Re: My 2014 USA trip

[Ray Bell <raybell46@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, your are logical people for me to go see when I'm there. And Bill, you know I wouldn't miss out on seeing you and Kathi again. Justin locked himself in his house in March (with his wife, of course) and orders his groceries over the net then goes and reverses up to the loading place and flicks the trunk open so they can put them in for him. Otherwise he only gets gas once a month or so and works from home. The Covid numbers there are staggering, your population at 6.7 million is about the same as our state of Victoria with 6.4 million and it is the worst hit state here, they've had about 20,500 cases and 820 deaths, Indiana stands at 643,000 cases and 12,000 deaths.

Queensland, just over 5 million population, has had 1,316 cases and six deaths. So you can see why I'm waiting a while to make this trip.

On that 2014 trip I didn't get to Ohio, where I really wanted to see Don Gallimore, then when I went through that way in 2016 I had big problems with carburetion on the van and couldn't afford the time to stop. So he's another I'd like to catch up with.

Gary, I did go to San Diego in 2014, by that time I was pretty beat and I was down there to see an old friend from Adelaide. And then it was all a rush to get the pickup loaded with goodies to the shipping company. And what you say about 'great pictures' of my last trip, I really did enjoy the three days I spent circumnavigating Colorado. After six weeks seeing 21 countries in Europe and all the other places I'd been, that topped the lot. So when I'm making the trip I'll be putting a call out for phone numbers to contact again and see if I can do a better job of visiting people such as you and Dave.

I also want to catch up with Gary H, too, which means wandering into the wilds of Dallas as I recall...

And for the record, putting an NV4500 into an earlier van like I'm doing is a real saga. I'll have to document it somewhere, with the two main problems being the change from mechanical clutch to hydraulic and having to alter the crossmember from which the gearbox mount hangs and the mount itself without losing strength in the crossmember. In fact, the crossmember needs to be a bit beefier as the gearbox weighs 45lbs more than the A833. I'm currently more or less in the throes of building a bridge inside what will be left of it.

Ray

On Thursday, 11 February 2021 at 13:45:29 UTC+10 jobrat...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Gary, if it works out for Ray to get down to San Diego, I'd love to get together with both of you.    

dave

san diego

On Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 9:20:51 AM UTC-8 glpav...@xxxxxxx wrote:

Great pictures and commentary on your last trip to the U.S. Ray! 

Looking forward to meeting you on your next trip.

Gary Pavlovich

 

From: 1962to19...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <1962to19...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Ray Bell
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 6:12 AM
To: The 1962 to 1965 Mopar Mail List Clubhouse <1962to19...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: My 2014 USA trip

 

I said I'd do it again and I meant it!

 

But between being evicted from the lovely farmhouse I used to rent (moving after ten years in one place can be a problem!) and having to move once more just a few months later, and then fitting in with work projects and now being out of action with this coronavirus thing it just hasn't happened yet.

I'm thinking that 2022 will be when I make my next trip to the USA. International travel should be happening by then, I hope.

 

I reckon I will do it with a van again, so I'd be looking for something like what I had last time (and cherish here in Australia now), a late eighties conversion van that's fit to drag back to Australia when I return, though I'd leave this one automatic. In the meantime I daily relive parts of my previous trips, keeping the memory of them very much alive. And the trip I made last year to Central Australia in my Dodge, too. That was a working trip but I saw plenty of our own deserts and the old 360 just kept on humming. Though I did have to replace the clutch and the gearbox was ruined by the time I got back.

 

That van's awaiting the fitment of an NV4500 5-speed now, the ramifications of that change being well beyond anything I might have dreamed of when I was planning to do it. But it will be worth it when it's done. I love my Dodge van, folks. It would be one of only half a dozen in Australia at the most, it draws attention wherever it goes.

 

In the meantime, that thread on the Dodge forum is growing every few days as I add more, I'm up to Alice Springs and about to do a trip out to Ayers Rock in that, which is now 18 months ago of course. Lots of Aussie scenery and activity has been added to the thread since I last posted about it on here. Because it goes into my week by week living it covers a lot of jobs I've done on my various cars, too. And the cars a friend of mine builds in Sydney, he's amazing, over 80 and still building cars.

 

It's all in here...

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/members-rides/426498-ride-along-with-me.html

 

So it will be a while before I hit your shores again. I don't see that I'll be able to stay there more than four or five weeks next time, but with so many things I've already seen and done I also think I can fit in more visits with people.

 

You folks please keep safe...

 

Ray

 

On Tuesday, 12 November 2019 at 00:43:58 UTC+10 62-65-mail...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks for the road trips review. Quite a fun story! Glad you were able to touch base with several 62-65 Mail List
members!

Gary H.

> -------Original Message-------
> From: Ray Bell
...
>
> https://dodgeforum.com/forum/members-rides/426498-ride-along-with-me.html
>
>
> Pics of (the late) Paul Hoffmeyer, Nick Tiberio, Ollie Patterson, Rich
> McMahon, Rich Kinsley and the Nebraska boys - and their cars - are all
> in there.
>
> I will be making another trip one day, I hope to find the same kind of
> welcome among others I can visit that time.
> --
> --

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