Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 18:43:05 -0400
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Sean Bartnik <sbart7kb@www.mwc.edu>
Subject: Buses On The Blue Ridge
Hey all,
I'll go ahead and do my BOTBR trip report before I forget anything :-)
My trip started when I got home from work around 9:00 Friday night.
That was when my dad told me that Bob Busick had called and was having
trouble with his '69 Westy. Apparently he blew a wheel cylinder on the
right rear wheel and basically had very minimal brakes. He wanted me to
bring some tools, which I did.
After that, I finished packing up my stuff and hit the road. I didn't
get on the road until almost 10:00 that night. The drive was
uneventful. Those hills really make my '81 Westy work though. I took
Interstate 181 south until it became US 23, then took that all the way
up to Interstate 240 in Asheville, where I got on Interstate 26, then
got off on NC 191, then on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading south and up
to the Mount Pisgah campground.
I got in around midnight and picked a space. I immediately sighted Dave
Schwarze's '73 Safare camper and I knew that Joel Walker was traveling
with him, so that was Joel's '87 Westy next to Dave's bus. I set up
camp and then headed over to meet Dave and Joel, neither of whom I had
ever met before. Both of them are really nice guys. We stayed up until
2 shooting the breeze, then I went to bed.
I got up at 8 Saturday morning and had some breakfast and coffee, then
set out to find Bob Busick and his traveling companion, Sonny Flamer. I
found them in loop C, Bob with his '69 Westy and Sonny with his '84
Westy. I told Bob I didn't have the proper 46mm socket to take off the
rear axle nut (I haven't gotten around to buying that yet -- I do have
the 36mm but that doesn't help any Bus owners). We asked around and
found someone who had one on the third try. He let us borrow the socket
(really a slugging wrench, but we used it like a socket) and a breaker
bar.
Bob got the nut off and the brakes apart (using a floor jack and
jackstands borrowed from someone else) to find that not only was the
wheel cylinder blown, but that the brake shoes were utter toast too.
Luckily he had bought a set of brake shoes in Bristol TN/VA.
I won't go into excruciating detail here, but he got the brakes fixed
and now he can stop. After that (it was getting to be noon by the time
we were done) we went to register with the office.
We then set out to find Richard Palmer as well as check out all the
other Buses there. And there were quite a few Buses, despite the crappy
weather (foggy Sat. until about 2 PM, then cloudy, then a huge
thunderstorm Saturday night). We found Richard's unmistakable '67(?)
with a retrofitted late bay window pop-top. He really did a good job
with it, too. It's a slick-looking conversion. I hadn't met Richard
before either, and he was also a nice guy (still is, I'm sure).
I think I've met more listmembers on this trip then I've ever met
before. I also met a lister named Weston (and I can't remember his last
name) who had an '81 Westy, I met Ken Hooper and his '68 Westy, and Joe
Fournier and his . . . Mazda!!?? Apparently Joe was having Bus problems
:-)
Ken's a great guy, it was nice to finally meet him. Same with Joe :-)
I also met Kenneth Winter, who has a Westy which is EXACTLY like Sonny
Flamer's '84.
I met Louise Christensen and her '89(?) Westy, as well as a fellow name
George and his Vanagon Westy (can't remember the year).
Also met Dave Easterwood again and his singlecab (don't know the year
for that one either).
Saturday night there was a group campfire where prizes were given away.
Some fellow won a skylight bug screen and curtain for a Vanagon. That
turns out to be something I really want, as my '81 has the skylight but
the early Vanagons w/ skylights don't seem to have the bug
screen/cover. The bug screen is held on by Velcro on the poptop. It's
made of the same material as the rear hatch bug screem, i.e. white mesh
and brown leather. It's very nice. The curtain is made of the same
cloth as the other curtains. Turns out that the guy who won it has a
split and so has no use for Vanagon parts, so I made an offer and bought
it from him. I was really happy about that as I'd wanted that for a
while. It was new in the box and probably costs a pretty penny from the
dealer. I got it for $15. If someone tells me that you can get it for
$10 at the dealer, I'm gonna be upset :-)
After the campfire, Dave Schwarze and I grabbed some dry firewood (given
away at the campfire) and took it back to make our own fire. The fire
pit was wet but I had some fire starter tabs (compressed trioxane, it
says on the pack). That did the trick. What you do is put the fire
starter tab on the bottom and then build your fire framework around it,
then light the tab, and you get a nice long-burning flame. This fire
was up and roaring in only a couple minutes. Then Dave had to show us
how well motor oil burns :-)
At that point, it started to rain. First it was just drizzle, then it
became real rain. We all (me, Dave S., Joel, Richard, "Lizard," C.C.(?
-- CeeCee??), Weston, and Weston Jr gathered under the tarp that Joel
and Dave had set up between the two vans. When the tarp started to
leak, we got in the vans. Eventually we wound up with all of us in
Dave's Safare listening to music and playing Hearts. Lotta trash talk
in that Hearts game.
The storm lasted for a couple hours, thoroughly drenching everything.
It was really heavy rain. Our nice fire really held out, burning nicely
for quite a while after the rain started and even then leaving nice
coals when the fire actually went out.
Sunday morning I got up and had more breakfast and coffee, then packed
up my stuff. We all headed over to the group photo site, at one of the
overlooks off the parkway. We could barely get all the Buses in. There
was around 60, I believe, give or take a few. I imagine there would
have been more if the weather hadn't been so bad. I got a few photos of
the whole group together, though there's no way to fit them all into one
shot. There were many splitties, and almost as many Vanagons as bays.
Only three air-cooled Vanagons that I saw though: mine, Weston's, and
Neil Pickett's (Neil is the organizer of the event).
After the photo shoot, Richard got his group together for Burpobat, the
trek to the outer banks. I think his final caravan included Louise
Christensen, Bob Busick, Sonny Flamer, a fellow named Dave (who had a
green splittie) -- and I think that's it. Should be a nice trip. I
wish I could go.
Dave, Joel, and Ken headed out the opposite direction from the Burpobat
crew. I think their plan was to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for a
while. I drove down the mountain with the Burpobat crew, as it was on
the way to where I had to go.
Now I'm back here, and I've installed the skylight bug screen/curtain.
Very nice :-)
Sean
--
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Sean Bartnik
sbart7kb@www.mwc.edu Fahrvergnugen really means "push
harder."
'81 Vanagon Westy
http://www.mwc.edu/~sbart7kb/myvan.htm
http://www.mwc.edu/~sbart7kb/tech.htm
'78 Bus Owner's Manual: http://www.conservatory.com/vw/manuals_nyx/
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