Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jun 11, 2015 6:42 am

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Left jivermo at the glacial lake and headed to Michigan via New York. Do not have a front license plate. Do not have a registration sticker. Do not have a safety inspection sticker. Don't even have those little heart attacks when a police officer drives/walks by. The Law has given me a pass because the Law likes my car.
Gingerly, I drove to the barn to say hello to my Squareback and others, paid the rent, and passed by the house along Lake Ontario where I had an incredible year of chaos and learning living with a self-described hill-billy from hell and her four feral children and a 58 mile commute to work every day. I loved it. It was beautiful, it was exhausting, it was harsh there:

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It is much more of a ruin now, but we had our moment where we inhabited that place, out there mowing the grass, digging up the sewer line, playing in the barn, letting the seasons reflect all over us:

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Had a achy heart-ache saying good-bye to my hopes of domestic life in the pastoral peace under the golden afternoon spring sunshine of rural New York. Went to Cleveland instead:

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Yeah, so past the corporate imprimatur on our modern day colosseums, I drove on crumbling buckled pavement, the arteries of our modern civilization are not healthy:

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We should take heed:

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I sure was taking heed. Driving my little 44hp wind-sailing cow into this beautiful Jackson Pollacked sky:

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Kept an eye on the wall cloud, that's a wall cloud, isn't it? The Weather Channel loves talking about "wall clouds". I looked to see if there was rotation:

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Once I was past it, I just drove into the night time and gloried in the hues:

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I no longer remember where I camped. I have a run of horrible choices for campsites this Itinerary, and they all have amused me in a demented sort of groggy way. The Piggly Wiggly Park & Ride spot was the worst. I pulled off behind a Piggly Wiggly supermarket at 1:00AM and tucked behind two Chevrolet vans that said Park & Ride. I didn't know what day it was, I decided it had to be a Sunday where nobody would fire up the Park & Ride vans early in the morning to go to work or anything. I was tired. It was hot. I stripped down to my tank top and no-longer Calvins and crashed out with the sliding door open, my toes in the breeze. 5:45AM I awaken to women's voices, a pile of them, and it is too late for modesty, this is a whole office crew showing up behind the Piggly Wiggly to pile into the Park & Ride van. Yackityyackity while I try to find my shorts, yick?yack, where are my shorts? where are my shorts? dammitwherearemySHORTSshortsshorts?? Driver's seat!
"I will merely drive off and we will never meet again," I tell myself in a wan attempt at rebuilding my dignity. Stop at the Shell station right at the pumps to get my shoes on. Step out to seriously now go find the rest room and then get a groggy cup of coffee. Hey look, it is half the women from the Park & Ride van clustered around the carafes.

Beautiful subsequent morning on the way to hippiewannabe's house in Michigan. That helped:

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No photographs from our visit! I wonder if hippiewannabe is really really going to sell his bus. With that trick rheostat mixture control knob, I don't see how he could. After our victorious day of replacing ball joint boots, I don't think he can. Excellent shishkabob and a beer ended our day. You missed out, TrollFromDownBelow. Since there are no photographs from this year's visit, I have to share one of my favorite photographs from a prior visit. To be fair to Don, the garage is so much b... the same :blackeye:

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BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hippiewannabe
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by hippiewannabe » Thu Jun 11, 2015 6:19 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
No photographs from our visit! I wonder if hippiewannabe is really really going to sell his bus. With that trick rheostat mixture control knob, I don't see how he could. After our victorious day of replacing ball joint boots, I don't think he can. Excellent shishkabob and a beer ended our day. You missed out, TrollFromDownBelow. Since there are no photographs from this year's visit, I have to share one of my favorite photographs from a prior visit.

I was struck by what a nice image the glowing Chloe was as Colin puttered away, and then was struck that we hadn't taken a single picture!

Yes, much good was accomplished, and I was reminded how cool and well engineered these vehicles are. Still struggling with the reality that I have used it a total of three weeks in the last three years. I have too much stuff, which means I can't properly care for and enjoy most of it, and need to prioritize and reduce.

To be fair to Don, the garage is so much b... the same :blackeye:
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Now this is just not true. Take a look:

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That dog food container has been moved to the laundry room, replaced by the Cozy Coup (retrieved from the attic, used by my five kids, and now my grandson

Some additional good pictures in your Photobucket I hadn't seen before:

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I've bonded with the current lap-yappers well enough, but I sure miss my Lab. Nothing like a Frisbee catching dog that will also fetch the paper on a snowy morning. Hailey and the Road Warrior, gone but not forgotten.

The nostalgia sent me to my files:

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I didn't get my report with sketch! Damn Capitalists, always cutting costs, raising prices and reducing service. :bootyshake:


The evening conversation was enjoyable, as always, with surprisingly broad agreement:

Gas prices are too low!
Kabobs are better than bratwurst!
Unions destroyed the US auto industry!

OK there is a chance that last one was sarcastic on Colin's part, but the kabob thing is definitely true.

Thanks Colin, Henry Ford Museum for sure next time.
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Jun 12, 2015 8:32 am

hippiewannabe wrote: The evening conversation was enjoyable, as always, with surprisingly broad agreement:

Gas prices are too low!
Kabobs are better than bratwurst!
Unions destroyed the US auto industry!

OK there is a chance that last one was sarcastic on Colin's part, but the kabob thing is definitely true.

Thanks Colin, Henry Ford Museum for sure next time.
I'll have to bring the 1962 Lincoln Continental and a fedora.

Gas prices skyrocketed in Chicago to $3.14. "Hey, that's too high," I crabbed crankily.

Yes, yes, yes, OK, your garage is a tad tidier now than that glorious glorious mayhem of yesteryear.
Colin :shaking2:

(
I didn't get my report with sketch! Damn Capitalists, always cutting costs, raising prices and reducing service.

Thank your for your feedback. Itinerant Air-Cooled deeply cares what you think. With your feedback gratefully received, Itinerant Air-Cooled strives to offer you a better experience, better value, and better service. Thank you for communicating with Itinerant Air-Cooled. :pirate: )
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hippiewannabe
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by hippiewannabe » Sun Jun 14, 2015 6:19 am

Amskeptic wrote:Thank your for your feedback. Itinerant Air-Cooled deeply cares what you think. With your feedback gratefully received, Itinerant Air-Cooled strives to offer you a better experience, better value, and better service. Thank you for communicating with Itinerant Air-Cooled. :pirate: )
When the revolution comes, we won't have to put up with this crap!
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:51 am

hippiewannabe wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:Thank your for your feedback. Itinerant Air-Cooled deeply cares what you think. With your feedback gratefully received, Itinerant Air-Cooled strives to offer you a better experience, better value, and better service. Thank you for communicating with Itinerant Air-Cooled. :pirate: )
When the revolution comes, we won't have to put up with this crap!
Well, there's that to look forward to amidst the fight for potable water. I'm in.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

TrollFromDownBelow
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Tue Jun 16, 2015 7:07 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Well, there's that to look forward to amidst the fight for potable water. I'm in.
Colin
I do give that thought whenever I get the itch to move .... 20% of the worlds freshwater is located in the Great Lakes...
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by hippiewannabe » Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:22 am

TrollFromDownBelow wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:
Well, there's that to look forward to amidst the fight for potable water. I'm in.
Colin
I do give that thought whenever I get the itch to move .... 20% of the worlds freshwater is located in the Great Lakes...
They should run a big pipe to California.....then pay us all to move there.
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

TrollFromDownBelow
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Location: Metro Detroit
Status: Offline

Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Michigan

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:51 pm

umm nope. if the money folks from Cali want Michigan water, then they can darn well relocate their botaxed butts and lips to the dirty D. Then maybe, just maybe, I won't be underwater on my mortgage.
1976 VW Bus aka tripod
FI ...not leaky, and not so noisy...and she runs awesome!
hambone wrote: There are those out there with no other aim but to bunch panties. It's like arguing with a pretzel.
::troll2::

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