Itinerant Air-Cooled

Sad I missed the git-together! Looked like a blast!

But I did a little end-o-the-world 'venturing of my own...

Had to get home to SF and since I hate I-5 which was closed crossing into CA anyway, I only took I-5 as far as 138, spent the solstice camped at Umpqua Hot Springs, hiked 2.5 miles in through a foot of snow in the morn and had a glittering paradise all to myself, then ran into a nice young couple from PDX skiing in on the way out and we shared brandied coffee, doobage and laughs. Then I headed past Diamond Lake and down 230 to 62 into Crater Lake. 62 had almost 50 miles of 3-10" of fresh snow on it that Maybelline happily plowed thru, no slips, ands or buts. Spent the next night at "Jo's Motel" in Fort Klamath (highly recommended if you're ever in the area), owned and operated by this awesome ol' hippie couple. The Ol' Lady was super excited when I told her about the crazy high mountain spring with purple Noble Firs that we found above Blair Lake. They had a trail cut through the 3' of snow behind the motel leading to a lonely firepit right on the river where I got a blaze going and played my gee-tar for the flurries into the night. After coffee and morning convo with "Robin n' Jim" (No "Jo", sadly), I headed off on what would be the craziest drive of my life....

After plowing the road from Fort Klamath to Chiloquin, I got on 97, and things went from slightly-ballsy-but-fun-and-pretty to holy-sh!t-I-hope-I-don't-end-up-in-Klamath-Lake. 30+mph headwinds kept the bus under 40mph on flat ground with the pedal to the floor. 50+mph side gusts threatened to send me skittering off the ice into the half-frozen lake, with my only hope being keeping that pedal floored to maintain as much forward momentum as possible. White-out flurries came and went, swallowing the trucks and forcing dreaded slowdowns. Passing thru Klamath Falls brought short lived relief as the storm broke. But as soon as I hit the CA border, I saw a full-size truck trailer in on it's side in the ditch just in time to warn me of the 40mph headwinds and who-even-knows side gusts that hit. Floored at 35 in 3rd for a half hour, knuckles see-through, lane markings meaningless.

Again relief came until Weed, where sunny skies belied false confidence. Hit I-5 to find a million idots driving 20mph with chains on, on perfectly bare (salted, blechhh) roads. There was substantial roadside snow until Redding, where it finally dwindled enough to make even the biggest dupes take the chains off. Hooray! Nooo.... more wind! This time with driving sheets of rain. I had to stop at a Black Bear Diner until the rain subsided and I was left only to deal with the gale all the way into the City... Took about 20 hours to drive all told, and I walked out to the bus to find one of my snow tires flat in the morning and I didn't bring chains. Luckily I brought two matching non-snow spares and I met another bus pilot at the beach here who happened to have a set in his bus that came with it and he never foresaw using! I can make it home!

But now the question is, how do I configure the tires? I have two good Wildcats, two kinda bald Nanking 8plys, and two studded Eurowinters (one flat). I had the wildcats up front with the winters on back, and during non-winter driving I roll the wildcats out back and the nankings up front, but I worry that the nanks don't have enough grip to steer on snow. So I'm thinking nanks on the back, with chains in the snow when needed, but I worry about having less grip in the back of a vehicle prone to oversteer when not using the chains.... Arrgh! And of course I can't just replace the tire, cuz studded tires aren't legal in CA.

http://s169.beta.photobucket.com/user/D ... ice%202012

Janky cell phone pics!

I'd put the Eurowinters on in back and roll with the Wildcats up front. Traction in snow helps a lot along with the ability to steer. Nice snow pictures!
You could add LSD to the tranny then you don't worry so much about traction as even with two crappy tires in back you get around and if you are slipping you can control it with the throttle some as the rear end bites instead of sliding around.
I am not going to attempt to go anywhere in the snow until I get a gas heater setup! Playing guitar in the snow, you are just plain crazy.

Bleyseng wrote:I'd put the Eurowinters on in back and roll with the Wildcats up front. Traction in snow helps a lot along with the ability to steer. Nice snow pictures!

That's how I got here, but one of the winters is irreparably flat. So the Nankings hafta be on there somewhere.

Bleyseng wrote:You could add LSD to the tranny then you don't worry so much about traction as even with two crappy tires in back you get around and if you are slipping you can control it with the throttle some as the rear end bites instead of sliding around.

Or I could add some to myself and fly home . Heeheehee!

Bleyseng wrote:I am not going to attempt to go anywhere in the snow until I get a gas heater setup! Playing guitar in the snow, you are just plain crazy.

Yeah, I roll a Coleman Cat on the front floor, since my BN4 is in the shop. And a little Wild Turkey helps warm the bones when playing under an icy moon.

when you head north again, consider taking the 101 instead of the 5. check the road reports for what it would look like from Crescent City back over towards the 5 (if you have to at that point) but you should be in nothing but rain from SF to Eureka (maybe an inch at the top of the highest pass, which is short lived.)

I have chains in my garage you could borrow until whenever (never used them before, model QG1130, bought and then just drove on without using them). there's also a spare set of wildcats in my garage mounted and balanced on rims, but they are probably nearing the same amount of tread as your nankings from the sounds of it. anyway - if any of that can help, their here for the taking.

coffee, beer, humboldt greenery and or driveway space/wifi always available. =)

DjEep wrote:

Or I could add some to myself and fly home . Heeheehee!

[

I stopped doing that 40 yrs ago...

airkooledchris wrote:when you head north again, consider taking the 101 instead of the 5. check the road reports for what it would look like from Crescent City back over towards the 5 (if you have to at that point) but you should be in nothing but rain from SF to Eureka (maybe an inch at the top of the highest pass, which is short lived.)

I have chains in my garage you could borrow until whenever (never used them before, model QG1130, bought and then just drove on without using them). there's also a spare set of wildcats in my garage mounted and balanced on rims, but they are probably nearing the same amount of tread as your nankings from the sounds of it. anyway - if any of that can help, their here for the taking.

coffee, beer, humboldt greenery and or driveway space/wifi always available. =)

I'm considering 101, but I wanted to stop in Sac to see some friends. Looking at Tripcheck, it looks like the roads are cleared up nicely. I might take 101 if my plans fall thru in Sac though. Honestly, I just like snow driving. Makes everyone else go the same speed as my bus .

I'll drop you a not if I'm heading thru.

DjEep wrote:how do I configure the tires?

Way easy with a VW bus. Put the better traction on the rear, the fronts have so little work to do that even lousy tires have half a chance.

If you were driving a Chevy van . . . then you'd some difficult decision making.
Colin
(p.s. looking forward to summer)

Yeah, I never had any problem with that setup, but I never tried it in the snow. I know that during snowy lot "warm ups" and attempts at decelerating turns when I had the studs on, even the wildcats would slip and send me straight ahead.

And of course the chains I was gifted are way too big for a bus.

Looking more like 101 or a well-timed shot at the dreaded I-5 might be the way.

the 'straight ahead' effect in the snow is difficult to avoid when it's deep and your decelerating, esp if your at any kind of downhill incline (even in a front engined FWD vehicle.)

if you trek the 101 ill pass along the chains I do have. ill be around all weekend with my kid, and if you happen through on Sunday - I could get out (after lunchtime) and go tour some breweries/sample some of the locally grown produce with ya.

safe travels wherever you end up. =)

Thanks Kris, I'll let ya know. Probably won't need the chains if I head that way, but the offer is appreciated, and ya never know.

...

Just woke up in Bolinas. Taking the coast back up. Looks lke I'll be spending the new years on the north coast somewhere. Aircooledchris, I'll send ya a pm.

If you spy a loose 1.9L up in hippie country let me know

Ten-4 lil' buddy.

Hangin' w/ chris on the emerald coast. He saved me with a grease gun. That squeek in the front got quite annoying and I tracked it down to the seals/bushings in the beam. All the snow-plowing musta dried 'em out but good! Took about 20 pumps each to get fresh goo to seep out.