Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 08:05:03 EDT
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Off To Burning Man Trip Report #1
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Left Almonte at 6am, off to a good start and headed west, uneventful drive
through TO toward the Blue Water Bridge at Sarnia. Getting accross the
boarder was the fist of glitches. Semis backed up for over 10 miles, wound our way
past hem , stopped at the duty free shop to get some booze and off the get
in the USA. Do you have any Canadain Beef on board question was asked and no
but yess,,,,in the dog food ! So we had to turn in all our stash of dog food
to the boarder guard which he promptly dumped in the nearest trash barrel
then said we're good to go. Yahoo ! Off to Detroit we go.
We got into Detroit and met up with Ina at her daughters where she was so
excited to see us and get ready to move out, she tripped on an electrical
wire and bruised both her knees and sprained a finger. After some meds and a
good night sleep in the driveway we got under way toward Chicago. Stopping at
Cabbalas in Dundee, as we never had done that and got shocked at the prices,
we continued on toward Chicago. We decided to forego the invitation of Pete
& Nancy in South Bend as it was getting late. Traffic passing through the
Chicago area was overwhelming. Nothing but simis on the road. Then Ina's van
starts having problems with the oil pressure light and buzzer coming on at
between 2000 and 3000 rpm. I decide to drive hers for a while and see what's
up. Seems to run just fine and no oil light at hot idle just at the 2000 ~
3000 rpm mark. So on we go for some 300 km listening to that buzzer coming on
and off. Finally stopping for gas in Elgin I unplug the oil sensors, we get
a Tornado warning siren and we lock up the vans and head for cover in the gas
station. Soon the siren shuts down and we decide to continue on toward
Rockford, IL. The Tornado seems to pass in front of us heading east and we see
clear sky in front. What a trip that was !
We made it to Rockford, found a Wall Mart after missing the Flying J we
were trying to find and settled in for the night. Still no way to get the
Wifi to work on the new laptop so we could not message Pete & Nancy about not
stopping there. In the morning Ina starts calling LiMBO members in the
Chicago area to try and find a mechanic in The Rockford area to have a look at her
oil pressure problem. I try to go off to the Wall Mart Auto Service Centre
to see if someone there knows of a good VW mechanic. I now find I have no
brakes......what next ? Seems the fluid has escaped somewhere. That explains
the brake light on the dash since yesterday afternoon. I thought it was the
parking brake switch malfunctioning. Ha ! Wrong ! So after a phone call to
the local VW dealer who put us to a European Car service place who led us to
Rich at Brighams Rebuilding, supposedly the local VW & Vanagon guru. He
says come on over but it's not the best day. We find our way to Rich's place on
Shappert Road, in Machesney Park and are greeted by a yard full of VWs &
Vanagons. Rich makes place in his crowded garage and dives under grumbling
something about the leak could not be in a worse place, up behind the shift lever
on the tranny, above all the coolant lines. Brale line is rusted through
adjacent to the T fitting. While he's working away we go off to a clinic to
get Ina's finger looked after as it's swelling up now, It's not broken just
sprained, they give her more meds and an ace bandage. We then go looking to
find a Wifi connection and still no luck. Find the Flying J that we missed
last nite, they say the Wifi there is working but I can't get to open on my new
Laptop ???? Back to Rick's to see how he's making out, Ina's van starts
cutting out. What next ... has not this day been exciting enough ? I guess not
? So back at Riches we find the Hydro has cut off his electricity, unpaid
bills or something, but he's still working on the brake line. While Rich
working on the brake lines in the dark I start looking for Ina's cutting out
problem. I find the newly installed by her nephew ignition wires are not the
correct ones for the cap. New style cap old style wires supposedly supplied by
the Bus Depot. Rick does not have a set of the new wires but does have an
older style cap to match the wires. I install the cap and send Ina off on a
test drive. Success, no more cutting out, now we're getting somewhere. I wire
Ina's hi pressure oil switch to ground to shut off the buzzing and light as
Rich has no time or patience left to change the switch. The low pressure
switch seems to be working so we will be fine. We settle up with Rich and give
him a bunch of beers bid farewell and we go off to find a spot to spend the
night. We end up back at the Flying J, have diner at the buffet and I go
about trying to find a way to make the Wifi work. Called the Flying J Wifi
hotline from the drivers lounge and he asks if I have a new computer with a built
in Wifi, yes of course what else. Did you turn it on ? Well no, is in not
always on ? Well, no, there must be a switch somewhere on the laptop.
Looking around I find it. Never saw that before. One more reason to read the
instruction book of newly acquired items ! Bruce, did you catch that ? Maybe
it was not your wireless box that was broken after all. So after turning on
the Wifi switch I get on the Flying J Wifi and sign up for a months service at
$19.95 and viola we're on line in the Westy. Checking the e-mails we see
one from Pete & Nancy wondering what happened to us....don't ask ! So I write
them a note explaining a bit. We then pop in a DVD of "Beat the Devil" with
Humphery Bogart that Rita found in the Flying J store for a couple a bucks.
What a life, beer, movies, Internet, Flying J, Vanagon gurus in Rockford, IL.
Off to the Badlands today, were we not just there ? I hope the next report
is not as convoluted !
Andrea & Brad, sorry your gonna miss Burning Man, yes we will be camped
with the Vanagon crowd. Phil, yes, get my reports posted to the LiMBO
website, good place to post the trip reports. Pics will be posted to my AOL site
soon. Gotta go now the road is calling.
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada_ BusFusion_
(http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12, 2005
'87 Westy, '90 Carat & Lionel Trains
Member: _Vanagon List_ (http://www.vanagon.com/) , _LiMBO_
(http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/) , _IWCCC_ (http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/) &_ CCVWC_
(http://www.ccvwc.ca/)
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley_ STEBRO/Vanagon
Stainless Steel Mufflers_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm) _ Frank
Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html) or
http://frankcondelli.com
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