Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 21:47:14 -0400
Reply-To: Stu Schwartz <sschwartz@OS2BBS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stu Schwartz <sschwartz@OS2BBS.COM>
Subject: Final Trip Report
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Hi Everyone,
We're back! With a heavy, heavy, heart we left San Francisco. We both love visiting Charlie and it's always sad when we must leave. So we sadly
departed our favorite US city. We traveled along US Highway Route 50 also known as the "Loneliest Road". It was nice and pretty until we got into
Nevada. Carson City and Virginia City were as we remembered them from watching Bonanza. Lots of pine trees that were very fragrant. After those cities
the terrain changed greatly. Now we were in the middle of a desert -- and it went on and on and on. All you could see for miles was dirt and sage brush --
for miles! Shortly after we passed Carson and Virginia City's I saw a little store w/a T-shirt in the window that read, "I survived US Highway Route 50 the
Lonliest Road". Normally we don't buy those kind of T-shirts, but Ginger was tempted. All I can say about this part of our country is "There ain't nothin'
there!" We were very fortunate that there were a few gas stations -- we stopped for gas at each station. The Lonliest Road was the same for western
Utah as it was for all of Nevada. Desert, desert, desert. It wasn't too hot because we had "cloudy" weather. For about 75 miles Stu was able to read the
"rock graffiti"...it seems that lots of people stop along this road... take rocks and spell out things such as "Jesus Loves You", "Frank and Lola", "Go
'Niners". This made the trip a little faster. Lots of "pony express" stops here.
Stu met someone from the Dark Star Orchestra (they travel alot) and she said that we should visit Mystic Hot Springs in Monroe, UT since it was dog-
friendly. It is run by some hippies and is pretty cool and is only about 6 miles off the main interstate. They actually have bands play on weekends and have
an annual festival with some national bands. We found Monroe, UT and we dipped ourselves in nice hot springs. Jasmine was allowed -- which made
things nicer for us. We were so grateful that it was cloudy, otherwise, it would have been too hot sitting in hot springs. As it was, Jasmine wasn't happy
w/us soaking in the hot springs! We didn't get to soak for long because we needed to hit the road, but it sure was a nice break. We finally made it back to
Denver. We needed to bring the van in to be serviced -- the temperature gauge was working properly but the temperature indicator light was on most of
the time since leaving San Fran. Poor Stu, the stress of driving on the Loneliest Road, few gas stations, and the temp indicator light on! We had a nice
restful visit w/John. We rested and read, we rested and ate, we rested and dipped in the pool, we rested and watched the grass grow -- we rested! Our
heavy hearts from departing San Fran were now turning to anxiety to get home. It was a very good thing we got the van serviced because we needed a
water pump. Better to be stranded at John's then some other part of the country. As we were packing up the van to leave Denver, Stu noticed that steel
was exposed for one of our rear tires. An added delay, we need to buy tires. We departed Denver much later than we had anticipated, but we're on the
road again. The rest of the trip is pretty boring. However, we did manage to see the arch in St. Louis. We also enjoyed the "east coast" scenery of
eastern Ohio, W Virginia and Maryland..."low mountains and rock outcroppings...and TREES!!!! We drove 500 to 600 miles a day in order to get home.
We were very fortunate to be following a storm, so it was cloudy each day for our drive back. We could tell when we were close to home because the
traffic was awful!! It's amazing how we crossed this big country and the worst traffic is right here! So we're back -- safe and sound. It was a wonderful
experience driving across the US. We met so many nice people and we saw some beautiful scenery. In summary we drove about 9500 miles in about 60
days. It is a great country.
We hope everyone is enjoying their summer, let us know how you're doing.
MZ Magic did pretty good. never left us stranded although there were some minor annoyances..Overall a great sabbatical...
Love,
Ginger, Stu and Jasie too!
--peace--
stu
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