 | ||||
|
|
July 15, 2002
After being on Central PA for 1 week - I saw my first VW (pre- 1971) bus. Of course a big Dead Head sticker was in the side window. They are just not nearly as common out here. Every other vehicle in Eugene is a VW bus, out here, it's the exact opposite. I guess I should expect that though, no?
Posted by Sean at 08:20 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
Jen and I made it back to Eugene around Midnight Monday. The Bootbus preformed admirably and I am thankful to be back. Tom (the VW guy) fixed our clutch for $55. The clutch cable had broken, so he replaced it and we are good to go. Chris and I drove the bus to do our laundry this morning and all appears to be good with our new clutch cable.
Posted by Sean at 06:41 AM | View Comments (11) | Add Comments
Currently, I am at the shop getting BootBus logos and stuff installed on the Bootbus (see pop-up pic). The drive out to Pleasanton was not a problem. Now that I know the clutch is useless, the bus is running like a dream. Hoping this continues... Peace.
Posted by Sean at 08:01 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
(Will the BootBus make it back? Vote here. added at 6:42 p.m.) off. JenLeo and I are attempting to drive back from San Francisco, CA to Eugene, OR without the use of a clutch, starting 5:30 a.m. Monday morning. (June 17th) Coby says that it is not a worry to make the trip. So we are going for it. Please pray for us. Just kidding, it really should be all good since 98% of the trip is Highway driving. The Bootbus is perfectly capable of city driving, I just have to turn it off and restart it to actually get it into1st gear. A pain it is. Which brings me to my next question. Is all this worth it? Should I buck up and get a "more reliable" vehicle? What are the pros and cons? For now, I want to keep it. I mean, 6 months and only 1 breakdown. It could be worse. But, if this becomes a habit...should we stick with it? Or when just wait (2005+) for a maybe (VW microbus) (200K download)
Posted by Sean at 03:21 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
Picking it up and related stuff
I picked up the BootBus on Friday night and as I pulled out of Coby's driveway, everything seemed to be A OK. But, about a mile down the road, all the gears started grinding again. Ugh. Somehow I made it all the way back to SF and parked. Email correspondence with Coby (thanks Coby!) suggests that it might be something different, but, I did drive all the way back without a clutch, and Coby says "You can drive to Nova Scotia if you want" with out a clutch. So I am thinking that I will just "go for it" on Monday when we leave and have VW Eugene man Tom deal with it on my return.
Posted by Sean at 01:08 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
The next morning, JenLeo came back out with me in an attempt to get the bus fixed. After some Corte Madera cop, helped me push the bus to the local Chevron, the gas station dudes had a look at it. Well, whatever they did, really did not help and Jen and I got the BootBus towed thanks to her Verizon Wireless free towing service. Coby, from Valley Wagon Works (yeah no website, we are working with Coby to try and get him a functional website) was the man to work on it. This guy has about 25 VW buses in his parking lot, so he seemed to be da man for this situation. Pick-up for the van, is friday - so Jen and I still had a chance to meet up for some beers at Jupiter in Berkeley with Jennifer and Bob Colvin (see travelogue here) in Oakland.
Posted by Sean at 11:09 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
It was 5:15 p.m. and the bus was not going to be fixed today, so I took matters into my own hands, and thought about what the travel god (Nick O'Neill aka Travelnutter) would do. He would hitch. So I walked over to the on ramp near 101 and saw thousands of cars going towards SF. At least one would take me, right? I remembered what Nick said about hitching "Smile and look straight into the oncoming drivers eye. I figured, I looked fairly nice, or at least I was not wearing Ant's black trench coat. So 3 hitchhikes and a bus ride later, I made it to the party in the city....check these hip pants from the party. People in San Francisco are so much more cool than folks from Eugene like me.
Posted by Sean at 11:52 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comments
I suppose we were kinding of expecting it, but we never knew when it might strike. Now we know. A day after Sean had completed the drive from Eugene to San Francisco, the BootBus has a problem. Sean's currently stuck in Corte Madera. He heard a pop when he was engaging the clutch and now he can't change gears. Sean actually pushed the bus to get to his appointment. Figuring that it's probably the clutch cable that needs replacing, Sean is going to have a crack at it himself. We've got the Idiot's guide by John Muir and I'll try and talk him through it over the phone. If that fails, we've got Tom the VW Guy on standby to guide us. Wish us luck. BootBus in the Book Passage parking lot
Posted by Chris at 01:35 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comments
The Wild Writing Women. These women are hot and wild. (See pic below - they laugh, travel, and drink like female pirates) So we got into town, just in time for Jen to participate in her writer's group book reading at Get Lost book store. The reading was funny. I laughed a few times, pretty hard in fact. There stories all were about travel and had elements of coagulated escargot, taking a lash while rock climbing, and getting "hit on" during her honeymoon. It all made for interesting stuff. But not nearly as interesting as drinks after.... WWW women - ready to rage (this is only 1/2 of them) Oh yeah, shortly after arriving, Boots member and future RTW traveler Amy Scott introduced herself to me. We jabbered away before the WWW book reading started and she also came out for drinks and chatting. Amy got me all juiced up about here RTW trip that she is planning with boyfriend Juan. She also committed to sending in some travel pieces on SF. (Hint, hint) Nothing like hangin out with a bunch of travel motivated folks. Little did I know that the next day, Bootbus troubles would limit the number of other BootsnAll member meet-ups. Damn.
Posted by Sean at 10:10 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
Jen and I camped in "Waiika Travel Haven". Miller Lite in cans was on tap before sleeping in a tent about 10 feet from a glowing phone booth. Sean with Miller Lite in BootBus Camping and driving was so fun, that we briefly considered just taking off for a road trip (forget SF). Good thing we didn't with the clutch going wacky
Posted by Sean at 08:47 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
This Monday, June 11th @ 4:00p.m. - I am gonna be taking the BootBus down to SF for a week. Die hard Boots member, Jen Leo will be joining for the road trip both ways. I would love to meet up with some other Boots members in SF on Friday June 15th - so let me know if you wanna meet up for beers.
Posted by Sean at 06:42 PM | View Comments (4) | Add Comments
We're back in Eugene and getting our heads together after a great road trip down to San Luis Obispo on California's central coast. Eugene has a reputation for rainy weather and as we left on Monday mornig it sure felt cold. The weather in SLO was a breath of fresh air and hear are a few pics to give you an idea of what happened. Here's the bus on the campus of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. We camped the night before and were drying our tents out on the bus. My view from the cooler position (sitting on the cooler behind the driver). Chris and Sean wrap up. Sean at one of the many stops we made. Nick bundled up in his Bhutan jacket. The Siskiyou's (Oregon California border). Our bud, Jen Leo in the bus outside Susan's place. Here's the mechanical wonder that got us over the mountains and back again.
Posted by Nick at 05:47 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comments
We arrived back in Eugene around 4 p.m. yesterday. After, Chris, Nick and I unloaded the bus and started checking email, we all felt a bit strange. Our ears were ringing and we all felt a bit "buzzed". Chris and I learned a bit later that the muffler had fallen off the bus sometime in the last few hours of the trip - hence our ringing ears. We wonder if some carbon monoxide was slipping back into the bus, hence our buzz and Nick and I dozing off the last few hours of the trip. Tom the VW bus mechanic will check it out this week.
Posted by Sean at 02:04 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
We made it all the way down here yesterday...the Oil light started flashing about 2 miles outside San Luis Opisbo (SLO) - we added some more oil and all seems to be good with the BootBus The 1st night, we were treated to the Hospitality of Jen Leo and Susan Brady, both of TTales. I feel very lucky to have friends like them. We have had so many Boots Members stay with us, I forgot how fun it can be to be on the receiving end! SLO has been fun, we are on our wat back tomorrow after camping again tonight. Pismo Beach Camp Grounds. It feels a bit weird to be travelling on business, and then camping with your buddies at night (But I do love it). But there is really no cheaper way, and there were no Boot members in SLO! Am off for beers and camping with Nick and Chris now.
Posted by Sean at 06:12 PM | View Comments (3) | Add Comments
It's been so long since I've been camping. Sean and I tried to remember the last time we'd used the tent and we couldn't. That is no excuse however for the stupidity I showed last night as we were setting up camp... The sky was super clear and I could see tons of stars. Sean asked if we should put the fly on the tent and I said, "Nah, the sky's clear. It's not gonna rain," It was 'round about 4am when I woke up to Sean saying "It's raining outside," Bugger.
Posted by Chris at 05:54 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comments
Nick, Chris and I are going to CA in the BootBus today. The first road trip. Honk if you see us on I-5 going south over Mt. Shasta.
Posted by Sean at 08:23 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
The BootBus is a Bug Killer. Chris and I went on a mini-roadtrip to Portland Monday and Tuesday of this week. When we arrived back at Boots HQ - we found many dead bugs on the front panel. Check out the makeshift graves for these 2 poor little buggers. ha, ha. 
Posted by Sean at 09:32 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comments
|
|
BootsnAll
BootBlog
Maintenance |
 |
 |
|||