Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:29 am Post subject: Roadcow Trip #4
As we headed out of Joseph, Oregon I saw a Foriegn car repair shop with a nice Orange 76 Westy out back. I hauled Roadcow into the parking space. ( my wife is very patient with my addiction) and talked to "david" the owner of the shop. I asked if the Westy was for sale and he said maybe. I left my info. with him and am looking forward to a phone call soon.
Now with the darned exhaust torn off it made Roadcow bellow a bit louder and i would get mad every time I'd drive by a building and hear the echo. Oh well I've been meaning to redesign the exhaust anyway.
We drove down some beaurtiful areas and the Bus ran great. I normally travel at 4200 rpm which works out to 72 mph with the 71 transmission ratio. Today I kept having to take my foot off of the go pedal as I kept running 5000 rpm and it seemed like it wanted to go faster. We drove to the main highway ( Hwy 84) and went North about 20 miles to catch the dirt road ( didn't know this at first) which would take us south into the John Day Wilderness. I really enjoyed hauling Roadcow down thagt road. Not as fast as SST with my wife inside but I did see the side of the bus a few times as it slid around some hairpin turns. We found a really cool road that went through some scenic canyons and I chased 7 harleys through until they pulled over and let us by.
We also found a Shoe Tree!!! These are very rare trees that sprout up in the deserts. There's one in Southern Calif. that we pass on the way to the VW Classic and this is only the second one I've seen! It seemed to be flourishing and growning tall. Agsain Chris allowed me to turn around to take a picture with Roadcow next to it. There were all sorts of new blossoms and it was an interesting tree.
After resuming our drive we stopped by the side of the road in a beautiful turn out since it was really hot. We walked doen to the stream and waded out into the current and just sat in the cool mountain water. It was really refreshing and made the rest of the drive very pleasant.
As I'm really moving down this back road I hear a" thunk" and look back to see the radiator cover for reoadcow sliding on the road. darn, I'd seen the screws holding the cover to the Westy rack looked rusty and worn. It was 85 mph and a sid wind which took it off. I turned back and picked it up and horsed it up on top of roadcow. now to find something to tie it down with. I found a length of rope which I used to mtie diagonally from the air intake grill to one of my Pop Top hold down turn buckles, but I couldn't find a piece of string long enough for the other side. After a long search i found that if I took the draw striungs oiut of the folding chair bag it would work. so off we went again kinda bandaged up but none the worse for wear. We drove like this for several hours going West towasrd Bemnd, Oregon. About 2 hours later i looked in the mirror after I passed a Huge motor home and i thought that the Radiator cover looked a bit askew. So I turned off on this side road at the bottom of the hill. I got out and it looked fine, but I chinched down on the tie down ropes just in case." Humm, this road has potential"! We drove on for a few miles all the time looking for a remote camping site along the river. I found it! Igt was quite a drop off but Roadcow made it easilly. We again parked right on the river! It was almost burried where we parked and no bugs! Only 1 car went by the whole time we were there.
I popped the top and chris got to cooking. I found a box of wet flies that someone had dropped for fishing as I explored the area.
I was wondering what on earth is a shoe tree-----till I read on and saw the pics. Isn't there a thong one on the Nulaboor? _________________ Di
Kombi Karma - you know it makes sense
www.klaus1.bigblog.com.au
76 8 seater poptop, resto'd in a fashion
Maybe not the Nulaboor then when Hamish and Andy from 92.9 did their roadtrip from Perth to the other side, i remember them finding a thong tree. _________________ Di
Kombi Karma - you know it makes sense
www.klaus1.bigblog.com.au
76 8 seater poptop, resto'd in a fashion
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We found a really cool road that went through some scenic canyons and I chased 7 harleys through until they pulled over and let us by.
when Hamish and Andy from 92.9 did their roadtrip from Perth to the other side, i remember them finding a thong tree. 
) But I agree a Thong 
Tree could be interesting.