Bob made me do it...

[Fandrel64]

Hi everyone. Trying to post but keep getting a 404 error. My guess is that I'm too wordy, because I am.... So I'll break it up some.

Hi everyone! Just joined the site. Not on the road yet because of various commitments. Once those have sorted themselves out then I'll be heading out for jaunts now and again. Ultimately I ended up here because of YouTube algorithms and Bob's videos but in the long version how I got here is a lifelong convoluted story I guess and I'll relay some of it. As a kid I practically grew up in old split window VW buses. We camped and traveled all up and down Skyline Drive in a converted VW transporter with all the amenities we needed made from plywood and set up for multi use (sometimes backwards up steep hills because of gear ratios LOL). Two adults and four kids, my mom, step-dad, his 3 kids, and myself. Later my mom bought a split window VW camper and that was later my daily driver in High School (lots of explaining to parents on dates...).

 

[Fandrel64]

So VW's (I'm now on the 5th one of my own, my 3rd bug) and small camping are kind of written in my DNA I guess. So, much adulting life later I'm retired from the Army after traveling the world doing that, divorced, grown kids of my own, and recently fully retired after going to college late in life and then teaching at the same college for a number of years. In all that time every so often I've gotten the bug to build out a schoolie but never got around to it. A few years back my daughter got the bug and we had planned to build out a schoolie for her (I of course was all for it because I could live vicariously).

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Are you using a VPN ( virtual private network) by chance? I had the 404 error a few times because I had that turned on. Not on this site, but others like SEARS . com for example.

 

[Fandrel64]

Well long story short that didn't work out family wise and things have changed in that regard. But now that I've recently stopped teaching and since my kids have moved on it's just me, and while I do have a house and land I've decided that the time has come in my life to stop doing for everyone else and start doing for me (I haven't had an actual vacation away in many many years). So the current plan in the back of my mind is that when certain things here clear themselves up (I have a senior rescue dog who is nearing the end of her time) and it's just me with no one to worry about or do for but myself that the time has come to start traveling and enjoying what I've earned. For the time being I don't plan to be on the road full time and plan to keep the house as a place to journey too and from (as well as another piece of undeveloped dirt that I own out in the very remote badlands of NM that ought to make for a nice centralized base camp of sorts).

 

[Fandrel64]

So I've started to play with the idea of converting my Kia Sedona over so that I can use it not only as my daily driver and all around stuff hauler but also so that I can swap kit in and out of it and take 2, 3, or maybe even 4 week jaunts all over (my first planned trip is a Bourbon tour through Kentucky. But I'm also a cemetery, haunted places, and asylums fan so maybe those too. Maybe even a 48 state tattoo trip but we shall see.).

 

[Fandrel64]

I've managed over the years to drive from coast to coast any number of times over the years and once in as little as 3 days as needed so I figure that 2-4 weeks at a time ought to give me time to see many things and do many things and photograph many things and maybe video and blog about all of it as well as revisit friends and places I've made in all those years of traveling and moving in the past but now for me instead of because I had to and on my schedule. So that's where I stand right now. I'm in the planning stages but it gives me time to do my research, make my plans, test some builds, that sort of thing before I finally get on the road. Basically long story short, Hi!

 

[Fandrel64]

Are you using a VPN ( virtual private network) by chance?  I had the 404 error a few times because I had that turned on. Not on this site, but others like SEARS . com for example.

Nope. I think it just hates me. LOL I'm pretty sure it was way too long as a single post. I tend to be wordy.

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Ok, I got to thinking I might have the error code wrong anyway The one I got when trying to just log into a site I tend to be long-winded myself. I had a dear friend in Alabama. He talked really, Southern, which I would call "slow-winded" but still windy I talked fast, and when I was yacking one time, he just said "I talks slow, and I also hear slow" and he asked me if could repeat what I just said, lol!! Sure loved that guy, just friends, but he was in a car accident and killed while I lived down there, next door to him ;( A good memory of a man for sure.

 

[Fandrel64]

[We broke down in the Transporter once (threw a rod) and had to "camp" at the gas station for a few days. The mechanic was a very slow talking man. "Well.......I can probably.......get you a new engine...... in abouuuuut a weeek......"

I totally get it. My brain tends to run even faster than my mouth does and sometimes I get way ahead of myself. Trying to slow my life down these days.

 

[G0ldengirl68]

Yes, slowing my brain down would help with my mouth situation, lol I do love your VWs, especially your setup in that last one. My first rig was a 71 VW convertible, wow, the good times in that Dynamite little car too, traveled a lot in that to Yakima WA and back to Winston Oregon, back in the day. White pinstripe. Hindsight stinkos, if I'd of kept it, it sure went up in value. Probably why I can't let my 94 Mazda B3000 V6 w/cab-plus, go. Had since brand new, and know it so well, would feel totally insecure in a new rig I didn't know so well.

 

[Fandrel64]

I would kill to have my 67 Westy again. Mine was white and didn't have the luggage rack like this one but it was amazing.

 

[nature lover]

What is it about an old VW that makes you fall in love? I had a bus without any camper stuff in it my wife hated it because of the no heat situation I loved it. Took a trip to Rehobeth beach one time when the starter was out so we had to push it to get it started. But I still loved it. Welcome to the forum and in a non-cliché way thank you for your service.

 

[Fandrel64]

What is it about an old VW that makes you fall in love?

It's the sound. NOTHING sounds like a Dub!

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Fandrel to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

Highdesertranger

 

[StarkRavingNomad]

I like your title. "Bob made me do it..." I wish there was a way to count all of us. I too was a lifelong camper, but had no idea about the nomadic lifestyle until Bob providentially showed up in my YouTube suggestions. I was just talking with a (camp) neighbor, recounting how I came to the road. When I said, "stumbled on a video" she said, "Was it Bob?" I said, "Of course!" Same for her!

 

[G0ldengirl68]

I had friends that worked with me at the Wildlife Safari in Winston Oregon, this was when it was first created somewhere around 71. One of the guys had a VW that had, if I remember right, a Corvette engine in it. It was ridiculously funny to ride with him into Roseburg, the "big" city 10 miles from us, partly I-5 freeway. We'd keep up and pass anything on the highway, lol! I so wish now I would have gotten pics of that rig, it was a riot!

I don't know the story behind that "conversion" especially me not knowing anything other than how to drive a vehicle

 

[highdesertranger]

It was probably a Corvair engine. A much easier conversion. Highdesertranger

 

[user 423]

Back in the day, there was an early VW dune buggy conversion with a turbo Corvair engine that was raced up Pikes Peak.

It beat everything, including a 427 Cobra.

 

[wayne49]

HTTP 404 is a resource not found.

I suspect by your comment, that you took too long to compose the post, and the "resource" timed out, then when you hit POST, the server's link to the temporary post was dead and gone, resulting in 404.

Solution: to compose a lengthy post, if you must, do it offline in a notepad editor, then paste into the browser, review, then hit POST.

 

[wayne49]

VW Microbus in St Paul, Mn winter, my brother used a Coleman catalytic heater. He also wrapped an Army wool blanket around his waist and legs.

I had a VW Squareback and I used the blanket method. Being a smaller cabin than the bus, the exhaust heater was sufficient. Besides, back then people dressed in layers for the winter, not so much dressing for fashion.

To prewarm the engine, I once put charcoal in an oven pan and slid the glowing coals under the block. Replaced the end of life battery that was the root of the issue.