Feel Like a Stranger

Its been almost a month, and so much has gone on.  I couldn't possibly cover everything in one post, so I won't try.  I will come back and post about the adventures the last month of Summer has presented, but just to wet your appetite... Ashland camping trip with local swimming holes, transaxle arrival and replacement, discovering a new aqueous-based (non solvent) cleansing unit, test driving, end-of-Summer at Oaks Park, school starting... So much to cover.  Since i haven't been around for a while, it seems appropriate that I start with the road trip to Ashland.

Gonna Be a Long Long Crazy Crazy Night

swimming hole upstream from
Lithia Park, Ashland OR

It seems like the amount of time you need to spend preparing for a trip is completely independent of the number of nights you'll be gone.  Instead, it increases exponentially by the number of persons under the age of 25.  Now, my early-20's readers may take offense to this, but just for a second consider how long it takes to get all your friends together and go somewhere.  Now, think about how fast you can get out of the house when you do it by yourself.  Going to the bar?  By yourself, it takes 5 minutes to find your keys, ID and hit the lights.  Add 2 friends and it takes 40 minutes to get everyone off the couch, finding the bottom of their warm-up drinks, through the inevitable restroom stop, etc.
Extend this simple bar example to a camping trip, and you have the recipe for a very long night prior to leaving.  In fact, the night got so long, we didn't even leave on the original departure date.  We left a day late.  Now, to be fair, this wasn't exclusively because we were shepherding 6 persons.  Boo had to work the first 1/2 of the departure day, so it was 1 on 4 getting the boys going.  It was a losing battle, but I tried.  Ultimately, Boo and I were getting the last of the stuff in the cars around 2:AM.  We left 5 hours later.

Out There on Neon Avenue

Evans Creek swimming hole
outside Rogue River OR

Since I didn't have the new transaxle done, we decided not to drive the bus to Ashland.  We could fit everyone, but a 52mph top speed for 8 hours of driving was more than I thought any of us could take.  Instead, Boo and I took K2 and C in my Jetta and K drove the SUV full of stuff with T (capital letter overload).  We stopped at a Jack in the Box in Eugene for breakfast and made Rogue River State Park by 11:30.  After changing our site from D32 (all-sun all-day) to D2 (almost all-shade all-day), we set up camp and spent the early afternoon lounging.  The boys, of course, couldn't take the slow pace while Boo and I were on 4 hours sleep and needed down time.  Turns out the river is now too dangerous to set foot in now that the dams have been removed.  Its an "attractive nuisance".  So, the boys took off to the town of Rogue River and found a local swimming hole on a creek tributary to the river.  Boo and I met them a couple hours later after stomping around the little downtown of Rogue River.

So Let's Get on with the Show
The purpose for the Southern Oregon trip was to visit with family from Austin and San Diego, and we met up with everyone the next day in Ashland.  We played in the hotel pool with cousins and then met for a big (50 people?) party to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday and my brother's father-in-law's 90th.  Family pieces clustered around Ashland that evening while others attended plays (its Shakespeare Festival afterall).  That became the recurring theme for the weekend; different assemblies of family gathering together at Lithia Park while others attended plays.  We campers usually arrived last, and didn't see any plays, but we had a great time connecting with folks we hadn't seen in a long time.

Inside You're Burnin, I Can See Clear Through

Myrtle Creek swimming hole

We left Rogue River State Park a day earlier than we'd planned.  When we arrived, they were in the middle of a heat wave (over 102* for the day-time high on arrival day), and even the overnight temperature didn't drop below 80* the entire time we were there.  Sleeping in that kind of heat is just very hard.  In the interests of having good sleep at least one night before returning to work, we left.  Before we got as far as Roseburg, though, we were itching to get off the road and have a snack.  Out the window we could see a lazy creek flowing way down below, so we grabbed the next exit, talked to some locals and found a swimming hole to while away the afternoon.

and the Wheels it's Smokin' around Midnight
We pulled around 8:30 and it was just getting dark.  With 4 boys helping, we had the cars unpacked, camping gear stowed and a huge pile of laundry and dirty dishes.  Boo and I started cleaning up and worked late after the boys went to bed.  I tired and crashed too, but Boo kept at it until everything was done.  It was a fun trip, highlighted by swimming in random spots all over Southern Oregon.

That's it for today.  I'll post back in a few days about the transaxle install, test drive, Oaks Park, etc. Now that school has started, there's just that much more going on.  More to post about, I guess.  Thanks again for following along, and if you get some time, check out my friend Ed's blog: Gr8tfulEd

One Slammy of a Sammie

A few years back, I worked at one of those Internet startup companies.  I had a lofty title and a pile of worthless stock options.  My situation was pretty common in the computer business at the time.  As Wall Street started to figure out that most of these companies were glorified Ponzi-schemes, the one I worked for strove to stay open by moving out of our fancy downtown digs in the emerging "Pearl District" to a zoning experiment in Beaverton called "the Round".  Originally intended for condos, the 4 story building was virtually vacant a full year after completing the bones.  No one wanted to live there.  So, they dubbed it "office space", and we moved in.  Of course, it was still the days of perception, so lots of customization was done to the space including open stairways and the like.  Well, it was still an open sewer compared to our last location, with a junkyard out one window and an abandoned building out another.  When contrasted to the bustle of downtown hip Portland, I was less than impressed.  Driven to find something remarkable, I would foray out at lunch.  One of my greatest finds is the subject of today's post.

Beaverton Sub Station

Front Entrance of
Beaverton Sub Station

Situated against the train line that runs through the center of downtown old Beaverton, is perhaps the best sub shop in the greater Portland area.  Sure, there's Kornblats if you want specialty sandwiches, but for a pure sub-shop experience, there is none better than Beaverton Sub Shop.  Chuck, the owner and main behind-the-counter-operator, hails from Chicago.  From the Cubs hat to the quality of the meat, he's all-Chicago.  He has a thing for trains, and his decor reflects that interest and the rail-side location with pictures and artifacts from railroading.  Even the menu has a train-car metaphor.  6" sandwiches average around $5 and foot longs are around $10.  The rolls are huge.  The dressings remind me of the subs I used to get at the deli as a kid growing up in New York.  Very Yummy.  From the day I found them as an employee at an Internet startup thru today, I try to make the Beaverton Sub Station a regular stop.


Bus middle-seat Update
Yesterday, I drove over to Always VW and picked up some mounting rails for the middle-row seat I got in Eugene a few weeks ago.  Not knowing how they originally installed, I was glad to be there watching it get removed from the donor vehicle.  4 bolts hold the seat to the rails, 4 bolts hold the rails to the body.  Simple simple.  I'm assuming that the Vanagon has a set of nuts welded into the body, and I won't have that in the bus, so I'll need a buddy (or careful vice-grip use) to get the rails bolted in safely.  If I can suffer today's heat, I'll be removing the sink/stove unit and start looking at seat placement.  If things go well, maybe I'll have the seats in by the end of tomorrow.


Transaxling
Daryl at AA Transaxle in Seattle is just completing the transaxle rebuild.  I've had a few questions about what I'm doing for gearing, etc, so I'll lay that out here.  First, we started with a '75-only (CM code) transaxle.  It has a stock 4.86 final drive (ring & pinion) like the Vanagons do.  We're leaving 1st and 2nd gear alone. For 3rd, we are using an aftermarket, hardened 1.14 and we're pairing that with a .73 4th from the same company/family.  This combination should provide the right power (HP) to torque curve intersections.  I intend to run my stock 14" rims and rubber through the Summer.  If money appears, I'll slap some larger (in diameter) tires on the 15" rims I have in storage.  I may just wait for Winter and slap 15" snows on instead.  We'll see.  Regardless, the transaxle should appear this week, leaving me next weekend to get it installed if I'm going to run it down to Ashland for our family reunion.  It feels tight, but do-able.  I just need a place to do it, and to dig through my storage facility to get some specialized tools... like the ATV-jack adapter I built.


That's it for today.  Time to drink some coffee and get to pulling that sink/stove unit. I'll update with some pictures. Posting from an iPad doesn't seem to support uploading photos. Grr...

Enter Summer, exit posting

Yes, I'm alive. Like so many folks in the Pacific NorthWest, once Summer weather arrived, I stopped using the computer when I wasn't working, and got to playing. I do have some personal and bus updates, though, so I'll bang that out before pouring myself a welcome-to-weekend mojito.

Housing

just making a point...

As much as the news folks talk about how "bad" the real estate market is value-wise for sellers, it is very hard to find a good deal as a buyer. When I moved out of my townhouse apartment in mid-March, I started looking for a house, agent and mortgage lender and all. Within a month, I had an offer on a house, but between the banks holding the mortgages getting in the way, that house is still unsold. My offer expired, and I restarted it, but in the few days between, someone else got into the bank's radar system and they're in first position now. Apparently banks think serially, and can only address one offer at a time.  Fun. It's a good thing other businesses don't operate that way.  So, I offered on another house. And another. And another. All told, I've laid offers on 5 or 6 houses now. Most of them still haven't been sold and my offers just expired along the way. I think I just may get this last one, though. I put an offer on it in late May. Yes, that's right, late May. I have been extending and re-extending on this one.  I've been told that I might expect an acceptance of my offer by the end of next week, or early August.  I'll post a picture when that happens, so until then, here's a generic "Bank Owned" sign.  Yeah, like that's gonna get you to place an offer on it.  Prepare for weeks of no contact from the selling bank, and make your offer expiration date something you can live with, yet recognizing that the bank will not get it together within 60 days of you popping an offer on it.

So, how much of the real estate market / housing problem is being created banks who can't get it together? Had this been a normal deal, I would have gotten an accept, decline or counter-offer within a few days. By the bank adding in the 10 extra weeks, it looks like the houses are staying on the market an extra 70 days. That makes the market look falsely bad, like you can't sell a house because it's still dropping in value. The truth is, the market is coming back, based on what I'm seeing in terms of buyer traffic, but with the banks extending the process by literally months, it paints a different picture. One the news folks continue to hawk on the nightly's.

Microbus slightly too micro

note the overhang

I've been trying to figure out a way to fit 6 passengers into the bus, so we can take the whole family in one car. Boo and I toyed with the idea of buying something just for this reason, but cars are just too dang expensive. I said, "with a small fraction that money, we could get the bus to do it."  So, while Boo drove my TDI Jetta to Montana with her 2 boys, I drove her car to Eugene to get a free (yes, $0) middle-row Vanagon bench seat. When I got it home, I did what anyone would do: try to fit it. Fail. From the edge of the Westfalia sink/stove unit to the edge of the sliding door is 39". The width of the benchseat with the cushions scrunched is closer to 42" (see overhang picture on the right). Add on 3-4 inches for the arms, and it totally won't fit.... with the sink/stove unit in place. I intend to pull the sink/stove to fit the bench seat, and build a new cabinet that's just 16" deep (or 7" less deep than the Westy one). Then, the seat will fit, and when removed at a campsite (or ski resort parking lot), the cabinet can be usable. I will probably forgo the stove, and only do a splash sink with a wide counter where we could use a Coleman portable stove instead.

Microbus to get macro-speed

upper frame width pushes
lower frame away from cabinet

Last, I finally have arranged for a new transaxle from AA Tansaxle in Seattle. Daryl and I have figured out the details, and he will be starting the construction on Monday. If all goes well, it will be crated for shipping by the following Friday. Then, I'll just need to find a spot to drop the existing engine/transaxle, remove the old tranny, attached the new one and re-install. (note to self: get a new throw-out bearing just in case) Dropping the engine/transaxle isn't hard, but mating a new transaxle while leaving the engine under the bus may be. Remember how far over to the side I needed to tilt the undressed, un-oiled, no coolant engine to get it under the rear valence? I wouldn't want to try that with the fluids in, nor with all the other parts attached. Better to just separate and mate under the belly of the bus. Lots of muscling ahead, I'm sure. I'll post pictures, etc.

That's it for now. With Summer in full swing, I doubt I'll be online too much. I'll try to get better about it. I have a big road trip to Ashland planned, if all goes well, maybe the bus will go too....

WALSTIB

I've been working with the aluminum tubes and the HTS-2000 product, but I've had limited time (as usual). I don't have any pictures of my handiwork yet, but its taking a bit of time to learn and get the tinning / temperatures right. Once I have something good, I'll post a picture. In the meantime, I took a ride with my friend Ed (his blog is here) down to the East Bay in his '73 to see the Dead. Check out his blog for the details on that trip. His bus is running my old carb, and running very well. Good job, Ed. Along the way I took a bunch of pictures, and I'll post them up here. The first set of pictures is below. They were all taken out of the moving bus on our way to our friend's place in Livermore. I'll add some shots from the lot and from the return drive in later posts. These pictures remind me that this is called "View From a Bus" - that's exactly what these pictures are.

Mt. Ashland -or- Mt. Shasta. I'm not sure which..










Northern California overlooking Lake Shasta...










Crossing bridge after getting off I-5, on one of the 4 other freeways before we touched down in Livermore....










More on the fabrication work after we get back from the Gorge: The Dead again, but this time with the Allman Bro's opening, and we're camping. It should be fun.