# lucy's big adventure



## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

I have posted before, but not for a long while.
Myself and the wife have been traveling around the states, looking for somewhere to settle down and start a family. She had been living in Boston MA for the last 14 years, and I am not a fan of snow, so we decided to take a year or so off, have a road trip and find somewhere to call home. I needed to be near to the cost, she wants hills, i want hot, she wants cool. I don't feel humidity, she hates it, so we have our work cut out for us finding this magical place...

The trip was originally supposed to take 3 months coast to coast and be done, that was Dana's {the boss} idea. I said 6 months, and when she wanted to argue I said 9 months. Her 3 and my 6, we are, now blowing that one too, and have decided to make a year of it. 

so here is lucy's big adventure


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

this is how we bought Lucy







a few short weeks later she looks like this






we are planning on driving Lucy all the way south to Florida, then all the way west to California 

taking in as much of the US as we can, between 3 and 6 months, I'm hoping on 6 months, mrs rubbachicken thinks 3 months

we'll be updating this thread from time to time {when we have interweb access}

we were hoping to leave on the 1st of November, that didn't quite work out  :roll:  then tomorrow, it's now looking like the weekend

our first stop will be new york, then DC ,Virginia and North Carolina for thanksgiving with family. 

we've got some fun things to do on the way round, some scuba diving, snorkeling with manatee's in Florida, the Kennedy space center

if there's something cool in your area that you can recommend to a traveler, please feel free to let us know, or if you are on our rout and want to meet up with us or can offer us a shower... that would also be very welcome.


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

After a very late start on our trip, we met up with the Send-off party people in Srewsbury, Lucy's Send off PARTY!


You were ALL so COOL. 










We were sure we would be there with one or two people, and that would have been fine, but the turn-out was overwhemingly wonderful. 
You guys were SO nice and even though we were so so so late for our own send-off party, you were there with hot cider, hot chowda, pizza and a baby, (so cute!) waiting for us, and most importantly, waiting for us with a smile THANK-YOU!!! 











Then there was Dale who saved our day with an old starter from his stash... ONLY in circles like this, can one turn up with a dead starter, and someone say: ''I have one in my house I can give you''... I mean, REALLY??? You Crazy Crazy WONDERFUL people!








can you tell which one is the new one ?

So THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU, and once again, THANK-YOU!!! to you ALL!!! 

And with that, we made it to Chester NY.   

and took a senic ride up to Bear mountain. 












-- 
Dana Crake


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

lucy made it to DC Very Happy
we had a stop over at the bus depot, this morning as the fuel pump is louder than the engine Laughing and i don't really want the tailgate dropping on my head, so we bought a new pair of struts, an uneventful drive thankfully, she gets the day off tomorrow while we go and see what's to see in DC

we are in richmond virginia,  on the way south we stopped off at the bus depot for some bits 






a day in DC 

we went to see the prez, he was in hawaii






there's not a lot of reflecting going on in the pool, wait a minute no pool only mud


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

i found kilroy around the memorial






we had 2 and a bit days on aleric's ramp getting a few more bugs out






a stop at the air and space museam, a quick flight






looking for a new motor for lucy, which one 

merlin


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

radial





maybe a bigger radial





then there was this funky motor





finally something very BIG flew by






monday morning we are off to see the blue ridge mountains, headed for charlotte north carolina


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

our way to north carolina was along the lue ridge parkway, some steep hills
and some nice views, shame about the pictures   










we over nighted in one of the over looks 






our first meal in lucy, tasted a LOT nicer than it looks,, pasta


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we went off roading, "gods foot print" in burkes garden,  lucy got very very very dirty  :lol: it was a scarey drive muddy, slippery and a narrow track with steep sides down hill
only video of that, and i don't know how to shrink the clips 

discovery place kids was a blast, i got to ride in a nas car  :wink: 






flew my first plane  :lol: and crashed it into a window   






and the kids had a good time too 

we are headed out that way again, we were in a rush, so i hope we can see more before we head to aikin south carolina to see friends


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we are in ashville north carolina, awaiting the opening at 11am of 12 bones {a bbq and ribs place} we missed them by 20 minutes yesterday, then we are heading for the smokey mountains, in the hope that the roads are open, much of the sourthern blueridge parkway is now closed 
wehad a look at blowing rock the other day, there was so much snow falling we couldn't see it, an that was standing right next to it
last night was the coldest yet 28Â°f, we woke up with ice inside
now the sun is up it's warmer


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

yesterday we went hauling hay, 6 bales and 3 big bags of horse feed






after that  we thought we'd found the perfect wheel, looks like quite a bit of clearancing would be needed, 12" x 26" multifit rims, a bit more bling that we can cope with





this was the fellah that needed the hay






our last night in savanah was in saint simons sound, a beach front capsite
we left savannah and headed south finally into florida, our first night  was in amelia island, another beach front campsite 

this was on the beach, i like shells, so it's now tied to the roof


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

next time we hit the beach was at st augustines, we have been around to many of the beaches here, did the wine tour {mrs rubbachicken can't handle her wine} so she was a bit worse for wear

we went fishing, a first for us both, actually catching a fish that is 












we are currently camped outside the hampton inn, in fernadina beach, they are kindly letting us use their wifi 
we will be here until monday, the beach is too nice, and there's probably not much else to do over the holidays, so it'll be swimming and fishing for me on christmas day
i hope we can catch our christmas dinner  or we'll just eat the bait


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

happy holidays to all from us chickens


our christmas dinner was this   

all day out on the pier and this is all we caught






it was yummy 
from st augustine, we headed down to daytona, and met samba member and his family, very nice people
they put up with us chickens for a while 
while we were there, we took time to go to the beach 










we also went to the reptile center at deland florida
and got to meet some of the locals, this is an albino ball python


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

and a four year old  gaitor named Sasha






more fishing, more food 






we also went to the daytona race track 
to see the practicing for the 50th rolex 24 hour race at the end of the month, and saw these


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

then walked through the pit lane to see the pro's at work











if only vanagons came apart so easily   

then another fishing trip, not so successful we only caught this blow fish, and a small bait fish {both went back}







after leaving the daytona area we went to titusville, we found a nice place to overnight under a bridge


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we went to the kenedy space center


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

astronaut jon mcbride met us






one day at the space center is not enough, if you go upgrade your tickets, $13 a head for the year, we've already gotten our monies worth
there's a military rocket launch on the 19th on january, so we will go back to watch

next we went wildlife spotting, these things are HUGE


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

watch the birdie











our first armadillo sighting 8)


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

this one made us laugh


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we went back to the kenedy space center, i like that place a lot
we met with  3 astronauts now, they all have very different, but interesting things to say about space flight

we had a lot of fun at the rolex 24 hour race, thank you steve 
some of the previous winners
















i love the audi's


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

back down the coast, we spent the day walking around down town miami, we found the miami ink studio, they were very friendly, chatted to us about our tattoos, alas we could not afford for them to tattoo us 


the  trees are something like i have never seen before







we went to the everglades yesterday, those airboats don't do migraines a lot of good 

the locals seemed friendly enough






some were in for a bit of dental work


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

the water here is nice, 10:30 last night was a good time for a swim {i like the winter, when you can swim at night}







monday morning we set off for the keys 
Pic from Key West......




Lucy is the one on the right


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

on our way down the keys we found these guys, low light made picture taking difficult 





at the airport in marathon, these were resting, between taking passengers up for 30 minute flights, $425 per person for 30 minutes in the air   

B-24 liberator bomber






B-17 flying fortress






both are out doing air shows 300 days of the year, the rest they are at home in new smymer south of daytona


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we saw the sun rise every day





and watched it set






we were the key westys


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

the skys were incredible, i wish we were still there







on the way north we stopped in at napels

we saw fish being caught






we ate some fish






and we saw something magical





we are in st petersburg florida headin north on monday


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

it's been a while since i did an update, we came up the gulf coast.
we swam with manatees in crystal river




we found our selves being drawn back to daytona {i love it there}
we went and did some of the bike week stuff, met some very cool bikers
and saw some orsum bikes


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

i watched some art in the making 






we then went on the the 2012 lakeland show  

saw some very nice VW's


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

from there, back to the coast to clear water
















next was to st pete's we found home by the beach


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we heard the indycar race there, too expensive to go and watch, but we did see a ferrari    if i don't ever see another ferrari it'll be too soon






we watched t he locals eating






i never get tired of watching the sunrise






then there was a VW's on the pier at st petes, the last one on that pier 
this square back was our favorite at the show


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

this westy i think was the cheapest i've heard someone paying for a westy

i give you the $100 westy






it was a good show, not too big, and some very friendly people

lucy was getting very noisy in the wheel bearing dept  so they were ALL replaced, 7k miles and they were done 
we headed north again, hoping to finally make the long drive west, we managed as far as gainseville before it got too noisy again, no more than 500 miles and another set of shot wheel bearings, i thought i'd found a vanagon in deland fl, so we drove 100 miles to find that they'd not got one 
so we limped back to daytona to replace new wheel bearings
at which point i gave up, we bought replacement hubs with bearings in them
we are now $400 in, on the rear wheel bearings 
there's a noise now  i hope it doesn't get worse, so the next time i see a vanagon  in a u pick, and it has hubs on the rear, i'm going to get another set




now we are near pesacola, we met up with some nice folk from the "rare air" VW club at pensacola last saturday, and will meet them again this weekend, for and camp out and a caravan to a small show in mobile, alabama


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we finally left florida today, it was fun, and i am very sad to have left.
 we first got there in the middle of december, we saw the blue angles in pensacola yesterday






and watching the C-130 throwing it's self at the runway  :shock: 






now to look forward to what fun we can find in alabama, we are meeting people from rare air emerald coast vw club for a camp out tomorrow.




then a cruise on to    trip to the ship


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we made it out of florida 






now we are on the long drive west


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

we went wild in alabama, on a small camp out with new friends





we ate with the locals 






new orleans was our next stop, it was overcast and rainy 
we had fun though


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

then we high tailed it to texas, to the texas classic show, that was FUN FUN FUN

we met some amazing people, had a fantastic fun, helped out a baja in distress

went on the cruise, over 160 VW's in a 30 mile cruise 






i desperately had a want for an oval


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

from the Texas classic show, we headed to carlsebad caverns NM, they were orsum 











there were some weird looking guides there 






from there we headed up to roswel NM, what a town that was 

we found some other ailiens


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

then we headed north to santa fe, lucy did not like the altitude, and the heat, so we trundled slowly  :roll: 
we made it to santa fe, after a bit of useful advice i adjusted lucy's timing, now she has a bit more go, and can climb the mountains 

it was beautiful there, it didn't feel like a town, let alone a city of 200,000 +






we stayed there for a few days, then lucy decided she wanted to see if she could make it up into the rocky's 
we're happy to report that she did very well
i added a sign on the back window to let people know lucy's a speed machine 






then we set off on the climb to denver CO

even pushing hard up the interstate into the mountains she managed 23.44 mpg  :shock:   :shock: 

this is where we have been so far


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

so, we made the climb up from santa fe, NM to denver, what a climb that was, we were still having troubles with altitude, so only traveling when the air was cool, as soon as it got warm we struggled, we managed a trip best of 23.44 mpg though, denver was fantastic 
we found ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place




we made it up to red rocks, where they have gigs, luckily no one was playing, or we couldn't have gone up there









on our way out we met an amazing family, they gave us a camp spot for the night    and let us handle some of their pets


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

from there we went over the vale pass




then down into aspen, where we met tom, "fairweather" and his lovely wife, anne,, who spoiled us
they lent us the use of their workshop space to do a little tinkering to lucy in preparation for the heat
so i made a roof rack 1" square tubing and 3" x 1/" flat stock, we ended up with this





then for harbor freight's solar kit, seen here at the syncro solstice meet





i am happy with how it turned out, although it now takes both of us to lift the top, my next visit to a junk yard will find us the rams needed to lift it easily again


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

since leaving syncro solstice, we stopped in on the arches, the colors of the rocks, the holes worn though rock was breath taking











from the arches national park we headed to bryce canyon  8 very different, equally stunning






we saw the solar eclipse, the ring of fire


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)




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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

and we saw my first ever wolf











from there we went to see how a rubbachicken measured up to a californian condor, they're huge


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

tree trunks and roots can be mesmerizing 






from bryce we went to zion national park






very different seeing the canyon from the bottom looking up






from there down to the north rim of the grand canyon


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

but when they are long way away they're not so big
the cliff was a mile away, and 1000 feet tall, you can make out the condors in the sky  8)


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

i finally got one, how ugly are condors, this one is a 10 year old female, at the visitor center in the grand canyon they were able to tell us all about them





after the grand canyon, we found dinosour feet    the first i've ever seen










they are huge, much bigger than chicken feet 

then we went to the petrified forest, i can't believe people take this stuff home, at a rate of 2200lbs a month  pretty soon at this rate there'll be none left for the rest of us to see


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

from there we went on to flag staff, joseph928 took us on a guided tour of the area   
sedona, the sights in flagstaff, it's a pretty place, somewhere a chicken could roost 
still lots more of the country to see yet though

from flagstaff we went to the hoover dam, it was a lot more expensive than i was expecting, so we only got to drive across the top of the dam


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## rubbachicken (Jun 19, 2012)

from there we went to vegas 











4 days in vegas was enough for us, vegas is NOT for chickens  
today 7 hours driving, and now we are resting in san diego   
lucy made the west coast


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## C Nash (Jun 19, 2012)

WOW!!!!  And you made this trip in a day!! JK  Great photos and great trip.  Thanks for sharing.


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