Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 11:23:12 EDT
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Trip Home from Burning Man - the final chapter
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Sorry for the delay in this report but arriving home and finding the huge
pile of mail and messages and work waiting was overwhelming. I've got myself
towards the end and back to a more normal routine so I will write the rest of
the story now.
We left New Kensington heading for Watkins Glen Thursday morning with
clearing skies after a drizzling rain for the two days we spent with my Mom and
sister Pat. We had a wonderful relaxing time and were fed and cared for
well by my sister the _Cookie Queen_ (http://cookies-cookbooks.com/) . Went out
shopping - again - as if we needed to visit more stores but I guess we had
not visited the ones around Pittsburgh !
The trip up through the rolling hills of Pennsylvania and New York was
great with lovely scenery as the leaves were just changing so there were many
colours in the scenery. We stopped at the Flying J in Brookville to get
propane and clean out the porta-potty. In Bradford we passed on the Zippo
Factory as we had BTDT on a previous trip. We did go into town and have lunch at
the Downbeat Restaurant on main street which was excellent.
Arriving in Watkins Glen around 5 pm we did a grocery run and out to the
Watkins Glen State Park to find our campsite. Joel had organised us to have
the group camping site in Tuscarora Village. It was not open when we
arrived as we were the first there. We were given the key to unlock the gate and
off we went to make camp, diner and another nites sleep in the upper bunk.
Friday morning we arranged our camp to our liking and headed off on a
hike to town through the Gorge Trail. Following the trail from the mile point
down the Gorge to town was beautiful and new as in past years at Westies @
Watkins we had always gone up the Gorge to the top. Winding our way down the
paths and staircases over bridges and under waterfalls we got our feet pretty
well soaked and arrived at the bottom to a beautiful sunny day. Strolled
down the main street shopping once again, I got a new quality felt hat at Famous
Brands Outlet for 20 bucks ! If your ever in Watkins you gotta visit that
store, always great bargains. We ended up at the Crooked Rooster for a couple
of beers and a pizza then hiked our way back up the mountain to our campsite.
Arriving in camp we see others have joined us and by evening we have
about 10 ~ 15 buses. We get ourselves a pile of firewood, make a community fire
and gather around for stories and mulled wine courtesy of Biz. Joel and I
tell our travel stories as he just came back from a trip in Europe. Enough
stories and mulled wine and we were all, except a couple who will go unnamed
who opted for an electric site in another part of the park, off to sleep in the
cold campers for another night.
Saturday morning the skies turned grey and rain was in the forecast.
Most of the gang went off for a hike in the Gorge. Rita & I passed as we did
our hike yesterday. I had volunteered to lead the wine tour at 2 pm so Rita &
I perused the Wine Tour Maps and chose four wineries on the East side of
Lake Geneva. Two pm and four buses show up for the tour, ourselves taking Karl
a friend from Ottawa with us as his bus is making CV joint noises, Cathy &
Greg, Donna & Moe and Michele & Kim and off we go. Plan was to head for the
farthest one and work our way back so we'd be close to camp when we were the
most inebriated ! The first place, Wagner Vineyards, had both a winery and
brew pub so we ended up spending a lot of time there then off to the Champagne
House were we tasted all their champagnes then made our way to Hazlitt 1852
Vineyards were we find an old split window bus hiding behind one of the barns.
This takes our attention away from the wines for a good half hour while we
get some pics and check out the funky paint job. After consuming our fair
share of their wines we head off to Catherine's Winery as requested by our good
friends from Ottawa Cathy and Greg. After checking out all their wines,
Rita buying the stained glass piece hanging in the window and closing up the
place we head off to camp and make a fine diner for ourselves and Karl.
After diner we get another group campfire going, Joel gives out what
seems like a hundred nifty door prizes, we talk about up coming events and sit
around there into the wee wee hours telling more Bus stories, consuming more
mulled wine and listing to guitar music. Conversations about of our trip,
Joel's trip, Joe's Subie powered Syncro Adventure Wagon, Dan's newly diesel
powered '80 ~ '81 camper and other miscellany abound. There's nothing better
than a bunch of VW bus nuts around a campfire with mulled wine on hand !
Sunday morning we wake to sunny skies and freezing temperatures, yikes
!, Biz has a fire going so Rita & I end up huddling there until we're warm
enough to make breakfast and start to break camp. Around 11 we all gather for
the parade to the race track. Looks like about 16 buses heading off. Karl
decided to pass on the track and try to make it home in daylight with his noisy
CV joints. After stops for group pics we get to the track around 11:30 and
meet up with the rest of Finger Lakes Region VW Club. We patiently wait our
turn at the track. About 12:15 we are ushered out onto the track, make
about three tours and are all pulled in by the track officials. Everyone is
upset, we were to have one hour and it's only been 15 minutes ! An argument
ensues over we don't know what between the Joy, the president of the VW Club, and
the track official. So much for racing the buses at the Glen this year !
Boo-hoo ! Rita & I, Cathy & Greg, Kim & Michelle, Joe and Joel & Molly
decide we've had enough of this nonsense and head off to town to find the Crooked
Rooster, beers and lunch.
After a leisurely lunch we say our goodbyes and head on up the road to
home with our friends Cathy & Greg. We make a stop at an Outlet Mall, more
shopping, get ourselves across the border around 8 pm without any problems say
good by to Cathy & Greg and wind our way up the road to Almonte and our home
! Arriving there around 10 pm it was surreal as we realise our trip IS
really over. Mountains of mail are on the kitchen table and a few hundred
messages on the answering machine. Rita wrote them all down and we headed off to
our "real" bed !
Monday morning back to work and sorting out all the confusion ! Life is
good !
Pictures related to this message will be uploaded soon and all pictures
or our trip can be seen at _Burning Man '04_
(http://burningman04.jiddware.com/) thanks to JD.
Still no news from Ina. Last we spoke to her was last Saturday or
Sunday. She was still in the Phoenix area, the motor was to come out again on
Monday or Tuesday as the oil leak did not get stopped in the first and second
attempt. Maybe Karl knows more and can chime in here.
Long story ? Yes ! Long Trip ? Yes ! Do it again in a heartbeat ! The
only way to see the land and it's people is to drive through it ! Here are
some interesting stats of our trip.
Trip to Burning Man
August 23 ~ October 03 - 42 days on the road
13,423 km ~ 8,322 miles
Vehicle - _1987 Vanagon Westfalia_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/mods.htm)
with 400,000 km on the clock !
Mechanical problems - rusted, leaking brake lines discovered in a Wall Mart
parking lot luckily - repaired in Rockford, Il - LH valve cover gasket
leaking, gasket which was fairly new had cracked at the four corners, changed the
gasket in Phoenix while staying with Karl & Stephanie - Thanks ! That's it
that's all !
Engine - Big Valve 2.1 built by Bob Donalds of _Boston Engine_
(http://www.bostonengine.com/) and installed and tuned by me, _Frank Condelli &
Associates_ (http://frankcondelli.com/) . Performance chip in the ECU, K&N air filter
and 15w50 Mobile 1 oil - ran flawlessly the entire trip. 120 km speeds
steady all day on the interstates. Out west in the 100 degree temperatures of
Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas the temp gauge rode a needles width above
the red LED and the oil pressure dropped a few pounds from its usual 30.
Thanks Bob !
Transmission - OEM geared 4 speed rebuilt by _AA Transaxels_
(http://www.aatransaxle.com/) - Darryl Christenson - performed flawlessly using Redline
MT-90 - Thanks Darryl !
Sleeping - used upper bunk the entire trip except for the days at Burning
Man, used lower bunk, three nites at my sister Maria's in Kemah, two nites at
hotel in New Orleans and two nites at my sister Pat's in New Kensington. A
memory foam was added to make the mattress more comfortable. Bought from Wall
Mart, fits without cutting and folds to fit in the space behind the folding
part of the upper bunk. A fitted sheet stayed with the mattress and a down
comforter was stored behind the rear seat and hauled up each nite. Double
bubble, reflective covered both sides, insulation cut to fit the exterior of the
canvass pop top was used many times both to keep heat in, keep heat out and
noise reduction. It was triple folded and stored on top of the folding part
of the upper bunk. Two pillows were also stored up by using the drying rack
and ladder made by our friend Hans Brouwer, positioned in front of the upper
bunk and pillows on top. The pop top was a little harder to close than normal
but did close without problem.
Electrics - Auxiliary battery, Optima Yellow Top, with Sure Power battery
separator and automatic trickle charger, 300w inverter, and 700w Honda
generator as back up all worked perfectly. Auxillary Kool-a-Tron fridge we used
would run the aux battery down overnight. With the two fridges we were able to
keep enough food and drinks cool for all circumstances. With the porta-potty
it does make it cramped but the porta-potty does serve as a convenient seat at
the table and when using the stove & sink facilities.
Propane used - 2 ~ 3 tanks. Filled twice on trip, started out with some and
still some left after arriving home.
Entertainment on board provided by Sirius Satellite Radio and an HP pavilion
zt3000 laptop which gave us Wifi service for Internet needs, DVD movies and
TV service using the Hauppauge add on. It worked flawlessly. Lots of old
movies on DVD at the Dollar Stores for 99 cents. We took out a months WiFi
service with the Flying J which gave us plenty of locations to log on. Using
their WiFi locator and Map Locations we were able to find a spot to stay when
needed no problem.
That's it that's all folks until next time !
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12, 2005
'87 Westy, '90 Carat & Lionel Trains
Member: _Vanagon List_ (http://www.vanagon.com/) , _LiMBO_
(http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/) , _IWCCC_ (http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/) & _CCVWC_
(http://www.ccvwc.ca/)
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_STEBRO/Vanagon Stainless Steel Mufflers_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
or http://frankcondelli.com
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