The Camping Season That Wasn't

The single most frustrating thing about that late March day when Ludwig's crankshaft snapped was that I knew, at that instant, that the 2010 camping season would be lost to us. On top of the waiting required to get a new engine properly rebuilt (we could've had another 12,000 mile special at our door in a few days, but "fool me once", etc.) we were moving, buying a house, starting up in a new town. There was the slim chance--still is--of breaking out the old Kelty and hopping into Gertie for a short jaunt or two, but I'm watching that snow creep down the mountains and thinking soon it'll be too cold at night for a 2.5 year-old in a tent, if it isn't already.

And if it were just the two of us, sure it would bug me and all, but I wouldn't mind losing a year so much. Really, it's the Tater Tot that I feel for. We've found (well, actually, we kind of already knew) that the way to get your kid to share an interest in things like, for example, bouncing around Creation in noisy old VWs, is to bounce your kid around Creation in a noisy old VW. That's why it was all the more disappointing for me that we didn't get a chance to get some quality camping in for E during her formative third Summer.

Anyway.

The engine has in fact arrived, for those of you waiting with slightly-baited breath. It came a couple weeks ago, sans heat exchangers (aka heater boxes). Rocky Jennings was hoping to hook us up with some good used ones, for $50 per side but couldn't find any. That's an incredible price, by the way. The 1972-1974 heater box is the oddball (also the best--fewest number of pieces, no ill-fitting aftermarket Beetle garbage) and prices seem to reflect that; new ones for Ludwig would cost about $600, and more than what we paid for him himself once shipping got figured in. (Of course, we spent, uh, double what we paid for him on shock absorbers. But those came with an unlimited lifetime warranty, so it was worth it, right? Right.)

"GD"=this case is from a 1976 or 1977 bus

The engine can't be installed undressed, and the heat exchangers are a major part of its wardrobe. I'm working a couple angles for good used exchangers, so let's keep our fingers crossed. And what with all the other stuff we've got going on, let's keep keep our fingers crossed that this install goes smoothly.

Here's to the 2011 camping season!