Odometer 35456 miles
Trip meter 0 miles
Medford, OR
Well... the Medford Cruise was fun!
The car ran and drove like a dream. Joan and I picked it up at Mark's garage and drove it the mile or so down to Hawthorne Park for the show and shine. (again we forgot the picture for the blog- aak!) It would have been a good one too. We had two lawn chairs, an easel made out of a camera tripod and some home-made fixin's, our 24"x 24" information poster, a cooler with our lunch, a couple wide brim hats, strapped on or tucked into the car as we rolled down to the park. And the car ran like it was brand new! I was really stoked!
Our family had a 1959 Deluxe version which was like this one with the exception of the openable front windows and ours had rear corner window where this one does not- close enough though to bring back fond memories.
How appropriate to have examples of these two German cars, both rear engine, air cooled, extremely light weight and very cool. VW, like BMW was struggling after the war to build a low cost people mover- only thank goodness the VW Transporters, Kombis and Microbuses, could haul about 7 more people than an Isetta! We'd have had to have 3 Isettas to get the family from A to B.
Joan and I were invited up to the McNeil's home, north of Grants Pass yesterday and we had a great afternoon drinking cool beverages and catching up on the last 4 months worth of news. Jim and Sara visited us in Texas last winter when they came down in January.
Sara treated us to her signature dish of spagetti pie, and garden fresh salad for dinner and it was so good we ate until it hurt to move! Then she brought out strawberry/ rubarb crisp with vanilla ice cream. Wow!
Jim built a bonfire in the fire ring in the back yard and we talked and laughed until dark. Good fun!
Monday we spent the day working on our finances and budget, and gathered the documentation we need to get the Isetta insurance settled. We realized that when we sold the car last summer, we cancelled the insurance. Then when the buyer wanted us to take it back, we forgot to get the insurance re-instated. State Farm wouldn't just re-issue the policy without an appraisal, so we shopped the internet and found that Hagerty Insurance would give us a binder right away, but we would have to follow up with all the documentation soon.
Some highlights of our budget. For the last 7 and 1/2 months:
Not much surprise here, but our three biggest expenses were:
Fuel (gas and diesel) $6,200 (10,000 miles on the motor home- and 6,586 miles on the car)
That works out to $1.21/ mile in the motorhome and 16.5 cents per mile in the car for fuel.
RV space rent $6,999 or an average of $30.56 per night (remember the Keys were $64.51 per night for a whole month) Without the month in the Keys it comes to a more reasonable $25/ night.
Groceries came out to $4,470 an average of $600/ mo.
We ate out only 85 times or about 12% of our meals and our total was $1500.00 which averages out to $17/ meal ($8.50 apiece)
Motorhome maintenace was the only other category that was over 2 % of our budget, and we had a $2300.00 expenditure to catch up on the serivices and get us back on the Freightliner recommended maintenance schedule again. Well worth the peace of mind knowing everything that carries you down the road is in tip top condition. We've learned that this is a very good, solid, well made bus.
Tomorrow we leave the bus in Medford and will be driving to Salem to visit friends and family, before pulling up stakes and moving to Port Orford again to resume our hunt for a home base.
Your Traveling Friends
Joan and Jeff
Trip meter 0 miles
Medford, OR
Well... the Medford Cruise was fun!
The car ran and drove like a dream. Joan and I picked it up at Mark's garage and drove it the mile or so down to Hawthorne Park for the show and shine. (again we forgot the picture for the blog- aak!) It would have been a good one too. We had two lawn chairs, an easel made out of a camera tripod and some home-made fixin's, our 24"x 24" information poster, a cooler with our lunch, a couple wide brim hats, strapped on or tucked into the car as we rolled down to the park. And the car ran like it was brand new! I was really stoked!
We show the car with the engine cover off because everyone wants to know:
1. Where the motor is?- right there on the right quarter
2. How big the motor is?- 300 cubic centimeters
3. How fast can it go?- book says 52, my best is about 48 (flat no wind)
The car always draws a crowd, and this boiling hot saturday was no exception. It certainly is a hit with the kids, and some of the older folks can actually remember a time when they crawled the streets
While roaming around the show we saw this beautifully restored VW Microbus.
How appropriate to have examples of these two German cars, both rear engine, air cooled, extremely light weight and very cool. VW, like BMW was struggling after the war to build a low cost people mover- only thank goodness the VW Transporters, Kombis and Microbuses, could haul about 7 more people than an Isetta! We'd have had to have 3 Isettas to get the family from A to B.
Joan and I were invited up to the McNeil's home, north of Grants Pass yesterday and we had a great afternoon drinking cool beverages and catching up on the last 4 months worth of news. Jim and Sara visited us in Texas last winter when they came down in January.
Sara treated us to her signature dish of spagetti pie, and garden fresh salad for dinner and it was so good we ate until it hurt to move! Then she brought out strawberry/ rubarb crisp with vanilla ice cream. Wow!
Jim built a bonfire in the fire ring in the back yard and we talked and laughed until dark. Good fun!
Monday we spent the day working on our finances and budget, and gathered the documentation we need to get the Isetta insurance settled. We realized that when we sold the car last summer, we cancelled the insurance. Then when the buyer wanted us to take it back, we forgot to get the insurance re-instated. State Farm wouldn't just re-issue the policy without an appraisal, so we shopped the internet and found that Hagerty Insurance would give us a binder right away, but we would have to follow up with all the documentation soon.
Some highlights of our budget. For the last 7 and 1/2 months:
Not much surprise here, but our three biggest expenses were:
Fuel (gas and diesel) $6,200 (10,000 miles on the motor home- and 6,586 miles on the car)
That works out to $1.21/ mile in the motorhome and 16.5 cents per mile in the car for fuel.
RV space rent $6,999 or an average of $30.56 per night (remember the Keys were $64.51 per night for a whole month) Without the month in the Keys it comes to a more reasonable $25/ night.
Groceries came out to $4,470 an average of $600/ mo.
We ate out only 85 times or about 12% of our meals and our total was $1500.00 which averages out to $17/ meal ($8.50 apiece)
Motorhome maintenace was the only other category that was over 2 % of our budget, and we had a $2300.00 expenditure to catch up on the serivices and get us back on the Freightliner recommended maintenance schedule again. Well worth the peace of mind knowing everything that carries you down the road is in tip top condition. We've learned that this is a very good, solid, well made bus.
Tomorrow we leave the bus in Medford and will be driving to Salem to visit friends and family, before pulling up stakes and moving to Port Orford again to resume our hunt for a home base.
Your Traveling Friends
Joan and Jeff
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