"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

April 11, 2009 We did another drive around the hill country that brought us past the bluebonnets, the pastures of goats, the fields with new calfs and ended at the Knot In The Loop. We gave Robin her license plates for the MR2 and told her of the changes we had made. Then we continued the drive back to Luckenbach.

March 20, 2009 The 1987 MR2 is now Salazar's. And we have our sports car back! We will miss the tee-top, but we have a sunroof and lots of parts of the 1987 car in place on the body of the 1986 which is in really good condition. The 1987 turned 200,000 miles last year; the 1986 has only 84,000 miles so we have a long way to go! Today is a good day to drive!

We took the MR2 for a little road test. The battery died several times and we figured out it needed a new one. After that everything worked fine. We got all the paperwork notorized and are now legal.

March 10, 2009 We went to the garage today to check on the progress of repairs to the MR2. It is slow work changing the 86 into an 87. Salizar has changed the back lights, trunk and front cowling. Next came the steering wheel, and seats. He still has to fix the trunk so it open with the lever and he has to fix the motor for the power window. The painting is done by needs buffed out and there are a few touch up spots. We hope it will be done soon. It has been all winter and we didn't even get to drive it! After checking on the car we stopped in to see Mary and Bud and Connie and Charlie. It was some good bonding time!

February 13, 2009 The back of the 87 is now on the body of the 86, the crunched passenger fender of the 86 is being replaced...the transformation is happening.

January 26, 2009 Kathy bought her 1987 MR2 new in Pennsylvania. It has 205,000 miles. The brake light was coming on and it was loosing break fluid so we brought it to Buster Armstrong, all American Mechanic, at Momentum Automotive in Harlingen, Texas. Buster had done work on it over the years and he honestly told us that the car was in stage-4 Rust. He suggested we find a car to use for parts. Robin bought her 1986 MR2 new in Colorado. It has 84,000 miles. The passenger side fender and door were crushed in a fluke accident. She was not driving it so after months of sitting in the barn she pulled it out and put a for sale sign on it. That is just the time Kathy called Robin. We picked the '86 up last week in Willow City, Texas. After a few days listening to live music in Luckenbach, we drove the '86 down to Buster. He sent us over to Salazar, next door. We made a deal: parts will be traded out to make the 1986 Van-go's new sports car. It will be in the garage for a month und...

January 21, 2009 Remember we had some brake trouble with the MR2 when we tried to take it to Pittsburgh for Christmas? Well, we got back to the Valley and dropped it off at Momentum to have it fixed. Buster, the owner, called to let us know it would be over $3000 to have it fixed; it was dieing of rust. He suggest we try to find another MR2 to use for parts. Kathy really didn't want to give us the sports car, but $3000 is a lot to spend for a car only worth half that. Will suggested she call Robin and Wayne up at Knot-in-the-Loop; they have an '86 MR2 almost identical to ours. When we were up their way last year Robin told us it was sitting in the barn because there was a little fender bender. Robin was in the MR2 and Wayne in the pick-up and they backed into each other! opps. So, Kathy called and Wayne answered. Kathy asked about the car and Wayne said, "I just pulled it out front and put a for sale sign on it!" Kathy told him to pull it back into the barn we would b...

Morning on Laguna Madre, bay side of South Padre Island. We drove into Harlingen where we left the MR2 for a check up of the break system. There are some great murals around Harlingen and we found a second hand bookstore that has a great one. Kathy got a few books while we explored the shop.

December 1, 2008 We spent the morning at Harley's. Will cleaned the dance hall and Kathy played with Shadow, the black lab, trimmed the bushes around the deck. Will worked about two hours on the calendar and the computer died and he lost all that work! To pass his stress he pulled out his guitar and stummed that stress straight away. Okay, there is a story with this picture of a popped egg: Six or so eggs into the pan they go. A fire underneath starts to glow. So we can a hard-boiled egg with breakfast every day . BUT. A wonderful smell fills the air like someone is making breakfast of eggs and bacon and toast. We tip our noses up and comment to each other, we look around to see where that wonderful smell is coming from and go back to what ever we were doing. Later a loud popping sound pulls us alert and we look around at whomight be shooting at us. The sound stops and we go back to what we were doing. Then comes this bad smell and the recognition of what has happened...the egg wat...