Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 20:52:00 -0800
Reply-To: Melissa Mourkas <westywoman@MAC.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Melissa Mourkas <westywoman@MAC.COM>
Subject: Trip Report: Cross Country, USA (Longish)
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
A Troubled Crossing
On November 8, I left Massachusetts in my 1981 Westy, headed for California.
The moving van with my stuff left that morning. As I have driven
across-country five times previously in my life, I was planning to do
something completely different than the usual Interstate 70-80-90 slog: I
planned to pick up Route 66 near Chicago and follow bits and pieces of it
all the way to CA. I had ordered a bunch of books and a complete set of
maps from the Route 66 Foundation and was excited at the prospect of seeing
some new scenery. My goal was to get where I was going by Thanksgiving Day:
that gave me about 14 travel days, enough time to sight-see and visit family
& friends along the way. Nice and liesurely. I got a send-off tune-up from
my brother, Vanagon listmember Tony Mourkas (thank you, Tony!). Just prior
to departure, the van got a pre-trip vehicle inspection from my local
mechanic, and other than a transmission which had been minimally noisy for
some time, my van got a clean bill of health from the mechanic.
So I set out toward Chicago.
To make a very long story a bit shorter, I had a different sort of trip than
I had envisioned. It was Friday November 9, and I had about 700 miles under
my belt when the transmission blew on my dear 20-year-old bus. It had
developed a food-processor kind of grinding, like chopping up ice, and then
something went "thwinnnnngggg". That's when I stopped driving.
I was in northwestern Ohio when this happened, 30 miles from the Indiana
border and I was dead in the water on a Friday afternoon. So rather than
spend the next week in a Motel 6 while I hopefully located a shop within 100
miles which could rebuild my unusual beast, I decided to have my van towed
245 miles west to my father's house in Illinois, near Chicago. At least
there, I would be comfortable, well-fed and warm while I waited for a new
"tranny". My arrival by tow truck was certainly less than triumphant and
the talk of the neighborhood, I can assure you!
As most repair shops were closed over the weekend, I spent my energy
contacting the Vanagon e-mail list and getting numerous helpful replies from
volks in Illinois and neighboring states. Chuck Hill in Iowa had a used
tranny from an air-cooled if I wanted to come and get it! Darrell Boehler
gave advice from Southern Illinois, and a number of other listmembers,
including Terry Kay, made suggestions for repair shops in the Chicago area.
Dan Weber came over and crawled underneath the van, listening to the noises
and confirming my fears. After numerous frustrating in-person visits and
telephone calls on Monday to many repair shops, I ended up towing the van
Monday evening to Multistate Transmissions, a franchised transmission shop
that spoke my language on the phone: I called and said I had an '81 Vanagon,
could they work on it and the service manager, Dan, said, "that's the
air-cooled 2.0 litre, right"? I said Bingo! He said no problem, we can
rebuild your tranny. Dan was the man! He got me in and out of there in 4
days, albeit many dollar$ poorer!
The entire trans was rebuilt: all synchros, bearings, gears, clutch pilot
bearing, resurface clutch flywheel, pressure plate, clutch input shaft,
diff, etc. Ouch!
While I enjoyed the unexpected serendipity of a weeklong visit with my
father, I was anxious to get on the road again. I was still trying to get to
CA by Thanksgiving. Resuming my travels on Saturday, November 17, I headed
for a mid-western bus campout (Bus Fallout) near St.Louis. I was able to
follow a few sections of Route 66 on the way down there, mostly just
paralleling the interstate highway. I was warmly welcomed by the volks
there: Bill and Bev Dummit, Darrell Boehler, Chuck Hill, and Steve Lashley
to name a few. It was a lovely evening and nice to have a sympathetic crowd
to listen to my story of woe. Someone even volunteered to get out their
laptop with the EKTA CD and show me the exploded views of the transmission:
then it was decided that wouldn't actually work well on a laptop. It's just
as well: I had been staring at the exploded views in my Haynes manual for
days and had had enough! The evening progressed with everyone sharing bus
stories around a nice campfire, and tours of the the several splitties, bay
windows, Vanagons and other camper vans we won't mention (you know who you
are!).
Sunday morning I snuck out of the campground under the cover of a pale dawn
and headed west on I-70. Trying to make up some time, I travelled all the
way to western Kansas, about 11 hours of driving into a full-on headwind,
where I finally stopped at a roadside RV park in Oakley, KS (as in Annie
Oakley). You realize by now that I had given up on following Route 66,
sadly, due to time constraints. But I was still determined not to follow
the Interstate the rest of the way. I mean, why bother, when the van won't
do 70 mph anyway?
Monday I was again on the road early and followed US Route 40 across the
high plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado, passing through a town
called Firstview. As I was wondering why it had that name, I noticed, way
off in the distance, I could see Pike's Peak, and just the faint blue shadow
of the Rocky Mountains. The sight of the mountains was rather inspiring at
this point. First view, indeedy!
I picked up US Route 50 near Colorado Springs and decided to go ahead with
the frontal assault on the Rockies that day. You see, one has to climb over
The Monarch Pass, 11,313', to get over the range! With trepidation, I began
the climb. I was loaded to the gills with stuff, using every bit of the
feeble 67-hp that powers my bus. I climbed the last 3 or 4 miles steadily
in second gear at 30 mph. But, I conquered it!
Just as I pulled into the parking area at the summit, a brown & tan '84
Wolfsburg Westy pulled in from the other direction! Those volks were on
their way home to NY, so we chatted for a few minutes, then they took off.
I went to start my van, and she wouldn't start! It's a little scary to be
sitting on the top of a mountain alone with the sun going down and a car
that won't start! Well, I resorted to the old "rolling" start, and she
turned right over and down I went. Whew!
Cruising down the other side was exhiliarating! I treated myself to a room
at a Best Western that night in Gunnison, CO, complete with Jacuzzi spa and
indoor swimming pool right down the hall. Say goodnight!
I made another 6 am departure and followed US Route 50 across western
Colorado and Utah and ended up Tuesday night in Ely, NV, after 12 hours of
driving. US Route 50 is an absolutely beautiful road! I have travelled the
Utah and Nevada sections several times over the years and never grow weary
of it. Strangely, my van did it's "won't start after a long climb" thing
once more that day. Go figure. I now have the rolling start down to a
science! BTW, any technical thoughts on the starting problem are welcome.
I "camped" overnight at a KOA in Ely, NV, and got on the road Wednesday at 4
am! I then proceeded along the stretch of Route 50 known as "America's
Loneliest Road" and crossed my fingers for no more unexpected adventures. It
is not a bad idea to have a small 1-2 gallon gas can with you when you
travel on this road...it's a long way between gas stations! My next
challenge was crossing the Sierra Nevada at South Lake Tahoe, where the wind
was howling and it was snowing. Once again, I crawled over the summit at 30
mph and then headed downhill toward the Sacramento Valley. I arrived at my
sister's house at 1:30 pm, and then went over to my nearby apartment to
check in . I made up the bed and conked out! (The movers had beaten me out
here).
Thursday morning, my sister picked me up and we drove the 2+ hours to my
mother's house in the San Francisco Bay Area for Thanksgiving dinner. I had
made it! And we celebrated! Whoopee!
To those of you who long to take a trip like this for yourselves, all I can
say is: be prepared, be flexible, carry your AAA-Plus card and a cell phone,
and, above all, enjoy the ride! Each time will be an adventure you'll never
forget!
Peace,love and Happy Holidaze!
Melissa
--
Melissa Mourkas
81 Westy Basic Camper 'Hilde'(resting comfortably near Sacramento)
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