[Vwdiesel] stranded

[Roger Brown]

My best "not stranded" trip was in 2004 when I spent about 2 weeks driving from California 
east to Minnesota for a family gathering.  I tried to do as much of the east bound trip 
off of pavement in my 4WD.  Was also driving solo in somewhat remote country, some 
pictures on my web page:
	http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/Nevada/MN_Trip_2004/

Anyway, along the way, I suffered a broken front shock mount in northeastern Utah.  Once I 
got into a camping spot, I fired up the on-board welder and had that repaired in about 20 
minutes.  Was kind of funny as there was a big Boy Scout group camping in the area, so 
some of them stopped by to say hi when I pulled in and they same the broken parts. 
Probably figured I would have to be towed out or something.  Saw some surprised looks as I 
drove out the next morning with vehicle in perfect condition, guess I showed them how to 
"be prepared".

Then on the return trip in eastern Montana just after sunset, saw my volt gauge drop down 
below 12 volts.  Turns out the brushes on my alternator had worn out, so I parked for the 
night and at first light, pulled the dead alternator off and slapped on a spare I carry 
and was on the road in about an hour.

That is the nice thing having a rig you have equipped for hard core off-roading, I carry 
most every spare part that you can think of and so road trips are a piece of cake when 
something happens.  With a welder, air compressor, 120V DC power for a drill and grinder, 
you can fix most anything except for catastrophic engine failure.

-- 

   Roger