Still in the Slow Lane - Day 2

Day two...Pedro greeted us outside covered in chilly spring dew and roared to life.  It was a beautiful sunny day so in good spirits we fueled up and prepared for another long drive.  What is a better way to start the second day of our journey then a day two selfie and some scenery...

As we approached Spokane, WA highway signs were announcing an event called Bloomsday, which happened be held the very same morning that we were passing through!  A quick google search told me that it was a downtown festival held all day.  Sweet, we were in.  We pulled off only to see about a million people running, the Bloomsday 5k apparently.  A bit further on down the road I spotted a suspended sky ride going into a waterfall smack in the middle of downtown.  How could we be here and not ride it?  I coerced my handsome driver into taking us downtown, only to find out that almost all of the streets were closed and parking was not to be had.  My dream of a random Washington gondola ride was kaput, but it has officially been added to my bucket list.  Spokane we will be back someday.  

A few gondola-less hours later and we proudly crossed the WA/ID border.  A high five for one state down and we were successfully chugging through Idaho.  

While taking advantage of our free hot breakfast (all of the billboards were pretty excited about it) at the hotel that morning Jason picked up a brochure for a resort town in Idaho called Coeur D'Alene which we promptly put on our itinerary for the day.  After a bit more googling (googling and farm signs were really the only entertainment) we found out that the Coeur D'Alene were a pretty large tribe named by the French settlers in the 1800s.  They are pretty spread out over the WA/ID area and are the namesake of numerous things we passed, including the town, river and mountains.  Just in case you were wondering!  

We rolled into town and decided it was time to give Pedro a bit of a rest.  We parked him on a picturesque downtown street and got out for a little stroll.  Along the way we took in a bit of the waterfront and kissed a moose...nothing wrong with that.  We hopped back in the truck and were on our way again!

 

One or two 35mph mountain passes later (I have lost count at this point) we see a pretty cool looking building off to the side of the highway and soon after a sign for Old Mission State Park.  Another state park merely 5 feet off the road?  Done! 

The cool building turned out to be Idaho's oldest standing building and was the refuge for Catholic missionaries and missionaries-in-training in the 1800s.  They would use the compound as a jumping off point to preach to the Native Americans and nearby mining camps.  The church was pretty great to see and always makes you wonder how these pioneers pulled off such a feat of architecture in the middle of nowhere.  The view didn't hurt the experience either.  

Finally, two states down!  As the rain and Montana sign welcomed us we were nearing closer to the close of our second day.  Rain greeted us over every single mountain pass but always opened back up to shining blue skies.  We took a blue-sky'd opportunity to stretch our backs at serenely wooded rest stop and soak in a bit of sun.   

After a quick conversation with a guy who was oogling Pedro as we approached (we learned all about his buses, too) we were back on the road and ready to do some more mountain climbing.  A trip over the Continental Divide and the sun began to set as we ventured up the Tobacco Root Mountains.  At the top of the pass we stopped for a bit to let Pedro's butt cool off.  Spoiled truck.  I couldn't get enough of the views as we were driving and snapped more pictures then I know what to do with.  

We were aiming for Billings but settled for Bozeman since our eyelids were getting mighty heavy.  Pedro guided us to a Holiday Inn where we tucked him in for the night and we tried to shake off the feeling that we were still moving while actually sitting still.  

Wyoming was getting so close, I could almost feel the wind.  One more day to go!

Livin' Life in the Slow Lane - Day 1

So now we have two.  I guess that can be applicable in more then one aspect of our life...since my last post we have found out that a tiny bus-loving boy will be arriving in October to bring our cute kid total to two (plus the doggies)!  Life also finds us one more Bay Window heavier these days.  I figure what is one more to make our driveway look awesome and to keep Penny company.

It all started after we got Penny and Jason officially caught the VW bug (not the like the car, like the addiction).  He proclaimed his love for the double cab version and added it to his automobile must-haves.  A few months later a beauty with orange rims popped up on theSamba.com and his drooling commenced.  Fast forward a few more months and he firmly decided to sell his 2010 Tundra so he could snap up this Seattle-based double cab.  It has a back seat for the babies?  I was sold.

The seller was awesome about sending us a plethora of pics and videos to quell any real fears we had about purchasing a vehicle sight unseen.  While also assuring us that our new beauty had never let him down so would mostly likely be good for the long trip home.  (We were aiming for a trailer-less trip)  Within a day of the Tundra selling we put down a deposit and bought one-way tickets to Seattle.  Everyone needs a good leap of faith now and again.  Penny had potential, right?

A few weeks later and off we went.  A flight into Seattle, a rental car and a drive down to Olympia, WA later and we were proud owners of our newest baby who Jason has deemed Pedro. We assured the owners that we would take good care of him, as it was clear that they had done so for the past six years.  We gave him a test drive, handed over the check and we were off!

We had mentally and otherwise prepared ourselves for the stereotypical VW unreliability to rear its ugly head on the trip, so we had prepared a list of uHaul places along the way and purchased a set of tools upon arriving in Olympia.  

About a mile into our journey Pedro was already stuck.  We were parked in the car rental place and Jason couldn't find reverse to save his life.  While trying to find it the gear stick seemingly popped out of place.  My experienced car guy put his tail between his legs and called the seller for some help.  Five minutes and a spare gear shift later, they figured out that it had popped out of the canal it was sitting in below the floor of the car.  A quick dismantle and reassembly and we were good to go!  I optimistically figured it was just the juju we needed to complete the rest of the journey without a hitch.

We headed back up to Seattle, as that was the trail head of our real journey...I-90 here we come. We were planning on making a stop in downtown Seattle to check out Pike Place Market and Starbucks, but the torrential downpours deterred us.  Instead we enjoyed the wet view from the window.  And here is Seattle...

                                                   

Past Seattle, but not far into the trip, we encountered the Snoqualmie Mountains, our first of many mountain passes to traverse.  We took a deep breath, flicked on the hazard lights and putt-putted up the mountain at 35mph. Ahh, life in the slow lane.  To our amazement he made it without a hitch so we treated him with a fill-up on the other side.  Maybe we should have been having higher expectations for this little guy all along?

On a side note, we were graciously gifted by the seller with a gps to act as our effective speedometer since the smaller front tires don't allow the dashboard speed-o to calibrate correctly.  If you can make it out below normal highway speed for this baby is clearly 90!

  

This happened to be a dual purpose trip for us...get Pedro home and see some interesting sights along the way.  We saw a sign for a petrified forest that was close to the highway so we satiated our wanderlust and pulled off.  We were greeted by the creepiest of creepy towns and were even welcomed by this gem of a sign.  'We've been expecting you...'

We cautiously continued on down the road past a few trailers and front yards that resembled junk yards to find Ginko State Park.  Now, the surroundings were pretty crazy but the petrified wood that had been pulled out of lava flows plus the gorgeous view of the Columbia River definitely made the stop worth it.  It may have not quiet been a forest as the sign promised, but hey, maybe someone thinks some chunks of rock/wood spread out on the ground qualifies!   

Plus, there were dinosaurs.  How could we not have been pleased we pulled off...

One random spot down and we were back on the road.  And yes, the road was still I-90 as it would be for most of the trip, but driver beware...eastern Washington is flat, flat, flat and the road is oh so straight.  We contemplated just letting the wheel go and setting Pedro to auto-pilot.  The farmers around that neck of the woods are very considerate though, with our lack of radio and terrain I was very entertained by all of the signs on the highway fence illustrating what crop was growing next to us.  Jason might have been getting a bit annoyed at hearing, 'Alfalfa....Sweet Corn....Potatoes' for three hours.  Personally, I thought it was better then silence! 

We pulled off in the rinky-dink town of Ritzville, WA for the night, got dinner as the sole 10pm patrons of Jake's for Steaks Diner and called it a night.

                                             

Stay tuned for Day Two of our travels in the next post....will we make it home?  Perhaps I'm writing this from the side of the road while Jason wields a cardboard sign that reads, "Stranded in Amazing Truck, Help!" 

Probably not, but don't turn that dial!

Two Carbs in a Pod

Hooray, we have our first Penny restoration deadline!  We just reserved our camp spot in June for a week of exploring Yellowstone (on foot and in our yellow friend).  We will be putting in a lot of elbow grease over the next few months to get her ready for the 8 hour road trip.  We are pretty excited for our first real outing as bus parents!  Hope you readers are enjoying our journey...

It has seemed like forever that every time we'd start up Penny, Jason would assure me that when we got the second carburetor rebuilt she'd purr like a kitten.  Well, after all that assurance it's finally happened!  We were excited to receive our first box of parts for 2014 last week, complete with a carb rebuild kit, sway bar clamps and a new service manual to guide us through the tricky syncing process (plus a myriad of other future processes, I'm sure).

This weekend it was over to the shop we went, of course puppies and box of goodies in tow.   The right carburetor had been rebuilt in the fall, so lefty was the one on our agenda.  After we unscrewed, detached and got greasy, Penny found herself down one part and we got to work.  Jason, Van and I were clearly pretty excited to be back in the shop...

We busted out the new pieces and carefully disassembled the carburetor, Jason all the while being an amazing teacher and schooling me step-by-step.

After it was all apart and the pieces in what looked like organized chaos, we cleaned the metal parts and replaced the ones that needed replacing.  

After everything was bathed and replaced, Jason championed the effort to put the puzzle back together correctly while I cheered him on from the sidelines.  All the while learning that my virgin auto-shop lungs need a bit of fresh air from time to time to avoid feeling like my head is going to explode.  (I'll toughen up if it's the last thing I do!)

We placed that small, unassuming part back in Penny's hindquarters and sure enough...purred like the beautiful kitten she is.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time for the sway bar clamp installation and the carb syncing, but that will be first up when we return from vacation next week.  It was great to drive her home sans the subtle backfiring that had become her theme song.  After diving into our new manual and some successful syncing she might be ready for her first mini winter road trip!

A Very Volkswagen Christmas

Merry Christmas readers!  I hope that Santa treated you well this year, I know he spoiled us.  All the wonderful things under the tree were definitely just the cream cheese frosting on our decadent holiday red velvet cake this year.  The holidays always serve to remind me just how amazing a family we have and this year was no different.

It's because of our generous family and friends that we have officially become the bus family.  After all the unwrapping was complete it was quite obvious how much Penny has become part of the clan.  I knew I saw her potential!  We found ourselves with a custom bus blanket for camping, a phone cover, an amazing documentary, a restoration guide, a toddler-sized tent and some goWesty cash to get her nice and tuned up! Check out our loot below:

Cold Weather Intermission

Hello again long-lost readers!  I apologize profusely for our hiatus from the saga that is restoring Penny, Wyoming weather and holidays have been getting in the way of our progress!  We have, however, been taking Penny out for the occasional cold weather drive and although she's excited for the other carb rebuild kit to arrive, she's chugging along pretty nicely.

Her yellow is barely peeking out from beneath the freshly fallen inches of snow this morning, while we are waiting eagerly for the thermal cover to arrive that was on backorder. (So many buses that need to stay warm!)  And just as a holiday side-note, a shout out to Bed Bath & Beyond for satiating the needs of us bus enthusiast parents who want to pass along the tradition to our kids by giving this beauty to the masses:

And to the myriad of friends and family who have sent us excited text messages about their discovery in the BB&B store!  Thanks for thinking of us as your go-to VW family :)

Also, one more holiday thank you to Mama Hammock for the great new hand-painted addition to our Christmas tree this year.  Penny is officially a part of the family. 

We hope that everyone has a great holiday season and is as blessed as we are with great friends, family and hobbies to make their every day the best that it can be.  We will catch up with you after the holidays when we start back on our list of Penny improvements!