mitchell.

August 1st, 4:00 AM. Another damned alarmed awakening. Coffee. I need coffee, but no time. Tossed the digital camera onto the pack, checked to see that I was taking enough tools, chains, etc. Out to the truck and start the engine before dawn, on the road and out of town. A stop at Fast Lane Coffee for something strong to get me over the hills. The first light of the new day appeared as I drove up McKenzie highway.

As with any other trip out of town, I have the feeling I've forgotten something. Checking the pack shows that although the digital camera is inside, the memory stick required to store photos is not inside the camera. Great.

7:00 AM. A rest stop in Sisters, parked the truck and trailer in the exact spot in front of the bicycle shop where I worked on the pusher's servo the previous Friday. More coffee, strong and bitter, but necessary. The coffee store is about the only thing stirring in Sisters at this hour. Back to the road.

Coming up McKenzie Highway, I had the distinct feeling that the truck had adequate power, but every time I looked down at the instrument panel, the fuel gauge was noticeably lower than previously. Leaving the outskirts of Sisters, I switched to the rear tank, and upon pulling into Prineville, decided to fill both tanks. Once the EV and pusher were on the car trailer, I knew that fuel consumption would increase.

No problem going over the Ochoco Pass, arrived in Mitchell about a half-hour earlier than I had projected. Good, being ahead of schedule would relieve some of the pressure of loading the car and Pusher. Peeked into the feed barn to make sure that everything was OK with the car and trailer, then walked across the street to the General Store to get the key and offer payment for the storage.

Apparently, the employees that I had talked to on Monday hadn't bothered to mention the car to the owner, who found it and the Pusher in the barn this morning, and wondered what was going on. Fortunately, I had seen where Michelle had put the key behind the counter, as the owner didn't know where to find that either. I offered to pay for the storage, and as before, was refused. Folks in these parts just don't take money for helping travelers in distress.

Having all day Tuesday to think about the failure in the controller of the EV, I wanted to try a couple of things to see if I could get it running, which would make loading it and the Pusher onto the trailer much easier. First, I bypassed the PWM board in the field circuit, and checked the field fuse, which was OK. After reconnecting the batteries, I tried the key in the ignition, and the motor ran up to speed normally. Not only did this mean that I had a less serious failure than I had feared at first, but meant that I could simply drive the EV and Pusher onto the car trailer, saving much labor, time and swearing. Of course, I still had no accelerator, but the electric motor has more than enough torque to drive up the trailer ramp. The only remaining question was whether I would have enough traction on the steel cleats of the trailer ramp to actually drive up.

In order to make this as simple as possible, I used nearly all of the blocking and small timbers that I had loaded on the truck to boost the rear end of the truck in the air, placing the wood under the truck's dual rear wheels. This would lower the rear of the trailer and make the ramps much less steep.

About the time I got ready to drive onto the car trailer, Hugh, Henry the Bear's owner arrived, and critiqued the operation. I asked him if he would be performing bear wrasslin' today, but he decided not.

The EV fairly glided up the ramps pulling the Pusher onto the car trailer with ease, and not an inch of length to spare. While I secured the car and trailer with chains and binders, Cynde, who had decided to ditch work and come along for the day, went over to the diner, and ordered us some lunch. Fortunately, the Mitchell Diner had veggie burgers on the menu, so by the time I was done and ready to rest, the food was just being served. Cynde snapped a few photos with a cheap, disposable camera, purchased at the General Store.

Just as I was finishing up, a truck halted in the street next to where I was working, leaving the engine running to spew dirty petroleum-diesel exhaust stink all over the area. This seemed particularly ironic, given the name of the company that owned the truck, and my Biodiesel-powered mission to SolWest. The name of the company? Here's a close-up of the door of the truck...

I guess I'd have been more surprised, but Fossil, Oregon is a nearby town. Still, the opportunity to capture an image of my Biodiesel-electric hybrid vehicle next to a lumbering petroleum fuel delivery truck with this name and logo was too much to pass up. Pity I was just getting ready to burn a whole lot of expensive gasoline to take the car home...

After finishing lunch at the cafe, as I was walking back across the street to the truck and trailer, a fellow pushing a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle straggled into town and stopped in front of the door to the feed barn where the EV had been stored. He explained that it had just quit running and seemed to have no electrical power at all. I gave him the newcomer's orientation and directed him to the General Store, and even was able to lend the encouraging advice that the town had some motorcycle mechanics in residence. Another traveler broke down and in need of assistance.

A few miles west of Mitchell, I came upon the cross road for the Painted Hills, and decided to burn a few gallons of that expensive gas to stop by for a brief visit. It wasn't until I had gotten to the end of the pavement that I realized the near danger of the action. Once upon the gravel road leading up to the viewpoint, the truck, which was carrying no load in the bed other than my bicycle, began to lose traction. I had to be very easy on the throttle, and keep moving. To stop would have be to become stuck, and I'd have had to back the truck and trailer, loaded with the EV and pusher down the fairly steep and twisty road back to the flat ground. Fortunately, we kept moving and I realized my intent to visit the Painted Hills in the EV. Sort of.

Only a few minutes to snap a photo or two, then back to the road. If I thought that the truck and trailer had been using fuel before, the grind up the east side of the Ococho Pass was a whole new lesson in consumption. The engine had a lot of power, but was wound out in third gear at 35 MPH. I could actually see the gas gauge drop as we climbed.

A stop for coffee in Redmond, then through Sisters and up the Santiam Pass, not quite as steep as the Ochoco. Non-stop down the McKenzie Highway, and arrived home right at 5PM. I made calls to the rental yards, as I wasn't going to get the car and Pusher unloaded and get the truck and trailer back before the 5:30 closing. Both rental yards agreed to let me keep the equipment overnight at no charge.

Bottom Line: Truck rental + mileage charge + trailer rental + gasoline = $250.00. Still a tidy fee, and I consumed the better part of two days arranging for the trip and going back to Mitchell for the recovery, but much less than the $600+ I had been quoted by someone who didn't really want the job.