[tcb] Re: Indy 500 in a '79 Westy
- From: Neil <nbmdude@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 10:08:24 -0700 (PDT)
Buses and family, can't beat 'em! I took my oldest
grandson on a road trip in the Road Dogg (69 day
camper)from Dallas to New Orleans, then on to Ft.
Walton Beach and back about 5 years ago.
He still talks about the fun we had...even the time
the starter went out in Lafiette LA (yeah, I
misspelled the city). He was impressed that all I had
to do was call a guy on the A.I.R.S. list and the dude
came and helped us out immediately...forgot his name,
but he was known as Cajun66.
Since then, Stephan & I have taken the trip from
Dallas to Ft. Walton beach 10 times...
His little friends call me 'the hippie dude'...
Good times!
--- ATX BUS <atx_bus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Great story Gary! It is really neat how these buses
> go so well with a family. Your son will have
> stories to tell forever.
>
> Welcome back to Central Texas.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Gary P. Alexander <meanmachine41@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 10:13:22 PM
> Subject: [tcb] Indy 500 in a '79 Westy
>
> 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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