Date:         Mon, 15 May 2000 14:32:50 -0500
Reply-To:     arbosch@RA.ROCKWELL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alan Bosch <arbosch@RA.ROCKWELL.COM>
Subject:      Eastern NY & VT trip report (longish)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

There's something inherently daring and ballsy about a solo, cross-state
trip, complete with deadlines and time constraints, in a Vanagon.  We all
know full well that just about anything can - and indeed, most likely - go
wrong, stranding you, for instance, along the Adirondack Northway (I-87)
somewhere between Pottersville and Keesville, where the roadside emergency
phones have been out of service since January and the traffic mainly
consists of trucks hauling containerised freight to and from Montreal at
speeds approaching the ridiculous.  Not to mention the back roads of
Vermont...

Knowing I was pushing my luck, I packed up old Phred with a suitcase
containing "interview" clothes, stuffed the toolbox and a few spare parts,
coolant, oil, filter, and work clothes, into the storage area under the
rear seat, said a prayer, and pushed off Wednesday night, bound for Albany
and a job interview and a uncertain future.

For those that know not of the New York Thruway, suffice it to say it's a
straight ribbon of asphalt, skirting cities and towns of Upstate NY, that,
at best, is a dull, boring drive, and at worst, an uneventful, boring
drive.  Just no way around it.  It's dull.  Watching-grass-grow dull.  The
rain that fell between Syracuse and Canajoharie was a welcome relief,
causing, as it were, a heightened awareness of the otherwise desolate and
empty road.  The good new is that Phred did nothing mechanical to upset the
dullness.  It can be said then that the Rochester to Albany portion of the
trip was pleasantly dull.

The interview I had Thursday went very well.  There's a good chance that,
as a result, I'll get a job offer.  Not holding my breath, so we'll see
what happens.

Thursday night, went to see some friends I haven't seen for six years.  Ate
too much pizza and too many wings, and drank a few bottles of home brew.
On the way back to my hotel that night, Phred's little problem with the
temp gauge and light reared it's ugly head.  Stopped at a store and bummed
a flashlight - I've since added a new 3-cell MagLite to the toolbox!! - and
proceeded to check all I could think of.  Nothing.  No drips, no bubbles,
waterpump belt good, etc., etc.  Restarted and went on my way.  This
symptom never reared it's head again on the trip.

Friday dawned a little overcast and VERY windy in Albany.  Started off for
Burlington, VT at about 7:00 am for a noon interview.  The wind sure was a
problem!  Not so much on the Northway, but on the backroads of Vermont, it
got scary.  Somewhere around Orwell, VT, I got blown over the line into the
path of a milk truck.  Yanked the wheel back to the right and literally
just missed the truck.  Actually, went too far and nearly wound up in a
ditch and a cow field.  It was hairy for a second or two!!

Arrived in Burlington in plenty of time for the interview, without any
further complications.

Left Burlington for home in Rochester at about 5:30pm that evening.  Took
the ferry across Lake Champlain from Charlotte, VT, to Essex, NY.  A great
trip.  Highly recommended if you have the time.  Followed I-87 South to
I-90 West.  Again, a dull, boring drive.  No problems.  No surprises.  Real
neat lightening storm for the last two hours of the trip.  Arrived in
Rochester 1:30 am Saturday morning, tired but smilin' knowing there were no
bus related incidents.

Sightings:  A really nice Blue Syncro, pulling out of - of all places!! -
the Great Meadows Correctional Facility, outside Ft. Ann, NY.  A Tornado
Red Carat parked at a ice cream stand in Essex Junction, VT.  A couple of
crunched Type II's in Vergennes, VT.  And, finally, a really beat-up,
rusted, missing-this-n-that Westy, on a lift at Hackles VW service, at the
corner of Central Ave. & Fuller Road in Albany.

That's it.  800 plus miles, no problems, and only three other Vanagons.
All in all, a dull trip.

BTW, Jason in Troy and Ezra in Colchester:  Didn't really have the time to
get together.  And nothing broke so I didn't need the help.  Thanks both
for the offers.

Alan Bosch
& Phred ('88 Wolfsburg)
Rochester, NY