In the event,
unlikely or likely, that I can get on
the road after all, regardless of what
odds may now be stacked against me, I want to be able to move out within 24
hours after hearing the results of Erde's biopsy and, if called for, talking
with the vets, but not if Erde’s tumor is malignant. So, today, I spent six hours
on the Defender-90 preparing it for the trip. In addition to giving it a
thorough cleaning inside, I made some progress in loading some of the gear need
for the trip. In the course of cleaning it, I was pleasantly surprised to
discover that Land Rover left me a little gift, 20 years ago, a 10-piece tool
kit, stashed away in the battery compartment under the driver’s seat. I cannot
believe I never knew about this before. Each tool was still in its plastic
wrapping. How nice.
To save time, I
almost did not bother to clean under the rubber mat on the passenger’s side of the
front since it rarely needs cleaning, seeing that it is covered by the dogs'
bed. I am glad I did. When I pulled out the mat, it was completely wet on the
floor. At first I thought some rain had gotten through, but that never happened
before. So, I dried up the floor, started the engine and turned on the AC full
blast. Sure enough, the new AC was leaking. And not only just leaking, but
leaking onto the ECU, the electronic control unit, the truck's computer. If I
had not discovered this, somewhere along the 16,000 trip it might have shorted
out the entire electrical system, not something I needed. Fortunately, I
already have an appointment at the garage on Tuesday for replacing the drive
shaft’s u-joints, so I'll add this to the list.
Below are three
photos of the Defender-90 to show you some of the basic setup for the trip. When
fully loaded, literally, there isn't an inch of space to spare.
The top photo is a
view of the dogs' bed, which displaces the front passenger seat, which has been
removed. Note how this was designed so that the two right AC vents are nose
high on the dogs. On really hot days, the two dogs can squeeze into this bed,
and each has his and her own AC vent. (My two vets are closed off to give more
force to the dogs’.) I store my off-road recovery equipment in the foot-well in
the lower tight, under the bed. If I need to have a human passenger ride with
me, both dogs go in the rear, the bed gets disassembled, and the passenger sits
on a beach chair I bring along as my tent chair.
The middle photo
shows a view of the rear compartment from the driver's side. Of note here are
the wheels of Leben’s three-wheeled CATV (Canned All Terrain Vehicle, aka
stroller or Doggy-Ride) strapped to the cage-window, the two rear wheels on this
side and the smaller front wheel on the other. (The handlebar is strapped to the back pf the driver's seat, and the carriage is stored on the roof-rack. If the tires go flat, I have a built-in compressor in the Defender to handle that.) The tan pole you see running
along the top of the far window is my walking stick in case I need one.
The bottom photo
shows the Defender-90 from the rear. Of note here are Leben's wheel chair
secured to the roof-rack ladder on the left, the yellow step stool strapped to
the hitch-mounted platform step (both of which make or a double step for the
dogs to get into the truck, the yellow step stool also doubling as our in-tent
dining table), the white portable shower to the rear left (also doubling as he
dogs’ medicine chest), and the dogs' rear bed taking up more than half the room.
The bed consists of four layers: two folded extra-wide and extra-thick air
mattresses, also used in the tent for the three of us to sleep on, a protective
carpet so the dogs' nails don't puncture the mattresses, and the red bed. After
a few hours of driving, the floor of the rear gets warm from the heat of the exhaust
system beneath the floor, but these multiple layers dissipate the heat, at
least I hope. There's more here than meets the eye right away, but this should
give you an idea of the setup, before the rear really starts to get loaded with
our gear.
I still need to put
on the second spare tire on the hood (or bonnet, as the British like to say),
the Pull-Pall anchor for winching the Defender out of a predicament, and the
off-road recovery gear, as well as all the other gear and stuff that will go for
a long ride with us, I hope.
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