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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:09 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Starting with a couple super cool shots.. We drove hours and hours into the middle of BFE in Nebraska until finding a random field to park in and watch the total solar eclipse. Incredible.
Highly necessary Nebraska lighthouse
Weird small project.. I actually located some original Sportsmobile shag, and it cleaned up nicely. So out with the old and here's an action shot of going in with the new
Extremely proud of this one, although the bus is currently packed (more on that later) so I can't grab a finished pic.. built a kitchen cabinet that houses the original Sportsmobile Norcold fridge and utilizes the same vanagon cabinet doors from the seat and closet build. It was of course stained to match. I will update with more pictures later..
An awesome road trip to St Louis
With some other cool sights along the way
Replaced the starter after it went out at a VW show in Illinois
We entered, and won, a lighted Christmas parade in our home town
New front shift bushing, which of course came with removal, cleaning, regreasing, and adjustment of shifter stop plate, which made an insane amount of difference
Came home to this one night.. nothing was missing so guess it could have been worse. Got a new piece of glass installed, plus an opportunity to break down and tighten up the window
Under took the greasiest job known to man...
And one of the scariest, as you never know what lurks beneath.. I was extremely lucky though.. As got can see my windshield seal was long past it's life span, and starting to show some scary stuff out the front.. so I finally pulled it. Some pitting and pinholes was all that was really found underneath. So instead of replacement, I opted to grind, sand, repair, prime, sand, (x about 7) paint, sand, paint, and install! I timed the windshield reinstall, and it went flawlessly.. 4 minutes!!
_________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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Boesen Samba Member
Joined: April 12, 2011 Posts: 535 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 7:54 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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TweedLinn wrote: |
Starting with a couple super cool shots.. We drove hours and hours into the middle of BFE in Nebraska until finding a random field to park in and watch the total solar eclipse. Incredible.
Highly necessary Nebraska lighthouse
Weird small project.. I actually located some original Sportsmobile shag, and it cleaned up nicely. So out with the old and here's an action shot of going in with the new
Extremely proud of this one, although the bus is currently packed (more on that later) so I can't grab a finished pic.. built a kitchen cabinet that houses the original Sportsmobile Norcold fridge and utilizes the same vanagon cabinet doors from the seat and closet build. It was of course stained to match. I will update with more pictures later..
An awesome road trip to St Louis
With some other cool sights along the way
Replaced the starter after it went out at a VW show in Illinois
We entered, and won, a lighted Christmas parade in our home town
New front shift bushing, which of course came with removal, cleaning, regreasing, and adjustment of shifter stop plate, which made an insane amount of difference
Came home to this one night.. nothing was missing so guess it could have been worse. Got a new piece of glass installed, plus an opportunity to break down and tighten up the window
Under took the greasiest job known to man...
And one of the scariest, as you never know what lurks beneath.. I was extremely lucky though.. As got can see my windshield seal was long past it's life span, and starting to show some scary stuff out the front.. so I finally pulled it. Some pitting and pinholes was all that was really found underneath. So instead of replacement, I opted to grind, sand, repair, prime, sand, (x about 7) paint, sand, paint, and install! I timed the windshield reinstall, and it went flawlessly.. 4 minutes!!
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Now how is that you got 4 minute install and I got 2 hrs for mine. The one time I'd take a quickie over the longer the better. amazing Tyler. You rock brother. _________________ 1979 Westfalia Deluxe http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=474334&highlight=iowa |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:36 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Speaking of updates...
ROAD TRIP TIME!!
I'm currently writing this from my campsite in the Everglades. Got here without too much trouble, as far as a cross country VW trip goes.. I'll update more on that and throw in alot of pics shortly.. _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:51 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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So the weather in Iowa sucks. So we decided to take off for a couple weeks and warm up. We decided to head towards Florida to surprise my girlfriend's brother for his birthday, which was on Friday the 16th. We left Iowa on Wednesday the 14th... Spoiler alert: we made it. Those were a couple very long days.
Day 1: we left Iowa on Wednesday and planned to just blow down the road without much for stopping. That quickly changed when I saw an injured deer on the side of the road, and contacted the police to come take care of it. An hour later they showed up.. Also this day was the windiest day I can remember for a long time, and we were driving straight into it. Gas mileage was down to 11 and we were running low. Decided to go off the road to Brandon, Iowa, home of Iowa's largest frying pan, and apparently a gas station that was out of gas. Ok cool.
Back out the way we came, down the highway, and .9 miles from the gas station we run out.. So I start walking. And a state trooper picks me up and gives me a ride. Ok we're fueled up, time to go, only about 3 hours behind schedule now. Grab a quick bite to eat with my dad, who lives in St Louis, and blow on out of there
Make it about another hour down the road, and pull into a truck stop to sleep for the night, but not before taking a picture with the world's largest ketchup bottle in Collinsville, Illinois
Here's hoping day 2 is less eventful _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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Boesen Samba Member
Joined: April 12, 2011 Posts: 535 Location: Iowa
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:03 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Road trip day 2:
Shifting was bothering me yesterday, so I wake up, adjust the clutch cable and shift plate, and we're off.
First stop: Shawnee National Forest, and the garden of the gods there. Crazy beautiful, and not what you think of when you think Illinois.
On down the road, and apparently we end up taking a road that makes us take a ferry from Illinois into Kentucky. Cross that one off the list!
Blow through Kentucky. On to Tennessee
Try to make it to the Lodge cast iron factory and outlet store. But a semi forgot how to drive down 6% grades and burst into flames in front of us, so that set us back just a bit...
Dip into Alabama to say we did
On into Georgia.
Spot the weinermobile, take a picture, in the perfect parking spot, roar down the highway, and sleep at a Cabela's campground north of Atlanta
Another long day down. We're ready for the days to get shorter and more relaxing at this point, that's for sure.. _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:10 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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And we're off.
Spend a bit of time at Stone mountain
See the world's largest peanut
And holy shit, we made it to Florida. In a bus. In 3 days.
Drove quite a bit, because of course he doesn't live anywhere near the border, checked out some springs, and made it to the party in time to drink several refreshing beverages
The next day we took it easy. Took a day off from driving, and let our asses get back into the shape they are supposed to be. We also floated down the springs at Kelly Rock Springs state park. Not a bad Saturday. _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:18 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Spent the morning renting a pontoon boat and going swimming with Manatees at Crystal River, something we try to do as often as possible ever since I was young.
We then continued down the Gulf Coast of Florida, and tackled the sunshine skyway bridge.
And drove out to the end of the skyway pier to watch the sunset
Then decided it was just beautiful enough that we should park right about here and sleep for the night
_________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:27 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Today we drove out to Sanibel and Captiva, to swim, find shells, and take pics like this...
That was hard to leave, but we did. And headed towards the Everglades. We entered at the NW, and drove it's entirety all the way to the SE. Driving (appropriately named) alligator Alley, Big Cypress preserve, and being pretty amazed by every minute of it
When getting out to take this picture, I then walked across the road and took a picture of an alligator. Then hopped in the bus, and it wouldn't start. In my nightmares of how I'd die, I hadn't thought about this one.. No worries, a battery cable had wiggled loose, so I sweat my ass off, jumped it from the other battery, and away we go
We camped in the Everglades at Long Pine Key campground for the next 2 nights
Right down the road from our campsite...
_________________ 76 Sportsmobile
Last edited by TweedLinn on Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:37 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Day trip to the keys, and most importantly, the bus making it to the southernmost point!
Made a few stops on the way through the keys..
7 mile bridge
We made it!
Stopped at the world's largest spiny lobster on the way back.. on Islamorada
And the Kmart in Marathon lol
Then it was back to the swamp for another night _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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Boesen Samba Member
Joined: April 12, 2011 Posts: 535 Location: Iowa
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 5:10 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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After our trip down to the keys, unfortunately the time had come to leave the swamp and head North up the Atlantic coast.
We first stopped at Biscayne national park
Even though much of Miami is now pretty sketchy, we decided not to bypass it, and instead went in, and went to the Wynwood neighborhood, where you will find everyvsquare inch of every building on every block covered with art. Also the best tacos ever, and lots and lots of places to drink...
Then while sitting at yet another brewery just around a corner from the last one, we realized we had nowhere to sleep, we we searched for wildlife management land, and found a free boondocking spot roughly 90 miles away. We went. And we were not disappointed.
_________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 5:21 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Another day of continuing to March up Florida's East coast..
Spent some time with rockets
Spent some time enjoying the best view possible
Spent some time at another brewery... And spent one last night at the gf's brother's house _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 5:29 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Yesterday we woke up with a mission. A mission to get to Beaufort, SC to take a tour of the only kazoo factory in the US.. Yes, you heard me!
So we blew out of Florida.
We blew through Georgia, stopping quickly at the smallest church in America
And we got to the kazoo factory at 4:01. They stop giving tours at 4. But it's almost like they rarely see people with our level of kazoo excitement, and they gave us one anyway. All jokes aside it was pretty fun, really quite informative, and you get to make your own kazoo at end end!
We then took in a show, and a place to sleep
And what was playing? A horror movie about a family getting murdered while on a road trip. Goodnight. _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 4:43 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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We have been in the mountains for the last few days, which meant limited reception, so I'm a few days behind on updates. So here we go!
First thing in the morning we woke up and drove to John's Island, near Charlotte, SC to see the angel oak tree. Wow a big big majestic mother fucker that thing is
And the roads around it weren't to ugly to drive either
We then said, "hey let's take the backroads and see if we stumble across anything fun." So we did. And we found a flea market. Which we went to... I'll spare you the details, but it ends with, "hey let's get the hell out of this part of SC on the interstate now."
We stopped at this beast
Then stopped at a winery, drank all the wine and called it a night.. _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:02 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Up and moving, let's cross another state off the list!
We spent the next 2 nights at the Davidson River Campground in Pisgah National Forest
What an incredible place. Miles and miles of trails, and mountain roads following rivers and waterfalls. It was only made more beautiful by the fact that it is spring, freezing cold, and usually so foggy that you can't see literally anything at all
This park also has "easy" access (drive up a mountain) to the blue ridge parkway. Which I drove a ways, until it was closed, due to the fog..
We took lots of short trips through the surrounding hollers (whoa..!) As well as to some other parks, beer joints, etc. We're definitely not complaining about our time spent here
_________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:23 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Yesterday unfortunately the time had come to leave Pisgah. Which was ok, as that meant or was time to drive through Nantahala National Forest on our way to Smoky Mountain National Park
Randomly drove by this
Drove around some barriers and broke some rules to capture this one..
Nantahala was full of incredible waterfalls and was yet another beautiful drive on the long list of beautiful drives
We then took some backroads on the way to Smoky Mountain Park so we could stumble across gems like these
(Wreckage from the train vs bus crash scene from The Fugitive, which is still laying out in the woods)
And we made it to the park
Where we were greeted by elk
Ridiculous scenery
Incredible views while driving up the mountains
And no views from the tops of them. Because like before, spring is extra smoky in the Smoky mountains
_________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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Spike0180 Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2015 Posts: 2269 Location: Detroit, Michigan
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:32 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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The smoky mountains in that area might be my favorite part of the USA. (but I haven't been to all of it yet) Keep the pictures coming, and continue having a blast! _________________ Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp
Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic" |
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panic_fan Samba Member
Joined: April 21, 2008 Posts: 711 Location: Mcdonough GA
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:19 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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Great trip. I would love to see a map showing the route you have taken.
Looks like you hit every thread on the samba....pics with graffitti, pics with large landmarks, state road signs, bus with brews, Bus in bus parking only
etc etc etc.
Keep it up. _________________ Rich
Brilliant Blue/Cloud White
1970 Baywindow Bus
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=291988&highlight=
"Still learnin the way around my VW bay"
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TweedLinn Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2012 Posts: 287 Location: Iowa
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:29 am Post subject: Re: My 76 Sportsmobile roadtrips, projects, vanagon interior+mor |
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panic_fan wrote: |
Great trip. I would love to see a map showing the route you have taken.
Looks like you hit every thread on the samba....pics with graffitti, pics with large landmarks, state road signs, bus with brews, Bus in bus parking only
etc etc etc.
Keep it up. |
Don't worry I'll upload them to those threads too (I started the roadside attractions one lol)
I'll upload the map when I'm home, thankfully creepy ass Google keeps track of every square inch I travel, so I have some incredible maps! _________________ 76 Sportsmobile |
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