Things your van did recently

[danfromsyr]

very cool,
now I'm thinking would be great on a sitting platform/kayak.
it has to lift & propel a given weight and keep in balance.
after that doesn't matter if one is standing or sitting..
would be cool to have a swing down/up framework on a kayak.


Link

[kaalualu]

They are $$$, but our priorities are "more water time than drive time."
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'84 Transporter 16" CLK's/LED's/ AT's/Mansi injectors
'86 Wolfey Weekender Westfalia AT's/otherwise stock
Sold-'82 TinTop Diesel

[mikemtnbike]

yeah if I lived in Hawaii I feel very confident that I'd be spending way more money on water recreation vs. land.

Also, the difference is that you buy something like the efoil, it's pretty much up front expense only. You buy a van, initial purchase is just the first cost.

Case in point: I spent about 3k on my current mountain bike, same as my van's initial purchase. I'm guessing I'm around 10k on my van now, not counting my time. Mountain bike? less than 4k still and time is all fun, no "work."
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[kaalualu]

Yep, got all that right.
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'84 Transporter 16" CLK's/LED's/ AT's/Mansi injectors
'86 Wolfey Weekender Westfalia AT's/otherwise stock
Sold-'82 TinTop Diesel

[bobbyblack]

Flossie got the 10C exhaust over the weekend, and two good days of fun before Old Man Winter decided to dump "plowable amounts" of snow overnight. So, Flossie got put in the garage. Forecasts of a high of 10F in the next days-week.

I guess I forgot to put some toys away early enough, oops!

I have to reassess my priorities..

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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[bobbyblack]

Took the kids and Pottery art show to Waterloo. Was a good time. Also, Floss turned 297,000 miles on the odo on the trip. I missed Al at his Mandalay Mansion by 2 seconds, and knew it was not to be as I was not exactly on 297K as I got to his driveway... Spotted his Targa, and a few other of his classics, and a Maroon Vanagon. I will be sure to catch him next time

One of the other artists stopped me when we were packing back up to give appreciation that I was keeping the Westy in good shape. Wanted to tell me about his '78 Yellow Westy, but the kids came out with more stuff to shove in, and we got disconnected before he finished..

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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[jimf909]

[havenot001]

I have been doing some two day camping trips in Big Sur, California. Peaceful quiet off season. I can still find some short sunny days.

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1985 Vanagon GL 2.3 Gowesty 2WD

[bobbyblack]

With all the commotion around my place lately (see final pic below), I got to break my rule on driving Flossie in the salty slop since the Tundra had other work to do. It was Friday night after work, heading for the cities, where my sweetheart was staying at a hotel with her dad after a day of tests/scans at Mayo. I found out about 2 that afternoon that she would be accompanying him back to Cozumel to help make arrangements for his near future and start packing up his Condo.

It was a sloppy roll up us52 from about the IA/MN border until the suburbs, where miraculously, it was not. Well, I was able to see Pops for a couple hours before bed, then at 4 AM, dropped him and Mrs. Black off. Drove them to Terminal 2 in Epic style, Pops up front. He got a kick out of it, for sure

Likely the last ride in a Vanagon he'll get, sadly. I wasn't on my A-Game, no shot of Pops in the Vanagon but it was a good short hop from the hotel to the terminal.

After getting back to the hotel at oh-dark thirty, and catching 10 more winks, I was on the trail of yet another distraction of mine.. Musical ambitions! CL ad for a mixer I've been sniffign around for like 5 years showed up just west of Uptown.. Like about a block from where I'd spent countless weekends at (now) Mrs. Black's Condo in Whittier!! Whoot.

So, I just HAD to test out the mixer before buying it, of course, right? And how to do that, hmmm..... Okokok, how about an electric guitar, a microphone, and a small Amp I can run off a 400 watt inverter. Went well, but still talked him down on the price. I'd been patient and stuck to my original offer the minute I saw it on the CL, about as low as the same item on fleabay in the sold/completed listings' bottom price.

So that went well.


Now to circle back about the recent commotions mentioned above. There was a fire in my folks apartment. One room took it hard, and the smoke got to about 1/3 of the place. The local FD did a great job, super super lucky to have a house to fix up, still. Thus, the Tundra was full of debris. I can't do much of the demo, or smoke damage cleanup due to my own medical issues, but my folks, siblings, and kids -- AND a ton of their friends are really getting it under control.

No VW's were harmed in this incident.
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[elizer]

Sorry to hear. That's one of my favorite homes I've seen.

-eli

[bobbyblack]

Thanks eli-

This is the 3rd fire here that I know of. Mrs. Black had a Great Aunt who lived here for 50 some years, so she kind of grew up coming out to visit when it was functioning as originally built. Her grampa was on the board of trustees, and her great grampa was one of the 80 or so 'hands' on the job that built it in 1914. She remembers driving up with her grampa with the smoke pouring out of the kitchen ventilator, in the 'new kitchen addition' in the late '60's. So, it was hell to go through it again on her way home from the store following a train of firetrucks. The next time I know of was in the late '70's when there was wire behind a refrigerator that burned up a room almost exactly on the opposite wing as the picture above.

The cleaning service got a quote to my folks yesterday. Just the smoke damage cleanup will be about $11K. But, by far the real losses are yet to be found. Both my parents have extensive library (traditional book type) collections housed on that floor, and about a dozen of my dad's paintings are either outright toasted, or beyond restoration. Luckily, most of the other collections (dad's 2d and 3d Master/Teacher Artists, and also his contemporary Master Artists - traditional Guilds which became the Bauhaus movement) were not destroyed, at least not outright anyway. Smoke damage seems pretty insidious to artworks on paper or canvas, I guess they start to decay from the acid in the smoke that gets into the works. The Lithic collections should be fine, as they are made of rock. The woven works from the African continent will probably be fine after a wash (cloths) or spray down (baskets, masks, wood carvings). I think the Gray Bat population that live in the tiles in the roof may or may not have been harmed. That would be a huge loss. I love bats. But not so much IN the house.

All told, we are doing pretty well. Nobody got hurt. I am so very thankful that the Fire Department was quick and effective. I have a few friends that volunteer on the force. In addition to that, I had the FD come out a few months ago and showed about a dozen of them through the house, after my folks complained of having extended headaches, perhaps Monoxide, so it was just by luck that many of the FD people are familiar with the building. My daughter is in charge of volunteering efforts, and has a page up that is doing fairly well. PM if interested in a link.

Thanks

-bobby
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[dhaavers]

Damn Bobby, that's scary. FIL was volunteer fire and he had a couple wicked
stories I heard once & probably a few more I never will & he'd rather forget.

Glad y'all are safe...good luck with insurance. Be careful out there, people...

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[elizer]

Glad no one was hurt. Horrible about the losses though. As far as headaches go. I assume you have well water. Have your water tested. And check the pipes.

[Jake de Villiers]

Quite a story, Bobby. Bummer about the house and the father-in-law, congrats on the board!
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'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com

[bobbyblack]

Picked up Pops, flight in from Cozumel. Took him straight to the ER. He seemed pretty good, but that's just the optimist in me. His daughter thinks it's really bad.

Made sure to get a pic this time!!


Edit;

Influenza-B, viral pneumonia, and some tests ongoing to ident two more issues.. time is a jagged little line.

Today was another nice day, astronomically. Drove the ~3hrs home, sans Mrs BobbyBlack. Ready for yet another week of 'regular life's ..

Oh, and rolled 299,000 mi as I blasted through Zumbrota MN.
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[bobbyblack]

Went to see Pops up in the Northern Kingdom. Frail, lungs nearly full of something mostly yellow or red. Long Live the King!! 5 Liters O2, my wife is staying with him, and I feel pretty bad not being able to stay up there too, but I have to fix a ton of networking stuff at work before the retails open this AM. CC machines offline for some damn reason!

Anyway, took my time getting home late last night, and this happened in Cannon Falls MN:

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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[jlrftype7]

Drove from Chicago to Tulsa today. Vanagon held up very well other than the oil consumption that I normally don’t have an issue with at low city driving speeds.
Prolonged Highway , that was a different thing all together today...
Missouri hills didn’t help either....
Flatter terrain and slower speeds tomorrow going down to San Antonio should help a bit.
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jimf909]

[82westyrabbit]

Not really today, but recently I drove from Dallas,Texas to Glen Rose, Texas. My van drove through Fossil Rim Nature Preserve.

The ostriches looked hungry.

These guys were hungry too, but they were very gentle. They would only eat if you hand feed them. (Don't try that with ostriches)

That is just a quick view of Texas.

They wouldn't let us get that close to the cheetahs. We would've been lunch instead of providing it.

A couple of rhinos

Dinosaur World, just down the road, was very much a tourist trap. I was playing tourist for the day so it was ok.

One of the dinosaur eggs was hatching when we got there.

[dhaavers]

Past weekend saw me button up my CACH install (Cheap Ass Chinese Heater) and
I took the van out for a rare snow season trip to town. Things the van did:

- After 5 months hibernation, van started up effortlessly...
- Took me to town to stock up on kerosene...
- Stopped for a quick photo op on the way home...

Not AT the end of the road, but you can see it from here...

Later same day:

- Housed me for a night of driveway camping to break in the heater...
- Reflectix covering all windows, top down, curtain behind cab/front seats...
- Heater on low about 7pm, 28°F outside, took ~10 minutes to get the van to a comfy 55°...
- Heater off at 11pm, tucked in for the night (30° Kelty bag inside Coleman flannel bag, plus stocking cap)...
- 8am: (27° inside/20° out) hit the remote to power up the heater, cozy again in about 10 minutes...
- Opened the door to find this, and more coming down all day:

Heater worked perfectly, very pleased...plus I have another 10 gallons of kerosene ready to burn!

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>