Our friends rolled in after we had settled down to dinner last night. It was a great reunion and we quickly caught up in the darkness. We hurridly talked about our plans for the next day. This morning the kids got to do some playing, there was big mounds of slashings and a huge pile of concrete slabs that made for some creative forts, worlds, and adventures. Our friends needed to make a town run, so we said goodbye while they headed out for Alamagordo and we got ready to head out to the White Sands.
Our boondocking site at the lake was only a 10 minute drive from White Sands National Monument. We pulled into the visitor center, bought some sleds from a lady selling her used ones in the parking lot (3 for $30), bought our hunks of wax ($2 an ounce), and picked up our Jr. Ranger packets. We flashed our “America the Beautiful” pass to the ranger at the entrance booth and made the drive into the national monument. We heard from our friends that the place to sled was near the end of the loop near the Alkali Flat trailhead. So that was where we settled in for the day.
The skies were blue, the weather was perfect (warm in the sun, cool in the shade), and the kids made friends right away. You hike up, catch your breath, sled down, apply sunscreen, and repeat all day long 🙂 It was a great relaxing day.
Once I had hiked my fill up the hill and frisbee’d the sleds up for the kids to meet their appetite, I pulled out a couple wrenches and addressed a rattle that was coming from the rear sway bar linkage where a bushing had warn out. I had ordered one from the manufacturer when we were in Phoenix last, but it didn’t arrive in time to install it before we took off again. It’s not a critical component and other than a little rattle while driving wasn’t noticeable.
After removing the culprit from below the van and measuring all the important dimensions with my digital calipers, I proceeded to cut off all the remaining rubber on the bushing with a box knife and fired up Fusion 360 on my laptop to design a replacement. A few minutes later the design was completed and ready for a trip to the printer. One of the materials I’m able to print with on the 3d printer that I’m carrying with me on this journey is TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurathane) It’s resistance to oil, abrasion, and high melting temperature make it a good solution for now (or until I get the actual part from Phoenix).
Printing the new bushing halves 
One bushing half put back on the metal
Each half took 20 minutes to print. After printing both, I crawled back under the van and reconnected the sway bar utilizing the 3d printed bushings which fit perfectly. Just in time too. As I was under the van putting it back together, the ranger drove up and asked if anything was broken and that we needed to get going as the sun was set and the park was about to close. It was a great day filled with lots of exhausting fun, creative problem solving, and more quality family time spent in God’s wonderful creation.
