Snow again!

I think the weather has finally turned here in Calgary andwe have seen the last of the snow. Famous last words right?  I wantit to warm up but the sad reality in Canada is that we will likely get anotherdump of snow probably right around the May long weekend. That said the forecastfor the balance of this week actually looks good.  In the mid-teens and sunny throughSaturday.  For my American readers whohaven’t quite caught up to the rest of the World with the Metric system takethe temperature in Celsius and multiply by 1.8 and then add 32 which will giveyou the conversion.  So ( 15 Celsius x 1.8) + 32 is 59 Fahrenheit. 

 

Off I go on a tangent, don’t get me wrong I am not slammingthe imperial system… but it really makes conversions way more difficult than itneeds to be 

 

12 Inches = 1 Feet

5280 Feet or 63360 Inches  = 1 Mile

 

Oh and you use FRACTIONS of Inches.  Think back to your grade school math andremember how much you loved adding and subtracting fractions.  You didn’t did ya?

 

100 Centimeters in a 1 Meter

1000 Meters to a Kilometer 

 

Everything is base 10…makes adding and converting WAYeasier. 

 

To be honest I still struggle with the bus and the speedometerand odometer because of the miles and mph. More than once I caught myself ripping through a playground or schoolzome going 30 MPH not 30 KPH ( about 18 mph). Just glad Officer White wasn’t around to hand me a ticket.  

 

I’m hopeful that we have seen the last of the snow untilnext winter and I can take the bus out for a spin this week. 

 

Snow again in Calgary... will it ever end

Well damn it.  Calgary got about a 2 inch dump of snow last night. I keep looking forward to weekends so I can take the bus out for a cruise but I keep on getting dissapointed with the weather. 

A former co-worker of mine bought a Delorian last year and man does it look great. I think we are going to try and go for a drive together and maybe re-create the chase scene with the Libyans.  If you aren't sure which scene I'm talking about here is a link to the Youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPeHFDxKUP4

As i sit here the snow is still falling in Calgary and the forecast for the week doesn't look.  DAMN.  Well hopefully I can get into the van next week, clean her out and get her ready for the coming camping season. 

Oh, and I found a place in Calgary that actually works metal when it comes to body work and they look not too bad.  I might take the Monster in and get a couple of things touched up. 

From plus 19 C to 1 C in 24 hours - more on the planned roadie!

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Calgary and it hit +19C so I HAD to take the bus out for a spin.  It was great to take it out for a bit of a spin and it made me want to hit the road and go camping that much more. 

More on the planned road trip...

My buddy Brian and I planning a trip to Vernon / Kelowna over the May long weekend.  The plan so far is to head South through the Crowsnest pass and stop at Creston, BC or maybe Nelson and continue on thru Ossoyos and finally Kelowna / Vernon.   There might be a couple of unplanned stops since the highway from Ossoyos to Kelowna is littered with wineries.  The return trip is going to be less exciting as we head back through Golden.  We are looking on suggestions on where to go and what to see along the way. 

If any of you readers are in that area or our route please feel free to drop me a line as I haven't been that way in years and have no idea what to see in the area other than fruit and wine. 

Cranking, cranking, cranking then starting eventually

I fired up the bus yesterday and had some issues.  New starter from last year so it's cranking just fine but it's just not firing.  I don't know if its the fuel injector or the points or what.  I'm loathe to drag it in to a mechanic to take a look at but I really dont have the time to do it myself.

Especially since Im planning a bit of a road trip with a buddy for the Canadain May long weekend.  We are planning to head South from Calgary through the Crowsnest Pass and take the southern route to Vernon, BC via Nelson and return to Calgary via Golden on the #1.  Should be interesting, I just hope the weather holds this week so I can get the plates on the bus and take a run at fixing the problem. 

Camper Jam 2013

Well the location and dates have been set for this years VW Camper Jam.  I missed last year AND the year before.  Not going to miss this year.  I'll probably hit it on my way back from Seattle.  Wow thats a lot of miles on the old bus.  Hopefully she'll hold up.  If you are at all interested and want to check out the page, here is the link to the Facebook page that was created for it. 

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=tn_tnmn#!/events/531626200201491/

Other than looking forward to the road tirp this year, I'm jsut stitting here looking out the window wishing the snow would melt ;so I can take out the Bus.  I did manage to finally get my copy of The Bus movie but haven't had time to watch yet.  Hopefully I'll get to it next weekend. 

I did pick up one of these for my camping adventures this year

http://www.gizmag.com/mr-quicksplit-kindling-maker/25385/

I tended to get frustrated last year as I would use up all the small bits of wood for the initial fire, then be left with nothing to light subsequent fires.  Not this year though.  This little device will help me split all the kindling I need.  Fun times ahead. 

That's it for this update.  In the meantime, think warm thoughts so the snow will melt and i can get out in the bus.

Look out Seattle here I come

Well not next week, but I'm thinking over the summer sometime.  I took a look at Google Earth and its about 1100 km (700 miles for you non Metric people).  I figure I can do Calgary to Spokane in one day and then have a relaxing 2nd day drive. 

I'll be honest with you I'm more than a little nervous about the trip.  I've had the old girl out 2 or 3 hours on the open road but never so far from home.  I guess you have to kick them out of the nest at some point right?  I just worry about having a break down in the backwoods of Idaho and having to depend on Cletus to get me back on the road.  Friends are telling me not to worry because everyone loves a VW bus.  I'll remember that when i am creeping up a hill at 60 kph (40mph) and i have a line of traffic behind me a mile long.  I'll just flash them a smile and a peace sign as they go whizzing by me honking their horns in appreciation of the Green Monster. 

The tentative route so far is South out of Calgary (duh) through the Crowsnest and down through Coutts/Kingsgate on to US95 to Spokane.  Over night somewhere in or around Spokane and hope I don't get killed in my sleep (thank for the mental images Kel!) then onward on Seattle.  The other option is to stay in Canada and head West on the #1 right to Abbotsford and cross at Sumas.  Either way I have to make it from one side of the rockies and back again... maybe out one way and back the other?

Any comments?  Suggestions?  Things to do and or see along the way?

Snow, snow and more snow.

Well it's January 14th and it's snowing in Calgary.  Again.  I think it was about this time last year that my thoughts started to turn to camping and heading out in the Westy.  I keep thinking that mid-march / early April I'll b able to fire up the old bus and take her out for another season.  I'm actually thinking of making a couple reservations for the May, July and September long weekends. 

I think the reason I'm excited to head out is one of the problems I had camping last year was that I never seemed to have enough kindling to start a fire.  Problem solved this year.  I was in Naton, AB and stumbled into a blacksmith shop.  they had this cool device for splitting wood and making kindling for your fire.  You can bolt it to a permanant structure (for your fire pit in the back yard) or you can strap it to a tree for when you go camping.  The guy actually appeared on Dragon's Den... I won't ruin it for you but here is his pitch. 

http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/2012/11/mr-quick-split.html

I'm also keen to try a new method of building a fire.  I got tired of having to constantly add logs to my fire and found myself  burning though a lot of wood (pun intended).  So this year my ifres are going to be build "upside-down".   Check out the handy link.... I'll let you know how the trials go. 

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/02/02/how-to-build-an-upside-down-fire/


Well that's about it for now.  I'll let you know if I make reservations so soon.  Right now however I'm dreaming of my Cuban vacation in a couple a weeks then another trip to Bonaire for some scuba diving shortly after. 


PS  Just a quick note... apparently you cant make camsite reservations more than 4 months in advance. I'll have to set a reminder in my calendar.