A clunk. A death. Angels. A trip to California.

A lot can happen in a week.

Last weekend I started hearing a heavy metal-to-metal clunk when driving over rough roads or expansion joints (ahh.. Highlands Ranch... Beige Hell with shitty roads!). It would go away when applying the brakes.

I crawled around underneath the bus and couldn`t see anything obvious so kept driving it the one block to work. Yep. One block. You`re jealous. Admit it. I could walk, but since I walk 5 miles per day on average at work anyway, I usually drive.

All well and good, but the clunk was getting worse. It got to the point where there was a grinding noise in the brakes when backing up. Ouch.

I crawled underneath again and this time saw the upper caliper mounting bolt was missing from the driver`s side caliper. Scary!

Since I only work a block away ( :P ) I ordered one from Busted Bus, and started driving the Chevrolegs.

Thursday comes around. I`m at work discovering a major project I was working on was canceled. But the universe wasn`t through with me yet. That afternoon I got a call from my uncle in California. Never good news when rarely heard from relatives out of state call. This day was no exception.

My mother passed away.

I went into shock. Then frenzy. Then numb.

I started going through the motions to get the bus ready and drive out to CA. But I still didn`t have a bolt for the caliper! Oh well, I think, it`ll be here Friday for sure, right?

In the meantime my wife reminds me that the kids need to go too. And her. I had kind of hoped to handle this one alone, but of course that was out of the question. So the simple plan of just hopping into the bus and hitting the road became a mishmash of a family road trip.

Like I need this crap now.

Top it off, I don`t have enough $$ to cover the trip, expenses, etc. So I list my BA-6 for sale. No real takers, but a great member of the Type 2 List (who is nameless to prevent others from taking advantage) dropped a good sized chunk of money in my PayPal Account! The trip itself was covered. Yay!

Friday`s mail came, no bolt. Crap. I emailed a bunch of the local guys to see if anybody had a bolt. Jon helped me out and got me the caliper bolt. Others volunteered too, but Jon`s was closer. Less gas money.

During the Great Bolt Chase, more expenses arose. I got to the point where the only way out that I could see was to sell the Guacamole Bus. I emailed the same local guys that I was putting it on the market and why. I listed it on Craigslist too.

While I was getting the infamous bolt, my wife, behind my back, called my boss at the church. While my wife is a member there, as well as an employee, I`m just an employee in the IT dept discovering just how much I hate Macs. Anyway, she called my boss, who contacted the church`s Bereavement Ministry. They kicked down the money we needed to make everything happen.

So we leave in the morning for Cali. Should be a beautiful trip with the leaves changing!

The Continental Divide

We had a great time! It took about an hour and a half to reach the divide from Highlands Ranch, CO, including a stop for gas and snacks.

The pic up top was a pain though. It was raining pretty hard, and the family needed some cajoling to get out of the nice dry bus to stand in the rain.

I slid down the muddy hill and set up the camera and tripod. I set the timer and scrambled up the slimy steep hill and barely got in place before the shutter fired.

The family disappeared into the bus like they were beamed aboard.

We continued West on Route 6 until it connected with I-70 at Silverthorne. We swung onto the 70 going East toward the Johnson Tunnel and Home.

Along the way we stopped at a gold mine tour, the Argo Gold Mine in Idaho Springs. Lots of fun, even for the 4 year old.

When we pulled in, we wandered into a yard filled with train and ore cars. I realized I`d left my headlights on so I sprinted back to the Guacamole Bus. As I was walking back to the family, a gentleman approached me asking for a jumpstart. I went back to the bus while the family checked out the toys.

It took about 15 minutes to get that Honda started because I couldn`t get close enough for his cables to reach my battery. I was about to suggest pushing his car out into the parking lot when I remembered I had cables too... Extension cord!

After putting the bus back into some semblance of "straight" I walked into the gift shop to find my family. We were late for the last tour and the wife had already bought tickets. ($15 for adults, young kids free.)

We popped into the classroom presentation just in time for the presenter to finish, though he was kind enough to recap for us the history of why the Argo was closed.

Everybody piled into the not-so-old schoolbus and we climbed a dirt trail to the pile of tailings at the opening of the Double Eagle Gold Mine, a short horizontal mine shaft dug in the mountain above the mill.

We walked around the mountain to the Argo`s portal. There is still a steady flow of water coming out of there, loaded with heavy metals. Just outside the door there`s a grate in the ground letting the water go through a treatment plant before finally draining into Clear Creek.

After leaving the Argo portal, there`s the air compressor house. The compressors they used for the pneumatic drills are huge. The wheel appeared to be 6 feet in diameter.

From there we entered the top of the mill. Except for equipment that had to be made out of iron or steel, the entire thing is wood. Very old brittle wood. There was lots of electricity in use, since that mill was still in use during WWII.

During the tour of the mill, one kid picked up a loose rock that was 50/50 smoky quartz and granite. He wanted to take it home. The Argo is a National Historical site, and it would be illegal to take it. Poor kid. He was so excited.

After we exited the mill, we went to the panning for gold display. Just like the one Knott`s Berry Farm used to have, you get a pan and a bag of sand that is guaranteed to have some gold. Out of the 3 bags we got, 12 tiny flakes of gold were found. But it was fun. I did this a lot at Knott`s, but the kids have never done it.

We piled into the bus and got ready to leave, but not without some parting shots:

On the way home, instead of taking I-70 to C-470, we took Route 6 to Boulder then to the 470.

That route takes you along Clear Creek for most of the way. It`s an amazing scenic drive. Way better than the "superhighway" that the 70 becomes as it comes out of the mountains.

We stopped at one point to wander around and take some pics.

After a stop at Qdoba (barf) for dinner we headed home. Tired and happy. Even my son who resisted going enjoyed himself.

One of the things I`ve always wanted to do was take a pic of the bus at the Continental Divide. Ideally I`d like one for each season. Yeah, I`m a geek.

Well, since yesterday was my birthday, the wife asked me what I wanted to do. Anything at all.

"Let`s go to the Continental Divide!" was my obvious reply. "We`ll make a day of it. Loveland Pass is only an hour or two away. We`ll drive up, take pics, eat lunch, and drive home."

So off we go. We`ll be leaving in an hour or so. It`s about time for an oil change on the Guac, but I have a rule: No work on the bus immediately prior to a long drive if it can be avoided. I have a fear that I`ll make a mistake doing the work that will cause major problems on the road. I`d rather discover the mistake while running to the store than when doing 75mph in the middle of nowhere. So the oil change will have to wait until tomorrow.

Again, the goal is one photo per season. Let`s see if I can accomplish that within one year. Today will be the first photo: SUMMER!

3 Hippies and a Green Bus

A recent post over on The Samba got me thinking about this crazy series of events back in 2004.

3 guys bought a bus on eBay, flew from IL to Hollywood to pick it up, and found out they had been burned by the seller. BAD. These guys, who embody the word "hippy" as I`ve never seen before, believed they could fly in, pick up the bus, and fly home.

It was not to be.

Luckily for them, they ran into a local bassist, "Bottomend". Bottomend went way above and beyond in helping them, spending 2 weeks getting their bus into some kind of shape. The story of personal growth, exploration, and frustration are inspiring if not flat terrifying.

This is the way the VW community can come together! Absolutely amazing! I doubt any Ford Explorer groups would do this for absolute strangers...

The thread is here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84419. I`ve also archived it into PDFs for easier printing and reading here.

The photos I took when I gave them the $350 we had collected in donations are now here in the 3 Hippies Gallery. Video? You want Video now too?!?!?!?! YouTube to the rescue!

The Guacamole Bus Goes to California July 2006

The Guac Goes to California
...AGAIN!

July 14, 2006 - Day 1

Due to my mom`s health issues, I decided to come out to CA and spend a month staying with her. That means putting the Guac back to work lugging me, my son, and our stuff to California again.

The only preparation I gave the Guac was an oil change and a timing and dwell check. I wanted to replace the shift stop plate so get rid of the clunky shifter, and get my hands on some bottom tinwork (the tin under the pushrod tubes), but I couldn`t get either before my trip. I called Painter`s Grinding in Denver for the shift stop plate. The guy answering the phone said, "We don`t have anything for your bus." It was obvious he hadn`t even tried to look it up since the plate is shared with virtually ALL the bugs. I wish there was a parts place near me in Colorado worth a damn.

We left Friday, July 14, at about 1:30pm. I saw an orange bay westy on Arapahoe Blvd before getting on I-25. A good start!

Mileage at the start: 42709

Regular food, drink, stretch stops every hour or so. Then as we crossed Raton Pass I saw the "Welcome to New Mexico" sign and decided it was worth a pic:

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As we drove through New Mexico, we were treated to a wonderful light show. The clouds were firing off lightning every minute or two all the way to Albuquerque! Stunning!

We stayed in a Comfort Inn. Not bad. Not great but not bad. $75 per night.

July 15, 2006 - Day 2

We got kind of a late start, actually hit the road around 10am. There was a black bay with a white hard top that drove by while I was getting gas.

Stopped along I-40 at a rest stop that had some Indian crafts sellers. I shot mostly film but here are a couple shots from my digicam too:

We got to the Arizona Divide around 5pm. I quickly got us checked in the Route 66 Inn and made a bee-line for the Grand Canyon. We stopped at a gas station on the way and asked about hours and such since it was after 6pm. It seems you have to buy a pass at a machine, many of the gas stations and stores have these machines. Cost? $25.

WTF?

This is a National Park. Public property. Why should I pay $25 to pop into the national park to take a look at the Grand Canyon? To make it worse, there are tons of sponsors: The visitor`s center is now the "National Geographic Visitor`s Center". And it has an IMAX theater. With these sponsorships, shouldn`t they be lowering prices not charging half what Disneyland costs?

I was so irritated I turned around and went back to the motel.

I really like Williams, AZ. It`s a cute small town with lots of Route 66 history. Check it out if you get a chance. But avoid the Route 66 Inn.

The rate was kind of high for what it was. $55 per night. I stayed there my last trip through Williams in February 05, and I remembered it being kind of skanky, but its history (built in the 30`s) made up for it. Or so I thought. Here`s a pic of the room taken the following morning:

My son found the unique way they level the mattresses:

The carpet was disgusting and lumpy, the walls in the bathroom were rotting, etc. I wanted this motel to work so badly. Sigh. Never again. There`s a place just up the street called "The Lodge" that I may try next time I go through there.

Most interesting bug splat:

July 16, 2006 - Day 3

We got out of the motel at 8am. Thinking we were ahead of the game, we stopped at Jack in the Box for breakfast. It took over an hour. They were busy, and only had 3 people working. And those 3 people were pretty clueless.

Back on the road at 9:30 we`re heading West, expecting to arrive in Placentia, CA, around 5 to drop my son off at his friend`s. Until we hit traffic in the Mojave Desert.

Temps were around 120. It was hot. Really brutally scorchingly hot. And ADOT is working on the bridges over the various washes along the way. Traffic got choked down to one lane in two separate places. Took over an hour to go 10 miles, finally clearing up a little while before Ludlow, CA.

Did I mention it was hot? And being in this traffic means no wind. It was hot.

We stopped in Ludlow for gas and lunch. Both gas stations were mobbed due to the traffic. I got gas and popped across the street to the Ludlow Coffee Shop. Walking to the door we saw the "B" rating from the health inspector. The infractions were poor utensil sterilization and incorrect food temperatures. Oh oh.

I had a BLT and a piece of Coconut Cream Pie. My son had chicken enchiladas. The food was good. No problems at all. It was nice and cold inside there too. I didn`t want to go back outside...

Back on the road, we made excellent time from there all the way to Placentia, arriving at my son`s friend`s house at a little after 6pm.

GWB: Estes Park Road Trip

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Great White Bus
Estes Park

I had been planning a trip to California for the week of October 16, 2005. But for financial reasons couldn`t pull it off. So I tried to think of short trips that we could take instead.

I came up with Cheyenne, WY. Only 120 miles from here, yet we could say we went to Wyoming . Just crossing state lines provides a sense of excitement that traveling further within a state lacks. But after posting to the Type 2 List, I was told just how boring the city was. I kind of suspected, but still had hopes. Besides, the drive itself would be worthwhile... The idea was to drive up on Wednesday, stay for two nights, and drive home on Friday.

But after being convinced that Cheyenne would bore us to tears, we were told Estes Park would be a better choice. I wasn`t up for camping with the kids when it`s cold, and our money was worse than I expected. So we decided to do a day trip to ride the Estes Park Aerial Tramway instead.

I packed all my camera gear, including my medium format TLR, broke out the electric cooler for lunch goodies, packed the family, and was on the road around 9am. We took our time, stopping for lots of potty breaks for the 2 year old.

A little before noon, we stopped at Estes Lake for lunch. Note that there is a $5 parking fee, if you head that way. But it was worth it to have a relaxing lunch.

Once we finished eating, we drove the last few minutes to the tramway. Only to find it was closed!!! The website states: "The Estes Park Aerial Tramway operates daily 9am-6:30pm." But if you aren`t paying attention (as I obviously wasn`t), you miss this: "2005 Season May 21 - September 11" Now, to me, "Daily" does NOT equal "Seasonal". So it didn`t occur to me to look for that season information.

Prevented from riding the tram by a "Closed for the season" sign, and extremely ticked off, we start to head back in the direction of home while discussing what to do next.

Mapquest directions had us take I-25 to CO-66 to CO-36. And that`s the route we took to get there. Google Maps just goes I-25 to CO-36. That`s the way we headed back. I think I liked the CO-66 route better... Takes you through a farm community that`s VERY picturesque. CO-36 takes you through Boulder.

Shortly after leaving the Boulder city limits on CO-36, the (G) light came on. Thinking I finally snapped that antique alternator belt I`ve been running, and knowing I had a spare on hand, I casually coasted off the freeway and shut the bus down.

A quick check turned up a loose belt, but not broken. Hmm... Why is it loose? That`s when I found the fan was also loose. The bolts weren`t screwing in. I pull the belt off and the fan off and find this:

Yep. The bolts were all sheared off. Now, one of the bolts was snapped when I got the bus, but the other two were fine. I can`t imagine the thing would just suddenly snap off the other two bolts. Only thing I can think of is something got caught in the fan and stopped it spinning. When the bolts snapped, it knocked loose whatever it was that caught.

I carry most of my tools with me, including some NOTSOeasyouts. And I should have had a cordless drill in the bus. But it wasn`t there. I had a regular power drill, but no place to plug it in on the side of the road. Sigh.

I call #ROAD (roadside assistance through my Sprint phone) to get a tow to a local shop to have those buggers drilled out.

"Sorry, sir, we don`t show you as a member." So, after doinking around on the phone for an hour calling various customer service desks I finally get it straightened out. A tow truck will be there in 90 minutes. It`s nearly 4pm at this point. "Would you like the phone number for a taxi service as well?" Why would I want that? "The truck can only carry 2 passengers." Crap. I was hoping that wouldn`t happen to me. Sigh. Because we were like 100 yards from the onramp of a street with a Chuck E Cheese, the wife took the kids there while I waited for a tow truck. Here are some pics I took while sitting there:

10 minutes before 5pm the truck arrives. The driver apologizes profusely. Apparently AAA gave him the wrong location so he went driving around looking for me. A highway, a mile marker, and an offramp obviously weren`t enough for them to get it right. 2 closed shops and we finally find a shop on the 3rd try that even had a VW geek for a mechanic there. We chatted for a few, but they all refused to work on the bus last night. Since it was after 5pm and all. (Since when do mechanics work banker`s hours?)

I walk back over the freeway to CEC and talk things over with the wife. A few quick calls tells me a taxi home would be around $100. But there`s a hotel 2 blocks from the shop the bus is at. La Quinta Inn. Not bad for $79. I would have been happy with Skank`O`Rama for $29 if that`s what was nearby.

We stay the night after a quick Target shopping trip for toothbrushes, shampoo, and shirts to change into.

Bus was ready at 11am the following morning. $82 in labor. No parts. I hauled butt home after that because I didn`t want to stop anywhere and take a chance something else would happen. Sigh. Wife swears she`s not going on another roadtrip in the bus again. Ever. Ever. (Ok, that only lasted a day, now she wants to go again... hah!)

My daughter at the shop that fixed the GWB: