The final drive home, yipee! Oregon was cool and there were no winds to constantly battle.
Mt. Hood in the distance.
See where the road ends at the top of the hill? That's about 14 miles away.
On the drive down along the Umpqua river my left rear axle bearing started squaling and letting me know it wasn't happy. To keep it quiet I would suddenly let off the gas, let the noise stop, then gently apply throttle to get back up to speed. The transaxle had a growl in it and my flasher relay would randomly start buzzing unless I had the emergency flasher pulled out about a 1/16 of an inch. My car was tired and she let me know.
Stark contrast to south Wyoming, eh?
We got to Brian's house and breathed a sigh of relief. 30 or so minutes later we had my engine out of the cargo area and on his engine stand. I topped up the tranny as it was weeping oil as well. With a lighter load I was ready to head home.
The ride home was basically me in auto-pilot. When I was a couple of miles from my destination I opened both side windows and pulled back my rag top. The Oregon air was clean, cool, and crisp. I smelled various plants in bloom and a wood-burning fireplace. Pulling into my neighborhood and into my driveway I could smell the Douglas Fir trees and feel the ever so slightest kiss of humidity. Such a sureal feeling, everything seemed different even though nothing had changed. The contrasts of Oregon versus the other four states I traveled through gave me a reminding appreciation of home.
My baby, unloaded and tired, but safe in her bed now.
I was greeted by the excited screams from my kids, "Daddy's home! Daddy's home!" They were so excited to see me, it felt weird but in a good way. Ronin looked taller and more filled out. Bella was all smiles and happy. My Sweetie came out and I just melted in her arms, ran my fingers into her thick, soft hair, and nuzzled her neck. It felt so good to be home.
Shakey's engine with my orange [and mechanical] fuel pump.
Super awesome resin from Dave Cassel.
-- Trip stats --
Total miles traveled (adjusted by 4.76% for tire diameter offset): 3,268.57
Total gallons of gas used (including 5 gallons to get home from Brian's house): 124.11
By the time Brian and I woke up, Dave had already left us. He needed to be in Boise, ID, and was on a schedule so we understood. So it was just Brian and I. I went out to check out my poor baby and see how she fared the run-in with the #$%@! deer. There was blood on the front gutter and there is some pitting of the wing window glass, along with a dent in the aluminum trim -- dang it all!!
Blood in gutter (center of picture), mirror gone, scuffing of wing window and black trim.
I'm angry that the glass is damaged but, ya know what, it could've been a LOT worse so I'm dang lucky!
Must be something with my car. Yesterday I saw a piece of trash tumble across the road so I maneuvered my car to pass over it when suddenly the 'trash' stood up -- it was a ground squirrel. And judging by the thump on the right side of my baby and what Brian saw fly away from my baby, it suddenly was a very dead ground squirrel.
Anyway, there was no killing spree today, just a long drive. Utah was on the very warm side, almost hot, but things cooled down in Idaho. The only thing was, we hit a major league head wind! I was getting buffeted in the front and the left side. My only respite was the zooming trucker that would temporarily block the wind.
The Devil's Slide - A cool rock formation along the way.
My 1972 VW air-conditioning was working strong!
We stopped in Parma, ID, for dinner. This is where the Invasion was first held. By this time the winds had died down and driving wasn't as bad. When we hit beautiful Oregon the winds were gone and temps were wonderfully cooler.
Deja vu.
As we approached Burns there was one long, long grade we...I...had to pull. Please little stock engine, get us up! Yup, I had to down-shift to third gear but she got us up and over the hill. After a couple of miles of cooling down we pulled over, let the engine sit, and took some pictures of our girls. When I checked the oil it was ever so slightly touching the BOTTOM of the dip stick. This engine drinks and burps oil like Brian with Diet Coke! So I topped her up and we were on our merry way. By the way, thanks again to Mike and Jake for letting me borrow their engine!
Photo op 23 miles or so from Burns.
Brian's '64 Notchback.
My '72 Sqauareback.
What're you lookin' at, white boy? (The Infamous Brian)
We're spending the night at the same hotel in Burns that we did on the last Invasion. While we were unloading a group of older folks came up to check out our cars. We had a good chat about our cars, their factory history in the scheme of VW, and about racing as two of the gents had done it (one drag racing, the other track). Pretty neat.
For once the weather was so chilly I had to bust out my Levi 501s, a sweatshirt, and my fleece hoodie. The beautiful Oregon sky was deep blue and cloud-free as I had my second Carlos Torano but it was a little bland...maybe the mind and body decompression, along with the chilly air, altered the taste. But it drew well and gave a thick smoke, which is what I like. Tomorrow we will be headed for beautiful Roseburg and then beautiful Portland for me. I can't wait to see my Sweetie and the kiddos. And snore in my own comfy bed. But with the stress of the last few days, I miss my Trini Girl the most.
One thing (of many, by the way) I got from this trip is how beautiful Oregon is. Just thought I'd mention that if I hadn't already.
Good thing the engine behind me isn't running otherwise I'd be deaf.
It's late and the day was long. Briefly: Went to the local Ronald McDonald House in Colorado Springs and donated to them the proceeds of the Type III Invasion, $1229!
Brian getting the receipt for the Ronald McDonald donation. Good work, Bri!
Then Brian, Dave Whitaker in his Type 34, and myself headed west. Long and boring and HOT!
In case you forgot how boring south Wyoming was, here's yer reminder.
The excitement came at 9:45pm this evening at roughly 1 mile before Evanston, Wyoming. I dodged one deer in the road but the second one hit MY CAR!!!! Luckily, it was only her head that took out my left side view mirror and lightly brushed against the body, so no dents. I'm pretty sure that she's dead by now. I'm surprised that Brian didn't hit her (I was leading the pack) as she stumbled to the right side of the road but he said all he saw was what he thought was a tumble weed go by.
Okay, it's late and I don't have time to put up pictures so, again, that will have to be later. G'nite! [Author's Note: Pictures added 28June2012]
Because of the engine issue I had with my baby and that she’s
now running again I can catch up on the events. I will add pictures later when I have time.
Here we go…
Thursday, 21June2012 (a.k.a. Day 6)
Brian wanted to do some sight-seeing so we got into my baby and headed
west. We toured the Indian cliff dwellings
and it was neat to see.
The cave dwellings.
Colorado Springs is a pretty location and the Indians had a nice view.
Grain processing and storage(?) built into the rock.
Built by the Indians as well, the structure now serves as a museum and gift shop.
We then went back towards Colorado Springs and stopped at
the Garden of the Gods park to drive around it and take in the sights. Though it was cool to see the rock formations
it was also frustrating because you could only stop at designated pull-overs,
even though the road was wide enough for two cars. However, since people hiked and biked there
the right lane was for non-automobile traffic and that meant no parking. There were a number of people who seemed to
be in a hurry so we would pull over and let them by. They didn’t seem to care about what they were
missing I guess.
Me escaping the intense sun under a shady boulder.
That evening we had pizza at the host hotel under the tent
the hotel put up for us. Many people had
filtered in from close by and abroad by that time. The hotel was filling up with VWs and it was
starting to look like the Type 34 wasn’t a rare vehicle after all as we had at
least four show up just that evening.
Plans were made for the trip to Pikes Peak. Rich was local and would lead our small group
of five cars to the mountain and on up.
Friday, 22June2012 (a.k.a. Day 7)
Yahoo, Pikes Peak day!
The following cars lined up in the morning for the Pikes Peak run:
Rich, John, Keith, Brian, myself, Peter & Dave in their
diesel Jetta wagon, and Mike & Jake’s Squareback being towed behind their
truck. I had Sam and his friend Brandon as my passengers.
The group leaving the hotel for destination Pikes Peak!
Rich leading with his Type 34, followed by John in Sophy and Keith. Brian, Mike, and Jake were behind me.
Lined up and ready to climb!
Brian (vwfye), Mike (Shakey), and Keith blocking my view!
We arrived at the toll booth and Mike & Jake unhitched
their Squareback. Mike was going to
drive up while Jake would take the rear in case anyone broke down he could
tow-strap ‘em to a safe location. My
baby was spewing a trail of oil and my concerns for her were high. Topped off the oil and we were on our way.
We made it to the ranger station and had to pull into the
parking lot. Rich’s Type 34 was having
issues. In first gear, foot to the
floor, he was barely making 15mph. The
air couldn’t be that thin for the 1500cc engine; our 2.0 liter engines were
doing rather well. Rich decided to leave
his car there and hitch a ride with Brian.
We then rode up to the top.
Rich's Ghia resting in the shade at the Ranger Station.
The road was fun with serious hairpin turns and only a few
drop offs that didn’t have guard rails.
We all made it to the top. Having
a fully paved road was nice. We had the
rag top back and the we were really enjoying the open top ride. The top was dirt/gravel and we could see a
defined drip trail that led up to my car.
Uhg. The view was great and the
temperature was in the upper 50 degrees F with a serious wind. We checked out the cog train and got to talk
to the engineer (1 of 3 in the entire country).
Got some souveniers, hung out, and didn’t move around much since we were
all really out of breath – at over 14 thousand feet it we were all light headed
and trying to catch our breath. I saw a
guy with a Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak Limited Edition and we chatted about
his bike for a bit. He had rode his bike
from Georgia and said it was a very comfy bike.
All the dubs made it, even the chase vehicle (truck) driven by Jake.
Pikes Peak Limited Edition Ducati Multistrada.
An in-line 6-cylinder diesel engine motivates the cog to pull the train up to the top.
John talking to the engineer, 1 of 3 in North America. Nice job security.
The Pikes Peak Type III Invasion Motley Crew Contingent made it!
We headed back down the mountain and my on one of the
hairpin turns my oil pressure dropped to zero and my oil pressure idiot light
went bright red: Not good. Now, when going down the mountain you need to
use engine braking to assist with the normal braking so you don’t cook your
brakes. With no motor now to assist I
had to coast down hill and at every turn out I stopped to let the front brakes
cool a little otherwise they would over-heat and fail, giving me no brakes
(this is true with any vehicle). We
finally coasted into the ranger station parking lot with every one wondering
why I had taken so long. Naturally Brian
and I forgot our two-way radios so…
While the cars were cooling down Brian checked under my car
and popped the left valve cover off.
Sure enough, the bottom of the gasket got sucked in and that was causing
my oil leak. We put in a new gasket and
all was good.
But still no oil pressure.
Damn.
So I removed one of the oil lines and filled it with oil to
prime the oil pump. Still no oil
pressure. Unscrewed the oil filter to
check for oil. Yup, there’s oil in it so
oil is flowing. Then we took the oil
pressure sensor from another car and replaced mine and fired her up. The idiot light went out. Ah, bad sender. Cool, put mine back in knowing that I did
have pressure, just my sensor was bad.
Easily replaceable later. So we
loaded back up into our cars and headed back to the toll booth. No oil leaks from my engine, yeah! Brian and I decided to head back to the hotel
while the others decided to check out the Garden of the Gods.
East bound on highway 40 we’re toodling along when suddenly my
tachometer drops to zero, my idiot lights light up, and my engine dies. I quickly turned off the ignition rocker
switch to kill power to the engine, threw the car into neutral, and coasted to
a stop on the side of the highway. I
told Brian my issue and he was surprised as he saw no smoke nor oil come from
my car. I looked under my rear seat and
found the power feed wire had shorted out and a 6” section had fried, opening
that circuit. After cutting the bad
section out and joining the ‘new’ ends together my car still wouldn’t start,
though the starter would click. Mike and
Jake had shown up and couldn’t help so the two guys that were with me went with
them back to where ever and I called Triple A for a tow. Less than 15 minutes later they were
there. Oh, the temp during this time was
in the upper 80s/low 90s. Miserable.
Uh-oh!
The tow truck dropped me off at the hotel and we began to
investigate what was wrong with my motor.
She simply would not turn. As a
last resort after failed other trouble-shooting we dropped the engine and
removed the clutch & pressure plate.
The guys held the engine while Brian tried to turn the engine from the
flywheel. Fail. The engine was frozen; wouldn’t budge. Not a good sign.
Lot’s of hypothesis were thrown around and two different
guys offered their engine to me so I could bolt it into my car and use it to
get home.
Saturday, 23June2012 (a.k.a. Day 8)
This is the day where we all meet at the park, the ‘official’
gathering. Brian and I got up at our
usual early time (because no hotel curtain we know of can keep the sunlight
out) and head out to the park to claim the gazebo and unhook the cable that
blocked the access road, allowing all of the Type 3s to park in a row and
closer to the gazebo (all other vehicles had to park in the normal parking
lot).
A pair of 1500 Club Notchbacks from...get this...CALIFORNIA!
Jim Adney's tech session: How carburetors are superior to fuel injection. Just kidding, it was on trouble-shooting fuel injection.
Brian counting the donation money.
The Invasioners.
Though the weather was hot (upper 90s) everyone had a good
time. Cars and owners got to meet and
chat with each other. Jim Adney gave his
fuel injection tech session and we had the silent auction for Type 3 / VW
stuff. Pedro, Jack, and their boys came
up from Sad Diego, CALIFORNIA, with their 1500cc Notchback in showroom
condition and drove it around. Saw some
new cars and faces. It was a really good
time. It was there that we decided to
use Shakeys (Mike and Jake’s) engine, our Option B, because it would basically
be a plug-n-play install into my car as our Option A engine would require my
flywheel, engine hanger, and probably the fan housing which would be more work
and thus time.
Towards the evening when the temps were a little lower we
dropped Shakey’s engine in the hotel parking lot and put it into my baby. Lots of on-lookers and help…a kind of
unscheduled tech session. It was past
midnight and we were very tired so I hit the starter and the engine turned over
– YEAY! We didn’t try to start it as
there was some wiring I would need to do but that would easily be done in the
morning. The engine spun and that’s all
we needed.
Sunday, 24June2012 (Day 9)
Since Shakey’s engine has an alternator on it, hooking it
into my electrical system was a snap.
After a couple cranks the engine was purring right along. Brian and I drove her to the park for the
Sunday 1/2-day gathering and when we arrived we were greeted by everyone
cheering. It was a good feeling to be
functional again.
Many people were leaving Sunday, thus it being a 1/2-day. So nothing special went on, just lots of
talking. Brian needed to hit the
pharmacy so we then went to Walmart to pick it up. When we got back to my baby and tried to
start her she wouldn’t catch, just crank.
Brian diagnosed the problem as vapor lock, which made perfect sense in
the +100 outside temps. He got some
water from the store and poured it on the fuel pump and lines. That cooled the fuel down, removing the air
bubbles, and she fired right up. Whew!
Later that evening I took the muffler and full-flow oil
filter loop off my engine and we loaded my engine into the back of my baby. The car is in full-cargo mode, meaning the
back seat is down, so my engine can rest forward the rear wheels. She’s ready for home.
