Just me, Bernie, and the dogs
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I wanted to take Bernie out for another overnight, the weekend of May 12, 2017. Hubbie wasn’t interested, so I packed up the dogs and went solo. Bernie was already ready to go, so shortly after work, I hit the road, headed for South Jetty in Florence, OR. Typically, South Jetty would only be about an hour away, but in Bernie, things take longer. After a few hours on the road, just before sunset, I rolled into Florence and stopped at the grocery store to grab some dinner and scones for breakfast.
I made it to South Jetty just as the sun was going down (after a quick call to my dad to figure out how to turn Bernie’s headlights on). South Jetty is at the very end of Sand Dunes Road and is Army Corps of Engineers land. The beginning of Sand Dunes Road is a state park, which has day use fees. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) land is free to use.
Many years ago, my dad lived in Eugene and would go camping in Bernie on the weekends. The first time he visited South Jetty, the guard at the entrance to the state park explained that he did not have to pay the day use fee as long as he didn’t stop or use the bathrooms in the state park on the way out to the ACE land at the end of the road. South Jetty became one of his favorite spots- he would drive out past the parking lot (the end of the state park) and over a short dirt road riddled with giant potholes before parking on the side of the Jetty itself. Several other cars were typically there with people surfing and surf kayaking waves breaking against the Jetty.
Something must have changed since 2005 because South Jetty now has no camping signs posted. I found this out right at sunset and had to find a new place to camp. There is an RV resort just before the entrance of the state park, but I didn’t want that much organization. I wanted something low key and cheap (or even better, free). So, I headed north through Florence to check out the county campground near the North Jetty. It was cash only and I didn’t have enough on me (foolishly, I didn’t stop at an ATM before driving out there to make sure I had enough cash). So, I drove back to the center of Florence, got some extra cash, and headed to the Florence Marina & Campground. I arrived a little after 10:00 PM and pulled into the parking space at the office to pick up a campground reservation envelope.
This is where the real adventure began- Bernie’s e-brake doesn’t work, meaning I have to turn the engine off when I park because he has to be in gear to stay put. When I returned with the envelope, Bernie wouldn’t start. More specifically, he would start, but wouldn’t stay running. I called my dad to diagnose the problem- it wasn’t the battery (lights still worked), probably the fuel filter.
While Bernie is stocked with the tools and extra filters to fix this... it really wasn’t something I was capable of attempting for the first time in the dark. I managed to get him running just long enough to get to a campsite by always keeping the gas pedal depressed, even as I changed gears. We settled in for the night and would address the issue in the morning.
Bernie is so comfortable! I have a 1.5 inch memory foam mattress topper on the lower bed that I then layer with sheets and a blanket to help trap my & the dogs body heat. Then I top it off with two down comforters and plenty of pillows. The dogs and I snuggled in and stayed plenty warm in the 45 degree overnight low without a heater.
The next morning, we woke to early fog and a slight drizzle. We walked along the marina to get some hot chocolate to pair with my scones. Unfortunately, the scones were not all that great, but the hot chocolate was! We lazily watched a movie that I had downloaded to the iPad before starting on the fuel filter at about 10:00 AM. Checkout was noon, so I had two hours to get it sorted out.
First, I got dad on FaceTime to walk me through the process. The fuel filter is a little box with different sized openings on either end. Each opening fits inside a hose attached to the underside of Bernie. His recommendation was that I loosen the hose clamps on either side of the filter, remove the hose from the engine side of the filter first, plug the filter up with something to minimize the fuel that would spill out (gravity fed gas tank), quickly push the new filter onto the engine-side hose and then pop off the old filter and just as quickly replace it with the new filter. Just that easy, just that quick... right?
Wrong!
While I had the fuel filter and screw driver to make the change, I didn’t have anything to plug up the filter. We started thinking through the resources I had available and tried to get creative. The best idea, and what would have probably been quite successful, was a tampon. Unfortunately, I was thinking I needed to plug up the hose, not the filter. Ultimately, the tampon was not the right size. (But, note to self, keep a few of various sizes on board, cause you will never know when you could use it!)
In the end, a chopstick (because yes, that is part of the normal stock on Bernie), wrapped in 1 piece of paper towel (2 was too thick), further wrapped in a plastic bag to prevent any paper towel particles from getting into the engine (remember we are plugging the fuel filter box after the filter itself) was the right combination to plug up the filter. It wasn’t liquid tight though, so I had to be quick!
DId you know -fuel is really really cold? I had no idea. As the frigid fuel was running down my forearm, more than a few expletives were let out. My dad patiently waited on FaceTime, periodically checking to see if I was ok. I got the hoses attached to the new filter and started tightening the hose clamps. The drip drip drip slowed... but didn’t stop. WTF?!?
Let us remember - Bernie is old, and the fuel lines are original. The engine-side hose was rather frayed at the end and apparently after many years of replacing the fuel filter, had become warn out. As I flipped FaceTime around to show dad what was going on (and agreeing that it was too much of a drip to just drive on) he commented that he had noticed it was getting a little worn out the last time he changed the fuel filter. (Silent thoughts of - why would you leave this for your daughter to deal with the first time she is changing the filter?!?!?! ran through my head.) The only option would be to trim off the frayed end of the hose and hope that there was enough length to reconnect. As dad was still pondering if this would work or not, I grabbed a knife and made the executive decision to make the cut. Chopstick/Papertowel/Plastic Bag plug to the rescue again! I pulled the hose off, plugged the filter, sliced the frayed end off and shoved it all back together as quickly as I could. A few rounds on the screw driver and the drip drip drip stopped. (A side note, the screw driver that I had to use is one that can bend at a 90 degree angle... but the lock to keep it straight doesn’t work very well, so in the midst of all of the other challenges, the screw driver would randomly collapse.)
Whew! I did it! Fingers crossed the engine would turn over. I loaded up the dogs so that if it did, we could just leave. Thankfully it did and we were homeward bound. This is the kind of adventure that one never forgets!