What I did on my summer vacation, or at least one day of it.

First, a couple of vehicle pics.

Did he forget he was driving a double-decker bus? Or was he really ticked at somebody sitting on the upper level?It's hard to tell, but it looks like he's still in the cab. I understand. He's wet AND messed his pants.
Did you know that your sinuses produce a quart of mucus every day? That's a LOT of snot!

disabuse (v) [dis-ah-byooz]; to free someone from a false or erroneous notion.

I left the house at about 10:30 on the motorcycle and headed north to Clarkdale, a small town in the foothills 100 miles north and west. That's the location of BB's Project VW. I found him on the internet, and even though it was a little further away than VW restoration shops in Mesa it was north, which meant cooler temps and a more interesting ride. (I didn't say cool, just cooler.)
I got up there a little after noon so I had lunch at what I think is the only restaurant in Clarkdale, a place called "Su Casa." Turned out to be great Mexican food! I don't know why you'd ever be in that town of 3,500 people with no discernible draw, but I recommend the chimichangas at Su Casa.
BB's Project VW is smaller than a junkyard, and everything there is VW related, but other than that, the similarities are striking. Don is the owner and sole employee. He's what we might call a little rough around the edges, but once he figured out I wasn't a totally ignorant wannabe he was very willing to answer my questions and share his knowledge and experience with me.
It took him about 20 minutes to disabuse me of my plan to rebuild a VW engine. He said I can buy a professionally rebuilt long block for $1500, which is only slightly more than I'd spend for parts to build one myself. Add in the variables - did I get a decent used block to start with, did the machine shop do a good job, did I get all the steps done correctly? - and it doesn't make any sense for me to tackle the task. He said his first rebuild lasted all of four hours before the engine blew. He'd torqued the head bolts incorrectly. And even though now he can rebuild an engine from tear-down to completion in one day, he doesn't bother anymore. He only clears $100 over his costs if he's going to be competitive with the outfits that specialize in it.
He said I'd be better off buying a rolling chassis and dropping a professionally rebuilt long block into it. Then spend my time, energy and money (turns out it takes a not insignificant amount of coin) working on the "car" part of it. He said that's where the fun is, and it's not so technically demanding. It still goes out for body work and painting, but the rest can be done by the reasonably handy DIY-er.
Realistically, I think even that is unlikely, at least on any large scale. What's more apt to happen is that someday, if/when I no longer need Stealth Reliabity, I buy a good road worthy pre-65 Bug, put a new engine in it if/when it's needed, and do what interior and exterior restorations warrant the time and money.
Heavy sigh. It seemed like such a good plan. But half of being smart is knowing when you're stupid, and then listening to the counsel of those who do know.
And I've looked at enough Beetles to know that I can get a reliable head-turner for less than half of what I'd spend at a used car dealer for a generic economy car.

BTW, riding the bike back down into the valley and triple-digit temps was not a lot of fun. Think of standing in front of a huge hair dryer set on hot and high.

Did you see that today Ron Paul dropped out of the running for the Republican nomination? He makes Hillary look astute.

The book "Driven to Distraction" (Edward Hallowell) is a must-read for anyone who has ADD or lives with someone who does. One of the things I read and recognized in myself is that we do our best thinking while driving. It provides just the right amount of sensory input to get the brain up and spinning at speed, which in turn gets it working on other issues - in my case, a sermon. I have to be a little careful when I'm on the bike, because riding requires more attention than driving. So when I find myself throwing too much brain activity into thinking about James 3:1-14 I have to pull my attention back to the environment around me. But I made good progress on my sermon as I motored up and back.