Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 20:06:26 -0500
Reply-To: ncbus <ncbus@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: ncbus <ncbus@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Thankful bus driver tells all
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
Hi,
I am thankful my bus pulled most of the grades in 4th gear.
I am thankful that over the 200 miles the motor ran cool.
I am thankful that I was able to stay awake for the last 30 minutes home.
But most of all I am thankful for Dave and Sherry Jersey!!!!!
We were among the last to arrive on Saturday. When we pulled behind
the house and past the barn there were already ten buses circling the
orchard. Roy and I staked out two spots along the creek. A quick
survey of the buses in the orchard made me feel at home. Many old and
new friends had gathered together at Dave and Sherry's little farm on
the outskirts of nowhere to celebrate and early Thanksgiving.
The trip up the mountain was a bittersweet one. This was my to my
last camp out in the 67 bus. The bus is for sale and will likely make
its next journey in the hands of a new owner. I love the bus and have
worked hard to get it back on the road after it sat fallow but I have
taken this bus as far as I can. I was very thankful that we were able
to have one more trip together this year.
One last tune up was completed this week: valves, points, timing and
an oil change. The bus ran the best is has in two years. When I put
the 1600 SP in back in July it never seeming dialed in correctly
until this week. During a recent trip I was experiencing trouble
with the vac dizzy so I swapped it out on the side of the road with
the spare 009. It ran well but oil temps were running about 225 on
long mountain grades. .With the timing backed off a few degrees the
bus took the steep mountain grades of US 421 and NC 18 quite well
while keeping the oil at a lower operating temp.
There has been little or no rain in North Carolina for the past eight
weeks and an outdoor burning ban is in effect. With no prospects for
a bonfire Dave put his MIG to use and created a barrel stove to keep
his guests warm without danger of having the first annual Full Moon
Bus Club Forest Fire.
The meal was wonderful as always. Dave and Sherry went all out to
make everyone feel welcome by providing food and drinks and TWO
Porta-Jons. We ate outside by the barn in the orchard. There was
great excitement about the evenings meteor showers. It was predicted
to be the most spectacular in 30 years. It was to begin around
midnight and peak between 4 and 6 AM.
As the sun went down the temperature took a dramatic drop from the
70s and plunging into the 30s. We huddled around the barrel stove.
There were several small children in attendance this weekend. Sherry
and Dave graciously offer use of there house and bedrooms for those
with little ones that wanted to shelter them from the cold. Jennifer
and her son Van(less than 6 months old) took up residence in the
basement on the spare couch. We began to make social calls to keep
them company and slowly the crowd in the basement grew as cold and
weary campers sought a few moments of wood stove fired shelter :)
Sherry offered to let my 6 year old daughter stay in one of their
spare bedrooms. Stella lured by the prospect of Sponge Bob Square
Pants and a warm place to sleep immediately caved. Sadly dad caved
too. We had planned for her to sleep on the back seat of the bus
which she has happily done before while I slept on the cargo floor.
So for us it was more of a sleep over than a camp out :)
At about 1:30 AM after I realized that I was not going to make it
through till the peak of the meteor show and slowly made my way
through the barn towards the house. Stella was fast asleep as soon I
would to too.
The theme for the weekend was hospitality. Dave and Sherry warmly
welcomed all who attended and made them feel at home every second of
the weekend. They are truly wonderful people and for that I am
thankful.
Earlier this evening I heard that on the way home Boyd Smith toasted
his motor on the way up the treacherous US 321. Boyd and his family
were warmly welcomed into the buses of others for the last leg of the
journey home. Hospitality - lesson learned and applied.
Chris
Thankful
www.mindspring.com/~ncbus/
