Thursday evening I pushed my 1600 Single Port (under)powered bus further than ever . . . and it survived! Homer is one amazing bus!
Last week a guy came to the rock quarry where Joy works to see about getting some gravel for his driveway. While he was there he saw Joy's convertible and metioned that he had two bugs for sale. Well, you know me, I don't need them, but I gotta go look at them. So last Friday evening we drove down to Cloudland, Ga to look them over. We stopped at one of the two beer stores in Cloudland and used the phone to call the guy so he could meet us at his gate . . . his driveway is a mile and half long and I could see why he was inquiring about gravel. Near his house we even had to ford a stream. But, the bus made it with no problem.
He had a 68 Autostick and a 73 standard . . . neither are approching show quality, but niether had much rust. He was asking way too much for either one, but as a package deal including both bugs and a lifetime collection of various parts it turned into a deal I couldn't pass up.
OK, now that I've bought 'em, I gotta get 'em home. Both ran, but both had some minor problems and I didn't really feel comfortable heading down one of the steepest roads off Lookout mountian in their maiden voyage.
So, Thursday evening Joy and I drove the Bus up there. We loaded all the parts in the bus, hooked the tow bar on the 73, hooked it to the bus and Joy drove out the guy's driveway with it. I followed in the autostick. I parked the autostick outside his gate, towed the 73 a few miles back to the beer store and got permission to park it there for a few hours. It was just about dark by now. We went back and got the autostick off the side of the road and towed it off Lookout Mountain back to LaFayette . . . I was amazed at how well the bus handled the trip! We got home around 10 PM dropped the autostick in the yard and Joy went in and went to bed. I headed back to Cloudland, sometime around midnight I hooked the 73 up and pumped up the left front tire that was way to low (i.e. - FLAT) to be rolling down the road. Oh yeah, that remindes me . . . on the "what do you carry in your Westy" post, I need to add a foot powered tire pump! Good thing I had it with me. The nearest opened station with an air hose was back in LaFayette! Around 1 AM I arrived safely back home with my second bug.
I'm still amazed that Homer handled the trip(s) so well! I wish I had a good digital camera so I could have made some pictures! Do you think if send my story to Mastio I can get them to include a beat up, primered bay window bus covered with grafitti pulling a bug covered with pine tree residue in their next series of Hot Haulers and Cools Cars? . . . and forget the trailer, it needs to be hooked up with a tow bar!
And just in case you're wondering, yes, I am thinking about checking into the nearest mental hospital for even attempting this feat! slam
