A '72, the odd duck of Bay Windows.
August 25, 2011
August 22, 2011
How We Spent Our Summer Vacation
Warning: The only VW content in this post is in the photo below.
Day one: Anaconda to Yellowstone (Madison Campground). Here're the ladies admiring the Artists Paintpots. Tater Tot's assessment of the park: "It smells."
Day two: Yellowstone to Sinks Canyon State Park (near Lander Wyoming). The Popo Agie River disappears into that cave behind us, reemerging 1/4 mile down the canyon.
Day three: Sinks Canyon to Vedauwoo (between Laramie and Cheyenne Wyoming). Tater Tot situated her own camp chair in deference to the fire. There's little danger she'll be a pyromaniac.
Going back, day one: Denver to Green Ridge Campground (near Granby Colorado). The beetle kill is waaaaay worse in Colorado than it is in Montana.
Day two: Granby Colorado to Douglas Wyoming. Stopping in Rocky Mountain National Park, atop Trail Ridge Road (here, at 11,796 ft). We saw a marmot.
Day two, continued. Ayres Natural Bridge County Park. This is one of the few natural bridges in the world with water running under it. Tater Tot was delighted that the park was nearly overrun with rabbits.
Day three: Douglas Wyoming to Billings Montana. Sorry, no pictures of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument or of the Billings KOA, the world's first.
Day four: Billings to Anaconda. Tater Tot snagged a fish at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman.
The trusty ol' Kelty and a rental car stood in for Ludwig on our trip to Denver and back.
She also climbed some rocks.
Day three: Douglas Wyoming to Billings Montana. Sorry, no pictures of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument or of the Billings KOA, the world's first.
Map of the trip here
August 18, 2011
August 16, 2011
Embellishments
Another bus blogger gave a rundown of the stickers on his ride and I liked the idea well enough to crib it. Thanks, Jeremy.
Death Valley Nat'l Park: I had this one made years after the fact because I wanted something to match the Going-to-the-Sun Road sticker. We had things on our minds other than perusing the gift shop when we passed through Stovepipe Wells.
Going-to-the-Sun Road: Bus owners, do yourselves a favor and please drive this road in at least one direction before they close it down to private vehicles.
Lucky Labrador Brewing Company: When on a VW, this is something of a KMA 367-like code for those of us aligned with the Itinerant-Air-Cooled forum. Ludwig has actually been to the Lucky Lab on Quimby in Portland, so he's not a poser.
four bars: I like Black Flag (especially Rollins/Kira-era Black Flag).
crying minotaur: We like Radiohead.
BodesWell.org: As many of you know, Angela, Jason, and Bode have been wandering around this hemisphere in Red Beard for two years now. We're happy to have met them when they were in Missoula. The sticker is pretty faded though.
Poster Children ★ Zero Stars: We like Poster Children.
Nebraska state flag: We're from Nebraska and that's awesome. Well, I was born in South Dakota but I lived in Nebraska from age 5 until age 30; close enough? Melissa is pure Nebraska.
Save the Bays: I don't know why I put this on Ludwig as I don't frequent that site, not that it's bad or anything. It's fading badly so maybe it'll come off soon.
German flag: Ludwig is from Germany and that's awesome.
Independent: It's a company that used to (or still does?) make excellent skateboard trucks but now mostly makes clothes for the kind of kids who frequent Hot Topic.
Punk Is Whatever We Made It To Be: If I have any heroes, Mike Watt is one of them.
Ecco Motors: This sticker, and the remnants of another one on his front bumper (story here) are evidence that Ludwig lived in the Omaha metro for a time in the 1980s. Ecco Motors is no longer in business, not under that name anyway.
Zesto: Melissa's family has a rich association with this ice cream place in Lincoln. I regret the placement of the sticker because the tailpipe is right underneath this section of bumper, getting it hot enough to crispify the sticker. Unfortunately it's probably not long for this Earth.
Question: Where's the near-mandatory "Big Blue is a Friend of Mine" sticker?
Answer: Good question. There's one on my toolbox, and I'm pretty sure I had two of them at one point. But I can't find the other one and I'd really hate to hit Big Blue's Driver up for another.
Going-to-the-Sun Road: Bus owners, do yourselves a favor and please drive this road in at least one direction before they close it down to private vehicles.
Lucky Labrador Brewing Company: When on a VW, this is something of a KMA 367-like code for those of us aligned with the Itinerant-Air-Cooled forum. Ludwig has actually been to the Lucky Lab on Quimby in Portland, so he's not a poser.
four bars: I like Black Flag (especially Rollins/Kira-era Black Flag).
crying minotaur: We like Radiohead.
BodesWell.org: As many of you know, Angela, Jason, and Bode have been wandering around this hemisphere in Red Beard for two years now. We're happy to have met them when they were in Missoula. The sticker is pretty faded though.
Poster Children ★ Zero Stars: We like Poster Children.
Nebraska state flag: We're from Nebraska and that's awesome. Well, I was born in South Dakota but I lived in Nebraska from age 5 until age 30; close enough? Melissa is pure Nebraska.
Save the Bays: I don't know why I put this on Ludwig as I don't frequent that site, not that it's bad or anything. It's fading badly so maybe it'll come off soon.
German flag: Ludwig is from Germany and that's awesome.
Independent: It's a company that used to (or still does?) make excellent skateboard trucks but now mostly makes clothes for the kind of kids who frequent Hot Topic.
Punk Is Whatever We Made It To Be: If I have any heroes, Mike Watt is one of them.
Apple apple: Yes haters, Macs have all kinds of problems. And still, they're 20,500 times better than PCs. Sorry.
I ♥ my VW / IAP Performance Products, L.A.: For unknown reasons John Osborne had a stack of these in his shop way back when. It's the only sticker that McDonald put on the bus while he owned it (1991-1993). IAP doesn't appear to be an ongoing concern anymore. I think the sentiment expressed goes hand-in-hand with the sticker right below...
not a hippie bus: The nonsensical hippie association (hippies=1960-1967; bay windows=1968-1979) has killed, and continues to kill, more bay window buses than any other single cause. There, I said it.
Question: Where's the near-mandatory "Big Blue is a Friend of Mine" sticker?
Answer: Good question. There's one on my toolbox, and I'm pretty sure I had two of them at one point. But I can't find the other one and I'd really hate to hit Big Blue's Driver up for another.
August 15, 2011
Fail.
We thought we'd do another highway drive, out to the rest area and back, to see if we could induce the stumbling again and perhaps pinpoint the problem.
It happened again alright. With a vengeance.
My feelings exactly, E.
Around these parts they let you steer the rig off the flatbed your own self.
Later, an attempt to jump the vehicle by spanning the bolts on the starter ended up barbecuing some wires under the dash. And still, the stumbling! We surrender!
It'll be awhile before Ludwig gets back into the swing of things. In the meantime, who wants to see pictures from our non-VW-powered trip to Denver and back?
August 13, 2011
August 11, 2011
August 6, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)