[FC] Re: <VV> Road Trip Saga: Yuma to Victoria (very, very long) <---no kidding! ...

[Thesuperscribe at cs.com]

Joel:

May I have your permission to use this LOL line from your yarn in any novel I 
may eventually write (but probably will never get to)?...

"Monday morning we're up at 8:00am and looking for a decent meal.  An IHOP is
just down the road from where we're parked, but after eating, we're still
looking for a decent meal."

Thanks, ey?

--Tom Berg

***

In a message dated 5/13/2005 6:19:25 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
westerncanadacorsa at shaw.ca writes: 
> 
> Some folks have been asking about our adventurous trip bringing a 1961
> Rampside w/Scamper Camper from Yuma, Arizona to Victoria, British Columbia
> this past weekend.  I am now sufficiently recovered that I should be able to
> sit down and put my thoughts in some kind of reasonably coherent form.
> 
> Last fall one of our buddies decided he wanted a Rampside.  As he is the
> only member of our little clan that doesn't have a 'vair we put things into
> high gear and began the search for a Rampside for him.  This culminated in a
> reconnaissance trip down the Washington State examining any RS we could find
> whether it was for sale or not.  In the end we hit the mother-lode and found
> an elderly gentleman that had one on his property that he had sold two years
> previous but the current owner had never come to pick it up.  It was a
> serious project, but it was still in original blue paint which meant there
> was no hiding any bumps, dents or warts.  (Many thanks to Rollie for turning
> us onto this vehicle, while so sick he sounded like he had one foot in the
> grave)  While we were inspecting this RS the gentleman mentioned that if we
> liked this one, then we should see the TWO more he had down in Yuma.  I had
> an old friend in Yuma who was kind enough to go out to take pictures of
> these 'vairs for us.
> 
> One was a white '62 with a scamper, the other a yellow '61.  Pretty soon our
> gang had Rampside Fever and we worked it out that Shawn would acquire the
> abandoned blue RS, James would take the white one with the camper and I
> would fulfill my long held dream of a RS of my own with the Yellow one.
> Shortly afterwards we made yet another trip down to Seattle to pick up the
> blue Rampside and it has received many hours of work and will be going in
> for paint very soon.
> 
> Life has a way of taking funny changes and James (and Terri's) new baby
> arrived at the end of April and he lost interest in the white Rampside.  I
> however, was absolutely in love with the lonely yellow Rampside.  After some
> negotiations with the current owner (over several months, much patience
> required) it was worked out that I could purchase the Yellow Rampside AND
> the camper from the white one.  Turns out, after agreeing to sell the white
> rampy to James, the owner had had a change of heart and didn't want to part
> with the white rampside, but at 84 there are no plans for camping in the
> near future and he was more than happy to sell the camper.
> 
> So I've got a deal worked out, the only problem is I've got to get to Yuma,
> move a 800lb camper from one RS to another and then get the whole kit and
> kaboddle home to Victoria, over 1700miles away!  So begins our adventure....
> 
> Steve Paine of CNW, a seriously great guy, and friend, was kind enough to
> pick us up at the pier in Seattle, and then drive us to the airport.  "Us"
> being myself and Mike (of Westbrier fame) We arrived around 11:30pm of
> Thursday May 5th and began the process of ensuring our four bags, weighted
> down with tools, reference material and spare parts wouldn't exceed the 50lb
> per bag weight limit.  Lucky for us the scales at the check-in counter
> aren't turned off and with nothing better to do we began moving items from
> one bag to another in search of the perfectly weighted luggage.  In the end
> we had each bag within ONE POUND of the maximum allowed!  Unfortunately
> U.S.Customs was not so thrilled with a few of my spare parts; the back up
> fuel pump and pertronix equipped distributor were pulled from my baggage and
> held by the airline.  Kudos to AmericaWest Airline for holding the parts in
> trust (they could have simply let the Customs Service dispose of them) and
> further kudos to Steve Paine for agreeing to come back into Seattle to pick
> them up at their desk.
> 
> Our flight left Seattle at 5:40am on Friday and we arrived in Yuma at
> 11:00am.  The friend I hadn't seen in 13 years came out to the airport,
> picked us up, took his to his place for a shower and spent most of the rest
> of the day driving me around Yuma in search of parts we'd identified from
> our preliminary inspection as being in need of replacement.  Mike had worked
> his magic on the carbs, and thankfully the yellow RS was equipped with an
> electric fuel pump that allowed us to pump out the fuel lines without
> running a dry motor (over six years since it had last turned a crankshaft)
> or pumping bad fuel into the carbs.  A new master cylinder, a brake
> inspection, bleeding, greasing, etc, etc netted us a vehicle we could take
> for a drive by late Saturday night.  We still had several hurdles to
> overcome, including new tires and a temp. license to be allowed on the
> roadways.  My old friend from Yuma had pointed out that we could get our
> temp plate on line, so late Saturday afternoon we headed into Yuma and found
> an internet cafe at about 4:05.  Unfortunately the cafe closed at 4:00 on
> Saturdays, but some door knocking and serious begging allowed us access to
> the net.  Yet more unfortunate, the cafe didn't have a printer, so I saved,
> cut and pasted the browser page for the license every way I knew how and
> emailed it across to the UPS store to be printed out.  Thankfully the girl
> at the UPS store was able to print out one of the images so we now had a
> valid AZ temp plate.  It was now 4:40 and we had 20 minutes to travel the
> rest of the way from the Foothills into Yuma to the Discount Tire to pick up
> both some tires I had ordered for my Corsa coupe at home, and new badly
> needed rubber for the RS.  If we didn't make it in time we'd be stuck in
> Yuma until at least Monday morning and even facing the prospect that the
> whole thing would have to be abandoned.  One more desperate phone call, this
> time to the Discount Tire, would they keep their doors open?  We'd even
> resort to bribery.  We pulled in just at 5:00, and the crew at the Discount
> Tire were good enough to stay a little later to give our mount some new
> shoes.  A toast to the guys at the Discount Tire in Yuma, I hope the enjoyed
> the flat (24) of beers we tipped them with, as it was well earned!
> 
> So we've got the temp plate, new tires and the Rampy is now in reasonable
> running order, but there is still more work to-do.  Back to the garage, we
> work late into the night getting the last items taken care of.  Before
> staggering into bed Mike and I agree that if we don't have the camper
> transferred by 1:00 on Sunday afternoon that part of the project will have
> to be abandoned, and the Lovely Laura will be doomed to sleeping in a tent
> for the rest of her life.
> 
> Sunday morning comes early and we struggle out of bed around 8:00am.  The
> owner of the Rampside is awake and has assembled a large group of his
> retired friends.  The garage has a high cathedral ceiling supported with
> strong iron "I" beams.  The plan is to put a large strap around the front
> overhang of the camper, and another around the rear, like big belts.  The
> belts would be joined on the top, front to rear by a large piece of scrap,
> heavy steel angle iron.  The angle iron would be connected to a chain hoist
> attached at the highest point in the vaulted ceiling.  Our measurements
> showed that if we hit all the connections just right we should have an inch
> or two to spare to slide the white Rampside out from under the camper and
> then move the yellow one in.  Stretch in the belts/ropes/chains resulted in
> being a half an inch short of our goal, but letting some air out of the rear
> tires on both vehicles allowed us to barely make the switch.  The Yellow RS
> had it's new camper dropped in by 12:45, just 15 minutes short of our self
> imposed deadline.
> 
> By 4:00pm on Sunday we were packed up and on the road to Victoria, no
> working fuel gauge, but we've got the odo and with some conservative
> calculations we should be able to figure out when we're going to need gas.
> 12 miles out of Yuma the speedo cable snaps.  Now we're faced with the
> prospect of no fuel gauge, no odo and no speedo.  The lack of a speedo soon
> results in the temp light coming on.  We're trying to take it easy in the
> desert, but even at the best of times it's hard to hear an engine (all 80hp
> btw, coupled to a four speed) in a Rampside, drop a camper on top of it and
> it becomes virtually impossible.  We pull over and check the oil (could be
> pressure too right?) and while I've certainly seen 'vair engines that felt
> hotter after say, a big climb over a mountain pass, we're not going to try
> to second guess the temp gauge.  So we try to keep out of the throttle too
> much and gently nurse her north through the desert.  The temp light comes on
> three more times, but as soon as we're out of the arid and hot air it never
> comes on again.  We push on that night focused on the idea that we might
> have just timed it perfectly to get through the nightmare of LA traffic.  It
> turns out we did, and by 4:00am we are safely north of LA in a Walmart
> parking lot, our eyelids are heavy, but we made it.  This gets us to my
> second worst case scenario (worst case being abandoning the vehicle even
> before leaving Yuma) Now that we are near LA it wouldn't be too difficult to
> ship it to Seattle if it came to that.
> 
> Monday morning we're up at 8:00am and looking for a decent meal.  An IHOP is
> just down the road from where we're parked, but after eating, we're still
> looking for a decent meal.  A dash into Walmart nets us a GPS so not only
> will we know how fast we're going, but in which direction, at what elevation
> and for how long we've been driving.  Right next to Wally's is a Camping
> World.  At that moment in time this intersection seemed like nirvana to us,
> it had food, and answer to our speedo/odo/fuel issues, AND Mirrors!  I had
> looked all over Yuma for some mirrors that would work on the Yellow
> Rampside, and you'd think a town who's population doubles each winter from
> Snowbirds, many of them driving RVs, would have some mirrors we could use.
> But my searching in Yuma had resulted in no useable mirrors, and a co-driver
> constantly leaning out the window to check if it was safe to make a lane
> change.  But our hopes are fulfilled and Camping World has the absolute
> perfect mirrors, fully adjustable and they don't require drilling holes in
> the pretty yellow paint.
> 
> By 11:00am we're rolling again.  The 80hp motor has found it's sweet spot
> between 50 and 55mph and we are becoming adept at giving the big rigs a
> quick flash of the lights to let them know it is safe to pull in in front of
> us.  Trading speed for heat we nurse the Rampside up the first pass north of
> LA, getting down to 25mph on the steepest grades, but once you find the
> sweet spot in the right gear, she holds and pulls for all she's worth.  That
> night we develop our first squeak.  I've been paranoid the entire time,
> refusing to listen to music (headphones and a CD player, it's a barebones
> Rampy with no radio, cig lighter, armrests or passenger sunvisor) constantly
> on the listen/smell out for the first sign of trouble.  We pull into a
> Casino parking lot and I drive around in circles while Mike jogs beside
> trying to identify to offending culprit.  He thinks it's the front left
> wheel.  Stupidly however, despite being in just about every autoparts store
> in Yuma, I have forgotten to purchase a jack, and at this hour, in this
> place it's highly unlikely we're going to get one.  Never one to give up, I
> walk into the gas station searching for likely prospects to approach.  The
> middle aged gent behind the counter seems like a good one, so I approach him
> and explain my predicament, and add I'd be more than happy to give him ten
> dollars for the rental of his jack for a half an hour or so.  It turns out I
> was a good judge of a book's cover (or just lucky) because he had just
> finished doing a brake job on his daughter's car and still had all his tools
> with him.  Mike wisely ices the deal when the gentleman opens his trunk and
> we spot an honest to gawd shop style jack; he whips out a fifty and says
> that it should be a good enough deposit to ensure we'll return the jack,
> besides, we're Canadian, we don't do that sort of thing.  He agrees and
> we've quickly got the front left wheel off.  The inspection doesn't reveal
> anything telling, but we repack the bearing just to be safe and Mike, his
> stock and trade being paintless dent removal, also stretches out the dust
> cap that shows signs on the inside of having rubbed against something.  (At
> one time or another somebody had obviously used a hammer and tried to put
> the cap back on cockeyed)
> 
> And we keep on rolling, ever northward, driving in shifts, eating poorly,
> but always moving towards our goal.  I had a huge list of places I would
> have like to have stopped at if time permitted, but all those in SoCal have
> to be abandoned in the hope that we might make it back for a ferry to the
> island on Tuesday night.  When it becomes apparent that we're not going to
> make any of the Tuesday sailings it is decided that we have the time to make
> a few stops.  The first one is a shower, and some negotiations with a motel
> outside of Salem nets us a half hour of hot water for twenty bucks.
> Possibly the best twenty dollars I've ever spent.  Underground also heads
> the list as just about anything rubber on this vehicle is beyond saving,
> plus we've got the Westbrier and Shawn's blue Rampside all under
> construction for Portland.
> 
> One final stop was a had-to-do.  Joe Macmurchie has been a huge help to our
> young "gang" of 'vair nuts here in Victoria, lending out his jack and
> sharing his years of experience with us.  A while back he mentioned that Bob
> in Portland had a couple of rebuilt FC axles and bearings waiting for him,
> he'd bought them several years back but had never had the opportunity to
> pick them up.  I knew if we managed to get as far as Portland that an effort
> had to be made to pick the shafts up.  Bob had left them at his back door as
> promised, but Mike had never met Bob and I knew his eyes would pop out of
> his head when he saw a few of the nifty and unique items he has stashed
> away.  Seeing we actually had time to spare now, it seemed like a good
> opportunity to catch some ZZZzsss.  It was 5:30 on Tuesday night and we
> didn't have to be in Port Angeles 7:00am on Wednesday, surely Bob would be
> home soon......  Better yet, we were carrying our little-used beds with us,
> this would be a good opportunity to catch up on some sleep.  At 7:30pm Bob's
> partner Fran knocks on the glass, not at all surprised to see a road stained
> Rampside parked at the curb outside her house.   "He's not home yet, but
> come inside".  So Mike and I tip toe downstairs and I try to give my
> co-pilot the 'vair tour, drawing back to my memory of my last visit, six
> years ago.  We set a deadline of 8:30 to hit the road, Bob or no Bob.  When
> the designated time rolls around I take my time saying so-long to Fran,
> hoping that he just might show.  With my hand on the door knob headlights
> swing into the driveway and I get the chance to catch up with Bob, and Mike
> gets a first class tour, and some nifty parts to boot!
> 
> The party can't last forever though, and by 11:00pm it's time for us to hit
> the road once again.  Oregon had flown by, and Washington seemed to do the
> same, all until we hit the 101 north from Olympia to Port Angeles.  I've
> done it twice before, and it's 119miles always seem to be the longest ones I
> know.  It's a slow, winding, two lane highway that travels up and down, and
> back and forth along the east coast of the Olympic peninsula.  In day time,
> in a tight LM coupe it's a delightful drive.  But overtired, and late at
> night after driving some 1700miles it an virtually unknown 44 year old pick
> up truck, burdened with a heavy camper, it just seems to take forever.  We
> do however manage to keep our attention sharp when we realize that
> unbeknownst to each other, we are both avid Barenaked Ladies fans (the music
> group, well, and the other kind too, but for the purpose of this story, just
> the band).  With BNL's "Gordon" in the CD player and both sets of headphones
> on we sing ourselves awake all the way to the ferry. (I only had the
> headphones on one ear.... did ya think I was going to give up my paranoia
> this late in the game?!?!).  We make Port Angles by 5:30am, but are too
> afraid to go to sleep for fear of missing the ferry.  So we busy ourselves
> cleaning up and organizing the camper for the final and most fearful stage
> of the journey.... Canada Customs. <insert ominous music here>
> 
> Canada Customs turns out to be a breeze, simply having to wait while they
> filled out the required paperwork, and then paying the GST on the value of
> the vehicle.  By 11:00am on Wednesday we were back on Canadian soil.  After
> dropping my intrepid co-pilot off at work I swung by the Lovely Laura's
> office to show her the new acquisition.  I hadn't even finished her first
> short jaunt around the block when she began asking whether we'd be able to
> do this or change that to make it "ours", so I can only assume it's got her
> stamp of approval.
> 
> One final note.  I would like to publicly thank Mike for taking on this near
> insane mission with me.  The list of things that could have happened to ruin
> our trip is long, and somehow we managed to avoid them all.  Even with all
> of our good luck however, it was still an incredibly grueling experience, to
> which he never got discouraged and never gave up, even though he had no
> reason to do this other than I call him a friend.  He is a solid guy with a
> heart of gold and I just want to say "Thanks".
> 
> To all those on <VV> that thought the Canadian from Toronto was crazy for
> wanting to drive that ebay-'60 from Colorado, this is just to let you know,
> that all of us Canucks are a little crazy.  Corvair Crazy that is....
> 
> Regards,
> Joel