Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 09:49:39 -0800
Reply-To: laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steve Delanty <laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM>
Subject: I'm sorry... someone please tell me a camping story..
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O.K., now I feel bad and I feel like I should say I'm sorry...
I'm sure it's pretty obvious that I've had a lot of frustration
with my Westy. I LOVE that bus, and the few brief camping
trips I've had in it have been great, but my bus bliss has been
very much spoiled by the kind of engine trouble that makes
the bus untrustworthy and totally ruins the enjoyment of
driving it.
I suppose it's been particularly frustrating because I'd
hoped the bus would be "stress reliever", allowing me to
camp and travel and relax a little once in a while.
This has definitely not been the case, and instead I have
spent my weekends trying to track down elusive problems
and throwing money at the motor trying to coax it along
so I can go camping one more weekend.
I'm the 3rd owner of the bus, and it came with a huge stack
of receipts from both original and second owners, and
appears to have a *very* good service history, with a large
percentage of the work done at the VW dealer including
the rebuilt engines it's had during it's life. The bus has had
a lot of major components replaced in it's life and appears
to have been well kept. In spite of that, it's been quite
troublesome to say the least.
It's been very frustrating for me, and I'm afraid I let it spill
over onto the list in what was probably an inappropriate way...
I sincerely apologize for that, I know it's wrong to bad mouth
something that is the pride and joy of so many. This IS the
vanaon list, after all...
And I certainly don't want to alienate my fellow list members!
There's too many good folk here and too much valuable
knowledge here to miss out on. And I'll be having questions
about the OTHER end of the bus soon, as I've just ordered a
ton of brake and front suspension parts from Bus Depot...
I am SO looking forward to spending time camping this summer.
My sweetie has never been to Yosemite so we'll probably be
going there this year, and we both love the redwoods and have
some nice places fairly close to home to explore and camp at.
Maybe some of you folks could suggest some places you
think are beautiful in or around the pacific northwest area
(or elsewhere for that matter) that we should visit when we
get a chance?
Perhaps some good camping stories or places to look forward
to would help get my spirits up and make me stop thinking
about the problems with the bus...
Anyway, I am sorry for stepping on anyones toes and getting
all weird about the wasserboxer. I know a lot of you folks have
gotten great joy from them. I shouldn't have gone off like that.
Please forgive,
Steve