Heat... winter driving....mmmmm

It's kind of funny.  The more I think about getting heat in my bus the more I think about winter driving it and how cool it would be to take the Monster to the ski hill.  Sweet. 

Sadly though it's going to have to wait for a few weeks anyway.  I'm heading for the tropics for a week of scuba diving.  When I get back though I am going to be cleaning out the Westy and getting it ready for the camping season which in this end of the country is about 2 months away.  :)   I did just get back from Cozumel Mexico and there are a ton of bugs and bussed down there. It was great but it looks like a lot of them have seen better days.  It was strange too, it loooked like a lot of the busses got converted to liquid cooling, I guess it make sense when you are 80 degrees in the winter and over 100 in the summer.  I can only imagine the issues you'd run into.

Well it’s been a long and not so cold winter here in Calgary and with the days getting longer I am getting more and more impatient to get the Westy out.   If I could get heat in the Green Monster, I’d probably be driving it this week.  I started doing a little research and I found a great site for the heating system on the bus. http://www.ratwell.com/technical/Heating.html   I think this will be my first project once a good Chinook rolls through town

I started accumulating some tools and a decent tool chest this year. I had to promise a friend Matt that I wouldn’t take my Westy to a repair shop anymore and I would at least attempt to do the repairs myself.  So a local Canadian Tire store had a 400+ piece set of tools on for about $150 (regular price about $400) and a really nice tool chest with drawers for about $125 (again regular price around $400).  I’m on my way.  I think this spring I’ll pick up some jack stands and ramps too.  Small steps right?

In a way I am really looking forward to stretching my legs a little more so to speak.  Last year I did some camping trips but they were all within a couple hundred kilometers.  I’d really like to see if I can make the trip to Kelowna and back this year.  Should be interesting as Kelowna is over 500 km away and it’s a great drive through the mountains and along the lakes.  I want to see just how far I can go in it this year.  I’ll have limited vacation time but I think a week should do it.   With Calgary as a home base, I’m thinking I might be able to get out to Coledale / Frank, Alberta for the Thunder in the Valley this year too.  Grand plans I tell you, grand plans. 

I’ll try to update the blog a lot more often from here on out. 

Okay, okay. I still haven't put up pictures of the damage but I thought I'd share this one with you.  It's a great Westy but....there's something wrong with the men in this picture.

Enjoy!!

The summer winds down

I had a gentle reminder from a friend that I have been remiss in my blogging duties.  He was right.  I havent posted anything in a while and for that I appologize.  

I haven't really done much with the Westy recently since I have been on the road for work.  Actually as I write this I am in Thunder Bay.  I will be back soon and I'llbe taking the Westy into the autobody shop to get and estimate on the body and paint work that needs to be done from the door falling off. 

To be honest, I have been reuctant to take the Westy out because of the door.  I don't want to be out somewhere either diving or camping and have to door come off and not be able to get it back on.  I don't want to give up on camping this year but I might have to face that reality.   I really hope that I can get the door fixed, painted and it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to do it.  I also hope that it doesn't snow for a while because I want to go out diving and camping still. 

Well I'll keep you posted and I WILL post some pictures of the damage from the door coming off when I get back.  

500 hits and counting

Well, I had assumed that no one was really reading this but I took a look at the stats and found that sometime last week I topped 500 page views.  Overall not too bad.  I had originally started this as a way to keep track of what I am doing with my Westy so years from now I can look back and admire all of my many accomplishments.  Some interesting things from the stats…

USA – 254 page views

Canada 207 page views

Malaysia – 10 page views

Germany – 7 page views

Austria 5 page views

Then there’s a handful of other places that have 4 or less views… the strangest place Russia.  I didn’t think that there were that many VW fans in Russia.

This weekend coming up I am going to head to Two Jack Lake for camping.  I’ll drag out the camera and telescope too and hopefully I have clear skies and good weather.  I’ll keep you posted.

Vent Windows

I need to add latches to my front vent windows.  You know those little triangular ones.  I know there are a few threads on thesamba.com about this so I’ll do the research and see if I can get them in sometime next week.  I got the latches yesterday from an online supplier for about $10 so I am happy and ready to tackle this small repair. 

I was looking online at classifieds on thesamba.com and had some guy respond.  Wow, he needs to take a chill pill.  He had both windows (complete) and they were in decent shape.  His asking price for them however was $125 for the pair plus $50 shipping.  Let me rewind a little bit here.  He send me a message on 08/03 saying that I was “2nd in line and the other guy didn't pay yet. If you want them send your address for shipping costs. I accept PayPal. If you Pay right away I will delete the ad and send the first guy an email telling him they are sold. If you want to call me my # is 909-396-XXXX.  Let me know.” 

It seemed a little fishy to me that he already had a buyer but if I paid him first he’d let me have them and tell the other guy to bugger off.  I asked how much shipping would be to me in Canada…” I'm sure its $50 to ship so the total is $175 box will be big and a little heavy PayPal is barimanXXXX@aol.com sorry I sent the wrong phone # it 909-496-XXXX Let me know I just checked the the other guy didn't pay”.

This is all in the span of a couple of hours.  Talk about impatient. 

So yesterday I was busy and believe it or not, I didn’t check my email and he sends me this…”So now  you won't answer my emails. Don't bother replying to any of my ads. I won't ship any of my parts to you”   

Seriously?  24 Hours and this guy loses his marbles and tells me that he won’t ship to me, ever.  Seems a little harsh doesn’t it?  Well I sent him a cheery email this morning thanking him for the information and that I’ll pass on these parts but it seems to me that this guy is just on the site to make some cash.  He really didn’t have the helpful, friendly attitude that I have encountered in other forums or when asking questions on the site.  Oh, well I guess a guy like this will reap what he sows. 

On a completely unrelated note I drove the Westy to work yesterday and as I was waiting at the lights at Southland and 14^th street a beautiful older beige bug pulls up beside me.  The guy rolls down his window and says “nice bus”.  I give him a smile and a thanks and compliment him on his bug.  It was in amazing condition.  I’d love to take a close look at it so he gave me the street that he’s on in the neighbourhood so I’ll take a cruise by later in the week and see if I can get a couple of pictures to post up here.  It was kinda cool having a couple of vintage VWs sitting side by side at the same stop light.  We were getting a lot of looks from other motorists.  I had to laugh at myself as the light turned green.  He gave me a wave and rather than wave back I flashed him the ‘peace sign’. Duuude.

Weekend in Drumheller

Well I survived the camping weekend.  In all honesty it wasn’t that bad.  I left Calgary a little later than I wanted as I had really hoped to avoid some of the “weekender” traffic.   No such luck.  Actually There was a huge thunder storm bearing down on highway #2 North of Calgary.  Right at about Airdre the skies opened up and the rain came, then the hail. Golf ball sized hail.   Luckily it wasn’t the really hard kind of hail that dents the crap out of everything but the kind that makes a lot of noise but no damage.  It was one of those storms that whipped in and out in a matter of a few minutes.   Over all the storm wasn’t that bad but it did leave a crap load of water and ice on the road and spawned a bunch of tornado watches for the area. 

The traffic on the #2 got backed up a little bit and I didn’t get to the campground until just after 6:00.  As you can see we got a primo location right by the porta-potty.  Luckily it didn’t smell.

The kids pretty much sorted themselves out in terms of sleeping arrangements and no drama.  All in all a good time was had by all.  We managed to visit the Royal Tyrell as well as Horseshoe Canyon. 

On another note I was down by the A&W last week on a Wednesday and there were a bunch of vintage cars there.  One of them actually came over and flagged me down.  They talked me into coming over and have a look as well as park the Westy in with them.  Since I really didn’t have anything else going on I stayed for a bit and popped the top.  I was amazed at how many random people came over to have a look and check out the Westy… here are a few pictures.