4Peaks 2024 - Road and Festival report

It's that wonderful time of year again when Boo and I trek over the Cascades in Hapy the Wonderbus to take in whatever Stacey has cooked up for 4Peaks. After taking a couple of years off, she and her staff put together a fantastic return. Some years, I have spread my love of 4Peaks across 3 posts, covering our travels, the festival and the music as separate posts. Since we had very little in terms of adventures getting to and from, I will only have 2 posts this year, with the other one dedicated to the bands.

Backdrop

4Peak sunset

After replacing Hapy's starter and then doing the seals on the injection pump (see Diesel Dumping Discontinued, we still experience sporadic issues with Hapy starting. Once he starts, he runs like a champ. For example, the weekend before 4Peaks, I had driven Hapy, laden with gear, to a show and then over to the after-party. He was not interested in driving home. So, he came home on a flatbed and after removing and re-installing the starter, he would start again. A 1972 microbus should not behave like Windows 95, requiring a shut-down/restart sequence pretty much anytime the temperature changes.

I am also seeing diesel fuel drips on the bottom edge of the oil pan. Overnight, there will be a small wet spot underneath. While we are all fairly well aware that VW's like to mark their spot (it's usually oil), I think the Injection Pump reseal may not have 100% solved the problem. In fact, I think the failure-to-start issue has nothing at all to do with the starter and everything to do with the pump losing some of it's prime overnight. With starting concerns in my head, we spent the day before 4Peaks locating and packing our gear. I say locating because with the move and all the construction, our gear had moved around a bit. We used what we call "the Boot" to carry lawn chairs, the folding table, a just-in-case personal porta-potty, and a few other larger items. This makes for a much easier vagabond, and much better visibility.

There and Back Again

sporting a 2019 cup

With thoughts of no-start in our heads, we followed the philosophy we had years ago when we left town for ChinookFest (see ChinookFest 2017 Road Report) to go one stop at a time. Each time we stopped, we would park on an incline and well out of the way in case we needed to roll-start or R&R the starter again. Luck was on our side as we did not suffer a no-start, but luck favors the wise, and we did not shut off the engine unless we absolutely had to. For example, we had to shut off the engine for the fill-up on our way out of town, but we chose to try to get all the way home without re-filling (that's almost 350 miles round trip, which is especially dicey with a fuel leak). We also did not turn off the engine at the rest stop on the US-22 or any other time until we parked for the night at WinCo in Bend.

The route to and from 4Peaks is well worn by now: US-217 to I-5 South to US-22 East to US-20 East. We left before dark, but it was still almost 8PM. Traffic was light all the way to mile post 72 on OR-22 where we hit a night-time paving operation. Again, we chose to not turn off the engine while we sat for at least 15 minutes. Once we were through the construction, the traffic pressure behind us was downright scary. Apparently, many others who travel at night believe the speed limits and other safety expectations (like not tailgating, not cutting people off and not trying to run others off the road) expire at sunset. 7 or 8 vehicles of the possibly 30 which were in the construction queue passed us before we reached Sisters. Of those, the first 2 were perhaps the most dangerous I've had the displeasure of sharing a road. One was in a lifted truck who was following so close I could not consistently see his high-beams, but they were so bright they illuminated the road around us. Recall, we had the Boot, so the rear of the bus was a full meter further back than the bumper usually was. I now wonder whether a person could have walked between our vehicles, he was so close, and we were going 55-60 mph on curvy mountain roads.

 

When we arrived at the first passing lane, I immediately moved to the furthest right edge of the lane an eased my speed down to 55. He blew past and then I discovered he had a lane-filling double-axled utility trailer attached. If I had made a sudden stop to avoid wildlife, debris or a broken down car, his mass would have plowed through us. But he wasn't the scariest. The truck immediately behind him was worse: He tried to pass after the passing lane had ended and practically skimmed my mirror off as he passed. That road menace was also hauling a double-axled trailer, but his was a camper and twice as long as the utility trailer. I nearly hit the gravel on the far side of the right shoulder before he passed and I could aright Hapy. The others passed during dotted yellow lines or regular passing lanes and mostly did not create too much excitement.

restival

We vagabonded (slept in Hapy without putting the top up) in the WinCo parking lot, parking around back where the employees park, but also where the ground has a slight downgrade towards the exit. We hit the bathrooms and bought ourselves some dinner from the service deli, scarfed and went to sleep. The following morning, we returned to WinCo for bathrooms and breakfast. We were 20 minutes from the gates and had all morning so we hit the shops, collecting the things we were unable to find before leaving town (camp shower, an extra yoga mat, some bath towels, etc), and, of course, the coffee cart for a couple Americanos.

The drive home was less eventful and once Hapy started we didn't shut him off until we got home. We were very appreciative of all of our friends at 4Peaks sending "he will start" vibes our way. There were multiple stretches of road where the traffic was bad enough for us to clutch in and out of 1st gear: heading into Sisters from the East on US-20 and heading North on I-5 between Donald and Wilsonville. These are both common slow traffic areas, but I felt that clutch pedal in my left butt cheek the next morning. Otherwise the roads were clear, the traffic non-threatening and the weather was a comfortable 25*C (77*F).

4Peaks - The Festival

Sonny and Hapy

Boo and I have been going to 4Peaks since 2015 (see the first 1..2..3..4Peaks). The festival had been growing through 2019 and then CoViD hit. Stacey cancelled 2020 for CoViD, did a mini-Peaks for 2021, but then skipped the next 2 years to rethink/retool/refocus (and get married! Congrats Stacey!). I thought, perhaps, 4Peaks was not coming back. Needless to say, we are glad it did. 2024 was smaller, maybe even smaller than it was in 2015 at the old location. It was the same groovy, with art by Ryan Kerrigan, great local food vendors and our emerging favorite: yoga with Nicole. Boo and I hit Nicole's class all 3 days it was offered, and fell all the more in love with her approach. So holistic, and full of explanations of why we're doing certain things. Afterwards, we feel physically great, emotionally centered and a little smarter. Thanks Nicole!

We arrived about an hour after the gates opened, so we were able to set up near the entrance to the festival grounds. This meant that, like mini-Peaks, we would have incredible sound quality at our camping spot. Boo suffered with sinus pressure on Saturday so we heard most of the bands from "home", rather than in-venue, unlike Friday when we spent considerable time inside. The sound was amazing, and when she had stretches of feeling good, we danced in the grass. An additional benefit of where we camped was our proximity to the 4Peaks Founders' camp (Stacey and her closest friends, basically). So, while we had seen most of them over the years at various spots within the festival, we hadn't really met them, had drinks, swapped stories, etc. They're lovely people and massive Phish-heads, so we got on great. Michael, one of their friends, arrived late in a yellow-orange late Bay named Sonny, and set up alongside our camp. Michael farms cherries, and just completed his harvest... causing him to arrive so late. Griffin was in a golden tent and worked at a camp outside Sisters, and Pete drove down from Montana and slept in the bed of his truck. Further up the fire lane, a 1978 VW Westy driven by Natalie (2nd owner!) and her husband camped. She had a sign-sign on the side of her bus encouraging attendees to write a positive note and sign in exchange for a 4Peaks sticker she had made. Of course we participated and that sticker will appear on Hapy shortly. Over the course of the weekend, we re-connected with many of our old friends (Mike and Suzie, now living in Central OR, eg) as well. Obviously, we made a bunch of new ones. There are few things like a couple of old VW's to bring the curious, and we are more than Hapy to chat up whoever drops by.

Main Stage from behind Hapy

The last morning always comes too soon, and like every other year, we left before the final band (Garcia Birthday Band) had completed their set. We were not alone. It is actually fairly common for most of the festival goers to be gone before the final band finishes, and we were not in the 1st half of those who left. We had tried every food vendor, explored every product vendor, visited Kidlandia, played on the swings, walked the entire camping zone, danced and laughed all weekend. We will be watching our email for early-bird ticket announcements for 4Peaks 2025; we are 4Peaks lifer's now.

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That's it for today. I'll post about the bands next time. Thanks, as always, for following along-

temp tattoo from the Founders

Fixing Hapy Furnace (part 2)

Picking up where I left off the last post, Hapy has an operational furnace again.

Fuel Pump Swap

As I mentioned in my last post, the fuel pump which originally delivered with the heater/furnace would not work when I tried to bring things back to life. I splurged and bought a more expensive "quiet" model for $50US rather than another standard pump for $20US. I figured quieter or not, the more expensive pump may have better parts in it, and it may last longer whether it is quieter or not. Or it was just a marketing gimmick and I got took. Let's chalk it up to the cost of an experiment.

The old fuel line path was relatively simple. The "hard" (clear but firm plastic) lines that delivered with the furnace had short (50mm / 2-inch) stretches of fuel hose between them and the pump. The pump was suspended from a cross beam by the included rubber mount held in place by a single sheet metal screw. After a few turns with a screwdriver, the pump was on the ground. A few more and the fuel lines were removed from it. The supply fuel line started dripping fuel after a few seconds, so I caught it with a pan. The line on the pressurized side was completely empty, so no drips. I simply reversed the removal: added the rubber mount from the supply end of the pump, added the supply fuel line, suspended the pump from the cross beam and then added the pressurized-side line.

Prime and Fire Up

The Afterburner has a control page where you can direct only the fuel pump to fire up. This allows you to get fuel all the way to the furnace without the glow plug turning on (drawing the battery and maybe burning out the glow plug). I had not connected the pressure line to the furnace, but I wanted to clear the lines of any bad fuel, so I moved the pan under the dangling hardline and triggered the Afterburner to prime. Within a minute of the prime starting, fuel started spurting out the end of the line. It took longer than I expected it to, but perhaps that is an indication of how little fuel these units actually consume. Once the fuel leaving the pressure line looked like the fuel supplied at a filling station, I stopped the prime function and connected the hardline to the fuel hose dangling from the furnace.

While the pump was slightly larger than the original, it did not seem much quieter during the prime. Of course, I hadn't heard it pump in a couple of years, and memory is a funny thing. I do recall that when the furnace was running, I could hear the tick-tick-tick of the fuel pump over the whoosh of the furnace. With this in mind, I set the furnace to start. I did not want to consider the experiment with the new thicker, dedicated wiring yet, so I left the battery tender hooked up. At no point did the battery fall below 13.5V so either the tender was working hard, or the new wiring is a hit.

Regardless, the glow plug got lit, the fan started spinning and after 2 or 3 minutes the furnace ignited. This felt like a considerably longer period of time than before. Perhaps the priming was incomplete and I needed to prime again after connecting the hose to the furnace. Perhaps it took time to ignite simply because it had been so long. Once it ignited, a huge plume of smoke poured out of the little muffler. There was virtually no wind, so the cloud grew and sat slowly obscuring first the rear end of the bus and slowly 2/3 of the bus before a light breeze broke it up. After a few minutes, the cloud dissipated and the exhaust emission was reduced to nothing. All that remained was a light smokey haze inside the bus. I regret not taking a picture of that.

Noise Observations

While the temperature inside the bus slowly crept up from 55*F (13*C), I noted the noises. I could only hear the fuel pump ticking inside the cabinet where the furnace is located and even then, only when I stuck my head into the cabinet. I think the pressurized line is transmitting it. I stuck my head into the rock-n-roll cabinet above the spot where pump is actually installed and could not hear it. Maybe this new pump is quieter. Then, I moved outside where in the past I could clearly hear the pump from several feet away, even from the passenger-door side. I could not hear it, but I could hear the furnace whoosh. Of course, my muffler-ing of the furnace is different this time, having removed the second small rectangular muffler and the motorbike muffler. Perhaps the pump is no quieter, but the furnace is that much louder. To determine if the muffler configuration is a variable, I decided I will conduct another test at a different time, after re-attaching the other muffler bits. I had thought about bringing them along for while-parked use, and maybe I will need to, out of respect for our festival-going neighbors. In the past, I took decibel readings, but they were for while the furnace held a temperature, not during temp catch-up (full blast).

I will continue to experiment with noise readings and post if I find any readings are different than they were 4 years ago. I expect that once I put the extra rectangular and motorbike mufflers on, the readings will be what they were before. The only real mystery to me is whether the fuel pump can be heard over it. At this point, though, the pump seems significantly quieter.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Fixing Hapy Furnace (part 1)

Having finally arrived at a place where we have some heat while we're moving, I felt motivated to fix the heat for when we are standing still. Today's post covers most of the saga of getting a Chinese diesel heater operational again. Spoiler alert: the heater isn't running by the end of this post.

Brief History

Back in the early days of CoViD, I installed one of those Chinese diesel parking heaters into Hapy (See Parking Heater 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Final for deep detail). While I was able to run it a few times, I found that the heater pulled the voltage way down on whichever battery was connected to it. I tried to solve by providing multiple batteries to source from: one to start, one to run, but switching from battery to battery seemed like a bad practice. I had other priorities, so I just let the furnace sit unused. When I did the sound deadening effort and the luxury electrical re-wire, I dismantled the cabinet which housed the furnace so I could get sound deadener underneath it and electrical cables through it. This meant dismantling part of the furnace too. Later, when the band wanted to use Hapy for the album cover, I removed the furnace exhaust so it would not appear in pictures. So, I had a furnace without an exhaust, and would draw way too much juice.

Electrical

Over time, and with more learning about electrical stuff, I have concluded that the wire used to convey electricity but perhaps more importantly the wire for a ground were far too thin. It was due to these thin wires that the voltage would drop so badly as the furnace attempted to compensate. Wires which would have been barely up to the job had the battery been sitting right on top of the heater will definitely NOT be up to the task once you move the battery a few feet away. This is exacerbated by running the ground to the body of the bus instead of back to the battery. The ground location should not matter as much, but I'm citing it as a participant cause anyway. So, addressing the electrical came first after removing the furnace from the bus.

A small harness of wires leaves the furnace body and enters a black plug (see picture on the right). The harness that ships with the furnace includes a pigtail that clicks into the furnace black plug. To my eye, the red and black wires in the pigtail are not nearly as thick as the wires leaving the furnace. This probably saved the manufacturer a few pennies, but the amp draw issue starts right there (and in my case got worse). So, I cut the main power and main ground wires from the furnace black plug and put male/female wire ends on them (12V/ground respectively). I made them different so I couldn't accidentally plug it in backwards. I then prepped a thick 2-wire black/red cable with matching wire ends, and routed it over to the luxury battery. At the battery end, I added a ring terminal for the ground and added a 20Amp fuse into the positive side before adding a ring terminal on that end. I left things detached as I switched to preparing for the exhaust.

Exhaust

From under the bus, it was clear that I had not made the hole(s) large enough for the exhaust, intake and fuel to be easily maintained. Quite the contrary, I had installed it such that once it was all together, it would have to all come apart to fix anything. Frowny-face. So, I started by cutting a 4-inch square hole into the lower belly pan. Many buses do not have these, but I got lucky. Anyway, with the hole cut I could see where the furnace sat, and noticed that the exhaust was getting pinched by the too-small hole in the floor as the exhaust left the furnace. So, I went topside and expanded the upper hole both in the floor of the cabinet and the steel floor of the bus. With the larger hole, the exhaust easily fits and things could be maintained from below. Still, I did what I could on the furnace itself before lowering it in: Connect a 6" long stretch of fuel line, attach a small circle of window screen to the intake (so bugs and pebbles don't get in) and then attach maybe a foot of heat-wrapped exhaust. I set the furnace in place and attached a small subset of the muffler arrangement I had used before: just one rectangular muffler. I may bring the expanded muffler set up for use when we are in tighter camping spots (like festivals), so we can bolt-on some extra quiet. I mounted the muffler to the underside of the frame rail, with the outlet pointing rearward and slightly away from center (picture on the right).

A keen eye can see some fresh Rustoleum primer + paint above the muffler where I discovered some rust had eaten all the way through the body. When I was working on the other stuff I ground the metal down, removing the rust, but exposing the holes. Sadness. That rust traces back to when this bus had a small vent window directly above this spot. That vent window was badly leaking and the rust had already been forming to the point of marring the paint when I bought this bus over 20 years ago. I eliminated the vent window in 2015 (See Calling "glass") with a window I purchased from BusBoys in Redding, CA in 2009. Some things move slower than others.

Fuel

I shifted over to fueling at this point. The fuel line that had been between the included "hard" line and the furnace had breeched, probably when I did the sound deadening. The fuel in the line looked dark, so I dropped the line into an empty pail, and figured I would prime the fuel system, and purge the bad fuel at the same time. Unfortunately, the fuel pump is no longer functional, so I am waiting on a replacement to finish this job.

Afterburner

Back when I first did this job, I bought an Afterburner from the guy who hand builds them in Australia. Apparently, there are people building knock-offs, eating into his business, since they basically have cloned his work. So, if you are looking at getting the much nicer controller for your parking heater, please connect with Mr. Jones in Australia and get the real deal. Anyway, with the Afterburner, I tried to prime the fuel system, but the fuel pump wouldn't respond. When I unplugged the pump, I got a code; I concluded the wiring to the pump was good but pump was bad. So I ordered a new, supposedly quieter, one. We'll see. While I was clowning around with the Afterburner, I got it onto my home network, downloaded the newest firmware and wandered around the new-to-me website that the Afterburner hosts. It's really cool. I am looking forward to triggering the furnace to warm the bus from inside. For reference, here is a link to the user manual.

This is as far as I've gotten. I am waiting for a new fuel pump to arrive. I need to purge the old lines of nasty fuel, and install that new pump. I expect there will be other discoveries, and I need to rebuild the cabinet innards. There's always opportunities to improve things. Anyway, thanks, as always, for following along-

Cascade Equinox Festival 2023 - Report

In the past, I have created 3 separate posts for a festival: the road, the bands and then the festival itself. When the road trip brought perils, this made sense. Lately, though, Hapy has been driving so well, I don't really have much to say in the the road report. So, the road gets a subheading. We did not see much of the music this time either, so there's no point for a separate post there either. So, one big post.

There and Back Again

We had not taken a trip in Hapy since LeisureFest, but we had our gear relatively well organized. Unlike our usual night-time exit, we were unable to dodge out of work early. So, we did like everyone else and loaded up in the morning instead. We had some typical delays, like cleaning things and getting Tuukka to Aunt Linda's. We left home around 3, got some B20 at the usual corner station with a couple bags of ice and hit OR217 South. Cascade Equinox Festival is held in Redmond (due east of Sisters), so the route is fairly familiar: OR217 to I-5 to OR22 to OR20 into Sisters. From there, it's OR126 to Redmond. We have done the route as far as Sisters for 4Peaks, so we know the landmarks. We had not been through the Detroit Lake area since the wildfires a couple of years ago, so seeing both the devastation and the start of the regrowth was breathtaking. Hapy ran like a champ, and after the heavy traffic on I-5 lightened up south of Wilsonville, he purred the rest of the way.

We determined that the Vanagon rear-heater that I installed as a means of producing some heat in the bus is simply not up for the task. Since this heater capacity was designed as an auxillary heater for the back seat in a Vanagon, this should surprise no one, including me. To wit, we had virtually no heat on the drive out and only suggestions of heat on the way back. We remedied with lap-blankets, but I will need to do something more significant eventually. On the way out, we stopped only once at a rest area along OR20. On the way back we stopped at the iconic Sno-Cap in Sisters for lunch. We love Sno-Cap; the shakes are great and the service is small-town warm. The drive home was colored with a steady rain, which Hapy absolutely loved. His temp barely reached 185* most of the time, and with the help of a super-slow driver behind us holding back the heavy Sunday afternoon traffic through the mountains, we had OR22 to ourselves most of the way to Salem. We continue to consistently around 30mpg, even when loaded with gear. This trip was no different; when I finally filled up (after driving to the festival and back plus some around town driving) he got over 300 miles and about 30mpg.

Festival Upsides

installation art

Since one of the organizers for Cascade Equinox is the organizer for 4Peaks, Boo and I had an idea of what Cascade Equinox was going to be like. We were mistaken, but that wasn't all bad. There were 4 large installation art pieces being created over the course of the weekend. It was fun to watch the artists work, and see their pieces evolve. There were 6 music locations within the secured area, with up to 5 of them going at once. This created many options for what to see/hear when. The vendor area was significantly larger than 4Peaks, offering a wide array of products. I bought, and then lost, a ring, but otherwise our back-to-school shopping was limited. We sampled a few of the food vendors, and they were both good and popular. In terms of services, there were free showers and there was never a queue for a porta-potty.

Camping in Hapy, we discovered some upsides as well. We had not really used the side-walls of the BusDepot canopy before, but we did this time. They were incredibly easy to put up and take down, held firm in the gusty winds and the biggest surprise was how well they held in the heat from a Little Buddy heater. We slept very well and the sound-killer that I installed held the seemingly constant subwoofer to the background. We camped on flat, soft grass and had ample space for the bus and our canopy. We were able to collect solar to boost our luxury battery on Saturday. We had enough water from home so we did not need to source more, we brought plenty of simple food so we only cooked what and when we needed to. As far as a camping experience, it was great. Boo even got to read some of her book.

Festival Downsides

Unfortunately, there were quite a few things that did not go well. Some of these could be chalked up to a first-time event, but since both of the organizers have done events before, the oversights are worth noting.

Ticketing

the elusive map

When I first learned of this festival, I got super-early bird tickets the day they went on sale. At the time, they had not figured out camping nor even the schedule of things, just that it was equinox weekend. At some point, I was contacted about a car-camping ticket, so I added one. We discovered upon arrival that the terms of the festival attendance tickets changed / were refined after we bought them and that "early entry" was now an add-on. So, at the gate at 9:PM I had to pay another $145US or park outside and drive in / set up the next morning. We were cold so we paid, leaving us that much less to spend on vendors. In retrospect, perhaps we could have gone in in the morning. Anyway, once through the gates, we were led to the car-camping zone. 

Camping

Some of the biggest misses were around how they managed campers. First, the area was mapped out in very long (100 meters?) lines where cars were parked with one set of tires on the lines (see in top picture) and between the lines of parked cars alternated camps and fire-lane. On paper, this makes sense for maximum density. Because every car was hood-to-trunk with the car on either side, there were no cut-thru's for people to just walk by, so no one did. Accessing services meant walking all the way to the end of the fire-lane and then finding services. Which leads to the next 2 misses: porta-potties and water.

Drinking Water

When spending multiple days in the desert, it is highly advised to drink lots of water. In fact, from the stage at 4Peaks, we are often reminded to drink water. In light of this, the lack of access to drinking water for a large swath of the car-camping area was especially noticeable. Fortunately, Boo and I brought our usual 5 gallon water jug and I filled it before we left simply because our water here tastes very good, and water elsewhere often does not. Bringing our own is a luxury item, unless we find ourselves in a place which does not provide and suddenly it is a very precious resource. We discovered that there was a single source of water on the other side of the festival grounds (but within the camping ring around the festival grounds), had we walked that far. The return walk with a full 5-gallon would not have been fun.

Porta-Potties

Okay, all porta-potties are gross. That's just a given. In the camping zone, they were clumped in large groups, but very far apart. Once you made your way there, they were not serviced often, leaving you to bring-your-own-supplies. The first cleaning took place mid-afternoon Saturday, so for those who arrived when the gates opened on Thursday, that's a long go. Beyond that, the porta-potties themselves were especially disgusting. Even after they were cleaned, there was black mold on the walls and inexplicable yuck on the floor. Fortunately, once the gates opened, there were better services inside: actual bathrooms which appeared to have been cleaned before the festival started but not afterwards. So, it was bring-your-own-supplies even then. Had security been more thorough, it would have made for interesting conversations.

Gate Entry

sidewalls hold in heat!

Because of staffing or staff-allocation of security, the entry gate from the camping area into the "secured" festival area did not open until almost noon every day. On Friday, they didn't open until 2:30. Since the stages started at 10:AM, and most of the folks who would have been inside were camping, the early artists did not enjoy much of an audience. For campers who did not bring food, water or coffee with them (we see this a lot at festivals), they needed to trek to the other side of the festival grounds to gain entry thru the main gate for breakfast.

Security

Since this was the first year, Boo and I could forgive the marked lack of volunteers. What was surprising, though, was the large number of security people. Once the camper gate was staffed, there were at least 6 security people there, though it was usually 8 or 10. Only one person got through at a time, with one security person checking a bag and another patting people down. I don't know what the other 4-6 people were doing beside appearing as a show of force. Even still, it was evident that many of the security people were on their first assignment as Boo and I watched them get verbal training one morning prior to opening the gate. Even still, I am not sure what they actually stopped from entering. On the last day, I had forgotten that I had a pocketknife in my pocket; they didn't find it and I didn't volunteer it. They never found my bathroom supply in my cargo-pant pocket.

Maps / Directionals / Signs

camper entry

Once through the gate, there was very little to help you gain your bearings. There wasn't a map posted in physical form anywhere. On Friday afternoon, I found the map above buried on the website. Inside the festival grounds, however, there were no guideposts and very few signs. At one point on Friday, we asked a vendor what stage we were next to, and they didn't know either. With the map above, we figured out later that it was Harvest.

Use of Space

I wasn't sure where else to put these. First, there were carnival rides in the middle of product and food vending. This seemed like a strange place to put them, and, frankly, they appeared to be little used when we walked past. I understand that having a Ferris Wheel at a festival has become an expectation, but I honestly don't know why though I can see the appeal of combining psychedelics and carnival rides to a much younger version of myself. It still seemed strange to have them in the middle of vending. Second, there were 2 stages near one another (Equinox and Harvest) which created a sonic cacophony in between while a third indoor stage (Gravity) that wasn't used all day. Unfortunately for the vendors in the zone between Harvest and Equinox, this area was fairly clear of attendees whenever both stages were going. What made this such an odd decision was that the Harvest stage had artists who could have otherwise been in the "Gravity" stage/room, in terms of space. Gravity was a great room, easily larger than the tented "small stage" at 4Peaks, but it was empty until after Harvest closed for the night, at which point it opened. In our humble opinion, the Harvest stage could be eliminated, using that space for more vendor/food/hangout space. Maybe that's where the Ferris Wheel goes? Regardless, staging those Harvest-artists in Gravity where they are not competing with Equinox for sound-space would have enabled the attendees to really hear what they're doing... and maybe hang out for whoever is next. Considering how cold it was, simply being inside could have increased the audiences for the Harvest staged artists.

Impressions

"follow your dreams"

We did see some of the bands and were very impressed with how much Yak Attack has grown since we saw them years ago. They pulled a huge crowd into the Harvest stage area, getting a couple hundred people groovin. DirtWire, and Phantogram also stood out to us.

Unfortunately, our festival experience was colored by 2 independent health challenges. First, I appear to suffer some form of altitude-sensitive anemia so it takes me a couple of days to adjust to the higher altitude of central Oregon (2k  feet above sea level). I had a similar super-low-energy experience at 4Peaks in 2017(?), and recognize that I need to supplement with iron prior to going -or- arrive a couple of days early if I want to avoid that. Second, we had a fried rice dish from one of the vendors and triggered Boo's sensitivity to MSG. We ate and she almost immediately fell asleep, missing Friday night's artists. Last, it was cold and windy the entire time. The overnight temperatures were below 4*C (40*F) and daytime highs barely touched 20*C (68*F). Once the wind chill is added in, temperature was a near-constant challenge.

Totally unrelated, but I feel compelled to at least comment on it: do you see that sign in the "camper entry" picture? First Interstate Bank. First Interstate suffered a hostile takeover by Wells Fargo over 25 years ago, yet there are multiple First Interstate Bank signs around the fairgrounds, and they are in amazing shape. Clearly, the operators of the venue take care of the space if 25+ year old signs can look that good after sitting outdoors the entire time.

As we look back on this festival, I don't think we will be returning. The vibe of the festival seemed to be very "stick-with-your-tribe" oriented. From how the camping area was set up to tables near food vending to hang-out zones, none of the design appeared to support creating chance encounters or accidental conversations with people you didn't know. Quite the contrary, it seemed designed to support small groups staying connected to each other, but disconnected from everyone else. Even a queue for the porta-potties or restrooms creates that kind of 1:1 shared experience. The last picture, however, illustrates how the attendees were looking for that greater connection as this came from a "take something leave something" table that someone had set out in the fire-lane near their car. We left a fist-full of tea bags which had been picked up by someone else shortly thereafter. Clearly, there was a pulse there that the organizers failed to tap. Anyway, we wish them luck, but we will probably be celebrating the autumnal equinox in other ways in the future.

That's it for now. Back to the furnace next week-

LeisureFest 2023 - Music Report

I wasn't going to do a special post for the bands, but each performance capsule got so long, the original overall post got way too big. So... here's the music review.

Before I begin, last weekend was my father's birthday. After not seeing him nearly as often in his final years as I had before his health started to slip, I find that I miss him at the strangest times. For example, my mother-in-law shared some fresh-from-her-garden tomatoes with me and I was immediately transported to a childhood memory of walking the tomato vines with my father after he arrived home from work, salt shaker in his shirt pocket. Few things as good as a tomato directly from the vine, with a little salt. Miss you, Dad.

Music In-Brief

We did not see all of the bands, and because of how far away we were, we could not hear all of them either. It was an interesting mix of genres, challenging Randy, the sound guy, but he flippin killed it. Randy was the star of the music, independent of every artist, he made everyone, and I do mean everyone, sound very good. The bands below I actually heard, but there were some I missed. Similar to my prior post about this festival, I did not take any pictures, enjoying the space IRL, absent a technological veil between me and my surroundings.

Steel Wool - (Eugene-based) fronted by the prior owners of the property, they had an early Airplane sound. Steel Wool played on Friday night while we were setting up, so we could not hear them as well as some others. What we heard was really good, setting a fairly high bar for the next day.

Jam - some of the artists scheduled to play the next day tossed in for a jam that ran until midnight. I was asked to throw in, but between the road fatigue and lingering anxiety about the variables I mentioned above, I was a bit of a wreck and abstained, hitting the bed instead. Besides, I was part of the opening the next morning.

Sunkicks - (Hillsboro-based) it's not fair to judge Sunkicks, because I play bass for them. The feedback we heard was very positive. Katie's vocals are always amazing, and even though we started playing at 11AM, she nailed it. We were given, and played 2 sets, setting a mellow wake-up tone for over 2 hours. I had to eat afterwards, so I missed Corona (singer/guitar with a clarinet player). Randy said we were the perfect hangover set, gently pulling people from their tents down to the music bowl for a day of fun.

Eve and the Bad Apples - (Eugene-based) solid band with some cool vocals. This was only their second gig, so there will be much growth to see, for sure. I felt the songs where there were many words or syllables close together lent best to Eve's vocal style. There were some songs that were almost rap-like in how the words were pressed together, but you could clearly make out every word, following the story she was sharing. Instrumentally solid with interesting bass twists and slide guitar work mixed into more straight supporting stuff. The drummer was like a clock, keeping time and keeping it simple.

Joe and the Wheel Monkeys - (Hillsboro-based) I play with Joe on Wednesday nights at Pizzario, and because their regular bass player misses shows sometimes, there was a risk that I would have to jump in. Dave arrived during the Eve set, so that was avoided. Joe plays an approachable country / bluegrass / rockabilly blend. Depending on who is joining him onstage (it seems different almost every time), he may have a lead electric guitar, a fiddle, a dobro or a mandolin for solos. This weekend, he had Rose (Boo's sister) on fiddle and Spencer (Sunkicks' guitarist). They were predictably solid.

Sunwell - (Salem, OR-based) These guys were amazing, and the loudest of the weekend. Boo described them as a blend of Perfect Circle and Tool. I would add some Primus just because of how talented the bass player is. The drummer and bass are about as locked a pair as I have had the chance to see; every single hit was together. Very impressive; Boo and I are big fans, so take these next few sentences through that lens. The vocals and lead guitar work was all handled by one player. There were spots where he was trying to do something fairly complex on the guitar while hitting a moving vocal line. I'm not sure a brain can actually to that level of context switching. Of all of the successes Randy had with the sound, the clarity on the lyrics was not there. I don't think it was Randy's to solve and perhaps splitting focus that was negatively impacted vocal clarity. He hit the notes, we just couldn't pick out the words. His solo work, complete with hammer-ons, was fun to watch. Great band.

Boo and I went back to Hapy for some dinner and missed the next band, arriving late for the Raventones.

Raventones - (Eugene?-based) the former landowners took the stage for their other band: just the two of them. TK is an accomplished bassist, but in this new configuration she plays a baritone instead. Her partner, Randy the sound guy, plays drums (and quite well). The baritone allows her to play more guitar-like stuff, with some chords while still focusing on the low-end. TK leads the mood mixing stories and song into a tapestry where you can't really be sure when a song has ended or started.

Alder Street - (Eugene-based) During our sound-check in the morning, Randy mentioned Alder Street as the band to make time for. Mentally noted, Boo and I made sure we were well established on the festival blanket, dog fed and settled, etc. when they started. OMG, these guys are incredible. If you look at their calendar, they are not playing many venues, which is absolutely puzzling. These guys are an absolute MUST SEE. Starting with the mandolin player, his voice is phenomenal, ranging all over the place, and performing with absolutely no filter. His solos are soaring, and when playing against his fiddle player (who was also next-level) some magic happens. They share the stage with an acoustic guitarist who also lead-vocals on songs (and lead guitar's in spots), a stand-up bass player who does not approach it like a blue-grasser (that's a good thing, once you hear him) and a female drummer with a clear sweet voice. We were treated to 2 sets, but crowd fatigue had caught up with me and Boo, it was getting dark and Tuukka needed to be moved away from the crowds as well. So, we headed back to camp. Can't stress enough how much these guys are a must see.

We missed a progressive rock band and the DJ. We were unable to hear either from Hapy, which I found odd since we were able to hear Steel Wool so well the night before. On Sunday morning, there was supposed to be a hangover set, but I think the artists (TK and Randy) overslept. Since they had played twice already, perhaps it was just as well they got the morning off. In the vacuum, some of Joe's Wheel Monkeys played around the bonfire pit.

In summary, Sunkicks were good, Sunwise rock and Alder Street is amazing. IMHO, all 3 are worth finding. Eve and the Rotten Apples are finding their footing, but give it 6 months and they are going to be tearing it up too.

That's it for this time. Thanks, as always, for following along-

LeisureFest 2023 - Road Report

It has been a long time since Boo and I took a road trip for a music festival. Thanks CoViD. Since LeisureFest is a private invite-only event at a private communal-living-space, I will not post on the event itself, save for some comments about some of the bands in another post. I will say, we had a great time, met some wonderful people we now call friends, and look forward to being invited again. I took no pictures, living in the moment instead of through a cell phone. So, there are no pictures to accompany this. Before I start, today is my mom's birthday. Although I know she doesn't surf the internet anymore... Hapy Birthday, Mom. 

Getting Out

LeisureFest is held in the coast mountains west of Eugene. So the drive is very similar to a drive to the Cuthbert Ampitheater until we hit the beltway (route 569) which wends west around the city of Eugene. Prior to leaving our home area, we needed to be in East Portland for an appointment. So, departure day was atypical. First, we hadn't been camping since we moved into NewOldHouse, so we had to find everything. We had never camped with the dog before, so there was additional logistics around packing his crate, his stuff and managing his needs. The band I recently started playing in (Sunkicks) was given the opening slot, so I had bass gear to haul too. Because of unknowns around facilities at the communal-living space, we brought a full 5-gallon water cooler (needed) and a prepared travel-potty (not needed), adding to Hapy's overall haul-weight. Then, because of the appointment, we had to pack the night before, and finish prior to heading to that appointment, for which we ended up late. Once concluded, we headed for the I-205 pretty much when we originally expected. We brought the trailer-hitch platform carrier (we call "the trunk") to help make room for with all the extra things we were bringing; Hapy felt heavy at the throttle.

Getting There

We were pleasantly surprised at how swift the traffic moved on I-205, until it wasn't. Shortly after the Lake Oswego exit, traffic came to a near-stop and crawled through the interchange onto I-5 South and continued until we were past a multi-car wreck just north of Wilsonville. We lost about an hour to that crawl. Once we passed the wreck (no one appeared hurt, the cars were on the shoulder), traffic quickly picked up speed. We took advantage of the Charbonneau rest area to walk the dog and stretch ourselves before returning to the interstate. The rest of the drive was relatively typical. Hapy took the hills more slowly than usual, but his temperature barely registered above 190*F when we did. Once we were south of Albany, and the hills flatten to farmland, the crosswinds presented as they usually do. With the rear antisway bar and the shock-stiffening I did before Hapy's birthday (See Handling the Handling), the winds did not affect us nearly as much as they used to. Of course, blustery winds forced me to be animated behind the wheel, but it was still much improved compared to years earlier. With the extra weight, I found I drove to regulate his temperature again, rather than to meet a particular speed. Basically, I went as fast as I could while keeping the temperature around 190*F.

We arrived at the festival entrance with a little over an hour of workable daylight, and were directed into a spot pretty much the furthest from the stage under a canopy of trees. We were grateful for the killer spot and Hapy remained in the shade all weekend, but close enough to sunny patches to allow for the solar collector for the luxury battery. We did a very modest set up, laying out the recycled plastic mat and the carpets underfoot, placing the lot couch and camping chairs/table and calling it good enough. So, no canopy, nor kitchen, the outdoor lighting was hung on the side of the Riviera poptop to create some visibility, but we did not set-up for hanging out. We intended to be in the music bowl most of our awake time, and ultimately were.

Getting Home

Because our set-up was somewhat sparse and put together less than 40 hours earlier, the tear-down was fast. After letting the dog get a final hour long wrestle with his new best friend Banjo, we climbed in the bus and headed out. It seems like every time we drive north from Eugene on a Sunday the traffic is flat awful. Too many are in a hurry, following each other too closely and generally putting out an agro "I'm late for a meeting" vibe. The drive from the coast range into Eugene was lovely, in contrast. Sure, there were plenty of toy-haulers returning from the beach wanting to get into the valley and on to the interstate, but there was very little pressure. Hapy drives as he does, and the speedsters took advantage of the passing lanes as we reached them. From OR-126 to OR-569 and then on to I-5, we trucked along, with little concern. Again, Hapy's temperatures were staying below 193* even on the hills, and returning to 185* (thermostat opening temp) quickly thereafter.

After our first dramatic traffic slowdown starting well south of and then extending through Albany, we found a detour west of the interstate that ran along the Willamette River, then onto OR 219 into Newburg where we picked up OR 99. This put us on a course for what I have referenced as the temperature test hill where we test Hapy's run-ability. Hapy had a harder time retaining 55mph than he had since I fixed his heat issues, but he did. He did not get too hot, it was just hard to keep pace with all the extra weight. Most of the way up the hill, I realized that I was not really pushing him all that hard either. I chalked that up to personal fatigue. When I pushed it a little he responded, but the temp did not climb much and it returned to normal as soon as we crested the incline. It was not a very good test, but he held pace and didn't get too hot, so I call that a pass.

We got home after about 5-1/2 hours on the road, which is fairly long for a drive from an hour west of Eugene to West Beaverton. It was traffic-related though, and we got home without incident. Tuukka, the dog, slept the entire drive home after spending the weekend making dog-friends with Banjo and Svi. I didn't touch on how having a dog at a music festival changes things, but this has gotten long so I won't go into much detail. There were more than the 2 other dogs and owners, but not all of us were camped at the far end. Down there, where Tuukka, Banjo and Svi were camping, they could off-leash play.  And they did every chance they got for as long as we would let them. There was at least one other dog who was openly hostile and others who were not near us so we really didn't see them.

We had a great time, and hope to be invited again. We understand that the party may be no-dogs-allowed next year. There is a possibility of a neighbor creating a dog-safe space, but it's fairly remote. We may have to weigh the importance of being with our dog against the significance of this party. Not an easy choice. Unless the band is asked to play, I suspect that if the dog can't be there, we may not be either. We'll see.

Thanks, as always, for following along. More next time-

Noise Control Continues

With Summer tour dates heating up, and our favorite festivals appearing to be taking the Summer off, I was lacking an out-of-town overnight show to really kick this effort into high gear. Well... Phil Lesh and Friends have announced Pacific NorthWest tour dates, hitting 2 of my all-time favorite outdoor venues: the Cuthbert in Eugene, OR and the Marymoor in Redmond, WA. Phil played these 2 venues back-to-back with Further in 2013 (See Tale of 2 Trips), so I conclude that these are his favorite NW outdoor venues too. Anyway, June 11 and 12, Phil will be at the Cuthbert and Marymoor respectively, and so will we. With that, we have some serious motivation to have Hapy buttoned up by the end of May. In that spirit, I finally got after the big sections of the floor, so today's post is all about that. 

Tear Down

starting the Jute

I accept that maybe I have been finding ways to delay the full-blown interior tear down. I messed with electrical (See Ceiling Wiring Rough In), built a replacement shelf (See New Cab Shelf), even messed around with the stereo (I will post on that once it reaches completion). At some point, I was going to have to remove the lot couch and the rock-n-roll bed so I could get after the floor underneath them. The lot couch removes easily enough, but the sliders also needed to come out so I could get the complete floor. Back when I first installed these runners, I mounted the runners with 17mm bolts. I added nuts underneath. I initially just loosened the runners and forced the Jute underneath. I later decided to completely remove the runners so I could get a seamless heavy vinyl sheet down.

My implementation of the rock-n-roll bed is held to the floor by a pair of Phillips screws holding a pair of arms to the rear deck, a 17mm bolt underneath, a pair of small nuts on a metal bracket mounted on the passenger side rear wheel well and a single 13mm bolt through to the fridge cabinet. The electrical bits, however, add to the complexity. I have my luxury fuse box under there, so I had to tear down what was left of that. Plus, the original Westfalia electrical includes the cables routing city power into the rectifier (110 to 12V converter) that's buried inside a wood box and running to the outlet on the front face of the bed. The box is held down with 2 Phillips screws and the outlet box is held by 4 Phillips screws. With the electrical separated from the bed, and the bed detached from the floor, I removed the cushions to manage the unit better. Each of the 2 cushions are held to the bed with 4 long Phillips bolts on each end (so, that's 16 bolts).

cabin Jute mostly complete

I would have completely removed the fridge cabinet, but the mounting of the furnace was so difficult, I did not want to revisit that. Just being disconnected from the rock-n-roll bed loosened it enough for me to fit materials an inch or so underneath it.

Constrained Layered Dampener (CLD)

I have probably posted enough on this material. Still, I applied on the now exposed floor areas. Parts of the floor had already gotten a light treatment in the little valleys, so on top of that I applied larger squares of CLD as well. I still have about a third of the box of ResoNix, with a plan to use some inside the sliding door. I have used some of the Noico around as well. For example, the walk-through partitions behind the front seats each got a large splat of Noico. I do not know if I will be keeping those partitions long term, so I did not want to spend the expensive CLD on those panels. Still, the Noico definitely helped reduce the clatter heard when I tap on the partitions with the roller. Of course, the whole floor and the rock-n-roll bed needed a thorough cleaning, starting with a shop-vac and ending with cleansers. 

Heat Wave Jute

MLV over engine

I was so excited to finally get to the Jute. I has felt like forever since I ordered this stuff and started working on noise containment. I started with a rectangle on top of the engine access hatch, with an extra couple of inches all the way around. I pulled the computer cover, and Jute'd the rest of the rear deck, and then moved forward. I fit a segment under the rear edge of the fridge cabinet, and doubled up over the front side of the rear driver wheel well. I pierced the Jute for the seat belts and a grounding screw, and set another piece of Jute up to the lot-couch rear slider and continued my way forward, covering the entire floor with rectangles. My method was to define as large a section as I could easily manage and then measure that out on the material. I marked the line with a sharpie and then traced the line with a box-cutter to start the cut. I made a second pass with a pair of scissors. I tried first with just the scissors, but the thickness of the material and 2 foil-faces were too much even for my best pair. As I set shapes down, the bus got progressively quieter. Without a radio, and just ambient neighborhood noise, there was not a dramatic change, it just felt more and more quiet. Very neat. One last observation about the Heat Wave: the foil top and bottom are electrically conductive. So, I would discourage use anywhere near open circuitry or be sure to insulate. For example, I took a section of excess MLV produced below and have it resting between the foil and the spare tire well where the engine computer and fuse box live. No sparky.

Lot Couch Rails

I had loosened the rails enough to force-fit some of the Heat Wave jute underneath, but decided that getting the MLV under the rails would be worthwhile. This meant removing the rails entirely. I had forgotten that when I first installed these rails, I ran bolts from above and nutted from below. Three of the 4 nuts were hidden by the radiator, so getting in there to free them was an all-morning exercise. Still, the nuts came free, the bolts pulled out and the rails were set aside. I took this opportunity to clean under the rails as well as install 4 riv-nuts into the old holes, so I would not have to go under the bus and reach around the radiator to deal with the rails again. That riv-nut kit is definitely paying dividends.

Mass Loaded Vinyl (MLV)

MLV continues

MLV is heavy; my goodness, it is heavy (1 pound per square foot). I found that the sound inside the bus actually brightened a little bit as I set it on top of the Jute, though. The Jute, in contrast, was simply amazing in how much quieter the bus seemed as I added it to the floor.  While I can't measure the impact of the MLV independently of the rest of what I am doing, I do wonder if the additional weight will translate into a corresponding reduction in noise. The SecondSkin web site has a noise transfer reduction table for the MLV that defines the reduction as anywhere from 14dB to 37dB, depending on frequency, with higher frequency blocked more than lower. We'll see. The actual absorption by the Heat Wave was noticeable. The table on the SecondSkin page for Heat Wave (in coefficient rather than dB) demonstrates very little in terms of dB drop below 500Hz: below 500Hz < 3dB, 1k: 7db, 2k: 14dB, 4k:19dB. So, the very high end will be controlled well and the low end not so much. I arrived at these numbers courtesy of the formulas on this blog post, converting the coefficients published by SecondSkin.

Anyway, the MLV delivers in a roll 54" wide. The bus is around 60-1/2" wide so rather than solve for a strip along one side, I laid a section 54" long front-to-back, covering the engine compartment and on down the rear wall behind the rock-n-roll bed. After cutting contours for the narrowing of the rear of the bus, I pierced the MLV for the seat belts and installed them. This took a considerable amount of time, mostly because of the challenges of getting the seat belt mounts in place. I continued with the next sheet of MLV, covering the mid-floor past the lot-couch rail mounting points (see picture above, right).

Re-Assembly

bed and rails in

I chose at this point to re-install the rock-n-roll bed. Unlike the seat belt mounts, locating and piercing for the bed mounts was much easier for some reason. With the bed in place, I pieced holes for the lot-couch rails and installed them. To make a more firm mount to the floor, I added a nut between the rail and the floor for the bolt to pass through. These nuts act like a 3/8" riser through the Jute material. I confirmed the width of the rails (12") and then torqued the bolts. Then, I put the lot couch back in. The couch slid in more easily than it used to. I think the rails were slightly below the lip of the sliding door before, creating some friction/resistance. With the little risers, the couch slides right in. The interior is pretty much the way I started the weekend. Yes, from the start to end of this post, it was 2 full-for-me (6+ hours) days of work, and some uncovered sections remain.

On a random mid-week afternoon, I added an additional strip inside the rock-n-roll bed where the 2 larger sections meet as well as a small piece inside the fridge cabinet. Last, the area just in front of the fridge cabinet shown in the picture above was addressed. So, from the seat partition rear-wards is pretty much done. That leaves the cab still to do. All of the seams need to be taped as well, but that should be much easier once the rest of the Heat Wave and MLV have been laid out.

In case you were wondering, that reflective material in the wall behind the fridge is foil-backed "RV insulation" that I had put in there years ago. It actually does reduce the temperature inside the bus a little bit, or it did when I first installed it. Since it does not fill the cavity, I will probably just leave it and put the Mega Zorbe or Jute right on top if it. There is the old Q-Quiet vibration absorber on those panels as well, and I will just leave that be. I am running out of material, and this project has taken quite a bit of time already.

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Hapy Turns 50

Quick post to commemorate Hapy the wonderbus turning 50 years old. Totally unrelated, but a fascinating video, here is a company in the UK looking at building an internal combustion engine that runs on hydrogen. Cool stuff. On to the celebration...

How 50?

I guess we start where I did with every person who asked "how do you know his exact birthdate?". I refer you to this post where I deciphered the manufacturing codes aka M-codes. Basically, every VW of this vintage has the planned manufacturing date imprinted on the plate. So, based on week number and day number, you can determine your vehicle's manufacturing date. Hapy has been in the family for less than half of his life, though.

When I received him, his engine had been replaced, but the interior, exterior, wiring, and everything else was 100% original. Consider "original" does not always mean "good". There was mold in the upholstery, the seats were shot, the pop-top bellows were dry-rotten and torn. But, I made use of him, in his original condition, even trying to return many of the systems to spec. Ultimately, though, safety concerns for my then-young kids started me down the trail I have documented here.

First, it was the sink/icebox unit blocking the handle to the sliding door. I considered the "what if" of getting into an accident that renders me unconscious while my kids are trapped in the back, unable to open the slider because their arm's aren't long enough to reach around the sink. So, that got pulled, and down the rabbit hole I went.

Park Play

To celebrate Hapy, and honestly any excuse to celebrate this year is a fairly good one, we reserved 5 camping spots in nearby LL Stub Stewart State Park. Our long time friends GratefulEd, lovely wife Dawn, and Belle joined us, as did my brother Eric, who rented a Eurovan from Road Trip Oregon for the special occasion with his 2 daughters (K4 and K5). Many other friends and family were on-hand on Saturday for the big party and many of them stayed overnight. We also had arranged a duo to play some jazz and old country in one of the reserved campsites in the center of the reserved spots. Unfortunately, the park rangers shut the duo down before they completed the jazz portion of their set. So, they completed their performance sans-amplification. Undeterred, Boo rolled out a stack of subs, a couple of coolers of bev's and a couple trays of VW-emblazoned cupcakes for a singing of Hapy Birthday. Yes, yes we did.

One of our gests had set up cornhole, another had set up badminton and Eric set up croquet. So, we played yard games while the acoustic duo played. It was the hottest day of the weekend, so impromptu shade was set up. When the official music completed, many of the day-trippers, and our official musicians, headed home. Those who remained shifted from the "venue" campsite to Hapy's front door for some (also mostly acoustic) jamming. For this, we were joined by friends from the Hillsboro bluegrass scene (some pictured, some not). We played until we were shut down by the park rangers again (silence expected at 10:PM), but not before our neighbors had joined us, demonstrating again that we all need a little more joy, and few things bring joy like live music and a small crowd laughing. After we stopped playing, we continued to visit (read: drink) for a while, and we broke up by midnight.

Everyone other than Boo, Hapy and me left the next day. Boo had rented some electric-assist bikes so we took a ride that afternoon after everyone left. There is a paved trail from Manning to Vernonia that passes right through the state park, and we explored a small section of it. That evening, we gazed at the stars through a borrowed telescope. With the lack of white noise from the city lights and no visible moon, there are just so many stars to see. We pointed the telescope first at single noticeable stars, but found it much more interesting to point it at a relatively uninteresting area of space and then see how many stars appeared. We both caught a shooting star through the lens that way, while also noting that in an otherwise uninteresting area of space there are still hundreds of stars visible through a non-commercial tri-pod'd telescope.

There and Back

No trip in Hapy is complete without a review of how well the bus handled. The drive out was late afternoon on a Thursday. Traffic wanted to go faster than Hapy did. Hapy still did well, driving into an on-angle headwind. The handling was much better after the shock-absorber adjustment, though the increased speed and headwind caused his engine temps to run a little high (topped at 198*F). We did not experience meaningful engine stumbling in either direction, nor did we throw a code. So, I think that much of the stumble was some bad fuel or a partially clogged clean filter (which I replaced after 4Peaks) or both. I will still be looking into other causes. The trip back was even better than the drive out. Whatever wind there was, it must have been at least partially behind us. Hapy's temperature rarely ticked above 186*F, and he was happily cruising at 55-60mph*. I had the stereo blasting an old Jerry Garcia Band bootleg, my elbow resting on the open window, and we just cruised with one hand on the wheel. The merge from 47 onto US26 was effortless with the bigger nozzles and chipped computer allowing Hapy to scoot into traffic. Honestly, it was the easiest drive home I can remember.

*: I use the asterisk here because Boo was following in a chase car, and was able to tell me just how fast I was going when... and when Hapy's speedo says "50" I am going 55. When his speedo says "55", I am going 62. So, the speedo is definitely at least 10% off, showing 10% slower than I really am. This is consistent with the odometer checks I have done along the freeway, showing the odometer is closer to .8 of a mile when the mile marker says a full mile. Since my mpg has been getting calculated without this extra math, the mpg is even more impressive. I have been getting just shy of 30mpg with the odometer reading at least 10% low. So, I'm really getting 33mpg or better.... in a bus that's loaded for camping 95% of the time.

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along.

Throw-back to embedded picture captions like I used to do:

top - meadow between the Dairy Creek campgrounds

next from top - (L-to-R) Stevan on Mandolin, Rose (standing) on fiddle, Rodney (back turned) on guitar, Joe (standing) on guitar, Dawn (seated can only see top of her head/hat), Mo (standing), me (back turned) on bass, Ed (back turned) on guitar. Joey (mostly obscured by Ed)

next from bottom - Ed and Belle in full-fest-form

bottom - Boo on the bike trail

And, here are some other pictures:

(L-to-R) Rose, Boo, Joe, Mo
and me (back-turned)

Boo and I sharing
the lot couch

LL Stub Stewart camping

(L-to-R) Rodney, Stevan, Joey,
Joe, Boo (back turned),
Mo (obscured) and
me (back turned)