Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 23:56:42 -0500
Reply-To: Roy Olynick <rrh@AUTOBAHN.MB.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roy Olynick <rrh@AUTOBAHN.MB.CA>
Subject: Trip Report (longish)
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Boys and girls,
My family and I just returned from a three week trip from Manitoba to eastern
Canada (New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia) in our Westy. This was our third
trip "out east" to the Maritimes since 1987.
Total Driving Distance: 9980 kms. (6201 miles)
Total Fuel Consumed: 1208.173 litres (265.766 imperial gallons)
Fuel Consumption: 12.08 litres/100 kms. (23.33 mpg)
Highest Gas Prices: Marathon, Ontario (84.9 cents per litre)
Lowest Gas Prices: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (67.9 cents per litre)
Average Gas Price: 73.9 cents per litre
Miscellaneous ramblings:
Our Westy ran like a champ...first trouble free trip in years! We had two
"bonus"
vacation days this time because we usually factor in two days for Westy
breakdowns, of which there weren't any this trip (miracles do happen!). My cell
phone and motor league card went unused.
"Touring Highlights": Prince Edward Island (all of it, from tip to tip); whale
watching (from shore) at Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia; whale watching (at sea on a
sailboat) at Ingonish Ferry, Nova Scotia; Parliament Buildings, Ottawa; coal
mine tour in Springhill, Nova Scotia; practising my limited French at various
stops in Quebec (Je parle pas beaucoup Francais); buying a Persian in Thunder
Bay, Ontario (a Persian is a local delicacy...cinnamon bun with pink, strawberry
flavoured icing).
"Heart stopping Highlights": Turning a corner and having the porta-potty flip
over because it was top heavy with damp towels stacked on it; turning a corner
on another occasion and having a thermos of unattended coffee fall over,
spilling coffee all over the galley floor; following a blue-haired Toyota
driving grandmother who slammed on her brakes unexpectedly to make a turn while
I was gathering speed to pass her; sailing on a whale watching cruise in choppy
waters that would have sunk the Titanic.
"Driving highlight" of the trip...passing a Corvette on Quebec highway #20. The
'Vette was doing 105 kph...I blew past him at 115 kph...I just HAD to do it!
Cruising at 110 kph or 115 kph, even with the A/C going, was no problem. Most
amusing "driving highlight"...me and the truckers trying to pass each other
going uphill in New Brunswick, Cape Breton and NW Ontario.
The fridge ran on propane virtually the entire trip without the flame blowing
out while driving. The instances where the flame did go out was probably due to
the steep grade of some of the roads in New Brunswick and Cape Breton.
Nice to see more self-serve gas stations in the Maritimes than the last time we
were there. "Full serve" translates as "slow serve" for me. Nobody, I mean,
Nobody can fill my Westy's tank faster than I.
The Westy capital of eastern Canada, maybe the entire country, has got to be
Quebec. Driving through the Gaspe region, you can't spit without hitting a
Westy.
Going east from Manitoba, we took the U.S. route (#2 and #28) through northern
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and back into Canada through Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario. Coming
back west, we travelled all the way through Canada. Although the death defying
northern route
through NW Ontario (#17) is more scenic, the frequency and length of the
no-passing
zones are very frustrating. The next time I go east, I'll take the U.S. route
again, despite all the "one horse" towns with reduced speed zones, along the
route. The terrain is flatter with infinitely more opportunities to pass the
slow pokes on the road.
Rant Alert, Rant Alert!!!
#1. Too many bozos, jerks and otherwise inconsiderate campers out there these
days. It seems that every other campground we'd pull in to, there'd be those
campers who associate camping with loud stereos and all the beer you can drink.
The evidence of their presence is obvious at times --empty beer bottles from the
night before, sometimes stacked in imaginative geometric patterns, on a picnic
table. Of course, these idiots usually come out from under their rock at about
11:30 PM (quiet hour be damned) when the rest of us road weary travellers are
just going into REM sleep. We found the quietest camping was to be had
at...sorry, but this has to be said...at the "Kampground that must not be named"
(KOA). Maybe it's their locations (usually along major roads) that attract
travellers who've been driving all day, are tired and just want to get some
sleep. We've been to some KOAs that were jam packed to over capacity, brimming
with the potential for an all night party, but by 10 or 10:30 PM, half the
campground is sleeping, with the other half nodding off.
#2. Drivers who pass in no passing zones. If I had a nickel for all the idiots
I saw who are toying with people's lives...
#3. Some low-life, pond scum ripped off our ratty and torn, $1.49 vinyl table
cloth from our campsite's picnic table while we were gone for the day.
There, I'm done.
Roy Olynick
'87 VW Westfalia GL
(till death do us part)
'91 Honda Civic SE
'01 Honda Civic LX
www.autobahn.mb.ca/~rrh/Westy_Home.htm
