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Made it to Cali!

Well we made it to Cali. Here’s the posts from our 2012 drive from Florida to California in Ole’ Blu. There are plenty of pics to checkout as well.

Trying to leave!!!

Posted by admin on  September 25, 2012
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Well, as it has been with this project everything is taking longer than usual.

Day 1! We hit the road.

Posted by marksch on  September 29, 2012
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[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day1.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] Well we’re off!  After years of work Ole Blue was finally going to hit the road.  We got delayed a bit leaving Gainesville just trying to get everything packed up and the bus in good running shape for the lonnggg 4388 mile trip we have planed.  We woke up Wednesday morning and pretty much hit the road.   Along the way we had some tasty BBQ somewhere in the middle of state before hitting the coast on route to St. George Island for our first night of camping.  Once we got on the gulf coast the drive was absolutely incredible.  The bridge taking you on the island is just epic especially when theres not a cloud in the sky and youre standing up poking out of the huge sunroof.  Once we got the campground setup we quickly left for some celebratory beers at one of the only bars on the island, Eddie Teaches.  Its was a cool outdoor bar which had some live music keeping us entertained… So was watching people admire the bus!  Just about everyone there ended up taking photos of it and staring in amazement.  Its rather comical actually.   While there Mark was excited to order some nasty looking oysters before repulsing me again by ordering a second round of nasty looking oysters!  Snot on a shell! lol  The campsite was just a short walk to the beach and since its a state park the habit is pretty much unchanged.  All the shells on the beach reminded me of how Naples used to be in the 70’s when we first moved there, now long gone.  Late at night these awesome little crab dudes came out and were are running all over the place just past the shoreline!  What a great first day!

Day 2, Ants in Alabama

Posted by marksch on  September 29, 2012
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[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day2.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all]   On day two we woke up to a hot sun and lots of skeeters outside the tents so we didn’t stay long.  We packed up the bus and headed for breakfast at a little restaurant near the entrance to the island.  We both ordered over-medium eggs, Marks came out perfect as usual, mine runny and clear as usual.  Mark laughed, I groaned.  With that yummy goodness in my gut we hit the road again.  I’m not really sure how we lost the time, but after driving all day we weren’t all that close to the campsite we were looking for.  It had rained a bit along the way, but nothing to crazy.   It was getting dark though and that is kinda bad.  The bus is awesome and all but having a 6volt system means the lights just aren’t as bright as they should be so it’s a little sketchy.  Eventually we made it across the state line to Alabama and found a campsite at Gulf Islands National Park.  I wasn’t quite St. George but pretty awesome anyway.  Skeeters were out again in full force and we had a few ants to deal with, looks like Mark took the worst of that!

Day 3 – Rain in New Orleans

Posted by marksch on  September 29, 2012
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[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day3.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] Day 3 could have started a little better…  We left the campsite figuring it would be easy to get to New Orleans for a night of fun in the French Quarter.  We drove about 20 miles west along a thin strip of land where we knew we would be taking a ferry across Mobile Bay in south Alabama.  We get there and find out after a few minutes that the ferry had just broke down and we were out of luck.  The bigger bummer was not only did we have to backtrack due east but we had to drive completely around Mobile Bay which took hours.  Then, once we got back on track the rain started coming down.  At one point it was definitely a little scary as the rain was pouring, the wind was blowing us all over the road as Im trying to drive over this monster bridge.   It’s pretty rare im nervous driving but that was definitely a little white-knuckle.  While the bus is amazing in the dry with all the windows open and all, its pretty un-amazing in the rain.  Theres no windshield wipers so that’s the first problem.  It leaks all over the place which is a second problem annddd the windows steam up rather quickly, oh and it gets hot in there real quick!  Basically driving in the rain sucks!  We did make it to New Orleans aok though, found a hotel and partied it up on Bourbon Street.   Hoping to leave in the morning we were greeted to more rain and saw on the map that a storm the size of Texas is directly overhead.  Not wanted to drive the entire day in the rain we decided there were worse places to get stuck so we’re staying an extra day…hopefully tomorrow we make it to Baton Rouge. And as always the food in Nawlins is off the chart!

Day 5 – Avoiding Rain

Posted by marksch on  October 1, 2012
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[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day5.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] We left New Orleans a day late because of all the rain but it turned out to be a good thing. We went out again and saw a great blues band on Bourbon street. The dude busted into some Zeppelin and a tribute to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant which was awesome, then we headed back to The Dungeon for round two of metal. It was still raining when we woke up this morning so we got a crazy good sandwich, mine was off the chart amazing. Finally a little break in the rain so we took a chance and left New Orleans only to spend the day trying to avoid rain. We had to pull over and wait under a gas station at one point but we pushed on. Eventually we found a hotel in St. Francisville Louisiana where we are now. After all the heavy meals a salad really sounded good but unfortunately the only restaurant in the city thats open on Sundays didnt really have a good salad option…so I ordered fried chicken. Im really gonna need a diet after this!

Day 6 – Disaster on the Mississippi

Posted by marksch on  October 2, 2012
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[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day6.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] Check out all the glass in the back seat! The violence of the widow exploding was pretty epic, just a wall of flying glass. What my face didnt take ended up in the back of the bus! Todays leg of the trip wasn’t so good as we had a pretty serious incident. Hugging the Misssissippi River on the Louisiana highway 15 a passing semi-truck kicked up a rock which scarily struck the front passenger window shattering it instantly in my face! I saw the truck, Mark prepared for it by moving the bus close to the shoulder but as it passed BAM a huge explosion sound and next thing I know glass was everywhere. I was stunned for a few moments not really sure how to react covered in glass. Mark E saw it all from the driver seat, said it was crazy just a wall of glass flying by! The safari windows we installed came from Europe and didn’t use laminated glass, instead it was tempered “safety glass.” Its safe because it doesn’t become shards but it doesn’t stop anything from penetrating the window either. Anyway, very close call, thankfully I just have a little cut over my eye. With a huge storm just above us we had to quickly clean the debris from in the cabin hurry to the nearest town. We had driven 2 hours and hadn’t seen much of anything so we were rather lucky that Vidalia was just 10 miles up the road. There we met Steve at Auto Glass Services who amazingly had us back on the road in just 3 hours! He cut a couple pieces of flat laminated glass, using the intact driver side as a template. Neither Mark or I wanted to drive anymore with that tempered glass so we replaced both sides. Steve was quite a cool character. Super good dude, gave us a few beers to calm the nerves while we waited. Its hard to watch someone else work on the bus though Ill tell you that! We decided we had traveled enough that day and found a hotel in Natchez just across the river. We saw the most wicked sunset overlooking the bridge then found some fantastic BBQ. After that we headed to a pub and met a fun couple from the UK also on an epic road trip. A good end to a crazy day!

Day 7 – The Sad Day That Didn’t Happen.

Posted by marksch on  October 5, 2012
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[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day7.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] The day that didn’t happen. You may have noticed a lack of posts the last few days… lets just say we had an another nasty incident about 24 hours after the rock shattered the passenger window. I think Mark and I are both a little embarrassed by it but at the same time thankful things didn’t go horribly worse… The day started great, a stunning day, cool with no rain in the forecast. We drove around scenic Natchez taking some photos along the Mississippi River before deciding to hit the road around noon. We wanted to trace the river so we chose the Louisiana side and started our drive north. The road we chose was great but eventually we came to a stop when it turned to gravel. No biggie we thought so we kept going, taking some amazing photos of the cotton fields and the rest of the Mississippi, not really making the best time but who cares, it was the first day without rain in a days so we were enjoying it! Eventually we got back on a bigger highway, LA-65 to be exact. A two lane highway with the occasional semi-truck heading in the opposite direction but thankfully on this day not too crowded. Im not really sure what we were talking about or what was going on but without any warning BAMN and the bus started pulling severely to the left into oncoming traffic. I tried not to panic, turning the wheel to the right increasingly to keep control even though it was pulling significantly to the left-strange because the noise was coming from the rear. While giving some firm even pressure to the brakes I started to get her slowed down. Hard to describe everything that was going on, I saw something flash in the mirrors and then I realized what had happened, we lost a wheel! Yeah, a wheel. The drivers rear to be exact, it came completely off and we we’re now driving with the brake drum tearing into the pavement. After some of the longest seconds of my life we came to a stop on the shoulder wondering in disbelief how the hell this just happened. Mark was pissed, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him angry like that, I don’t know what I was confused I guess. I jumped out of the cockeyed bus and saw the brake drum dented and well scarred from scraping along the pavement at 55MPH. I know I said a few choice words but quickly pulled it together and tried to figure out what to do next. The tire was nowhere to be seen, so I think both of us just immediately started looking for it. The woods on both sides were swampy, dense and full of nasty creatures. I think the wheel is what I saw flash by in my mirror but I cant be sure so I kept looking. Determined to find it, I put on some jeans and my hiking boots and hit the wilderness looking without much luck. Mark looked for a while as well but then switched gears and started to work on getting the bus jacked up to see what exactly we had done. Thankfully most of the damage was to the brake drum but on closer inspection we saw the wheel had pushed out the big shiny beautiful side of the bus near the wheel-well as it banged around before freeing itself from the vehicle. Without the rear left wheel, the front right was actually off the ground which explained the loss of steering… Damn, youre kidding right?? While I was looking for the lost wheel, Mark started to jack up the bus using the stock VW jack that I insisted we bring along…yeah its great and nostalgic but it puts a ton of pressure against the side of the bus and of course it put a dent on the big side on top of all that. Mark swore again. I ended up flagging down a cop who had a scissor jack so we put the spare on with that and sent him on his way. Since we lost all the lugs when the wheel went flying off we had to take one from each of the remaining wheels to make a hasty repair. The cop was off duty on his way to a function so we let him go which ended up being a mistake. As soon as we moved 2 feet we heard a scraping grinding sound. CRAP! We drove at 5mph to a farm house looking for a jack but no one was there. We continued to limp along the shoulder for a while longer wondering how we were going to get 30 miles to the nearest town when some cool dude in a big ole pickup truck stopped. He said two weeks earlier he got a flat and some lady stopped so he was repaying karma. “Do you know where you are” he asked? “Yeah, middle of nowhere!” The dude had a good jack (and a cooler of beer which apparently everyone in Louisiana carries) so we proceeded to jack the bus back up. Not 5 minutes later, two other dudes pulled over. Ironically they were the other dude’s mechanics! So they took over which I have to say was a little nerve racking… they had an even better jack and assessed the situation. Then of course another cop stops by, just as Im walking around with the beer in my hand. Did he care? No, he was an ole timer, just wanting to chat and check out the bus. I think a few times we actually laughed at the whole situation before finally feeling decent enough to drive back to Natchez….slowly. As far as we know the only real damage mechanically is a brake drum that is scarred and dented. We went all the way back to Natchez and found a mechanic there who took the big main wheel nut off so we could inspect and clean up the brake drum. It seems to be in ok shape but we’re getting a bit of pulsing in the brakes so we need to find a new one..which is not that easy I learned. After some interneting and phone calls I found one in a VW salvage yard about 400 miles away, cost to overnight it to me? $250, and that’s just shipping! Ironically he was heading to a VW show in Little Rock Saturday which was only 300 miles away- and on our way. So with that we got back on the road and are taking it easy until we get the new drum on. So why did the wheel fly off? Dunno. Mark does most of the mechanical work and if there is one thing I know he’s thorough, if not meticulously anal. He double checked the lugs, probably triple checked. Maybe the only error was not double checking everything after we put the first 1000 miles on or so but hindsight is always 20-20. Mark said used some anti-seize on each lug initially, maybe that had something to do with it but we can’t be sure. I know as I write this at a campsite in the Arkansas forest he’s climbing under the bus double checking everything. I guess when you take every single nut and bolt off a vehicle and put it back together a mistake can happen but somewhere in my gut I just don’t think that’s the case, I know my buddy too well. In fact, the very FIRST trip the bus took when we finished was to Continental Imports in Gainesville to have things looked over on a lift by a professional mechanic and set the torque to the proper spec on a few bolts. I guess in the end its simply Shit Happens! The good news is we are heading to a VW show and should be camping with a bunch of fellow Volkswagen enthusiasts before tomorrows meet. Who know’s maybe we’ll have a trophy by the end of the day, Most Eventful Journey perhaps. 🙂 I must say this, the people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas are some of the most friendly I’ve ever met. Justin at our campsite last night just left us a cooler full of fish, pork and deer meat! Everyone seems like that. I guess if youre going to get stranded there are worse places in the world. Hopefully this is the last of our incidents!!

Day 9 – Nothing Happened! Nothing at all!!!

Posted by marksch on  October 6, 2012
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We got in the bus and drove. Windows didnt shatter, wheels didnt fly off, nothing eventful at all happened. We learned people in Arkansas are complete idiots when it comes to passing, but are also the nicest people all at the same time. Thats it. We’re in Little Rock hoping the rain goes away in time for the show. [xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day9.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all]
So today was a great day, if we needed a moral boost we got it! After losing the wheel and damaging the brake drum we needed to find a replacement asap. The shipping alone was $250 to get a one overnighted but while searching we learned there was a VW show just a couple hundred miles away in Little Rock. We made arrangements with Derrick from Way Out Salvage to meet us at the show with a solid German made drum, turned and ready to bolt on. We woke up and gave the bus a much needed bath again and headed to the Big Dam Bridge for the show. As we pulled up the rain started to come down heavily so everyone found cover and waited out the hour or so until it cleared. Turned out we had the only Samba bus (21 or 23 window model) which was cool, but there sure were some other sweet rides to look at. With a few battle scars, and missing the hubcaps I decided to enter the judging competition. After hanging around and talking to some awesome people for a few hours the award presentation kicked off at 3pm. As the trophies were coming out I was blown away by the particularly awesome “Best Paint” trophy. A can of original VW paint seeming to pour out onto a base was beautifully artistic and creative. We agreed it was the coolest trophy we’d ever seen. I told Mark I think we had a good chance of winning that one. He disagreed thinking some of the professionally sprayed beetles or the sweet “Sealing Wax” Red bus would take home that prize. We did think we were a shoe-in for the Longest Distance Traveled award though! Well turns out we took home that prize as well as a 2nd in class overall. They told us later if we had hubcaps we would have one that and maybe even Best of Show, regardless, extremely proud to have a 2nd. When the big 4 trophies were awarded I could tell as soon as the dude presenting started struggling with the name Schoennagel that we’d done it! BEST PAINT! Wow! Super proud of Mark E, its his skill and meticulous prep that won us that awesome trophy…one he’s taking home for his mantle for sure! There was lots of praise afterwards from the locals, including some professional painters on just how impressive the quality of the paint is on Ole Blue. Couldn’t have been happier after the buzz kill of the past few days! Also a huge thank you to everyone who attended the show and the organizers. Pretty darn cool of them to let some guys passing through leave with those trophies! What a day! I’ll say it again, the people in this part of the world are the nicest I’ve met. Southern Hospitality at its best! Now its time to hit the road again and make our way through the Ozarks! …its Cooollddddddd!!!

Day 11 – Fun in a parking lot.

Posted by marksch on  October 8, 2012
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[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day11.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] Today we woke up with a new brake drum and a plan to get on the road asap. We didnt have a tool to get the wheel-nut off to replace the brake drum so we went to the closest Autozone for 40mm Socket. They didnt have it, O’Reillys didnt, Napa, Sears Auto, Firestone, none of them…grrrr.. eventually we found a Sears with a standard socket that would work and swapped out the drum in the parking lot. It was clear the first time we hit the brakes with the new drum installed that the damaged drum was causing the brake pulsing we were feeling. Feeling confident the brakes were back up to snuff we hit the Arkansas hills en route to the Ozarks! A few downhill runs and I realized the Rockies were going to be hair-raising! We were hoping to camp but once agian it rained as we were winding down the night so we’re at the Hampton Inn hoping to get a good start in the AM.
[xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day12.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] First, a couple side notes. The email address on the cards we printed up wasn’t working right so if you have sent us mail we didn’t receive it so please send again! Second, if you read the story of the wheel coming off and thought it didn’t make much sense at one point its because a whole paragraph moved when I tried to post it while in the bus. Totally didn’t make sense but its fixed now. Anyway…. We started the day in Clarksville yesterday a little small town on the Arkansas River. We really wanted to camp but a cold front with rain came just as we were arriving which put an end to that idea. Instead we found a Hampton Inn and watched Sunday Night Football in the room. Poor Ole’ Blue was right outside the window in the rain which was pretty funny to look at. The next morning our goal was to make it to Kingston to Way Out Salvage, a VW salvage yard high in the Ozarks. The drive was a little scary going up and down the mountains but the bus handled it no problem. Eventually the road to Way Out turned into dirt and gravel for a good 5 miles, with cows and horses all around it was rather a funny scene. When we finally arrived we were blown away, hundreds of VW’s, beetles, busses wagons, all of them. We’ve never seen anything like it!. By time we picked through it all we found the wheel and horn we came for plus a few other little goodies. We both had a good time snapping some photos too. After leaving Way Out we found a great little campsite just outside Eureka Springs. The temp was in the 40’s which for me is just perfect. It was much nicer for the bus too as we set the two tents just a few feet away. Like a good watch dog or something keeping the bears away! Now we are leaving the Ozarks. Enting is driving while I write away traveling through some stunning fall scenery. Hopefully today we make it to a state park not too far from Wichita. Hotspot reception is shaky at best so I’ll post some photos tonight hopefully. Fillin up to start the morning. Ok, seriously one of the most amazing burgers ever! This is pretty much on top of the Ozarks Honestly, without modern brakes, power steering and all those other goodies this is a little stressful. Awesome! On a very steep drop we pulled over to let the brakes cool off and enjoy some scenery Ok, seriously, dirt roads on top of a mountain?? Where the heck is Way Out Salvage! Five miles up on top of the Ozarks, Way Out Salvage! Unreal, simply Unreal! Look close and you’ll see the “Panic Button!” Ole Blue was much happier at camp then outside a hotel in a parking lot!

Day 13 & 14 – Making Up Some Time

Posted by marksch on  October 11, 2012
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Day 13 [xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day13.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] Day 14 [xmlgm {https://www.66split.com/kml/day14.kml} maptype=G_NORMAL_MAP;scrollwheelzoom=disabled;gpxview=all] The last two days was just driving. We camped both nights, the first night just outside Eureka Springs and then last night at an amazing state park on a lake just outside Wichita Kansas. Both nights were quite chilly- but with enough good food, firewood and a few beers we were in business! The first campsite was a commercial site east of Eureka Springs called Kettle Campground. We missed the cut-off for the state park we were hoping to camp at so we kept pushing until we reached Eureka Springs at sundown. It was full of RV campers who seemed to live there judging by all the vines that were growing up the sides of their rigs which was great since there wasnt a tent camper to be found. Once settled it was hard not to glance over and look in their RV windows at Matlock re-runs well into the wee hours, not really our style of camping I must say! We woke up and once again decided we needed to keep pushing so we put about 300 miles on the bus. Not a huge day for a modern vehicle but in Ole Blue that’s quite a haul. Our goal was Fall River State Park which we made at sunset despite not one, but two closed roads we needed to navigate around- AND a stop at an outstanding butcher shop for a couple fresh cut and pounded grain-fed rib eyes! Ohhh yeahh!!! So while we were hoping to do some fishing at the lake the disappointment of arriving late subsided knowing we had fresh steaks from the heartland waiting for us. Unfortunately when we arrived it was crazy windy so setting up near the beautiful lake was impossible so we moved under a tree just a hundred yards or so from the lake shore. Around 11pm or so the winds left and we were treated to one of the most amazing crystal-clear night skys I’ve ever seen. Soooo many stars to look at it was mesmerizing. Eventually we turned in and fell asleep…until the critters came out and ate my pie! …literally, they ate my leftover pie, the potatoes and pretty much ransacked the campsite….stupid critters! Heading out… Come on really? Closed Road #2 The very cool city of Eureka Springs, badly photographed!

Day 15 – Getting out of Kansas

Posted by marksch on  October 15, 2012
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Sorry for the lack of posts, internet has been hard to come by up in the mountains. Heres the news from a few days ago, more posts soon! Some amazing photos to share too… After finally getting out of Kansas- its not that it isn’t a great state and all, it’s just a little boring when you’re driving through trying to make up time. Mile after mile the road is just straight as an arrow. Train tracks run parallel as you pass by cow fields and farms. Every 30 or so miles you hit a tiny town with a huge grain silo that collects the local farmers crops. The terrain gets boring but the bigger issue is just being on a two lane highway with semi-trucks blowing by in the opposite direction at 70mph. The wind gust just blows the bus like a sailboat. It’s a little scary because with the motor in back there is nothing but a thin piece of metal between you and the oncoming semi!! …Let’s just say it’s interesting to drive that’s for sure! We finally stopped for the night in Garden City near the Colorado boarder which unfortunately smelled like cow poo. There is a huge cattle ranch on the edge of town which when the wind blew east just made the whole place stink. Of course the wind it seemed blew east most of the time that we were there. On the way out of town we pulled over to quadruple-check the lug nuts. As Mark was taking a look a dude in a big truck pulls up next to us. “I noticed your car, you here for the Clutter House?” I heard Butter House of course but no, we were not there for the Clutter House. Turns out back in the 50’s some escaped cons murdered a family thinking they were wealthy. Apparently Truman Capote wrote about it and now it’s a mini tourist attraction. I asked if it had something to do with a VW bus, “Nope.” Huh.. anyway, turns out the dude runs the Clutter House Haunted Maze or something like that so he took us to the house which of course was on a dirt road. Pretty funny the random people that approach us just because of the bus! Yeoowwzza, semi-trucks are not so much fun. One of many many many silos along the way Once again ate wayyy too much.

Day 16 & 17 (I think) – Colorado Spring

Posted by marksch on  October 17, 2012
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We finally left Kansas and made it to Colorado Springs where in the morning we would meet up with Mike from Bulli Klinik. Mike saw I was traveling through town from some photos I posted on the VW enthusiast website TheSamba.com and told me to stop by his shop. I’d never met Mike before but after hearing he had VW restoration shop and some advice for getting through The Rockies we thought we should stop for sure. Holy crap, what a stop! So we show up to his shop and see a sweet 59 panel bus as well as a couple other old split-window buses in the parking lot. We walk in the door, shake hands and immediately he hands me a 6 pack of Mass Transit Ale which is a Colorado Springs microbrew that uses a VW bus for their logo. Next he hands us a couple t-shirts and we start chatting about this and that. After a while he wants to know if we can grab a beer and some lunch. Surrrreee! So we have some lunch and are thinking it’s around noon and he probably needs to get back to work or something so we get the check and head to the buses to go head out. Mike has other plans though and asks if we have time for a tour of the Colorado Springs first. Well, if Mike has time we have time so sure why not! With Pikes Peak in the background, Mike points up to a little road and says we’re going up there. Wow, really? We haven’t gone up or down a mountain like that in the bus yet so while I wasn’t THAT nervous, it did make me gulp. So we left the bar and followed Mike’s bus until we reached the entrance of the Guanella Pass. We started driving up and immediately the scenery went nuts. Crazy beautiful trees, a city below that kept getting smaller and smaller, even a couple short tunnels carved into the mountain, all on dirt roads of course. This was easily the coolest drive in the bus so far without a doubt! Mark was snapping photos as we cruised around in two beautiful old buses. After that amazing drive we went to Garden of the Gods State Park across town. By now it was 3 or so and we figured we should let him get back to work. Nope, he wants to get another beer in a trippy little town called Manitou Springs so of course we did. Hard to describe the place we went other than eclectic, a perfect place to roll into with the buses. At the end of all that he wanted to invite us over to the house but the wife had some car problems so hit the road…to the closest hotel! What a great day and once again amazing hospitality! Thanks again Mike! Crusing around with Mike and his sweet 59. A shot of Ole Blue from Mikes bus Some cool rock tunnels at Guanella Pass Colorado Springs was an awesome stop! Awesome! Just another day and another dirt road! On the way into Colorado Springs we did all we could to avoid the maniacs on Interstate 25. Didnt work out so well!
I woke up early in La Quinta Inn’s not-very-comfy bed and Mark was nowhere to be found. I went outside and saw the engine lid for the bus open in the parking lot and him crawling around on the ground. Being 7,000ft up the air-cooled VW motor needs a special tune to have a hope of dealing with the mountains. Its not the air-cool part that’s an issue it’s the thin air robs a ton of horsepower from a motor, when you have around 36 horsepower to begin with every little bit counts! Normally you time a stock VW motor to 7-1/2 degrees, in the mountains we learned from Mike that you need to advance the timing 5 degrees to 13! It seemed to work though. The bus was wayyyy low on power driving around Colorado Springs but the quick adjustment to the tune and we had a noticeable amount back…good thing for what was in store for us later that day. I started the drive in the morning as we headed down Colorado state highway 50. The 50 is an amazing drive, lots of hills and beautiful fall scenery to enjoy as the road makes it wasy along a fast moving river. As we were enjoying the stunning views I happen to notice a little turn-off and make a quick exit. Immediately we were blown away. Within minutes a pack of deer were standing right in front of us! WOW! They just starred at the bus wondering how they could get one too im guessing. As usual the road turned to dirt but we kept going. Seemed we were on a road to some small ranches or something, all I know is it was spectacular. We hopped out and started taking photos, of course I had to give Ole Blue a quick detail job for the occasion! We burned an hour snapping photos before we got back on the 50 blown away by what we saw. What a great little detour! Back on the 50, we took the advice from our new buddy Mike who told us when we get to Salida to take a stop and drive around the old part of town. Once again he was right, a cool little historic town where we enjoyed a fantastic burger and picked up some gear for the cold weather that was ahead. In the background of the town was a fairly tall mountain with a big S for Salida on the side of it. Some locals told us you can drive up the spiral to the peak for a great view… then mentioned they doubted the bus would make it! HA! So on the way out we hit the dirt road spiral that brings you to the top where Ole Blue easily made it. While up there we learned why the town is called Exit in Spanish as mountains seem to end into a large prairie. Im sure back in the day on horse it was quite a relief to exit the mountains. After stocking up on supplies weren’t quite sure what to do after that. It was about 4pm and the next town was at least a couple hours away. Since the bus is a 6 volt system the headlights are nowhere near as bright as a modern car so we really don’t like driving it at night. We sorta looked at each other and decided to make some time and just hit the road. I turned the keys over to Mark and off we went…no idea what was in our future! I’ll save that story for the next post. Highway 50 sure is purdy! On the way to Salida we pulled over for a quick photo op. You’d swear the bus was winking at us! We pulled off on a side road and were immediately greeted by a pack of deer! Check it out a dozen or so right in front of the bus!! This is right outside the bus window! A little further down the small road and things got even more pretty. It was so good I decided the bus needed some detail spray and a wipedown stat! Oh yeah!! The back road just kept giving and giving! Livin the dream! hehe At the base in Salida, “the bus wont make it up there!” HA! On the peak with Salida in the background. It seems everywhere we go someone has a VW story…even on the top of a mountain. Same Place, different angle
About an hour outside Salida, still on the 50 we were starting to do some serious climbs. That’s when we started noticing flashing road signs warning of snow and ice. Huh? That’s not good! As the we got higher and higher we began to realize we were on the assent to Monarch Pass. The bus got slower and slower. Early on Mark put the pedal to the floor in 4th but the bus just got slower, so we went to 3rd which worked for a while but soon that too wouldn’t hold speed so he dropped it down into 2nd as we limped up the mountain at 20mph. Every 1,000 feet or so the scenery would change dramatically until we rounded a corner about 9,000 feet up and saw snow and the cloud layer right in our path! Things got a little nervous after that. We had the emergency flashers on as visibility dropped to just a couple hundred feet or so. Snow was everywhere on the ground but thankfully non was actually falling. Then we reached the summit! 11,312 feet on top of Monarch Pass. A pretty cool accomplishment for I must say. To take every nut and bolt off a 50 year old vehicle, put it all back together and reach the top of The Rockies is something to be proud of I must admit. It was well below freezing so I hopped out, took a quick photo of our feat, hopped back in and we headed down the mountain. We found a pace car you could say in a weighted down semi-truck that was nursing his way down as well. We just followed him all the way down in low gear where eventually the sun came back through offering us some stunning evening views for our effort. We reached the first town we came to called Gunnison just as it got dark and retired for the night. Uhhh really? We’re going over that?? Its hard to read the sign but it says “ICY SNOW PACKED ROADS.” Not what we were looking for. It’s cool the way the entire landscape changes every 1,500 or so feet as you make the climb up Monarch. Around 9,500ft we hit the cloud layer and more snow. It just got worse from there. Keep in mind foot is to the floor in 2nd gear going about 25mph. 11,312ft on top of Monarch Pass!! On the way down the sun came out again for a brilliant sunset. We finally got to the base of the other side, what a view!

Made it to Cali!

Posted by marksch on  September 22, 2013
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Well we made it to Cali. Mark S. email: marksch @ outlook.com Ole Blue, at home in the driveway. Lenny’s crew at West Coast Custom VW’s did an amazing job on the upholstery and headliner. I detailed the motor once we made it home. I think both Mark’s are a little surprised it made the journey without a hitch.

4 thoughts on “Trying to leave!!!”

  1. “You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars.” -Charles Kuralt-

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