Shantung Yellow

I think--I think--this is the color Gertie is supposed to be:

Spotted at Ralph's (neé IGA) in late May 2005, Goleta California.

36

I was having a good sleep / in my car / in the parking lot of the / Showboat Casino hotel
I say, "I remember you / you drive like a PTA mother" / You brought me draft beer / in a plastic cup
I'm feeling thankful / for the small things, today / I'm feeling thankful / for the small things, today

Happy, Happy Birthday to me / Happy Birthday to me / and to you
Happy, Happy Birthday to me / Happy Birthday to me / and to you

I'm feeling thankful / for the small things today / I'm feeling thankful / for the small things today
I remember you / I crashed your wedding / With some, orange crepe paper / and some Halloween candy
And sometimes / I wish I were Catholic / I don't know why / I guess I'm happy to see your face / at a time like this

Happy, Happy Birthday to me / Happy Birthday to me / and to you
Happy, Happy Birthday to me / Happy Birthday to me / and to you
Happy Birthday baby, to me / Happy Birthday, to me / Happy Birthday, to me / Happy Birthday, to me
____________________________________
(Also happy birthday to EP!)

Still Bodes Well

Remember Mitch's post a couple of months ago, mentioning this blog? From the get-go Mitch wanted to invite the BodesWell crew to Missoula. It's always inspiring to see people quitting their jobs and driving all over the place in their buses. More than once I've heard couples talking about how they want to travel before they have kids, since they won't be able to travel after kids. Frankly, I've never understood that rationale. So this crew seemed more interesting to me than average ACVW freaks since they travel with child.

The bus is a '71 Westy christened "Red Beard" by Bode, the child in question. The front brakes had made a bad bad noise just before they arrived at our house Saturday evening. It was too late to do anything besides hang out, with some pizza from The Bridge and some Rainier. Bode acted as our DJ, selecting tunes by the Stones and Pavement, among others. The next morning Jason pulled Red Beard around back to tear into the brakes.

Going over Sonora Pass in the Sierra Nevadas (A 26% grade in some spots! That's a over foot up for every four feet forward!), Red Beard's brakes got hot--really, really hot--hot enough to send the brake fluid into a boil. All that heat also did a number on the lug nuts which could only be undone through material sacrifice. This bar and socket I had fit the bill nicely. It used to be straight. The guys were already starting on Red Beard while the rest of the house was waking up. I remember telling Angela I had no idea what they were doing, all I saw was a lot of jumping up and down on the bus. Upon further investigation, she reported back that they were working on the brakes. Hmmm, the jumping must have had something to do with the bending.

My cheapo floor jack lacked the height to get the passenger tire off the ground, so I got out our ATV jack. Gotta love the ATV jack, except when it has to be moved.

It's always nice working on something when suddenly the Bentley tells you to use some special tool or other that no one besides a real mechanic owns. I mean, who has a brake piston compressor just laying around? Not me. Jason just pressed the pistons in with the non-business end (the pleasure end?) of a crescent wrench while relieving pressure at the bleeder.

They really got their money's worth out of that brake pad on the left, the primary complainant.

Ludwig always enjoys company. It confuses Esmé when she sees Ludwig near another bus though. Eh, I don't think it confuses her so much as she just calls all Baywindow Buses "Loooo-dweeg!".

Later we took them downtown to the Carousel but it was not to be--closed for unscheduled repairs. Luckily there's a huge playground right next door. Gertie enjoyed the exotic company as well. 

All told, it was great times with the Rehms. It really was nice. They seem just the sort of people we'd camp with regularly if they lived in these parts. They headed off for Philipsburg late in the afternoon, with visions of fist-sized sapphires dancing in their heads. Maybe. I might've just made that up. Anyway, their version of the visit is here.

Best of luck, Angela, Jason, and Bode! And thanks a heap for visiting us! Follow their travels at bodeswell.org, linked at right.

Tacoma

A few weeks ago Melissa and her mother went to Tacoma Washington to pick up some fenders for Gertie. The fenders we got off the free Fastback were a little rough and our calculations showed that these Tacoma fenders, which need no serious work, would be cheaper in the long run. The cars below belong to the guy who sold us the fenders.

Karmann Ghia

Karmann Ghia dash. I think Melissa like the KG dash almost as much as she likes the Type III dash.

Ooooo-kay. I guess I had one with a "racing" stripe, so I should shut my mouth.

If anyone has a spare set of late Type III amber top taillights just lying around, we'd be happy to relieve you of them.

First Snow of the Season 2009

8am Friday 9 October 2009. Weekend lows will be in the single digits.

Gertie gets put to work, again

We're sort of in the midst of getting Gertie ready for some massive repairs. But in the meantime, we're using Gertie as the daily driver as often as possible. 

Snow fell today for the first time this Autumn. Granted, it melted immediately. But it was refreshing to be in a car with a functional heater!

Tater Tot loves the view that Gertie's higher backseat affords. Often, in the rear view mirror, I'll see people in other cars smiling or laughing looking at Gertie. At first I thought it was because we have a weird car. Then I realized it's actually the Tater Tot. We need to get a mirror set up so we can see what she's up to back there.

One of the errands we ran today involved getting a bale of straw. The rubber floor and rubber seat backing in the way back of the Squarebacks was a brilliant idea. I remember when I did this same straw hauling task when we lived in Goleta (California) with the Subaru, and I'm pretty sure we never got all the straw bits out of the back of her carpeted cargo area. How impractical. 

Garden winterized? Check!