Itinerant Hot Greetings From Hot Desert

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Hot Greetings From Hot Desert

Post by Amskeptic » 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:
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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:
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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:

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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.
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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:
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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:
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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 . . .
:flower:
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
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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Randy in Maine
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Post by Randy in Maine » Mon Jul 19, 2010 4:14 pm

Since you are there.....

are the drivers and passengers door panels the same under the vinyl? I am thinking exterior shape.....
79 VW Bus

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Sylvester
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Post by Sylvester » Mon Jul 19, 2010 4:57 pm

Can I add to the love of the desert heat? I do too, and have the proof:

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Me in Kuwait 2002. That thermometer is not wrong, this was July. I love the pictures you have taken out there. Please take a lot in Death Valley.

Your fellow Desert Rat.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue, I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod, The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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Hippie
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Post by Hippie » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:36 pm

Ahhhhh....DRYness! :bounce: I can't wait to get out west next week. Maybe Wyoming and down into Utah. Playing it by ear.

Promise, Colin, someday when your days are almost done that you will never be murmuring to yourself in some upstate New York nursing home,
but will somehow manage to go out in a desert heat baked halucinogenic fog of Gumout talking to God in your skivies, like the ending of some edgy early '70s late night B movie?

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hambone
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Post by hambone » Tue Jul 20, 2010 7:32 am

Safffffffffee travels (again)!
We were up at 5000' for 3 days, I am now an official redneck. Sunny but you could see the marine layer of clouds choking the Willamette Valley until late afternoon, every day. Weird to see. Even stranger to drop down into it again. What a weird "summer" we are having.
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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Hippie
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Post by Hippie » Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:20 am

hambone wrote:I am now an official redneck.
Welcome brother. If you ever get to Iowa, I'll take you deer hunting.
I have some red plaid shirts you can borrow. :cherry:

(Then afterward, we'll get stoned like a couple hippies.)

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sped372
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Re: Itinerant Hot Greetings From Hot Desert

Post by sped372 » Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:54 am

Amskeptic wrote:But I have adjusted my valves in the middle of nowhere in my Calvins.
I usually have my wrench, screwdriver, and feeler gage set squarely on my chest while I'm laying under there adjusting. That way they're up off the dirty ground and I don't have to search for 'em. Not sure if I'd go for that it my skivvies in an oven.
1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

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hambone
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Post by hambone » Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:58 am

98% of all photos of me are in a red flannel shirt.
Man I would love to get back to the Heartland. It's a vast complex land out there. Well it's always fun to drown in your own local beauty so not all is lost.
Truthfully, I get along much better with rural folks. Too damn many Blackberrys and lattes in the BIG CITY. Country people are my people. As long as they keep outa my womb and take their old tires outa the creeks. :flower:
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 » Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:30 am

Hippie wrote:Ahhhhh....DRYness! :bounce: I can't wait to get out west next week. Maybe Wyoming and down into Utah. Playing it by ear.

Promise, Colin, someday when your days are almost done that you will never be murmuring to yourself in some upstate New York nursing home,
but will somehow manage to go out in a desert heat baked halucinogenic fog of Gumout talking to God in your skivies, like the ending of some edgy early '70s late night B movie?
Well the PLAN is to retire from this retirement party and get a job at the point of physical failure, greeting people at WalMart. They might even give me one of those carts. I'll zing over to those people who look like they don't have a receipt and block the exit:
"God sees everything . . . "
"Whatchoo talkin' bout, old man?"
"You'll never look in the mirror the same ever again . . ."
"SECURITY! Where is security??"
"Exactly."
:cyclopsani:
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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Hippie
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Post by Hippie » Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:51 pm

=D>
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bajaman72
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Post by bajaman72 » Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:21 am

Bakersfield to Barstow... I could gave you a nice cool room to sleep in Colin. Mabey next year ill have to get on "the list"

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:07 am

bajaman72 wrote:Bakersfield to Barstow... I could gave you a nice cool room to sleep in Colin. Mabey next year ill have to get on "the list"
I should have looked at your location on your avatar. That's your airport with the weeds and fences and abandoned railroad cars and 747's with missing engines. Would have been great to see you on my way through.
Colin

(had to sell these planes to a certain Senor Juan David Ochoa to help cover the taxes, why do you need all these planes? I ask, cierra la bocha tu maldito estupido, he says, which I think means to better watch the beautiful sunsets in my country)
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

bajaman72
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Post by bajaman72 » Fri Jul 23, 2010 3:24 pm

:cheers: that's me! Mabey next round.

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vwbuff
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Post by vwbuff » Sat Jul 24, 2010 4:29 am

Colin,
What model temp gun are you using, looking at getting one.It seems
the greater the distance to spot ratio the better.The cheap ones are
8:1 and they go up from there.

Wayne
Nova Scotia
77 Riviera 2.0L FI Boston Bob
71 Ghia

vintage vdubbers

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:13 am

vwbuff wrote:Colin,
What model temp gun are you using, looking at getting one.It seems
the greater the distance to spot ratio the better.The cheap ones are
8:1 and they go up from there.
Wayne
RayTek $280.00 back in the days of HVAC house analysis.

I have some new temps to post . . . :geek:

Image

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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