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                <h1 class="p-name entry-title post-title" itemprop="headline">A Long Errand</h1>
                
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                    <h3 class="h-adr" itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress"><span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="addressLocality">Catalina State Park</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/jrnl/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">Arizona</a>, <span class="p-country-name" itemprop="addressCountry">U.S.</span></h3>
                     &ndash;&nbsp;<a href="" onclick="showMap(32.42613099108599, -110.9155344382878, { type:'point', lat:'32.42613099108599', lon:'-110.9155344382878'}); return false;" title="see a map">Map</a>
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                <time class="dt-published published dt-updated post-date" datetime="2018-01-15T16:19:06" itemprop="datePublished">January <span>15, 2018</span></time>
                <span class="hide" itemprop="author" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">by <a class="p-author h-card" href="/about"><span itemprop="name">Scott Gilbertson</span></a></span>
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            <p>While we were in Tucson Corrinne and the kids stayed with the bus while I grabbed a flight up to Reno where I met my uncle and we drove back down to his house to pick up our new dinghy &#8212; a 1983 Volvo 240 wagon. It&#8217;s the best car we&#8217;ve ever owned.</p>
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<p>For five months of this trip we had a second vehicle. For five months we were all together in the bus. There are things we liked about each. We liked being altogether in the bus, but  it&#8217;s nice to explore areas nearby without having to pack up the bus. </p>
<p>What would be the best of both worlds would be to tow something behind the bus, but the bus engine just isn&#8217;t capable of towing anything that we&#8217;d want to drive. Yes, we&#8217;re picky about vehicles. </p>
<p>When we were at my uncle&#8217;s house last year we spied the 240 wagon sitting in the weeds behind the house. We got to talking about and eventually came up with a way to fix it up without having to spend too much time in the Nevada winter.</p>
<p>A couple months later I got on a plane &#8212; despite swearing I would never fly again &#8212; and now I have two projects to work on.</p>
<p>The Volvo project got under way on the way back from Reno. The thermostat started sticking somewhere on the way there, so it was a slow drive back, waiting for the car to cool down every 20 miles or so. A little overheating didn&#8217;t bother me much comsidering we raised the Volvo from the dead &#8212; it had been setting for five years. With a little TLC, some new fluids and basic parts it was running well, all things considered, thanks to Thomas and Ron for all the hard work.</p>
<p>That afternoon my uncle and I put in a new thermostat and ordered a water pump since it was leaking as well. The next morning we put in the water pump and, after a couple test drives, I hit the road for Tucson. It ran a little hot the whole way, but the temperature was stable.</p>
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            <img class="u-photo" itemprop="contentUrl" sizes="(max-width: 1439px) 100vw, (min-width: 1440px) 1440px" srcset="https://images.luxagraf.net/2018/2018-01-12_161536_tucson_picwide-sm.jpg 720w, https://images.luxagraf.net/2018/2018-01-12_161536_tucson_picwide-med.jpg 1170w, https://images.luxagraf.net/2018/2018-01-12_161536_tucson_picwide.jpg 2880w" src="https://images.luxagraf.net/2018/2018-01-12_161536_tucson_picwide-med.jpg" alt="Clown Motel, tonopah, nv photographed by luxagraf" data-jslghtbx="https://images.luxagraf.net/original/2018/2018-01-12_161536_tucson.jpg" data-jslghtbx-group="group" data-jslghtbx-caption="On the drive back from my uncle&#39;s house I got to see one thing we missed. Sadly, not nearly as creepy as it should be.">
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<figcaption>On the drive back from my uncle&#8217;s house I got to see one thing we missed. Sadly, not nearly as creepy as it should be.</figcaption>
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<p>I drove straight through to just outside Phoenix where I stopped at a BLM campground and slept a few hours before driving the rest of the way to Catalina State Park. </p>
<p>In all I was gone two days, the longest I&#8217;ve been apart from Corrinne or the kids since they were born. The car still needs some work, mostly cosmetic and body stuff, at some point we&#8217;ll probably give it a new coat of paint, but for something that spent five years in the weeds, it runs beautifully. Thanks again Ron and Teresa.</p>
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