New Job, New Apartment, New city

So I was offered a very good position as sous chef of a restaurant in Philly.  It was to open July 1st, so Lynn and I talked it over and decided it was a good choice to make.  We set it up with my parents that we could put the bus in the backyard amongst a bit of trees and camp out until we found a place in the city.  We then packed up the house, and planned out how we would get our non running bus, and all our things to NJ.  Uhaul seemed to be the best choice we had.  We looked into having the bus shipped and having a moving company come to the house the cheapest way was to rent a uhaul and a car trailer.  We did that.  it was 500.00 plus gas for a uhaul packed to the gills and a trailer with a bus packed to its gills, then our car packed with records and two cats and Lynn driving it.  It was outrageously insane!  I could not believe how much the trailer kept jerking and almost stopping the truck at all speeds.  Being 2 mph or 20 it barely moved. The trailer felt like it was going to rip the whole back of the truck off.  It took us 12 hours to drive from Ohio to NJ.  It was the most nerve racking drive of both my and Lynn's lives.  But we eventually made it.

Ruby rested here on the trailer for 24 hours while we took all of our stuff to the uhaul self storage facility and returned then came back home to remove bus from the trailer, and replace the generator.  We have been waiting for about a month until we could fix it.  So the day after we got to NJ, Lynn, Luna, and I set off to replace the generator.  It was hella hot.  So we used an ez up to keep cool.  It took us about35 minutes to pop the motor out, then I skated down to the garage at the corner and they popped the generator bolt off, and replaced the fan on new generator for us.  Then back to the house.

So with the new generator in we went for a ride around the block.  All good!  So we went for it, cruised down to my buddy brads house to show him the bus for the first time.  We hung out and went home no problems in Ruby world.  So we have again a running driving Ruby.  We set out in the yard to find us a nice spot to park, and make our residence for a while.  Just behind the trees you can slightly see our Ruby.  

So we found a nice spot to keep our bus for the time being and ran an extension cord to the house to power our fan, and stereo, and laptop for dvd watching.  We were all set.  We had a few visitors come by and we took them for rides in the bus.  Lynn and I decided to go grocery shopping one day while it was slightly drizzling.  We stopped for windshield wipers, and then went to the grocery store.  We got our stuff and were back out in the bus.  About two minutes goes by, and the motor squeals.  We pulled over and opened the engine hatch.  It was of course the generator.  This new one was a used one.  It did not work out as well as we had hoped. The generator  bearings went bad, and so the generator is not charging.  We nursed ruby  back to the house.  In route losing the headlights, and so Ruby was once again undriveable.  I have to replace it again.  So now to decide what one to purchase and pull the motor again. ughh. We parked ruby in the spot you saw and stayed there until November 15th.  When we finally found our apartment.  Now the bus is sitting in the driveway covered by a few tarps awaiting the new year.  This leaves us at the present time. Ruby needs new steering, tires, front brakes, and suspension. First parts on the list will definitely be a generator, and a single vacuum advance distributor.  I am very excited to get Ruby running and we have a big summer planned for camping and finally yes finally we are going to camp in our bus not in our yard.  The last day we slept in the bus was November the 15th, and when we walked away with the bus empty we took this last picture.  

We spent 3 months in the bus, rain and shine and in through the cold.  It was incredible Lynn me and Luna in the bus Honestly it was great, I miss the bus.  Every day we spent in the bus made us love it even more.  It was a growing experience for us as a family.  I think we did great because we survived.  hahah. 

Next Stop West Cleveland Vw Swap Meet.

So with about a week of driving this semi-road worthy bus back and forth to work.  An average of 20 miles per day.  We had deemed it worthy of highway speeds.  We parked the bus in the backyard Wednesday before the swap meet, and decided to try camping out in our bus for the first time.  We set up our laptop to watch a movie, and had a small fire in the chimney  a few feet from the bus.  Luna was playing in the yard, and we had eaten hot dogs and hamburgers that we cooked on our small camp grill, perched atop the table we had received for xmas.  At this point we were sipping coffee from our camp percolator and relaxing in our camp chairs.  Bus open in the back and on the side.

What happens next of course you must have seen this coming on our first night in the bus sleeping ever.  The sky opened up and rain poured down on us.  We quickly jumped up and closed the rear hatch, and then jumped in the bus closing all windows, and doors to keep the rain out. . . . . . HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that may have been the single most ridiculous thing I ever said.  We layed down on the bed, the wrong way.  heads towards the rear hatch, and instantly our faces and pillows were wet.  Apparently the rear hatch seal is not so great....  So we grabbed our cell phones, for our alarm clocks, because we did have work in the morning.  And we ran for the house, Luna right behind us.  Forgetting 1 important thing..  It had rained about 3 million gallons in the last 25 minutes, and we are parked in the lowest spot of the yard.  Which coincidentally is the only flat spot in the yard.  So when I stepped out the water was about 6 inches deep.  I went in to my ankles. Woooooo. hahah So into the house muddy and wet Luna totally drenched.  Bath time.  ugh and we are only camping in the back yard.....So hopefully Thursday is alittle better.  I do not have to drive to work Thursday so hopefully the bus does not sink in the yard while at work.  Luckily it did not.  When I got home most of the water had dried in the afternoon sun, but it was mud, and I was worried about making ruts through the yard.  So I left ruby there another night.  We did not go to the bus this day tho, we steered clear of the large mudhole.  Instead I collected things in the garage for the swap meet.  Old engine tins, hubcaps, and a few other odds and ends.  So Friday came, and we decided to camp out in the bus, Except this time I moved it to a higher less flat spot in the yard, and we layed with our feet at the hatch.  I have to admit, it was better than I expected.  The mattress was pretty comfy, better than some mattresses I have layed on .  But not the best.  So Saturday came, and we woke up early, loaded the bus and headed out.  We got on the highway very anxiously hoping it would be a not so busy day and we would be able to cruise without causing any traffic issues.  As I shifted through the gears the bus felt great.  It was smooth and nice right through to fourth gear and we were on the highway.  Not a single issue.  We both relaxed a bit.  I put the bluegrass station on with my cell phone and we could faintly hear it.  This was a nice cruise.  We got so many looks, and honks.  It felt good to be driving this bus down the road on a Saturday morning.  And we were going to see other bus owners.  Man this was great.  We arrived no problem.  Pulled in set up our stuff and waited for nothing.  We chatted with a few other owners, but we did not sell a thing, Lynn found a sun visor for her side with the small plastic end still intact so it would click back into place when not being used.  Previously it would hang down and bounce in her face because the plastic end was broken.  A few hours went by and it was ungodly hot, so we decided time to roll.  Packed up, went to fire up and nothing.... Turned key no start.  Just lights on dash.  So with my hammer I went smacking the starter.  Lynn turned the key and vroom running smooth and nice.  We pulled away, honked and waved.  Just two blocks to the highway and 35 mins to home.... I can see the sign for the highway and all the sudden I hear this crunchy squeal. and the rpm drop.  I pulled into the gas station, turned the key off, and the motor stopped dead immediately.  I went to the back and it just smelled like something was on fire.  I grabbed my extinguisher, and opened the hatch.  The spacers on my generator shaft had welded to the generator case and sheared causing the pulley back to hit the generator housing, and seizing.  There was dust everywhere from the generator insides.  I pulled the pulley off, or beat the pulley with a hammer until it because unstuck to the generator.  Dumped water on them to cool off, and tried to turn the generator output shaft.  Nothing.  it was seized.  This is the problem.  My generator bearing blew apart into the dust I now had all over the engine compartment.  So 2 blocks we drove back to the swap meet to purchase a generator.  And upon pulling in I remember that I need to pull the motor to remove and replace the generator. That's not going to happen here today.  So Lynn calls her mothers AAA.  Her mother comes down to wait on the truck, because we are in fact 2 blocks from her house. We sat here, waiting until Lynn's mother arrived sweating amongst the asphalt.

 So AAA tells us 25 minutes....  in the June heat.  Almost 100 actually. So we sit in Lynn's mothers car with the air con on waiting not 25 minutes but 4 hours. 4 hours the bus sat.  We waited.  They finally showed up.  and we got her loaded up on a flatbed for the first time ever!

At this point I am expecting the worst possible that the front will hit and rip a hole in ruby....I was wrong.

Such crazy day.  4 hours in the heat and a broken bus later.  We were back in the yard... with a motor we need to pull and a generator we need to replace... Ultimately a non-running bus.  The generator has two output shafts.  One on the front of the motor, and one on the rear.  The rear has the pulley with the belt coming from the crank pulley.  This spins the generator causing the electric system to charge, and the front output shaft to spin.  On the front output shaft is a fan that pushes air over the cylinders of the motor, maintaining a safe operating system and keeping the engine from failing.  It blows air over the oil cooler, which keeps the engine oil doing its job.  If the oil gets too hot it will not protect the engine and cause it to fail.  In maybe 2 miles or 3 minutes.  Total Engine Failure, and  a very large Repair bill.  With my engine brand new, I was not planning to do this so we parked ruby in the yard so we could live in her for the remainder of our time in Ohio.  The evening after breaking down I received a wonderful job offer in Philadelphia.  Lynn and I discussed it and decided to make the move.  We decided we could park the bus at my parents house because they have a large wooded yard and we can camp out until we find our new apartment.  I mean what is the sense of having a motor home and paying for an apartment I said.  It is summer and we have plenty of room to do it in the yard.  This would take alittle more talking.  But I had put the idea out there.  Anyway we had to be in Philly In July.  So we decided not to work on Ruby until we moved.  We could not afford to fix her at the time with the move, and having to rent a moving truck.  So we put her in the yard to practice living in her and see what we thought.  .....

Troubleshooting. Why Ruby Would not start back up after cruising.

So After our First ride, upon returning home I stalled out, and could not get her to fire back up.  Flooded her out cranking.  Had to leave in the driveway for the night.  So after work I got outside and fired Ruby up first try.  This got the hamster wheel in my head turning.  Starts cold, but not hot...  My first thought was carburetor issues.  So I checked the carburetor out, just to make sure.  The very first thing I did when I got the bus was rebuild and clean the carburetor meticulously so I did not expect this to be a problem.  I reset and tried again.  Started cold once I got her warmed up it did not start back up.  I flooded it, and depleted the battery trying.  So back to the research, I can not explain how much other peoples blogs, and postings helped me out.  I read about my carburetor, and motor.  I found out that I had an aftermarket distributor, that was a slight bit harder to dial in than the original factory equipment.  So I read some more and more.  I found that the 009 distributor that I have still today is very touchy, and you had to check it and adjust and try and repeat till you get it right.  So out to the garage I went.  I have a tachometer that I wired into the engine compartment to see what rpm I am running at, and I purchased an adjustable timing strobe light gun.  I had Lynn help me set the timing, and we tested, and set and tested, and set and tested.  We found our sweet spot, and set out timing there.  Time for a cruise.  We took this opportunity to drive over to brother Bears and get the lawnmower.  Mainly so we could take Dylan for his first ride in the bus.  He has been waiting longer than me, only because he got to go pick it up when Lynn bought it for me.  He is the small child pictured in the beginning of the blog pretending to drive.  He pretended to drive once a week from the time we got the bus till the time we left Ohio.  Our ride went wonderfully.  We cruised around the park, and through the neighborhood. No issues at all, Smooth sailing all the way.  After our cruise which Dylan loved every second of Lynn and I decided to hit the grocery store.  Nervously turning the key after shopping I hoped that everything was good, and vroom she came to life no problem.  We both sighed in relief, and away we went back home, with a lawnmower and some groceries.  Today had been a good day, and with the weekend approaching and a vw swap meet pretty close to us we were confident that Ruby would make the journey.  We had about a week before the swap meet where I drove Ruby about 15 to 20 minutes each morning to work.  With no radio, I really got to feel what it was like to drive an old vw.  Nervously, and precisely timing each shift.  Deliberately moving the shifter to the next gear in the sequence, hoping so dearly that you have it correct, and will not have to down shift.  Some of those mornings were  hairy.  With the joggers, and bikers, and dear all through the metro park of Berea.  But I made it.  Each day a tad smoother, spilling less of my morning coffee, and getting less cigarette ash on myself.  It was an experience in driving, putting me in a place long before distractions of gps, cell phones, ipods.  A time where driving a car meant working to keep that car running and on the road to get you where you were going.  Watching, listening, smelling, and feeling every aspect of the ride. Senses on edge, I lived a little each morning.  I loved every single second of it, and wished Lynn could share it with me.  Those beautiful crisp spring mornings, shattered by the vibrations of a vw air cooled engine and the rattling of every single piece not welded to the other in the bus.  Glorious chaos. I would not trade it for anything in the world.  We decided we could and would make the journey to west cleeveland.  On the highway for the first time, 20 plus miles, in June. Hot hot weather.  We decided why not.  Lets do it.... Man what a day that would turn out to be..

The First breakdown.

So with the brake line grommet fixed, and the brakes bled Lynn and I decided to take our first drive in the bus.  A short 45 minute ride down a farm road, that winds through the country up and down left to right at a speed limit of 50mph.  Needles to say I was nervous!  I found that we had about 3 to 4 inches of play in the steering wheel, and quite a bit of suspension sway.  Like a boat on a rough day...  We cruised along smiling wide because we had in fact done it.  Took this bus from troubled to driving in only a few months.  We pulled into a good friend and fellow Vw owners drive way.  Both Lynn and I were excited to finally show them Ruby.  We checked her out and then hung out for a while.  However with the tail lights being the way they are.  One turns off when the brake is applied.  We decided that we should drive home before dark.  So back into Ruby.  I turned the key....... Um.  Not a thing.  Lights on dash, no start, no crank, no sputter, no click. Nothing.  Not cool.  It is getting dark, and we have to go back down the road to grandmothers that winds through the woods and over the stream.. Yeah ....  Good friend Patrick with his years of Vw experience grabs a hammer.  At which I immediately say Hey WAIT!  He did not.  One good whack on the starter and bam she fired up.  Thank you Patrick!  Out of the driveway we rolled and down to the stop sign.  With the sun setting we were off homeward with our fingers crossed that we did in fact make it back.  Perhaps we should have stayed closer to home, but if we had we never would have had that glorious first ride.  The engine purring and the bus rolling along.  Lynn and I were the happiest people in the world.  The months of work had finally paid off.  We pulled into the driveway and opened the garage, to put Ruby away for a good nights rest.  As I pulled her into the garage she stalled out.  I turned the key to fire her up and she just cranked and cranked and cranked.  Ruby Did Not Make it home from her first ride.  She had to spend the night in the driveway, instead of in her nice new room.  But Hey At least we made it home before she called it quits.  I was so happy after our drive I did not even bother myself with what could be going on.  Just smiles and visions of that road to grandmothers.  What an amazing drive it was.  I do not have pictures but imagine the most beautiful tree lined road you have driven over hills and around corners.  That was this road.  Our First Ride.....This ride took place in May of 2013 probably about the 12th...

So It has been quite a while since I posted.  Last we posted was after our first drive in Ruby after the new motor.  That was may.  We came outside to find brake fluid under driver seat area of the vehicle.  So I got in there with a flashlight, and found that the rubber grommet that connected the hose from the brake fluid reservoir inside the vehicle to the brake master cylinder under the vehicle was rotted to falling apart.  The first time I applied real brake pressure the grommet just gave out.  So we decided that was it for the day.  Go get the grommet the following day at the parts store right... Wrong, we found a 2nd bus on the craigslist, and went out and bought it.
 A blue 1978.  no motor or trans 200 bucks.  Totally worth it, based on the fact that I needed a
lot of parts, and a bunch of sheet metal.  So we bought another bus that was not working. . . . . How I talked Lynn into this, I have not a clue.  Probably when I sent the picture. I mean it was blue after all.

                           

 So here we are after our ride home, Proud owners of the Grateful Busses.  They just look so good in the garage.  We already decided no cutting this blue boy apart, It is so nice.  Just harvest a few parts, Lynn's window tray, a door latch, a gas cap for a good friend Pat, and windows for a friend of a friend.  We did pass this bus on after a few short weeks with us, because as I said it just was too nice for the knife.  This bus went on to help another 78 continue its life as a bus, or maybe that one helped this one.  Who knows.

Of course before the blue bus left, Luna had to spend some quality time with him.  Also while this bus was with us, we made a couch out of the rear bench seat, and used the two plastic spare covers for arms.   Luna inspired us.  So the blue bus got us back on the road.