Die Frau and the rest of us made it home, altho' the old Bus is a bit worse
for wear.  And, we discovered that three people, no matter how well they get
along, are a bit too cozy camping in a Westfalia Weekender (no pop-top bed).

Actually, the trip was good, saw lots of relatives and friends.  Caught some
of the big heat wave, which caused the first alteration of our route.  Frau
started to overheat badly on the hottest days if we drove her more than an
hour without stopping.  So we ditched the so. Ontario route, and made
straight for the cooler shores of Lks. Superior & Michigan, then Frau was
fine, until a seal blew and she started spewing transaxle grease
*everywhere*.  Frequent stops for more got us along fine.  The grease, in
addition to the normal amts. of oil she heaves out, really work to
discourage tailgating :)  Weather in the North Country was lovely--cool,
sunny.  Got hot the closer we got to Iowa, and after we got closer (100 mi.
or so) to home, the clutch (actually I think the flywheel) started to hang
up.  You release the clutch, she has trouble gaining speed, then there's a
bang and a push and the speed's normal.  Next gear, same thing.  Worse when
she's hot.

Anyway, we will examine the old sweetie's clutch next week, the same time we
start looking at them nasty ol' CV's, one of which developed a bad whine.  Sigh.
One plus side for Die Frau: avg. of 21.2 MPG overall.

One upshot of the whole trip is that we are now officially in the market for
a well-equipped Westfalia poptop, probably 75 or newer, since we may want to
pull a tiny trailer, too.  Not to replace Die Frau, tho'--that would be
cruel after all the service she's given ;)

Mike Wright
68 Camper (Frau Blucher)
79 Bus (Otto)