Itinerant Hot Greetings From Hot Desert
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:10 pm
It is hot. It is hot. It is hot. I love it.
Left Santa Cruz at 63* and misty cool Pacific marine layer, and blasted over the hill to Gilroy. Can you believe that marine layer followed me the whole way there?
Went up another hill on my way to Los Banos. 85* much better. Here is a railroad trestle. I was going to do some maintenance here, but I saw too many cow pies laying about. There was a steer giving me the eye, so I decided to keep going towards the heat:
Then I bought an airport, Itinerant International, with my earnings from that Nigerian Heir who emailed me last week. Can't afford to pave a runway, much less turn on the water yet, but I did get a steal-of-a-deal on a 747 missing just three engines:
I have been camping for a couple of days outside of Doggett CA and it is 110*. It is so hot that it won't drop below 95* until around 1:00 or 2:00AM. So I walk up washes in the moonlight to get to that perfect silence. Then I start talking to God. "I know that I have been refusing to listen to You."
It is so hot that I have to camp outside of all human interaction so I can safely strip down and pant in the heat with wet t-shirts wrapped around my baldy little head. Great time to fix some of the BobD's weird little quirks:
Rule One: All BobD Quirks Are Because Some Ninny Was There Already.
For example, why oh why has it been that every single time I have rolled down the windows, they come up filthy smeared with grease? How annoying is that, especially for a clean window neurotic?
Found out the reason too. Mr. WaxOyl Applier shot the doors full of WaxOyl and waxed the plastic vapor barrier flaps that surround the air extractors. When the window goes down, it hits the plastic and smears up good. I had to remove and wipe down the barriers with GumOut. GumOut is refreshing in the heat, it evaporates quickly. Added barrier plastic over the speaker holes now that I pulled the speakers. They say "Robert Bosch". Hmmmmm. You should know that there are VERTICAL DRAIN HOLES in the door panels. I cleaned the indentations in the inner panels to allow water to get to these drain holes that prevent the barriers from getting water filled up in them where they glue to the door. It is subtle and sophisticated the way the engineers channel the water between the door and the vapor barriers. Found three rusty nuts each in the doors down at the door drains. Found bondo too. Apparently the original owner was not too good at avoiding objects that might whang into the doors, like cars to either side of her as she backed out of the art supply store parking lot.
It was so hot that the vinyl was delaminating from the door panels. So I re-glued the vinyl to the panels with a paint brush and glue sprayed into the spray can cap. The panels have a VW logo sprayed in glue right on them. Look at the original clips. They snap nicely. The original masonite has enough rigidity that you don't rip the cardboard trying to remove the panel like those soggy pieces of crap from TMI:
Ever adjust your valves au natural in an orange grove? Me neither.
But I have adjusted my valves in the middle of nowhere in my Calvins.
After a couple of hours drive from Bakersfield to Barstow in 108* heat at 70 mph, I checked the usual spots on the engine with my laser thermometer:
Valve Covers 235* to 241* at the trailing edges
Taco Plate 218*
Oil Filter 235*
Crankase Left Corner under the relief piston screw 230*
Oil Pump Housing 230*
Exhaust Pipes 435* (after some cooling down on surface streets
Pavement in the shade 109*
Pavement in the sun 128*
All in all, the car does not mind the heat. The brown interior is a real heat absorber, unlike the Road Warrior's white interior. The tires I do not trust, yet I am doing Death Valley tomorrow because it is the hottest day of the year, and I sort of have to do it . . .
then I shall camp in the desert some more and talk to God some more. WTFYWFM sort of thing. The stars seize me with a joy that says, It Is All Bigger Than You Can Possibly Know.
Colin
Left Santa Cruz at 63* and misty cool Pacific marine layer, and blasted over the hill to Gilroy. Can you believe that marine layer followed me the whole way there?
Went up another hill on my way to Los Banos. 85* much better. Here is a railroad trestle. I was going to do some maintenance here, but I saw too many cow pies laying about. There was a steer giving me the eye, so I decided to keep going towards the heat:
Then I bought an airport, Itinerant International, with my earnings from that Nigerian Heir who emailed me last week. Can't afford to pave a runway, much less turn on the water yet, but I did get a steal-of-a-deal on a 747 missing just three engines:
I have been camping for a couple of days outside of Doggett CA and it is 110*. It is so hot that it won't drop below 95* until around 1:00 or 2:00AM. So I walk up washes in the moonlight to get to that perfect silence. Then I start talking to God. "I know that I have been refusing to listen to You."
It is so hot that I have to camp outside of all human interaction so I can safely strip down and pant in the heat with wet t-shirts wrapped around my baldy little head. Great time to fix some of the BobD's weird little quirks:
Rule One: All BobD Quirks Are Because Some Ninny Was There Already.
For example, why oh why has it been that every single time I have rolled down the windows, they come up filthy smeared with grease? How annoying is that, especially for a clean window neurotic?
Found out the reason too. Mr. WaxOyl Applier shot the doors full of WaxOyl and waxed the plastic vapor barrier flaps that surround the air extractors. When the window goes down, it hits the plastic and smears up good. I had to remove and wipe down the barriers with GumOut. GumOut is refreshing in the heat, it evaporates quickly. Added barrier plastic over the speaker holes now that I pulled the speakers. They say "Robert Bosch". Hmmmmm. You should know that there are VERTICAL DRAIN HOLES in the door panels. I cleaned the indentations in the inner panels to allow water to get to these drain holes that prevent the barriers from getting water filled up in them where they glue to the door. It is subtle and sophisticated the way the engineers channel the water between the door and the vapor barriers. Found three rusty nuts each in the doors down at the door drains. Found bondo too. Apparently the original owner was not too good at avoiding objects that might whang into the doors, like cars to either side of her as she backed out of the art supply store parking lot.
It was so hot that the vinyl was delaminating from the door panels. So I re-glued the vinyl to the panels with a paint brush and glue sprayed into the spray can cap. The panels have a VW logo sprayed in glue right on them. Look at the original clips. They snap nicely. The original masonite has enough rigidity that you don't rip the cardboard trying to remove the panel like those soggy pieces of crap from TMI:
Ever adjust your valves au natural in an orange grove? Me neither.
But I have adjusted my valves in the middle of nowhere in my Calvins.
After a couple of hours drive from Bakersfield to Barstow in 108* heat at 70 mph, I checked the usual spots on the engine with my laser thermometer:
Valve Covers 235* to 241* at the trailing edges
Taco Plate 218*
Oil Filter 235*
Crankase Left Corner under the relief piston screw 230*
Oil Pump Housing 230*
Exhaust Pipes 435* (after some cooling down on surface streets
Pavement in the shade 109*
Pavement in the sun 128*
All in all, the car does not mind the heat. The brown interior is a real heat absorber, unlike the Road Warrior's white interior. The tires I do not trust, yet I am doing Death Valley tomorrow because it is the hottest day of the year, and I sort of have to do it . . .
then I shall camp in the desert some more and talk to God some more. WTFYWFM sort of thing. The stars seize me with a joy that says, It Is All Bigger Than You Can Possibly Know.
Colin