GOIN WEST

It's That time of year again. Time for the Rat Fink reunion. The last couple years I have driven out to Utah instead of flying. With all the stuff I needed to take I decided to do it again. Judith my vanning friend from Florida, just happened to be in the area and decided to go along. It was nice to have a rider for the long trip.Makes it easier having a back up driver. Judith being the consummate traveler had us going to a number of sights along the way. Took an extra day, but it was cool to see all the Americana. Stopped in Abilene, Kansas so Judith could do some geocaching. We were in a cemetery and found a memorial to all the service men and women that came from the area. found a number back to the civil war.and their most famous service man Dwight Eisenhower. very cool.



down the road in Victoria, there is the "Cathedral of the plains" A beautiful structure from stone built in 1910, by the parishioners. Beautiful!.you find the wildest vehicles in the most out of the way places..

On westward, after a stop at Judiths brother in Eagle Colorado. we went on through the canyon where the highway follows the Colorado river, to me this is the best part of the ride..

The trip took us to the Arches park. I have never been there before. what an absolutely beautiful place! We did more hiking the next 2 days than I ever have.

Sunday found us on the way to the Rat Fink Reunion. I'll get to that next post.......

SPRING BACK

Yes, it's been a long time since I last posted. The good news is there is a lot to put up. May always means van-in time. My club puts on its annual event every year at the fairgrounds in Mt Vernon Ohio.The week before we got together to print shirts,dash plaques, and trophies.

Did the shirts first, then the metal. Turned out pretty nice if I don't say so myself...a The next week was the event and we had a great turnout. before that I had a couple vans to work on.Our van-in was a success again this year, attendance was up and the weather was better than normal. The show was great! The judges were busy. the food was good. Mike learned how to pull a wheelie with the golf cart...
and as usual some people should have stayed in bed..lol
I'll have more tomorrow.

the latest

Well, I don't know where to start. The last week or so has been busy. Thats normal for this time of year. The tandem van has made some progress.





Because of the amount of bodywork on this van we have to strip it by sanding it ,instead of using a chemical stripper. Slow going but it must be stripped. Meanwhile the striping brushes have been at full speed





I also finished another can. This one is destined to go to Canada

There are always the jobs that make for even more fun, this one was one such project. This truck was built special for a BBQ cook off held in Mt. Vernon. It was an old cement truck with the mixer removed,and a complete kitchen and cooker/smoker built in its place. Then decorated with monsters

This past weekend we managed to finish the first fibreglass hood skin for the astro van. After pulling the pieces apart We took apart an Astro hood to get the inner structure to have the mounting plates for the hinges and latch striker

I've also been working on some new t-shirts for my enterprize. Making screens. and printing shirts. check these out

This coming week will be my clubs annual van-in. hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to show you from then. later!!

TAX DAY APPROACHES

This week brings April 15. Man, where does the time go. One thing I had to do was get the leaking tire/ wheel fixed. Took the van to the son, and he pulled the tire off and switched it.
It's hard to see, but the bubbles are coming through the metal.. further examination shows a hairline crack. Vance is going to weld it for me but I won't use this on the van again.. We had a club outing to the junk yard, Saturday.
Hey ,I saw it first!! Found a bunch of stuff,some I needed some I didn't. I LOVE goin junkin'. Another load of van booty.. Been out workin' in the garage/ studio painting away. Got this panel done for Gary, from vegas...The flamed can is next..Got several stripe jobs lined up for this week. The weather is warming up and its time to hit the streets again. Stay tuned . a lot of fun things coming up this week.

DAYTONA SPRING SHOW

This past week I was in Florida to do the show at the Daytona speedway. Before the show I did a trike for a customer of mine from Columbus, who is now a snow bird in Fla. He painted it himself and needed me to finish it off.

When I arrived at the track to set up, the weather wasn't cooperating. The wind was as bad as I have ever seen it. Gale force winds made it almost impossible to set up my tarp. If Jim Bag hadn't been there ,I would have been blown into the next county.

Note the wind lifting my cover..It was like that all weekend... after all was set up Jim and I went to the Holiday House for a fabulous meal. (That was for you Kenny)

Working in the wind sucks, to be blunt. Very tiring. I was fairly busy on Saturday. Note that the center poles aren't touching the ground... at least it was warm... while I was slaving away I got a visit from a pinstriper buddy from California. Mr. lyle Fisk. I met him several years ago at the Brush off in L.A.. A major player In the southern California custom scene, Lyle has pulled up stakes and moved to Florida. I was surprised to see him. I guess the so.Cal area isn't as rich with opportunity as it once was. Good luck Lyle, come back and see me again! Lets trade panels..I'd love to have a piece of your work!!! The weather man was predicting a thunder storm for sat. night and rain for sunday. With the wind as it was I was concerned that my cover wouldn't be there, if I left it up. Notice that the wind had knocked out the center legs of my cover.. We went to dinner with Don ,Kathy Bonnie, and Joe then came back to pack it all away. Then headed back to Jim Bag's.. It was actually nice to take the day off on Sunday. I had some work lined up to do the next couple days. I went to Melbourne on Monday to do several jobs for my good customer Wayne Mann. He had me do stripes on his motor home and PT Cruiser to match After I was done I ended up at Lew and Agnes' for a day. Here I am parked at the Skoko ranch. Agnes' sister was there so I got the special quarters out back, LOL. Actually It was very nice. The weather was warm and the nights cool. Loved it!! We went to the favorite mexican place and I had some fun hanging with Lew & Ag.. I had a low tire when I left there. Went by Lew's work to check it. Couldn't find anything wrong, so I headed to Judith's . She was expecting me and she was going to do some sewing for me. WE went to the IKEA store in Orlando found some material,and after some BBQ at Sonney's. went back to her place. She was kind enough to sew up some curtian panels for the house. Isn't that material cool??? Thanks Judith!! Woke up thurs to a flat.. Took the tire to the tire shop. The mechanic tested it for leaks ,and this one is bizzare.... there was an air leak coming through the metal at the center of the wheel. You couldnt see a crack or hole.. just bubbles coming out of solid metal.. He put a tube in it so I could get home. Luckily I have a couple spare matching wheels. Does it get any more bizzare? Left Fri morning . The trip home was uneventfull.When I got home I had a surprise waiting. Those of you that have been following the Flying Eagle saga know, I have been missing some of the accessory decorations from the interior. One thing that has been missing was the ship figurehead that was in the corner above the wine barrels. Before I left I found a figurheadon Ebay, that looked exactly like this one. I was able to get it and it was waiting on me when I got home.

This has got to be just like the origional, you can't imagine how excited I was to find this. I'm only a couple brass lamps away from finding everything that was missing.. Next to get it mounted! Well its back to work this week. Stay tuned gang .