Last weekend, lessons learned

Friday night last week I packed up the bus and headed for the mountains.  I must confess that camping in the Rockies is one of my favourite things to do.  However it seems that every year I seem to forget that this early in the camping season that the overnight temperatures drop down to 5 - 7 degrees.. That s about 41-47 degrees for the Yanks.  

I have to say though the bus performed amazingly well, no breakdowns and my only complaint is that is was chilly in the morning.  Suck it up butter cup!  

I don't think I am going to make it out this weekend as I have some stuff to attend to in the city.  As much as I would LOVE to hit the road, I'm going to stick it out and probably go to the Club Vee-dub event at 5th Avenue VW.  Kind of a gathering of Dubs.  Hopefully there are some air cooled vehicles there because at the last event there were only a handful.

On another topic entirely I was talking to Eric about Camper Jam Canada last night and we were talking about how to grow the event.   Initially the Camper Jam was set up around busses but I suggested that we expand to allow other Dubs.  Maybe some Beetles? Air cooled?  If you have an opinion, I'd love to hear it!!

Short and sweet today.  I'll try and post again on the weekend , maybe even "live" from Fifth Avenue VW.

Getting Ready for Camper Jam Canada

Well it's official, I've been recuited.  Last year I went to an event called Camper Jam Canada.  There were about 35 or so busses from all over Western Canada.  Off the top of my head I can't rememer where the furthest bus came from but we had people from as far away as Saskatchewan and BC.  Which for a relatively small, but growing event, is kind of impressive. 

I bought my tickets already to  Camper Jam Canada and plan on bringing the Green Monster to it. Last year I did the cruise from Calgary out Hwy 1a to Canmore, switched over to Hwy 1 to 93 North and cruised along the Bow Valley Parkway to the Kootenay Plains campground.  I have to say it is one of the most amazing drives that you can experience.  The highway is nestled in the mountains with lakes, streams and glaciers right along side.  It's impressive. 

So this year I've been tapped to help out and try and get things oganized see if we can make it bigger, make it better! If you have any suggestions, comments, questions or ideas Let me hear them!!!  Our target for this year is 50+ busses and it looks like we already have one coming from the USA for the first time. 

Two dudes in a Miro-Bus

Note this is an older post from May long weekend 2013

Over 1500 KM logged in the Green Monster over the past week and the one thing that sticks out was the one of the first stops at the Mount Baker Pub in Cranbrook.  Brian and I stopped in there for a break and to meet his buddy from law school.  I park.  We walk in and there are some big guys at the bar and the only thing that they could say was "heh, two dudes in a micro-bus".  That phrase defined the trip.

Overall, it was a great little road trip and the bus held up for the most part without any major issues.  First night we camped in Moyie, BC by the river .  A great little spot. From there we hit the road in the morning and cruised through Oliver and up towards Penticton.  I took some pictures, Which I'll update onthe post later when I have time. 

From Penticton, we spend a grood part of the day cruising various wineries and we eventually ended up at Brian's parent's place in Vernon. Had a relaxing couple of days with Brian's parents and I even cashed in at the Legion "Meat Draw".  For those of you who have never been to a Royal Canadian Legion meat draw...i have to say you are missing out on one of life's little pleasures. 

We had planned to take a couple of days from Vernon coming back from Calgary but I received a phone call from a friend of mine once we were on the road telling me that my hot water tank had given up the ghost and leaked all over my basement.  So Brian and I pressed on back to Calgary and made the planned two day return in one .  Upon arriving home we unpacked the bus, I took off my socks and waded into my basement to survey the damage. Not that anyone cares (or sometime I wonder if anyone is reading this) but the carpet was soaked as well aas some of the drywall.  Insurance handled it, but it was a bit of a pain in the ass.

Hitting the road...tomorrow

Note this is an older post, from May Longweekend last year

The first camping trip of the season starts tomorrow.  My friend Brian is coming tonight, we'll do a little grocery shoppng tonight maybe pick up some beer some firewood and load up the bus.  The plan is to be on the road by 9:00ish tomorrow and head south.  I don't know exactly where. I think that we should make BC for sure today.  Good thing too because I believe that there is a fire ban on in Alberta because of the dry weather. 

Fahrfromhome - Sylvan Lake 2014

Now that the fuel lines have been repaired and the bus is road worthy I decided to take it out for a little run this past weekend.  Nothing too far a field just about 300 km ( 187 miles for my American friends).  There was an event called FAHRFROMHOME in Sylvan Lake, AB.  It was billed as a massive gathering of Alberta Volkwagens.  It didn't disappoint.  I don't know what the official count was but I'd bet it's somewhere between 250 - 300 VWs of all shapes and sizes.

Sadly there weren't many buses, maybe 6 in all and for people who like the air cooled VWs you'd be crushed with disappointment as there were maybe 14-16 air cooled VWs in all . We were far out numbered by GTIs, Cabriolets and other water cooled VDubs.

If you check out the Club Vee-Dub Facebook page for some more pictures.

Additonal FAHRFROMHOME PICTURES

All in all it was a great time and a good opportunity to go for a cruise and meet some new people.

Looking ahead to this week, I think I'm going to head out and go camping for the weekend.  Not sure where I'm going to go but I was thinking Two Jack Lake or maybe McNabb.  They aren't too far and hopefully reasonably warm over night.

Here's hoping for a good weekend, no rain, warm fire and no breakdowns!

Spring has sprung, and so have my fuel lines

Spring is finally here in the Canadian North and most of the snow is gone.  I say most because here in Calgary because of the proximity to the Rocky Mountains there is still some snow at higher altitudes.  All that said, it's a clear signal to the buss cleaned out and ready to roll for the next 5/6 months.

I rolled the bus to the end of the drive way, cleaned it out then went and got the keys.  I was a little hesitant as it had sat for the past 5 months dormant in the drive way with suffering through one of the coldest winters on record. I turned the key, and to may shock it started on the first try.  I was so excited.  I sat in the driver's seat listening to the engine idle up dreaming of the road trips ahead. That's when things went off the rails.

To be fair, it was a minor thing but it still had to be dealt with.  I smelled gas.  Raw gas.  Here we go again with the fuel lines.  I cut the engine and went to work.  It took me about 2 hours and, a lot of cussing and the obligatory sacrifice of blood.  Fuel lines replaced and ready to go.  Just in time too...

The ill fated road trip to Mount St.Helens

When I arrived in Tacoma on Wednesday the original plan was to head out to Mount St. Helens and camp along the way Thursday and make my way back for some scuba diving on Friday ahaead of the long weekend.  

Well it was pissing rain on Wednesday and Thursday so I decided to hang out in Tacoma and I would hit St.Helens on Sunday.  I had a great weekend with some friends in Tacoma.  Helped them with their house warming party, drank some moonshine (with hillbilly teeth too) and did some scuba diving at Rodondo Beach.  All in all a good weekend. 

Sunday rolls around and Jim and I decide to head out to St.Helens.  From their house its about 140 miles along the Spirit Lake Hwy.  It's a sunny day, there is ice and drinks in the cooler, topped up the gas tank and we set out on a beautiful drive through the mountains.

After about 2 hours of driving we cam across this bridge that had some water running out of the mountains under it.  You could tell from the upper slope that there had been a really sever washout in the not so distant past.  The upper slope was choked with rubble and large trees and you can see where water had undermined the slopes.  There was a pull off so we did.  Switched off the bus and got out to stretch out legs a bit.  I think we were about 10 or so miles from the volcano or at least the interpretive centre. Up to this point however we hadn't even slapped eyes on the infamous volcano that errupted back in 1980.  Eager to push on, we climbed in bot of us ready to resume our trip.  I turned the key.... nothing. Understand when I say nothing I mean nothing.  No lights.  No click. Nothing.  CRAAAAAAAAAAP!

Ok, I may have used a slightly stronger word than "Crap" but you get the idea.  I didn't panic though.  Luckily we were parked on a hill so we got the bus turned around and pointed in the right direction.  Thought at least if we could push start it we might get it back part way to Tacoma... as soon as we had a bit of speed I popped the clutch and it started...  hmmm.  Strange. 

We got it back to Tacoma and into the drive way and started looking into it.  Basically at this point all we were able to figure out was that because it was a relatively new starter there had to be an issue either between the battery and the starter ot the ignition switch and the starter.  Simple right?

I got some help from Stuartzickefoose basically a local who I made contact with on thesamba.com prior to my trip.  We were going to meet up Sunday night but with my wheels out of commission that wasn't going to happen.  He did talk us through a couple things before we found the actual issue. We pulled the ignition wires and tried to essentially hotwire the bus to check the ignition switch... no luck there, not even a click of the starter.  Next we tried jumping the started with a screwdriver... yes it's possible.  In this case however no such luck.  

As I was under the back wheel I noticed THIS...

 

You'll notice in the middle of the picture in the lower third there is a wire just hanging there.  I found it was live the hard way.  Apperently the ring terminal fromt he battery cable to the starter had sheared off some how. Luckily there was an auto parts store less than 2 miles away and 45 minutes and a couple beers later the bus was started and running again.  WHEW!

 

 

 

 

More to come.....