<VV> Valve Guide Eater; Part 4

[vairologist at juno.com]

Smitty says:  We motored on across the Salt flats and into the plains,
stopping to sleep a few hours in a camp ground in the afternoons.  We had
to make a stop at KC where we had left Helen's fold-up-bike on the way
west.  A one day visit there and on the road again, but a new feature had
been added. Little by little I had noticed a miss in the engine that came
and went.  Finally it just came and stayed.  Roadside trouble shooting
indicated a burned valve.  So what's new.  We've been on 5 cylinders
before.  The only way I was going to stop and work on it would be if it
quit running.  So we came into Tidewater with one cylinder completely
dead and one eye on the temp gauge.  About 30 miles out of town we got a
call from Bill Hubbell wanting to know where we were.  A few minutes
later he called again.  Then once more.  Then I see him in Alice going
the other way on the interstate.  He pulled a turn around and proceeded
to catch up.  He had come out to escort us into town at the end of our
journey.
        I normally don't mind a few roadside tech sessions on our trips. 
Most usually I consider them just minor challenges to My intelligence and
mechanical skill.  This trip was a bit much in light of the heat wave. 
One thing I have not mentioned that could remain unsaid but is very
pertinent.  From the time I left home until I left Washington I had an
uncontrollable case of diarrhea.  That added to the normal dehydration of
the high heat situation left me weak as a kitten most of the time.  Well
you can't say I'm full of it anymore.
        PS in reading this over I see I failed to mention the reailer
tire that blew itself into small pieces somewhere back in Wyoming or
Colorado.  At this point, who even cares where it was.       Home At Last