may 4 2008 : portland, oregon, usa
Today we took the bus for a little drive. We went up to Seattle for a big VW cruise. Not a show mind you, but a cruise. A few hundred buses, bugs, and even a bunch of ugly little street racers, got together and drove up to Snosqualmie pass. It was insane. May 4th and the snow drifts on the side of the road at the top were 20 feet tall. Restaurants were literally buried, looking like igloos with nothing but the front doors shoveled out. Fortunately the snow wasn't falling today. We enjoyed the great weather and had a good time.
 
may 8 2008 : portland
The bus is in shambles. We'd been hearing a noise whenever I press the clutch pedal in, and have known it was only a matter of time before we'd have to address it. This week it was finally time. To get at the clutch on these old buses the engine needs to be removed. Sounds a little scary at first, but after ripping big diesel engines apart on the boat I wasn't sweating this too badly.
It really turned out to be a very simple process. Disconnect half a dozen wires, a throttle cable, and a fuel line and it's pretty much ready to drop. I slid two tire jacks underneath the engine, unscrewed four bolts and gave a pull. The engine slid straight back a few inches. After that all I had to do was push the bus forward, leaving the engine sitting there all alone.
 
The noise seems to have been coming from a bad throw out bearing, which is a pretty common issue on these things. While the engine was out it seemed like a good idea to go ahead and replace the whole clutch assembly, so I did that too. If I'd wanted to I could have put the thing back together five minutes after dropping it. However I decided to replace a couple of other small things while I was in there and had to order the parts. While I'm waiting for those I'll give the engine compartment a good detailing. It's great to be able to get right inside there and clean things up. I love how simple this bus is.
may 12 2008 : portland
I've contacted nine shipping companies trying to set up an Alaska to Russia move for the VW, but so far have only found one company that says they can do it. Problem with them is that I've had to wait two weeks just for a quote. Makes me wonder how smooth the actual shipping might go. We'll keep searching.
We also recieved the last two parts we need to finish the bus, a splash pan, and a dashboard tray. We'll finally be able to move the maps off the seat and onto the dashboard. The splash pan goes underneath and covers up the pedals and most importantly the brake master cylinder. Not the two most exciting parts ever, but we were still pretty excited to get them.
  
Tonight we went to a Portland Beavers AAA baseball game. The stadium is right in the middle of downtown and was a really cool place to spend an evening. And with beers at $8.25 it was really economical too.
may 24 2008 : portland
We've decided to just wing it with our plans. Lately it seems that whenever we try to make a plan it falls apart on us, so we're going back to the old standby of not really caring about where we go or where we end up. We'll be taking off for Alaska in a couple of weeks, and driving as many of the roads up there as the bus can handle. Eventually we'll end up in Anchorage looking for a ship headed somewhere interesting.
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