Autopendium :: stuff about old cars

Tags: bus shasta volkswagen vw

Saturday Feb 2nd:

1am: Having arrived in Shasta and unpacked the bus and basically figured out where we were going to sleep because the folks in charge of all that were still a few hours away, I moved the bus into the local public parking lot (because I fully expected the roads to be plowed that night). Just as I get parked, I slam the door to make sure it latches in the cold...and a big piece of bondo carrying part of the logos on the front door just leaps off and hits me! Dang...now I need to decide if I want to put it back on somehow or put it on my wall at home.

1.30am: I stumble into my trundle bed and drop into a deep sleep. Next to (the trundle bed, not my person) someone who snores quite a bit.

6.45am: I'm awake. I am the only one awake. Yeah, I'm a morning person. It can be a lonely existence. Anyway, I get up and tiptoe into the bathroom to clean up and change. Priority One - get coffee! I hadn't had coffee since Thursday morning and I was not about to feel normal without it. So I snuck out to find a cafe or someplace that surely had coffee. And I found it with the Stage Door Cafe on the town's main street. Neat little place...warm, cozy, friendly people. So it was a medium mocha and a plain bagel with cream cheese! Woohoo...lord I feel normal again. Called the folks, called Amber, to let them all know I was there safe and sound and that...holy crap...there's lots of snow falling!

From the Stage Door, I went back to the parking lot to check on the bus and take a peek at the engine. Checked the oil, the butterfly in the carb, etc. I snapped some pics and trudged about checking out the other buses. And I definitely thought about my priorities for the day.
*Fix my boots or buy some at the thrift store.
*Add oil (at least a quart) and fiddle with the motor.
*Explore town.
*Ride along with another bus if we go on an adventure (I was more than a little nervous about driving my bus after Friday's events).
*Get something for Amber.

Once I got back to the condo - did I mention it's above a Radio Shack? - a few bodies were starting to rouse and get a pot of coffee going. They were also getting some pot going, but that's not my speed.

10ish am: Team Idaho decides its breakfast time and opt to head through town to the Black Bear Diner (http://www.blackbeardiner.com/). I just kinda feel like getting out and exploring, so I ride along with them and holy crap...good food! Hearty! Great company...those Idaho folks are seriously salt of the earth types! From the diner, a handheld CB unit was used to touch base with a couple of the other teams roaming around town.

11am: The talk was of making an attempt on Castle Lake (the road to which I'd heard earlier wasn't plowed yet) and we found out by the time we got back to the house that not nearly enough people were awake and ready yet to make that attempt. So Team Idaho loaded up a bunch of people and made a run for the local thrift store. I'd had enough time to run to Ace Hardware and get some Shoe Goo to put my lame boots back together, but it takes 24hrs to set, so my hope was to find something at the thrift store. Sadly, there wasn't anything larger than, like, a size 7 at the store, but some folk found some pretty wicked deals on 80s-themed snow suits. Guess it's a running joke with some. But they were indeed fantastically ugly!

12.30ish pm: We get back to the condo and make plans for a Castle Lake attempt. For whatever reason, I decided that I was gonna go buy new boots. I was sick of wearing two pairs of socks and a pair of size 12 Sorels! So I head into town and accept the fact that if I get a ride with a crew, great, and if not...I could deal with that too. Well, sometime around 1pm, I was being fitted for a nice pair of new boots when I see three or four buses pass by. I knew I'd missed the boat...and from the stories and pics I saw and heard later...I actually wish I'd gone. But c'est la vie, ya know?

Instead I meander around town finding something for Amber, getting some food, a keychain, and just really enjoying the fact that it's STILL snowing. I mean, it never let up! I also went by the bus a couple times to see how the snow was piling up. It was really starting to get impressive!

3pm: I am back at the house by this point and no one is around! I have the whole place to myself. I should have been smart and had a nice hot shower, but instead I decided to make some notes on the trip and listen to the weather band radio as I was already starting to think of road conditions for Sunday. So I did that and chowed down on some sweet BBQ Tri-Tip from the local market! A nap soon followed and by the time I woke up, I had about an hour of daylight to duck out and fiddle with my motor!

Oil takes a long time to drain into an engine when it's below freezing outside! LOL Soon everything seemed as kosher as it was going to get and I was tempted to fire up the engine and make sure, but it was getting dark and colder fast! So I hoofed it back inside in time for many of the groups to return home from attempting Castle Lake. They didn't make it all the way up there, but they made a valiant effort!

8ish pm: By this point the decision was made to skip the potluck out at Bunny Flat and have it in the house instead. Now, that's a lot of people in the house at one time! But it was fantastically social and enjoyable. We all threw together some food...herbivores and omnivores alike and just had a great time! See the video for more of this part. But around 10pm...Saturday...23hrs after we had arrived...trip-founder and de facto fearless leader Brian Piercy and his co-pilot Ericka finally arrived! They had taken some of the most insane and impassable roads you could imagine. Wherever it said road closed, they completely ignored it! So we were rapt with attention as they told their story. They're nuts...but dang, they made it! And it was impressive. I felt honored to have a sit down with Brian later and I thanked him for being such a cheerleader and he complemented me and my whole team for sticking with it and not flaking out this year. Vindicated, he said we were. And I was happy with that.

11.45pm: With the party still raging, I was exhausted (remember? morning person here) and with thoughts of road conditions and trying to make decent time getting home Sunday, I escaped to my room to try and get some sleep. For what it's worth, it was really a crappy night's sleep! But it was sleep nonetheless and I drifted off feeling so confident that my bus could make it just about anywhere!

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