Its amazing to me how little I really knew about cars beyond making sure it has oil and gas in it. Given the simplicity of an old VW engine it requires a good amount of care and consideration. I fell very proud I took Seamus in for an oil change before leaving for the East coast. A nice new set of tires (sadly no white walls as they amp up the cost of tires by a large margin), and a bag of tools in the bus in case something goes wrong along the way (of course I have no great expectations that I can handle something on the side of the road beyond a flat tire. But I do have five good tires and a nice shiny new blue car jack).

I should stop and thank some people for helping me make such excursions in the bus possible. So, People (you know who you are), THANK YOU for your continued support, help, and contributions to both me and my bus while I have gotten to know it, and while I have taken time out of my everyday life to drive around my corner of the planet. A special thanks goes out to my sons, (I have three and they are all grown up now mostly) who have to sit and listen to the “in case I die” speech every time I leave my home for any length of time and the youngest of whom has to constantly go check my mail and water my plants (Jordan I hope the plants are still not dead).

Below find my three sons in all their wonderful spender:

These three boys (now pretty much grown men with the exception of their intermittently interfering mother full of unwanted advice) make my life richer and when I think I’ve done nothing exceptional I look at them and feel quite accomplished. They are like three free standing trophies and I’m very proud of them. I especially love the photo where I dressed them all the same, they will never know how much fun that was for me to do. Boys… that was totally fun for me! Xxxxxx

Anyway, back to my VW….

So while driving to and in Maine recently, I found that the bus would pop out of fourth gear and the ensuing great grinding that occurred when I tried to put it back in gear was hard to hear. After some google searching I found that the transmission oil (I had totally forgotten about this liquid and any attention it might require) may either be low or dirty or something. So I google searched a “VW specialist near me” and found Reggie’s auto salvage and VW /Audi specialist in Waterford Maine.

Well the guys there, father and son, were absolutely wonderful. Not only did I get a transmission fluid change, I also was privileged to be given much needed information and understanding to add to my bus knowledge. They are very knowledgeable with VW info and have a to-die-for salvage yard with many busses. I left there with tlc for Seamus and a new screen frame for my sliding door and two spare headlights. And… I was told to go eat at the X-Vault in South Paris, which I did. This pub used to be a vault and so the backdrop for the bar is the old vault doors. It had a great atmosphere and I’ll definitely go back there again when I find myself in that area next time.

Below see the wondering old busses!!!

Below, Reggie and Brandon, great, friendly, helpful, and very knowledgeable!

The X-Vault:

I love this part of Maine. Rugged beautiful nature, pretty small towns, and Seamus has nice clean transmission oil, which Brandon thought may not have ever been changed, or at least not in a very long while. I’m happy to report that after driving all the way to Halifax after that transmission oil change, it did not pop out of fourth gear once! Thank you “Reggie’s vw”!