Xmas Tree Hunting

As participants in an old German tradition, we took Gertie into the woods so we could saw down a small part of said woods for temporary installation inside our house. Miller Creek Road, South-southwest of town in Lolo NF offered prime hunting opportunities. 

At first, Tater Tot was indifferent to the whole scene. I think bumpy roads are evocative of the womb or something and put her to sleep.

Back from the kill. It was growing up out of the stump of what once had been a much larger tree.

All the tree-tying-down commotion woke Tater Tot up just in time to have some fun in the snow. We held the first session of Outdoor Winter Survival 101--when dining upon snow, eat the snow off tree branches, not off the ground.

In the meantime a red Volvo (Headlight wipers? Pfffftt.) had pulled up aft, stymieing my plan to back back onto the road, which made Gertie's exit less than graceful. Melissa made both of these hats and the scarf.

A kid hauled this contraption out of the Volvo. It seemed to work okay, but the pedals came too close to the ground, IMHO.

On the way back into town, we heard this Jetta Passat honking at us. Who was it but Sarah, John, and Avery (Esmé's BFF, in the rear seat), just back from defoliating a bit of forest for themselves. And in their VW wagon no less. Truly it was a Christmas Miracle--or an Xmas Coincidence, depending upon one's predilections.

(miles 711-748←click for map)

Both 1971s

Pretty in Pink

As most normal ACVW operators are aware, it's difficult not to park next to another ACVW when you see one sitting all lonely-like. So when I saw a cream Beetle parked by itself while running an errand, I pulled Gertie up right next to it. Tater Tot can identify VW buses (they're all "LOOD-weeg") and Beetles on sight--"BEE-too!" Of course she saw the Beetle from the window and announced her discovery. I asked her, "Do you like Beetles?" "Uh-huh." "Do you want a Beetle when you can drive?" "Uh-huh. PINK! Beetle." Oh boy. How does a girl with no exposure to the Disney Pink Princess Machine come up with an answer like that?

To test her convictions, we found a few pink Beetles online and asked her which she liked. She didn't really like coral (probably the most acceptable mode of pink) or pearl, unfortunately. Fortunately, she also expressed an aversion toward convertibles. These were her favorites.

Her number one choice, from the Philippines.

I threw in this Thing as a control. She called it a "Fun-ny BEE-too" and said it was her least favorite (sorry, PJ) of the four here. She still liked it better than the coral Beetles though. 

Laundry List

Other bus drivers have shown an interest in the notes and other ephemera that one more than occasionally comes across in various second-hand pieces of ACVW literature; books, manuals, etc. I'll admit to having given a fair number of these orphaned items the heave-ho, stumbling across them during less sentimental times. Anyway, the other day a library patron, who'd seen me loading the family into Ludwig at one time or another, said he had a copy of the Idiot Book that he wasn't able to put to much good use in operating his late-model Lexus LX. "Could you use it?" he asked. "Is it spiral-bound?" I replied ungratefully.

And there it is, finally, my own spiral-bound copy of the Idiot Book. Much too nice to ever use in the field, unfortunately. I found the following inside:

He's a nice guy so I'll not make too much fun of certain items on his to-do list.

Paparazzi

Ludwig's no late-fifties/early-sixties 23-window deluxe, that's for sure. He's handsome enough, I suppose. Even so it's not like a late bay Westy around here is worthy of much untoward gawking. He's not even the only orange bay window camper in Missoula (there are two others, both Rivies, that I know of).

So I thought it was kind of strange when these chicks gathered around him last weekend and popped off a bunch of photos.

Too bad he was so dirty at the time. Or maybe that was part of the appeal. Is it a trick of the light, or does he look like he's blushing a little? (And is that a can of chew in her back pocket?)

It's a Girl!

We ordered Gertrude's birth certificate a few weeks ago and it arrived this week. When I saw on her door jamb that she was built in October of 1970, I was really hoping she'd have the same birthday as Ludwig, but we weren't that lucky. Only three days' (and a few years') difference though.

I made the big mistake of ordering the certificate in Melissa's name, which she took as my tacit admission that she is the car's primary owner. Ooops.

Other ACVW owners interested in getting the birth certificate for their cars should follow this thread. Bus owners only wanting the info and not the certificate (suitable for framing!) should just use this handy free M-Code decoder instead.