[tcb] Re: Indy 500 in a '79 Westy
- From: julie.hey.ho.lets.go@xxxxxxxxx
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 05:54:46 -0500
Awesome trip report. Thanks for sharing. We forgive you for missing BBTS.
And Paul, you would not have been comfortable, there's no treasure chest to
sleep in with a Westy.
On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 12:36 AM, singlecabboy <sealingwaxred@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Wish I could of been with ya'll.
> --- "Gary P. Alexander" <meanmachine41@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> > Well, I know some of you had a grand ol time at
> > Buses
> > at the Springs, and certainly we would have been
> > there
> > had our 3rd annual Road Trip to the Indianapolis
> > 500,
> > not been on the same weekend. But, life is about
> > choices, right? So Jake, my 12 year old son and I
> > headed north Thursday evening after his 6th grade
> > 60's
> > music choir performance, which was very cool by the
> > way.
> >
> > Our mode for this 2200 mile journey, our '79 Westy.
> > This was our 3rd time to go in Westy, and so I
> > pretty
> > much knew what we were getting into. Nonetheless,
> > it's
> > a long journey in a soon to be 30 year old vw bus.
> >
> > Of course gas prices are horribley outrageous, but
> > we
> > all know that already. But it was/is a concern,
> > especially on an extended trip. We made good times
> > to
> > my Uncle's house in Texarkana, about 6 hours,
> > traveling at night, it's cooler and very little
> > wind,
> > a key to mileage in a Bus for sure and of course,
> > passenger comfort too. But when you're moving down
> > the
> > highway in the slow lane, temps don't really matter
> > anyhow.
> >
> > OK, so things were very dark around Uncle Jim's
> > neighborhood, like really dark. like no power. Well,
> > it seems about 4 hours earlier, they had 125mph
> > winds
> > come thru and wipe out trees and everything in its
> > path. He had an oak tree, at least 12' in
> > circumference blown over, fortunately, it only hit
> > the
> > road.
> >
> > So, we slept in Westy that nite, which was fine by
> > us.
> > Friday morning we got an early start for the
> > remaining
> > 750 miles to Indy. Actually, it went pretty well, we
> > even had a tailwind thru parts of Arkansas and
> > Missouri. Nice. One thing though, all the gas north
> > of
> > MO. contains at least 10% ethanol. I think it was a
> > good idea on paper,this ethanol thing, but it sucks
> > in
> > the real world. We lost almost 3mpg avg with that
> > junk, not to mention what kind of corrosion it's
> > causing in Westy's fuel injection system. I guess it
> > wasn't in there long enough to do too much damage, I
> > hope.
> >
> > We arrived in Indy around 8 or 9pm Fri nite, I get
> > confused because they're now eastern time. Our camp
> > site is about 400 yards from the Speedway, if you
> > ever
> > see TV shots of the track, they sometimes show this
> > huge water tower, "Racing Capital of the World" ,
> > well, we were camped right under it, along this
> > little
> > creek, it was actually quite nice. Heck, our old
> > buddy
> > "stubby" was there from last year!
> >
> > The race and weekend were fantastic. We even made it
> > down into Gasoline Alley on Saturday and saw Danica
> > too! Jake got the autographs of the front row
> > drivers
> > including the winning driver, Scott Dixon!
> >
> > Race day was quite incredible, 350,000 people, 33
> > Indy
> > cars and Jim Nabors singing, "Back home again in
> > Indiana"!
> >
> > After the race, we headed south, and arrived back in
> > Round Rock late Monday nite. Westy ran absolutely
> > flawlessly, no issues at all, maybe used about 8 ozs
> > of oil, incredible little machine. Sleeping, eating,
> > riding, playing cards, Westy is the best!
> >
> > Here are a few particulars, I amuse myself, which is
> > rather easy to do I must say, figuring mileage and
> > avg
> > speed and such.
> > Total Miles: 2153
> > total fuel used, 140 gallons
> > total fuel stops: 14
> > fuel costs: $541
> > avg mpg: 15.4
> >
> > All in all, it was a great great time, I will say,
> > that there is absolutely no better feeling in this
> > world for me, than to be out on the road in my Bus,
> > add in the fact my son is cruising along with me and
> > we're heading to the greatest sporting event on the
> > planet, well, it's the best.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Gary
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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