Tranny problems (and I don't mean Transvestites)

Bear with me I am going to jump around a bit on this but I dropped the Monster off at the shop earlier this week to nail down a fuel leak.  It wasn't anything major and I PROBABLY could have done it myself but given my current level of expertise and the flammability of gasoline, I thought I would leave this one to the professionals.  Happily after the fuel leak was repaired I drove around town in the beast.  Yesterday however some weird shit started happening.  I could shift into 1^st and 2^nd gear no problem, 4^th was ok but 3^rd gear was a struggle.  So after watching the Canucks / Bruins game @ Donnegals I drove home, slowly and mostly in 2^nd gear.  Go Bruins... Boston in 7!

I got home and did a little research and it sounds like it might be a simple clutch adjustment (here’s hoping) and it’s not too expensive.  I got up a little early this morning and dropped it off at the shop, again.  They open at 9:00 and I don’t have an appointment so I am hoping that they can take a look at it and get me sorted out.  I really want this fixed before Friday because I am supposed to be heading out to Little Elbow Campground for a weekend of camping and diving in Forget Me Not Pond.    Well I won’t be camping at Forget Me Not… you know what I mean.  Speaking of scuba diving that is one of the other reasons why I bought the Westy.  I wanted something cool that could handle my scuba gear and that I could camp in. 

Out here in Calgary one of the popular dive sites for training is Lake Minnewanka.  It’s about an hour and change from Calgary, just North of Banff.  Here is your diving lesson for the day.  Because Calgary is 3740 feet above sea level any diving we do is classified as altitude diving. Calgary falls into the 4000’ category but because Minnewanka is approximately 4540’ it falls into the 5000’ category for diving purposes. The change in altitude means that once you arrive at the dive site you have to wait a bit (usually an hour to hour and a half), for your body to adjust to the new altitude before going in the water.  If you don’t wait you increase your risk of getting decompression sickness (the bends).  Basically I got the Westy so I wouldn’t have to wait as long and I could just camp out in the National park.

If you are interested in diving or want more information about Lake Minnewanka here are a couple of good sites. 

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/banff/natcul/natcul4m1.aspx

http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/Canada/Alberta/Lake_Minnewanka/index.htm

I’ll update later on the transmission problems and what the prognosis is…