Gassed up in Tonopah and headed south on 95. Decided after the dinner the night before, I could skip a meal or two. First sign once out of town…’Next Service 90 Miles’. 211 miles of 2-lane road and lots of semi’s going 70+. The great news is this entire trip the weather gods have been kind. Didn’t get ‘Kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet…’.

Decided to power into Vegas and get the drive behind me. It’s Thursday and I need to see a quality air cooled shop as I’m dripping oil a bit. Thinking the seal on the oil cooler has failed. Did some research and have a storage unit I want to check out considering we’ll leave the Westy in Vegas till May.

Connected with Justin, the owner of the Beetle Barn. His father started the shop over 60 years earlier. Confident in the choice.

He confirmed my suspicion and next week he’ll get a new oil cooler installed. Bummer is, the engine needs to be pulled for this. The only good news is now all components can be fully checked and tightened / repaired. Great thing is, even with the oil leak, the engine performed really well. I’m just not sure my anxiety can handle it anymore 🙂 But – this will put all my concerns about the bad work done in Portland to rest.

Once completed, Justin will get the bus over to 24/7 RV Storage in Vegas, where I’ve secured a spot (written at different times).So, by Friday night, all my chores are completed and I can fly home…problem is, my flight is not till Sunday and due to the huge SEMA auto show in Vegas, one way flights back Friday or Saturday are $1,000+. So, I’ll be staying out by the airport till I fly cause hotels are $300/night on the strip.

Will leave you with some photos of an option to be considered when stranded in Vegas for a couple days.

Bye for now.

Without you, not sure anyone would know about Tonopah! Staying at the Mizpah Hotel in downtown 🙂 Tonopah. When built in 1905, it was the tallest building in Nevada. A huge silver strike was discovered here at the turn of the century and a group of citizens felt they needed a ‘respectable’ hotel in their town. Shuttered in 2000, it was reopened in 2011 by the Cline wine family.One of its claims to fame is the fact it’s haunted. Evidently in the 1920’s, a lady of the night was murdered on the 5th floor and her ghost is present everywhere. Interestingly, I did hear footsteps in the hallway last night and nobody was there!Cute couple.Accommodations on the 5th floor…just a few doors down from the suite where they lady met her fate.Lightly dressed wedge salad.Followed by chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and some sort of veggie that melted in my mouth 😳

Happenings since my last postMeet Duane, the owner of the hot springs and builder of the bath house. Super nice fellow, living his passion out in the upper desert.Pool in the bathhouseOutdoor pools overlooking the lake.One final picture study with Gary.

While I could have stayed longer in the desert, I needed to make tracks south. Connected with Robin and Randy and made plans to have dinner with them and camp in their driveway for the night. Great seeing them again!

I had an early conference call on Tuesday morning, so once the sun started to rise, I left Eagleville for Cedarville where I’d have cell service and grab a breakfast.

Traffic on the highway was pretty busy getting to Cedarville!Robin and Randy suggested the cafe in Cedarville and breakfast was great!After breakfast, needed to make tracks toward Reno. Kept driving and made it to Carson City NV by late afternoon and thought staying inside for the night and an indoor shower sounded pretty great. Of course, what would a casino be without a Prime Rib special for $9.99! And, not sure how it is a ‘special’, if it is every day!They learned their veggie secret prep from the Mizpah Hotel. How they keep their shape as veggies, but once you put one in your mouth, it dissolves without requiring chewing. No texture, no flavor, no reason.

Thursday morning

Need to pack it in and try to get close to Vegas today. Will need to find a storage unit for my Westy and I’m still wanting to find a reputable air cooled shop to verify that no further damage has been done to my baby.

Final note from a commercial on TV – I’m no marketing expert (after 40 years in the biz), but thinking if you name a product with a made up name, Turd should not be the first part of the name. Just sayin!

Fast forward 30 days from that f’d up trip and I’m back in Bend to pick up my Westy. Christian, from the auto shop, and I have been texting, calling and emailing during this time and everything is ready as planned. It was very gracious of him to pick me up on a Saturday morning and bring me to the shop. Thanks again!

Oil Leaks – mechanic was very surprised how loose all oil fittings were. Tightened all, cleaned the engine / compartment and looked for any other oil leaks. All good.

Alternator – did not need to replace as the alternator cable was pinched and eventually exposed to bare metal and shorted. Coincidence that it occurred right after it was washed.

Fan Belt – replaced

Since they specialize in auto electrical items, I had them redo my inverter, which has never adequately worked. Seems the cable diameter we originally used from the battery to the inverter under the jump seat was significantly undersized. Ran a copper cable the diameter of my thumb and all good. Now I can make coffee or use a heater when no shore power is available.

By noon, I was heading out of town towards Summer Lake Oregon. I’ve got a reservation for a campsite at the Summer Lake Hot Springs about 125 miles southeast.

Finally out of Bend and checking gauges every 15 seconds waiting for the other shoe to drop, but everything was running and feeling great. Stopped for gas and checked the oil and back on the road. Don’t want to be the kiss of death, but she’s running strong, like she should.

Summer Lake is a large, alkali lake. About 25,000 acres and average depth of 1′. Yes that is correct. From my previous run up here, I’ve mentioned these large alkali lakes and dry lake beds.

Anyway, Duane built this place in 1988 on the hot springs and there is a large indoor pool and outside soaking tubs, all at various temps.

Additionally, there are cabins (heated geothermal floors) and campsites.

Nice campsite! This place is simply simple and beautiful. Was going to spend one night, but the peace and tranquility encouraged a second!

The next 3 shots are of the bathhouse. All taken from the exact spot with my new iPhone using 3 different focal length settings.

Just beautiful out here.

Love these options 👍🏼

Picture study of Gary

And again

So, it’s about 60 degrees and you just bask in the sunlight.

Then the sun goes behind the mountain and the temp drops 10 to 15 degrees within 30 seconds! No kidding.

Flyover country

New low light feature on the iPhone. Got to say I am impressed.

One final note. It was 60 degrees during the day and I wasn’t quite sure how cold it would get, but decided to plug in the heating pad to put by my feet as the back door does get pretty cold at night. Also put the heater on low.

Woke up to this…

More from the road in a day or so. Hoping to stop in on Robin and Randy tomorrow.

October 1st – a day targeted for at least 6 months. Last day as owner of my agency. We’re having a handoff moment with the new owner, my son, along with all the employees. Toasting with an Oregon sparkling before I uber off into the morning to catch my flight to Portland.

I’m taking 10 days to move the bus from Portland to Las Vegas, where we’ll get a storage unit and make winter trips from there.Land around 11AM and get to the storage unit and my baby starts right up.

Check in at the VW shop. They’re expecting me, but they don’t guarantee a specific time. It’s usually within a day or two, which I’ve accounted for. With only 1 or 2 air cooled mechanics, you’re in queue starting that time. Old school repair shop with husband and wife owners. She is Chatty Cathy about busses, which is sweet but might explain why her husband doesn’t say anything.Strange thing is…not many air cooled busses here…hmmmGrabbed a great burger in a corner bar and dropped my Westy off right before closing. They said I’d be first in the AM. Excellent. All they’re doing is an oil change and valve adjustment, so I should be on the road in no time.

Around noon on Oct 2nd, the mechanic and I chat about what was completed, gave him a $20 for beer and off I go.

I’ve got a reservation about 150 miles away in Maupin Oregon at a campground along the Deschutes River on the way to Bend Oregon. (not my photo)

Didn’t want to take the straight east, over mountain route, due to possible snowstorms, so instead, chose the northeastern route out of Portland up the Columbia River Gorge and then heading south on HWY 197 once on the eastern side of the Cascades. All of it incredibly scenic and breathtaking.(also not my photo)

For some reason, I’ve had an uncomfortable feeling this entire trip. Life was too perfect and all this riding off into the sunset crap seemed all to easy!

And the shoe drops about 75 miles up the Columbia River when I look down at my gauges to see my oil pressure at 0 psi!

Immediately pulled over and my heart dropped when I opened the engine compartment – oil is sprayed all over the engine bay and there is a large pool of oil beneath the oil filter. WTF!!!First thing I wanted to do was call the shop and scream at them. Unfortunately, there was no cell service where I was and that would make any call for assistance impossible!

Got some tools and a roll of paper towels to see where the problem was. Tightened the oil filter – the 17mm nut on top was pretty loose and the gasket was not fully seated, so fixed that. Then checked all oil lines and tightened the oil drain and screen trap, which were also loose! Added oil to top off what was lost and fired her back up. Oil pressure was steady (for now).

There is a heavy coating of oil all over the engine compartment. See if you can spot where I wiped oil away in 3 spots on the right carb – keeping in mind the oil leak came from the left of the left carbs!

Gingerly, I headed back on the highway in hopes of getting a cell signal and pushing on another 75 miles to my campground.

Made it to the campground and checked the engine bay once again and no new oil was spewing, so I closed it up and decided it was a chore for 1st thing in the morning.

Got an early start and reached into the engine compartment. My hand hit some bare metal and I felt 110 volts running through my body! WTF part deux!!! Quickly pulled the shore power connection and the shock was gone. OK now I have a ground problem to figure out!

Break camp and head to Bend. After a bit, stop for gas and to check the oil. OK now I notice part of my fan belt has broken off and ripped a hole though my heater vent pipes. WTF part trois!!!

Need to get to Bend as quickly as possible to find an air cooled shop in order to continue on this run to Vegas!

Made it to Young’s Ole Volks Home in Bend. Jerry’s a super nice guy, but already overcommitted. He said go to the car wash and come back with the engine clean and I can take a closer look. Did that, and was super careful about covering carbs, coil and alternator with plastic before I started. Finished up and headed back to the shop. Then the alternator light comes on and wont shut off! WTF part trois + Un!!!

This is bad and I must have gotten water in there and ruined the alternator. Jerry suspected the brushes were covered in oil and now it needs to be rebuilt. Now there was too much for Jerry to take on.

Found Specialty Automotive, which is a local Bend shop specializing in electronics and has great mechanics. Pleaded my case with the owners (husband and wife again, but this feels really different!) to consider working on it and if they could, keep it inside at nights when the shop is closed.

These folks could not have been nicer and agreed to work on my bus. They can’t look at it for a couple weeks, but I’ve got some weird juju going on and it needs quality attention, so all good. Booked a flight back home on Saturday morning. Nice. How’s that retirement thingy going!?

Well, in defense of my Westy, we’ve gone 17,500 miles and not a single trip-ending breakdown (until now), so there is that!

Side note…would not recommend the shop in Oregon. The owner guy told me to bring it back in and they’d look at it, but couldn’t guarantee when!? And, the mechanic…well, WTF dude…even after discussing what was happening and how I might rectify it, maybe an apology? Worst $20 tip ever.