skylark
I'm Awesome
At the request of a few different members I will do a thread on our beloved "Black Pearl" or simply "Pearl". We bought the truck after quite a search. We wanted a CCLB K3500 with the 6.5 pathetic diesel. The future plan is when (not if) the 6.5 dies it we be replaced with a real engine, CUMMINS. We found that trucks were actually quite regional, we found a ton of ECLB with the diesel but no crew cabs. The only way to find a crew was in a gas engine. I hate white and I sure hate the peeling paint problems that white had. After expanding our search over and over again while avoiding the rust belt we finally found Pearl in Kissimmee, FL from a sh!tty car lot. I paid a member on another forum to check it out for me and after his "if you don't buy it, I will" comment, we struck a deal. It turns out that the forum member was a dirt bag because there is NO WAY that he checked it out. The a/c needed to be charged, the outer duals were illegal, the turbo wasn't spooling properly and the best of all was the 1/4 of a turn of steering wheel play! Obviously we bought it, but that is because it was the platform and options that we wanted. We met the owner of the car lot in Orlando at the airport and before we left Orlando we threw two used tires on her and charged the a/c. We only made it 125 miles that first night, we had planned close to 300... The next day was mostly wasted at Sears auto center waiting on a new pitman arm. We didn't leave Gainsville until almost 3pm. We had lost almost a full day between the night before, Sears and we still didn't have the wastegate solenoid that we needed.
We started across the USA in our Chevrolet and finally came to Texas. Sorry to say this because I know most of the members here are from Texas but I honestly have zero desire to be in Texas EVER again. It started off alright, in fact the picture below is one of my favorite pictures of the truck. I really like the state roads in Texas, 75mph and a lane to merge, really pretty nice. We ate at a Whataburger in a small town and really enjoyed ourselves. We went to Waco and loaded up some stuff from a storage unit that was being rented by one of our friends and headed out to a parking lot of traffic. We were headed to Ft Worth to a restaurant called Freds that we found on Diners, Drive ins and Dives. This is where Texas took a turn for us. We suddenly dropped out of overdrive and limped to some little hole in the wall and broke out the scanner. It turned out that the converter had too much slip and we would loose OD. We were able to force OD with the scanner but not lock up. I would leave it in drive until we were ready for OD and then I would shift and at the same time my sweetie would enable OD with the scanner, this was the only way that we had OD. Grrr. We got back on the road and headed for the asphalt jungle. When we got to Ft Worth we were using the GPS to take us to Freds. We got off of the freeway and lost the GPS signal because of all of the bridges above us. The last direction that we had was to the right so to the right we went. Suddenly the GPS caught signal and it told us to the right again into a dark street but it didn't look bad. Well it didn't look bad until we got to the end of the street. We made a right turn again onto one of the few times in my life where I was quite scared to be there. There were a lot of people on steps and hanging out on the street. They all started coming our way! We had a .357 with us but we couldn't bring ammo with us on the plane and we simply hadn't remembered to buy any. We immediately headed for the end of the street and prayed that it would leave us out of there. It did and we hauled ass out of there. When we got to the end of the street there was a cop going by who wouldn't even look at us! We jumped in behind him and once we got on the other side of the freeway our lousy GPS showed us the correct way. We were quite thankful that we were driving a truck with no plates and tinted windows as were going down that street so that the people coming at us couldn't tell that Casper the scared sh!tless ghost and his glow in the dark wife were in our truck. We got to Freds and my wife who never drinks more than one drink had two. Finally we headed to a hotel where we parked upfront and booked a room. When I started the truck to move it the starter wouldn't stop cranking. I had to rip the battery cables off of it. The hotel wasn't too happy to have the derelict in the prime spot complete with a bed full of crap wrapped in a tarp. The next day I was beat and I couldn't find a starter anywhere other than the dealer so off to there it went. I expected a big bill but they wouldn't release the truck for under $1000 claiming that you have to jack up the engine to swap the starter. It was a Saturday and I couldn't verify flat rate so I got stuck paying those ******** at Bankston Chevrolet. After 6 weeks they ended up paying my back a little over $400. So after being scared and ***** in Texas, we have NO desire to go back.
We got out of there and headed through New Mexico where we ran into a Hollywood wannabe cop. He pulled us over for no plates, duh! He also didn't like our Oregon trip permit that clearly states to place the permit in the back window. He wanted it on the outside of the window and I told him that it wasn't there because if it came off then we wouldn't have a trip permit at all. He told us that we needed to buy a license plate cover (illegal in OR) and put the permit where the plate would be. We lied through our teeth and told him that we would.
As the trip continued we came through Flagstaff, AZ where we hit another Diners, Drive ins and Dives stop at Salsa Brava. OMG! OMG! OMG! I loved their pineapple habanero salsa but the best was a smoked chicken burrito with a cilantro cream sauce. On the comment card I wrote, "if I were a death row inmate, THIS would be my last meal!".
We cruised through the Vegas strip and just kept going. I had hoped to show my sweetie The Grand crack in the ground and the museum at the Imperial Palace but we were 2 days behind at that point. We made it up to Reno where we stayed at Circus Circus for $29 on the second floor from the top! A nice meal, a fun time and finally a night to relax, ahhh. If we had only known that before we made it to Susanville, CA we would be dealing with winds over 100mph perhaps we wouldn't have stopped. We got caught in a wind storm strong enough to blow over semi trucks, strong enough to straighten out the hooks of our ratchet straps and rip the plywood and mattress off of the truck and blow the mattress over a fence and into a field. As we tried to put the plywood back up on top the wind caught it and it hit my wife! It then turned to screw this! I jammed the plywood along side of the crap left over in the bed and did my best Mickey Mouse engineering to keep the crap in place and limped down the road. I can tell you that after multiple breakdowns, 2 days behind, beat up, 3500 miles and spending way more than we planned, we were never so happy to see the Oregon boarder!
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We started across the USA in our Chevrolet and finally came to Texas. Sorry to say this because I know most of the members here are from Texas but I honestly have zero desire to be in Texas EVER again. It started off alright, in fact the picture below is one of my favorite pictures of the truck. I really like the state roads in Texas, 75mph and a lane to merge, really pretty nice. We ate at a Whataburger in a small town and really enjoyed ourselves. We went to Waco and loaded up some stuff from a storage unit that was being rented by one of our friends and headed out to a parking lot of traffic. We were headed to Ft Worth to a restaurant called Freds that we found on Diners, Drive ins and Dives. This is where Texas took a turn for us. We suddenly dropped out of overdrive and limped to some little hole in the wall and broke out the scanner. It turned out that the converter had too much slip and we would loose OD. We were able to force OD with the scanner but not lock up. I would leave it in drive until we were ready for OD and then I would shift and at the same time my sweetie would enable OD with the scanner, this was the only way that we had OD. Grrr. We got back on the road and headed for the asphalt jungle. When we got to Ft Worth we were using the GPS to take us to Freds. We got off of the freeway and lost the GPS signal because of all of the bridges above us. The last direction that we had was to the right so to the right we went. Suddenly the GPS caught signal and it told us to the right again into a dark street but it didn't look bad. Well it didn't look bad until we got to the end of the street. We made a right turn again onto one of the few times in my life where I was quite scared to be there. There were a lot of people on steps and hanging out on the street. They all started coming our way! We had a .357 with us but we couldn't bring ammo with us on the plane and we simply hadn't remembered to buy any. We immediately headed for the end of the street and prayed that it would leave us out of there. It did and we hauled ass out of there. When we got to the end of the street there was a cop going by who wouldn't even look at us! We jumped in behind him and once we got on the other side of the freeway our lousy GPS showed us the correct way. We were quite thankful that we were driving a truck with no plates and tinted windows as were going down that street so that the people coming at us couldn't tell that Casper the scared sh!tless ghost and his glow in the dark wife were in our truck. We got to Freds and my wife who never drinks more than one drink had two. Finally we headed to a hotel where we parked upfront and booked a room. When I started the truck to move it the starter wouldn't stop cranking. I had to rip the battery cables off of it. The hotel wasn't too happy to have the derelict in the prime spot complete with a bed full of crap wrapped in a tarp. The next day I was beat and I couldn't find a starter anywhere other than the dealer so off to there it went. I expected a big bill but they wouldn't release the truck for under $1000 claiming that you have to jack up the engine to swap the starter. It was a Saturday and I couldn't verify flat rate so I got stuck paying those ******** at Bankston Chevrolet. After 6 weeks they ended up paying my back a little over $400. So after being scared and ***** in Texas, we have NO desire to go back.
You must be registered for see images attach
We got out of there and headed through New Mexico where we ran into a Hollywood wannabe cop. He pulled us over for no plates, duh! He also didn't like our Oregon trip permit that clearly states to place the permit in the back window. He wanted it on the outside of the window and I told him that it wasn't there because if it came off then we wouldn't have a trip permit at all. He told us that we needed to buy a license plate cover (illegal in OR) and put the permit where the plate would be. We lied through our teeth and told him that we would.
You must be registered for see images attach
As the trip continued we came through Flagstaff, AZ where we hit another Diners, Drive ins and Dives stop at Salsa Brava. OMG! OMG! OMG! I loved their pineapple habanero salsa but the best was a smoked chicken burrito with a cilantro cream sauce. On the comment card I wrote, "if I were a death row inmate, THIS would be my last meal!".
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
We cruised through the Vegas strip and just kept going. I had hoped to show my sweetie The Grand crack in the ground and the museum at the Imperial Palace but we were 2 days behind at that point. We made it up to Reno where we stayed at Circus Circus for $29 on the second floor from the top! A nice meal, a fun time and finally a night to relax, ahhh. If we had only known that before we made it to Susanville, CA we would be dealing with winds over 100mph perhaps we wouldn't have stopped. We got caught in a wind storm strong enough to blow over semi trucks, strong enough to straighten out the hooks of our ratchet straps and rip the plywood and mattress off of the truck and blow the mattress over a fence and into a field. As we tried to put the plywood back up on top the wind caught it and it hit my wife! It then turned to screw this! I jammed the plywood along side of the crap left over in the bed and did my best Mickey Mouse engineering to keep the crap in place and limped down the road. I can tell you that after multiple breakdowns, 2 days behind, beat up, 3500 miles and spending way more than we planned, we were never so happy to see the Oregon boarder!
