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Date:         Tue, 30 Jul 1996 17:47:38 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Steven Johnson" <sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com>
Subject:      Gerry's Sacramento Visit

Hi all,

I thought I'd update you-all on Gerry and Lauren Skerbitz's visit.

I missed the party at Martha's (unfortunately) because Linda had to work and she was just not fit to be going to a party and wanted to get ready for Gerry's visit the next day.

Gerry arrived in his '82 Westy with '84?? engine transplant with his son Dillan. His wife arrived with their other son Arlo in a rental car that she used to get to a wedding the day before.

We all got introduced and aquainted and sat in the dining area discussing the list and such as we commenced to downing the munchies. I had mentioned to Gerry that I had a oil filter and oil for him to do an oil change and we started to drain the oil. I found out that his engine uses a 13mm sockett and not the 14mm that I'm used to. Well as I went for the 13, I thought I'd better get the filter and opened the cabinet. And you guessed it. No filter! DOH! So we discussed the possible places to get a Mann or Bosch filter and I suggested Von Housen. I called the closest one and got no answer to the ring. I thought it was strange and was sure that they were open on Sunday, but didn't pursue it any further.

We went back to the table and discussed his fuel pump problem and about what it could be. He went into the details of finding a shop in mid-town Sac. that gave him a pretty good deal on a pump.

Meanwhile, Lauren was a bit apprehensive about going back across the wastelands of Nevada and the Rockies with a questionable fuel pump problem. Gerry figured as did I that there was probably some serious muck causing the gas to not get fully pumped out of the tank. My suggestion was heavy doses of gas treatment. Gerry wasn't so sure. I still don't know if he was going to try any liquid fixes. He has another tank, unfortunately, he also had 10 gallons of gas and no where to put it. Both Linda's and my van were full. We both thought it would be a hoot if we could put a siphon hose into unsus- pecting car-owners tank and fill it up with gas. :) Well, that didn't materialize.

Well...while we were talking the very curious Dillan and Arlo were not ones for sitting still. After a few munchies, they explored and reported on every one of our closets and rooms.... to the embarrasment of Gerry & Lauren. I thought it was hilarious and so did Linda (I think). Eventually, we put the kids in front of the auto-babysitter and let them watch a movie.

While we were talking Thom Fitzpatrick arrived and sat down with us and discussed more VW talk. Lauren and Gerry did the proper Ooooing and Ahhhinng of his '56 Type II. And then Thom displayed his rust removal project that he is endeavoring on his RHD '54. They were impressed with the buses interior, the insulation and the upholstery and got some ideas about how they could make modifications to theirs.

I have to stop here and let the cat out of the bag. Thom sheepishly admitted that he is considering a watercooled daily driver. As I suspected, the comfort level of his '56 is severely lacking on these 106 degree days. :) Sorry Thom, but I just couldn't resist letting that out..... :)

Okay.... On with the babble....

When the movie finished, we all got changed into swimsuits and headed out to the pool. The kids were timid about actually getting in as Thom was the first one out. But they didn't wait too long, because the water felt much better than the heat. I finally came out and was dubbed 'Willy' by the kindly Thom F. and made a splash.... ;p

We had fun tossing a volleyball or water polo ball around and the kid puttered around with their small inner tube type toy thingies. (I don't know what the hell they're called).

Al Knoll showed up with is arm in a special cast (Robo-cop). He explained that he had shattered the bones in an unfortunate fall so he sat in the shade after grabbing a cool one and watched us get crazy in the water.

Thom left for a volley ball match and the chatter got us re-thinking about picking up the oil filters for Gerry. So Gerry and I got out and called another Von Housen and got an answer. Gerry was told that they had filters, but we had to go clear to Folsom to get them. Well...I didn't have a problem with this as I wanted to get our pizza from there anyway. So we headed out in the rental and chatted interesting topics to and from Folsom. I grabbed a couple of filters myself as I liked the price.

When we got back, more VWs and a Bradley's heavy Chevy was sitting out front. We brought in the pizza and headed out and did the oil change. Gerry drained the oil and I got the filter duty. Not too much trouble, but we did note the differences in the ex- haust system supports and the location of the oil filter mount. His higher than mine and that told us why when I remove my oil filter, I have to let it drain for a while.

After we got it buttoned up, Gerry cleaned up the drain pan and gave me the old oil to dump during recycling day.

(Geez, this is alot longer than I thought it would be...)

We went in and Martha and Bradley and the rest were holding down the couch watching the Olympics. We had pizza and a nice salad that Linda made. Al brought a marinated cut of beef that was superb. Bradley gave me a home brew that was delightful. Oh, I forgot, earlier we were having some of Jack Staffords 30wt. home brew. Mmmmm.... Good stout. Ahhhhhh.... I just love it!

Most of the evening was spent watching the Olympics among different chatter about when to have the next CCC camping trip.

Gerry spent a good portion of the time dealing with a small voltage regulator on his instrument cluster. He apparently got it all back together.

We spent some time listening to his fuel pump for any bad vibes, but his sounds better than mine according to him. :[

I think Lauren and He will be fine...

So the evening wrapped up and everyone left with another memory of a VW get-together and a chance to meet the legend and our benefactor, Mr. Gerry Skerbitz and his lovely wife and family. It was a privilege to have him at our house. Hopefully, Linda and I will be able to go out and visit with them some time. Ahhh... a cross-country trip in the '91 camper. It's got to happen!!!

Steven Sacramento, CA sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com


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