Yes, Black Bear Road is dangerous

[Gary Lewis]

At least you were not hurt! We need to design an automatic wheel chock that you hit a button and it drops behind the tire. But with my luck I would need it in front of the tire.

I read about that warning on the Mico units. Apparently they tell you when you have enough pressure by going silent, and then warn you again later if the pressure drops.

And like Bruce said, I'm glad you weren't hurt!

The belt and braces approach is the best, as you said Bob. And since I carry beefy wheel chocks in Big Blue's tool box I think I'll use them as the third layer if I ever get to something that steep. Normally they are used to hold a Chevy I've winched up on the trailer while I'm cinching it down. But they should be a nice addition for a steep trail. Keep the engine running so the hydroboost is functioning and have your buddy get out and chock it. Kill the engine, drop it in 1st and low range, and set the e-brake.

As for C.W. McCall, aka William Dale Fries Jr., I had to Google that. Wikipedia says "McCall is best known for the 1976 #1 hit song "Convoy. ...... Though McCall is not a one-hit wonder, "Convoy" has since become his signature song. McCall first charted the song "Wolf Creek Pass", which reached #40 on the U.S. pop top 40 in 1975". Didn't know that.

But what I found fascinating with respect to the present conversation was the additional statement that "In 1986, McCall was elected mayor of the town of Ouray, Colorado, ultimately serving for six years." Small world.

However, I found nothing about "no bigger'n a grapefruit" in that article. So I Googled a bit more and found the lyrics to Black Bear Road. Now I fully understand, and since they are quite germane to this here conversation:

Me an' RJ an' the kids was on a camp-out in the mountains, and we had us one'a them U-Drive-'Em Army Jeep cars which we rented from a fella by the name of Kubozke for thirty bucks a day, buy your gas along the way, take a rabbit's foot and leave a pint of blood for a dee-posit

And he 'splained it all to us how we was supposed to get to Telluride, which is fifty miles away by way of the regular highway, however, there was a shortcut but unless we had drove the Black Bear Road before, we'd better be off to stay, stay in bed and sleep late. (Pay no attention to the gitar there.)

Well, we took up off'n the highway and we come upon a sign says "Black Bear Road. You don't have to be crazy to drive this road, but it helps." I says, "RJ, this must the shortcut road Kubozke was talkin' about." She didn't pay no mind, 'cause she was makin' peanut butter sandwiches for the kids in the back seat throwin' rocks and drinkin' Kool-Aid and playin' count-the-license-plates. But they wasn't havin' too much fun a-countin' license plate or cars, 'cause there weren't no other cars

We went about a mile-and-a-half in about four hours, busted off the right front fender, tore a hole in the oil pan on a rock as big as a hall closet. Went over a bump and spilt the Kool-Aid and Roy Gene stuck his bolo knife right through the convertible top and the dog threw up all over the back seat. Peanut butter don't agree with him, you see

So we had to stop and take off the top and air everything out and clean it up. The dog run off and RJ says she felt her asthma comin' on. I was sittin' there wonderin' what to do when the en-tire scenic San Joo-wan U-Drive-'Em Army Jeep car sank in the mud. At thirteen thousand feet above sea level

Well, we shoveled it out and ate our lunch, the dog made a yellow hole in the snow and Roy Gene got out his Instamatic and took a snapshot of it. Mary Elizabeth drawed a picture of the road; it looked like a whole bunch a' Zs and Ws all strung together. And RJ took one look at it and said that the only way that Jeep car is goin' down that road is over her dead body. Then a rock slipped out from under the wheel and the U-Drive-'Em Army Jeep car went right over the edge of the cliff. Yahoo-oo-oo-oo!

"Doggone-it, Roy Gene! How many times do I have to 'splain it to you? When I tell you to put a rock under the wheel, I mean rock! Now look at that, what you have there is no bigger'n a grapefruit."

[Nothing Special]

I read about that warning on the Mico units. Apparently they tell you when you have enough pressure by going silent, and then warn you again later if the pressure drops.

And like Bruce said, I'm glad you weren't hurt!

The belt and braces approach is the best, as you said Bob. And since I carry beefy wheel chocks in Big Blue's tool box I think I'll use them as the third layer if I ever get to something that steep. Normally they are used to hold a Chevy I've winched up on the trailer while I'm cinching it down. But they should be a nice addition for a steep trail. Keep the engine running so the hydroboost is functioning and have your buddy get out and chock it. Kill the engine, drop it in 1st and low range, and set the e-brake.

As for C.W. McCall, aka William Dale Fries Jr., I had to Google that. Wikipedia says "McCall is best known for the 1976 #1 hit song "Convoy. ...... Though McCall is not a one-hit wonder, "Convoy" has since become his signature song. McCall first charted the song "Wolf Creek Pass", which reached #40 on the U.S. pop top 40 in 1975". Didn't know that.

But what I found fascinating with respect to the present conversation was the additional statement that "In 1986, McCall was elected mayor of the town of Ouray, Colorado, ultimately serving for six years." Small world.

However, I found nothing about "no bigger'n a grapefruit" in that article. So I Googled a bit more and found the lyrics to Black Bear Road. Now I fully understand, and since they are quite germane to this here conversation:

Me an' RJ an' the kids was on a camp-out in the mountains, and we had us one'a them U-Drive-'Em Army Jeep cars which we rented from a fella by the name of Kubozke for thirty bucks a day, buy your gas along the way, take a rabbit's foot and leave a pint of blood for a dee-posit

And he 'splained it all to us how we was supposed to get to Telluride, which is fifty miles away by way of the regular highway, however, there was a shortcut but unless we had drove the Black Bear Road before, we'd better be off to stay, stay in bed and sleep late. (Pay no attention to the gitar there.)

Well, we took up off'n the highway and we come upon a sign says "Black Bear Road. You don't have to be crazy to drive this road, but it helps." I says, "RJ, this must the shortcut road Kubozke was talkin' about." She didn't pay no mind, 'cause she was makin' peanut butter sandwiches for the kids in the back seat throwin' rocks and drinkin' Kool-Aid and playin' count-the-license-plates. But they wasn't havin' too much fun a-countin' license plate or cars, 'cause there weren't no other cars

We went about a mile-and-a-half in about four hours, busted off the right front fender, tore a hole in the oil pan on a rock as big as a hall closet. Went over a bump and spilt the Kool-Aid and Roy Gene stuck his bolo knife right through the convertible top and the dog threw up all over the back seat. Peanut butter don't agree with him, you see

So we had to stop and take off the top and air everything out and clean it up. The dog run off and RJ says she felt her asthma comin' on. I was sittin' there wonderin' what to do when the en-tire scenic San Joo-wan U-Drive-'Em Army Jeep car sank in the mud. At thirteen thousand feet above sea level

Well, we shoveled it out and ate our lunch, the dog made a yellow hole in the snow and Roy Gene got out his Instamatic and took a snapshot of it. Mary Elizabeth drawed a picture of the road; it looked like a whole bunch a' Zs and Ws all strung together. And RJ took one look at it and said that the only way that Jeep car is goin' down that road is over her dead body. Then a rock slipped out from under the wheel and the U-Drive-'Em Army Jeep car went right over the edge of the cliff. Yahoo-oo-oo-oo!

"Doggone-it, Roy Gene! How many times do I have to 'splain it to you? When I tell you to put a rock under the wheel, I mean rock! Now look at that, what you have there is no bigger'n a grapefruit."

If you want to go down a Google / YouTube rabbit hole, look up Old Home Bread commercials (I'll start your search

). Back in the '70s or so Old Home came to an advertising agency to come up with a TV ad campaign. The agency created commercials where a truck driver named C.W. McCall delivered bread to the Old Home Fill 'er Up and Keep On Truckin' Cafe where he was sweet on the waitress, named Mavis. The commercials were so popular that the jingle from the ad was extended into a song, and eventually into several albums. And no, the actor in the ads isn't Bill Fries. When the music career took off they went with the guy with the voice rather than the actor.

Anyway, C.W. McCall rode that wave for a while, but eventually all good things come to an end. At that point Chip Davis, who had been in the ad agency with Fries and (I think) wrote the music for C.W. McCall, thought that writing and performing music was a pretty good gig, and wasn't too keen on going back to advertising. But Country & Western was never his jam, so he decide to take it in a different direction and went with the name Mannheim Steamroller. So yes, C.W. McCall and Mannheim Steamroller are musically the same band!

As to C.W.McCall doing the Black Bear Road "song" (more of a Country-rap, or C-rap as I like to call it), I guess Fries had connections there from before his C.W. McCall days (maybe was from the area? or had just vacationed there and really liked it?). Anyway, he wrote the words to that song (and by the way, Kuboski did run a Jeep rental company in Ouray for a long time) and a few others inspired by the area (the Silverton, Telluride Breakdown as well as a bunch of more general Colorado songs).

I guess this really has to qualify as a hijack. But hey, it's my thread, so who's going to complain!

[Gary Lewis]

If you want to go down a Google / YouTube rabbit hole, look up Old Home Bread commercials (I'll start your search

). Back in the '70s or so Old Home came to an advertising agency to come up with a TV ad campaign. The agency created commercials where a truck driver named C.W. McCall delivered bread to the Old Home Fill 'er Up and Keep On Truckin' Cafe where he was sweet on the waitress, named Mavis. The commercials were so popular that the jingle from the ad was extended into a song, and eventually into several albums. And no, the actor in the ads isn't Bill Fries. When the music career took off they went with the guy with the voice rather than the actor.

Anyway, C.W. McCall rode that wave for a while, but eventually all good things come to an end. At that point Chip Davis, who had been in the ad agency with Fries and (I think) wrote the music for C.W. McCall, thought that writing and performing music was a pretty good gig, and wasn't too keen on going back to advertising. But Country & Western was never his jam, so he decide to take it in a different direction and went with the name Mannheim Steamroller. So yes, C.W. McCall and Mannheim Steamroller are musically the same band!

As to C.W.McCall doing the Black Bear Road "song" (more of a Country-rap, or C-rap as I like to call it), I guess Fries had connections there from before his C.W. McCall days (maybe was from the area? or had just vacationed there and really liked it?). Anyway, he wrote the words to that song (and by the way, Kuboski did run a Jeep rental company in Ouray for a long time) and a few others inspired by the area (the Silverton, Telluride Breakdown as well as a bunch of more general Colorado songs).

I guess this really has to qualify as a hijack. But hey, it's my thread, so who's going to complain!

That's bizarre! I missed this in the Wikipedia writeup: "Fries wrote the lyrics and sang while Chip Davis, later of Mannheim Steamroller, wrote the music." I never would have guessed.

And that video is cool! I'd never seen it. Guess the Metz Baking Company didn't sell in the Kansas/Oklahoma area so didn't run the ads there.

I was sure that the rental had to have been from Ouray given the "50 miles to Telluride" line. However, that's by paved road, and Last Dollar Road cuts many of those miles off.

Ok, sorry for the hijack. (Not really.)

 

[grumpin]

That's bizarre! I missed this in the Wikipedia writeup: "Fries wrote the lyrics and sang while Chip Davis, later of Mannheim Steamroller, wrote the music." I never would have guessed.

And that video is cool! I'd never seen it. Guess the Metz Baking Company didn't sell in the Kansas/Oklahoma area so didn't run the ads there.

I was sure that the rental had to have been from Ouray given the "50 miles to Telluride" line. However, that's by paved road, and Last Dollar Road cuts many of those miles off.

Ok, sorry for the hijack. (Not really.)

Well, that was cool! Thanks for that!

[Nothing Special]

Well, that was cool! Thanks for that!

I first read the C.W. McCall story on the jacket of the first Mannheim Steamroller album I bought back in the '80s. Like all boys in the '70s who liked trucks, I was already a C.W. McCall fan so it stuck with me.

And in a happy coincidence... Years ago I put all of my music onto my computer and burned a series of MP3 disks that will play in the CD player in my truck. That way I only have to change CDs about every 10 hours of driving. I have 7 CDs that I cycle through. This morning the first songs that came on were Convoy, followed by Wolf Creek Pass, Old Home Fill 'er Up and Keep On a Truckin' Cafe and Black Bear Road!

[Gary Lewis]

I first read the C.W. McCall story on the jacket of the first Mannheim Steamroller album I bought back in the '80s. Like all boys in the '70s who liked trucks, I was already a C.W. McCall fan so it stuck with me.

And in a happy coincidence... Years ago I put all of my music onto my computer and burned a series of MP3 disks that will play in the CD player in my truck. That way I only have to change CDs about every 10 hours of driving. I have 7 CDs that I cycle through. This morning the first songs that came on were Convoy, followed by Wolf Creek Pass, Old Home Fill 'er Up and Keep On a Truckin' Cafe and Black Bear Road!

I love happy coincidinks. I'll bet you were smiling the whole way!

[Nothing Special]

I love happy coincidinks. I'll bet you were smiling the whole way!

For what it's worth, on another forum someone who knew someone who knew someone said that they heard that the driver left the vehicle with the engine running, manual trans in neutral. I think my source is pretty reliable, and the chain seemed relatively reliable. But he summarized it the same way I would; "We will likely never know what the real truth is but we can all learn from it." (Even CW McCall would agree!)

[Gary Lewis]

For what it's worth, on another forum someone who knew someone who knew someone said that they heard that the driver left the vehicle with the engine running, manual trans in neutral. I think my source is pretty reliable, and the chain seemed relatively reliable. But he summarized it the same way I would; "We will likely never know what the real truth is but we can all learn from it." (Even CW McCall would agree!)

Yes, I agree - we can, and should, all learn from it. You need belts and braces!

[grumpin]

Yes, I agree - we can, and should, all learn from it. You need belts and braces!

And bigger rocks!

[Ford F834]

This video showed up on Facebook, looks to be the same footage but un-cropped. The added context helps in my opinion:

I have heard about line locks not being an acceptable parking brake alternative in states that require vehicle safety inspections. There are many discussions around this in connection with rear disc brake conversion kits and the need for an alternative parking brake.

There is a line lock installed on my F-Superduty because the Cummins swap/Getrag 360 eliminated the Ford driveline brake. I feel comfortable enough with it on relatively flat ground where I will be using it (mostly to leave it running while I open and close our gate) but I wouldn’t care to use this on a backcountry vehicle. I like the driveline brake idea, but unfortunately there isn’t anything that will work with a GearVendors OD that I will have in my crew cab. I guess I will be stuck shutting the engine off and leaving it in gear since the Sterling parking brake is marginal at best.

This brings up another question... it was mentioned here that leaving a manual in gear is more effective in low range? Wouldn’t that ratio make it easier for the kinetic vehicle energy to overcome the engine’s compression and allow it to creep? Intuitively I would pick the highest gear to hold it instead of the lowest. What am I missing?