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Wednesday, 05/14/03; Grandy, North Carolina – Day Three
Der Tag! (The Day!)
The day of our deliverance! The parts will arrive and even if we don’t get it all done today, we will be able to leave the next day, for certain! The UPS or FedEx won’t be here until late in the afternoon, so we can sleep in and check on getting a motel room at the Walnut Island Motel. We load everyone in the Vickie, plus some baggage and the makings of lunch. Of we go at 0800 to the Walnut Island to meet the manager and see if the accommodations are OK. Whoa! No manager! Keith calls and finds that he can’t be there for at least and hour. OK, we hop back in the car and are off to the garage to drop Dennis.
On the way down the road, Keith stopped at several photogenic locations to remind us of Grandy. There is an old barn, an old filling station and an old school. We found out later that the woman who owns the old station still pumps gas from the tanks! The local distributor delivers gasoline when she needs it! (Wonder if the EPA knows about that?) The prices on the pumps show that gasoline once sold for $0.699 and $0.609 here! The old school was built in 1867 and served the colored children here until 1950! There is a restoration program planned to return the school to its former condition. It is in very bad condition. We hope that this project is successful.
Barn pix; Gas station; Old school
We dropped Dennis off and returned to Walnut Island and the manager was there! He showed us rooms not as nice as the ones we are currently in, but the gals think that we should move. The environment is better – more picturesque and closer to the stores and the garage. The Smith’s have a refrigerator in their room, the Olsons don’t. Leaving Joann at the Walnut Island, Joan and Keith return to the Riviera motel to check out. They finally rouse the manager, load their entire luggage in the car (see photo) and return to the Walnut Island. After getting the baggage settled, they dash down the highway to see how Dennis is making out. (In checking out, the mystery of the Riviera Motel is solved. It is nothing so mysterious as we thought. The manager and his wife operate an adjacent tire sales business and, on the side, operate the motel for an absentee owner, we think. We believe that we met the owner this morning who turned out to be a former auto mechanic and aficionado of Model A Fords.)
Full load
Dennis is glum. He has discovered that some of the babbitt is missing from the rod bearing on number four rod! What to do? Finally everyone agrees (after Joann gets on the creeper to inspect the rod) that we should get another rod shipped. This will delay us another day, at least, at this time, but could save much time later (if or when the bearing lets loose). The crank throw is in good condition, so we get the machinist to pay us another visit to “mike” the throw. Again, we wait for Jay to get to work and call and place an order for another rod. Jay promises to do his best. However, even though he found the parts (he located two rods), he was unable to get them in the “overnight” shipment in time for tomorrow’s delivery. That means that we will not get out of here until about Saturday!
Everyone, except Dennis loafed around the garage. Keith and Joann took a long walk in the sun – stopping in at Becky’s for iced tea. After Dennis had done all that could be done today, we left early to show off our new abode. The parts package hadn’t been delivered, but a call once we reached the motel revealed that it had arrived and would be delivered by Bill’s wife on her way from work. Our plan for tomorrow is to take the new rod and old piston to the machinist to have him fit and mate the parts and then get them in the engine.
Food was no problem tonight. The Walnut Island has a restaurant and served a very good and generous portion of prime rib.
Tune in tomorrow for the next chapter in this saga of Model A’s Around the USA with the Olsons and Smiths.
Antsy, but still the
Undaunted Four
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