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Subject: Trip Report: Back in the States!
Hey now,
We're back! We camped in Hope, BC on 10 August with Bob Hoover, then hit Vancouver to get some things we'd left at Tobin's place-a big thanks to Tobin & Christa for letting us take their keys to get in! So we met up with Bob at the border, and crossed over. Everyone said that usually US customs were a pain, but the guy just asked what we had, we said lettuce, and he said "Go". Easy.
After crossing the border we continued south to Johnny Stutsman's place, and Bob continued south at his usual stately pace (read: 50 mph). Johnny lives in Seattle, which was very convenient since we had to pick up Sam at SEA-TAC.
So we spent the evening and most of the next day with Johnny. His wife was out of town, so he was home to watch his 2 adorable kids, and chat with us too... Johnny's hospitality was wonderful, he had 2 loaves of fresh homemade bread, and lots of delicious homebrew to drink. We spent the afternoon discussing the merits of westies, splitties, baywindows, oil coolers, and all kinds of other VW stuff. My Dad just sort of seemed glassy eyed... ;-)
So we picked up Sam at 4:30, and Sam & I cuddled in the back of the bus all the way to Spokane-3 weeks is a long time to be apart. Indra was really happy to see her mom back too... ;-) Sam &I; have been really happy to be back together, even though we've been feeling the strain of lack of funds. Hopefully we'll be able to find a few more places to stay before we get to New Mexico, since we only have about $300 to get home on-with an estimated gas cost of about $200. It's a bummer being poor... So we're in Spokane today-13 August. We're staying with Randy Bolster, a major player in my dad's software company. The Bolster's have been wonderfully receptive to us, and cooked a great meal for dinner tonight. Their house is really something spectacular, with 3 stories, and all kinds of room for their 5 kids-2 adopted. Linda Bolster said earlier today that they also often take in refugee families and the like. Nice people. We went out this afternoon doing the tourist thing, and I saw a place called "that's all Volks", with about 7 busses parked out front. Of course, we had to stop... ;-) Got a little excited for a couple of hours there-they have a '65 kombi they're selling for $600, engine included, not running but supposedly rebuildable. A precursory inspection revealed no major problems, and we started thinking about good uses for the spare engine we have with us. ;-) We only had about 5 minutes to look though, since we had to be back in time for dinner, so I went back after dinner to go over it more closely, and that's when I found that there was some pretty major floorboard rust, and quite a few parts missing as well. If it was a westy, I might have bought it anyway, but it wasn't so I didn't.
So tomorrow we will head for Montana, and likely end up in Yellowstone, although Sam & I have yet to find a place to stay. We'll be planning after I send this out. However, because of the financial scene we will likely be home in the next week or so. We shall see. For now, it's just business as usual-many miles to drive...
Peace,
Eddie
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