When I left off, I was heading to a repair shop in Nashville to replace my turn signal switch.

Back in Minneapolis, we had determined the intermittent problems with the brake lights were generated by the turn signal.  Problem was, we could not get one shipped to Minneapolis before I left so we looked into options during the journey.  Terry’s Service Center in Nashville was a great find and they were willing to have the part shipped to them and also give me an appointment on Friday, December 29^th, right before the long weekend.

Backing up a bit here – I could not leave town on a journey of this length without brake lights, so the always ingenious minds at Further Performance figured we could change out the back up lights to red LED’s and I would need to manually operate the brake lights by turning on and off the switch.  Considering my trip was mostly interstate driving south, this worked well.  Any city driving was a bit of a challenge, but I erred on the side of caution and pulled the brake switch often in traffic.

Terry’s Service Center was a great find!  Hey Nashville folks – this is a really well run, caring business!  Originally owned by Terry, the shop was now under the ownership of David, the mechanic who worked on my bus.  His wife helps run the front office and along with another service advisor and mechanics in back, this is a great auto repair shop.  You can hear it in the interactions with customers on the phone and in person.

And, during conversation with David, he mentioned his family likes to go to Roberts Western World on Sunday morning with their 4-year old son.  Anyone who has been to these Sunday morning services at Roberts can ‘testify’ to the power of great music and some positive words.

At a gas station, somewhere in middle Georgia…I pulled into a gas station and as I got out of the bus, another vehicle pulled in behind me blocking much of the driveway and this very large, excited fellow came running up to me.  Kinda scared the crap out of me!  He was soon joined by another fellow and a young girl.  They had to pull off the highway when they saw my bus and follow me into the station to get a better look.  Their accents told me they weren’t from Kansas and pretty quickly offered that they were from South Africa and were HUGE VW Bus fans, owning a number of them over the years and currently having a mid-80’s Westy.

Check out the tattoo on the big fellows’ arm and you can tell he is a ‘Super Fan’!

Made Savannah by nightfall yesterday and will head down to St Augustine by mid-afternoon today to hang out for a few days, then back to business on Jan 3^rd for a meeting at the Omni in Orlando, then onto Naples for a week-long conference then finally some time with Linda!

Found a quirky motel in St Augustine and it should provide some great photo opportunities!  Will also check out the campsite that Linda and I will be staying beginning January 13th and of course, will visit with Micky and Jim, friends of ours who are staying in St Augustine for the winter.

Happy New Year All!

Greeting everyone!  So much has happened since September 30^th and here we are, heading out on another journey.

When the story left off, Linda and I returned from a great western US journey, logging over 5,000 miles in our restored 67 VW Westy.  There were some required changes and repairs after the inaugural run and some changes to make us more self-sufficient and comfortable for a longer stretch of time.

One of the most significant changes was changing out the single carburetor to dual carbs – resulting in an increase of about 20 horsepower, which really helps on top cruising speeds and being able to get out of one’s own way more quickly.  We built a really strong engine to begin with, and now the carbs help delivers what was originally intended.

Front and rear wheel bearings needed replacement (one of the only items that we thought were in pretty good condition previously).  Fronts are pretty easy to do, but the rears are quite a bit more work with all the gearing back there.

The shiny new boxes on top are our new storage system from Zarges, a German case manufacturer.  While our vertical profile is greater, the added horsepower seems to overcome any resistance from the boxes.  Plus, it’s certainly a unique look!  Also added a really sweet awning system by Fiamma, an Italian supplier.

So why this trip at this time???

With a number of business projects in Florida this winter / spring, we decided to look for a window where I can bring the Westy to Florida and travel back and forth at different times in the coming months and tour the state from St Augustine to the Keys.

BUT – leaving on a -10 day was a bit crazy in a vehicle without heat!  Writing this on the morning of Day 3, and I am still thawing out here in Nashville.  That said, the window of opportunity without snow and gusting winds was narrow, so off I went.

I will only say the first day was absolutely brutal.  When the temp is -10 outside, it is about -9 inside the bus.  Just brutal.  The only saving grace was the electric blanket we purchased at Target on Tuesday evening.  Since I have an inverter on the bus (converts 12v battery to 110 household current), I was able to plug in the blanket and wrap myself in it.  Fingers and toes are another story and still not completely thawed.

Sorel’s would have been better, but pretty clumsy for driving, and it wasn’t until yesterday that I got some of those hot finger packets.  The reason was, I was too brain frozen to think about trying to warm up.  Thought most about taking a nap and letting the hypothermia take its course!

In Nashville today to replace a turn signal, which has gone defective and affecting brake lights – dang Chinese aftermarket quality!  Hoping to hit the road later today and get somewhere warm as soon as possible!

Last night, I did manage to get over to Roberts Western World – one of the finest old music honky tonks for some great music, a couple beers and a burger.  Met a husband and wife originally from Baltimore, who now reside in the Orlando area.  Both retired from the US Government (Social Security to be exact).  They are on their way to Madison WI to visit kids and grandkids.  Candy thinks we are kindred spirits since I drive the bus and she wants to 🙂    By the way, she is certain we will have enough Social Security till at least 2030 something unless people keep borrowing from it.

Off to the repair shop and hopefully more time to meet people and share stories!

Stay warm all!