Left Almonte at 6am, off to a good start and headed  west, uneventful drive
through TO toward the Blue Water Bridge at Sarnia.   Getting accross the
boarder was the fist of glitches.  Semis backed up for  over 10 miles, wound our way
past hem , stopped at the duty free shop to get  some booze and off the get
in the USA.  Do you have any Canadain Beef on  board question was asked and no
but yess,,,,in the dog food !  So we had to  turn in all our stash of dog food
to the boarder guard  which he  promptly dumped in the nearest trash barrel
then said we're good to go. Yahoo !  Off to Detroit we go.
   We got into Detroit and met up with Ina at her daughters where  she was so
excited to see us and get ready to move out, she tripped on  an electrical
wire and bruised both her knees and sprained a finger.   After some meds and a
good night sleep in the driveway we got under way toward  Chicago.  Stopping at
Cabbalas in Dundee, as we never had done that  and got shocked at the prices,
we continued on toward Chicago. We decided  to forego the invitation of Pete
& Nancy in South Bend as it was getting  late.  Traffic passing through the
Chicago area was overwhelming.   Nothing but simis on the road.  Then Ina's van
starts having problems with  the oil pressure light and buzzer coming on at
between 2000 and 3000 rpm.   I decide to drive hers for a while and see what's
up.  Seems to run just  fine and no oil light at hot idle just at the 2000 ~
3000 rpm mark.  So on  we go for some 300 km listening to that buzzer coming on
and off.  Finally  stopping for gas in Elgin I unplug the oil sensors, we get
a Tornado warning  siren and we lock up the vans and head for cover in the gas
station.  Soon  the siren shuts down and we decide to continue on toward
Rockford, IL.  The  Tornado seems to pass in front of us heading east and we see
clear sky in  front.  What a trip that was !
     We made it to Rockford, found a Wall Mart  after missing the Flying J we
were trying to find and settled in for the  night.  Still no way to get the
Wifi to work on the new laptop so we  could not message Pete & Nancy about not
stopping there.  In the  morning Ina starts calling LiMBO members in the
Chicago area to try and find a  mechanic in The Rockford area to have a look at her
oil pressure problem.   I try to go off to the Wall Mart Auto Service Centre
to see if someone  there knows of a good VW mechanic.  I now find I have no
brakes......what  next ?  Seems the fluid has escaped somewhere.  That explains
the  brake light on the dash since yesterday afternoon.  I thought it was the
parking brake switch malfunctioning. Ha !  Wrong !  So after  a phone call to
the local VW dealer who put us to a European Car service  place who led us to
Rich at Brighams Rebuilding, supposedly the local VW  & Vanagon guru.  He
says come on over but it's not the best  day.  We find our way to Rich's place on
Shappert Road, in Machesney Park  and are greeted by a yard full of VWs &
Vanagons.  Rich makes  place in his crowded garage and dives under grumbling
something about the leak  could not be in a worse place, up behind the shift lever
on the  tranny, above all the coolant lines.  Brale line is rusted through
adjacent to the T fitting.  While he's working away we go off to a  clinic to
get Ina's finger looked after as it's swelling up now, It's not broken  just
sprained, they give her more meds and an ace bandage.  We  then go looking to
find a Wifi connection and still no luck.   Find the Flying J that we missed
last nite, they say the Wifi there is working  but I can't get to open on my new
Laptop ????  Back to Rick's to see  how he's making out, Ina's van starts
cutting out.  What next ... has not  this day been exciting enough ?  I guess not
?  So back at Riches we  find the Hydro has cut off his electricity, unpaid
bills or something, but he's  still working on the brake line.  While Rich
working on the brake  lines in the dark I start looking for Ina's cutting out
problem.  I  find the newly installed by her nephew ignition wires are not the
correct  ones for the cap.  New style cap old style wires supposedly supplied by
the  Bus Depot.  Rick does not have a set of the new wires but does have an
older style cap to match the wires.  I install the cap and send Ina off on  a
test drive.  Success, no more cutting out, now we're getting  somewhere.  I wire
Ina's hi pressure oil switch to ground to shut off the  buzzing and light as
Rich has no time or patience left to change the  switch.  The low pressure
switch seems to be working so we will be  fine.  We settle up with Rich and give
him a bunch of beers bid farewell  and we go off to find a spot to spend the
night.  We end up back at the  Flying J, have diner at the buffet and I go
about trying to find a way to make  the Wifi work.  Called the Flying J Wifi
hotline from the drivers lounge  and he asks if I have a new computer with a built
in Wifi, yes of course what  else.  Did you turn it on ?  Well no, is in not
always on ?   Well, no, there must be a switch somewhere on the laptop.
Looking around I  find it.  Never saw that before.  One more reason to read the
instruction book of newly acquired items !  Bruce, did you catch that  ?  Maybe
it was not your wireless box that was broken after all.  So  after turning on
the Wifi switch I get on the Flying J Wifi and sign up for a  months service at
$19.95 and viola we're on line in the Westy.  Checking  the e-mails we see
one from Pete & Nancy wondering what happened to  us....don't ask !  So I write
them a note explaining a bit.  We then  pop in a DVD of "Beat the Devil" with
Humphery Bogart that Rita found in the  Flying J store for a couple a bucks.
What a life, beer, movies,  Internet, Flying J, Vanagon gurus in Rockford, IL.
Off to the Badlands  today, were we not just there ?  I hope the next report
is not as  convoluted !
    Andrea & Brad, sorry your gonna miss Burning  Man, yes we will be camped
with the Vanagon crowd.  Phil, yes, get my  reports posted to the LiMBO
website, good place to post the trip reports.   Pics will be posted to my AOL site
soon.  Gotta go now the road is  calling.

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada_ BusFusion_
(http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper  camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12, 2005
'87 Westy, '90 Carat &  Lionel Trains
Member: _Vanagon List_ (http://www.vanagon.com/) , _LiMBO_
(http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/) , _IWCCC_ (http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/)  &_ CCVWC_
(http://www.ccvwc.ca/)
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in  the Ottawa Valley_  STEBRO/Vanagon
Stainless Steel Mufflers_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)   _ Frank
Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)  or
http://frankcondelli.com