Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2001 13:15:52 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Sheflo <skjeflo@HOME.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Sheflo <skjeflo@HOME.COM>
Subject: Trip report and questions
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Trip Report: 2 - adults, 2 - 1 year old twins, 1 - 1982 Westfalia.
June 30-July 3
From Issaquah, WA via I-90 to Bonners Ferry, ID, then home via the North
Cascades Highway and Bainbridge Island.
Four days
961 miles
60.86 gallons of gas
15.71 MPG
Temps from the upper 50's to the low 100's
Elevations from sea level to 5575 feet
6 mountain passes - Snoqualmie Pass (3022 ft), Sherman Pass (5575 ft),
Wauconda Summit (4310 ft), Loup Loup Summit (4020 ft), Washington Pass (5477
ft), Rainy Pass (4855 ft)
Only three problems on the whole trip..
1.. A broken gas cap...in Republic, at 5pm on Tuesday. (Now held on with
one locking tap and some duct tape!) Just try an find a cap for a Vanagon in
Republic. But if you need one for a late bay at least one of the parts
places has one in stock, trust me, I know this for a fact!
2.. Two times we had the van not restart after a short break..but only
when it was really hot. As in 90+ degrees and after miles of 60-70mph
driving. The first time was in Vantage (90+ degrees at 10am!) after letting
the twins out to run for about an hour, got back in the van and it took
three turns of the key to get the starter/solenoid to respond. The next time
was in Okanogan (an easy 100+ degrees), again after an hour long late lunch
break in an air-conditioned Arby's. This time the van needed to be push
started. Has never happened before. Ideas???
3.. Last but not least, on the last night in Winthrop, pulled into camp
late (9pm) ate a quick dinner and got the kids to bed. 11:30pm, sitting on
the bench in back, looking for likely lunch spots for the next day when what
do I see? Right behind the passenger seat, giving me the eye is a small Deer
mouse. Damn. Spend the next few minutes unloading the bags from the front
seats/floor where it ran to, to find....nothing. So it is sit and wait time.
Here mousy, mousy, mousy... sure enough, its comes back out..from behind the
dashboard. Trying to shoo it out the doors, miss it again. Hear it moving
behind the dash, up the windshield post to the headliner. Give the headliner
a knock and then promptly hear it back in the engine or rear pillar area.
Continue this series of attempts for three hours. Lose all sense or
perspective and decide that the best course of action is to just get home.
Yeah, right. Ever try to find a 24 hour gas station in Winthrop??? Doesn't
exist. Probably for the best anyway.. Best Western gets $80 of my hard
earned money and we get what's left of a good mornings sleep till the twins
wake at 7..oh well! Any ideas of what the access point might have been for
our little mouse friend would be appreciated too!
All in all some beautiful driving roads, hope your 4th of July was what you
wanted it to be!
Mark
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