Date:         Fri, 26 Sep 2003 00:38:16 -0400
Reply-To:     Andrew Silliker <silliker@CYNICAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Silliker <silliker@CYNICAL.NET>
Subject:      Confessions of a Latter-Day Idiot and Trip report #1
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi all. Just thought I'd say hello and drop in an introduction. 

I'm a recent addition to the list, and the insight has been appreciated.
This is my first list post. I'm located in Arlington, VA, and after that
September thing a couple of years ago, I started to look into putting
together an escape vehicle to get away from the "target area". My 4-Runner
(GRZZLY) serves me well, and gets me deep into the backcountry, but it lacks
certain living accoutrements. I recently picked up an 89 Westy, CA van, and
am setting about stocking it for that purpose. Any recommendations of DC
area shops would be appreciated. I see that there are a few of you on the
list in this area. 

I flew out to the bay area, and picked up the westy a few weeks ago. I see
the escape pod moniker is already taken, so I guess I'm going to have to go
with Escape Wagen. I set about driving back to VA, and made it with few
issues. 

Trip Report #1 Road to the Poorhouse: Petaluma, CA to Arlington, VA ~4,000mi


Yeah, so the lunacy bug bit me again. Idle hands will do the devils work, as
they say. All of this time as a "victim of the high-tech economy" gives me
ample time to diddle around on the internet looking for things to spend
money on. Usually, I can fight the urges. This time, I was snakebitten. 

I saw an ad for a Westy on ep.com, and made contact with the owner. A couple
of conversations, a couple of days, and I was on a one way flight from DCA
to SFO, mixed in with an Airporter bus to Petaluma. 

I checked over the van, got a rundown on some of the quirks of this one, and
went on out for a test spin. All seemed to be well, so I went back and
checked it out some more. The wrenches that I packed came in handy here. 


Assessment: Interior, excellent. Exterior, very good. Rust? No. Camping
eqpt: Never used. Stove drain pan even still had blue plastic on it. Fridge
fired immediately on LP. Canvas, great. Cruise control and power mirrors
aren't working. Needs new vent hoses for fuel system. Ah, what the hell.
Clearly the best this for the unemployed to do is buy a second vehicle to
plow money into. 

The deal made, I headed over to Whole Foods to get the rig stocked up for a
couple of days. Then, I was off... Somewhere...

I'm not really much of a planner. I guess I have a fear of commitment. I
knew I was heading back to Arlington, I had two weeks, and I was just above
the bay area. What to do, what to do. It was evening, so I headed towards
the coast for the sunset. In my 4-Runner, I probably could have made it
without issue. The Westy has a different... Er... Driving profile. It was
pretty much dark by the time I made it to the coast. The CA coast in this
area is well protected with "No Overnight Parking, No Camping" signs. I
drove along for a while, and eventually decided to park it anyhow. Around
6AM I was startled by a semi-friendly Ranger Rick who kindly asked me to
move it along. I obliged. 

Sunday, September 7

Thinking that there may be a need to get the karma of the new rig in order,
I stopped to help a couple of bikers broken down on the side of the road. It
turns out that a wheel bearing had seized on the guy's Harley. Between the 3
of us, we finally got the bike apart. The bearing race had seized to the
axle, so you couldn't follow the normal procedure for removing the front
tire on his Electra Glide. We loaded the wheel and axle into the van, and
headed off looking for salvation. It came in the way of a run-down garage in
Anchor Point. We were able to get use of a vise, hold the axle while we beat
of the seized components, and then in the pile of wheel bearings were able
to build a new wheel bearing from the parts of two different ones. I took
the guys back to their 
bike, we got him put back together, and off they went. I didn't pass them on
the road today, so I'm guessing that everything is working fine for him. For
some reason, with the same horsepower in the bikes as in my van, I couldn't
keep up with them in the hills of the California coast. Go figure. 

Monday, Septmber 8

Last night I bunked up along a creek in Mendocino National Forest. You can't
beat free camping. And now that I don't have to worry about ice, water, or
building a table, it is even better. After running through a lot of dirt
roads, it sure would be nice to have a better set of shocks and some better
ground clearance. Some of the 4WD trails had me missing the GRZZLY.

Driving life is certainly different in this thing from my Runner, as well.
Now I am one of *those* people. You know who I'm talking about. Running
uphill about 20mph under the speed limit. I can do mad speed on the
downhills though. Or on a flat after about 10 minutes of acceleration. It's
different, but not necessarily bad. Being forced to slow down can be nice.
The end tonight is in Reno. Pulled up a nice piece of Wally World parking
lot. I mean, when you're just going to sleep, you don't need the Ritz. 

Tuesday, September 9

I'm sitting watching the sun set over a ridge here at Pahranagat NWR, about
90 miles outside of Vegas. It has been a long day, up around 6:30 and on the
road around 7. Today I followed US-50 from Reno to Austin,NV, then turned
south towards Tonopah. Ever since picking up the van I've been getting about
15mpg out of it. Not great, but not bad, either. Fallon to Tonopah is 228 mi
on the route I chose, within range of a single tank. Or so I thought. For
whatever reason, my mileage wasn't quite 15mpg this tank, and I lost fuel
pressure about 16 miles from Tonopah. Just past a "No Hitchhikers" sign. In
a prison zone. Being in the middle of nowhere, I figured that there was a
SuperMax facility out here. I kept nursing the van along, and I came across
a NV Dept of Forestry work camp entrance, and turned up the drive. I had to
get a little NASCAR to make it up there, swerving the van to wash fuel over
the pickup and keep rolling. At the door to the facility, she gave up the
ghost. I chatted with the guys for a bit and managed to finangle a little
gas out of them. They asked for me to pull up to their pump, but I was 
bone dry. One of the fella's headed into the garage and came out with a
fellow in prison blues and a gas can. The prisoner dumped 5 gallons into the
rig, I said my thanks and was on my way. I guess the karma that I built up
earlier worked out.

At Warm Springs, I turned down NV375, the "ExtraTerrestrial Highway", I
guess because of it's proximity to Area 51. I didn't get to meet ET, but I
did have a military jet scream over me at a low level. I'm not sure what it
was, it was long gone by the time the noise hit me. I guess I can
legitimately call it a UFO.

Tomorrow I head towards Vegas before cutting off to meet I-15 on the way to
Utah. I'm planning on spending a couple of days hitting some national parks.


Wednesday, September 10

So, I guess I'm still getting into being a Vanagon driver. I was passed by
old people and tractor-trailers today. Maybe both at once, I don't know. I
do have a greated appreciation for why the truckers run side by side for
miles with the guy doing 60.5 in the left lane, and 60 in the right lane.
You just don't want to give up that momentum. 

I made it into UT today, and headed out through St. George off towards the
National Parks. I visited Zion NP today, and it is a facinating place. Great
colours, especially later in the day. I wanted to do some hiking, but with
my limited space I opted for some tools over my good hikers and solo hiking
in sneakers probably isn't the best idea. It also stopped me from hiking up
some slot canyons, as I didn't want to drive in wet feet for a couple of
days. The weather of the week before had some water in the creekbeds. I
seriously considered staying at the Zion campground for the night, but
because of my limited hiking options, decided to roll on instead. 

I was itching for a barbeque, so I was head to a developed campground in
Dixie NF. As much as it pains me to pay for camping, I didn't have a fire
pan with me, and didn't want to a) start a wildfire or b) leave a permanent
scar on the landscape. After setting up camp, I noticed things were
different from down in Zion. It was chilly. I guess that happens at 9000' in
September. After a long day, all I wanted to do was sleep anyhow. So sleep I
did. Barbeque I did not. I was a little burnt that I could have saved myself
14$, but I guess that's how it works out sometimes. 

Thursday, September 11

Bryce Canyon is another great NP. To some, it may just be more rocks. At
least they are pretty rocks. Well, maybe boring rocks in pretty formations.
One thing that this country has going for it is the public lands system.
NPS, FS, BLM, great value. The management policies of the agencies sometimes
leave something to be desired, but there are other channels available for
that activism. 

After spending a few hours in Bryce, I continued east on UT-12 towards
Escalante. Then I cut onto some dirt roads heading cross country towards
Bicknell. I was heading out to see Hells Backbone, and the bridge
constructed over it, but after winding my way into the woods and mountains,
there was a sign indicating the bridge was closed for work. I decided to
head in to see the bridge anyhow, but the road was closed some distance from
it. Who knows how far it was. I walked around a few turns and still couldn't
see it. I had to backtrack about 20 minutes, and then keep on towards
Bicknell, where I hooked up with UT-24, and headed towards Capitol Reef NP.
I put up for the night out on some ranchland just outside of CRNP
overlooking some great rock formations. Nothing or noone to be seen for
miles. The moon rose over the mountains, mars was up, and you could see the
milky way. Bryce says that you can see the Andromeda galaxy from there, I'm
sure it was the same here. If I knew where in the heck I was supposed to
look. 

Friday, September 12

Destination: Moab
I spent a little while in Moab when I was on my last foolish road trip, last
summer (http://www.blurred.net/~silliker/journal). I was fascinated by the
region and wanted to return when I had more time. Moab is a great little
town, and the Friday Trading Post is a hoot to listen to. People will sell
all kind of junk. I was going to try to engage in some sort of activity when
I was there, but, well, I was too cheap. Deciding that I didn't feel like
spending any money this weekend, I just rolled on through. I got back on
I-70 to be passed by more trucks and old people. Very humbling. I made a
visit to another NF tonight. I set up camp along the Colorado River and had
a nice little nap.

Saturday, September 13

Sometime you learn something after you make a trip that makes you a little
upset. One of those, "I wish I would have seen that" moments. The Sunday
Rocky Mountain News had a story about quirky CO festivals, including the
Kremmling Roadkill Festival. I went through Kremmling on Saturday, the day
of the festival. I didn't see any signs for it, but apparently a good time
was had by all. Maybe next year. 

I rolled through Kremmling on my way to Rocky Mountain NP. The main road was
closed when I went through that way last spring, so I was hoping for better
luck this year. The Escape Wagen successfully climbed to over 12,000 feet,
up into an early snow. At least the engine didn't have a chance to overheat,
the needle barely moved off of cold. It was a good thing, however, that the
road speed limit was 35. At least I almost had a chance of keeping up with
it. 

The balance of the day was fairly uneventful. Driving and whatnot. I broke
into KS, and stopped for the night at the scenic I-70 rest stop outside of
Goodland. I'm getting low on gas, but some reserve is still showing. 

Sunday, September 14

It was another chilly night last night. I believe they were down into the
30's back in Denver. I fired up the rig to clear the steam off the windows,
put everything in it's place, and hit the road. For about 10 minutes. Turns
out, then when it gets cold the volume of fuel reduces, and well, you run
out of it. My good meter last night was indicating bupkus this morning. I
can see the signs for the gas stations in Goodland, but don't feel like
walking the mile to pick it up.  I guess that's why one has the AAA
membership. I called for the gas, and set about making myself some oatmeal
while I waited. 
Cletus showed up about 45 minutes later, and away we go again.

They say Kansas is flat. The Escape Wagen disagrees. Granted, there are no
mountains,  but there were hills that I could barely maintain 55 on, let
alone accelerate. I do, though, miss the cruise control on the flats. I'll
have to get to fixing that when I get home. 

So. Kansas. That was exciting. I'm sure it's better off of the Interstate,
but I have places to go. 

On into MO, I stopped just outside of KC. Pulled into a travel plaza for
some shuteye. I was rousted out of bed by a bit of a row in the car beside
me. Some playa trippin' about someone getting some from his girl. Or
something like that. I couldn't really understand much other than the f
bombs. The po-leece ended up dropping by and mediating the disturbance.
Suffice it to say, I didn't need an additional disturbance that evening, so
I decided to relocate. Too lazy to dress, I rolled down the road in my
skivvies for a half hour or so and bunked up again. 

Monday/Tuesday, September 15-16

Yeah, so I guess that the crazy people at the travel plaza was the last
excitement of the trip. I spent a couple of days making it home from MO, on
the Interstates until OH, and then I took US-50 home here to Arlington,
making it home late on Tuesday night. 

Somewhere around 4000 - 4200 miles, no major mechanicals. I have a couple of
days to turn the van, and then we're off again for a weekend. 
--
Andrew -- '89 Westy Escape Wagen