Date:         Wed, 23 Aug 2000 09:28:02 -0700
Reply-To:     Alistair Bell <albell@uvic.ca>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alistair Bell <albell@uvic.ca>
Subject:      trip report
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

recently returned from a 2 week holiday in the van ('82 westy, I4
conversion), travelling from Victoria -> Manning Park -> Kentucky/Alleyne Lk
Park -> Bolean Lake -> Armstrong then back again. (All in B.C,)

Weather great, hot, dry,and windy, (love the three in combination). Van ran
great.

 a few highlights

-fridge ran constantly from first night, had plently of the wee ice cubes
for G&Ts

-I noticed that my Michelin Agilis 61 tires handled gravel roads better than
yoko 370, mind you the michelins are relatively new.

-fridge door handle/latch got broken, but swapped in anther cabinet's handle
- they are all the same!

-my small gell cell (31 Ah Johnson controls) aux battery connected by the
weeny wire and good relay set-up (same idea as the Bus Depot kit) worked
flawlessly. The aux battery is mounted to the right of the main battery,
just infront of the righthand side tail light (remember, van was a diesel).
The aux has enough capacity to deal with the amount of draw we subjected it
to, ie two fluorescent lights, tape player, fridge fan, for 5 days at least.
Lighs were on for only a short time each night, tape player a bit longer as
I slept through various books on tape!.

-van still runs strongly and most of the time cooly. The highest the oil
temps reached were around 118C on long third gear uphills, and the steep
second gear hill to reach Bolean Lk (around 4,000 ft). On the flat at 60
mph, the oil temp was steady at 108 C.
The van was fully packed, including our 18'. 95# cedar canvas canoe on top.

-Bolean Lake is a nice spot. Forestry campsite and a very inexpensive lodge
with cabins. Husband and wife owners, very friendly. The wife ties nice
flies. The lake is full of smallish trout that rise obligingly in the
evening.

-While at Kentucky/Allenye Park, met a nice couple from Seattle travelling
in a '87 westy. Gave them the vanagon.com address. They were on holiday but
he was also scouting out the craft festival in Cherryville for a future work
assignment. Cherryville (on the road from Vernon to Needles) is a bit of an
American ex-pat (read draft-dodgers?) community, firmly stuck in the late
60's.

-lots of Ospreys in the Niclola Valley/Doulglas lake region. Driving
alongside Doulglas lake we counted 5 adults and one red-tailed hawk on
consecutive telephone poles.

-Merrit has a nice little aquatics centre with kids pool and hot tubs. Nice
to relax in while doing laundry. Yes, I see the irony of sitting indoors in
water while its 34 C outside and plenty of lakes around!



Alistair