“USA 🇺🇸 ~Arizona/California Bye-Bye Kingman We are Taking Our VW and LEAVING!!”

• April 22, 2023
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

I Must Be Dreaming!!!!

AND I WAS!!!

False Start! 🙄

BUT, Allow me to introduce you to “Jonah, anywayzzzz” 

When we do roll down the road, to destinations, unknown/known, we refer to our full-time rv-ing outfit as…..

“Jonah AND The Whale!”

We got the long awaited phone call, yesterday morning, around 9:30AM, telling us we would get picked up at The Whale and driven to where Jonah is at, because SHE WAS READY!!!!!

We drove the VW for a hot minute, and it was fine. Went in to the shop office and paid for everything, and a minute later, the carburetor was acting up, and it wouldn’t stay running!!

Dang it!

…..so she’s back in the shop…Mechanic is working on it and we are suppose to get it back, tomorrow.
We are down to the wire, having proper time to get up to Oregon, before we head for Montana, then Alaska!

Let us pray 🙏 

Re-Delivery

This morning, on Sunday, early, we got Jonah back! Apparently it was a coil issue. When the old coil warmed up at all, it quit working. New coil in, and she runs just fine. Whew!

Here we are, tootling around Route 66, with the top down. It’s sunny and 80 degrees!
It’s actually starting to get a little too hot here, so perfect time to leave!

Everywhere we went this morning, the friendly people around town wanted to stop and talk about our cute little Bug.
….Already had an offer to sell her, if we were into making a profit, but nope…. Gonna keep Jonah! ❤️

BTW, tonight, we don’t cook and clean… we going OUT!!!

We managed to find some temporary rims. I say temporary, because the tires are practically new, but they are not stock. When we replace these tires, after they are worn out, we will get stock tires, so we can buy the stock VW moon hubcaps.
While it was in the shop, The new VW hub caps (ordered/received) were a fail, as they did not fit right, so we figured out something else, in the mean time.

Is everything else done on Jonah, otherwise? No, but she is road-worthy, and the convertible top is done, including the back window being cut-in and finished-out; which is more than we had actually hoped for. 
(Grateful we will not need a blue tarp). 🤣

Somewhere in our travels, we will need to get the brand new A/C unit charged up, before it’s operational. Also, the stereo and speakers have wires run under the new carpeting, but they are not hooked-up. We don’t need a stereo, per se, but wanted the USB ports that come with it, to charge our phones, as we adventure.

After a year, of (not exactly patiently waiting), we will figure out a way and a place to get these last items completed. Also, after 500 driving miles, we need to get Jonah serviced/oil changed, and checked, since it’s a new motor.

The last time we saw Jonah, it was December of 2022. We knew she had a long way to go. AND clearly she had to look worse, to eventually look better.
We could only go up from here.

VW Restoration

Rebuild Engine
Rebuild Carburetor             Rebuild Front-End Shocks/Struts
All new Brakes                     Restore Driver Seat
Reupholster all other Seats
New Carpets/including Trunk     Replace old wiring as needed Restore all Seals/Window Rubber
Rebuild new Rib for Rag Top
Install new Convertible Top
Install new Rear Window
New inside Door Panels/4
New Stereo and Speakers
New Shifter and Linkage to Transmission                             New Spare Tire and Rim
Repair Heater/Defroster
Install New Air Conditioner
New Wing Window Locks     Make Another Set of Keys
Tow Bar InstalledTighten/Adjust Side and Rear View Mirrors

A year ago, this was how we got Jonah the rest of the way to Rod’s VW in Kingman, from the Lake Havasu area.

We’ve come a Long Way, Baby!

With the two minutes we had Jonah with The Whale, yesterday, it would turn out, our hitch set-up with our current bike rack will not work to tow the VW.

The bike rack was originally purchased for Rusty; the Dodge we had, but sold, while in Las Vegas. Without a “toad,” vehicle, the bike rack transferred nicely to The Whale.

So, Daryl ordered a new bike rack, that attaches to the ladder of The Whale, and won’t be part of the hitch system, which will now work perfectly for towing Jonah. Perfect, except the new bike rack won’t deliver till Monday. We were suppose to leave on Monday!  Ugh! So no, not everything is going on, “without a hitch!” 🤣🤣

So, after paying for one more night, we now depart Kingman, on Tuesday, April 25th.
I built in four extra days to get to Oregon; due to potential hazardous weather over the pass, so I’m glad we have the wiggle room!

On Monday, we will make our test run to Needles, California, to the DMV. It is only an hour away, and we have to get the vin inspection done on Jonah, to get her plates!

Next up, we will head for the parking lot of  “In and Out Burger” in Barstow, where we can overnight for free. This will be a comfortable distance to do our next test run with Jonah. 

In a perfect world, after Barstow, we will hook-up Jonah to The Whale and head for our house (again) to drop off Daryls bike and the bike rack. After another overnight there, we officially head for our much delayed trip to Oregon; still weather permitting, because Oregon passes didn’t get the memo it’s spring!

At the time of this writing (April 19th) the weather is still not great for getting over the pass, and we will not take any chances, but the closer it gets to May, the better the weather is turning.
I built in those extra travel days, traveling north, to give us “waiting it out time;” if needed, for this crazy winter weather season.

About a week before taking possession of our Bug 

We will take the win with operation ‘72 VW restoration!

Will it be ready next week? We are waiting on pins and needles!

In the mean time, we were able to get our Classic Car insurance coverage arranged through California and put in to place, today!

Not all states automatically provide this specific coverage. In North Carolina, for example, we could only get liability; which was fine, when being restored, and not being driven, but after all the $ investment of our Bug, we had to up that game!

For the Win!

In Other News 

Yup, The Whale has it ALL

…… and this includes a dishwasher! We’ve been living in this Motorhome for over a year and I never used it, till today, that is. Why now? I think it’s because after our VW fail, today, it felt good to get a win with a working dishwasher! I thought the DW would be noisy, but come to find out, it’s very quiet. It looks like it takes an hour to cycle. I’m not sure of the water usage, but it’s half the size of a residential one, so I’m gonna go with half the water needed. Definitely will only use this when we are hooked up to water, and not when boondocking.

Today was operation ORGANIZATION!!!!

Much needed!

We have a half bath in The Whale, but we have never used it as a bathroom. Instead, we desire the space for storage; primarily food items.

The Whale has pretty great space, for about two weeks of food stores, but not enough compartments for three months of food stores. We rarely eat out, and prefer to cook for ourselves, and this warrants even more space. In a normal world, who needs that much food? We no longer live in a normal world, so we choose to prep, just to be on the safe side, making our “bug out” vehicle just that much better!

We’ve shuffled things around, after leaving other non-food items in storage at our house last month, from our basement in The Whale, and can now use the 1/2 bath for at least the sink; in preparation of having a visitor this summer, whilst in Alaska!

Before we started, we could not see the floor, much less, walk into the bathroom!

Now, we can walk in the bathroom and the sink is accessible!

Progress!!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Nothing says springtime like birds doing all things “coupling.”

This is just outside the door of The Whale, so it’s fun to watch from our living room.

This is a Mourning Dove

They are trying to build their nest, but the heavy winds keep blowing their efforts away!

The (assumed) female lays still and the (assumed) male brings back sticks; landing on her back and then placing each stick. She moves the sticks after he flies away for more.

I added a picture of what we hope they will be successful in creating, so they can start their family. Babies hatch after two weeks of incubation.

BTW, we won’t be around for the hatchlings, because, after a year of staying in close proximity to Kingman, WE ARE FINALLY FREE AS BIRDS, ourselves!!!!