Walkabout Inbound-bound

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Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:00 am

We shall see if I make it to Pensacola within a month. On my way . . .

Burbank ( viewtopic.php?f=77&t=13709&p=230903#p230903 ), we will refer to as the apogee of Walkabout, and what an apogee it was, all of Los Angeles YELLING IN MY EAR and PUSHING ME AT EVERY ENTRANCE RAMP. Here is your only tourist shot of the Los Angeles skyline from some 20 miles away on the 210 Freeway during rush hour:

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I visited satchmo, one of our Founding Patrons of this Itinerant Air-Cooled experience. We had beer and I had tacos and a shower, and we reviewed a little of the past fourteen years. Why, here is nine years ago, right here. Satchmo and Mary are looking as timelessly fresh as ever. Not ME:

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Missed a visit with Barb/Elwood due to medical issues (everywhere I go these days) and send a prayer upstairs if you get a chance. Hung out at the railroad tracks in Banning while waiting for her call. Color-sanded the right rear quarter panel so we all can see Fred The Oversprayer's other talents with botched welding and buckled panels. Fine! I don't care! It is a very shiny car now!

Drove down to the Salton Sea on CA 86, the other side of the sea from Chloe's first drive home with me where I discovered that the head temps were insane. I remember the night. The CHT gauge had been installed for less than 24 hours, and we were hitting the 440's there at the other side of the Saltan Sea with headwinds that made it impossible to keep the speed limit.

viewtopic.php?f=65&t=10191#p181976

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What a beautiful evening it was this time, though. What a happy happy little camper (the car, the car was a happy little camper, IS a happy little Westfalia camper), I have not been a happy little camper. I am a furious little camper, just so you know. I am deeply darkly furious and it is leaching into every interaction with humans I happen across. Humans . . . :

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The above, the above display of utter contempt towards our Earth, towards each other, was photographed just hours before the below shots:

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Beautiful and I was heartsick. I am very bad at assimilating great beauty and profane obscenity in the same world:

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The stupid mute Volkswagen Westfalia here does manage somehow to settle me down with simple honest reliable being.
I told myself, "this was designed and built by humans, you know":

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I got back in my happy little creamsicle camper and darkly furiously drove south arguing with God yet again:

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I look forward to a little decompression as I attempt to avoid a couple of flash flood watches between here in El Centro CA and San Antonio TX. After seeing the destruction of Hurricane Michael just down the road from Pensacola, I have warned myself not to complain so bitterly about "clouds" and "rain droplets".

Yesterday's Refresh The Sliding Door Sill project started with a bristling display of screwdrivers attempting to hold the flooring and carpet above the sill:

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I sparked a new fury when I kicked the damn can of paint right the h%!* over, I did. So I cast about wildly, "what needs a quick coat of paint, what needs a quick coat of paint before it dries in the frying sun?" Ha! Tore the step pads out and painted the front door steps right off the paint slick oozing on the pavement. Furiously, as I hissed at myself, "you clumsy ox," and "you better not hit the carPET". Note that fury often damages your ability to focus and do painstaking work:

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Then I painted the sliding door sill:

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You can't see the homeless guy to my right who dived into the dumpster to retrieve soda cans. He studiously avoided eye contact with me as I painted piteously off of my parking lot palette (hidden under the cardboard beside the right front wheel). No conversation ensued. Obviously, when you are furious, you send out bad vibes:

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This amazingly mundane photograph is actually the culmination of three hours of work. Three hours to remove three layers of clear packing tape along the door sill. It was no longer "tape". It was just decomposed adhesive. I used lousy carb spray from WalMart that really stings in the cuts, and WD-40 to laboriously work through the goo ooze. You understand that I had the plastic door sill well away from the freshly painted sill as I removed the adhesive:

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Finally, it was clean enough to lay down three new layers of fresh packing tape. Because I was still beyond irritated at life itself, no really, it would be funny if I wasn't still mad at everything, I was out there ranting, and I share it with you in the hopes that someone else has lost it as bad as I have, I was ranting this ( I am embarrassed),
"F*&@ You, I am SICK of your GRAVITY, Your physics, Your stupid laws, You make this amazing Creation and look at this TRASH, oh my God! fingerprints filthy monkey greasy oozing skin oil! I hate this, I am DONE! I hate it here! Oh my GOd, this tape! G*#D@mn sticky f*#K*&g mess! Would you just STAY?? It is ALL I ASK but NOOOOOOOOOOOO, gravity! We have to have gravity! . . . "

See, I had to abort every tape lay down if it got fingerprints or air bubbles trapped underneath, and I was hungry.
Bad combination, folks.
Here is the three-layered door sill, fresh color-sanded and polished paint, and polished sill plate with clear-coated screws:

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And I ranted anew, "who cares? Who CARES? Who fickityf*ckf*ck cares if it is 'pretty"? And I reel out the door here into the world and I better not see any trash or I quit and buy a damn trash truck and pick up litter until I die.
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

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by BusBassist » Sun Oct 14, 2018 2:00 pm

I better not see any trash or I quit and buy a damn trash truck and pick up litter until I die.

So sad to see the actions of irresponsible people. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ seems to be a common mindset these days. I share your frustration with the selfish choices of those who choose to leave their mess for someone else to deal with.


Though you’re in Southern Cal, I was shocked the last time I was in San Francisco - what a great city - but it has become a dump with trash and garbage strewn about the streets and sidewalks. And from the way people ignore the mess, it now seems this an accepted way of life.

Safe travels as you head east.

JC
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by satchmo » Sun Oct 14, 2018 4:42 pm

Somebody's Hangry...

It was good to see Colin on his way through So Cal. We reflected on where we've been and where we might be going, in both the physical and meta-physical sense. The tacos were good (Thanks, Mary!). The traffic was bad (Thanks, Los Angeles!!). :angryfire:

Happy (er) trails ahead, I hope.

Satchmo
By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection, which is noblest;
second, by immitation, which is easiest;
and third, by experience, which is bitterest. -Confucius

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Ronin10 » Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:53 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:00 am
I am a furious little camper, just so you know. I am deeply darkly furious...

I am very bad at assimilating great beauty and profane obscenity in the same world:

and darkly furiously drove south arguing with God yet again

Furiously, as I hissed at myself, "you clumsy ox," and "you better not hit the carPET". Note that fury often damages your ability to focus and do painstaking work

Obviously, when you are furious, you send out bad vibes:

"F*&@ You, I am SICK of your GRAVITY, Your physics, Your stupid laws, You make this amazing Creation and look at this TRASH, oh my God! fingerprints filthy monkey greasy oozing skin oil! I hate this, I am DONE! I hate it here! Oh my GOd, this tape! G*#D@mn sticky f*#K*&g mess! Would you just STAY?? It is ALL I ASK but NOOOOOOOOOOOO, gravity! We have to have gravity! . . . "

And I ranted anew, "who cares? Who CARES? Who fickityf*ckf*ck cares if it is 'pretty"? And I reel out the door here into the world and I better not see any trash or I quit and buy a damn trash truck and pick up litter until I die.
Weed is legal in CA now. Just sayin'.
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:07 pm

Ronin10 wrote:
Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:53 pm
Amskeptic wrote:
Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:00 am
I am a furious little camper, just so you know. I am deeply darkly furious...

I am very bad at assimilating great beauty and profane obscenity in the same world:

and darkly furiously drove south arguing with God yet again

Furiously, as I hissed at myself, "you clumsy ox," and "you better not hit the carPET". Note that fury often damages your ability to focus and do painstaking work

Obviously, when you are furious, you send out bad vibes:

"F*&@ You, I am SICK of your GRAVITY, Your physics, Your stupid laws, You make this amazing Creation and look at this TRASH, oh my God! fingerprints filthy monkey greasy oozing skin oil! I hate this, I am DONE! I hate it here! Oh my GOd, this tape! G*#D@mn sticky f*#K*&g mess! Would you just STAY?? It is ALL I ASK but NOOOOOOOOOOOO, gravity! We have to have gravity! . . . "

And I ranted anew, "who cares? Who CARES? Who fickityf*ckf*ck cares if it is 'pretty"? And I reel out the door here into the world and I better not see any trash or I quit and buy a damn trash truck and pick up litter until I die.
Weed is legal in CA now. Just sayin'.

Weed would be a very nice unwind *after* I figure it out . . . alas, I need the fuel of the furies to get me where I have to go.
But thanks, great suggestion.
Colinm
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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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:38 pm

satchmo wrote:
Sun Oct 14, 2018 4:42 pm
The tacos were good (Thanks, Mary!).

Hail Mary, the tacos were good and sorely appreciated, as was that hot water (!) flowing from the SKY (the thing above my head) and it was nighttime but it was light (!) just from a little flip of that thing on the wall, it was a Miracle.
Heck Mary, quesadillas 2019!
Colin

(I think this photo was outside your house in Claremont? October 2011)

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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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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:08 am

Here it is, October 21st. Where am I? Glad you asked. I have no idea, here in Junction, TX, no idea. I do know that the rains have found me again, and the temperatures are 25-30* below normal. It was like stepping out of summer into winter, boof! all inspirations leech back into my sweatshirt to huddle under the grey skies, streaks of rain slanting over the bleak landscape. I am agog. My Texas, my Texas of Many Projects past. So today, I drive firmly east to get out from under this cold front. By Louisiana, I am promised warmth once more, but the rains shall chase me to whole way. It is stupefying to realize that just twenty fours ago, I was in Arizona under blue skies and a forecast high of 78* and I drove away from it? To this?

I have hundreds of photographs that I hardly know what to do with. What shall I do? Everything looks more beautiful in more ways. I have photographs that I want to share, but they are evocative and do not serve any narrative. If I sprinkled evocative shots amongst the narrative shots, would it interrupt the narration? Or would the narration interrupt the evocations? You know what I say? Here it all comes atcha.

Imperial Dunes Winterhaven, CA
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Border Fence (not to be confused with a wall)
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It looks like a pathetic little snake snaking across the gorgeous landscape, a dumb slice of stupidity:

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Drove right through my old wintering grounds of Yuma AZ circa 2010:

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By what oversight did I realize, on October 14, 2018 at 4:37PM outside of Yuma AZ, twelve days shy of three years and 50,000 miles,
that I had never replaced the air filter on NaranjaWesty? Here it is, a 22 year-old VW/Audi air filter:

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That realization came courtesy of an investigation of the voltage regulator which I disassembled and cleaned the contacts therein and re-taped it with some new modern garish bling!bling! reflective HVAC tape. Progress! Not!

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Here is the finally dry tailgate paint job of October 2nd or whatever, now ready for color-sanding:

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Mid-color-sanding, you can see the brush stroke tracks getting sanded down:

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Full color-sanded (not super smooth, still want a little "orange peel" texture):

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3M Polishing Compound (now $14.99 per bottle, an increase of almost 100% since the last time I bought some) needs a rapid initial rub before the wax base starts to congeal. Then as it dries under your applicator, the little polishing "crystals" start to buff the paint and you continue with lighter strokes until it is dry and ready for wax:

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All done:

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Dawn at Mesquite AZ on Interstate 8:

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Sometimes, I have to appreciate my very confused camera:

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This was a thousand miles ago. There is more to fill in. I hope to be in Louisiana by tonight.
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

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Oct 21, 2018 7:25 pm

Spot Road ex 79 Interstate 8, before you go to my post-Apocalypse desert picnic (bring your own water and fried crickets), there is a foundation to some old gas station right near the ramp:

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It was here that I jumped into The Pre-Eastbound Project List:

* rotate wheels, wax inside and out (and shocks, why not?)
* repair any failures of seam caulk with the black butyl caulk strips
* undercoat each wheel well again and touch up chassis nicks
* clean dog chew toys (the rear suspension snubbers) and all boots, CV, ball joint, tie rod, drag link
* re-fashion heater box repairs from April with Diet Coke can origami, then tape

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(see the shock glowing red in the reflection? sure you do)

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* replace dump tube accordian ducts - after billions of rock strikes and flooding tire spray, it was time, here in Gila Bend AZ:

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(had to tape two together because they sell the accordian ducts too short at NAPA)

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I liked this idea, but for all I know, the plywood will fail and the laminate will delaminate. I wiped every piece of plyood and laminate with a WD-40-soaked paper towel, then waxed with Mother's Carnauba beeswax. Look at how thirsty the wood looks:

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Even did the headbanger cabinet floor/ceiling:

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Two HOURS later, I have painted the entire bottom of the car from the pinch weld edge up to the bottom of the sliding door and the front dogleg panels up to the doors with a watercolor brush:

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.. .. .. and the right rear caulk seam again, and the gas cap opening and a few touch-ups on the nose. This paint mixing thing on a windy day is a recipe for hyper-irritation, especially when the wind is like a naughty puppy stealing paper towels:

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.. .. .. and here are the last of the saguaro cacti as I approach Casa Grande. Meanwhile, weird symptoms crop up where the lights dim to nothing if the engine rpms drop below idle. More to come, but I have to get to Louisiana:

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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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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by sped372 » Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:53 am

Any chance something got tweaked in the voltage regulator while you had it apart?
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:32 am

sped372 wrote:
Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:53 am
Any chance something got tweaked in the voltage regulator while you had it apart?

I will only answer you with another six thousand photographs and rambling commentary thrown in, deal?

Admiring the newly painted rocker sills below, yes, but also pulled over to track down this weird electrical issue where the lights die off if the engine should momentarily slow below idle, like when starting off. Also, applying the brakes and pestering the heater blower would make everything dim down briefly, In this symptom, we clearly have alternator output, yes? Yes. Engine would start reliably, there's a good battery, yes?
So, I pushed further. I let out the clutch in gear ebrake on, at idle . Everything died dead, no idiot lights even. Shut off ignition, sat a moment, turned on ignition, lights back on, headlamps bright, starter turned over engine rapidly and it fired right up:

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Drove to Tucson, thinking I might need a voltage regulator. Found one online at an AutoZone stocked in the store at Benson AZ. That gave me the nerve to dive into mine to see what was up. What was up was, everything was fresh and new. Cleaned the contact points with 1000 grit and a wipe down with GumOut. Re-assembled with the festive new shiny HVAC bling! chrome! tape:

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As hope doth spring eternal stilleth, I waited for evening to see if the symptoms were gone. They were not gone. Then I thought about it some me, me and my peeps of theSamba:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewt ... p?t=708807


We pivoted on this notion that a battery cable problem would likely allow the lights to dim to nothing if the alternator was doing all of the work. BUT, it starts on the battery just fine! Cables do that, don't they? Checked out my aftermarket ends *very* carefully, with a razor blade polishing on each strand, each strand I tell ya:

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I pulled the original battery cable out from the car, removed the sleeve, checked every millimeter for damage, re-installed the sleeve, re-braided the cable, shrunk-wrapped the end at the battery terminal, cleaned everything to death and . . . . no more problems:

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Let that be a lesson to you remaining six members. You can have a fabulous high-amperage start capability, and lousy low-amp communication through a stupid cable.
(to be cont)
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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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by sped372 » Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:30 am

Amskeptic wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:32 am
sped372 wrote:
Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:53 am
Any chance something got tweaked in the voltage regulator while you had it apart?
I will only answer you with another six thousand photographs and rambling commentary thrown in, deal?
Deal.
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:46 am

Drove into the night outside of Marana AZ with my correctly-functioning electrical system. Was not amused to see this:

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Woke up here 7:00AM October 19, looking back towards Yuma/Tucson/Benson/Holbrook. Don't know if I am happy about this. No more sunshine and temps plummeting as I head into the interior:

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I had no idea that my camp site was actually within telephoto lens eyeshot of New Mexico, here at 7:00AM on October 19th:

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I do not want to leave these beautiful western open vistas for east coast scrum. But it was cold, and my Project Fairy Sprite Spirit went into hibernation and my heat-seeking lizard just demanded to keep the engine running with the heater on:

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Good-bye sunshine. Good-bye all hope and reason for living. It is ... cloudy:

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The weather forecast has promised floods and hurricane remnants and temperatures 30* below normal all the way across to the Mississippi:

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Weird how my beloved desert becomes not so welcoming the instant that temperatures drop below, I dunno, 75*?

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NaranjaWesty is enjoying the cooler temperatures. Hour after hour of purring and wind rush. Las Cruces comes right up:

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Look at that, no more New Mexico, here on October 19th at 1:30 PM, heck, we're in Texas:

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Traffic gets more aggressive, more pick-up-trucky. El Paso is getting a little nuts with their highway "flying spurs". They are bragging up American prowess. Through the support columns is *another country*:

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That is Juarez, Mexico visible from Interstate 10 here in El Paso:

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I was pretty proud to not get killed along this stretch, taking pictures in insane traffic:

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That is a spine between Texas and Mexico looking southeast. Those mountains are really far away (all of this at 60 mph headwind and impatient trucks):

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But there's places to go, and it is chilly, so I drive:

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The 41 year-old air-cooled horizontal 4, which has already done an entire lap of the country, just kept motoring along and drove me to the top of that thar hill (and beyond):

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Winnie Texas, where I took the Road Warrior's engine out with a looming rainstorm in 2002, right here, in fact:

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(to be cont.)
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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asiab3
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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by asiab3 » Wed Oct 24, 2018 5:46 pm

Didja ever get to paint the intake runners with your primer and clear-coat combination? Or the upper cylinder tins??

Regular Emma says hello, and keep your eyes on your inbox for an 11mm red nail polish surprise…
(BigEmma endured her first drive on a public highway in over a year with shiny intake runners and upper cylinder tins!)

Going to be in Pensacola in February?
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by BusBassist » Wed Oct 24, 2018 10:24 pm

Colin,

I hope you’re experiencing drier weather and warmer temps as you head east.

I appreciate your comments about the congestion as you move from west to east.
I am currently traveling through Utah and Idaho and am thrilled to see the open expanses of the West (being a transplanted westerner now living in the east).

I took this shot early this morning as we drove east on I-86.



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And later in the day I came across this 1973 Westy just outside of Pocatello. It’s parked in a lot next to a repair shop/car lot. I spoke with the shop owner and he says I can have the bus for $2,000. Not sure how I would get this bus back to upstate NY - but it looks to have very little body rust.

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A little later I met up with two of my kids attending college in Rexburg and enjoyed some Mexican food served out of this old school bus.

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Colin, these are the same kids who called you a ‘super cool dude’ when you visited us in Rochester this past August.

I always enjoy your commentary and write ups. I hope you don’t mind my reply with accompanying photos.

Wishing you dry weather and warmth as you travel to Louisiana.


Jeff
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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tommu
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Re: Walkabout Inbound-bound

Post by tommu » Thu Oct 25, 2018 1:52 pm

BusBassist wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 10:24 pm

And later in the day I came across this 1973 Westy just outside of Pocatello. It’s parked in a lot next to a repair shop/car lot. I spoke with the shop owner and he says I can have the bus for $2,000. Not sure how I would get this bus back to upstate NY - but it looks to have very little body rust.

Image

Jeff
From a single picture, that sounds like a deal. Using these guys https://www.fourcornerstransportservices.com you might be able to bring it home for $3 to $3.4K ?

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