September 3, 2012 Labor Day Michiana Meet-Up
 

On Monday, September 3 (Labor Day), forum member JethroBodine will be passing through the Michiana (that's the northern IN and southern MI) area on his way
to the Bonneville salt flats. He has taken me up on my offer to use my place as a pit stop for the night, and I would like to open it up to anyone else that would like to join us for some ecomodding camaraderie.

The back yard is plenty big enough for pitching tents and I even have a fire pit that we can swap lies around in the evening. Heck, I might as well fire up the BBQ grill and call it a cook-out. That's my hook; ecomodding and free food. :D

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...lie/aerial.jpg

Shoot me a PM if you'd like to join us, and I'll give you my address. I'm in the Dunlap area, which is between Elkhart and Goshen, just east of South Bend, IN.

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...ie/areamap.jpg

I'm in:thumbup:. I will be in a DIESEL Jetta as the engine swap is in full swing. Looking forward to it, Man. Thanks again:D.

it sounds like a fun idea, is the meet on the 3rd and stay the night or show up on the 2rd and go home on the third? aka I have the 3rd off but not the 4th.

please send me your address and I will tentatively put the trip in my calendar. :)

I'll be arriving on the 3rd and leaving the 4th. Trying to do the traveling as early as possible to get there mid afternoon-ish.

You're welcome to arrive the 2nd or 3rd and stay either or both nights. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with something to entertain us until Jethro shows up. There used to be a small car museum/collection not far from here. I'll see if it's still open for business.
It would be awesome to have you come with the 'tailed Trix! Definite photo op time with TWO boat-tailed vehicles! And I just might have a little surprise of my own... ;)

have you been working on your vibe? the fuel log looks a bit low, only 38 MPG?

The Vibe is the wife's car now, and she requested to have the pizza pans removed. It still has the Scangauge, grille block, forward underbody tray, and the fog lamps covered.
I've had something rolling around in my mind that I really want to try on the Vibe. This Labor Day Meet-up is just the ticket to get me motivated to do it. But it's way too early for any details.

HydroJim has expressed interest in coming. He's currently gearing up for a boat-tail project. How many boat-tails can we get together? :D

If we get any more we wil need to conduct some coast down trials to see who's car is more aerodynamic :)

Do you have any good roads near your place for that?

You know you're an Ecomodder when; you get together to see who slows down the least, not who accelerates the most:D.

true:)

now if I just get my nose cone done i might win!

Labor Day Weekend
 

If I get my TDI conversion into an '84 VW Vanagon finished in time, we hope to head for Alaska....latest date to leave will be August 6th.

So, if we leave that late, our plan is to swing by Ypsilanti, MI on the return trip to take a peek at the Annual TDIFest. That's not far from your neck of the woods. We'll have our tent and would hope to be welcome!

My project Thread is in the TDIclub dot com.......TDI Conversions. It is titled: ALH TDI transplant into an '84 Vanagon. (I cannot post a link because I've not reached five posts yet).

Also, I intend to do a Thread in the Road Trips of our trip to Alaska.

Andy, I checked out your vanagon project at TDIclub.com. That's a pretty neat project!
Let me know if it works out for you for the 2nd or 3rd of September, there's plenty of room for ya. Ypsilanti is about three hours from here.
You and Jethro will have plenty of engine-swapping notes to compare!

Well I took Tuesday the 4 th off so I plan on comming by. Should I bring my tent? Or plan on sleeping in the car?

Ha! It's completely up to you, man! If we were doing this in the near future, I'd suggest the car, because the grass is really, really, reallly dead. Crunchy dead. I think I saw a Bedouin herd some camels through the other day. Yeah, right there past the cacti. :rolleyes:
I can't water it 'cause our well is old and barely adequate for daily use, which might make it interesting when y'all want to take showers. But hopefully we'll get some rain within the next month and a half.
But no, seriously, whatever you're most comfortable with is fine.

Ok the tent is light so I can pack it and decided when I get there what the best plan of attack is.

Well, we got some rain last night (finally!). We'll see if the grass recovers.

Before the rain came;

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...astedgrass.jpg

worked on the car so I can use the tail for sleeping better now.

How is the grass?

4 weeks to go!

I know I don't know anyone of you too well (at all) but I was hoping I could maybe come by learn some tricks or tips feom you guys.

Then a map reminded me it's over four hours away. So it's unlikely I will bother you about it, but I hope you all have a safe trip.

It will be a 4-5 hour drive for me. Where are you at? We might be able to carpool.

Learning is great, feel free to come and have fun looking at our tails :)

Ohio, East Cleveland. I would nice to finally do a 500+ mile tank. They do rather interest me! For myself I prefer underbody and dropping frontal area/drag, but those setups look quite cool.

It's unlikely, but I may attempt it. (I still ponder interest in an Ohio meet up.)

I though there was another Ohio person thinking of coming, unless i am double counting, if I rember who it was I will post it.

500 miles is a good starting goal. I would like to hit 800. It's not a big stretch but I keep moving the bar up each time I get to the last one. But I am running out of mod ideas.

What is your EPA estimate? Mine is 374 I believe. 450 is no problem, but I often find it not convenient to get that close...

Especially when fuel was 3.40 at 200 miles. 3.60 at 400, and then 3.90 when I peaked 400! Patience did not pay off. It collected on me.

I thought I read the whole thread, and disn't see that. But I honestly would rather travel alone or with my wife/friends. I am okay with meeting people over the internet, like this, but I'm a bit careful in some aspects. Plus, ya'll would drop my mileage. :(

I could get about 400 before modding. not sure on epa.

Good point about the weight and strangers :)

You may be thinking of HydroJim. He was thinking of coming, but hasn't confirmed.

The grass is much better. We got some storm fronts that dropped some precipitation on us last week. It's thin and weedy, but fairly green. I'm leaving it longer than I usually do, hoping it will fill in. If you have a pad or inflatable mattress, it should be fine.

UltArc; love to have you! Four hours ain't bad. C'mon... :D

from http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post321413
Thanks for the invite. You're only a day trip from where I'm staying in MI. If a family gathering gels here that'll trump my schedule. If not, it could work well into a motorcycle trip I'm planning. We'll see how the chips fall...

KamperBob, where are you in MI? I am planning on going so we could look into car pooling or you could draft me on the way there, or something like that.

Hi, Spotter. I'm in Owosso. That's an eco friendly idea. Thanks for the offer. I'm waiting on family holiday plans first. My schedule goes from there.

If I come down I 75 and hang a west at flint I will be near you right? I can also come down the back roads :)

just give me a holler a few days before and we can see if it would work out. I might have to go a day early and stop by a relative who is on the other side of the state, so I might also have family things.

This looks like it's shaping up to be fun & edutainional meet... (or something!).

Closest I've been to your neck of the woods was a road trip about 8 or 9 years ago to Muskegon, MI, to crew on a tall ship up the lake & over the top to Bay City. Got a ride back from there to pick up my car and then headed home. Back in my pre-eco-car days:

http://www.metrompg.com/posts/photos...daAccordEx.jpg

Well, sorta pre-eco-car. Still beat the EPA regularly by ~20%, and yes, those are VX rims. No other mods though -- I wouldn't have qualified to visit you then!! :D

Yeah, it's gonna be something alright! Ha! Getting pretty excited here!

Muskegon isn't far from me at all. Couple hours, I think.

"Wouldn't have qualified to visit you then"- whatever, Mister Grandaddy of all Ecomoddingdom. :rolleyes: Until I found this site, I didn't even calculate my mileage!

I know you guys all wish I'd come but it's just not going to happen. At over nine hours it'll be a hell of a drive, and at 500 miles I would have to break a personal record to get there on a tank!

Spotter suggested i go through Midland but that would add 200 miles, 6 hours and a ferry ride.

Excuses, excuses. I'd drive four hours for this if i didn't have to work the next morning. Anyway. Maybe we can have another later on. Fall cookout in the Twin Cities (or something not nine hours away)? Maybe something next spring or summer?

I'm game for something like that, wait till it warms up a bit so we all get better MPG on the trip there :)

Metro, I work in Bay city right by the water, if you are ever in the area let me know. I would be glad to hang out or grab a bite to eat.

One of my new coworkers (does marketing stuff) lives in Ontario and comes back and forth 3-4 times a month. he was complaining that his MPG was bad..... my solution was to mod his car like mine :D

he thought I would not make it over the border/ be stopped by the first cop. Is Canada that messed up?

I then recommended small mods, like MPG gauge and smooth wheel covers . will see how long he complains.

Its 120 miles to South bend from here. iI would be interesting to meet up.

come on down!

Spotter- I never had a problem in Canada. The border crossing was fine going in, a bit lengthy coming back, but no strip search or anything:eek:. I think the traffic behind me was making the U.S. guards want to see me gone.

Tony, if you can avoid the traffic in the Windy City, 120 miles ain't bad. Should be about two and half hours? Hope you can make it, even if it is just for the day.

• JethroBodine is planning on arriving Monday afternoon and will be camping overnight.
  
• WeatherSpotter will be here noon-ish on Monday and will be camping overnight.
  
• AndyBees may be coming with his TDI-converted Vanagon.
  
• KamperBob may make it on motorcycle if family plans don't interfere.

TC,

Yes it would be a fun day. It's interstate the whole way, then exit at us 20. Need a rear brake job, adjusters are stuck, hope to get it done Saturday. The coast down tests would be interesting.

Sounds like a fun time. We're about an hour from the Mississippi river. I'll have Jethro give us a report on Tuesday.

less then a week to go!

Looked at the weather today and it looks like we might have another visitor, Hurricane Isaac. Any news from your area, TC?