Pulling into the valley and seeing the Yosemite Falls on our left was simply breathtaking. Jessie did her ninja backflip over the bench seat and took some great shots while standing out of the sunroof. Our assigned campsite was in North Pines in the Yosemite Valley, and even by noon it was already filled with Split window buses. The Split Bus Club really has their act together. They had 25 prime spots reserved, with 2 buses at each spot. Mark had already received the map, directions and reservation ticket in the mail so check-in was a breeze.

  After setting up camp, Jessie, Mark, Tracy and I spent the rest of the afternoon on the river and hiking through various meadows. In the evening I decided to walk around the campsite and check out the buses. It was so great. I mean, it is special enough to be in such a beautiful place as Yosemite, but to see tons of beautiful Split-window buses placed throughout the forest floor was as good as it gets. Although I am a bit biased towards deluxe window buses myself, I have to say that the vintage campers, especially the 50’s era ones, really stole the show. Those vintage Dormobiles and Westies with their curtains and pop-tops all yellow and gray or red and white with stripes are really cool. To see people really using their spice racks to cook and children really sleeping on those canvas hammocks suspended above the front bench was like stepping back in time to Yosemite in the 50’s and 60’s. Really cool stuff.

  We were pleased to discover that we were not the only Monterey Bay people on the scene. Under a densely forested area we found Glen from Moss Landing in his red Fireman’s Transporter Vehicle (the vintage siren sounding throughout the campsite sort of gave it away!) and a few spaces beyond that we found Bill and his wife! They had left the single cab at home and come in their red and white camper that debuted at the Irvine Classic last month. Everyone seemed to be having a great time (although Glen and I joked that this campsite was a step-down in quality for Bill compared to his everyday house up above Corralitos!).

   Saturday, Mark and Tracy headed down the river in a raft and then hiked up to Mirror Lake to read and catch some sun. Jess and I sort of did the opposite. We started by hiking up to the top of Vernal Falls where we soaked our feet and ran into some of the Old Volks crew. On the way down, we spotted Glen and Bill on the trail. After lunch, we too rented a raft and floated down the Merced River, occasionally jumping in to cool off. The evening was spent sitting around one of Mark’s great campfires and being introduced to the music of one Glen’s favorite Reggae bands.

   On Sunday, the MPAS team decided to split up and get home in our own way. The Split Bus Club had organized a cruise up to the top of Glacier Point for a photo op, and for a view of the whole valley. Mark and Tray were not interested, so we said our thanks and good-byes and they headed home. Jessie and I cruised up with Bill and about 7 other buses to the top of Yosemite and it was a blast. As we cruised the valley, all the tourists stopped shooting Half-Dome and instead smiled and took shots of the bus line-up. Up at Glacier Point, there was this one tourist in particular who was all smiles and shooting away with his camera. I asked him where he was from.

  His reply: "Germany!"  He went on to say that he had seen way more VW buses in his trip to California than he ever saw at home in Germany. His English was broken, and I have no German, but I think he was trying to explain that in Germany there are minimum speed limits that make it too tough to drive an old split  bus, and their version of DMV makes it really hard to get old cars licensed for the road.

  After the visit to the Point, we decided to head home, but to take our time and enjoy it. On top of faithfully fulfilling the VW Bus driver obligation to give a lift to all road-weary pedestrians in need, we stopped along the river about 20 miles outside the park to jump in and cool off. We took the recommendation of Glen and his friend Roger and found a great swimming hole. It is pretty unnerving though, for people used to the Peninsula, to be in a place so hot that from the time you get out of the river and scramble up the bank to the bus, you are already bone dry! Glen recommended putting a block of ice in the engine compartment, on the side opposite of the battery, in order to cool the air coming in from the vents. He swears by the technique for really hot climbing. It sounded reasonable according to my logic, and since we were about to climb out of the valley and into Mariposa (in what must have been close to 100 degrees), I decided to try it. Of course, as I had no control experiment, I don’t know if it ended up making a difference, but suffice it to say that even with the hammer down in third gear all the way up that hill, the bus did fine. Maybe its only value in reality was in the piece of mind, more than the few degrees it might have dropped the oil temp, but if I can get that for only a $1.50 block of ice, then it’s cool.

   The funny part was that the "Monterey-seeing stuff rust in a month" in me was a bit worried about water damage from the melting ice. But when we pulled over to check the scenario less than 15 minutes after putting it in, there was not a piece of that block or a drop of water to be seen. Now that’s hot!

   It was a great trip, and both Jessie and I are thankful to: the Split Bus Club for their hospitality and great trip concept, and Mark and Tracy for inviting us along to share their site since we were not official members of the club (something that has definitely been remedied!).

-Tim Kristy