Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Pacific NW

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Pacific NW

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:00 am

From justgimmecoffee's house in Idaho, I travelled down the hill towards Spokane Washington to visit satchmo and warm up. But first, it was in Idaho that I met a young team of Volkswagen enthusiasts at a local Motel6. Pointing towards a 1955 dropped beetle, he turned to me and waxed enthusiastic about further plans to customize it while I only let loose a couple of involuntary tics and Tourette's "don't" exhalations. He brought his girlfriend over to join in the dubtalk. Gamely she cast her eye over the BobD and asked me, "did you put shiner on it and stuff?"

In Spokane, I was greeted with plummeting temperatures and a really nice welcome from the Pacific Ocean, which as you know, can only speak with trillions of gallons of cold water that are miserable mist by the time they reach Spokane. Weather forecast for our satchmo engine drop was Rain. Cold. Wind. As I drove down to Pullman, the weather got colder still. My muscles were seizing up and my boundless enthusiasm for tearing into beloved German engineering had dissipated entirely.

Excuses were looming up in my mind.
"Hello Satchmo, It is too cold and rainy. I don't want to work on your stupid old car." Naah, too fanciful.
"Satch? Yeah, this is Colin, look I am really sorry, but a thrombosis just cut loose and plugged up my brain right where I used to remember how to work on cars." Hmmm, that is a little more plausible.
"Satchmo! Hi, it's Colin, I have been kidnapped by aliens, I am in the 4th quadrant of the Crab Nebulla 63 parsecs due wes . . no um northwest. Can you call a cab for me?"
So I drove on down to Lewiston Idaho whining at my life to see if it might be warm enough to camp:
Image

Of course it was beautiful:
Image

The morning of our appointment, it was a glorious 55* and almost not cloudy. Happily, I drove back up the hill . . . where the temperatures dropped a solid 10* :
Image

Pulled into the Satchmo Country Villa where I was hoping to be escorted in to a nice spot next to the fireplace, "don't worry about my stupid old car, you can sit here and read, would you like a cup of hot chocolate?"
But no, satchmo was on the porch raring to go.
Image

We installed the engine in the Vanagon, and I heard myself telling glasseye, who showed up shortly after I arrived feeling a little under the weather, "it's a beautiful day to get ready for Maupin and you're coming down with us." A little pharmaceutical intervention from the good doctor and he was agreeable (a little photoshop action here to restore his color):
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We took a little test drive in that very nice Vanagon as the temperatures dropped still further on the misty heath of eastern Washington:
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The next morning, I was to go back down to Lewiston to change the oil and then caravan with glasseye to Maupin along the beautiful road, but being the capricious autistic that I am, I abandoned the plan and took off on a solitary journey to ask God why his beautiful Creation has to be so damn chilly sometimes . . . :

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. . . . and the Answer was

Your Engine Prefers It:

Image
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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Post by satchmo » Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:40 pm

Don't let Colin fool you with his faux protestations and incessant whining about the weather.

Before Colin left Post Falls, I offered him the opportunity to warm his bones by my fireplace, to rest his weary head on a down pillow while listening to the soft cooing of the mourning doves, to take a hot shower, to wash his clothes, and to get on the highest speed internet connection available in rural America. But did he accept??!!! NOOOOOO. Of course not.

Instead, he drives right on by my house the evening before my scheduled IAC appointment and heads to Lewiston to sleep on the floor of his bus in some bank parking lot illuminated by sodium lamps and neon signs, shivering under a moth-eaten wool blanket, with Idaho cops sneaking around and shining their flashlights into his windows, all while fighting off the incredible urge that men of a certain age have to get up and pee (I probably made up that last part about the bank parking lot and stuff....).

Despite Colin's (and later, glasseye's) incredible moaning on the morning of my IAC visit, I got them both fixed up with hot coffee and strong, but appropriate, medications. I'm not a doctor for no reason. They started feeling good enough after a while, they kind of lost track of the day's mission ("Hey, GUYS! We're trying to get my engine back in so I can get to Maupin tomorrow.... REMEMBER??!!")

By the time we got to Maupin, most of the whining and shivering had stopped, thank goodness. By the time we left Maupin, both Colin and glasseye were all smiles.

[albumimg]3061[/albumimg]

All is good.

Tim
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: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Pacific NW

Post by glasseye » Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:30 am

Amskeptic wrote: . . . . and the Answer was
Your Engine Prefers It:
*DISCLAIMER* shameless thread hijack follows

No kidding. Diesels, too. On the way back eastbound across Oregon to Idaho at a leisurely 55 mph or so ( I was convoying with satchmo and Vanagons are notoriously sloooo, right? :flower: ) the cool damp air and slow speeds resulted in an astounding 28 mpg from Frito's 2.7 liter turbodiesel.

Image
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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Post by Amskeptic » Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:11 am

satchmo wrote:
("Hey, GUYS! We're trying to get my engine back in so I can get to Maupin tomorrow.... REMEMBER??!!")
[albumimg]3061[/albumimg]
Do those two mugs look like guys who remember . . . anything after 1972 or so??

Colin :drunken:
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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Post by Bookwus » Tue Jun 29, 2010 5:35 pm

Hiya GE,

Just a brief bit more please on that Honda that appears to be living inside Frito.
I have cancer.

It does not have me.

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glasseye
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Post by glasseye » Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:50 pm

1977 Honda CB 125S.

One day in Merritt, BC, I saw it sitting in a chainsaw repair shop yard with a white tag on it. As I pulled into the lot I said to my wife "If that thing starts, I'm buying it". It did and I did. It had 500 miles on it then, some 20 years ago, now it has nearly 5000. I took it to Maupin, but it suffered some carb dirt, stirred up by the trip to Oregon and wouldn't run properly. Once home, and I got the carb cleaned out, he runs as well as new. Great little bike. Frito loves him. 200 lbs over the rear axle damps Frito's awful ride. They're both gonna see Death Valley next spring. :cheers:
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 01, 2010 7:50 am

glasseye wrote:
Frito loves him. 200 lbs over the rear axle damps Frito's awful ride.
Sorry to hear about that awful ride. I hear there is this van with four wheel independent torsion bar suspension that is magnificent ride empty or loaded with ten times the weight of the Honda . . . but I can't remember what it's called.
Colin :cyclopsani:


Image
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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Post by dhoch14 » Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:57 am

thanks to Colin for his visit last Sunday. We dialed in the dual carbs for the 4th year in a row.

I actually drove the bus to work today (instead of biking) which I have not done in 4 months. Rode like a dream.

keep rockin CK!

-dave
93 VW T4 2.4D Cali

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Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:04 am

dhoch14 wrote:thanks to Colin for his visit last Sunday. We dialed in the dual carbs for the 4th year in a row.

I actually drove the bus to work today (instead of biking) which I have not done in 4 months. Rode like a dream.

keep rockin CK!

-dave
Yours is the quintessential dual carb automatic:

Image
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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glasseye
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Post by glasseye » Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:12 am

Amskeptic wrote:
glasseye wrote:
Frito loves him. 200 lbs over the rear axle damps Frito's awful ride.
Sorry to hear about that awful ride.


ok, OK, OK. I shoulda said "awful ride when empty" :cherry:


I hear there is this van with four wheel independent torsion bar suspension that is magnificent ride empty or loaded with ten times the weight of the Honda . . . but I can't remember what it's called.
Colin :cyclopsani:


Image

Yah. :geek:

Right. :geek:

I've seen where you "sleep" in those things. :pale: Let alone stand up and put your pants on in the morning if it's raining outside. :bom:

Hater of Ox-carts.
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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Post by Amskeptic » Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:43 am

glasseye wrote:

Image


I've seen where you "sleep" in those things. :pale: Let alone stand up and put your pants on in the morning if it's raining outside. :bom:
Did you know I can put my pants with both legs simultaneously and be out and about enjoying the beautiful Creation in a jiffy from my VW?
.
.
.
.
. . . it is just a matter of starting your day horizontally :flower:
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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hambone
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Post by hambone » Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:02 am

Yep, I sleep in my bus alltime. Why does everyone seem to need to stand up in their vehicle?
Although I prefer sleeping in the Westy bed VS the floor. Tried it once between the seats, not too comfy.
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:31 am

hambone wrote:Yep, I sleep in my bus alltime. Why does everyone seem to need to stand up in their vehicle?
Although I prefer sleeping in the Westy bed VS the floor. Tried it once between the seats, not too comfy.
I accidentally slept in a big ol' parking lot that parked the patrons for Tommie's Comedy Club. About 2:15AM the enebriated patrons are set free to commit mayhem on our nation's highways.
"Du-u-u-ude, relax! I can drive!"
Colin :pale:
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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glasseye
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Post by glasseye » Wed Jul 14, 2010 11:09 am

I awoke in Frito in central WA this AM at 4:30. The reason I woke up was I was FREEZING. It was 34F. :pale: Only thing to do is get driving. It was just getting dawn, so it was actually pretty darn nice. :cherry:
"This war will pay for itself."
Paul Wolfowitz, speaking of Iraq.

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hambone
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Post by hambone » Wed Jul 14, 2010 11:12 am

What the hell are you doing in central Washington? Have you not been home from Maupin yet?
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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