Gray Man, Inc.

[DRIVEN]

No, I'm just a lesbian now.

Bought it in Eugene on Tuesday. It's nowhere near perfect but was the best I could find in the price range. 163,000 miles, decent interior, acceptable exterior, fresh head gaskets and timing belt related items, and newish tires. It'll do fine as a disposible work car. I've got a list of things I want to do to it before it rotates into service. Supervibe still owes me some miles first though.

[DRIVEN]

[BLUE]

Nice man !!

[DRIVEN]

I never did a proper introduction for the Forester. As I said earlier, this is going to eventually replace the Supervibe. Used cars come with an expected amount of maintenance and wear issues. Most of which I knew about after I test drove it. The upside was being able to negotiate the price a bit.

I've been collecting parts for the last couple weeks and I put in a good half day on it today. Started with the 2015 battery. Cleaned up the hold-down too.


Bought some key fobs online and programmed them myself. The procedure is borderline comedy.


The carpet and rear cargo area were exceptionally clean, but for some reason no floormats. I ordered some all-weather mats, cargo mat, and privacy cover.






The oil control valve (VVT) was broken and leaking. I bought one at the yard on Saturday and it only took about 10 minutes to replace. No more leaks.


I ordered a pair of Moog rear wheel bearing assemblies off Ebay. They're almost certainly counterfeit. Had to completely remove the backing plates and put them in the press, then use a torch to get the hubs free. Spent lots of time de-rusting old parts and greasing new parts as it went back together. Next time should be a 20 minute job.





Found an NOS hitch on CL last week. $50 got me the whole kit. Instruction sheet was dated May 2008, months before this car was even built.





After all that I just spent awhile doing general cleanup. Buffed out a couple scratches and scraped some stickers out of the window. More parts are still incoming so I'll get back to it in a few days.

[Taterhead]

I really need to take the time to learn more about this Outback we have. I’ve done some maintenance on it but I was not comfortable enough with myself to change out the transmission control module. Maybe one day.

[Taterhead]

And I really like the tiny home. Especially the little windows and the 2 different siding choices for the front.

[DRIVEN]

Thanks, man. Everything you see about that little house is my daughter's choice and on her dime. She designed all of it and we're just building it off of her sketches. It should be pretty cool when it's finished. I'm actually a little jealous.

[DRIVEN]

Too much time on my hands.











Also added this little convenience item. Robbed it off an earlier Forester in the yard on Saturday. No idea why this generation doesn't have them.







There was also one oddball sized lugnut I replaced. The relay is for the factory foglights I'm going to install later.

[DRIVEN]

[BLUE]

Looking great man. Hats off to you/your crew for sheetrock mud work. My favorite thing to hate with a passion.

[DRIVEN]

I hate it too. We hired it out.

[DRIVEN]

Walls painted. Flooring is in the main room. Bathroom floor, kitchen steps, and trim is next.

[DRIVEN]

I bought some honeysuckle bushes to attract bees and a couple more fruit trees. Currently 4 apple, 4 cherry, 2 Asian pear, 2 plum, a peach, and a nectarine. I'll be adding 2 or 3 next spring after I drop a curly Willow that's in the wrong spot.


But before I cut the curly Willow down, I took 4 cuttings and have some good starts with new growth on them. At least 2 will go in the pasture next to the highway.


My basement starts are doing okay. I'll have another batch starting next weekend.


I'm not sure what these weeds are called but every spring they bloom tiny flowers and turn the hillside purple for about a week.


They've moved the cattle off the stubble and plowed and all the fields around me. The irrigation district started filling canals on Thursday. Things should start greening up soon.

[DRIVEN]

I'm still prepping the Forester to be rotated into duty later this year. Foglights were a pretty easy upgrade. All I needed to do was swap out the combo switch, plug in a relay, snd snap the lights in place. The wiring is already there.





The sway bar bushings were a little sloppy so I did all of them. Then I found out that whoever just installed new links on the front stripped out a mounting stud so that little clunk mystery is solved too. New links on order. Along with a few other things.


The most recent upgrades were an additional USB port in the cubby ahead of the shifter and a 110v inverter. Added bonus for the USB port is that it's a volt meter as well. Ignore the deck screws mounting the inverter.
There's a curvature to the back of the console and really long screws and rubber spacers were necessary. There's charge ports all over this thing now.




I'll keep chipping away as I find the time. Meanwhile, Supervibe just keeps snappin' necks and cashin' checks.

[DRIVEN]

No more brown dog. She's under the big weeping Willow now.

[DRIVEN]

I rode 120 miles today. We didn't see another soul after we left the parking lot. Cabins, magic bus, and an accidental run through a barbed wire gate by my old man riding buddy.






My riding buddy managed to ride through a barbed wire gate at 25mph. Lucky bastard didn't get a single scratch.



The desert is beautiful and huge in the spring.

[Taterhead]

Sorry about the pup. I know that’s hard.



Looks like a fun ride. Lucky friend indeed.

[DRIVEN]

Thanks, Tater.


My garden is in. I'm experimenting with timed irrigation since I'm on the road quite a bit and nobody else here can be trusted to remember.


My fruit trees are looking pretty good and starting to grow fruit. 2 apple varieties, plums, Asian pears, and cherries.







Even the little nectarine tree that I left for dead has 3 on it .



I posted the curly Willow starts a few weeks ago. One didn't make it but the other 3 are going like mad. I transplanted them into the lower pasture yesterday. They'll eventually be sheep shade.

[DRIVEN]

Admittedly, I've kind of hit the wall on the house build. Almost all the painting is done. The granite and the bathroom closet are done.













I'm headed to Lowes later this morning to pick up casing and trim and plywood to build the steps and bed frame.

[DRIVEN]

Last weekend I did a 2 day, 2 night shakedown run and camping trip. Started out as 3 of us.




Jerod went down about 50 miles in. Broke his helmet and cracked some ribs.

We camped the first night, then rode back to the trailers and loaded him up.



Marc and I kept riding. I showed him some of the sites and we ended up at Griffith Ranch for the night.












We met a group of kayakers there. I've never seem any river traffic up there before but apparently there's more thaw than usual this year. They were good neighbors and shared some cold evening beverages with us.

There was a crazy 3 hour windstorm that wasn't in the forecast. It was blowing hard enough that the top of my tent was laying down on my chest. Tried to rain for about 15 minutes but we didn't really get wet.

We rode out the next morning and paralleled the river/lake about 50 miles to the trailers.