Too. Many. Wagons.

[Marcobrick]

Looks about right to me....

I like an MGB GT! It it right hand drive in NZ? Or do you just have to drive upside down, down there?

Yes, right hand drive down here. I thought you lot drove upside down?

[abscate]

Bart - what happens to you when the Caldera lets loose - are you in range??

I know BZN disappears. Of course , the rest of the world does too, it just takes 12 months to starve to death.

[EngineeringBloke]

Thanks for the great pictures. I am always amazed by that landscape and the sheer scale of the event. I saw a PBS Nova show on the floods and watched it a couple of times. It used to be online but I can't find it now.

Abscate, I also am interested by the 40 mile diameter caldera at Yellowstone but don't think it is due to blow soon despite the recent/current earthquakes. More likely a tsunami from an earthquake in the northern Pacific will be the bad news of the day.

Anyway, back to the cars. Thinking I would like a V70R.

[dyn blin]

I like the red one. Too bad you're in Bozeman MT...

But...I'm not. I'm in lovely, interesting Missoula...

It's a small world. I grew up in Moscow, ID-not far from you, and my brother has since settled his family in Lolo.

We used to get carted around in lemon-yellow '70/Type 3 VW Squareback that was as pristine as it was when driven off the lot when it was sold in the late 80's. It would have looked good in your collection.

Go Griz

[BlackBart]

Mr Abscate - I think we'll be just upwind, so we'll be fine. Really, everything will be fine. Little puff of dust, maybe the earths crust opened up and the contents spewed over many thousands of miles....

Mr Bloke - Yes, I agree. And you know that's why that smooth smile-shaped plain across southern ID - the hot spot under the crust that is now Yellowstone, blew up many times and melted that path as the crust slid west and northwest-ward. Also Craters of the Moon in ID. So soon the hot spot will be under Billings and Missoula will be #1 yay.

Last time we were in the Park, we went to a Ranger talk and he was a geologist, which was cool. He said we're about due, historically. Every X number of hundred years there's been a big event, and it could be any time now! Some of the geysers have quit, others have started back up, Old Faithful doesn't spew on the hour any more... The dome underneath is constantly swelling and moving, so actually your topo map might not be that accurate.

That area is heavily instrumented and studied, so you'd assume there would be quite a bit of warning.....months? ...years? Mt St Helens went off with only a couple of months warning. We got "snowed" on in Bozeman when I was in school with thick sulphur-smelling ash. It was weird and surreal. I knew a guy whose engine was ruined. E Washington was buried - there's still grey ash in the ditches along I-90 out in the sticks. They used front end loaders to clear it in Yakima and Moses Lake.

As a kid in the back of the wagon, (hmm, wagons...) I just remember Yellowstone as a thick forest of skinny lodgepole. You couldn't see anything but trees until you reached a geyser basin or up on the plateau. After the big fire (88?), it was a revelation to see that you were driving over the rim and down into the caldera. The first few years were fantastic - it's still very visible but the forests are growing back in gradually.

Abscate - I once sailed my Laser on Yellowstone Lake. It was brutally cold - in July. The signs at the dock warn you you have about 15 minutes in the water if you go in. My sons were freaked - I flipped and lost the centerboard. I think it's almost 8000' elevation and storms come out of nowhere. They've lost a few unprepared boy scout canoeists over the years.

Mr dyn blin - Yes! My son races his bike sometimes at U of I / Moscow. It's a neat town and a pretty campus on the hill. We especially enjoyed the very nice arboretum on the edge of campus. I love the Palouse hills to the north and west - what a landscape that is.

Squareback Too Low.......

Squarebacktoolow.jpg

[BlackBart]

You see how silly it can get?

used cars.JPG

[RickHaleParker]

You see how silly it can get?

Now you gone and done it ... definitely a Wain-house.

[BlackBart]

What I did over summer vacation.... (let us hope not..)

An aggravating day taking assemblies off just to get to the starter. Your hand and any wrench with any usefulness just won't fit, much less is there any way to look and see what you're doing. Out in the alley, as the Ancient Bavarian with no suspension has reserved the garage.

Just no way to get any leverage with any combination of weird-shaped tools. I made a tool on the grinder, grabbed it with a vice grip, that worked out. Resorted to the BA pipe at one point of desperation. The dealer guys just take the whole nose of the car off to do anything. That doesn't get a wrench on the huge starter bolts through the wheelwell. Or you know when you finally get a good wrench on a bolt head, ah ha, but you only get about 5º of swing on the ratchet?

I think the Volvo's way easier to work on.

all day.JPG

[BlackBart]

... definitely a Wain-house.

?? I'm not getting this, sorry. ...oh, unless Wain is someone you know with a used car problem!

[RickHaleParker]

... definitely a Wain-house.

?? I'm not getting this, sorry. ...oh, unless Wain is someone you know with a used car problem!

Wain means wagon as in Wainwright.
Wain-House was the property of a proprietor that charged for the storing and parking of wagons. A precursor to the parking garage.

You DIY your wagons, reckon that qualifies you as a Wainwright.