June 19

2:10 One more push for Angela's vacation. With four hours of sleep i decide to drive the 108x2 miles to Indian Head. 4 hours drive in total.

But before that i found the strength to put the torque wrench on that nut. Guess what. It was torqued over 27 (should be between 25 and 30) by me with a 6 inch ratchet the night before.

Given the low temperature i pumped a couple of more psi in each wheel. But nothing was going to prepare me for what was about to follow. Heavy rain when i left 205 towards Boring with a bit of hail. The car was literally held by the water on the streets. Gas mileage for the whole trip averaged 37.5 on the instant average indicator.

Got there only to see a multitude of scenes waiting for us. But after a few drinks i started to ignore those.

One example though. A not very big yellow dog, maybe stray, though kinda groomed, very smart was staring at the people entering the casino. Then it tried to prevent Angela from getting out but then moved when she asked him to. Then, very decided, not letting self influenced by the people around, walked with his head straight in the air not looking right or left, towards the gas station. I think it could have been a coydog.

Checked the exhaust nut one more time, the torque wrench clicked and the nut didn't move. Checked it one more time when we left the first time. Still there. Then in our way back we went to get gas from the station on top of the hill where that dog walked hours earlier. Cheapest around, as cheap as at the Spirit Mountain, 25 to 50 cents per gallon cheaper than other stations. Both unattended though at Spirit Mt the convenience store is open all night.

I knew for a long time all the nozzles at that station were broken. Some more than others. Which means the little metal stopper don't stay in place and you have to hold the nozzle squeezed with your hand to get gas. But was still feeling the little hydraulic shock in the end when gas level in the pipe was reaching the nozzle. 

Not this time. I was staring at the numbers of the screen and at past 7 gallons i heard with my trained musical ear the gurgling sound of normal filling turned into a higher pitch and more quiet hissing. Enough for me to turn my head and see gas flowing from the fuel port onto the car, wheel and on the ground. 1 second worth of it or about 0.1 gallons that made on the concrete a puddle of about 1x2 ft.

I spent next half hour trying to explain Angela why we shouldn't leave until it dries out. To prevent any car getting with a hot engine on top of that puddle and vaporize more of it. A car that might have had a broken exhaust or something else that may ignite it. Then i saw they were biggers stains from previous puddles under my puddle and at other pumps too.

Then we left and then we turned around, passed the station and spent half more hour in the casino, just to make sure.

Then we left the second time, at 12:42, didn't check the nut anymore and about 5 minutes later, i was still driving under speed limit, because i didn't feel like accelerating, especially uphill when i saw a coyote, this time real, walking from the opposite direction on the narrow shoulder next to my lane. Never seen an animal so scared in my life. The whole body was contorted like a fish in a sac following the head which was locking from a side at us. It was like he was fighting an invisible force that was pushing him towards the lane. I didn't do anything not to scare it further. So we passed each other with no other incident.

On top of Mt. Hood temperature was 33 degrees and rain turned to snow started to stick on the asphalt.

When we got in Sandy some 30 miles away from home i felt the smell of exhaust, Angela had a headache, i pulled next to the window of a convenience store and put the torqued wrench set at 27 on the nut and it moved like 1/8 of a turn before it clicked. On the other side of the window a tall  blond hairy guy dressed scantily was arranging stuff in the store. Me bent over the engine all the way to the back of it.

Soon enough the smell of exhaust was gone and we started to feel the smell of gas that poured 2 hours before on the car and left rear wheel.

Here is my fresh puddle on the left on top of the larger ones that cover the whole concrete area.

My puddle, almost dried, not long before we left.

5:40 Angela went to bed, sprinklers started, the kids got excited and started to yell.

Can't describe how many times in the last week they again tried to hit me from behind. Just the last one. Just before Staford exit here near Tualatin. There are about 10 miles with increased speed to 65 on 205, before joining I5. I was going 75 and a Christmas tree (that's how i call semis with many decorating lights on them) was closing in from behind. A couple of smaller vehicles maybe a van and an SUV were both blinding me in the side mirrors. I slowed down but still above speed limit thinking to let them pass an suddenly i saw the Christmass tree behind me and accelerated and then i took the exit (the shortcut).

Here is an example on how Washington State Patrol dealt with the accident 2 years ago. He was asking questions like he was suspecting of me  faking it to get insurance money.  Never started a hit and run investigation or examined the video from poles on the freeway. I wrote more about in other posts, back then i was not that careful in adding links between those, i can't find those right now, have other priorities, i wrote emails to them trying to get the videos from the cameras with no success. Then the kafkian maze of bureaucracy with the insurance, buying and fixing another totaled car (all i could afford) made me forget everything.

Weeks before, there was an accident here in the parking lot, with probably a demolition derby truck hitting two cars, one of them like mine. A warning? A threat?