Author |
Message |
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:44 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
SOTO Carmichael March 2021
SOTO at Milagro Centre, Sunday, March 28th, 2021 Carmichael CA
Fantastic meet yesterday.
I hadn't counted, but I'm going to guesstimate that that it was between 50 to 70 buses...
Perhaps between there not really having been many shows this past year, and/or the perfect weather, the turn out was great for this meet-up.
Great, as always to see a lot of VW friends, as well as meet new-to-us folks.
About 1/2 mile away from the meet-up spot (which was held at the "Milagro Centre"), there was a weekly classic car Sunday meet-up going on.
We stopped there for 2 seconds so that Kathy could grab a cup of coffee before arriving to the SOTO meet.
I was trying to rush us up the road, but a few VW enthusiasts (who had their other classic cars at the other meet) came up to talk for a bit too.
That meet looked interesting, but not as interesting (to me) as split-window buses.
...so; back at the SOTO meet...
I'd love to say that everyone at the meet was safely wearing masks the whole time, but I'd say only a solid 75% of us were compliant and conscientious.
Been reading the news about new Covid up-swings in various parts of the country, and I'd much rather we all play it safe so we can get back to normal.
However; on the bright side, I have to also add that it was lovely to be socializing again and not sitting at home in front of a computer.
On Saturday we were up at my mother-in-law's in Chico, doing some projects in the garden.
I fixed up/replaced some old rotted boards on a tall planter platform that my late father-in-law had built years ago.
Having a bus is GREAT; throw 12-foot long pressure-treated boards up on your car? No problem!
...but back at the SOTO meet...
Naturally a few bugs and Porsches showed up too...
Scrape much?
As is typical, I took a lot of snap-shot photos...
Here's a link to mine, and I believe one or two other people's:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php..._terms=all
I hope that if you were also at the meet that we had the chance to meet/talk, and if not, next time...
...and to all who couldn't attend, hope to see you somewhere, sometime soon.
_________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
bobrk Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002 Posts: 288 Location: Beautiful Downtown San Jose
|
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:41 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Yes, I was there as well, and dumped a bunch of pictures in the Gallery... _________________ 1959 Single Cab “Otto”
1500 single port | 1963 small nut/big brake transaxle | CSP Disc Brakes | dual circuit m/c | Deutsch Polster seats |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:54 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
bobrk wrote: |
Yes, I was there as well, and dumped a bunch of pictures in the Gallery... |
bobrk; just looked at your single-cab thread. Looks great!
Also; thanks for posting photos... I always see a lot folks taking pictures, some even professional-looking, but all too often not enough end up on TheSamba. _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
bobrk Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002 Posts: 288 Location: Beautiful Downtown San Jose
|
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:03 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
DadaCheese wrote: |
bobrk wrote: |
Yes, I was there as well, and dumped a bunch of pictures in the Gallery... |
bobrk; just looked at your single-cab thread. Looks great!
Also; thanks for posting photos... I always see a lot folks taking pictures, some even professional-looking, but all too often not enough end up on TheSamba. |
Thanks. I hadn't been to a show in like 14 years, so it was fun to take the drive up there and check it out.
I like taking and posting pics, too. I thought I'd uploaded all of these earlier, but I had run up against the 10 pics per upload limit without realizing it. _________________ 1959 Single Cab “Otto”
1500 single port | 1963 small nut/big brake transaxle | CSP Disc Brakes | dual circuit m/c | Deutsch Polster seats |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Garlic, anyone?
We hit the road this past weekend to make it to the:
VDUBlicious - *Pizzalicious* April 17, 2021 Gilroy, CA meet-up.
Although Gilroy isn't very far from us (about 84 miles), Kathy and I decided to make a day and night of it in Gilroy, California (garlic capital of the world) and attend the 4:30pm meet-up put on by the "VDUBlicious" group of folks from/around the Gilroy area.
They put on a great and friendly get-together, inviting any and all VWs (all years, etc.). We appreciated that they adhered to Covid guidelines, but also that it was an event. Something to go to. Something to be out of the house for.
The vast majority of VWs were air-cooled, with a few newer, as well as interesting Subaru Engine conversions thrown in for flavor.
This Panel Bus is powered by a Subaru engine, for example:
Whereas this double cargo door bus with an early home-made camper interior was born as a panel and its owner has plans to get it back to its true M-Code status:
There were plenty of notable and lovely split-buses at the meet...
...but also a lovely variety of other models too:
As is typical for VW meets, everyone was friendly, great to talk to and we had a great time spending the day in the town where, yes, we ate a lot of garlic.
Downtown Gilroy is really quite nice; antique stores, a great and large used book store, good places to eat too.
Want to make sure to thank the group of folks who have this friendly group; "VDUBlicious" They are all inclusive and are happy to welcome you and your VW too if you want/can meet up or get involved on Facebook, etc.
To see all the snapshot photos I took on Saturday, they are here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?...ts=summary
Hopefully other folks who were there will also be adding photos.
It was great to meet all the folks we had the chance to talk to.
What's Next?
If we can make it, I'd like to go to the
26th Annual Madera (California) VW Spring Fling
*NEW DATE* May 14, 2021 - May 16, 2021
Madera, California
(details under "Shows" in the "Community" Tab of TheSamba.
Lastly, here's some of our typical eating in The Toaster photos from the trip/meet:
Hope everyone who reads this is doing great, and is out enjoying their VWs as spring continues. _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
nomis Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2004 Posts: 390 Location: cornwall, UK
|
Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:30 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Thanks for all the updates and trip reports - always pleased to see a new installment of the toaster thread! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
BulliBill Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4574 Location: St Charles, MO
|
Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 6:37 am Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Hi Bryce & Kathy!
I always enjoy your posts to your thread on "the Toaster" and your road trips near and far. Thanks for the surprise gifts in the mail, very cool! And handy too.
I retired from flying after 44 years, partly because of the effects of the pandemic on our industry, partly because they offered flight attendants who were ready to "early retire" 1/2 of our salary for an extra year to simply retire/depart the ranks last May, and partly because I was overdue to start enjoying retirement. Getting lots of home improvements and some VW work done. One thing I'm especially glad about was finally after 25 years of "hoping to do it someday", I had a Westfalia SO-42 pop-top assembly fully restored and installed onto my tin-top as well as a complete interior restoration of the interior including new subfloor with Westy-like linoleum, all new Baltic Birch wall and ceiling panels, etc., etc. The guys at ModernRelix.com (a few before and after photos here under BilliBill: https://modernrelix.com/past-projects-1 ) out in Phoenix did it all. I didn't think I could love that old '67 Bus any more than I already did, but WOW it's even more cool now!
You said in your note that the Kelley Park Vintage Meet is postponed until August? Since I can fly (standby) for free on American for the rest of my days, I gotta mark the calendar and fly out West and hopefully hang out with you all. Thanks again for our gift!
Bill & Kathryn Bowman _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:42 am Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
nomis wrote: |
Thanks for all the updates and trip reports - always pleased to see a new installment of the toaster thread! |
nomis, thanks! Love what you're doing with "Dee-Dee"! Enjoying the updates and all the work you've been doing. Wish that the big "pond" wasn't in the way preventing us from being at the same VW meets.
BulliBill wrote: |
...
You said in your note that the Kelley Park Vintage Meet is postponed until August? Since I can fly (standby) for free on American for the rest of my days, I gotta mark the calendar and fly out West and hopefully hang out with you all. Thanks again for our gift!
Bill & Kathryn Bowman |
Bill, congrats on retirement!
Wow; the '67 is looking fantastic! I've been really excited about it as you've been working on it. You know this means that you and Kathryn have to also do another cross-country to the SF Bay and we'll finally get to return some of the wonderful hospitality you've shown us.
I'm so bad with remembering names, but yes, I spoke with one of the organizers of Kelly Park while at the Gilroy meet-up, and he said they've JUST got a date for August. Come on out for it. Let us know if you need/want a ride, a pick up from the airport and/or a place to stay here in Richmond; you're always welcome. Our guest room's always available to friends and VW folks as you know. Hope to see you and Kathryn again soon.
-Bryce
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming...
...we should go to the:
April 29, 2021 - May 02, 2021 - 21st Annual Spring Picnic and Campout
Yorba Linda, California
...but I think work'll prevent that from happening this next week for us.
We ARE gong to make it to the:
May 14, 2021 - May 16, 2021 - 26th Annual Madera VW Spring Fling *NEW DATE*
Madera, California
...and an event that never seems to be listed on TheSamba, but instead on the website https://vwcamperfamily.ning.com/ is the annual ('cept for last year):
Bus City XIII
May 21, 2021 at 9am to May 23, 2021 at 12pm – Guerneville, California
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS RESERVATIONS FOR THIS EVENT. The campground is closed to the general public until Memorial Day...Type: campout, in the redwoods
The "Bus City" camping trip is for all years of VW buses (even Eurovans). Typically at least a fifth to a fourth or so in attendance are in splits, another fifth or so Bays, etc.
It's a great one - relaxed, many families, pets, campfires.
Nestled into a grove of Redwoods and pines, the river just across the road, and the Korbel Sparkling Winery a literal 10 minute walk from the campground.[/i]
Now back to messing around with our new roof rack.
I've been figuring out what to throw on top, how (which items, what containers), so that we can be those insane tail-gate camper people with everything including the kitchen sink if/when we want to be. _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Mon May 17, 2021 9:10 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
"Spring Fling"
26th Annual Madera VW Spring Fling
Final day; the show day, Sunday, May 16, 2021
Madera, California
Great Weekend!
Kathy and I drove both "The Toaster" and "Shamrock Shake" out to the meet yesterday.
Beautiful weather, particularly since at home in Richmond, CA we've had cold mornings with fog.
The meet was very well attended. Perhaps because the CDC just said that if you've been vaccinated you don't need to mask outside, and vaccination counts in California are encouraging high; not too many people were masked.
It felt odd, possibly risky (?), and wonderful all at once.
We decided to drive up the day before, and took the chance to stop in Manteca, Ca for this themed building photo op:
We also stopped in Turlock for a great lunch and beer tasting at Dust Bowl Brewing Co.
Big place; very open and plenty of outside seating. Food was pretty good, and enjoyed the beer.
...but back to the "Spring Fling"
Lots of vendors in the swap area; a lot of great deals to be had.
Plenty of Splits representing:
I particularly liked this panel with its custom top rack:
Plenty of bugs, a few rarities, etc.:
Naturally I took LOTS of photos...
I threw them all here:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...ts=summary
Hopefully other attendees will put their pictures up as well.
Here's our obligatory eating/sitting in the bus photos...
A patch I picked up; I might put it in the closet window:
If we had the chance to meet you yesterday or re-connect; great to see you!
Next weekend:
...an event that never seems to be listed on TheSamba, but instead on the website/club that runs it:
https://vwcamperfamily.ning.com/ is the annual ('cept for last year):
Bus City XIII
May 21, 2021 at 9am to May 23, 2021 at 12pm – Guerneville, California
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS RESERVATIONS FOR THIS EVENT. The campground is closed to the general public until Memorial Day...Type: campout, in the redwoods
The "Bus City" camping trip is for all years of VW buses (even Eurovans). Typically at least a fifth to a fourth or so in attendance are in splits, another fifth or so Bays, etc.
It's a great one - relaxed, many families, pets, campfires.
Nestled into a grove of Redwoods and pines, the river just across the road, and the Korbel Sparkling Winery a literal 10 minute walk from the campground. _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat.
Last edited by DadaCheese on Tue May 18, 2021 8:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
|
mdege Samba Member
Joined: January 16, 2018 Posts: 940 Location: Niederkruechten, Germany
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22670 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
|
Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 4:08 am Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
I miss you guys, see you when the war is over. It’s not too far away , now
That lumber on top of the Toaster doubled its value
_________________ .ssS! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Thu May 27, 2021 4:31 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
"Bus City" 2021
Friday, May 21st, 2021 through Sunday, May 23rd, 2021
Guerneville, CA
Schoolhouse Canyon Campground
What a great time. Finally out camping with other VW Buses again.
The event was fantastic; a total of 89 VW buses (all years invited) made it out, which is the highest number for this event.
I believe the campground has 50 sites... notice the contrast from when we arrived on Friday to the picture above.
This was my chance to try my hand at over-packing, using the new roof rack.
I threw all this junk up in the morning on Friday:
Stopped at Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa to try some beers and fill our insulated growler.
As expected, everyone was very kind, courteous and got along great too.
Naturally there were a lot of Vanagons...
But also a lot of nice Splits and Bays...
Another great perk of this campground is that a 10 minute walk up the road is Korbel Sparkling Winery...
It's impossible for me to recount all the fun that was packed into the weekend... there were arts & crafts, plenty of great food being shared, campfires and games...
We got a few people hooked on Kniffel (the German name for the game Yahtzee).
We were having such a great time I almost forgot to take photos, so most all that I did take were taken Sunday morning after plenty of revelry.
If you'd like to see all the snap-shots I took, they are here:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...ts=summary
As always; if we got to meet you for the first time, it was great spending time with you, and also to catch up with folks we know...
Unfortunately we can't make it to Bugorama this weekend in Sacramento (show day is Sunday, May 30th, 2021), but instead will finally be enjoying visiting with my sister-in-law out from NYC now that everyone's vaccinated.
We'll be taking The Toaster on a trip up to Seattle and back in early June.
We'll take a kind of eastern route up through Oregon on the way up and stop in Bend, OR before visiting friends in Portland and my brother and his wife in Seattle.
If anyone knows of good road-side attractions or points of interest we should be aware of on the way, let us know. Thanks!
Meanwhile; hope you're all out enjoying your buses.
_________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
BarryL Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2004 Posts: 14271 Location: Casa de Oro, California
|
Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 6:03 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Looks like a real blast. How is the paper towel thing attached? |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 6:44 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Quote: |
Looks like a real blast. How is the paper towel thing attached? |
Magnetic. Has thick rubber around the magnets. It is two pieces. It is from Harbor Freight Tools. Variety of colors. Meant to be on your gigantic garage tool chest.
https://www.harborfreight.com/magnetic-paper-towel-holder-69321.html _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 4:34 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Trip from home (Richmond, CA) to Seattle and Back
June 8th through 15th, 2021
Kathy and I managed to plan for a week off, and since it had been so long since we'd seen my brother and sister-in-law, we planned a trip to Seattle.
As early as we could after work on Tuesday the 8th, we left...
The Toaster waiting for us impatiently to get started:
The general scheme was to see some places we hadn't, stop to see friends in Portland, make it Seattle, and then head back.
As is typical for us, lots of distance and not much time.
The map below shows the basic route we took, and lists on the left the towns we bought gas in (and yep; I see a typo. Klammath Falls is in Oregon, not CA).
The TRAVEL plan, on the other hand (instead of gas stops) was:
Spend a night in Redding.
Cut over to Klammath Falls, and then make it to Bend, OR for a night.
Drive down to Portland and stay with our friends for a night.
Go to Mount Saint Helens with our friend (in her car), and then get back on the road.
Arrive in Seattle, stay with my brother and sister-in-law for 3 nights...
then jam back down the WA/OR/CA coastline seeing what we can see in a short time, staying one night in a coastal town somewhere.
Getting to Redding wasn't a problem at all, and we made it to a Brewery for dinner. They were so crowded, however, that we enjoyed our beer in the bus.
Checked into our motel, the Thunderbird Lodge, and walked around downtown. Ended up chancing upon an indoor league of corn-hole players at yet a different brewery.
We stopped, had another pint and watched them play for awhile before going back to the Thunderbird.
The next morning we were back on the road after doughnuts and coffee, and stopped briefly in Weed, CA where a good friend of ours had grown up.
My brother texted that we should stop at the geologically interesting area of "Grass Lake" (no; not making these places up. Weed is a town in California, and "Grass Lake" is just a little ways outside of it).
We had never been to Bend, Oregon before so we went that way...
There's beautiful trees on either side of the 97 Highway that gets you there, but it becomes a little monotonous when compared to some of the other paths we took on the trip.
Bend was very nice, and we can see how it is a sportsman's paradise at least 3/4ths of the year.
It also has a lot of breweries though, and we very much enjoyed a tasting and dinner at Monkless Belgian Ales. It was walking distance from the Bed & Breakfast we stayed at.
The Bed & Breakfast, named the Mill Inn, we booked through AirBnB. It was perfect; has an outside hot tub and fire pit area, off-street parking, and one of the best breakfasts I've had in a long time.
Naturally the décor of the dining room, for obvious reasons, was appealing too.
Our friends in Portland texted us to make sure we stopped at the Peter Skene Ogden rest stop on our way to them the next day.
We took a break before driving down the Columbia River Gorge to get to Portland, and tried some Pacific Northwest wine.
This picture (below) of The Toaster at our friend's home in Portland is likely near identical to one further back on this thread years ago when we stopped there going to Seattle for Thanksgiving one year.
It was great to catch up with all of them, including their son who is now done with college and living with his girlfriend elsewhere in town. Can't believe how time files.
We went to a few record stores on this trip. Here's Bowie loving cardboard behind Portland's Music Millennium store.
Naturally I also always have an eye out for Air-Cooled VWs; saw this one as we walked back from getting ice cream with our friend's family:
Our friend took Friday off of work so that she could bring us to see Mt. Saint Helens. We traveled up the 5 to Castle Rock, left The Toaster there, and our friend brought us in her car up the mountain and back. It was beautiful and well worth going to. We thought we'd go on a short hike, but at the viewing station the winds were about 25+ miles per hour, and the rain was immediately freezing into small pelting hail so we just picnicked in our friends car before going back down the hill to The Toaster.
Traffic through Olympia/Tacoma and into Seattle on a Friday night was pretty bad, and as can be expected it rained much of the time we were on the freeway. It did clear up, however, in the evening and my brother took us all to a great vantage point in West Seattle.
As to our arrival at my brother's house, the very last time I needed to use the clutch to park, the clutch cable broke.
Felt like it couldn't have been better with its timing.
Naturally I had a spare, so the next morning my brother and I got up and installed it.
My brother and sister-in-law love living in Seattle. They have really taken to both downhill skiing, as well as Kayaking. Along with friends, they planned a day of paddling for all of us down the Snoqualmie River. The weather was perfect nearly all day on Saturday.
Sunday was the wettest June day in Seattle for 20 years according to articles on Monday. Didn't bother us since we ended up spending the day record-store shopping, going to a farmer's market at having a thin-crust pizza party with friends at my brother's house in the evening. He's perfected using his "Green Egg" barbeque to make incredible pizzas.
With such little time for this trip, we had to leave early Monday morning.
We stopped in Aberdeen, Washington... not 'cause we're huge Kurt Cobain fans (it's where he grew up), but because it was a great northern point to start traveling the coast. We did stop for photo ops at the this strange Star Wars store, however. Wasn't open yet.
Also stopped and got some Landjaeger sausages (kind of a German beef Jerky that we enjoy) at this German store we chanced upon.
Later on we lunched on fish in Astoria, Oregon.
Our next stop was to be at "Thor's Well" near Yachats, OR (we stayed overnight in town).
Traveling the coast was stunning. Our last day of the trip, Tuesday, we knew would be a lot of driving though. We left Yachats before 8am, and got to Richmond, CA before midnight since we had more stops to enjoy on the way.
Tillamook Creamery was on our list, so we stopped there, bought some cheese and swag.
Further down the 101, I thought we had found a VW graveyard, but actually it was "Beaver Creek Bob's VW Repair".
It was closed, but took some snapshots, there's some more in with my pictures if you like looking at broken down VWs.
Back to our own redwoods in California eventually.
...and a trip on the 101 in California isn't complete without a stop at the "Trees of Mystery"
The trip was great. Most of all catching up with my brother and sister-in-law as well as our friends in Portland.
Driving "The Toaster" anywhere is always such a joy.
I hope you too are out enjoying your bus this summer.
Let me quickly finish this picture-heavy rambling post with some VW memorabilia seen while traveling:
_________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
vwuberalles Samba Member
Joined: October 18, 2003 Posts: 1357 Location: Richmond, VA
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2021 12:13 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Short visit to Chico, camping in southern Oregon, and the Vacaville Fiesta Days Volkswagen Show
It's been a busy July.
There's a few events/shows that we missed, but for a good reason; we got to go to southern Oregon to camp with a friend of ours.
Let's see if I can count back...
On the forth of July we climbed into The Toaster, and made it to a Barbeque at Kathy's aunt's house in Maxwell, CA.
Having planned ahead, we then drove to Chico, and worked remotely from my mother-in-law's house on July 6th and 7th.
While driving around Chico on Monday the 5th, my phone rang; our friend Bryan Houston of Late Night Air Cooled was calling. We had planned already to drop by his shop since we'd be around during a couple work days, but he beat us to surprising him; naturally he spotted The Toaster.
Went out to see him on Tuesday; always great to hear about what their racing team has been up to, the projects he has at the shop, and to see the various cars that are there for work, and occasionally one or two that are being sold...
Also had a VW "sighting" while in Chico; this dune buggy (not the same one as the one at Bryan's shop):
Thursday morning, the 8th of July we got up early and headed to Whisky Springs Campground in southern Oregon.
Stopped in Ashland, to have lunch but also had a great time finding numerous 45 rpm records for our jukebox at Music Coop, and got to speak at length with the owner.
Made it the last bit up to the Whisky Springs Campground to camp with our friend Jennifer from Portland.
Despite the heat (averaged around 95 degrees while we were there), the campsite was wonderful with tall shady pines, lots of birds, and practically no mosquitos. We did see a lot of the smoke from the tragic (and still current) fires in Oregon and California, but not during the time we were camping.
A lot of the area was open range, so it wasn't unusual to enjoy a creek along with cows.
We took some side-trips for short hikes and to see beautiful canyons and portions of the Rouge river at its higher elevations...
After some very relaxing time, reading, swimming, playing cards and being 100% away from computers and cell coverage, we had to head home on Sunday the 11th.
It was a very hot drive, and along with a couple extended stops, we made it an 11-hour trip back to Richmond, CA.
As we passed though Redding, it was 112 degrees. Passed back through Chico (and stopped at Kathy's mom's house again, and took a cold shower), it was 106 degrees. Richmond? When we got home at 9pm it was 55 degrees and foggy up in the hills. That's California micro-climate contrasts for you.
It was a fantastic week.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vacaville Fiesta Days Volkswagen Show (July 17th, 2021)
Although Vacaville is only about 45 minutes from us (when there isn't traffic), we drove both Kathy's 1971 Karmann Ghia, "Shamrock Shake", and "The Toaster" to Vacaville Friday night.
Never having explored downtown Vacaville before, we enjoyed an outdoor meal...
... and then we chanced upon the free concert series at the Downtown Creekwalk park.
The band, playing a fun variety of covers, was Groove Ride.
They were really great; three singers, a three piece brass section, and the audience and folks dancing were really enjoying being out and about once again. The sense of joy was infectious.
Link
Stayed at a hotel overnight, got up early and went to the wonderful meet:
To be honest, there weren't too many buses there, but we were really pleased to see the ones that were. This a picture of the majority of them, but there were others elsewhere at the meet as well:
Great, as always, to catch up with folks that we know, as well as meet a lot of other VW owners and enthusiasts.
There was a great variety of VWs at the show...
...and a stand out (for me) was the chance to look at the details of this 1942 Kübelwagen...
Kathy's Ghia, "Shamrock Shake":
Although it was pretty warm (low to mid 90s), it was a perfect day for the meet and everyone was having a great time getting to visit and enjoy one another's VWs.
My friend Jochen, in Germany, had sent over some German license plates that he felt that VW owners might enjoy, so we played the middle-man for him and sold several plates at the meet. They all either have the letters "VW" as part of the number, or they are from Wolfsburg (city Code: WOB). This too invited a lot of interesting conversation with folks, and it was nice to have the awning for people to enjoy some additional shade.
For ALL of the snap-shot photos I took at the meet, here's the gallery view:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?...ts=summary
Hopefully other folks will post their photos in there as well.
Really it was great show, with a fantastic raffle, awards, presentation and donation to the Boys & Girls club, not one live band, but TWO (the "School of Rock" of Vacaville was the second; they brought student performers as well as their logoed Bay Window).
Many thanks to all the organizers, supporters and volunteers for such a great time!
We would be going to the: August 01, 2021 - Nor Cal Vintage VW & Porsche Treffen - Concord, California (to which I suggest you go), but we'll likely be elsewhere having celebrated Kathy's birthday the day before.
Hope you're all out enjoying your buses! _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Big Bill Samba Member
Joined: June 21, 2005 Posts: 1783 Location: Santa Rosa, Ca
|
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 5:12 pm Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Love the updates, Thank You. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:41 am Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Southern California Sun...
The 5th Annual All Out VW Car Show - Oceanside, CA
Saturday, September 7th, 2021
Kathy and I drove down to Southern California late last week to spend some time with my mom and work from her house instead of our own for a little while.
Naturally I checked to see if there were any shows, and was pleased to find there'd be one in Oceanside next to a brewery. It's the same business park that the company J-Bugs is.
It was a nice, relaxed meet. Small-ish wih friendly folks, well organized too.
A great way that they inspired folks to arrive early is that for the the first 50 folks (all paying $20 to "show" their VW), you got a free event t-shirt and a free beer. Got ours; we were car #7.
Here's "The Toaster" at the meet:
Nice variety of VWs, and there were awards too (all participant adjudicated) as well as a raffle, music, and of course the brewery right there too.
Here's a stretch Vanagon (with a Subaru engine):
This Thing (below) had burned up during the fires in Paradise, CA.
The man who now owns it has restored it but keeping its burned appearance as an homage to the town, its residents and the firefighters who extinguished that fire. I believe he said it will be in Hot VWs soon...
So many great splits to look at too. I particularly liked this double-cargo door Postal Yellow Panel:
Bugs, Notchbacks, Dune Buggies; it was a great mix of VWs at the show:
Great time, as always, met a lot of fantastic folks and really enjoyed the meet.
Here's the link for all the snap-shots I took. Who knows, perhaps some other people will post on TheSamba some more too:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?...ts=summary
We had thought of returning to the Bay this Sunday, but I just realized that is when "Bus Fest" is (August 15, 2021 - Bus Fest, Antioch, California), and I may want to attend if we can get back in time... also discovered that there's a Ghia get-together this Sunday that Kathy may want to go to...
We'll see if we can make it to either.
Meanwhile; hope that you are all out enjoying your buses. _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
DadaCheese Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Richmond, CA
|
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:34 am Post subject: Re: "The Toaster" ~ Personal History and restoration |
|
|
Southern California.
Not an important post.
Just been impressed how often we see air-cooled VWs out and about here in Southern California/Huntington Beach where we are visiting my mom for a week.
Here's some random ones I took some snap-shots of...
Oops; one wasn't like the others. Did you catch it?
Looks like we WILL be able to make it to Bus Fest on Sunday. Details in the "Shows" part of TheSamba.
Hope to see a good representation of split buses there.
August 15, 2021 - Bus Fest
Antioch, California _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------
Dada as in dadaism.
Cheese as in the stuff I love to eat. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|