The road from Phoenix to Reno was hard and long, I was pulled over by a brave bored trooper in one of the sleepy towns down the road for speeding… You know why I stopped you? he asked … Because you did 67 where it was 50…. btw are You a VW guy? (he saw my license plate “WBUYVWS” ) I said; yes, I am, I do buy old Volkswagens here and ship them over to Europe... turned out he was a VW guy himself! he start talking about his off-road bugs and engines etc etc, and let me go! My plate did wonders!

Down the last stretch to Reno I saw this nice billboard!

Long straights…

Once in Reno I visited some friends that are VW guys, one was selling a mango bus he just got out of California, very nice bus with very little work, and yes it was for sale, if you should be interested? I can broker the deal, no problem!

Oh, and what was peeping out of the garage????

That looks nice, right?

Having lunch with my buddies!

cool place, with a cool painting…:)

Next stop was a guy that just had too much… at arrival I was greeted by this Notchback… interesting to anyone?

This guys backyard was better as Disneyland! (to me at least!) Full with American and German iron… most was for sale, as he needs space and cash to build a larger shop… if you see anything? Just let me know!

6 door Thing anyone?

and we move to the next… a small back yard from another friend with some cool sheet metal…:) Real cut up buses, and not just one!

and a cool split window bus trailer, he has forever!

This was a super nice bay window that crashed hard in the front….

…. I mean real hard… the 80-year-old driver did survive, but nobody understand how! This was the cabin of that bus…

Last legs in Reno… passing by one of the “beetle spiders” in the Reno area… This one is super cool and has lighted “eyes”!

Bye bye Reno, we leave now…

I’m on my way back to the bay area to pick up some very interesting stuff “down south” as they say…… the rest of my trip will be in the state of California… so stayed tuned! If you keep on readin, I keep on writen!

Yesterday morning I visited two companies in Phoenix, one highly specialised in competition off-road cars, the other one building replica Porsche speedsters…

First the competition guys… this shop is led by a former Nascar Champion and a multiple award engine builder who made engines for the Penske team, and many others…

The shop was very impressive with loads of “big” machinery!

They fabricate a lot of parts and build all nicely together!!

They even have a four-wheel drive dyno, the only one in the Phoenix area as they told me…

They have two  dyno’s for motorcycles and ATV’s, the ATV competition market is huge for them!

The outside parking lot looked almost like a starting grid!

From there I drove to a company that bought a speedster replica factory in California, and moved it to Arizona… real nice speedsters! exported all over the world… this one goes to Croatia…

They build 1,5 to 2 cars a week..; a whole task…

Bodies are made in Mexico and painted in Phoenix…

In the building next door the owner housed his private collection of incredible nice American iron!

Around lunch time I left for Reno a full 12hr trip… with an extra 1,5 hrs delay in las Vegas because there was a crash in a road work….:(

Arizona is full of cactus as I told You yesterday… they’re about everywhere…:)

Hitting Nevada, at the Hoover dam, no time to stop sorry….:(

Soon after the traffic que in Vegas the sun went down and all went dark… I drove through the night, sad I can’t show You pictures from my favourite Highway 95 with very cool old places like Goldfield en Tonopah… maybe next time…:) so stay tuned!

Sometimes I just need a 5000 mile trip… like here and right now, so right before Easter I jumped on a plane direction of San Francisco (without flowers in my hair!)

KLM granted me a ride in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner… real nice and one of the best planes I have ever flew in!

Weather was good so the flight was excellent, and open weather means nice eagle eye views from the plane at arrival!… the first bridge You see is the golden gate, the bridge there after is the Bay bridge.. and San Francisco is on the right, Oakland of the left of the Bay bridge… just so You know…:)

This time an extra one, especially for BBT shop Peter, he simply loves these pictures…:)

Landed, and lined up for immigration (took forever this time) so I made it barely on time to pick up my car… start driving…. yammie!

All weird things You see in the States! like this bill board, with a real van in front of it, now that’s what we call publicity!

Drive south and more south….

Thirsty? Just get a Miller, here You probably straight from the brewery!…:)

This is how a crashed Lambo looks like… the front was even worse… bye bye dollars…..  or ask daddy again…:)

Long straights, first 1000 miles are a fact, and im barely 2 days over!

Several stops to see customers and suppliers around, is always good! Thanks for the tip of the Mexican restaurant in Palm Springs Steve! I enjoyed it fully!

This is how desolated waste land looks like.. some call it desert…:)

Oh yes this is also California …:) a different California…:)

Mecca? wasn’t that in Saudi Arabia? Did I miss the right exit? Thanks god Twenty-nine Palms is familiar to me!…:)

Some collect Volkswagens, some others  collect …. Tanks!

Need a tyre for your single wheel trailer???

and more long straights, pretty busy Freeway I 10 going from LA to Phoenix Arizona… the difference between the two states is in Arizona grow cactus…:)

A selfie from yours truly on a long boring road… this was not with my smart phone, but with my reflex camera, hence its visible…:)

More desert… more nothing…:)

Gives You nice peace of mind, at least it does give it to me!

Arrived in Phoenix was almost dark… the University stadium is IMPRESSIVE from the freeway… sorry I could not take better pictures, I was on the far left lane of a busy 5 lane or so freeway!…:)

It’s all indoor, and crazy big!!

Hit the hotel.. wrote this Blog and ready for bed now… tomorrow I will visit a champion machine shop… hopefully they allow me to take pictures! So stay tuned!! (and thanks for reading my crap…LOL)