Just another day at the office.....

Well, thanks to this weekends successfull trip, I opted for Doodle instead of my truck for my morning commute. I sure like looking down outside my office and seeing my bus waiting on me. Reminds me of how great my trip home is gonna be.

Well, when lunchtime came, who do you think offered to drive? ME. so I loaded up some coworkers, took them to lunch in Doodle. Yes, they actually liked it. Gotta share the VW love when you can, I always say.

Sorry for the cell quality pics, its all I had. Regardless, Happy Valentines day to me!

Westfalia Shop Day!

To celebrate my new found Westfalia freedom, I decided to spend the day in Irving, Texas helping my crippled buddy try to get his camper back on the road. His legs were run over by a passing car while replacing the throttle cable on his bug, so hes in a big cast. SO. I decided it would be a perfect road test for Doodle, because his house is 83 miles away. I'm in, lets go.

What an ugly mug. Ah well. We make do with what God gives us. Doodle performs quite well all the way to Irving. The passing trucks make me wobble a bit, but Im pretty glad I sprung for the load rated tires. Not quite as bad as it could be. 65-75 all the way there. Right when I get there tho, Doodle starts chugging and sputtering. Once I get there, I find that one of the heater hoses has dropped down and gotten shredded in the fan. No es bueno. I cleaned it up, and had a great afternoon working. Doodle was clearly the bell of the ball.

Interesting side note about this camper here. This was my original sage green westy. 1978 model, and heavily rusted. I sold it to my friend Greg so I could buy Doodle. Sadly, its reached the end of its road. Its good parts are going to his orange bus, which is mostly rust free. Two combine down to make one, and BAM. El Gangreeno is born. Dont ask me. I dont name them.

Pictured here are two of my buddies, Robb Axelrod and Bill Bauer. Bill is working on his Sage Green Westy also, pictured later. He is bringing it back from WAAAAAY dead. Robb drives the Splitty.

Here is Robb and Bill again. Bills bus and you can see the red bug that Greg was working on when his legs got run over. Door is mangled.

Well, at days end, its time to go home. A little 93 ocatane, and I'm ready for the highway.

On the way back, I see a dealership, and swing in for a photo op with the new Jettas. Hmm. I think I'll keep what I got, thanks.

Again, 83 miles back to the house, with a tail wind, and I am running fine. Again though, right before I got home, Doodle started sputtering. I think its the points this time. Thinking about switching to electronic points. We shall see. Untill next time Constant Reader, drive somewhere in your bus today. It deserves it.

Back Home...

Hello Constant Reader. You miss me? I doubt it. But, I missed you. That counts, right? Good! Well for an update, Doodle turned out to have burned plugs on the Cold Start Valve, and Thermo Time switch. Not a huge deal, and quite a bit less than buying those parts. So I ordered a ton of parts from Bus Boys, to include plugs, plug wires, other small things. So I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

AND WAIT.

Bus boys is slow as shit, btw.

And wait.

Finally my parts come in. Plugs replaced. Got my man Robb to help with the timing. Valves adjusted again. And he fired right off. Idles well. To celebrate, I put 68 miles on him today. Ahh.....

I can't tell you how awesome it feels to be back behind the wheel of Doodle. I've missed him so. Camping to come. I promise. :)

And now this commercial break!

Due to the fact there is no new Doodle news to report, other than one large looming order from Bus Depot and Bus Boys, (more on that as it occurs) Nothing is happening. So, in lieu of no real bus news, how about one small commercial break, with all my favorite VW Westfaila Ads from generally my same year? Let us harken back to the era where gas was cheap, VWs cheaper, and you could stroll on down to the dealership and getcha a fully loaded Westfalia camper with all the trimmings, even coming back for VWoA certified maintenance should you choose to. Yum. So interested?

Yes? Excellent.

I just realized something. NONE of these have spare tires on the nose, and I dont like my spare on the nose. THAT is one of my Doodle related new year resolutions. Remove that spare tire and mount, and put an emblem on. Also, to camp more. Yes. Yes indeed.

Doodle Cruise!

Well Constant Reader, How are ya? Although, I admit that I honestly dont really think there are many "constant readers", but since I do this mostly for my own enjoyment anyway, I digress. Now, Doodles issues are often lamented in my Blogging, and honestly, I forget sometimes to mention how much I really do enjoy owning and driving him. This is one of those posts. This last Saturday was a wonderfully bright sunshiney day, and my VW Gang was having a cruise to a burger place on Rockwall Lake. What better day to strech Doodles legs and for for a drive. After about three attempts, Doods decided that yes, he did want to cruise and away we went. The meet up place is in Garland, Texas, about an hour or so on a good day away from me. The trip there was fairly uneventful, if not underpowered, until what appeared to be a bed sheet hit my front windshield momentarily then flew away. Hmm.

So I arrived at Robbs house in Garland, and parked out front....

I just really like his beetle. Something about it. Lots of character. Anywhoo. We hung around awhile, when he comes out of the garage in......

Hmm.. More on this later. I just noticed I lost my spare tire cover somewhere. Damn. Guess thats what that bedsheet that hit my window was. Lets pause for a moment out of respect for the loss of Mr. Smiley off the front of Doodle. ........................

So away we go to the meeting place. Me, following a Rambler. What an odd couple. Once there we meet up with some freinds, for good times and great photos...

Look at that sexy pair of bus butts. Clearly a difference from 59 to 77, eh? Another gratuitious Rambler vert pic, just because I think its super cool, and for no other reason...

Looks naked without that spare tire cover though. Gotta do something about that. Might even consider having that mount surgically removed, and putting the spare into the inside cabinet. Thoughts for later. Well, we are off and gone. Cruise time. Doods fired right up (because hes warm. Cold start valve maybe giving me issues? A quick google shows that costs a whopping $183.45. Damn.) and away we went. Ah. Thanks for listening to my randomness, but its nice to be back on the road with Doods, at least a little bit. Until next time constant reader, life is short. Drive a VW.