68 Westy Weekender revival

[airschooled]

[richparker]

Turns out vendors can camp right on the river in Town Park where the festival is being held. Everything is with in walking distance, that's VIP!
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[Tcash]

[richparker]

Lots of down time here. Been hanging out with the kid, playing in the park and swimming in the hot springs. I've been emailing with my builder and he is going to order me some 117.5 main jets. I'm really liking the VS, both looks and the sound (or lack of), so it worth the $25 in jets to correct the milage issue.

Currently pouring outside and I'm chillin in the bus while Lil P naps.
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[richparker]

What a great weekend!

137 miles total, got 19.9 mpg and didn't use a drop of oil. Probably would have got better milage on the way home but we filled the bus with all of the vending gear and it was heavy. Still had no problem pulling the east side of Yellow Jacket Hill at 60 though.
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[richparker]

I picked up my bus from the shop this morning, woot woot!!! It's running like a dream. . I took it in for the engines 2nd service, I have just over 1300 miles on it now. I did this in anticipation for a good sized road trip, ~900 miles or so, we are going on next weekend. The service included retorking the heads, adjusted the valves, changing the oil and filter. While it was in there I had him change the transaxle oil and adjust the brakes. I could do that stuff but while it was in the shop I figured might as well have it done. When I got home I tackled the drivers side window regulator, again. The Chinese one I installed like a month and a half ago broke with in 2 weeks. I haven't had a working driver window since Father's Day. I contacted Busted Bus for a new one. They were prompt to reply and wanted $149, ouch. So I decided to look locally first. It took some time but I found one locally for $40, woot woot! Since I was well versed in this repair, having just done it, I got it all done in an hour. However I did have lots of distractions from the family while I was doing it and I broke one of the tabs off the clip that holds the felt in place. That took me like 10 min to come up with a repair and execute the repair. Last time it took me like 2.5 hours or something silly like that. The new regulator was well lubed before I installed it and it works great, it's super smooth and not much play in the handle.

I ended up ordering a new hitch mount bike rack off of Amazon, I got the Thule 917XTR. It's a really nice rack and it super sturdy. The bikes will sit far from the bus and engine lid clears the bikes with ease.

I got 16.5 mpg on the last tank and is the best MPG I've gotten in town so far. I think it will continue to rise as the engine breaks in. The builder and I have had many conversations about what changes to make and every time he says to change out the VS, ha! At this point we have agreed on putting larger air correction jets if necessary. My plan is to wait until after my trip next weekend. I should be around 2500 miles on the engine when I get a back. I'll run a bunch of tanks through it and it the milage still sucks then I'll make the change.

As stated above I'm going on a good sized road trip next weekend. There is a family reunion next weekend in Greeley, Co that we are going to, It's around 400 miles each way. I'm stoked to take the bus. However, next weekend is the local bus off road weekend, the southern San Juan off road trip. Needless to say I'm going to be missing it........we are however going to meet up with the guys at the Friday night meet up and camp with them.

On the table right now is the Mushroom Festival in Telluride on August 15th, the Buses at the Brewery event in Colorado Springs (~700 miles round trip) the last weekend in August and on Labor Day we are camping for 5 nights at the Four corners Folk Festival. Then we're off to the Jerome Jamboree on 9/15. Lots of bus events coming up.

Here's a couple of pics of the new rack.

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[richparker]

I did some wrenching on the bus yesterday. Nothing crazy, just an oil change, valve adjustment, painted the valve covers and installed new cork gaskets. I'm planning on leaving Friday after work to head ~350 miles east to Colorado Springs for the Buses at the Brewery event. I'm gonna be going solo and planning on meeting up at The Garden of The Gods for the cruise to the event.

I've had my bus back for 3 months now and have put 2800 miles on it, not too bad. It's looking clean and running strong!

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[samroon]

Looking good Rich! Wish I could've hung out with you more this summer, I was working on the river pretty much everyday. Super jealous of your engine! In five days I'll be packing up the bus for the return up to British Columbia for school. Happy roads!
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'70 Hardtop Camper 1600 w/ dual kaddies

[richparker]

Third year in a row with the same trip post on this thread, maybe I should start another new thread...

The Bone Bus Isn't getting any rest. Got home from my Colorado Springs trip on Sunday. I took out all the gear, washed the bedding and put it back together again, ready to camp. We are off to the Four Corners Folk Festival in Pagosa Springs, woot woot!!! My wife will be vending her jewelry again, so I'm sure it will be more fun then we can handle. You get a lot of extras as a vender, like the best festival camping ever.

The plan is to load my truck up with all the vending gear. Wifey will drive the truck and and I'll take the bus. Once there we'll set up the booth and the campsite. Hopefully we'll have that stuff done by 4ish so I can get back to durango for a MTB race. Tomorrow is the 5th race in the local MTB race series, I've done the last 2 and stoked to race again! It's gonna be a super sick Enduro in Horse Gultch. I understand this means nothing to you guys but...I've raced bikes for 25 years and I've never been in a more stacked feild race then the local races here. I'm not gonna win, but I'm damn sure gonna participate.

Latest maintance on the bus is a new cork oil filler cap gasket. New rear brake pads on the bike and it's also dialed.

Going ridin!!!
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[airschooled]

[Xevin]

Thats some mighty fine single track. Always wanted to ride it in my prime.
Say hi to Ned, John, Ruthie, Greg, and Missy for me. Those names probably mean nothing to you
Good luck!!
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Keep on Busin'

[richparker]

[richparker]

It took a bit but I got the campsite all set up. I had it all done, which took me a hour and then the guy comes over and says my bus is hanging out into the road a foot and I had to move. So...I had to move the whole F-ing tent! That giant white tent in the background in the main stage, that's VIP!

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[richparker]

Another great camping adventure! After setting up the tent and the vending booth I hightailed it to Durango to race in a local MTB race series. I had a super fun time, had a good ride personally and didn't fall, that's always a plus. Wifey camped in the bus Weds, Thurs and Fri solo (lucky dawg). While I was at home doing the work/Dad thing. The boy and I set off back to the festival Saturday morning. Arrived parked the truck in the free parking lot and we rode (bike towing a Burley) all the way back to camp. Showed up around 11am and festivaled it till today around 11am. It rained hard a bunch, but we stayed nice and dry in the side tent. Good times had by all, wifeys booth did good, the kid had a blast and I got another adventure in the Bone Bus. Pretty sure I heard enough fiddling to last me another year.

Total miles: 156 (not a long trip by any means)
MPG: 20
Oil consumption: 0
Night camping: 5
Good times had: infinity
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[richparker]

Went racing today at Purgatory, the local ski resort. It was a chainless race on the new "flow" trail. It was a blast! I raced Pro, I didn't win but had a blast. I'm feeling good I was only 1 min off the winner who was a full sponcered rider 1/2 my age. I got a hole in my front tire 1/2 way down but the Stans Notubes sealant stopped the leak in no time. There was a crazy drop in out of a box truck. What was at the finish you ask? Well, it was a sweet outside bar that had ice cold Ska for us.

As Robbie would say, I "flogged" the bus all the way up to the Mountain making the new cars work for the pass. Good times!

Bus, bike and the Needles

Chip Peddler box truck drop in at 9900'

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[hoagy86]

Nice man looks like a blast! Thanks for sharing as always

[richparker]

Good afternoon getting the bus ready for the next road trip. I changed the oil, checked valves (all were spot on), adjusted the brakes, cleaned the UNi prefilters and gave it a good wipe down. Leaving Wednesday morning on a 5 day 4 night camping trip with my son. Gonna camp a night in Canyin De Chelly on our way to the Jerome Jamboree.
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[richparker]

This weekend we went down to Blanco, NM to the Wines of the San Juans Harvest Festival. This was a 2 day Festival which my wife vended her Jewerly at. There was all sorts of handmade art work for sale, live music all day, 3 bouncy houses, good food and great wine. Between Friday night and early Saturday morning I packed the bus with all the camping gear and vending gear, man was it full. Not only did we vend but we also camped on the vineyard as well, which was great. We had a great time, Miles P. loved the freedom to run around with the other kids and my wife's booth did fairly well. We will do the event next year again.

The bus handled the load great and the engine had no problem pushing around the extra weight.

Total Miles: 130
Fuel consumption: 1/2 tank (loaded!)

Fully packed.

Setting up the booth

A few of the campsite.

This '68 bug with a 2180 showed up and this IROC parked next to it. I stopped for a pic on the way out.

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[richparker]

Fun day today with the bus, bikes and beer. Ska Brewing is releasing a new Pilsner on Thursday called Pils World which is named after a fun set of MTB trails west of Durango called Phils World. Today a few Brewers and myself went to Phils World to ride and have a small release party at the trail head. This morning I picked up a couple of guys at the brewery, some beer and headed off to the trails. It was around a 50 mile drive and the bus performed well. We got to the lot, got ready and cracked a beer to get ready for the ride. . We rode for a couple of hours and had a blast. When we got back to the lot we saw some Durango folks drinking some Ska so we went over and offered them some Pils World and told them what we were doing. They come over to the bus and chilled with us for a good 30 min or so. Good times! I came away from the event with a 12 pack of Pils which won't be released until Thursday, that's factory! Drive a total of 130 miles today and got 22 mpg.

Early morning meet up

A 10am pre ride Pils to celebrate

Some random trail pic and me jumping the can for fun.

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[richparker]

I got the bus all ready for winter. Changed the oil to 10/30, adjusted valves (1&2 were tight, 3&4 were loose), installed the sump heater, rotated the tires, adjusted the brakes, adjusted the steering box, got another alignment (it was pulling to the right) and installed a new starter.
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