Down by the river

Here’s the post that everyone was waiting for. Photos of me washing the car. Even a close up of the muffler. Hold your excitement.

We wrongly assumed there would be a car wash in San Pedro since there are so many tour operators and many of the trips through the Salar end here. Nope – it’s the desert – there’s no water.

We did it Peruvian style – down by the river. We found the local stream and pretty much emptied the thing out. It was much higher the previous day, and by the time we were done it was a dry river bed.

The salt situation was investigated. We got everything we could find. There was even salt on the roof. I even hand-washed the engine compartment.  Then, I lubed every thread of every bolt, hinge, lock, lever, etc. If I’m not the best owner this bus ever had, I’d like to know who had it before me.

The underside didn’t look too bad, but we also had a layer of borax from the drive a few days ago, so it was tough to tell. We’ll have to wait for a power-sprayer somewhere down the road.

I can tell you that where there was major salt under the car, it wasn’t merely stuck on. It had grown on. Crystallized. In some areas, I had to chisel it off with a hammer. Serious stuff.

And, I fixed the timing light. It’s a > $100 USD Craftsman tool and it failed at the connector. Poor strain relief. Another job for the soldering iron – one of my most useful tools. When I need it, I’m really glad I have it. And, I don’t know why, but I love running the soldering iron off solar power.