Repair: foil hose for heater

Well, the heater foil hose that runs under the bus, bringing the cabin warm air from the engine, decided to shred last week when I drove Indy to work. A co-worker laughed at my tinfoil tail.

I didn't see much about the repair online or in the books. So I went to homedepot and got a replacement aluminum vent. The 4" measurement of the hose was a little off and so putting it on took a little more effort than expected. However -- it looks like brand new. And perhaps we'll even get some heat this winter.

Maintenance: check your spare

Indy got a flat tire a couple of weeks ago. Just sitting there. Well, just sitting there a day after being driven the first time in a couple of months. Bah. And the day before a planned camping trip.

The jack is spectacular. The rusted lugnuts not so much. AAA to the rescue. Even if the towtruck driver could have removed the flat, the spare was even worse. I don't we'd even looked at it in 2 years. Shame on us.

So here's a reminder -- check your spare.

OB Tire couldn't find anything wrong with the flat. They had to chip/saw/melt off one of the lugnuts that was completely stripped (thanks AAA?). An expensive lesson: let the pros do all the hard work. And so I had them loosen all the other tires so that I'd be able to get them off the next time.

Inspiration?

Notes from the road is a site I think I'll need a lot of time to visit. He has some great stories about Baja. And great photos. And...

Baja mileage

Mileage chart for Baja California.

Place	From Last	Southbound	Northbound
OceanBeach	-24	-24	1109
Border	0	0		1085
Rosarito	17	17	1066
Ensendada	53	70	1015
SantoTomas	29	99	986
SanQuintin	88	187	898
ElRosario	44	231	854
Catavina	75	306	779
BahiadeLosNagles	64	370	715
GuerroNegro	86	459	626
Vizcaino	45	505	580
San Ignacio	46	551	534
Santa Rosalia	46	598	488
Mulege	39	635	450
Loreto	86	721	364
Cuidad Constitucion	92	813	272
La Paz	133	946	139
Los Barriles	70	1017	68
San Jose del Cabo	49	1066	19
Cabo San Lucas	19	1085	0

Some potential places with 4 1/2 day drives each way:

SB - El Rosario, Gueno Negro, Mulege, before La Paz, Cabo
NB - Ciudad Constitucion, San Ignacio, Catavina, San Quntin, Home

Book: Into a Desert Place

Graham Machintosh walked 3000 miles around the coast of Baja California. The book describes his adventures. Driving a VW camper isn't the same as walking. But I feel a little bit like our upcoming adventure to Cabo has the same sense of awe and paralyzing fear. So the best thing to do is to start planning and gathering information.

Fortunately, I think the biggest fear I have is that I will like the trip so much I'll want to go again and for much longer.

For now, how about an interactive map of Baja

P.S. I realize I haven't actually mentioned the plan here. We are hoping to drive down highway 1 from San Diego to Cabo and back around Christmas this year. Interested in joining us? Have you previously done this -- and have advice to offer? Expect to hear a lot more about it.

Classes

I think I actually need proper training. So here's what SDCC has to offer for the summer (6/21-8/15):

AutoTech 53: AUTOMOTIVE INTRODUCTORY/SAFETY. MW (9-11:40)

Maybe I should just look to see what books are required and go the self-study route. And take apart Indy from top to bottom as the lab.

Suggestions?

Trip Report: Borrego Palm Canyon (again)

This will be a fairly short report until I get the photos. And then it will likely just be another one line with links.

We left San Diego at 7pm heading out I-8 to CA-163 to I-15 and Poway/Scripps Parkway. There are a couple of good hills to go up to get to Ramona. Indy did great and there are no reports of being passed by trucks carrying portapotties. Not this time.

The weather beyond Ramona was very foggy with rain. Surprise for April but instead of the 93deg in Borrego on Thursday, the forecast for Saturday was in the 70s. We picked up extra fuel and butter in Ramona before heading around the mountains to S-2 and then down S-22 and Montezuma Grade. We got into the campground around 9:15 and the sign read "Campground Full." Thanks Sophia for planning ahead and getting reservations.

We met around friends, gave a tour of Indy, made smores, and went to bed. Tender and I went on hike to the visitor center in the morning on Saturday. She was a little too warm but didn't refuse to keep going. Rather, she was panting louder than Indy in second gear going up a hill. We all survived.

The weather was indeed great -- upper 70's perhaps -- and I went for a two hour cross-country trek Saturday. I didn't see any Anza-Borrego sheep but people reported them in Palm Canyon. The stars in the desert were brilliant; at least until the moon came out and scared them all away.

We headed out fairly early (8:30) on Sunday because the sun was up at 6:15 and the kids in the next site over started hunting for Easter eggs at 7. We were back in the city around 10:30. Indy passed through the 42K mark on this trip.

Repairs: Starter

Well, Indy keeps getting new parts on her schedule. I got stuck at Taichi on Thursday night. The guesses were low battery (but jump starting didn't help), starter, or fuel pump (previously replaced.) We had her towed into Ocean Beach. Rich's Auto Repair reported that it was the starter and had Indy back up and running in time for a weekend camping trip to the desert Friday evening.

I cried when I was stranded. I smiled like it was my birthday when I picked her up. I think she brings us as much value as stress. She's now gone over 42K miles: we don't know if it is 142,000 or 242,000 and potentially 342,000. She is 30 afterall. I wonder how many other drivers have a little celebration every 100 miles when the odometer turns to the year the car was created. We do! Celebrate the Independence of '76!

Window repair

The driver side window is finally repaired. $10 part and a bit of work. The weld broke, causing the window extra stress, the caused the rusting support to fail. So now would be a good time to start thinking about a camping trip!

Anyone have suggestions for mounting an portable gas can onto the back. We're going to need it for the trip down Baja.

Baja California

We went to Cabo (by air not by VW) for Christmas. My parents have a timeshare at a resort. We'd talked about driving but didn't have time to make it down Baja from San Diego. We had a great time and our definitely considering driving next year.

Expect to see lots of posts and other information as we discover it.

Post a comment if you have done the drive or might consider driving down soon.