Lenny's battle with "cancer"

Rust. It's the cancer of cars, once it starts forming its hard to stop it~ usually the only way is to remove the cancerous parts completely. But when you have rust spots around the doors, around the windows, bubbling up here and there- a rust free car becomes unimaginable. And that is where poor Lenny stands today. The damage done to the driver's side not only impacts the nose, but also the entire length of the body. Bondo the previous owner patched is cracking, revealing more of a rust problem. I suspect that is what stopped the previous owner from restoration, this is also why I chose to do a spray paint job. His cancer does not mean I am going to get rid of him, or even stop driving and working on him- no way! I will camp in him and drive him until he can't be driven any more, I am going to get the most out of him while he is still whole, and when I am not driving him he will hang out in the garage.
The rust issue is really the only problem with Lenny that I can see. The Engine & Lenny's interior is complete, undamaged and restored. The mechanical parts are rust free, including the undercarriage. If it ever comes to it, maybe I'll just find a rust free shell and put his insides in it. That way Lenny can live on with a new "shell" and his old one will become my dream green house bus! Only time will tell I suppose...

Happy Anniversary Lenny!

*EDIT* I was finally able to get a good connection and upload some pictures of the "end of our trip... "

Leroy & Hank riding in "Dean"

Dust Storm outside of El Paso~ tumbleweed!

More petroglyphs we saw in Albuquerque

A year ago today we bought Lenny! It's been a bit since we've posted, but we went to Albuquerque NM after the painted desert and stayed with friends for a few days. We had a blast and were too busy to really get online to post. Then we heard of the winter storm that was passing through Monday the 31st so we left early and pretty much drove before the storm that had the Querque in single digits with a lot of snow! We did sleep shortly at a rest area in Texas because of a lightning/ice storm. We woke up at 6am with ice covering the INSIDES of our windows and continued onward. I'm happy that our heat does work, we just hung a blanket up behind the cab to keep the heat concentrated in the front as we drove. Tuesday we drove continuously and stopped in Houston for gas where the starter was finally dead. A nice man helped us push the bus to start it and we drove him straight to Greenville South Carolina, even kept him running while we filled up. It was a pretty tiring drive but I am glad we did it because that storm would have gotten us stuck somewhere for sure. There were also storms in Louisiana when we drove through at night but luckily we missed them all. We had great luck and Lenny drove great all the way here. Today my dad helped us put the spare starter on and Lenny started right up! His engine sounds great and he is driving good. So today we washed him and cleaned him out, he is almost perfect. I did notice that I may have to replace the rear break lines soon and we have to get a break caliper for the front, just minor things. Got to get him ready for "The Rides of March" which is a Bus campout the first weekend of March around Wilmington NC. Gotta get the Bus all spiffied up again! He was full of so much sand, I could have made a sandcastle! I am sort of bummed that we had to come back so quickly and didn't get to see New Orleans like we wanted to, so I foresee another trip out when it gets warmer... Lenny drove so great~ going to New Orleans would seem like a short trip!

Painted Desert & Petrified Forest

We spent a day at the Painted desert & petrified forest. It was a nice park with a few hiking trails that are pretty easy. We camped for the night just outside of the Petrified Forest Park at a Rock, Gem & Mineral shop that has free camping. The staff was nice and the prices were good, plus clean restrooms! They also offer hook ups for $10 or free with purchase over $20. I found the spot at a great website: freecampsites.net which is run by a really cool couple we met in Quartzesite.

Unfortunately this is all we saw of the Meteor Crater. The place charges $15 a person and we didn't really want to invest that much into it....

Petroglyphs near the Painted Desert

Painted Desert

Agate Bridge

Petrified Wood~ So pretty!

Route 66

Our free camp site

Jerome & Sedona Arizona

After leaving Phoenix we decided to go North and see Jerome & Sedona Arizona. We took a pretty little mountain pass called 89A that took us right through the "ghost town" of Jerome. What use to be a huge copper mining town is now a little arts district it seems... with a lot of abandoned and old/weird buildings littering the hills. 89A took us to Sedona where we drove around and learned about the town's "vortexes". Apparently a Vortex is a high concentration of Earth Energy. Vortex or not- Sedona is a beautiful town.

Quartzesite, Arizona

We spent 5 days on some BLM land in Quartzesite Arizona for the annual Vantramps Rubber tramp Rendezvous. The town is nothing but RVs with an occasional permanent structure every few miles or so... This time of year is the town's busiest~ the RV tent show and a rock and gem show. We met a lot of really cool Van dwellers and got to learn new things like Gold Prospecting! Apparently where we were camped near the Dome Mountain off I-10 is a great spot for finding gold and other precious stones after it rains. We found some nice looking rocks~ not sure if they are worth anything but I plan to polish them up and learn to wrap and make some necklaces. We spent the weekend in Phoenix and now we are off to Sedona, Prescott Area and over to Albuquerque again after that to visit our friends...

Buses By the Bridge 15- Lake Havasu AZ

Buses by the Bridge was a blast! We met a lot of new friends and got to hang out with our friends Peter and Slavio who we met in Albuquerque. Slavio camped out in his newly bought Squareback~ a VW station wagon that I would like to have some time. At Bus shows all VWs are welcome!

Glitter Bus

Peter's Bus & Slavio's Squareback

Walter~ the Largest VW Bus was there. He is awesome! Made from a fire truck and lots of work from an extra talented group of people. There are a ton of speakers synced up to lights all around him, and makes him the ultimate party bus!

Sleepy Puppy

sunsets in havasu$50k Bus

Tiki Bus Interior

After BBB we went down to Quartzesite Arizona...

Las Vegas & Lake Mead

I haven't had a good internet connection for a few weeks cause I have been out in the desert and whatnot, but I am going to try and update everything with the quickness. We left LA and headed for Las Veags. We spent a little but of time walking the strip and parked near the strip in a neighborhood close to a Bug. We hoped VW Love would work~ which it did. Its hard to find a good place to park in Vegas for hours to walk around, at least not near the strip. So we camped for the most part out at Lake Mead. We had to pay a $5 entrance fee which was "good for 5 days" however there was no gate, so I believe that at nights you can enter the park and camp for free. The spots posted stated 7 day camping limits but we never saw any rangers off the parkway around Lake Mead. There were a lot of coyotes out there and a pack of four walked close past the Bus when we were in it. But they didn't bother us, we could usually only hear them in the distance. It's a good place to camp for now, but the lake is evaporating. After hanging out at Lake Mead we met up with a new VW friend on The Samba named Eric who we followed down to Lake Havasu for Buses By the Bridge 15!...

Circus Circus

Lake Mead

Our Camp spot

Some Paintings I made and sold at BBB

The Old Strip at 4:30am