Interview with Alex and Eddie van Halen in Dutch - 1979 (with subtitles)

Published my second book! What IS holy about this land.

In 1995, I went to the Middle East on a 'study journey' with about ten other students from the academy I was studying at. We mixed insightful interviews with trips to the environment, where we found Roman and Crusader fortresses, colorful hilltop villages, unique garbage free nature where we could re-baptise in the Jordan river, Western shopping malls, discotheques, Wailing walls, and of course a bunch of churches and religious zealots. It was a relatively quiet period since the Oslo peace agreements had just been signed, the first terror wave called intifada was over, and Israël still had settlements in Gaza, effectively making it hard for hamas to settle all the way like they did after the settlers were removed. Yuo can find my book over here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRYXZRGB/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1BT6JP8HQH3G3&keywords=Bas+Vossen&qid=1704936314&s=books&sprefix=bas+vossen%2Cstripbooks%2C817&sr=1-6 I hope the price, of only $6.99, will be low enough to decide to read it, and give the author another lease on life. In 2014 I published my first book 'How to make a Web Shop using Zen Card' which helped smaller businesses establish a free online shop.

Gary Moore – Live At Monsters Of Rock 2003 (Full Concert + Extras) - this is sooooo good!!!

Amsterdam, Spain, and Orchestra

With the summer also came our trip to Europe. We had a couple of gigs planned and Bas had to sell his EU gear, because we are not planning to play in Europe anymore. Too much of a hassle.

Amsterdam Our friend Cindy had arranged a concert at a bar in the heart of town, where 1000 years ago the locals had built a dam to divert the river into a number of canals, forming an articial delta. We were playing near the Amstel river, over which a number of friends came from the Elektrohaven, where you can hire electric boats to see the colorful canals of Amsterdam. We had brought our bass amp, and Cindy brought a small PA for Ilene's cello and vocals. Eric (from Eat at Joe's, the former Melkweg restaurant) waited for us at the back of the train station. He had hired a semi electric transport bike, that doubled as terrace chair after he'd arrived at the café. We installed everything, and waited for our drummer Karst who also used a bicycle and cart to transport his drumkit. It took a while so we enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city, the tourists on their group-bicycles, the ringing bells of the trams, and the student overlooking the scene from her room window, high up. She was lucky enough to witness live music coming from the bar for free, daily! Finally, Karst arrived and immediately installed his kit. A couple of friends came in, among which a few that I hadn't seen in ages. Others had promised to come but forgot or something happened. We began right at eight, the arranged starting time. Eric and Mary (who also had arrived) got some food for us, the sweet hearts. We could stay in their nice appartment in the city centre, where we could stay before as well. Ilene's friends rock! My friends too, for coming to see Bas, shake hands, exchange stories, giving updates on life. All were curious to know how our life in America was going. After playing the first set, filled with Freewheeler originals, we turned it into a Jam Session, and Cindy sat in, with Dan on bass, Cici on washboard, and a unknown singer. This gave Bas the opportunity to mingle a bit. He thinks it's the last time he will fly, ever. After the concert was over, the stuff got packed in, we walked (with bass amp on tiny wheels) to the apartment and decided to walk to the Leidseplein, where our friends were playing in the Bourbon street bar. Rain made us decide to call a cab, which turned out to be a Tesla S model. Not too comfy, we both thought. Driver wasn't very sympathetic either. It saved us a walk, and we hoped to be in time to jam with Lamar. Unfortunately, he didn't invite us right away and waited until it was too late to get us on stage. We smoked and like always I wasn't allowed to bring my beer outside; when I came back inside, the bar staff had stolen my beer (this must've been the 100th time; celebrate) so I will not ever return to that hell-hole. For me, live music goes together with cold beer and a good smoke. If the place cannot offer that (at the same time) it just is not for me. I'll not spend my hard earned bucks there. That's the choice we have. After the gig, the drummer, that I knew from Tilburg as Albert, invited all to come to his afterparty. It was late, we were tired. As it was raining, we had to take a cab back to the Geldersekade. We walked back in, and crashed immediately, to be waked up the next day by sounds of neighbors walking up or down the stairs, which is kind of the soundscape for every Amsterdammer. Spain We had booked a Ryanair flight to Reus, but missed the plane because the parking we had booked was full, and Ilene's bag was too big to fit in the ridiculous bag-spacer. There were no other flights, so we were basically robbed by the Ryanair staff. Never again. Our friends in Spain were a little disappointed we couldn't make it. So were we. That's how life goes, sometimes. Budget traveling sucks, don't do it. Orchestra Once back, Ilene heard she had a concert with the orchestra she is in, Two Rivers College. She had to study Tchaikowski, Schubert and other composers that were not easy parts. The concert went fine, as many of her friends showed up. Currently she is working on Beethoven. Bas is working as a gardener. For him, music is entertainment and as soon as it loses that status, he prefers silence.

June 2023 update

So we're in June already, and it's not quite as hot as normal. The past few days we heard pumping noise from a sunken boat. There is another boat that sunk, unfortunately the 'Alacran' 57' Chris Craft Steve owns. We tried to help him with advice but he won't listen and always tries to cheap skate everything. Now he's in for much more, with a boat that has only 1 future: to be wrecked. The other sunken boat will also be taken to the 'claw' as it's called; harbormaster Robert found a huge hole in the bottom. An entire plank disappeared! Since this is my fear for our current now 60 year old boat, I want to sell her ASAP. Ilene has other ideas though, and if she keeps it up, I am going to check out another Situation. Not in expensive CA, but in Moorea, where ppl are simpler. I must say that today's affair with a trumper that didn't help with the boat, but accused me of looting while he was the first to point at things that he wanted, was part of how I currently feel. I've spent my last seven years here and I have to say the USA didn't do much for me. Okay, I could 'enjoy' free healthcare, and had a colonoscopy and appendix removal. I can ride a toyota pickup truck around and have a puch and a honda, and we have a toyota camper and miller marine 29' sailboat, so yes we've built up some capital. About our home, I don't know.... and I don't want to wait until we again have to come up with 25K. Which eventually just will sink, as these ships were only made for a maximum of fifty years above the waterline. The planks aren't even 1/2" thick! And with all of the weight we've put on her they've been trying to stay dry, but in reality got more and more rotten in the core. How easy could I break one plank last September! One that we replaced, of course. But there still is water in the bilge, and that is a NO GO for motoring.

Now the interesting story: on free-boat.com I had found a 43' Buchanan yawl in Moorea. The owner wants to give it to someone that has wooden boat building experience. And a bit of money as he expects the person who takes over the ship to pay for the past spring months of March, April, and May. Combined with the flight cost and the cost of repairs, this would be hard, unless we sell one of our vehicles. I'm thinking about the mopeds first. Land Squids!!! Ilene said my dad told her during one of their walks that I sometimes live 'too much' in my fantasy. He never understood it was my only hideout. I'm following the Ukraine war a lot and I do really hope that it will be over soon, and the Russians throw Putin c.s. in jail. Russians have tried to frame their war as a 'civil' or 'proxy' war. This time, the only ppl on the home front that want to end this war are Trumpers, does it mean they are our modern day hippies? lol

Uh.... wait... where did 2022 go?

All of a sudden it is December 2022. Scary how fast time goes, as we get older. To Bas Bass it seems time was going slow until his 40th birthday, after which each year seemed to be shorter then the previous one.

Much has happened in this year. During January, Bas got messages from his family that his father was not doing so good. But, since his first stroke in 1999 this was always the same message. Dad always confirmed with me that although he had an irregular heart, the doctor told him it was allright. This time, it wasn't. My younger brother called me at the end of the month, and told me to book a ticket, since Dad had to go to hospice. He was dying, now for real. I got my ticket, and Ilene brought me to the airport, after we had taken our vaccines. We found out that also in this terrain there are villains, dressed as doctors, with an official looking office and staff, taking people's money while the Biden government offers free jabs. These people must be trump voters: uninformed, throwing money at problems instead of informing themselves, and letting crooks get away with it. If you are or were a trump voter, we hope you have learned that he is NOT the solution to our problems; he IS the swamp he was shouting about. He IS casino mafia. It all comes out now, so we are not afraid of any court cases from the trump organization, nor the hitler jugend.

Anyway, Bas went to the hospice just in time to hold his dad's hand. Dad looked really really old, his breathing was rough, he didn't eat or drink, and the nurses, who were very nice by the way, told us he'd had no water in days, refused it. It was hard to look at Dad this way, and I had to smoke, after which we got in the car and drove back home. The next day, we got a call around noon. Dad had passed over to the next phase. Bas and his family had to organize the funeral. At this stage, the family decided that it was good if Ilene came over too, for the funeral. 

Dad's grave at the Mook Cemetery.

Although a professional undertaker was hired for this job, who made sure all necessary phone calls were made, and that there were enough cards, envelopes and post stamps to write invitations for the funeral mass and coffee table, it still was a lot of work: not forgetting important friends, or family feuds, which we luckily don't have. Organizing the church mass, choosing a coffin, a spot for the grave, text for the grave, what kind of stone, all of these things we push away while we don't have to deal with it. Finding songs Dad really liked, and going through family photo albums to make a dia-show outlining Dad's life, it all took a busy week, after which we got to watch light hearted movies with mom 'I am a widow now' or going to visit old friends. 

In August, we decided that we needed to take the bottom work on our 59 year old wooden ship serious. We found the last person who still did this work, Ramon from Diablo Boat Works in Bethel Island, and after three months of hard work, we could splash her, and feel more secure about waking up dry.

Jeannette and her family bringing a visit to us in Tiki Lagoon marina, July 2022. Ilene checks for fish.

Galt Music Exchange, where we teach

About the Covid shit, and gigs: in 2019 it was getting clear that the more stages closed, the more bands were cut throat, the previous year a band connected to the sacramento blues society already stole one of our regular gigs. The gigs we did in 2019 and early 2020 were fun, but our drummer problem wasn't solved, as Eric moved to San Diego, and our other regular drummer chose to play with other bands he used to sit in with. There are about six other acts with a woman singing the blues, and they all want 100% of the attention, some even need thirty internet radio stations for this, we're glad we can be happy with no internet radio at all.

 

Ilene now works with an orchestra and Bas has his own band and other projects, they teach at home and in a music school. Bas likes to work as a gardener as well, and plans to give sailing lessons in the summer of '23. Computer programming and web development courses also are in the pipeline.

The Freewheelers wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and New Year!

Our new marina makes us happy!

Sailing Talisman over the San Joaquin River

Other Freewheelers, part 1: Who's Sjaak?

<!--:nl-->Wie is Sjaak?<!--:--><!--:en-->Who's Sjaak?<!--:-->

Check out this freewheeler!

SAIL THAT BOAT!

 After discovering that we've paid already 18 months rent over the sailboat without ever being able to use it, I realize we're in for almost the same amount we paid for the ship. I'm about ready, btw, to just go out and sail her, without ever after being forced to pay rent to a bunch of ultra rich mofo's (i still don't understand why we let this all happen; well, it went day-by-day, each day a little more, exactly how frogs let themselves be cooked).

First I hoped to get her inboard motor running, the previous owner thought that the problem was in the transmission. Well, when I finally got the guts to get in there, I found out that the prop shaft wouldn't allow me to take the tranny out anyway. After disconnecting it from the tranny I discovered that the prop shaft didn't like to turn except with brute force. 

So I guess that must be the cutlass bearing just in front of the prop. Which also is rusty, and has 3 blades, but not folding ones like in the Albin O22-R. We just have a normal O22. Ilene, 50% owner of the ship, won't allow me to try to do the work when she's in the water (i've seen excellent examples in where just a plug was just to plug up the prop shaft opening, and the rudder I can take off easily; I'll do it all by myself, and plug it in myself, however it would be a lot easier if someone could help me). 

So I had to go find an outboard, which my wife found first, and bought from what at the time said to be a friend, an old Evinrude, that her ex-mechanic husband 'always had kept in good condition', well, when I brought that engine to a local repair shop, they didn't call me back in half a year. Only to tell me eventually the entire engine was shot, not worth putting more money in. At that time I'd already installed new reed valves, and a complete new CDI and impellor. Checking the engine however would've cost me more then the total value of these new parts, so I simply decided to let the motor go.

Then I bought a Johnson 9.9hp from 1975. Actually, the same engine, so that I could take parts from one and build up the other. It ran when I bought her, had electric start, so I worked hard on getting a fitting mount and installed an on and off switch, that operated a solenoid, that connected to the outboard wires.

A dude who said he was an 'outboard specialist' helped me a little bit, he even gave me a grinder, etc, then took off the hose connection which he dropped in the water (I went back in and found it), after which he disappeared again. He was with a small woman painter, but slept with another woman (the crazy one who sold her houseboat to the girl I worked with in the shop) and as soon as the new owner of the Tollycraft discovered they actually were staying on his ship without being allowed he kicked out him and her. I must say, these crack meth heads are pretty good liars!! They believe in their own lies...

Anyway, this Johnson worked fine in 2020, but in 2021 it decided not to spark anymore, ever after, so I've thrown away more months again, trying to get it to work, then in the hottest July and August ever, didn't even go to Talisman, for which I found guilty. Now that it is September again, I'm not going to wait any longer, I'm just going to buy a BRAND NEW OUTBOARD! 

Reliability also is important, and money in my bank account is depreciating as we speak anyway.

Bas Vossen-Hound Dog cover with the Haven Acres Jam Band (Jeramy Norris & David Tanner) pre-covid.

Good News

 Dear music lovers,

Yesterday, Ilene went to her routine cancer screening, and heard that she is completely clean, no more fear of it coming back, five years after the notorious disease stuck her while she was working for Deliver-It in Sacramento. She still thinks the on and off movement with the safety belt helped it to grow. Luckily it was detected in Stage 1, so she didn't need radiology or chemo (thank God!).

She had a bad year, as in early February she started doing jumping jacks, and while jumping she also turned, causing a hair fracture in her left underleg bone. This pretty much crippled her, and I'm walking our dog Elly since that moment. She needed a cane to get around, luckily her son Jeremy had one saved that once belonged to his Grandma. Ilene liked it, and slowly started healing, but had not taken pictures until March or April when she thought it was possible more then a Nothing.

After the photo's revealed her fracture, she'd a valid and legal reason to not walk too much. Yet she still went to the music school in Galt (the one in Concord only does Zoom meetings), twice a week. 

One day she helped her friend Sandy cleaning up her nice home, and broke her pink when closing a tiny plastic drawer. From that moment I completely stopped even Thinking about our band performing. It is possible, with Aliens, Real Pay and real Audience, somewhere in the Ultra Far Future. 

Yes, dear reader, you may arrive at the conclusion that Ilene should be strapped in, day and night, to just protect her from herself.  

To make matters worse, last month she decided to put on flip-flops, and walk over the old, wooden docks, to water her plants, which I've been doing for quite a while. 

For reasons that will remain unclear to me to my last breath, she decided to step over a frame of an old Puch MS50 moped that I was sanding at that moment, and of course, one of the flip-flops decided to stick to a frame part, making her fall so hard on the dock that she broke her knee-cap. 

OUCH!

She understands that she needs to find another hobby. To see what that is, go to Instagram and find 'Alldolledup62'. 

In case you would like our band to perform, alas, you are TOO LATE! 

(we've lost our interest and appetite in hauling amps etc etc over the docks here). 

We hope you will find another band that does what we do, or better, and we wish you all the best and thanks for all the fish!

Restoring the Love Boat, Shipwrecked in the Sacramento Delta | WYL Ep. 159 - we played here July 4, 2018!!

 Well, there is hope. 

This is the end of 2020. We have not had such a long period without playing for audiences, ever. All musicians are worried about the future. Some have even sold their instruments, and bought Bitcoins. 

I did so too, when Ilene; and I had to move to the US ASAP in 2009, I had to sell my beloved oldtimers, and get tickets. I sold guitars, effect pedals, amps and a drum kit, so that we could buy a 30 foot 1987 RV with a V8 so big we hardly could afford to move it. But we had a roof, without having to pay rent in our time (we think actually in our time rent and mortgage are WAAAAAY OVER PRICED!!!). 

As life still cost us money, and the crisis didn't give us any option to make money, I had put my hope in a new development, electronic money, or: the Bitcoin. This was hot news around 2011, and I thought that buying them would help me make some profit. Via a company that at that time, magazines and experts said was the most reliable in the field, BTCNext, I bought the electronic coins and put them in an electronic wallet, which I saved on my harddisk. This was on a laptop that I had gotten from my aunt, since I helped her to use and understand it, shortly before her passing away. 

Unfortunately, this laptop crashed. The usual blue screen shit, it appeared that the motherboard had a bad memory chip or something; there was No Chance that I could get my wallet back. There also was a 'pass phrase' going with it and I was so stupid to actually completely forget about it. So ByeBye Bitcoinmoney.

We, at that time, were putting all our efforts in SURVIVING; which means, finding a place better than the walmart parking, to have our RV, finding places where we could perform and make some income, finding a way to fly to Europe to attend my parent's birthdays, keep our paperwork current etc etc. 

We also had a little 3 legged dog, Otis, to take care of. We had also planned to live in Spain; there we have a camper and a car. Both always need lots of TLC. Meanwhile, we love ecologic gardening, walking in nature, visiting hippie communes and eco villages and so on. Eventually, we discovered an ecological camping in Vinyols, near Salou, where we could perform twice a week and live in our old mercedes camper called 'Elvis'. Then, Ilene's son married his longtime friend, and we decided to move back to the US since Spain still is in a crisis (up to this day). We realized that for countries like Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal, the construction of the EU has to be changed a lot. Northern EU countries have used all kinds of tricks to attract (foreign) money, investors. For example, the Netherlands and Luxemburg are known as tax heavens. The book 'Moneyland' finally opened up about how easy it is to start anonymous companies. A year later, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (www.ICIJ.org) published their 'Panama Papers', an enormous amount of research data that pointed out how companies and rich people (including royals and heads of state) used these kinds of constructions to avoid paying tax.

Of course, as soon as the world's population, which has suffered hard after the financial-economic crisis of 2007-2013, saw how the top 1% richest people in the world has abused this situation, they wanted governments to take action. 

Meanwhile, this 1% had organized with the Trump organization AKA republican party and their think tanks, to avoid being taxed. They had first arranged to win the 2016 elections by making the Democrat party choose the rather unpopular Hillary Clinton as presidential candidate, and paid Eastern Europe and Russian troll farms to influence the elections. Then, they devised a plan that made sure Trump would win the next, 2020 elections, and in the years between 2020 and 2024 he would have been able to use the media to tell the people democracy wasn't in their best interest, and thus, there wouldn't be any in 2024, establishing an American dictatorship, the first since the US was founded. 

Now this plan has failed, all Trumps crooked friends are buying Bitcoins with their exuberant amounts of money. At this point there's more money to be made by investing in Bitcoins; my best advice is, to put your digital wallet on a USB stick you put in a safe, including the pass phrase. Make sure you can cash in, anytime. 

Happy Christmas and a successful 2021!

Restoring A VINTAGE Cruise Ship, Living At Sea on the Aurora. We played July 4th, 2018 here during the Hilton fireworks!!

People who sail across oceans say time seems to go faster in those weeks that you only see water. I hear them tell me that it's almost like watching a camp fire, ultimately relaxing, while you still have to keep an eye on the wind, currents, and route. To know exactly where you are, you need to have GPS, or be able to calculate your position via the time+sun (height and exact location).

Luckily, we don't have any of those troubles, as we stay in our marina, happy with our old ship that is relying on a fuel source that's overpriced from about 30 cents per gallon (when it was being built) to the current 4 dollars per gallon (boat fuel), making it simply not economical to move, with our 2 V8 big blocks of almost 8 liter each. The nature here is great, as are the views, sunsets, etc. There is work, at least when there are no viruses going around. We are lucky to have nice friends here, and Ilene's son Jeremy lives in Sacramento so she can visit him regularly, like today, when she brought both dogs to give them a good bath (in this time of year we have to do that, as flea eggs are hatching).

With the camper it's no use going out as all campings are closed. We've finished painting the interior (from ultra ugly wallpaper to simple, plain white).
All we can do now, is to stay home and wait. Enjoying our freedom, our extra vacation time. There always is so much to do in house and garden, on boat and bike, outboard et cetera. Here are some pics of Lucille.
https://www.pinterest.com/ilenecello/toyota-rv-travette-remodl/

Now we're all forced to stay home, there is time to work on our beloved little motorhome. Other projects interfere, there's 2 outboard motors that need to be running, so we can see more of the Delta. There is a stack of stuff we want to sell since we're not using it.
And we have started to create home concerts that we stream live. Keep following *via your LIKE* our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/freewheelerscelloband

There we will announce when we go live. We'll follow who's online and can read your comments in real time so that we can respond and react. You may for example ask us to play a certain song. But: we will not promise that we know it!

It is Tuesday, February 4 already, January went by in a teaspoon. Meanwhile our lovely little camper has past Smog, and we're working on getting her ready for little tours. Unfortunately, the last time I drove her (to Discovery Bay, about 20mi from here) on the way back, the stick shift linkage to the gearbox failed, so I had to drive home going no faster then 20mph. Luckily, I was in 2nd gear, so I could stop and drive off, which was necessary a couple of times. Back home, I discovered there was a loose bolt, but before tightening it, I got those blocking sims to prevent this from happening again! It really isn't very hard, but you need handy, experienced fingers to get to the bolt positions, find the thread on feel since there is no way you can see what you're doing. Eventually, we'll need a new linkage, as it is made of the dreaded Plastic. In all my experience with oldtimers, it's always the plastic and rubber components that need to be replaced.

Anyway. I also installed the roof window, and after taking off all of the old fiberglass from the roof, painted it with a layer of special roof paint, which has rubber in it. After a couple of layers, it was done, and the rain couldn't get through. One of the roof windows over our bed had a bit of a leak, so I took that out, cleaned it, cleaned the window seat, and sealed it again with special glue.

The Band currently is non active. We've participated in various contests and apparently, other players are doing better in serving the audience what they want to hear. It's pretty hard always being a pioneer. Especially when you're kind of poor, unable to hire a studio or promo firm. Being nice is all we can do, and practice, compose, record, improve. We hope to fly to Europe this year, as my father will be 85 year old, and his health is deteriorating. With a bit of luck, we'll be able to live in Spain, on our own land, in a home we've repaired, growing organic vegetables fruit and herbs in our own garden. A revival of the Red House Parties will happen then!

Meanwhile, Bas published a book he worked on a few years ago, about how to build your own webshop using free Zen Card software. It's in Dutch, on Amazon, check it out if you understand Dutch!

Winterizing the camper

Using the last dry weeks in the year, I painted the roof of the camper, using an elastic type of roof paint that worked pretty well but rendered the brushes I've used to a useless punky hairstyle. Now we hope the winter rains won't leak through anymore, like they'd been able to do in the back and shower before.
The broken shower roof window is replaced, also are the two vent caps. They're pretty cheap online and easy to screw in. I've helped many people with their campers to their comfort. This way, I know how to do this job, with which materials, and how much time each little part of the job will cost.

Inside, the back of the camper was pretty much rotten wood. I took all the rot out, and replaced it with new wood that I first protected against rot, to not have the same problem again. I took out the old battery and checked the electric wiring, which still is functional.

Ilene painted the interior white, so we don't have to look at plastic 'woodprint' and ugly blue kitchen 'tiles'. White makes it look a bit bigger.
Since Ilene's Toyota Natoma had to go to the garage, where the check engine light was checked with all codes, and many new parts had to be installed, we didn't have much money left for the Travette. So she's still waiting for her smog check, and we already know there is an Evap problem. Please wish us luck on that, since we don't have much financial reserves.

At least, we can be sure now that we'll stay dry during our sleeps in our beloved camper!

Update: we call her 'Lucille'

For those that Instagram: Ilene has her own blog there, about our camper: https://www.instagram.com/p/ByMGZHSj05v/

The last few days we spent on painting the interior white (Ilene) and getting the old decomposing glassfiber off of the roof (Bas). Ilene tried to smog her after Bas had put in a new fuel filler hose, but again, EVAP failed.
It would be nice if the smog places would be more helpful in overcoming smog problems, instead of turning this legally obliged obstacle into an eternal subsidy...

Before the smog hell opened up, we invested $780 in brand new, 6 ply tires.

To get the title, Ilene had to go to the registration of deceased people.

The cop station where the freak works who impounded our vehicle, a proven scam. He and a towing company have a deal in which the tow club calls in this cop, to take the vehicle in, for just anything.

Notice that the towing company uses a white board to claim their prices. We had to give them $480 of our hard earned money. I see this as theft with help of the strong arm of the law. It makes me puke!

A remote junkyard in Lincoln is being used for this scam. The camper wouldn't start anymore, so the tow driver -now he has received his Judas pennies- was so nice as to tow it to the street, where he left us. We tried to find a tow to Sacramento via our AAA but all tow companies work together and would not help us. So far for this AAA 'service'. The entire night Ilene tried to get us out of there, but eventually, I unscrewed the carburetor, repaired it in Sacramento and we came back the next day; luckily, it ran!

If it's hard to remember where all wires and hoses go, make a picture (or more)

This junk inside the carb was the reason it stalled. After removing, Lucille ran again!

First work on our Travette camper

Yesterday was the first day without rain so we could work on the motorhome. PS. http://rvsandohvs.blogspot.com/ is a great blog about motorhomes and has a review on the Travette. We're always interested in more information about this Bakersfield company, and personal experiences from everyone who owns, or owned a Travette.

Here are some pics of our work yesterday.

this is how we first found it. Via craigslist ad. Flat tire and paneling coming down. What else?

As you can see, the extra layer of glass fiber that was put on later, is coming off. We have to get it all off, or put new bondo on it so that it sticks, and then repaint it. The back looks even worse:

But the underside will be okay with some surface rust sanded off and a layer of Rustoleum.

Ilene was already busy cleaning up the interior and checking the upholstery, which needs total renewal.

And meanwhile I was busy trying to get the lights working, which means to inspect all connections, light fixtures, switches et cetera.

We bought a Toyota motorhome

To be more mobile and see more of this great nation, Ilene and I have bought a camper. It's a Travette from 1979 and needs tons of work, but we got it for a good price. The engine, R20, is famous for it's durability and economy. Which we need, since now we got to get new tires. The old ones are from 1995 and WILL pop on any hiway trip.

We'll keep you posted!!