I spent the weekend in Walla Walla, Washington.
It was strange to find myself in a magic land where water didn't continuously fall from the sky, and a large star radiated heat across the landscape from outer space. At first I was afraid, but then I ate a relaxing burrito and set my fear aside.
All I wanted to do was to take a long drive through the Columbia Gorge (which many of you WCR 2014 attendees may remember) and deliver my engine case to a VW shop for an align bore. It's a famous shop owned by Rocky Jennings named, correctly, Rocky Jennings Enterprises. I thought to just leave my parts and drive back to Portland but he insisted on giving me what he called the nickel tour. The nickel tour was actually the one hundred dollar tour. He spent almost two hours taking me though his shop, showing me all of his gear, machines, parts he manufactures and sells, race engines, race car, before / after specialty work, and to my delight, the amazing tooling he built himself for doing all manner of jobs, including Type-4 align bores. Amazing, astounding stuff. It was a huge amount of time to donate to some stranger in a busy production shop where time is money. He's in his sixties and told me that when he retires he looks forward to stop working on cars and "just" do machine work.
Rocky himself was quite a character and I enjoyed every minute of the tour. His skill sets and accomplishments are amazing. Years ago when I owned a shop of a different sort, I kept everything in open view - the technicians, the workshop, everything. The idea was to show customers that we had nothing to hide and that they were welcome to spend time with the technicians so we could show them the work in progress. From that perspective I very much appreciated his openness.
I know this isn't a technical post, but I just wanted to mention a pleasurable and educational experience with a true air cooled wizard.
-marcus