[tcb] Re: Trip Report: Journey to the End of the Earth
- From: singlecabboy <sealingwaxred@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2008 21:32:05 -0700 (PDT)
Great pictures
--- j duncan <whocanduncan@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> The Journey to the End of the Earth did not include
> Psyhcoblooie due to a reoccurring mechanical problem
> on the way home. More later.
>
> Buses: We saw mostly wedgies and mostly in New
> England. And mostly Arctic white. The first bus was
> a TX bay sitting in a field just north of the the N
> I35E/W split sitting in a field. The next buses
> spotted were beige-over-brown sitting in fields in
> Vermont near Montpelier. Three vanagons spotted in
> Arcadia NP, all white. The owners were foreign
> tourists, two from Canada and one from ?, maybe
> Brazil--his '89 van had a unique arrangement with
> the middle, outside connector located lower than the
> others? It was in great shape, too. A moving bus was
> finally spotted in Bay Harbor, a white-over-green
> bay and also in great shape. I was thrilled to see
> a bus near my hometown of Pittsburgh in Washington,
> PA. It was a white-over-orange bay similar to Homer
> but not as sweet. It was also on the road.
>
> The highlight was camping near an almost identical
> van to Freedom van Gogh in Mammoth Cave N.P., KY.
> The owners, a couple named Tom and Galean, were
> transplants from England living in Atlanta, GA. They
> owned a similar bus across the pond and had to one
> have now that they are living in America. They had a
> hard time finding one in Atlanta but finally found
> one on the net. They didn't say where, though (ebay,
> samba, or ???).
>
> Fact is, all the buses spotted were in great shape.
>
> I had a great time visiting friends and family along
> the way. I have three, very close friends from way
> back and got to spend time with each of them. Two
> days with Al in Cincinnati, Rich in Pittsburgh and 3
> days with Dave in Pawcatuck, RI. I also visited with
> mom in Johnstown, PA.
>
> Rich joined me on the trip from the 'burg
> (Pittsburgh). We met my very best friend, Cindy, in
> Providence, RI. and the three of us traveled New
> England together. Me and Rich on bikes and Cindy
> following us in Freedom. We stayed in Freedom for a
> week, along with 3 dogs. Me, Rich, Cindy, Teak,
> Sequoia and Dakota (Rich's chocolate lab).
>
> Imagine three people and three dogs crashing in a
> closet on wheels. We had a blast! Freedom smells
> like wet dogs, though. We got rained on the whole
> time in NH. Even the short, 9 miles of I95 S on the
> the way home. NH is just a wet state.
>
> BTW: Dave's son, Jake, is a VW nutball. You'll note
> the VW tat on his back. I hope you don't mind Kat
> but I gave him my VW Classic work shirt. He was so
> thrilled when I handed it to him, he almost soiled
> his pants!
>
> Here is a link to photos of his tattoos:
>
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=oc55dpq.bs2372a2&x=0&h=1&y=u1ycfg&localeid=en_US
>
> If you are interested in pics of the whole trip,
> here's the link:
>
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=oc55dpq.3hfkz0zu&x=0&h=1&y=pxica1&localeid=en_US
>
> Beware, there a 242 photos, although you'll see pics
> of Al's wife holding a dress-up Barbie, Dave and his
> son (both redheads) and Cindy's aunt and uncle
> having lunch with his work buddies. Many shots are
> just funky pics taken out of boredom while
> traveling. Bare with 'em and keep looking for
> Smokey. There's a great shot of him overlooking the
> Grand Canyon of PA, there's one of him overlooking
> the Susquehanna River on the Warrior's Path and lots
> of him in other places, too. There's also a shot of
> Piels laughing at me 'cause I'm riding in the rain.
> Piels always seemed to make it rain when it was my
> turn to ride. And there's photos of us having a
> lobster fest.
>
> We live in one hell of a beautiful country. Places I
> stayed include: Colton S.P. in the Grand Canyon of
> Pennsylvania, Greenwood Furnace S.P. near State
> College, PA, Hancock Campground in the White
> Mountains N.F. near Lincoln, NH, Blackwoods
> Campground in Acadia N.P., Jim's RV Camp in
> Huntington, WV, Mammoth Cave Campground in Mammoth
> Cave N.P. and DeGray Lake Resort SP in Arkadelphia,
> AR. I also stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot on the
> way up.
>
> Visiting Nova Scotia and Newfoundland was a pipe
> dream. We barely had enough time to enjoy the places
> we did visit. We could have made it, maybe, but we
> would not have had fun. The capitol building in
> Montpelier was gorgous. We made a wrong turn in
> Auburn, MA and wound up in front of Maine's capitol
> building. So we toured it, too.
>
> Okay, the mechanical problem: Overheating. Narrowly
> a concern for you air-heads but I overheated while
> climbing a huge mountain in the middle of Frametown,
> VW. Frametown is about as dead center of the state
> of WV as you can get. In the middle of nowhere with
> nothing close by. Good thing I had lots of h2o.
>
> It got so hot, the metal tube blew out from the
> plastic pipe that runs the length of the van. I
> crawled underneath and jury-rigged it back on and
> limped on down the road to the next town where I
> found Jim's Camp in Huntington, WV. I crashed there
> for the night and took it to Firestone in the
> morning where I was lucky enough to be assigned a VW
> enthusist mechanic. He flushed the system, tightened
> the hose clamps, replaced a fuel line and put me
> back on my way. Trouble was, I kept oveheating about
> every 150 miles or so. I suspected a vapor lock in
> the hose and kept bleeding the radiator and adding
> 1-2 quarts of coolant.
>
> This became the routine through the beautiful horse
> country of KY, which is also the KY Bourbon Trail.
> It continued the enire length of TN. Finally in
> Little Rock, I stopped for the 5th ot 6th time to
> add coolant when I decided to replace the fuel
> filter while waiting for the engine to cool. I
> bought the filter when leaving the 'burgh. Seems the
> new fuel filter helped. It didn't overheat until 20
> miles from home while waiting in line at a fuel
> pump. It actually ran cooler, too. Go figure.
>
> I finally made it home, yeah. There are no leaks,
> the oil looks clean and the thermostat is working.
> So either the water pump is going bad or Freedom has
> a blown head gasket on the exhaust side. And
> probably a warped head. Stay tuned.
>
> All in all, it was a great trip. Many. many miles,
> too many to keep track of, and many great sites to
> see. It's good to be back home again. We're now
> taste testing real maple syrup from Vermont (grade
> b, medium amber, dark amber and vermont fancy), New
> Hampshire and Maine on pancakes made with wild,
> Maine blueberries. Mmmmm.
>
> I'm already planning next year's trip. Hint: PCH.
>
> Oh, I'm wearing my t-shirts from past psychoblooies
> to honor you guys. . ..
>
>
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T.C.B.
H.B.B.
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