Headin on Out

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:10 pm

Going to head out for a weekend trip in the morning but it looks like the passes are going to get nailed...yeeeeehaw!! I looked at the chains that I have for our Kia and whaddayaknow, they will fit both busses

We are taking White Pass over the Cascade Range and it is supposed to get hit with 6-10 inches. Should be a fuuuuun trip

On another note I switched the busses around from the "ready" spot today and when I hopped in the 78 it felt like a luxurious, plush and comfortable ride. Amazing the difference between the splits and the bays, ya almost have to have owned both to really appreciate the evolution into the killer road machine that the later bays turned into.

The 67 is like a gnarly old crotchety mountain goat.....ya know...four wheels, engine, steering, bakes...it just gets ya there and that's it.

hambone · Post by **hambone** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:46 am

Early VWs are a Zen lesson. "What do you really NEED?" Survival with a smile regardless of the variables.
Besides they look like spaceships.
(I think once summer gets here and you get that split dialed in alltheway then you'll appreciate the charms. It's hard when so much of your blood and agony is mixed in with the SAE30)
Camping this weekend? Yer crazy!

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:33 pm

So, did you guys survive?

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:56 pm

Westy78 wrote:So, did you guys survive?

YEEEEhaw!! Had snow going there and coming back today. The Hankooks do well in snow for being all season tires, we didn't slip once.

Headed out over White Pass (Route 12 on the S side of Rainier) Friday morning and it was a cooold ride.

Closer to the summit:

De-icing the wipers every few miles:

Had a great weekend and the bus ran great.

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:17 pm

Man you guys got the camping bug baaaddd. Looks like fun though!

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:36 pm

Westy78 wrote:Man you guys got the camping bug baaaddd. Looks like fun though!

Always!!

We actually went over to Walla Walla to make sure that we really wanted to try to move over there. We researched houses, food prices and the agencies that we would work for. We "camped" at an RV park...LOL.

After driving in this:

We made sure to do this:

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:39 pm

They aren't using salt up there are they?

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:40 pm

I remember, we had just gotten our first bay bus, and we were coming down into Cheyenne and it started to snow. I had no idea how the bus would handle, and it did great!, twisting and turning as I came down from the mountains. I was ready for that slide over the side and into oblivion.

You guys sure are raising the bar. Hard core camping. :diabloanifire:

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:43 pm

Westy78 wrote:They aren't using salt up there are they?

I always thought that they didn't but then I heard a story last week on NPR of small birds up in the passes getting all loopy from eating the de-icing chemical (cause it's salty) and loosing there fear and flying into cars.

Strange, but a true story. So to avoid being hit by cracked out salt huffing finches we took it slow.

And to be sure that the bus wasn't huffing any salt we washed it, the stuff looked more like sand but I wanted to play it safe.

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:47 pm

Damn, we need to get ahold of some of that deicing material for the next trip.

DjEep · Post by **DjEep** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:46 pm

Yup, those hankooks are great in the snow, chains or naught. Not great on wet grass and foliage though, IMHO.

At least I'm not the only one on here stupid enough to purposefully camp in the snow. (Come on guys, you can tell Spiff the truth, the December Snow Camp was really Mark's backyard and a whole lotta Bisquick)

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:30 am

spiffy wrote: I heard a story last week on NPR of small birds up in the passes getting all loopy from eating the de-icing chemical (cause it's salty) and loosing there fear and flying into cars.

This is a horrible experience. I took out about a half dozen all at once on my last crossing of BC. Two of them lodged in the windshield wipers

deschutestrout · Post by **deschutestrout** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:59 am

glasseye wrote:
spiffy wrote: I heard a story last week on NPR of small birds up in the passes getting all loopy from eating the de-icing chemical (cause it's salty) and loosing there fear and flying into cars.
This is a horrible experience. I took out about a half dozen all at once on my last crossing of BC. Two of them lodged in the windshield wipers

You're serious?

At least they weren't turkey vultures.

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:09 am

deschutestrout wrote: You're serious? At least they weren't turkey vultures.

Totally serious. In fact, I stopped immediately to make sure everyone was completely dead. I couldn't bear the thought of any of them suffering as a result of my passing through.

LiveonJG · Post by **LiveonJG** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:00 pm

This thread turned depressing fast.

-John

(Hey Spiff NICE shoes up there in your first pic!)

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Headin on Out

Headin on Out