My Journey Across The Country

   As I pulled out of my driveway in Canby, Oregon in our 1969 VW camper named Patience in mid-September, 2005, I had planned on this page to be more of a trip report detailing what was to be a four to five day trip from the Portland, Oregon area to Wilmington, North Carolina. It was moving time and the bus was loaded with my own personal set of things I required: keyboards, guitars, brewing gear, archery gear, computer gear, clothes, food, etc. My wife and son were to be left behind to finish with the packing of the house to join me in a month or so as I had a job to get to.

   The first day I got a late start and made it within 20 or so miles of the Idaho border. I found a random place to camp for the night not too far off the interstate and found it to be a beautiful location the next morning (see photos above and below).

   After that things got a little hairy. I've re-read through the emails from the whole adventure and they do a better job of telling the story than I could recount, so I'm going to let the emails tell the rest of this one...

From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: RE: Camping, Greg, Etc.....
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 19:50:20 +0000

   > Greg ran into some trouble just west of Grand Junction. He got the bus towed to his mom's place there in Colorado, and is waiting to see how much a new engine (yikes!) will cost. I'm betting he'll end up renting a u-haul and towing the bus with it the rest of the way. Send him some good vibes because he's totally stressed out. We are both thankful that the bus made it to Burning man and back without breaking this severely. It could have been worse, but not much.

---

   Greetings from Grand Junction, CO.

   Yup, once again Patience has lived up to her name and taught me the value of patience. In this case, probably close to $3K once all the dust settles.

   After making it just about where I was hoping for Saturday and parking on the riverbank along hwy 210 for the night, I headed back out I-84 Sunday morning aimed for Grand Junction to spend Sunday night at my mom's house (yay! bed and shower!). The trip would be somewhere around 600 miles which was a little more than I wanted to do, but I figured once would be okay.

   After taking the hwy 6 cut from Provo to Green River Utah, I stopped in Green River to fill up, check the oil, etc. Patience did not care for the hills along hwy 6 and my VW conscience told me the last 100 miles was asking too much, but I was stupid and decided to push on.

   I made it five miles from the truck stop in Green River when the engine head temp started going up as I was starting up a mild incline. I pulled onto the shoulder and the engine died. I went around to the back and took a look at the engine where one of the metal flex hoses that drives air from the fan to the head had split. I fixed the hose, check a couple other details, and went back to start the engine and get back on my way. The engine, however, would not start. I thought perhaps the battery was weak and tried jumping it with our little jump box. After calling Jessica (who had the directions for the jumpbox (why didn't I have them with the jumpbox? fine question. I'm a moron)) to make sure I was using it correctly, I determined that it wasn't the battery. I tried a few other things until I ran out of things I could do alongside the freeway by myself in the dark. I then called my mom to let her know what was going on and that I was going to have to call AAA. As I was saying, "Triple A", my phone shut off cause the battery was dead. Just freakin' great.

   I pulled the bicycle off the back and started back to the truck stop. I made it about a mile when I realized how hilly the area actually was and how much further I had traveled than I thought. I decided against riding my bike the whole way along an interstate in the dark and went back to the bus where I figured someone would stop. After an hour or so I was beginning to fall asleep, so I popped the top, folded the cot out, and climbed into the sleeping bag. Certainly a cop would come by and tell me I couldn't camp along side the interstate.

   The next morning I awoke to the same side of the road and the same non-starting bus, no indication whatsoever of a cop or anyone else having stopped. I grabbed my toolbox, donned my Carhart overalls, and started back in on troubleshooting the engine. Finally a UDOT truck pulled up and asked if I needed some help. They called AAA for me and a truck was there within 30 minutes. The tow truck guy was nice, an area local, and an old hippie. I'm guessing they dispatched him when they heard '69 VW bus. He drove me and Patience to a shop near Grand Junction (just under my 100-mile tow limit) where one of the guys owed my mom and her husband, Tom, a favor.

   By the end of the day we got the word that the engine had overheated and seized and was going to either need rebuilt (which the shop dosen't do) or replaced (which they can do, but finding an engine is tricky around these parts)

   We're still checking our options, but at this point it's looking like I'm going to have to rent a car (Tom works for Avis, so we have a little bit of an in there) to get to Wilmington and order a rebuilt VW engine to be delivered to the shop here in Grand Junction. After the motor has been replaced in the bus I'll have to meet my mom and Tom in Nashville where they will tow the bus and I'll drive it back to Wilmington from there.

   Between the cost of a rebuilt motor, labor, rental cars, and lost time on the job it's gonna be a spendy error in judgement.

   The F-word comes to mind.

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: Bus Update
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 02:03:03 +0000

   After ordering a rebuilt engine this morning I got a call from a guy in Denver (Troy) that Thorpe knows from the type2.com mailing list. After much discussion of options and phone calls to verify options, I called and had the rebuilt engine cancelled and Troy and his wife and kids are on their way here from Denver. In the morning we will haul the bus to Denver on a flatbed trailer where Troy has space to work on it, tools, and friends who are all familiar with the VW engine.

   If all goes well we may be able to fix the engine with some new parts. Worst case we'll have to buy a new motor and mount it in the bus, but there are several to choose from in the Denver area and Troy is familiar with the job. Either way I am bound to learn more about how my VW works and how to work on it and I should be able to drive the bus the rest of the way to Wilmington from Denver!

   This is huge since it will save me a TON of money in rental cars and getting the bus to Wilmington if I had left it behind.

   Kudos to Thorpe and Troy!

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: RE: Bus Update 2
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 02:20:04 +0000

   Greetings from Denver, CO...

   This morning we rented a car hauler from U-Haul, hooked it up to Troy's Dakota, loaded Patience up and towed her out to Denver. Troy and his family have been INCREDIBLY hospitible driving 250 miles to come get me and the bus, taking time off work and their daughter out of school, and putting me up at their place while we get the bus running. It's kind of a Burning Man experience in the "real world" and it's enough to begin to renew my faith in people.

   It has been determined that the engine needs a complete rebuild or needs to be replaced as it is indeed seized. In the interest of time, Troy has offered to pull the 1600 out of his '63 Double Cab (ya know those VW pick-ups that look like a bus with a truck bed behind the cab?) to put in Patience. It's a fairly new engine with something like 6000-7000 miles on it. We're just making some inquiries to see if that would be do-able and will go forward with pulling the seized engine in the morning.

   With a little luck, I should be back on the road and headed east very soon!

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: Re: Bus Update part 3
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 00:17:42 +0000

   After reviewing all of our options this morning it was determined that putting the engine from Troy's '63 DC would not be favorable since it would require an adapter bracket that would put undue stress on the oil pump. We checked a few more sources. We had only found one engine ready to go when Troy got an email from another local VW geek (from whom we were planning to solicit assistance) offering up his rebuilt 1776 engine for a bit more money than the only other one we had found.

   Patience's engine is a 1600cc and the advantage of the 1776cc engine is that it would better handle higher speeds or heavier loads (engineering geeks and gearheads see: http://www.type2.com/library/misc/terms.htm). I made a call to Jessica and we decided the investment in the beefier engine was worth it, so the deal was struck. Troy and I towed the bus around to his backyard and we began taking the thing apart. After about an hour and a half we hit a small snag with one of the upper motormount bolts. Troy was winding down (he works 12-hour graveyard shifts and had not really slept much in the past couple days), so he gave me a rundown of what was left to do and he went to bed. I only spent about another 30 minutes -- employing some gonzo mechanical work -- and dropped the engine down and out of the bus.

   Tomorrow morning Troy's friend Don will be over with the 1776 and he is going to help us install it in Patience. With a bit of luck she should be running by this time tomorrow and we'll be on the road Sunday morning! Six days after she broke down.

   Hopefully gas won't be $5 a gallon already...

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: Re: Bus Update part 4
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 05:30:02 +0000

   And the saga continues...

   Actually today was a really good day, we just didn't get as far as we'd hoped. Don showed up this morning with the 1776 motor just as Troy and I were getting going. The motor is beautiful -- newly rebuilt, never been run, deep oil sump, aluminum case... arh, arh, arh! After pulling the carburetor, generator, fan shroud, distributor, tin, etc. from the old engine we had compiled a shopping list of gaskets and miscellaneous other items we were gonna need and we went shopping. Troy pretty much insisted on getting the few extra parts to install an oil filter since it was a new engine. When I hesitated at the extra expense, Troy pulled out his wallet and paid for the parts. After looking at my rusty muffler that had started falling apart in Idaho, Don threw a new aftermarket muffler in with the engine price.

   We returned to the backyard shop at Troy's -- which is quickly becoming a full-fledged VW shop -- and started assembling parts onto the new engine. It was soon determined that the likely reason for the seized motor was melted gaskets where the oil cooler connected to the motor preventing the free-flow of oil through the system. This also helps to explain the recent oil leaking in the engine compartment since the pressure probably got backed up and blew out in one or more places. (Makes me feel a little better to know that it would've had serious problems even if I hadn't tried to drive it to Grand Junction the night it died.) As a result, there was much cleanup to do on the parts as they were transferred from one engine to the other -- the tin was COATED in oil and grime buildup.

   Troy hung in much later than I expected and Don and I kept working after Troy had to finally hit the sack. We expected we were close to having it in and starting it up for the first time, but we hadn't counted on having much difficulty making the new muffler fit properly. We worked until dark when we were frustrated at trying to mate parts that were not exactly precision engineered and called it a day.

   After picking up a little and scrubbing the grime off my hands up to my elbows in the shower, I came up with a solution to our final muffler issue. In the morning Troy's wife is going to take me to pick up some nuts, bolts and washers and I should have the engine ready to put in the bus by the time Troy gets home from work.

   Wish us luck. I've been gone over a week now and I'm not yet halfway there, but it looks positive!

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: RE: Bus Report part 5
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 03:21:13 +0000

   I am including the account of the past few days from Don who sold me the new motor and has been helping with the install below. For those wondering if I'm on the road yet but don't have time to read a long-winded post, the short answer is no. The engine is in but A) we can't start it because the new engine is too stiff and B) there are clutch issues. Tomorrow morning I will likely pull the engine back out before Troy gets home from work and we will start back in.

   It's about 40 minutes now from when the bus stopped running exactly one week ago. I hope I make it to Wilmington in time for the weekend.

   Here's Don's post:

> What a weekend.
>
> Greg broke down in Grand Junction, CO. Troy Wical got a ya'llhaul trailer
> and went to pick him up.
>
> They determined the engine was siezed. I mentioned I had a brand new 1776
> setting here and if he wanted to pay the guy I owed for it, he could have
> it. Everybody agreed so I took the engine over Sat morning.
>

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: Re: Bus Update part 6
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 20:48:02 +0000

   Unfortunately this story does not have as happy an ending...

   Last night after getting the bus running and more or less idling (Troy got the valves adjusted and the timing close, but is not as familar with carbs as he is with fuel injection), I drove the bus out through the back gate, swung around, and nosed back onto the backyard pad. Troy hit the sack with a big ol' smile and I started putting everything back together while waiting for Don to come by after work to finish up the timing and such. One more night and I was back on the road!

   When Don showed up we started it up and gave it a listen. Then we shut it down, Don did some adjustments on the carb and hooked up the dwell meter. I started it once again and after a few seconds the generator pully slipped loose, so we shut it down. After getting the generator pully and belt back together (no biggie) I went to start it up again so Don could check the dwell and *chunk* -- the new engine was seized.

   We spent much time troubleshooting and researching, Don hod to go home and Troy had to go to work. I got some lights and a CD player and pulled the engine yet again (the third time now -- second time in twelve hours) and confirmed worst case scenario.

   The good news is that the guy who sold me the motor (actually the guy who sold Don the motor) is refunding the money, so I'm not completely SOL. Since I am beyond out of time, Troy is finishing up the project on his '78 bus that he had been working on and I will be transferring all my stuff from Patience to his bus this afternoon and heading to NC in that. In the meantime, Patience will go to a shop here in Denver, a rebuilt 1600 installed for less that I paid for the 1776, and I will swap busses back with Troy sometime in the future.

   I should be on the road tonight...

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: Re: Bus Update part 6
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 22:20:34 +0000

> That dude sounds like the coolest dude in the
> universe - loaning you his bus! That's totally
> unheard of.

   It's Troy who is loaning his '78 Transporter and, yeah, Troy and Leah are about the coolest people in the world -- they took time off work, drove 250 miles of mountain pass to put themselves up in a hotel for the night, towed me to Denver over 250 miles of mountain pass to work on the bus, put me up in their 3-year old son's bedroom, and have kept me fed and entertained. Don had an engine from a guy named Cree, Don gave much help with the new engine, and Cree reimbursed the cash when the new engine seized. Don even gave me a miniature bus with a similar paintjob as Patience when we thought I'd was on my way. Troy has come home from work every morning and put every bit of spare time into getting me back on the road. They have been the most generous people I have ever met!

   Troy was unable to get his '78 all put together before he was about to fall over for lack of sleep -- the weather has not been cooperating this afternoon. Leah, however, found an '82 diesel Vanagon on craigslist (http://denver.craigslist.org/car/100309974.html) and offered to "buy" Patience from me for the difference of what it costs and what I have from the 1776 engine refund. We're gearing up to go look at it now. If it looks like it'll get me to Wilmington, we'll likely buy it, I'll drive it to NC. Once Jessica gets there I'll probably try to sell it, buy Patience back and get her fixed, and then work out something with Troy and Leah to get her to NC (there is an annual campout called EveryBus in NC in April and they are planning to be there then).

   If not, I guess we'll have to finish up the '78 in the morning (?)

   
From: "Gregory PJ Smith"
Subject: RE: Bus Update part 6
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:09:32 +0000

   Ya know I failed to mention the fact that these guys have also driven me all over town (why is it that Denver is not that much bigger than Portland but WAY more complicated?!?) AND fronted money for misc. parts as we've gone along. When Troy picked me up in Grand Junction he said he would get me back on the road and he's the kind of guy that isn't going to back down from that.

   The diesel in Boulder turned out to not be quite the hot lead, but we have a few others to check out in the morning. One way or another I'm going to be heading east very soon.

   The story ends with me buying a 1997 Dodge Caravan, quickly transferring all my stuff from Patience to the van, leaving Denver that Wednesday afternoon and arriving in Wilmington Friday evening. I started my new job the following evening.

   As I type this just a few days before Christmas, 2005, the Caravan is not yet sold and Patience is still in Denver. We are hoping to be able to send money to get her fixed in time for Everybus in April.

(The follow-up to this story is finally here!)

Back To Index Page