Circus Circus, Tahoe and High Sierra Snow (part 2)

Continuing the look back on a trip to the Nevada, California and Colorado with my 17year old, T. Last post covered flights and hotels (Part 1 here, Part 3 here). This one covers our time in Nevada.

UNR "Nevada"

Knowledge Center with robotic library

I mentioned that the reasons for our trip was to visit schools. UNR wasn't really on T's radar before I mentioned it. He had been looking for a fairly large school, for breadth of programs, but one that was near snow. There are a bunch of schools that meet that general description, but not too many which are easy to get to from the PacNW. UNR is located north of the casino district, isolated from the rest of the city of Reno by a 6-lane Interstate.

UNR Quad

We had arrived in Reno the night before and had only time for some breakfast before our campus tour. We got a little turned around on the way, but a friendly custodian walked us part of the way to the start of the tour. Like a typical tour, it started with forms and such, but soon we were being led about by a business major. Since we hadn't really seen the area at all, T and I were quite taken with the high desert and the dusting of snow on the surrounding hills, visible as we passed from building to building. There was a lot of construction going on. New dorms, a new physical fitness center and some thing else I can't remember were all in some mid-construction state. We saw the arts building, with the designated graffiti stairs and the knowledge center with the robotic book lending library contained within. We learned about the midnight pancakes, football tailgates and touring artists who visit. We left the tour impressed.


Port of Subs

UNR graffiti staircase

After walking around the UNR campus for a few hours, we got a little hungry. Upstairs from the new student office, we found a food court which had a Port of Subs in it. When I went to UNLV, I worked at a Port of Subs, and hadn't seen nor heard of one otherwise. I assumed it was a 2 or 3 store chain based in Las Vegas. Turns out, there are a lot more of them. The main sandwich menu is exactly the same, 25 years later. They still slice the meat on the big Hobart slicer as you order, and everything. Such a flashback. We ordered, watched and grubbed. Still as good as I remembered too.

Reno

UNR dorm

After eating, we figured we should "do the strip" or whatever it's called in Reno. So, we drove through town and hit Circus Circus. It was a Friday afternoon, so we thought the arcade would be bumping. We weren't quite right on that score. In fact, Circus Circus was kind of a bust. We headed towards mid-town, and found Recycled Records. Awesome record store. We pawed through old vinyl, cassettes and videotapes for a long time, but didn't buy anything. If T goes to UNR, we'll be back. We planned to hit snow the following day, so we hit Bobos (Bobos) for rental boards. The store was pretty chaotic, but the staff were very chill and they got us set up and out the door quickly.

Stocked with gear, we hit a Japanese restaurant (Sushi Lover) for dinner, breaking up a series of big meals with something lighter. We planned to taste some Tahoe snow the next day, so we wrapped our first full day in Reno with some Mighty Car Mods (these guys are awesome: MCM) back at the hotel.

Unreal Boreal

riding into the trees
Boreal

During the UNR tour, we learned there is a ski club who arrange bus charters up to the various resorts. Very cool. We also learned that Boreal Ridge (winter site) offers $15 Fridays for college students. Since we hadn't decided where we were going to see snow, and it was Friday... so, Boeral Ridge seemed obvious. After watching a few episodes of MCM, we looked at the snow report. 16" of fresh powder. We were flippin' out, and got up way early to maximize our snow. The drive was straight out a well-plowed and prepared I-80. 40 minutes after pulling onto the freeway, we were pulling into the parking lot. The lot was pretty full, but parking, dressing and ticketing was fast and easy. We were on the lift before 10.
Most of the skiers and riders were sticking to Accelerator or the Beginner lifts, making those lines longer. T and I immediately rode over to 49er and spent most of the day there.

The runs were really fantastic. The 49er zone offers lots of off-piste tree runs, and with all the new powder, we were in it over our knees. The trails were groomed, but enough fresh snow had fallen that the trails weren't corduroy. T and I were bonkers for that deep fresh powder, but most of everyone else was just taking it in stride. Apparently getting 16" overnight isn't as big a deal in the Sierra Nevada mountains. So, while everyone else took turns in the Neff Land terrain park or rode the trails, T and I had the tree runs and deep powder to ourselves. Epic. Unreal Boreal.

view from UNR

We rode until our legs wobbled and then watched day turn to evening as they shut our 49er lift down. We grabbed a bite and then walked over to the Woodward indoor center. I'd never heard of Woodward, but the boys have. It is an indoor skate / trampoline spot that's probably over 100' x 100' square and 3 stories tall. There is a large wood ramp on the far side from the entry that provides a safe place to try 10' (probably more) jumps on a bike or skate with a cushioned landing knuckle or a foam pit to land on/in. Next to that is an indoor concrete skate park. Closer to the entrance are a series of trampolines where action sports enthusiasts can practice aerials with or without planks attached to their feet. As evening fell, the indoor arena got very busy. Meanwhile, a rail jam signup was queuing for Neff Land. We watched some of the start of the rail jam, but felt the pull to get back to the hotel. As we were rolling out, the night crowd was rolling in. It looked like a great night to play in the snow.

South Lake Tahoe

Adam plays

When we got back to the hotel, we were totally spent. Showers, more MCM and then bed. We had arranged to connect with T's cousin who lives in South Lake Tahoe (SLT) the following day, so an early to bed was all the more a good idea. T's cousin, Adam, has been living in SLT for a few years, and now runs a rental office there. He's a talented guitar player too, so part of our time with him was spent hearing what he's been working on. He's totally humble; he's really good.

The drive from Reno to SLT is one of the prettiest drives I can remember. Untouched high desert with view points and vistas around nearly every bend. We had to climb up and over a few passes through the Sierra Nevada mountains, and that created all the more beauty. There were few creatures out, though. The night before I had talked with a few travelers at the hotel bar, and they had commented on how they hadn't seen a deer in years. On the drive to SLT, we saw one. And a few birds. So, maybe its all about looking in the right direction. Finally, we tuned around a corner and got our first view of Lake Tahoe. In retrospect, we shouldn't have been as surprised at its size, but we were not at all expecting such a large expanse. So pretty, with snow right down to the water's edge. T took pictures as we drove, but none of them really captured the scope of the view. I'll add one here later.

We made our way through the business section of SLT, Nevada, and passed into SLT, California, noting the casinos built right on the state line. Adam lived a few minutes from there, on the CA side. Our visit wasn't long, but it was great to connect with him again. Neither T nor I had seen Adam in years, and hearing him play, and having him show us his SLT was really special.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we were up at 4:AM the next morning to check out of the hotel, return the rental car and get through security in time to make a 6:AM flight. T and I were both a little sad to leave that old hotel, and Reno. Neither one of us had expected the area to grab us the way it did. High desert is beautiful, and when the alpine feel of overnight snow dusting the hillsides is added in, it makes for a pretty special place. Next time, I'll post on our stop in Colorado.

Leaving Reno

Christmas at SkiBowl

Continuing my posts from the winter break, I was able to pull my wife away from her seemingly incessant workload to play in the snow for Christmas. Today's post covers that. No bus content this time.

Getting There
On its surface, this should be relatively obvious: get in the car and drive there. Duh. Well, the TDI Jetta, Flash, has been hard starting since the weather started getting colder in the valley. He had some starting issues in late Summer/Fall too. I verified the alternator and replaced the battery, even re-did the vacuum lines and replaced the anti-shudder valve along the way (the original had a bunch of PO goop on it presumably to keep it working). My last resort, which I probably should have done sooner, was to replace the glow plugs. I replaced the glow plugs in the bus a while back and that motor fires right up every time. Since I went off-script for sourcing those plugs, I went to the same source for the Jetta: AccurateDiesel. They are based in Michigan and manufacture glow plugs for all kinds of vehicles, mostly domestic trucks. For $55 delivered, they make TDI plugs. I'm sure some will read this and bristle at not using Bosch plugs. It's okay. Make your own choices. These plugs work great, and the Jetta starts more responsively than before.

Beer Stube deck

Anyway, I replaced the plugs on Christmas Eve, so we were car-ready. Boo had to work until after dinner time on Christmas Eve, so I got all our gear ready while I waited for her to come home. We awoke early on Chirstmas, not wakened by excited little ones, rather, an alarm like it was a workday. Swift shower, breakfast and coffee, and we loaded up Flash. We were leaving the Portland west side by 7:AM.

Expectedly, the traffic through the city was very light. It wasn't until we were on I-84 that we started really seeing other cars. With such light friction, we were in Sandy shortly after 8 and chaining-up along the 26 in the Mt Hood Forest by 8:30. We were met with cries of Merry Christmas from the parking lot attendant at SkiBowl, as well as a less-than-1/3-full lot.

The Fluffy
The weather guys in the Portland area have been trying to outdo each other with their descriptions of the snow that has been hammering the Cascade Mountains this past week. Each day,  there has been measurable snowfall of more than 6". Some days have seen almost a foot. With the weather folks going bonkers and the resorts also describing the snow as some of the best ever, our expectations were suitably high. Very high. We were gloriously not disappointed.
The snow was arguably perfect. There was maybe 2-3" of fluff atop a firm base. Aside from a little bit, and I mean little, of icy at the very top of Upper Reynolds where the sun break had struck, SkiBowl was ice-free. The riding was fast, but controllable, allowing new and experienced riders alike an opportunity to have a day of their choosing. Most of the resort had been groomed, but "Surprise" hadn't so we were able to get our rough-stuff-fluff fix in as well.

The Staff

Upper Bowl from lift

After the horrible season last year, SkiBowl had to almost completely re-staff. While there are a few folks around who have been there for a few years, most of the staff are brand new. Their new-ness was pretty apparent, but not entirely in a bad way. We met Josten, a brand new server in the Cascade Lodge who brought an energetic positive energy. There was a new woman working in the gift shop alongside a couple of old pro's who seemed right with the flow. At the lifts, though, the new folks didn't quite have the vibe yet. On Lower Bowl, there was some confusion, resulting in only one of the picket lines getting used. This created what looked like a backup on the SkiBowl camera, but the queue actually moved quite quickly. The biggest miss was at the Multipor lift where the guy managing the queue didn't have the vibe at all. He created a longer queue of more frustrated people because of how much time he would spend with each person, verifying their pass. I've had an easier time getting on an airplane. I'm sure he'll mellow out, but he needs to be paired with an old-timer to get a better handle on how SkiBowl operates.

The Services
Boo and I tried just about everything SkiBowl had to offer. We started at the Beer Stube after getting our passes, and sampled the platter of fries from the cafeteria next door. The pours were strong, and the pile of fries big enough that we shared it with the ladies at the table next to us. After some runs and another round, we took the shuttle over to the Cascade Lodge (SkiBowl East) for dinner. Once we conquered the queue at Multipor, we hit the Historic Warming Hut for Americano's. At each stop, the servers were great, friendly and responsive. The shuttle driver chatted us up as we negotiated the traffic in Govy.

The Crowd

Upper Reynolds from below

The Govy traffic was completely hidden from us on the slopes, but the crowds that blew in from that traffic were most certainly not. Around mid-day, SkiBowl got quite busy very quickly and the crowd changed from mellow and content. Turns out, there was a major car fire on Timberline Highway, blocking traffic in both directions to/from Timberline Lodge while the fire was put out and the occupants treated. Since it was Christmas, many had their holiday "ruined" by the blocked road, so they chose to suffer the rest of us at SkiBowl with their misery. As awesome as the snow and the workers were, many of the patrons were not. Boo made a point of shouting "Merry Christmas" at the lift riders as we slid under or from the lift as others passed. These calls were almost entirely met with a flat look. The restaurants and bars were filled.... with somber faces. To those who chose to spread their ruined Christmas, I ask that next year you just wander into the forest or go home. SkiBowl doesn't need your second-place attitude.

We had a great holiday, arriving home completely tapped from playing in the snow all day. With comments of the "best Christmas ever", we both look forward to what could be an amazing season on the mountain. So, if you were like me, skeptical of snow after last year, I strongly encourage you to go up... just bring your positive happy-to-be-there energy :)

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along, This will be my last post for the year, so Happy New Year 2016.

300

Somehow, I've managed to work my way to 300 posts over the last 7 years.  Rather than a real-content post today, I'm going to reflect back kind of like when TV shows do a "best of" episode.  Frankly, I hate it when TV shows do that, and promptly switch the channel when they do, so my following that model is actually kinda funny.

0 - 100: The Start of Many Things

Ranging from January of 2007 to September of 2009, my first 100 posts ran the gamut of topics.  That's probably true of any cross-section.  In looking at what was happening with the bus, the blog starts with him running the original type4 engine, but I soon started the TDI work.  Early posts ranting on some old air-cooled vehicle abuses like removing the cooling system shifted to engine options and then to solving the install of a water-cooled plant into an air-cooled body.  Deciding on the engine was recorded on April 13th, 2007 (see Engine Decided) and a year later, the engine was still sitting on my garage floor, a failed first attempt on both the fuel tank relining and the engine mount had slowed me.  That winter was spent getting the engine and transaxle to mate for the first time (see first and second attempts).  I broke an adapter plate, and my spirit over that winter.  It took going on the road to see the Dead and starting the separation from my ex-wife to get the project going again in early 2009.  The first 100 posts ended with the new rear engine mount being fabricated, the starter adapter solved (see starter adapter corrected...), the vacuum completed (see what's that soft sucking sound) and the fuel fill set up.

101-200: Transitions

Starting in September of 2009, this block of 100 posts carried through late July of 2011.  I started this period sleeping in a spare room at my now ex-wife's house and ended this period completing a divorce and living in a townhouse apartment.  Still, the middle section of 100 posts started with the same urgency which the first 100 had at the end, in terms of bus work.  The fall of 2009 included the fuel tank (see Fuel Tank Solved) shape / vacuum pump issue, buttoning up the turbo, vacuum, starter, CV joints and moving the bus off the mud and onto concrete for winter work.  Over the Winter, the radiator/cooling was addressed (see Radiator test-fitted, shrouded and Installed) and the bus project really started to roll.  The hatch was finished, intake routed, electrical, clearing codes, finishing the coolant routing, primary electrical, etc.  By December of 2010, my ex- and I had decided to call it quits.  I spent January through March staying on my parent's couch trying to get the bus into a will-travel-under-own-power state before the divorce finalized.  I was able to get him running-ish, and had a muffler installed by Meineke (see Exhausted) during that working-remotely period.  By April, I had a townhouse-style apartment with a dedicated garage space and focused a considerable amount of free time into the bus' interior.  I swapped out the fridge for storage, applied more sound killer, installed an accessory battery and fuseblock (see fused) and ended the late July with installing a Riviera pop-top in place of the original ripped-up Westy top.

201 - 300: Moving

Picking up in late July of 2011, the final 300 posts carry us to today (early November 2014).  I started this period as a divorced father of 2 boys and an old bus, and I now conclude this period remarried father of 4 boys and an old bus.  We moved out of the townhouse apartment when they raised my rent past the point I could afford, and into Boo's condo.  From the condo, we moved into the house we've been in for 18 months now.  Frequency of posts dropped during that housing change and life settled into a very different pattern of family play versus self mechanic'ing.  This period, though, marks the time when the bus went from stationary project to daily driver.  In August, we camped in him for the first time in years (see One Small Step for Van).  Later that Fall, we hit the road to Eugene for Furthur but needed a tow home.  Like I've said before, the journey is the destination, and we had to pull the tank to get re-lined.

I returned the original engine harness to service, and struggled with coolant leaks while trying to keep him on the road.  I discovered a new love of snowboarding, and bonded with a new family at Mt. Hood.  The bus underwent more transformations as well.  He has a middle row bench seat (see Vanagon Seat Install, no longer has a grossly underused kitchenette (see Enter Summer, exist posting) and has a rebuilt jalousie window (see parts one and two).  I dropped his engine 3 times in this stretch of posts, twice having to separate the engine and transaxle.  Both of his bumpers have been hammered straight-ish and painted to an almost good-looking state (see front 1,2,3,4 and rear) and he now sports door cards as well as cards for most of the interior.  The ceiling doesn't sag anymore.  This past Summer, we had 3 flawless road trips to Nye Beack on the Oregon coast, Horning's Hideout and to the Black Sheep Family Reunion.

So, What's Next?
I guess that's always the question when you don't draw a map ahead of time.  I honestly don't know.  Frankly, I couldn't have drawn a map to this point and I wouldn't have ended up here if I'd tried to.  I look forward to many sights like the one below, simply driving the posted speed and enjoying the sights out the front windscreen.  As before and always, thanks for following along.

Timing your Purchase

A friend of mine asked me about getting a VW bus this past week.  I thought I'd do a little post about what advice I gave.  T and I spent Saturday playing in the snow on Mt Hood, so I'll write a little about that too.

Spring in the Air, Snow on the Mountain
This has been one of the weirdest ski/snow seasons I can remember in the Pacific NorthWest.  We had virtually no ride-able snow until after the Winter Solstice.  SkiBowl wasn't officially open until well after New Years Eve (and they've been closed since the first weekend in April).  After a lame early and mid-season, the late season snow has really been coming on strong.  I'd seen that Timberline had been getting consistent snowfall last week, so after hosting a family friend from Australia and helicopter-parenting C to an 8:AM lacrosse game, T and I spent Saturday on the mountain.  The roads were wet from the steady rain, SkiBowl looked like late Spring and the Summit ski area looked like a spring meadow.  Our expectations for sliding were quite low.  As we ascended Timberline Highway, though, the rain slowly gave way to wintery-mix and then a steady snow.  The parking lots were nearly empty, but the falling snow wasn't sticking... to the asphalt.  It was definitely sticking to the slopes.

The smaller terrain parks on Thunder and Walt's Way had been taken down, leaving just the jumps.  So, while the high-fliers and hard-core terrain riders played on the big stuff fed by the Stormin' Norman lift, T and I had Thunder and Walt's Way to ourselves.  Neither of us had been on the snow much since his concussion, so it was really nice to just feel the snow under our feet and hang out together again.  As the day wore on, the snow got better, and the jumps less scary.  By the last run, we were both getting air (T doing tricks, me mid-air panicking) and sticking landings consistently.  It was a great day to play in the snow.

Pick One
As I mentioned at the start, I was asked about buying a VW camperbus.  I obviously love the idea.  There are 4 viable used models to choose from: splitty (T1), bay-window (T2-called "bays"), vanagon  (T3) and eurovan (T4, T5).  They all have their upsides and downsides.  Splitties look neat, but they are the most under-powered and probably the most rusty.  They can be very spendy as collector cars since they fell out of production in 1967.  Bays were sold from 1968-1979 in the US and were the most widely built/sold around the globe.  They were manufactured through 2013 in Brasil, making part availability unequaled.  Of the 4 styles, these are probably the least expensive.  The vanagon (1980-1990) is probably the most roomy, or at least it feels the most roomy, and is more powerful than most bays.  Called water-leakers by many, the early cooling systems are prone to rusting and failing.  Still, the Synchro (all-wheel-drive version) is really cool, and the camping portion of the vanagon is well done when compared to the bay (especially the early bays).  The Eurovan (T4 1990-2003, T5 2003-current) doesn't feel like you're driving a bus, but the interiors are very nice.  It could be the most reliable on the day of purchase, but also the most expensive to maintain, and it still feels like a standard mini-van behind the wheel.

When to Buy, When to Sell
Once you've chosen a target vehicle make/model, the next most important step is deciding when to buy it.  While this may not seem terribly important, it very much is.  You could considerably overpay if your timing is wrong.  I'm kind of a used-car market geek, trolling craigslist and eBay alot, and I've noticed distinct patterns.  We are entering the worst time of year to buy a car.  Car dealers hold "dad's and grad's" sales, so you'd think there would be excess inventory they are selling off.  In reality, there are lots of buyers in the market heading into Summer, and the car lots are trying to get those shoppers.  Who doesn't want a new-to-them car to play with all Summer?  Lesson to shopper: wait.  Wait until July when the price spike starts to pass.  As Summer wears on, prices drop until they bottom out in October.  By then, anyone who wants to get rid of a car before Winter is willing to take a loss rather than store it.  What remains after mid-October are cars held by sellers who think their car is worth more than it is, or very unusual cars which hold their value, but are only interesting to a niche market.  Over the Winter, the supply is thin so prices stay somewhat stable; not at late-Summer deal prices, but not as high as late-Spring either.  By March, prices start to climb again.  So, if you want to buy a bus, wait until the end of the Summer when the last guy who had that dream has decided he doesn't want to deal with it over the Winter.  Deal for you, and they found a new loyal owner.

That's it for today.  Sorry I didn't have any pictures of us playing in the snow.  We were too focused on enjoying the conditions to record how good it was.  Seriously, there's still snow in them thar hills.  Go play while you still can!

bum buh NAH!

In my last post, I talked about getting the coolant to stop dripping.  Today, I'll briefly cover the test flight.

Re-Assembly

rare August rain approaches

Sometimes, when you put a project back together, you almost know it isn't right.  The re-assembly seems to take a little longer, parts don't fit together as easily.  Its almost like the repair gods are trying to tell you "don't bother, you got it wrong", but we press on.  Other times, the re-assembly is flawless.  The hoses just line up, the parts simply click together.  The re-assembly of the bus after trying to fix the coolant leak ran the spectrum.  I got to where I couldn't trust the re-assembly ease as a barometer for when my repair was crap.  So, this time, when everything just fit (I didn't drop any fasteners, and the engine started on the first touch with the key, etc ), I didn't trust that nodding, "oh yeah" feeling.

Taking Flight
I didn't drive very far.  In fact, I didn't actually leave the neighborhood.  Amid cheers from the boys, I drove out the driveway, and down to the end of the street, turned around and backed back into the driveway.  All told, including just letting the engine idle, it took me 15 minutes or less.  The engine didn't get up to normal operating temperature, but in the past it didn't need to for the stream of coolant to appear behind the bus as I drove.  This time.. there wasn't a stream.  There were no well-spaced drips.  There was nothing but dry pavement... and more cheers.  This time from me.  "bum buh NAH!"  we have success!

Bath Time

afterbath

So, after so many months of not operating, the boys wanted to give Hapy a bath.  We played with the hose and some soapy water and then let Hapy sit in the sun drying for the afternoon.  All the windows were open, the pop-top open and they clambered around inside like they were half their current ages again.  There are few things like a microbus for a fort when you're a kid.

So that's really it for today.  I plan to drive Hapy to work a couple/few times this week (with the life-raft bike in the back just in case) to verify the cooling.  I'm very optimistic.  He hasn't been this dry since I first installed the engine with Justin's engine harness.  The boys are already talking about taking the bus to the mountain this winter.  Fortunes can turn that way, I guess.  I suppose I should start thinking about how we should carry skis and snowboards next :)

That Familiar Feel of Snow

You may be happy to know that my blog hasn't been the only thing I've neglected over the last couple of months.  Today, for the first time in over a month, the family and I hit Mount Hood.  I'll touch on that and the latest page in the saga of my Jetta.  No bus news today.  I was going to test drive him this weekend, but I focused on other things instead.  If I have a dry and uneventful morning this week, I'll drive him to work as a test flight.

Flash Lives

Poor Man's Ramp

First, some context.  The symptoms were simple: little power, hard starting, seemingly no turbo and black exhaust.  For codes, I was getting a P1556: low or inconsistent boost.  Yep, the turbo wasn't kicking in properly.  Now, based on the days when the turbo wasn't kicking in on the bus, I knew the sound of a turbo firing up, but not boosting.  That was the sound I was hearing.  On Saturday, I prepared to get the Jetta (Flash) operating right.  Since I'm without a place to work on it, I set up on the street, using the poor-boy's ramp: the curb.  Once the engine is running, crank the wheel all the way so that the back of the front tire is facing the curb.  Then back-up.  Simple.  I slid under Flash and verified the connections from the turbo to the intercooler were good.  From the top-side, though, things were sideways.  The hard-pipe coming out of the intercooler was loose and grinding against the coolant pump.  We have our problem.  I drove it to Johnny, showed him the evidence, and he fixed it.  He did my rear brake pads too, and didn't charge me for either.  Thanks, Johnny.  Flash runs awesome.  Now, I need a pair of tires, and he's ready for another 40k+ miles.

Snow

C resting mid-Molly's

I hit Timberline with my boys and Boo today.  She couldn't slide, needing to grade student work unfortunately.  Turned out C had left his boots at his mom's house anyway, so he went in Boo's (they have the same size feet).  The snow was hard-packed with about 1/2 an inch of puff on top.  It was fast, but the crashes were painful.  I only spilled a couple of times (once on my helmet-protected skull, trying to follow C off a jump).  It really was what my mood needed, though.  There is nothing like a day of playing with your kids.

I Know that Feeling
We left the mountain in a bit of a rush.  T & C were due back at their mom's, so they left in the lead car while Boo and I arranged the ski equipment into the larger carry-car.  As we made our way off the mountain, we discovered an ice-patch.  Ahh... I haven't lost traction on slide-y stuff in years.  Funny how the old skills kick in, though.  Total calm, turn into the skid and lightly tap the brakes.  We righted our descent.  No side-rail impacts, no nerves even, really.  Oddly enough, the car behind us didn't hit the ice, nor were they deterred in their close traveling distance.  Bah!

That's it for tonight.  Have a great week, and thanks for following along.  I'll try to get back to this posting with a couple pictures...

White Friday 2012

First, to my readers from the United States, I hope you had a pleasant Thanksgiving full of your favorite delights.  I enjoyed family, food and football.  Watching the Lions finally win and the Cowboys lose to the Redskins were especially enjoyable.  I regret, however, that I was unable to get the bus operational in time for White Friday.  Again, the battery has inexplicably drained, and my charger is back in the storage facility.  I'll need to charge or jump the bus back to life and then drive around a bit before taking the journey to Mt. Hood.  I did celebrate White Friday at Timberline as planned, though, and I'm going to focus on that instead :)

Rain? What Rain?

Mt Hood Hwy

Starting on Monday, we watched the weather forecasts and snow reports.  Every one of them had some form of drizzle in the plan for White Friday.  I thought for sure that we would have a grey one instead.  All reports had the rain starting around noon, so Boo and I got ourselves out of the house early.  Well, it was early for us on a weekend day- 9:30AM.  Driving Flash with gusto, we got to Timberline before 11.  When you arrive at Timberline, you pass the overflow lot first.  This is usually your early signal of how busy the resort is.  Last year, for example, the overflow lot was almost completely full, and the runs were too.  This year, however, there were less than 2 rows of cars in the overflow.  Once you round the corner from the overflow lot, the main lot is visible on your left.  The main lot was less than half full.  Apparently, everyone else heard the rain threats and gave up on the snow.  Sucka's.

... and then there was sliding

mid-run under the Molly's lift.
Mt. Jefferson deep in the background

The upper mountain (Magic Mile and Palmer) was closed due to lack of visibility.  The clouds were low, but the wind was too.  Most of the lower mountain (Bruno's, Pucci, Molly's, Stormin' Norman, Jeff Flood) was open, though, with just Jeff Flood closed because it is the lowest of them all, and those runs were too soft.  Early season brings a funny split crowd.  There are a group of snow junkies who are quite good and a group of brand-new-to-the-sport folks.  On Friday, the junkies mostly went over to Stormin' Norman for the grind rails and jumps and the newbies stayed mostly on the beginner slope Bruno's.  This left the Pucci and Molly's runs lightly populated, leaving Boo and me some open terrain for fun.  The queue for the lifts were maybe as long as 5 chairs long at the peak with some runs ending with no line at all.  The snow was relatively well-tread, but there was an inch of puff on top and plenty of fluffy off the main trails.  We bounced through un-groomed moguls near the top of Pucci, raced down the Thunder bowl and carved Vicky's Run before stopping to meet my brother E and his daughters K&K for lunch.  E, K&K don't slide, but they love the snow.  They drove up just to visit the white stuff, make snow forts and sled.  After a brief visit, they headed for the out-of-bounds and Boo and I went back to carving.  After 9 or 10 runs, we called it a day.  No rain.  It was actually quite nice.

That's it for today.  I hope you all found a way to celebrate White Friday.

Silence Rock

Maybe its the time of the year.  Maybe its the cloudy, soggy weather.  Maybe its the New Moon cycle. Maybe its just being tired.  Regardless, it seems like no one I know is getting much done on anything these days.  I'm not getting much done either.  Still, there's always something going on...

Ski-Bowl Delights
Saturday, I finally got to taste some of the "new" powder up on Mt. Hood.  Unfortunately, most of it has been hard-packed by fellow sliders and rained on, but the top was still a little powdery.  What was more surprising, actually, was the size of the crowd.  We arrived late (3:PM) after a slow morning and tail-dragging departure.  The parking lot was a virtual moonscape of unplowed and cratered snowpack with cars parked all over the place.  I figured the parking guys were getting their own ski-on because there were none to be seen and there were new arrivals clogging the main driveway with their turn signal indicating that they wanted a parking space... which was actively being used by someone who was still removing snow clothes and had yet to stow their gear.  Ridiculous.  That may work at CostCo where the aisles are wide and loading your car can take a couple of minutes.  There was barely room to get in/out of a spot much less drive around a spot-lurker, and unlike CostCo, no one is in a big ol' hurry to load & go after skiing all day.  Oi!  So close you can see skiers on the slopes, but you just can't get there.  By the time we got to the lifts, it was past 4, and the night-ticket folks were joining the group at the base.  The lines were long, but they were well managed.  I concluded that the parking attendants were helping shepherd skiers, because there were 2 or 3 lift attendants for each lift instead of the usual 1.

After all the waiting, the snow was fantastic.  Fast, but with a touch of powder so you could turn.  No ruts, but no soft powder-piles to land on either.  Basically, it was dangerous and fast enough to hurt yourself, but responsive enough so you could push your limits.  We played until about 9 and headed off the mountain.  The drive back down was peril-less, but the snow line had moved further downhill.  Its been snowing up there on and off ever since, so we're hoping for another night-run on Wednesday.  Pray for a low snow-line. :)

just above the snow line
looking south off Hwy26

Silence Rock
On the way up, we made bets on where the snow-line would be, and I guessed Silence Rock.  I should probably explain what or where that is.  When the ski-bus drivers haul a load of kids up to the mountain, the screaming and shouting from 40+ kids finally reaches head-ache stage around the same point in the drive.  This point is on Highway 26 after entering the Wilderness Area but before reaching Government Camp (aka "Govy" to the locals).  There is a large mound on the right side of the road as the highway turns left around a canyon (the picture on the right was taken just after passing Silence Rock).  At this point in the ski-bus drive, the driver yells "silence rock!" and all the kids are expected to be completely silent as the bus passes this mound of earth.  The silence can be broken after passing the next road sign sign.   Now, as adults driving up to ski, we see Silence Rock as our opportunity to be silent in respect of the mountain, and of the beautiful nature in which we find ourselves.

Leak?
So, when I was able to mount some enthusiasm, I fiddled around with the bus.  I re-routed the engine harness so there is less stress on the temperature sensor cable.  Then, I played around with the temperature sensor and I think I was able to get is re-seated.  I've re-filled the coolant bottle, pumped coolant by squeezing different hoses and bled the air bubbles out.  I've also determined that the running pressure for the coolant system is 18psi.  Instead of driving around and looking for puddles, I'm going to go about this a little differently.  Using my Mity-Vac, I'm going to fill the vacuum reservoir bottle with coolant, and create 18psi pressure in the system through the bleed port (I'll take a picture while I'm testing and post it later).  If the system can hold 18psi, I've fixed the problem.  If not, then, there's a leak and I need to find it.  I hope I was able to resolve it.  If not, at least I didn't discover it as I was trying to get back for more snow.

Last, I just learned that my middle school science teacher passed away after a short illness.  He was a Sgt Major drill instructor with the Marines before he taught science at the military school.  He really knew how to keep 25 boys in line when surrounded by chemicals and other equally interesting (and dangerous) things.    While gruff on the exterior, his heart was gold, and he only wanted the best and brightest possible futures for all of those left in his charge.  Rest in Peace, Sarge.

More next time, and thanks, as always, for following along.

Holidaze, Hood and Harnesses

Its been 10 days, and I've been on vacation for most of them.  I'l hit the highlights, and describe my final engine harness resolution.

Mt Hood Xmas Eve

Holidaze
The miniature house painting, like so many projects I undertake, took longer than I described in my post before.  In fact, it took as long as I told folks in person: over 40 hours.  It still needs to be shipped, so it totally missed the holiday window.  Once its been delivered, I'll post a picture.  My dad says that the Three Kings actually arrived on the 12th day of Christmas (Jan6), not on the actual birth-night like the songs imply.  So.. I'll stretch that so I can have the finished product in-hand by Jan6 and still meet Christmas expectations.  Its all in how you frame it...

Hood
As I write this, I've been to Mt. Hood to go sliding 13 times since the start of the season.  That is more than all of the times I've ever gone in all my previous years combined.  On Christmas Eve and the 26th, I took the boys to Ski Bowl.  After nearly a month without fresh snow, the conditions were really very good.  Ski Bowl has snow-making machines like the resorts in Vermont, so the sub-freezing weather allowed them to make snow almost every day.  This left an inch of top-powder on top of the packed base.  The mountain was practically empty on the 24th and it was almost as quiet on the 26th.  These were possibly 2 of the best days we'd had to date.

Mt Hood from Mid-Reynolds
top at Ski Bowl

We went up to Ski Bowl again on the 27th, but it rained.  I was practically soaked through by the top of the first lift, so I only took a couple of runs and called it a day.  We took the next 2 days off, so our legs could recover, and we had family holiday parties to attend.  Our last trip to Mt Hood was Friday Dec30 to Timberline.  Mt Hood was experiencing blizzard conditions, making the drive a little challenging for some, and the sliding a little interesting for us.

Sunset over Ski Bowl Lodge

The drive to Government Camp didn't require chains, but I pulled over into the rest stop/Summit ski lift parking lot and had them on in a few minutes.  All those early trips gave me lots of chain-up practice.  It also gave me some needed snow-driving practice, which came in handy.  We found a front-row parking spot, set the car in gear (leaving the hand-brake off), and stepped into some of the worst weather I've experienced since moving to the West Coast.  In the time it took to get our gear on I had an inch of snow in my back seat and over an inch in my trunk.  The car was completely covered, and we were all cold to the skin.  We hauled our equipment to the day lodge and set to sliding.  Timberline had at least 16" of fresh powder on the ground and more was pouring out of the sky.  Visibility was about 15' and foggy through goggles.  Still, the sliding was slow with the fresh powder, but that encouraged more direct paths downhill. The spills were all the more epic.
I avoided a young woman who was sliding very slowly down the center of the trail (in an outstretched jumping-jack pose), but ended up hitting the drop-in at the top of Thunder with my body out of balance.  I dropped about 10 feet hit a mogul, bounced, hit another mogul and then cartwheeled twice before landing flat on my back with a thud.  If the 16" of powder weren't there, I would have been hurt.  Instead, I caught my breath, checked my extremities, jumped onto my toe-edge and finished the run.  Good times, and more to be had for sure this season.

Harnesses

wires don't go to the same pins

So, I bought a replacement harness.  It wasn't the right one.  I found the part number on the ECU plug and bought a replacement off of eBay.  It looked right, but once I unwound the tape and pulled the dust cover off the back, it was clear that it wouldn't work either.  The picture here shows how the wires don't route to the same pins.  So, even though the part number was right, the implementation was different enough to make the part useless to me.  One more thing to sell.  Great.  So, at this point, I got a little creative.  I looked at the pin-holes that click into the ECU on both the old plug and the replacement.  It looks like the inside of each of those little holes contain a metal clip.  I figured I probably damaged or bent the clips with my connectivity testing.  Next to each square-ish hole is a tiny slot.  I found a tiny paperclip and started working the holes where I could see the clips. I did this on and off while watching football, so I'm not sure how much time this took, but it was more a case of move slow, than bang-it-out.

plug underside

Once the holes looked more like the plug I bought, I took the harness downstairs.  First, I tested the loaned harness with the OBDII trip computer.  I had only one code: P038 - Glow Plugs.  I pulled the loaned harness out, shot every plug on the original with Di-Oxit5 and strung it into the engine and ECU.  Quick test with the OBDII computer and I only had the one code.  Hazah!  I tried to start the engine and it wouldn't start, but its because I hadn't fully primed the fuel circuit.  I'll be completing that this week, and I should be able to drive the bus again.

Well, that's like 2 or 3 posts in one.  There's so much sliding season left, I expect to have lots of outdoor pictures and experiences to share over the next few months.  It seems like the bus is almost road-ready again after a 3 month span.  I plan to prime the fuel circuit this week and he'll be ready.  When he drives again, he'll have a completely refreshed fuel tank, a fan on the intercooler, an operating glow-plug circuit, a freshly painted exhaust and studded snow-tires.  Wow, when I spell it all out, its been a very productive 3 month lay-over.  Like every other time the bus goes back into service, I'll start a list of things I want to work on the next time.  If it goes well, I won't plan for another run of projects until May when the ski season is over but camping season hasn't started yet.  As always, thanks for following along, and I'll post again soon-