[Vwdiesel] The trip: A tale of cross country encounters. :)

[TexasTDI]

What areas of Texas did you visit?

Chris Thornton
1991 VW Jetta GL 2 Door 1.6D - 233k miles
2000 VW Golf GLS 1.9TDI 130hp/229ftlbs - 74k miles
1998 VW Passat GLS 1.8T -- FOR SALE
Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Dealer #1098500
http://www.amsoil.com
http://texastdi.com/6/ubb.x

----- Original Message -----
From: <LBaird119 at aol.com>
To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 9:36 PM
Subject: [Vwdiesel] The trip: A tale of cross country encounters. :)


>   Thought I might as well do an update as to how things went since I've
been
> back since Thursday evening.
>   First day was a great meeting with Dave and Jim.  I never realized
LaGrande
> was such a windy place.  Heck, most everywhere but here and Dave
Barbieri's
> seemed to be windy!  Had breakfast with Dave and Jim, then stood outside
> talking until we were shivering something fierce, then we were on our way
> again.
>   We drove straight through the rest of the trip and I swear it keeps
getting
> harder and harder to do that!  I don't think it's likely to happen again
> unless
> we're driving something you can lay down and sleep in!
>   After a few days of cold and flu in OK, I set out for TX.  My wife kind
of
> kicked me out so I'd go.  By the time I was to OK City, I wondered what
> on Earth I was doing!  This was a LONG bloody drive and I had nobody
> to keep me awake or spell me off.  I also had next to nothing of a radio,
> no CD player (that I knew of, it was in the back of my seat!) and the DVD
> player with all the mp3 cds were also back at the in-laws.  :P  The POS
> radio did manage to pickup country or oldies most of the way down.  I
never
> changed the station, it would just drift from station to station with the
> frequency not matching what was indicated.  Kind of strange, oldies and
> country was all it'd get!  On the way back it got stuck on some classical
> station no matter where I tuned so I gave up then found the CD and tape
> adapter. :)
>   About 6 hours later I was meeting Dave Barbieri.  I followed him to a
motel
> where we stayed up and talked until about 1:00 or some stupid hour!  He
> came back in the AM and we went for breakfast.  Of course more talk of
> VW's and diesels!  He showed me around to the local dealer and VW
> private specialty shop.  They have ALL the equipment there!  :)  Don't
> ask me where anything was.  We wandered all over different roads to
> different towns each time until I was thoroughly confused!  The next
> day we visited the local injector pump repair facility where we visited
> with them for nearly 2 hours!  Learned a few things.  :)  After that we
> headed for another dealer and picked up a gasket for the Passat.  I
> had a slight exhaust leak between the EGR and the EGR cooler.
> Replacing it did seem to help some so the car did run better on the
> return trip but nothing drastic.  No real mileage improvement, which
> was suffering from the speeds we were doing.
>   About 2:00 and I was on my way back to Dallas.  Hit a MAJOR rain
> storm which traffic managed to keep doing 70 to 80 mph through.  It
> was actually much easier to see than doing about 50mph!  A few
> phone calls and I was set to meet Hayden and Shalyn at an exit
> on the way.  Problem was the meeting place was at a different exit!  ;-)
> It all worked out and we visited there too long again.  ;-)  This group
> can sure visit when you're talking VW diesels!  Then I was off again
> at a steady 85 arriving back in northern OK at about 11:30 only to
> get up in the AM and start out back home.
>   Instead of coming home across TX, AZ and up through CA and OR, we
> doubled back.  It was a couple days shorter and Pat wanted to spend
> the time with her parents.  That's why I went to TX by myself.
>   All in all the Passat ran flawlessly.  Mileage was mostly 40 with a
> 45 across WY and about 41 to 42 some of the way home.  We drove
> mostly 75 ish down and a fair bit of 80 on the way home.  Whoever
> thought we needed slow speed limits never drove across a few states!
> 80 to 90 would be a good speed for the intestates!  Not once was there
> a complaint about leg room from the two teenagers in the backseat.  :)
> Handling was great.  The Michelin Alpins did great on the snow and ice
> with just the usual hopping about as you went from dry to compact snow.
> Even through several inches of slush I was able to hold about 65 in order
to
> pass on the Blue Mountains.  You don't want to follow ANYBODY there!
> They GRAVEL the highway for winter traction.  Ain't no sand, it's like the
> stuff they use to resurface the road!
>   I finally got the Rabbit nearly cleaned out!  It still had antifreeze
int
> the
> carpet from the leaking connections so I flushed and flushed then vac'd
> it out.  I've finally gotten most of the "crap" out and put or thrown
away.
> Then I did a water pump on the mini van.  What a pain.  Today was a
> good one though.  :)  I got the bolts from Nate, in the mail, for the
Jetta
> turbo so I got them in.  THAT car's now done and drivable!  YAY!  I got
> the parking brake lever back in Pat's van (after a couple years) so IT'S
> done!  We tried getting some work done on the Dasher too but it looks
> like the gummed up linkage and gearbox took their toll on the wiper
> motor.  :(  At least they're freed up and ready for a good used motor!
>   We left with only my work van and Rabbit running and now I've added
> 2 more to the list of RUNNING vehicles!  Nice feeling!  :)
>   Sorry to ramble so much.
>     Loren
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