In November, we lost our heads completely and went camping again, back at Robert Treman. In November. Just us two, unsupervised!
Who would be crazy enough
to camp in November except a few hunters? They were all in trailers & RV's, too, probably with furnaces. But we set up our tent anyway, on a beautiful late fall afternoon on Friday, followed by a perfect evening for a campfire.
Woke up to rain, which continued throughout the day, as it steadily got colder.
Fortunately, we had the propane heater and electricity to run an oil-filled space heater, so we were able to stay nice & cozy, just hanging out, reading & relaxing.
One of the joys of a large tent is the extra room that kept us from getting on each others nerves, & allowed for cooking, even, without going out in the rain.
Rain continued that night, and we were worried about having to pack up in it, but it let up toward morning. We didn't have to pack up in the rain, but some snowflakes began to fall just as we were rolling up the tent! Good thing we had the heaters, and I'm glad it didn't get any colder.
We stopped to take pictures at Taughannock Falls, and our brake booster went out. Put an Ommegang beer cork in the vacuum line, & proceeded on with out power brakes. My left leg got a workout, but the Bus was still stopping, so we headed home, with a stop for lunch in Ithaca at the Smart Monkey Cafe. A quiet, relaxing weekend,in spite of the chill & the rain -- or maybe because of it?
I couldn't resist. Imagine, FM radi
o stations, and 
a 
clock!
The radio arrived a & proved to be NOS & uninstalled as advertised, but required no unlock code. It came without a harness, & I was stumped as to the correct pinout, but I posted to RAMVA, & Speedy Jim came to the rescue again with a wiring diagram! With no ready local source for the tiny female spade connectors, I got to work improvising. I ground off half of a regular connector, soldered & heat-shrinked it, & tightened the crimp a bit. Fit just fine. Made up my own harness using different colors, and stripes made with liquid electrical tape to keep things sorted. 
As it turned out, the opening needed just a little bit of trimming, & the radio slid right in. Such a nice fit that it's been doing just fine without any additional support behind the dash. Following Jim's diagram, I hooked up speakers, battery, & ignition/accessory power. Originally, I tied ignition/accessory & battery togather, & wired them to a battery source, but that left all radio functions on all the time, & the battery would start to get tired after about 3 days parked. I eventually ran the ignition feed through a pushbutton lamp switch I installed in the dash next to my auxiliary fan switch. When the switch is on, the radio "thinks" it's getting an ignition/accessory feed, but when it's off, only the presets & the clock are powered. I can listen to the radio any time, ignition on or off, just by pushing the switch, even though early VW's don't have an accessory position on the ignition switch. I know, I know, only air-cooled VW geeks know or care....
