Elementhis

Back up the coast

2012-01-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

It's January 3, it's 9:00 am, and I've just dropped off coffee with my wife before I hit the road. I'm still deciding on the route as I hit the 405 and roll into the valley in record time. I have to go to San Luis Obispo before heading home, so I take the 101. and head for Ventura.

10:00- Ventura,
11:00- Santa Barbara

11:30- Just ouside of Los Olivos, and I decide it's time for lunch. I pull into the college town and park immediately in front of this place.

Side Note - Weird California
I have a fondness for the odd, the weird, and the obscure. The "weird" series of books is a guilty pleasure for me. So when I have time on my various trips to visit strange locations, I do. More about Bubble Gum Alley can be found here.
Since Weird California is an obvious one, I keep a copy of it in the bus and use it to redirect some of my drives.
I'll be posting more about the side trips soon. In the meantime, feel free to waste your afternoon here.

I am visiting a friend in Los Olivos, home of Go Westy, so I stop by his place first, and their place next. There is nothing that I need, I'm afraid that Go Westy has provided me with cool camping gear all too well. So I look around the lot and admire the perfect vehicles

The back of Go Westy has a pile of buses that are no longer drivable. They are carefully labeled and are giving up their parts so that others may remain on the road. There is something about that idea that is part Zen, and part Wall-E.

And I've decided to take the slow road, and head through Morro Bay, Cambria, San Simeon,

and I stop to look at the Elephant Seals.

This squirrel was as interested as I was.

It's time to put those shocks and that steering box to the test. I head towards Monterey and stop occasionally to smell the sea, the cypress, and the sage.

I'm just outside of Post Ranch Inn and the sun is reminding me why I took this road.

Yes, one hand on the wheel, one on the camera, and my head facing the wrong direction on a twisty road. Don't try this at home.

---
2011 was a rough year that ended poorly. I took this road trip to spend time with my wife in L.A. and to regain perspective. There is nothing like a long slow drive to focus the mind on wider aspirations. So here I am, January 3, reminding myself what it is all about, and that it is all so beautiful.

Enjoy the ride, don't forget to stop and admire the scenery.

One more for the Road

2011-12-31T20:07:00.000-08:00

It's December 26th, and I'm packing minimally. I'm driving to L.A. to both visit my wife and get one last road trip in before the end of the year. I had some things to take care of, so I didn't hit the road till noon.

Other travellers were with me:

Blake and Shelby let me know they were satying down the coast in Avilla beach. Google that town when you can, it is hope to both an oil refinery accident and a Nuclear powerplant. If Godzilla were going to arise from the waters, it would be here.

But you couldn't blame him for the scenery:

This guy was playing in the surf and rolling around on the sand.

Avilla Beach does not like RV's that don't have self contained grey water and black water reservoirs. They let us know that normally they wouldn't allow us to camp there, but considering that no one was around, and they explained the rules to us, they were going to let us slide.

No fires on the beach, but fires are allowed in self contained fire boxes. This one was exceptionally well made.

Blake and I had excellent coffee the next morning, courtesy of Starbucks Via. (Not a sponsor of this site for the record, but they could be... hint hint...)

This shirt was my Christmas present. Marine Layer Shirts, San Francisco. They have a 1969 Bus with their logo on it..

I finish the drive to L.A. by heading down State street in Santa Barbara, then over to Ojai.

I get coffee, walk around a little, and am just about to get back in the bus when it gets noticed. Conversations about the one they sold, or that guy who lives in one up the canyon, or the one that broke down all the time, or the one they really loved but didn't want to fix, but they should have not let it go, and about 20 minutes later, I insist on heading up the road. One of the people looking at it offer to buy it, I tell him he can't afford it. He says "seriously, $1000.00" I say seriously, you can't afford it. I don't think he understood.

I got down to the apartment around 3:30, and have been spending the rest of my time going to Griffith Park:

driving through Hollywood:

and visiting museums.

I'll start next year tomorrow by adjusting the valves, checking my fuel lines, and making sure I'm good for the drive back up.

It's been a good camping year. Thanks for the company and Happy New Year. Since we aren't spending it together, can we have a beer at the next camp out?

Aloha, Peter

Californias State Parks

2011-12-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

There are 278 state parks in California. 70 will be closed in June of next year. Here's a list of them.

There is one on that list that I adore. It's about three hours south of San Francisco, but completely worth it. I needed a break from the world, so I took a Thursday off, and headed down to Limekiln State Park.

Limekiln is named for it's kilns that were used to process lime. They were brought there in the late 1800's and the surrounding redwoods were used for fuel while the worked quarried the stones and baked them into bricks. The trees have grown back, and the Kilns have gone the way nature would take them.

I arrived mid-afternoon. There was one other person there - a cyclist working his way down the coast. The camp host wasn't there, and I could have camped for free, but not wanting to ruin good karma, I paid the fee.

I like campsites with a view.

Anyone who has driven highway one knows words are inadequate. Cliffs, beautiful bridges, ocean, windswept trees, and endless beauty are part of the twists and turns that make up the coast highway. I arrived mid afternoon and spent the evening over a warm fire and watching the world change color.

The next morning I resolved to see the rest of the park, it's less than a mile hike and the last time I was here (about 10 years ago) it was closed off.

So the first thing I did after coffee was argue with the Gull who decided that it was his bus.

Conversation was pretty much like this:
Me: "Bird, I need to drop the top and pack it up"
Bird: "squawk!"
Me: "No seriously, I have to be home mid-afternoon"
Bird: "Squawk!"

So bird just sat there and watched me pack up, and gave me cautious looks while I did everything *but* lower the pop top. He eventually got bored.

I finished packing up and headed over the namesake of the park. About a half mile up from the beach, through trees that look like this:

on a path that looks like this:

are hundred year old kilns that look like this:

And a mere half mile more across some fallen trees and up a precarious path is this 100 foot water fall.

And even though we are by the coast, you still get the benefits of being in a rainforest:

I saw an osprey nest and could see a bunch of sea birds following a school of fish. I didn't see any whales, but I caught a glimpse of some sea otters.

Once I packed up, I said goodbye to my wonderful view

and admired the landscape once more:

As anyone who drives a bus knows, we all look out for each other - other bus drivers that is. We wave to each other and admire each others vehicles.

I counted 12 between Monterey and Limekiln. Mostly vanagons, on syncro, but 3 bay windows.

The park is slated to close in June, I suspect I will go back before it does.

Annual non-Thanksgiving

2011-12-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've been behind again on posting. so I'll get to the good stuff.

The Camper Family does an annual non-thanksgiving turkey fry. Those who have been following over the past few years know that it has traditionally been at Bothe-Napa State Park, and that it has traditionally rained. More accurately, poured. Even more accurately, dumped a small ocean on our campsite. We are used to rivers running through the site - yeah, that's how we roll.

So it was a surprise this year when we only got a little mist and a few drops.

We arrived Friday and tried something a little new - the Coleman oven pizza.

The Coleman Oven (we nicknamed it the EZ-Bake oven, we felt like little girls with toys ovens) is more-than-expected useful. It gets up to about 450 degrees, and folds flat for optimum space use. The pizzas were delicious. And warm.

The main event each year is the Turkey, of course. Here the fryer is set up a safe distance from the tent, while still be close enough in case of rain.

Kris Hansen is carefully lowering the bird. As opposed to giving us the bird - that's something different.

I didn't get many VW pics this year, but everyone here has already been seen before. So, here's a pic of Blake and Shelby for their Christmas cards.

And this is their bus from a distance.

Hardly Strictly VW's

2011-10-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is a free music festival in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, every first weekend of October. It brings headliners, small groups, up and coming artists, and several annual acts. (I watch Emmylou Harris every year.) The story is that the festival started out small and was "strictly Bluegrass", but the sponsor wated bigger, so the festival was expanded to "Hardly Strictly". With that in mind, I bring you the Hardly Strictly VW's camping on the street. Much thanks to the SFPD who apparently look the other way as long as you are not obnoxious.

Since I live a block away, it's never a problem for me to go, but for others, travel is a must. So inspite of this sign:

They park along Fulton and make due with the accommodations they drove.

The VW's:

And the hardly-strictly VWs.

VW's of Austin

2011-10-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

I have a crush on Austin, Tx. The music, the food, the people, the bats, the music, the music. There are stages in the Airport. And freaking amazing Tex mex and barbcue that you could binge on for weeks at a time.

Being a college town with lots of open minded people, and a thriving art scene, there are of course, lots of VW buses. I didn't get too many pictures - my hands were full of food - but I did get these.

This beauty was being driven out of a school for the deaf - the two people in the photo are signing to each other.

But this monster was my winner of the trip:

I didn't get to try the Freebird Burrito, I was still too stuffed on the Al Pastor taco from Guerros. Next time.

Buses, Beaches, and Bovines

2011-09-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

I live in San Francisco in what is known as the "fog belt". The fog will stay here and won't burn off when the rest of the bay area is sunny and gorgeous. Though I miss the sun, I still enjoy the sound of distant fog horns, and when it is painfully hot elsewhere, the weather is perfect in my neighborhood.

This summer has been particularly hot in the valley, so it wasn't a surprise when some of my favorite camping people suggested that they camp "on the coast" in the fog belt.

About an hour north of SF, along highway one, there are lots of surf towns without the surf. You CAN surf there, but the water is a little cold for anything less than 6mm neoprene body suits. It's excellent for abalone diving, it's not so good for wave riding.

We arrived Friday afternoon, and circled the wagons.

The big red tent went up in about 30 minutes - I'm getting better at putting that thing up - and we began the infamous 2am chili making. Click here for the recipe, click on the picture to make it large enough to read. Yeah, smells like touchdowns.

It got a little windy, we were prepared.

Lawsons Landing is an odd little town(is it a town?), there are a number of vintage trailer homes that are lived in year round.

The people of the landing have a design aesthetic that I'll call "abalone shell chic".

Occasionally seals hang out to bask in the sun. Sometimes they like a little shelter.

The campsite is popular among the "big RV" crowd. Perhaps I'm unclear on the concept, but I don't see the point of taking it all with you when you are trying to get away from it all. Regardless, here is a picture that shows the scale between us and them. We never did figure out why the large RV wanted to park so close to us, but since he shared abalone with us, I'm not complaining.

These corn muffins were baked in an old coleman stove. The stoves fold and sit on top of the old style two burner stoves, they can get to about 400 degrees and apparently, they can bake some sweet stuff. Baked by SailorKH who has some mad camping skills.

Coleman also makes a foldable camp fire ring.

You could buy a very strange blanket/rug/covering if you wanted.

Some like the the tops down, I'm occasionally a fan of the tops being up.

I think the coast guard has a sense of humor.

And of course I took a panoramic photo.

Bus Fest 7 - Vallejo

2011-08-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, I went to Bus Fest 5 in Vallejo. This guy was there with his family just beginning their trip across... across everything apparently. Read it, there are two years of wonderful stories and enviable experiences.

The bus fest is a smallish event, and has the usual crowd of familiar faces, but there is still nothing like being with like-minded bus nerds (yeah, I said it) and talking tech with them.

Occasionally, one of us does something neat with their vehicles. This guy has lots of fun playing around with leather details.

I'm happy to say that the Gnome Bus did not get sold, and the owners are still happily driving it:

What is it about Bus owners and vintage bikes? (and for that matter, vintage lanterns, and campstoves, and coolers, and... oh, never mind, I think I just answered my own question...)

And as I was packing up and leaving, I heard my name being called out on the Mic. Apparently, my bus won Best Camper. Awesome!

Concord Treffen

2011-08-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

I like the word "treffen". The dutch translation is a verb that means several things depending on context - to hit, to encounter, or find by chance, to achieve or accomplish, or to feel. VW gathering organzers probably use it in the way that it was meant in German - as a noun. Treffen (n) A meeting.

Concord is a town in the greater bay area that once was separated by boundaries and tree groves. It was a cute little place, but as with all things in high-density population areas, land is scarce, and town borders blur into each other as they expand.

Part of Concords charm is that it has a lot of older homes, older trees, older town members. Many of them have been collecting cars and other things (like all those oil lanterns that I have been gathering). Sometimes they bring them to little parks and show them off on warm summer Sundays. The Concord Treffen on August 8 was one such event.

The Messerschmidt. When I was a kid, I thought that the German company who made these took the cockpit of airplanes, and just added a set of wheels. I thought they were practice vehicles for German pilots, kind of like training wheels on a bicycle. It wasn't till mid-grade school that I was corrected on my improbable historical fiction. I like my story better.

The Hebmuller. Joseph HebMuller started out making coaches for horse-drawn carriages. They ended up making the Type 1 vehicle for Volkswagen, but went out of business in 1952. This one, as I understand it, was a military vehicle.

The Random. Some older Porsches, some strange displays, several people with works in progress (like all of us I suspect) and a couple of Things.

More Pics here.

Up next. Vallejo Busfest.

More Museum Cars

2011-08-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more. These two were apparently made on the same day, shipped to the US, and purchased by people who lived not too far from each other.

Here are a few more in his collection, I like the massive VW factory pictures on the wall.

Did someone ask for a VW trailer?

Antique.

The back room had about every toy you could imagine.

The owner was kind enough to take me to the shop in back. This dealership sign was sitting there.

If you do a wikipedia search on this car, you will be redirected to the Karmann Ghia. Suicide doors were stock. I've never seen one before.

And finally, the Puma. These cars are almost not google-able. Limited info on Wikipedia, most info on forums scattered around the less-fasionable parts of the 'net. What is up with that logo?

More pictures can be found here. My friend took some good ones here.

If you are interested, Mark Merrill is the Museum/shop owner, he's a damn nice guy, and a VW fanatic. (Two of my favorites.) His museum is occasionally open to the public, it tends to be around VW related events. He also constantly wins awards for his restorations.

Up next. The Concord Treffen.

Private Museum Buses

2011-08-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

A row of buses in flawless (of course) condition sat at the back of the museum. The Ambulance was impressive, but my favorite was the mobile kitchen - that tall green one.

I wasn't about to ask the owner to move it around, so I squeezed between the two to get this picture:

Its a 1966 Highroof, and was designed to be a mobile army kitchen. In the back is a gas container and a stove - similar to a coleman. The side panel opened up like your standard food coach truck.

This display item was on the wall, motorized wheels made them turn.

This beautiful specimen was parked outside - I love the dual horns.

For those of you who want a Westfalia but don't want a campmobile, there is always this solution:

Use this emblem to keep your street cred.

It looks like this inside:

and remember, if you can sell her on this, you can sell her on anything.

Private Museum - Schwimmwagen

2011-08-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

One of the things that happens when you start fixing an old car is that you begin to imagine the world of possibilities. You begin to say things like "man, if I had enough money I'd buy a..." and the endless list begins.

That guy who has enough money exists. He has a private museum and restoration shop, and the Airhead cruise took me there with them. Thanks guys.

Sitting outside the shop was the schimmwagen. It had the gun, the paddles, and all the internal parts that you would need if you are invading your neighbors estate on the other side of the lake.

I'll be posting more pics later. If you want to jump the gun, click here and see the pictures that my friend took.

Treffen Run - 2011

2011-08-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

The picture of all the VW's on Lombard was taken last year at the Airhead Parts Treffen run. It got alot of interest, Hot VW's ran a version of it.

This year the picture was taken at a foggy golden gate bridge, and "someone" needs to check his lens before taking photos. Anyone with photoshop skills is more than welcome to edit it as necessary.

And here's a pic of people taking pics.

Thanks Karl

2011-07-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Karl Von Salzen was a veritable gold mine of information on The Samba. He passed away in September of 2009, and is still missed.

He sold me a VW clock for my dashboard, and since I was already replacing my speedometer, I though it would be a good idea to install it.

Thanks Karl. We still miss you.

Maupin Day four

2011-07-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

Now it's Sunday morning, and I'm not too hungover. I start the day with some coffee, and begin breaking down the tent with the company of my next door neighbors who are going the same direction as I am. We talk and agree to follow each other. Well, to be precise, I'm following him. He's faster.

Before I break down the tent-of-awesome, I decide to see how big that thing really is.

Answer. Very. (It's 15 x 30 for those who are asking)

Goodbyes, hugs, see you next times, and I'm following Marius through the wide open.

The Stroms decide that the Columbia river gorge is better viewed from above, so they find the older road and take me through this:

so I can see this

Worth it.
and we continue through to Troutdale past waterfalls:

bridges:

and antique stores that have kerosene lanterns:

I get to my destination on Sunday evening. Monday and Tuesday I meet with clients, and I work my way back down to the Oregon/California border on Tuesday evening.

It's a strange drive along Oregon 5. I get beautiful skies:

odd motels:

and statues of extinct birds:

I leave Ashland on Wednesday morning, and have a clear view of Shasta:

I stop in Redding for some parts.

Joe and I meet up one more time on the drive and grab a couple of cheap tacos from a roadside stand before heading home.

I take one more picture on 505 before press the pedal a little harder and am home before 5:00.

I have bugs to clean off, and camp equipment that needs cleaning. I think it's time to redo that last panel on the ceiling and rethink the way my pop top is secured - the winds of the gorge made it clear that my stock system isn't sufficient.

I repeat a joke about car drivers: BMW drivers tip their hats to each other, Mercedes drivers nod in silent agreement, VW owners wave their tools boxes at each other. It's a constant and consistent maintenance thing. But since I live in a world that disappears once the power goes out, it's nice to be connected to something that is real and raw. The Maupin run was a refreshing return to the world of the simple. Simple pleasures, honest company, and a place where the off-color joke and caustic remark are signs of comfort and trust. Thanks again for the refresh.

-Peter

Mapuin Day three

2011-06-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

Friday nights pot luck put me to bed, I woke up early the next day. Occasionally I sleep better in my bus than I do in my bed.

Most people were still asleep, so I made my coffee silently. It was my intention to take pictures of buses, but somehow, the dogs got my attention. Maupin is a family campout, people bring their families. For some, that means their dogs.

I haven't seen cats or birds on these trips yet, but I suspect that I'm only counting down the days.

It was too overcast on Saturday to go white water rafting, so most of us settled with drinking beer. I spent time adjusting Joes exhaust, most of his connections had rattled loose, and he lost an exhaust header stud.
I had the help of the lovely Patricia, while her patient husband looked on with both amusement and horror.

Later that afternoon we did the annual beer tasting

Oregonians take their beer seriously, the only other state that I have seen with the same level of dedication is Colorado. One of the campers is a brewer, and brought his own keg of "something special'. (If any of the attendees could tell me his name and brewery, I'd like to give him full credit, that stuff was awesome)

And like any good campout, the sun set,

the lights came on

and the people got weird. :)

Up next. Just how big is that tent?

Maupin day two

2011-06-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

It's about 8:00 am and I'm out the door after my "continental breakfast". There are groundhogs all along the side of the road near Klamath lake, they seem to be smart enough to know that cars are deadly.

Oregon was described to me as a "curious mix of hick and hippy" once. I think that is accurate. I see faded bumper stickers on old Fords that say "I'm the NRA" getting passed by Toyota Priuses with the required Obama 08 sticker. (Question: if you remove the Obama sticker from a Prius, does it void the warranty?)

Odd roadside sculptures dot the road to Bend. I'm there a little early, so no stopping at Deschutes brewery, it's just a cup of coffee, and I'm continuing on.

I'm there a little early, so no stopping at Deschutes brewery, it's just a cup of coffee, and I'm continuing on.

But I take a picture of Mirror Pond just the same.

The last 30 miles to Maupin are the longest 100 miles I've driven. It's pretty, but after close to 14 hours of driving, you just want to get there and see happy faces.

I do. There are.

There were only a few buses when I pulled in, I was earlier than most.

I put up the tent next to Johns. This is the big tents inaugural trip, it did well.

And then I set my bus and tent up next to Melissa

But as the evening poured on, more and more showed up.

Next up: Dogs. Lots of dogs.

Maupin Day one

2011-06-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

I've missed the Maupin River RendezVW for the past two years, and decided I really needed to head up this year. So, off I went.

Thursday, around 2:00pm, and I'm out the door. I've adjusted the valves, changed the oil, and I'm bringing the tent of awesome for the first time. The tent of awesome is the only name I can come up with, if anyone has a better name, I'm interested. Tent of Doom is taken (along with annex of despair, and my favorite - house of falling water).

I'm on the bridge a little after 2:00pm

at the Vallejo interchange a little after 3:00pm

and up almost at the 505-5 interchange around 4:00

Around 4:30 the freeway is a parking lot near Arbuckle

And the exploded semi that caused the back up is both tragic and an amazing thing to see. I'd suggest checking your fuel lines for those of you who know what I mean.

The rest of the ride up was uneventful. I stopped in Redding for food and to visit my grandparents resting place. This blog is partially named for them. Ellen, Clement, Elizabeth, and Louis. Clement and Elizabeth were my moms parents, they spent a big chunk of their lives in Redding. I'm not there very long, but the smell of the hot manzanita, and the fresh cut grass at the cemetery turns me into a 16 year old boy spending a summer with his grandmother. I wish I had my grandfathers Studebaker Hawk, it was such a cool car.

I'm back on the road around 6:30 and heading up to Weed.

The Summer solstice is a few days away and the long sunsets give me a painted mountain to admire all the way into Oregon. I zig-zag through Dorris, and find out the both my horn and highlights are not working. My intention to camp just north of Klamath Falls gets reexamined as deer and other wildlife are common on those roads. So I pull into the cheap motel off the freeway at Klamath and sleep in "not-a-bus".

I'll get up early tomorrow.

Classic Vendors of Irvine

2011-06-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons you go to a car show is for the "stuff". Not the cars, but the extra junk. Parts, art, crafts, things, baubles, doo-dads, rare things, toys, shirts, whatever. They are all just as much a part of the show as the vehicle.

The Irvine classic had it's own special brand of vendors. These guys were making brand new engine blocks out of their own special aluminium.

And these guys have been improving baja bugs with over engineered suspension systems.

Here is a complete SO 22 camper interior for sale.

and if you need a canvas bag to hold all your junk, here are a couple for sale.

There is always some guy with dash plaques, key chains, and some rarities. This particular one has some items that would be illegal in Germany.

Here's a lady who was making purses and wallets out of seat cover material.

Perhaps you don't like your friends, then I suggest that you put them in an uncomfortable seat like this one.

And in case you don't have enough toys:

There a plenty more on my flickr site. Coming up next, my Maupin trip.

VW Classic - Irvine

2011-06-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

I'm in L.A., I have been here for two weeks both moving my wife into her apartment for her internship, and attending E3. I was planning on being back in the bay area last week, but I was told that the VW Classic was last weekend, so I extended my stay.

The Classic is the "big" event on the west coast, it's been going on for years and the VW magazines used to cover it on 8 pages. Now that the VW scene is a little smaller, it's only likely to cover 2 pages, but it is still worth going to.

If you just want to skip my talk, go here and click through the pictures.

The Bay Window group is normally the red headed step child of the VW community - not so much any more. I kept over hearing conversation about "how I gave one away" or "sold on 5 years ago for 300$" and now everyone seems amused that they command $4K and up for something running, and over $10K for a good one.

Regardless of their ignorance (says the guy who loves his bus and puts no price on it) they are right, bay window buses are worth about double what they were five years ago.

Some people really love putting their all into them. This work of art was cleaner than mine, and probably cleaner than Gary Marr's bus. (Seriously Gary - it was spit polish clean)

The owners are about to do a road trip - I'm inviting them to join the camper family if they are going through town.

Then there was this cute little thing.

My cats won't go into my bus, I wish they were as mellow as this one.

This guy just didn't have enough crap on his dashboard. ;)

There was an ambulance.

The Kona brewing company had a keg and tap in the back that they were serving from:

I predict that half these lowered buses will be back to stock height in 5 years:

This 63 multiwindow came towing a camper. Gorgeous. and classic.

And since I'm a fan of the car bar, this picture was taken for my amusement.

I'll post more later. Sorry I missed he trainspotting campout, but I still got my vw fix.

Bus City 3 -or- The Rapture of the Bus

2011-05-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

I was never raised knowing what "the rapture" was. I have only heard about it during the past decade of my life. Apparently, the story is that a particular subset of a particular religion has a fascination with the end of the world, and all sorts of money has been made on the selling of the idea. You can look up the rapture on wikipedia if you are interested, but suffice to say, one sub-branch of a sub-group of a tiny division of an obscure affiliation decided that the world was supposed to end on April 21 at 6:00pm, and that the righteous were to be taken to heaven.

For the record, it did, and we were.

The annual Bus City campout along the Russian River returned - new location included! I showed up with my twin - VW Druid (Alex) early Friday evening.

John and Mike were already there with Bill of the awesome syncro, Sheri and Mike with the Orca, and a Vanagon owner who had the best mosquito net I have seen.

Blake and Shelby came with their Subagon (or Vanaru - depending on how you want to describe it). Joe and Alison showed up later with non-camping friends in tow.We decided that the rough week was worthy of skipping food and we went straight for the beer. Note to self- don't do this in the future if I don't want to have my nails painted. Oddly, I don't have any pictures of that. Weird. So here's Allison and Shelby because they are better looking.

About 20 buses showed up over the course of the weekend. Two Syncros appeared, and two split windows. We had a random appearance of a German group who were touring around nor-cal arrive on Friday, I wonder if they thought that everyone in California had a bus.

If a bus is your home for a few days, there is no reason to leave the comforts and identifications of home behind. We encourage lawn ornaments.

Schoolhouse canyon is not near enough to the Russian river to encourage mid-day swims, so the alternative is always appreciated: mid day beer.

Our Big Blug host had a medical emergency that kept him from attending the ascension, but that didn't keep him and Camper van Emst from stopping by and dropping off goodie bags. Much thanks to the kindness of Hemmings, Go Westy, Mid America Motorworks, West Coast Metric, and Airhead parts.

It's not one of our campouts if Johns tent isn't there.

John isn't kept around for the tent alone, we also like his late night singing:

And this is the perfect Marshmellow. Just saying.

Around 6:00pm on Saturday, we looked around and found that nobody was missing. We, much like the rest of the world, wondered what kind of awful life we had lead that kept us from being taken into heaven. And as the beer and wine mixed, as the various foods appeared, as the fire got warmer and the chairs got more comfortable, it became apparent that we had misread the signs. Without the courtesy of an apocalypse, we had all ascended into the warmth of the best that this world has to offer. Rapture indeed.

More pictures of this campout can be found here.

Live Oak, George's Birthday campout

2011-04-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Live Oak is a small-ish town along the feather river, just north of Yuba City. A quiet park is on the edge of town and borders the river. John La Torre decided it was a good place for a campout to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his bus.

(Click on the photos for larger versions)

John has the gigantic tent of doom, we love camping with it as in guarantees our comfort during "fire and drink" time.

I left on Friday afternoon, and managed to swing around some traffic.

I had just replaced the CV joint boots (that writeup will be later) and the rear shocks.

(Guess which parts were new) :)

The moon is clear in the valley, and gave me a chance to play with long exposures. I still need some work:

That night it was just Me, John, and Mike. The next morning, it was us three and hundreds of birds.

Mike had never seen the tent set up, and I needed to dust it off, so I did the full tent regalia and had John time the setup. It took 16 minutes to put it up, and would have taken less if I remembered the corner piece direction.
Take down was 10 minutes.

The rest of the crowd showed up mid-afternoon.

We had to scavenge for food and were limited to whatever we could scrape away from the local supermarkets:

As long as you are having a birthday party, you should have a cake.

Joe had returned from China, and Maggie was doing her Dog-duties (begging for food) as if he had never left.

Maggie loves us.

The wonderful Blake and Shelby made it, I took their photo for this years christmas cards.

Since I'm mentioning the tent, the interior (when it is connected correctly) looks like this:

More write up later - I need to stretch this out as I am starving for content.

Not much to post

2011-03-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't done much recently, so I haven't posted.

In the meantime, let me link to this bad ass picture of my Grandfather. He's the fine looking dude on the far left.

Montana. 1930's. I look at these guys, look at those springs, those riding outfits and think... man, I'm travelling in luxury, and I don't look half as cool.

This is not a VW post. Sorry.

Anti Super Bowl campout v 3.0

2011-02-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

The Anti-superbowl campout was never supposed to have that name. It took place on Superbowl weekend, but was not supposed to be anti-anything.

This is my third year attending. First year and second year reports are linked.

I took my LaTorre tent-of-doom out for the first time, I wanted to test the poles. They failed. Miserably. The wind was too damn strong and the connections blew out in the middle. Time to re-engineer the poles. Still, that thing is huge.

We had a welcome addition of a split window and (Jason) very fanatic owner. Witness his tattoos.

His bus is in impressive shape considering his trips to burning man, and his drive down from Carson City Nevada.

Mike was also a newcomer with an impressive 1979 Avocado. We met him at Burning Van, he showed up the very next weekend.

It was a windy campout, but not rainy. Given the two, I'll take wind. More pics later.

The License Plates of Burning Van

2011-01-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

When I was younger, personalized license plates were the punchline to a tale about an overinflated ego. "...and the bartender says 'his license plate is suprego'". Not so much anymore. Everyone has them. Syncro owners seem to like their inside joke... the joke being that you cannot afford this vehicle, and if you are unindoctrinated, you have not idea just how cool this thing is.

So they say it on their legally required identification mark:

And of course there is the one hometown representative:

This picture was taken for my wife who will appreciate the humor.

The Busses of Burning Van.

2011-01-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

For the record, we are not burning a van. There have been times where an engine block was burnt, for an idea of what a magnesium block would look like on fire, you tube has a few videos of just how bright that stuff gets.

Each year a group of busses (mostly vanagons) show up and hang out, a bon fire is done later. Last year we have somewhere in the mid-20's. This year we had 38 at maximum.

Photos here, and some of the betters ones are posted below.

Twins

2011-01-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't had much to say for a while, I thought I'd add a short update and some thoughts about the fellowship of VW bus owners.

These pictures were taken yesterday on my drive home. The other vehicle was a 1971 - same color, same options, and slowly being restored (much like mine).

Where I live I can count 30 VW's of various flavors and vintages within a 20 block radius. This one is located at a house in Sea cliff (one of the more expensive areas of San Francisco.

And then there is that guy who keeps putting flyers on every aircooled VW out there telling us about the problems with 009 coils and how he can make them better. His bus is looks like it is about to fall apart, it's not exactly the best advertising. I'll find the picture, but I'm sure I'll see him at burning van on Saturday.

There is a hobie cat vanagon out by the zoo, and a couple of syncros scattered in the outer sunset district. I'll post pics later when I can find them.

One of the pacifico busses is currently parked on fell street.

I live in a city where the VW bus was arguably raised to an icon, what with the Haight Ashbury days, the hippy living, and the weather all contributing to an icon that I love to drive. I get waved at daily, I wave back. Other buses drive by me slowly, I do the same.

I like our little club. We are weird. I like weird.

A Tale of Three Generators

2011-01-04T09:09:00.000-08:00

Most VW's these days use Alternators. For some reason, I've stuck with the generators. I'm not sure if it is some sick desire to stick with old tech, but I think it is a combination of being gun-shy with electrical matters, and not wanting to deal with a fuel pump. (Alternators require a larger stand, which also requires a change of fuel pumps. See this blog as to why I hate fuel pumps.)

My last road trip killed my generator. It was old enough that it might have deserved to die, but it died and that is all that matters. So I had it replaced.

And on it's maiden voyage home from the shop, it died. The generator light came on, it was not charging the battery. It just wasn't doing what it was supposed to do - generate power. So I headed back to the shop who gave me a quizzical look and said "they never break that quickly, that's weird". They installed another new one.

And less than a thousand miles later it died. Full death. The engine just stopped running less that 10 blocks from my house, so I pulled over and saw smoke from a melting fanbelt. Better yet, I didn't turn the engine all the way off, it was in the start position, so power was running to the generator. It was arcing and sparks/electrical cracks were coming of the pulley. (Yes, the pulley) The generator not only epically failed, it was competing for most spectacular failure ever on my bus.

Punchline to this was that I was only going a few blocks away, so I didn't bring my cellphone. I borrow some random guy on the streets phone, call the tow company, and three hours later, I'm back in my garage. I might have just pushed it, but I live in San Francisco, we have hills.

Big Sigh. Here we go:
Step one, pull off the failed parts.

Step two. Remove generator

Step three, bring generator back to shop, swap out, get replacement pulley, fan belt, and spare woodruff keys.

Step four, put it back and start it up again.

So I'm running again, and this time, it sounds as good as it did when I was driving through Nevada a couple of months ago. The sewing machine sound is exactly what is it supposed to sound like. Let's see how long this lasts. ;)

Some notes - When you put a generator/fan assembly back in the car, it is important to shim it correctly. The fan has about 1/8 of an inch of room in the fan housing, and will rub if it isn't perfectly straight and if the fan housing is not lined up correctly. When I was repositioning the fan housing, I noticed that the fan shroud had some rubbing where there wasn't supposed to be any, indicating that the shop may have not lined it up correctly. It's a difficult thing to do, and easy to over look is it isn't visible on the back side. But, it accounted for the inconsistent "fan rubbing sound" that I was getting when the car was cold starting. Bottom line - engine tin is designed to go in one way and one way only. Double check that it is right, then triple check.

Annual Pre-thanksgiving campout

2010-11-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

Bothe Napa State Park is just outside of the town of St. Helena, in the Napa valley. It is known for the old Christian Brothers Castle that is now the California Culinary Academy.

Beautiful place, changing leaves, and full of the kind of scenery that gets turned into postcards.

The Camper family does a couple of yearly campouts, this has become one of them.

I missed last years campout, but made this one. Pics ahead. Short summary here: lots of rain. Some thunder and lightning. Warm fire helped, but the winner was the return of the deep fried turkey. Much thanks to the duo of mandolin players.

There are more pictures here.

We like to laugh a little at ourselves at these campouts. It's cold, it's wet, it is not hospitable to most campers. We have our little portable homes, our turtle shells. And thanks to John, we have a big tent to keep our food dry, our fire warm, and our alcohol unwatered.

The constant snare-drum rattle of the rain on the fiberglass roof is a mild annoyance. The gusty wind makes it hard to sleep, and here in the back of the bus, I am warm, dry and content. It's a moment of victory against the elements that promise to make my drive home slow, full of traffic, and a mild fight against the cross winds on the golden gate bridge.

For now, I have a full belly, and happy amount of beer keeping me warm, and several friends nearby.

The Return. 1.5 days. 2.5 Failures

2010-11-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday, October 9, 6:30 PM and I'm heading out the door. The car has been loaded up, tuned, valves adjusted, oil changed, brakes checked, and I have to do 1200 miles in two days. Tonight's plan is to head to Highway 80 and go as far as I can before I have to pull over.

Juliette is with me. She just finished a five day rotation at the clinic, and now needs to head to San Francisco for a three day externship, so she is coming along with me on the drive.

North on 287, we hit Laramie about an hour into the drive. We made it to Rock springs around 11:30, check in at the easiest to get to hotel, sleep and are out the door the next morning around 6:00am. We averaged about 70 MPH, which is better than expected.

Quick calculation time. Rock Spring to San Francisco 925 Miles. At 65 MPH that's 14 hours, putting us in at 8:00. Assume an extra couple of hours for gas and food, and we might be home at a reasonable hour.

Evanston. They closed the Starbucks.

Utah. We blow through the canyon outside of Park City, descend into Salt Lake and we don't stop until we pass the Salt Flats. This guy passes me and we share a moment.

We refill in Wendover and start across Nevada.

It's a little more boring out there. I start tweeting where I am since we have nothing else better to do.

And the inevitable road gremlin attacks:
Then the generator light goes on. I pull over and look at the engine(while noticing the feint smell of smoke). It's not a broken fan belt, I wish it were.

It is clear that the generator brushes have ground down, and I am no longer charging the battery. For some reason I ignore that smoke smell, and write it off to "something else". We make it to Reno and fill up once more. Once I hit the sierras, the sun has gone down, and I have to turn on the lights. I know that they are going to fade out once the battery dies, but right now, I'm aiming at getting as close to home as I can.

I'm also calling a friend to see if he has spare brushes. He does, he is in Sacramento, and if I can make it there, I'll be fine. My wife is pretty tense about this, but does a good job of keeping it to herself.

The lights completely die just outside of Sacramento. I drive for about two miles with no headlights on the freeway, everyone is flashing their highlights, and I'm realizing that this is both dangerous and stupid. I pull off the freeway and ask my friend to guide me to his house with his car lighting the way.

We make it to his driveway, and I start removing the generator brushes. I drop the screw. I try to keep my cursing down to a minimum. My friend loans me his car. We drive to San Francisco with the intention of returning the next morning.

I head back the next morning, finish installing the brushes. The generator light is still on. It's not the brushes.

Kombi house is less than a mile away, I drive the car there and have them install a new generator and voltage regulator. Little did I know that I've had a 38 Amp voltage regulator on a 30 amp generator for the past 12 years. Honestly, how often do you look at that thing and read the numbers on it. I can't remember who installed it, I can't remember when I replaced it. Regardless. It's dead, so is the generator. They get replaced. While it's there, the window regulator dies. The internal gears are stripped, I need to find a replacement. Kombi house has one, they give it to me and I replace it the next weekend.

So I'm driving in back home, and the generator starts making a noise. The bushing in the generator is bad. I now have generator grease all over my pristine engine. Sigh.

I drive back the next day, they replace it, but now the fan is rubbing. I hear it every time I start the engine, it makes that high pitched whirr sound that is similar to a loose fan belt on a water cooled engine. I have no time to return to Sacramento, so I adjust and tweak the generator positioning until I get it as close to correct as I can. For the record, it left Kombi house fine, and somehow started rubbing after I drove it for about 40 miles.

I'll fix it properly once I have more time.

Up next: post failure analysis and update.

Moab to Ft. Collins. Day 5

2010-10-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

I'm still a little under the weather. This damn head cold has been around for a week and a half. A night in a hotel room has helped, but I'm still stuffed and not sleeping well. I'm awake and fighting getting out of bed. I still haven't seen any of Moab other than some cliff silhouettes lit by the night moon.

I check my oil, fill up the tank, grab a coffee, and head to road 128 that runs along the Sorrel River. I start out thinking that I need to move quick to make up for a slow morning, but the road tells me otherwise. It's time to slow down, enjoy each turn, and admire it.

This is red cliff country. It's stunning, and each turn of the road is another reveal of natural art. It's hard to keep your eyes on the road.

I turn off the radio, and listen to nothing but the sound of the wind and the engine. The air smells like sage. My road trip was worth this road.

So I reconnect to highway 70 and work my way into Colorado. I've driven this road three times now, almost always at night, and each time in the middle of summer. The Aspen leave are just starting to change, and this is likely the last weekend I'm getting over the pass before the early snows start to hit.

The air is dry. I pull over to fill the tank and the air tells me just how dry it is - I have to sit in the parking lot for about 20 minutes to stop a bloody nose. The nose bleed is bad, the view isn't.

Back on the road, twists and turns through the mountain passes.

I'm getting passed by everyone, some of them slow down and stare. Some smile and wave. One trucker gives me the finger. I can see him mouthing an obscenity at me as he passes by. I can still picture his face, his scrunched up red cheeks, and the irrational fury that was behind the wheel screaming at me impotently. I remember it, because every other trucker out there has been a gentlemen of the road. Passing gracefully, reaching a distance that his draft doesn't make me bounce around, some waving, some with big smiles. At night they have flashed their lights to let me know when I could pass them. I have to drive in their lane, they share it with me even though I'm not one of them.

Vail. Breckenridge. Other mountain towns. And now the big hill.

The Eisenhower-Johnson memorial tunnel is 60 miles outside of Denver, and is 11,158 ft high. The only higher tunnel is in China, and you have to take a train through it. Coming from the west, the climb is a two mile ascension. I'm moving at 20 MPH, and drafting and being drafted by, a semi. We are all in this really slow boat together, and only patience is going to get us over this hill.

I reach the top. The bus finishes its chorus of "I think I can" and begins the "I thought I could" song as it reaps the reward of a downhill descent to 5280 ft.

The rest of the ride is uneventful. I'm in Ft. Collins at 7:30 that night.

For those who asked, full sized pictures can be found here.

Next. The drive back. Far less enjoyable. At least I had company.

Nevada to Moab - Day 4

2010-10-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

It's about 9:00 am and I'm stepping out of the hot springs. The bus is already packed, and I decided that a quick splash before I hit the road sounded like a good idea. It was.

Note to self: put a hot tub in the garage so I can always take a nice mellow dip in the hot water before driving. It's better than beer.

I head out on the dirt road and see evidence of the old silver mine before I make it back to Highway 50.

Now begins the long drive to Moab - 528 Miles, several mountain passes, two desserts.
There aren't many signs out there, but when you see them, they have something to say.

I practice my rear-view mirror photography skills, there are no radio stations that I can get, and I have nothing to do other than stare at the horizon and try to remember the words to American Pie.

Mountain pass after mountain pass:
Pinto Summit -7376
Pancake summit -6517
Robinson Pass - 7607
Sacramento Pass - 7154

I'm climbing some of them at 40MPH, some at 20. Grade and momentum matter in this car.

Your imagination can run wild out there. You start remembering books that you read where people were alone and left to survive on their wits. Movies of people climbing from the weapons-tested rocks. I'm starting to think that much of this looks like Red dead Redemption. (Obilgatory video game reference)
After a while, the rocks start having faces.

Fortunately, they are smiling.

I reached the town of Ely NV. It is a small silver mining town with a couple of brothels (look for the rows of trucks with Utah license plates surrounding the buildings) and a few older victorian houses.

A quick note about fellow travellers on this road. There aren't many of them. The last time I took this road, I was travelling much like these two. They were heading from Moab to Reno - opposite of my drive, and twice as fast I'm sure.

I stopped in the middle of a dessert to help a Miata that had a flat tire. He couldn't find his jack and put the spare tire on. It was in the trunk - under the little flap on the right. He offered me a cold soda as thanks, I accepted. I had two grandfathers that taught me a little about self reliance. I'm driving away and thinking that I have never driven a car that hasn't had a jack and spare tire. I'm also thinking that I miss my grandparents.

Just outside of Ely, you head to Hwy 6 - The Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Its a grand name for a long straight a road that looks like this:

The sun starts to set and I use the light to my advantage. Yeah, I like long shadows.

The drive on Hwy 70 is normally beautiful, but I hit the turns too late to see the epic sunsets that light the buttes in Maxfield Parrish style.
It's getting late, so I pull into Moab around 10:45 and get a nice room at the "give them away" price. (About 40% less than the price of the room 30 minutes prior.)

Next: Day 5 - into Ft. Collins.

Onward to Colorado - Day 3

2010-10-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning. It was my intent to head up Highway 50 into South Lake Tahoe, and on to Fallon Nevada. From there I was going to take Highway 80 to Wendover and find a hotel. Joe, Gene, Romy and Jen all told me otherwise. Apparently I would be heading to Spencer Hot Springs.

Hwy 50 is nicknamed the loneliest highway in America. The number of cars on it is less than 1/20th the number of cars on Highway 80. It is also the rout of the former pony express and the Lincoln highway. You can still see remnants of the Lincoln highway on the side of the road. It travels through three deserts, and has occasional small silver mining towns scattered at decent distances from each other.

I left Finnon Lake around 11:30 and took 50 up through Kyburz, and over the pass into South Lake Tahoe.

Moved on through Carson City, past the infamous road of legalized... um... physical services that are offered at the Kit Kat house and the Moonlight Bunny House (conveniently located across the street from each other, truckers and bikers welcome!).

Through some small towns, and stopped at a Sonic in Fallon for food. I parked next to this guy who was traveling back to Sacramento.

I head out to the dessert and cross through several small mountain passes. Some cars didn't do as well.

The shoe tree is a landmark of sorts. There isn't much else out there, so there's this tree. Why not decorate it with shoes?

The sun was just starting to set when I reached the little mining town of Austin. You twist up and down a road before heading out on a dirt path to reach my place for the night - Spencer Hot Springs. I arrive there around 8:00pm and climb in for a 20 minute wind down after a long day driving. There is nothing but the moon, the starts, and the clearest milky way that I have seen in years.

I arrived at night, so I woke up the next morning to see just how desolate it is out there.

The Burros who brayed all night competing for water won't come near me this morning.

Next up - days four and five - my trip to Moab.

Days One one and Two - Camping

2010-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

I finished packing when UPS shows up with a tent. I don't need to bring a tent, I have the bus and the side tent, but my wife might want it, so why not? It goes in the last place I have any room, and I'm out the door, across the bridge, and on my way to Napa to meet Big Blue.

We worked our way to the lake, and I did a little engine testing through the turns on the hill. Works just fine! So does the suspension. Just Saying. ;)

We found our spots near John "Tent of Doom" La Torre, and had a beer with the rest of the usual suspects before zonking.

There were a few newbies, Brian and his sweet set up "ready for anything mobile", and John enticed a friend to show up in their tear drop trailer.

Fall Finnon Fest was not as hot as last year, nicely mellow, and and excellent chance to say good bye to joe who is off to China for at least six months.

Fall Finnon Fest - Road Trip

2010-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

I'm off to the annual "harvest moon Fall Finnon Fest end of the summer why not camp out" tomorrow. There should be about 10 Busses there.

Immediately after, I'm actually taking a vacation after a couple of months of vicious travel. In the spirit of to much travel, I'll be traveling. :)

Road Trip to Ft. Collins, in the Bus, trying to take the slow route.

I'll try and post pics as I go, but likely will make a post well after I'm done.

In the meantime, here are a few drive-by shootings (tm big blue) from Europe.

This is a hightop California Westy that is not available in California.

Seen in Cologne

I've never seen these delivery trucks before, also seen in cologne.

Seen in Edinburgh

Also seen in Edinburgh

And finally, this lovely syncro was ready for anything in Seattle.

Time to Cruise

2010-08-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Airhead parts does this annual cruise down Hwy 1. I woke up early to join them down the Lombard stretch. Photos say it all so I won't bother typing anymore.

They headed toward San Simeon, I went to Blue bottle for my morning fix.

Nice way to start.

Victory!

2010-07-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

It purrs nicely. I'm doing the happy dance.

I have four new CV joints and new heat exchangers.

The gas tank is refurbished, released, has a new fuel gauge sender, and a repainted firewall.

This is the engine rebuilder doing a final carb adjustment.

Several Thanks are due here.
First to John Marignac who not only sourced his finest people and parts, but took the time to make sure that everything would be as if it was his car. He has been picky and meticulous, and when I helped out, checked my work for perfection.
My Wife - who let's me have a vehicle for a mistress. Love you honey. I really do.
VW Camper Family - who has been patient with me while I work on it and miss campouts.
My random friends who have given me rides to places to pick up parts while the vehicle was in the shop.

Next stops. A valve adjustment at 200, 500, and 1000 miles. Then a road trip.

-Peter

Almost there

2010-07-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

Success! Carb acquired. Installed. Engine tuned. Dry ran (out of the car) the engine, started up flawlessly within seconds. I have a little tweaking to do, but this baby is almost ready to roll.

Pics:

And heres a movie of it firing up for the first time:

Tomorrow I put the gas tank/engine/cv joints in and give it a test run.

Someone recently told me that Squoot was the love child of "squee!" and "Woot!" SQUOOT!

Getting closer

2010-07-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Next round of progress:
My original heat exchanger on the passenger side finally died. So I had to get a new one.

I'm still missing the carb, but that is on the way.

Pics from all four sides here:

While I'm at it, the gas tank is done, and the firewall has been repainted:

Now a quick lesson on CV Joints plates.
The CV joint plates are necessary to strengthen the connection between the CV bolt and the boot. The metal on the boot is relatively thin for the kind of forces that the CV joint is capable of making, so the plate is necessary.

There are three types of plates. Pictured here are the two wrong types for the boot that I am using:

They are wrong because they don't fit over the slightly raised part of the boot that makes the boot structurally stronger. The flat plate completely missed the alignment:

The raised plate is closer, but still not exact:

The best solution is the "real" plate that looks like this:

The image is blatantly stolen from German Supply in Canada, I'll post the real pictures once I get my shipment in (Thanks Scott).

I'll continue next week. Thanks for tuning in.

Progress

2010-07-15T07:48:00.001-07:00

Gas Tank Resurfaced:

Cylinders and Pistons put on, new heads on, slowly adding the rest of the it:

Maybe finished on Saturday?

Larger Versions of these photos can be found here.

Remember that German Comedian?

2010-07-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

Julia Weber was kind enough to send me the you tube link. I'm both horrified (that he's big in Germany) and proud (that my bus is better than his singing).

It's here, at the 35 second mark.

Weekend Progress

2010-07-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

The first round of crazy overhauling madness began Saturday. Red was driven down to Johns shop, put up on the hoist and drained of oil.

All pertinent parts were disconnected, engine got pulled, gas tank was removed, both CV joint sets were taken off.

The old engine was broken down to recycle the parts that I don't need to replace (such as my very pretty exhaust system).

I didn't remove the heads yet, but when I do I will take the pictures of the damage that a sunken valve will do. In the meantime, here are a few shots of something very familiar to Bus owners: Oil crud and buildup.

The Cylinders and Pistons that were shipped were the wrong ones, so I have to wait for them to show up before they get put back on. In the meantime, this is the current state of the new engine:

A little bit of history on the Engine Case if you are interested:
John will only use AS21 cases, not AS41 cases. The article is slightly incorrect - you can re-machine AS21 cases, but you get 1 chance to do it. By the third re-machining, the case is out of spec and beyond use. It has to be perfect, there are no second tries.

The gas tank is getting cleaned up and resurfaced so there are no more rust flakes in my fuel filter. I replaced the CV joints on the passenger side, but both of them have been damaged already, so I'm replacing them while the engine is out.

I'll keep you posted.

P.S. I love air powered tools, and Stalwille wrenches. John has a full set and damn if they don't feel... just right.

Let's get this party Started

2010-07-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

If you recall our last episode, the story thus far was:
-Valve Sinking into head.
-Decided to replace engine while I was at it
-And since I'm there, I'm also:
--Fixing CV Joint
--blasting/resurfacing gas tank
--rebuilding steering box
--upgrading engine from stock single port 1600 to slightly faster dual port 1641

Step one - get engine built:
This has taken the longest as my uncle is both anal retentive with parts and tolerances. If it doesn't meet his standards, it gets sent back. He works on Porsches, his demands are slightly higher.
This has taken him a couple of months as his suppliers are in high demand. Go figure.
But this is what we are starting with:

The short block is done, the Cylinders and Pistons are on the way.

Step two - get car down to the shop. This has been the problem all along - there has been no room at the shop, but that problem has been solved.

Tomorrow I drive down (slowly) and pull the engine/tank/steering box and begin the work.

I'll take pictures as I go. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday Red

2010-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

My bus doesn't have a name, but I refer to it as Red occasionally. A friend of mine insists on calling it Lucy. Today, I'm calling it 40.

According to the M code, The production dave was Tuesday, May 19, 1970. It was special ordered via the "tourist program" from Reynold Johnson VW in San Francisco, via Volkswagon of America.

Mr. Simon of San Jose picked it up at in Weidenbuck on Jun 19, and according to the service stamps, it went to France, Barcelona, and England before being shipped to Santa Clara.

My Aunt and Uncle bought the vehicle approximately one year later while attending college in Santa Clara. They owned it, and took their kids on vacation in it, broke down in it, and went all over the west coast from 1971 until 1989, when I purchased it from them while attending college.

Since then, I had the engine stolen while I was working on it 1989, the pop top burned up in the Berkeley Hills fire in 1991, the entire body was stripped and repainted in 1999.

This year, it is getting a new engine.

My scanner is acting up, so I can't post older pictures, but I'll send you here instead.

Happy Birthday happy car. You have taken me places I didn't know I could go, and given me endless memories.

Don't do this

2010-05-17T13:36:00.001-07:00

This. Don't. Just don't.

But if you want to see a very nice pink bug, go here. ;)

But if you are going to do something cool, do this.

Out and About, riding to Finnon.

2010-04-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since my last update. Apologies. The street cred of any blog is it's frequency and it's relevance and I am currently failing on both.

And since I am mentioning frequency, I should point out that my bus is frequently parked these days. I'll post a follow up later. For now, I'll post the highlights of the most recent Finnon Lake campout.

Joe hosts two campouts a year at Finnon lake. I've posted a couple of them, this one from two years ago has the correct tone.

This year, I had to take the motorcycle as the bus is about to undergo major surgery. I was also a little under the weather. Note to guy on plane: Hey man, when you are that sick, please don't fly. The rest of us don't need your cooties.

I arrive Saturday mid-day, there are plenty of other BMW motorcycles there. We like our vehicles german, and our engines horizontally opposed. Just like our women. What?!? I'm kidding.

and the Oaks are beginning to come into full bloomage.

It's a typical sunset at Finnon, we all gather at the restaurant across the lake to eat.

And since I'm sick, I got to bed early and miss the usual campfire rounds of drinking and lies.

But the next morning I wake up to the geese trumpeting.

And John, Melissa making coffee.

The motorcycle crew gets breakfast and leaves. They have to head to Santa Barbara, so they are gone early.

The rest of us head up the hill to Gene's place. Gene is the guy with the burnt out bus. He also flies airplanes.

We cook up some meat on his grill for lunch before I head home.

It's a smaller VW crowd, but a larger overall crowd this year.

We did have one late comer. He was pretty much ready for anything.

Rio Vista Redux

2010-02-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

This is the second year I made it to the Rio Vista (anti-superbowl) campout. It was raining, but not as bad as it was two years ago.

Blake and Shelby were there on Friday night.

Jeff and Melissa showed up with the rest of the rain.

It cleared up enough for us to see that the recent rains have been very good to the mushrooms.

It gets cold out on the delta at night, the best way I can think of to avoid it is with a fire and alcohol.

or you could just take a nap

The dog to human ratio was almost 1 to 1.

We had a Eurovan this year - this is Gene and Betsy's replacement for the one that burnt to the ground.

Betsy like the convenient door positioning.

10 Buses total, Romy and Jenns bus, as well as Ralphs and Genes didn't fit in the frame:

I love driving on the levy roads. I get the urge to sing American Pie loudly and out of tune, and I live my American Graffiti fantasy in my head everytime I cross the bridges, watch the boats, and watch the alignment of the posts in the fields. You can get very romantic listening to the red winged blackbirds, and the hawks in in the morning. We had a woodpecker in a near tree wake us up with his knocking for worms. This is a great time to see Blue Herons on the delta, flocks of sparrows in formation, and the rare green hills of California before the turn to mustard yellow.

It's also a great time to have IN-N-Out burger before heading home.

Bigger Pics and more of them here.

Note: for those who asked me about the engine overhaul I'm about to go through, the heads are currently in the shop, but to be honest, the single ports are getting hard to find. I may have to suck it up and get dual port heads.

Preparation: Johns shop pr0n

2010-01-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

I'm married to a pretty kick ass wife who has this uncle who fixes VW's. He's been doing it for a while, he's knows his merde. We will probably be working on the engine together just so I can do this without him.

I had to stop by his place for lunch to order parts of the head rebuild, and since I had my camera, I figured that I would take some pictures of his work.

Warning: Engine porn below.

This is what he does with old parts. Some of them go to get remachined, most of them go to get recycled.

This is the sign of a good mechanic. Notice that there are no oil stains on those boxes. All those parts are clean, and ready for use. If they weren't they would be in the other pile.

This Ghia was getting a new set of tie rods put in.

This engine was a restored one for a customer. Note the decals on the fan shroud.

Caution: some assembly required

This beauty is a porsche engine in development.

Most engines come in looking like this, I'm pretty sure that mine will.

Completed - now it just needs with acoutrements.

I'll take pictures of mine during disassembly. I just hoping that we can get it done before superbowl weekend. Otherwise, I'll be taking the motorcycle.

When it rains...

2010-01-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

... in pours. In my case, the trickle of minor problems escalated to a rush of major ones. In defense of the car, the transmission is 20 years old, and the engine is 12 years old. There are some things that are just going to need replacing.

My last engine pull was to replace the clutch which had shattered on me. While putting everything back in, I found to root cause - the arm that the throw out bearing sits on has been gouged severely. Here's an old vs new pic for reference:

So, the engine comes out again, the mounting parts for the throw out bearing get tapped out painfully, the new parts go on, and now I have a perfectly working car... right? (You know the answer to that rhetorical question.)

I adjusted the valves once more before putting the engine back in - easy to do while its out. The Number 1 exhaust valve (all the way in the back on the passenger side) is unable to be adjusted. The adjustment screw is fully backed out, and the clearance is about .001 when it needs to be about .006.

Bottom line - the exhaust valve is sinking into the head. Not good. So sometime soon, the engine is coming out once more, and I'm redoing the heads. I'll be at my mechanics place on Saturday working on it I suspect.

But hey, my exhaust system looks pretty nice.

So does the bell housing of my transmission.

I'm huge in Germany

2010-01-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

OK, not me. My bus. Last week I got a call from a friend who pointed me to a craigslist ad that stated "looking for a hippy bus" for a TV show. Several phone calls later, I'm driving to Haight street and parking in front of Booksmith so this guy can do an absolutely horrible hippie impression while climbing in and out of my bus.

The camera crew had more fun looking at the engine and marveling at the wonders of German engineering.

Joe showed up in the late afternoon to hang out, his bus got in the picture too.

If anyone actually sees this show, please send me a link - it probably won't be out for 6 months.

Clutch Conclusion

2010-01-18T16:13:00.000-08:00

I'm up and running again. Not in enough time to make the Buses by the Bridge show, but at least I have dry wheels in wet weather.

I've had a problem with the clutch for a while -a slight chatter between each shift. After pulling the engine, I found the problem. The swing arm that holds the throw out bearing has a slight depression in it that keeps the throw out bearing from sitting flat on contact with the pressure plate. For the moment, I'm living with it, but I'll probably replace it this weekend.

While the engine was out, I installed a stock exhaust system that I have coated:

And I found the source of the awful oil smell - the driver side heat exchanger had holes in it. That got replaced too.

And of course when you pull and engine and dismantle tin and parts, you wipe off all the oil you can.

Some Notes:
The Stock exhaust is so much quieter. Unnervingly quiet - so now I hear road noise that I haven't heard before and wonder if parts need replacing or if it has always sounded like that.

I ceramic coated the exhaust. If it extends the life of the exhaust system by three years, it will have paid for itself. Check with me in three years.

This was the first engine pull I did alone in a long time. Oddly - not that difficult if you have a proper jack on the transmission to help with alignment.

Clutch Catastrophe

2010-01-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

I'm driving home from lunch yesterday when my clutch wouldn't engage. The pedal went down and a violent chatter was heard and the gear shift refused to move.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Close eyes and open them slowly. Step one. Get home.

You can drive a VW without a clutch, but it takes a certain amount of artful listening and feeling. The engine speed has to line up with the transmission rotation while the car is moving, and getting the car moving is the most difficult part.

So I carefully drove home, backed into the garage, and removed the engine. The pressure plate ring is not supposed to look like this, nor is it supposed to be removed from the pressure plate.

Good thing I have a spare Clutch/pressure plate/throw out bearing. Maybe it's time to put on the new exhaust while I'm at it.

That Gnome Van

2010-01-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

... Is for sale. Click here

This one.

2009 Buscapades

2010-01-06T15:15:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since my last post. To be honest, I haven't been doing much other than ordering parts, and lots of work related stuff, so camping and driving have been out.

Every year I tend to do a round up of the previous year, so here's last years high and low lights:
-Bus City. Brett really did a nice job on what will probably a growing and expanding event.
-The Finnon lake campouts - two this year, both fun, both worth the drive up that road.
-Trainspotting. Fun group, fun drive, excellent place to have a beer even if you are dismayed about your fuel pump.
-The Lantern craze. It appears that everyone in the Camper Family is changing from Coleman lanterns to Dietz style oil lanterns. Nothing bad can be said about that.
-My Broken shock mount. That thing drove me nuts for months. It's all better now.
-Not enough time for more camping. This year I plan on fixing that.

Happy New year.

Rear Shock Weld

2009-11-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

Most of my repairs have been cosmetic, or easily functional:
-Fuel Pump
-Interior
-Seat Covers
-Steering Wheel
-Pop Top

All involved simple tools and an obvious process of remove-replace.

Not this time.

A couple of months ago I noticed a small rattle in the rear passenger area. I emptied the closet, tightened things down, checked the roof rack, checked the bolts on the CV joints. Nothing. Then I looked at the shock absorber and noticed that it moved far more than it should.

The shock is held in by a bolt that screws into a welded nut on the back side of the mount, the mount is welded onto one of the long support beams that make up the bus frame. There isn't much room to re-weld that little piece, so the best thing to do was to (eeep!) cut the shock mount off and place the nut back in.

After careful sandblasting and beefing up the weld points (like so)

we added some extra steel strips for strength:

and now have a stronger shock absorber mount.

Bus no longer has that rattle, and the shock absorber actually does what it is designed to do - absorb shocks (as opposed to rattle around in a broken weld).

The Fuel Pump Thing

2009-11-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post this one for a while. So since I'm a little over amped on caffeine, here goes.

I went through four fuel pumps in less than four months. During that time, I found out far more about fuel pumps than I have ever wanted to know, but no matter - here's a short history, and a reason why you want to keep one on hand.

My first pump died after being installed 8 years ago. I was camping, and it just crapped out after so much use. It looked like this:

Fuel Pump #1

So I replaced it while camping - its very easy to do, two screws and two fuel lines. 10 mm bolts and a screw driver. Easy. Less than a month later, it died - apparently the spring installed on the interior was not aligned correctly and the return valve got locked shut by a spring that wouldn't move. I didn't find that out till later.

It looked like this:
Fuel Pump #2

I was near a VW shop when my second fuel pump died, so I replaced it with a used one that came with no promises, and no expectations. It died on the way home from another camp out less than three weeks later. This time I had a replacement that I was expecting to put one when I got home - and here is where I start the cautionary tale.

The fuel pump died on the freeway, I was able to pull over to a safe place and open the engine compartment. As I was removing the fuel lines and clamping them. This piece fell out:

Fuel Pump #3

It fell, I didn't pull on it, it just... dropped. So let's think about that for a moment. If it didn't die, the piece would have just eventually fallen out - giving me the opportunity to make the most of my insurance plan.

I replaced it with another one that looks like my first one(see Number 1 above), but with a few modifications...

So let's walk through fuel pumps. There are three types as show here:

Top to bottom, the three types are post 1971, pre-1971 single-carb (the one in the picture is a cheap copy) and pre-1971 dual carb.
Almost all the fuel pumps these days are made by Brosol - run by two brothers in Brazil, they are the only game in town and to be honest, they don't give a crap about quality (according to three suppliers that I know).

Let's ignore the fact that I don't want an electric fuel pump, move on.

The pre-1971 pumps have more moving parts, they can be repaired, and the repair kits are almost as expensive as the pump itself. See here:

The post 1971 (the brass colored ones) have fewer moving parts, can't be repaired, and don't have the option of a part falling off and allowing fuel to spray all over the inside of a hot engine compartment. Based on that fact alone, I'm going to reccommend that you stick with these "newer' ones.

However: The Brosol company has decided to go even cheaper and the metal pump levers (the single most important moving part) with plastic ones. They break, at random, sometimes before they get out of the mechanics garage. If you buy one, inspect the lever at the bottom. If it is plastic, you have two options - find a metal one, or replace it with your old metal one.

To replace it, you need to hammer out the pin, hammer in the new pin, and then find a way to secure the pin since (sigh) the Brosol company has also decided to remove the extra pin space that was used to allow a circlip to hold the pin in place.

I'd take more pictures to explain further, but I think you get the point.

Here's my best tip - keep a spare fuel pump on you.

Good luck.

All Hallows Eve impromptu campout

2009-11-02T10:56:00.001-08:00

I got an email from Melissa who wants to scope out a camp ground for our next VW gathering. Its at Bothe Napa State Park, and she isn't too interested in giving out candy to hordes of children, so she's off for a recon mission.

There's nothing else going on, and I like driving through wine country in the autumn, so I pack up, head north, and despite the bay bridge being borken, I'm there in less than two hours.

Joe arrives. He's dressed like this:

It's a short night before, we have a bottle or two of wine, and go to sleep under an almost full moon that turns the tress into a shilouette.

The next morning, Joe leaves early for work, and Melissa and I walk around the campground on fallen leaves, listening to peregrine falcons and hawks battle for vocal supremacy of the trees. The falcons sound like they are winning. The woodpeckers are knocking making for a fun morning symphony.

One more cup of coffee and I'm packed up to go from a perfectly framed site.

The neighbors in the site next door were silent.

It's a short drive to St. Helena through an archway of trees and wine leaves.

And I arrive home in less than two hours. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Notes about the campground:
-Expensive - $38.00 per site. Damn California state budget.
-Hot showers, porcelin.
-Sites 1-15 can hear the road, but its a slow road, so the noise is barely audible.
-Excellent way to go wine tasting. Camp out, eat breakfast, clean up, hit the wineries at 10:00 am when they open.
-No one there this time of year.
-Chilly, bring gloves and a hat and firewood.

SFgate photos

2009-10-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

The Bay Area is filled with VW's, bugs, busses, things, rarities. I suspect that it is only appropriate that this photo set appears at SFgate- the Hearst-owned online arm of the SF Chronicle.

Jason Rehms bus is there, as are several cute bugs.

Granted, there is nothing like the flikr sets available, the bay window one is my favorite, of course, but the general Bus one isn't bad either.

Unrelated: in the neighborhood that I live in, there seems to be a bus on every other corner. I live here, Karl lives here, there's a younger couple that just bought a 1971 adventure wagon. And across the park in the other district, there is one on every block. Eurovans, Syncros, even a couple type 5's. Someone has the Hobie edition bus out by the zoo, and there is another 1970 like mine near 43rd and Noriega.

Anyone up for an east-end bus gathering?

Del valle Campout

2009-10-25T20:40:00.001-07:00

Its been a while since my last posting. To be honest, I've been pretty busy with work, but I found some time to go camping this weekend.
Short summary: 8 Busses and one baja bug, 14 bottles of wine, one set of adjusted brakes, one relocation of a fuel pump, one window replacement, and one new camper among us. (Hi Jen with one "n"!)

It starting to get cold, so camping season is weeding out the weak. Those of us with fireplace skills and big tents will be fine.

Pics:
Johns tent, and Joe and Dick's busses. Gives you an idea of just how big that thing is.

Regis's bus, while Romy and Aaron relocate a fuel pump.

A few more here

Del Valle is great as it is close to the Bay Area, and less than a 2 hour drive for most people attending. One of the kids caught a rainbow trout, the girlscouts camping on the opposite side of the campground went around in costume, and the proximity meant that if we needed anything at the last minute, it wouldn't be difficult to get.

Next one will be on November 20-22 in Bothe Napa.

Sacramento Bug O Rama

2009-09-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

The longest running bug show in the US is in Sacramento. It's a labor day event (who thought that was a good idea) and includes drag races, and a pretty big vendor area.

I was able to find a few parts that I was missing, and some replacement parts that I wanted.

As usual, Bay Window buses were underrepresented, but there were a couple.

Pics say it all, they are here

Some of my favorites:
Usually the Adventure top makes the Bus look huge, but when compared to other vehicles, it can look almost petite.

Squish

Nice Rat rod, I'll post more on this one later.

That Short Bus

2009-09-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

It's a piece of art and expression, assuming that you want it to be. There is a reason that the typical depiction of the Bus has the Peace/Love flowery things all over it -there is a big wide canvas on those panels that lets its owner say what they want to say and move it to where they want to say it.

So there is this guy:

His website is here and it is marginally safe for work (he tattoos everywhere except neck and face, if you know what I mean...) Bill has a thing for weird cars.

I could go into great detail about it, but he has a website that says it all.

But in case you don't have time to surf, here are a few more.

That Gnome Van

2009-08-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

... has rapidly risen up in the ranks of my flickr photos. And for good reason - it's just damn cool. When I was a child in the 1970's, the cool thing to have was a van with over the top airbrushed images, usually of partially clothed women, a sword of some sort, and if a lightning bolt could be slipped in somewhere, all the better. They were mostly Frank Frazetta inspired if I recall correctly.

Now, we associate overly painted vans with minimal windows with... well, shall we say "lesser elements" of society. But I still can't help but be amazed at this kind of attention to detail, and patience.

I know nothing about the owner, if he is here, please announce yourself and tell us a bit about your work of art.

Pics posted here for posterity.

Vallejo Bus Fest

2009-08-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I had any time to do VW stuff. Travel and work have been killing me, and I've been trying fix a few things on the house. So I finally took some time to go to the Vallejo Bus fest and marvel a a few beauties.

The pics are all posted here, but a few to whet your appetite are here:

Cassini Ranch Redux

2009-07-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing too much on the car recently as I have been focusing on some work issues. During my last flight to Seattle, I flew over California while the coast was not covered in fog and got this picture of the Russian River. Below you will see Cassini Ranch, Duncan Mills, and the Russian river as it ends at the Pacific.

Excellent place for a campout out if you ask me. :)

Click here for the full version.

Lakeport VW show

2009-06-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

You can go a lot of north in California before reaching not-California. And you have a lot of east-west room to do it. I-5 is a theoretical median that dissects the state tip to tail, until you reach LA, and then it's all coastal-ish.

But back to north. Head outside of San Francisco, and just a little east, and you start driving through wine-country. Napa, Sonoma, Alexander valley - all places of vines and vintages. Once you get out of wine country, you start to reach very dry and very hot areas of California.

People find all sorts of ways to stay cool up there, one of the most common ways is to live near a lake. There are a few lakes to chose from - Berryessa, Clearlake, and farther north there is Whiskeytown and Shasta.

The town of Lakeport sits right on Clearlake, and is home to about 5000 people. It has a cute main street with old pioneer style buildings, most of the old banks have been converted to antique shops or restaurants.

The Norcal Aircooled VW club hosts a show and campout there every year. I've never hung out with these guys, but hey, it's a VW show, and more importantly, a good excuse for a motorcycle ride. So Joe and I suit up last Saturday morning, get caffinated, and head the 100 or so miles to Lakeport to check out the scene.

We take 101 north for a full sprint, and once we reach the little town of Hopland, we turn right on 175 for one of the windiest roads in California. The views, when you have time to look at them are classically wine country.

It's 15 miles of twists and turns, signs that require trucks over 38 feet to turn around, manzanita, dry grass, and a feint hint of sage coming through the helmet. You don't notice too much on a motorcycle as you are paying attention to the road, but you do notice smells. This is the smell of my childhood in Redding, and I can't help but think of my grandparents and their old Studebaker Hawk. But back to Lakeport.

The NAG group has blocked off a one block area for the show. It's small, but not without a few gems. For instance, this pillow:

There's this splittie with the cool front bar, and the center headlight.

A hacked but nice bugtruck

This jeep-bug-kit-thing:

The ever-present peace bug:

This flawless convertible:

John La Torre was there, fresh back from Maupin, and representing as usual.

Here's a bumpersticker that pretty much says what I keep tryingto say, but the other driver can't hear me.

And finally, one of these things is not like the other:

The rest of the pictures are on my flickr site.

Joe and I do a quick walk through the town, and head out in mid afternoon. It's 101 degrees, and the hot air is seriously affecting our mood. An air-conditioned subway, and an afternoon starbucks keep us sane.

We get back to the bay area around 5:00pm, and the bay air drops the temperature by 15 degrees. One of the reasons I live here is the temperature is agreeable. My theory is that I can always put more clothes on, but I can't get more naked. cold is tolerable, heat is repressive.

I'll be camping with the wife next weekend - seriously looking forward to spending time with here along the coast. Happy driving. If anyone cares to join us, we'll be at Ocean Cove north of Jenner on Thursday and Friday.

The Steering wheel thing

2009-06-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

My parents bought me a new steering wheel for the bus for my 40th Birthday. My old one was so cracked and chipped that it couldn't be aligned without braking, and the risk was that it might snap in several pieces while on the road. Not good.

Well, the thing about a black plastic steering wheel in the California valley in the summer is that it gets hot. As in too hot to touch. Which makes it difficult to fulfill it's primary function of, ya know, steering.

Wheelskins makes some really nice leather wraps and are conveniently located in Emeryville. So I give them a quick visit and the kind owner measures my steering wheel and custom cuts out a piece:

And while I'm camping (and fixing the fuel pump) my wheel goes from this

to this:

to this:

My drive home was nice and calm with no burning hands. Thanks Rebecca for you mad sewing skills.

The Lantern thing

2009-06-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Camping with friends requires a certain amount of acceptance that everyone has their quirks. Melissa for example, runs a clean campsite. Always. Dishes go here, cooking goes here, plates here, organized perfectly. (I think that's a good thing)

Joe has a thing about coleman lanterns. He hates them - too bright. Some of his fliers actually say "no Colemans". What he really means is that he doesn't want lanterns with nylon mantels which burn brighter than open flame lanterns.

So Joe uses kerosene lanterns, which both smell like kerosene and require more work. But they give a nice glow and have some sort of soft quality to them.

So, in compliance with his policy, some of us have found kerosene lanterns, and others have been given lanterns. (Note: if you want free lanterns, help a guy who collects them clean his garage. He will find old ones and give them to you like so:)

The brand of choice is vintage Dietz since they have that neat "lift the globe with a level and light it underneath" quality to them. I found an old railroad lantern that is supposed to work for 100 hours with the fuel in the tank. Bonus: It's red.

As for those PVC hanging things, those were the lowest tech lowest cost highest functionalty hangers we could find on the samba. 1/2inch PVC tee, threaded 1/2 pvc pipe, hand cut the notch, hang the lantern on the rain gutter, problem solved.

Trainspotting, Bus Breaking, Now Laughing

2009-06-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

This could be a long story. I'd like to embellish it with colorful details about various people involved - the police officers, Joe, John, Melissa, Regis, Chris, the tow truck driver, the Quincy auto parts stores - but I suspect that the mere mention of the above listed people will tell you what happened.

So... for posterity...

Joe and I set out around 3:30 pm on Friday to Trainspotting - Melissa's camp event in Twain, California, on the feather river. We left later than we wanted, but found some nice roads to take it slow on, and enjoy the zen peace of the California central valley.

The sun set behind us as we headed up the sierras. It's a pretty drive, and a slow climb to about 2000 feet. The Feather River determines it's own path through the mountains, and we are powerless to stop it, so we build bridges and tunnels that help us admire the force of nature that is running water.

Now the sun is gone, and the stars come out, and the bus headlights are illuminating the road as only a VW bus can - poorly. There is enough of a waning moon (technically a gibbous moon) to light the road, as we descend slowly and the stars do their happy dance in the sky.

Speaking of happy dances, have you ever thought deeply about the engine on your car? Robert Pirsig did in a really good philosophy book years ago. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance talks about Quality and Truth, technology in a dehumanized world, romantic and classical approaches to life, and finding beauty in good mechanical work. There is a happy dance between all the moving parts under the hood, and though we can romantically imagine a purring cat, the classicist will thing of it as series of engineered parts working as physical laws would allow. This may be correct, but it lacks a human quality that we so desire. Pirsig suggests that we can marry the two viewpoints, and that we probably need to in order to keep the technological world from destroying the central part of ourselves that is human.

So the happy dance in my engine compartment is off a few steps. Well, more accurately, it went from a waltz to floor nap just like that, a mere 10 miles from the camp site. Sputter, sputter more, dead. Is it strange that part of me grinned a little? I think I relish a challenge. So I pop open the engine compartment, shine the light, and see nothing immediate.

Note: at this stage, I return to previous experience and go for the obvious - points, condenser, rotor. No diagnosis, just assumption. In a word - Fail.

Joe and John show up, with the CHP and a series of very bright lights allow me to change to a new distributor. Turn the key, listen to the crank, and the engine just crosses its arm and shakes its head at me. About two hours later, I look at the stars and the time, and decide that tonight is not the night to fix it. The kind gentlemen of the CHP call a tow truck, and ten miles later I get dropped off in the camp site, and head over to the late night hold outs who were curious if I was going to make it. Two vodkas with cranberry juice later and I'm two sheets to the wind and two eyes on the pillow.

It's Saturday morning, and I'm greeted with french toast, sausage, and hot water for coffee. (Coffee story later.) I also get list of smiling faces, warm hugs, and the collective experience of several like-minded people who know their cars just as well.

It's fixing time, so back to the back of the bus.

Step one: I know I messed up the timing and the points on the distributor, so I take it out to set everything on it perfectly. We've tested the coil and the choke, so we've ruled out anything else. It goes back in, I crank, and still get nothing. Staring a car requires fuel and flame. We've determined that flame is not the problem. John mentions that he doesn't smell fuel. He mentioned it earlier, I ignored him. I'm stupid like that. In a pinch, always listed to John. Anyone who carries around a tent this big obviously needs it to contain his years of life experience. (This is his smaller tent. Yeah, he's that cool.)

Step two: Remove the fuel line from the carb, direct it to a cup crank the motor and see if fuel comes out of the line. It doesn't. Fuel pump. Dead. sigh. But don't let me miss the opportunity for dramatic swearing and occasional fist clenching while shouting FUEL PUMP! So for the rest of the day, I occasionally shout Fuel pump! in the same manner of William Shatner shouting KHAAAN!

Step three: Acquire fuel pump. Apparently it's easy. Chris calls his friends who do a search for me. Regis suggests that I take Melissa an here loaner syncro to Quincy and check the local flaps (Friendly Local Auto Parts Store). Napa has one. The right one. Right there. Right on!

Step four: Install. and by install, I mean 2 bolts, reconnect gas lines, and turn over engine. And that's it. Seriously. I set the timing and we're done. Eazy Peazy

Step five: Victory lap. Grin. Beer. It was a good day.

Some lessons learned. Always bring a timing light. Always listen to John. Never assume your first diagnosis is correct. Especially if it's mine. Be kind to your local CHP, they may be your only method of getting a tow truck when there is no cell phone reception. The bible of John Muir may be the start of your VW fixing adventure, but the writings of Bentley will be your finish. It helps to look at the breakdown as a challenge. Find joy in manual labor. It helps when you are fixing things.

Later that night, Regis gives me a sheet of paper to write a thought down, burn it in the camp fire, and thanks the road gods for good fortune He's right, it was lucky. The fuel pump brakes, as anything with moving parts does eventually. The laws of entropy trump the desire to go camping everytime.

But.... dude, you broke down... how are you lucky? (and thanks for asking)
The Fail: a part that may have gone under worse conditions
The Win(s): 10 miles from camp - easy to go there.
-Perfect weather
-Very nice tow truck driver who secured my bus well
-Perfect camp site
-Available parts, not too expensive
-Lots of expertise helping
-All the tools I needed
-Perfect weather for it
-Good humor the whole time
-Food made for me
-Wasn't a serious problem i.e. didn't need to drop the engine
I could go on, but you get the idea. Part of the deal of diving an old car is you must accept mechanical failure, and do everything to avoid it. When it happens, there is only one correct response. Smile, fix it, and keep moving.

More pictures here.

Thanks everyone for the kind ribbing, the moral support, the help, and the reason to laugh.

West Coast Metric

2009-06-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Anyone who restores a bus has a small handful of companies that they rattle off when looking for parts:
West Coast Metric
Mid America Motorworks
Wolfsburg West
Bus Depot
Just Kampers
Go Westy

While attending a conference, I had a chance to stop by one of the long-term companies down in Torrance, CA - West Coast Metric. I needed parts, they were there, so I just stopped by and picked them up.

First, I'm welcomed by the service manager, he posts on the samba with the name (deleted for privacy), but trust me, if you use the samba, you know him.

He takes me back to the museum and lets my eyes pop out of my head, and my jaw drops to the floor. Don't drool on your keyboard.
Rare. One of a Kind. Flawless.

Want more? Click here

Ft. Collins. Turkey. and more

2009-05-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

I like to think of myself as a bit a traveler. I don't do any huge trips lasting months or years, but I like to see the world. Everytime I get on a plane, pack the motorcycle, or load up the bus, I remember this quote:
"Travel is the enemy of bigotry, narrow-mindedness, and prejudice." -Mark Twain

So when somebody packs up their bus and toodles around Europe, I'm a mixed drink of awe and envy.

Oddly, this guy lives in Ft. Collins (from where this blog is being posted). I've seen his bus on the streets here.

More Camping. And More

2009-05-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

We've become camping fools. I've got no problem with that.
Last weekend was the third in our monthly series of "lets use these vehicles for what they were intended". Big Blue was kind enough to arrange, place the credit card hold, advertise, hunt down sponsors, and get there early.
Joe and I meet at the Lucas Valley ParknRide so we can caravan together. Sitting in the shade was a nice vanagon. Upon investigation, Joe realizes that he smells food cooking inside and decides not to bother the poor occupant.

It's up 101 to the River road exit, then west for a while. Joe pays attention to his GPS and takes a funny turn, we meet up at the ranch later. Melissa is in the check in line, and we all arrive at the same time.

Spots get parked-in, tents go up, new people arrive, dinner gets made, fire pit gets started, smores bust out, beer bottles clink on the ground.

Next morning it's hot. Direct sun 95 hot. Good thing there is a river to swim in, and seals to watch. (No kidding - they were in the river)

Rinse, repeat for two days.

Well done Brett, thanks again.

Vancouver Bus

2009-05-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

So you live in a rainy environment, and you aren't too fond of paying a paintshop to prect the metal from rust. Option 1: Keep bus in barn forever. Option two: use the brute force solution for body protection.

Option 2 example:

Vintage VW Training Film - Valve Adjustments Part 2

2009-05-05T14:52:00.003-07:00

Part 2

Vintage VW Training Film - Valve Adjustments Part 1

2009-05-05T14:52:00.001-07:00

Valve Adjustments Part 1

Vintage VW Training Film - Carb Adjustment Part 1

2009-05-03T20:22:00.001-07:00

Wow, It's like I'm in 5th grade again watching the old science films about hydrogen. Only this time, it's about carburetors.

BVEP - Camping in Rell - May 2006

2009-05-01T19:11:00.001-07:00

Hey, I know these people. Nice bus! Fast forward to 1:12 for Bret and Ep style humor, That's how they roll....

Original Receipt

2009-04-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

At the request of a number of people who have seen my mythical original sales receipt, I scanned and am posting it here. Click on it for a bigger version.

For the Record:
Tourist Shipping Order Invoice Number 79132 (Money in USD)
Kombi - 2,023.00
US Spec equiped - 101.50
Camp Equipment and Pop top and tent - 1,017.00
Radio - 65.00
Vent Windows - 11.00
Turnover tax (credited upon export) - 353.93
International Registration - 4.50
Total - 3,575.93

Plus - 47.00 for 3 months of basic insurance upon delivery

Adjusted for inflation, the price of the bus new would have been $19,617.06 in 2008.

Bunkum and/or Twaddlefest

2009-04-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

My friend and fellow camper Joe is an interesting guy. He shares the same weird obsessions with odd gear. I've fixed thing in his car, he's pointed me to cool stuff and given me good gear advice.

The best thing he has done is invited me to his campouts. They are an odd collection of people, or a collection of odd people, take your pick. I'll introduce a few here. For instance:

John La Torre

On the Left. He builds his own mandolins, and has written the definitive book on making tents for the SCA crowd.
He drives a very impressive Dormobile, and is likely the only guy I have seen who sues his closet the way it was meant to be used - to hang clothes.

M Codes

2009-04-27T18:23:00.001-07:00

Since I am now VW blogging for real, I thought a little research was in order:
MPlate Code

According to the Mplate, this is my car:
M-Plate content
Model Type 2 (T2) mod. 231(0) - Kombi, cargo door right, LHD
Chassis number 2302207109
Serial number 207 109
Modelyear 1970
Production date
Tuesday, 19 May 1970
Type of engine Type 1 (B5) - 1584cc, 35 kW (47 bhp DIN)
Type of transmission Manual 4-speed gearbox
Paint color L30H - Montana Red
Interior color (doorpanels and seats) - Westfalia Campmobile (type T23)
Destination Picked up by first owner at the factory in Germany, meant for US-market

M-CODES
M-CODE Description Concerned models From chassis number To chassis number
025 Instrument panel; speedometer with trip recorder and clock 211-274 213 2 000 001
097 Car radio model "Emden" (MW, LW, FM and tapedeck connection)
195 Exclusive use of Blaupunkt radio (with M095,M097 & M098 only)
507 Vent wings in cab doors 211-235,261-274
517 Factory prepared for campmobile interior 2 14 2057 729
518 Campmobile : Opening in roof with reinforcement for westfalia pop-up roof 231,234 2 14 2057 729
D25 Specifications for the USA - Collection of M-codes: M 020/089/102/206/507/511/521/524/525
> 020 Speedometer & odometer in Milesin miles 211-274
> 089 Glass - windshield (laminated) 211-268
> 102 Rear window glass, heatable 211-268
> 206 Inner rear-view mirror, anti-dazzle
> 507 Vent wings in cab doors 211-235,261-274
> 511 Padded instrument panel (LHD only) 211-271
> 521 With additional chrome trim and sun visor with mirror 221-228 219 300 000
> 521 With additional chrome trim 221-228 210 2000 001
> 524 Sealed beam headlamps, dual circuit brake control, back-up light and side marker reflectors (LHD) without emergency light system 211-241-265, USA, Canada 219 000 001 219 999 999
> 524 Sealed beam headlamps, dual circuit brake control, back-up light and side marker reflectors (LHD) with buzzer for ignition-starter switch 211-241-265, USA, Canada 210 2 000 001 212 2 000 000
> 524 Sealed beam headlamps, dual circuit brake control, back-up light and side marker reflectors (LHD) 211-241-265, USA, Canada 212 2 000 001
> 525 Three-point safety belts front, left and right and lap belts in passenger compartment 211-265, USA, Canada
H67 SO67 Westfalia Campmobile interior 67H

Bus for Sale

2009-04-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

Jenny the wonder bus. I have no idea why, but it's not bad.
http://jennythewonderbus.blogspot.com/
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/cto/1134877229.html

What is this?

2009-04-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm at Finnon Lake, just outside of Placerville, camping with a friend.

Camping with lots of friends. Some of them I've known for a couple of years, others for a couple of moments. Camping liberates. You can say things you wouldn't say otherwise, laugh louder, burn bigger fires, drink taller glasses, eat richer foods. Camping gives you permission to return to the elemental basis of you.

Brett and Elizabeth, whom I consider good friends even though we have only camped together 3 times, remind me that my other blog isn't about VW's. They suggest that I get back in the game and start writing my VW adventures up again. I agree.

NAMES.
Picking a good blog name is not easy. Brett has a great one - Big blue. It is his bus, his license plate, his identity. His other VW is little blue. It works. Party Pickle works pretty well to - it's green, it looks like a pickle, it's a traveling party. A good name for my VW blog has been elusive. My bus has no name, and probably never will. Juliette and I don't name our cars, though I tried once. It didn't take. (Clyde - the blue 1991 Toyota Landcruiser - named after the blue ghost from Pac Man.)

What is Elementhis? It's a word I made up. It came from:
Ellen, Clement, Elizabeth, and Louis. I'll write more about my grandparents later, and probably embellish my memory of them with great flourish. What are grandparents for if not idealization of greater days?

So. Here I am. Let me check adjust the valves, check the oil and fuel lines, finish packing, and get on the road. I know a great sandwich place for lunch.

Hello World

2009-04-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hello World